by Julie Kagawa
“Dante!”
With a snarl, Ember reared back and sent a fireball at the desk, where it exploded in a burst of light and heat, causing the guards to reel away and crumple to the floor. Without hesitation, she leaped over the desk and bounded through the door after her twin.
“Dammit, Firebrand. Wait!” With a curse, I followed her, St. George right behind me. The door opened into a narrow hallway, and I hurried to keep up with the red dragon, my talons clicking against the tile.
We burst through the final door into a room much different than the one we’d just left. The ceiling was vast and soaring. A mezzanine ran the length of the opposite wall, a veranda stretching corner to corner twenty or so feet overhead. Directly below the railing, an elevator door slid shut, indicating where the little snitch had disappeared to, but getting to him might be challenging.
At least a dozen humans stood in the shadows of the mezzanine, staring at us as we came in. They were armed with pistols, all pointed in our direction, and wore identical gray uniforms, but that wasn’t what made my skin crawl. There was something else, something...wrong about them. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
It hit me, and a jolt of shock zipped up my spine. The bastards weren’t just wearing identical clothing; they looked exactly the same. They had the same shaved heads, the same faces and blank, empty eyes. They gazed at us, two dragons and an armed human, with absolutely no emotion. No surprise, fear, wonder or anything.
“What in the world...?” Ember growled, stopping as we faced the line of identical humans. “What is this?”
“Ember!”
Dante appeared on the mezzanine, a pair of creepy twin humans flanking him, and gazed down at us imperiously. “I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this,” he said as Ember tensed at the sight of him. “I’ve sealed this floor,” he added, making me tense. “None of you are getting out. Ember, I’ll give you one last chance to surrender without violence. Return to Talon, and I swear you won’t be punished. We can be together again, as it should be. But if you stay with that rogue, I can’t protect you from what’s to come. Please.” He gripped the railing, his gaze only for the red dragon. “Come back to Talon with me,” he said, his voice quietly desperate. “You don’t know what’s coming, and if you’re on the other side when it hits...” He shook his head. “You’ll be swallowed whole with everyone else.”
“What’s coming, Dante?” Ember called as something cold settled in my gut, making me shiver. “What is Talon planning?”
“I can’t tell you that,” was the answer. “Not here. Once you return to the organization, though, you’ll understand everything.”
“And what about Riley and Garret?”
Even from here, I saw the gleam of hatred as the other hatchling looked at me. “Cobalt is the most wanted criminal in the organization,” he said, venom dripping from his words. “And the other is a soldier of St. George. I cannot imagine how you think Talon would spare either of them.
“But,” he added before either Ember or I could speak. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, and looked at Ember once more. “If you promise to come back with me tonight,” he said in a grave voice, “they can go. They can walk out of this building at least. I can’t promise anything beyond that.”
“Don’t strain yourself, Chameleon,” I sneered, unable to simply stand there and take his insults. “What would Talon say, if they discovered you let the infamous Cobalt slip right through your slimy fingers?”
“They wouldn’t be happy,” Dante replied, not to me but to Ember. “But bringing you home is more important. Nothing matters more than that.” A pause, and then he added, in an even softer voice, “I miss you, sis. I want things to be like they were before. You don’t know...you have no idea how important you are. Not just to me, but to all of Talon. It’s not my place to explain it, but you and I are special, and not just because we’re siblings. Come back with me, and you can see for yourself.”
“Dante,” Ember said in a strangled voice. She had crouched down, tail and wings pressed tight to her body, and was trembling. “I don’t—”
“You don’t belong with them,” Dante insisted. “You belong with Talon. It can be how it was before. We can be a family again.”
“I...” Ember hesitated a heartbeat more, then raised her head, glaring at her brother. “No,” she said in a firm, clear voice. “I have a family. Right here. You and I are siblings, but the brother I knew wouldn’t slaughter a whole town of humans just for the good of our race. You’ve changed, Dante. You’re not my brother anymore. And if you want to kill Riley, or Garret, or anyone I care about, you’ll have to fight me, too.”
For a moment, the Chameleon stared at her, disbelieving. Then his eyes glowed with anger, and he took a step back.
“If that’s your decision.” His voice had gone cold and slimy again, and he raised a hand, sweeping it over the humans below. “Then you leave me no choice. You will see the power of Talon, and why our enemies stand no chance against us. Vessels!” he called, and the row of identical humans raised their heads. “Initiate!”
The humans started to change. To Shift. Almost as one, they swelled, stretching and growing as wings tore through their backs and scales covered their bodies. In the space of a heartbeat, over a dozen identical, metallic-gray dragons stood where a human mob had been moments before.
My spines bristled as I stumbled back a step. What the hell? This was even worse than the humans. They were all dragons—hatchlings, judging by their relatively small size—but they stared at us with that same blank, emotionless gaze that made my insides recoil.
Soulless. The word popped into my head, and I shivered. They look soulless, completely empty. There’s nothing behind their gazes, nothing at all. They look like machines. Like fucking robots.
“Dante...” Ember’s voice was a horrified whisper, as well, as she cringed back from the row of blank-eyed dragons. “What is this? What have you done?”
“This is the future,” Dante said, raising both arms as if to embrace them. “This is what’s going to save us from extinction. Don’t you see what they represent, Ember? This is our hope. We can finally turn the tide against the Order.”
“You’ve created soldiers.” This was from St. George, the first thing he’d said in a while, and he sounded just as quietly horrified as the rest of us. “These have been bred for war and nothing else.” He narrowed his eyes at Dante. “How many has Talon created?”
“More than enough,” Dante said. He smiled coldly as the clones continued to watch us with empty pale eyes. “Enough for our race to crush our enemies. Enough for dragons to return from the brink of extinction and never to be forced back. Not by St. George. Not by anyone.”
“This is wrong, Dante,” Ember said, gazing up at him. “Can’t you see what Talon is doing? Don’t you know what this means?”
“Yes,” Dante replied. “It means Talon will save our race, that St. George will fall, and you will return to the organization with me tonight. Whether you want to or not. Vessels!” he called, and the dragons straightened to attention. “Attack! Kill the male dragon and the human, but leave the female alive. Restrain her if you have to, but bring her to me!”
As one, the line of dragons surged forward. There were no snarls, no roars or bellows or shrieking battle cries. They were as silent as death as they came at us, a terrifying gray tide.
I snarled my own battle cry, but before I could move, St. George stepped forward with a sharp, “Look away!” and hurled something into the room. A small, round object sailed through the air and landed in front of the approaching clones. They slowed, blinking at the object, just as I realized what it was and quickly turned my head.
The flashbang exploded in a brilliant burst of light, flaring white through my closed lids, and the shock wave knocked me back a step. Now the clones screamed, hissing with alarm and fu
ry, making my blood chill, but for a split second, they were frozen in shock.
“Run!” I snarled to the others, and we fled, bounding back into the corridor. Gunshots echoed behind us as St. George fired shots into the stunned clones before he slammed the door and hurried after us.
“Where are we going?” Ember called as we entered the room where Dante had sprung his first trap. The humans were still sprawled motionless on the floor, but the room had changed. Steel walls covered the windows to the outside, blocking any escape by flying through the glass. I snarled a curse and looked around for another way out, but there were only the two doors into the room, the one we first came in with Dante, and the one that led back toward the army of clones.
St. George slammed the door to the hall and turned to Ember, beckoning her to the still-smoldering desk in the corner. “Ember, can you shove that against the door?”
The red dragon nodded, bounded to the desk and slammed her horns against the side. I hurried to join her, and the heavy piece of furniture groaned as we pushed it across the floor and shoved it in front of the door. Not that it would do much good against a fire-breathing dragon, even a small one, but it might slow them down a few seconds.
“What now?” Ember panted as we backed off, just as a heavy thud echoed from the hall beyond, and the door rattled on its hinges. I winced.
“We have to find a way off this floor,” I growled, glancing at the barricaded windows. Dammit, the slimy little bastard sure had screwed us over royally. If I knew Talon at all, every window and exit to the outside would be similarly blocked, but we had to try. “All the exits will be sealed off,” I said. “But if we can get to another floor, we might have a chance. They can’t have sealed the whole building.” I hope.
The door rattled again, and a trio of claws curled around the edge, raking gouges across the wood. A pale, slitted eye glared at me through the crack, making my blood run cold.
“Come on,” St. George said, and we fled the room, heading back the way we came in. We passed more rooms in the same state; steel curtains covered the windows, preventing not only an easy way out but blocking all views from the outside, as well. Bursting into another room, I muttered a curse, gazing around frantically. This one was a “cubicle hell” open floor, with desks and computers sectioned off into identical workstations that covered the room like a maze. On the opposite wall, a glowing exit sign beckoned enticingly, and I bounded in that direction.
We came to the fire escape at the end of the hall, but of course the metal door was firmly locked. St. George slammed his shoulder into it a couple times, to no avail.
“Stand back, St. George,” I growled after a few moments of watching the human slam into the barrier. “Let’s see how well it holds up to dragon claws.”
“Riley!” Ember gasped. I turned to see a dozen pale, shining eyes floating in the dark, moving toward us through the cubicle maze. St. George fired off several rounds, and though I heard bullets striking scales and horns alike, none of the clones made a sound as they advanced. If they could feel pain, they didn’t show it.
“The elevator shafts!” Ember hissed as we scrambled away from the exit, trying to lose the clones in the labyrinth. “Even if Dante cut the power, we can climb down the cables.”
“Good thinking, Firebrand,” I whispered, ducking around cubicles. “Let’s hope your brother hadn’t thought the same.” All around us, I heard the click of talons over tile, the flutter of wings and the hiss of tails as they brushed against walls and corners. The clone things had spread out and were combing the floor for us. And though I’d done this thing before with both Talon and the Order, it was a surreal feeling, being hunted by your own kind. I wondered how nasty these things were in a fight, because I had the sinking suspicion that we were going to find out sooner or later.
“Elevators!” Ember whispered, coming to a stop at the edge of the cubicle.
They sat against the far wall, out in the open, of course. I stifled a groan and peeked out of cover, seeing a long gray tail slink around a cubicle, disturbingly close.
“We’ll have to make a run for it,” I whispered, pulling back. “St. George, once we reach the elevators, I’ll have to Shift back, so I’ll need that change of clothes quick. I won’t be able to climb elevator shafts in dragon form, and I’d rather not do it naked.”
The soldier nodded and unshouldered the backpack. “I’d rather you not do it naked, either,” he muttered.
I ignored that. “Ready?” I asked, but at that moment, something lean and scaly leaped atop the cubicle wall. It spotted us and gave a hiss of discovery, baring its fangs, and I winced. “Go!”
We ran for the elevators, hearing the rest of the clone dragons give chase from wherever they were in the room. I didn’t dare look back to see how many were coming, or how close they were. St. George reached the elevators first and slammed his shoulder into the doors, prying them open. I had just enough time to see the metal box through the widening crack before something slammed into me from the side and knocked me off my feet.
Snarling, I rolled to my back, lashing out with my hind claws as my attacker pounced, making no noise as its jaws went for my throat. My back legs caught it in the armored stomach, stopping the lethal fangs from snapping in my face.
I shoved it off and lunged to my feet as another clone hit me from behind. This time, I felt claws score my back and sides as curved talons ripped through my scales and sank into the flesh beneath.
With a roar, I spun, trying to dislodge the thing that clung to me like a leech, seeing the rest of the pack closing in. Gunshots rang out behind me, and one of the clones staggered and went down. But that didn’t stop the rest of them, and I snarled in both fury and frustration, trying to loosen the dragon’s death grip on my back.
Ember hit us hard, striking the clone full-on with her horns, knocking him away. Spreading her wings, she stepped in front of me and let out a roar that shook the walls, and amazingly, the clones hesitated.
“Riley!” St. George snapped as the dragons blinked and surged forward again. Ember and I scrambled for the elevators as the soldier pried the doors open and disappeared through the crack.
“Get the hatch open!” he told me as we squeezed into the small metal box. It was a tight fit; two dragons and a soldier definitely wouldn’t have fit, but thankfully Ember had already changed back into human form, her black Viper suit covering her body like paint. Unfortunately, that left her virtually defenseless against the mob of dragons on the other side of the doors. A clone followed us, sticking its head through the crack, baring its fangs. St. George bashed it in the side of the head with his pistol, rocking its head to the side, and it retreated with a hiss. Gritting my teeth, I reared onto my hind legs, ignoring the stab of pain that went through my side, and pushed against the square hatch on the ceiling. It was sealed, or stuck, because it didn’t move. I shoved on it harder, and it rattled, raining dust into my eyes. It still didn’t open.
A flurry of gunshots echoed inside the elevator box, making my ears ring. The clones had crowded the opening, eyes and teeth shining as they surged against the doors, and were starting to push through. They flinched away from the bullets as St. George continued to fire, but there were so many, and they would soon force their way inside.
With a snarl, I rammed my horns into the metal hatch as hard as I could, and the trapdoor finally flew open. “Ember!” I called, dropping back to the floor. She glanced up, and I positioned myself so she could use me as a stepstool. “Go!”
The girl darted from behind the soldier, took two steps and launched herself off my shoulder, reaching for the open hatch. Her arms hooked the edge of the opening, and she slid through as gracefully as any gymnast.
“St. George!” I snapped, but the soldier was already moving, dodging a dragon’s talons as he hurried to my side and leaped for the top of the elevator. I whispered a curse, watchin
g his legs vanish through the opening—too small for me to go through in my present form. I was going to have to Shift.
Sorry, Firebrand, I thought, and forced myself back to human form. There’s no time for modesty now. You’re just going to have to deal for a few minutes.
A clone wriggled its way into the box and snarled at me just as I sprang for the trapdoor. Scrambling onto the roof, I caught a split-second glimpse of the elevator filled with hissing, pale-eyed dragons before St. George slammed the hatch door shut and locked it.
I collapsed on the roof for a second, panting. My side throbbed. Nothing felt broken, but blood was seeping down my skin and dripping to the metal in small puddles. The gashes I’d taken along my back and ribs burned like someone had poured acid in them.
“Are you all right?” Ember hovered a few steps away in her black Viper suit. Though her voice was concerned, her face was as red as a beet in the darkness, and she didn’t look directly at me. Any other time, it would’ve been adorable. “You’re bleeding pretty bad.”
“I’m fine,” I gritted out, heaving myself upright. “A few holes in my hide aren’t going to kill me.”
“Can you climb?” St. George asked. He had already yanked open the backpack and was pulling out a change of clothes. His demeanor was calm and practical; we had to climb down the elevator cables to get to the bottom floor, and then we had to get out of the building and escape into the city. All of which would be difficult to do in the nude.
Dammit, I really need to think about stealing a Viper suit one day.
A thud echoed below us, and the hatch door rattled. “Don’t think I have much of a choice,” I said, and snatched the articles of clothing the soldier tossed at me. “You two, get going. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Riley...” Ember began.
“No arguments, Firebrand. Unless, of course, you want to see me run naked through the streets.”
