Embracing The Inferno (Dragon Within #5)

by Kyra Dune

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  As I expected, Derek insisted on coming into the city with us, but I was surprised when Sam wanted to tag along too. I was totally cool with it, though. So over that whole jealousy thing. Well, mostly over it anyway. I mean, the girl had slept with my boyfriend, even if it was months before I ever met him. You can't just forget a thing like that.

  We took the van, for which I was very grateful. The Camaro was way too crowded for five people. Sam drove and Derek sat up front with her while me and Zack took the middle seat. Luka sprawled out across the back, napping for the half hour it took us to get to the city.

  Sam took us to a mall that had an internet cafe perfect for Luka to download our little homemade movie onto the web. Walking into the place was kind of weird for me. I'd been to the mall with Brandy dozens of times. Not this mall, obviously, but still. It was one of those moments where realty came swooping in on me out of nowhere to gleefully remind me of everything I'd lost. My throat got all tight and my eyes started to burn.

  "Is something wrong?" Derek asked, gently touching my arm.

  I shook my head. No way was I going to tell him I was getting all sad over a shopping mall. I would have sounded like a total ditz. "I'm just tired. I want to get this over with."

  It didn't help any that I was strung so tight I felt like a rubber band about to snap. Was I making a huge mistake? Was I going to get more people killed? I had no idea what would actually happen if the world knew about dragons. Once the truth got out there were bound to be consequences.

  "We're doing the right thing," Luka said, looking up at me as he sat down in front of one of the computers. He had the camcorder cradled in his hands like it was a baby bird. "If Curtis were here, he'd agree."

  Great, like I needed one more reason to feel like crying. "I wish he could be here right now."

  "He is." Luka gave me that cute little half smile. "Right here." He shifted the camcorder to one hand and used the other to tap his chest in the spot right over his heart. "It's because of him we're doing this, right?"

  I nodded. "If not for him making this movie, I never would have thought to do this."

  "If this changes the world and makes it better, then I guess it's a pretty good memory for him to leave behind." He put the camcorder on the table. "This is going to take awhile. You guys might want to go window shopping, or something."

  No way did I want to wander around the mall right then. But the choice was kind of taken out of my hands. "The kid is right," Sam said. "I think we could all use the distraction. Besides, I'm starving and they actually have a decent food court here."

  I was kind of hungry myself, but I didn't want to leave Luka all alone. I know, I was being dumb treating him like he was a little kid when really he was only a few weeks younger than I was. But I couldn't help it. It was like... If Curtis had to die, then Luka had to live. Like one thing made up for the other, or something. Stupid, I know. But it was the way I felt.

  "He'll be fine." Derek put his arm across my shoulders. "Even if the clan showed up here, they won't do anything in public. Most dragons want to stay hidden."

  I felt like that was kind of a jab at me, but he did make a good point. Besides, me standing over Luka's shoulder watching his every move wasn't going to make things go any faster. So, we went to the food court for burgers, and then Sam insisted on dragging us all over the mall even though I really didn't want to go. All these people going on about their normal lives was a little too much for me to deal with.

  I won't bore you with all the little details of our less than grand mall adventure. It's all kind of a blur, really. Hardly important enough to remember with everything that happened afterwards. Sam was fakely cheerful and enthusiastic as she led the way, Zack was silent and broody as he trailed along behind us. I think part of his mood was because Derek stuck to my side like glue, kind of pushing Zack to the back. My brother tried to act like he wasn't doing it on purpose, but I knew better.

  Finally, we circled back to the internet cafe. When I saw Luka still sitting right where we left him, I let out my first easy breath in hours. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was sure something terrible was going to happen to him despite Derek's logical assurances the clan wouldn't do anything in a public space.

  "Almost finished?" I asked.

  "Yeah." Luka rubbed a hand across his eyes. "Just want to make sure these last two emails go through, and then we can go."

  "Great." Right, if it was great, then why did I feel so lousy? Why did I have this knot of fear in my gut? Whatever, it was done. No turning back now.

  "How long do you think it'll take for anyone to run with the story?" Derek asked.

  Luka shrugged. "Depends on if anybody believes it, I guess." The emails had gone through, so he logged off the computer. "The bigger news stations won't run with it right away, it's not like they can come to the source to check it out. But I think once it gets plastered all over the internet, they'll have to take notice. I posted it to every social media site I could think of."

  We left the mall and got back in the van. This time I was the one who stretched out in the last seat. I guess being stressed all day long will flat wear you out because I fell asleep before we even got out of the city.

  The next thing I knew, I was slamming into the back of the middle row of seats. I crashed awkwardly into the floorboard. Good thing my arm was out of the sling, or I probably couldn't have gotten myself back up. It was kind of awkward even with all my limbs working properly.

  Something was wrong. I could feel it in my bones. I scrambled to my feet, bumping my head on the roof in the process, just in time to see Zack hop out the side door. "What's going on?" I leaned against the back of the seat, trying to see out the front window. From my position I couldn't see anything but the road in front of us and the trees off to the side.

  The front passenger door was open. Derek was gone. Luka crouched between the two front seats, obviously seeing what I couldn't. Sam had both hands pressed to her mouth as she stared straight ahead. Oh yeah, definitely something wrong.

  Since nobody was answering me, I followed after Zack. Once outside, the first thing I saw was my brother running full speed along the side of the road. Then I raised my eyes and saw smoke billowing up above the tops of the trees.

  Everything kind of tilted sideways as my breath caught in my chest. Smoke. Just like in Oregon. A warning sign of disaster. And I was too late. Too late to save my friends. They died. They died because of me. And it was happening all over again.

  "Abby!" Zack's voice was sharp in my ear, jerking me back to the moment.

  I was on my knees and Zack was beside me, both arms wrapped around me. My heart was pounding so hard it hurt. I twisted to meet his gaze, panic welling up inside of me. "Jonah. Stephanie. Oh my god, we have to help them." I tried to jump to my feet, but he only held me tighter, keeping me in place.

  "Let me go!" I shouted, struggling against him.

  "We don't know what's happening," he said.

  "But they're in danger. We have to help them."

  "No. We have to stay calm. We have to be smart and careful. Scout out the situation and see how things lie before we get involved."

  "He's right." Sam braced one hand against the front of the van like she needed it to help her stay on her feet. Her face had drained of all color. "We… we have to do this right. Think like trackers."

  I didn't know how she could be so calm when her brother might be dying or dead. I stared down the road. Derek was no longer in sight. Panic sank it's claws deep into my gut. No way was I going to lose him.

  "I'm not a tracker." I grabbed the air around me and slammed into Zack, sending him tumbling across the ground. Before he could recover, I was on my feet and racing after Derek.

  Everything was disjointed. Unreal. It was like the past and the present were melting into each other and I wasn't even sure of where I was. I was sure of the fire, though, and that I needed to get to it before somebody died. Who was going to die?
Brandy? Curtis? No, they were already dead, right? I couldn't think straight. Couldn't even breath.

  I came around the corner and saw the farmhouse in flames. No sign of Derek. Everything inside of me tightened. This couldn't be happening. Not again. Movement caught out of the corner of my eye had me instinctively pulling up an air shield seconds before a huge chunk of rock could hit me in the side of the head. Adrenaline surged, helping to clear my mind a little. I had to focus on what was going on around me or I was going to die.

  I turned to face the dragon who attacked me. I didn't recognize him, but it was no surprise. He might have been part of my clan, or Luka's, or someone else entirely. I had no idea how many people Alastair might have gotten involved in the hunt for me. But I did know that I was going to have to kill this guy. The thought made me sick.

  The ground beneath my feet trembled. I shot up into the air, pulling my shield into a bubble and making sure to strengthen the bottom. A training session with Megara had taught me that was a bad spot to leave vulnerable.

  The earth dragon drew up a shield too. But he didn't know who he was messing with. I reached out to the dirt and rock making up the shield and tore it to shreds like it was made of paper. I saw shock on the man's face as I wrapped the air in a band around and him and squeezed until his spine snapped.

  The sound made me want to vomit. I didn't want to do this. I didn't want to become this. But all my choices were taken away from me. I was forced to remake myself into this new thing, and the people responsible were going to have to pay the price.

  Something pinged off the back of my shield and fell to the ground. I had to stare at it for like three seconds before I realized it was a bullet. I was expecting to be attacked by dragons, not shot at. Who would be shooting at me?

  Rick. That's who. He was standing there way too close to the burning house, pointing a gun at me. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. "Don’t do this." I lowered myself to the ground and walked toward him. Maybe not the smartest thing to do, but I did keep my shield up. No way was I going to kill him.

  He shot at me again, even though he had to know it wasn't going to do any good. I couldn't blame him for wanting to hurt me. I killed the woman he loved and in his eyes I'm sure there was no good excuse for that. It didn't matter to him I was acting in self defense, or that Alice would have happily squashed me like a bug.

  "You can't kill me with that thing," I said. "You don’t belong here. You should leave before you get hurt."

  Rick glared at me, his eyes hard and cold with hate. "I'm not trying to kill you."

  Ice formed on the inside of my shield, telling me that Rick was only a distraction so a tracker could get close enough to attack. Fire formed over the ice, flashing bright and hot in the small space. Okay, make that two trackers.

  I dropped to the ground to avoid being fried. The flames danced over my head, quickly eating up all the oxygen inside my shield. Once it was gone, I'd have no air to control and the entire thing would collapse, dropping the fire right down on me.

  Grabbing what air I had left, I pushed outwards, manipulating the fire up at the same time so it would burn through the ice, and sent the whole thing bursting away from me. I gasped as fresh air filled my lungs.

  But I didn't have time to lay there being glad I was still alive. I pushed myself to my hands and knees. Rick was down and so was one of the trackers, so I focused on the one still standing, wondering if she was the fire dragon. It didn't take me long to find out, as she lobbed a fireball straight at me.

  I rolled over onto my back and caught the fireball. Not with my hands, of course, but with my power over fire. The woman's mouth fell open in shock. I felt the same way. It was so wild to find myself with complete control over my powers and yet having absolutely no idea of what all they could do.

  I held the fireball right over my body, feeling the heat radiating from it, knowing I should throw it back. But I couldn't. I felt frozen in the moment, almost hypnotized by the dancing flames hanging over me.

  A good size chunk of stone whirled past me, slamming directly into the woman's face. The fireball dissipating with a slight hiss and just a trace of smoke as she went down.

  "You got to do better than that kid," Sam held her hand out to me. "You can't be hesitating in the middle of a fight. It's bad for your health."

  I took the offered hand and let her pull me to my feet. "Thanks for the help."

  She flashed me a grin. "What are friends for?"

  The side of the farmhouse exploded, showering the area with bits of charred wood and shattered glass. Sam and I both ducked, covering our heads with our arms. Luckily, I also thought to pull an air shield over us so we didn’t get pelted by the falling debris.

  My heart was thumping, but only one thought was going through my head. I grabbed Sam's arm. "Where's Zack?"

  "There's your boy." Sam nodded to the far side of the yard, where Zack was doing a better than fair job defending himself against three other dragons. Still, three on one was not the best of odds.

  I dropped the shield and rose up, sending a forceful blast of air at one the dragons. It lifted him off his feet and into a tree. His head cracked like a melon dropped on concrete. Just another of a hundred images I was never going to be able to scrub from my mind.

  But the death of the dragon gave Zack the break he needed to form two icicles in his hands. He lopped off the head of one of the dragons while simultaneously striking backward and impaling the other.

  I winced, looking away, and saw Rick, back on his feet and raising the gun. Only this time he wasn't pointing it at me.

  In that split second, I knew what he was thinking. That he would hurt me in the same way I had hurt him. And if I'd had just a moment's hesitation, things would have ended differently than they did. I can't say I would have wanted them too, but that doesn't mean I'm happy about the outcome.

  I ripped a chunk of rock from the ground and threw it at him with the added force of air behind it. It slammed into his chest, sending him spinning. The gun went off twice before he collapsed. One of the bullets grazed my shoulder, and trust me, it hurt way worse than a broken bone. It felt like somebody stuck me with a hot poker. I screamed, going down on one knee and clutching the wound. My eyes widening in horror as blood bubbled up between my fingers.

  "Let me see." Sam crouched beside me, prying my fingers away. She let out a relieved breath. "It's okay. Just a flesh wound."

  "Flesh wound?" It felt like my entire arm was on fire and so much of my own blood was running down my arm it made me light headed to look at it.

  Sam patted my back. "Take it easy, kid, you'll …" Her voice trailed off as she stared at something over my shoulder.

  I turned my head to look and my heart fell. The second bullet had done far more damage than the first. I pushed myself shakily to my feet and stepped away from Sam.

  I knew he was dead before I got to him. Had to be, with that much blood already soaking into the ground and his eyes staring blankly up at the sky. A sob rose up in my throat. "Oh, Luka." I knelt beside him, staring at the bullet hole in his throat. At least it was quick.

  "I'm so sorry." I closed his eyes with my hand, leaving drops of my blood on his cheeks. "You didn't deserve this." I leaned over and placed a kiss on his forehead. The sob stayed lodged in my throat, making it hard to breath. My eyes burned, but no tears came. Inside of me that hollow spot grew bigger. It was almost like losing Curtis all over again, only this time I had no one to lash out at to relieve the pain.

  And then Zack was beside me, his hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him. He didn't say a word, just tore a strip off the bottom of his shirt and wrapped it around my arm. He could mend the wounds on my body, but who was going to mend the ones on my soul?

  Over Zack's shoulder, I could see the fire igniting the lawn. It would reach the woods in a flash and then who knew how far it might go before it was stopped. At least I could do something about that.

  Rain fell from the clear sky on the ho
use and surrounding yard. It felt strangely good, like I was pouring my grief out on the fire. I met Zack's gaze. "I need to find my brother."

  "Some fighting was going on behind the house," he said.

  That was all I needed to hear. I led the way around the miniature rainstorm to the backyard with Zack and Sam following. There we found Tony and Derek throwing fireballs at some dragons retreating into the woods. Stephanie was crouched behind them, but I saw no sign of Jonah.

  My heart tightened, but I refused to feel the emotion. I shoved it down in the same place where I was holding on to my tears for Luka. The only way to get through this, was to get through it. Grieving was for a time when people weren't trying to kill us.

  "How many?" I asked, stepping up beside my brother. Dozens of bodies were scattered across the yard, but at that moment I was more concerned with the ones who were still alive.

  Sam went to Tony, who had some nasty looking burns all down his left arm and in patches across his chest, as well a gash above his eye that had streaked his face with blood. "Too many."

  "I think they want us to follow them into the woods," Derek said. "But that would a very bad idea."

  Of course it would be. We had no good reason to follow them into what was, no doubt, a trap. Even I was smart enough to understand that. So why was my brother giving me this wary 'please don't do anything stupid' kind of look?

  "Why would they think we'd follow them into the woods?" I asked.

  Derek laid his hand on my shoulder. "Tony says they took Jonah."

  It felt like somebody had reached into my chest and was squeezing my heart. "Is… is he alive?"

  "We don't know." Tony hissed as Sam probed at his wounds. "Will you stop that?"

  "Trying to help here," she said. "I need to see how bad these are."

  "Bad enough. And you poking them doesn't help."

  I gritted my teeth. "Guys, can we focus here, please? Are you sure they took Jonah into the woods?"