by Naomi Sparks
“Find the son of a bitch!” he yells, his voice filled with as much hatred and scorn as I’ve ever heard. “He did this! Don’t let him get away!”
But then I do just that. Like I’d ever let these humans find me. The compulsion to swoop in and kill Dez while he is there and all alone is strong, but I’m weak after using so much of my power without fully recovering. I can’t risk it. So, I disappear into the darkness and make my way down to the road and to Kyra, who’s relieved to see me.
“Sounds like you found out where they were cooking the meth,” Kyra says. She looks down at her hands and asks, “My brother…did you?”
“No,” I answer. “I saw him, though. I wasn’t able to do anything.” I show her my arm, which has begun to bleed rather profusely again. Already I can feel the cuts and bruises aching all over my body. The healing I managed to do earlier was a stopgap measure, at best.
“Oh god,” Kyra says and takes a closer look.
I just gently wave her off. There’s nothing more she can do. “Right now I could really use some gold. Attacking him in my current condition would’ve been foolish.”
“I’m just glad you’re not dead. Are you able to drive or should I?”
I hop onto the bike, make it roar to life, and hand her the helmet. “I’ve got it, thanks. I’ve been in worse scrapes and rode away after them. Let’s head back to the campsite.”
Krya doesn’t say another word and climbs onto the bike. She snuggles up behind me and holds on tight. We fly down the cold and empty road just outside of town and the wind is in my hair. It feels both extremely comforting to have her there holding onto me and extremely worrying at the same time. I don’t want anything to ever happen to her and I can’t help but feel responsible for the danger she’s faced so far.
Even more, I dread what’s coming. There’s little doubt that I dealt a serious blow to Dez’s operations tonight. But I didn’t do nearly enough damage. He’ll be after me —and Kyra, once he’s talked to the stooge he posted as guard, the one she knocked out.
The bike bumps up and over the rough entrance to the campground area. The asphalt has been there for ages and isn’t great for motorcycles, but I handle it. I roll back on the throttle and cruise slowly enough to make out the markers which direct visitors to each campsite. When I see the right one I swing the bike in and navigate down the dark path.
It doesn’t take long before I can see the clearing again. The fire’s going and there’s a row of bikes lined up nearby. I count them—all of my crew are accounted for except Lex.
I park my bike in the row like the others, kill the engine, and dismount after Kyra has gotten off. She says something to me but for some reason I can’t hear it. An intense dizziness hits me and suddenly I’m stumbling over like a damn drunk.
The world seems to fade in and out. I can see several figures standing over me. Their voices are muffled and I can’t make them out. Then I feel someone shove something into my hand. It seems to radiate pure energy.
Gold.
I squeeze my fist over the small chunk of metal and begin to absorb it. There’s a feeling of warmth which surges up my arm and through the rest of my body in seconds. My wounds start to close back up and heal. The dizziness fades. I no longer feel weak. Moments later, I’m sitting up in the dirt and brushing myself off.
“Welcome back,” Galen says and slaps me on the shoulder.
“Is he going to be ok now?” Kyra worriedly asks.
Bren kneels down in front of me. He lifts my head, turns it from side to side, and then shines a too-bright flashlight across my eyes. My hand is still tightly shut around the gold and he makes me open it. There, all that remains is a small mound of glittering powder, which promptly catches the wind and scatters.
“Aye, he’s fine,” answers Bren. “I think he was just really drained.” He looks at back at me and raises a brow. “You’ve been pushing yourself a bit hard there, haven’t you?”
“Yeah.” It’s all I feel like saying, but I know I’m going to have to fill them all in on what happened.
Ezra looks up from his phone and takes in several deep sniffs. “Hmm. Is that dragonfire I smell?”
“Yes. It’s dragonfire. My dragonfire, to be precise,” I offer.
Ezra gets up and peers at something off in the distance. “Oh. So I guess you’re responsible for that, then.”
I get up and walk over to where he’s standing. From the top of the plateau I can see it. There, miles away, is Dez’s compound. I can just make out the strobing lights of police and fire trucks, too. The fires are still raging. No doubt by now Dez and his men have evacuated. They wouldn’t want to hang around to face the music.
From the look on my face, I’m sure the others can tell the fires are my doing.
“Wow. She’s burning pretty good, Your Highness,” Galen jokes. “That the guys who were messing with you the other day?”
“That’s them,” I answer. “They managed to knock me out. Tie me up. Take me prisoner, for a time, at least. It was my fault. I should have taken them out when I had the chance.” Kyra sidles up beside me and my arm instantly goes around her. I continue, “They didn’t kill me because they thought I might be working with the police. If I were dead they couldn’t get any information out of me.”
Ezra and Galen nearly burst out laughing at the prospect.
“You? A cop?” Ezra says and smiles widely.
I merely shake my head. “Anyway. Krya helped me escape. She knocked out the guy guarding me and set me free.”
I look around at my friends, my brothers. They all seem fairly surprised.
“Really? Her?” Galen asks, incredulously.
“Impressive,” Jerrick says. “Your woman has a true warrior spirit inside her, doesn’t she? It reminds me of my Rota. Such fierceness.”
Kyra blushes just slightly and tries to hide it.
“There’s something else,” I say. They must be informed. And Kyra must know what is going to happen to her brother. “I’m sure that Dez and whatever men remain by his side will come for me, if they can find me. I did a lot of damage tonight, but I fear it was not enough.”
“How many men are we looking at?” Bren asks me.
“Easily a dozen. Perhaps as many as twenty men.”
Galen crushes up a beer can and tosses it into the nearby trash. “That’s child’s play for five dragons. Even if the men are well-armed. We can take them, easy.”
“Only easy in our dragon forms,” I add. “And in that form, we’ll have to kill any who see us.” The others know it. But I need Kyra to know it, too. She must understand that there can be no quarter for anyone, her brother included, if they come for us.
“You’ll have to kill Dez, is what you’re really saying,” Kyra says quietly, looking down at the ground.
I squeeze her a little tighter and try to soften my voice. “Yes. I…I don’t want to, but it must be done. We cannot allow them to live. Any of them.”
Kyra nods. I see tears running down her cheeks.
“I wasn’t sure if there was anything good left in my brother. There were moments along the way where he seemed to still care about me. But not anymore. Not for a long time. He’s brutal and twisted up. Tonight I knew if he caught me there, helping you, that he would have killed me. There was no doubt in my mind.”
Overcome with emotion, Kyra turns away. I watch her until she disappears into my tent.
“We’ll set up a night watch,” Galen says, breaking the silence. Then he looks over at Ezra, who is absently watching the fires in the distance again, and thumps him in the chest. “And you’re on first watch, kiddo.”
Jerrick stretches and pushes his tall frame up and off the stump he’s sitting on. Standing next to me at full height, I swear the man must have some giant’s blood in his lineage. “There’s only one easy way to reach our campsite, and it’s from that trail right over there. I think I’ll set up a little surprise in case we get any visitors.”
“This sounds like a p
lan,” Bren replies to Jerrick and the others, and then turns to me. “Perhaps you should get some rest, my friend. We’ll keep an eye out tonight.”
I can’t help but agree. The night is getting cold and all I want is to be close to Kyra again. To be there for her if she still needs to talk about what’s going to happen.
I thumb the makeshift bandage she wrapped around my arm. It’s soaked in my dried blood, but now my wound is healed. With a quick tug I pull it off and discard it into the campfire on my way to the tent.
12
Kyra
I throw aside the flap to the tent and lie down on the soft sleeping bag with my face buried in a pillow. The tears are not stopping. My heart is still trying to fight with me, trying to convince me that somehow there’s something left of my brother that can be redeemed.
How has it come to this? I remember Dez as a little boy, back before he turned into this—this monster that he is now. I see flashes of him as that young boy in my mind. He was so sweet and innocent. A smiling, blond-haired kid that just wanted to have fun.
We played together most afternoons, exploring the woods behind the house, riding our bicycles around the neighborhood, or doing any multitude of fun things kids do. In the mornings, he’d walk me to the bus stop and in the afternoons, he’d be there waiting. He was a good big brother back then, and one of the only reasons I made it through childhood after our parents were killed in the accident.
But as Dez got older, things started to change.
Grandpa was a harsh man. He never abused us, but he was constantly on Dez to do better. By the end of freshman year, Dez fell in with the wrong crowd at the worst time. It was a group of kids that didn’t seem to fit in anywhere, and maybe he felt the same way. With them, he could be more like himself. Unfortunately, some of the kids in that crowd used drugs and committed crimes. Before long, my brother was doing both.
Once Dez figured out there was big money involved in the meth business, he devoted himself to it fully. He was out at all hours of the night and gave up helping out at the store. Then he dropped out of school. Grandpa tried to get him to go back, and so did I, but I don’t think Dez cared what we wanted anymore. He’d found a new family. A family that didn’t question him or his bad habits.
Grandpa got sick not too long after that. We had to sell the store just to keep from going under. Meanwhile, Dez was buying new cars and flashing around town like he’d just won the lottery. He never offered to help pay the bills, though a part of me doubts that Grandpa would’ve taken his dirty money.
A few months later, Grandpa died. Dez made a half-hearted, drunken and high appearance at the funeral, and then left me to pick up all the pieces. I was truly alone after that, at least, until Faris arrived in town.
I hear the flap open and feel Faris’s presence as he enters the tent. He quietly lies down on the sleeping bag and cradles me in his arms. He’s so warm and so strong. I feel safe with him here, safer than I think I’ve ever felt in my entire life.
“The others have set up positions outside and they’re taking turns with night watch,” Faris says. “If Dez tries anything—“
“Why couldn’t he have just left us alone?” I blurt out. My cheeks are wet with tears. “What happened to him? Why couldn’t I just have a fucking normal brother?”
Faris lightly strokes my hair. “I’m sorry, Kyra. I know this seems so unfair. I do not know why your brother is the way he is. Something turned him. Maybe the drugs. Maybe something else. He has so much hatred inside him.”
“And you’re going to kill him,” I say, more an acknowledgement than a question. Just hearing myself say it and not feel outrage at the idea of it is maddening.
“He seems to be past the point of knowing or caring about how his actions hurt you. That man is no longer the brother you once loved. I don’t want to kill anyone, but I can’t let him hurt you and I can’t let him live if he learns about our secret.”
I think about what Faris said, and I know in my heart that it’s true. The brother I knew—the one that loved me—he died years ago, didn’t he? There was no telling how many people he’d hurt or even killed since he turned to a life of crime. But judging by the way his friends acted around him and the way he went after Faris, my brother’s hands were covered with blood. And now there’s no telling what he’ll do to me since I helped Faris escape and burn down half of his entire operation, but I know it won’t be good.
I see my brother’s angry face in my mind and imagine him pulling out a gun and pointing it at me. He accuses me of being the cause of all his problems and a traitor to the family name.
His finger is on the trigger. The pistol fires. I bolt upright in the tent and loudly gasp.
My heart is pounding and there’s a moment of panic but that quickly fades along with the terrible images in my mind. The unsettling feeling is replaced by a strange sense of calm, almost like I’ve finished processing it all and there’s no need to pour any more emotion into it.
Faris is there and holding me close again. “You’re right,” I whisper into his chest. “He’s not my brother any more. He’s a killer, and he’ll kill both of us if he gets the chance.”
“That isn’t going to happen,” Faris says and brushes the hair out of my face. “We’ll protect you, no matter what.”
And I know he will. I’m sure of it.
I touch his arm and try to feel where he’d been stabbed, but there’s nothing there but smooth skin. For a moment, I marvel at just how fascinating Faris really is.
But before I can say a word, he leans into me and our lips meet. It’s a soft and delicate kiss, one that gently teases as he guides me back down and onto the sleeping bag.
Slowly, my need grows. Our lips crush together and our tongues wrap and twist around each other. I feel like I’m losing myself, but in the best way possible.
His hands glide along the fabric of my torn shirt and grip at my waist. He squeezes me in a tight embrace and then brings his delightful lips down to the sensitive skin just under my ear. I shiver as a wave of goosebumps run across my flesh. This man certainly knows how to push all the right buttons.
I’m falling deeper now, into this warm abyss. It’s driving away the pain. It’s just what I need. I let myself flow along with it like a rushing river.
“This shirt is ruined. Thank you for that,” Faris says with a sly smile. “Perhaps we should remove it?”
I nod in agreement and he rips the shirt open from the front. Buttons go flying across the tent. I’ve always wanted a man to do that. Check another thing off my bucket list, right next to go on a crazy adventure.
“Are you sure you’re, uh, ok for this?” I ask. It only makes sense to be sure. Only an hour ago and Faris was unconscious, face-first in the dirt.
“More than ok,” he answers and dips his head down to my breasts.
I’m definitely not going to say no to that, and his ministrations are really starting to work me into a lather. I unclip my bra so he can put those lips to use on my nipples and he does, without delay.
Faris kisses and sucks, alternating between each breast and making sure both get equal affection. I squeeze my legs together, reveling in the steadily gnawing sensation of need that grows between them. Before I know it, I’ve got his thick locks wound into my fingers and I’m pushing his head down, down, down.
Faris could easily resist me if he wanted, rip off my pants, and take me however he wanted. And I’d definitely enjoy it. But he’s listening to my body, giving it what it is aching for right now.
He unbuttons my jeans and pulls them off. My panties soon join them in a pile nearby. And then his hands are on my thighs, wrapped around them from behind and forcing my legs open. Faris tilts his head forward and covers my sex with his steaming mouth.
I bite my lip as the sensation overtakes me. The sleeping bag crumples up in one hand and the other has found its way back into his wavy, dark hair. His tongue is dancing, sliding along my folds, dipping deep inside me, tasting me. Someth
ing almost electric shoots through me as his lips encircle and suck on my excited clit.
It’s a struggle not to moan in ecstasy as this man does something to me which is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. But I do keep as quiet as I can. It would be only decent since there is nothing more than a thin canvas tent wall between us and his comrades outside.
It doesn’t help soften my noises when he releases one hand from its grip on my thigh and introduces it to my slick folds. His stiff finger penetrates me and I lift my hips in response. He seems to almost dig into me with it, massaging my soft walls. Faris is playing an orchestra of pure pleasure with me as his instrument.
“Oh god,” I push out through gritted teeth. “I’m going to come.”
Faris’s only response is to increase the determined pace of his tongue. I suddenly feel sweat break out across my forehead. My muscles clench and I try to force my legs together but Faris won’t let me. He drags his tongue over my clit, like a cat lapping up the sweetest milk.
My hips raise again and I squeeze my breasts hard with both hands. It’s impossible to be still. I throw my head back as I feel the rush of pleasure coming on.
And then it hits me. The world seems to open and expand all around me. My clenching muscles shake and quiver. I shut my eyes so tight that stars appear in the blackness of my vision. An explosion of warmth propels itself from the depths of my core and runs through my veins, up to my head and down to my toes.
I’m unable to do much more than breathe until the feeling slowly fades. Everything down there is still alight, however. Faris seems to know this, and he’s more than ready to continue the orchestra. He hands me a condom, and I gladly unroll it over his thick, firm manhood. I’d love to take him bare again, but I understand taking precautions—for now.
Playfully, I kiss the tip and give Faris a big smile. I turn over and present myself to him. His hands grip my waist and I guide his eager, probing member to my entrance. My slick folds offer no resistance as he slides in, filling me completely.
