Winter Kiss

by Deborah Cooke

  The distinctive scent of the Elixir.

  It wound into his nostrils and made his gut clench. He felt the shadow slide over his thoughts, felt the monster within awaken with a roar. A ravenous hunger, one that would only be sated by the one thing Delaney would never willingly ingest, claimed his body and left him shaking with need.

  Delaney had to destroy the vial, immediately. He knew that rock crystal could shatter and he could see the flaws in the stone.

  Force would win this day.

  Delaney had already shifted shape and he took flight with purpose. He flew toward the vial at top speed, breathing dragonfire. It was harder to breathe fire, but maybe that was part of the Elixir’s effect. He blew harder. As he drew closer, spewing fire, he saw the rock crystal shimmer a bit beneath the assault of heat.

  He breathed fire until he was almost upon the vial, then threw his shoulder against it, slamming his weight into the crystal. He hit it with everything he had, the beast within him bellowing at the injustice of his choice.

  The vial shuddered, but didn’t crack.

  Delaney repeated the exercise three times, until his breath was coming in spurts and he was feeling the exertion. Each time he drew near it, that desire increased and his power over his body diminished slightly.

  But his assault made no difference. Other than the Elixir swirling within the vial at greater speed, nothing changed.

  He could simply drink some. That would help.

  The thought slid into his mind, coming from everywhere and nowhere, threatening to pervert his knowledge of what was right.

  Delaney attacked the vial again, again to no visible effect.

  One sip. It would take only one sip.

  Delaney felt a moment’s panic as the thought became more persuasive. He couldn’t have come this far and challenged Magnus to meet him, only to fail.

  Energized by the chance of failure, Delaney lunged at the vial again. He thrashed it with his tail; he threw his weight against it; he clawed the surface with his talons. He breathed smoke and fire. He grasped the sides of the vial and tried to shake it loose of the cavern’s walls, his efforts only managing to make the cloudy Elixir roil behind the crystal.

  Then Delaney glimpsed an eye, right before his own. The eye was wide and staring and red, the eye of something submerged in the vial. And not just any eye—it was an eye of a dragon. The pupil was a vertical slit.

  That eye seemed to stare directly at him before disappearing into the red murk.

  Delaney was disgusted at the import of what he’d seen. The Elixir moved in silence, concealing what it had just revealed. Delaney had never seen the source of the Elixir, never glimpsed the origin of the dreaded substance. He’d never truly thought about what created it, but in that moment, he understood.

  And was appalled all over again.

  It was, after all, called the Dragon’s Blood Elixir. He roared in fury and dug his talons into the crystal. He tried to unmoor it from its seating, slamming his shoulder into the vial over and over and over again. The floor of the cavern shook with the force of his efforts, but the crystal showed no flaw.

  “Surely you can’t imagine sheer force will work,”

  Magnus mused, his old-speak echoing in Delaney’s thoughts.

  Delaney spun, knowing he wasn’t alone any longer. He had a glimpse of Magnus in human form before the leader of the Slayers shifted shape and leapt into the air to attack.

  The chamber seemed instantly smaller. Magnus’s antagonism was intense, but it had nothing on Delaney’s fury. This was the Slayer who had put poison in Delaney’s body. This was the Slayer who had tormented and nearly destroyed him. This was the Slayer Delaney hated above all creatures.

  It was time for Magnus to pay.

  Magnus flew directly at Delaney, his eyes bright with anger. The pair locked claws in the traditional fighting pose, colliding with a vengeance. They tumbled from the force of Magnus’s attack, Delaney spinning to slam Magnus into the vial.

  The cavern shook with the impact. Other than the Elixir swirling a little faster, the vial remained pristine.

  “Tougher than it looks,” Magnus mused, clearly unsurprised.

  “Like many of us.”

  Magnus smiled as his grip tightened. “Sure you wouldn’t rather have a sip?”

  “Not a chance.”

  “I’ll drop you right into it,” Magnus threatened, chuckling at the prospect. “Hold you down until you surrender.”

  The prospect was horrifying. Delaney slashed at the Slayer’s belly with his rear claws, twisting free of Magnus’s grip when he recoiled. He hit the Slayer with his tail, sending Magnus rolling through the air.

  It was clear that Magnus relied upon his help to do the dirty work. Delaney raced after the Slayer, knowing he could take him down.

  “Go ahead and try,” Delaney taunted. Magnus turned and flew for him again. They locked claws once more, biting and slashing with a vengeance.

  Their entwined bodies fell toward the floor of the cavern. Magnus bit Delaney and twisted out of his grip just before they hit the floor. He broke a stalactite as he turned, leaving a dusting of ochre rock on his wings. The stalactite shattered when it fell, making the floor vibrate.

  The Elixir sloshed.

  They lifted their talons and circled again, their expressions grim. The flap of their wings stirred the dust on the floor of the cavern and the light from the Elixir created long, ominous shadows from their silhouettes.

  As they circled each other and Magnus moved into the light, Delaney saw the missing scale on the Slayer’s chest. It was hard to believe that Magnus could ever have loved anyone more than himself, but maybe that self-adoration was the weakness indicated by the lost scale.

  Delaney didn’t care. He knew where to hit to hurt, the missing scale being the place of Magnus’s sole vulnerability.

  “You’re slow,” Magnus murmured, his smile predatory. “Maybe you have mixed feelings about me.”

  “Maybe not.”

  “Dead or alive, I’ll take you and make you mine,” Magnus threatened, his eyes glittering yellow. “By coming here, you’ve made it easy for me to claim you once and for all.” Magnus’s conviction in his own invincibility was clear, but there was no way Delaney would let him succeed.

  It was Magnus who would die.

  “You’ll never claim me,” Delaney retorted. “I’ll destroy you first.”

  Magnus laughed, but Delaney attacked, the frenzy of his assault clearly taking the ancient Slayer by surprise.

  That was nothing compared to what Delaney would do.

  Chapter 4

  There was someone ahead of her. Ginger heard rustling, like footsteps on stone, then a mighty thump that made the floor of the underground cave shake.

  A second thump was less vehement but still powerful.

  What she heard next sounded like men fighting. There was an occasional grunt, the sound of a blow connecting with flesh, the crack of a bone. Stone broke, the floor shook, and there was a flash of fire.

  Delaney was in trouble! Someone or something roared with anger, which was all Ginger needed to encourage her to get involved. She’d never been one to stand back and watch when she could make a difference, and she didn’t see a reason to start now.

  She hefted the rifle, stepped through the last opening, and froze in shock.

  It wasn’t the eerie red light that stopped her, even though it pulsed as it bathed the chamber in light the color of blood. It wasn’t the huge rock crystal container of cloudy liquid on the far side of the chamber that halted her, or even the fact that it seemed to be the source of the weird light.

  It was definitely the two fighting dragons that surprised Ginger.

  She blinked and stared, certain her eyes were deceiving her, but the dragons continued to fight overhead.

  They were massive creatures, just the way one would expect dragons to be, coiled with ferocious strength. They possessed a dangerous beauty.

  One had scales that could h
ave been carved from emeralds, each faceted to catch the light. His scales—it was impossible to think of these monsters as female—could have been edged in copper. His muscled and scaled stomach was copper, as were the talons on each of his four claws. His eyes shone green and his teeth were both numerous and sharply pointed.

  His opponent had scales in all the cloudy colors of jade, ranging from almost white to deep green. His talons were gold, and he seemed larger and thicker than the copper and emerald dragon. They both had massive wings that could have been made of leather, although the jade one had a gold talon at the end of each wing.

  They fought viciously, apparently ceding no rules. Ginger had seen enough bar fights to understand that the loser would die.

  But where was Delaney?

  There was no sign of him.

  Had one of the dragons eaten him?

  She couldn’t see any other way out of the cavern than the tunnel she’d just used, and Ginger knew it wasn’t wide enough that anyone could have passed her without her knowing it.

  She eyed the bellies of the dragons as they battled above her and wondered whether one was more rounded than the other. Could a person survive being swallowed by a dragon? It was frigid in this cavern despite the fact that it seemed to be filled with steam. All the same, Ginger felt a different kind of heat in her veins.

  It reminded her of the sparks she’d imagined leaping between herself and Delaney the night before. Certainly, the slow burn of desire was the same as what she had felt the night before. Ginger felt a shimmer on her skin, a vibration of lust in her veins, and marveled that she could feel excited by the presence of fighting dragons.

  But she did.

  They were muscled and beautiful, purely masculine, but it was more than that. She was definitely aroused—just as she had been with Delaney.

  It was hardly the time for such thoughts.

  The emerald dragon struck the other with his tail and the jade dragon rolled through the air, barely missing a beat. He roared back toward the emerald one, breathing fire. The emerald one ducked, but the jade one caught him by the end of the tail. He flung the emerald one against a wall of the cavern, making it shudder again, and inhaled audibly.

  Ginger guessed he was going to breathe fire, maybe roast the emerald one.

  The emerald dragon had other ideas. He dove at the jade one, winding his tail around the jade dragon’s tail to hold it down. They wrapped around each other, biting and grappling for supremacy, like boa constrictors each trying to squeeze the life out of the other.

  They fell, landing heavily and launching a cloud of red dust. The jade one rolled and bit, digging his talons into the emerald one’s wings. Red blood flowed over the gold talons.

  The emerald dragon twisted and snapped at the jade one, freeing himself from the larger dragon’s grip as he tore the jade dragon’s flesh. He threw the jade dragon against the large column of red liquid and again the floor jumped. The emerald dragon dug his claws into the jade dragon’s mailed chest.

  The jade dragon screamed as the talons tore. His blood ran as black as pitch over his glorious scales as he writhed out of the emerald dragon’s grip. “You can’t truly injure me,” he taunted. “Not when the means to recovery are so close.”

  “Let’s try,” the emerald dragon muttered with grim determination.

  Ginger blinked. She had to be imagining that he sounded like Delaney.

  The emerald dragon ripped the chest of the jade one, leaving his opponent gasping in pain. The emerald dragon hit his opponent hard with his tail, then he slammed the jade dragon into the massive vial.

  The jade dragon slid bonelessly down the smooth crystal, catching himself on one of the steps carved into its face. He pivoted, leaning his back against the crystal, and seemed to smile at his hovering opponent.

  His gaze flicked across the chamber. Ginger’s heart leapt in terror. She knew he’d seen her when his eyes gleamed. A puff of smoke came from his nostrils and his smile widened.

  “Oh, look,” he said, launching into flight with surprising speed. “Luncheon is served.”

  Ginger didn’t wait for introductions. She raised her gun and shot.

  Her shot got the jade dragon in the knee, but he didn’t seem to notice. She wasn’t entirely sure that the shot even penetrated his scales. It didn’t stop him or even slow him down.

  If anything, it only annoyed him.

  He breathed fire as he bore down on her, fearsome and closing fast. Ginger shot again, but her shot went wild. She pivoted and ran toward the passageway that led back to the surface and sanity.

  The emerald dragon bellowed, but Ginger didn’t bother to look. She would have preferred to have evaded them both. The jade dragon was fast, faster than she’d expected, and he snatched her with his talons before she got to safety. Ginger dropped her rifle as she was lifted above the ground.

  The jade dragon raised her high, his smile all the more malicious at close proximity.

  He had a lot of teeth.

  And they looked sharp. Had he eaten Delaney? If so, they might be together sooner than Ginger had expected.

  If not in any condition to chat.

  Ginger struggled, but to no avail. She kicked and fought, even bit the dragon’s fingers. It made no difference. He breathed another puff of smoke, then opened his mouth slightly. She saw the flames flickering deep in his gullet, and closed her eyes when he exhaled. Smoke surrounded her, the smell of fire and ash, and she struggled with new force.

  It made no difference.

  Ginger had time to hope that she gave him indigestion before the first of the flames licked her skin. She smelled her jacket burning and knew she’d be next.

  Then salvation came from the most unlikely of places.

  Delaney was shocked to see Ginger in the cave. He’d felt heat, but had attributed it to his efforts in fighting Magnus. It had felt like the firestorm, but he’d been sure that was impossible.

  His firestorm was over. They’d sated it.

  But Ginger was here and he was sizzling all over again.

  She was a fool to have followed him, but that didn’t mean she should die for her mistake.

  Magnus had already snatched her up and loosed his dragonfire. Fortunately, he was focused on torturing a human and not obviously paying attention to Delaney. Delaney didn’t doubt that it was a lure, and that Magnus would try to awaken some embedded command in Delaney’s thoughts.

  Ginger’s presence infuriated him as nothing else could, and the prospect of her being injured sent a jolt of adrenaline through his body. The dark threat of the Elixir faded from his thoughts, its power over his confidence eliminated as he found purpose.

  He had to save Ginger.

  Delaney fell upon the ancient Slayer in a flurry of talons and teeth. He didn’t care where he inflicted damage on Magnus, so long as he did. His blood lust would have frightened him in other circumstances, so violent and powerful, but Magnus deserved no less. The beast was loose and this time, Delaney was glad.

  “Join me,” Magnus murmured in old-speak even as he was battered.

  “Never!” Delaney cried aloud. He steeled himself against Magnus’s inevitable attempts to control him.

  Ginger’s gaze flew to him, her astonishment clear. Had she recognized his voice?

  “Acknowledge that humans are the vermin that plague the planet,” Magnus continued. “Take this one as your first victim, a commemorative prize for joining the Slayer side.” He breathed fire at Ginger and she screamed as her jacket began to burn.

  Delaney was livid. He ripped at the tendons at the top of Magnus’s wings, then sank his teeth into the Slayer ’s shoulder. Magnus shouted, breaking his stream of dragonfire, and spun to fight.

  Delaney tore Ginger from the Slayer’s grasp, passing her to his back claw and smothering the flames with his grasp. He was shocked at the large spark that leapt between them, at the hum of desire that settled within him.

  The firestorm was undeniable, the radiant glow from his cl
aw that grasped Ginger leaving no question.

  “Nothing like a firestorm,” Magnus said with glee. “How very, very interesting.”

  Delaney dove for the missing scale on Magnus’s golden chest, sinking his fang into the skin revealed there. Magnus roared with pain, his black blood spewing over Delaney. Ginger screamed.

  Magnus began to chant a low chorus, an ancient tune that resonated deep within Delaney. Delaney felt that impetus to serve Magnus’s will, he felt the desire to do what the leader of the Slayers wanted of him, but he also felt the agitated pulse of his mate. His heart thundered, his brain filled with a red rage that insisted he destroy.

  “Kill her,” Magnus commanded, lower and more insistent than old-speak. Delaney slammed the Slayer into the stone wall and Magnus shuddered as a bone cracked within him. “Kill her now.”

  Delaney didn’t heed the command. He’d kill Magnus instead. He ripped the Slayer’s carcass open with a violence that had been alien to him, hooked a talon into Magnus’s guts, and compelled them to spill forth.

  Magnus roared in pain.

  “Kill her!” Magnus bellowed.

  Delaney caught the Slayer and spun him in the cavern, not caring that Magnus’s body broke stalactite after stalactite, not caring that the falling stone filled the chamber with dust. He was enraged. Magnus’s blood spilled on the cavern floor, burning whatever it contacted.

  Ginger swore softly, her heart skipping before it settled. Delaney noted that she had passed out in his grasp, her face pale.

  “You cannot deny me!” Magnus shouted in fury as he struggled.

  “I just have.” Delaney dropped the Slayer on the floor of the cavern, noting how he didn’t immediately rise.

  Magnus’s guts spilled from the open wound, his black blood spreading rapidly across the floor of the cavern. Delaney could smell the filth that ran in the Slayer’s veins, the hatred and the darkness, and he wanted them to have nothing in common.