by Debra Dunbar
It was one of those Japanese-looking swords the Samurai use. I had no idea what to do with it, but as I pulled it from the scabbard, I realized it was sharp and sturdy, and would have to do. I’d seen guys on TV cut through wooden dummies with these things. Hopefully that meant they’d be able to penetrate dragon scales. If not, I was going to have to go for Marcus’s wings or the eyes.
Or just lightning-bolt the crap out of him. They might breathe fire, but I was pretty sure that as lethal as Marcus was, he wouldn’t enjoy being electrocuted.
Another tail swung, barely missing my head. A spray of blood decorated the torn wallpaper, and I realized that one dragon was significantly more injured than the other. Sergio. The slightly smaller one. It was difficult to keep them separate with the speed of their attacks, but I held the sword like a baseball bat and waited, ducking the smaller tail that swished my way and lunging forward.
Chopping a tree, I thought as the sword bit through scales and into flesh, jarring me as it came to an abrupt stop against what I assumed was bone. The dragon roared and pivoted, with me still holding the sword. It was like a childhood game of crack-the-whip—the sword firmly lodged in the dragon’s leg, me gripping with hands slippery with blood and sweat as I tried to yank it free. My feet went airborne as the dragon kicked out. My hands slipped and I flew across the room to smack against the wall and slide to the floor.
Everything blurred, and my chest ached as I took tiny little breaths to get much-needed air into my lungs. I saw jaws open wide, sharp white teeth. I heard a click and rolled trying to get out of the way. Another set of jaws clamped down on the larger dragon’s neck, pulling him aside and reclaiming his attention just as the burst of flame poured forth, missing me but melting clear through the stone where I’d just been sitting.
It felt like I walked through the inside of a kiln, like a thousand needles in my skin. The air was so hot it scorched my lungs and I turned my head, hoping that my distraction had been enough to give Sergio the upper hand.
And then I heard it. Far away, but approaching with the speed of a jet was a high-pitched shriek. I looked up and saw a golden-red blur, then covered my head as the outer wall of the room exploded inward.
Irix.
Marcus turned and blasted him with fire. I hunched down low, covering my head and fearing the worst. Sex demons weren’t particularly high on the power-scale of Hel, and I was terrified about what dragon fire might do to my beloved. When I peeked up, what I saw made me cry out. Irix’s leathery wings were nothing but bones and bits of glowing, smoldering flesh where the membranes had been. The skin and muscle had melted from his body, making him look like something from a horror movie. I readied my lightning, prepared to bring the entire villa down on our heads in retribution. But then something jolted the fury from me—Irix was still upright, his eyes like golden coals, his double-row of teeth sharp as he opened his beak wide and lunged forward to close on Marcus’s scaled snout.
I gulped, thinking how much more terrifying Irix was as this half-melted, undead prehistoric monster. Not bothering to fix his injuries, the demon went on full attack against Marcus, clawing and biting. The dragon kicked out and snapped one of the demon’s wings backward, but beyond a squeal of pain, the damage didn’t seem to bother Irix.
Sergio had stumbled free of the melee, shifting back into his human form to better stay out of the way. I saw the burns down his abdomen and along the side of his leg, saw the slashes and blood still dripping from his head and arm. He shot me a look that said a thousand words and dove for the desk, vanishing through the passage with an agility that someone with those burns shouldn’t have been capable of.
Marcus roared to see his prey vanish and spun around, blowing a blast of dragon fire down the tunnel. Irix grabbed him from behind, digging his claws deep into the dragon’s hard scales and using his skeletal wings to pull Marcus backward. The dragon pulled himself up to full height, lifting the demon from the ground, and threw himself backward.
They went out what had once been the outside wall, crashing into an enormous tree before bouncing off and hitting the ground. The tree cracked, smashing into the roof of the room next to me and raining down on my head with leaves, branches, and little acorn-like nuts. There was a rush of air and Marcus flew into the room, transforming just as he went down the passageway after Sergio and Bianca.
Irix was seconds behind him, crashing on the floor and skidding across it into the wall next to me, his wings useless, his flesh completely melted from his body. All that remained of the demon was blackened bones and those eerie, glowing, golden eyes.
In a flash he was in his human form in front of me, reaching out to help me to my feet. “Are you okay?” He gathered me close, and I tried to push him off.
“Yes. Get him. Go. He’ll kill Sergio and Bianca. Go.”
He ignored me, his hands roaming over my arms and down my waist. “Did he burn you? I will tear him apart and Own his soul, torturing him for all of eternity if he so much as bruised you.”
I shivered, hearing the truth in Irix’s words. He was a demon. Yes, he’d developed fondness and some compassion for others, but when it came down to it, I came first in his very short list of priorities. It warmed my heart to know I meant so much to an amoral demon, but I was fine. There were others who were about to be very much not fine.
“Irix, if you don’t go help Bianca and Sergio I will never give you a blow job again.”
He pulled away from me, his golden eyes searching mine. Then he chuckled. “Darling, your wish is my command.”
Then he hopped on top of the splintered desk in all his naked glory and saluted, shifting into a much smaller version of his demon self before vanishing down the passageway.
Chapter 25
I hesitated at the entrance to the passageway, assailed with doubts. I was the weak link here—a feeling that was becoming irritatingly too familiar this trip. Yes I had talents, and in the past I’d been able to do amazing things with them, but always with the help of someone else fueling me. In New Orleans, I’d needed Irix’s energy. In Maui, I’d needed Pele’s. And in Napa Valley, I would have been dead had Irix and Harkel not been there to help.
It stung. I was too young, too weak, too inexperienced—both when it came to the enologist seminars and in this fight against dragons. There was a limit to what a twenty-two-year-old half-elf/half-succubus could do, and it chafed.
As I looked down the tunnel, I saw that it dropped about six feet down before heading off horizontally. Those before me had just dropped down, but I was relieved to see metal rungs in the stone side, just as there had been in the dungeon at the castle tower. I listened but heard nothing, which made me realize how far these tunnels went and how many twists and turns there must be to muffle the sound.
I couldn’t stay here and wait, watching the inevitable dragon battle that was probably right now squaring up across the lake and hoping that Irix, Bianca, and Sergio came out of this alive. I couldn’t just wait to see what, or who, came out of this passageway at the end of the day. But what good could I do? It looked to be solid rock down there—an environment where I wouldn’t have access to any plant life to use either for offense or defense. And I doubted letting lightning bolts loose in tight quarters would help either. I turned around, looking to see if that sword was here and usable, and nearly fell over something that felt like marbles under my feet.
A dozen of them rolled into the passageway, clattering on the stone below. I looked down and realized that the floor was covered with acorns—not marbles. The gigantic green oak had come crashing down on the villa, and hundreds of the unripened acorns had broken free.
I dropped to my knees, grabbing them and shoving them into every pocket, into my waistband, down my shirt, even into my bra. Then I climbed down the iron rungs, closed my eyes and stretched out my senses to catch the whiff of sulfur and brimstone in the distance, then took off.
I ran as fast as my half-elven legs could carry me, through the narrow passageways,
ducking down, and jumping up when a ledge blocked my path. Acorns fell from my clothing as I ran, leaving a trail that reminded me of the breadcrumbs Hansel and Gretel had dropped behind them. Remembering their fate, I hoped I didn’t end up in a witch’s, or dragon’s, oven.
A blast shook the tunnel, raining dust and bits of rock down on my head. I speeded up, beginning to sweat. Was the tunnel growing hotter? Yes, it most definitely was. And that realization prepared me for the scene that greeted me as I rounded a sharp corner.
There was a large cavern area with rock walls that glowed red and orange. It was so hot I could hardly breathe. Three dragons and one prehistoric bird-like demon stood in the room.
One dragon stood hovering over another that looked seriously injured, guarding it and baring its huge teeth to the other dragon. Irix was behind them, trying to kick through where the tunnel had caved in, cutting off their exit. Marcus had them trapped, and without much room to maneuver and fight, he had the advantage. All he needed was a few blasts of his dragon fire, and he could kill them all.
And he knew it. He was letting them think about their situation, letting the futility of it all sink in before he killed them.
It was so hot that I wasn’t sure my plan would work, but it was better than no plan at all. I emptied my pockets and yanked my shirt from my pants, shaking out the hundreds of acorns I’d carried down the tunnels.
Grow. I poured my energy into the acorns, fighting against the heat that threatened to sear and burn my little saplings before I could bring them to a big enough size to do any damage. Marcus turned to see me, and laughed, the sound odd coming out of a dragon’s mouth, then he swung his tail and knocked down my trees.
The other dragon, Bianca I decided, roared and shot fire at her uncle, but she was clearly tired and it did nothing more than turn his scales a brighter, deeper black. Irix kept kicking, a thin beam of light coming through the rubble showing me that he was close to getting through. If I could just buy him enough time, he could get through, and once outside they’d have room to fight. If they could get outside. Sergio didn’t look like he was moving.
I scooped acorns up off the stone floor and threw them at Marcus, growing them in mid-air, but they just bounced off his hide. I got lucky with one and poked him in the eye. It didn’t do much more than make him mad.
Real mad. He reared back and snarled, that clicking sound deep within his throat. I squeaked in panic and grabbed more acorns from the ground. Irix let out an earsplitting shriek when he saw what was going on and tried to launch himself over Sergio and Bianca to protect me, but there was nothing he could do.
It seemed like time slowed. Bianca trying to engage her uncle and draw his attention from me. Irix, clawing around the others blocking his path. Marcus opening his mouth wide—so wide I could see the fire gathering in his throat. I threw the acorns, because I didn’t know what else to do, and moved to duck—futile though that might be.
Before I could drop down, I saw the acorns go into Marcus’ mouth and down his throat. He choked, coughing.
Grow. I threw every last bit of myself into the command, reaching out and connecting with Irix, yanking energy from him without any reservation.
It was a desperate act, but I was desperate. I wasn’t sure if any of those acorns had survived the dragon fire in his throat. Probably not, given that I’d seen dragon fire melt stone and metal. But if there had been one acorn that hadn’t burned to ash…
Nothing happened. Then suddenly everything happened. Marcus inhaled on a cough, extinguishing the fire in his throat. Of all those I’d thrown, one acorn burst into life, slamming its branches and trunk down through the lower half of Marcus’s jaw, dropping him to the ground and pinning him to the floor as the roots slammed their way through the stone. He clawed the ground, trying to get up, then clawed his face, making that clicking noise in his throat to summon his fire and burn this tree.
Grow.
I felt my knees hit stone, my hands shaking as they touched the floor. The tree trunk thickened, branches sprouting and lifting, punching through the dragon’s skull and reaching upward, slamming into the ceiling of the tunnel and knocking their way through to the sky above. Rock and dirt rained down on us, and when it finally settled enough for me to see, I started to laugh.
Probably not the most appropriate thing to do when I’d just impaled a dragon through the head with an oak tree, but sometimes humor takes a dark path.
“Amber?”
I looked up and laughed even harder. Irix was in his human form, naked, looking like he’d dropped fifty pounds. His skin was dotted with blood, his face haggard. Dirt and stone dust covered him.
“I pulled so much energy from you, threw so much at him. I thought I’d killed us both.” My laugh turned to a sob and I covered my face, smearing dirt into my tears. Irix’s arms came around me and lifted me, cradling me against him.
“It’s a good thing I’ve been storing up.” He rocked me gently. “Somehow I knew you were going to need a bunch of energy, but this wasn’t exactly what I was envisioning.”
“I killed a dragon,” I hiccupped. “All by myself I killed a dragon. That’s pretty fucking amazing.”
“Yes.” He chuckled, kissing the top of my head. “Yes, it is.”
“Bianca? Sergio? Are they?” I squirmed a bit in his grasp, trying to look over his shoulder to see if the other two dragons were okay. It would be horrible if I killed Marcus, only to have the tunnel ceiling collapse and do in the two dragons I was trying to save.
“We’re okay,” Bianca called out. “Sergio’s hurt, but he’ll be fine.”
I remembered the burns on the boy’s abdomen and leg and thought about the scars his grandfather bore. But he was alive. That was what mattered. And the dragon who’d started all this was dead. Marcus had killed Guido. He’d tried to start a war. He’d tried to assassinate his great-niece. And now he was dead. I’d killed him. Me. A twenty-two-year-old half-elf/half-succubus.
“I killed a dragon with an acorn.” I giggled, drawing a look of concern from Irix. I was weak. I could barely stand upright, I was so weak, but I’d killed a dragon. With an acorn.
Chapter 26
Sergio shifted back into his human form and leaned heavily on Bianca as we all walked through the tunnel back to the villa. Me and three naked people, walking through a dark underground passageway. It just added to the entire surreal feeling.
Bianca cried when she saw the damage to her treasure, but then she straightened her spine, and turned to me.
“I need to fly out to see Grandmother and let her know what her brother has done—and what he was intending on doing. That should get her to hold back her attack.”
“Me, too,” Sergio said. He was leaning against one of the few walls that hadn’t been smashed, pale and obviously in pain. “If Mother agreed to a peace, she’ll want to uphold that. She won’t fight unless the others attack.”
“And I’ll make sure they won’t attack,” Bianca assured him.
I was so impressed by these two. They were teenagers, and yet they already were showing the leadership and thoughtfulness they would need to lead their clans. Or clan. Because I had renewed hopes that now the two families would be able to put their differences aside and let the pair of them heal wounds that had festered for centuries.
“Is there someplace neutral where both Daniela and Catarina can meet?” Irix asked. “I think it would be best if the two of them sat down together and faced each other for this, rather than deal with go-betweens. It’s harder to claim misunderstanding when you’ve made assurances in person.”
Sergio and Bianca turned to each other.
“Here?” the girl asked.
Sergio nodded. “It’s in our territory, yet it’s your treasure. If you would consent to having Mother here after what she did…”
Bianca nodded. “Absolutely. I’m the one she injured. If I welcome her here, it will show Grandmother that I don’t harbor any grudge toward Daniela. And that I don’t fear
having her so close to my treasure.”
There was a tremble in her voice at the last sentence that told me how much it bothered her to have anyone near her treasure—especially someone she’d always considered an enemy. Again it struck me how mature she was to force down that instinctual response and offer her home in a gesture of good faith.
“And if they don’t agree?” I asked, because that was still a possibility. “What happens if at the end of all this, both women decide on a cease fire, but still refuse to acknowledge your relationship?”
Bianca’s jaw firmed, her eyes narrowed. “Then I will give up my treasure. I’ll leave with Sergio, if he still wants to elope. I’ll leave and I won’t look back. I might die young. And it will pain me terribly to leave my family and my home behind, never to see them again. But I’ll do it to be with Sergio. I won’t sneak around and hide with him, denying to my family that he is my mate. I want to be with him openly, for the rest of my life. And if I can’t do that here, I’ll do it somewhere else.”
“And me as well.” As she’d spoken, Sergio had moved closer, taking her hands in his. “Bianca,” he said, lowering himself painfully down to one knee. “Darling, I’m naked and dirty and will forever bear these horrible scars. There’s a good chance I’ll be completely broke and we’ll be homeless somewhere in Europe. I don’t even have a ring for you yet. But will you marry me, Bianca?”
Her eyes shone and she dropped down to her knees level with him. “I will marry you, Sergio. Yes, I will marry you.”
And that had to be the most romantic proposal I’d ever witnessed. Well, besides Irix’s, that is.
“Then we should hurry,” Irix reminded them gently. “Before your families begin to actually fight.”
That got them moving. Bianca jumped up and helped Sergio to his feet, exclaiming over his wounds as he shifted into his dragon form. She made sure he could take flight, then shifted as well, flying toward the opposite mountain. Irix came up beside me, wrapping one of his arms around my waist and pulling me close.
