dragons breath 01 - stalked by flames

by Susan Illene

  I started the truck. Conrad lifted the bay door and gestured for me to drive through before shutting it. He pulled my gun from the back of his pants where he’d stuffed it earlier and did a quick scan of the area. Once satisfied we were clear to go, he joined me in the truck.

  “Do you ever get frustrated with how things have been going?” I asked, pulling onto the road.

  “Are you kidding?” He let out a low chuckle. “All the damn time.”

  “How do you deal with it?”

  A lot of people around the library had their freak-out moments. Either they went into a rage throwing things and shouting, requiring Justin and his guys to calm them, or they broke down in tears that didn’t stop for hours. I couldn’t stand to watch. Whenever anyone lost it I hid in my room or went outside.

  “Music,” Conrad answered.

  “Music?”

  “Yeah.” He stared out the window. “I won one of those wind-up radios that don’t need batteries in a poker game. If shit gets too tough, I go listen to it for a couple hours. It took me a while to get used to those oldies songs Hank likes to play, but they’re growing on me.”

  I turned on the radio. “American Pie” by Don McLean flowed out of the speakers.

  “You like this?”

  A slow smile spread across his face. “Hell, yeah. Why not? It’s a classic.”

  The two of us started singing along with it as we made our way down Lindsey Street. It was far enough out of town we didn’t worry too much about any threats. We just needed to have a moment of fun for ourselves. The weight in my chest lifted. Tough times could take a lot from you, but they couldn’t take your soul if you didn’t let them.

  Chapter 23

  Bailey

  Aidan waited near the red sign when we arrived. His yellow eyes focused on me as I parked off to the side. I reached into the backseat and grabbed my sword, brushing aside a piece of glass I’d missed during my earlier cleanup job. On the way back to the library, Conrad and I would have to see if we could track down some plastic to cover the back window.

  “Stay here and let me talk to him,” I said, opening my door.

  Conrad worked his jaw. “Alright, but if you need me, I’m coming out there.”

  That was the best I could hope for. I hopped out and came to stand in front of Aidan. His gaze shifted to Conrad in the truck. A low growl rumbled in his chest and he took a step forward.

  I sidestepped to block him. “Leave him alone.”

  “What is he doing here?”

  “He didn’t want me coming out here alone.” Aidan tried to move around me and I put a hand on his chest. “It’s not a big deal. Conrad already knows about you and what we’re doing.”

  He looked down at my hand and a shudder passed through him. “Send him back.”

  “No.” Warmth radiated over my palm. “Pretend he isn’t here.”

  “I don’t want a human involved in this.” Aidan glared at me.

  Even with his strange yellow snake eyes he wasn’t as intimidating when we were this close. I knew I should have removed my hand, but my touch seemed to be keeping him calmer. Not to mention he hadn’t tried moving it, which had to be a good sign.

  We simply stared at each other in one of those games where you knew the first to look away would lose. The truck door opened and the hard muscles beneath Aidan’s vest tensed. I begged him with my eyes not to do anything drastic. If only Conrad could have trusted me and stayed out of it.

  “Look, man, I get that you don’t want me here, but you’re not seeing the big picture.” His footsteps crunched in the gravel as he came toward us. “This girl is risking her life every time she comes out here. Did you even notice the damage to her truck?”

  Aidan’s gaze jerked to the vehicle in question—finally breaking the lock we’d had on each other. He studied it for a moment before returning his attention to me. “What happened?”

  I let my arm fall away from him. Damn Conrad for interfering. I hadn’t wanted to make a big deal out of it since Aidan expected me to become some kind of tough dragon slayer. “There were some men who set up an ambush on Lindsey Street. They shot at us, but we got away. We’re fine.”

  To my surprise, Aidan let out a low growl. Flames licked across his skin as he brushed past me toward the truck. I jumped back, not wanting my clothes to get singed. Did that happen when he got really upset? He wasn’t changing form or anything.

  Aidan stopped at the front end, leaning down to study the bumper before circling toward the back to graze his fingers over each bullet hole. When he finished his examination, he looked me up and down.

  “Are you injured?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  The flames on his skin died away. “Those men will not attack you again. I will take care of them.” He headed toward the side road where we’d conducted our last practice session. “Come, you must train.”

  I sighed. At least he’d let the issue of Conrad go. I had to consider that a win as I raced to catch up to Aidan. “How do you plan to take care of those guys?”

  His strides lengthened, forcing me to jog to keep up.

  “How do you think?” he asked, not looking back at me.

  “You’re going to kill them?”

  Conrad followed behind me. “No, Bailey. He’s going to call the police and have them arrested. He’s a fucking dragon. Of course, he’s going to kill them.”

  “But…”

  Aidan stopped and spun around. “If they are a menace to you while I’m still trying to train you, then they must die.”

  I opened my mouth and shut it. What was I supposed to say to that? It wasn’t like there were a whole lot of other options—as Conrad had pointed out. So why did the idea of Aidan killing them bother me? Maybe because the dragon slayer part of me was dismayed at the idea of letting a dragon kill my human enemies. I didn’t try arguing any further, though.

  “You,” Aidan addressed Conrad. “Stand by the trees over there and do not interfere.”

  “No problem, man.” He gave me a “be careful” look and walked off.

  “Begin your exercises,” Aidan ordered.

  I moved over to the open field. The grass was dying from lack of water and the sun’s relentless heat. It wouldn’t make as soft a cushion anymore. I started with the cutting motions. Aidan watched for a few minutes, not saying anything, then told me to switch to the circles. I did them smoothly, grateful the soreness in my muscles had faded and it had become easier.

  “Stop.”

  I dropped my arm, allowing it to rest. He pulled his own blade from shiggara and demonstrated another exercise. It involved swishing the sword side to side in windshield wiper motions.

  “This will build your strength and help you with increasing your blocking range,” he explained.

  I tried it out. My arm, unused to the new type of movement, tired almost as fast as it had when I’d begun the other exercises. Aidan had me raise my arm higher to work my shoulder muscles. I had to do it a hundred times before he let me switch hands. From the corner of my eye, I caught Conrad swatting at a bug flying around him that was almost the size of my fist.

  “What the hell are these things?” he yelled.

  Aidan ignored him.

  Conrad let out a yelp and ran toward us. “Fuck, they blow fire.”

  The bug followed him, allowing me to inspect it closer. I frowned. “It looks like a miniature dragon.”

  “Most humans say that when they see them,” Aidan replied. He swiped his hand through the air and caught it in his fist. “But we call them petroes.”

  I finished my count and dropped the sword. “Can I see?”

  “They are easy to kill,” he said, opening his hand.

  Conrad and I leaned forward to gaze at it. The petro was smashed, but I could make out wings that looked similar to a dragon’s and bits of the tiny scales that had covered its body. It might have been cute alive, if not for the small flames it could blow out.

  “That damn thing can
seriously injure a person.” Conrad held out his arm for me to see. He had red splotches on his skin where the petro had burned him. Nothing alarming, but I imagined it hurt quite a bit.

  “Will that burn cream you gave me help him?” I addressed Aidan.

  He nodded. “Yes and I’d advise he keep it close at hand. The petroes will be starting their mating season in a month or so. Once that begins you’ll see them out in large swarms—sizeable enough they could kill a person who is not immune to fire.”

  “Oh, that’s just great.” Conrad threw his hands up in the air. “As if we don’t have enough problems to deal with already.”

  “What are the chances we might run into one of these swarms?” I asked.

  Aidan dropped the petro onto the ground and pulled a cloth from shiggara to wipe off his hand. “They prefer open spaces away from people, but occasionally a swarm flies into an inhabited area. When that happens, they become disoriented and attack anyone they see. At least a few swarms wander into the fortress each summer.”

  Conrad let out a string of curses. “And the mating season ends when?”

  “It varies each year.” Aidan shrugged. “Perhaps a month or so after it starts.”

  It was nice to see the two men holding a civil conversation, even on such a dire topic. “After that will they be gone until the next year?”

  “No,” Aidan answered me. “There will always be solitary petroes such as today flying around. Not that you need to worry since their flames cannot harm you.”

  I glanced at a burn hole in Conrad’s shirt where the bug had gotten him in the chest. “They can still ruin my clothes, though.”

  He studied me for a moment, rubbing his chin. “We’ll worry about that later. For now, you must resume your training.”

  “Of course.” I sighed.

  Conrad walked back to his spot by the trees. Aidan demonstrated a new exercise where I had to stand sideways and do a large circle with the sword where I cut forward then brought the sword back around. It took a few tries to get it right.

  “How long will it take for me to get good at this?”

  “For dragons, we spend years training to become proficient,” he said, watching me as I practiced. “Slayers are naturally inclined toward fighting and tend to pick up their skills quickly. My hope is within a few months you’ll be at a level where you might survive if a dragon attacks you.”

  “You really know how to make a woman feel good, don’t you?”

  He lowered his head and cleared his throat. “You have a way with words, Bailey.”

  “Says the man who took what I said the wrong way.” Who knew dragons could have such dirty minds? “I just meant that you could be a little less dire about my survivability.”

  He met my gaze, back to being serious. “You are the first slayer I’ve trained. I have no way of knowing for certain how quickly you’ll learn. It could take less time or more, depending on how hard you practice.”

  “Oh, I’m practicing,” I reassured him.

  “Switch arms,” he commanded.

  Relieved, I did as he asked. I’d never guessed doing simple exercises with a sword could be so exhausting. Would it ever reach a point where it became easy?

  “I have a question,” I said a couple minutes later. Actually, I had a lot of them, but I figured it was best to space them out or he might get tired of answering.

  “Ask.”

  I took a deep breath. “Do your females lay eggs or do you have live births?”

  “What?” He looked at me incredulously.

  “I told you not to ask that one,” Conrad shouted.

  He had, but for some reason I couldn’t let it go.

  “Do shape-shifter females lay eggs or do they have babies like humans?”

  He was quiet a moment. “We are not pure dragons. Our births are similar to humans.”

  “Oh, good.”

  Aidan narrowed his eyes at me. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  I shrugged, not wanting to get into the dirty details. “I was just having a hard time picturing it.”

  “The dragon is inside us from birth—always there—but we favor the human form. It is more practical in day to day life, but we do enjoy letting the beast out as often as we can.” His eyes turned to a dark gold. The wild and untamed side of him he usually kept at bay showed through. “Start your exercises over, beginning with the cutting motions.”

  I was covered with sweat. We were in the hottest part of the day. “Don’t I get a break first?”

  “Very well,” he said impatiently. “Drink some water and then begin again.”

  I looked back down the road, realizing I’d have to run down there to get my canteen. It would make Aidan even more impatient.

  “I got ya, girl,” Conrad said, holding it up.

  I decided right then he could come to my training sessions anytime he wanted. We met halfway across the field and I grabbed the canteen from him. I took several long swallows before handing it back. “Thanks. You’re a lifesaver.”

  He shrugged. “It’s hot out here and I was thirsty, too.”

  I went back to Aidan and started the drills all over again. About the time I was on the last exercise, a red dragon appeared in the sky. I almost dropped the sword.

  “Dragon!” Conrad called out.

  Aidan followed our gazes. “It is only Donar. The one you saw before.”

  “Your friend?”

  “My cousin,” he replied.

  The red dragon landed about fifty feet away. He lit up in flames and changed to human form before walking stiffly toward us. I was surprised to find him good looking. He had short, spiky black hair and light olive skin. His chin was strong and he had a long nose. While his eyes matched Aidan’s yellow, he didn’t appear as animalistic or intimidating, just serious. His arrival still sparked my natural instinct to attack, but something about being around shape-shifters in their human forms made them a lot easier to tolerate.

  “This is the slayer?” Donar asked Aidan.

  “It is.”

  Donar circled around me, poking and prodding. “Too small.”

  “What the hell?” I shoved him. He flew back about six feet and landed on his ass. My jaw dropped. Had I just done that?

  Aidan let out a deep laugh. “I told you she’s stronger than she looks.”

  How could he have possibly known that? I hadn’t even realized.

  “Holy shit,” Conrad said, coming up next to me. “How did you do that?”

  I shook my head. “I have no idea.”

  “The presence of dragons is starting to bring out your other side. With time and training you will continue to grow stronger than a normal human,” Aidan explained.

  “Damn, Bailey. Have I told you that you’re my new best friend?” Conrad put his arm around me.

  Aidan glared at him until he dropped his arm and stepped away. “You cannot rely on that strength to be there whenever you need it. Until you undertake the rite of passage, it will come and go intermittently.”

  My shoulders sagged. And here I’d started to feel some hope for myself.

  Donar got back on his feet and dusted himself off. “She is not why I came here.”

  “Has something happened?” Aidan asked.

  “No, nothing serious, but it is Judgments Day. Your father wants you there.”

  A frustrated look came over Aidan’s face.

  “Give me a moment.” He turned toward me.

  “What’s Judgments Day?”

  “It is the one day a month when the pendragon rules on civil and criminal matters,” he replied.

  Conrad frowned. “So what do you do with criminals until that day?”

  “Hold them in the dungeon,” Aidan said.

  “Is it cold and dark like the ones we used to have? Do people get tortured in there?” Conrad asked. It appeared he was taking this opportunity to get his own questions answered.

  “It is worse than you can imagine. Would you like to visit and see for yourse
lf?” Aidan growled.

  Conrad put his hands up. “No, I’m good. I’ll take your word for it.”

  Aidan looked at me. “Continue practicing. We will meet again in four days at the same time.”

  “Okay.” I nodded.

  When Conrad looked like he might ask some more questions I grabbed his arm and dragged him down the road. Behind us I could hear the sound of flames licking the air as the shape-shifters changed to dragons.

  “Hey, I just wanted to ask if they capture and eat their food alive,” he complained.

  “Maybe next time.”

  Chapter 24

  Bailey

  We stopped under a copse of trees and stared in astonishment at the duck pond.

  Danae cocked her head. “The water is a lot cleaner than I remember it.”

  “Yeah, it is,” I agreed.

  With the extreme heat and lack of rain, no one had bathed in weeks. I had my canteen water, but I had to limit my use of it to avoid anyone noticing. The irritability of people in the library was growing steadily worse each day. Some of the women had decided to organize a trip to the nearby pond at Brandt Park. It only took about five minutes or so to walk there, but we figured we’d have to be desperate to use it. The pond should have been a lot murkier.

  “Well, I’m not complaining if it’s sparkling clean,” Trish said. She pulled everything but her bra and underwear off—revealing pale skin—and waded into the water.

  A few other women followed suit. Jennifer wavered for a moment and then let Bomber jump into the pond as well. The poor dog deserved it. He’d had to suffer through this heat the same as the rest of us.

  “I guess we’ll pull guard first?” I asked Danae, who stood next to me.

  “Yeah, let them have their fun.”

  We checked our guns and went in opposite directions to inspect the area. It wasn’t quite seven in the morning. Dragons wouldn’t be out yet, leaving only gangs to worry about—none of whom had been around lately.