And there was something else in that lot. Something I couldn't see, but I could sense it and smell it. I strained my eyes and ears, but the trash and the tall grass in the lot made it difficult to see much. As I listened, I heard a sound that sent a feeling like electricity shooting through me. It was a sound I recognized; the wet sound of flesh being torn.
It was the sound of something feeding.
On my hips were two long, curved daggers – my weapons of choice. I was good with the sword, but I preferred fighting with my twin blades. I zeroed in on where the sound was coming from, behind a pair of bulky old appliances and quietly drew my blades. Not knowing what I was dealing with, I mentally prepared myself as best I could. And when I was ready, I banged my blades together, producing a high-pitched pinging sound.
The feeding noise stopped abruptly and two creatures I'd never seen before stepped around the refrigerators. The old vet was right – they were like large lizard-men. With snouts, a mouthful of wicked looking teeth, and tails tipped with a stinger like a scorpion, they were the stuff of nightmares. And I understood why the old man had been so terrified. In his place, I would have been too.
The two creatures advanced on me, the moonlight glittering of their cold, dark eyes.
“Hunter,” one of the creatures said in a low, guttural voice.
I didn't know why, but I was surprised they could speak. They just looked so alien and so animalistic that I just didn't think they had the capacity for human speech. But I knew it wasn't wise to underestimate an opponent – not even about something as simple as that. I focused myself as they moved closer to me, readying myself for a fight.
“What are you?” I asked.
“We are the Chokan,” the second one hissed. “We are the rightful rulers of this planet.”
“And we are coming to reclaim it,” said the first one.
The Chokan. I'd never heard of them in any of the lore I'd read. And I read a lot. But, it was a mystery I was going to have to solve another day, given the fact that the pair of creatures was almost on top of me. I danced backward a few steps, raising my blades. The first of the creatures darted to my right, faster than I had expected.
While I was distracted with the one on my right, the second creature lashed out with its tail. I saw the movement a split second before it would have speared me in the neck, but I got my blade up in time to deflect it. It hit the creature's tail with a sound like hitting my blade up against something metallic. Their tales were armored. Or at least, had a thick exoskeleton that would be tough to cut through.
The second creature shot in, it's jaws open wide. I spun to my right and brought my second hand around, the edge of my blade leading the way. To my surprise – and horror – the blade glanced harmlessly off the scales on the creature's neck.
“Oh, that's not good,” I said as I danced backward again, keeping my distance from the pair.
Not understanding what I was dealing with, I had no idea how to combat it. Oftentimes, different creatures required different methods to kill them. The Shongtal, for instance, necessitated the use of a silver blade – which was what my daggers were made of. Silver was handy and actually killed quite a few different things.
But not those things, those Chokan, or whatever it was they'd called themselves. It didn't even seem to bother them.
I looked around, not wanting to give up this fight, but not sure how I could win it. The creatures hissed and rushed at me again, their tails shooting straight toward me. I spun to the side, the stingers on those tails slicing through the air where my head had been just a moment before.
We were in a vacant lot, but there were still plenty of buildings around. And although most of them looked abandoned, I feared that somebody was in one of those darkened windows watching. The last thing I could afford to do was shift into my dragon form and be spotted. But given that my weapons were effectively useless, I was quickly running out of options. I had one card up my sleeve left to play and I played it.
I called up the fire within me and opened my mouth. A spout of fire – fire hotter and more intense than even a human crematorium – shot out and hit the first creature in the chest, drawing a high pitched keening wail from it's throat as flames engulfed it. The creature was consumed by my fire and fell to the ground, twitching and rolling, that high-pitched noise echoing through the night.
The second creature, looked at its companion. The flames were already burning low and a smell like burned meat filled the air. The creature was still. It was an unrecognizable charred husk that would soon turn to a simple mound of ash. Dead. So, at least I knew that fire could kill it.
“You're not human,” it hissed, a note of panic in its voice. “What are you?”
“Death,” I said. “For you and all like you.”
The creature moved suddenly, turning and fleeing across the lot. I took off in pursuit. The creature was fast and surprisingly, it was opening up a lead on me. Gritting my teeth, I lowered my head and ran after it. I was gaining on it. Inch by inch and foot by foot, I was closing the gap between us.
And then it was gone. Vanished. Disappeared completely.
“What the hell?”
I came to a screeching halt when I came upon the creature's escape route – a manhole. It had jumped down into the darkness of the sewers below to get away from me. I grimaced at the stench flowing up from the open manhole cover. It was bad. Really, really bad.
“Worse than an outhouse in August,” I muttered to myself.
I was torn – I could drop down into the sewers and chase the thing. Or I could be smart about things and go back home, do some research, and get a better grasp on what I was dealing with. I had no idea how many of those things were down there – but I did know now that fire could kill them. Or at least, an intense blast of dragon fire. And down in the sewers, I'd be less likely to be seen by anybody in the city.
The problem with that though, was that it was possible I could rupture a gas line and blow half the city to kingdom come. The death toll from an accident like that would be astronomical.
So, that plan was out.
But, at the same time, I needed to know what I was dealing with. Books and research were great – but this was something entirely new to me. Plus, I had some doubts that the lore I had would cover it. If I were able to take a specimen back to the Keepers in Chondelai, perhaps they would be able to provide a little more useful, practical information for dealing with these things.
I looked around, unsure of myself. Which, in and of itself was unsettling. If there was one thing I was, it was sure of myself.
As I stood there, debating with myself, the sensation of being watched stole over me. It started with a tingle on the back of the neck and quickly escalated into a pinprick sensation all over my body. My instincts had never led me astray in all my years, so I was not about to ignore them in that moment.
I was not alone in that lot.
I turned and made a slow circle where I stood, scanning the landscape before me. I narrowed my eyes and looked closely, extending my senses to find the watcher. I got the sense that it wasn't another one of those creatures. I couldn't explain why, but something about the unseen watcher was different. It was a scent on the air – one I didn't recognize. It was faint and subtle. But every now and then, I got a small whiff of it.
But it wasn't those creatures, so I couldn't concern myself with it too much at the moment. I took a deep breath, realizing how stupid and risky what I was about to do was – and did it anyway. Taking a step forward, I let myself drop in through the open manhole, landing on my feet and crouching down, my blades – as useless as they were – at the ready.
The sewer tunnel, gloomy and very dimly lit, appeared to be empty. Thick pools of shadow clung to the walls everywhere, but so far as I could tell, the creature had taken off. And thankfully, there wasn't a herd of them waiting for me.
With my enhanced vision, I could see a little better than regular people in the gloom of the tunnel. Even still,
I carefully picked my way down, avoiding the thicker pools of shadow even I had a difficult time seeing through – pools of shadow I worried might be hiding one of those creatures.
The stench of the sewer was almost overpowering. Decades of garbage and decaying crap had accumulated down there and the odor was enough to make my eyes water. More worrisome to me, was that the powerful stench of the place was going to effectively mask the scent of the creature I was chasing. Which was perhaps why they chose to move through the sewers in the first place.
Smart.
As I picked my way along, I thought about what I knew of the creatures. They were fast. Could communicate. They had a wicked tail with an unknown venom – of which, I needed to get a sample of somehow to determine what it could do. They had armored scaling that not even silver managed to do anything to. The creatures seemed to have intelligence – or at least, cunning. And they fed on people. Not in the way the Shongtal fed on them, which was to consume a human's life force, but by actually ingesting them.
And the only thing I knew that killed them for sure, was dragon fire. Which wasn't something I could run around the streets of LA blowing at them. I needed to find another way to kill them. Which meant, I needed to learn more about them. A lot more.
A sound behind me caused me to duck down as I spun around. It had sounded like a furtive footstep, the slight scrap of the sole of a shoe on the concrete. I narrowed my eyes and scanned the darkness behind me, half-expecting to see a horde of those things rushing at me.
But there was nothing. Nothing but empty tunnel as far as I could see.
I had the sense though, that I was not alone. It was the same feeling that had settled down over me back in the lot – that sense of being observed. But still, I could see nothing.
I turned back and crept along the tunnel, my body tensed and ready for attack, my blades at the ready. A little further on, I found a large hole in the side of the tunnel. It looked like a hole that had been torn open, not from natural decay of the concrete. I peeked inside, careful to keep to the side to better avoid detection. And what I saw put a charge of electricity through me.
The hole opened to a large cavern below the city. Tunnels branched off in a number of different directions. A large bonfire was burning in the middle of the cavern, setting an orange flickering light dancing with the shadows upon the walls. The heat coming from down below was intense. Not nearly as hot as dragon fire, but still pretty hot.
However, what drew my attention and set me on edge were the dozens upon dozens of those creatures milling about. There was one of the creatures, wearing a crown of some sort on its head, standing on a small rise in the cavern who was gesturing wildly, obviously giving a speech of some sort. Although with the excited buzz of voices echoing around the cavern, I couldn't make out what was being said.
What I knew for sure though, was that whatever was being said wasn't good. Especially for the people in the city of Los Angeles. As I watched the creature on the rise and the shouting masses below him, I couldn't help but think of some third-world dictator exhorting his troops on to commit unspeakable atrocities.
I heard the soft scuffle of a footstep a moment before I sensed the attack coming. Hurtling toward me from the darkness was a Japanese style throwing star. It sliced through the air in deadly silence – the only way I knew it was coming was because my senses were already on high alert.
Throwing my blade up defensively, the throwing star clanged against the silver with a loud noise. I'd managed to deflect the throwing star enough that it didn't embed itself in my forehead, but not enough that it didn't still slice along my cheek. I felt the warm blood flowing and a wicked stinging sensation on my skin a moment later.
I looked up in time to see a figure moving quickly out of a particularly dark pool of shadows. It was running away from me and I knew beyond a doubt, that it was the unseen watcher I'd sensed. Casting one quick glance at the cavern below, I saw that the creatures were still wrapped up in their little pep rally from hell, so I pursued my attacker.
They were fast, but I was closing the distance between us quickly. They weren't going to make it back to the ladder that led to the surface before I ran them down. But in one smooth motion, my attacker spun around and raised their arms – and I registered the crossbow bolt coming at me a moment too late.
The bolt struck me in the shoulder, driving me to my knees, and drawing a pained grunt from me. As I knelt in the middle of the tunnel, the figure looked at me for a moment and I noticed a couple of things. It wore a cloak with the hood up and wore a mask over the bottom part of their face, obscuring everything but the eyes. And the way they moved, their body shape, as well as their eyes told me that it was a woman.
“Next time, I won't miss,” the figure said, removing all doubt about her gender. “You got lucky this time.”
Without another word, she turned and fled back toward the ladder that would take her to the surface. I grasped the bolt and gritted my teeth. With a grimace and a grunt, I yanked the bolt out of my shoulder, but noticed that the burning in the wound persisted. Poison of some sort. I wasn't too worried about it though – there weren't many poisons that could kill one of the Dragonborn.
I stared at the now empty tunnel, wondering who in the hell the woman had been. Getting to my feet, I walked back toward the ladder. I obviously needed to regroup and get my head back on straight. It wasn't often that I was bested in a fight and it angered me that the mystery woman had managed to do just that.
Chapter Four
Ella
I cut the engine on my motorcycle and with a well practiced ease, coasted down the long driveway that led to the small house where I lived. It was set far back from the road – Jacob always wanted to be aware when somebody was coming. But it also made it easier for me to sneak in and out.
I got off and pushed my bike into the barn and put the kickstand down in the former horse stall I parked in. Poking my head out of the side door, I breathed a small sigh of relief when I saw that all of the lights in the house were still off. Jacob was asleep.
Stepping outside, I gently closed the door and quietly moved across the packed dirt yard to the back door. Avoiding the steps that squeaked, I stepped up onto the porch and grasped the doorknob, quietly turning it – congratulating myself once again for being genius enough to oil all the hinges, making exit and entry a lot quieter.
But the moment I stepped into the kitchen, I knew I was screwed. I felt him the moment I stepped inside. His presence had an almost physical weight to it –one that was unmistakeable.
“Turn on the lights, Ella,” his voice came from the darkness.
I sighed and reached out, flipping the light switch and bathing the kitchen in fluorescent light. Sitting at the table was Jacob and he looked none too pleased.
“Little late for a ride, isn't it?” he asked.
“Look, Jacob, I –”
“How many times have I told you that you're not ready to fly solo yet, kid?” Jacob asked. “You're still green. You still have a lot to learn.”
“I'm always going to have a lot to learn!” I shouted. “One of the first things you said when you started training me was that I'd never know everything and I needed to get over that fact right then and there. Do you remember that? Because I sure do.”
“That doesn't mean you should be running off in the middle of the night, doing God knows what,” he said. “You're going to get yourself killed like that. You're not ready, Ella.”
“No? And when exactly will I be ready?”
Jacob sighed and clasped his hands together on the table in front of him, looking at me with an intensity that was unnerving. I did my best to keep my face neutral, to not let him see that I was fearful or intimidated by him. I was a trained fighter. A warrior.
“You'll be ready when I say you're ready,” he snapped. “When I feel confident enough to present you to the Council.”
“And when is that going to be?” I snapped back. “You've said it a million ti
mes, I'm the best fighter you've ever trained –”
“You are,” he replied, forcing himself to stay calm. “But you still let your emotions cloud your judgment out there in the field. You're still fighting a fight that's sixteen years old, Ella.”
The reference to the death of my parents still stung as badly in that moment as it had the night they'd been killed. There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't still think of them. Miss them. I took up the cause, and joined the Order, to avenge their deaths. I fought for them every bit as much as I fought for the people of the city. It was for their memory that I'd become a warrior.
“Jacob, I've told you before that my emotion is what gives me an edge,” I said. “It doesn't cloud my thinking. It fuels me. Sustains me. Keeps me going in this fight.”
“Yeah, and it will until it doesn't,” he said. “And gets you killed.”
“Well, then I guess you wouldn't have to put up with me anymore if it did, would you?”
He looked at me evenly, but I could see something in his eyes I couldn't place. Hurt? Anger? Something.
“Ella,” he said. “I've been caring for you like my own since that night I found you. I only want to keep you safe and do what's best for you.”
I knew what he was saying was true. Knew he only wanted to protect me. But I was already in a rage. I was angry that he wouldn't cut me loose to run my own missions. Angry that I felt he was holding me back. Angry and feeling smothered. Chained up and shackled.
“You're not going to be able to keep me safe forever, Jacob,” I snapped. “I'm not Patty. Not that you kept her safe.”
The look of pure hurt in his eyes hit me like a punch to the gut. My cruelty drove the breath from my lungs and all I wanted to do in that moment was rush over to Jacob, throw my arms around him, and tell him how sorry I was for crossing that line. A line I should have known better than to get anywhere near, let alone cross.
No Such Thing as Dragons : Complete Series Box Set (Books 1 - 5) Page 16
