by Martha Woods
But that was all stuff to be considered further on down the road.
For right now, everything felt so perfect. The world seemed to have righted itself, the moment she came into my life– hell, even the Dark Ones seemed to have fizzled from existence in the weeks since the raids against them had ended. The fragile peace that seemed to abound in those first few weeks didn't seem to be going anywhere. And though on some level, we had to remain vigilante, and avoid letting our guard down, I remained, at the very least, hopeful, that even if the saga of the Dark Ones hadn't totally reached its conclusion, it still may have, at the very least, reached a turning point. And from that point onward, hopefully the resistance shown by the traitors would diminish, becoming less and less than what it once had been.
We could only hope so, anyway...
For the present, though, I found the menaces occupying less and less space inside my mind, as lovely, lovely Melina took over more and more of it.
Presently I lay beside her in her apartment, a smile on my face as the two of us stared up at the ceiling. Both of us panting, sweaty and exhausted from the fervor of our lovemaking, and words seeming redundant at the moment, when the two of us understood one another so perfectly, and spent as much time basking in one another's company as we possibly could.
After a while in silence, I turned to see her lying beside me, exhausted, eyes closed on the pillow, a pool of her damp hair spilling all around her head.
I could never quite get over how beautiful she was. I could never get used to the shock of it, or the depths of my feelings for her. She was like an angel, radiant with something far beyond her own humanity.
I felt the urge to reach out and touch her, and soon it became irresistible. And so I did.
I reached over, and caressed her cheek with my index finger. Her eyes half-opened lazily, and she peered over at me.
“I love you,” I said softly.
She gazed blankly over for a few moments, then closed her eyes again.
“I know you do,” she said, and with a playful half-grin added, “I'm trying to sleep.”
I smiled, and drew my hand away, lying back down on my back beside her.
Everything was quiet, for how long I don't know. I very nearly fell asleep myself.
But then I heard her call out softly to me–
“Hey.”
I sat up slightly, staring over with interest.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“I love you too,” she said simply.
I reached over and pulled her into my arms, spooning with her. I planted a tender kiss on the side of her neck, and the two of us quickly drifted off, into a deep dark sleep.
I remember dreaming something. I don't remember what it was. I just remember it was a happy dream. As happy as the way Melina made me feel when I was awake, all day and every day.
I had a lot of dreams like this these days.
And that made it all the more jarring when I awoke suddenly, to the sight of two glowing red eyes staring at me, from beyond the foot of the bed.
“My, what a cozy picture your Majesty. You two look as snug as a bug in a rug.”
I started violently awake, nearly giving myself whiplash as I tore out from under the covers, and squinted at the figure silhouetted there in the darkness.
He was tall and thin, but muscular. His naked body was cast in shadow, but his skin appeared so pale to be nearly opalescent.
Was this real? Was I still dreaming?
He couldn't be here... He simply couldn't be here!
“Babe, what's going on?” I heard Melina say beside me, stirring in bed, rising up onto her elbows. And it was then, at that horrible moment, that I knew that this was real.
My stomach plunged.
I wanted to tell her to run, or to hide or to– to what?
What could she possibly do? Where could she possibly go?
“Ah, the vermin awakes,” said the man in the shadows, his gleaming white teeth shining through the pitch black at me. “I knew you were fond of humans, Alza. But to actually stoop so low as to start fucking them? I'm surprised your dick didn't fall off the moment you got inside such a filthy creature. Or– I don't know, perhaps it did... Perhaps that's what's responsible for your thorough failure as a leader, for how disgracefully you've allowed your own people to be reduced to a parody of their former glory.”
“Shut your goddamn mouth, Ryl!” I thundered at him, rising up from the bed, my fists clenched, absolutely determined to end this tonight, right here, and right now.
“Or what?” Ryl sneered. “You'll lecture me about kindness and compassion? Extol the virtues of interspecies cooperation? Lord, I'm trembling with fear. Perhaps by the time you've finished, you'll even have talked me into bed with one of these human swine!”
“No! No more talking,” I said, glaring at him with unspeakable hatred. “My men have been trying to hunt you down for months, you piece of shit!”
“So I've noticed,” said Ryl, unperturbed.
“So, I really appreciate you being considerate enough to come straight to me instead, delivered to me on a silver platter. Because now that you're here, I have every intention of ending you. I will not allow your campaign of terror to linger on a single day further than it's already has. You better be ready to fight me, you sniveling coward. Because this is the end of your story...”
I shouldn't have been surprised at the fact that Ryl suddenly burst out laughing. It wasn't so much the fact that he did, but the sound of it that got me. The complete and utter lack of concern. The ease of it. Like not only was my threat a series of empty words, but in his mind, it didn't even pertain to anything that was happening right here, right now between the two of us.
“Oh. You misunderstand me. I did not come here to fight you. I am all to willing to fight you, Your Lordship. But not here. Lord, no! Not in this flea-infested human domicile of all places... Oh no. I will face you on dragon land, any time you wish. But this? This visit? It is merely a– oh... A friendly invitation, if you like, from me to you. To let you know exactly where things stand at the moment. Do you understand? I did not come here to fight you...”
“That's too bad for you,” I snarled. “Because I've already made my mind up to burn your ass to the ground, whether the time and place are right for you or not!”
I was on the verge of transforming, engulfing the little shit in a ball of fire before he even knew what hit him. But he was laughing again, and actually turning his back to me. He began to walk away, back toward the door, not even paying me a second glance as he vanished into the darkness.
“Whatever you say, your Excellency...”
I couldn't stand it anymore.
My blood was boiling over, and at last I leapt at him. And it was at that very moment that a massive explosion tore through the bedroom, knocking me several feet forward through the air.
My ears rang with the sound of Melina's screams, and I spun around just in time to see that a huge black dragon had torn through the side of the apartment complex, and was clambering in Melina's direction. She scrambled back across the sheets, struggling to flee from the monstrous creature, and I let out an angry roar, surging toward the monster, determined to stop him before he got anywhere near her.
I spat a torrent of gold fire at the Dark One, and he shot right back with a plume of emerald, the blasts meeting in midair, the force of the impact knocking me slightly backward. Determines, I pushed forward, wanting to get him as far away from Melina as possible. I shoved him clear of the house, the air rippling around us from the combined heat of our attacks.
Suddenly, the Dark One dove quickly to one side, stopping his attack before I had a chance to notice. He leapt up at me, snapping his jaws, and thinking fast, I let him believe for a moment that he might actually stand a chance of landing the blow. At the last second as he approached, I swerved to one side, whipped around through the air, and sank my teeth as hard as I could into the side of his throat.
The Dark One screeched with
pain, flailing and smashing his tail into me in an effort to escape. I didn't relent, but instead doubled down, pouring a lungful of gold flame into his open neck wound. His entire body was rapidly consumed by flame, and at last I released him, pulling away to see him tumbling through the air, trying desperately to extinguish himself.
Any victory I might have thought I'd gained over him quickly proved to be short lived, for out of nowhere a second dragon swept in, smashing his jagged tail into my muzzle, knocking my head backward. I roared at him, enraged, and horrified caught him rushing toward Melina's apartment.
I moved swiftly toward him, but was ambushed by yet another Dark One, tackling me beneath his weight, nearly knocking me clean out of the sky. I roared furiously and threw my body back toward him, tearing at his scales, trying to rip out his eyes, and unfazed by the many deep bites he got into my thick gold hide.
My attention was drawn away from my own situation with horrifying abruptness, at the sound of Melina's scream coming from inside the apartment. The second Dark One had her by the ankle, pulling her across the floor with his teeth, out through the hole in the wall.
I roared, then spun around fast and belched fire at the Dark One who had a hold on me. The attack was so abrupt it forced him to rush backward to avoid being hit, and though it missed him, it freed me up just long enough to surge forward to where Melina was now being flung through the air like a ragdoll.
I lunged for her, my heart in my throat, and swept beneath her trajectory, saving her from a plunge to certain death at the very last second. She yelped, grabbing onto my neck, and I bucked her up onto me, flying up as high and as fast as I could the moment I felt she was securely in place on my back.
Up and up I raced toward the full moon, trying to get the drop, to stay as far away from the three Dark Ones as I possibly could in order to get her to safety.
Only, I very quickly discovered, it wasn't just a trio of Dark Ones I was now trying to make my escape from.
The moment I dared look down again, I found myself frozen in midair by what I saw.
Somehow, as though they'd simply materialized out of the pavement, or out of the darkness itself, a massive ring of black dragons now closed in around me. A dozen or more pairs of glowing red eyes stared penetrating through the darkness, a dozen or more open mouths glowing jade green, sizzling with the threat of their horrible emerald flames.
And then it wasn't a threat anymore.
With a loud burst the Dark Ones all fired on me at once, their blasts coming from all directions, sure to incinerate both Melina and myself if I didn't act that very instant.
I dive-bombed, Melina shrieking as we shot toward the ground, plunging like an elevator with its brakes cut. The combined force of the Dark Ones' attacks colliding with one another was so powerful it actually forced me toward the ground even faster– a boost I desperately needed at the moment in question.
I pulled out of the dive and immediately the Dark Ones were hot on our tail, launching fireballs at us left and right. The green flames surged past, missing both of us by mere inches, but wreaking havoc on the surrounding streets as they went. Cars burst into flame, houses crumbled as Dark Ones slammed their tails across the surfaces of walls and windows, ripping everything in their path to smithereens.
No, no, no, no! It can't end like this! Not here! Not now!
I would have gladly ceased running right then and there and taken on every last one of the Dark Ones myself, but I was certain the instant I dared to slow down they would be on Melina like flies, and there would be absolutely nothing I could do to protect her. And then I thought of my boys, and the fact that I might never see them again, that I would never have the chance to tell them, one last time, just how very much I loved them.
God dammit!
I wanted to turn around and fight. I wanted to tear each of these bastards limb from limb, and end this madness once and for all. But there were just too many of them. I could have ended any single one of them handily, and even a decent sized group of them didn't seem like they'd pose much of a threat.
But there were just too many of them, coming at me from all directions, closing in faster and faster, and it was only a matter of time until–
“RAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOO!”
I dared not turn around and see what had happened, but instantly I could tell that they'd fallen back. I swerved around through the air only once I was sure we were clear of their line of fire, and to my immense relief I saw that the Dark Ones were no longer the only fleet of dragons now clogging up these human city streets.
They were joined, now, by a massive army of gold dragons, a huge force of Protectors, fighting back tooth and nail against our pursuers, stopping their progress toward us dead in their tracks. Flashes of green and gold exploded through the night, fangs biting, claws slicing into one another, the vicious roars of the two roaring faction drowning out the previous quiet of the evening.
I was overwhelmed by the sight of so many of my people, unified on behalf of the Protectors, and all that we stood for, and the ideal that I had come so very close to giving up on– such a horrible, horrible mistake, as I now realized it to be.
There wasn't much time for me to remain emotional, however, for suddenly two Dark Ones broke through the fray and lunged at me, mouths agape, eyes alight with murderous intent. Thinking fast I grabbed one of the cars below with my rear claws, swung it around, and slammed it into the first of the two dragons, knocking him clean from the sky. The car landed on him and left a crater in the pavement, the dragon's limbs flailing as he struggled to free himself from beneath the vehicles weight.
The second dragon came at me too quickly for me to react, slamming his weight into my belly, and knocking me back across the darkness. I felt Melina's thin arms slipping free from around my neck, and with horror I was aware of her falling, toppling toward the street below, a fall I was almost certain would be enough to kill her.
I grabbed for her as quick as I could, managing to grab hold of an ankle when she was still several yards from landing. Horrified, I felt her flesh dragging along my talons, her body slipping free, and only at the very last second did I accept that there was no way I could possibly hold onto her.
She fell, screaming, and slammed into the roof of a car on the street below. I heard her whimper with pain, and knew at the very least, that the fall hadn't immediately killed her.
Before I had the chance to further inspect the damage, the Dark One was on top of me, tearing his claws across my back, ripping up my scales, sending torrents of blood spilling along my back in abundance.
I spun furiously around, and shot the hottest, meanest blast of fire at the son of a bitch that I could possibly muster. The attack grazed him, knocking him back, and he quickly opened his mouth to retaliate, except–
Except he wasn't aiming at me at all, but at the spot where Melina lay clutching her injured body on the roof of the car.
Green fire poured through the air, and just as the flames were about to reach Melina I shot out a wing to block the attack, barely able to keep myself aloft as the fire ate away at my scales. After several seconds, the Dark One made the fatal mistake of closing his mouth, smoke twisting from between his teeth as he admired his own handiwork.
Desperately hating him for his attempt on Melina's life, I threw myself at him with a fury I had scarcely displayed until now. I leapt on him with a force he wasn't expecting, slashing my claws across his eyes, biting his neck, pouring fire against his chest, and ripping him apart so fast that he didn't even have time to think to retaliate.
He fell to the ground in a lifeless, bloody heap, shrinking back into his human form as he hit the pavement.
I fought back the urge to cremate him where he lay, but shifted back down the instant the coast was clear, and ran over to where Melina lay injured atop the dented car.
“Melina! Melina, are you alright?” I asked desperately, offering her my hand.
She accepted it feebly, and I lifted her up toward me, peering
deep into those beautiful dark eyes.
“I... I think so,” she said, tears zigzagging along her face as she spoke. “I can still move, but just barely. I don't think anything's broken. It just... It really, really hurts...”
“Those bastards!” I hissed. “That bastard!”
I wanted to embrace her, but was afraid of hurting her worse than she already was. Instead I leaned forward and put my head on her shoulder, letting my tears fall along her beautiful skin, down into the places where our collective blood mingled against her flesh.
After a few moments she reached out for me, sliding her fingers through my hair. Comforting me, I realized, as well as herself, against the awful new reality that she and I both knew to be true.
I felt hope breaking. Felt the promise of a life with her, slipping away forever from between my fingers.
And from the depths of this blackness, punctuating the torture of my emotions, I heard the sound of a high, evil laugh, and experienced a plunge of hatred in my chest, stronger than any I had ever known before.
Slowly, the two of us looked up, staring off down the chaos of the street. Fires raging, people fleeing from burning buildings. Dark Ones and Protectors alike, some still fighting, some lying dead and unmoving across the flickering pavement.
And through it all, through the ashes and smoke, and the rippling of the heathaze, I saw Ryl, standing there at the end of the street, facing me, the sneer across his lips apparent at even this great distance.
“You like what you see? Because there'll be a lot more where this came from once I've completely taken over! Unless, of course, you think you're man enough to stop me... So go on. Go fuck your little whore one last time, say your goodbyes. I'll be in the forest, waiting for you, if your balls ever drop and you actually think you have the power to stop me. And if not? Well, there's a hell of a lot more in store for your little girlie and her friends where this came from. So try not to drag your feet, alright?”
