by Rachel Angel
Kate frowned and grasped Ally’s hands. “I wish you’d told me about the bite earlier, before that king and William made off with all the potion I’d made. We could have kept some for you.”
Ally nodded as she set to work.
“I think I’ve perfected the dosage,” Kate went on. “We tried it here on three separate cases of infected humans. All of them were rid of the parasite and all of them survived.”
“Good work, Kate.” Ally reached for the small bottle containing the dried flower from Rose Cliff and sprinkled some into a mixing bowl.
“There’s barely any left,” Kate said as she watched Ally mix in the other ingredients. “I think I should have enough to make a good-sized batch, but then…”
Ally’s mind raced as she tried to find the best and quickest solution. They would surely need more of the roses soon enough. But with the war against the monsters raging all around them, getting around wouldn’t be easy.
But she could fly now and that was a huge advantage. If she could fly quickly enough, she could be at Rose Cliff within two to three hours.
She grunted, unhappy with that option, but it was the only one. “I’ll go get some more,” she blurted out as she handed the bottle to Kate.
“What?” Kate gasped in horror. “No! Those monsters are everywhere. Besides, you can’t go out there hurt like you are. Ally, don’t even think of going out there, please.”
“I have no choice, Kate. We can’t just sit here and wait for the king’s soldiers to run out of the potion and watch the monsters storm The Borders.”
Ally bit her lip, unhappy with the idea of going out to Wyvern, but knowing it was the only answer.
Chapter 1
Ally
Ally looked at the other bottles and jars and realized they were low on virtually everything. “I don’t know if I can get to all the places where I found all the other ingredients,” she said, catching the corner of her bottom lip with her teeth.
“Don’t worry about those,” Kate assured her as she pointed to the other bottles and vials. “I barely need a spec of each. It’s that rose that I really need. There’s something about that rose that is key.”
“Okay, then,” Ally said, drawing in a big breath. “I’ll go out and find Razor. That flower comes from his kingdom. I’ll see what he has to say. Maybe he’ll offer up another solution. Maybe the flower grows elsewhere, somewhere closer.”
“Ally,” Kate called out as Ally walked out of the bathroom and into the cramped kitchen. “Don’t you want me to clean up that wound and put a bandage on it?”
Looking at her arm, Ally shook her head. “There’s no need. The bleeding has stopped, and that’s all that matters for now. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She headed out.
After a quick peck on Bilbo’s cheek, she said, “Watch out for the both of you.”
“I will,” he said.
She hurried around the corner and, once out of sight of the townspeople, spread her wings. She took to the air with her eyes set on the distant horizon. Even from where she was, she could see the war that was being waged. Like a swarm of bees, dragons and monsters flew about, battled it out, swirling, zipping one way and another, striking each other and so many of them falling to the ground.
Ally flew toward that swarm, hoping she’d find Razor quickly. As she closed in, she could make out the difference between the dragons and the monsters, but it took her a while to focus in on Razor.
Fighting fiercely, he didn’t hesitate as he hacked off one monster’s head after the other, but as she came in closer, she noticed how pale he was and how cloudy his eyes were.
“Razor,” she said as she zipped by a monster and came to Razor’s side. “I need more of those strange roses.”
He looked at her as he sliced off a monster’s head. Surprised. Happy. Concerned. Confused. “You need what?”
“The roses, for the potion.”
“We don’t have time, Ally. Rose Cliff is hours away.”
Ally just stared at him, waiting for him to offer an alternative solution.
He beheaded another three monsters, then turned to her. “Look, I don’t know if this could work, but I fed those flowers a special food.”
“What special food?”
“It’s a strangely gritty, almost greasy sand I found near the Dark Forest.”
Ally cocked a brow. “Actually, that could work. Chances are the powers of that rose don’t come from the rose at all, but from what you did to it. Where can I find some of that sand?”
He looked out at the horizon. “It’s about a half mile south of the Dark Forest, just where…”
A monster swept up to them, cutting him off, just as Razor cut him into pieces.
“Come,” Ally said. “Show me.”
Razor looked at the other dragons who were fighting, then at the humans below and at King Drago’s army.
“We have no choice, Razor,” Ally persisted. “We need that ingredient. You saw how these monsters just keep coming and coming. It’ll never end.”
He nodded, still reluctant to leave the fight.
“We don’t have time to waste, Razor. Come on.”
“Okay,” he finally said. “If we hurry, we can be there in twenty minutes.”
Ally looked at Drago’s army below, looking for the king. She wanted to tell him she’d be back, and she’d be bringing so much more of the potion. But as she scanned the hundreds of soldiers running around, she couldn’t find him.
Spotting the general, she hurried down to him instead. “I have to go to the outskirts of the Dark Forest to find a special ingredient I need. Please relay the message to the king.”
He nodded, though clearly confused by the message.
Ally quickly flew back up to Razor’s side and they headed off towards Wyvern.
“How are you holding up?” Ally said as she struggled to keep up with him.
“I’m fighting it. It’s an awful thing to feel. I’ve been getting fleeting moments of rage and hatred, but I fight it. But it keeps getting worse. My mind just trails off and goes into spaces it’s never gone before. Never in my most murderous or vengeful moments have I felt the way I have these past hours.”
“Have you in any way acted on the strange ideas that go through your head?”
“No.” He chuckled and looked at her. “Well, at least not in the way the thought actually presents itself. I might get a flash telling me to slice off the head of a human or fellow dragon, but I turn and slice off the head of a monster instead. I’ll admit there’s a strange and conflicting feeling that takes over me on those moments. Almost as if I can feel the parasite becoming frustrated and upset by my refusal to do as it dictates.”
“Good. I’m happy to hear that. I just hope you can continue to fight it and contradict it for as long as possible.”
Chapter 2
Ally tried her best to keep up with Razor, but within ten minutes of flying non-stop, fatigue took over her. She felt an incredible urge to sleep. Her eyes were dry and her eyelids heavy. She yawned and tried to shake it off, but the persistence sense of drowsiness increased. Glancing at Razor, she could see that he was just barely doing better. He maintained a good speed, but it was probably due to his years of flying as a dragon.
He glanced back at her as she fell a little further behind. “You want to slow down?”
She nodded, then shook her head. They didn’t have time to slow down. They didn’t have the luxury of taking their time. The whole of The Borders was depending on them.
But her new wings suddenly refused to flap. They just stayed aloft, leaving her gliding safely, but slowly through the air.
Razor slowed down to stay with her, but with every thousand feet of gliding, she lost several dozen feet of elevation.
“We have to find a safe place to land,” Razor finally said. “If not, you’ll just crash, and it might not be in a place you’ll want to be.”
She nodded, knowing he was right. No matter how much she wanted to bring t
hat secret ingredient back to Kate, her body was simply refusing her the energy needed to do so.
“Over there,” he said, gesturing with his head to a flat rock outcrop that surrounded the entrance to a shallow cave.
“No signs of any monsters,” Ally said softly as she looked at the valley below. “At least there’s that.”
“Circle around to slowly glide lower,” Razor suggested. “Follow me.”
She followed around in a circle, slowly going down in a corkscrew fashion.
“I’m heading in to land,” he said. “Come in right behind me. I’ll be there to help you if you need it.”
Razor glided elegantly to the makeshift landing platform, flapped his wings to slow his speed and had a nice smooth landing, Ally, on the other hand, had no control over her speed, and the landing platform was coming fast.
“Should I go around one more time?”
“No. You’re fine. Come in now. If you go around one more time, you’ll be too low.”
She drew in a long, deep breath and aimed for the platform. She had trouble controlling her descent and landed hard, running forward as the momentum propelled her forward until she almost overshot the ledge she’d landed on. At the last moment, Razor stopped her before she fell off the edge.
“Got you,” he said with a sly smile.
Flustered, she straightened up, tucked in her wings and forced a smile. “I still haven’t got the hang of these things.”
“I’ll admit that landing on such a small space is tricky. Took me a while to get the hang of it.”
“Really?” she said with a hopeful smile.
“No. I just wanted to make you feel better.”
She frowned. “Well, you did, but now you took that away.”
“Sorry. Guess I’m not a good liar.” He grinned and shifted to his human form. Putting his fists on his hips, he scanned the valley floor. “Looks like those things haven’t made their way to Wyvern yet.”
“Good. Could we sit down and rest a bit?” Ally said as she wiped the sweat from her brow.
“Sure.” He walked into the shallow cave. “Come on. It’s nice and cool in here.”
He sat down with his back to the wall and patted the stone floor beside him. “Hopefully it’ll do us good to sit a bit.”
“Yes, but not too long. We have important work to do.”
“I know. Don’t worry. I know.”
For a long moment they sat in silence, each lost in their thoughts as they looked out over the distant mountains.
“I saw you go down,” he finally said.
She nodded, biting her lip. “That was scary.”
“Did they get to you… you know, once you were on the ground?”
She thought he knew, that he’d seen the attack. For a moment she hesitated. Would it worry him needlessly to tell him? Then again, he had to know. If she began to show signs of turning, he had to know what was going on.
She nodded.
“I’m sorry.”
She chuckled and looked at him. “Why? You didn’t bite me.”
“I promised to protect you. I wasn’t there for you when you needed me most.”
“Razor, you’d just been bitten yourself. It’s hell back there. Don’t you think I know that?”
“I love you,” he said softly. “Do you know that?”
Startled, she stared at him.
He leaned in close. “I love you, and I can’t stop thinking about you. Back there wasn’t just hell because of the relentless fighting with those things, but it was hell worrying about you. It was hell watching you fall. It was hell wondering what would happen when you landed. And once I lost sight of you, it was hell not knowing what had happened to you. I looked down and saw you there one moment, and the next time I looked down, you were gone.”
“I’m worried about you, too, Razor.”
He leaned in closer still and wrapped his arm around her. “I need you, Ally.” He kissed her, his warm lips gingerly begging her to love him, to kiss him, to want him.
She melted into him, her body suddenly surging with energy she’d lacked just seconds earlier. His touch invigorated her, and his kiss awakened her senses. She kissed him back with a passion she’d forgotten she had. The past days had been filled with so much tension, with all the emphasis on the coming battle, that her body seemed to have pushed aside any need for human contact; for affection and tenderness.
Razor leaned her back until she was lying down and his hands made quick work of her pants. Wide-eyed, she stared at him as he unbuckled his belt, undid his pants and prepared to penetrate her. “Just savor this little peace we have, Ally. Let me love you,” he said as he held her. There was something hypnotizing in his movements and she felt oddly frozen as she waited for the sensation of his cock filling her, as though her life depended on it.
She saw the perspiration on his brow as he pushed inside her and thrust back and forth. His motions were slow, and there was a desperate need to savor every moment.
Her gaze traveled from his eyes, down his nose to his lips and back up to his eyes. She then looked at his shoulders, so broad and strong as he held himself over her, his torso, visible under the sweat-soaked shirt.
Would this be the last time? Would the parasites that were taking over their bodies allow them time to be together like this again… just one last time?
She clasped her hands along his jaw and leaned up to kiss him, desperate to taste him, to take him in, to breathe him. The need to transmit her affection for him was suddenly overpowering.
As sweat trickled down his temple and down his cheek, she realized just how infected he really was. But even as this realization struck her, she felt an unusual build-up of heat within herself, as if suddenly struck with a fever.
The heat continued to build up as he pumped her. She felt the heat of his body and as he worked his way to a climax, and she wondered if they would survive the encounter.
Would their combined infections be the end of them?
Her orgasm built up quicker than usual, intense and urgent. Razor’s breath became quick and shallow as his orgasm shook him, and Ally clung to him as her orgasm spilled over her.
In silence, they clung together, holding tight, and breathing light.
So filled with emotion was she, that she wanted to cry, but she just held on tight. His feverish heat almost burned her when he lay over her, sharing more of his heat.
Razor coughed suddenly, and choked and coughed again. Red-faced, he sat up and looked at her, his hand at his throat.
“My goodness, Razor. Are you okay?” Ally said.
He stood, gasping for breath. His eyes were large and bulging.
What was happening? Had their lovemaking accelerated the infection process? No, she thought with dread.
She stood and took his hand in hers. He was burning up as he continued to struggle for air.
“Razor, what can I do? What do you need?”
He just stared at her, dumbfounded by the reaction of his body. He took a step back, and when Ally tried to step closer to him, he stopped her and pushed her back.
“Let me help you. Oh, God, Razor. What’s happening?”
His eyes rolled to the back of his head and his face grew redder still. His fists clenched and his body suddenly shook. An odd grin took over his lips and Ally had to step back in fear.
Was the parasite taking over right then and there in front of her?
Razor shook and suddenly went into convulsions. It was no longer Razor standing in front of her. His face was contorted into something strange and eerie.
Ally spread her wings and prepared to take off. If he attacked her, she had to be ready, even if it meant just gliding down to the valley.
He stopped convulsing suddenly and leaned over to throw up, but instead of vomit, an oddly shaped creature came out of him. Black and ugly, the strange creature fell to the floor with a wet thud and squirmed like a fish out of water. It struggled for a while and finally choked and died before sizzling t
o a crisp and burning up leaving only a small mound of ashes.
Razor’s eyes suddenly focused on her. “What just happened?”
Ally smiled. “I’m not sure, but I think…” She looked down at the ashes that had been the crispy little creature. “I think that’s all that’s left of the parasite. You expelled him, and he burned up and died.”
“I think you’re right. I feel great. I feel like my old self.” He puckered. “I feel a little parched and my throat is dry, but otherwise, I feel great.”
“Great!” Ally said as she anticipated the same to come to her. “Maybe our lovemaking cured us. Maybe infected to infected, we canceled each other’s parasite.”
Nodding, he smiled. “That would be great.” He took her hands and kissed them. “Just wait a moment. Maybe it’s just taking longer on you.”
They waited and waited.
“Why is nothing happening?” Ally said, feeling the frustrating sting of tears in her eyes.
“Give it time,” he said in a low hush. “Give it a few more minutes.”
They waited a minute more, then Razor suddenly released her hands, stood back and stared at her.
“What?” she asked looking down at herself. “What do you see? What’s happening?”
“You’re glowing, Ally.”
She tilted her head. “What do you mean? Like I’m with child?”
“No. You are literally glowing.” His eyes shining with wonder, he looked at her face.
She looked down at her hands and saw what he meant. A faint glow emanated from her and quickly intensified.
“Ally,” Razor said. “I think you were never infected at all. The bite of those things didn’t affect you the way it affected the others.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Absolutely. Look at you. Not only that, but I think that by making love to me…”
She looked up at him and dared to smile. “Are you trying to say that I cured you?”
He smiled. “Wow. Now that’s the kind of cure I could go for every day.”
“I cured you,” she said again, amazed by thought. “When we made love, something in me acted like an antidote to the bite? But at the same time, making love to an infected person made me stronger?”
