by Aja James
The good news was, while her headless body sank deeper in the water, the tentacle that held Benji loosened enough to release him.
He kicked and clawed his way upwards toward that faraway speck of light. But he was too deep, and his body was too small. Why couldn’t he swim fast enough? Why did his chest feel like it was about to explode?
And then, something grabbed him around the waist.
At first, he thought it was Lilith again, and he struggled anew, his mouth opening on a mindless cry. But he quickly realized that it was a man’s arm secured around his torso, and the man was propelling them toward the surface of the lake much faster than Benji could dog paddle by himself. Something spread and sliced through the water behind the man, giving them additional velocity.
Wings.
Was the man a real-life angel then?
Benji goggled with revelations. Octopuses, serpents, dragons and angels… he was having a wicked wild day!
The winged-man shot them through the lake’s surface into the sky above, spreading his wings wide in a giant flap that sluiced the water from his well-oiled feathers in an explosion of liquid crystals.
Benji whooped with triumph and joy, looking upon his rescuer with hero-worshipping eyes.
The man looked down and gave him a smirking wink, and with another two flaps of those gigantic wings, they turned toward the shore.
But just as they were gaining speed, something heavy knocked into the winged-man from behind, sending him hurtling through the air with Benji in tow.
Benji tried to hang on, but his wet fingers slipped. With a gasp, he fell from the man’s arms, only to be caught again in a now familiar tentacle.
Only, it wasn’t really a tentacle this time. It was a long, scaly neck. The head attached to the neck was turned to face Benji directly, its glowing red eyes slitted with menace, its teeth bared in warning, as if one false move from him would make it gobble him up for breakfast.
As Benji caught his breath, he saw an even more disturbing sight rise from within the lake—
The Hydra’s tentacles had turned into necks with heads just like the one that held him, attached to a serpentine body with legs and claws he couldn’t see beneath the waterline. There were nine heads in all, plus one thorn-barbed tail that swung mightily at the water, sending tsunami-sized waves this way and that.
Benji caught brief glimpses of bodies that tried to avoid the torpedoing heads and bludgeoning tail. But they were just as quickly caught in the roiling waves’ undertow, disappearing in the vortexes that the Hydra created.
No! His friends were going to lose!
They couldn’t win against the Hydra. They had no chance!
And then, an earth-shaking roar resounded across the lake and its surrounding mountains, as the black dragon burst through the surface from beneath the waters, its sharp snout digging into the Hydra’s lower body. Followed by a head and shoulder butt with the full weight of its powerful Argentinosaurus-sized frame (okay, maybe not that big, more like a Spinosaurus), knocking the Hydra off balance.
Then, the dragon dug all four claws into the Hydra’s body, heedless of the heads that snapped at it, some of them crunching into muscle and bone through its thick, scaly hide. It unfurled the appendages that had been folded into its sides…
Benji’s eyes rounded at the sight of gigantic bat-like wings that seemed to cast a shadow over the entire lake.
Flapping backwards with the force of a thousand gales, the black dragon began to drag the Hydra off balance, almost clearing the lake entirely. It reared back its scaly neck, and Benji could visually track the glowing bulge that undulated from its chest through its throat to be released in a bluish white avalanche of fire at the three Hydra heads closest to him.
The neck that was wrapped around Benji’s person loosened its unforgiving coil at the onslaught, dropping him with an ear-piercing shriek.
Down, down, down, Benji fell.
He hadn’t realized how far in the air the Hydra had been holding him!
Before he could smack into the water—because that looked like it might hurt—a wisp of smoke curled around him, and suddenly he was floating.
No, he was flying… The wind carried him toward the shore as a giant Golden Eagle (when did that appear?) flew after them, one claw clutching Uncle Tal, the other holding Sophia’s Mate.
One of the Hydra heads noticed their getaway and screamed in fury, sending a plume of silvery fire in their direction.
But before the flames could hit, the black dragon yanked viciously on the Hydra’s body, almost tearing one of the heads straight off.
The Hydra retaliated in full, all nine heads concentrated now on its foe, spewing fire and some kind of acid-like vomit that burned through the black dragon’s scales like it was nothing more than filmy wet paper.
The black dragon staggered back, gaping holes in its giant wings, half of its chest torn by fire and acid, showing charred flesh and gaping wounds. Three of the Hydra heads held it still with the jaws of one locked around its leg, another coiled tightly around its neck and yet another pair of jaws clamped into the flesh of its back.
By then, Benji and his rescue team were on solid ground, within a few yards of the awaiting helicopter.
The Hydra reached for them again, half of her body climbing onto shore, half still in the water, two long necks stretching toward them, the serpent heads opening their fire-beathing mouths.
Benji couldn’t watch any more. Couldn’t stare into those glowing, blood-red reptilian eyes while the monster rained hellfire upon his friends. Even the black dragon was his friend, though he didn’t know it. It felt familiar somehow.
Benji’s throat closed up with tears when he thought of the black dragon getting hurt over and over again trying to help them.
He curled in on himself within the wispy embrace of the wind that carried him and prayed for a miracle.
*** *** *** ***
Sophia’s eyes rolled and twitched beneath closed lids, her face contorting in frowns and grimaces in the throes of a terrible nightmare.
She dreamed of being buried in a watery grave, of lungs screaming for oxygen, of a monstrous giant octopus and a nine-headed Hydra set on taking vengeance against her friends…
Her love.
Dalair.
That dreaded familiar iciness began to enter her veins, replacing hot blood. Her body jerked, trying to get away from it.
She didn’t want to become the Destroyer. She wanted to stay in the Light. She didn’t want to kill and blanket the world in nothingness and silence. She wanted to heal, to hear the cacophony of life.
Where was her sunshine? Her favorite little person in the world? He always took away the seething darkness with a happy smile.
Benji.
The Hydra had him.
No!
Her hands clenched and unclenched in the bedsheets, grasping for something to hold onto.
But, then, he came.
A beautiful black dragon with topaz blue eyes and fierce determination. He protected her friends, her love, her light, fighting off the Hydra with everything he had.
Dalair, Benji and the others hustled into the helicopter. Got airborne.
They barely gained altitude before one of the Hydra’s heads shot a silvery volley of hellfire right at them. At the last second, the black dragon used all of his remaining strength to knock the Hydra off balance, making the projectile flame veer off target.
But the aftershock still stalled the chopper’s main blades, making it spin out of control midair.
Dalair and Tal beside him pulled up on the yokes in concert, primary and auxiliary, as Eli shifted to wind to rebalance the helicopter, aided by Rhys in eagle form.
Barely had they righted and regained control of the helicopter before the Hydra shot another flaming volley at them with a screech of fury.
Dalair turned and accelerated just in time to avoid the worst of the hellfire. They were out of range by now.
The Hydra must have re
alized it too, for it turned its attention fully to the black dragon that was pinned down by five of its heads, their strangling necks, and its thorny tail that lanced all the way through its enemy’s chest.
Sophia whimpered in her sleep.
The black dragon was hurt so badly. He sustained mortal wounds.
She could feel his life force fading…fading…
She saw the black dragon sink with the Hydra into the depths of the lake through Dalair’s eyes as he glanced out the side window, their bodies entangled in a savage, bloody knot.
She heard what Dalair heard in their joined consciousness:
Keep Benjamin safe. Hide him away. My son…
Keep him safe.
And that’s when she realized fully—
The black dragon was Erebu.
Sophia came awake on a broken sob, her mouth open with horror, her cheeks wet with uncontrollable tears.
“Ere! No!”
“Be calm, Sophia. It’s all right.”
Distantly, she was aware of Rain’s soothing voice, her soft, gentle hand upon Sophia’s brow.
Sophia frantically looked around, but she couldn’t see clearly through the deluge of tears.
“Dalair! Benji! Where—”
“Here.”
Familiar strong arms enfolded her, pulling her body into a warm, solid embrace, tucking her face into a hard, naked chest.
She clutched him to her with all her might, desperate, greedy. She inhaled his unique scent in great shuddering gulps as if she’d been drowning alongside them in the underwater cavern of the Hydra’s lair, and this was the first draw of clean air into her burning lungs.
“Dalair…” she breathed, trying to get even closer, trying to crawl right into his body.
She barely noticed when Rain withdrew quietly from the room. She clung to her Mate with every limb, her arms wrapped around his neck and shoulders, her legs squeezing tight his waist and hips.
“I had a terrible nightmare…I was so afraid…”
His hands rubbed soothing circles on her back, smoothed the disheveled hair from her face. But he didn’t answer. He didn’t tell her that it was only a dream, that it wasn’t real.
She looked up into his face then, impatiently wiping her eyes clear of tears. What she saw there confirmed it.
“It’s true then. The nightmare. It all happened, didn’t it?”
Holding her wide and wild-eyed gaze, he nodded once.
“Oh Goddess!” she moaned. “The black dragon…Is he…”
“We cannot know,” Dalair murmured. “After we do a thorough reconnaissance of the area and can be sure that there is no danger, we will rake the entire bottom of the lake if we have to, to search for any sign of him. But it’s too soon to do so now. We cannot risk confronting the Hydra again without a veritable army. It is too powerful. Never have I imagined that such a creature could exist.”
“How long?”
He understood her question without clarification.
“It’s been thirty-six hours since we returned. You’ve been unconscious for a bit longer than that.”
Sophia sat up more on her own, though Dalair’s body remained curved around her protectively, his hands around her arms holding her steady.
“How did I come to be here?” she asked, looking around the comfort and safety of her chamber within the Shield.
“The last thing I recall we were still in the forest. You were fighting so many enemy soldiers. Benji was holding my hand…”
Her eyes widened with alarm.
“Is he—”
“He’s fine,” Dalair said immediately. “He’s safe and unhurt, just a bit scratched up from the struggle.”
“Where is he?”
He hesitated slightly, and then replied.
“Not here. And honestly, I do not know. Tal, Ishtar, Gabriel and Inanna have taken him to a place where he will be well protected.”
Dalair smiled slightly and added, “He is excited to start a new adventure. This will not be permanent. Only until we deal with the threat.”
In other words, kill the Hydra dead, Sophia understood.
“He is only sad about…”
“Ere,” Sophia whispered, finishing Dalair’s thought.
Her mate blinked in acknowledgement. “After the shock of his ordeal wore off, he immediately realized who the black dragon was.”
“Benji can always see a person’s real self,” Sophia murmured. “He saw Mama Bear for who she was from the start. He always saw Ere’s real form as well.”
She searched Dalair’s beloved silver eyes.
“So it’s true then? Is Ere…is he…”
“We do not know for certain,” he reiterated gently.
But she could see in his eyes and hear in his thoughts that the chances Ere had survived the Hydra were slim to none.
“If it helps, Tal and Ishtar do not feel the absence of him,” her Mate added.
It wasn’t much, but Sophia clung to the hope. She closed her eyes and extended her Gift, her ability to search out and see Pure souls.
Years ago when she first discovered it, she had to be within a certain distance to sense them. But she was different now. Since her Awakening, her powers had strengthened exponentially. She used them presently to search for echoes of Ere’s soul.
“I think he’s still in the mortal realm,” she whispered, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. “I can feel a faint resonance. So faint… But nevertheless there.”
“Then be assured that we will find him and bring him back,” Dalair said, gathering her into his protective embrace once more.
“He is a survivor, after all, our Creature.”
“Our Cam,” Sophia agreed.
Dalair pulled slightly away to look into her eyes.
“You know.”
She gazed back at him as wordless understanding and comprehension settled over them both.
“So do you,” she surmised. “When did you realize who he was? All of his forms?”
“The first time I had an inkling was when you were abducted,” Dalair replied slowly. “When I came for you, he took the forms of Cambyses and Kira to make me confess my sins. I was too shocked at the time to do anything but react instinctively, anything to take you away from there. But later, I wondered how the Creature knew. I thought he must have had the Gift of probing into others’ minds or memories.”
He shifted her closer and took a deep breath. This was the first time he had to reflect on these experiences with a clear mind. They were a lot to take in and absorb.
“After I was taken by Medusa and Wan’er’s soldiers, the Creature was the one tasked with turning me.”
Dalair laughed mirthlessly.
“He enjoyed making me suffer, that much was clear. There was an undertone of vengeance and bitterness to him that I didn’t understand. It was personal, the pain he unleashed on me. And yet, I also felt he regretted it as much as he enjoyed it.”
Sophia wound her arms around his waist and kissed his throat, murmuring unintelligible words of comfort as he relived the unpleasant memories.
“It wasn’t until I abducted you and they tried to turn you too that I realized he wasn’t doing exactly what his Mistress commanded. I believe they intended to turn both of us. They must have known about the Destroyer in you, but I don’t know how—”
“I remember now,” Sophia inserted.
“Medusa was the Head Priestess at the Temple of Neith when I was Kira.”
Dalair looked at her with eyes widened in surprise.
She nodded.
“She presided over…over…the sacrificial ceremony that you tried to save me from…”
Dalair released a huff of breath as long-buried memories resurfaced.
“I recall.”
“Medusa must have known about the aftermath…what I-I did…” Sophia stuttered, tears welling again unbidden.
Dalair enclosed her tightly in his embrace, infusing her with his heat and strength.
“Shhh. I
t’s in the past. We cannot change it. We can only do better.”
He picked up the thread again and continued on, as much to distract Sophia as to organize his own thoughts.
“They wanted to turn both of us, but the Creature found ways to thwart them. They never succeeded in turning you, after all. So he convinced them to come at you a different way.”
“Using you,” Sophia understood.
“Yes. They used me to Awaken your powers. The Creature left me enough awareness, especially when I was under substantial physical stress that my subconscious could come to the surface, so I was able to help you get away.”
“He was helping us all along.”
“I realize now that he was. I didn’t know it then,” Dalair agreed. “I didn’t know it when he started the process of turning me all over again a second time after you were gone. He really put me through the wringer then.”
She kissed his jaw, his face, anywhere she could reach, trying to soothe him through the agony of his memories.
Dalair shook his head in disbelief.
“I know now that he was trying to make me stronger. Oh, I think he still enjoyed torturing me the way he did, but he had to balance what he showed in front of Medusa, and inadvertently pushing me too far. He even injected a fragment of his own soul into me to save me once.”
“He did?” Sophia asked in surprise.
Dalair nodded.
“Not enough to make me a vampire, just enough to keep my soul from departing my body.”
He sensed her hurting vicariously for the ordeal he suffered, so he went on quickly.
“He would talk to me while I was unconscious. Later, in my dreams, some of his words would come back to me. They didn’t make sense at first. He talked about how I stole you from him. How he had you first…I didn’t put two and two together.”
“You were rather busy fighting for your life and soul,” Sophia said dryly.
A wry look came over Dalair’s face as well.
“It was only when he…uh…incapacitated me in the final battle with Medusa—”
“You mean stab you within an inch of your life,” Sophia huffed, more exasperated now than truly angry.
