Authors: Ella J. Phoenix
growing, gaining speed like an avalanche on a steep mountain. She
channeled the power fully to her arms. A shield of fire came out of her
hands just in time to block Drew’s fireball. Without missing a beat,
Zoricah raised both hands and brought them back down on a fluid
movement. The fire that had blocked her friend’s attack became a blazing
whip. Repeating the circular movement smoothly, Zoricah brought her
magical whip down on her dragon friend, who promptly started raging
against the sharp thrashes. After three attempts, Zoricah managed to
throw it over Drew’s head. She locked it tight like a collar and pulled it
down with all her might. Drew lost her balance and fell sideways onto the
ground. Zoricah took advantage of her friend’s momentary disorientation,
jumping on top of the fallen dragon and tying her front claws together.
Then she repeated the same drill with Drew's hind legs, immobilizing her
friend completely. Drew did not like being tied up like a wild hog and
started trouncing against the blazing ropes.
Zoricah got down and walked around her friend, calling her
attention. ‚Drew, you are out of control! Deidre cannot be saved like this.‛
The dragon’s eyes focused on her. It seemed to have lost a bit of the mad
glow it had before. ‚Deirdre needs you, Drew. She needs you well and
sane.‛
Drew gave out another anguished shriek. ‚She’s dying. She’s dying
in there,‛ she managed to say through dark tears.
‚Exactly. The longer I spend here fighting you, the more time we
waste.‛
Slowly, bit by bit, red scales shifted back into fair, soft skin. The
long, barbed tail receded, and red locks cascaded down Drew's lean spine.
Retrieving the blazing rope, Zoricah went to her friend and held
her tightly in her arms. She had to go back to the house and find Deirdre.
‚Drew, promise me you will stay here. Promise me you will not go off like
that again because we cannot afford to lose any more time.‛
Tears fell down Drew’s cheeks. Barely lifting her head up, she
nodded.
Zoricah stood up and started to race toward the house. Half of the
roof was ablaze, and the other half was beginning to collapse from the
lack of support. ‚Please, Apa Dobrý, don’t let them die in there,‛ she
prayed under her breath.
When she was a couple of feet away from the central door, she saw
a tall figure coming out followed by a large animal. His jacket was on fire,
and he was carrying someone in his arms. Tardieh.
Zoricah raised her hand. The fire on his shoulder curved like a
blazing serpent, dancing against the wind. It slowly went across and
disappeared into Zoricah’s hand.
‚Neat trick,‛ Tardieh said with true admiration in his eyes. ‚Thank
you. It was starting to nag me.‛
Zoricah gave him a small smile and helped him put the female
carefully down on the forest floor.
He took off his battered jacket and covered the female’s naked
body. ‚I think you’d better hold her. My body temperature is too low for
her condition.‛
Zoricah followed his advice and accommodated the frail female on
her lap. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the black panther anxiously
circling around them.
‚Yara, please, go check on Drew. She’s near the back door between
the house and the shed.
The black panther gave a small snarl in protest but complied and
quickly disappeared into the shadows.
Zoricah looked at the weak female before her. She recognized
Deirdre instantly, despite her overly protruded belly. Her hands seemed
to have been broken. Her once beautiful shinny red hair was plastered
against her face. She was shaking uncontrollably.
What had happened to her?
‚Where are the others?‛ Zoricah asked Tardieh while carefully
inspecting Deirdre’s condition.
‚Hikuro and Sam had gone after a few razbians who fled through
the underground tunnel.‛
‚Underground tunnel?‛ Zoricah inquired, frowning.
‚Yes, that’s what it was in the shed. An underground tunnel
connecting the house and the garage. Joel and Dyam are checking the site
for survivors.‛
Zoricah’s heart skipped a beat. She looked up and asked, ‚Are
there any other survivors?‛
Tardieh’s green eyes turned red for a split second. ‚No. They are all
dead.‛ His deep baritone voice was filled with fury and grief.
Zoricah’s heart sank. She had got to them too late. Again.
She heard footsteps approaching. Tardieh stood up with his combat
knife and fangs out between Zoricah and the imminent danger.
‚Permission to approach, my lord. It is I, Hikuro, and Samantha.‛
Hikuro’s voice was low but firm. Both were covered in soot and razbian
blood.
Tardieh relaxed and stood straight once again. Putting his combat
knife back in its holster, he asked his second in command. ‚What’s the
status?‛
Before Hikuro could reply, more footsteps were heard. This time it
was Sam and Hikuro’s turn to raise their weapons. They moved in unison,
as if one was intrinsically aware of the other.
Hmm, interesting
, Zoricah
thought. Sam had never shown such link with anyone else.
‚Whoa! If you have to shoot, aim a bit lower, okay?‛ Joel’s voice
sounded in the darkness. Shortly after, Joel and Dyam were lit by the
bonfire which had once been the farmhouse.
Lowering his gun, Hikuro turned back around and replied to his
king’s earlier question. ‚All seventeen razbians are down, my lord.
Unfortunately, it was not possible to spare them for interrogation.‛
‚What about the females? Any survivors?‛ Zoricah asked the four
fighters.
They all lowered their eyes in sadness. Sam slowly shook her head
confirming Zoricah’s worst fears.
‚Deirdre!‛ Drew came into view, shortly followed by Yara, who
was now in her human form. They ran across the field, avoiding the
sparks from the blazing house.
‚I could not hold her for longer, Zoricah,‛ Yara said apologetically.
Drew crouched down beside her frail twin sister and placed her
hands on the unnaturally extended belly. Immediately, Deirdre’s
shivering receded. Zoricah could feel the twins' connection as if she had
just been hit by a warm weather front.
She was angry at Drew for not having followed her orders, but a
part of her understood her friend’s predicament, and deep inside, she
admitted she would have done the same
Drew’s shoes. ‚We need to get her to a warmer place. Sam, where’s the
car?‛
‚A couple of miles north of Lake Placid Village.‛
They were four miles south of the village, which meant that the car
was almost six miles away.
Damn it.
It was too far for her to carry Deirdre,
and the night was too bright for her to fly over Lake Placid. Humans were
bound to spot her and call the news channels or even film her themselves
on their freaking cell phones. ‚I can dematerialize with her to a safe spot.‛
Tardieh’s low voice startled her.
Zoricah looked at him in disbelief.
What was he playing at?
First, he
didn’t want to believe in her; then he accused her of murdering his father;
now he is willing to take one of her own to safety?
Hmm, very fishy.
But
did she really have a choice?
As if reading her mind, Tardieh added, ‚You don’t have many
options.‛
‚I don’t, but they are options, nonetheless.‛ The gates of Hiad
could open right above her, but she would hold on to her pride till the last
minute.
‚Zoricah, please, we need to move her now. She’s failing.‛ Drew’s
pleading voice brought Zoricah back from her ego trip. She looked back at
Yara and Sam. They both seemed determined to carry their friend until
the ends of Terhem Viahta just to not have to accept any male’s help. But
the one million dollar question was: would Deirdre survive the journey?
With a sigh of resignation, Zoricah agreed to the last thing she
wanted to happen. ‚Okay, you can dematerialize on my balcony in Soho. I
will be right behind—‛
‚And then what will you do?‛ Tardieh asked. He was trying hard
not to sound condescending, Zoricah noticed. ‚You need supplies, a warm
and large clean area to tend to her wounds.‛
Damn him! He was right. Dragons healed fast, not as fast as
vampires but quite fast nevertheless. But in her condition, Deirdre would
take a number of days to fully recover, and if her wounds and the strange
fever were not tended to immediately, she might not live to see another
day. Her townhouse in Soho could be described as ‚cozy‛ not ‚roomy.‛
‚I’ll find a way,‛ she said stubbornly.
‚How? Your rooms are not spacious enough to be used as an
operating theater nor are they fit to accommodate a wounded dragon
comfortably.‛
‚How do you know our rooms are not big enough?‛ Sam asked,
raising an eyebrow at Tardieh.
He ignored her inquisitive look and carried on. ‚Zoricah, you know
I am right. You need to take her to a safe, large, clean, well supplied
hideaway, and you have to do it right now. I am the only one who can
provide all of that at the present moment.‛
With dread, Zoricah realized she would have to agree to the second
riskiest plan she had ever taken part in her life. The first had taken place
two hundred years before.
‚Okay. But you are dematerializing me, too, at the same time.‛
A wave of heated female protests followed her words. She knew
her fighters would be against it, but their disapproval was the least of her
concerns. She needed to take Deirdre to safety and come up with a backup
plan in less than thirty seconds and be well prepared for a more than
likely vampire ambush.
‚There’s no way I’ll leave you to go unprotected with that
blood-fucking-sucker.‛ Yara’s voice stood out in the sea of protests.
‚Well, these blood-fucking-suckers have just saved your ass
tonight, witch,‛ Dyam retorted heatedly.
Before another battle started, Zoricah stood up, faced her fighters,
and said sternly, ‚We don’t have time for this. I hate to say it, but Tardieh
is right. We do not have the right amenities to tend for Deirdre.‛
‚So one of them stays with us,‛ Yara said, pointing an accusing
finger at Dyam, as if she were a Spanish Inquisitor who had just found a
heretic.
‚Yes, for ransom,‛ Sam added heatedly.
Great, Zoricah thought, the Inquisition Court was complete.
‚I’ll stay.‛ Hikuro’s cold voice resonated like a bullet fired in a
metal container. He was looking at Sam with defiance in his eyes.
Tardieh gave his old friend an exasperated look as if saying "What
the fuck?" but only got a reassuring nod in return.
Zoricah took advantage of the momentary disagreement between
the two vampires and closed the deal. ‚So it’s settled, then. Tardieh, you
will dematerialize Deirdre and I at the same time to your castle while
Hikuro stays here with Sam, Yara, and Drew.‛
An awful high-pitched screech echoed once again through the
night. When Zoricah managed to recover from the assault on her ears, she
looked at the source where the dreadful sound had come from. Drew was
hugging her twin sister with so much force that Zoricah thought she
would finish breaking the remaining bones. Oh, by Apa Dobrý’s honor,
will she ever manage to get Deirdre to safety in time? Who else was going
to throw a fit that night?
‚She needs me. She won’t make it without me,‛ Drew said weakly,
almost in a whisper.
Zoricah looked at Tardieh, not knowing what to do or what else to
bargain with. The salvation came from the other side of the circle.
‚I’ll transport her, Zoricah. I’ll take Drew to the castle safely,‛ Joel
said firmly. Then as if also reading her mind, he added, ‚By Apa Dobrý, I
promise no harm will come to her.‛
Zoricah looked back at Tardieh, who nodded gravely in agreement.
‚So I’ll stay here with Hikuro,‛ Dyam announced returning Yara’s
fierce stare.
Zoricah bit her lip, took a deep breath to gain courage, and said to
her friends, ‚I’ll meet you back at the Soho townhouse as soon as
possible.‛
Tardieh came closer and held her hand. It was not a demanding
gesture. It was soft, almost delicate. Together, they kneeled down beside
Deirdre’s unconscious body and dematerialized.
Tardieh took Zoricah and Deirdre straight to one of the largest
guest rooms in his mansion. Joel arrived with a very pale Drew soon after.
The room was ample with a tall ceiling and a large window