Badass Dragons - Complete Set (11 page)

CHAPTER
THREE

Two of Rafe’s wolves walked into the
ground floor bathroom, the chains around their jeans and jackets jangling as
they made their way to the mirrored sink. On either side of the room were four slightly
ajar doors, each concealing their own toilet. Believing they were alone in the
bathroom, they began to discuss sensitive matters.

 “So you
heard they’re keeping that dragon alive?” one remarked.

“Alive? The
one we captured this morning?” said the other.

“Of course,
dummy. It’s still down in the dungeon somewhere. Rafe’s trying to make a deal
with some vampires.”

“What deal?”

“I don’t know
– but apparently that dragon is what we’re giving in exchange.”

“I don’t
believe this. Why doesn’t he ever discuss –?”

At that
point, Jet decided to make his move, and jumped out from one of the toilets
swinging the iron bar he’d ripped from his cell. The nearest wolf was struck in
the head and dropped to the ground immediately. The second one managed to dodge
Jet’s successive swipe, and land one himself.

“Ouch,” Jet
replied sarcastically, as the wolf withdrew his fist, now covered with his own
blood.

He looked up
at him, wincing, and then the bar came down square in his face.

Jet set it
aside and dragged the two wolves into the nearest toilet and closed the door.
He undressed one and got changed into his pants, jacket and shoes. Then he
stepped out and looked down the other end of the hallway.

He saw Rafe
and the dungeon keeper walk past, presumably on their way to the dungeon.

With Cheryl’s
screams still in his ears, Jet went in the other direction towards the stairs.

CHAPTER FOUR

“Wake her. That’s it. Hold her
eyelids back. We need to get a move on…”

VOOM

Cheryl’s back
arched up from the ground and her hands sprayed out, trying to find something
to grip onto. She was forced back down from both sides by two different people,
although … the person on the left was much stronger than the person on the
right.

“Keep her
still,” Reiko said leering over her.

Cheryl’s eyes
were open now. She was conscious. Alert.

In such ways
she couldn’t begin to describe…

“How are you
feeling?” Reiko asked.

Cheryl
squirmed away from his gaze and looked to her left and right. Cassandra and
Sophie.

Her mind
started to recall what had previously transpired.

“It feels
good, doesn’t it?” Reiko said, crouching. “It’s going to keep feeling good as
the gift moves to take full effect.”

Cobwebs.
Bats. Crows. Castles.

A rush of
images was being poured through Cheryl’s mind.

“You drugged
me,” she mumbled.

Cassandra
gave a shriek of laughter while Reiko chuckled to himself.

“They didn’t
drug you, silly,” Sophie said tonelessly. She picked up Cheryl’s wrist and
showed it to her. There was a deep scar in the centre that was pulsating
fervently. The skin surrounding the scar was a deathly shade of white.

Cheryl leaned
over and saw her left wrist was the same.

“You drank my
blood…?” she whispered. “Am I going to die?”

Reiko stood
up from the floor. He motioned to Cassandra and Sophie to stand with him.

Cheryl sat
up, confused.

“Well?” she
repeated. “Am I going to die?”

“You already
are dead,” Reiko replied.

CHAPTER FIVE

Jet leaned up against the closed door
behind where Cheryl was being held by her captors. He sensed there weren’t any
wolves about this area at the moment, and judging by the voices within he
recognized they were vampire kin. Not wanting to cause them immediate alarm as
that would ruin his element of surprise, he quietly knocked against the door
and waited.

The voices
within soon became muffled, and a series of quiet footsteps made their way to
the door. It opened slowly, and a girl’s head peered out.

Jet
recognized her at once. It was Cheryl’s sister, Sophie.

“Hey,” she
murmured upon seeing him.

Jet quickly
seized upon her and burst open the door.

Cheryl was
sitting in the middle of the room in a daze, while the vampires Reiko and
Cassandra stood over her.

“
YOU
,”
Cassandra growled in a murderous voice. Her skin began to shift into a
hardened, reptile like texture, while her partner hissed angrily as Jet
entered.

Jet’s hands
were holding Sophie’s neck from behind, and he paraded her further towards
them. “Attack me, and I’ll snap her neck like a twig.”

“Jet,” Cheryl
murmured. “Jet, please don’t do –”

“Shut up,”
Jet scolded her. “Sophie has chosen her side. She will live … or might I say,
die
with the consequences.”

“You murdered
Cado,” Cassandra declared. “I shall have vengeance.”

As she said
this, Reiko blocked her path to Jet. Whilst almost as angry as she was, he
seemed more in control of his actions.

“And I will
kill you should you dare so tempt me,” Jet said. “You think you’ll stand a
chance against me?”

“How did you
get out?” Cassandra shouted.

“It was
Cheryl. I knew I had to save her.”

“She can’t
be
saved.”

Reiko turned
to his lover again and silenced her.

Jet’s face
became wrought with frustration. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Reiko turned
slightly. He was sneering, a small smile etched on his lips.

“You want
Cheryl?” Reiko challenged. “Here – have her.”

He pulled
Cheryl to her feet, and pushed her in Jet’s direction.

Jet dropped
his hold of Sophie, and let Cheryl fall into his arms.

He embraced
her – chest to chest, neck to neck, face to face. She was cold.

So cold it
frightened him.

“What magic
is this?” Jet whispered.

Suddenly
there was a series of thunderous footsteps coming from the hallway outside.

As Jet’s
attention was distracted, Sophie got up from her place on the ground and
grabbed hold of Cheryl’s arm.

“Come on,”
she said. “You belong with us.”

Jet tugged
Cheryl away from her as she began to go free, and then he placed her back up
against his entire body.

With Rafe’s
wolves only metres away, Jet began to shift into his dragon, and in doing so
ripped through the walls.

CHAPTER SIX

There was nothing to fear anymore.
Not for the magnificent dragon who held Cheryl in his arms.

The roof
above them crumbled and caved as they ascended through it at glorious speed.
Down amongst the rubble, red and blue eyes could be seen staring up at them –
the vampires and wolves standing together in a powerless state. Jet’s dragon
released a deafening roar towards them, and blew a tremendous fireball into the
room, sending them all running and screaming.

Cheryl was in
shock. She was glad to be rid of the vampires and in Jet’s keeping, but what if
the room’s collapse had killed Sophie? What if the smoldering fireball had
caused her to ignite?

For Cheryl,
none of this was about sides. The bad guys, the good guys, who hated who – she
didn’t want to be involved! Of course, by now, it was far too late. Even once
she was on Jet’s back and sailing through the cool recesses of the starlit sky,
her mind couldn’t shake the nightmarish visions that had begun since her awakening.

Drugged,
blood drained, and cursed – whatever the problem was, now all she could see was
images of skeletal like figures moving through a dark and endless maze. Inside
the maze she saw Jet and he was captured once more. Around him, robed shadows
stood, beating him with spiked instruments, each blow drawing blood. Cheryl saw
that blood and inside it, she was in another dream. One where there was a river
of blood and she was in the middle of it.

Groan…

This was
horrible. But she could almost not turn it off.

What would
Jet think if he saw her now? But then … perhaps this was her only road to
redemption…

Eventually,
the frightening images did fade. In that moment, Cheryl became more aware of
her surroundings, and the sensations of her body. While Jet’s exterior was
rough and prickly against her skin, it was not as uncomfortable as it had once
been. She wondered why and touched her leg to realize her skin had changed in
density. It was coarse, like the bottom of a foot. She shuddered, feeling a
little afraid. Then her eyes moved below and through the clouds.

Grasslands
stretched for miles. No houses. No factories. No farms. It was silent,
peaceful, and serene. There was a large dark structure in the centre of where
they were headed. Cheryl could only make out the general shape of it. Behind
it, there were mountains so high, she could barely see above them even at this
height.

Jet’s wings
stopped flapping and he began to descend further, gliding towards the dark
structure. Only once they had hit the ground did Cheryl see it for what it
truly was – an old, medieval type castle.

Cheryl
stooped to her knees, and stared up at it, almost in awe.

Behind her,
Jet had already returned to his human form.

“Strongarm
Castle,” he said to her. “My first and last home.”

Cheryl stood
up from the ground. Turned to him. “I thought you lived at the other ‘castle’.
With Synrith.”

“I do live
there,” Jet said. “This is where I was raised, and where I would raise my
children if I were to have them.”

“Why did
you…?” Cheryl began. “Why did you bring me here?”

Jet stepped
beside her. He sighed heavily. “I don’t know. I believe we had something last
night. Something special.”

She felt his fingers
interlock her hand.

“I … I’m
thankful to you that you rescued me.”

“Anything for
a mate.”

He drew in
closer to her.

Cheryl
flinched. “I … I’m afraid for my sister…”

“She’s gone,”
Jet said. “She couldn’t resist the wolf’s lure. She couldn’t resist the
vampire’s spells. She was full of deceit and lies. She was the enemy.”

“An enemy of
whom?”

“I saw her,”
Jet said, “when I was being held captive. There was no innocent girl trying to
fight her way out against their ways. She is drawn to the darkness because she
is dark herself. You must know this, for she is your sister.”

Cheryl bowed
her head. “I know what you’re saying. But I also believe that if the wolves and
vampires weren’t there, she’d behave properly again. She had addictions … but
there’s always ways you can help people like her.”

“Why would
you do that?”

“What?”

“Why would
you help her?”

“Because
she’s my sister.”

“Hmm,” Jet
said, considering. “There have been dark times for dragons too. I have seen
many brothers fight against each other. Some in the name of good. Other in
evil.”

“But is that
what she is?” Cheryl asked. “Is that what the wolves are?”

Jet bowed his
head. “That’s different. The wolves are self interested, much the same as
dragons. They want to fight us for territory. We fight back. There’s no wrong
or right there. Except for the fact that this particular pack of wolves have
aligned themselves the most wretched and despicable creatures that have known
to walk this earth.”

“You mean –?”

“The
Vampires, Cheryl,” Jet said. “Vampires are pure evil.”

CHAPTER
SEVEN

The front of Strongarm Castle was
wide open. As they stepped through the archway and into the courtyard, Cheryl
couldn’t help but feel the sense of loneliness this place contained. The sense
of abandonment. Watching the vines creep up around the walls towards the dark
windows, she could easily see how different it would look if occupied. It was
large enough for many people to live in – servants, guards, families, friends…
Cheryl was intrigued by the building and its history with Jet. She wasn’t sure
why she stopped liking him, as she knew was being drawn into his attractiveness
now.

“What are you
thinking about?” Jet asked as they walked.

“Why?” Cheryl
replied.

“I’m just
curious how much of an impression this is making on you.”

“I don’t
know,” Cheryl said. “You know where my thoughts are.”

“With your
sister.”

“Yes.”

They stopped
at the main doors to the castle’s interior. Jet’s head was bowed in thought.

“Did you see
her die?” Cheryl asked him.

“What?”

“From the
fire? From the roof caving in?”

“The others
protected her,” Jet muttered. He put his hand on the latch of the door.

“So she is
alive then?”

“Yes.”

As the door
swung open there was a large, eerie creak.

“After you,”
Jet said.

Cheryl’s lips
curled inward, and she nodded politely.

Once inside
the door slammed shut behind them, and they were in darkness.

Jet took her
hand and led her towards a flight of spiraling steps. As they began making
their way up the moon shone through at them through a window above.

“We still
have to save her,” Cheryl said quietly. “We have to try, Jet.”

“But what if
it’s her choice? What if there is no spell cast on her? What if she really
wants to embrace the darkness? How is one to save one from that?”

Cheryl didn’t
have a reply immediately. She’d known about this assumption from Jet, so she
shouldn’t have had such a hard time explaining why he was wrong.

After all,
was the only reason Cheryl was trying to save Sophie, because she was her
sister?

“I can’t give
up on her,” Cheryl said finally. “I have to know for sure.”

“For sure?”

“Yes.”

“Well…” Jet
murmured. “Did Sophie ever have any other friends? A boyfriend perhaps?”

Cheryl
shrugged. “She was with a junkie once.”

“Did she love
the junkie?”

“What? I
don’t know. I guess so.”

“Is he still
a junkie?”

“I really
have no idea,” Cheryl confessed.

“Well, if you
want your sister back, it isn’t going to be a simple case of just removing her
from the lion’s den. She needs somewhere to go to. Somewhere she belongs. If
she has no other life and no other friends, she will only keep going back to
them.”

“I suppose
that’s true.”

They reached
the top of the steps. Jet’s hand was on her behind.

She knew he
wanted to touch her more.

“So you will
help me then?” Cheryl asked. “Get her back?”

Jet paused.
“I really…”

“What is it?”

She turned
around in front of him, and his hands moved to her waist.

“I really
don’t know what they’re going to do with her now.”

“You think
they might kill her? Why would they do that?”

Jet shook his
head. “Maybe they’ll use her for something. A way to get back at you.”

“But why?”

“They want
Synrith dead. If they can get to you, they can get to me –”

“But Synrith
didn’t come for you. He didn’t make a deal.”

“I know he
sent you there for me.”

“What?”

“He somehow
knew your being there would give me the strength to free myself.”

“How would he
know that?”

Jet leaned in
close to her. Their lips brushed each other.

“Because
Synrith knows you and I are supposed to be together.”

He kissed her
lips and she kissed him back. His hand went to the side of her face, his skin
so warm.

Her skin so
cold.