Badass Dragons - Complete Set (15 page)

PART FOUR

CHAPTER ONE

What lies inside his heart? How did
the world appear through his eyes?

What did she really
mean to him?

It was a rare
moment when Synrith shared his truth with anyone. But opinions had been formed.
His reputation was one of being an evil, scheming predator who had no love for
anyone. And most importantly, no weaknesses.

Apart from
one golden dagger tucked away inside a small box in Rafe’s jacket. The wolves
of tonight – Rafe and the others – perhaps he could still make them believe
this was what he was after.

And not the
girl. Never the girl.

For a blade
cursed with magic that could cut through a dragon’s skin, and eat the flesh
underneath – that could poison one’s blood and set it on fire – that was
something there’d be no shame to fear.

But if it was
just the girl.

That loving,
sweet, precious girl…

Then the days
of his dragon being feared and respected were over.

It was time
for the ring of fire. Synrith could see Rafe was getting ready to ascend up the
next opening from the beach to the road, and he was just that little bit far
ahead from the rest of his pack on their bikes, that he was going to be
separated from them.

Synrith
opened his mouth and began to spit the fire.

As Rafe
passed through the embankment, the green flames hit the beach barricading the
rest of his pack from following him upward. Synrith moved ahead of Rafe as he
moved to the road, and blew fire directly into his path. Rafe hit the brakes so
hard the bike swerved to one side producing a dark skid on the road. Then
Synrith blew fire in the other direction of the road, and quickly joined the
rest of the circle together.

He descended
into the middle of it, and shifted into his human form.

Rafe killed
the bike’s engine and stepped off of it.

Cheryl did
likewise.

Synrith stood
his ground, staring out at Rafe intently while the latter unzipped his jacket
and removed the box.

“No one wants
you here,” Rafe muttered.

“I beg your
pardon?” Synrith replied.

“I said, ‘No
one wants you here!’”

Behind him,
Synrith could hear the revving of engines, circling the edges of the fire. But
his flames weren’t about to go out.

Never.

Ever.

“Even if you
can get that box open in time,” Synrith began, “you know you’re going to get
hurt when I come at you. You might even get killed.”

Rafe bore his
teeth at him. He growled his wolf’s growl.

“Control your
emotions,” Synrith continued. “Think clearly. Do you want to die here? Or do
you want to make a deal?”

“A deal?”
Rafe said under his breath. “What deal?”

“You can keep
that dagger. You can replicate it. Let Jet run the dragons and you run him. I
will leave the city. I won’t fight you.”

“But you just
want the girl?” Rafe sneered.

“I want her,”
Synrith said. “But I want something else as well.”

“What?”

“I want the
cure for vampirism.”

Rafe appeared
flustered at first. Then he laughed. “The cure for –”

“Don’t play
games with me,” Synrith scolded. “We all know you had yours cured.”

“There is no
cure!” Rafe barked at him. “You’re … out of your depth. You don’t know a
thing.”

Synrith held
up his hand in a show of peace. “May I approach?”

Rafe’s face
scrunched up a moment. Then he set the box on the ground. He started walking
towards Synrith and they met each other halfway.

“I know about
your past in the Purple Blood vampire sect. I know that you have crossed from
one side to the other.”

Rafe shook
his head. “I’m afraid you are mistaken. It wasn’t me you’re thinking of.”

“It’s true,
you have somehow clouded people’s memories,” Synrith said. “Great sorcery is
behind you no doubt. But I still see through it. I do not forget things so
easily.”

Rafe beckoned
him closer.

Synrith
leaned forward.

“It’s true
there is a cure for vampirism,” Rafe whispered to him. “But it’s a cure for all
things.”

“I’m afraid I
don’t understand.”

“Don’t you…?”

Suddenly
there was an enormous plunge of agony at Synrith’s side. He looked down and saw
that the gold dagger had been firmly planted in his stomach.

CHAPTER TWO

Cheryl didn’t see it at first.
Synrith and Rafe were hunched close together and appeared to be whispering to
one another. For a moment, she took her eyes away. She looked out into the dark
recesses of the road, and then in her peripherals, she saw the fire change
color. From green it went to yellow to gold. A gust of wind swept through it
and Cheryl saw the lid of the wooden box on the ground fly back. The box was
empty.

Rafe stepped
away from Synrith. In Rafe’s hand he clutched the gold dagger tightly, and
blood dripped from the blade’s edge as he walked back to the bike.

Synrith had
fallen to his knees.

In panic,
Cheryl ran towards him, dodging Rafe’s attempt to block her. She fell to the
ground with him as he rolled over, his eyes glazed.

“Cheryl,”
Synrith croaked.

“I’m here,”
Cheryl said clutching his hand.

“Find the
cure,” he managed. “Find it and you will bring me –”

Synrith’s hand
leapt with a wave of scorching heat, causing Cheryl to cry out and drop it.

Before she
could reach for him again, his entire body burst into flames.

“No!” Cheryl
shrieked. “No, no, no –”

“That’s
enough,” Rafe said pulling her back. “It’s done.”

“You
bastard!” Cheryl wailed and scratched at Rafe’s face. He went to hold her in
place, but Cheryl’s feet pounded into his legs with tremendous force.

Rafe cried
out in agony as his knees buckled and Cheryl stooped over him, her fangs
protruding. She grabbed for his neck as he did his best to wrestle with her.

The ring of
fire was dying down.

Soon the rest
of the pack had the pair surrounded, and Rafe was lucky they came when they
did.

It didn’t
take one wolf to keep Cheryl from tearing his throat out. It didn’t take two,
or three, or four.

The hands of
seven wolves were on Cheryl when they managed to rip her from Rafe’s chest.

Her skin was
the color of snow, and her eyes the color of blood.

If she had
seen a reflection of herself then, she would have screamed.

CHAPTER
THREE

Rafe was done with Cheryl.

Once his
wolves had beaten her till she could no longer fight back, he took her to the
floor of the road and held the gold dagger to her throat, still marked with
Synrith’s blood.

“If I ever
see you again, vampire,” he growled at her. “I’m going to set you on fire.”

Cheryl said
nothing. She was numb from the beating, and could hardly see out her teary eyes.

Rafe let go
of her and she rolled onto her back, quivering.

The
motorbikes roared and sailed away, until their sound was merely an echo on the
horizon.

Cheryl was
defeated.

And had he
loved her after all?

Had he truly,
deeply, loved her?

All that was
left of Synrith was his charred remains. He didn’t even shift into a dragon
before his death. He didn’t vanish in a cloud of smoke, or transcend into the
afterlife. There he was on the ground. Stabbed. Burnt.

Murdered.

Cheryl looked
into the sky and at the rest of her surroundings. She just couldn’t believe it.
The powerful, magnificent Master Synrith. Crushed and defeated, as was she. It
didn’t seem right. This wasn’t how things were supposed to work out.

She screeched
out wildly, the rage imploding within her.

All she saw
was violence. Hatred. The destruction of all things.

To look
behind that, the pain was beyond anything she knew.

CHAPTER FOUR

Synrith was dead, and Rafe and his
wolves were long gone.

But Cheryl
was not alone on the road that night.

As she stood
over Synrith, still trying to control her tears, a figure emerged from the
shadows.

It gave her a
start, and upon seeing the figure was advancing towards her, she cried out in
anger towards it.

“Fuck off,
whoever you are.”

It was Reiko,
the vampire.

She stared at
him in disbelief as he made his way over, his hands out, showing he meant no
harm.

Cheryl looked
away from him, and fell to her knees by Synrith’s body.

“I saw
everything,” Reiko said on his approach.

“Then why
didn’t you do something?” Cheryl shot back.

“I was
outnumbered,” Reiko replied. “There was nothing I could do.”

Cheryl shook
her head. She touched Synrith’s burnt fingertips. “How do you survive, but he
doesn’t?”

“There was a
space in the cave Jet’s fire didn’t reach to,” Reiko said. “But I was the only
one who was in that area at the time.”

“Cassandra?”

“She
perished,” Reiko said. “I will have my revenge.”

“On who? Jet?
Or Rafe?”

“On both of
them.” There was a brief pause. “Perhaps you would join me?”

Cheryl looked
up at him. So many words to say, but nothing came out…

Reiko bent
down. He touched her shoulder. “This isn’t over.”

Cheryl
shrugged him away. “How could it not be? He’s
dead
…”

Reiko looked
at Synrith’s body a moment. “I wonder…”

He trailed
off.

“What?”
Cheryl urged him.

“It’s
nothing. Forget it.”

“What were
you going to say?” Cheryl demanded, striking him with her fist.

Reiko landed
on his backside. “Take it easy.” After a moment, he sighed. “It’s a shame there
was nothing left of Cassandra. But then perhaps it’s of greater torment to have
hope.”

“What the
hell are you talking about?”

“I know of …
certain people who might be able to help Synrith.”

“What do you
mean?”

“It’s been
ages since I’ve seen any of them. I don’t know what their disposition is now.
But…”

Reiko climbed
to his feet. He looked to either end of the road.

His gaze
remained still.

“What’s going
on?” Cheryl asked, standing up. She went to him and followed his gaze.

In the faint
distance a car was approaching them.

“I was just
thinking that it would be good for both of us if our friend Synrith was still
alive,” Reiko murmured. “But what I’m about to suggest is highly dangerous and
the consequences could prove catastrophic, even if we are successful.”

“What are you
talking about?” Cheryl hissed at him.

“Isn’t it
obvious?” Reiko replied. “I’m talking about a resurrection.”

CHAPTER FIVE

“No,” Cheryl whispered. “No, that
can’t be good.”

“It was just
a suggestion,” Reiko said. “It would be an effort to carry out. I’m not going
to bother if you don’t want me to. You just … seem so upset.”

Cheryl put
her hands up. “I don’t know anything about this. Frankly, the idea just freaks
me out. I’m … I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore…”

Reiko
shrugged. “I’m going after Rafe. You do what you like.”

He waved down
the approaching car. The woman who was driving wound down her window to speak
with Reiko.

Cheryl
couldn’t see anyone else in the car.

“What’s the
matter?” she asked Reiko.

Reiko reached
into the car and proceeded to throttle her with his teeth to her throat.

At the sound
of the woman still alive, crying while she was being devoured by the vampire,
Cheryl had to look away.

Behind her,
the car door opened, and there was some dragging across the road.

“Are you
hungry, Cheryl?” Reiko asked. “There’s plenty for both of us.”

“I’m just
fine here, thanks,” Cheryl muttered.

At least it
was the truth. Cheryl waited around for five minutes while Rieko feasted. She
still hadn’t decided what she was to do next. Whether this resurrection idea
was worth looking into. Whether she should continue to remain with Reiko at
all.

But when she
looked that other way…

When she
thought about returning to her life like this…

She had
nothing else.

Cheryl walked
over to Reiko as he was just about finished. He looked up at her and grabbed
the deceased woman’s t-shirt to wipe his mouth clean.

“What can you
tell me about this resurrection thing?” she asked.

“Get in the
car and I’ll tell you all everything.”