Firestorm Forever: A Dragonfire Novel (86 page)

Sloane realized with horror that the needles on his syringes wouldn’t be nearly long enough to penetrate the wrappings, much less target a salamander hidden inside a bundle.

He’d have to wait for them to hatch. Judging by the agitation of this closest one, he wouldn’t have to wait long.

“They do look like eggs,” Liz said.

“But there’s a dozen of them here, easily,” Chandra noted. “If there are six clones, where are they? There could even be two hidden in one
falsa
.”

It wasn’t the most optimistic thought any of them had had. The one
falsa
rocked with greater vigor and cracked down one side. Sloane saw the flash of ruby and brass, but only because he was looking for it. The salamander raced for the gap in the wall, but Sloane snatched it up. He felt its cold slither between his fingers and gripped tightly.

The clone of Boris twisted in his grasp, looking at him with fury in his eyes, but Sloane stabbed in the needle and emptied it of its contents in a gush. The clone bellowed and bit him hard. When Sloane flinched, the salamander dove for the crack.
“Got him!”
Sloane said in old-speak.

“He’s mine!”

Sloane heard Thorolf shout, but couldn’t reply. A third flash of ruby and brass sailed past him, the salamander too fast and too slippery for him to inject as well.

“Missed one!”
he shouted to the
Pyr
.

“We’ll get him anyway,”
Brandon roared and the sound of the dragonfight overhead carried to their ears. The night beyond the crack was lit with flashes of dragonfire, and the sound of dragons roaring as they fought was deafening. The earth was rumbling restlessly, and Sloane feared the whole peak would slide into the Urubamba River valley.

“I can’t sing to the earth to stop this,”
Rafferty said in old-speak, then groaned as he evidently took a blow.
“This wound is too deep. Gaia will have her revenge on this night.”

The karmic rebalance of the moon’s node wasn’t just about the
Pyr
, after all.

The
falsas
were rocking all around them, the angle of the crack in the ceiling exactly right to let the light of the eclipse shine on another three. Sloane didn’t even want to blink in case he missed a
Slayer
. He spun slowly in place, watching for salamanders to erupt from the wrappings. The women didn’t even seem to breathe, they were so intent.

Sloane was glad of their assistance, but worried about it, too. He would have loved to have been in his dragon form, because his vision would have been sharper and he would have been better able to defend the mates. He couldn’t have managed the syringes, though, and he wouldn’t have fit in this chamber.

A salamander popped free suddenly, and Liz grabbed it, managing to singe it a bit with her fire and slow it down. The space filled with the scent of burning flesh. Sloane injected the
Slayer
and cast aside the empty syringe.

“
This one’s had it
,” he said in old-speak as the salamander slipped into the night.

“
He’s mine,”
Arach replied.

“Do you see the other two?” Sloane demanded of Liz. When she didn’t answer, he pivoted to face her.

Only to find Jorge in his human form, his eyes glittering coldly. The
Slayer
had Chandra’s hand twisted behind her back. His right hand had changed to his dragon form and his claw was closed around the baby’s head. Chandra had frozen in place, fury in her eyes. Liz wasn’t moving either, clearly not willing to risk Raynor’s welfare. Melissa was on the ground, her camera fallen out of her hand and blood on her temple.

“Eleven of the thirteen clones hatched so far,” Jorge said mildly, then nodded at the last rocking
falsa
. “Which makes that ‘egg’ mine.”

The
falsa
rocked harder and began to crack on one side. Jorge flung Chandra toward Liz so hard that she stumbled over Melissa. Sloane leapt forward to catch her so she didn’t fall on the baby, and Liz grabbed her arm. Jorge shifted shape in a blaze of shimmering blue, practically taking all of the space in the small chamber. He swung his tail and reared up, tipping the roof off the chamber and shattering a wall. He seized the last
falsa
and soared into the sky, exposing it to the blood moon like an offering.

Sloane grabbed the largest of the syringes, shifted shape, and leapt into the sky in pursuit of the fleeing
Slayer
.

* * *

The wait was excruciating.

Drake was in the forest behind the house he now shared with Veronica, Timmy and their recently born son. They had only to fight to secure the survival of the
Pyr
to win their future, but couldn’t do it until the eclipse. The night seemed particularly still to Drake, as if the entire world were expectant.

As if the entire world knew that his kind would live or die, depending upon events of this night.

Theo had joined him as well as Niall, Delaney, and Lee. Theo had brought Kristofer and another younger member of the Dragon Legion named Kade, although Drake knew there were other Dragon Legion in the vicinity. This time, he hadn’t insisted otherwise. Both Kristofer and Kade were in the house, keeping a vigilant watch over Drake’s family. Drake had promised Veronica that this would be his last mission, and he hoped that he survived it.

He wanted to pace, but Lee insisted upon stillness. The other
Pyr
had spent the day in a meditative state, building a spiral in a clearing in the forest at the back of Drake’s yard. It was wrought of dragonsmoke and invisible to human eyes, but Drake could feel its cold chill. It had a power about it that Drake didn’t trust, but that Lee said would draw evil to its core. Drake didn’t like having such a thing so close to his sons and mate, but he trusted Lee.

And Lee had vowed it would be gone when the eclipse was over.

The shadow finally touched the moon, and they all shifted shape, ready for whatever would happen next. The tree branches were devoid of leaves and looked like skeletal fingers reaching for the moon. Drake watched the light turn steadily more reddish as the shadow progressed across the face of the moon. He tried to be as still as a rooted tree, but he was aware of his heart pounding. He closed his eyes as it matched its rhythm to that of Veronica, not so very far away. The sensation still made him dizzy, but it also reassured him as a sign of her welfare. Her pulse was a little slower than his own.

Drake felt agitated and uncertain. If he’d been in human form, the hair would have been standing on the back of his neck. Something strange was in the air, maybe even darkfire, and he had a hard time holding onto his conviction that all would end well.

He didn’t like spells.

He didn’t like waiting either.

He was ready to fight for all he loved.

The eclipse proceeded with glacial speed, so slow that he wanted to scream aloud. Lee didn’t even move, his concentration was so great, and Drake could scarcely hear his breathing. Delaney and Niall watched the surroundings, their eyes glinting in the darkness. Theo was close by Drake’s side, as loyal a second as any
Pyr
could have.

When the moon was completely eclipsed, Lee shifted shape, becoming a dragon that could have been made of pure gold, with red scales and talons. He flew over the spiral he’d created of dragonsmoke, then hovered over its middle, his great red wings flapping slowly to keep him aloft. He murmured an incantation that Drake didn’t understand, then retreated to the perimeter, his eyes gleaming with anticipation.

They didn’t have to wait long before two
Slayers
appeared suddenly in the air of the clearing.

They were ruby red and gold and smelled of Elixir. Sloane had missed them then, which meant that the responsibility for inoculating them was theirs. Delaney shifted back to human form and picked up a syringe as Niall covered his back. One clone lunged at Drake, but Theo intercepted him. They locked claws and battled for supremacy, then Drake roared and joined the fight.

He tackled the
Slayer
fighting Theo, slamming him into the ground beside Delaney. Delaney shoved the needle into him and emptied it, casting aside the syringe to pick up another one. The
Slayer
roared with frustration and exhaled a plume of dragonfire, setting the tree branches overhead aflame. He couldn’t manifest elsewhere, but he was still dangerous. He launched himself at Drake, teeth bared. The
Slayer
slashed at Theo, then bit at Drake. The two
Pyr
exchanged a nod and seized him, flying straight up into the night.

Drake saw Niall fighting with the other
Slayer
as Delaney struggled to inject him and heard a vial crack.

It was Lee who tore a gash in the side of the other Slayer and jammed the broken syringe into that vermin’s side. The
Slayer
screamed in anguish, but the antidote hadn’t spilled and it was within him, too. Delaney and Niall held him down as Lee breathed fire, searing the wound shut as the
Slayer
screamed.

Both
Slayers
were inoculated, but not dead yet.

They couldn’t get escape.

There was the wail of a distant siren, and Drake felt Veronica’s fear for him. A wave of protectiveness consumed him, lit his world with red and fury, drove his need to see these vermin scrubbed from the face of the earth. There was only a
Slayer
to be slaughtered, a
Slayer
who wanted to harm his mate and sons, and Drake was going to ensure his death was painful.

And irrevocable.

Drake roared and shredded the
Slayer
in his fury, while Theo held their opponent captive. He breathed dragonfire at the
Slayer
and ensured that he was too dead to ever threaten any
Pyr
or human again.

Drake’s cry brought more of the Dragon Legion to their aid. He caught a glimpse of Rhys and Hadrian, Alastair and Balthasar, and others whose names he didn’t even know. The sky was thick with dragons and alight with dragonfire.

Rhys breathed dragonsmoke and drained the
Slayer
of every last vestige of his energy, then he and Hadrian ensured that the dead
Slayer
was exposed to the elements after his death. Theo and Drake joined them to incinerate the remains to ash. By the time the task was done, Niall, Lee and Delaney had done the same to the other
Slayer
with the help of the Dragon Legion.

The woods behind Drake’s house were filled with
Pyr
, their noble scent filling his nostrils. They listened in unison, but the eclipse was over and there were no more
Slayers
in the vicinity.

Did Drake dare to breathe a sigh of relief?

* * *

Sloane was racing after Jorge, determined to eliminate the
Slayer
at the root of all the
Pyr
’s trouble. He didn’t think of how far behind his fellow
Pyr
were. He could hear them fighting and smiled at Thorolf’s shout of victory when he dispatched one of the clones. It was a sign that they were winning. The moon was almost completely eclipsed, which meant that in less than an hour, the fate of the
Pyr
would be sealed.

Sloane was going to do his part.

He seized Jorge’s tail and pulled that
Slayer
to a halt. Jorge spun in the air and smacked the
falsa
against Sloane’s head. The air filled with cracked clay and tufts of cotton, as well as dried corn and twine. Debris flew in every direction and got into Sloane’s eyes. By the time he’d blinked them clear, Jorge had squirmed out of his grip and flown higher. Sloane beat his wings hard in pursuit.

There were items falling from the
falsa
as Jorge flew, freed by the wind or the loosened coverings, and they hailed down on Sloane. They seemed to surround him like an ever-changing cloud and he identified items as much by scent as by sight. He saw parrot feathers float past him, more cotton and dried corn, small tokens of gold like coins. There was a glint of gold earrings, then shards of earthenware pots and chunks of dusty textiles. He saw bits of woven reeds, a leather sandal, a ball of red string that unfurled as it fell past him. He saw a gourd that had been hollowed out, then decorated, then smelled that the next missiles were whole dried vegetables. He flew through a shower of coca leaves, reached up, and seized Jorge’s tail again.

Sloane dug his talons in deep and Jorge spun to fight. The
Slayer
loosed a stream of dragonfire even as Sloane tried to drive the needle of the syringe into his skin.

Jorge’s scales were so hard that the needle bent.

Too bad this
Slayer
would never love anyone enough to lose a scale.

Jorge slashed at Sloane then, once again using the
falsa
as a weapon and loosing a lot of cotton. Sloane dropped the syringe and saw the glimmer of it spiraling down into the valley far below. He raced after it, abandoning Jorge for the moment, caught up to it and snatched it out of the air. He pivoted and soared upward again, just in time to see two small items of ruby and brass tumble from the
falsa
.

They shimmered blue, then were gone.

The last two
Slayers
, and Sloane had missed them.

Jorge cast aside the
falsa
, which scattered human bones into the air as it fell earthward, and dove toward Sloane with his talons extended.