Dragon Heat (22 page)

The hostages were taken out of the main building and are now locked in a

truck by the main entrance on the east side. I will fly in and try to call the

razbians’ attention to the west side. This way, you can get the female

vampires out of the truck and—‛

‚No.‛ Tardieh’s dark command stopped Zoricah midsentence. ‚I

will not let you be the bait. It’s too dangerous. There are too many of

them.‛

Zoricah left Hikuro on standby and faced Tardieh. ‚And what

exactly do you plan on doing?‛

‚I will go and create the diversion,‛ he replied sternly. His eyes

were still locked on the slaughterhouse in front of them.

Zoricah took a deep breath. She did not have time for Tardieh’s

macho ego fit, but she needed to nip that evil in the bud straight away

before it grew to become a delusional habit. ‚So you think you can lure

twenty odd razbians away from the main entrance, overpower them all by

yourself, kill the four others who are guarding the towers and be back

home in time for dinner, dear?‛

Tardieh finally looked at Zoricah, confusion suffused his face.

‚I made beef casserole, you know, your favorite.‛

‚Zoricah, I don’t think<‛

Zoricah cut him off sharply. ‚No, you are not thinking. You are

forgetting who you are talking to, King Tardieh,‛ she said without

preamble, ‚The plan has been agreed upon, and we will stick to it because

you need me in the skies as much as I need you backing me up on the

ground.‛

Tardieh opened his mouth to retort but stopped himself, swore

under his breath, and returned his attention to the slaughterhouse.

Presuming no answer was a good answer, Zoricah speed-dialed the

others and confirmed the slight change of plans. Without another word,

she turned to leave him to shape shift in the woods but felt strong hands

on her arms, holding her back.

Tardieh exhaled the breath he had been holding and said, ‚Be

careful. Please.‛

Zoricah’s heart skipped a beat. She was expecting the typical

macho retaliation, the ‘go back to oven’ kind, not the worry in his eyes

and those short but caring words. She felt a knot clog her throat. ‚You,

too,‛ she replied softly. She then reached across and kissed his lips. ‚See

you soon.‛

She found a large shrub area not too far from their hiding place and

undressed. Standing up completely naked, she took a deep breath and

brought her dragon forth. She felt it stir inside her, her life heat building

up from her core all the way to her limbs. She arched her back and let the

large wings spread in the dark night. Her smooth fair skin gave place to

tough leathery golden pelt. Next, it was time for her limbs to grow and

her hands and feet to turn into large razor-sharp claws. Fully

shape-shifted, Zoricah looked at the four towers guarding the

slaughterhouse through her serpent-like eyes. Smiling, she thought,

Dinner time
.

Tardieh saw Zoricah disappear behind the large shrub. He had to

call the attention of as many razbians as possible before she had the time

to shift. He knew he was being stupid by trying to stop her from fighting,

but he could not help himself. His almost five hundred years of existence

was screaming to protect what he loved. So, yeah, the same inner self was

not enjoying seeing Zoricah put herself in danger like that. But he also

knew she would never want to see him again if he didn’t respect her as an

equal leader and warrior. She was almost as old as he was so his fears

were rationally unfounded. Rationally.

After scanning the area, he focused on his target and

dematerialized on the other side of the electrical fence. Stupid razbians, as

if a mere fence would stop him from invading their compound. He placed

himself between the main gate and the building. This way the guards at

the main entrance would need to leave their posts to deal with their

uninvited guest.

It worked; Tardieh was welcomed by three bulky guards who came

at him almost as soon as he dematerialized. Combat knife in one hand,

knees bent outward slightly, and body weight evenly distributed on both

legs, he was ready.

With his left hand firmly open and fingers extended out, Tardieh

hammered his first opponent in the ribs while slashing his exposed throat

with his knife. The second opponent managed to strike him with a

powerful front kick which sent him stumbling to the ground. Recovering

fast, Tardieh deflected the second kick, aimed at his face, with his left

forearm. Then raising his right knee straight up, he directed his right heel

forward and smashed his opponent’s knee cap. Standing up swiftly, he

turned his body sideways, away from the third razbian who was coming

at him fast. Using his speed, he raised his left leg high up and bent his foot

so that the curve of his instep was parallel to the ground. The guard never

saw the powerful kick that hooked the side of his face. Tardieh pulled his

semiautomatic Glock 17 Gen 4 out and shot all three between the eyes.

Tardieh heard a bullet being fired and dropped on the ground to

assess where the attack was coming from. The guard in the east tower.

Stupid razbians. Didn’t they know bullets can’t kill vampires? He spotted

five other razbians running fast toward him.
Good boys
, he thought just

before dematerializing and reappearing again farther west of the main

building. ‚Now let’s play hide and seek.‛

Tardieh had intended to piss the razbians off with a little

cat-and-mouse game and thus alluring them away from the main entrance

and the container truck where the hostages were. When he turned around

to check if the guards had spotted him, a massive shadow blocked the

moonlight above him. He looked up to see what was happening and got

lost for words.

Large golden wings, fiery eyes, dark barbs delineating a powerful

back all the way down to a long tail. Zoricah’s dragon must have been a

good twenty feet long with a wingspan of probably thirty-five feet. She

hovered effortlessly above the east tower and exhaled a fireball on the

razbian guard who had switched his target from Tardieh to the menacing

dragon above him and was trying to bring her down with his machine

gun. Within seconds, the whole tower melted to the ground. While using

the sharp spade at the end of her golden tail to keep the razbians away

from the trucks, she exhaled another fireball on the cattle shed, setting all

the parked cars on fire.

As sharp as a hawk, she turned toward Tardieh and flew west,

successfully attracting all razbian guards toward them, including the ones

guarding the remaining towers.

Tardieh raised his Glock and hit three razbians who were about to

shoot Zoricah again. She flew past him, and he heard her beautiful low

voice thanking him from above.

When he turned around to reply, he caught movement out of the

corner of his eye. A large figure was trying to surreptitiously run away

through the back door. Instantly he recognized the motherfucker.

‚Where do you think you are going, Yerik?‛ Tardieh asked,

dematerializing right in front of his father’s former councilor.

‚Well, well, Prince Tardieh, long time, no see,‛ Yerik replied with

his characteristic dark vibrato voice as if two people were speaking at the

same time.

Tardieh saw red. Yerik was the councilor who had betrayed his

father, conspired with the dragon lord, and started the whole war

between their races. Because of him, millions of innocent beings were

killed, and their countries devastated during the bloody conflict that

lasted decades. In utter delight, Tardieh realized he had been mistaken.

Vrajitor was not the one behind the abductions; Yerik was, and it was time

for some long overdue payback.

Without warning, Yerik raised his gun and fired twice. The bullets

hit Tardieh’s sternum with a weird popping sound.

Tardieh was disoriented for a split second, then felt his skin being

consumed. They weren’t normal bullets; they were acidic. Looking down,

he saw his chest being rapidly eaten up by the liquid. Instead of

rejuvenating instantly, his skin was being charred like a thin piece of

paper under a hot blaze. The wound was spreading throughout his torso

and chin. Unable to keep his balance, Tardieh fell down on his knees.

Incredulously, he looked up and saw his attacker raise the strange gun

once again, straight at his forehead.

Zoricah could not believe her eyes. From high above, she saw

Tardieh fall down on his knees in front of Yerik. The razbian guards were

closing in fast. Soon they would reach him and kill him on the spot. That

is if Yerik didn’t burn him down first. What in Hiad was in that gun?

Vampires could only be killed by the sun, fire, or decapitation. Period.

Zoricah had never heard of any bullet being as lethal as the one Yerik had

shot Tardieh with.

She had to think fast. She needed to be very precise; a fireball

would effectively take Yerik down but would also hit Tardieh. She

couldn’t risk it. Taking a deep breath, Zoricah ignored the shots being

fired at her by the approaching razbians and exhaled a fire whip straight

at Yerik. It did the job. Just before the former vampire councilor pulled the

trigger, her blazing lash hit him on the face, setting it afire like dry leaves

under the summer sun. It wasn’t going to kill him, but at least it would

give Tardieh more time to recover from that strange acid which seemed to

be consuming his flesh.

From a distance, Zoricah saw Joel strike another group of razbians

who were attacking from the north. Sam followed right behind with her

thunderbolts. Yara’s black panther was by the container trucks helping

Hikuro and Dyam free the hostages. She was snapping their silver chains

open with her sharp teeth.

Zoricah threw a fireball on seven razbians closing in on her from

the east. Four caught on fire and were rapidly disintegrating before her.

The others who managed to shirk her blast tried to carry on the attack but

soon had to focus their attention on dodging their burning associates who

were blindly colliding with each other.

That will slow them down
, she thought and looked back toward the

slaughterhouse’s west exit. Tardieh’s wound was still quite ugly, but it

had shrunk considerably. He had stood up again and was now fighting

with Yerik for the acid gun. He evaded Yerik’s new shot by ducking out of

range and striking his gun hand with his left forearm. Next, he swung

around while still holding on to it tightly and smacked his elbow on

Yerik’s chin a couple of times. Yerik’s head snapped backward on an

impossible angle, making him loose his grip on the gun. Standing with his

right side facing Yerik, Tardieh then lifted his right leg, bent the knee

sharply, and threw a powerful side kick at his opponent, all in one fluid

motion. The upper part of Tardieh’s boot hit Yerik hard on the temple,

knocking him sideways.

‚You fight just like your father.‛ Zoricah heard Yerik’s

double-vibrato voice from above. ‚You know, he lasted quite a long time.‛

He wiped the blood off his mouth. ‚Killed half of my men before they

managed to take him down.‛

Tardieh had fought the urge to mindlessly let all his rage out on the

bastard. ‚What did you say?‛ he asked in a low, dark voice.

‚Oh, you didn’t know?‛ Yerik replied sarcastically. His dreadful

double-vibrato laughter echoed in the dark night. ‚Your father prided

himself so much of his fighting skills. ‘A male of worth mustn’t require a

shield’ the stupid despot used to belt out.‛ Yerik tried to circle around and

strike Tardieh with his left foot but was instantly blocked. ‚Hmm, I can

see your fighting skills have improved.‛

‚It’s been two hundred fucking years, Yerik. What did you

expect?‛ Tardieh replied, playing the game.

Yerik raised a scornful eyebrow at Tardieh, who was still blocking

his path. Yerik had nowhere to run. ‚To be honest I was expecting the

brainless playboy who only had eyes for easy pussies.‛

Tardieh let out a low growl but didn’t attack Yerik. His gaze shifted

to the sky and he saw Zoricah blasting a few more razbians who were

trying to go to their leader’s aid and attack Tardieh from the north. Their