It hung in the air, and Val glared at her “date” for the evening but picked up the line.
“I suppose so. You’re safe… Elizabeth,” Val said.
Fifty-three
Lizzy launched herself at Valerie, and whatever she was now, it wasn’t human. Limbs too long, fingers too long, too many joints everywhere. She moved so fast Griffen couldn’t see much more except for pale, iridescent scales and long fangs. He moved into the rush, intent on getting to her before she could get to his sister, his body already shifting.
And jerked to the side as something heavy hit him at the base of his neck and shoulder, sending him crashing to the floor.
Valerie, nearly twice as tall as she was usually, met Lizzy’s rush. She spared Griffen only one glance before twisting and throwing Lizzy through the air with her own momentum. Lizzy landed on the buffet table, turning it into a shower of splinters and hors d’oeuvres. Valerie, facing Lizzy as she quickly rose, braced herself.
“Thanks, Big Brother, but I told you. This is my fight,” Valerie said.
Only then did he realize that she had hit him.
Lizzy moved just as fast as before, but low to the ground, hitting Valerie around the knees and lifting her into the air. Valerie brought her elbows down on Lizzy’s back and struggled to kick free. Lizzy seemed to be growing as well, and as the two titans struggled, Griffen got his first look at her.
Long limbs, long neck. Face human but alien at the same time. Just a hint of reptile in the shape of it, and glittering scales reflecting the colorful lights of what had been a party till her entrance.
She looked nothing like any dragon Griffen had ever imagined, despite a long tail and short, sharp-looking wings. Val in the toga that now rode her enlarged form like a miniskirt looked like a titan as the monster Lizzy grabbed her, wrapped around her. Odd details registered as they struggled, the tail split into two toward the end, and her hair was no longer hair but long tendrils of scaly material that seemed razor-sharp.
The hair stabbed at Valerie’s belly, and he listened to his sister scream.
Griffen got to his feet and almost fell again. Dizziness threatened to blacken his vision. The base of the neck isn’t a good spot for permanent damage, not with a fist, but for short-term disorientation it was very effective. He still couldn’t believe she had hit him, but he was too worried to be angry.
Valerie grabbed Lizzy by that odd, living hair and her jaw and twisted. There was a snap, and Lizzy went limp.
Valerie backed away, hands going to her belly, eyes wide as Lizzy’s limp form started to shrink back in on itself. Going human again.
“Don’t stop!” George called out from the crowd.
Lizzy’s head jerked up, and the whole room could hear the crackle of bone as she threw it back and laughed, and kept on shrinking.
Val shouted in anger as she realized what was happening, and dove for Lizzy, but by the time she had reacted, the other woman was so small that the fog that still covered the floor now covered her. Val missed a grab and somehow tripped. The ten-foot-tall woman fell, sending another table flying and fog boiling up like a slow- motion explosion.
There was no sign of Lizzy.
George was next to Griffen in a moment and putting a steadying arm under his arm.
“Griffen, she can’t stop. You must help her. This is beyond her!” George said.
“You egged this on!” Griffen accused.
“I had to, it was the only way. You or Valerie, a broken neck would stop you. Not this one. You have to hit her and hit her until she is unable to repair anything at all.”
Griffen snarled, waving his hand.
“She’s gone now!”
“No, she’s not. Not her. She won’t stop now till everyone here is dead.”
“Too right!” Lizzy shouted.
She appeared behind Val, and unless she could teleport, she had to have gone from a few inches to her full height in an eyeblink. She swung both hands like a hammer and slammed them into Valerie’s shoulder. Val yelled and turned, only to get the upswing of both fists under her chin. This time Val sailed through the air and landed in the crowd.
And Lizzy, laughing her mad laugh, took two steps to the nearest person, broke his arm, and threw him at Valerie just as she was getting her feet back.
“Thanks for the idea, El Zero. You are all dead. You were all dead the day you decided to bother me!”
Up till now, the group hadn’t panicked. Griffen hadn’t noticed that while his sister was in a fight for her life, but now it struck him all at once. Any other group of people would have been screaming at the fist sign of violence, running around like sheep. The conclave members had kept their heads till now, if only because the sight of two dragons battling head to head had most too shocked to move.
Now everyone was in motion.
Few panicked as most would, screaming or running about, though there were some.
Several, like Kane and Tail, stepped toward the fray. But braced as they were, something in their posture told Griffen they intended to go down fighting but knew they were going down.
The changelings exchanged a glance, and vanished.
Among the screams and shouts, Griffen could hear chanting. The vodoun and other human practitioners casting… something. He didn’t know and didn’t care what.
He was pushing through the people roughly, heedless of any damage he might do, intent on getting to Lizzy.
Val scrambled to her feet, but he knew he would reach Lizzy first this time.
But someone was already there, Lowell, and two other vampires. Whether they had just been close, or had come close to act, they leaned toward Lizzy, and Griffen could
“Vampires… Dragons hanging out with… vampires?!” Lizzy said.
“Didn’t do your homework, did you? Ahhh… such despairing madness,” Lowell said, and for the first time he looked dangerous.
His eyes were a dark, smoky red. No other physical changes showed, but his shadow seemed to boil, as alive and moving as the fog on the floor.
Lizzy snarled and picked up a piece of debris from the fight, a table leg. She lunged forward and slammed it into Lowell’s chest. Lowell vanished.
The vampires’ connection with her snapped almost audibly, but Val was there by now, and rammed into Lizzy. She hit her hard and fast, sending her back to her knees, then to the floor. She straddled Lizzy and struck down with all her weight behind her fist.
And Lizzy moved as if her bones were liquid. Val’s fist cracked the marble floor, and Lizzy kicked her knees out from under her. There was a brief struggle, and their positions were reversed.
Lizzy straddled Val from behind and took Val’s head in her hands.
And Griffen yanked her off by her throat. His hand was a claw, his arm covered in thick scales. He could feel his tail thrashing behind him. Lizzy’s feet dangled high above the ground, kicking.
It had worked on George, but George wasn’t a dragon. Lizzy pried Griffen’s fingers free with strength that should have been impossible. She held his wrist in her hands, put a foot to his chest, and kicked, sending him tripping over his sister and flying through the air herself.
She landed gracefully several feet away and actually bowed.
“Oh, this is fun! None of you can stop me, no one can ever stop me! Screw it all, this is too much fun to stop! First one to die loses!”
Lizzy laughed, and for just a moment Griffen felt despair. It actually looked as if even he and Val couldn’t
