“Tell your Master his arrogance looks like ignorance when he sends five children to the house of Alasdair. You are all foolish for following someone who holds so little value over your lives.”
They all moved at once, closing the half-circle they’d formed as they pressed in on me. My finger tightened on the weapon I held. I knew I’d get no help from my family for this battle. Erik wouldn’t know we were under threat unless they broke into the house, Cal was probably still asleep, and Alasdair would never help me. He would probably dance on my ashes if I died.
“Our Master will not like to hear your decision,” the female said. “Maybe we can change your mind.”
I waited patiently. All it would take was one of them to lose control. “You’re all traitors to your Archos. No better than cowards.”
Bartolome growled low in his throat and rushed me, his hands shifting into sharp claws. It was all the excuse I needed. I pulled the trigger of the crossbow and watched as he crumpled to the ground with a howl of pain.
The cold numbness took over my mind as I faced Christos—the other psychic—and enveloped him in my power. The others didn’t get a chance to react. Christos turned and faced the remaining three, his eyes wide with fear. The others looked at him in confusion. He wasn’t in control of himself anymore. He belonged to me. He pushed his arms out into the empty air in front of him, and his friends went flying backwards toward the trees. The dark- skinned male hit against a tree so hard that the base of it cracked in two, the echo deafening as it toppled to the ground.
“Kill them both,” the female screamed.
I came at them with a vengeance. I was going to get hurt, but I was going to take as many as I could down with me. The female came up on me fast, her fists a blur as she struck at me, but I was able to dodge the blows. Something grabbed me from behind, and I struggled against the tight grasp fiercely. I didn’t see the female strike, she was too quick, but I felt the sudden pain in my chest. Something inside me tore—muscle and cartilage that ripped away from bone. If someone hadn’t been holding me in place I would have crashed into the side of the house. My vision greyed, and my heart stuttered.
Despite the damage to my body, I knew I had to think or die. A calm overtook me, and I sent waves of pain, as fierce as knives, into the one who had me trapped in his arms. He let go of me and dropped to the ground, clutching his head between his hands.
The rain sizzled off my skin so steam rose in a cloud around me. I was pissed. And now I was through playing. Christos was no longer of any use to me. His head lay detached from his body a few feet away, his eyes still panicked and his mouth opening and closing as he gasped for air that wasn’t there. The two men that were left moved closer together and turned to face me. I didn’t have time to reload the crossbow, so I threw it to the ground.
I charged with a blur of speed at the dark-skinned male. My hand shot out, and I felt the give of flesh as I pierced through skin, muscle and bone. My fingers ripped out his heart, and I held the pulsing organ in my hand and squeezed it to dust. He collapsed at my feet, but his friend took the opportunity to tackle me to the ground.
My hands were slicked with blood and kept slipping off his skin as I tried to find something to grab on to. We rolled through puddles and mud, exchanging blows, until I finally wiggled around and embraced his middle with my legs. I tore him in two with the strength of my thighs and tossed the pieces aside.
I was covered in blood from head to toe as I stood and faced the last dragon. The female.
“Tell your master I refuse his offer to join him. I don’t play with cowards. I kill them.”
She nodded her head in submission and shifted into her dragon form, her clothes tearing at the seams as her body elongated and her bones seemed to turn to liquid. The sapphires encrusted in her human skin glittered across her pale belly like beautiful chain mail. She was icy blue, fragile, like spun glass. But the brief glance of teeth and talons I got before she flew away were anything but delicate.
I walked over to the one called Bartolome. The stake in his chest protruded grotesquely. His eyes were open and confused, but the fear was there. I barely spared him a glance. I snapped his neck and took his head before he could draw any more strength to heal himself. We’d have to burn them all.
Drakan blood dripped from my body, and I stood in the rain for a few more minutes, my face tilted up toward the sky to let some of the blood wash away. I closed my eyes and pushed my senses outward, making sure everything was as it should be. My internal injuries were already healing, but my breath still came in shallow pants. I was going to be sore for a couple of days.
A colorful streak flew from the trees and over my shoulder, landing in front of me. She was long and sleek in her dragon form—one powerful muscle—her scales luminescent and pale pink. And familiar. It had been a long time since I’d seen her. More than fifty years.
The dragon slowly transformed until a woman stood before me. Her nakedness went unashamed, and her body was the palest marble, the blue of her veins visible beneath the delicate skin. Her face was smooth and unlined, her hair so blonde it was almost white. But her eyes were those of an Ancient—dark blue and clear like a deep lake.
“Hello, Aunt Calista,” I said as the tension built between us.
