“Meriwa will make you pay!” Wallovik shouted. “You will not escape her wrath! Your core will be one more bauble to dangle from her throat!”
The thing lunged at me again, and I deflected its clawing hand with a circular sweep that ripped all its fingers away. “Abi, gate!”
“Almost,” my friend said. “Five seconds.”
Wallovik lunged again, and again I knocked its hand away. This time, though, he followed up with a lashing strike from his tongue. A barbed hook emerged from the slimy appendage’s tip as it raced for my face. Out of position, I didn’t have time to block or dodge.
“Go!” Clem grabbed me by the shoulder and hurled me behind her. She twisted her body around one planted foot and sent a blast of wind slamming into Wallovik. The attack wasn’t deadly, but it blew his tongue back into his face and knocked him off balance.
As the vampire screamed in rage, Eric and Abi leapt through the portal, and I followed them into the gate. The world twisted around me as my momentum sent me sailing through the space between worlds and then back to the safety of the School. I crashed into Abi, who’d planted his feet and turned to shout orders at the attendant.
A female juvenile dragon skidded around a corner and sprinted toward the portal terminal, her tail cracking the air like a whip as she used it to maintain her balance. I recognized her as she closed in, and my blood ran cold.
Trulissinangoth, my nemesis from the Empyrean Gauntlet. What was she doing here?
“Close the gate!” Abi shouted.
“Now!” Clem cried out and slammed into my back. She stumbled past me, scrambling to regain her balance. Eric caught her by the arm, and they both raised their hands defensively when they caught sight of Trulissinangoth.
I spun to face Wallovik, my blade ready to slice his heart out if he passed through the gateway. The dragon worried me, but not nearly as much as an ancient vampire bent on eating me.
Wallovik glared at me with eternal hatred. He hungered for the one thing I had that he’d never again enjoy: life. His eyes were dead pits of loathing, and his tongue slashed through the air. He was mere feet away—another second and he’d be on top of us.
“Step aside, Warin,” Trulissinangoth commanded. She opened her jaws wide, and I caught a glimpse of fire building deep within her throat.
Before she could unleash it, though, the gate closed with an electric hiss. Wallovik vanished, and all that remained was the crystal matrix of the portal network grid. The dragon snapped her jaws together and grunted, then doubled over in pain, both hands clamped over her lips. She stayed that way for a moment, then straightened and breathed twin plumes of acrid smoke from her nostrils.
“Everyone all right?” she asked, then coughed.
“Are you?” I countered. “Does the Scaled Council know you’re here, Trulissinangoth?”
“Had to eat the fire,” she grumbled, and another trickle of black smoke escaped her lips. “That always sucks. And, yes, the Council knows I’m here. They sent me to make sure no one kills you, or anyone else, on school grounds. What was that thing?”
“That was totally a vampire,” Eric said.
“There aren’t—” the dragon closed her mouth. “Well, that’s a stupid thing to say. That was clearly a vampire. Again, are you all right?”
“More or less,” I said, holding myself upright to avoid favoring my wounded side. I was surprised the Council had sent this particular dragon to guard the School, but I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. “Nothing a few days of relaxation won’t fix.”
“Mm-hmm,” she said. “You know they’ll hold me responsible if you die on school grounds?”
“I’ll try not to do that,” I said with a forced grin. “Thanks for showing up so quickly, Trulissinangoth.”
“Call me, Tru, please. You keep butchering my full name,” the dragon said with a grimace. “Now that I have fulfilled my duty and confirmed that you are all fine, I’ll leave you to... whatever you were doing that I totally didn’t see and won’t report to your headmistress.”
As the young dragon walked away, I realized she was dripping wet, as was the thin bathrobe she wore. Our unexpected arrival must have dragged her out of a shower.
Eric nudged me with an elbow that irritated my wound. “Hey, do you think she’d—”
“No,” Clem said and took my arm. “Let’s get Jace up to his room and make sure he’s all right.”
Eric nodded, but couldn’t help but cast another wistful glance over his shoulder as we left the portal behind.
“We’re working with dragons now?” Abi asked, clearly surprised by Tru’s sudden appearance. “I thought they hated humans.”
“Kinda,” I groaned, and leaned against my friend as another wave of pain took my breath away. “They’re keeping an eye on the School until all this blows over.”
“You coulda told us,” Clem chided me. “Why don’t we just have them help us on the quest?”
“Doesn’t work that way,” I explained. “It was hard enough to get them here. Asking for anything more wasn’t in the cards.”
“At least they sent a pretty one,” Eric mused.
“Don’t even think about it,” I said, imagining all the ways Eric could irritate Tru.
“Sure, sure,” Eric said. “But don’t blame me when she asks me out.”
The Wound
THE WOUND IN MY SIDE ached, and blood kept oozing from it even with my hand pressed against it. Abi and Eric helped me through the School, while Clem walked backward ahead of us.
“I changed my mind. Take him to the infirmary,” she insisted. “He looks terrible.”
The School’s doctors and nurses would get me stitched up in record time. The staff would also inform Cruzal one of her students had taken a bullet. While the headmistress owed me
