The Dragon Legion Collection(95)
“First you, then all the Pyr,” she vowed. “I’ll kill all of you and see your kind exterminated for your crime.”
“But what crime is this?” Thad demanded. “We defend the treasures of the earth, the four elements and humankind.”
“There are others you slaughter,” she muttered and tore at his skin with her nails. The snakes in her hair tried to bite at him, but his scales protected him.
Thad guessed she was trying to rip a scale free, so those snakes could poison him with their venom.
“What others?” He flew a tight somersault, twisting hard, and her own weight pulled her free. He slashed at her as she fell, catching one of her wings with his claw. His talon tore through the leather of her wing and she screamed in anguish. The snakes that made her hair writhed with greater agitation, and she leapt on him again. She had hold of his leg, her grip holding fast no matter how Thad shook.
“Your kind owes me for the death of my sister,” she declared.
“I know nothing about your sister!” Thad flew at the mountain and swung his leg hard against a precipice. The woman hit the rock with her back, and blood flowed from her injury as she released her grip on him.
The wound didn’t slow her down, though. She was after him again, flying unevenly, but determination bringing her closer. “Ask your friend, then,” she whispered. “Ask Damien.”
“Damien! You’ve seen Damien?” Thad held off from striking the hag at this news of his fellow warrior. “You’ve been to the Underworld? Is he still there?”
She smiled coldly, and he knew she’d keep any knowledge of Damien from him, just because she could. “You show great concern for a murderer. But then, I expected you’d be two of a kind.”
“If Damien killed anyone, it must have been in defense of himself or his mate...” Thad began, then caught a whiff of a scent he’d never expected to smell again.
Slayer!
But there were no Slayers in this ancient world. The dragon shifters who had chosen the darkness were creature of the future...unless the darkfire had cast one back in time, along with the Dragon Legion. Because Thad knew that scent of rot and decay, a smell that made him shiver even more than the stench of the hag he found. He struck her hard then pivoted in the air, seeking the Slayer.
There!
“Slayer!” he cried, pointing at the yellow salamander that was racing toward the pilgrim. He scanned the area for Aura, but she must still be a breeze. “Look out, madam!” he shouted to the old woman who crouched beside the dying man. She looked up at him in confusion and Thad knew he had to help her.
It was the creed of the Pyr to defend mankind, after all.
The hag’s vengeance would have to wait.
He flew hard toward the old woman and the pilgrim, determined to ensure their safety. He felt the hag snatch at the end of his tail, but didn’t have time to do more than try to shake her off. He saw the yellow salamander that was the Slayer look up from the dirt road. He heard the Slayer snarl and saw him swing his tail.
He recognized this Slayer. It was Jorge, a particularly mercenary Slayer from the twenty-first century.
Thad had time to blame the darkfire for Jorge’s presence, then everything happened very fast.
* * *
Aura couldn’t watch.
She couldn’t not watch.
Tisiphone fought hard, clearly as determined to kill Thad as she’d said she was. She wouldn’t rest until her sister’s death was avenged, although Thad’s companion Damien probably hadn’t realized what he’d set in motion. He probably had been defending his mate.
Maybe Aura hadn’t seen a child in her shared future with Thad because Thad didn’t have a future.
It was a terrifying idea.
Aura was deeply afraid of the Erinyes and their lust for vengeance, yet she tried to help Thad by blowing against Tisiphone when possible. She fanned the flames of his dragonfire, too, making it burn hotter and whiter. She liked to think she had made some difference, but Tisiphone’s thirst for vengeance was powerful.
She saw Thad catch a scent of something, for his nostrils pinched shut and his manner became even more alert. She saw him scan the ground, averting his attention from Tisiphone for a dangerous moment.
She didn’t understand why he called the yellow salamander a Slayer, much less what a Slayer was, but she understood his sense of urgency. He saw the creature as a threat. Thad dove toward the salamander, claws outstretched and fire billowing from his jaws.
The salamander snarled, then shimmered blue.
In an instant, the salamander had become a yellow dragon, just as large and powerful as Thad. Aura gasped as the yellow dragon took flight, meeting Thad part way, and the pair locked talons. They spun end over end in a bid for supremacy, biting and slashing at each other. The contrast between them was striking, Thad’s scales so dark as to be almost black with orange around the perimeter and the Slayer’s scales brilliant yellow.
Their tails entwined and Aura could see the strength of their grips. Their talons dug into each other and the dragonfire they exhaled burned hot and bright. Aura smelled burning scales and swirled around Thad, trying to cool his burns.
Thad bit suddenly at the chest of the Slayer, sinking his teeth deep into his opponent’s flesh. The Slayer cried out as his blood ran black from the wound. It dripped to the ground and hissed on impact, emitting a plume of steam.