Breathing Fire (Heretic Daughters #1)(79)

At the back of my mind was always Torst, chanting about stopping and facing them, to drink all of their blood. As always, the axe had a very high opinion of his own abilities.

I started with my own gun, the most familiar weapon. I leaned out of the window, facing our tails, and took careful aim. Bang. My first bullet took out a front tire of the closest car. It careened sideways wildly. I shot twice more, taking the two tires facing me fast. I shot the car five more times, aiming for the fuel tank, but had no luck with a big explosion, like in the movies. Dammit, but that would have been convenient. And I’d always wanted to do it. If only we hadn’t gone through all of the explosive rounds in the necro fight. But the first car was in a ditch now, out of commission. I immediately took aim at the second car. It was careening back and forth, trying to avoid the same treatment. Oddly, no one was firing back at us, not even one shot. Why weren’t they? It’s not like they could possibly care if we were injured.

They had underestimated my aim. I took out the tires of the careening vehicle nearly as quickly as I had the one before.

“Well, that bought us at least a five minute lead.”

“Five minutes is better than what we had before,” Sloan reassured me.

She was right. Anything was better than having them right on our ass.

I was feeling marginally safer as we made it a good twenty miles farther out of town, unmolested by any further pursuit.

A sick feeling entered my stomach as a huge shadow fell over the car. It was a stiflingly hot and sunny Vegas day, without a cloud in sight. And then I sensed it’s presence. I could even smell it. The old, familiar, stench of dementia that tainted my family. The shadow got bigger and bigger as the dragon lowered over us ominously.

“Fuck. Is that what I think it is?” Sloan asked. I would have had to stick my head out the window to see it. I did not want to do that. Seeing it would only make the panicky feeling more acute.

“Yes. Just keep driving, fast.”

“Dom is gonna kill me if I let you get killed,” Sloan muttered.

I snorted. “If either of us survives this, it is Cam that will be killing me.”

She grimaced. “Overbearing son of a bitch.”

We barely made it into the unpopulated part of the desert before a huge weight crushed the front of the car. The back end of our car shot straight up in the air, and we were rolling.

We all just lay there, stunned, when the car stopped rolling. It was turned wheels up. My chest hurt where the seatbelt had abused it. Lynn was lying below me, unmoving, so I knew she’d felt the collision even worse. I looked over at Sloan, and she met my eyes calmly. Damn, I thought, yet again, but she was a good fighter to have at your back.

As though we had choreographed it, Sloan and I released our seat belts, dropping to the ground.

I dragged Lynn’s still form with me out of the burning car. Sloan rolled out of the shattered back window like she did it ever day, casually brushing off her dusty black clothes.

I looked around frantically, but saw no sign of the dragon, no sign of any of them. Lynn began to stir as I took off running, Sloan close on my heels. “What’s happening? I can’t see.”

I glanced down at her bloody eyes, and cursed. That’s when I felt them behind me. “They’re catching us, Lynn. We’re going to have to fight them.”

She was still dazed as I set her on her feet. “I can’t see anything.” Her voice was weak. She wouldn’t be much help in a fight in this shape.

“Don’t let them take you without a fight.” I turned, saw them, and cursed again. “There are seven of them.” I hesitated. “Three are Chinese. One of those is Drake. And one of the Scandinavian ones is in dragon form. He’s a pale blue dragon. I’ve no idea who it is.” I put a gun in her hands. She was badly wounded, and we were badly outnumbered. “Give em hell, sister,” I told her, cocking the weapon and pointing it.

The men were naturally fanned out as they approached us, as though they planned to flank us. The dragon stalked behind them, a slight distance back, it’s wings outstretched. It was colossal in size, far larger than Villi had been. But then again, I didn’t suppose this dragon had been beaten with a god’s lightning hammer before it shifted.

I shot Sloan a look. She was a silent presence beside and just behind me. “You should run.” I pointed toward the highway, out of sight now. “They might not chase you. It’s us they want.”

She just curled her lip. “Fuck that. I have never run from a fight. Dragon-kin don’t scare me.”

I sighed, selfishly relieved. She was such a reassuring presence at my back. And now it was almost certainly going to get her killed. But I knew better than to waste time arguing with someone as immovable as Sloan at a time like this.

I turned my attention back to the task at hand.

Seeing the Chinese there had surprised me enough that at first I didn’t see our brother, Sven, among the three viking draak. Of all the people they could have sent after us, he seemed the unlikeliest choice. He was flanked by two of our nastier cousins. Those two I had expected, but seeing Sven felt like yet another betrayal.

Sven was a strong telepath, the only dragon-kin that I knew of with that particular skill. He was not much older than I, born sometime between Lynn and I. Growing up, he’d always been a kind brother, a stark contrast to the treatment I received from the other men of the clan. He was the only one, besides my be-spelled mother, who I had regretted leaving behind. And he had even helped us escape, in his own way.