Taken at Dusk (Shadow Falls #3)(47)

"He won't hurt me," Miranda snapped, and then she turned her angry eyes on Clark. She started wiggling her pinky and chanting.

Unfortunately, right then Burnett swooped in, landing directly in front of Clark. He looked mad enough to kill innocent puppies. He opened his mouth, no doubt to give them all hell, but before he spoke a swirl of rainbow colors started swirling around him like ribbons. Then the hard-as-nails vampire vanished into the smoke-filled air and standing in his place was a very pissed-off kangaroo.

"Oh, shit!" Kylie said.

"Oh, shit!" screamed Miranda.

Burnett, now a very unhappy kangaroo, started hopping around like a marsupial on speed. Miranda, shaking and dancing from one foot to the other, had her pinky in the air, muttering out chants so fast that Kylie couldn't catch one word.

Perry, aka the large, out-of-control dragon, took a step toward Clark.

Clark, looking about ready to crap his pants, started tossing more fireballs. One missed and hit the dining hall wall. One slammed into the trash can containing the pizza boxes, which immediately burst into flames. Another went sailing through the air, heading right for ... Miranda.

Kylie felt her blood fizz and rush to her brain. Without thinking, without even realizing what she planned to do, she jumped into the fireball's path, caught it, and tossed it to the other side of the room.

Perry released an ominous sound, half roar, half cry. Smoke shot out of his nostrils. Clark tossed another fireball. Before Kylie could stop this one, it hit Perry-in dragon form-and singed the green scales on his side.

The smell of burned dragon, along with burning pizza boxes, scented the air. Smoke rose to the ceiling.

Perry reared his head back and roared so loudly that it shook the whole dining hall to its rafters. It wasn't so much a cry of pain as a cry of warning and of complete and utter fury.

Lucas suddenly appeared beside Kylie and caught her hand in his. He looked at her palm. Then, appearing perplexed, he grabbed her by the elbow and started yanking her away. She pulled free and leapt over some turned-over chairs to grab Miranda.

Just as Clark tossed another fireball, Della swooped back in and was hit by a cylindrical flame in the hip. It knocked the little vampire back a good five feet, and she landed in a dead heap on the floor.

Kylie screamed, Miranda chanted louder, Perry snorted more fire, and Kylie bolted back over the chairs to get to Della.

Before Kylie got to her side, Della popped back up, apparently unharmed. But Kylie had never seen her so pissed. Her eyes glowed bright green, her fangs extended past her bottom lip, and if looks could kill, Clark was worm bait. Growling with raw anger, Della shot across the room after Clark. Burnett, in all his kangaroo glory, jumped in front of Della, blocking and preventing her attack.

Perry let loose a breath of fire that shot clear across the room and left black marks on the log walls and the ceiling.

Miranda, pinky still in the air, chanted louder. Then another swirl of rainbow colors flew across the room, and Burnett zapped back to vampire form. Not a happy vampire, either.

With eyes glowing neon red, he let loose a scream that matched Perry's dragon roar. "Everyone stop! Right now!"

The commotion stopped. Even the crowd standing at the front of the building ceased jabbering. Silence reigned.

Burnett looked first at Clark. "Throw another fireball and you'll be expelled from Shadow Falls until the day I die. And I plan to live a very long time." He turned his gaze to Lucas. "Can you please put the garbage fire out before this whole place goes up in flames?" Whirling, he faced a very angry Della. "As much as I'd love to let you rip this guy's head off"-Burnett glared at Clark-"I think Holiday would disapprove. So, go cool off somewhere." He pointed toward the door.

Before he lowered his hand, Della was gone, leaving only an angry blur in the air.

Taking a deep breath, Burnett aimed his angry gaze at the dragon. "Change back this instant!"

Perry let out one roar of protest, but then the sparkles started floating down from the ceiling to the floor. Kylie noted that everyone else knew to avoid the little bubbles of electricity. Funny how people didn't warn her about these things.

A second after it stopped raining charged, diamond-shaped bubbles, the dragon disappeared and Perry stood before Burnett. He didn't look any less angry than Burnett. Then, proving Kylie's assumption, he took a flying leap over Burnett and landed on top of Clark. Fists started swinging.

Burnett reached effortlessly into the scuffle and yanked Perry up by the collar of his shirt and held him a good five inches off the concrete floor. "No more fighting." He dropped Perry on his feet.

Perry glared at Clark and then looked at Burnett. "He pushed Miranda," Perry said, fury in his tone. "You never, ever hurt a female. You taught me that when I was six."

Six? Kylie looked from Burnett to Perry. Did that mean Burnett knew-?

"I know," Burnett said. "And I'll take that up with him later. But you have to learn to deal with things without shifting, or you'll never be able to coexist with humans."

"He was throwing fireballs!" Miranda piped in. "It's logical that Perry would shift into something that could deal with it."

Kylie saw Perry cut his gaze to Miranda. The anger in his eyes faded and he stared at her in something like astonishment. Something told Kylie that Perry wasn't accustomed to people standing up for him. Right then, her heart broke a little bit more for the shape-shifter who'd been abandoned by both his parents.