Revenging the Slayers

MADDIE

“Well…,” I tapped my foot as I stared into the green pool, waiting for Summer and Adara to appear.

“Patience,” Storm said.

I never had much to begin with, and I had definitely used it all up by now.

At least I wasn’t as bad as Darren, who had gone from psychotic to catatonic to, now, just a blubbering mess.

He had bitten his fingernails so low he must have been just chewing on his fingers at this point.

“She’s been in there like…twenty minutes.”

“These things take time,” Storm replied. The man was full of these sagely comments that meant absolutely nothing.

I thought of Loch and Hael—how scared and angry they had looked in the casino.

Adara never seemed like she needed help, and they weren’t exactly protective older brothers. But I saw how it shook them to see her hurt.

Of course, they responded in the only way they knew how to. With force.

~I hope they tear Nautica apart.~

But really, more than anything, I just hoped Adara would be okay.

I tapped my foot impatiently. I felt helpless.

Finally, bubbles rose to the surface, and I could make out a dark shape rising from the depths.

“They’re coming!” Darren shouted.

Summer’s head appeared from the water. She looked ten years older, completely drained.

Summer struggled with Adara’s weight, and I reached into the pool to help her.

But before I could reach them, Adara convulsed…

I froze. Was she—alive?!

She coughed and spat up water, but continued to choke.

In a moment of pure joy, Darren leapt into the water and held his mate.

“Adara!” I shouted.

But it didn’t seem like she could even hear me.

She wrapped her arms around Darren’s neck and buried her face in his chest.

Sure, Adara and I had never been especially close, but I had no idea she was ~capable~ of being affectionate.

I had only seen her be tough and ever glamorous, dragging Darren around on a leash. Now, she was being…sweet.

It nearly broke my heart to see Darren laugh with relief, kissing Adara’s temple over and over again as she held him tightly.

Even as I helped Summer out of the healing pool, I couldn’t take my eyes off the lovers.

“I was so scared, baby,” Darren said softly. “I didn’t know what I was going to do.”

Adara was shaking, and I saw that she was crying.

“I love you,” she whispered. “I’m not ready to leave you yet.”

It was enough to bring a tear to my cynical eye.

Only when Summer collapsed to the ground beside me did I break my attention away from the romantic moment.

“Let’s find her a place to rest,” Storm said.

I nodded. We owed the lovebirds a moment of privacy, anyway.

Storm picked up Summer in his arms effortlessly, and we walked away from the healing pool.

“Good work today,” Storm whispered to Summer, who smiled weakly at the praise. “You are a powerful healer, and all of dragonkind thanks you.”

I rolled my eyes. I liked Summer, of course, but Storm’s drama was a bit too much for me.

As I walked through the Dusk Forest with my companions in a sparkly cocktail dress, I felt the night around me glitter with unseen possibility.

Summer had saved Adara. No dragons had been lost.

The romance I witnessed made me miss Loch and Hael. Though I was sure Storm had already mind-linked them the good news, I wanted to tell them myself.

I wanted to be wedged between them in our big bed in the penthouse.

Soon, we would all be together, and we’d have time to rest.

For now, they were busy. They had a difficult task before them…

I hoped they caught that asshole Nautica—and got to the bottom of the dragon slayers’ plans, so they would never be able to hurt us again.

HAEL

I scanned the gray plot of urban wasteland that stretched beneath me as far as the eye could see.

As much as I wanted to torch those motherfuckers who dared to hurt my sister, I wasn’t sure how we were going to find them.

Sure, I could see humans scurrying around the city like mice.

But none of them had blue hair like that creep Nautica.

Onyx

No sight of a blue-haired rat.

Silver

Same, unfortunately.

Loch

Let’s go lower. Keep your eyes peeled for any slayer.

Loch

With any one of them, we can send a message.

Hael

Good thinking, brother.

Storm

Adara is saved.

Storm

Thanks to Summer, the healer.

Hael

Incredible news.

Loch

Yes! Sweet relief. Thank you for being there, Storm.

Aneurin

I knew she would do it!

Dane

How’s Summer?

Storm

Exhausted, but good. She’s waiting for you at Dusk.

Aneurin

We’ll be there soon. But first…

Hael

Find some slayer scum…

Onyx

Let’s circle back to the quarter.

Silver

Those assholes love the filth.

Loch

I recognize one! There!

Aneurin

Running for his damn life…

Hael

Good luck, loser!

We dove low, skimming the tops of the Skeleton Quarter’s dilapidated buildings.

One of us alone could have taken care of a pesky slayer…but six dragons? We’d make this deviant wish he was never born.

The six of us landed in the narrow alley, surrounding the young, skinny boy with dark, frantic eyes.

He screamed in rage as he looked for a place he could run. But there wasn’t one.

I shifted and my brother did the same, while the rest of our companions stayed in dragon form. This was our fight to finish, after all.

“Slayer scum!” I shouted.

He balled up his fists and gritted his teeth at me.

“Where are your comrades?” Loch demanded.

The slayer spat on the ground.

“I’d rather die,” he shrieked, “than reveal any information about the slayers!”

I glanced at my brother.

“Very well,” I shrugged.

With that, Loch and I shifted back to our dragons. The moment I was covered in scales, I began breathing fire. The others joined us, and the slayer was lost in a rainbow of dragonfire.

All that remained of him was his agonized scream.

And when that ended, and we flew away from the grizzly scene, all that was left was a pile of ash and the scent of charred rat.

ZAYDA

Xythor’s room.

It was both a hospital room and a prison cell.

All the magic I could conjure only helped for a moment. Xythor would get better, the man I loved would come back…but only for a minute.

Then he would return to his comatose state.

I gripped his hand, the skin thin and fragile between my fingers.

I was with him, but I felt alone. Xythor was not here. His body was, but he wasn’t.

It was just me.

And the baby growing inside me.

I thought I knew exhaustion before, but I had been wrong. I was single-handedly supporting two lives other than my own, and I knew I was playing with fire.

Something had to give.

And if that something was me, then we all went down.

I looked at my growing belly.

I loved the baby inside me because it came from me and Xythor. But it also scared me.

While I was weak, it was strong. I could feel the force of its kicks, and I knew it wasn’t all human.

I drifted from the room. When I opened the door, the light and scent of day startled me.

I had become a creature of the shadows.

I stumbled over to Freesia’s Rock.

Freesia was the only other woman who had understood what I was going through. And though she wasn’t here, her legacy remained in the rock.

“How did you do this?” I asked, holding my bulging, aching stomach.

With my other hand, I leaned forward, and without thinking, I rested against the craggy red surface.

At that moment, a huge noise filled the air, as if an ancient door was being pulled open. I hurried to the other side of the rock to see that the earth had opened…

…and a staircase was descending into a concrete chamber.

~What the fuck?~

I glanced at the rock uneasily. All along, I had been wary about being Freesia’s second coming.

But I ~had~ come here for help. This must have been her way of helping me…

I began traveling down the steps, glancing around to make sure no one would see me.

~Who am I kidding? Xander U is a ghost town.~

When I reached the bottom of the cool cellar, I saw a thin, leather-bound volume on the floor.

I was frightened of what the book might contain, but I hadn’t come this far to turn away.

I picked it up and flipped through the pages of handwritten black ink, stained here and there with drops of blood.

It was a blood mage’s spell book…

It was ~Freesia’s~ spell book.

The book fell open to a center page, and I immediately began reading.

My heartbeat accelerated as I realized I was reading the very instructions for ~Freesia’s Curse~.

I devoured the words, trying to make sense of what I saw:

~An eye for an eye.~

~If something is given, it can be used to take…~

I read the convoluted spell, the tormented poetry that Freesia must have written in her most desperate time.

~The child comes from me…from my mates…~

~The greatest sacrifice could yield the greatest reward.~

~If it destroys them, it will destroy me too…~

~But what do I want, if not to be destroyed?~

The words made me ache because I saw in them my own desperation.

I flipped to the next page.

~I sacrificed my child to kill the men who oppressed me.~

~It was my awful fate…~

~The curse may be adjusted to the needs of a mage’s heart.~

~The only requirement is sacrifice.~

I caught my breath and slammed the book shut. Though Freesia’s words had been ambiguous, I understood them clearly.

Freesia was telling me that I could bring Xythor back…

It would simply require the same sacrifice that Freesia had made.

~A child.~