Page 23

Jacy

This is my fault. I knew better than to stay here, to risk Declan’s life. Risk Avery’s.

I gazed down at Declan as he slept, his bandaged arm resting on a pillow, his kittens kneading the blankets covering him. He slept with the aid of a children’s pain killer, one that knocked him out almost immediately. Of course, the trauma of having been shot in his own home likely had an effect, too.

“Let’s let him sleep,” Avery whispered, tugging on my hand.

I permitted him to guide me from Declan’s room, then down the stairs. Our hero dog received a steak for his role in saving us from Carter, and he currently slept as hard as Declan on the TV room carpet. I knew he had it in him to be a protector.

“You’re unusually silent,” Avery observed, sitting beside me.

I refused to look at him. “This is my fault.”

“How so?”

“You know the answer to that.”

“Actually, I don’t. It’s mine for not properly protecting my home.”

Snorting, I stood up and paced to the hearth and the flickering fire within it. Its heat failed to warm me, yet the dancing flames almost mesmerized me. “I’m leaving.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I’m going to kill Carter, then I’m gone. I can’t face Declan ever again. I should never have stayed here.”

“Then that’s my fault for persuading you to stay.”

“Blow me.”

“Come here and I will.”

“Fuck you.”

“I’m here, let’s have at it.”

I glanced at him. Avery smiled, his expression open, sincere, and – loving. I couldn’t handle that. I’m responsible for Declan’s injury, yet he still thinks he loves me. “You’ll blame me sooner or later. In time, you’ll come to despise me, hate me. So it’s best if I go while you still think I’m a good person.”

“Jacy, you are a good person,” Avery insisted, standing up. “I love you. I understand why you think you’re responsible, but you’re not. I underestimated Carter and his determination. I’m to blame.”

I shook my head. “He would never have come into your lives at all if I hadn’t stayed. Goodbye, Avery.”

“Jacy!”

I lunged for the door, knowing he’d physically try to stop me. I yanked the newly repaired door open and plunged down the steps. Outside, a winter storm had arrived, complete with a howling gale and thick, heavy snow. Shifting, I hit the air just as Avery yelled for me to stop.

In the residential neighborhood, I ducked power lines, canted my wings to fly between them. Rising higher, I circled briefly, gazing down at Avery, backlit by the house’s interior lights. I knew why he didn’t shift and fly in pursuit.

This time, there was no leaving Declan alone.

“Goodbye, my love, my heart,” I murmured, then banked into the storm’s fury. “I love you. I always will.”

***

I knew he’d find me.

Winging my way toward the mountains, lost amid the low-lying cloudbank, I mentally planned how I’d carry out the execution. He’s injured. He hasn’t had time to heal. Max broke the bones in his right arm, as a dragon, that arm will still be useless. I’m lighter, faster, and more agile.

Despite my hiding in the clouds, Carter pounced before I knew he was there.

I heard his swift intake of breath.

Dropping my right wing, I banked hard at a sharp downward angle.

Carter’s burst of flame passed me by without harm.

Knowing he’d follow, I barrel rolled left, then right, while still descending faster than a falcon. I suddenly spread my wings, then ducked left. Carter blasted past me, his wings furled, his talons out and prepared to rip me to shreds.

“Fuck,” he screamed when I vanished. “Fuck.”

I beat my way above the cloud cover, the brilliant stars glittering, while the new moon rose in the east. Higher I flew, gaining altitude, the bitterly cold air slicing into my lungs. In my swift glance back, I observed Carter struggling to follow. His wings worked hard, yet he couldn’t seem to gain on me.

Why?

Wary, I circled over him, watching, studying his erratic flight. Just when I realized he faked the handicap, Carter sped up, his jaws gaping, spewing fire that licked my tail.

I folded my wings, dropping faster than a rock. As I blew past him, I slashed his eye and muzzle with my talons, shredding his face.

He screamed.

I laughed.

“Come on, brother,” I taunted as Carter swore, using his broken right arm to stem the flow of blood streaming from his face. “Shall we dance?”

Hoping I’d blinded that eye, I spread my wings once I broke through the clouds and beat my way toward the not too distant mountains. Snow and bitter wind whipped tears into my eyes as I pushed my way straight into both.

“I’ll fucking kill you,” Carter roared from just behind me.

Not if I kill you first.

His flames sought my tail, forcing me to dive yet again. He followed, bellowing, making enough noise to deafen any local wildlife within hearing. I doubted many humans lived at this elevation. I rolled left, dove right, thrust my wings into flying up and over, upside down, in an effort to get behind him.

Carter hugged my rear like a curse.

“Time to kill him then.”

I flew over a tall peak, buried in snow, his flames melting a huge swath in his effort to burn my hide from my bones. His gasps for breath said he was winded, exhausted, but I refused to believe it. Soon, I’d grow tired, weak, and once that happened he’d be on me like stink on shit. I scanned the mountains, dimly seen amid the thick snow, and tried to create a plan that kept me alive.

Is that a steep cliff?

Instantly, an idea hatched within my brain.

Speeding up, gaining momentum, putting more distance between my brother and me, I dove headlong down the cliff’s rocky face.

And grabbed the cliff’s flank in my talons mere feet below the rim.

I had seconds to prepare, to launch my body and my flames the instant Carter dove in my wake.

He dove in my wake.

My long gust of flames scorched him from his throat to his balls.

Carter screamed in agony, hurtling downward, his wings useless, his hide on fire.

I let go of the rocks and dropped. Fastening my talons into his back and shoulders, I rode him in his deathly spiraling plunge to the gorge below. I bit deep into his neck, my deadly talons slicing across his throat. Carter gurgled, gasping, his throat spewing blood, my fire sinking into his hide. I scented his burned flesh, tasted his blood on my tongue.

Die, you father slaying bastard.

Carter, my brother, died the instant we both hit the rocky gorge, his neck breaking with a sharp crack.

The impact sent me hurtling into sharp rocks and broken trees.

I cried out as my left wing snapped like busted twigs, my head smacked hard against a rock. My consciousness faded.

He’s dead. I’m dead –

***

Bitterly cold snow stung my eyes as I blinked myself awake.

Lifting my aching head, I gazed, bleary, around me, to discover I still laid on my brother’s corpse. His body had grown cold enough to not melt the ice that covered it, and I nearly vomited up my disgust. His jaws were parted, his tongue had oozed from between his teeth to pool, freezing, on the rocks.

I stepped from him, dizzy, my talons sliding on ice coated boulders. I must burn him. Can’t permit humans to find his body.

Gaining a bit of distance from him, my left wing dragging uselessly, I turned to gaze at my brother once more.

“This is for what you did to my father.”

A dragon’s fire has no equal. I once turned a truck to a pile of slag. Burning Carter’s body to ash took time, but in the end there was nothing left of him save blackened boulders where he’d died. The bitterly cold wind soon cooled the hot rocks, and snow once again covered where he’d once lain.

I couldn’t fly.

Staring up at the rocky walls that surrounded me, I knew I had to climb or die.

Crying out in agony, I did my best to fold my broken wing over my back. Letting it drag over the rocks would be far worse, I suspected. With it out of the way, I used my talons to grip the rocks and boulders to climb, using all four of my limbs, up the steep wall.

At the top, in a grassy meadow, I collapsed, breathing raggedly. My head spun wickedly, and my wing burned with a fire all its own. I rested for a long while, permitting the icy snow to numb some of my aches. When I felt I could, I stood, shakily, and started to walk.

Avoiding the trees that might drag at my injured wing, I headed downhill, out of the mountains and toward human habitations. What I’d do there, I’d no idea. My heart broken within me, I wept as I traveled, limping, nearly blind, my mind skittering away from thoughts of Declan.

And Avery.

The scent of smoke and ashes tickled my nostrils.

I paused, sniffing the bitter wind.

The odors of cooked food accompanied the other scents. Cold, though, the fire long dead, the ashes stagnant. Still, where food, fire, and ashes were I might find shelter along with the sources of the odors. I increased my pace, hoping the shelter didn’t already have inhabitants.

A cabin swirled out of the storm.

No smoke belched from the chimney.

I sniffed but didn’t catch a whiff of humans within it.

I shifted and fell to my knees at the agony in my back. The storm lashed at me, driving me to my feet. I had no coat, no boots, to protect my frail human body from the high altitude and the storm.

The cabin’s door opened easily under my hand.

Empty.

A pile of dry wood welcomed me as I staggered inside, shutting the door and the storm outside. Shivering, my hands shaking badly, I piled wood in the hearth, found kindling and matches. After a few tries, I got the fire going.

In the flickering light, I explored the cabin. A wood framed bed covered by a bison hide stood against one wall. I seized the hide to wrap around me, hoping to finally get warm. The place held only one room. Shelves with books and canned goods lined the split timber walls. A wood stove for cooking sat in a corner. Nothing at all gave an indication of whose cabin this was and when they’d be back.

I sat on the hearth, huddled under the hide, and gradually warmed up. Not hungry, I ignored the canned goods, but thought about the bed as a tempting feature. The tiny cabin heated quickly even as the storm intensified around it. The wind howled like a banshee across the mountains, forcing the flames into climbing the chimney.

Safe from its fury, warm, I quickly grew drowsy. My pain subsided a bit as my eyes closed. I drifted, my chin sinking to my chest.

Jacy, the voice whispered.

I jolted awake, panicked, pain surging within my back and my head. “What?”

The fire had burned low. I added a few chunks of wood, blew on the coals until fresh flames licked at the fresh meal.

Deciding I dreamed the voice, I rose stiffly and went to the bed to lie down. Covered neck to toe in the hide, I swiftly fell asleep.

I saw my father.

He smiled at me. You did good, Jacy. I’m proud of you.

Dad –

Jacy, be well, my daughter. Go home. They need you.

***

The shrill beeping of my cell brought me awake in an instant.

Gasping, still amid the throes of exhaustion and sleep, I grappled to find my phone in my pocket. I blinked twice, three times, before the name on my screen came into focus.

Avery.