Page 28 of New Nebraska Home (New Nebraska)
Malik
SNAKES IN A CELL
G od, I hated the way that fucking sociopath grinned at me. It made my skin crawl and my stomach clench. Something about him was off. He wasn’t just a slimy bastard; his magic was off too.
“Hello, how are you fairing in your little cage?”
“For the love of all that is right in this world,” I groaned. “Why are you back here? Don’t you have candy to steal from babies or elderly women to cripple?”
“Only if they’re half-breeds or disgusting sinners,” Zmei said. “But that’s not why I’m here. I thought you’d like to know. My flock has been working hard. They have a few dozen people from this town and a couple over, all gathered in the square for a nice little bonfire. Soon, I’ll be going back and gathering that witch-bitch of yours and her bastard brother. They like barbeques, don’t they?”
“Don’t you dare call her that,” I seethed, ignoring the icy grip of fear around my heart. I wanted to rip his head from his shoulders and present it to Liz as penance for ever letting this vile creature near her. It was my job to protect her from evil assholes like this. Allowing this one to cage me was the biggest failure I would ever endure. She deserved better. I was going to be better for her, and that was going to start with taking her name out of his mouth.
“What, a witch? That is exactly what she is. Can’t you taste the magic surrounding her? The magic she steals from the land? She is an even more vile abomination than the halfling she protects. And now that I have you out of the way, that vampire and the elemental should be no problem.”
“They will kill you,” I said, hoping Cal was still in the room and hearing the threat against Liz.
“They can try, but they aren’t like you or her. As soon as she’s dead, her protection over them will break, and they will fall under my control like everyone else.”
His control? His magic reached towards me, its arid, acidic smell burning my nostrils, and it felt wrong. Really wrong. It was oily and felt like lies and deceit.
“Why?” I asked. “Why go after halflings? Who hurt you?” I scoffed, hoping I was giving Cal time to escape and get to Liz before this fucker did. I could feel the vamp in the room, and the fucker hadn’t taken the hint and moved yet.
“Because every prominent leader needs a cause, every noble cause must have a common enemy or a scapegoat. Abominations are weak, and if you blame them for enough things, enough times, and with enough conviction in your voice, people will listen.”
“Sane people won’t buy your bullshit.”
He gave me another gut-wrenching smile. “Dosing them with a mind-controlling venom also helps.”
“What are you?” Mind controlling venom? I had done a lot of research in my time, and hearing Liz was a witch didn’t surprise me. I was more surprised I hadn’t seen it sooner. But who the fuck had mind-controlling venom?
“Isn’t it obvious? I am a shifter like you, but far more powerful than some unmated, unloved dragon.”
“You know what I am. What I am is not illegal. You have no right to hold me here,” I demanded. “I belong at home, with Liz, protecting her.” I knew he wouldn’t let me go, but maybe Cal would take the hint and leave to go protect Liz. She needed him. I did not.
Zmei’s eyes shifted to light green, and his pupils turned to long vertical slits. Two fangs dropped from his front teeth, his tongue slimmer and forked.
“You’re the basilisk?” I’d thought he was just a slimy lizard with bad magic, but this was much worse. I needed to get my head on straight. My gut was twisted with guilt. If I had realized what Liz was and figured out what Zmei was before now, maybe I could have protected her better. I’d been too lost in my own shit to see what was right in front of me.
If I got out of this, I would never fuck up this badly again.
“And you are the dragon that I am going to blame for the burning of all those innocent people. The townspeople, even the ones too strong to fall under my spell, won’t be able to deny what you are and what it will look like you did.”
“They won’t believe you,” I sneered. “People don’t think I exist.”
“Oh, they will. You are rare, my little caged pet, but you are all alone and weak. It won’t be hard to make you shift when you hear that witch scream in agony and smell her flesh roasting.” Pure glee radiated through his eyes. “Once she’s dead, you’ll drink the Kool-Aid, as it were. You will ingest my venom willingly, or I will inject it, and then I will have the entire town under my scales.”
“Your venom won’t work on me. Dragons are immune to poison,” I said, trying to tell Cal to leave. I would be fine.
“Maybe for a dragon at full strength, but you don’t have a family to make you strong. You will be even weaker with the grief of losing her. Then you will be mine. You will serve. Even if only temporarily.”
“You’re a monster,” I growled.
He gave an eager nod. “Aren’t I, just.” The creepy evil ass mother fucker took that as a compliment. “Glad you see it. Well, I must be going. I just wanted to come down here and let you know what will be happening during tonight’s festivities. I would hate to think that you were down here lying comfortably and waiting for a trial that will never come. It would be far more entertaining for me if I knew you were pacing around, deathly upset and powerless to change your fate. It’s going to be so much easier to control you if you are all riled up with grief, pain, and crippling guilt.”
“I am going to kill you.” It wasn’t a threat, it was a promise. My fists tightened at my sides and my dragon bellowed, begging to be let out. He wanted to rip this fucker apart. “I am going to force you to shift. Then I will kill you and make my girl a new pair of snakeskin boots and a matching bag.”
“You know,” he said thoughtfully. “I bet you would if you could. Too bad you’ll be in this dank little cell—nice piss aroma isn’t it—and in here until your witch is dead. Then you’re going to be all mine. Well, I am off to collect a witch and her abomination. Bye, for now.”
I watched him skulk off, gritting my teeth and biting my tongue until he was gone.
“You ready to go save our girl?” I asked.
“You have no idea. How am I supposed to get you out of here?” Cal asked, re-materializing or whatever weird vampy shit he did.
I bit my tongue for a moment, wishing he had left earlier.
“I got it.” I took off my shirt and shifted to my dragon, shrinking to the size of a gecko, and crawled between the bars. Then I shifted back to my usual human-sized self.
“I will never get used to that,” Cal said. “But it didn’t occur to you to do that earlier?”
“How was I to know he would go after Liz and the kid tonight? I thought that by leaving, it would be causing more problems for her.” I shrugged. “Why are you still here? I hoped you were smart enough to stay with her.”
“Brock is with her. He can keep her safe.” Cal rolled his eyes at me.
“Zmei is probably already on his way to the house.”
“I think I can outrun a car, but I don’t know how much of a head start I have—”
“We can fly,” I said like it was no big deal. I mean, I’d only found out I could fly earlier that day. I had no idea how far I could fly or if I could carry someone, but I wasn’t about to let Liz down again.
I shifted into a larger dragon form and let Cal climb onto my back. I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer, before stretching my wings and barreling forward fast as I could.
This was not going to end well.