Fused in Fire (Page 35)

On the other side of the fence was a hedge of bushes with long briars ready to prick anyone who made it over. As if in an attempt to soften the buildings and perimeter, ivy sporadically crawled up the stone, dotted with bright pink flowers.

A roar sounded above us. I flinched and looked up.

Huge wings beat at the sky, attached to a dragon with shimmering, multicolored blue scales. It wasn’t Clown Demon, but it didn’t matter. It took a dive for us anyway.

“Darius, put distance between us!”

He didn’t argue. He broke left, putting on the jets.

Thanks to the bond, I was faster than I’d ever been.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t as fast as a dragon.

Chapter Twenty-Four

It opened its mouth and issued a stream of blistering fire, scorching the ground in a strip before rolling over me. I cocooned my body in ice magic, keeping the fire from burning away anything not fire proof.

I reached the fence and stared at all the deterrents that kept us from going over. I healed quickly, sure, but if I vaulted over the fence at this harried pace, I’d get torn up enough to make myself vulnerable for a while. I couldn’t afford that.

The dragon turned with incredible speed, agile when in the air. It made another pass, raking me with fire and setting the briars ablaze.

I glanced at Darius, not sure what to do. Which way to go.

Before I could yell the question, another dragon shape drifted over the stone buildings in front of me. Red but with a pink shimmer, another great beast moved through the air. These creatures clearly did not need light to set off the glimmer in their disco-ball bodies.

Its roar was deafening, deep chested and a little raspy. It pumped its wings as the dragon that had been plaguing me with burst after burst of ineffective fire rose into the sky.

Darius was next to me a moment later, putting a small vial to my lips. This will help with your energy. We must hurry.

The unicorn blood slipped past my lips and exploded in my taste buds. Joy and adrenaline pumped through my middle and blossomed, filling up my life force and heightening my senses. Power pulsed within me, giving me the same skin-too-tight feeling I’d had earlier, but this time it was even more acute. There was a pounding sensation—as if all that magic was ready to erupt. I felt powerful. Indestructible.

With tingling limbs, I turned to Darius. “What about you?”

He pulled me closer and bit into my neck. I moaned and dropped my head back. His serum mixed with the unicorn blood, creating an indescribable feeling of euphoria.

The dragons above crashed into each other, gouging with their feet and biting. They tumbled through the air and toward the ground before they broke apart, beating at the sky with their wings and roaring at each other.

Darius pulled away from my neck. A droplet of blood dribbled down his chin, and he wiped it away with the back of his hand.

The pink dragon blasted us with an unexpected stream of fire, mid-battle with the other dragon but retaining the presence of mind to notice us at what were probably the gates of its sect. The blue dragon used the distraction to its benefit and flew forward with claws out.

I covered us with a hasty shield of ice magic. My magic coated Darius’s suit and immediately unraveled the spells. I’d exposed him.

“I’m sorry, I just reacted,” I said, pushing him along the fence. “But that fire would’ve scorched you. It was a hundred times hotter than the one at the gates.

“I understand, thank you. Come on, if we can get out of view, we can get over.”

We ran around the corner of the fence and staggered to a stop. Up the way, a horde of twenty or so demons climbed or carefully worked their way over the defenses, dropping down into the briars and wading their way out. They were sneaking in the back of their enemy’s stronghold while their cohorts created a diversion at the front.

A horrible screech announced the end of the dragon battle. I looked back in time to see the blue dragon do the flying equivalent of limping away. The pink dragon watched it for a moment, not following. A moment later, it swung our way, looking along the fence.

The land was wild, but the brush and trees had been cleared for a good hundred feet leading up to the gate. We’d never make it.

Darius pushed us away from the enemy demons and back around the corner. It’s coming. Cover us with your magic.

I did as he said, seeing the pink, shimmering beast soar through the sky. The fire came as expected, washing over us but not doing any damage. The dragon saw the enemy a moment later and sounded a trumpet-like call, beating its wings for speed and taking off after the demons that were already across the fence.

“There’ll be a battle here in no time. Let’s get moving,” I said. We chose a spot and started to climb. Metal ripped at my suit and tore my skin.

While they do have defenses, these sects don’t have the added security like the others at the outer reaches of the kingdom. No gorges or traps with spikes. They have merely a fence and some cleared land.

The trumpet call boomed above us.

“And a dragon. Don’t forget about the dragon.”

Yes, but… Darius flinched as a metal burr from the barbed wire nicked his leg. Blood welled up. One dragon can’t replace some of the things we’ve seen. He threw his leg over the spikes at the top of the fence and slipped. A point cut into the inside of his leg. He grunted and scrambled to get a better hold.

“You okay?” I asked as fire rained down. The dragon wasn’t getting the hint that fire didn’t hurt us. I wondered about the fire demons. Were they basically fire proof, too? Because if so, what was the point of using a dragon against them?

These defenses speak of a violent species in a not as violent area.

“What’s your point?” I grimaced as the spike at the top of the fence scraped my leg. Searing pain vibrated through me.

Two things. One, if they don’t usually fight, what is causing this? And two, when will Lucifer put a stop to it?

The dragon passed by again, dropping quickly from the sky. Its feet reached for me, intent on grabbing me and forcing me off the fence.

I punched it with air, knocking it off its flight path. It screeched and rose again, hovering over me for a moment before sounding the trumpet.

“It probably has no idea what I am.” I threw my other leg over the top of the fence. “This is going to hurt.” I dropped down into the middle of the bushes. Briars dug into me, scratching and tearing. Darius joined me a moment later, grunting as he made his way out.

We have to get cover.

“Whatever gave you that idea?” We limped to the nearest stone building, moving as fast as we could. Rounding the corner, we ran smack into two demons, clearly summoned by the dragon’s calls.

One of them hesitated a brief moment, its eyes going wide in its malformed head. Darius took advantage, his fingers turning into claws as he swiped. The other demon launched forward with an air knife. I dodged the thrust and kicked it in the stomach while ripping out my sword. The air knife came at me again as the other demon lost its head to Darius’s efforts. I slashed down, cleaving the demon where its neck and shoulders met.

A surge of air pushed toward me from the side. I turned, bringing up my sword, but my power got there first. Roaring out of me, the fire broke through the ice magic and kept going, rolling through the air and piercing into the demon like a knife.

The demon screamed and jolted, succumbing.

Darius grabbed me by the arm and pulled me, running over the demons we’d just killed.

“My power is acting on its own volition,” I said, my lungs burning. They weren’t used to exertion without air.

For now, use whatever is at your disposal. We’ll figure it out when we aren’t running for our lives.

Fair enough.

We ran between the buildings. The view was such that we could see the courtyard at the end of the corridor. Demons warred, using power, weapons, or their own claws. Yelling and grunting competed with clangs of metal.

Darius pulled me to a wooden door on the other side of the corridor. The lock clicked and he pushed the door open, rushing in with me following behind. His claws extended as he set upon the startled demon inside. Two blinks and the demon was slumped on the ground.

“We need to heal and come up with a plan,” Darius said, shrugging out of his clothes.

I shut the door and did the same before looking over my wounds. As I’d expected, my skin was ripped and torn from the run in with the fence and the briars. Nothing too bad, but a few places hurt like the bejeebus.

“Here.” Darius passed over another vial of blood.

I took it greedily before he transformed to his monster form. Another explosion of energy and power vibrated through me. I dug in my pack for my leathers. Something slid past my hand.

I flinched back before I remembered what it was. Then hesitated.

“Oh ew.” I reached in again and extracted the snake, grimacing as it wriggled.

Something solid hit the outside wall. The clatter of metal announced someone had lost their weapon. The battle was in full force.

I put the snake onto my leg, wondering if it would work on human skin. Without warning, it bit me, its fangs digging into my flesh.

“Ow!” I started to yank it off, but the pain had already numbed. The gash next to the bite started to close up right before my eyes. “Oh wow. This works.”

I let the snake roam my body. It bit me near the deep cuts and just slithered over the smaller gashes. The healing ability was insane. When it was done I offered it to Darius.