Badass Dragons - Complete Set (19 page)

PART FIVE

CHAPTER ONE

“It’s like we knew each other a long
time ago,” Synrith said as they glided back up to the top of the building.
“Except we’ve never met each other at all.”

Cheryl clung
to his chest for dear life. She hoped his newfound analysis wouldn’t cause him
to drop her.

“You’re like
a dream I haven’t had yet,” he said as they approached the broken window. “A
dream I’ve been looking forward to. And it’s only now that I’m falling asleep…”

They flew into
Synrith’s office and their feet landed safely on the carpet.

She stepped
away from him but still he didn’t want to let her go.

“Tell me what
it is,” he insisted. “How are you doing this to me?”

“I… I…”

“You what?”

He touched
the side of her face. She felt herself melting. Standing on air.

“I’m from the
–”

“Silence,”
Synrith whispered. He pulled her mouth towards his and kissed her deeply.

She was now lost.
Like she was about to forget all the things that Synrith didn’t remember
because they hadn’t happened yet.

His pressure
against her only increased. An arm behind her back. Fingers at her cheek.

Lips drawing
in the breaths of life…

So much
danger stood in front of them. But she couldn’t deny him for another moment
longer.

CHAPTER TWO

First he forced her right hand behind
her back. Then her left. From the desk he produced some elastic wire and
proceeded to bind Cheryl’s wrists together. This move from him completely
caught her off guard, as just a moment he had been kissing her. It didn’t seem
like a natural progression.

“What are you
doing?” Cheryl mumbled.

His reptilian
eyes glided over her. Then he grabbed at her waist and pushed her to the floor.

Cheryl hit it
with a jostling thud. Synrith walked to her and put his feet in between her
flailing legs.

The pair
stared at each other.

“What is
this?” Cheryl asked once too much silence had passed.

“Our moment
of reckoning,” Synrith replied.

Cheryl
attempted to shift away from him, but he then placed his foot over her belly.
Not letting her go anywhere.

“What?”
Cheryl said, feeling annoyed. “Do you still not trust me?”

“Just stay
right there,” Synrith said.

He stepped
over her and walked towards the door back out to the corridor. Cheryl sat up
and saw him stop in front of it. His finger went to the light switch.

Darkness.

He walked
back to where he had been standing in front of Cheryl before, the lights from
the city radiating out the window behind him.

“Before me,
you are powerless,” Synrith stated.

That not
true,
Cheryl
thought.
Not in the slightest.

“Say it,”
Synrith whispered.

“Say what?”

“Tell me
you’re powerless.”

Cheryl got up
to her knees and broke free of the wire behind her, with a mild surge of
strength. She flexed her wrists now free in front of him.

“If you need
me to lie to you,” Cheryl said, “then you’re the one who’s powerless.”

Synrith
turned away from her. He walked towards the window and looked out of it.

Cheryl rose
from her place on the floor. She hoped she hadn’t upset him.

“Take your
clothes off,” Synrith said.

Cheryl stared
at him. The command was far too cold for her. Too … certain. She began to
wonder if he really did know who she was after all.

So she
remained where she was. Waiting for him to say something.

Or the
courage for her to say something herself.

After a full
minute of nothing, he abruptly walked away from the window and passed her. He
opened the door to the corridor and closed it behind him.

Cheryl gave a
shudder.

What had just
happened? Was she supposed to just give into him?

If so, why
hadn’t she? Wasn’t she just ruining her chances of rescuing Sophie?

The door
opened and the light was switched on.

It was the
guard.

“Ms. Thames?”
he called to her.

Cheryl walked
towards him, her hands unable to relax. “What’s happening?”

“Your meeting
with Master Synrith has concluded. Please allow me to escort you out.”

As Cheryl’s
legs dragged her into the corridor with him, she looked around for her lover,
but he was nowhere in sight. It was after she got into the elevator and saw the
floors going down, she realized he had been telling the truth after all.

She was
powerless.

CHAPTER THREE

“He has to see me,” Cheryl said to
the guard on their way down. “We weren’t finished.”

The guard
didn’t reply. Cheryl turned slightly.

“Did you hear
me?”

“Master
Synrith has given me my orders. You will have to make an appointment for
another time.”

“No,” Cheryl
said. “I never even got to explain anything to him. He, he –”

“There is
nothing I can do. Please don’t cause a scene.”

The elevator
hit the ground floor. They stepped out and walked past the reception desk.

Cheryl
turned. “What if I want to see someone else here?”

“No, no –”

“I want to
see Jet. Jet Strongarm.”

The guard
folded his arms. “There’s nothing that can be done.”

Cheryl
pointed to the man behind the desk. “Call him. Would you? Tell him I’m Cheryl,
Sophie’s sister. Tell him I need to speak to him at once.”

The
receptionist stared back but made no move to pick up the phone.

The guard
gave Cheryl a hard shove.

“Stop that!”
she cried.

He shoved her
again.

“Cut it out.”

He pointed to
the exit. “Go.”

Cheryl turned
to face it. “No. I can’t.”

The guard
leant over her shoulder. “You don’t want to try it, Princess. Trust me. Don’t
try it.”

Try what?
What’s he talking about?

Such innocent
thoughts. Anything to protect her from the knowledge of what she was about to
do. She looked back to the guard again, just a glance, but it was enough that
he saw it. The scales of his dragon briefly rose to the surface as his arms
spread themselves wide, and his jaw clenched.

Cheryl stared
at him. She saw herself jump out at him, lunging wildly while he dodged her
blows. She heard the security alarm sounded and the footsteps of a dozen more
guards running down the steps.

Would she
win? Would she even have a chance?

She blinked
the thought away. She turned back to the exit and left the guard and the
building behind.

In front of
her, the night was full of darkness.

But even
though he had driven her away…

She knew
there was still time to save him.

CHAPTER FOUR

Wind howled across the smooth texture
of the castle skyscraper’s roof, where Synrith stepped out to meet with the
dragon soldier. Crouched before him, Synrith made out the impression of a girl
with dark hair, nursing her face from whatever pain had been inflicted on her.
Synrith knew who the girl was of course, but he was surprised the dragon
soldier was otherwise alone.

“Well done,”
Synrith said as he approached.

The soldier
nodded, breathing heavily.

Synrith
stopped in front of the girl and looked down at her. “Let’s see those pretty
eyes.”

Sophie stared
up, biting back tears of rage.

“Where’s
Jet?” Synrith asked the soldier.

“She had a
vampire tracking her,’ the soldier informed him. “He stayed behind the others
to follow him.”

Synrith
crouched. “So the truth is out at last. You were playing me all along.”

Sophie
sneered at him.

“Do you have
the dagger you stole from me?”

She grinned
and shook her head.

“Her person’s
were empty,” the soldier droned. “She must have handed it off already.”

“To the
vampires?” Synrith questioned her. “To the one that was following you?”

Sophie
blinked but did not reply.

“You can go,
soldier,” Synrith said to the dragon who had brought her. “I’m going to stay
out with her for a moment.”

“As you wish,
Master.”

The soldier
moved past them towards the exit. Sophie remained crouched.

“So what’s it
to be huh?” Synrith asked her. “Are you ready to be my slave now? Are you
prepared for all the pain I’m going to make you suffer?”

“No,” Sophie
replied. “You are my slave.”

Synrith
laughed. “Stand up.”

Sophie stood.

He read her
eyes and saw she was holding something back from him.

“I saw your
sister tonight,” Synrith said, looking for a reaction. “She came by here just
before.”

“I know,”
Sophie replied.

“You know?”

“A little
bird told me.”

Synrith
walked forward until he was standing beside Sophie.

She faced one
way. He faced the other.

“She had a
crazy story when she came here,” Synrith said. “I didn’t let her tell it, but I
knew it was there. For a moment it was as though I knew her. Then I thought
maybe it was just because she reminded me of you. And then, I wasn’t sure. You
girls can muddle my mind at times.”

“You’ll see
her again soon,” Sophie said. “Jet will bring her here.”

“Really?
Tonight?”

“Tonight.”

“And what’s
the significance?”

“She won’t be
the same. As you’ll soon see.”

Synrith
suddenly became cold with a chill. He felt his balance wavering.

This had
already happened. Not in a dream.

Like a dream,
but…

NOT IN A
DREAM

Sophie
started giggling. The sound – the unpleasant, infuriating sound – disturbed
Synrith’s thoughts. He then realized he was wrong to dismiss Cheryl earlier.

She was not
who he thought she was…

CHAPTER FIVE

With Synrith refusing to help her,
and Jet’s location unknown, Cheryl came to the realization that the only
friends she might have left were the vampires.

How much time
had passed exactly since she had left the house? Where was her past self right
now? What was she doing?

Cheryl went
over the events that had transpired in her mind. After Sophie had called her,
she had raced out to their mother’s house, who promptly turned her away. She
had wandered the backstreets looking for her sister, until she did find her
phone and the police car showed up.

Cheryl
stopped.

Cassandra’s
vampire brother. Cado.

Was he still
alive now?

She
remembered she had met him in his antique store – almost an hour after their
encounter on the main road. There must still be time then. Cheryl spotted an
old phone booth located down the edge of the street and started walking quickly
towards it.

Inside the
booth she uncovered a telephone directory and flipped through to the antique
section where she scanned the names of stores in the local area.

Zany Finds.

That was it.
She was sure of it.

She picked up
the telephone and dialed the number for reverse charges. After a minute of
waiting the call was accepted and a woman’s voice came on the line.

“Hello?”

“I have a
message for Cado,” Cheryl said quickly.

“Who is
this?”

“The dragon
Jet is coming there for the dagger. He’s not safe. He’s –”

Cheryl turned
slightly and was startled to see a motorcycle had parked on the footpath right
in front of the booth.

“Hello?” the
woman asked. “Where are you getting this from?”

Cheryl put
down the receiver.

She stepped
outside as the biker stepped off his vehicle and removed his helmet.

He stared at
her point blank.

“Rafe,”
Cheryl exclaimed.

“Cheryl,”
Rafe murmured back.