Badass Dragons - Complete Set (22 page)

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

They didn’t get dressed and go back
downstairs right away. They both crawled underneath the sheets even though it
was still light out. Cheryl felt so relaxed. So safe in his arms. She still
wanted to be closer to him, understand everything about him, but she didn’t
want to keep on asking questions. She just wanted him to tell her because he
wanted to. He must have known how she felt.

“We will have
to go back soon,” Synrith said, breaking the silence.

“Back to …
earth?”

“Yes.”

She waited
for him to continue.

Synrith
stared into her eyes and kissed her gently. She smiled.

“Okay…”
Cheryl finally murmured. “What happens when we go back?”

“I’ll need
your help.”

“To do what?”

“We have to take
down Rafe and his pack. I’ll first need you to seduce Jet –”

“Not that
again.”

“Yes, we’ll
need Jet on our side, and my voice won’t keep him loyal alone. He is a very
good being deep down, but he is also arrogant and when his mind gets set on
something there’s no stopping him.”

“That sounds
a little like you.”

Synrith
frowned and sat up a bit. “I’m much smarter than he is.”

“Are you
really?”

He nodded.
“You’ll see. But … I need you to befriend him at the very least. He must remain
loyal to us. And then with him in one corner, you go to the vampires, and you
turn them against Rafe and the wolves.”

“What?”
Cheryl gasped. “They won’t listen to me.”

“We will work
on your strategy later. But this is no small thing. Once we have Jet and the
vampires as allies and the wolves are destroyed, we will also destroy that
horrible contraption of his.”

“The time
portal?”

“Yes.”

Cheryl
thought for a moment. “I’m not sure I know where that is.”

“Who does?”

“Well …
Reiko. He’s a vampire…”

“Then we’ll
find out from him. The thing is far too dangerous to be left out in the open
for anyone to use. When you think about it – with all the manipulations Rafe
could get away with by using it – it’s a wonder we’re here together right now.”

Cheryl
nodded. “I’ll do whatever you ask of me.”

“Ooh,”
Synrith cooed. “That’s so sweet.”

“Shut up,”
Cheryl punched him.

Synrith
laughed.

“Seriously
though – when we do all that – what then? Will we just stay in the building
while you… govern the shifters or whatever…”

“Don’t
worry,” Synrith assured her. “We can always take our little holidays here. This
is our place. We own it.”

“You own it,”
Cheryl corrected. “I’m just a new girl you’ve brought home with you…”

“No,” Synrith
said earnestly. “You’re much more to me than that.”

And then the
sound of his voice began to fade.

Cheryl rested
into him and let her eyes close. So much was behind them.

Even more was
in front.

She just
wondered, if this happiness,
their
happiness, was really going to last…

CHAPTER
SIXTEEN

Cheryl didn’t see it happen. Her body
didn’t even feel it. But things moved all around her. Changes took place in the
air she wasn’t aware of. When she did finally awake from her slumber and open
her eyes, she noticed that the room was dark, and it was night time outside.
She then felt for her lover beside her and found that he was gone.

“Synrith…?”
she murmured out loud.

He didn’t
appear to be lurking in the shadows of the room. The double doors at the end
remained closed.

Cheryl pulled
the covers back and moved her feet over the edge of the bed. She opened and
closed her eyes a couple of times. She then got up and walked to retrieve her
fallen dress. There was no trace of Synrith’s clothes in the room. He must have
left her to sleep.

Cheryl paused
a moment. Her attention was directed at the open window beside her. She walked
out to it and saw a purple moon hovering in the sky. She watched it a moment,
and just as she was pulling away she saw something incredibly strange and almost
frightening.

The moon’s
color washed away in a single motion and became red.

Red, like
blood.

Cheryl backed
away from the window sill and turned to walk towards the doors to leave.

Then, before
she was a few feet away from it, the handle pushed down and one of them slowly
swung open.

There was a
dark figure behind the door.

“Synrith…?”
Cheryl said hopefully.

The figure
approached. As the light of the moon hit his face, Cheryl saw that it was not
her lover, but someone else entirely.

It was Cado.

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

“Still having those nightmares
again?” Cado remarked walking beside her.

“Huh? What
are you – What –?”

He planted
his lips to her shoulder, causing her to recoil in fright.

“Don’t worry,
I wouldn’t bite you,” Cado said. “Hey. What’s got into you?”

“Nothing,”
Cheryl murmured, backing away. “Nothing … I…”

“Go on. Tell
me what’s on your mind.”

Cheryl’s neck
reared back. She was at a loss for words. She didn’t know what to make of any
of this.

“Maybe you
should rest a little more,” Cado murmured. “I could join you.”

“Can I …
freshen up first?”

Cado nodded.
“Please do.”

“Okay.”

Cheryl backed
away from him and out into the landing. As she found her way to the stairs
leading down, she could hear the vampire laughing quietly under his breath.

“What the
fuck is going on here?” Cheryl whispered to herself, hurrying down.

The rooms
downstairs were dark and unlit. Shadows moved across the walls. Glasses
clinked. People whispered. Fire crackled.

The carpet at
her feet leading out into the courtyard was no longer the color gold.

It was pitch
black.

She followed
it out there, wincing as the bright red moon bore down at her. It was so
surreal. She’d woken up to someone’s nightmare. There was no cause or
explanation for anything.

To both
Cheryl’s right and left, she saw groups of robed figures moving in the dark,
huddled together. She followed one branch around the courtyard until they
stopped, forming a ring.

The gates
leading outside opened at once and a giant black stallion with a man in a cape
riding him emerged. Chained to his feet from behind were other horses of
another color.

The gates
closed as the rider descended the stallion and unchained him, letting him run
free.

Then he
stepped away out of the path of the robed figures.

Cheryl was
horrified with what she saw next.

The chained
up horses weren’t horses at all – they were unicorns - and the as the hoods
were peeled back and the figures revealed – she saw –

“No!” she
screamed. “No, no!”

One of the
vampires looked back with half an interest.

Before Cheryl
could scream again however, a hand was placed to her mouth and she was pulled
off to one side.

His arms were
strong. His chest was wide.

His scent
familiar.

As Cheryl
turned to face her assailant, she could not deny herself hope once more.

“Synrith? Is
it you…?”

He stepped
back, still holding her at an arm’s length.

“Thank God I
found you, Cheryl,” Reiko began. “I’ve been looking for so long.”

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

“Ugh,” Cheryl cried. “Get your hands
off me.”

Reiko
released her.

She backed up
against the courtyard wall while he advanced further.

“I’m here to
help you,” Reiko said. “To help Synrith.”

“Where
is
he?”
Cheryl demanded.

“Not here,”
Reiko said. “But I know the way. I just need your help. Can I count on you?”

“What do you
need my help for? I thought you were –”

“Please, we
need to go,” Reiko insisted. “Before Cadogan finds us.”

“How can I
trust you? You’re one of –”

“So are you,”
Reiko quickly reminded her. “But that doesn’t mean you believe in this, right?”

Cheryl
sighed. “Okay. Where are we going?”

“Just stay
close to me. We’re going to get out of here.”

And what
could Cheryl do but trust and follow him? All around her – this darkness, this
horror – it meant that Synrith had lost. Whatever they were going to do or
should have done, it failed. They didn’t get a chance to try at all. The waves
of time had moved again and Rafe or Cassandra or Jet – someone had gone back to
stop Synrith from claiming victory against them and now left his kingdom to the
vampires, herself included.

But Reiko
knew what he was doing.

After some
careful evasion of wandering vampires in robes, they found a side gate they
were able to pass through and together hurried out into the pathway in front of
them. Once they had run far enough, and Synrith’s kingdom was but a speck on
the horizon – then Reiko was able to explain more.

“We have to
wait here for a bit,” he said. “We’re waiting for a storm.”

They were at
the edge of the forest by the creek, with endless grass plains in front of
them. Dark clouds were gathering, but there was no sign yet of rain.

“Why a
storm?” Cheryl asked.

“There’s one
coming soon. It’s only in the light of the storm that we will be able to see
the door to the first world.”

“What’s
happening there? Where is Synrith?”

Reiko sighed and
sat down. Cheryl joined him.

“I only know
the rumors,” he said. “And what Cassandra’s told me.”

“What’s
that?”

“Well, she
has the old dragon building now. Synrith’s ‘castle’ as he called it. It’s where
she’s been running her operations. Sending vampires out every night, and
bringing more in by the following morning. It just grows and grows. But that’s
not the worst part.”

Cheryl stared
at him, her ears attentive.

“The dragons
that were there – they’re all gone. I heard they’re at Rafe’s manor with his wolves.
Jet … he was involved in the beginning. But now he’s been reduced to a
withering servant of Rafe. The dragons are all being brainwashed into thinking
the wolves are their masters. Rafe is training them for a battle against the
human military. He wants government wiped out. He wants to take over the whole
fucking country.”

“And
Synrith?”

“They said
his screams for help can be heard in the manor’s dungeon. They’re keeping him
alive for some reason. Alive and powerless. Which is why we need to set him free.
So we can stop this from happening.”

Cheryl was
silent for a moment. It was a lot for her to take in.

“I still
don’t understand why you’re not on the vampire’s side,” Cheryl said. “It’s who
you are.”

“Are you
kidding?” Reiko laughed. “I
am
on their side. What do you think’s going
to happen to us once they wipe out the police force and military? You think
they’ll let Cassandra run that building? You think they’ll let Cado have this place?
Oh no. It’s going to get very ugly for us.”

“But if we
set Synrith free, how do you know he won’t destroy you on sight?”

“Because I
know you, Cheryl,” Reiko said. “You’re a good person and he loves you. I know
with you there, Synrith will do what’s right.”

Cheryl
nodded.

Then she saw
a streak of red lighting light up the sky.

“It’s
starting,” Reiko said, standing up.

CHAPTER
NINETEEN

With the moon’s pale glow across the
field, lightning flashed in every direction, leaving nothing more to see than
the horrifying red. But when the lightning was gone for the briefest of
moments, the outline of the magnetic green doorway could be seen. The same way
that Cheryl and Synrith had come in, they were now going out.

What lay on
the other side of that door though – what nightmarish changes to reality –
Cheryl wasn’t sure she’d be able to deal with it.

Not alone.

“On the count
of three,” Reiko said, getting into position. “One … two … three!”

The pair took
off a blinding pace across the field as rain crashed down on them and the fog
of red and black consumed all that was visible.

But they knew
where they were going.

Within a few
moments they came tumbling through the magnetic field and into the dark room at
the bottom of the stairs in Synrith’s old building.

Startled and
dazed, they helped each other up and dusted themselves off.

“I’m not
doing that again,” Cheryl muttered.

“Yeah,” Reiko
said. “Okay. Let’s get out of here.”

After
climbing the stairs and finding the nearest elevator, they were able to get to
the ground floor of the building without being interrupted by anyone.

Once on the
ground floor though – it was a different story. A broad shouldered vampire
guard was standing at the bottom of the elevator waiting for them.

Reiko quickly
bowed his head and moved past him quickly, while Cheryl attempted to follow.

But the guard
stopped her. “Excuse me,” he said. “Who are you? Where did you come in?”

Reiko turned
back. “She’s with me,” he said. “Leave it.”

“Does your
girlfriend know about this?” the guard asked.

Reiko
shrugged.

“I better
call this in,” the guard said. He walked round to unmanned reception desk and
picked up the telephone. “Hi … yes, hi Cassandra, I’m downstairs with –”

Reiko raised
his boot into the air and jump-kicked across the desk to smash the guard in the
face with it. The pair struggled to the ground and an alarm was tripped.

The sound of
more guards rushing out the fire escape vibrating across the floor. Cheryl
quickly ran to Reiko’s aid.

The guard had
his hands around his neck, choking him.

“Go,” Reiko
wheezed. “Just go.”

Instead,
Cheryl wrapped her arms around the guard’s neck and pulled him upward.

Then she
snapped it.

His body fell
in a heap.

“Thanks,”
Reiko said, standing up.

They both
climbed over the desk as a dozen more guards stormed out from behind them,
chasing in hot pursuit.

Without time
for the sliding doors at the entrance to open before they got there, Cheryl and
Reiko crashed through the glass and continued to run at full speed towards
Reiko’s motorcycle parked at the curb.

“Cassandra’s
going to kill me for this,” he said once they were seated, and kicking into
gear.

Cheryl looked
behind them as the crowd of vampires faded into the darkness of the road.

“If she loves
you, she’ll understand,” Cheryl said.

Reiko was
silent for a moment. Then he said: “I wonder if that’s true.”