Kiss of Destiny (11 page)

It was fierce, whatever it was, a kind of pestilence that was rotting his body from the inside out. It had worked insidiously, leaving the man oblivious to the true state of his health, only revealing itself when there was no hope for him. Jorge admired that kind of stealthy assault.

It wasn’t cancer.

It wasn’t plague.

It wasn’t smallpox or influenza or SARS or ebola. It wasn’t any of the familiar suite of illnesses that plagued mankind in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

It was, perhaps, something that had been lost and forgotten over the centuries, much as the Dragon’s Tooth Warriors should have been.

That intrigued Jorge. He had no doubt it was contagious, given the right circumstances, because all living organisms multiplied to survive. He had no doubt that he would be spared whatever foulness it might do to a body, both because his body was
Slayer
not human, and because he had sipped of the Dragon’s Blood Elixir, the source of immortality for his kind. He could recover from any illness or injury, in time.

And if this one took him a while to recover, it just might be worth the price.

Because Jorge knew that the darkfire wasn’t done with him. It had some mission, some quest that would ultimately favor the
Pyr
. The darkfire was closely associated with them, after all, and favored their efforts over those of the
Slayers
. He wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that the darkfire had swept him back in time to see him eliminated forever, for example.

But Jorge wasn’t that easy to eliminate.

Plus Viv Jason was here. He guessed that she had somehow been created in this journey of Drake’s
Pyr
to the past, but that meant she had to be flung into the future. He knew her in the early twenty-first century, so somehow the darkfire had to get her there.

Jorge intended to tag along.

In fact, he intended to take a piece of this pilgrim with him when he went. Whatever disease plagued this pilgrim might be just what the
Slayers
needed to exterminate the human race for once and for all.

The remaining
Pyr
would probably die of loneliness.

Jorge couldn’t wait. He crept out of the shadow of his rock in his salamander form, watched the
Pyr
fight the creature that Viv Jason had become. He judged the distance to the pilgrim, mustered his strength and waited for his moment.

* * *

The hag was strong.

The smell of her wasn’t the worst of it.

Thad had known there was something wrong with the red-haired woman, because her scent had seemed off. He’d sensed that she was hiding something, but hadn’t been sure of what until she changed shape.

He guessed that this guise was her reality, and she thought it wise to hide this form from casual view. She was hideous and terrifying, the sight of her so horrifying that he’d almost recoiled and taken a blow. In this form, the scent of her was an assault in itself, a horrible mixture of blood and excrement. Thad lunged toward her, wanting to defend the others, even as she leapt at him.

He breathed dragonfire, but the flames didn’t stop her. He smelled her hair burning and heard her manic laughter at the same time. She darted through the flames, blood running from her eyes, and jumped at Thad. She locked her arms around his neck, cackling into his face. He was appalled by the feel of her skin. It was cold and clammy, like the skin of a corpse, and when he tried to toss her aside, his talons sank through the soft rot of her body.

She beat at him with her wings, kicked at him with her legs and spat in his eye. It was against his nature to injure an elderly woman, even one so awful as this, but revulsion convinced Thad that she needed no concession from him.

Thad bellowed with fury as he took flight. He guessed this was a fight to the death and wanted this creature away from the others. Even if she killed him, he wanted it to be difficult for her to claim anyone else. He tore the hag free of his neck and cast her into the air before him, exhaling a ferocious plume of dragonfire at her. The flame burned hotter and whiter than he expected and he knew Aura was helping him by fanning the flames.

The hag laughed and turned in the air, flying hard against the wind that would have driven her out to sea. That was Aura again, and Thad was encouraged that together, he and his mate might win the fight. Thad pursued the hag, breathing fire all the while. He heard the screams of the black snakes as they were fried and smelled her skin burning, but she didn’t surrender.

She dropped suddenly like a stone, and too late, Thad realized she did it to duck out of the wind. In an instant, she was behind him and latching on to his back. He felt her nails dig in to his shoulders and spun in an effort to shake her free.

“First you, then all the
Pyr
,” she vowed. “I’ll kill all of you and see your kind exterminated for your crime.”

“But what crime is this?” Thad demanded. “We defend the treasures of the earth, the four elements and humankind.”

“There are others you slaughter,” she muttered and tore at his skin with her nails. The snakes in her hair tried to bite at him, but his scales protected him.

Thad guessed she was trying to rip a scale free, so those snakes could poison him with their venom.

“What others?” He flew a tight somersault, twisting hard, and her own weight pulled her free. He slashed at her as she fell, catching one of her wings with his claw. His talon tore through the leather of her wing and she screamed in anguish. The snakes that made her hair writhed with greater agitation, and she leapt on him again. She had hold of his leg, her grip holding fast no matter how Thad shook.

“Your kind owes me for the death of my sister,” she declared.

“I know nothing about your sister!” Thad flew at the mountain and swung his leg hard against a precipice. The woman hit the rock with her back, and blood flowed from her injury as she released her grip on him.

The wound didn’t slow her down, though. She was after him again, flying unevenly, but determination bringing her closer. “Ask your friend, then,” she whispered. “Ask Damien.”

“Damien! You’ve seen Damien?” Thad held off from striking the hag at this news of his fellow warrior. “You’ve been to the Underworld? Is he still there?”

She smiled coldly, and he knew she’d keep any knowledge of Damien from him, just because she could. “You show great concern for a murderer. But then, I expected you’d be two of a kind.”

“If Damien killed anyone, it must have been in defense of himself or his mate...” Thad began, then caught a whiff of a scent he’d never expected to smell again.

Slayer
!

But there were no
Slayers
in this ancient world. The dragon shifters who had chosen the darkness were creature of the future...unless the darkfire had cast one back in time, along with the Dragon Legion. Because Thad knew that scent of rot and decay, a smell that made him shiver even more than the stench of the hag he found. He struck her hard then pivoted in the air, seeking the
Slayer
.

There!

“
Slayer
!” he cried, pointing at the yellow salamander that was racing toward the pilgrim. He scanned the area for Aura, but she must still be a breeze. “Look out, madam!” he shouted to the old woman who crouched beside the dying man. She looked up at him in confusion and Thad knew he had to help her.

It was the creed of the
Pyr
to defend mankind, after all.

The hag’s vengeance would have to wait.

He flew hard toward the old woman and the pilgrim, determined to ensure their safety. He felt the hag snatch at the end of his tail, but didn’t have time to do more than try to shake her off. He saw the yellow salamander that was the
Slayer
look up from the dirt road. He heard the
Slayer
snarl and saw him swing his tail.

He recognized this
Slayer
. It was Jorge, a particularly mercenary
Slayer
from the twenty-first century.

Thad had time to blame the darkfire for Jorge’s presence, then everything happened very fast.

* * *

Aura couldn’t watch.

She couldn’t
not
watch.

Tisiphone fought hard, clearly as determined to kill Thad as she’d said she was. She wouldn’t rest until her sister’s death was avenged, although Thad’s companion Damien probably hadn’t realized what he’d set in motion. He probably had been defending his mate.

Maybe Aura hadn’t seen a child in her shared future with Thad because Thad didn’t have a future.

It was a terrifying idea.

Aura was deeply afraid of the Erinyes and their lust for vengeance, yet she tried to help Thad by blowing against Tisiphone when possible. She fanned the flames of his dragonfire, too, making it burn hotter and whiter. She liked to think she had made some difference, but Tisiphone’s thirst for vengeance was powerful.

She saw Thad catch a scent of something, for his nostrils pinched shut and his manner became even more alert. She saw him scan the ground, averting his attention from Tisiphone for a dangerous moment.

She didn’t understand why he called the yellow salamander a
Slayer
, much less what a
Slayer
was, but she understood his sense of urgency. He saw the creature as a threat. Thad dove toward the salamander, claws outstretched and fire billowing from his jaws.

The salamander snarled, then shimmered blue.

In an instant, the salamander had become a yellow dragon, just as large and powerful as Thad. Aura gasped as the yellow dragon took flight, meeting Thad part way, and the pair locked talons. They spun end over end in a bid for supremacy, biting and slashing at each other. The contrast between them was striking, Thad’s scales so dark as to be almost black with orange around the perimeter and the
Slayer
’s scales brilliant yellow.

Their tails entwined and Aura could see the strength of their grips. Their talons dug into each other and the dragonfire they exhaled burned hot and bright. Aura smelled burning scales and swirled around Thad, trying to cool his burns.

Thad bit suddenly at the chest of the
Slayer
, sinking his teeth deep into his opponent’s flesh. The
Slayer
cried out as his blood ran black from the wound. It dripped to the ground and hissed on impact, emitting a plume of steam.

The
Slayer
tore himself free, slashing at Thad so that his shoulder was torn, including the tendon to his wing. Thad’s blood ran brilliant red, and Aura guessed this was somehow indicative of the difference between them. Thad’s flight faltered because of his damaged wing. He dropped a bit in the sky, and the
Slayer
laughed.

Then the
Slayer
did a strange thing. He hovered in the air, narrowed his eyes and breathed slowly. A moment later, Thad jerked backward, as if he’d been struck in the chest. He faltered again and couldn’t seem to keep his eyes open or his wings flapping.

He fell toward the ground, flailing as he tried to regain the momentum of flight. The
Slayer
pursued him, grinning even as he continued to breathe slowly. Aura could almost see a glitter between the two of them, like a tendril of sparkling smoke, but when she tried to look directly at it, it disappeared.

She leapt into the air and blew through the space where she’d glimpsed the tendril. She felt something cool in that space, then the
Slayer
swore and slashed at her. His claws slid through the breeze she’d become, not injuring her at all. Thad recovered a little, but not quickly enough. He hit the earth and didn’t move. He was on his back, his eyes closed, his breathing shallow. Aura couldn’t believe that her dragon had been felled.

The
Slayer
seized Tisiphone and threw her at Thad. She landed on his chest, and the
Slayer
leaned down to touch the tip of his talon to a spot on the fallen
Pyr
’s chest.

“There,” he breathed, and Aura realized with horror that it was the place where Thad’s scale had fallen away.

“No!” she cried, shifting shape and landing in human form beside the pair of them. She couldn’t be responsible for Thad’s death. It couldn’t be her fault that his firestorm’s promise wasn’t fulfilled.

Tisiphone looked up in dismay.

The
Slayer’
s eyes narrowed and he bared his teeth. “Ah, the mate,” he murmured with some satisfaction. Aura supposed that was what she was.

“Take me instead.” Aura offered her bared arm to the snakes that twined around Tisiphone’s hair. “It’s my fault he’s vulnerable.”

The
Slayer
chuckled, as if he found her foolish. “Take them both,” he suggested.

Tisiphone looked between the two of them, then smiled darkly. She leaned forward and the snakes in her hair vibrated in their anticipation. She took one in her hand and offered its hissing head to Aura. “Kiss this one,” she commanded. “Show me that you mean what you say.”

“And you’ll let him go,” Aura insisted.

“I’ll take him if you don’t. See if you can satisfy my hungry vipers.” Tisiphone made no promise, and the
Slayer
laughed, but Aura had to do what she could. She looked at the snake with its flicking tongue and its gleaming eyes, then bent closer to welcome its bite. The snake opened its mouth, revealing its fangs, and Aura closed her eyes in anticipation of pain.