Dragon Heat (23 page)

eyes met, and he knew she was giving him more time. She didn’t press

him to get on with it. No, she knew he needed that encounter with Yerik;

he needed his answers.

‚Oh, Tardieh, Tardieh. You shouldn’t hate me. You should thank

me.‛ Yerik’s words brought Tardieh’s attention back to the fight. He knew

this game very well. The traitor was trying to make Tardieh loose his

focus and open his guard.

‚If I hadn’t killed your father, you wouldn’t have become king. You

would still be living that futile life of yours, chasing those wanton sujhas

around and hiding under your daddy’s robes. How many times had your

father failed to make a male of worth out of you? But, you see, I

succeeded, didn’t I? Look at you now! I managed to open your eyes to the

real world and unleash the king inside you.‛

‚Open my eyes to the real world?‛ Tardieh repeated, his jaw tight

in rage.

‚Why, who do you think told the dragon lord which whorehouse

to find you so that they could abduct you?‛

Zoricah saw Tardieh’s eyes narrow in pure hatred, his hands

clenched in fists. Emitting the darkest war cry Zoricah had ever heard,

Tardieh advanced toward his father’s murderer who managed to block his

first punch but was not expecting the second one which hit him hard on

the left ribs. Tardieh didn’t stop. He overwhelmed Yerik with a series of

crosses and jabs with an astonishing speed that Zoricah couldn’t follow.

‚Tardieh, behind you!‛ Zoricah warned just before a razbian guard,

who had come out of the west exit, fired at Tardieh. He ducked, and the

acid bullet passed flying just a few inches away from his head. Without

missing a beat, Zoricah exhaled a powerful fire whip, setting the guard on

fire.

Taking advantage of Tardieh’s momentary distraction, Yerik pulled

Tardieh’s head down and struck him on the chin with his left knee.

Tardieh stumbled backward but managed to stand his ground and block

Yerik’s second kick with his hands. Tardieh held on to Yerik’s foot and

twisted it in a powerful motion. Yerik fell but not before hitting Tardieh’s

ribs with his other leg. Both vampires went to the ground.

Tardieh reached across and grabbed the razbian’s gun that had

fallen a few feet from the door. Yerik used the same line of attack and

went for his gun on the opposite direction.

At the same time that Tardieh pulled the trigger, Zoricah exhaled a

fire whip at Yerik. Her dragon blaze added to the strange acid formed an

explosive combination. Yerik’s flesh disintegrated in front of them in

record time. Zoricah had never seen a vampire as old as Yerik crumble so

fast.

Tardieh stood up in front of the melting corpse and watched it

disintegrate into dust. Zoricah saw the huge weight on his shoulders

literally disappear. Looking up, he gave her a confident smile. It was the

smile of someone who had just reached closure. She was glad he had had

the opportunity to get his long overdue answers, but most of all, she was

glad he was alive and unharmed.

Zoricah tensed her muscles to fly up high and go check on Yara

and the hostages, but body wouldn't obey. She lost her balance; her wings

wobbled in the air. She fell, taking half of the slaughterhouse’s roof with

her. Trying to access what the fuck was happening, she saw an enormous

wound rapidly corroding her dragon flesh around her left hip. It was as if

someone was boiling her flesh with hot lava! Her left leg had also been hit

and was being quickly consumed. The razbians had probably hit her with

the same strange acid mixture Yerik shot Tardieh with. Zoricah felt her

breathing growing shallow at the same rate as her limbs were getting

numb. Feeling weak and dizzy, she let her head fall backward on the

ground.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Zoricah saw Sam’s thunderbolts

shredding a razbian guard who was dangerously close by. Then Dyam,

followed by Hikuro, Joel, and Yara, joined in.

She tried desperately to tell them to go away, to save themselves

before they were also killed by that strange acid. But no words came out.

Exhausted, Zoricah closed her eyes. Probably next time she opened them

back again, she would see Apa Sâmbetei’s colorful first river. She wasn’t

afraid or worried about making her final journey to the land of the souls.

She knew her inimă would be welcomed there. The Soartas had been

strangely kind to her. They had put Yara, Sam, and the draconian twins in

her life. They had become her apprentices, her loyal friends, her legacy.

Unlike vampires who were immortal, all dragons met their fate one day or

another. With an unexpected lump in her throat, Zoricah realized she had

only one regret: she wished she had told Tardieh she loved him.

As soon as he saw Zoricah struggle to fly, Tardieh knew something

was wrong. With his heart in his hands he ran to her, killing a couple of

razbians on the way.

‚Hikuro! Form a barricade around her!‛ he yelled to his second in

command.

The moment Tardieh reached Zoricah, the four warriors and the

black panther closed in on a tight circle around them, safely obstructing

any razbian attacks.

‚Beware of their bullets!‛ he heard Sam shouting over the battle

noises. ‚They contain some weird acid.‛

Tardieh looked at the beautiful golden dragon before him. Her

wounds were expanding rapidly. ‚Zoricah, Zoricah!‛ He tried to wake her

up.

Slowly her eyes fluttered open. She let out a painful groan, and

smoke came out of her nostrils.

‚No, don’t talk. Save your strength,‛ he quickly told her. He knew

how badly those wounds hurt and consumed one’s energies. The acid was

a strange mixture that ate from the inside out. He had only managed to

fight it off because Zoricah had successfully diverted Yerik’s attention,

giving his body time to regain enough energy to close the wound. But

dragons did not have the same healing abilities as vampires did, and

Zoricah’s two wounds were rapidly consuming her flesh. Tardieh realized

he could see all the way down to her bones.

‚Please, please, Apa Dobrý,
don’t take her away from me, not

now,‛ he prayed heatedly.

Another puff of smoke told him she was in great pain. Soon the

acid would reach her heart, and that would be the end of it. The end of

them.

With sad amazement, he saw her beautiful golden leather slowly

shift into smooth skin. Her large snake-like irises went back to the golden

color he'd grown to love so much. Next, her long tail receded and sharp

claws yielded to soft hands and feet. Bit by bit, the twenty foot long

dragon disappeared, giving way to his beautiful lover. She lay on the

ground naked, the wounds now covering her whole left side. She

whimpered in distress.

Without knowing what else to do, Tardieh hugged Zoricah,

accommodating her on his lap. Trying hard not to touch the wounded

flesh, he kissed her on the lips. She trembled, and he saw a small smile

appear on her beautiful exotic face. Desperation hit him. He could not live

without her; he would not survive if she died.

‚Fuck that! I will give you my life if you save her,‛ he shouted to

no one and to everyone. He bent down and kissed her lips again while hot

tears streamed down his cheeks.

A female voice invaded his mind.
Your blood. The answer is in your

blood.

‚My blood?‛ Tardieh repeated startled. ‚What do you mean by ‘my

blood’?‛ he asked that strange voice in his head but received no reply.

Suddenly an image of dragons and vampires congregating on a

clearing flooded his mind. Both races were merry and seemed to be

celebrating, feasting. Huge slabs of stone were aligned almost perfectly

forming three large circles. The outer one, which encased the other two,

should have been over three hundred feet in diameter. Males, females,

and children were dancing around the loops of stone. They were all

dressed in animal skin and woven fabrics made of flax. The sun shone

brightly in the sky, but none of the vampires there seemed to mind it.

Where was this place? Was he in the beginning of time, when all

races were said to have lived harmoniously together?

Tardieh followed a few draconian children toward the center of the

third inner ring. A group of fully grown vampires and dracos were

playing drums made of animal skin and wood. In the center of their

musical circle, a beautiful female was dancing. Tardieh recognized her

immediately: Zmyzel, the goddess of life. Dressed in light colored

see-through tunic, she was dancing sensuously to the spellbinding

rhythm. Tardieh was instantly hypnotized by her. Their eyes met, and she

offered her hand in invitation. He took a few steps forward and meant to

try and get some answers, but as soon as he entered the musical circle, he

felt a strange force pulling him forward. Suddenly, he was her.

Completely flabbergasted, he saw his ancestors through her eyes. The

feeling of being alive, in peace, overwhelmed him. Then his head snapped

to the left. A male draco was drinking from a vampire’s wrists. His sips

were lethargic, sensual. His male vampire friend was caressing his hair in

invitation. After a long time of ecstasy, the draco lifted his head up and

licked his lips, as if savoring the lingering taste of the red liquid.

What the fuck? Dracos do not drink blood!

But despite his rational confusion, Tardieh could feel the life energy

coursing through the draconian’s veins, giving him the power to run

faster, to dematerialize, to heal. In utter astonishment, Tardieh repeated

the magic words. ‚My blood<‛

Blinking fast, Tardieh found himself once more at the

slaughterhouse, his five friends were still barricading them from a few

surviving razbians. Zoricah took another shallow breath in his arms.

Without wasting any time, Tardieh ripped his already burned shirt and

gun holster off himself. He opened a deep wound on his wrist with his

fangs and raised it above his lover’s lips.

“But note this, vampire king.”
Zmyzel’s voice resonated in his head

once again.
“You will sacrifice your eternal life in order to save hers. By giving

her your blood, your lives will be forever linked. If she dies, you die. If she

triumphs, you triumph.”

Tardieh opened his mouth to say ‚I don’t fucking care‛ but

reconsidered. He didn’t think the goddess would appreciate such foul

language.

A sensual chuckle echoed in his mind.
“Forsooth, vampire king, the

choice is yours.”

Once Zmyzel was gone, Tardieh opened the wound on his left

wrist again and raised it above Zoricah’s mouth. Nothing happened. She

didn’t seem to be feeling it, let alone drinking it. Tardieh shook her softly,

but she didn’t open her eyes.

‚Zoricah. Zoricah, my love, you need to drink this. You have to

drink my blood in order to live.‛ He tried again, but she didn’t respond.

No, no, no! It can’t be too late! Come on!

Resting her head on his legs, he opened her mouth with his right

hand while dripping his blood inside her mouth. This time, it hit the

mark. Zoricah jolted in response, and the next few drops fell on her cheek

instead of into her mouth.

‚Fuck!‛ Tardieh shouted in frustration. Taking a deep breath, he

repeated the drill, but this time, he was expecting her draconian body’s

reaction to his vampire blood and held her chin tightly in place.

After he had opened his wrists for the fifth time, Tardieh felt a

hand touch his shoulders. Startled, he looked up. Hikuro was crouched

beside him and the other four warriors were standing there, looking

somber. The battle had ended. A carpet of dead razbians filled the ground

before him.

‚My Lord, she’s not responding anymore.‛ Hikuro’s voice

resonated faintly on Tardieh’s ears, as if he were in another dimension.

Tardieh looked down at Zoricah. She still lay unconscious on his

lap, her wounds were still taking up half of her body, and white ugly

foam had started coming out of them. She was cold in his arms, so cold.

Sam crouched beside Hikuro. ‚It’s time to go,‛ she said weakly.

Tears of pure light trickled down her cheeks. ‚It’s time to let her go.‛

Zoricah felt like roadkill. Her body ached, her head was about to