I would’ve said something snarky, but at the moment I was too relieved. Still keeping my arms around Ember, and the gun pressed below her chin, I jerked my head at the rest of them, and we began walking toward the metal doors.
“Don’t follow us,” I told the Basilisk as we passed. “If I even suspect we’re being tailed, or that a Viper is out there waiting to snipe us in the head, I will have no problem pulling the trigger. We walk away clean, and no one in the organization tries to follow until we are completely gone.”
Luther gave me a flat stare, but nodded tightly. St. George threw open the metal door, and I dragged Ember through the frame, out of the building and into the sunlight.
Mist and the soldier followed at my heels. Through the door lay a flat, empty parking lot, surrounded by lawn, trees and concrete. In the distance, past another set of buildings, I could see the tree line that marked the security fence, but I had no idea how we were going to get to it.
“Mist,” I growled, glancing at the silver-haired Basilisk at my shoulder. “Where to now?” I felt highly exposed, knowing that just a few yards away, the most powerful dragon in the world was watching us through a pair of thin glass doors. “How do we get out of here? And I hope you had a better plan than ‘on foot.’”
“Give it a second,” Mist said, gazing around the lot. “He knew the plan was set into motion. He should be...there.”
A car suddenly streaked around a corner and skidded to a halt a few feet away. Mist sprang forward, wrenched open the door and motioned us inside. Still holding Ember, I pulled her into the backseat, the soldier right behind us, as Mist slammed the door and lunged into the front. I held my breath, waiting for gunshots, for a snarling Viper to land on the windshield and fill the car with fire. But nothing happened except the tires squealing as the car tore across the lot, through the open security gate and into the city streets.
* * *
Holy shit. We’d escaped. We’d actually escaped from Talon.
Cobalt, you are the officially luckiest son of a bitch in the history of SOBs. Wait until Wes finds out; this will go down in dragon history. If Talon doesn’t kill you in the next five minutes. I looked down at my “hostage” and winced. Or Ember. Or St. George for that matter.
“Um, Riley?” Ember’s voice, though not exactly furious, was not happy. “Are you going to let me go soon?”
“Sorry, Firebrand.” I eased the gun away from her throat, but didn’t loosen my grip around her. “Not yet. Not until I’m positive we’re clear of Talon. I wouldn’t put it past the Elder Wyrm to be keeping tabs on us right now, trying to see where we go. Once we’re out of the city and I’m sure Talon isn’t following us, we can drop the farce. And you can punch me out then, if you like.”
She sighed. “No,” she muttered, finally relaxing against me. “Once I got past the shock and the ‘what the hell are you doing,’ I realized you were trying to save us. We wouldn’t have made it out if you hadn’t done that. Though you did freak me out for a second there, Riley.” A shiver went through her, making my stomach twist. “You sounded entirely serious. I almost believed you.”
I closed my eyes. “I would have never done it, Firebrand,” I whispered. “That whole time, I was terrified Luther would call my bluff. I had to make it sound as convincing as I could, because there was no way I could even think about pulling that trigger.”
“I know,” Ember murmured back. “And I knew, deep down, that you wouldn’t. Even...even if I am the Elder Wyrm’s vessel, and she just wants me to extend her own life. And it might’ve been better for everyone if you did.” She gave another violent shudder before taking a deep breath, seeming to brush it off. “But we’re out,” she breathed. “We made it out, all of us. Your stupid bluff actually worked, and that’s why I’m not going to punch you in the face when we get out of this.”
“I might,” said the soldier in a low voice.
I glanced at him, and the hairs on my arm rose. His jaw was set, his eyes angry as he met my gaze. His pupils had contracted until they were razor-thin slits against the gray of his irises. And for one crazy, surreal moment, it didn’t feel like I was staring into the face of an angry human. It felt like I was staring down a rival drake, and he was seconds away from snarling the ancient challenge and lunging at me with fangs bared.
But then he blinked, and his eyes went normal again. I ignored the possessive anger in my gut and gave him a weary smile. “Well, you’re welcome to try, St. George,” I said. “But I’m not extending the same offer. You want to kick my ass, you’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way.”
“Perhaps if we can stay on target,” came an exasperated voice from the front, and Mist peered back at us. Her eyes glimmered blue in the fading light. Beside her in the driver’s seat, a man in a dark suit gazed straight ahead, silently ignoring the three dragons and the soldier of St. George surrounding him. I wondered who he was, if he was employed by Talon and if he was now royally screwed for helping us escape.
“We need a place to hide,” Mist said, gazing at me. “One where Talon can’t track us down. From what we saw, all of your safe houses have been compromised. I have a place we can go—my employer set it up in case it came to this.”
“No,” I said, and she blinked at me. “Sorry, Mist, but trusting you to get us out is one thing. Trusting some mysterious Talon employer to provide us with a safe house is a little out of my comfort zone. The fewer people who know where we are, the better.”
“You don’t have any more safe houses,” Mist said. “Talon found them all.”
“Not all of them.” I went over Talon’s list in my mind, making sure this final sanctuary wasn’t among the targets. “I have one last place we can go.”
Mist regarded me a moment longer, then shrugged. “I’d argue that you are being paranoid, but it would be a waste of effort. And I suppose it doesn’t matter where we go, as long as it’s safe.”
“Yeah,” I muttered as the sense of foreboding descended on me once more. I wasn’t sure any of us would be safe, ever again. Call Wes, I thought, planning our next move. Contact all my safe houses. Gather every rogue, hatchling and human friend I have and take them to the deepest, darkest, most impenetrable hole I can find. The storm was coming, looming on the horizon, and if any of us were caught in the open when it hit, no one would survive. I just hoped that, when the initial fury had passed and we poked our heads out again, the world would still be there, and not burned to ashes by dragonfire.
EMBER
“You will be my vessel, Ember Hill,” the Elder Wyrm whispered, her eyes glowing emerald as she loomed above me. “My new body, in which I will live forever.”
“No,” I snarled, fighting against the straps. “Get away from me! I won’t forget him. I won’t forget any of them.”
“Stop fighting, sis,” Dante murmured, walking around the gurney. He gave me an exasperated look and shook his head. “Why are you resisting? This is where you belong. This is your destiny.”
“Dante,” I pleaded, gazing up at him. He stared down with impassive green eyes. “Help me. You don’t know what she’s planning. What she really wants to do. Please.” I gave him a desperate look. “You’re my brother. Don’t let her destroy us all.”
Dante smiled. “I’ll save you, Ember,” he whispered, and climbed onto the gurney, resting cold hands on my shoulders. Chilled, I stared into the face of my twin and saw his eyes had turned a pale, silvery white. “I’ll save you,” he whispered again, digging curved nails into my flesh. Blood welled and ran down my arms, and Dante’s nostrils flared. “Don’t worry, sis. Dragons will never have to live in fear again. I’ll save us all.”
His body exploded, becoming long and sleek, iron scales ripping through his business suit, dark wings flaring behind him. Baring bloody fangs, the vessel drew back with a piercing shriek and went for my face.
* * *
/>
I jerked awake, heart pounding against my ribs, a cold sweat covering my face and neck as the snarling face of my brother faded from my mind. Shaking, I sank back against the pillows, gazing around the room and trying to remember what had happened.
After escaping Talon, we’d driven through the night, setting a frantic, nonstop pace as we strove to outrun the organization and whatever agents they were sure to send after us. At the next town, we’d ditched our driver, Mist’s contact, who’d told us he would return to his employer now that we were away from Talon. Though we still hadn’t known who this mysterious employer was, no one had really cared at that point. We were out of Talon; that was all that mattered. After dropping the driver off at a bus stop, Riley had taken over, heading west into the setting sun.
“Where are we going?” Garret had asked, peering out the front window at the road stretching out before us.
“Somewhere safe,” Riley had answered, his voice short. “Somewhere I can gather all my rogues together so we can avoid the shitstorm that’s coming. We only have three days to make sure everyone is out of the open when that Night of Fang and Fire hits.”
I’d blinked. That had been news to me. “The Night of Fang and Fire?” I’d asked, and Riley had cursed.
“Dammit, that’s right. You weren’t with us when we hacked those files. Wanna give her the short version, St. George?”
“Talon is going to attack,” Garret had told me, his voice grim. “They plan to hit all the Order chapterhouses in one night, as well as all of Riley’s safe houses. They’re going to use the clones to wipe out their enemies in one fell swoop.”
Horror had flooded me. “Oh, God,” I’d whispered. “That’s what Dante was talking about. His plan...when he said we wouldn’t survive what was coming.” I’d remembered the genuine fear in his eyes when I refused to cooperate with the Elder Wyrm, his desperate insistence that I give in, and my rage had boiled. He’d known. He’d known what would happen that whole time. And, sickening as it was, he was probably in charge of it. “What are we going to do?” I’d asked.
“I told you,” Riley had said gravely. “We’re getting the hell out of the way. We’re calling the underground back, making sure everyone is accounted for, and then we’re going to hide as deep and hard as we can while we wait for this hurricane to blow over.”
“What about the Order?” Garret had asked.
“What about the Order?” Riley had snapped in return. “They know how to kill dragons, they’ll be fine. Let them deal with it themselves.”
“If Talon takes them by surprise, when they’re outnumbered and they don’t know what’s coming, they won’t stand a chance,” Garret had insisted. “They’ve lost their Patriarch. The leadership is probably fractured and the council is scrambling for control. The Order is in chaos—no one will be ready to deal with an army of dragon clones. We have to contact them, let them know what Talon is planning.”
“What?” Riley had glared at him in the rearview mirror. “I’m sorry, are we talking about the same Order? The one whose leader shot you in the back a few weeks ago? Who threatened they would see our kind extinct, even after everything we did to break them away from Talon? Who would kill us all as soon as they see us, because they still haven’t learned there is a difference between rogues and Talon? No.” He’d shaken his head. “I’m done with the Order. They wouldn’t listen to us, anyway. My responsibility is to my underground and my hatchlings, nothing else. I won’t put them in danger, and I’m not going to lose them to Talon. The dragonslayers will have to get by without us.” Garret had started to protest, and Riley’s voice had become a snarl. “We are not contacting the Order, St. George. End of story.”
The soldier had backed off, falling silent, but his set jaw and the dark look in his eyes had told me that that wasn’t going to be the end of it.
We’d driven on through the night. Exhausted, I’d dozed on Garret’s shoulder, and he’d leaned back, drawing me into his arms. The mood of the car had been somber; everyone had seemed a bit shell-shocked. We’d known we had to talk, discuss what we had learned and plan what we were going to do next. But my brain had been fried, overloaded with the barrage of what we’d been through. I’d felt numb, and that apathy had been comforting. As had been the feel of Garret’s arms around me, reminding me that I was safe. That I wasn’t strapped to a table with a bunch of blank-eyed scientists poking and prodding me like I was a lab rat. I hadn’t wanted to remember the terror and helplessness I’d felt when the Elder Wyrm had told me I was simply a vessel, a body grown in a lab for the purpose of extending her life. I hadn’t wanted to think of the scientists messing around in my brain, or what memories they had taken before Garret and Riley showed up. Right then, I hadn’t wanted to remember anything.
When the car finally had shuddered to a halt in the early hours of dawn, I’d looked up, surprised. In front of us had sat a large but rather run-down-looking farmhouse, with a sagging wraparound porch and a blue tiled roof. An old barn had squatted off to the side, all color leeched from the boards until they were a dull, uniform gray. Hills and fields had surrounded us and had done so for the past thirty minutes as the car had rattled and bounced its way down a narrow dirt road that had finally run out at the steps of this place.
“Where are we?” Mist had asked from the passenger seat.
“My last safe house,” Riley had muttered, turning off the headlights. Gazing up at the sagging building, he’d sighed. “No one knows about it—I’ve never used it before. In case the worst happened and my network was exposed, I wanted a safe place to hide everyone. This is my last-ditch, shit-has-hit-the-fan fallback point. There’s a couple hundred acres of nothing in every direction. No one is going to find us here.”
He’d opened the door and stepped out, and the rest of us had followed, our feet raising tiny dust clouds as we’d stepped onto the driveway. It had been quiet out here; there’d been no horns, no sounds of traffic, no people hurrying down sidewalks. Nothing but the cicadas and a lone bird could be heard for miles.
Footsteps had echoed from the house, and a woman had walked onto the porch, squinting over the railings as she’d peered down at us. She’d been lanky and rawboned, her brown-gray hair pulled tightly behind her, and she’d looked like she’d spent most of her time out in the sun. She’d stepped to the edge of the porch and crossed her bony arms, shaking her head at Riley.
“Well, well. Never thought I’d see you again, lizard. It’s been a while.”
Riley had given her a tired grin. “Hey, Jess. Yeah, it has. What’s it been, six, seven years since I was here last?”
“Try eleven.”
“Ah. Well, you haven’t aged a bit.”
“Insufferable lizard.” The woman had dropped her arms and beckoned us inside. “Come on in, everyone. There’s plenty of rooms, and I’ll see if I can find some bedding for y’all.” She’d paused as we’d started forward, her gaze seeking Riley again. “Can I assume, since you and your friends have shown up out of nowhere, that it has finally happened?”
“It?” I’d looked at Riley, confused. He’d grimaced.
“Yeah. Sorry, Jess.” He’d offered the woman a grim, apologetic smile. “Wes has already given the signal for the safe houses to clear out. The first of the hatchlings should be arriving soon.”
“How many dragons are we talking about?”
“If everyone gets here?” Riley had scratched the back of his head. “Seventeen.”
She’d sighed. “Then I’m going to need a lot more bedding.”
* * *
I didn’t remember much after that, just accepting an armful of clothes and sheets from the lanky woman and being directed upstairs to a small, cozy room with two twin beds. I’d paused long enough to strip out of the thin white hospital gown I’d still been wearing from the lab and pull on the oversize T-shirt before collapsing onto one of t
he mattresses. I’d been out almost before my head hit the pillow, but being unconscious hadn’t stopped the dreams. Dreams of Dante, and the Elder Wyrm, and Talon looming over us all, ready to strike. And myself, strapped to a table, waiting for the Elder Wyrm to move into my body.
Shivering now, I pulled the covers around myself and sat there for a moment, waiting for the fear to die down, for the faint, nagging sense of horror and despair to fade away. I was the Elder Wyrm’s vessel. A thing, created in a lab, just like the clones. And those memories the scientists had taken—had I lost anything important? I didn’t think I had—I still remembered Garret, Riley, Dante, Crescent Beach, the rogues, Talon and St. George—but if I had lost anything, I wouldn’t even know what it was.
My stomach roiled. I felt dirty suddenly. As if those scientists were still in my brain somewhere, poking around. Seeing things they had no business seeing, secrets and memories that were mine alone.
I needed a shower. Something to wash the clinging taint of the scientists, the lab and the Elder Wyrm from my skin. The bathroom, I remembered, was down the hall, past several bedrooms like this one: small and quaint, with wooden floors and checkered blue-and-white curtains. It was quite bare, only holding a dresser and a pair of beds, as if it hadn’t been lived in for a long while. If ever.
Throwing back the covers, I rose and found a set of clothes on the dresser, trying not to grimace as I pulled them on. The flowery, yellow-and-green sundress wasn’t something I’d normally wear, but it would have to do. Everything I owned, the very clothes on my back, had been taken away by Talon.
Including my Viper suit.
“Dammit,” I sighed, feeling a brief, unreasonable stab of loss. Not the worst thing Talon had taken from me by any means, but it was a blow nonetheless. The Viper suit had been the last thing I’d owned that was mine. Now I had nothing.