I watched the horror unfold on-screen, watched one Adult vessel pull a red Eastern dragon out of the air and tear it apart with brutal efficiency, while the other two set upon Riley’s dwindling forces. We had failed. They were all going to die, but worse than that, their sacrifice would be in vain, because we were unable to uphold our end of the bargain.
“Your friends are lost,” the Elder Wyrm stated, watching me from the top of the steps. “The alliance between dragons and St. George is finished. Everything you have done up until this point has been for nothing. We will rise, and humans will fall before us, as it should have been from the beginning.”
“No,” I whispered. “Please stop this. There’s been so much death and suffering already. We can end the war. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“You have lost,” the Elder Wyrm repeated, her voice a terrible drone in my head. Dante walked up the steps to stand behind her and did not look at me. “And now, I will take back what is mine, what I had created specifically for me. Vessel 176, bring me my daughter.”
One of the vessels stepped forward and grabbed my arm. Instantly, Garret turned, bringing both cuffed hands up, and smashed them into its nose, sending it reeling back. In that split second of shock, I made my decision.
I leaped through the ring of vessels, Shifting forms in midair. The cuffs burst open as I landed at the base of the steps in dragon form. We were all going to die, Talon had won this round, but at least I could take the Elder Wyrm down with me. Gathering myself, I tensed my muscles and sprang for the woman at the top of the steps, aiming for her slender white neck. Garret, Riley, I’m sorry. But maybe this will be enough to change things. See you on the other side.
“I think not,” the Elder Wyrm said quietly.
She took one step back as I came in, sweeping her arm up, blindingly fast. I barely had a chance to register that she’d moved before she backhanded me in the temple, right below my horns, and my head felt like it imploded. My vision fractured into shards of pain, and I was hurled away, hitting the floor with a jolt and rolling to a painful stop.
My head throbbed, feeling like it would split open at the slightest movement, and spots of darkness floated before my eyes. Dazed, I looked up to see the Elder Wyrm walking toward me, a faint smile on her lips. Behind her, the vessels had forced everyone to their knees, the muzzles of their rifles shoved into the base of their skulls.
“Foolish hatchling.” The Elder Wyrm loomed over me, ancient and unamused. Her eyes glowed green, and her presence pushed down on me like a boulder, crushing the air from my lungs. I couldn’t move as the oldest dragon in the world turned the full power of her gaze on me. “Did you think I would be weak as a human? That this pitiful body would be easy to destroy?” She raised an elegant, manicured hand, the nails as red as blood. “I have but a fraction of my true strength in this form, but that is still enough to crush your skull with my fingers. There is no one strong enough to challenge me face-to-face.
“Now.” The Elder Wyrm took a step back, her eyes hard. “It is time to end this little game, once and for all. But don’t worry, daughter. Soon, all your memories of this day will be erased, along with everything else. In some ways, I would think it a blessing. Vessels,” she called as Garret’s bright, soulful gaze met mine across the floor. “Kill the—”
A shot rang out, echoing off the rafters. My heart stopped, and I stared frantically at the group surrounded by vessels, expecting one of them to topple forward.
The Elder Wyrm made a tiny choking sound above me.
Stunned, uncomprehending, I looked up. A bright red stain was oozing through the front of her white blouse and spreading over her chest. Gingerly, she touched the crimson mark, then stared at the blood on her fingers, her expression one of shock.
Slowly, she turned…to reveal Dante standing behind her, the muzzle of a smoking pistol aimed at her chest.
“Dante,” the Elder Wyrm breathed as I gaped at my sibling, unable to move. “You…?”
“I’m sorry.” Dante’s voice was conflicted, though his expression was resolved, his mouth set in a grim line. His eyes glittered in the shadows as he stared down the Elder Wyrm. “I would have done anything for Talon,” he said as the Elder Wyrm took a staggering step forward. “I would have sacrificed everything to see our race thrive. I’ve played the villain, slaughtered innocents, supervised the creation of atrocities and sent those abominations into battle, all for the good of our kind.” For just a moment, his gaze flicked to me, and a shadow of anguish crossed his face. “But there’s one line I will not cross, and one piece of my life I will not sacrifice. I’m sorry it’s come to this, that it’s taken me this long to see what you really wanted.”
“Very clever, Dante.” The Elder Wyrm, amazingly still on her feet, put a hand to her chest. “I suppose I cannot be too surprised. You are…of my blood, after all. But you’re wrong if you think…I would hand Talon over to you.”
Dante’s gaze hardened. “I’m afraid you’ll have no choice,” he said, and raised his head. “Vessels,” he called, without taking his eyes from the Elder Wyrm. “To me. Release the prisoners and stand down—”
The Elder Wyrm moved. One moment she was standing in front of me, her blood dripping in slow puddles to the floor. The next, she had lunged forward impossibly fast, toward the boy with the gun a few yards away. At the last instant, Dante saw the danger and fired several shots at the approaching Wyrm. A fine spray of blood erupted from the Elder Wyrm’s back, misting into the air, as she grabbed Dante’s shoulder, wrenched him close and drove her clawed hand into his chest, sinking it past her wrist.
Time stilled around me. I watched, frozen in place, my brain refusing to accept what had just happened. Dante’s mouth gaped silently and a thin stream of red ran down his chin. The Elder Wyrm yanked her arm free, her hand covered in red halfway up her forearm, and Dante staggered, still looking stunned. He swayed on his feet, the pistol clattering sharply to the floor, and the world unfroze.
I leaped upright with a screaming roar and lunged at the Elder Wyrm, whose hateful green eyes snapped in my direction. Grabbing Dante by the collar, she yanked him around and shoved him at me. Dante staggered and fell forward, and I instinctively Shifted to human form, catching him before he could hit the floor.
Gently lowering him to his back, I looked up to see the Elder Wyrm vanish through a door in the far wall, leaving a spattered red trail behind her. As she passed through the frame, a metal barrier dropped down, cutting off pursuit.
Numb, I looked down at my brother. He lay there gasping, the front of his suit jacket a mess of blood. One hand was pressed to his middle, and blood pooled between his fingers, staining his shirt and spreading rapidly from his chest.
“Dante,” I whispered as my eyes started to burn. “You idiot. You always have to try to save me.” I couldn’t look at the gaping wound in his chest, fixing my gaze on his face, on his eyes as they sought mine. “Why?” I choked out. “Why now? What made you change your mind?”
“Didn’t…you hear me?” Dante looked up with a wry smile, though his face was tight with pain. “I said…there were some things I wouldn’t sacrifice, even to the Elder Wyrm. That some things are sacred. You…are one of them. The only sacrifice I couldn’t make.” His eyes closed, and my heart gave a violent lurch, but he just sighed and continued in a voice of dark regret. “I never changed my mind,” he whispered. “I just… I wanted to be free. I thought…if I reached the top, I would have made it, that power equaled freedom. But I was wrong. The Elder Wyrm…had no intention of ever stepping down.” He opened his eyes, and they were hard, glassy with pain, anger and revulsion. “Do you know how much worse it would’ve been, had she been ruling Talon from your body? Reminding me…that I had a sister, once, and I had failed her? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”
A shudder went through him. Blood bubbled from his lips as he coughed, and I gripped his hand. “Dante, don’t try to talk. We’ll get you out of here—”
“There’s not…much time left.” Dante’s words were forced, as if he was rushing to get them out. One blood-stained hand reached into his jacket, withdrawing a plastic key card. “Take this,” he said, dropping it into my palm. “That will get you through every…door in the laboratory. The hall on the left…will take you to the stasis chamber. Destroy it, and the clones, before she can declare war on humanity.” Something exploded on the screen behind me, lighting the room for a split second, and Dante winced. “Go, Ember. Before it’s too late.”
“I’m not leaving you here!”
“It’s all right.” His fingers weakly squeezed my palm as he settled back. His green eyes stared up at the ceiling, tired and, strangely, at peace. “I’m finally free,” he whispered, almost too soft to hear. “You were right, you know. About Talon, and the Elder Wyrm, and everything. But I’m glad… I got to see you again. That I could protect you one last time.” He chuckled, barely a breath in the stillness of the room. “You were always like that,” he murmured. “Always the impatient sister that needed saving. I don’t know how…you made it this far…without me…”
“Dante.”
No answer. My twin stared up at the ceiling, his expression vacant and unmoving. I shook my head, unwilling to believe, and squeezed his hand.
“Dante.” I reached out and shook him, watching his head flop limply, eyes staring straight ahead. “Dammit, say something! Don’t you dare fucking die, not now, not with everything we went through to get here. Answer me! Dante!”
“Ember!”
Garret knelt beside me, stilling my arm, his gaze solemn as he pulled me back. “He’s gone.”
No. I slumped, a thousand emotions raging inside, making me want to scream, to Shift and rip something to pieces. Tears blurred my vision and crawled down my face, and I could barely speak through the sudden fury. “Dammit, Dante,” I choked out, gazing down at the still form of my brother, lying motionless on the tile. Gone. He was really gone. I’d never see him again. “Why didn’t you believe us earlier?” I whispered. “Why didn’t you just listen? We could have saved you.”
“Ember.” Garret’s voice was soft, hesitant. I glanced at him with tear-streaked eyes, and he gently put a hand over mine. “I’m sorry,” he said, his eyes bright with sympathy. “But we have to move. The Elder Wyrm could be rallying her forces against us right now. We still need to find the stasis chamber, plant the explosives and get out of here.”
Dammit. Screw the mission. For a moment, a part of me rebelled, hating everything that had brought us here. I didn’t want to think about the clones, the attack or the mission. I wanted to find a dark, empty room, curl up in a ball and sob out my anger and grief, and maybe blast a few things with fire. I wanted to grieve the brother I had lost, the twin who had been with me most my life, whom I had always believed we could save in the end.
But the Elder Wyrm was still out there. Gravely wounded, perhaps even dying, but still an unknown. Still a threat. And we had a whole lot of people and dragons who were counting on us. Riley, Martin and everyone outside wouldn’t retreat or back down. The longer I sat here, the greater the casualties, and even more would die because of me.
With a shaky breath, I accepted Garret’s hand, letting him pull me upright. At the bottom of the steps, Tristan, Mist and Peter Matthews were gathering our packs and confiscated firearms, warily eyeing the vessels, who were now staring straight ahead without expression, ignoring the movements around them. Their last command, I remembered, was “Release the prisoners and stand down,” which they had done. Without someone to direct them, they were on standby, awaiting further orders. Orders that would never come—unless the Elder Wyrm or another Talon dragon returned.
I looked at Dante one last time, memorizing his face, remembering the last words he’d said to me. Not as a rival or an enemy or the heir of Talon, but as a brother. I didn’t want to leave him here, in this dark, cold room that would eventually explode in a blaze of fire and destruction if we managed to complete the mission. But there was no way we could take him with us, and time was dangerously short. The sudden thought that this was really the last time I would see him, ever, hit me hard, and fresh tears threatened even as I took a step back.
Garret took my hand, squeezing gently, and I turned away before I really broke down. We left the lair of the Elder Wyrm—me, Garret, Tristan, Mist and Peter Matthews—hoping to make it to our destination before the alarms were sounded. I looked back only once, glimpsing my brother’s limp body lying on the stage, and bit my lip to keep back the sob.
Goodbye, Dante. If there is an afterlife for dragons, I’ll meet you on the other side. Maybe sooner than we both thought.