Chapter Eight
Brock’s strong arms were wrapped around her, but Michelle knew they wouldn’t be enough. He couldn’t protect her, she needed to protect him. The screams of the dragon matched the ones from her dream. It had been a prophecy.
She could hear the whooshing sounds of the wings beating and she felt his shadow as it passed over them. Its giant wings spread wide as it swooped around the two figures huddled on the pier. It was circling them, the circles getting tighter and tighter.
The dragon screamed again, a loud painful cry that hurt her ears. But what followed was worse. The dragon’s mouth was open and as it screamed a burst of orange fire flew from its mouth. The flames hit the water and steam sprung up and surround them. The dragon continued to loop around them spewing fire into the water.
They were surrounded by steam. Brock’s arms were around her holding her tight. She was trying to free herself, but he was holding her back, trying to protect her. But she needed to be free, she needed to look the dragon in the eyes in order to charm it. She couldn’t be wrapped in another man’s arms when she did so.
“Let me go!” she shouted, struggling to be heard over the scream of the dragon and thumping of its wings.
“No, it’s not safe,” he said.
“I can take it,” she yelled.
They were surrounded by steam, the water beneath the pier was boiling and bubbling from the dragon’s flames. She couldn’t see anything. The steam was too thick. It was a fog that surrounded them.
“What do you mean you can take it?” Brock asked.
She struggled to free herself from his arms. Brock finally released her, but he kept a hand on her wrist.
Where was it? Where was the dragon? If she could see it, then she could charm it. The screaming and beating of the wings had stopped. It was no longer flying over them, it was somewhere else.
“Let’s go,” Brock said as he pulled her back by her wrist down the other side of the pier towards the street. The pier was long. It seemed to stretch in front of them for miles. They would never make it to the other side. There was no way the dragon was done with them. It had come for them.
Brock pulled her behind him, but they didn’t get far. A few feet in front of the pier, the boards rumbled and moved. They bumped up and down. Something was swimming underneath them. They stumbled backwards as the boards rattled and bumped and struggled to contain the monster pushing up against them.
The boards were pushing up, something was about to break free. With a scream the boards cracked and splintered and broke as a large, scaly head attached to a long neck poked through.
They were trapped. The pier was broken, there would be no way to get back to land without swimming. The dragon was staring at them. Its yellow, lizard eyes flicked between them as its tongue snaked out and tasted the air. It could clearly see them and when those cold eyes turned on Brock, it bared its teeth and opened its jaw.
Before she could stop him, Brock grabbed one of the splintered boards and raced towards the dragon holding the board above his head. He let out a scream and swung the board at the dragon. Had it been a man it would have knocked him off his feet. But this was no man, the dragon caught the board between its teeth and snapped closed, breaking the board in its jaws.
Brock fell back and in an instant the dragon was on him. He grabbed Brock’s leg and began to pull him towards the water.
“No!” Michelle screamed holding her hand up.
“Michelle, don’t,” Brock said as he cried out from the pain. He threw his arm out to keep her back, but instead Michelle grabbed his hand.
She knelt next to Brock, holding his hand as she stared into the dragon’s cold yellow eyes. “Stop,” she said clearly. The dragon only bit down harder. Brock screamed out and squeezed down on her hand. “Stop,” she said louder.
The dragon snarled at her. Everything smelled like sulfur and smoke, her eyes were watering. The dragon was in front of her. Michelle reached her hand forward and placed it on his snout.
The scales were cold, but felt surprisingly clean. The dragon shifted his eyes from Brock to her. And to her surprise, it almost felt like it was purring. She stared into his eyes, searching for the connection that she knew had to be there.
It came to her slowly, images of fire and snow and burning trees. There was a frozen lake and a hockey stick. Underneath the fire, anger and sulfur was something else. It was humanity. There was a person underneath all of that.
“Shifter,” Michelle gasped.
“What?” Brock said. His teeth were clenched and tears were streaming down his face, but he wasn’t screaming or crying. He was lying still, holding her hand, waiting to be let free.
“Who are you?” Michelle asked. She asked it out loud and within her mind.
The dragon let go of Brock’s leg and Brock let out a loud groan and pulled himself back and away from the dragon. Michelle stayed where she was, her hand resting on the dragon’s snout.
“Who are you?” she asked again. “You can tell me. You can trust me. Let me help you.”
The dragon blinked slowly and then she saw him. Buried underneath layers of anger, confusion and rage was Cain Samson. He was hiding within himself. The dragon had gained control and Cain was now trapped inside.
“Cain?” She whispered.
The dragon didn’t like that. It reared its head back and pulled away from her. It let out a loud painful scream and its wings began to flap. Water sprayed all around them as the beast slowly rose in the air. Her mouth hanging open, Michelle stared in awe as she knelt in the dragon’s shadow.
It took one last look at her and then with one final scream it rose up into the air and flew out over the water of Lake Michigan. She and Brock stared at it and watched it disappear over the horizon. Slowly the steam around them evaporated and they could see the skyline and the world around them.
Brock let out a groan of pain and grabbed his leg. Michelle ripped off her sweater and wrapped it around his leg, securing it tightly to stem the flow of blood. But it wasn’t enough. There was poison in a dragon’s bite. Brock’s normal human aura wasn’t normal anymore. There was something infecting it.
There was a bile green infecting the clean light. It started at his leg, but it was spreading. There was a foul smell coming from the wound. It smelled like rotten eggs and swamp and already a yellow puss was mingling with the blood.
“What’s going on? Do you know what’s going on?” Brock asked. But his voice was slurring. His eyes were losing focus. He was propped up on his shaking arms until they gave way and he fell back on the pier.
“Did you call the dragon Cain?” he murmured.
“Just lie still. Try and stay calm. Keep your heart rate down,” she said. She rested her hand on his head and felt a fever there. She jumped to her feet. She needed to get out of there. She grabbed three loose boards and laid them over the gap until it was wide enough for them to walk over.
“Okay,” she said going over to Brock. “I know it hurts to walk, but you have to try.” She threw his arm over her shoulder and helped him to his feet. He leaned heavily against her, his head lolling on her shoulder.
“I don’t feel well,” he murmured.
“I know,” Michelle said. Slowly and carefully they made their way over the shaky planks and to the other side of the pier where people were running towards them.
“What happened?”
“Are you ok?”
“What was that thing?”
They were peppered with questions, but Michelle ignored them all and pushed back towards the street. Police cars were arriving, sirens were drawing closer and flashing red and blue lights lit up the air around them. Michelle refused to stop. She kept pushing past people, supporting Brock with her arm.