Francesco Marino

I did not glower at Miguel Ramirez Lopez as he fled out of the room. He was going to see to Audrey Wright to safety. A part of me wished I had gone off to spirit her away myself, but Miguel was strong and capable, and besides, our human lover wasn’t the only one who needed to be looked after.

My glance landed on Damon King. The three of us were the leaders of the Three-Tailed Clan, but lately, it almost seemed as if I were the sole leader. Miguel had gone off to rescue Audrey, and Damon had been poisoned by the damned Fanged Serpents. Now, he had an antidote that might or might not be permanent.

And our foes were fighting us in our mansion. The bastards.

Plowing through a wall, a dark green dragon entered. Black smoke tendrils floated from his snout.

“You ready to shift?” I called to Damon, but he was already halfway to his dragon form.

Not to be outdone, I allowed my inner dragon to be unleashed. The pain was always pleasurable as I shifted, my back bulging, my legs and arms changing to scales, my tail forming, my face altering. The fire always burned within me, but now, I let it out, blasting the invader right in the face.

At the same time, he blasted me, and our flames met nearly halfway. An explosion resulted, shaking the house.

We lived in a mansion made of bricks and stone, and we purposely had no wooden furniture. Accidents happened after all. The wide-open nature of the rooms accommodated full-sized dragons… somewhat. Three in one room was pushing it.

And there were far more than just one of the Fanged Serpents here. A claw yanked out more of the wall as a second tore his way in, widening the gap the first had made, and the window shattered, glass flying as a third bashed his way in.

Damon and I fought hard, tail and claws, biting, slashing. It was not easy, not at all. As soon as we shoved a dragon back, another two took its place. There was hardly any room here for us all, and it was no surprise when I rolled a dragon over and slammed it clear through the wall to the next room.

Damon glowered at me, and I shrugged as much as a dragon could. Claws racked against my wing, and I let out a puff of smoke in warning. I was not in the mood to be messed with.

This dragon was dark, smaller, female. She was lithe and agile, and she was able to move more easily than I could, given how crowded the space was. Still, I managed to get my claws on her throat, and I slammed her down. She struggled against my might, racking her claws against my underbelly, but I merely swung my massive body around, removed my hand, and immediately stomped on her throat.

The dragon barely let out a trail of smoke as she expired. Dead and gone.

But so far, she was the only dead one. There were so many dragons in here that we were never going to be able to handle them by ourselves. There had to be at least six more here, and surely there were more crawling about, waiting to swoop in. Some might even be lurking around wherever Miguel and Audrey were.

My wings expanded, and I smacked the nearest dragons back. There was Damon. He was holding his own.

As we were the three leaders, while in dragon form and in dragon form only, we could communicate with our minds.

We need backup, I sent.

I nearly have this one. You go and send out the cry.

But—

I am not an invalid!

As if to prove his point, Damon threw down the dragon and burned it so badly that even the fiery beast was burned as a result.

Damn, he did seem capable. The cure—Audrey’s blood—did seem to be working. If the fire’s aligned with the moon, perhaps that cure would be permanent.

I had to fight off three dragons, beating them back and wounding one terribly perhaps even fatally before I made my escape. Swiftly, I beat my wings and headed for the roof. There, with the sky darkening past twilight and onto the deepest black of the night, my flames burst out in a specific pattern, the hottest flames first, then more tempered, and hot again, bluish and then red and bluish once more. Again and again, I set out our SOS distress symbol. All of the Three-Tailed Clan dragons should see and respond immediately. Within minutes, perhaps even faster, they should start to arrive. The battle would turn in an instant.

After sending out the distress flames for a full three minutes, I returned to the fray. I was a dragon, a warrior, a leader. I would not allow others to fight for me, and I would not leave my leaders to defend our home for themselves.