Damon King

The more I fought, the more the dragons came, a seemingly never-ending parade. So far, I had killed two of them, and so, there were three dead bodies on the floor. Whether you died as a dragon or a human, all dragons reverted to their human form upon their death.

Which was a good thing and a not so good thing. The human bodies took up so much less room that three more dragons were able to enter. There were maybe seven dragons in here. Seven. There should be more. Why weren’t there more? There were so many more Fanged Serpents than this. Why make a move against us for the first time ever in the place of our residence if you were not going to go for the killing blow? What was their game plan?

I could hardly think, and it certainly did not help that a massive wing had slammed into the back of my head. A concussion was very possible, as was a brain bleed, but I would heal. It was only a matter of time.

Which I might not have.

Where the hell was Francesco? He had been gone for a long ass time by now. Yes, we needed more help, but what if the rest of our dragons were being attacked right now too? What if they could not come to our aid because they needed assistance themselves?

Claws streaked toward my face, and I met them with mine, a screeching sound hurting my ears. The dragon tried to bite me, but I slashed with my other claws, cutting deeply into his gums. Blood coated his sickeningly sharp teeth, and before he could react, I stabbed a claw straight into his eye.

My foe roared, sounding more like a wild animal than an intelligent dragon. Before I could finish him, another dragon found the space to try to bite my tail. I shoved my barbed tail into the dragon’s mouth so far back to gag him and then even farther back, allowing the barbs to cut deeply into the throat before yanking my tail forward, ripping and tearing the throat. The dragon gurgled on his blood and choked to death.

Again, I turned to the first dragon, but once more, I was distracted. This time, two other dragons were nearly fighting each other in their haste to attack me. I slammed my blood-coated tail onto the top of one’s head.

The first dragon was no longer standing still. He blew out blasts of fire, but having only one good eye, his aim was off. Swiftly, I flew up only high enough to land on the one-eyed dragons back and used my claws to direct his flame. Combined with mine, we might be able to overload and overheat the two dragons and fry them to death.

Only I didn’t realize that another dragon was behind me. A slash hard to my side had me crying out in pain. I lost my grip on the one-eyed dragon’s neck, and I tumbled to the side, landing on the floor with a thud. A few clawed feet stomped on me before I was able to get up again, a mess of fire, claws, and pure anger and hatred. Lashing out with everything in me, I held my own against countless dragons, but I was no longer fighting to kill.

No. I was merely fighting to survive.

And it would not be long before I could not keep up.

My claws scrapped me, and blood trickled from the gashes. Our claws were some of the only items in the entire world that could pierce our dragon hides, our claws and teeth. Hardly any weapons made by man could.

My flames felt as if they were unquenchable, and yet, I could tell that their temperature was not as high as it should be. I was weakening, and for only one weak moment, I worried that Audrey’s blood hadn’t been enough to overcome the poison from the Fanged Serpents’ claws. After all, I had been slashed repeatedly this night.

What if only Audrey’s blood could heal me?

What if she were to fall this night?

What if the Three-Tailed Clan were to meet our match tonight?

No, that could never happen, at least, I did not think it could.

But even I could not be certain of my clans' fate, and, flames a burning, that terrified me.