Page 76 of The Dragon With A Girl Tattoo
“Is that—” The words were barely audible, since my breath seemed to be caught in my throat.
“Kashi.”Yrian all but spat the name out, as if it fouled his mouth.
The driver slid out of the golf cart and, with a back bent by extreme age, shuffled the way he had come, then disappeared around the house without a backward glance.
As the dust dissipated, I could see Bael clearly.He didn’t look even remotely like Yrian, but I had a feeling I wasn’t seeing his true form.This one was of a tall, elegant man with dark blond hair swept back, clad in a black pinstripe suit that was extremely out of place in the rural setting of Duat.“Yrian Shadowsworn.I had heard a rumor that the First Dragon dragged you kicking and screaming out of your pity party.I am disappointed to find it true.”
His gaze raked Yrian, but as I could feel the latter drawing in power to himself, I kept my attention on him.I couldn’t help him by creating a glamour in the Duat, but I sure as hell could cast any of the premade ones I’d brought with me.I angled myself so that I could dig through the small cross-body bag I’d donned before leaving theWepwawet, and felt through the glamours searching for the insensibility one that would hopefully stun Bael for a few seconds so Yrian could deal with him.
“You have become too much of a threat to the dragonkin to tolerate your continued existence,” Yrian told him, his voice so icy goose bumps rose on my arms.“Either you cease your actions, or you will be destroyed.”
Bael looked bored.“You think to command me?I am the premiere prince of Abaddon, dragon.I give commands, not take them.”His gaze shifted to me, and I had to stop myself from hiding behind Yrian.“You have a mate?After swearing you would never replace your first?Perhaps you welcomed her death so that you might consort with this mortal.”
Bael gestured toward me as he spoke, and for a moment, I sagged in relief against Yrian’s back.He hadn’t seen through my glamour.
“My mate is of no concern to you,” Yrian snarled, and I think he would have attacked his brother except Bael seemed to expect that.
“You can’t kill me, you know,” he said in a voice that I’m sure he thought was pleasant.It wasn’t.I swore it took years off even my immortal life.He lifted a hand and gestured toward the clay houses.“Like me, your powers were limited the minute you stepped foot in the Duat.”
“I don’t need powers to throttle the life from your body,” Yrian said in a low, deceptively soft tone that sent another round of goose bumps down my arms.
Bael laughed, he actually laughed.It was a horrible thing to witness.“If only it was that simple.Alas, unless you have something along the lines of this, there is no threat you can make that I would take seriously.”As he spoke, he pulled out of an inner pocket a small bluish crystal.
Yrian’s fire roared at the sight of what I figured must be the mage sword, and before I could think of the wisdom of the situation, I flung the insensibility glamour over Yrian’s shoulder, smack-dab into the face of Bael.
“What did—” Yrian half turned toward me, but evidently realized what I’d done, because before I could warn him we had about five seconds at most, he snatched the crystal from Bael’s hand.It elongated into a long, glowing blue-and-white sword.
I spun around just as he raised it, not wanting to see someone decapitated, not even the most heinous of all demon lords, but the red cloud a dozen yards away and moving fast had me shouting a warning.
“Your mom is coming back, and she’s got someone with her!”I shouted, digging through my bag for a hardcore compliance will glamour.
Bael snapped out of insensibility at that moment and, with a snarled obscenity, lunged at Yrian.
“Mate!”Yrian yelled, twisting to try to protect me at the same time he slashed at Bael.
“Right here, and about to let fly with another glamour—” Just as Tenite on her motor scooter—and the dark-haired Xavier behind her—came to a fishtail stop, I threw the compliance glamour on her, feeling she was the more dangerous of the two.
“I should have killed you myself when I had your brother take care of that whiny mate of yours,” Tenite snarled to Yrian as she flung the scooter away in order to stalk toward us.Evidently, my glamour wasn’t strong enough to overcome her demigodhood.She wore black and bloodred robes that looked like they were straight out of a video game, her hair twisted into several braid loops that poked out all over her head.A sensation of rage poured out of her as she headed straight for Yrian, along with Xavier.
I didn’t like Yrian’s odds at all.The man might be a demigod, but so was Tenite, and Bael was no slacker.I felt in my bag for another glamour, hoping that if I stacked a few on Tenite, they might have an effect, but before I could do so, Yrian spun and slashed off her right arm, kicking out immediately with enough force to send her and Xavier staggering backward.Before they had stopped moving, the sword flashed in the air, and Bael’s head went flying off to the side, bouncing twice in the furrowed field, finally coming to a stop next to a flat rock.
Tenite screamed, a sound so filled with rage I doubled over in pain, my hands on my ears.Yrian staggered back at the sound, but lifted the sword again as he faced Xavier and his mother.
I swear I saw a moment of utter stupefaction in Xavier’s eyes before they went blank, but Tenite evidently read her fate in Yrian’s face as he moved toward her, the sword high over his head.
“You are even stupider than I thought you were, but you will not ruin our plans.We have put too much into them to be destroyed by a dragon.”She almost spat the words as she snatched up her severed arm and flung herself into the golf cart, slamming her foot on the accelerator, clearly intent on running us over.
It wouldn’t kill us, but it could do enough damage to maim or hurt us, so when Yrian jerked me out of the way of his murderous mom, I didn’t protest.I did, however, try unsuccessfully to throw a sleep glamour on her.
She was gone on a cloud of dust, Xavier leaping into the back as she sped past him, the inevitable dust cloud rising around us, obscuring our view for a few seconds.
When we could see again, I turned back to find Yrian kneeling at Bael’s headless body, going through pockets and inside clothing, no doubt searching for the blood moon.
“Is it there?”I asked, my adrenaline finally starting to subside.
“Desi’s relic?No.”Yrian’s lips tightened as he gave the body a second, equally fruitless search.“This makes no sense.He has to have it.It is too valuable for him to leave it in his house.”
“Let’s go look again,” I said, feeling twitchy from both the fight and an odd buildup of magic.
