Page 55 of Awaken the Dragon
Ziva looked back at Theo. “Casualties,” she yelled and Theo knew what she meant.
She was asking for permission. Theo answered by dropping Shola’s hand and pushing Ziva out of the way. Fire aimed straight at the ceiling would trigger the sprinkler system. Hopefully the water would cause a distraction, giving him enough time to run up on the gunmen without being shot. Not that bullets alone could kill him, but they would piss the beast off. He tilted his head back and began to open his mouth but before the spray of fire could escape he felt a cool blast from behind. Droplets of water fell on his face and arms just when he turned slowly to see Shola, her arms raised straight out in front of her, that white light he’d seen spark out of her fingers before, aimed like a laser toward the ceiling. Arcs of water spewed from each of her fingers, creating a waterfall throughout the entire front end of the club. It drenched the gunmen, who, instead of abandoning their shoot-a-thon, aimed their guns directly at Shola.
Theo moved then. Faster than he ever had before, he was across the room in the blink of an eye using his powerful body like a bowling ball and barreling into the first gunman who in turn, knocked down the next one and the next one, until they all fell like dominoes. Ziva ran in that same direction, crushing wrists with her high-heeled boots and snatching guns. Theo had stood and grabbed the last two guns when he looked around to see Enes and the brawny bartender ducking out a side door.
He lifted his wrist and spoke into his communicator. “Send enforcers and medical providers to Twilight! We’ll meet you back at the Office.”
Water was streaming down his face. His clothes were wet. And the place they’d walked into, that not twenty minutes ago was booming with a party vibe, was now noisy with chaos while anyone who hadn’t been shot hurried out the door. It smelled of blood, gunpowder and violence. The water stopped and Theo saw Shola walking over to them. Her hands were at her sides, sparks dripping from her fingers.
“I think this was payback,” Ziva said, coming up to stand beside him with a gun in each hand.
Theo didn’t answer. He dropped the two guns he’d been holding, knowing the guys he’d taken them from weren’t going to try and reclaim them anytime soon because he’d cleaned their minds quickly while they lay on the floor. The cleaning would leave them asleep for at least fifteen more minutes. After that, they would be groggy and most likely hungry. Hunger could be an all-consuming thought, so it worked well just in case a stray memory tried to break free of the magick. Theo covered the few steps that were left between him and Shola and wrapped her in his arms. She shivered against him.
“Help is on the way. We’re leaving,” he said simply and walked out the door they’d come in.
Behind him, he heard Ziva kicking one of the guys again and then laughing as she too walked out.
Chapter Nineteen
They’d parked down the street and around a corner and walked quickly toward the truck after leaving the club.
“Before you ask, she wasn’t a vampire when I knew her. She was human and naive and confused. I have no idea when Camden got his fangs into her,” Ziva said just before she turned the corner.
Theo held Shola’s hand tightly as they turned behind her. He was just about to thank Ziva for yet another cryptic comment and demand more information, when they all stopped a few feet short of the truck because it was surrounded in cloudy smoke and thick metallic sludge puddled near the tires.
“I could kill each of you right here and now,” a raspy voice spoke from deeper inside the dark alley. “But I only want what’s mine.”
Theo moved until he was in front of Ziva and Shola. A look over his shoulder told Ziva that no matter what happened she was to protect Shola first.
“Show your face, Camden!” he shouted into the darkness.
“Give me what’s mine!”
“I do not belong to you,” Shola answered. “I never have, and I never will!”
Hundreds of bats came flying at them from the back of the alley. The sound of wings flapping and the cool air from the action breezing over them.
“You will not renege on this deal!” Camden continued. “Only death and destruction will come if you do!”
This time Theo didn’t hesitate; he opened his mouth and sent long blasts of fire through the alley, singeing the bats midflight. A foul stench filled the space as Camden yelled out. Theo ran into the darkness, following the golden eyes he could now see about twenty feet away standing behind a dumpster. It was a likely spot since the vampire was complete garbage, but when he came close, Camden laughed and shifted into a giant bat before taking to the night sky. Theo shifted right behind him—the dragon a much larger beast than the bat—the breadth of his wings and body crashing into the surrounding buildings before he could clear the space and soar through the air on Camden’s tail.
“Let’s go!” Ziva yelled and headed for the truck.
Shola shook her head. She wasn’t leaving this spot without helping Theo. “He’ll never catch him,” she said and yanked her arm out of Ziva’s grasp.
Ziva circled around to the driver’s side of the truck and opened the door.
“You have no idea what Theo can do in that form. He’s—never mind, just get in!”
But Shola was not convinced. She tilted her head back and looked up to the sky. Of course she saw nothing. Not the human-size bat that had just appeared or the massive dragon that had taken off after it. “Warrick is smaller. He will be able to hide better among the buildings. Theo cannot even get close.”
“Get in!”
Shola ran to the truck at that point, but before climbing in she lifted a hand, moving it in a circle. The air around them picked up to a strong breeze that whipped faster and faster. It was her hope that the quickened breeze would slow the bat down, while Theo’s larger, more powerful dragon would have no problem acclimating and even possibly excelling in the changed atmosphere.
She was just about to climb into the truck when something wrapped around her ankle. It was tight, holding her to the spot where she stood. She looked down to see the metallic sludge lifting from the ground to twine around her ankle and up her leg.
Cursing, she held on to the door and yanked her other leg into the truck. She rolled on to her side and was trying like hell to pull the trapped leg up with her, but it was holding her too tight.
