military fatigues. He slipped them on quickly, then strapped his knife to his belt.
The horn blared again.
Beyond the door, he heard the shuffle of feet, the angry growls of men. Gray stalked over to Jewel, who still sat in bed, her features devoid of any emotion. He bent down in front of her and reached inside his bag, where he still kept the armband he'd bought for her.
"This is for you," he said.
"Me?" Her eyes grew wide and watery, and her lips trembled as he slid the band up her arm. "You bought it for me in the city? Why?"
The horn sounded yet again.
"Because you wanted it," he rushed out, "and I knew it would look lovely on you." He reached up and swept her hair off her shoulders, then anchored the gold band in place. It gleamed bright, the sapphire as enchanting as her eyes. "And because you are the love of my life."
Without another word, he stood and strode from the room. He didn't allow himself a backward glance as he followed several men into some sort of training arena. An army of dragons were already there, lined up, Darius marching in front of them.
"Show no mercy," Darius was saying. "We will destroy the vampires once and for all with our fire, and the human will vanquish the demons with his ice. Dunamis has proclaimed it."
Their cheers echoed off the walls.
"These creatures think to surprise us with an attack, but we will show them the error of their ways. The three of you," the king said, pointing. "Carry the ice makers for the human. Do not let the contents touch your skin or you will be weakened. You will stay with him and hand him the equipment as needed."
As Grace said, the ice makers were actually fire extinguishers and there were at least sixty of them. He'd done battle with quite a few weapons, but never with liquid nitrogen. He would have preferred a few grenades, maybe a case of C4, but he would take what he could get.
"Become dragons, my friends, and let us fly."
A legion of roars sounded, echoing through the rounded enclosure. Clothes were ripped away, faces were elongated, wings and tails and claws grew. He'd seen this change before, but he still couldn't tear his eyes away. The men had become snarling, fire-breathing beasts. One of them - he thought it was Brand - motioned him over with a long claw and onto his back. While his mind shouted, "Hell, no," he climbed aboard. "Let the war games begin," he muttered.
With a fire extinguisher anchored firmly on his back and a black hose in his hands, Gray prowled through the forest trees. Morning had yet to dawn, so he was immensely grateful for his superior night vision.
Brand had dropped him off about a half mile back before leaping back into the air. The dragons carrying the fire extinguishers silently descended to his side. Up ahead, he could hear the pounding footsteps of the demon and vampire armies as they drew closer.
The murmur of voices soon drifted to his ears. He heard the clang of metal and the whoosh of footsteps. Gray stopped behind a thick tree trunk and crouched low, preparing to strike. He waited... waited... waited...
Above him, Darius emitted a war cry.
Hose raised, adrenaline high, Gray burst into the enemy lines. He sprinted straight to the demons, spraying white foam. Fire spewed from the dragons, white-hot beams of flashing light and scorching rays, a Fourth of July barbecue gone awry. The heat of it instantly wafted to him, and he did his best to remain out of its path.
Torturous screams echoed through the coming dawn. Amid the cries of pain rose the scents of dying and sulfur. Gray continued to spray, avoiding vampires, keeping the liquid ice trained on the demons.
When a demon flew at him, he tried to spray it but his tube sputtered. Empty. Shit. He whipped out his knife, and the bastard jumped on him. Before he could make his first slash, it was jerked off of him and tossed onto the ground. A dragon, Renard, cut its throat with his claws.
"Work on those reflexes," he told the dragon. "Any slower and I would have been a goner." His only reply was a grunt before he flew back into the fray.
At Gray's left, a vampire spied him and attacked. They clashed and tumbled to the ground. The vampire was about to bite him, about to sink his teeth into Gray's