going. I was fighting a smaller one—in life he had been a small man, thin and spindly—and I swung, trying to undercut him at the legs. At that moment, a shriek overhead jolted me out of my thoughts. It was so loud it set the air to vibrating. Both the vrykos and I stopped and looked up.
There, winging overhead, was a misty form of a dragon. Long and sinuous, like a serpent with wings, the creature shimmered as it sailed by, luminous against the sky.
I froze. “Dragon!” The word came ratcheting out of my mouth before I realized I was screaming.
I stumbled back, looking around frantically for a bush or tree to hide behind. My opponent took the opportunity to grab hold of my leather jacket. He flailed, trying to catch hold of my arm, but I quickly darted back before he could get a good grip on me. I slammed him with the flat of my blade, knocking him back.
“Run for cover,” Herne was yelling.
Cover? From what? was my first thought, but the next moment, a trail of fire blazed down, strafing the graveyard. I dove out of the way, dodging the flames as they raked the ground like a Gatling gun. The next moment, every one of the vrykos froze, pulling back and turning tail.
What the hell?
They shifted direction and headed toward the back of the cemetery, where I caught a glimpse of a large van near the sidewalk at the opposite gate. The cops had pulled back, and now I saw why. The back doors of the van were open and two tall men jumped out, shoving the vrykos inside as they stumbled toward it. I recognized the men—they were also dragons, Aso and Variance, twins who were on Typhon’s side.
Then who was that? I thought, glancing up to where the long dragon had been. It couldn’t have been Typhon—could it?
But the dragon who had flamed the ground was gone. There was no sign of him. Crap, and double crap. Where had he gone? As I turned back to the van, Aso and Variance closed the doors and vanished, disappearing down the street with the rest of the vrykos.
I slowly leaned on my sword, unable to fathom what had just happened. A moment later, Herne was by my side. “Are you all right?”
I nodded. “That van…Aso and Variance were there loading in the surviving vrykos. But who the fuck was the dragon overhead? It couldn’t have been Typhon, could it?”
He shook his head. “If that had been Typhon, we would all be dead. But I can tell you that it was a shadow dragon and they’re among the most dangerous of all. Any dragon can be problematic, but shadow dragons are particularly deadly.” He glanced down at me. “It looks like they cleared the park of the creatures. How many were destroyed?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea. I waded through the sea of flesh without counting. I think I’m shell-shocked.”
“You have every right to be.” He slowly put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me to him. “Come on, let’s regroup and see what’s happened and who’s hurt.”
Leaning into his embrace, I allowed him to lead me back to the front gate. I was exhausted and all I wanted was a hot shower and something to forget that tonight ever happened. We passed a group of officers milling around, instructing clean-up crews to go in and wipe up the carnage we had left behind.
“What if the dragons decide to strafe Seattle—randomly destroy it?”
“I don’t think they will,” Herne said, leading me over to where Angel was packing up her supplies. She looked dazed as well, but where I was covered in dirt and mud and liquids that I really didn’t want to think about, she was clean. Wet from the rain, but clean.
“Why wouldn’t they?”
“They want to regain the world, not just randomly destroy us. To do that requires strategy. No, Typhon has some plan in mind. Otherwise, the dragons would have already started to destroy the cities. But he’s holding back and I’m not sure what his scheme is. I know we have a committee working on figuring it out in Annwn.” He paused, then motioned to Angel. “Can you drive? Ember’s exhausted and I don’t trust her behind a wheel.”
“I’m perfectly capable of driving,” I protested, though I felt like a limp noodle.
“I’ll drive. Just let me finish up here. I’ll be back in a moment.” Angel turned back to help out with the last