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Chapter Six
I was being flayed alive, or at the very least, scaled like a very big fish that wasn’t a fish but was a really reallyreallyold Dragon. It gave me a whole new appreciation for what the main ingredient of my favorite dish, Honey Garlic Salmon with rice pilaf and asparagus felt like. I vowed right then and there to never eat it again. I wasn’t sure what the Dragon King with whom I shared my soul would think about becoming a vegetarian, but I was considering it. It would be hard since I was basically a meat and meat with a little fish and chicken thrown in on the side for good measure, but it was something I planned to contemplate at a later date.
(Sorry. Got lost in my own thoughts for a minute…)
The farther into the vortex I was pulled, the thicker the black Magic got, the hotter the fires of Hell became, and the sharper the talons of the huge spidery monstrosities guarding the gateway grew. Those nasty little fuckers were literally cutting through layer after layer of the hard-as-steel, iron-clad keratine that made up the thick scaled armor of my Dragon.
It had never happened before. I’d never read of it happening to anyone else. What – or should I say who – had the power, strength and Magic to do anything like it?
Usually silent, only ever speaking when absolutely necessary, my Dragon King, Teagon snarled,“What th' bugger urr ye playin’ at, Son? Whoo th' fook cares wha’ arsehole’s wielding th' magic. It's oor asses getting’ skinned alive. Ye trying tae git us killed?”
“No,”I snapped, in just as much pain as my cranky old Dragon but refusing to give him the satisfaction of saying so.“I’m tryin’ to save our Mate!”
“All ye hud tae dae wis ask, ye daft lad. This isn’t yer first day oan th' jab.”
And just like that, in a blaze of fire and an explosion of pure, white Dragon Magic that could’ve kept the Vegas strip running for a decade or so, I – along with the Dragon King Teagon, formerly known as Asshole– was transported out of the putrid portal and into a dark, dank tunnel so far underground I could feel the heat of the magna of the Earth’s core.
And I was back in my human form.
“I’m not so sure this is better,” I grumbled aloud and in my mind. “Are we a block from Satan’s front door or just in the neighborhood?”
“Na, Lad,”Teagon rumbled. “Wur in th' lair o' th' Goat Demon, Krampus.”
“The hell you say,” I scoffed. “That son of a bitch isn’t real. You should’ve made a left at Albuquerque.”
Before my Dragon – the one with whom I shared my soul and who only needed to think his answer and I would have it – could so much as think the aforementioned response, Ella’s shouted taunt ripped through the tunnel, the venom of her anger igniting the Mate Flame deep within my soul.
“Well shit, Great-Great-Great Grandaddy was right. Youarea son of a motherless goat.”
Feet moving before her words completely culminated in my addled brain, Teagon’s golden and red scales tore through my flesh, flowed over my skin and covered me from head to toe. I got taller, broader and more of damned near everything from one thundering step to the next. Suddenly, nine-and-a-half feet tall, sporting the form of my Warrior Dragon, I followed the pull of my Mate.
Dashing around corners, hurdling massive ramparts of spiders all interconnected in the most grotesque of contortions, doing everything in their power to keep me from Ella, I blew fire from my nostrils and shot shards of igneous rock out of my fingertips at the obnoxious little bastards. A sharp left, another flying leap and a ninety-degree right turn and I could see Ella. She was pissed, but she was alive and that was all that mattered.
Pouring on the speed, not giving any shits what I was running into, I sprinted straight through the humongous archway covered in more arachnids than I cared to think about and right in front of the one and only Krampus. Skidding to a stop, I took a fighting stance. No way that ugly mutha’ fucker was getting the jump on me.
(Yes, I owed Teagon a big apology. I knew damned good and well my Dragon King never exaggerated and wasn’t one to tell a joke or pull my leg, but I just couldn’t believe the antithesis of all things Christmas was real when he said that’s who we were about to face. Yes, I know I’m a Dragon Shifter, one of the revered Dragon Guardsmen and I share my soul with a Dragon King that’s over two thousand years old,buuut,some things are stranger than fiction, ya’ know what I mean? And Krampus was on my list of things that just could not be true. As you can imagine, he has been deleted from said list.)
Ten feet tall if he was an inch and that was before the enormous goat horns atop his head that had to add at least another foot, I could see why the infamous Goat Demon lived in the darkest, scariest nightmares of children all over the world. But it didn’t stop there.
Covered in black and brown fur from the top of his misshapen sort-of-human and definitely skeletal head that was covered in skin so thin I could see his veins, to the beginning of his cloven hooves, he stank like wet dog and rotting flesh. Fangs rivaling Teagon’s dripped with venom that popped and sizzled as it dripped on the floor, but it was the pointed, forked tongue that kind of lolled to the side of his mouth and hung damned near to his shoulder that made me wonder if he was able to speak.
Unfortunately, I got my answer sooner rather than later…
“Well, lookie here,” Krampus snorted, his mocking laughter more of a bleat or a resonatingmaaaaaaaa, that at any other time I would’ve laughed at, however in this case, decided it was better to refrain, stay silent, and look tough.
“It’s one of those special little Dragons, one of the Archer boys.” Tapping the tip of his pointy chin with the sharp edge of his long, jagged talon, the Goat Demon that had scared children for centuries cackled, “Just my luck, it’s the Dragon of Light.” Eyes flying to Ella then right back to me, he added, “Now, I have everything I need. Both parts of the whole that will bring the world to its knees, to worship me as its god. One stop shopping at the tip of my fingers. Satan is smiling on me today.”
Opening my mouth to speak, my gorgeous, amazing, and spectacular Mate decided to wake up and join the party and whooped, “Oh, my Goddess, Liam! Liam, you came!”
Never one to leave a lady waiting,especially mine, I answered right back with a smile on my face and all the love I felt shining in my eyes, “Damn straight, I came! You jumped off a roof for me, the least I could do was fight Krampus and his big hairy spiders for you!”
Unable to wait for my Mate’s answer as movement from the squad of spiders to my right caught my attention and a mocking, “Aww, ain’t young love sweet. Shame it won’t make it to old love,” came from Krampus, I jumped back, pulled the Sword of the Light of the World from the ether, and pointed the very sharp tip at the Goat Demon’s heart.
“Why are you here? What do you want with Ella and me? And why shouldn’t I run you through with my blade, burn your black heart until it’s a pile of ash, leave your carcass for the vermin, and get my Mate back topside where I can take care of her in the style to which a Witch of her stature deserves?”
Throwing back his head and clapping his scaly, crusted, callous-covered hands, the Goat Demon guffawed with scornful laughter as the chitter of the spiders following their Master’s lead filled the cavern. Clearly, the bastard thought he had the upper hand, but he didn’t know me, and he damned sure didn’t know Teagon.
“And he doesn’t ken whit happens whin th' Keeper o' th' Christmas Star 'n' th' Dragon o' Light become one,”my Dragon King’s voice floated through my mind.“Bit git th' information first, Laddie. Fin' oot whit he’s plannin’. We juist micht need it.”
