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“Not control, but destroy. He was never interested in any kind of peaceful co-existence. At best, he was looking to exploit the knowledge to gain dominion over the dragons, and at worst to destroy us.”
Falkor lifted the partial tablet over his head as if to dash it against the floor of the cave. As he brought it down, Delaney threw herself at the space between Falkor’s hand and the ground, intercepting the tablet and rolling away from the group and up onto her feet.
“You knew,” she accused.
“I suspected,” said Falkor, nodding. “That tablet could bring about the destruction of not only the Phantom Fire, but of all dragons all over the world. It cannot be allowed to fall into the wrong hands… that would be the dangerous hands of Whistler or Abraham/Apophis. It must be destroyed. Humans and most shifters do not understand that it is we who stand between them and the darkness.”
“Without our power and strength,” said Tevryn, “Things far worse and far less benevolent than dragons will rise up and claim this planet for their own use and reign of terror.”
She sat back on a stone bench built into the walls. “Whistler knew all the time. He knew what he was asking me to do. He was trying to get me to kill you.”
“In his defense, beloved,” said Tevryn, “he did not know you were my eternal flame or that we had met until the other day, and he still may not know I am a dragon.”
“But you knew. You knew about the prophecy and about the tablet,” she accused Tevryn.
Before he could answer, there was a tremendous crash from above as the glass dome on the surface shattered, raining down shards of glass, some of which were large, sharp and pointed. The inhabitants of the cave scattered and failed to manage to avoid being hit by the falling jagged fragments. Through the opening, Whistler descended on the back of a large dragon, followed by two of the mutant flying creatures who pulled up from what would have been a fatal nosedive. The dragon carrying Whistler delivered him to a spot just beside Delaney. Whistler pulled a gun, grabbed Delaney to use as a shield, and pointed the gun at her head.
“Stand still. Anyone tries anything, Delaney dies.”
The dragon-shifters all froze in their tracks.
“What are you doing?” she hissed at Whistler.
“That should be fairly obvious for a girl like you,” he sneered. “Abraham and I have joined forces. You have failed to deliver the other half of my property, so I am here to get it for myself.”
“It was never yours,” said Falkor. “It belongs to the one who created the curse and imbued the tablet with it. She has been gone for thousands of years. Then, if not to her, the tablet rightly belongs to the Phantom Fire to keep it safe.”
Whistler looked at the dragons who’d arrived with him. “We’re handling this as humans, or did you forget?” The large dragon roared but didn’t shift. The two mutant dragons shifted. “Shift, damn it,” Whistler growled at the remaining dragon.
“I think you’ll find your companion is not who you think it is,” said Tevryn, sounding incredibly calm.
‘Sounding’ was the operative word, as Delaney could feel her mate’s anger, fury, and fear roiling down the link.
“Shift,” shouted Whistler, and the dragon who had carried him in did just that.
Abraham Strode, or Apophis, or the Master, whichever name you preferred to call him by, was not among them. In his stead stood a man unknown to all of them. There was nothing particularly distinguishing about him. He was tall, although not as tall as Tevryn or Warrick and well-muscled, but again not so much as those from the Phantom Fire. He had a dark countenance, but Delaney didn't find him overly intimidating and doubted she’d even notice him if she passed by him on the street. There were only two things notable about him: he was naked and he’d just shifted from dragon to man.
“The Master is apprised of the current situation. He says you are to give me the girl and the tablet,” said the stranger, stretching out his hand.
“Hell, no. We had a deal. We’ll need several of you dragons to pull off our plan and so will need to take these guys prisoner.”
The stranger laughed. “You are a fool. One does not hold the Phantom Fire hostage or prisoner. The Master does not make deals with anyone, least of all an inferior species. Give me the tablet and the girl.”
“I don’t think so,” said Whistler. “That sanctimonious bastard. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted him. What happened to the others he sent? They didn’t look like this one.”
“They were genetic freaks and no longer reside on this plane of existence,” said Tevryn. “We know why you want the tablet, but have you asked yourself why Abraham wants the tablet and a couple of soldiers?”
“To ensure your cooperation in leaving us alone. You’ll all be hostages.”
“The dragon who came with you was right,” said Falkor. “Abraham does not make deals with the likes of you.”
“He doesn’t know,” said Warrick.
“No, he doesn’t,” added Tevryn.
“Okay, new to the whole dragon thing,” said Delaney. “Somebody want to clue the human in?”
“He wants them to start his own super soldier breeding program. He needs more DNA to refine his cloning capabilities. Until he can churn out perfect clones, he intends to continue making more mutant freaks like the ones that came after us yesterday,” said Warrick. “I suspect,” he said to the dragon-shifter who was in Abraham’s employ, “that he plans to do the same, and thinks Norle can stabilize the fractured DNA of the mutants. And Whistler,” he said turning back to the tech mogul, “if you’re thinking Abraham will join forces with you, you’re wrong.”
