Part 4 (1/2)

The beast turned to her, its purple gaze bore into hers. She recognized his eyes, which softened as they landed on her.

”It's you,” she whispered.

The dragon seemed to melt before her eyes, there were loud cracking noises. Within seconds a man stood before her. Not a man, a s.h.i.+fter. Him. Thunder.

He reached out and cupped her chin. His hand was warm and calloused. ”Are you okay?” His eyes were filled with tenderness.

Tammy swallowed hard, she nodded.

”You are safe. I'm going to take you back to my lair.” He took another step towards her and she couldn't help but feel relieved. More than just relieved, she felt completely safe.

She nodded again. ”What about ...” she tried to peer over his shoulder but he was too big, ”him ... Cloud?”

Thunder pulled his hand away. ”We need to go now. I'm going to change back into my dragon form.” He frowned deeply. ”Cloud will be fine. I will send a team after him. He can't hurt you anymore.”

Tammy nodded. The guy had abducted her and could've really hurt her. She s.h.i.+vered at the thought. ”Are they going to harm him?” She didn't like the thought.

”Cloud needs to be apprehended. He is a threat to you, to the other humans as well. That cannot be tolerated.” There was an edge to his voice.

”Please don't kill him. I don't think he's really bad. Off his rocker, yes but bad ... I don't think so.” From what she had seen of these s.h.i.+fters, they operated on instinct. They got into b.l.o.o.d.y fights so she wouldn't put it past them to kill one another as well.

The frown deepened even further and his purple eyes turned dark and turbulent. ”Why do you ...?” His whole body jerked and his eyes widened, then he jerked a second time.

Thunder spun around, he gave her a light shove, pus.h.i.+ng her back against the wall of the cave and away from him. Lightning cracked across the roof of the cave. It was beautiful, curving along the roof. For a second she was mesmerized by its sheer beauty. There was a crackling sound and all the hairs on her body felt like they were standing on end. It felt like raw energy rushed through her. The sensation wasn't entirely bad. In fact, it felt good. Raw energy rushed through her, around her. Yet, instinctively, she knew that there was danger in those streaks of lightning. One of the bright curves lanced out in a direct line across the cave.

There was a loud yelping noise that cut off the instant the lightning hit. It sounded like a wounded animal. Had to be Cloud. Thunder slumped forward onto his stomach. She could make out a dark shape to the rear of the cave. Smoke wafted from his chest. She could smell burnt flesh, it made her gag. There was no movement. Even his chest remained still. He looked dead. Thunder had somehow caused the lightning. He had directed it to Cloud.

Thunder moaned and she looked down at his naked body, noticing for the first time that he had two small wounds in his back. They leaked blood. The wounds didn't look that bad but they seemed to be affecting the big s.h.i.+fter.

”Oh no,” she whispered, kneeling beside him and touching a finger to one of the wounds. It really didn't look too bad. Maybe it wasn't the wounds that were causing his current state. Maybe he was just tired from expending all of that energy. She was certain that making lightning had to be d.a.m.ned tiring. She pulled her hand back, blood on the tips of her fingers. It was almost hot to the touch. Thunder flinched and growled. He struggled to get up but kept falling back down in a crumpled heap.

”Let me help you.” She tried to wrap her arms around his shoulders to help him up but Thunder roared. It was deafening. So loud she heard a whistling noise in her ears. She let go and moved back. Moments later he began to change. Cracking, stretching and popping. Then he seemed to melt back down before stretching and popping again. This happened several times. Thunder was struggling to change himself back into his dragon form.

He growled, his half-transformed face grimaced. It took what felt like an age before he finally got it right.

Once he was in full dragon form, his strength seemed to come back to him and he rose onto all four legs. Thunder walked to the opening of the cave and turned back to stare at her before taking another few steps. He turned back and gave a low growl. The sound was commanding. He wanted her to follow him. She glanced at an unmoving Cloud and then back at Thunder. There was no way she was staying here. Tammy followed the beast. She didn't exactly feel like another dragon ride, but what other choice did she have?

Once they were out in the full sun, she noticed that the wounds were bleeding more heavily. The blood streaked down his back. Cloud had hurt Thunder. The dragon s.h.i.+fter began to beat his wings. Her hair whipped about her face with each wing fall. He slowly lowered and gripped her round the waist. ”Are you okay to fly?” If it weren't for the dire situation she might have laughed at the stupid question. It wasn't like he could answer her. His grip on her tightened a fraction and he rose into the air Ten minutes later ...

Tammy cried out as his grip on her loosened. Thunder flapped his wings, then fell a few feet before flapping madly again. He was struggling to stay airborne. Struggling to maintain his grip on her.

Like she had done earlier with Cloud, she grabbed ahold of his scaly talons. Hopefully she would maintain a grip if Thunder dropped her. His clasp on her loosened even more and she cried out in frustration and in fear.

They weren't nearly as high as she had been on previous flights, but she would die if he let her go, so high enough. Don't look down, Tammy. Do not look down. Instead, she concentrated on holding on even tighter. Thunder was breathing heavily. There were loud snorting sounds with every breath. Like he was struggling to take in enough air.

What was wrong with him? Had Cloud stabbed him with something? It was all a blur. She couldn't recall the other s.h.i.+fter getting close enough but maybe she was wrong. Thunder had s.h.i.+elded her view so it was possible. That had to be it. The two bleeding wounds were affecting him really badly. She had seen blood drip from his back a couple of times. Some of it had even splashed onto her. It seemed strange that such small wounds would bleed so much. Maybe they were deeper than they looked.

He lurched forward before falling another few feet. Tamara jerked in his grasp, making his scaly grip loosen a bit more. She shrieked. The great beast groaned and beat his wings a bit harder.

”Take us down!” Tammy shrieked, praying he would hear her. ”You need a rest,” she added when he didn't react.

His legs began to shake. s.h.i.+t! His entire body quivered with what she could only imagine was fatigue.

Thunder made a howling noise. He sounded like he was in pain.

”You need to rest!” she shrieked a second time. He lurched and she gripped harder as he fell. She screamed as he rolled head first in a clumsy somersault while plummeting to the ground. Within a few seconds, he gave an almighty flap with his giant wings. Unfortunately, it caused him to move upwards while she was still on a downwards trajectory. Try as she might, Tammy could not hold on and his grip finally gave out as well.

She felt herself pick up substantial speed. Free-falling! G.o.d help her but she was free-falling. The ground rushed up to meet her. It was amazing how quickly tiny objects became small objects and then not so small objects. She tried to scream but was frozen with fear. Her heart felt like it was somewhere in her throat. She had the most irrational thought the earth was beautiful from up here. Truly, utterly beautiful. There was so much to see and do. So much more living to do. If only she wasn't about to die. She would grab hold of her second chance with both freak'n hands. Both of them. She'd even use her nails, dammit.

Talons gripped her around the waist. Thunder had her. No, he didn't. They were falling together now, although, not quite as fast as before. Those objects were getting rather big. The ground too d.a.m.ned close for comfort. Then they began to fall slower and slower.

She sucked in a deep breath. Her whole body trembled. So did his. At least they were moving in a lateral direction instead of a downwards one. Tamara released the pent-up breath she didn't even realize she was holding.

He groaned as they picked up speed. His talons gripped her a little too tightly and she struggled a bit to breathe. Tammy wasn't complaining, at least he had her this time.

They flew like this for close to an hour. It felt like forever. His grip never loosened. Thunder growled loudly and they began to rise. She could feel his body stiffen. The tremors that had racked him seemed to ease. Maybe he was getting better. Dragons all non-humans for that matter had super-human healing abilities. Most people knew it. Besides, she'd done some research when she knew she would be spending some time with the vampires. Roxy had also briefed them on dragon basics and Tamara distinctly remembered the queen mentioning that little detail.

They rose slowly, a sheer cliff directly in front of them. Maybe they needed to scale this particular mountain. Or maybe this was where they were headed. Was this his lair?

They reached a ledge, it was a couple of meters wide. Thunder flew forwards. Please don't drop me. The ledge was at an angle and covered in loose rock. She might just tumble to her death if he dropped her here. That would be so unfair considering all she'd just been through. He kept on moving forward towards what looked like a solid wall. As they drew closer, she realized that it wasn't solid at all but two overlapping walls with a s.p.a.ce between them. An entrance. Thunder dropped her as they reached it. She felt herself sliding. Tamara screamed, trying to grab onto something, anything, but only found loose rocks. She dug her feet in, which helped some.

Thunder grabbed her. Not a talon but a hand. He gripped her around the wrist and pulled her back. Next, she was being hoisted into the air. He picked her up and despite the loose rock and sloping angle, he walked to the left and then through the overlapping wall. The s.p.a.ce would have been too small to accommodate his large dragon frame, definitely while carrying her.

”Are you okay?” the asked, her voice sounding croaky and small. It echoed against the walls of the vast rock structure.

Thunder ignored her. She noticed that a sheen of sweat covered his face. His cheeks were flushed, his eyes fixed ahead of them. He kept walking, there was a loud crunch of gravel and rock beneath his feet. The light slowly dimmed as they walked into a gaping hole which was just as vast as everything else. Pitch black darkness swallowed them as they turned a corner. Tamara wasn't sure she'd be able to see a hand in front of her face.

”Where are we?”

His only answer was heavy breathing. She noticed that his tremors were back. She could hear his teeth were chattering.

”Hey, are you okay?” She gave his arm a squeeze to try and draw his attention.

Nothing but crunching footfalls.

”You can put me down you know. I can walk.” At least she hoped she could. Her legs might be jello. ”I can't see, but I can hold your hand or something.”

He grunted, adjusting his hold on her. For a second she thought he might be doing as she had asked but he kept on walking. Then he seemed to kneel, but not all the way down to the ground. He put her down onto a soft surface. If she didn't know better, she might say it was a bed. Why the h.e.l.l would there be a bed in the middle of a cave?

She was reminded of the previous cave she had been in, that had had a bed in it as well, so maybe it wasn't so farfetched after all. He crouched over her.

She couldn't see, but she could feel his heat above her, could hear his labored breathing. He pulled her backwards, so that she was more in the center of the bed.

Then he pulled away slightly. By the way the bed dipped on either side of her, she would say that he was on his knees which were splayed on either side of her. He seemed to be leaving. Thunder made a strange noise. Something between a strangled moan and a growl. Everything went still for a split second. She didn't have time to deduce what it all meant before his weight came cras.h.i.+ng down on her.

Chapter 7.