Page 80 of Cruel Daddy Dragon

“I see it!” she gasps, “It’s not following us, but it’s doubling back!”

“Shit,” I grunt, “It’s gonna be hard to lose this thing from the ground.”

“Hey!” Lena says, “Turn left here, at the end!”

“What?” I ask, “That’sawayfrom the police station!”

“I know, but there’s a craft fair on Sundays!” Lena says, “I sell herbs there sometimes—all the stalls are covered in awning! It won’t be able to see us from above if we go there!”

I consider it for a long second, then nod.

“Right!”

I turn the car again, and just like Lena said, there’s an entire craft fair here, with the stalls sheltering us from above. The dragon shouldn’t be able to see us, but that hits us with another problem; there’s the crowd of patrons of the fair getting in the way of the car. They pass out of the way when they see a police car trying to worm its way through, but we slow to a crawl.

“All right,” I grunt, “I think we’re going to have to abandon the car. We’re not going to get out before it finds us. Let’s blend with the crowd and run there!”

The other two look at each other and then nod with uncertainty.

I park the car up and whip the door open. Lena gets out and then opens the door for Julie while I keep my eyes on the skies. Nothing.

“Okay,” I bark, “I don’t see them. Let’s go!”

I go behind the pair of them, and Lena takes the lead toward the police station; we all know the way. Julie’s watchingthe skies frightenedly. I take up the rear, also watching for our draconic stalker.

We leave the craft fair and keep to the small back allies. We soon find ourselves separated from the shoppers and break into a sprint—or as much as Lena can, holding her pregnant belly.

But then a hulking shadow drops down in front of us. I sprint in front of Julie and Lena and swing my arms wide, stopping them. The dragon gives us a serpentine smile.

“Hello, Ladies!” the growling beast says mockingly.

I draw my handgun and aim it at him.

“We don’t want trouble!”I snarl.

The dragon breaks out into growling laughter. I know that if I hit the eye or the inside of the mouth, I can at least make him flinch.

“You don’t want trouble?” the Eclipse dragon cackles, “Youaretrouble! All three of you!”

Lena suddenly steps past me, a shining determination in her eye. She extends her palm toward the dragon.

No! What’s she doing?!

“Lena!” I scream.

My arm snaps out, and I try to grab her and drag her behind me to safety when I see crackling electricity sparking around her palm a bit too late.

As I clasp her wrist, I feel a jolt through my body. Except, it doesn’t feel like I’m being electrocuted. It feels like something’s beingtakenfrom me like some energy is being sapped out of my body by my hand gripping Lena’s.

“Whoa!” I hear Lena gasp.

I look up at her, and she’s staring at her own palm. Before, it sparked with power, but now a glowing orb hovers there in a hundred iridescent colors, like ribbons of magic binding together in real-time.

“That’s new!” Lena says.

The dragon steps back. Suddenly, he’s not laughing anymore.

“What the hell?!” he snarls, “You’rewitches?!I thought you were just their fated!”

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