Page 35 of Primal Dragon

Henrik roared and another burst of fire singed the ground, taking the vampire with it. The fried corpse dropped to the ground.

Henrik turned his attention to another vampire. He was a blur and gone before Henrik could fry him. The vampire threw a spear and it hit Henrik in the side.

She tried to call out his name, but she still couldn’t get breath into or out of her lungs. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to will her body to function again. She gasped and managed to inhale and then blow it out. Her lungs were working again, slowly she was able to move. She rolled onto her hands and knees and got to her feet.

The silver stake she’d lodged into the vampire was nothing but a melted mass in the vampire’s chest.

“Yuck.” She covered her nose trying to push the stench of burnt flesh out of her nostrils.

Henrik thrashed his tail around and whipped his head around the other direction. He snatched another vampire in his jaws and crunched down. Quinn cringed and grabbed one of the fallen spears and charged to where she saw Henrik was being held down. She used the spear saw through the rope, which wasn’t easy.

Q, you need to get out of here.

The deep voice was in her head. It sounded almost like Henrik. She glanced up at the dragon. He was glaring at her, a limp vampire body hanging from her mouth. Quinn gasped and used the burst of adrenaline to free him from his tether. His wings expanded and Henrik lifted up into the air.

Q, go. Now.

She didn’t want to listen to him, she wanted to make sure he was going to be safe. Just as she was about to say so, steel-like hands clamped down on her upper arms.

Henrik roared.

“You’re not a fucking vampire. What are you?” the man snarled against her ear.

“Let me go, asshole.”

He chuckled and then wrenched her neck to the side and bit down hard. Quinn’s mouth opened in a silent scream. The vampire’s vise-like grip on her held as she struggled against him. The vampire drank his fill and then kept drinking.

“Let him go.” That was Henrik’s voice. She couldn’t see him. Her view didn’t have much of anything but steel boxes.

The vampire finally released her neck. She went limp in his arms. “She tastes delicious. I fully intend to finish what’s on my plate, dragon.”

Henrik roared. “Let her go right now.”

“What are you doing here? Why do you care about these mortals?”

The vampire’s grip tightened, squeezing the air out of her lungs. Quinn whimpered. “I could pop her like a bottle of champagne, dragon. Stay back.”

“You idiots captured a friend of mine. I came to retrieve her.”

“And this one? How did she get a glamour like this? A vampire witch would’ve had to help her. She smells like one. But you can’t hide what’s in the blood, can you, little bird?”

Henrik let out a shaky break. “Oh, fucking hell.”

Quinn was dizzy and the tighter the vampire held her the more black dots appeared like bubbles in her vision. This wasn’t good. She wasn’t getting enough oxygen. Between the blood loss and him constricting her airways, she was slowly suffocating.

She had one hand free and the vampire didn’t think she was a threat. That was just fine with her. She had one more trick up her sleeve.

She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out the small vial. She tested her range of motion, which earned her another squeeze and a snarl from the vampire. She tried to take as deep of a breath as she could manage and then she spun and slammed the small vial into the side of his head. It broke against his skull and her hand.

The vampire hissed. “You stupid human.” He locked down her arms and tightened his hold on her even more.

She let out a strangled whimper. Then she was falling to the ground in a heap. The air felt unbearably cold. She shivered and panted for air. The vampire screamed and when she rolled over, she found it was like yellow acid was eating his skin, turning him into a blob of lava.

“That’s new,” she muttered. She checked her hand to make sure it wasn’t melting. There were just a couple of shards of glass in her palm and droplets of blood.

Henrik lifted her into his arms. He carried her away.

She tried to keep her focus and hold on, but she was fading.

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