Page 9 of Sass Me

The shadows grew and formed into the shape of half a dozen black winged creatures, so like Steele’s own form, but twisted and dark.

Demon dragons.

What the hell were they doing here?

Steele shifted back into his dragon, the transformation moving through him faster and easier than it ever had. The world around him shrank as he grew, his dragon form grew larger than before. He roared at the black demon dragons. The power flowed through him, waiting for him to call upon it to battle these disgusting blights on the world.

He and Dax had trained and fought together in many battles. They could work together on instinct. They’d need all their skills to defeat the demon dragons amassing around them. It might be two against ten, but Steele would still put the odds in his favor. He was twice the size of any of them, maybe more now, and Dax was ruthless when it came to killing demon dragons.

The black death moved as a unit, coordinated in their attack, surrounding them on three sides.

Dax breathed out a swath of fire, stymying the demon’s first attempt to get to the two of them. They were not dissuaded and one spit its black smoke and fire back at Dax while it’s kin jumped together to attack Steele on two sides.

Steele struck out, swinging his tail in a wide arc, making contact with half the beasts around them, sending the things careening and crashing. One hit a tree and the other slammed into the nearest building.

Fleur’s building.

Steele sent out a prayer to the First Dragon that the women would continue their party inside and not have a clue how close death had come to their door.

The demon dragons would devour a pretty plump thing like Fleur. She’d be defenseless against them.

He could never let that happen. Every protective instinct flared inside like fire and he lashed at the demon dragons, shredding those nearest to him.

A half dozen black oily stains smeared the street and sidewalk in moments as he cut them down and tore out their throats. With each kill his soul shard grew brighter, as if declaring his victory.

Two new demon dragons appeared from the darkness and screeched at their remaining comrades. They stayed back from the fray while the others turned and focused their attack on Dax.

Cowards.

Dax sliced at two of them, but before he could destroy them, the other two piled on top, taking him to the ground. Steele roared, and used all his might to pounce on the bastards, snapping at them with his teeth and tearing at their skin.

His friend was at the bottom of the pile, but holding his own. Steele could feel the heat from Dax’s fire burning the demons from underneath. He speared one demon through the chest with his claw, tossing it at the cowards standing in the shadow of Fleur’s building.

Three more to go.

He reached into the fracas to grab another beast. Two sets of claws dug into him from behind, ripping at his shoulders, gripping the cord of his shard.

Steele bucked and rolled, but he couldn’t throw them off. The more he fought them, the harder they held on. The cord was strong, but not unbreakable.

“Steele, Dax, look out.” Fleur and six of the she-wolves stood at the entrance to the building watching wide-eyed as they battle on the street raged.

His shard lit up the area with its green light, growing stronger by the second. Steele rolled, trying to crush them beneath his giant body, or at least pin them to the ground.

“No, Fleur. Get back, get inside.” Steele projected his plea into her mind. He should have gone back in to protect her from these bastards.

Three of the women around Fleur shifted into snarling wolves and joined the battle, ripping and clawing at the remaining demons.

The other three guarded Fleur and the entrance to the building. The one called Jordan even had a large rifle at the ready.

He sure hoped she knew how to use it and didn’t shoot him in the process.

One of the demons jumped off his back, shredding the skin and scales at his neck, slicing through the shard’s cord with his razor claws.

Something deep inside Steele’s chest tore when the shard fell from his skin. For a moment, he lost his breath from the pain of it. His fight was gone and he fell out of his dragon form, the shift washing over him and out of his control.

The demon dragon held the glowing shard, a piece of Steele’s own soul, in his fist, mesmerized by its light, drooling and snarling over its new treasure. Steele reached for the light, but he was weak now, and losing more strength by the second.

Dax and the wolves battled the remaining demon dragons until they were destroyed and only the bastard holding Steele’s shard remained.

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