Page 11 of Defy Me

She needed to get out of here right now. People in the movies went down ladders super fast by placing their hands and feet along the outside of the rails and sliding down like a fireman. She gripped the sides, one in each fist, and then put one foot along the outside edge. A dozen more batstriches jumped from the burning rooftop to hers and the building shook again. Yvaine's heart just about fell out of her chest and down the five stories to the street below. Her arms hugged the ladder of their own accord, her body taking over since her brain was obviously not doing a good job of keeping them safe.

She only needed to slide the ten feet to the next landing and then she could climb back inside the building. She could do that. She absolutely could. As soon as she swallowed the giant knot of fear in her throat. Yep. Okay. Ready? No. Go anyway. She closed her eyes, huffed out a quick breath and moved her hands and feet to the outside of the railing.

She slid past one rung, her foot snagged on some sort of bump in the metal, causing that foot to twist at a hard right angle. Her leg shot out into the air throwing her entire body off balance. The rungs of the ladder were butter through her fingers and in an instant her life was flashing before her eyes along with the side of the building.

Yvaine was going to die. Right here right now. Why hadn't she been a little more naughty in her life? Only the good die young. She screamed the only thing her scared mind could come up with that might possibly save her at this dire moment.

It wasn't for help, it wasn't a prayer, it wasn't even for ice cream. "Jett!"

Poof the Magic Dragon

That marked one kind of being off Jett's list of what kind of supernatural being Yvaine might be. Anything with wings was definitely out. If he had to guess right this second, he'd say she was some king of stone fairy, because she was falling like a rock. Jett tucked in his wings and dove for the ground hoping to grab her before she splatted all over the street.

Hold on. I'm coming for you.

"Hold on to what? Thin air? Help me." Her voice was tinged with real fear and the sound of it grated on Jett's psyche. He did not like that she was scared. Dammit. He'd been less than a meter away from nabbing her off that ladder when one of his brethren had reached out of a shadow on the wall and grabbed her foot. Little fuckers. Couldn't they see he was doing everything in his power not to hurt them?

Of course they could. That's why they were after the girl. They were using her as bait. But who had made that split second decision? The cursed or was the Black Dragon calling the shots. Jett knew his father was close, but hadn't yet made an appearance. They yellow-bellied lizard had sent every minion of hell to this tiny German town.

If he didn't lead them away, Glückstadt would be demolished. He should have already fucking left. But, no. He decided to screw around finding a piece of ass. Then saving her ass. Dumb ass. What the hell had he signed up for with this chick? He was invested now.

Yvaine screamed out his name again and the sound went straight down his spine. She couldn't see him yet. The demon dragons were manifesting and smoking up the place. She probably thought he was trying to kill her too. What kind of paranormal being hadn't seen a dragon before?

One millimeter before she hit the cobblestones he snatched her out of the air, wrapping his talons around her and swooping down the street hugging the shadows. He stayed low to the ground using the darkness to hide them just long enough to get out of sight and then took a sharp turn straight up into the sky. Someone else would have to deal with the fall out of the people here seeing a dragon flapping its wings over the town.

"What the chuck, dude? My life was flashing in front of my eyes. I thought you were going to let me die." Her shout was shaky and her body trembled in his claws.

Of course not.

Yvaine clung tightly to his leg and he liked the feeling of her grip on him. If he was smart he'd drop her somewhere outside of town or even better, just drop her right into the water. Except she'd probably freeze to death. Why did he even fucking care if she died? He shouldn't be caring about anything but finding the cure for his brethren's curse so they could escape the clutches of the Black Dragon.

But what fun would that be, my recalicrant son?The Black Dragon rose up into the sky directly in Jett's flight path.

Holy fuckballs.

Jett closed his talon's tight around Yvaine and twisted, turning in as tight a spiral as he could to avoid colliding with the Black Dragon's wings. The bastard didn't make that easy. He flapped his wings together and blew a hot stream of fire creating a vortex of flames that were coming straight for them.

Neat trick. He'd have to remember that one. But Jett had been avoiding his father's punishments for hundreds of years. This one wasn't going to catch him off guard. He may not be as big as the Black Dragon, but he was much smarter. What he needed was a god-damned blue dragon to put out the flames. Since he didn't have that, he headed straight for the river. There may not be a blue dragon around, but he knew for a fact there were mermen.

"Holy forking shirt. Who was that? Like the king dragon or something. He was flipping huge."

Good guess. You're close. That was the King of Hell.

He'd leave the part out about it also being his father.

"Like the devil? Satan is a dragon?"

No.

Her questions were distracting him and their chances of surviving were already low. He had to get to that river before the flame tornado caught up to them. Jett wasn't going in the drink if he could help it. But Yvaine was. The mers wouldn't let her drown or freeze to death. Once he dropped her off he could turn and fight the Black Dragon without having to worry about keeping her safe. They'd have to fly across half of Glückstadt to get there and the demon dragons were already stalking them. They were popping up out of the shadows as fast as he could fly past them. They wouldn't go in the water though. It was their kryptonite. Unless of course Ereshkigal, the Black Witch and his father's cohort had bespelled them for that specific purpose.

Fuck a duck. He was going to have to take that chance. The water made him half useless in his dragon, and it wasn't like dear old dad took him to swimming lessons in his human form.

Just a little farther. Almost there. A ball of fire shot over his head, missing them by a scale and crashed into a parking lot. His father was being awfully reckless revealing himself and the forces of hell to the humans this way. That had Jett chuckling inside. Desperate much, dad?

It filled him with all kinds of delightful glee to see the Black Dragon freaking the fuck out, but he didn't understand why or what had sent him off. Jett had been free from hell's grip for a while now and it hadn't seemed to matter one fuck. Someone must have betrayed his plan to free the cursed.

By someone he meant Geshtianna, the succubus queen. Bitch was playing both sides. He should have fucking learned his lesson not to trust her. He needed a Trust No One tattoo on his god damned forehead. Item number four hundred and three on his to do list.

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