26. Addie

26

ADDIE

A ddie stood there, frozen for a moment. Then she heard the sound again—the soft swish, swish, swish of many quiet feet approaching. It reminded her of a scene in a horror movie, where the victim can hear the killer coming but can't see him yet.

Or in this case, her.

The thought sent a shiver down her spine but then she heard another soft groan from Drago and remembered that her Protector was still alive!

"Drago? Drago!" she exclaimed, rushing over to the iron chair to pat his cheeks again. "Drago, please wake up! We're in big trouble here—please!"

Slowly, his eyelids came open.

"Fuck!" he groaned. He looked pale and tired. "What the fuck is going on?"

"Ls Prissa was just here telling me a crazy story about how she won't let us go until Sheelash sucks away my youth!" Addie said quickly. "We need to get out of here now."

Drago tried to sit up but his wrists and ankles were still strapped to the chair.

"Fuck me," he muttered, slumping back down. "Why ‘m I so fuckin' weak?"

"That's my fault—I think I drank too much of your blood," Addie said apologetically. "I didn't mean to but I got so thirsty and…"

The words died in her throat and she forgot what she'd been going to say. A huge black shadow had fallen over the two of them. Turning, her heart in her mouth, Addie saw a sight that made her knees feel like they had turned to Jell-O.

Standing just a few meters from the throne where Drago was held prisoner was the most monstrous spider she'd ever seen. She'd been halfway expecting another cat-sized spider like the one in her room. Or, at worst, maybe a large dog-sized one. But what she saw took her breath away.

Oh my God! she thought, feeling like a scream had gotten stuck in her throat. It's bigger than a car!

In fact, the spider was about the size of a Monster Truck—one of those huge vehicles on jacked-up tires that rolled over other, normal-sized cars at redneck events and crushed them as the crowd screamed in excitement.

Strangely, the worst thing about Sheelash wasn't her sheer size—it wasn't even the long, curving fangs that dripped poison on the flagstone floor or the wickedly sharp stinger protruding from her fat, hairy abdomen. No, the worst thing about her was her human head and face.

The head had long, lank hair that was greasy platinum blonde, just like the stripes in all the High Born Vargans' hair. Surprisingly, the features were normal and human-looking. The nose was petite—almost delicate—and the mouth curved into a perfect cupid's bow, spoiled only by the two long, sharp fangs protruding from under the top lip.

It was the creature's eyes that startled and horrified Addie. There were only two of them—unusual for a spider—and they were placed on either side of the nose where a human's eyes would be. But when Addie looked into them, she saw that they were completely blank. There was no comprehension in those black, staring orbs with their burning red pupils. There was no compassion or understanding or humor or wit.

There was only hunger.

Addie suddenly thought about what Drago had told her about his Drake.

"It's Primal Drake—it has the mental understanding of an animal. Which means I can't reason with it," he'd said.

But this was the true meaning of Primal, Addie thought. The mindless hunger she saw in the giant spider's eyes told her that there was no reasoning with it—no having a rational conversation. It might have a human mouth but it couldn't talk or think or do anything but suck its prey dry.

All these years the Vargans have been worshiping it, Addie thought, feeling both disgusted and fascinated at the same time. Worshiping a monster and making it out to be a goddess when really it's just a hungry, mindless thing. They've been sacrificing themselves for generations to keep it alive, to extend its life year by year when it doesn't give a damn about them—it just wants to eat!

Somehow she had locked eyes with the giant Spider and now they stared at each other, neither of them moving. Addie felt frozen to the spot—she was sure if she tried to get away, Sheelash would be on her in a second. But she couldn't just stand here all day, could she? She had to do something—what, though?

Addie licked her lips, which still had a metallic, salty tang, and opened her mouth. She wasn't sure what was going to come out but when she spoke, her voice wobbled alarmingly.

"Shoo!" she said, waving an arm at the giant spider goddess. "Get back—go away!"

The perfect cupid's bow mouth opened, revealing even more of the fangs. They put the ones that Addie had so recently had to shame. Despite her certainty that the spider couldn't talk, Addie still had the impression it was about to speak. Instead, there was nothing but a high, menacing hiss—like the tea kettle shrieking of the silky spider in her room, but magnified exponentially.

Addie clapped her hands over her ears.

"No!" she shouted. But her words had no effect—Sheelash skittered closer, her fanged mouth gnashing the air.

But she wasn't headed for Addie—she was looking at Drago with those hungry, blank eyes.

"Hey, no!" Addie waved her hands in wider arcs "Leave him alone! Don't you dare come near him!"

Of course, her words had no effect. Clearly the big spider was interested in easy prey and since Drago was still strapped down, it had decided to take him first. Doubtless Addie would be next—she had no illusions that Ls Prissa or Lx Sambla would come to rescue them. Probably they would allow both of them to be killed and then they would send some kind of phony excuse to the Mother Ship and claim there had been a terrible "accident."

We're going to die here, Addie thought, feeling despair wash over her as she moved to put herself between Sheelash and the iron chair where Drago was still imprisoned. We're going to die and it's all my fault! I'm the one who insisted on coming because I believed that bastard Sambla actually liked me! And now Drago is going to pay for my stupidity too!

Well, not if she could help it. Or at least she wouldn't let Sheelash kill her and Drago without a fight. Though she had no weapons, she planted her feet firmly and waved her arms again.

Sheelash advanced once more, now she was less than seven feet away. Her huge, bulbous body loomed above Addie and her hungry mouth worked, making that inhuman hissing sound again.

"Get back!" Addie shouted at the enormous arachnid, trying to be heard over the shrieking hiss. "Get away from him—go! You can't have him—he's mine!"

"Fuck!" she heard Drago mutter behind her as the hissing finally stopped. He sounded more alert now, at least. "Addison, get away from here!" he snapped and she could hear the protective fear in his voice as he took in the situation they were in. "Get the Seven Hells away from that fucking thing!"

"No!" Addie stood her ground, even though she felt like she was about to faint with fear. "No, you're tied down and helpless—I won't let her have you!"

"Get away!" Drago insisted. His voice sounded more desperate now. "Addison, you have to go. My Drake senses the threat—he sees that fucking thing menacing you and he's coming out!"

That got her full attention. Breaking the staring contest she'd been having with Sheelash, Addie turned her head to look over her shoulder. Drago was sitting bolt upright in the iron chair now and his eyes…

His eyes have changed again! she thought. They're full of flames!

"Addison," he said and his already deep voice had dropped another octave to become an inhuman growl. "I can't hold him. He's…coming out… noooooowwwww!"

The last word turned into an unearthly roar that nearly deafened her. Addison didn't argue anymore—she ran as fast as she could to the other side of the room. She turned just in time to see Drago's transformation—a sight she knew she would never forget for the rest of her life.

From where she was standing, it looked like the enormous Drake simply burst out of him. His human form shredded away to nothing instantly and then, less than a second later, there was a dragon standing in his place.

Addie's eyes went wide.

Had she thought Sheelash was huge? Well, her Protector's Drake dwarfed the spider goddess easily. It was the size of a 747 airplane with a wingspan that stretched almost from one end of the room to the other. It stepped backward with one huge foot and crushed the heavy iron chair Drago had been strapped to with the ease of a man crushing an empty soft drink can.

Addie stared in stunned silence—too amazed to say anything—to even think anything.

Drago's Drake had sleek reddish-orange scales all over its body and every one of the claws on its massive forepaws was as long as one of her legs. Next to it, even Sheelash looked small and insignificant.

Speaking of the spider goddess, she had also frozen in place, staring up at the massive creature that had suddenly appeared in front of her.

Addie had seen no emotion in her blank, black eyes earlier but now she wondered if she detected fear. At any rate, the two huge creatures just stood there staring at each other. It made Addie feel like she'd somehow fallen into a Japanese monster movie where two enormous beasts battle it out and the humans can't do anything but watch.

It was the Drake that made the first move. It lifted its scaly head—which was longer than Addie's whole body was—and roared. It was the sound of an enraged beast mixed with a warning claxon and it shook Addie to the bones. For the second time she clapped her hands over her ears.

The deafening sound finally ended the standoff. Sheelash turned and began to skitter away. She was incredibly fast for such a huge spider and she was heading for the giant web on the far side of the room…but she never got there.

Bending its long, snaky neck, the Drake opened its massive jaws, revealing rows of curving, sword-like teeth, and breathed a jet of white-hot fire at the fleeing arachnid.

Sheelash let out an unearthly shriek and Addie could see that her long, lank, platinum-blonde hair was on fire. Another jet of flame from the Drake and the rest of her fat, hairy body was wrapped in flames as well.

The spider goddess went on shrieking as she writhed in the blanket of flames. Then she flipped on her back and began to shrivel up, her long, hairy legs contracting and spasming in a series of horrible, jerking death throes.

Addie watched it all, amazed and horrified. Indeed, she couldn't have stopped watching if the sight had made her go blind. It was too unbelievable for her brain to take in—she had to keep looking to comprehend the bizarre and awful sight she was witnessing.

Though she was across the room, she could feel the heat of the super-charged flames that were baking the enormous spider's body. And then, just as she thought it was over, the fat, bulging abdomen popped, spraying half-cooked spider guts all over the flagstones.

Luckily, Addie was far enough away that the exploding guts didn't reach her—but the smell of them certainly did. It was a rotten odor—like a garbage can filled with old seafood and dirty diapers left out to spoil in the hot sun. The choking miasma drifted towards her, making her clap a hand over her nose and gasp, "Ugh!" instinctively.

The Drake didn't seem to like the foul stench either. It sneezed several times in succession—almost like a giant cat, Addie thought. Except when a cat sneezed, it didn't spray gouts of flame all over the place. Luckily the massive head was turned away from her. She kept her distance and watched as the Drake studied the messy splatter of green and black spider guts that covered one whole section of the floor.

After a moment of contemplation and a few more sneezes, the Drake lowered its head and breathed another gout of flame. Using his fire like a flamethrower, he singed the spider offal to nothing but black ashes until only the crumpled legs and the burning, blackened skull of Sheelash remained.

The cleansing fire took care of the dreadful smell, for which Addie was grateful. But she wasn't really sure she was any better off now than she had been earlier.

Before , she'd been menaced by a giant Spider Goddess she couldn't reason with. Now , she was alone in the vast room with a fire-breathing Drake which she also couldn't reason with.

And then it turned to look at her.