Chapter 65

My bike skidded to a halt and I pulled it around in a sharp turn, planting my feet on the ground and hurling a solid wall of air magic up above me as high as I could throw it and as wide as necessary to stop the Dragons in their tracks.

Two of them collided with it as they moved to chase after Mildred and Geraldine, a sickening crack cutting the air apart as one of them broke a wing and tumbled from the sky. A plume of Dragon fire blasted above it before it crashed into the mountainside and tumbled out of sight towards the valley far below.

The other whirled on me with a bellow of fury, its yellow eyes narrowing as it kicked off of the wall I'd created and dove straight for me.

Darius was stripping beside me, his helmet hitting the floor followed by his leather jacket, shirt, pants-

I hurled spears of ice into the sky, the crash of battle coming from my left and to my back where Caleb, Seth and Orion fought with more of the Dragons, but I had to trust them to hold their own and focus on the brown monster diving for me.

The Dragon blasted fire from its gaping jaws, melting my ice and careering right for me.

I grinned as the fireball came my way, my Order form bursting from my skin, a shield of solid air protecting my bike and clothes before the flames engulfed me.

The world was lost to fire and smoke, and I was consumed within the fireball. The sound of a ferocious roar and a powerful collision filled the air, announcing Darius's Dragon form joining the fray.

The flames finally guttered out, revealing a rain of blood pouring from the sky as Darius's fangs ripped into the throat of the brown Dragon who was less than half his size, the scent of death filling the air and making my heart riot with excitement.

I leapt free of the bike and took to the air with him, turning my back before I could see the brown Dragon's corpse fall from the sky and speeding towards a grey beast which was circling around Seth's car, trying to come at him from behind.

The difference in my size to the Dragons made me feel like a moth trying to take on a hawk but I didn't slow.

Blades of glittering ice and sharpest metal formed in my fists and I flew for the grey Dragon at full speed.

It saw me coming, the red and blue flames scorching my skin all too recognisable in the orange and pink streaked sky, and it lunged for me instead of Seth in his car.

I didn't change my path of flight, speeding right for its gaping mouth and the rows of sharp fangs waiting to bite me clean in half.

The Dragon blasted fire at me when I was less than ten feet from it and I jerked aside sharply, hiding within the flames and flipping right over its head as those powerful jaws slammed shut precisely where I'd just been.

I landed on the beast's back, right between its shoulder blades and the join where its massive wings met its spine.

The Dragon roared in fury at being ridden, making me laugh wildly while my hair and my flames whipped all around me.

I shifted back out of my Order form, the scent of burning flesh permeating the sky where my legs had seared straight through the Dragon's scales and melted the skin beneath.

The Dragon bellowed furiously, turning for the sky and racing upwards at an almost vertical angle, trying to make me fall.

I clamped on tightly with my knees, holding my arms wide and whooping with exhilaration at the ride while we sped higher and higher, puncturing the wispy clouds and bursting through them to gain a full view of that picture-perfect sky.

I glanced down, the fight below me reduced to little pinpricks of movement at this extraordinary height and I grinned to myself, taking in the view for five, four, three, two…

My blades struck the Dragon in both wings at once, stabbing clean through them then ripping outwards, tearing gaping holes through the thin membrane of grey flesh and making the beast howl in agony.

We stilled in our ascent, hanging there suspended above the clouds for an endless second, the wind whipping the blood from the Dragon's destroyed wings into my face, the thrill of the bloodshed pounding through my limbs.

And then we were falling.

I whooped in time with the Dragon's screams, banishing the blades I'd cast to fight it and throwing my arms wide, leaning back to feel the full force of the wind against my spine as we fell.

Down and down and down, the ground rushing towards us so fast that my mind could hardly keep up with the speed of it. All the while I kept my thighs clamped in place on the Dragon's back, riding him towards his death.

He shifted suddenly and I shoved him away from me, the naked Fae crying out in horror as the ground sped closer still. I tumbled aside, the ground so near now that my heart leapt in terror before I shifted, my wings snapping wide and catching me less than six feet from the ground.

I swept over the fight, my eyes taking in Caleb who was locked in battle with a Dragon who had shifted back to Fae form to face him briefly. But my attention was ripped away just as fast as I noticed that my opponent had managed to catch himself with air magic before crashing into the ground as I'd planned.

I sped towards my enemy, casting a new sword into my hand and landing right behind him as he dropped to the dirt on his knees, thanking the stars for saving him.

His gaze snapped up to mine, realising his moment of relief had just cost him his life and he gasped.

"The true king will cleanse the world of your hera-"

I took his head from his shoulders before he could finish that vow and the chaotic thrill of his death poured through me, adding to the payment I was making to The Ferryman and bringing my death count up once more.

Overhead, a bellowing roar shattered the air like fragile glass, and I whirled around to see Darius locked in combat with two Dragons at once, blood spilling from the sky.

I dove back into battle with my sword in hand and a furious need for victory blazing through my veins, promising to finish this fight once and for all.