She took one step back as I came in, sweeping her arm up, blindingly fast. I barely had a chance to register that she’d moved before she backhanded me in the temple, right below my horns, and my head felt like it imploded. My vision fractured into shards of pain, and I was hurled away, hitting the floor with a jolt and rolling to a painful stop.
My head throbbed, feeling like it would split open at the slightest movement, and spots of darkness floated before my eyes. Dazed, I looked up to see the Elder Wyrm walking toward me, a faint smile on her lips. Behind her, the vessels had forced everyone to their knees, the muzzles of their rifles shoved into the base of their skulls.
“Foolish hatchling.” The Elder Wyrm loomed over me, ancient and unamused. Her eyes glowed green, and her presence pushed down on me like a boulder, crushing the air from my lungs. I couldn’t move as the oldest dragon in the world turned the full power of her gaze on me. “Did you think I would be weak as a human? That this pitiful body would be easy to destroy?” She raised an elegant, manicured hand, the nails as red as blood. “I have but a fraction of my true strength in this form, but that is still enough to crush your skull with my fingers. There is no one strong enough to challenge me face-to-face.
“Now.” The Elder Wyrm took a step back, her eyes hard. “It is time to end this little game, once and for all. But don’t worry, daughter. Soon, all your memories of this day will be erased, along with everything else. In some ways, I would think it a blessing. Vessels,” she called as Garret’s bright, soulful gaze met mine across the floor. “Kill the—”
A shot rang out, echoing off the rafters. My heart stopped, and I stared frantically at the group surrounded by vessels, expecting one of them to topple forward.
The Elder Wyrm made a tiny choking sound above me.
Stunned, uncomprehending, I looked up. A bright red stain was oozing through the front of her white blouse and spreading over her chest. Gingerly, she touched the crimson mark, then stared at the blood on her fingers, her expression one of shock.
Slowly, she turned…to reveal Dante standing behind her, the muzzle of a smoking pistol aimed at her chest.
“Dante,” the Elder Wyrm breathed as I gaped at my sibling, unable to move. “You…?”
“I’m sorry.” Dante’s voice was conflicted, though his expression was resolved, his mouth set in a grim line. His eyes glittered in the shadows as he stared down the Elder Wyrm. “I would have done anything for Talon,” he said as the Elder Wyrm took a staggering step forward. “I would have sacrificed everything to see our race thrive. I’ve played the villain, slaughtered innocents, supervised the creation of atrocities and sent those abominations into battle, all for the good of our kind.” For just a moment, his gaze flicked to me, and a shadow of anguish crossed his face. “But there’s one line I will not cross, and one piece of my life I will not sacrifice. I’m sorry it’s come to this, that it’s taken me this long to see what you really wanted.”
“Very clever, Dante.” The Elder Wyrm, amazingly still on her feet, put a hand to her chest. “I suppose I cannot be too surprised. You are…of my blood, after all. But you’re wrong if you think…I would hand Talon over to you.”
Dante’s gaze hardened. “I’m afraid you’ll have no choice,” he said, and raised his head. “Vessels,” he called, without taking his eyes from the Elder Wyrm. “To me. Release the prisoners and stand down—”
The Elder Wyrm moved. One moment she was standing in front of me, her blood dripping in slow puddles to the floor. The next, she had lunged forward impossibly fast, toward the boy with the gun a few yards away. At the last instant, Dante saw the danger and fired several shots at the approaching Wyrm. A fine spray of blood erupted from the Elder Wyrm’s back, misting into the air, as she grabbed Dante’s shoulder, wrenched him close and drove her clawed hand into his chest, sinking it past her wrist.
Time stilled around me. I watched, frozen in place, my brain refusing to accept what had just happened. Dante’s mouth gaped silently and a thin stream of red ran down his chin. The Elder Wyrm yanked her arm free, her hand covered in red halfway up her forearm, and Dante staggered, still looking stunned. He swayed on his feet, the pistol clattering sharply to the floor, and the world unfroze.
I leaped upright with a screaming roar and lunged at the Elder Wyrm, whose hateful green eyes snapped in my direction. Grabbing Dante by the collar, she yanked him around and shoved him at me. Dante staggered and fell forward, and I instinctively Shifted to human form, catching him before he could hit the floor.
Gently lowering him to his back, I looked up to see the Elder Wyrm vanish through a door in the far wall, leaving a spattered red trail behind her. As she passed through the frame, a metal barrier dropped down, cutting off pursuit.
Numb, I looked down at my brother. He lay there gasping, the front of his suit jacket a mess of blood. One hand was pressed to his middle, and blood pooled between his fingers, staining his shirt and spreading rapidly from his chest.
“Dante,” I whispered as my eyes started to burn. “You idiot. You always have to try to save me.” I couldn’t look at the gaping wound in his chest, fixing my gaze on his face, on his eyes as they sought mine. “Why?” I choked out. “Why now? What made you change your mind?”
“Didn’t…you hear me?” Dante looked up with a wry smile, though his face was tight with pain. “I said…there were some things I wouldn’t sacrifice, even to the Elder Wyrm. That some things are sacred. You…are one of them. The only sacrifice I couldn’t make.” His eyes closed, and my heart gave a violent lurch, but he just sighed and continued in a voice of dark regret. “I never changed my mind,” he whispered. “I just… I wanted to be free. I thought…if I reached the top, I would have made it, that power equaled freedom. But I was wrong. The Elder Wyrm…had no intention of ever stepping down.” He opened his eyes, and they were hard, glassy with pain, anger and revulsion. “Do you know how much worse it would’ve been, had she been ruling Talon from your body? Reminding me…that I had a sister, once, and I had failed her? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”
A shudder went through him. Blood bubbled from his lips as he coughed, and I gripped his hand. “Dante, don’t try to talk. We’ll get you out of here—”
“There’s not…much time left.” Dante’s words were forced, as if he was rushing to get them out. One blood-stained hand reached into his jacket, withdrawing a plastic key card. “Take this,” he said, dropping it into my palm. “That will get you through every…door in the laboratory. The hall on the left…will take you to the stasis chamber. Destroy it, and the clones, before she can declare war on humanity.” Something exploded on the screen behind me, lighting the room for a split second, and Dante winced. “Go, Ember. Before it’s too late.”
“I’m not leaving you here!”
“It’s all right.” His fingers weakly squeezed my palm as he settled back. His green eyes stared up at the ceiling, tired and, strangely, at peace. “I’m finally free,” he whispered, almost too soft to hear. “You were right, you know. About Talon, and the Elder Wyrm, and everything. But I’m glad… I got to see you again. That I could protect you one last time.” He chuckled, barely a breath in the stillness of the room. “You were always like that,” he murmured. “Always the impatient sister that needed saving. I don’t know how…you made it this far…without me…”
“Dante.”
No answer. My twin stared up at the ceiling, his expression vacant and unmoving. I shook my head, unwilling to believe, and squeezed his hand.
“Dante.” I reached out and shook him, watching his head flop limply, eyes staring straight ahead. “Dammit, say something! Don’t you dare fucking die, not now, not with everything we went through to get here. Answer me! Dante!”
“Ember!”