“Keep an eye on the others. It’s about to go dark. Really dark.”
Quinn holds the exposed, cracking ends and presses them together, igniting a coursing wave of electrical energy like he’s never felt before. Pulling them apart, he slams the wires into his chest and leans against the crumbling brick wall, taking in a massive dose of electricity. The timer on his mask counts down, thirty seconds, then twenty, until there’s nothing but a few ticking off the clock. He drops the wires and stumbles into the street and lays his hands on the ground like Thor would drop his hammer.
The result is an enormous surge, the size of an EMP, enough to drop the whole area off the grid. Quinn falls to the ground, hands sunk three inches into the asphalt, knees shaking as he tries to stay conscious. His screen zaps out.
“Goblin?” he asks, but the hum is gone, like everywhere else. He knocked them all offline, but he hears the roar of a creature that shouldn’t exist and he knows the battle is far from over.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Owen
One minute, Astrid, sweaty and exhausted from culling the echo from hundreds of people, is in his vision and the next, the streets fall dark. Police lights, along with the red swirl of fire and rescue, vanish into nothing. The ever-present hum of electricity completely dissipates. It has to be Charger. Please let it be Charger.
Two bursts of flame provide light. The dragon still lumbers slowly, feet cracking the pavement. Demetria stands at the monster’s feet. All her energy seems to be in this one fabrication—her other animals and toys having disappeared.
Blaze is on the other end of the street, fireball in hand. Kincade lurks in the shadows. It’s like something out of a movie. The epic showdown where magic and beasts fight to the end. But it’s not magic—not really. The fire is real, and the dragon is tearing up the streets. People are getting hurt.
“Pan,” Astrid says, finding him in the dark. Her hand brushes against his.
“What do we do?” he asks. Footsteps draw his attention and Quinn walks up. Owen expects him to look tired or worn out, but he seems the opposite.
“We let them kill one another,” Owen says.
“No,” Astrid says. “That’s not happening. We get Blaze. Contain him, and Demetria? She’s done.”
The first fireball is thrown before any of them move and it crashes into the float. The tissue, lumber, and glue holding it all together ignites easily and flame ripples across the structure. The look of fear crosses Demetria’s features but it turns quickly, changing into rage. That emotion channels into the dragon stomping toward Blaze, tail swishing, knocking into the flaming float and scattering fire into the street.
“Echo!” Quinn yells after pushing Owen to the ground. A huge piece of debris flies at Astrid. Quinn gets to her in time, knocking her to the side, but a piece of lumber hurtles in his direction and he moves to throw up a protective shield, but a shadow crosses in front of the flame before he gets the chance. The figure carries an actual shield, one made of metal and painted silver. The wood crashes into the shield and explodes into splinters.
“Mr. Perfect,” Astrid says, as Owen helps her from the ground. “About time you showed up.” She brushes her hands off. “Our plan went to hell.”
“How do we stop her?” Quinn asks him.
Draco shakes his head and hangs the shield on his back. “I don’t know.”
“I don’t believe you!” Quinn rages.
“He doesn’t lie,” Astrid tells him. “It’s a defect of being so magnificent or something. But I can stop her.”
“How?” Draco asks.
“You’re with me.” She points to Draco. “You two go shut down Blaze for good.”
“You sure?”
She nods. “I better be.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Astrid
“You distract her,” she tells Draco, but it won’t be as easy as that. The battle between Demetria and Blaze has caught new furor. Fire blasts from both directions. We’re seeing the curse of two Supers from Project 12 using their abilities against one another.
No wonder the doctors were afraid.
Quinn and Owen dart into the road and Charger tosses up a protective field, holding back Blaze’s attack. Kincade shouts from behind his minion and a troop of men in black clothing pours from the shadows.
“Owen can’t fight them off alone,” she says.
Draco nods. “He’ll have to give it a shot.”
He’s not the strongest fighter but he does have his powers, and he uses them the instant the first of Kincade’s bodyguards gets close. Astrid can’t watch, she has her own job to do, and she feels for the cuffs on her belt.
“Go,” she says to Draco with a nod, and he walks up to his boss with zero fear. He’s not afraid of her or her dragon. Astrid wishes she could say the same, because the woman stands beneath her beast and screams with a feral cry.
“How dare you trespass against me and my people. This is my town. My community!” She moves her hand into the shape of a claw and the dragon swipes the air too close to where Quinn is holding Blaze back.
“Demetria!” Draco shouts over the roaring fire. The heat from the burning float is sweltering. Her blue Wendy nightgown is singed along the ground. Sweat trickles down his neck.
“Draco?” she says, her voice is weak. The dragon wavers. She’s expended an enormous amount of energy.
“This isn’t what you came to do.” He takes a step closer. “This isn’t what you wanted to do to your neighborhood.”
He reaches for her hand.
“What?” Her eyes widen like she’s seeing the destruction for the first time. He holds her eyes and draws her in. How? She doesn’t know, but Draco is a very powerful man. “I can’t let him have it.”
“So you’d rather destroy it?” he asks. “Call down your beast. Echo and the others will take care of Blaze.”
Her eyes narrow. “He was always naughty. Always. I tried to get him to join us, but he’s too wicked.” She hisses in his direction and the dragon roars, spitting fire. Draco cuts his eyes in Astrid’s direction. She needs to act—now.
“Demetria,” he says, holding her eye, both of her hands in his. “I’m sorry.”
Astrid moves quickly and gets behind the deranged woman. Draco thrusts her hands behind her back. She slips the cuffs over Demetria’s wrists, pressing the button to make them magnetic. The dragon stutters and in a blink turns back into a tiny toy, landing with a clatter on the ground.
Demetria jerks against them, hair trembling down her back, but she’s locked tight.
“What have you done?” she asks. There’s genuine terror in her voice and Astrid backs away, not wanting her emotions to spill over.
With the dragon down, Blaze pauses his attack. Owen’s fighting three men in black, using a mixture of his power and tactical moves. Fighting, but not winning. Quinn turns and sees him take a hard kick to the side and fall. He drops his shield and races over to his friend, tossing his opponent to the ground.
Astrid starts to run over but Draco grabs her by the arm and holds her back. A full team in military gear runs from the side streets. They’re carrying guns, big ones, and the battle is swift. Blaze shifts his focus, tossing fire bombs in the direction of the soldiers. Shots are fired.
A segment of the fighters turn their way.
“Take her,” Astrid tells Draco, knowing Demetria needs to get out of here. Away from whoever these people are. Heavy footsteps pound behind her and she spins, fists raised. She’s ready to fight off whoever is coming next.
To her relief, she doesn’t have to. It’s Jensen.
He’s covered in soot and looks like he’s just been through war. They all do.
Draco looks between them, but his eyes linger on Jensen before he focuses back on Demetria. Already she seems to have slipped away, her mind somewhere else. Probably somewhere better.
“She’s coming with me, son,” Jensen says.
Draco doesn’t argue and steps away. Astrid stops Jensen when he reaches for his own pair of cuffs.
“Don’t take those off.”
“No?”