Chapter (Trapped)
The Rock Dragon glowered at Megan through thoughtful black slits in its large golden eyes. It's pebbled lips had begun to shine with the moisture of anticipation. Unable to contain its hunger any longer, the Dragon broke eye contact.
With her initial shock gone the young vampire had the sense to snap out of her temporary paralysis. Megan felt her senses return to her in a sudden rush. The cool air once more filled her lungs, and the stench of soured meat permeated through her nostrils. Her skin prickled up with the sudden surge of adrenaline, and before she consciously knew what she was doing her body had reacted.
Megan spun herself away from the monster and made a mad dash back towards the shelter of the boulder. Slipping back behind the narrow opening between the fallen stone and the mountain side, she narrowly avoid an untimely and rather grizzly demise. Luckily for her, enhanced reflexes came as a part of the package deal that had stripped her of her tattoo, as well as, her innocence.
Her right shoulder had just managed to clear the edge of the boulder when the monster assaulted her with its name sake. The Dragon sent a deep exhale of flame crackling through the morning air with a whoosh of heat that could have flash fried a steer.
Vampire or no, there would be no regenerating from that. The breath of a dragon would melt the flesh from her bones, like ancient napalm. The heat of the dragon's breath crackled through the air. Megan's nostrils filled with the smell of burning hair and her arm felt suddenly wet.
Looking back in a panic she discovered why. She was fast, but not quite fast enough to escape unharmed. The burst of heat had singed the hair from her arm and left a long trail of bubbling blisters from her elbow to her shoulder.
Huddled in the same crevasse that had offered her shelter from the prying eyes that existed only in her mind, Megan again crouched down; this time for an entirely different reason. Back peddling as far as she was able she felt like a contortionist trying to fit into a trunk far too small for her, only her audience was far more attentive and she’d get no applause for the effort.
Several seconds past and there was no movement from outside of her restricted universe. Her ears were filled only with the echo of her heavy breaths, and the pounding of her heart. With great effort she worked to slow her breathing. It had been a trying night for the ex-graduate student, and she couldn't yet see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Several more seconds and still nothing from came the outside. Naive and young, Megan breathed a little easier. Easing forward several centimeters and dislodging herself from the mossy walls of the boulder, her posture relaxed.
Leaning forward she discovered yet again, that she was not as quick as she had thought she was. A large section of her oversized shirt had been singed to ash by the heat of the monster's breath. She tore the ruined swatch of fabric free, ripping it at the seam, and cast it to the ground behind her.
Megan hadn't even realized she was holding her breath until oxygen debt had begun to set in. She was doing her best to listen for any activity from outside the confines of her narrow stone shelter. Thus far she'd heard, nothing.
That thing out there was not likely to give up so easily, but she couldn't hide forever either. The Vicari were coming. They'd slaughtered her men and would come after her. She needed to warn Cain before it was too late.
She could only hope he would be merciful about her failings. With her heart rate back to normal and her resolve strengthened, she decided to make her move. On her hands and knees she crawled through the drying remains of her own piss, cautiously seeking freedom from her stonewalled universe.
Her hands throbbed and bled from a multitude of tiny filthy cuts, while her head pounded and her heart raced. Even with all that to consider, all she could think about was how ironic her situation had become, being quite literally stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Shaking her head she smiled.
The sun shined a light glow through the morning haze when the top of Megan's blond, highlighted head poked forth from her hiding place. Easing out no more than a few centimeters below her brow, she scanned her surroundings. Her eyes cleared the gray stone surface just in time to save her again from certain death.
She pushed back off the boulder and back peddled deep into the cave in a panic. Megan hardly registered that she had managed to narrowly avoid having her head reduced to red paste. She screamed again, and this time her terror blended into sobs.
The blowing ball sized tail slammed into the surface of the boulder, sending a tremor through what seemed like the entire mountain and rocking the fallen stone in its resting place. Sprinklings of stone dust danced down into Megan's hair as she watched her life unfold through terrified eyes. Her throat suddenly became too dry to scream.
The club shaped end of the Rock Dragon's tail connected with such force that several chucks of the stone had broken free on impact. They shattered close enough to Megan’s face that a chip of the shrapnel actually left a cut on the bridge of her nose. She failed to notice.
The Rock Dragon had been playing possum. It had been waiting for her to try and come out so it could kill her. Horrified she assumed her previous position, cramming herself as tightly as she could between the rock and the mountain.
She wrapped her arms around her legs and began to rock in the fetal position. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she waited for the end to come. She didn't get a second reprieve. The intellect, as well as the patients, of the Rock Dragon had met their limitation.
The monster was done waiting for its next meal. It pursued her around the side of the boulder, reaching after her with the clawed hand of a scaly, massive gorilla. The dexterous claws snapped and slashed through the air, making futile attempts to snare their prey.
The creature's wide body and massive torso hindered its movement’s and played to the girl’s advantage. Unable to chase her into the inner sanctum of the cave the dragon roared in frustration slamming its shoulder hard into the boulder.
Massive though it was the stone budged slightly, rocking again back and forth in its cradle. Once more a shower of sand and tiny pebbles rained down on the fear frozen girl. Megan covered her head with interlaced fingers and screamed feebly into the ground between the legs.
The screams had already done their job. Help was on the way. Now they served only to work the dragon into more of a frenzy as it built toward its next life-consuming breath. Its nostrils flared and the special sacks at the base of its lungs built their inferno.
Desperate to feed the Rock Dragon repeatedly push tackled the boulder, rocking the boulder further from the mountain with each consecutive hit. Inside Megan screamed.
