Dragon Talons (Indigo Apocalypse Book I)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Audrey Tells Me A Secret

ZAVALA:
    Kitana's power swept ahead, whipping out like a literal whip, slashing down, then returning to her. When I saw her face, she looked, woah, she, looked, scary, like the true incarnation of death, as if she lived in the wild all her life and was being unleashed. "Unleashed from the darkness as, Precursors, of, death." That line never meant that people were going to die due to the spiders, it never meant they'd unleash literal Hell. It meant they'd come before Death, before, Kitana. The Uccisore Della Morte. The Slayer, Of Death. Kitana spun, whipping around and slashing with a fan viciously. Six spiders lost their heads before she was finished, then melted to dust. Kitana threw her head back and howled. Two more wolves joined the fight, both twins of each other. Dark brown coats, dark eyes, and feral grins. They flanked Kitana and together, they marched through the spiders. Suddenly, Sarah was over me, her hands on my face, "You ok?" She asked. I nodded, shoving myself up to my feet. She stared me over anyway. "You have a few bruised ribs, several cuts and small lacerations and minor concussion." "Well that would explain a few things." I said, swaying slightly on my feet. "I can still fight, I have to fight." Sarah shook her head. "You're in no shape to—" a spider flew overhead, shrieking it's agony as flames engulfed it. Sarah murmured a swear. "Hell, none of us are in any shape to fight." Then she ran her hands over my ribs behind my breast plating. I felt the slight agony I had ignored sooth until it was gone. "That'll have to do for now." She said, then she was gone, rising into the air on silver-white wings. When had that happened? When had she perfected her flight? She flapped, strong and smoothly, her body rising into the air, her tail perfectly balanced. I shook my head, and turned, to see Raveaque fall. At the same time, Draco admitted a cry of agony so potent I knew what happened. I surged forward, shoving through dracons fighting with renewed strength, fighting with renewed hope. I shoved through spiders, not even feeling them try to attack me.
    When I reached the spot where I saw him fall, agony ripped my heart in two. Raveaque lay there, surrounded by white dust, but his belly and throat savaged by pincers and clawed legs. "No." I said. "No, no, no." "NO." Draco's roar was a powerful unleashing, a powerful potent declaration, a foray into the carnage he'd unleash. I pressed my hands against his face, sleuthing for life, trying to find life to heal. I wasn't the best healing-hand, but I had skill. I could do this, I, could do this. I had, to, do, this. Had to, because, I couldn't accept anything else. I couldn't accept the idea that my brother was gone, that Raveaque was, was, was, dead. "NO." Draco's roar was a feral thing, feral and dangerous. My hands glowed with blue indigoism, but, but, but, there was no spark, no life, no calm cool lake, no hard stone. No island of peace. Raveaque was, he was, he, was, he, was, he, was. I fell on my brother, sobbing my heart out. Battle waged around me, but where I knelt, where I sat, there was nothing but Raveaque and I, nothing but us. "First Huntor, now you." I choked out. "Why can't you annoying bastards stay alive? Why do you always have to go off killing yourselves, or getting killed?" I continued to cry over Raveaque's body, continued until gentle claw-tipped hands pulled on my shoulders. A vaguely familiar voice said, "Come girl, there's nothing you can do for him now." I fought, viciously, snapping my jaws, wings flashing in warning, tail snapping. The vaguely familiar girl snarled. I threw her off and laid over my brother, claws digging into the snow. I threw my head back and howled an agonized roar, an agonized roar that was more dragon than human. I realized that, indeed, in that time I was over my brother, I had shifted into my dragon's skin for the first time since coming to the Indigo Symbol. I flapped my wings threateningly and snarled. Tears still fell down my face, agony tearing my heart open over and over again.
    Then, I saw her, she stepped forward cautiously, her hands out, her violet eyes filled with kindness. I realized the battle had to be over, had to bee, and that she'd help. She'd bring him back, she'd bring Raveaque back, she'd help him stay. Immediately, I shifted back and said, "Bring him back, now." Kitana didn't say anything, she gently brushed me by, and I moved away, kneeling by him, by her. Kitana's gloved hands, coated in silver blood, gently touched Raveaque's face, then his gaping neck wound. I felt Sarah approach, felt Wenzi, Briella, Leia, Joy Luna, felt everyone surround us, susurrus whispering swirling around us like a gentle breeze. Her fingers glowed with purple light, then her hands. I waited with baited breath, hoping with everything. Then, she rose, and adjudicated, "He's gone, I'm sorry." I opened my mouth, agony ready to rip right through me again, but I never made a sound. Instead, Draco bulled his way in, roaring at Kitana. She barely had time to turn, before he was on her.
    Shock rooted me to the spot as Draco raised claw-tipped hands and drove them into Kitana's throat. Or, would've, if she hadn't grabbed them, and vanished into darkness. They appeared and she dropped Draco flat on his back. But he was up, wild and raging. She blocked his first blow, then second, then third. Everyone was in shock, rooted to the spot, watching the fight. Draco spun viciously and brought his wing down on her. She dodged it easily, and blocked his next seven strikes. Shee swept out a leg and Draco went flying across the snow. I moved forward, but he rose, eyes feral, fangs exposed. "You let him die, he made sure he couldn't come back. You could've brought him back, you're the daughter of death, you could've brought him back." She bared her fangs. He threw himself at her, shashing with renewed furor and ire. I watched her move, watched how she did nothing but defend herself, how she didn't move forward to attack, as if she expected this, and was ready for it, as if, "Draco." I said, stepping forward. "Draco stop, stop stop stop stop, stop." But he was beyond coherency. He slashed at Kitana, as if his own life depended on it, as if he had to. "Draco, Draco, Draco, Draco stop, stop stop stop, right now." I grabbed his slashing claws and yanked on him. He froze, breath shoving out and in, as if claws were slashing his own throat. He looked at me, feral sky bluee eyes desolate and crushed. "Get out of the way Zavala." He snarled. "No," I placed myself in front of her. "MOVE." Draco roared. Agony ripped my heart out, agony, as I said, "He's gonee brother, he was gone before she even got to him." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kitana shake her head ever so slightly. "He's gone Draco, was when I got there—"You mean you could've saved him, why didn't you try harder? Why didn't you get to his side fast enough? Why did you just continue fighting? Why didn't you? Why Zavala, WHY?" "I don't know." I said, hanging my head. He snarled viciously. "YOU'RE A FROZEN DRAGON DISGRACE." He roared. Then the next few words he said quietly. "I hate you." Then he was running, shoved by me and Kitana, then shifting into his dragon form, and flapping hard into the air. I wiped away tears, tears of pain and agony. "You didn't have to do that." Kitana said gently. "I wasn't going to let him blame you." I said. I ran my bloodied fingers through my hair, watching Kitana's face. She'd retracted her violet mask, and slid her glasses away, revealing her face, deep shadows in her eyes. "Putting the blame on family hurts more, than blaming a stranger, than blaming Death." I had a feeling she spoke from experience. Kitana turned to stare at the dracons, those dead, and those who survived. She made eye contact with the Head Decre, and raised her dark eyebrows. "I'd presume you're the leader of this?" She waved toward the dracons. He nodded. "I'd presume you're the leader of this?" He waved toward the gathering of Indigos and Molten dracons. Pain flitted across her perfect face, telling me everything I needed to know. Then she drew back her shoulders, and said, "Our leader is dead, along with his mate. Killed by Dargonue and the Snow Queen, to wake the Dark Queen. The Dark Queen, has awoken, as of late, we don't know what her plan is or where she is." All the dracons had their eyes on her now, wrapped in her words, wrapped in horror and disbelief.
    "My leader, Huntor, one of your princes, sacrificed himself to protect us, to ensure we could get away, did everything he could to bring down the Dark Queen and her spiders, did everything to undermine your queen and her children. We will not let his sacrifice be in vain. He died doing the very thing he said he would. Protecting those who need it, protecting indigos, and dracons alike. He had another part to his plan, we need to get to the capital, get there before she does, before she can twist whatever lies she can against you. Then, get to the Molten Kingdom and tell the Lord everything that happened, as we indigos return to our homeland, because whether anyone likes it or not, war has come, a world war." As she spoke, many dracons looked at Decre for his response. He straightened his shoulders, and commanded dracons to prepare the journey, then to Kitana, "Thank you werewolf, we will prepare for war, our people from these plains have gone ahead and will spread the word. We will join them, will you need transport to the, wherever it is you neeed to go?" Kitana gave him a feral smile, and shook her head. "No, we should be able to make our way home." He nodded, and, turned away.
I ran my hand through my hair, and approached Kitana. She faced me, her unmasked faced shadowed, eyes haunted. I stared into them, those purple eyes that matched her hair if she were shifted in her wolf form. "Please." I said, grabbing her gloved hands. "Please, please, please." Her eyes, if possible, grew more shadowed and haunted, as if she finally saw too much death, as if being death's daughter was finally too much for her to handle. Camille appeared on her left, holding her left arm, as if it were broken. Briella appeared on her right. Sarah and Wenzi drifted over, Sarah touching Camille's shoulder, her fingers glowing with indigoism, healing her arm. Kitana stared at me, into me, and, shook, her, head. My heart crumpled, and burst into a million ice shards, shards that tore into my lungs, making it impossible to breathe. The shards reached my throat, tearing into it, making it impossible to breathe. They spun round and round my throat, and reached my head, making it impossible to think, to comprehend Kitana's implication, Sarah's words as she said, "Zavala, come here sweetheart." I turned, and drifted away, eyes going hallow, heart going hallow, everything going hallow, as if I were a desiccated husk, like all the life was drained out of me, which, it was. Huntor was everything, the one person, the one being I fell in such deep love with, and was ripped away, then, then killed, killed, and I didn't even get to apologize to him. The hallowness deepened, and I continued drifting, my body moving beyond my will, moving robotically, as if I weren't under my own control. Huntor, dead, Huntor, dead, Huntor, dead, Huntor, dead, Huntor, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. Huntor, Huntor, Huntor, Huntor. I didn't feel the tears falling down my face, didn't feel my feet moving, didn't see the dracons move aside for me, didn't hear anyone calling my name, didn't feel the blood and gore on my skin, on the armor I wore, didn't feel every cut and scratch and bruise, didn't feel the deeper wounds that was dealt, the wounds the only death could bring. I found my hands closing a door, and I stumbled toward a oil lamp, and flicked it on. I fell to my knees on the floor, and just stared at my reflection in a floor to ceiling mirror.
Hallow was the word. My eyes, turquoise blue, were dark and depthless, empty of all feelings. Dark, and lifeless. Huntor, dead, Huntor, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead dead dead dead dead dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. My eyes just stared, stared at the selfish girl in the mirror, a girl who didn't, couldn't accept that Huntor wasn't her's all along, who was so selfish, that she wanted to fight Sydney, fight a broken, girl for what she thought was her's. How could I have been so selfish, Sydney never wanted this, never wanted the pain and torment she went through, and through all that, she found Huntor, the light in the dark. She had him, and I wanted to take that from her. Wanted nothing more and less than to destroy their relationship. I wanted to ruin them, for nothing but selfish pain, pain Huntor didn't give me, pain I let strike me deep. Pain that he didn't, never wanted to give me. I didn't feel the tears that fell down my face, didn't feel them drip onto my cheeks, drip onto my dirty grungy armor. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, Huntor, dead, Huntor, gone, Huntor, dead, dead, dead, dead, gone, dead, gone, dead, gone, dead, dead, dead, Huntor, Huntor, Huntor, Huntor, Huntor, dead. I stared, stared, stared, stared, stared, then, blinked. My face began to change, no, my whole body began to change. I blinked, and blinked, then saw her again. Her deep sapphire blue eyes vacant, as the blind were, her shoulder length hair was almost to her waist now, and her soft face was in a soft smile, but there was too much of him, too much of him in that face. "Zavala." Audrey said kindly. I just stared at her, my tears drying. For a few minutes, I just stared at her, then, she said, "I know what you feel." I just stared. "I know," She said. "Because it's what he felt, what he felt when I died. When I was killed protecting him. I felt his agony, felt everything, hell, still do." I just stared. Then, I pulled enough brain cells together to ask, "Why ar you here?" "I'll try not to feel insulted." She said, that soft smile turning into a wolfish grin, a grin that struck agony inot my heart.
"Maybe I am just trying to give you some comfort, or maybe I'm just trying to tell you that everything is going to be ok." "Why?" I asked again, voice horse, near a whisper. "Because," She threw her hands up. "He's not gone forever girl." I stared, jaw slack. Audrey rolleed those sapphire eyes, sapphire, just like Huntor. "Geez, you have a brain, use it. A high power like Huntor, an IndoDragon, he wouldn't be dead for long." I continued to stare, and didn't jumped as the door behind me opened, and i saw Kitana's face in the mirror behind Audrey. "Zavala, sweetheart, I know that this hurts you but—" she stopped, staring at my reflection, as if she could see Audrey. "Kylie." She growled, almost harshly. "Kitana." Audrey chirped happily, though that grin sharpened. "You swore you wouldn't make your presence known until I got back—"got back with Huntor. And it seems you can't now can you?" She asked, that grin sharpening even more. Kitana flashed her teeth, her, fangs. "Careful Audrey, or else you'll loose control again." "Oh I have a better hand over the shifting." Kitana snorted quietly. Audrey snarled, wait, she, snarled? Sure enough, the girl was baring fangs, long pure white fangs. I stared, openmouthed, unable ot comprehend what I was seeing. Audrey snarled more harshly, and I saw it, saw horns appearing on her head, dracon horns, dark and purple, and, rising behind her, great huge dracon wings of dark purple. "And she lost control, yet again." Kitana said dryly. "Fine, yes I did." Audrey's voice was more intense, more beautiful. I shook my head, unable ot comprehend it. "You aren't, you aren't, you aren't—"No," Kitana said. "She's not dead anymore, brought back from the dead by the Higher Beings. Brought back a few weeks ago." "But she said—"She lied." Kitana said shortly. Kitana's face was, was, was filled with ire, as if she didn't agree with Audrey being reborn, as if she thought the girl should've stayed dead. Audrey took several deep breaths, and closed those sapphire eyes, Huntor's eyes, his eye. Her wings retracted, and horns disappeared. Heer smile lessened into a soft kind one. "See, better control." Audrey said. Kitana snorted again, and asked, "The Symbol?" "Quiet, though I'm sure you know that. We haven't heard or seen anything, it's as if all the spiders just vanished, as if they all picked up and left. Their eggs, their young, everything of their's iws gone, even their huge webbings." "That's accurate." "What?" Audrey asked. I was still spinning, still spinning out of control from everything, everything I witnessed. "What—"We're coming home." Kitana said, cutting me off. "Soon, now do us all a favor, and disappear, stop stalking people." Audrey just rolled those eyes, but her soft grin sharpened again. "Be careful werewolf, I bite now, hard." Kitana snorted, and Audrey's image faded, showing my face. I stared at Kitana, their conversation finally kicking in, and one thing coming clear. As if she saw it, she nodded. I staggered to my feet, spun, and slammed into her, wrapping my arms around her, crying now, now with tears of hope, hope, that my friend wasn't gone forever.