Dragon's Key--Complete

Chapter Twelve

I wasn't going to be fast enough, I knew that the moment I saw Zoschke reach for his gun.  One shot went off before I could get to him.  I picked up the human trying to stab me with his sword and threw him at Zoschke.  A second shot left the gun, pointed toward Sofie.  I used every bit of speed I had and I was able to knock the gun out of his hands as the third shot left the gun.

The last two had gone wild, but the first he'd had complete control over and the gun had been pointed right at Sofia.  That thought echoed in my mind as I removed the threat and I spun around to see where the bullets had landed.  Jared, Chastain's younger brother, had arrived earlier to help even the odds grabbed Zoschke after I knocked him to the ground.  Jared would contain him until we could decide what to do with him.  My thoughts were not on him, but on the bullets I knew had left that gun.

I saw the evidence of the last bullet in the ground not far away, I had heard the impact as it hit the dirt.  I looked up and along, looking for the resting place of the first two bullets.  My gaze rose and met Sofie's across the length of ground that separated us.

Every time I looked at her, I was reminded of my luck at having found her.  She was more than any man could have hoped for, and I knew I was lucky beyond all reason to have her a part of my life.

She smiled at me, free of her attackers and having been on her way to help with the men I was fighting, to protect me.  I noticed before she did.  She was bleeding, dark red blood seeping out onto her shirt.  I could only stare at her in horror as she reached down, touching a hand to her ribs.  She lifted it back up, surprised to see blood on it and looked confused, not immediately aware why it was there.  She looked back up at me and her eyes met mine.

He shot her.  I could barely comprehend that single fact as the knowledge of it rolled through my mind.  Faced with the knowledge that he no longer had the upper hand, he'd shot her.  Anger grew in me stronger than anything I had ever experienced in my life.

“Aaron!” my mother shouted.  She had been right behind Sofie.  They had been coming to our aid and she had been able to reach Sofie just after the bullets hit.  Her voice was filled with horror.  “Iron.  They're iron bullets.”

I could see the evidence of the second shot.  It had left a bloody trail across my mother's arm, but caused no lasting damage.  She would feel the burn of the iron, though and was well aware of the dangerous lump of metal currently lodged in Sofie's abdomen.

I struggled to contain my human form as I watched Sofie sink down into my mother's arms.  I could hear her speak to Sofie, telling her to hold on, that I needed her.  That was the absolute truth.  I needed her desperately.  I honestly didn't know how I would continue in this life without her.

My mother pressed her hand over the wound, trying to stem the flow of blood.  Right before my eyes, the wound started to smoke through my mother's fingers.  My horror grew at the sight.  I knew what that meant, Sofie's human body had changed enough that she had developed the dragon's second stomach, the one that created the acid that flared to life once ejected in dragon form.  It created a blast of fire so intense and so large that it would incinerate everything within miles if it wasn't properly contained.

If her second stomach was leaking into her abdomen, there was a very small window before it started eating her organs and devoured her from the inside out.

She wouldn't die.  She couldn't die.  I'd finally found her and I thought she was finally warming up to the idea of being with me for a very long time.  A very large part of me wanted to lash out and destroy the one who had hurt her, to make sure she would wake knowing she'd never have to fear anything from him again.