Claws and Kisses

Valentina was heartbreakingly beautiful.

Her delicate curves were hugged tightly by a teal dress that cinched at the waist and fluttered to the floor in a wave of ruffles. Her full breasts were on display due to the plunging neckline of her gown. Blonde hair was coiled on top of her head, pinned with pearls and diamonds. Emerald green orbs peered into mine.

“What do you think you’re doing with my pet?” Abandoning her post in the doorway, she swayed forward until she was a only a few feet away. The bed was the only thing that seperated us.

My fingers twitched, aching to reach for the chains around Rhett’s ankles. If I could undo those, we would be out. Freedom was so close I could almost taste it.

The she-dragon tracked the movement, smiling in a gruesome way. Her glistening pink lips puckered as she spoke. “Uh-uh-uh, silly maid. My human has been very bad today. Keeps trying to escape. Those chains are for his own good.”

Red clouded my vision at her words. His own good. My fists tightened, and I ran my knuckles over the hilt of the blade hidden under my uniform. One stab and we could run. I just needed one hit.

She kept talking, obviously unaware of the similarity of me and Rhett’s features. “He’s a sweet little thing, aint’ he? Took a while to break him in. He practically started a rebellion the first week he got here,” she said, stroking his chin as he clenched his jaw, obviously trying to refrain from stupidly lashing out at her. She smiled again. “But we fixed that little problem, didn’t we?”

Baba and Mama’s burnt corpses clouded my vision. Their ashes blowing in the wind. Because of this she-dragon, I would never be able to see Mama Baya’s crooked smile again. I would never be able to play cards with Bakari late at night, listening as he would tell stories of days past. I would never feel the warmth of their love soaking into my soul after years of living on the street and running from the terrors of yesterday.

“Demon!” I bellowed, unsheathing the dagger under my skirts and jumping onto the bed before repelling off the mattress and into the air. My hand came down in a winding arch to meet the curve of her cheek.

Valentina grinned.

The sharp tip of my dagger did not even reach her face before I was being thrown across the room, crashing into the couches in the other chamber. There was a loud snap, and a horrible, burning pain flared up my arm. I looked down to see my shoulder twisted at an unnatural angle, practically hanging from the socket. Crying out in pain, I struggled to sit up, searching frantically for the dagger I had dropped.

“That’s all you’ve got?” She laughed loudly as she swaggered toward me, her dress whispering across the floor. “And here I thought I was getting a fight.”

Her hand petaled across my throat, gripping the tender flesh there tightly before squeezing. I choked, clawing at her hands with my own good arm. In one fluid motion, she lifted me by the neck so that my feet dangled in the air before I was being slammed into a wall. The copper smell of blood sullied the air, mixing with the pungent scent of tears and sweat.

“So let me get this straight,” Valentina said, her eyes alive with the rush of power and adrenaline that came with inflicting pain on the weak. “You come in here with a toothpick of a dagger, no backup, no plan, and just expect to skip out of here arm-in-arm with my property?”

My screams reached a new pitch as she put pressure on my shoulder, the pain all-consuming.

I barely heard her next words over the rising tide of my own screeching. “Listen closely, stupid human. In my world, when someone tries to take what’s mine, there are consequences. Believe me when I say that I don’t fuck around when it comes to my treasure. And I sure as hell don’t let the thief live.”

Placing her hand above my chest, she pulled her arm back, ready to tear my heart out. Rhett was screaming along with me now—pleading with Valentina to let me go. The she-dragon didn’t blink, and simply smiled as she plunged her hand towards my heart.

Her claws scraped against my chest.

I shouted at one last prayer.

Then the world exploded.

***

Ears ringing, I opened my eyes to discover that I was once again on the floor, but Valentina was nowhere to be seen. The room was in tatters. The walls and floors were singed black, as if a gust of fire had blown through. The furniture was no longer elegant and polished, but decimated and scatter in pieces on the ground.

What the hell?

I looked to the side and saw that Rhett was knocked out on the bed, still bruised and wrapped in chains but alive. Valentina had disappeared, gone with whatever force had torn apart the room. A glint of light shone in the corner of my eye, and I looked down to see both of my bracelets glowing, as well as the amethyst amulet hanging from the collar around my neck.

I blinked. They’ve never done that before.

“Lady Valentina!” A feminine, stern voice called from outside the hallway, followed by a series of booming knocks. “Open the door! There have been noise complaints about your room.”

Oh gods. If whoever came in, that would be it for Rhett and I. We would not be able to escape. I wouldn’t be able to avenge my foster parents, my village. All the dead who lay unburied because of Valentina and her horde.

I gritted my teeth and tried to stand up, but only ended up falling back onto my ass, shaking and biting back screams. The door opened and footsteps approached shortly after.

“Lady Valentina! I—” The voice cut off, wavering. The footsteps stopped. “Holy hell. What . . .”

A tingle ran up my back, and even though I couldn’t see her, I felt her eyes running up and down my figure anyway. She prowled closer, not saying another word. The pain in my shoulder and back was enough to make my vision blur, and I did all I could not to black out again.

Her hand came down on my shoulder, and then I was being rolled over onto my back, facing the woman. My eyes peered open into slits, and I was just able to make out the woman’s ebony hair and warm brown eyes.

“Wendy?”

I frowned. How could she know my name? Before I could ponder on it, she was turning to the door and shouting, “Romeo! Get in here!”

That dragon’s name was familiar. Silver hair and golden skin greeted me as toned arms gently folded my body against a broad, muscled chest. My eyes snapped shut, and I moaned in agony. Laying on the ground was painful enough, but moving the sore muscles brought on a whole new wave of torture.

“What the fuck happened to her?” The man—Romeo—said over his shoulder, to the woman a few feet back. “How is she here? And why is she in Valentina’s chambers?”

He started walking to the door, and I had enough mind to crane my neck back to check on Rhett one last time. He had not awoken, and simply laid quietly on the bed. A garble of words left my mouth, none of them making much sense. The burning in my body was too much, too bad.

“Valentina is dead,” the woman replied from behind. The sound of her footsteps trailed after us, following us into the hallway beyond.

Romeo tightened his hold onto me once I started thrashing. “Gods, kid. Relax.” I calmed down only when he began rubbing warmth back into my arms. “What do we do with her, Elora? She’s too banged up.”

The she-dragon hummed in agreement. “We have to get her to the medical ward. Quickly. They will be able to heal her there.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Romeo said, his voice slightly strained.

Elora sighed. “We cannot take her to him. Not yet. He will either kill her or take her up to the highest tower in the mountain and throw away the key. We need to keep this under wraps. At least until we know how he’s going to react.”

That was all I heard before darkness overcame me and I blacked out. Gone.