Whatever the cost to me.
I had no weapon. No gun. Not even a Taser, useless at this distance.
I saw him take a long rifle from his truck’s cab, his big body silhouetted just behind the bright headlights. I heard him rack a bullet into the chamber, saw him lift the stock to his shoulder. He aimed the business end of the rifle at me, standing like a victim in the full glare of the lights.
He didn’t have a hope of missing his target.
I’m going to die.
In the split second before he fired, Ichanged.
The bullet ricocheted off my chest and whined into the night.
I blinked.What the hell?
I saw clearly in the darkness, as though I’d suddenly gained a terrific night vision. The truck’s driver stared upward, his mouth open, and I suddenly realized I stareddown. My face had to be not just several feet above his, but severalyards.
The killer lifted his gun upward, swiftly aimed, and fired again.
I barely felt the bullet’s ping.
My instinctive defenses kicked in. I didn’t know what I’d do until it happened.
I opened my jaws and blew a long gust of fire down at him and his truck.
He screamed for a full second.
Him, his truck, his rifle, all caught fire in an inferno so hot I paced backward.
And stumbled.
I whipped my head around on my very long neck to view an extremely long tail tipped in a spade. My wings filled the sky above and behind me.What the ever-loving fuck was I?
“Jacy!”
Declan’s scream brought me back to my senses. I spun toward the upside down car and lowered my face to peer inside.
His skin pale, still strapped in his seat, he stared at me with his blue eyes huge, bulging.
Great. I just scared him into a seizure.“Declan?”
I didn’t know I could speak until I did. “Are you okay, kiddo?”
“Jacy, help me.”
He struggled to unfasten the belts not meant for a child to unfasten. In my current state of being something else, I had no idea how to help him. Flexing my right hand, which ended in long savage claws, I gripped the car itself. Taking it from the broken saplings, I set it on its wheels by the side of the road.
His window had shattered in the crash.
Delicately, scared to death of just not what I now was, but of hurting him, I sliced through the belts trapping him. Declan scrambled from his seat just as I used a claw to yank the door open. Fully expecting him to run from me, I felt doubly shocked when he ran to me and wrapped his small arms around my left front leg.
Yeah, I had four. Four legs, a long neck, a huge tail and massive wings. Oh, and I just killed a man by breathing fire.
“You’re a dragon,” Declan exclaimed. “I knew it. You’re one of us.”
“I’m a what?”
I happened to glance at the road and the still burning truck. People had stopped their vehicles, asking questions, calling the police, the fire department. I didn’t know if any of them saw me, but my gut told me I couldn’t let them witness what I’d become. I seized Declan in my talons, and silently backed into the forest behind me.
