The Dragon's Descent (35 page)

“Definitely not paradise,” Greer said, with a disgusted look on her face.

“It was all an illusion,” Pax said as his eyes took in the hideous landscape.

As Vero watched the unicorns grazing off in the distance, one by one their milky-white hair morphed into gray, smarmy skin. Hooves became sharp, dirty claws, and a long patch of greasy, dark fur sprouted from head to tail. Thick stitches sewed their eyes shut. The unicorns had been nothing but the demonic dogs in disguise. Vero swallowed hard.

“Swords, everyone,” Vero said, backing up.

The creatures' long snouts pointed in their direction. Vero's heart sunk as he realized that they had picked up his scent. A sword sprung from the palms of each fledgling. Pax and Ada both smiled to see their swords in fact had regrown after losing them against Rahab's “severe beasts."

They held them up in a defensive position, braced for an attack.

“What are they?” Pax asked.

“Demon dogs,” Vero said. “One like that bit my calf. At least this time I'm not unarmed.”

The dogs dashed at an unnatural speed toward them. Vero and the others stepped back and bunched up close to one another. With their teeth barred, the beasts surrounded them, circling. Thick saliva dripped from their hungry lips as they looked ravenously upon their prey.

One broke free from the pack and leapt into the air. Its mouth was wide open, ready to clamp down on angel flesh, when Pax swung his sword, slicing clear through the beast's nose and cutting it off.

“Excellent!” X yelled.

The dog howled in agony as the same black ooze as the raven's gushed out of the spot where its nose had been only moments before.

“It's so creepy,” Ada said. “Its eyes are sewed shut.”

Without its nose, the demon dog stumbled along as if it were completely off balance, like a rudderless ship. It shook its head, spraying drops of the black ooze onto the fledglings. Greer winced and used her shirtsleeve to wipe the foul ooze from her face.

“Finish that thing off!” she shouted to Pax. “Or I will!” But the injured creature fell to the ground. Its body blackened in seconds and turned to ash. Its death only angered the rest of the pack. They howled at the fledglings with intense hatred. The largest dog's mohawk bristled as it released a ferocious cry, rallying the other dogs. The hair on Vero's neck bristled too.

The whole pack attacked as the large dog pounced onto Vero, its mouth going straight for the jugular. Vero
anticipated the move and rolled underneath the creature. He quickly spun, sword out, but the massive demon dog cocked its head and leapt at Vero again.

Vero's sword went clear through its chest. The dog bayed in pain. Vero pulled his sword from its chest.

“Help!” Greer yelled.

Vero looked over and saw Greer fighting off two dogs at once. As Vero swiveled to strike one of Greer's attackers, the same demon dog he had just stabbed got back to its feet. It jumped onto Vero's back, knocking him to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Ada struck the other dog attacking Greer. Greer then sliced the snout off the demonic canine.

The enraged dog on Vero's back reared its hulking head, readying to snap his neck in its jaws. Vero twisted his body beneath it and jabbed his sword up toward the dog's nose, cutting it off. The creature yelped as again black “blood” gushed from its snout. Vero shoved the demonic dog off him as it started to smoke. Greer quickly gave him a hand, pulling him to his feet. Greer looked down at the struggling dog.

“I thought it was dead. You killed it,” she said, catching her breath.

“Apparently you gotta cut off their noses to kill 'em,” Vero said.

“Oh no . . .” Greer said, looking over Vero's shoulder.

Vero followed her gaze. Pax was backed up against a gnarled tree. A dog had him cornered. Pax grabbed on to a branch with one hand, as the other held a sword toward the creature. As he climbed up the tree, the dog followed him, just beyond sword's reach. Lightning fast, the dog-beast
attacked. Its teeth grabbed a mouthful of Pax's pant leg as the fledgling screamed. In a panic, he tried to kick the dog off his leg, but it wouldn't let go. Pax's wings suddenly sprung from his back. He shot up in the air with such a force that the demon dog released its grip.

“Good going, Pax!” Vero shouted as Pax stood on a branch near the top of the tree.

But then Vero's face dropped as the dog leapt from the tree branch straight up in the air—a good ten feet—and sunk its teeth into the branch, just missing Pax's ankle. Wildly flapping his wings to escape, Pax became entangled in the tree's branches. As the dog neared, Vero and Greer sprouted their wings and shot up to Pax. In a well-orchestrated move, Greer grabbed hold of the dog's neck and violently jerked its head back. With a clean cut, Vero sliced off its snout. The demon dog fell from the sky and landed on the ground with a thud. It blackened and turned to ash.

“Who knew they could fly?” Pax said, a bit dazed.

Greer untangled his wings.

“Is that all of them?” Vero asked, as his eyes scoured the ground.

“I think so,” Greer said, searching below.

“Not so fast!” Pax yelled, pointing.

Vero and Greer followed his direction. A dog was sprinting after Ada, nipping at her heels as she ran. X chased after the beast, slashing at it with his sword, but falling short. Greer, Pax, and Vero landed in front of Ada. She was so terrified, she couldn't stop running and plowed into Greer, who fell back, hitting her head on the ground. The dog sprung toward Ada and Greer lying in the dirt. Then,
whack
—

Pax's sword cut through the creature's snout, and the demon dog landed on top of the girls, drenching them in black bile. Ada quickly rolled out from underneath the dog. X and Pax dragged Greer out from underneath it as the creature smoldered away.

Exhausted, the angels stood, catching their breath. Greer turned to Pax and hugged him.

“Thanks, little dude,” Greer said. “I owe you one.”

“We're even,” Pax said as Greer released him.

“But you know I'll always have your back.”

“I know.” Pax nodded.

“We gotta get out of here!” Vero yelled.

The others turned their head in Vero's direction, and they, too, saw them—

Three large, red eyes peeked out from a thick mass of gnarled trees.

26

THE ZIZ

V
ero glanced over his shoulder as he flew at breakneck speed toward the gates. Three larger-than-normal maltures were flying after them. Vero had seen plenty of maltures over the years, but he never got used to them. Each was hideous, covered in scales and fur. They had no noses, but were armed with plenty of sharp talons and claws. Yet the most disturbing trait of all was the single eye that went clear through their heads. That and the fact these uber-maltures had wings, something Vero had never dealt with before.

Ada, Pax, X, and Greer flew on either side of Vero. The golden glint of the gates guided them like a lighthouse directing a ship to shore. The gates were open, a more-than-welcome sight as the maltures were flying close behind. X flew ahead of Vero.

“Quick! Back the way we came . . . Let's get out of here!” X yelled, pointing ahead.

The angels aimed straight for the open gates until suddenly the heavy doors slammed shut right in their faces, seemingly by themselves. Ada had been flying so fast that she slammed up against the rails. Her shoulder bore the brunt of the impact.

“You okay?” Pax asked.

“Yeah,” Ada said, rubbing her sore shoulder.

“We'll have to fly over!” Vero yelled as he shot straight up.

The others followed. Just as they were about to clear the top of the gate, rails from not only the gate but the walls as well grew over their heads, trapping them underneath. The fledglings zigzagged, but the metal bars grew faster than they flew. The rails created a dome and they were trapped inside.

“What the heck!” X shouted, frustrated and angry.

“Try to fit through there!” Vero pointed to a large gap between two rails.

Vero squeezed his head through the bars, but the rest of him would not fit. His face turned red as he desperately tried to push through the rails.

“It's not gonna work,” Greer shouted as the uber-maltures flew closer. “We're trapped in here, and these guys look like they mean business!”

Vero retracted his head from between the bars. He looked above—the rails had curved over, forming a ceiling that went on as far as his eyes could see. There was no escape; they were trapped, like caged animals at the zoo.

Vero heard the flapping of bat-like wings. He turned and saw three super maltures hovering over them. A truly evil smile formed on their nose-less faces and then each grew a scythe out of the palm of their claw. Vero knew they had no choice but to—

“Fight!” Vero shouted to the others.

With their jagged black wings beating furiously, the three maltures darted forward. One swiped at Ada, who barely managed to fly out of its way. The malture continued to pursue her.

“Ada! No point running from these mutants! We're in a freakin' cage!” Greer shouted. “They only have one head . . . Should be easy enough for you to separate it from their bodies!”

“You're right . . . I did decapitate that four-headed leopard,” Ada said, as a fierce look came over her. She spun around in the air and faced the malture.

“Bring it,” she snarled, narrowing her eyes.

The malture raised its scythe and swung it at Ada. The blade of her sword caught the blade of the scythe. The sound of metal striking metal cut through the air as Ada skillfully deflected every jab. The malture backed her up to the rails and swung its scythe at Ada's head. She ducked, and, summoning all her strength, wielded her sword, slicing the fiend in two across its midsection. Ada watched as its bottom half fell to the ground, but yet the upper half of its body remained hovering in the air, swinging at Ada. She was caught unaware as the scythe aimed for her neck. Suddenly a blade sliced the malture's hand off, and her scythe and claw dropped to the ground. Ada saw Vero hovering beside her.

“You need to cut their hands off to kill them!” Vero shouted.

Ada, a bit shell shocked, slowly nodded.

Whoosh!
Vero felt the air from a scythe as it came dangerously close to his head. He pivoted in midair and saw a
malture readying another swipe. To avoid it, Vero dropped out of the sky, to the ground. The malture followed him down. It stabbed at Vero, who deflected each blow. And then in a clean cut, Vero chopped the malture's attached scythe from its body. It instantly went down.

Pax and X sparred with the remaining malture on the ground. They pushed the creature back with their swords. The malture slashed his scythe at Pax, catching and ripping his shirt. Pax stumbled back and fell on his behind. The malture quickly advanced, his scythe raised, when—

X lunged forward and drove the tip of his sword straight through the creature's lone eye—all the way through the backside of it. The malture howled in agony. Instantly blinded, it stumbled forward. Pax got to his knees and swung at the malture's arm, severing it. The malture's body began to smoke. Pax got to his feet and stood next to X, watching the hideous creature burn to ash.

“Your first malture?” X asked.

“Yeah,” Pax said.

“Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to be your last,” X said solemnly.

The other fledglings gathered around X and Pax. Greer looked overhead.

“We're sitting ducks,” Greer said, her eyes scanning the bars that surrounded them on all sides.

Vero turned to the others. “She's right. There will be more.”

“There's got to be a way out!” Ada said, panicked.

“There is,” spoke a low, guttural voice.

Vero jumped and turned. Behind him stood Lilith, no longer disguised as Adrik, but in her true form—the
revolting hag. Vero felt sick to his stomach, not from looking at Lilith but rather at who was standing beside her—Kane! Ada gasped at the same sight. Crestfallen looks came over X and Pax while Greer shot daggers at Kane. “Traitor!” she shouted.

Kane looked impassive as he stared at Greer. She made a move to shove him when Vero stepped in front of her, stopping her.

“We all risked our lives to save his sorry butt in that stupid river of acid!” she shouted. “It could have been over for any one of us!”

Kane stood, poker-faced. Greer locked eyes with him, then turned away and allowed Vero to walk her back to the others. Pax turned to Vero. “Is that Lilith?” he croaked.

Vero nodded.

“Really? I didn't recognize her without all her pretty, long hair!” Greer shouted. “Hey Lilith, do I need to yell louder? Seems to me like you're missing an ear!” Greer grabbed her ear in mockery.

Pax flashed Vero a puzzled look.