He dodged and spun, fighting for his life, for her life. His sword cut down one, two, three—but the last deliberately clawed his way up the blade even as he died, fouling John’s backstroke. In the two seconds it took him to free his weapon, the remaining four had regrouped.
The assassins raised their hands, uttering an ugly, guttural chant. A great wave of crude oil swirled up before them, drawn from the tanks strapped to their backs. John sprinted toward them—but too late.
One of the plesiosaur shifters tossed a lit match. John flung up an arm in futile reflex, shielding his face as the towering wall of fire roared over him.
The hungry flames flowed around him like water parting around a rock. The inferno swirled barely inches from his skin, yet he could not even feel its heat.
*My apologies for the abrupt intrusion,* said a familiar cool, calm voice in his head.
Blinking, John looked up. A large, bird-like shape hovered over him, wings spread protectively, every feather burning brighter than the firestorm raging all around.
*I do not wish to imply that you need aid,* Fire Commander Ash continued, as politely as if this was a mere social call. *But if you permit it, we would very much appreciate the honor of sharing this battle with you.*
Dumbfounded, John could only incline his head in wordless assent.
The Phoenix turned incandescent eyes on the Brotherhood of Extinction. Shock was clear in the assassins’ pale faces. One broke and fled, but the remaining three stepped up their chant, pushing with their hands as they tried to force the fire to obey them.
The Fire Commander’s eyes flared white-hot. The fire doubled back, embracing the plesiosaur shifters in their own blaze. They didn’t even have time to scream before they were nothing more than drifting ashes.
John hesitated, torn between chasing down the last fleeing assassin and running to Neridia’s side. His dilemma was resolved by two more winged forms swooping down out of the sky.
*We’ll take care of your mate,* Griff sent to him. The golden griffin spread protective wings in front of Neridia. Hugh slid off his back, hastening to support her. *You get the last one!*
*This way!* Chase was already pursuing the fleeing assassin, his black hooves flashing over the stony ground. *He’s heading for the water. Cut him off, Dai!*
“Do not kill him!” John shouted, as Dai—in red dragon form—came hurtling out of the sky like a thunderbolt. “I want him alive! I want to know who sent them!”
Dai rumbled acknowledgment. Opening his huge jaws, he breathed out a blast of fire, trying to cut off the assassin’s escape route—but with a final, desperate burst of speed, the plesiosaur shifter dodged around the leaping flames. John cursed as the assassin plunged into the lake, form blurring into a long-necked, finned shape.
John splashed into the water himself, intent on pursuing the assassin in his own true form—but the lake swirled urgently around his legs, current grasping his ankles like hands trying to hold him back.
*What are you waiting for?* Chase demanded, cantering up to him. The pegasus spread his wings, preparing to launch himself after the fleeing plesiosaur. *Hurry, he’s getting away!*
“Wait!” John caught a handful of the pegasus’s long black mane, stopping him from taking off. “The water is warning us away. Something is lurking in wait.”
The plesiosaur shifter was already nearing the middle of the lake, swimming for its life. Suddenly it thrashed, its paddle-like fins flailing at the water as if attempting to climb out of it.
Dai landed behind them with a thump, spines bristling and teeth bared. *What the-?* he began.
With a last despairing shriek, the plesiosaur vanished backward under the water, still struggling. Blood swirled on the surface of the lake.
The dark, triangular shape of a shark’s fin emerged, rising up.
And up.
And up.
*I have an idea.* Chase’s usually swift, boisterous mental tone was subdued as the monstrous fin sank silently back into the depths once more. *Let’s not go into the water.*
Chapter 15
“But how did you know to come?” Neridia asked Hugh as he examined her ankle.
“You can thank Dai for that.” The white-haired paramedic jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the enormous red dragon who was working with John to put out the remaining fires. “Or more precisely, his grumpy, over-tired baby. He was walking around the hotel, trying to soothe the brat back to sleep, when he saw every cloud get sucked across the sky in this direction. He knew it had to be John’s doing.”
*Good thing he woke us all up straight away.* Neridia started as Griff’s rolling Scottish voice spoke inside her mind. He was still in griffin form, holding one broad wing over both their heads to shelter them from the continuing drizzle. *We got here just in time. Whoever these thugs were, they were enough to give even John trouble.*
“I think John recognized them,” Neridia said. “I guess they must come from the same place he does.”