Emma took his head in her hands, kissing him on the lips. Hunt took a breath, allowing him to enjoy the kiss for a moment.She pulled back, whispering into his ear, “Hunt, I can’t lose you either.” She paused, kissing him gently. “And I know if we do this together, we won’t lose each other. So fight alongside me. We can do this; I know we can.”
Hunt looked at her, understanding what she meant. If they died in the battle, then they would die together, and if they lived, they would live together. What mattered, even more than the mission, was for them to be together. Hunt nodded and got to his feet, reaching out a hand to help Emma get back on hers. They turned around to see Garret making easy work of the Wyverns, tossing them off to the side. He grabbed the head of one of the men and channeled energy from his bracelet into the back of the man, obliterating him.
Conan stood next to Hunt and Emma, looking at them. “You two done being romantic? Cause we got our work cut out for us.”
Sly scratched her head. “Do we really have to?”
Emma cracked her knuckles, getting ready for the fight as all four stood face-to-face against Garret. “Sly, we can’t just ask him to leave nicely. So, we are going to have to.”
“Great,” Sly replied. “And I still haven’t tried cotton candy yet.”
“We survive this,” Hunt began, “I’ll give you all the cotton candy you’ll ever want.”
Garret turned to look at them, and with a single arm, he ripped his cloak off his body. “Come to your deaths!”
Chapter 13 - Emma
They rushed at Garret at once, looking to overwhelm him. Emma watched his feet, knowing that if she could get him to the ground, they would be able to pin him down. If she could stop Garret here, they would only have Caspian to stop, and they had stopped him before. It was going to work. It had to.
Hunt fired a bright flash of light at Garret’s face, looking to blind him as they rushed at him. Emma quickly took her chance, diving at Garret’s hip. She slammed into him, forcing him backward. He staggered for a bit, keeping his balance. Conan jumped in, clubbing the man across the face, knocking him to the ground.
Garret shoved Emma with his knee, knocking her backward. Conan swiped at Garret, but the Dragon blocked the attack with his forearm, catching Conan’s claws in his own flesh. Garret placed a headbutt on the Wyvern, knocking him backward. Trying to follow up with an attack, Garret froze as a claw mark appeared on his face, three long stripes which instantly started bleeding.
Emma turned to see that Sly had attacked using her speed, moving so quickly that no one had noticed it. Garret backhanded Conan, sending him flying into the piping on the side of the wall. He crumpled the large metal pipes with ease, as though they were paper.
Garret turned to attack Sly, but Emma nodded to Hunt. They rushed at Garret from behind, each slashing at his hamstrings, Hunt with his blade and Emma with her claws. Garret fell to his knees, crying out in pain. Emma quickly followed through with a knee to the side of his head, knocking him to the side.
Hunt swung his blade, slashing at Garret’s neck, looking to take his head off. The blade slashed through his throat, cutting deep into it but not going all the way through. Emma realized that Hunt was not strong enough to cut through the tough Dragon skin in one fell swoop.
“Hunt!” she called out for him to toss the sword her way.
As he poised to throw the weapon, Garret charged energy into the bracelet, firing at Hunt. He blocked with the blade, the fallout of the attack sending Hunt into the roof. He fell straight to the ground, knocked out cold. Emma spun around, looking to place a roundhouse kick to the side of Garret’s face, but the Dragon caught her foot, pulling her in close and wrapping a hand around her throat.
“You are nothing,” Garret said, choking Emma. She drove her forearm into his, trying to break out of the hold, but Garret was simply too strong.
Sly rushed in to attack again, but Garret fired a blast in her direction. Sly jumped out of the way just in time. The explosion sent her falling back into the hatch, down to the third level of the sewers. Garret turned back to Emma, his hand still squeezing her throat.
Emma grunted in pain, with the air cut off from her lungs. She felt an intense pressure building in her head, feeling as though it would pop in the next second. Garret pulled her close to him. “Levi could not stop me, and neither could Bingwen, or an entire pack of Dragons. You have no idea who I am or what I will bring to this world, Emma. Too bad you won’t be here to see it. I will change the world, and that change starts with…”
Emma quickly leaned forward, biting his nose clean off. Garret roared, using his open fist to punch her across the face again and again, before throwing her off to the corner. Emmarolled to the side, completely stunned by his multiple blows. She was certain that he had fractured the bones in her face.
Garret groaned in pain, turning to face her. Using the bracelet he wore, Emma watched as he channeled magical energy into his body, healing all of the wounds he had suffered. Garret had restored himself completely in a matter of seconds, and Emma was already spent.
“You think you can make a difference, Emma?” Garret asked. “You’re just a Werewolf, another abomination. There’s nothing special about you. Nothing. This is not where you make the difference.”
Emma turned to see Hunt stir. He was still alive, and she was alive as well. If they were both alive, they could win. She had promised herself that she would work with this. Hunt was what she had come here to find. A man who would help them find Garret. But instead, Emma had found a broken man who had made her feel in a way she never had.
Emma wanted a life with him, and Garret wasn’t going to get in the way of that. Nothing would. Emma felt the bloodlust come, and she shifted form again, her tail growing out and her arms becoming more muscular and hairier. She growled at Garret through her snout, seeing the smile on the Dragon’s face.
“Oh yeah, now this is a fight!” Garret exclaimed.
Emma rushed at him, throwing her full weight against Garret. He put a leg back to slow her down, using her own momentum to lift her over his head and slam her into the ground. Emma kicked at his feet, taking him off his load-bearing leg. As Garret dropped to the floor, Emma swiped her claws at him, slicing through his forearm which he had brought up to block.
Garret kicked her in the chest, sending her sliding across the floor. She rolled backward, getting up to her feet, holding her claws up. Garret looked at his forearm to see that she had torn off large chunks of his flesh, leaving his arm in tatters. Bits of his body were left on the tips of her claws, drawing a smile from Emma.
“I’m going to kill you!”
As Garret attempted to attack, Conan quickly burst out from the side, driving his hand into Garret’s gut, using his own momentum to impale the Dragon with his fist. Garret coughed up blood, before looking down at Conan. Emma watched in horror as Garret took a deep breath and let out a tongue of fire right at Conan, sending him into a nearby wall.