Touch of Flame

“No. I bought three more ships like you told me. They are delivered but he wants payment in another form.”

Ares stopped looking through the containers for weapons. “Another kind of payment?”

“He wants weapons in return. Your latest invention,” Noah said, also looking skeptical.

“You mean weapons to fight dragons?”

“Yes.”

Why would he want that?

As if knowing his thoughts Noah replied, “I saw something the day of the attack. One of his ships was on shore and it was even more solidly built.”

“You think it belongs to the slayers?”

“I thought so in the beginning. I was curious and often kept an eye and one night I saw dragons arriving at the ship. They left harmless and without causing harm.”

Now Ares was confused. So was it the dragons or slayers? He needed to know who he was buying things from and why they needed weapons.

“Are they on the ship?”

“Yes.”

“How many?”

“Three.”

Ares reloaded his pistols and put them in their sheets under his jacket. “Make the ship sail!” He ordered.

Abducting to question would be the method now. He needed to be ready, in case dragons were involved, being on water would be safer.

They went upstairs again and Ares prepared his crew for his plan while the ship set to sail.

For a brief moment, he worried about Nazneen who was waiting for him but then focused on the task. She would probably leave when he didn’t return. Or would she? He pushed the thought from his head for now.

He went up to deck with his crew and Dragenski’s men rose from their seats when they notices the ship sailing.

“What are you doing?” One of them asked calmly.

Ares took a moment to study them. They had weapons hidden discretely in few places.

“You want weapons as payment?” Ares asked.

“Yes.”

“For what?”

The man in the middle pulled and reached for his pocket. Ares didn’t try to reach for his pistol knowing from the slow movement he wasn’t making an attempt to attack. The man pulled out a card and held it out.

Ares gave one of his men a nod to take it. Brandon went forward and took the card from the man. He opened it. The was stamped with a logo and then “The Phantom” was written on it.

“We are a group of dragon slayers. I am sure you have seen us, as we have seen you.”

So they were slayers and they saw him fighting dragons but that would also mean they followed him to know he is one of their customers.

“Since we have the same goals, we wish to make make a trade instead.” The man explained.

He believed them yet not. He couldn’t ignore what Noah told him. There was only one way to find out for sure.

“I am afraid, I don’t believe you,” Ares said.

His men were prepared to do their part now and Dragenski’s men were quick to understand what was about to happen. They pulled their weapons, impressively quick. Ares could tell they were well trained and although his own men had grown up in a fight they had to try for a while before succeeding to knock them out and tying them to their chairs.

“You are making a mistake,” the tall one spat.

A threat. A hint that Noah could be right. Now they would have to wait and see.

“Prepare!” Ares ordered his men. They could be fighting dragons soon.

Ares had always found Lord Dragenski to be mysterious. He had never seen him personally and heard of anyone who had seen him. As he went back inside, “I need to know how long Lord Dragenski has been in the trade,” he told Noah.

Noah became thoughtful. “I believe a long time. I will look into it.”

They sailed for a while, Jayden looking out for dragons while Dragenski’s men were tied up on deck. Since they were sailing, help could only come quickly through flying but if he was wrong, then he would have to deal with the consequences.

A day and a night without their return would do, right?

“Dragons!”

Already? How did they know? Now, this was concerning and intriguing.

“Make sure they don’t take the men. They won’t burn the ship without saving them so we need to keep them,” he explained to his men as they went back on deck.

The firemen were ready to fire and Ares watched five dragons in different colors approaching their ship. They flew in a pattern where one shielded all the others behind him. They knew about the weapons.

Now was the time to use his tamer powers. He didn’t want them dead so he ordered, “Tus fendres!”

The dragons came flying straight into the ship and shifted to their human form and now that they could not be held by his command they began to fight. Ares was a skilled shooter but these dragons were used as weapons so they knew how to work together to confuse them all.

He was not sure who was who anymore, and he missed many shots before a fist knocked him back. Pain stabbed his jaw but he was quickly back on his feet and he already had his daggers ready in his hands. He began to fight one of them with difficulty. Dragons were much stronger than humans. Thankfully one of his men shot the dragon and stabbed him in the neck where he knew healing would take longer time.

He was already grabbed by another dragon who pinned him to the wall by the neck and before he could do anything to save himself, he saw something flash through the corner of his eye, and the hand around his neck was gone a second later.

Nazneen.

She grabbed the male dragon by the hair, pulling him back she turned him around and kneed him in the stomach. That was enough to bring him to his knees in a painful groan but she added another knee to his face.

As another dragon came running toward her, she was shot. Ares froze then pulled himself together. “Don’t shoot her!” He called angrily and then pulled his own gun to shoot the one coming to fight her. But Nazneen was faster than him despite her injury and he stopped afraid of shooting her instead.

He took a step back, his eyes glued on her slim figure compared to the men as she easily overpowered the male dragon and even fought another one at the same time. Broken ribs, broken arm, nose, jaw; she was angry.

Her lips curved up into a snarl and her eyes burned like the flames of hell. He even saw scales faintly appearing and disappearing on her arms and shoulders as she fought them in two or three.

As one of them tried to run away, she easily finished the one in her hands and then went after the other. She was up on the rail, running on the narrow wood and he could only raise his brows. His silken skirt had ripped during the fight and her bare leg came out to kick the dragon back into the ship. Then like a cat she landed on top of him, with a knee on his chest.

Ares grimaced, but she wasn’t done. She liked grabbing hair. She pulled the dragon up again, put an arm around his neck, and dragged him across the floor to grab the other one who was trying to get up to fight her again.

Ares walked over, “Well done, darling.”

Not bad to be a breedmate after all. She wasn’t completely useless. He could get used to this.

She turned to him, eyes still flaming.

“I need them alive,” he told her.

He could see how she refused to listen and strangled them harder, enjoying their slow pain.

He gave her a challenging look to listen and eventually she eased her hold but kept holding them for him. He stepped closer and crouched to meet their gaze.

“Is Lord Dragenski a dragon?” He asked them.

They didn’t reply and Nazneen tightened her hold around their necks again. He couldn’t help the small smile that curved his lips.

“Is he?”

They still refused and Nazneen made their faces turn blue but he could tell they would not tell him anything so he decided to let go of the question.

“Why do you need weapons?”

She eased the hold so they could speak. “To slay dragons,” one of them squeaked.

Dragons slaying dragons? Why?

“But you are dragons?”

“Yes.”

Interesting. “Then why?”

“They are humans too,” Nazneen replied.

Ares frowned.

“They are too weak to be full dragons.” She explained and then released them.

They both tried to catch their breaths.

They were hybrids? They said nothing to deny what Nazneen said.

“Well then, I will only trade if Lord Dragenski meets me in person. Let him know.” Ares said.

They retreated quickly, knowing fighting was useless with Nazneen there but he could see in their eyes that they did wonder why he had a dragon there.

Ares allowed them to leave with their human companions and watched them fly over the sea. “Half-dragons fighting for humans?” Nazneen said standing beside him and watching them disappear into the horizon.

“It seems like it,” he said turning to see her reaction. She had a frown on her face. He could understand her concern.

“Don’t worry. I don’t sell weapons to just anyone,” he assured her. Then he looked at the wound low on her belly. “Let’s take care of that,” he told her.

When they turned back, his men were standing there, eyes wide. They looked confused at first but then as they looked closer at Nazneen their gazes changed to something else. Lips parted and now they only had to drool.

Well, he couldn’t blame them. First, she was barely dressed and more than usual since her skirt was now ripped. Second, she had the body of a goddess and glowed as if she had just risen from the ocean. And her face with those lips and eyes… he had no words to describe such beauty. At least he wasn’t the only one spellbound now.

He snapped his fingers, once, twice and they still stared. Even forgetting she was a dragon. Nazneen noticed the way they looked at her and gave them her most subtle seductive smile, crossing one leg over the other where she stood.

This woman.

His men almost dropped together with their gaze at her legs.

“Alright!” Ares said placing himself in front of her. They woke up quickly from their spell.

Once they were awake, they remembered she was a dragon. Many of them were confused and others were guarded.

Ares had to introduce her and let them know she was with him. He could see how they all had a thousand questions for him.