"Run..." she whispered.
Instead, he did the most gallant thing she had ever seen.
He was already holding her, his shaky hand stroking the hair off her face, brushing one of her tufted ears. Now, suddenly, he gripped her hard, and his expression changed.
His jaw tightened, and a white line showed around his mouth. And his eyes... seemed to darken and glow red.
Too late, Keller realized.
He was taking her impression. Learning her shape.
No. You were meant to be something gentle.
Galen stood up.
And changed.
But something was a little off. Maybe it was the fact that he had to hurry when he took the impression, or some extra twist from his own genes. Because, instead of becoming a soot-black panther, he became a gleaming golden leopard.
The same animal. Different colors. This leopard was the dark rich gold of Galen's hair, and its eyes were the incredible green of his eyes.
He was marked with perfect black rosettes, each with an even darker gold center. His body was sleek and supple and almost seven feet long with the tail. He was a big leopard, at least a hundred and sixty pounds.
And before Keller had time to think, he was in motion.
A good spring. Untutored but full of the real killer instinct. The coughing yell he let out as he jumped was the kind a cat makes when its fury is too great to hold in.
The dragon whirled to face him. But it was too late. Once again, the crackling dark power hit but couldn't stop the rush. The dragon's human body couldn't fend off a hundred and sixty pounds of solid feline muscle.
Keller saw Galen swipe.
The dragon bellowed, clapping a hand to his head.
And Keller wanted to cheer.
She couldn't. She didn't have the strength left. But her heart was singing inside her with sheer pride. You did it. Oh, Galen, my prince, you did it.
She saw his body falling, struck by the black energy. She saw it hit the ground and lie still.
And she was sorry that they were both going to
die. But with the dragon dead, too, and Iliana alive, there would still be hope. There would be people to carry on.
Then she looked at the dragon, and time stopped, and her heart turned to ice.
He still had a horn left. The one right in the middle.
They hadn't done it after all.
He still had power. He was going to kill them now, and Iliana, too. And neither she nor Galen could do anything to stop him.
The noises the dragon was making were beyond description. He seemed to be out of his mind in pain and fury. And then Keller realized that it was more than that. He was screaming in sheer blood-lust-and he was changing.
So strange-she hadn't even thought about the dragon changing before. But she could take on most animals. She knew to go for the juncture between head and neck for rhinos, the belly for a lion. But this... what it was shifting into...
No.
I don't believe it, Keller thought.
It looked more like a moth being born than a shapeshifter changing. It split its human skin like a chrysalis. More of the yellowish liquid she had seen on Jaime's cheek oozed from the splits. And what was revealed underneath was hard and greenish-yellow, flat, smooth.
Scaly.
The smell was the smell from the basement Sickly-sweet, pungent, an odor to make your stomach lurch.
Powerful back legs bunched, and the figure grew and stood against the moonlit sky.
It was huge.
In her mind, Keller saw a scene from the past. Iliana, her violet eyes huge, saying, "He can turn into a dragon?"
And Keller's scornful answer, "No, of course not. Don't be silly."
Wrong, Keller thought.
It actually looked more like velociraptor than a dragon. Too big-it was more than fifteen feet long, counting the powerful tail. But it had the same look of alien intelligence, the same reptilian snout, the same saberlike hind claws.
It's not a mindless animal, Keller thought. It's smart. It even has things like hands on its forelegs; It's where evolution took a different turn.
And it had power. Maybe more power this way than in its human form. Keller could feel its mind even at this distance, the terrible ancient core of hatred and malice, the endless thirst for blood.
It opened its mouth, and for an instant Keller expected to see fire. But what came out was a roar that showed huge spiky teeth-and a flood of black energy. The dark power crackled around it like an aura of lightning.
Nothing-no shapeshifter, no witch, no vampire-could stand against this creature. Keller knew that absolutely.
That was when she saw Iliana getting up.
Stay down, you idiot! Keller thought.
Iliana stood straight.
There's no point, don't attract its attention...
"Azhdeha!" Iliana shouted.
And the monster turned.
There they were, the maiden and the dragon, face to face. Iliana looked twice as small as ever before in contrast to this giant. Her silver-gold hair was blowing loose in the wind, and her dress shimmered around her. She was so delicate, so graceful-and so fragile, standing there like a lily swaying on its stalk. I can't watch, Keller thought. I can't see this. Please...
"Azhdeha!" Iliana said, and her voice was sweet but ringing and stern. "Hashteher! Tiamat!"
It's a spell, Keller thought. Winnie taught her a spell? When they were lying there, whispering together? But what kind of spell would Winnie know against dragons?
"Poisonous Serpent! Cold-blooded Biter! Rasta-ban! Anguis!"
No, they're names, Keller realized slowly. Its names. Dragon names.
Old names.
"I am a witch and the daughter of a witch. Mine was the hand that took your power; mine was the hand that buried you in silence. Hecate was the most ancient of my mothers. Hecate's hand is my hand now."
Winnie couldn't have taught her that. Nobody could have taught her that. No witch alive today.
Keller could see Winnie's pale face watching in surprise from beyond Iliana, her eyes and mouth dark O's.
"Mine is the hand that sends you back!"
Diana's palms were cupped now, and orange fire crackled between them.
Keller's heart plummeted.
Golden-orange fire. Witch fire. It was impressive, from a girl who'd never been trained, but it wasn't nearly enough. It was about as dangerous to the dragon as a firefly.
She heard Winnie's voice in the silence, small and frightened but determined.
"Aim for the horn!"
The dragon threw back its head and laughed.