New Breed (#1) (Dragon’s Fire), Page 2

Annabel tilted her head against the sidewalk. A dark clothed and haired man stood nearly on top of her. He was shooting flames at the dark creature. She should be running but nothing was connecting mentally because of the drinks she had earlier. All she thought of doing was remaining still and hoping neither of them remembered she was there.

  Lifting her head closer to him, she wasn't sure where he was shooting the flames from. A stream of flame came out his mouth and attacked the darkness with the same intensity as before. She had her answer. This was the craziest drunken dream she ever had. It ran circles around the last one.

  The dark shape seemed to absorb the flames into its nothingness. The flames either hit the dark shape or against the side of the building. Scorch marks appeared on the bricks and small shards of broken mortar rained onto the ground.

  The flames appeared to do little or no damage to the creature. Annabel saw small places where the darkness seemed less powerful when she looked closer. That must’ve been caused from the fire. She had to squint to see the spots though. It didn’t instill much confidence in her.

  The darkness attacked the man. It pushed him backwards with tremendous force, the air around them thrashing strong. The man's body flung against the side of the building and crashed into it hard. There was a crater in the bricks where he slammed. Annabel moved closer to help but she saw him stand up unfazed. He pushed the darkness backwards to Annabel's direction with more blasts of fire.

  Annabel felt the edge of the darkness brush against her body. It felt colder than anything she knew. The darkness tugged at her arm and brought her in closer. She wrestled her arm, clawing at the ground with her free hand. Every time she gripped onto a crack, she soon found herself being tugged away. She kicked with her feet in the opposite direction in an attempt to do anything to stop this from happening. She wished she was stronger – she could’ve saved herself.

  Deciding to take her chances, she stopped grabbing onto the street below and instead gripped her fingers tightly into the darkness. She wretched her fingers around the tendril of the creature and pulled hard. Screaming from the pain she felt, she kept pulling until her wrist barely had space to slip free. She wriggled away fast. There was no need to remain close it.

  She looked at her wrist where the darkness grabbed her. A large gash ran from it to the upper portion of her arm. The darkness scratched hard when it pulled her. She never felt pain before in one of her dreams. She felt the blood draining from her face. This was real life.

  “You're not hurting anyone tonight,” the man said to the darkness. His hands struck the shape and ripped chunks of darkness from the larger shape. This was a battle certainly wasn’t the first time he’d fought this creature.

  She positioned herself on the side of the sidewalk, away from the action. She wasn’t sure what was happening but it seemed this man knew what he was doing. She’d likely ruin whatever plan he had if she got involved.

  The darkness picked the man from the ground and hoisted him high into the air. It suddenly dispersed itself and allowed him to fall – hard. The ground shook beneath them when he landed. The creature gathered itself once more after accomplishing the deed as though nothing had happened.

  Her hand went to her mouth as she looked at the man lying on the ground. She wasn't sure if he was still alive. That fall looked like it knocked him out. It would’ve knocked her out certainly. She hesitated, looking around to ensure the creature didn’t plan on attacking her once more, before moving to him. She saw him pick himself off the ground and onto his feet.

  The man shook his head as he ragined his balance. “You're going to regret doing that to me,” he said, licking his lip. A small trickle of blood dropped from it onto his chin.

  The darkness swirled around on itself, twisting over and over. Annabel swore she heard it laughing. She pinched herself to make sure she was still awake. This night became stranger as time continued.

  A stream of fire billowed from the mysterious man's mouth. The flames made contact with the darkness but seemed to be absorbed without doing any significant damage. Nothing aside from the darkness was burnt from the flames. The darkness released its stream of dark energy towards the man. It knocked him off his feet and against the wall.

  “Are you okay?” Annabel asked before catching herself. She didn’t want to talk much. It was for the best if she’d fade away and keep her mouth shut.

  “I slammed against a wall and left a crater. Yeah, I'm fine,” the man said sarcastically as he stood up. He narrowed his eyes. The darkness he fought was no longer visible. He stepped from the wall and looked down the street. Annabel did the same. There was no sign of it. The darkness had escaped and without a trace.

  “Did you see where it went?” he asked Annabel as he continued looking.

  Annabel looked on the opposite side of the alley but didn’t see anything there either. She hadn’t paid much attention to her surroundings while the fight went on but it all seemed normal to her. “I don't see anything,” she said moving from her hiding spot.

  “Did it hit you?” the man asked advancing to Annabel. He kept shifting his head from side to side, likely making sure the creature didn’t return for another attack.

  She shook her head. She didn’t reveal her arm to him. “I didn't get hit. Are you sure you're okay? Your lip is bleeding.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a napkin from the club. She pressed it against his lip.

  He pressed his fingers against the napkin as she pulled hers away. “It's not too bad. I can still walk.”

  “So,” she said with hesitation in her voice, “Whom can I thank for saving me from that attack?” She tried pulling it off as coyly as possible. She couldn't be certain, but she believed half of her words were slurred. If he understood her at all she was impressed. Everything from the night was begging to drop on her at once.

  “My name's Crispin,” he said, extending his hand with the napkin in it. He grabbed the napkin with his other hand and shoved it in his pocket. He gave a lopsided grin.

  “I'm Annabel,” she said, shaking his hand. She felt herself leaning more on it to maintain her stability. This wasn’t an ideal way to meet her hero.

  “Do you need me to call you a cab or a friend to get you?”

  Annabel pointed at a red building further down the street. “I was heading home. I live behind that red building.” She’d make it to her room before that dark creature came back.

  “Oh,” he told her, looking in that direction. “In that case, let me walk you home. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.” He presented his crooked arm for her.

  “That would be nice.” She grabbed onto his arm, pressing herself close to him. He smelled nice. His clothes were clean. That was the best smell in the world. Much better than whatever she smelled on the sidewalk.

  As they walked, Annabel asked Crispin, “When did you move into the neighborhood?”

  “How do you know I haven't lived here long?”

  “You don't have an accent. If you'd been here for a few years, you'd have picked up an accent by now.” She tripped on a sidewalk crack, stopped by Crispin's grasp before landing face down upon it.

  He laughed. “You busted me. I've only been here for a month or two. A few of my friends and I moved here for a change of scenery.” He helped guide her over another crack without a trip this time.

  “I'm sure fighting dark monsters counts as a positive change in scenery. Okay, see that house right there? That's mine. Well, only the top half. It's a duplex. And it's a rental.” Annabel began feeling tired. The walk to her house was taking longer than she expected.

  The two walked to the front of her house. Crispin waited for her to unlock the door. “Do you live with someone else? It looks dark in there.”

  “It's fine. My roommate will be back soon. Probably. I don't know,” Annabel said with a laugh thinking about June. June was most likely hooking with up someone as they spoke.

  He glanced around her home once more, the concern obvious on his face. “
Do you have a phone?”

  “I have a cell phone.”

  Crispin pulled out the same napkin as before and wrote his number on it. “I don't have any paper – sorry about that. Here’s my number. If you see any dark shapes coming after you, call it. It's very important.”

  “Thanks,” she said, looking at the phone number. She stared at the paper. Her brain was frazzled and couldn’t recognize what numbers they were. She wasn't even sure they were numbers.

  “Are you sure you're okay? You look off,” he said. He had his brow furrowed as he spoke.

  She nodded, her head feeling heavy once more. “I need sleep. It was great meeting you tonight.”

  “Be safe and call if dark shapes start attacking you.” He turned and walked to the sidewalk. He looked back at her once before continuing down the street. As soon as he turned the corner, Annabel closed the door and locked it.

  She plopped her back on her bed, her eyes closing as she became comfortable. There was something hard on the cover, digging into her back ribs. She rolled and pulled her phone from under her. It made her frown. “What an ass,” she said, thinking about the last conversation she had on it. She yawned and fell asleep, the dark creature far removed from her mind.