Page 59 of Your Final Resting Place

Cain howled.

So he could be hurt.

More of those strange, funneling limbs broke off from the fountain that headed skyward and speared toward me. I got one, two, but the third struck my shoulder and plunged in.

Cain laughed and pulled, jerking me toward him.

Ugh, not a lance—a harpoon.

Another one came at me. I snapped my jaws through it and tore the limb free, but another slammed into my wing and hooked there, dragging me faster toward Cain’s pulsing mass.

A tiny, purple-glittered, pixie-sized demon flew between Cain and me. “You touch my kitten, you fuckin’ die!” Zee squeaked.

Shards of purple lightning tore from the sky and rained over Cain, falling like jagged pieces of glass. Cain grunted, jerking, and his mass staggered. Whatever he’d been funneling from above, he broke off the connection, and flung those horrible tendrils all at Zee, all at once.

No!

I roared, dug my claws into the bridge, and leaped—wings back, teeth bared.

Cain hadn’t been expecting it.

Neither had I.

I plowed into Cain’s heaving mass, knocking him backwards off the bridge, toward its welcome center on the south bank. We tumbled, I snapped my teeth at his head, determined to sink them in and tear whatever he was made of apart. He was solid, I felt that much, but getting a hold on him was almost impossible. We sprawled over the park area, tangled together in a mass of wings, tail, and tendrils. I snapped at his limbs holding me, snipping them free. He whipped enormous lashes down my back, tearing at my scales.

And in all of this, I had no idea where Zee had ended up.

Was he alright? Had he gotten caught in the chaos?

Cain’s lashing whips snapped at my face, catching my left eye. I roared, flung my head back, and raked my front claws through his body—the parts I could get a hold of. He roared too.

This wasn’t working.

We were too evenly matched.

How could I stop him?

And in the chaos, I’d lost Zee . . . This was my fear. That I’d hurt the people I cared for.

Was Cain going to win? Even now, I had nothing else to throw at him. Fire hadn’t worked. Size didn’t matter. Cain matched me in viciousness. What else was there?

“Psst . . .” A purple pixie buzzed between my eyes. Zee! “Hey, baby.” He zipped to my ear. “Get him back on the south end of the bridge. We’ll do the rest.”

I could do that.

I snapped my jaws together and huffed, hoping he’d know that to mean I’d understood.

Get Cain back on the bridge.

Flinging open my wings, I beat the air, and whipping up my own storm, took to the sky once more. Cain’s dark limbs tried to grab at my legs, but missed. Gaining height, I circled above the bay, riding the buffeting winds.

Cain had rightened himself, and stood like a giant, vaguely man-shaped storm in the Golden Gate Bridge park.

News helicopters hovered north of the bridge like tiny mosquitoes.

The whole world was watching.

I landed on the south tower, spread my wings, and roared, turning myself into a dragon-sized target. With Cain riding high on his power, thinking he had a chance to ruin me, he took the bait and stomped across the park, then climbed onto the roadway.