Draxin Alistair (16)'s Arc

Chapter 16 of 22

Dante moved first. Smoke poured off his shoulders and he was gone from where he stood, appearing at Gustavo's flank with a fist already swinging. Gustavo ducked without looking. His claws came up and raked across Dante's ribs, and Dante flashed back into smoke before the cut could open him. Draxin crouched behind the wagon wheel. He put a hand on his own chest. The warmth was there. It always was. But warmth was not scales. He tried to call them up the way he had in the forest, when Spike burned his arms and something inside him tore open. Nothing came. His skin stayed skin. Mimi darted along the wagon's blind side and threw two blades at Gustavo's back. He turned his head and roared. The sound hit Draxin like a shove. His knees gave. Mimi's blades dropped short in the snow. Spike went to one knee, cursing, hands over his ears. Gustavo lunged at Mimi. Dante's smoke wrapped his ankle and yanked him off balance for one second, and Mimi rolled clear. "Kid," Spike hissed. He was still on one knee. "Do the thing. Do the scale thing. Now." Draxin squeezed his fists. He pictured his arms yellow and hard. He pictured Spike's ink eating through his skin. He pictured his mother in the alley. Nothing. His hands shook, pink and bare. Gustavo caught Dante across the chest with a claw. Dante hit the snow and slid. The cigar went out. Gustavo laughed and stepped onto Dante's wrist, pinning it. "Seven years and you're still light," Gustavo said. He raised the other glove. Draxin ran. He did not decide to. His slippers came out of the snow and he was running at the huge man's back with nothing in his hands and nothing on his skin. He jumped and grabbed Gustavo's coat and climbed it like a rope. Gustavo turned his head, surprised, then annoyed. He shook once. Draxin held on. He bit down on Gustavo's ear with his sharp teeth. Gustavo bellowed. Not the stun roar. A real one. He tore Draxin off by the hair and threw him. Draxin hit the snow ten feet away and did not get up right. But Dante's wrist was free. Smoke boiled out of him in a black wall. When it cleared he was behind Gustavo again. This time his fist landed clean on the jaw. Gustavo staggered. Gustavo touched his ear. His fingers came away red. His friendly grin was gone. His shoulders began to swell inside the fur coat. White feathers pushed up from his neck. His teeth grew. "Boss," Spike whispered. Dante stood up straight. Blood ran down his stomach. He looked at Draxin in the snow. "Get behind me," he said. "He's turning." Draxin crawled. The warmth in his chest stayed a warmth. Nothing more.