Ember's Kiss (15 page)

But Brandon miscalculated in that moment.

She saw him lose that balance point.

He disappeared under the curl of the wave and his friends swore. The wave smashed over Brandon, driving him down into the reef. His surfboard leapt for the sky, was submerged, then bounced up again. The wave rushed in to the beach and the surfboard bobbed on the surface in the wake of the wave.

There was no sign of Brandon.

“Shit,” one of the guys whispered.

Liz couldn't believe it. The sight of her had shocked him so much that he'd made a mistake. It couldn't be her fault that he died in this crazy surf. She wouldn't be responsible for two deaths! Her anger faded with record speed, only to be replaced by fear.

Brandon didn't come up. Another wave crashed over the place where he'd gone down and she held her breath. His friends clustered closer, their agitation clear. A third wave reared up, breaking on the lip of coral like a shadow of doom.

“No one lasts three waves,” one guy murmured.

“Come on, Brandon,” urged another. “Come
on
!”

There was a roar of anger, not very different from the earthquake that morning. A brilliant shimmer of
pale blue light lit the water like a flash of lightning, but one that came from the reef below.

Liz was the least surprised of the entire group when a massive black dragon erupted from the surf. It leapt out of the ocean, raging and thrashing as the water ran off its wings and tail. It shook off the water and spread its wings wide, breathing a plume of fire at the waves that had nearly crushed it.

Then it dove back into the ocean's waves again.

“What the…” murmured the guy beside her.

“It can't be,” said another.

“What happened to Brandon?” asked a third. “Did the dragon take him down?”

Liz knew where he was.

Brandon was a dragon shape shifter.

One of the
Pyr
.

She had her irrefutable proof.

S
uddenly one of the guys shouted and pointed out to sea. “It's Matt!” he cried.

They turned as one and Liz couldn't help but look, too. A second surfer had turned toward the shore and was paddling for a wave. This one seemed darker and faster. Angrier. Liz could feel its fury, which was saying something. She had only a slightly greater-than-normal connection to the element of water. The surfer had a green aura, a spiky one, and she guessed that it was the friend of Brandon's who had tried to buy her a drink.

“Fuck,” murmured one of the guys.

“Leave it!” shouted one of the others. Matt kept paddling. She doubted that he had seen the dragon, given the intensity of his concentration. He would have been looking out to the horizon, watching the incoming waves swell.

It was odd how much angrier the ocean had become.
Even in front of the wave, where the dragon had disappeared into the water again, the sea was churning and dark. It could have been boiling. There was more agitation in the water than there had been—and it looked even more dangerous. Liz had the strange sense that the waves were responding to the dragon's mood.

Could the dragon control the sea?

She remembered what the old Chinese man had said. Was the dragon demanding a toll from people who didn't do as he desired? Would the dragon stir up the sea to injure people?

The dragon was Brandon. Liz was sure Brandon wouldn't deliberately hurt anyone.

But this Matt was the friend who had opened that silver vial against Brandon's express command.

Was Brandon vengeful?

Liz had a hard time believing it. Why didn't he shift back to human form? Why didn't he come out of the water? She caught a glimpse of the end of his tail and the occasional talon flicking out of the water.

What was he waiting for?

The wave surged beneath Matt, just as it had beneath Brandon, all jade power.

“Leave it,” murmured another of the guys. “It's too fucking big.”

But Matt didn't leave it. He sprang to his feet on his board, but even Liz could tell that he wasn't as in control as Brandon had been. The wave broke and curled, precisely as its predecessors had when striking the same spot on the reef. It spilled white foam down
right beside Matt—he'd chosen his spot well. The wave was enormous, taller and more powerful than the last had been, and seemed to keep swelling bigger. She thought she could see the fear on Matt's face, and that couldn't be good.

He wobbled on his board and she almost closed her eyes, dreading what would happen next.

She was glad she didn't. The dragon bellowed and leapt into the air, flying high over the waves. He swooped low over Matt, and Liz guessed that he was going to save the surfer. Matt was obviously less certain of his intent. He took one look at the dragon, closing fast with talons extended, and lost his balance.

It was possible that he jumped.

Either way, he fell into the raging dark wave, which frothed right over him. His board sprang into the air. Then both were churned down into the reef by the breaking wave. Matt's board came to the surface in two parts. One half was washed toward the beach but the other bobbed like a buoy, staying in place.

“It's the leash,” one guy said.

“What leash?” Liz asked.

The guy glanced at her.

“I know Brandon.”

His gaze flicked over her, then he looked back at the bobbing board. His expression was grim. “You wear a leash from your ankle to your board so you don't have to chase it all over the place. The board's not moving because the leash is caught on the reef. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it sucks.”

Because Matt was attached to the other end of the leash. Liz understood their fear. He must not be able to reach the surface.

“He's not coming up,” another guy said. “We can't lose both of them in one day.”

Liz realized that they thought Brandon had died.

“Shit, look at the next wave!”

“They're getting bigger. It's turning bad.”

“They shouldn't have gone out there.”

The dragon dove into the surf, apparently targeting Matt.

The looming wave crashed over the spot where the dragon had disappeared. The roar of the wave's power was deafening and Liz couldn't imagine how anyone could survive its impact. She folded her arms across herself, knowing the force of the water would drive anyone down into the coral reef and smash them hard against it. She'd been caught once or twice on research trips by rogue waves and she'd never forget the pummeling they'd given her.

And she never went onto a reef with surf like this. The waves had to be thirty feet high.

Lab work was infinitely safer.

The trough of the wave passed over the spot, and the broken yellow board came to the surface again.

There was no sign of Brandon or the dragon. The water seethed, boiling like black ink. Another wave was rising high against the horizon.

“It's not easy to free the leash with the water pounding all around you,” the guy beside her explained. “It's
hard to even tell which way is up when you get slammed like that. It's all dark until the wave passes.”

“No one survives three waves,” Liz repeated, swallowing her fear.

The guy winced and nodded. “And that's if you don't hit your head.”

The next wave slammed down hard, turning the area to froth. When the wave had passed, they all took steps closer to the water, straining to spot either surfer. There was no sign of them or the dragon, just that broken yellow board tugging at its tether.

The third wave crashed over the spot with ferocious strength. Liz felt the skepticism and uncertainty in the group, though none of them said anything more. The water seemed to agitate longer over the spot; then the part of the board that had been caught washed toward the beach. Had the leash broken?

A dark head appeared so abruptly that the surfer might have been flung from the bottom of the sea.

Liz had a pretty good idea what or who had tossed him to freedom.

The dragon appeared next, leaping into the sky and snatching up Matt on the way. His enormous black wings beat loudly, water falling from him like a shower of jewels, and he carried a struggling Matt to the beach. He set down the surfer without landing, then soared into the sky.

There was no sign of the cockiness Matt had shown the night before. He was shaking. There was blood on his temple, and his skin was pale beneath his tan.

The guys ran to help him. Matt's chest heaved, and suddenly he spewed forth a stream of ocean water. Then he sat down heavily in the last couple of inches of water and put his head in his hands. Liz could see that he was trembling from his ordeal.

The dragon was high in the sky, flying west.

The guy who had been talking to her went and picked up Brandon's board. He stared out at the water, his expression stricken, then rejoined the others. Two of the guys watched the dragon flying away.

Liz went one better.

She ran to her car and followed him.

Brandon had nearly killed his friend.

Matt had been so shocked by the sight of Brandon in dragon form that he had wiped out. He could easily have drowned.

Of course, he'd only seen Brandon in dragon form because the dragon was calling the shots. Brandon couldn't control his transformation. The dragon had decided to claim him and he hadn't been able to stop the change. He couldn't shift shape back to human form when he wanted to, like right now. He feared that he had only succeeded when he did because the dragon had let him do it.

And that wasn't good.

In fact, it was steadily getting worse.

His dragon wasn't just powerful; it was commanding him.

Brandon had been shocked to see Liz, both amazed
and awed that she had followed him. He'd been astounded to see the sparks flying from the ends of her hair and her eyes flashing just as they had the night before.

Hadn't the firestorm been satisfied? He'd certainly felt just as strong of a surge of desire when he'd seen her this time.

But the dragon had claimed that rush of power and used it against Brandon. The dragon had roared and Brandon had lost it, and the dragon claimed his body as he fell. It had fed off the anger of the sea, ocean and dragon urging each other to greater violence. The dragon had wanted vengeance on Matt for his scheme to target Liz, and, worse, had demanded that Brandon take a penance out of his friend's hide. He'd managed to resist the powerful urge to rip and shred, but only barely.

Probably only because Matt had wiped out.

No matter how he looked at it, Brandon was responsible for Matt's injury and it was only raw luck that his friend hadn't died. There was no way he was going to approach Liz when his dragon was running wild like this.

In fact, he knew he shouldn't be close to anybody in this state. He wasn't sure how to fix the situation, either. Had this change happened because of the firestorm? Was it both blessing and curse? He had to talk to Chen, but he couldn't risk being among people in Hale‘iwa. Who knew what would set off his dragon? Of course, that was assuming that eventually the dragon let him shift back to human form.

Brandon was cursed.

Just like his dad.

His nature was evil.

Just as his mom had insisted.

He flew west, hating what he was and what he had inherited from his father. Their inner dragons weren't just primal beasts; they were wicked. How could any part of him want to see Matt dead?

The peninsula of Ka‘ena Point stretched beneath him in the distance, a jagged point of ancient lava that ended in the sea. Legend insisted that this was where souls met eternity.

Brandon remembered the story and was tempted. He was ready for his soul to meet eternity. If he couldn't have a normal life, if he couldn't even be among people, he couldn't see the point in living. His affliction was only getting worse.

He was ready to jump off the point and let his dragon be smashed into the relentless surf of the sea. He was ready to see his dragon destroyed, even if he had to be destroyed with it. There was no hope for him or the future with his dragon out of control. The promise of the firestorm was a lie, just as it had been for his father.

It was when he glanced back at everything he'd leave behind that he saw the turquoise Mercedes barreling along the highway beneath him.

Liz.

Relief and trepidation rolled through Brandon in equal parts. He wanted to see her again, with all his
heart. He wanted to talk to her. But he was afraid that his dragon might injure her.

All the same, just seeing her approach soothed his anger. He felt the fury of the dragon fade at the sight of her car, and just being close to her made his situation less terrifying. He could feel the blue shimmer that heralded his transformation and knew that he could do it.

Because Liz was close.

Brandon suddenly understood that Liz could help him. The gift of the firestorm was that her presence gave him more control over his dragon. She could be his salvation. Together they could defeat the dragon's terrifying force.

That candle in his darkness flickered to light again, and he dared once more to hope.

Did she know that he was a dragon shape shifter? Was that why she was following him? Brandon didn't believe it. If she'd guessed the truth, she would have been driving in the opposite direction, putting as much distance between them as possible. She'd do what his mom had done and banish him from her life.

He didn't want to deceive her, but he couldn't risk losing her.

He had to tell her the truth.

Right now.

The road pretty much ended where the state park began, and there was a gate to keep vehicles out. If Brandon went all the way to the point, Liz would have to walk in. The trail was rough and it could take her
hours. If she'd followed the dragon this far, whatever her reason, Brandon guessed that she wouldn't give up and turn back.