Chapter Eight: Dragon's Breath
"Oh, my gods," said Annabeth. "It's a dragon!"
"Was a dragon," said Carl. "See? It's just a skeleton."
"It shouldn't be here," said Percy. "Monsters vanish when they're killed."
Gabriel went up to the skeleton warily, wings poised to take him away if the dead creature decided to move. The milky white bones, bleached in some places and not in other due to the uneven light, lay against the stone wall, as if the dragon had tried to crawl away from something...
The hunter turned, looking back. Black marks marred the walls...
"Dragon's breath has scoured these walls," he said. "It was fighting something..." Gabriel followed the direction of the scorches, stopping when he came to large claw marks on the stone floor. "What made these?"
Annabeth shrugged, coming up behind him. "Something bigger," she said.
"The skeleton's ribs are broken... It wasn't trying to get away at all!" Gabriel took a running leap and climbed onto the walkway high above them. "It was thrown." The hunter moved further down the walkway, leaning over the railing. "The other dragon was fighting for something... Ah. I see. Look over there."
"Where?" Carl spun in a circle, looking towards where Gabriel was pointing. "What's that?"
"Take a stand on the hill where flight was renewed," said Gabriel. "The ledge. I'm betting there was a female dragon nearby. The two dragons fighting were male, trying to win her favor."
"Well, it makes sense," said Annabeth. "This is a breeding ground."
Gabriel tapped the railing absently as he thought. "Grover," he finally said, "was there any dust on that scale you found?"
"No..."
Gabriel jumped off the walkway and spread his wings to slow his fall. Once he landed, he hurried over to the others. "I know why. It's a new scale."
"A new scale?" repeated Carl.
"There's another dragon," said Percy. Then he realized what he'd said. "But they were driven off!"
"They came back," said Gabriel. "At least, one did."
"Where is it, then?" Annabeth spun in a circle. "I don't see any dragons."
"Probably hunting," said Carl. "They do need to eat, you know."
"Yes, I suppose they do," said a voice behind them, and they spun around.
"Hello, Gabriel," said Count Vladislaus Dracula with a smile. "Lose something?" He held up a leather-bound book.
"The book!" hissed Carl.
A deep, rumbling laugh echoed through the tower. A dragon, twice as big as the skeleton on the far wall, threw back its head and laughed again, its brilliant red scales flickering in the light. "Welcome to my summer palace," it said in a deep voice that sounded like fire itself.
Grover gulped and drew his silver dagger. "How did you say we kill him?"
"Not until the sun sets," said Gabriel, glancing up at the orange light filtering in through the windows. "Give it a few minutes."
"You can't kill me," said Dracula, stepping towards them with the dragon following. A thousand vampires, half-bloods, and various monsters stepped out of the lengthening shadows, surrounding them completely. "I'm already dead."
The companions were forced together, back to back in a circle of monsters. Suddenly they parted, creating a pathway for Kronos.
The Titan lord smirked at them, coming to stand beside Dracula. He was holding his scythe, the six-foot two-metal blade glinting eerily in the orange light, in one hand; in the other he held a celestial bronze chain. Gabriel followed the length of chain with his eyes, stopping where it ended, attached to the manacles around a black-haired boy's wrists. He glared at his captor with dark eyes, and those eyes widened when he saw the hunter and his companions.
"You shouldn't have come!" he cried, tugging uselessly against the chains that bound him.
"Nico!" Annabeth held a dagger in each hand, bronze in her right and silver in her left. The others followed suit, unsheathing their weapons.
Out of the corner of his eye Gabriel saw Percy pull a ball-point pen out of his pocket and uncap it. It changed into a full-length bronze sword, glowing slightly in the gathering dark. Then the half-blood boy pulled out his silver dagger.
"You think you can get your half-blood friend back?" said Kronos, smiling evilly when he saw the look on Annabeth's face. "This body suits me, don't you think?"
"It isn't Luke, Annabeth," said Percy. "It isn't Luke, it's Kronos."
Carl started to ask who Luke was when a vampire hissed at him. He yelped, jumping backwards and bumping into Gabriel, who staggered forwards, spreading his wings to stop himself from falling.
Dracula raised an eyebrow. "Found your wings, have you, Gabriel?" he said. "Pity. You were so much easier to fight on the ground."
Kronos looked confused. "Who is this, Count?" he asked. "You told me of no winged creature."
"We play by different rules, Kronos," said Gabriel, feeling his blood begin to grow hot. "And another thing Dracula probably didn't mention... we all have weaknesses." The light of the full moon poured through the window as it rose in the night sky, and he threw back his head and roared, growing in size as he changed into a huge black werewolf.
Only this time, the werewolf had wings.
Carl backed up quickly, pulling the half-bloods and the satyr with him. "Don't get too close," he warned them.
Kronos frowned. "This complicates things a bit," he said. "No matter. Kill them."
"With pleasure," said Dracula.
The army of Kronos yelled battle cries and ran forwards, expecting an easy kill. What they weren't expecting were the vampires to start shrieking and crumbling into dust as they were stabbed in the heart by silver blades. The half-bloods were more battle-hardy than they had expected!
The dragon watched for a moment, then leaned down and bit through the bronze chain binding Nico. "It's about time you joined your friends," he rumbled.
Nico di Angelo gave the dragon a smile and a thumbs up before drawing his Stygian blade and joining the fight.
Kronos raised his scythe and yelled something in Ancient Greek, and the flock of Stymphalian birds from before mobbed through the broken windows, pecking at anything they could get their beaks on. Kelli leapt at Gabriel, her mismatched legs propelling her far faster than could be thought. She bared her long fangs, and he snarled at her.
Carl blew his pennywhistle invention again, sending the Stymphalian bids nuts. They stopped attacking just the companions and started attacking Kronos' army as well, wheeling through the air like mad bronze-tipped arrows.
Percy, Annabeth and Grover made a triangle back to back, fending off monsters as fast as they could. They couldn't hold up forever...
Kelli jumped onto Gabriel's back, lowering her fangs to his throat. Before she could bite him, however, he spread his grey-tinged wings and flew to the tower ceiling. Unable to grip well, the empousa fell, landing in front of Carl.
"Ahh!" he yelled, stabbing her with the bronze dirk he'd found in the armory and brought along, just in case. Good thing, too. Kelli screamed, exploding into a sandy firework and melting away.
"Yeesh," said Carl. "Now I know why I left the field work to Van Helsing."
Dracula growled, dropping the leather-bound book and changed into his hell-based form, flying after his enemy. The two grappled above the fighting below, crashing into walls and roaring. Dracula was more careful this time, leaving his energy to avoiding Gabriel's fangs instead of trying to convince the werewolf to join his side. This time he wasn't planning on dying.
Annabeth looked up, seeing their companion locked in battle. They were losing ground... Now they were backed up against the wall close the dragon's skeleton.
Nico slashed at a vampire frantically, backing away from her continual onslaught. "Why won't she die?" he yelled over the sounds of battle.
"Stab her with silver!" Carl yelled back. "Through the heart! Through the heart!"
Gabriel vaguely heard his friends and the noise of battle... the wolf side of his senses were overwhelming, focusing fully on his enemy. Dracula bared his teeth menacingly, crouching on the walkway where Van Helsing had been standing earlier.
"You will never win," he growled. "I've had hundreds of years to think of ways to kill you."
The werewolf snarled, but stayed where it was on the walkway, panting. Dracula looked at him, confused. "That's a first," he said.
Gabriel howled, long and loud, and the combatants below stopped fighting for a moment to stare up at him. Then they continued their fighting.
The red dragon dragged his claws across the stone wall, sharpening them. "Time to turn the tide," he roared, diving into a mass of vampires and half-bloods. Dust flew as his silver claws decimated the ranks, his spiked tail sending half-bloods flying into the walls.
Dracula changed back into his man-form, leaning over the railing to see the dragon turncoat. "How dare you," he started to snarl, then choked as werewolf jaws clamped down on his throat. "NO!!"
But it was too late. For the third time, Dracula slumped to the floor, black blood pouring from his neck and mouth. His flesh melted from his skeleton, leaving the blackened bones crumpled on the walkway.
Kronos saw the red dragon start attacking his army. Saw Dracula fall. Saw the vampires explode into dust. Saw his dreams of success failing... all because of two half-bloods, a satyr, a strange-dressed little man and a winged werewolf.
The Titan lord started chanting in Ancient Greek, summoning wraiths and ghosts to fight. He summoned the water from the trees, the wind from the night air, the animals from the forest. And with everything he summoned, his army grew stronger.
Gabriel saw his friends fall back, backs against the stone wall. They were losing. They were unprepared...
The werewolf saw more creatures pour in from the windows, and saw Kronos chanting. Kill him, growled the wolf, feel his blood drain from his body to drip onto the floor-
Gabriel growled low in his throat and lunged, his wings giving him added speed. He snatched the Titan lord in his front claws and flew up, higher and higher to the top of the tower...
A dark cloud slid across the moon.
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Me: Uh oh... I think we're in trouble.
Van Helsing: You think?
