He surged in, his tail whipping up in a sidewinder motion. He feinted a punch. When Vaporlock pulled back, he swiped his legs out from under him with his tail. The joker’s big feet went up into the air as he came down hard on his back. Marcus coiled around him, being careful to keep his torso and face as far away as possible. And then he squeezed with every muscle in his tail. Vaporlock struggled. He gurgled and wrenched his head around. The serpent in Marcus loved the feel of it. A body struggling, trapped within the coiled vise of his muscles. He squeezed, hoping to feel bone crack and organs burst. He squeezed.

The joker wasn’t an easy kill, though. As moments passed, the heat on Marcus’s scales increased. He could smell them burning. Bitter smoke stung his eyes. He had Vaporlock in the death grip, but the touch of him was eating through his scales. It grew more and more painful frighteningly fast. Suffocation was going to take too long. Marcus writhed into a different position without loosening his grip. He grabbed for Vaporlock’s head. It was hard to get a grip on it as he twisted and fought, teeth gnashing. When he finally had him with a white-knuckled grip on both his ears, Marcus began smashing his face on the pavement. He cried out in pain and desperation and fury. Smashing. Smashing. Smashing until the man’s face caved in, skull broken and oozing new liquids. Disgusted, Marcus released him and squirmed away from his touch.

Olena ran toward him, but pulled up short. “Marcus, you’re burning!”

His scales sizzled and smoked. Some of them began to fall away, revealing the naked, blistering skin underneath. Marcus cast around for something to help him. He went over the railing of the bridge in an arch, hitting the river as he twisted onto his back. For a moment he squirmed in the water, bumping boulders as the current flushed him under the bridge. The touch of the water was beautifully cooling. He rubbed at his scorched flesh, hard, feeling it flake away and leave the raw skin underneath. He was out of the river as quickly as he could, driving himself through the pain and back to Olena. She had already attracted the attention of a naked, aroused man who was lumbering toward her on legs that buckled and hyperextended, barely seeming to keep him upright. The only thing steady about him was his erection, which directed him unerringly toward Olena. She didn’t even see him, so intent was she on Marcus.

Marcus swept around her and punched the guy, sending him spinning. He grabbed Olena’s hand. Holding it tight, he turned and found the mountain they’d sighted on before. “There’s our mountain,” he said. “Come on.”

“That’s her?” Wally asked, a shocked expression creasing his metallic face. “I mean, you told me about how you found her, but, but I never thought…”