by Riley Storm
The dragons had come up with a plan that had worked. His three brothers, risking much, had taken to their dragon forms during the day and lifted into the sky. They had stayed low, wings working harder than normal as they skimmed along just above the treeline.
Shouts had been heard, but Jax hadn’t paid them any attention. He had waited behind the wall on the western edge of the property, hoping they wouldn’t be discovered. Then, using much of his power, he had opened the ground around them.
The earth had swallowed them up. They had dropped down, but eventually, the downward momentum slowed, and the cavern they inhabited had shifted, moving sideways under the wall.
By that point, he was beginning to tire. His physical strength remained intact, but his brain was starting to lose focus. Moving himself through the earth was tough, and he tried not to do it for very long, for it took a great amount of mental strength.
This time, however, Jax had been moving more than just himself. He’d taken Sarah along for the ride, and he was trying to move their method of transportation.
Never before had he tried to move a car through the earth, but despite the toll it had taken on him, it had worked. They had emerged on the far side and taken off, the car rumbling to life and carrying them toward the hall, with the vampires none the wiser.
I think.
Nobody had chased him, but Jax was still nervous about how they would get back into the Keep after the meeting. The vampires would surely realize at some point that the flight of his brothers was a ruse.
“Are you ready?” Sarah asked, stealing him away from his memories of their escape and presenting him with his next challenge.
The Shifter Court.
“I am,” he said, feeling his confidence flow through him.
This was going to work. He knew it was going to work because there simply was no other choice. If it failed, they all died, and Jax had to put his faith in not only himself, but the awareness of the other rules inside the chamber to see such a truth. To recognize that he wasn’t lying.
“Let me handle all this,” he said, taking a step forward. “It might get nasty.”
“I thought you said you had your speech planned?” Sarah asked uneasily from his side.
“Oh, yes. That I do. I meant this,” he said as five figures stepped out of hidden crannies on either side of the large double doors.
“What’s this?” she whispered.
“A welcome party,” he rumbled as the two bears, two wolves and feline shifter—tiger if he didn’t miss his guess—arrayed themselves in front of him.
“This building is closed,” one of them said. “Condemned.”
“Is that so?” Jax said cheerily. “Then tell me, why is the scent of shifters rank? Why do I smell a mix of all types except one? Is there a secret meeting going on in this condemned building?”
The shifters looked at one another, suddenly uneasy about the entire thing.
“I am Jax Drakon. I am an earth dragon. I am here on behalf of High House Draconis and I will speak to those inside,” he growled, taking a step forward toward the door.
The ground rumbled ominously under the shifter guard as he made his point clear.
“High House Draconis?” one of them asked.
“Yes,” Jax said, stepping forward, pushing his scales to the surface. Though he usually chose to cover himself in metal in combat, like every dragon he could summon a coat of scales to protect himself as well. He did so now, to prove his claim to those in front of him.
“The meeting is already in session,” one of the bear shifters said.
“I’m aware. I had…difficulty, getting here,” he said. “I must speak to the Court as one about it. It affects us all, and I fear that time is of the essence.” He paused. “If I’m not too late already.”
“I’m so going to get in shit for this,” the same bear shifter muttered, but he stepped aside.
One of the wolf shifters spoke up. “It’s okay, Knox, I’ll have your back.”
“Thanks, Landry,” Knox muttered, and the shifters stood back.
“But she’s human!” the other bear shifter started to protest.
Jax’s growl forced all the others back a step. But he didn’t have to say anything. Knox whirled and fixed his comrade with a glare. “Shut up, Konine. Okay? Just shut up.”
Marching past them, Sarah at his side, Jax pushed open the doors into the Shifter Court.
He was at the back of a large room. At the far side were eleven chairs arrayed in a line. Off to the right sat another chair, a twelfth. Jax wasn’t sure what that was for, as he did not recall there ever being a twelfth.
Three in the center sat empty, the backs of the stone chairs lifting high into the air, carved into the relief image of a dragon. To the left, the three chairs with images of bears on them were filled, the center one occupied by a woman who radiated command.
That would be Kaelyn, then, he knew, Queen of House Ursa.
On the right of the empty chairs that belonged to Draconis sat three men. The tallest in the center would be Logan, King of House Canis.
Two more chairs one either side of the High Houses were filled. To the very right sat King Benjamin of Panthere, which meant to the left…
“What are you doing here?” Tarryl, King of House Raptere snarled, getting to his feet as Jax approached.
“I am here with a message for all shifter kind. A message you would not listen to,” Jax replied.
“You are not welcome here,” Tarryl said, managing to restrain his anger. “Nor is the human.”
“She goes where I go,” Jax said, unfazed by the angry greeting. “And as a representative of High House Draconis, not only am I welcome here, but I believe I am mandated to be here.” His eyes flicked to the three empty chairs in the center, a reminder to the others of who had once ruled this room.
“A message?”
Jax turned to the speaker. “Queen Kaelyn,” he said respectfully, dipping his head low. “A message. One that portends to all shifters, not just House Draconis.”
“What kind of message?”
Jax again dipped his head low to Logan of House Canis.
“A warning,” he said, his voice carrying evenly to everyone in the room.
The assembled shifters broke out into murmurs, talking among themselves.
“Well, go ahead and speak then,” Kaelyn said, waving a hand at him. “You’re here, so you may as well tell us what you came to say. If you’re just making things up, we’ll let Tarryl over there deal with you.”
Jax swallowed, nodding his head. There wasn’t much that a dragon shifter would hesitate to take on. But an elder Phoenix would give any but the mightiest of his kind pause, and perhaps even them…
“I wish I could tell you I was here to play a joke,” he said calmly, letting his gaze wash across the Shifter Court. “That would be wonderful. Or even to deliver a message that House Draconis has returned to claim its seats,” he said, again looking at the empty chairs, especially the one in the middle where the King or Queen of House Draconis would sit, if present.
“But I am here with far more dire news, I am afraid.” His voice rang out clear, strong, buoyed by the presence of his mate.
“For several years now, House Draconis has been battling an enemy of our people. An ancient enemy, one long thought defeated.”
He waited for the whispers to grow as they began to grasp an inkling of what he was referring to.
“The vampires have returned!”
“Preposterous!” Tarryl shouted, standing up. “My father was there. They are all dead! None survived.”
“One did,” Jax countered. “And he has spent centuries growing his power. We have fought them, my brothers. I have killed them myself, I have seen their flesh evaporate under the sunlight. But that is not all.”
He waited for the room to still.
“The vampires have bred themselves with shifters,” he said, his voice soft, but not quiet. “They have among them members who ca
n shift.”
If he thought the uproar over his arrival—or his announcement that the vampires had returned—was loud, it came to another level as he revealed this information.
Jax himself had yet to fight one of the creatures, but all three of his brothers had firsthand knowledge of the demonic creatures, and he believed them.
“Why are they here?” Kaelyn mused as the clamor died out. “After all this time, why are they here now?”
“To kill us, I would assume?” Logan volunteered.
The two leaders of their Houses shrugged, and all eyes once more turned back to Jax.
“Because,” Jax said, playing the final trump card. “They believe themselves to now be a race of shifters. They aren’t here to kill us. They are here to rule us. All of us,” he added, waving a hand at the assembled Kings and Queen of the various shifter Houses.
Benjamin, King of House Panthere, was the first to find his voice.
“I find this all suspect.” He spoke without anger in his voice, which worried Jax.
He could diffuse anger, but rational disbelief, like he was sensing from Benjamin, would be hardest to dispel.
“The dragons have been back for several years now. We were all there when Aaric arrived at Logan’s coronation ceremony,” he pointed out. “Yet where have they been since? Why have they not come to any meetings of the Court, or sent out representatives to the other Houses?”
“They tried,” Tarryl chimed in. “Just the other day, this one came to my House. Because of it, I have had to have the front gate replaced after he broke it in.”
Eyes turned back to Jax, who shifted uncomfortably. “A mistake on my part, King Tarryl,” he said as apologetically as possible. “I was intent on giving my message and should have tried a different tactic.”
Before the others could speak, however, he turned to Kaelyn. “Two days ago, I tried to approach your House, my good Queen. Along the way, I was ambushed.”
“By whom? Are you accusing me of something?” the Queen asked.
“No,” Jax said hastily. “No, not at all. By vampires. In the broad of daylight,” he said.
There were mutters from the others. Jax knew he was losing them, he could feel it. His words weren’t enough. The distrust that had grown between the Houses while Draconis slept was too much. Nobody was willing to believe him if the others weren’t.
“I am here to tell you that we must come together,” Jax said, his voice carrying, bringing the room back to silence. “As allies. Together, we can fight them. But the vampires have strength more than I and my brothers alone can fight. If we don’t stand together, then we will lose.”
Benjamin spoke again. “How come none of the rest of us have had any incidents with these vampires? Why have they not shown themselves to the other Houses? Would we not know about them if they were truly back?”
Jax didn’t have an answer to that question. He couldn’t understand why either, and so he did the one thing he couldn’t afford to just then.
He hesitated.
The room was lost to him at that point, and it was obvious. They didn’t believe him.
“You lie!” Tarryl shouted, his anger getting the better of him as the others expressed their doubts in murmurs.
Jax was about to reply when the doors burst open. He spun to see two figures walk inside. On the pavement outside lay the bodies of the shifter guards, though whether dead or unconscious he couldn’t tell.
His attention was drawn back to the two newcomers. One was tall, gaunt to the point of being uncomfortable to look at, and bald of all hair including eyebrows. Beside him came a child. The taller one held a large umbrella over both of them, protectively.
If anyone thought to confuse them for father and son, they would be gravely mistaken. The power flowing from the taller one was nearly matched by the young child.
“It’s him,” Jax said suddenly, realizing who the unknown figure was.
It was the elder vampire.
“You should believe your young dragon friend,” the child said as the pair came to a halt.
The room darkened as shadows crept in from every corner. Jax didn’t even think the elder vampire was consciously calling them to him. They simply came of their own, drawn in by his power.
The doors clanged close, the weight of the shadow power pushing them back together. With the sun cut off, the hairless vampire twitched his fingers. The umbrella disappeared, and only then did Jax realize it hadn’t been real, but an umbrella conjured from shadow.
In the middle of the day, the elder vampire had managed to conjure enough power to protect him and the child vampire from the sun.
We are so fucked.
“Who are you?” Kaelyn asked, the entire Court on their feet now, recognizing a threat when they saw one.
After what seemed like an age, the elder vampire spoke.
“I am Imperator Caesar Flavius Honorius Augustus, final true Imperator of the Roman Empire!”
Chapter 35
His voice crashed out over the assembled shifters like a physical thing, and Sarah had to fight against the automatic urge to kneel. Only the presence of Jax at her side gave her the strength to remain standing against such power.
A quick glance to her side saw many of the others shaking their heads, throwing off the physical call of dominance that the voice had evoked within them.
“No wonder he looks so rough,” Jax muttered at her side. “Dude is ancient.”
She gaped at him, wondering how he could be so blunt with his candor at a time like this, but then she realized it was his way of fighting off the fear he must be feeling. This was the enemy after all. The one he and his brothers had feared the most.
Now they were trapped in a room with him, nowhere to go, and only Jax was here and able to fight.
“What do we do?” she asked quietly.
Jax just squeezed her hand twice. She fell silent. He had a plan. She could tell. The squeeze was one they shared between them, one of reassurance, without spoken word. Whatever was about to happen, Jax was ready for it.
“If you are who you say you are,” the female shifter—Kaelyn, Jax had called her—spoke again. “Why are you here then?”
Shadows erupted from the walls and the tall columns, coming down to slam into the woman, pushing her to the ground.
“You will address me with the respect I am due!” the vampire shrieked, eyes going wide.
Shouts and growls erupted from the assembled shifters as they closed ranks around their Queen. Kaelyn, for her part, snarled loudest, and the tiled floor shattered under her palms as she pushed herself first back to her knees, and then with a savage roar, back to her feet.
“You will use my full title when you speak to me,” the vampire said, his voice calming slightly, though it didn’t do anything for the wide eyes.
He was insane, Sarah realized. He had to be. No one could live for sixteen centuries and still be right of mind. Over time, his brain had taken in too much, and now he was obsessed with ruling.
Because shifters took his empire away from him. He’s spent all this time planning his revenge. He’s probably imagined this scene thousands of times. It’s not going as he thought, and he can’t handle the break from reality. They have to be careful, or he might lash out at all of them with his power.
She started to speak, to tell Jax this, but she saw his own eyes tightening. He too saw the truth of it all. Her mate was a bright one, and she shouldn’t forget that.
“I will forgive you this transgression,” the vampire, Honorius, said. “For you have yet to meet me, and I accept the shock that I am alive is probably great. After all, your ancestors thought they killed me many years ago.”
“My father did kill you,” one of the shifters—the one who seemed to hate Jax the most—snarled, a shimmery glow appearing around his body and burning off the shadows nearest to him.
“He tried,” Honorius said, glancing at the man. “Yes, the fires of the phoenix burned me greatly. But I did no
t die. My son sacrificed himself to save me. Poor Constantinus. But I have returned!” he cried. “I am back, and with me, I bring my family. My great, great family,” he said, laying a hand on the child vampire’s shoulder.
“Together with my greatest general Tiberius, we have risen from the ashes and come here, to this town, to the seat of modern shifter power. From here, I will be Imperator once more, and the empire shall spread to the farthest reaches of the earth. You will all bow before me,” he said, and the shadows darkened the room even further.
“Kneel or you will die!” the child shouted.
The room was nearly dark, and Sarah was having a harder time seeing the far side of the room. Only the one shifter, the phoenix, was shedding any light, his glow burning the shadows before they could touch him.
Everyone else, even she and Jax, felt the oppressive pressure of the darkness as it weighed upon them, calling to them to kneel.
So tense was everything, that she nearly missed the rumbling in the ground around her.
“I will never bow to you,” Jax growled as he stood tall, spine straight as he defied the elder vampire.
“Yes,” the elder vampire said, turning to look Jax square on. “You will.”
The shadows swooped in around them, and Sarah knew she couldn’t resist much longer. Her body ached and fear coursed through her veins.
Jax wavered, and she saw his knee bend. Gasping in dismay, she fell to the ground with him.
The rumbling intensified.
“I told you,” the elder vampire cackled. “You will all bow.”
She saw Jax’s face twitch, and suddenly she wondered just who had bent Jax’s knee. The vampire’s will…or Jax himself.
The ground trembled, and blackened earth ripped free from the floor of the Court chambers as Jax lifted his arms to the sky. Jax stood now, and she gasped as liquid copper flowed across his face and down his arms.
“And I told you,” Jax roared. “That I will never bow to you!”
The last thing she saw before the earth enveloped her was the front doors smashing open and a trio of figures appearing, led by a figure whose fire burned so brightly it hurled the shadows back at their owners.