by Riley Storm
Kyla tried very hard not to be aware of their closeness, a vivid reminder of their embrace post-fight the night before.
The wind swept up around them and the pair shot up through the staircase like a bullet down a barrel. A moment later, they were landing on the top floor. Kyla only then gasped, her brain catching up with what had just happened.
“That was cool,” she said, giggling despite what had just happened. “Thanks.”
“I can do the same to get us to the front gate,” he said. “If you don’t mind.”
Her eyes roved over his figure briefly. “No, that would be nice, thank you.”
How was she supposed to say no to being pressed up against that?
It was a good thing she was leaving, she decided. Things were getting just a little too weird between her and Galen. She needed out, to clear her mind, to think about everything through a clear lens. She’d become far too involved in events for her own liking.
“Thank you, by the way,” Galen said awkwardly as they walked down the hallway toward the exit, a route she was now starting to become familiar with.
“For what?” she asked, too stunned to think it over. Where was the usual gruffness and cool demeanor? He sounded almost…almost sincere.
“For trying,” he said, the rumble returning to his voice. “For attempting to help my brothers and me. You didn’t have to, but you did. So thank you.”
“Oh. Um. You’re welcome,” she said, feeling weird about having such an exchange with a shifter.
They were supposed to be her mortal enemies after all. How was it she’d come to not only respect one, but try to help awaken more of them? Things really had changed. A lot. Kyla would never again think of them as brutes, or barbarians. She knew the truth of it now, and realized that mages and dragons probably had more in common than either of them wanted to admit.
Maybe she could take this back to the Council, and in time, work to repair relations between mages and shifters.
If they survive the vampires. Which seems unlikely at this point.
“For what it’s worth,” she said as he held open the door for her. “I thank you as well.”
“What for?” Galen asked, leading her out from under the covered awning that stretched across the driveway, pausing only when there was open sky above them.
“For showing me that you aren’t at all what I was taught. That dragons are regal, truthful, honorable, and I hate to say it, but sometimes even funny. You’ve opened my eyes to a prejudice I hadn’t realized I had. Thank you.”
Galen smiled. “I have learned a lot about the mages of this century, thanks to you. I hope that there are more like you.”
“Oh, trust me, most people would say one of me is enough,” she joked.
They both laughed, then Galen pulled her in close. She didn’t panic at the proximity to him this time, though once again she did notice his muscles, and the way he felt. How she fit nicely under his chin, if she were to just lean her head forward a bit.
A gust of air sent her hair flying in every which direction, and a moment later she was flying as well. The cocoon of wind surrounding them carried them past the gently rolling lawns and over the trees, setting her down gently at the front gates.
Galen reached out and a focused burst of wind pressed a button on the side. The metal gates clanked and began to retract.
‘You should go quickly this time,” he said, gesturing at the falling sun. “They won’t pause long. Even if you don’t fully believe me, it’s not worth risking that I’m telling the truth.”
She nodded, searching for the words that were appropriate to the moment. Kyla wanted to ensure that it was properly solemn, but that also Galen understood her feelings.
Feelings about what? About him? You don’t have any feelings about him.
“I…” she stumbled to a halt.
Galen smiled. One of the few smiles he’d graced her with. It was warm, genuine, and made his entire face light up in a manner she’d seen very little of despite spending so much time around him over the past few days.
“It’s okay,” he said gently.
She returned his smile, nodded, and headed through the front gates. Sometimes, it seemed, words just weren’t necessary.
The instant she passed beyond the wards, she lifted her staff and gestured with it. Reality shivered and ripped apart, revealing the portal that would take her back to the same courtyard at the Academy from which she’d departed.
Pausing just before entering, she turned and waved at Galen, finding that she wanted one last look at his face.
He lifted a hand to bid her farewell, and then the gates began to clank closed.
“Okay. Time to go home.”
Kyla faced the portal again, ready to tackle the next step: reporting to the Archmage.
Something flickered at the corner of her vision. She frowned, and strode toward the rift in reality.
But even as she closed with it, she noted that something was wrong. It was growing darker. She was losing sight of the courtyard beyond.
“What the hell?” She ran forward as darkness swept in, eating away at the portal, ripping it to shreds before she could go through.
As it collapsed, she saw beyond it, to the treeline across the road, where a host of creatures were rushing forth from under the canopy.
Kyla gasped as she realized what they were.
Vampires.
“He was right,” she whispered.
And now they were coming for her.
Chapter 15
Several long seconds passed while Kyla’s brain tried to process the ramifications of everything that had just happened and order them into neat thoughts.
While this was happening, the charging vampires were growing closer at an alarming rate. There was no doubt in her mind that they were as Galen said. No other creature could control the shadows like that, making them come alive to obey the will of the undead monster.
Backing up several steps as reality came crashing over her, dispelling a layer of doubt she hadn’t realized she’d been harboring, Kyla waved her staff in the air, opening another rift in the fabric of reality, this time behind her. Eyes wide at the oncoming sight, she turned and plunged through the portal.
Or tried to.
For a second time, the shadows darted in and ate at it, dispelling the powerful magic before it could transport her back home.
That made Kyla mad.
Spinning, she once more used her staff, but this time it was leveled at the line of vampires. She shouted a word of magic and red fire blasted out in an arc aiming to hit all of them.
Red fire magic met shadowy darkness, and both spells shattered into nothingness, falling to the ground as they countered one another. The strength of their response startled Kyla, but she was falling back on trained reflexes now. Whirling her staff around, she spun, lifted it high and with both hands brought the metal-capped butt end down into the asphalt.
Waves of green energy rippled across the ground. The vampires tried to counter, shadowy claws digging into the onrushing magic. The first wave was shredded, and the second nearly gone, but the third, and fourth, and fifth successive waves blasted into the vampires, scattering them like bowling pins.
Red darts blatted from her hand as she thrust her left palm at the first vampire to rise. The creature tried to defend itself, but the magic penetrated its weak shadow-shield and flung the body back, even as they struck home and ripped the life from it.
Something intangible hit her from the side, spinning Kyla to the ground. Her staff rolled away, and a trio of vampires rushed at her, thinking her defenseless.
Blinking away the sting of hitting the ground, she focused her energy. A long, thin line of red magic appeared in both her hands, coiled around itself. Kyla rolled to her knees, flicking out with one hand.
The whip-like weapon snaked out and around the legs of one vampire at the shins. She got to her feet, barked an order and hauled on the line. The rope flared bright orange-red, an
d instead of pulling the vampire down, it simply separated the legs from the body, burning right through them.
Twirling like a trained dancer, Kyla lashed out with the whip. It twirled and spun through the air like a living extension of her mind. Vampire limbs began to fall like rain as she separated legs, arms, fingers, ears and even one head from its body. The weapon coiled around her and darted out, coming close but never even so much as singeing a fiber on her body. Kyla was a master at work, and the first line of vampires was paying the price.
But there were a lot of them, and the shadows grew thicker around her, even as her rope burned brighter and brighter, trying to fight them back. She was outnumbered, and while she was likely more powerful than any individual vampire present, that wouldn’t be enough.
She was losing.
Step by step, the vamps closed in, encircling her, pushing her back, their powers working together. Oftentimes, her rope was turned back before striking home now. Her staff was near the edge of the circle, and while she wasn’t finished yet, she was far more capable with it in her hand than not.
“Come on!” she shouted, pouring more magic into her rope. It sliced through the shadowy dome surrounding her, opening a vampire’s face from ear to nose, but the damage wasn’t fatal.
Something shook the ground, and the vampires paused, heads turning away from her as they hesitated.
“She is mine!” a powerful, yet familiar voice roared.
Kyla spun to see a sight that, up until a few days ago, would have been straight out of her worst nightmare.
A giant dragon with scales of bright platinum shot through with streaks of purest black had just landed on her side of the front gates. Yellow eyes burned with hatred and anger. She saw the mighty flanks expand as it sucked in a breath, and then breath exploded out from the dragon’s maw.
The wind shrieked past her at a phenomenal rate, and now the shadow-dome that had once contained her now protected her as the air moved so fast it split skin apart and flayed the nearest creatures to the bone.
Some of the wind leaked through and spilled Kyla to her knees, then bowled her over, but she was otherwise unharmed.
She came to a stop against something on the ground. A quick palm of the object revealed it to be her staff. A smile played itself across her face as Kyla got to her feet. The ruins on her staff glowed bright as magic pulsed through it. The vampires nearest her were on the far side of the now-failing shadow dome, and as such were also somewhat protected from the dragon’s breath.
But they weren’t safe from her.
The metal-capped end of her staff rose and fell.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
With each touch to the ground, green energy sizzled across the ground and blasted a vampire from its feet, tossing it twenty feet in the air.
One vampire, perhaps feeling emboldened as the dragon’s breath faded, came charging at Kyla, shadows folding around it, armoring it.
She snorted. Red magic shot from the end of her staff, wrapped around the charging creature’s body and squeezed tight. She flicked the staff up and over, and the creature arced high overhead, landing right at the feet of the dragon.
A clawed foot came up and then descended, ending the vampire’s shrieks rather abruptly.
“Inside the wards!” the dragon bellowed as the remaining enemy fell back.
“We can take them!” she hollered, her adrenaline up, battle lust unsated. These monsters had attacked her, a member of the Council. It was time that they felt the truly unleashed powers she could command when given time to prepare. Even now, the energy was coursing through her body, her staff glowing brightly, ready to strike.
“There are too many,” Galen growled, gesturing with the same vampire-crushing paw. Bits of pulped vamp scattered everywhere as he did.
Kyla followed, and saw another line of vampires emerging from the trees. To her left and right, other shapes were rushing down the road, coming from other vantage points around the Keep to join in the battle.
Darkness was practically concealing the trees from her now, and she saw that this group was more organized. Several creatures of almost pure shadow walked among them. Old vampires then, if they were able to call this much darkness to them while the sun was still up, protecting their charges from the skies.
Even as the thought entered her mind, she looked for the sun, but it was gone. Darkness was descending over Drakon Keep. Kyla frowned. They hadn’t been fighting that long. There was no way the sun was gone from the sky.
She cast a few angry red bolts of magic at the assembled horde, but they were intercepted by shadowy darkness and shattered well short of their targets.
“Come, inside,” Galen said, and she jogged back inside as the gates closed behind them.
Outside shadows struck, but the golden protective dome of Drakon Keep’s wards dissipated the attack. Kyla watched for a moment, knowing the attack was more out of frustration from the vampires than an actual attempt to bring the wards down. None of them out there was that powerful.
When the gates finally clanked into place and sealed her inside, the reality of her situation came rushing back to Kyla. That, along with the effort she’d expended earlier in the cavern below the Keep, and the battle she’d fought just now, combined to leave her exhausted and swaying on her feet.
Resting heavily on her staff, she closed her eyes, catching her breath. Footsteps announced Galen’s presence, back in his human form.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Tired. Just tired, I think. Didn’t really hurt me. But I used more magic today than I have in a long time. Wasn’t thinking,” she said, mumbling all the words through her exhaustion.
“Come, let’s get you back to the Keep so you can rest.”
Arms closed around her, taking her from her feet. Kyla tried to protest, but she barely had enough energy to open her eyes as winds closed around them once more, lifting her from the ground as they flew back to the Keep.
Heat poured off Galen. Kyla had never noticed how warm he was before, how hot his touch was as he had held her close during their previous wind trips. Her drained mind chalked it up to being because of the battle, but as they landed at the front door of the Keep, she blearily noted that there was another reason.
“Where’s your shirt?” she murmured as they went inside.
Kyla hated feeling weak, hated relying on others, but right then, in that moment, she was grateful for Galen’s presence. In his arms, she somehow managed to feel small, safe, and yet not worth any less as a person because of it.
“It, um, was damaged during the fight,” Galen said awkwardly, striding through the halls.
The maze of lefts and rights once again had her lost, but soon enough they were entering a set of rooms.
“This isn’t my room,” she said, not recognizing the décor, or the bit of layout she could see. “Where are we?”
“We’re in my room.”
Chapter 16
He set her down on the bed, carefully taking a knee as he did so and remaining there, his waist hidden, out of sight of her as she lay back onto his pillows.
What are you doing Galen? Why did you bring her to your room? You should have gone to the guest rooms.
“Can I ask you something?” Kyla said sleepily from the bed in front of him.
“Of course,” he said, glad for the change of topic.
“What did you shout at the vampires out there? You said something to them, something like I was under your protection.”
He nodded. “Yes, something like that.”
“Why?” she asked, her head rolling to the side to look at him.
Galen noted the way her eyes roamed over his shirtless upper body for several moments before returning to his eyes.
“What do you mean, why?” he said, confused. “Was I supposed to just let them have you out there? That doesn’t seem like a very nice thing to do.”
“You dragons have no love for us mages. Nobody would have batted an eye if you’
d let it happen,” she said a bit more coherently as she slowly recovered from the exhaustion of the battle.
“I would have,” he said. “I would not have been able to let myself live with it.”
She nodded. “But why did you phrase it like that. You told them that I was yours.”
Galen looked away. He’d hoped she hadn’t picked up on that. The words had just sort of slipped out from his mouth, a battle challenge spurred by his dragon. He himself wasn’t sure why he’d said them, or what had possessed him to proclaim such a thing. She wasn’t his, certainly not in that sense.
Her eyes roamed over him again. “Galen, you’re hurt,” she said, sitting up.
Panicking, Galen pressed his waist into the edge of the bed. “I’m fine,” he said, gently tugging on one shoulder, trying to get Kyla to lie back down, so she could sleep.
Sweatpants were right there, he could see the drawer, but he couldn’t get to them without making her aware of what he was doing.
The mage frowned at him. “What are you doing? Why are you acting so weird? Let me help you,” she said. “I have healing magic training too.”
He brushed her off. “It’s nothing. Just some cuts that the shadows managed to inflict on me. They’ll heal, I promise.”
“I can help them heal faster,” Kyla said stubbornly, giving him a look that said he should just quit arguing and let it happen.
“You’re tired,” he said, but Kyla was already working, her eyes half closed.
Soft red light glowed in the palm of her hand and she ran it over a cut on his upper chest. The magic sizzled and spat little sparks as it worked, pulling the skin closed and stopping the bleeding.
“Where else?” she asked, lifting his arms, noting the cut on the back of his ribs. “Turn, let me get at that,” she insisted, sitting up further.
“I’m okay, I promise,” he said, desperately wishing she would lie back down.
“Galen…”
Crap.
“Yeah?” he said dully, knowing what was coming next.
“Why are you naked? Where are your pants? Where is your underwear?” Kyla asked him in a tight, throaty voice.