by Riley Storm
One of them lashed out at the shield, and the dome nearly shattered. Galen marked that one as one of the heavies.
Before he could do anything, a green-gold burst of magic sizzled out, narrowly missing the vampire as Kyla tried to catch it off guard.
“Strong one,” she remarked as shadows pooled and shunted her spell off to the side, where it harmlessly struck the earth and was absorbed.
“I think you made him mad,” Galen observed as more shadows blocked his view of the vampire for several seconds before they raced forward and slammed into the golden dome.
This time, the wards failed. The golden protective wall shuddered and then, like the outer one, fell apart.
“If this is our end,” Galen shouted as the mass of vampires raced forward. “Then let it be a glorious end, my brothers! High House Draconis shall not go quietly into the night. Let them burn and feel our fury. We shall make them pay for every inch of ground, and pay dearly!”
The storm system renewed its strength, a mighty tempest sweeping through the ranks of vampires, picking them up by the dozens as pure walls of swirling winds swept through the undead creatures. Limbs were ripped from body as miniature tornados pulled bodies in differing directions.
Fire blossomed in the middle of the storm, turning the walls of wind bright orange-red. A firestorm was born, and it washed over the middle of the charging line like a wave, casually burning alive everything in its path.
The other dragons struck too, their powers taking down the vampires by the dozens, even hundreds.
Yet hundreds, even thousands more still came on, the distance closing between them at a swift rate. It wouldn’t be long before they were on the dragons and the fighting grew desperate. Galen saw a line of green-gold energy sweep away the closest vampires, but before she could strike again, Kyla was overwhelmed by a wave of shadows as a half-dozen powerful vampires turned their attention on her.
He wanted to rush to her aid, to help his mate, but the angry shriek told him that the vampires had done little more than make her mad. Red lightning rained down from the sky, and five of the vampires attacking her were impaled by the strike, one of them blowing completely apart as it combusted from the energy.
That was his mate. Galen snarled proudly as she wielding her magic like a master did the blade, turning it into a living, breathing thing as she accounted for more than her share of the vampires.
But the tidal wave of shadow was threatening to overwhelm them all.
“We must fall back!” Galen shouted. “To the Keep itself!”
The dragons began to fall back. It wouldn’t be long now, he knew, before the elder vampire showed himself. They could barely hold against his army of minions. How would they fare against a creature over two centuries old, with the accumulated power of one so ancient?
Despair was setting in. he could see it on the faces of his brothers. Kyla still looked pissed, but he knew her magic would fade soon, as she tired. None of them could keep this up indefinitely.
Their time had come. The end of House Draconis was nigh.
Chapter 36
As if sensing imminent victory, the vampires came on hard, a wave of silent death. Behind the front line soldiers the shadow wielders advanced as well.
Galen whirled as something came at him from above. Only a last-minute burst of air deflected the horrifying bat-like creature from decapitating him. He bounced and rolled, his body changing even before he came to his feet.
“Watch the skies, my brothers!” he bellowed, scales of the purest platinum replacing his skin as he took to his dragon form. “They are among us!”
The vampire shifters had come, and Galen rose to do battle with them.
It wouldn’t last long; they would tear him to shreds, but he had to keep them off Kyla and his brothers for as long as possible. Perhaps they could escape back into the Keep to continue the fight. Before they all died.
Spreading his wings wide, he prepared to take to the skies. Of all the airborne creatures in the paranormal world, a wind dragon in flight was feared the most. With the air around it at its beck and call, they were all but impossible to defeat.
An elder dragon would wreak havoc before the vampires brought him down. But bring him down they would.
The tide of vampires seemed to rise up as it approached the lines, and Galen felt true despair before he’d even left the ground.
A beacon of light burst into existence on the northern lawns.
Galen’s head whipped around on his long neck as pure light ate away at the shadows, burning them back. A golden figure dove from the skies as a mighty tiger appeared over the ridge. It paused there, illuminated by the light.
Then the solitary creature threw its head back and roared, a sound heard across the battlefield.
All around Galen, the vampires paused, turning their attention to this unexpected intrusion. They were greeted by the sight of a long line of figures cresting the hill.
The tiger wasn’t alone.
The combined forces of all the other Houses stood arrayed before them. Hundreds upon hundreds of wolves stood shoulder to shoulder with their cousins from House Ursa. Interspersed among them were lions, tigers and the barely visible lithe forms of the mighty black panthers.
In the skies above, burned clear of the shadows by the phoenix’s light came fierce shrieks that echoed across the battlefield. Diving from down high, stooping upon the winged vampires like dinosaurs of old came a wave of mighty raptors. Following them no less fiercely were ranks of even more majestic creatures. Gryphons and horned Pegasus, the might of House Raptere, they dove in to do battle with their ancient foes.
The ground began to vibrate as the allies of House Draconis advanced, moving at a trot at first, but picking up speed as they descended the hill. Even from this far off, Galen could see the anger and hatred burning in their eyes as they charged the vampires.
Renewed by their unexpected allies, the dragons lashed out at their enemies with fresh attacks. Galen lifted into the sky moments before the shifters below crashed into the lines of the vampires. They charged in with abandon, a smaller, perhaps feminine, yet no-less-determined bear shifter the first to draw blood, though it barely beat out a wolf with blinding white fur.
Then Galen turned his attention to the abominations in the sky with him. The vampire shifters were outnumbered, though they fought with fierce determination. He plunged out of the sky, pulling his wings in tight as he spied one below.
At the last second, he snapped his wings out, claws jutting forward as he grasped the bat-like monster in all four legs and yanked. The leathery membranes of the creature’s wings shredded beneath his attack, and it fell to the ground with a shriek, where it was quickly pounced upon by half a dozen bears.
When they cleared, the ripped and torn body lay still, never to move again. Galen spun and blasted a cone of air as another of the winged creatures came at him, using the winds to keep him aloft as he coasted on his back.
His attack peeled back the layers of skin from the nightmarish thing’s face. Seconds later, a pair of raptors the size of motorcycles darted in, beaks and talons ripping and tearing it apart, flipping the creature on its side before a Pegasus speared it through the neck, emitting a whistling shriek of triumph as it all but tore the thing’s head off its body.
Down below, the vampires were falling back, but not routing, and the shadow wielders were closing to do battle. His brothers, freed from dealing with the foot soldiers were turning their attentions to these foes.
But there were too many of them. They were too strong, the vampires continuing to emerge from the trees as more and more shadow wielders came forth.
Galen grimaced. They just didn’t have the numbers to combat this sort of thing. The vampires were too numerous. He landed near his mate, prepared to die defending her.
“There are too many,” he rumbled, even as the vampires began to organize their lines, pushing the other Houses back, leaving a trail of dead bears and wolves behind th
em as they did.
“We’re not out of this yet,” Kyla said. “Hold them off for a moment, would you dear?” she asked.
“Gladly,” he snarled, bowling over the shadow wielders she’d been fighting with a well-timed gust of wind at their feet.
That was all the time Kyla needed. She gestured with her staff, and a rent in reality opened. She stuck her head through.
“You had better be ready!” he heard her shout before pulling her head back out of the portal.
“What? Ready for what?” he asked, but his question was answered for him.
Kyla gestured again, and a dozen holes in reality appeared behind the lines of the shifters.
“A way out!” he shouted. “Brilliant!”
But then a figure appeared in one of the portals. And then another.
They came out tentatively at first, taking in the ripped and torn battlefield around them, the shrieking of the skies and the battle taking place overhead. But then they were ready.
The mages struck, and they struck hard. Fireballs of red blazed up and over the shifter lines to land among the vampires, while lances of green energy spat forth from the palms of others.
Still more mages emerged from the portals. The shifters solidified their lines, and now it was their turn to advance. They adapted to this new and unexpected ally with ease. A blast of magic would down a vampire, and a shifter would dart in and rip its throat out before it could recover.
Even more mages rushed forward, white robes flapping as they fell to their knees at the sides of wounded shifters. Galen watched open-mouthed as green energy flowed into the wounded creatures, healing their wounds.
“You did this?” he asked, turning to Kyla. “What? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I didn’t know if they would come,” she admitted. “It’s…a bit complicated.”
“Everyone who would fight is here now, Archmage,” said a portly old man in a brown robe.
Galen arched a scaly eyebrow. “Archmage?”
Kyla shrugged. “It’s a long story. We don’t have time. We need to push them back!”
“Right. Agreed.” First things first.
Some of the mages pointed their staffs to the sky, and energy raced upward, piercing the shadowy cover over the battlefield, starting to burn it back. King Tarryl added his light, and the starry sky beyond began to peek through.
Then disaster struck.
A wall of pure darkness rose up and swallowed the light, blotting out the sky and swirling down around the pillar of light from the mages and the Phoenix. It swatted them down, scattering them to the ground.
More shadow raced forward, shielding the vampires from the mage attacks as a single figure stepped forth from the woods to the west of Drakon Keep, barely visible for the shadows that seemed to be attracted to his very figure.
Honorius had arrived. The elder vampire was here to do battle.
“We cannot defeat him,” Galen said, sagging as the true power of the ancient Nacht was unveiled before him. “He is too strong.”
There was a tremendous thunder, and the very ground to the south exploded up and out. Mighty chunks of rock and earth were cast wide, forcing shifters and vampires alike to dodge them as they landed.
Galen stared in shock, as did everyone else. What dark magic was this?
Then, from the depths of the earth came a sight he couldn’t believe.
Dragons! Dozens upon dozens of dragons!
His head whipped around to find Kyla, who was also staring at the sight.
“It worked!” he shouted. “It worked!”
The Elder Dragons had awakened at last, and they were mad.
Chapter 37
Kyla shouted to the heavens as fire, ice and all the elements awoke around them.
Vampires simply vanished as the earth swallowed them up, or they disappeared into ash. Scores more withered up and fell as the water in their very bodies was ripped free by the might of the elder dragons.
The other Houses charged the lines, smashing through them and continuing on. A shadow wielder batted away half a dozen wolves, leaving them in broken heaps, but he went down as the seventh clamped its jaws around the creature’s neck. A bear rolled by, pausing just long enough to raise one mighty paw and smash the skull flat.
Elsewhere, a pair of gryphons bore one of the winged vampires to the ground, where a pride of lions raced in to rip it limb from limb.
Despite all that, Honorius walked through the mayhem unharmed. None who came close could touch him.
“To me, my brothers!” Galen shouted, resuming his human form.
He thrust both hands forward, a massive shrieking gale of wind shooting forward.
Honorius barely slowed.
Valla came up beside Galen and ice flowed forth from his palms, impacting upon the shadows around Honorius and shattering into thousands of pieces.
Still the elder vampire came on, seemingly unconcerned.
Victor and Aaric joined in the attack, water and fire blasting in at the two-thousand-year-old creature.
Green-gold magic battered against the shadow shield as well. Jax wasn’t far behind, but his onyx metal attack fell aside like so much nothingness. Honorius had slowed, but barely.
Several other mages came to them, all of them old, wearing identical black robes.
“Forgive us,” one of them said to him.
Galen frowned, expecting treachery, but then he understood as blue beams of forbidden magic slashed out.
Honorius paused mid-step, the sudden addition of such heavy magic starting to take its toll on him. But then he leaned forward, and onward he came. The sheer amount of energy being unleashed upon him was bouncing off and slaughtering his fellow vampires as he walked through their ranks.
Wisely, the shifters still in his path scattered, knowing they couldn’t withstand such an attack.
More fire and other elements joined in the attack as other dragons saw what was happening and rushed to help.
Then a light of pure gold spat forward from Galen’s right. Tarryl had recovered from the earlier attack, and he poured his phoenix light into the dreadful enemy.
Honorius slowed now.
The assembled allies pushed forward.
“Stay on him!” Galen bellowed, pouring everything he had into it.
Beside him, he watched in awe as Kyla’s magic turned brighter and brighter. She shrieked something unintelligible, and then her magic turned silver. He glanced over at her, noting that like before, her eyes were also glowing with that same silvery-platinum light. Power billowed her coat out behind her, hair nearly standing on its end.
Whatever it was she was doing, it was too much for Honorius.
The elder vampire wavered, then took a step back. His shield of shadows had been pushed back up nearly against his hand. Galen watched in awe as it continued to be beaten back. The now exposed vampire hand simply vanished, torn to nothingness by the awesome display of power.
Still the shadows swirled, but they were losing. With every passing second, more of Honorius’ arm was exposed, slowly disappearing as he was shredded down to his very core.
Galen roared and as one, the allies gave it their every last bit of power. The shadows evaporated.
Honorius didn’t even have time to scream before the wave of power flashed over him. When it passed, nothing remained.
Just like that, it was over.
Chapter 38
With Honorius’ death, the vampires broke.
Unlike before, however, the shifters weren’t going to let them escape. The shadows were burned from the skies, and on the ground the vampires were hunted down. Vicious wolves and angry bears, eager for vengeance over their fallen comrades made sure that none of them survived.
Overhead, dragons in numbers the world hadn’t seen in a century or more swirled, many of them helping direct the ground-bound shifters to pockets of resistance.
“We did it,” he said dully, still in shock as the enemy forces disintegrated ar
ound them.
“You did it,” Aaric said as he approached, weary and injured, needing to rest on Valla, who was helping support the wounded fire dragon.
“Me?” he asked, confused. “This was everyone, working together.”
“You knew when they were going to attack,” Aaric pointed out. “To tell our allies when to arrive.”
“You also let yourself get seduced by a mage, who didn’t want to let you die, so went and took over the Mage Guild just to bring you help,” Jax said with a shrug, the earth dragon seemingly none the worse for wear.
“Oh, and you went and woke up the rest of the dragons with the help of that mage,” Victor said with a shrug, one harm hanging limply from his side, a giant gash running from his neck down to his right hip.
“What? That is not how it went down,” he protested.
“That’s how it seems to me,” another voice said from next to him.
“That’s ‘cause you like the idea that I was seduced by you, and not vice versa,” Galen growled, sweeping Kyla up into his arms, ignoring the unexpected pain in his back as he did.
Apparently, he’d taken several wounds during the fight that he hadn’t even realized.
“Maybe,” she said, letting the hug linger on.
Galen didn’t fight it. He wanted to hold onto her for as long as he could without letting go. Fate had given them a new lease of life in the most unexpected of ways, and he intended to cherish it.
“You acted like a real King out there,” she said quietly. “I’m proud of you, my love.”
“Thank you. But I’m just as glad to give the title up,” he said.
“Give it up?” Jax asked, alarmed. “Why would you do that?”
Galen gave his younger earthly cousin a frown. “Did you miss the part where all the other dragons are awake now? Including the previous Council members?”
“Awake in a world they don’t know. Where things have changed beyond their understanding,” Jax pointed out. “You have the mantle of King, and it is yours now until you relinquish it.”