by Jessica Gunn
“You remind me of someone, Vera.”
My name sounded like a plaything on his tongue that he had every right to use. Like my name was his and his alone to say and use how he wanted. A shudder shivered through me. I’d expected the king of vampires to be cold, and he was. To a point. But his very presence this close set my body on fire; fear, desire, curiosity—they all swelled within me until I felt like I’d explode.
I swallowed hard. “Who?”
For a moment, he didn’t answer. Silence swam between the very, very thin distance between us as the moment spread out into thirty seconds. Then he opened his mouth to answer.
“The woman who—”
Kristian’s eyes went wide. His ice-cold, strong hands wrapped around my shoulders and shoved me, and Zezza, to the ground. I yelped as my ankle twisted and Zezza roared her best baby-dragon roar. The second our bodies connected harshly with the car, a bright light emanated from somewhere around me, beaming outward like starlight. Kristian slammed his eyes shut, cursing loudly as the light blinded him and his skin began to roast a little, sending swirls of smoke up into the air.
As soon as it had arrived, the light disappeared.
I took the moment to push off from the car and try to run away. But Kristian snapped a hand out and grabbed my arm, pulling me once more against the car and next to him. Protectively, I realized.
What was that? Wait a minute… No. Could it be?
Late last night, when Halley had given me her gun and some money, she’d also said some witchy words. A blessing.
Momentary magic.
I gulped as the memories of my best friend protecting me during the meteor strike swam to mind. Without Alexis, I’d never have made it to my younger sister in time.
Kristian’s hand remained firm on my shoulder. “Stay down! They’re here!” He looked up, drawing a gun from beneath his shirt, and barked orders to his men. “Protect the dragon and the girl!”
“Who’s here?” I pushed him back, but it was useless. Trying to move Kristian was like trying to move a boulder. His hard abs didn’t budge one bit. Zezza growled from beneath us both. I gave up trying to move Kristian and instead undid Zezza’s muzzle.
Kristian stood and took a few shots, creating an opening for our escape. I took it, skittering out from underneath him with a hand on Zezza’s back to keep her in place.
“Hang tight!” I shouted to her over the firing of guns as I got to my feet. The first several steps I took were awkward and my ankle throbbed in agony. Kristian was a hell of a lot stronger than he looked, vampire-status notwithstanding.
Hobbling, I took off for the closest building, making it almost to the front door, where people were crouched down inside, close to the ground, before a massive crack of thunder sounded.
The pavement beneath my feet shuddered and split into spiderweb cracks that spread across the ground, up the front steps of the store and into the very brick walls of the foundation. I stumbled to my knees. The pavement ripped through my jeans and scraped the skin raw as my ankle burned and collapsed again. I cried out and Zezza…
“Zezza?” I called out, my voice frantic and raw. She was missing. She wasn’t on my shoulder. She…
Zezza’s cry split the air, and I spotted her lying not ten feet away. Blood pooled beneath one of her wings, slowly building beneath her. I scuttled across the ground to her.
“No!” My hands shook as I looked her over. I tried to be gentle, but the soft touches of my fingertips to her scales near her belly had her crying out again. Still one of her wings kept my hand there, as though she were holding my hand with one of her own.
A bullet had grazed her. Not punctured her clear through, thank the gods.
I ripped off part of my shirt and pressed it to her side before scooping her up off the ground. Maintaining pressure, I held her tightly. Still, she managed to wiggle her way around and open her mouth…
With a mighty squeaking roar, she exhaled a line of small but fierce lightning across the ground toward Kristian and his vampire friends. The smell of ozone lit the air and I scrambled back, watching with jaw-dropped mouth as my baby dragon fiercely cleared the way for…
What in the ever-living gods are those?
Two men and one woman had surrounded Kristian and his vampires. They were fighting them now in combat with swords that crackled like lightning. Every time they struck, a thunderclap resounded through the area. Almost like the blades had been forged in the middle of a storm. Between the swings and the electricity, I saw grey steel with intricate hilts at the end of each weapon. The individuals themselves were dressed in leathers and armor, and two of them looked nearly identical—twins, I realized. Their armor wasn’t quite tactical and modern armor, but also not wholly medieval in style, either. The design was solidly somewhere in the middle and made from what appeared to be… dragon scales?
“Zezza!” I screamed, begging her to stop before she hit someone she didn’t mean to. Wind picked up around us and sent my hair flying. The very air carried a charge to it that hadn’t been there before, as if everything was at high risk of becoming a superconductor for lightning. As if on cue, the scales on Zezza’s body lit with lightning that rippled across her injured form. Arcs of it zipped up to me, lapping at the ends of my fingertips with warm energy. It settled my nerves, reassuring me. The lightning made me feel safe.
As comforting as the tempest around us was, though, the fight between these draconic soldiers and Kristian and his vampires waged on. I pushed off of my hiding spot and ran, pushing past the winds with a weird unease even as Kristian and his vampires struggled to remain upright. Pain pulsed through my ankle and up my leg, doubly so when I tripped over the leg of one of the fallen vampires as he tried to knock me off balance to the ground. I fell, cuddling Zezza to me like a football as we crashed into the ground and rolled out of it.
A hand then appeared in front of my face, tanned and scattered with tiny golden, cobalt scales. Something about the scales seemed familiar, but I didn’t give it much thought before shrinking away, holding Zezza even tighter to myself.
“Go away!” I shouted. I just wanted it all to stop. The fighting, the storm. Everything.
Why couldn’t they all leave us alone? Didn’t they know I wanted nothing to do with their stupid wars? With their supernatural lives and powers? I started out this week wanting to win a couple thousand dollars and escape Boston alone to start a new life in New York or Hartford. Now all I wanted was to escape Boston with this hatchling dragon alive and safe—at a minimum.
And now some dragon-scaled dude was reaching a hand out for me. A dragon-scaled dude who began to become more and more familiar the longer this weird exchange went on for.
“Quickly,” he said, his voice so deep it sent chilly vibrations of recognition through me right to my core. “There isn’t much time. We can’t hold them off for long.”
I looked up to him, finding short brown hair framing a strong face with chiseled features that rivaled that of Greek marble statues. His tanned skin and vibrant blue eyes with golden flecks simultaneously scanned me over and begged for understanding—for trust.
This wasn’t some random guy.
This was the same man I had run into on my way to work last night. The man who’d seen me drop my weave stone as a result of running right into his solid shoulder.
The same man who’d also had weird scales on his hands.
Dragon scales. Ones that kind of looked like Zezza’s.
My heart dropped. Could he be trusted? Could the other two? If his scales matched Zezza’s, was it possible he was an ally or something? I didn’t know much about dragonkind. No one did, as they were supposed to be extinct. But these soldiers appeared to be fighting Kristian and his vampires, and I knew Kristian wanted me for his own agenda.
Staying with Kristian would be choosing the devil I knew, but…
Zezza wiggled beneath my hold, reaching a leg toward the guy.
“Zezza, no!” I said, pulling her back to me.
“Where are you going?”
“Warden! Hurry!” the man said, this time grabbing on to my forearm and yanking me upright with strength I’d expect from no one but a vampire or werewolf. And for some reason, Zezza was listening to him too. “Come with us.”
I tried to rip my hand from his grip and he actually let me go. His fingers fell away and I backed up a step as Zezza squirmed down my body to the ground, standing between my feet. She was looking up at me, her eyes wide and also pleading.
Zezza… trusted this guy?
Zezza hadn’t trusted my boss and she’d been a friend.
My focus returned to the few golden and cobalt scales on this man’s hand and the corded muscles of his arms.
Warden. He’d called me “Warden.” A memory knocked on the back of my mind, begging to be released. Something… something…
What was it that Keir had said? The dragons had a leader called the Warden of the Storm?
Wait a minute…
The man leveled his eyes with mine as lightning crackled around his armor, bouncing off the scales and plates to the sword in his right hand. He moved the sword to his left and held his right hand out to me. “Warden, please. I’ll explain everything once we’re safe at the Lair.”
Like, dragon’s lair?
Zezza nudged my good leg with her snout.
I swallowed hard and looked across the carnage to find Kristian locked in combat with another one of these dragon-like warriors. For a moment, he turned to me as if he could sense my gaze on him once more and our eyes met. There was defeat in his eyes. But also… longing?
I didn’t know who to trust except Zezza. And if she trusted these people who had the same color scales as her, then I guess I had to give this a shot. Zezza had trusted me to get her this far, and we had a good idea of what’d happen if we stayed with Kristian.
It was my turn to trust Zezza. Worst case, it would be one more bad decision among many in my failed plan to leave Boston.
Best case, I’d at least not be forced into becoming a vampire.
“Fine,” I said, stooping to scoop Zezza up off the ground. I slowly reached out for this man’s hand. The second our fingers were inches apart, lightning sparked between them the way Zezza’s scales sparked when I touched her. It was only then I knew that we’d made the right choice.
Another massive crack of thunder sounded, and in a striking, brilliant white light—in a lightning strike—we were gone.
Chapter 11
For a moment there was simply nothing. Nothing except Zezza’s presence on my shoulder, reassuring and ever-present. A spark.
Then a flash of light—a brilliant, radiant blue—as my feet hit solid ground. Zezza yelped, but I hung on tightly. My fingers were now slick with her blood. Whoever these people were, I hoped they knew how to heal dragons. I wanted to turn around, to run and find nearest vet clinic. What would I do then? Was there a vet who had ever taken care of a dragon before?
Once my vision cleared, I realized we were not in Boston anymore. Sandy white beach the color of pearls stretched out around me. Above shone a still-rising sun, painting the sky in oranges and pinks with a tinge of blue still on the horizon. Only a few clouds dotted the horizon. Before me, palm and jungle trees rose up alongside a mountain like a curtain to a wide peak at the top. Dark smoke billowed high into the sky.
Is that a volcano?
I gulped, swinging my line of sight from the scenery to the people who had brought me here. There were no jungles in Boston, nor the entire northeastern United States. And these people didn’t look entirely human, now that I had a moment to glance them over. The man I recognized wasn’t the only one with sunlight glinting off scales on hands, forearms, and rising up their necks.
My eyes narrowed on the draconic soldier who’d grabbed my arm, the one who looked familiar. His two friends were scanning the beach, occasionally sending glances my way. “Where are we? And why are you following me?”
The woman glanced his way. “You never mentioned she looks like her.”
The third soldier nodded. “Are you sure about this? Bringing this Warden here could cause so many problems.”
The man holding my arm scanned his golden blue eyes over me, as if checking to make sure I wasn’t injured. His eyebrows twisted as he ignored his friends and addressed me instead. “We’re home, at the Lair. And I wasn’t following you. Running into you last night was an accident. It was then I realized who you were and came back to find you.”
“The Lair.” I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t help it. He’s got to be kidding me. Dragons in lairs? I looked at Zezza. “Do you know these guys?”
Before we’d left, I was convinced she’d abandon me for them. And while that hurt, I hadn’t done a good job of keeping her safe. It made sense she’d want to be with her own kind. Even if these people didn’t exactly look like dragons. Which they didn’t. But the scales on this man’s hands and the woman next to him that appeared to be his twin were almost exactly the same as Zezza’s scales. Cobalt blue and gold swam together in a majestic tapestry of colors that gave me the impression of storms and power.
Zezza’s blue and gold eyes met mine like I should know the answer. I didn’t know a baby dragon could be this patronizing.
At this Zezza sent me an image of these draconic soldiers saving us from Kristian and his vampire friends.
I’m not so sure who was doing the saving, actually, Zezza.
Hopefully, she could understand that. It seemed like even she knew more than I did and that maybe these people, whoever they were, were where Zezza was meant to be.
Maybe all I had been was a guardian. A person to win then deliver this prize. And deliver her I had... in much worse condition than she’d started in.
Tears suddenly stung my eyes at the thought of losing this dragon. As stupid as it was. I hadn’t even had her twelve hours ago. And in that twelve hours I had already managed to let her get injured. Zezza deserved to be with her kind. Dragons weren’t supposed to exist anymore. Maybe all that was left of dragonkind were these humans with scales.
There was also one thought that kept boomeranging back to me. Both this guy in front of me and Keir had talked about the Warden of the Storm. Both conversations had included me.
I looked back to the dragon soldier beside me, belatedly realizing his strong, scaled hand was still on my arm. His hold was firm but not aggressive. It was almost like he still thought danger was around and was too afraid to let me go. I had to agree with him there. Just because Zezza seemed to trust them didn’t mean we were safe. But to be fair, I wouldn’t have had freedom in Kristian’s presence, either.
“That’s it? The Lair?” I asked, cocking a hip. Feigning courage had gotten me this far. “Can you give me some more information? I mean, don’t get me wrong. I am happy you intervened. We’d probably be dead without you. Or at least undead. Me of course, not Zezza.”
“It’s our home,” he said. “And now yours.” His voice was honey, calm and smooth, but there was a sharpness to it that gave me the impression there was something more going on.
I blinked. “No… my home is back there.” I thumbed over my shoulder, meaning the city we’d left behind us and not the miles of seemingly endless ocean surrounding us. “In Boston. I mean, home is a loose term I suppose. I’ve been trying to get out for—”
“Great,” the woman who appeared to be this man’s twin, said. She stood to the side, her spear slammed into the sand and one hand on her hip. “The new Warden rambles as much as you, Eli. I wonder exactly how new you are, though.”
I cocked my hip. “What’s that mean?”
The man’s eyebrows twisted further, in frustration this time.
I hadn’t known any of them for longer than a few minutes, but this guy did not seem like someone who rambled on. If anything, he didn’t appear to be much of a talker at all.
“Not now, Elena,” he said. Eli. Such a normal, human name for someone with dragon scales on their hands.
“I don’
t know,” the third person, another man, said. He had green and black scales running up his neck, leading to a narrow, pale face, sharp green eyes, all a top a broad, built fighter’s body. The armor he wore had scale colors the same as the ones that adorned his neck. “Elena’s kind of right, Eli.”
“A perfect match, then,” Elena said, although she sounded not at all thrilled as the words might imply she be. “Right, Tharin?”
“Better than the last,” Tharin said.
My eyes narrowed. “A perfect match? Excuse me?”
“Ignore them,” Eli said.
Zezza’s talons dug in tightly as she moved down my arm. I put my hands on my hip to accommodate her.
“Easy, Zezza.” The fact she was moving at all was a good sign. It was almost like just being here in the Lair—whatever that was—healed her some. I looked back to Eli. “What the hell is going on?”
Elena scoffed. “You don’t know? You came with us, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t exactly have a choice.” That wasn’t true. I did have one. But going with Kristian and becoming an undead wasn’t exactly appealing. I’d decided I’d take the risk and come here with them only because Zezza seemed to trust them.
And because the alternative wasn’t acceptable.
The other man, Tharin, sheathed his sword. “You said you ran into her last night. Eli, did you not explain?”
“No,” Eli and I said at the same time.
I swallowed hard as our eyes met. The look shared between us held inexplicable and heavy weight.
Zezza shifted again, swinging around my arm and hung upside down, looking at me with a goofy dragon grin. She was… happy. Really happy. Bleeding still, but grinning her wide dragon smile.
Elena swung her ponytail of nearly waist-length jet-black hair behind her as she stepped across the sand in cobalt blue leather boots. Like Eli, the scales along the small amount of exposed skin at her hands, forearms, collarbones and neck were covered in the same color scales that Zezza had, although Elena’s had much more gold. Elena reached out to touch Zezza, inching her fingertips slowly closer to the hatchling. She pulled back before getting closer than a few inches from her scaled head. “That place is no longer your home. You were cast out the moment you came into possession of this young one’s egg. And as much trouble as this has caused all of us, you must accept this and remain here.”