Dragon: The Clan Legacy Series

by J. S. Striker

  “Oh, come off it, you two,” Sophia’s irritated voice snapped as she inserted herself between the two. “No one’s punching anyone.”

  “Soph, I really am going to punch him if—”

  “Quiet,” Sophia hissed. “Robbie said you can’t go to the demon realm alone.”

  “I know that. But there’s no other optio—”

  He froze as Robbie’s earlier statement fell into place.

  Finn turned to Sophia in disbelief, already shaking his head. “I can’t take you there, Soph. You know that. It’s really dangerous and it’s no place for you.”

  “Just as it’s no place for you,” Sophia countered stubbornly. “As it is, I’m not coming with you two.”

  “With us… two,” Finn repeated dumbly.

  “Yes, us two,” Robbie growled. “Now will you shut up and let her finish?”

  Sophia grinned. “Thanks, sweetie. Now come on. Just because you can’t take me there, Finn, doesn’t mean I can’t take you there.”

  *****

  They snuck out of shifter headquarters like three prisoners afraid of being caught, and Robbie grumbled the whole way about being caught. Finn was about to argue with him all over again, but Sophia hushed them both, obviously in charge as she led them into an abandoned warehouse a couple of streets away.

  “I saved your life here,” Sophia muttered. “So stop with the grumbling already.”

  Robbie looked around, placing his hand on her back and kissing her shoulder. “Fine.”

  Finn rolled his eyes and followed them inside.

  The place was quiet save for some rats scurrying about, but not necessarily bothering them. Sophia settled her backpack on the floor and removed some bottles with colored liquids that looked like potions. Then she removed another bottle from the bag—one containing a red potion, except it looked like blood.

  Quietly, she asked the two men to step to the side, which they did. She warded off the whole area quickly before standing in position in the middle of the space. Robbie notably stood closer to her, already primed to go to her in case anything went wrong.

  A symbol was drawn by chalk on the dirty floor, one Finn didn’t understand. Then Sophia closed her eyes, one hand holding the red potion and the other hand filled with sparks. She chanted some words, and the way it eerily sounded like the demon screams made the hair at the back of Finn’s neck stand up.

  A few seconds later, something crashed in the middle of the drawn symbol, screeching. The demon flew about, stopping only when it realized it couldn’t get out. It glared red eyes at the three of them.

  “You will let us in one of your portals where no one’s on the other side,” Sophia commanded calmly.

  The demon screeched again, and they almost sounded like curses. Then it uttered words in their language.

  “In your dreams, bitch.”

  Robbie growled in warning.

  Sophia smiled. Then she placed the sparked hands on the red potion, and a white flash exploded in the air as the demon screeched horrifically. Beside the demon was now an open green portal, and the place where the demon had been was now empty, with just a puddle on the floor.

  Finn grimaced. “Ouch. Was the potion their blood?”

  Sophia nodded, then slumped wearily against Robbie. She turned around after to give him a kiss, then stepped forward to give Finn a hug.

  “You both come home safe or I swear I am going to raise you back from the dead.”

  Finn laughed.

  Then he grimly faced the portal. “Ready?”

  “Let’s get this over with, Jackles,” Robbie replied.

  Without further ado, they both jumped into the portal.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Belvar made her run for days on end.

  She passed through all sorts of mazes, turning and turning and trying to find the end that simply wasn’t there. It was confusing and a bit pointless, if she did say so herself, but she didn’t really have any choice in the matter to begin with. It was better than having to fight demons every time, especially when they came by the hundreds and just wouldn’t stop. So the maze sort of became a reprieve from the insanity that was driving her crazy, simply for being alone in her cell day in and day out, with no blood to feed her hunger.

  Demon blood was disgusting, and she would rather starve than taste one ever again.

  Sometimes, Belvar would throw in a few obstacles to slow her running down—like the giant snake that crossed her path a few days ago, squeezing the life out of her and hissing madly as it did so. While the realm rendered most of her vampire strength gone, it left enough to have her twisting out of the snake’s grasp and squeezing the life out of it instead. This angered Belvar enough to have him throwing a few more snakes in the maze, by which she already got the hang of as she squeezed the life out of them, too.

  Of course, she had to get even by calmly telling Belvar he was the most uncreative demon she’d ever met—a statement she really should not have said, because apparently greater demons liked challenges. A lot.

  Right now, the maze had a snake stalking her—a snake that had its mouth filled with sharp teeth that looked rotten and yellow. It would have been easy getting rid of the creature, except its body had spikes all over, which made squeezing the life out of it a little difficult at the moment.

  Lucinda kept her ears on alert, footsteps light and quiet as she trudged through a muddy area of the maze. She had fashioned one of the branches that the snake had bumped into a long, sharp stick, and she used that stick right now in front of her as an offensive weapon. So far, no slithering could be heard. The good thing about the spiky snake was that it could be heard from afar, making it hard for the thing to sneak up on her so suddenly.

  Find the exit and you can be back in your cell for the day, Belvar’s voice taunted inside her head. Your old guards didn’t fare well in this challenge, sad to say.

  “Stop getting inside my hea—” she hissed, then stopped mid-way as she heard movement approaching.

  The snake had heard her. And it had just slithered round the corner, tearing everything in its path and lunging towards her.

  Lucinda jumped to avoid the teeth diving in for her, leaping to its head and trying to kick the maze for momentum to turn around. The snake’s tail swerved and almost crashed into her, and she had to duck and dive back down on to the ground. She smacked face-down in the mud, then frantically raced out of the way, just in time to avoid the snake’s tail slamming down on her.

  All right, now she was covered in dirt—and pissed.

  Narrowing her eyes, Lucinda tried to look for the stick she had fashioned into a weapon… there. It was just a few steps away. The snake was coming for her again, teeth bared and black eyes gleaming in the darkness.

  Lucinda leapt for the stick, narrowly missing the snake and one of its spikes digging into her right side. Ignoring the pain, she grabbed the stick and turned, slashing at the creature with all her might.

  The snake’s head fell on the ground, motionless. The body continued slithering.

  Wasting no time, Lucinda ran and sliced—one slice, two slices, three slices. The stick broke in her hand, and the snake fell in three separate pieces on the ground—four, if you counted the head.

  Someone clapped in the background, and a smoky figure appeared in front of her.

  Belvar grinned. “That amused me so much that I’m going to cut your running short today and we can call it a day. None of my demons had ever beaten that one before, so I would like to commend you for a job well done.”

  Lucinda nodded her head stiffly, pain flaring on her hip. Daring not to say a word, she limped her way and followed his lead.

  *****

  Prisoners in the neighboring cells came and went.

  Last time there was a young fox shifter beside her cell, tortured non-stop by the demons until he became mad and screamed until he died. The dead shifter was dragged off, and a few hours later a human woman was placed there, protesting and crying at the same tim
e. The smell of the woman’s blood was so rich and near, it made Lucinda dizzy with hunger. But she persevered, refusing to take from those already in this torture hell.

  Now the cells were empty again, which was just as well as she went inside hers. The demons left her alone after delivering some fresh clothes, and Belvar disappeared off to who knows where and gave her some short relief. When she was sure that everyone was gone, Lucinda slumped down on her sitting spot near a wall and removed her muddy dress to check her side.

  As predicted, there was an angry slash just right at her hip, extending up to the right side of her rib. It bled, but not so much to be concerning. Quickly, she cleaned it with the drinking water they left in a bowl for her and dressed herself up, leaning against the wall and closing her eyes once she was done.

  She didn’t know how long she’d been here already, but a year sounded like a lifetime if this kept up. Finn hadn’t come, which meant he wasn’t returned to his base as Belvar had initially promised—or he was dead.

  The thought made her heart squeeze, the kind of pain that was untouchable, one she couldn’t heal no matter how hard she tried.

  So this was what love felt like—and this was how love lost made you feel.

  She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling cold. The silence went on, dancing around her and making her feel more alone than ever.

  She might have fallen asleep in between her thoughts, but Lucinda woke up just in time to hear her cell opening quietly. Eyes still closed, she waited for the presence to come near.

  A hand settled on her shoulder.

  In a flash, Lucinda rotated and took the creature down, using darkness as her leverage as she straddled it and placed her sharp nails on the first pulse point she could find. She opened her eyes—

  And froze when the bond came on, like a strong force knocking her down.

  Finn’s blue eyes stared up at her intensely, his voice quietly strong when he spoke. “Goddamn. I’ve been looking for you for days in this hellhole.”

  Lucinda’s own eyes widened and she opened her mouth, speechless. Then she removed her fingers from his pulse point, and all of a sudden their hands were moving as they touched each other. He took her head down to meet his mouth, and it was the most glorious kiss she’d ever had.

  He was alive. Finn was alive and had come.

  Finn rolled them over until he was on top, and the pain on Lucinda’s side zinged and made her gasp.

  “Shit, I’m sorry.” He made a move to sit up, bringing her up with him.

  “Thank God. PDA in the demon realm isn’t exactly on my rescue agenda,” a rough voice intoned from outside the cell.

  Lucinda peered out and found Robbie Sebastian with his arms crossed and eyes roaming the area.

  Finn ushered her out, and the three of them stood outside her cell.

  “What’s the plan?” Lucinda asked when they continued standing.

  “In a minute,” Robbie replied as he closed his eyes.

  Silence prevailed again, and Lucinda followed their lead and waited. Soon she heard the screech of a demon as it came running inside the prison area and in their direction.

  Robbie smirked.

  Finn nodded his head and pulled Lucinda’s hand to move her aside.

  It happened too fast for her eyes to follow. One second, they were all just standing there as the demon jumped to bite. The next second, there was a loud commotion as an earthquake shook the space—and Robbie had turned from human to a gigantic black dragon with green eyes.

  Her mouth almost dropped open in shock. “I thought you couldn’t shift—”

  Finn grinned. “His wife’s an awesome witch. And they’re communicating right now. Oh, and you know her.”

  Another demon entered the room and attempted to lunge.

  And the earth shook again as the demon disappeared with a poof, and a green portal appeared.

  “Convenient,” Lucinda commented, her calm returning.

  “Definitely,” Finn said.

  “Shut up and dive,” Robbie growled, glaring at them both.

  They both did, and Robbie shifted to his human form before following. There was the usual sensation of travelling through a portal before they exited on the other end and out of the demon realm. The three landed quite gracefully at an empty warehouse that looked grimy and secluded.

  “Welcome back, everyone,” a cheerful Sophia greeted, eyes focused warmly on Robbie. “Good job, slick.”

  The irritated Robbie transformed into the happy Robbie right before Lucinda’s eyes as he stared at his wife, naked as the day he was born. She supposed she should have been used to naked shifters by now, particularly dragon ones. She glanced at the demon Sophia had trapped, trying to break the magical ward enclosing it and failing miserably.

  Smoke appeared in front of her. Belvar’s figure formed fully into its physical manifestation, and the handsome man who stood regal and proud gave her a shake of head before offering his hand.

  Lucinda shook her head.

  Belvar frowned down at his hand.

  From a few steps behind, Sophia cleared her throat.

  “If you don’t realize it yet, bargain demon… you’re trapped.”

  Belvar stared at her in disbelief. Sophia shrugged. “I gave it a try and it worked—but only for a few seconds, though. Miss Lucinda? Now’s your cue.”

  The greater demon made a move to lift his hand again, but Finn growled from behind and drove his claws straight through Belvar’s chest. Lucinda used her bare hands and twisted the demon’s head. Belvar tried to scream, something about them not being able to kill a demon that way and how dare they…

  Calmly, Sophia stepped forward again and poured a potion of blue green liquid on the babbling demon. Belvar froze, body stilling completely before fire slowly started coming out and consuming him.

  Only a puddle was left on the floor.

  “Well, that worked,” the witch commented in amazement.

  “So we can kill demons now?” Finn asked.

  Sophia nodded. “Only in properly drawn wards. And very carefully at that.” She blinked when the already-dressed Robbie placed his hands on her shoulders, then turned to Lucinda with intense honey eyes. “Good to see you alive, Miss Bennett.”

  It was perhaps the warmest welcome she’d ever had in days. Lucinda gave the witch a small smile, and Sophia tentatively smiled back. Then Lucinda gave the hand holding hers a squeeze as relief poured out of her in waves. Then, a new set of tension.

  She was back home. And it was time.

  They had a lot of explaining to do.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “He is to be banished from the shifter community!” Hans, the bear clan leader, practically trembled in rage as he all but shouted out the declaration. “We don’t need a traitor like that in our vicinity.”

  “And how exactly is he a traitor when he hasn’t even done anything to betray or put a negative light to our kind?” Henrik asked calmly, arms crossed and expression neutral.

  Hans scoffed. “Shackling up with a vampire is the highest form of betrayal.”

  “They’re our allies,” Robbie reminded. Supposedly the meeting was for the leaders only, but he was brought in as a special attendee as it involved their clan.

  A commotion rose in the headquarters meeting room as all the other leaders tried to say their piece. Dylan sat at the head of the long table, rubbing his head and trying to keep a calm face as he listened to the arguments. Finally, he held up his hand and asked for quiet, which was eventually given as the other leaders waited for his input.

  “You’ve all listed down the pros and the cons very well,” he started off, looking at the leaders one by one—particularly eyeing Robbie, who had grown positively stormy. “But the bottom point is this: will Mr. Jackles’ connection with the vampire leader benefit us in the long run or not?”

  “Yes,” Henrik said smoothly, handsome face stern.

  “Maybe,” Wesley, leader of the tiger clan, said.

>   “No,” Hans barked shortly, shaking his head. “It’s a disaster.”

  Robbie looked like he was about to roll his eyes, but stopped himself when Henrik gave him a warning glance. Dylan sighed.

  “Fine, then we put it under a vote. But this vote will not include something as severe as banishment. I will decide what becomes of the shifter, and that is final.” The firm tone in the leader’s voice had everyone standing up straight. Even Hans didn’t protest, merely tightened his lips.

  “Those opposed to Finn’s mating with the vampire leader, Lucinda Bennett, please raise your hand.”

  A couple of the shifter leaders raised their hand, with Hans taking the lead. Moira, leader of the rat clan, followed in with the vote, her beautifully harsh face mellowed down in a calm expression. Tentatively, the sister and representative of the fox clan’s leader, Tasha, also raised her hand.

  Dylan nodded his head, noting down the number.

  “Those who do not mind and think this union is beneficial in the long run, please raise your hand.”

  Henrik raised his hand first. Robbie stayed put, knowing his vote didn’t count. Wesley frowned for a moment at Tasha’s earlier vote before raising his hand. The new leader of the jaguar clan, Jairus, raised his hand as well, his expression thoughtful.

  Dylan counted—and realized the vote simply wasn’t enough.

  It was decided.

  With a nod, he stated the outcome. “It looks like the highest vote is opposed to the union. Therefore, I declare a new order for Finn Jackles—and it is that he cannot step foot in shifter headquarters for the duration of his life, emergencies included. He can visit New York anytime he wants, but not anywhere near our base.”

  Robbie opened his mouth to speak again, but the wolf shifter leader—all-time leader—held up his hand. “He is not banished per se, but his rights are limited. This decision is final.”

  Hans would have started protesting again, but the steel look in Dylan’s eyes meant there was no arguing this one. The wolf leader dismissed the group, calling the meeting adjourned. Everyone immediately filed out one by one, until the only remaining shifters in the room were Dylan, Henrik, and Robbie.