Dragon Reign: A Paranormal Love Tale

by Pressley James

  “I suppose that you could call him a cannibal,” Brooke said uneasily, squirming in the chair. “His initial feedings started with a small knick, and the next day, it’d just seemed like a love mark. You know---nothing serious.”

  Her thoughts trailed away as the woman spoke.

  Just what kind of criminal were they dealing with?

  The deranged stalker was becoming more eccentric by the minute.

  “Like I said, at first, I didn’t mind it. I got off on it. Then, he hurt me,” the woman said weakly.

  “He didn’t---”

  “No, nothing like that,” Brooke denied staunchly. “He didn’t physically assault me or anything. It started out like usual. To my surprise, though, he didn’t bind me because now, he said, I was ready to come to the dark side willingly. Then he crawled up on me, stealthily like an animal, and he’d never done that before. I felt his breath bathing my neck, but only this time, it was hotter than ever before. Of course, we never had sex in any lighting, and I couldn’t see anything. But, I can remember distinctively, feeling something extremely sharp grazing my flesh. He told me to feel them.”

  “What was it?” she demanded softly, feeling like she’d just stumbled into another realm.

  “If you’d asked me then, I would have denied it. It was too awful to fathom, too hard to understand---” Brooke’s voice caught on a sob.

  “What was it?” she asked again, reaching for the woman’s hand. “You’re not alone. Not now.”

  “And I have felt alone and scared,” Brooke said with a trembling voice. “That’s why I’m here. I have to finally do something and put a stop to his madness.”

  She listened quietly as the woman sobbed.

  Finally, Brooke quieted.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to break down like that,” Brooke sniffed. “It’s just that this is so hard.”

  Suddenly, the toilet flushed in the adjoining bathroom.

  “What were they? What did you feel?” she asked hurriedly, knowing that the door would open in any given second.

  “Vampire teeth,” the woman rasped out hurriedly, releasing her hand as she fell back against the chair. “And he sank them into me like there was no tomorrow. But, fortunately, he wasn’t able to extract any blood because I---”

  “No, no, no,” Nicole said defiantly, shaking her head in denial. “It doesn’t make any sense. What you say can’t be true. You’re lying.”

  “It’s true, Nicole,” Jessie said suddenly, closing the bathroom door after she stepped through it. Instead of joining them at the bed, she returned to the window and then spoke in her childlike voice, “My step-father is a vampire. And we’re his slaves---his prisoners, and we have been for months now. He’s forcing us to do his bidding and trap his unwilling victims. You’re his latest one.”

  The vertigo threatened to sweep her under against as she fell back against the pillow.

  “I want you to stop it, the both of you!” she said adamantly, feeling her anger rise. “Nothing of what you’re saying to me makes any sense. There aren’t such things as vampires! They aren’t real, they’re purely fictional---”

  “Don’t you know that I wish that were true?” Brooke demanded, and exasperation filled her tone. “I’d give anything change things! I’d give anything for Jessie to not witness what she did! On that night, when I realized what he was, I tried to fight him off. And if Jessie hadn’t came in when she did---”

  “She’d be a monster just like him!” Jessie screamed loudly, on the verge on tears again. “I don’t want him to hurt my mom again. I don’t want him to hurt you!”

  She clutched her head with shaky hands. “Just give me the phone! I have to call Xander! I have to tell him---”

  “I made a bargain with him! I promised that if he spared us, we’d lure his victims into unsuspecting traps so that he could feed off of them. All those poor defenseless women, they’re partly dead because of us. If we’d just---”

  “Stop it! Just stop it!” she yelled, slapping clumsily for the call button again. “I have to call Xander. I have to call---”

  “Our first meeting in the restaurant, it wasn’t accidental,” Brook went on erratically. “It was planned. The day at the park, we planned it. We’ve been tracking you, helping him get his kicks. But, somehow, I knew that you were different from all the rest. He wants you and not just to feed. For weeks, he’s been living out these sick fantasies that someday, you’ll willingly join his side. Like a greedy predator, he’s been stalking you! In our house, he’s even built a shrine of you,” she raged, finally breaking off when she noticed her ashen face. “Ms. Williamson, I’m sorry. Yes, it’s too much for you to handle. But, finally, I realize that you have a right to know. And now, I’m ashamed of what I’ve done. I know that we’ve been wrong. But, I didn’t know what else to do. I just wanted to save Jessie. And that’s not all! He plans to kill that private investigator---”

  “Xander?” she asked anxiously, pure fear lancing through her.

  “Yes, he plans to murder Xander Sullivan. According to Larry, he’s the only thing standing in his way.”

  “No,” she exclaimed, shoving the covers from her body. “I have to get to him! I have---”

  “Mom, look!”

  Suddenly, Brooke ran away from the bedside before joining her daughter at the window. Then, she gasped in horrified shock.

  “We’re too late! He’s already here!” Jessie said fearfully.

  “What is it?” she asked sharply, fisting the gown tightly in her hands, and was unable to shake her budding horror.

  “He’s here---for you,” Brooke said with finality. “And he’s not alone.”

  ***

  “We’ve got trouble,” Princeton said thickly, his anxious gaze sliding to Leslie.

  Leslie cradled the half-full coffee cup loosely as she sat on the edge of the worn leather sofa. And her interest was already piqued as she studied Princeton openly. The electricity crackled between the two before they both looked away uncomfortably.

  Finally, Princeton cleared his throat noisily before looking at him, and at his deep perusal, he frowned. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

  He cocked his brow knowingly. “I have to admit that this ‘deer-in-the-headlight’ attitude of yours is certainly entertaining,” he added quietly, his words barely audible. “With little to nothing, Leslie already has you wrapped around---”

  “Don’t even go there,” Princeton said coolly with raised brows. But, still it was obvious that he was deeply affected by her. He shook his head. “Anyway, we don’t have time for that right now. We have much bigger problems to deal with---much bigger.”

  “What?” he quipped tightly as his apprehension grew.

  The lights flickered again.

  “Let’s go,” Princeton ordered quickly. “All hell’s about to break loose.”

  After striding past a bemused Leslie, they exited the waiting room.

  They strode down the wide corridor and bypassed the nurses’ station. After slipping past, they ventured further, and finally rounded the left corner, sweeping past the silver-stained elevator doors.

  Their trek ended at the glass-stained windows.

  “Take a look,” the protector muttered, stepping aside slightly.

  The trauma unit faced them across the open expanse and was linked to the emergency area, and the hospital was sectioned into various levels as it stretched at least four additional blocks. At the 12th floor, the adjoining units leveled out, and the huge air conditioning units were strategically placed along its rooftop. And from their stance on the 16th floor, the cooling devices seemed miniscule as he stared down at them.

  The moonlight bounced against the huge, rectangular panes, and certainly some of its bright rays filtered through the closed curtains.

  At once, he caught a fast flash of something.

  “What the hell,” he muttered slowly, staring further below.

  “The Dark Riders,” Princeton said uneasily.
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  He froze in disbelief and horror.

  Now, they’d reached the 10th floor.

  There were a dozen of them on their side of the unit.

  The lust-filled vampires scaled the oblong window panes. Even from this distance, he could hear their sharp talons as they penetrated the thick glass. No doubt, they were part of Breaux’s pack, all of them elegantly dressed in black, gentlemanly suits. Their black hair flowed past their shoulders, and while their skin tones were deathly pale, youthfulness exuded from them.

  “We’ve got to get Nicole out of here,” he quipped tightly. “This is Gates last stand---his final move. If we don’t act quickly enough, it’ll turn into a bloodbath. We can’t let them get in this hospital.” Anger surged through him. “How could I have been so damned careless? I should have---”

  “Now isn’t the time to place blame. In the art of war, there are no clear-cut rights and wrongs,” Princeton said distractedly. “We have to be careful. If we run out there all half-cocked, we might walk straight into a trap. No. We have to come up with a strategic plan. These Dark Riders, many of them are genetically engineered. What they’re capable of, we don’t---”

  “They’re capable of weakness, just like the rest of us. And fortunately, I know exactly what---proxoide, a powerful elixir created by my ancestors centuries ago. The hospital is impenetrable, nine to ten minutes, give or take. The world army couldn’t get past it even if they wanted to,” Charity said abruptly, startling them both as she came up behind them. Then, a quiet coldness filled her tone. “And you---”

  “Save it. I don’t have the need or time for your accusations,” he quipped tightly, keeping his back to her. “Why don’t you just get the hell out of here?”

  “You’d just love that, wouldn’t you? Then, you wouldn’t have to face that this is your doing. I’m the voice of truth and you know it. If you’d stayed away from her, none of this would be happening,” she insisted harshly. “Why am I not surprised by you? Just like your grandfather, you’re incredibly selfish and can only think of your own needs. I despise you and everything that you stand for! You don’t deserve love! You don’t deserve anything! If anything happens to that girl---”

  “Do you plan the same course as before, you foolish woman!” Princeton cut in sharply. “Back then, many disastrous things could’ve been avoided if you hadn’t thwarted Solomon’s every effort. Many of your daughter’s grievances can be placed on your shoulders. I’m telling you now. Stay out of---”

  “And I curse the day, Vamdragan protector, that I have the unfortunate courtesy of seeing you again,” the psychic spat vehemently. “My daughter is gone because of the likes of you all! If I’d only listen to myself and intervened sooner---” Tears clogged the woman’s throat. “But, there’s nothing that I can do about that now. But, I can help Nicole! And you, bastard half-breed, I wish you’d fall off the face of the universe---”

  “I’d never give you the satisfaction,” he stated coldly. “Still, though, if I did, I’d haunt you from my grave, day in and day out---if only to wipe away that judgmental attitude of yours. But this isn’t about you, is it?” Xander demanded angrily, facing her. “Seeing that this hospital is about to be hijacked by these bloodsuckers, surely you understand that you’re of the least importance---at least right now, my dear great-grandmother.”

  A flash of surprise crossed the woman’s face, and if he’d willingly admit it, grudging respect as well. But, it fell away quickly as she frowned at him.

  Still, she was dressed eccentrically, this time in an ill-fitting orange peasant top, and multi-colored trousers that were far too big. But, amazingly, her salt-peppered hair was tamed and banded in a thick ponytail. Her eyes, though, were the most startling. They breathed with life and inner fire.

  He faced the window again.

  The Dark Riders had reached the 14th floor.

  Surprise filled him when they suddenly stopped.

  He searched the sea of crazed faces.

  The Dark Rider’s master, apparently, still planned to remain elusive.

  “Vincent Breaux isn’t with them. Obviously, he plans on letting Gates carry out his dirty work,” he muttered distractedly as his edginess grew. “Gates---I don’t see him either. But, I know he’s here. Did you check the other perimeters?”

  “Naturally,” Princeton said defensively. “The east and west wings were clear. But, does that rule out Gates being here---no.”

  “That only means that he’s gotten ahead of---” he began only to be interrupted.

  “Don’t make the same mistakes that your grandfather did and think only of yourself!” she hissed back, though her voice trembled slightly. “This---”

  But, his attention was hardly on her.

  Instead, he strained to make out the Dark Rider’s suddenly clipped dialect.

  “Quiet!” he ordered harshly, silencing her with a raised hand.

  To his amazement, she did.

  “Can you make out what they’re saying?” Princeton asked tensely, standing beside him as he peered out the window.

  Fortunately, his convoluted bloodlines allowed him to decipher the centuries-old vampire tongue. With eerie shrills and garbled language, they communicated.

  “Nicole’s in trouble,” he muttered angrily. His blinding rage was nearly uncontrollable as he shoved away from the window, and then headed for the stairwell. “Gate’s already on the 18th floor outside her window. I’ve got to get to her. Princeton, head those---”

  “Just get to Nicole,” Princeton said sharply. “We’ll stave those bastards off. Xander, I’m counting on you coming out of this alive.”

  He wrenched the stairwell’s door open.

  And only she breathed within his conscience.

  Chapter 15

  “What do you mean, he’s here?” she asked nervously. “There’s no one here but us.”

  A cold chill ran over her as an unsteady quiet filled the room.

  Suddenly, the whole world was deathly silent.

  “What’s happening? Tell me!” she demanded in a trembling tone, and then proceeded to rip the IV from her left hand. She kicked the covers away roughly before climbing from the bed. For a brief second, everything teetered off balance as she took a shaky breath.

  “The lights have gone out,” Brooke whispered frighteningly, her voice carrying from the far side of the hospital room. “How could I have ever loved him? How could I have ever loved someone so destructive and vile?”

  “Where is he?” she asked unsteadily, taking a tentative step. She reached out, but grabbed only empty air, and she started when a tiny hand grasped hers.

  “He’s there---outside your window,” Jessie said timidly, her little voice filled with unshed tears. Slowly, she guided her towards the window. “I’ll show you.”

  She tensed as they stopped beside Brooke.

  Reluctantly, she released the child’s tiny hand.

  The heavy curtains were already drawn back, and the evening hours had dawned, apparently, since a vapid coolness seeped through the glass pane.

  She braced a shaky hand against the sill.

  She sucked in a hard breath.

  Like in her dreams, the suffocating feeling swamped her.

  Only this time, it was all too real.

  She was wide awake.

  Suddenly, as if in a trancelike state, she flattened her trembling hands against the cool pane. At once, she sensed the ominous presence.

  But, they were on the 18th floor for crying out loud!

  No, it wasn’t possible---

  “Nicole.”

  Hard fear slammed into her.

  The man-creature had to be a vivid part of her imagination!

  “No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “You’re not real. This is all a bad dream---”

  “Your disbelief in our reality is a startling disappointment to me. And I’ve been steadfastly patient with you, my beautiful Nicole,” Gates said too calmly. Then, his suave tone turned oddly persuasive. “But,
it’s time to accept our inevitable union, and there’s no point in fighting it any longer. If you’d give me the opportunity, I’d show you that I am the one that you need. But, I can’t do that as long as you continue to shut me out.” Finally, he whispered eerily. “Please let me in.”

  Her thoughts raced, and suddenly, everything was obscured.

  In the dark cresses of her mind, his strange voice beckoned her.

  As if in a drugged-like state, her lips began to move.

  “No! No! Don’t listen to him! You can’t invite him in here!” Brooke screamed, and then shook her none-too-gently. “Focus, Nicole, focus!”

  But, still, Brooke’s voice seemed a million miles away, she thought dazedly as her head lolled back. And the other voice was so tempting…

  “Nicole! No, no! Please forgive me for what I’m about to do!” Brooke mumbled tearfully before slapping her hard.

  In that second, she was freed as her breath rushed back, and she screamed violently as her mind cleared. She gripped the sill tightly as hard pain seared through her head.

  “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. But, you were losing it! I had to do something!” Brooke sobbed hoarsely.

  “I-I know. I just need to catch my breath,” she said breathlessly, bending over.

  “I didn’t know what-t else to do. He was taking control of your mind---” Brooke stammered incoherently.

  “By now, Brooke, you should know not to interfere with things!” the man-creature raged nastily. “This wasn’t in the plans. As a matter-of-fact, you’ve openly defied me and went against my wishes. Are you jealous, is that it? Did you actually believe I loved you?” Disgust marred his tone. “Look at you. Nothing but a useless heap of baggage with an eccentric brat tagged on. But, I shouldn’t be surprised by your stupidity, senselessness, and incompetence. You’re going to pay for what you’ve done.”

  “No, no, no! Tell me what you want me to do,” Brooke pleaded desperately. “Take me---feed on me. Take anything that you want. I’ll do whatever you ask. Please, just don’t hurt Jessie!”