Ivormantis

by Alice Brown

  She wiggled under him while pushing him off her. It didn’t go unnoticed the only reason she could push him off her was because he allowed it. Sitting up, she covered herself and brought her knees up to her chest. “It’s a long story. When I was born, my parents were part of the elven nation. The elders immediately wanted to take me away from my parents, to live in some sort of shrine, to sit and be worshiped day in and day out.

  “This wasn’t the life my parents envisioned for me. They wanted me to have a chance at a normal life, just like any other person. So, they decided to leave and strike out on their own. They bought a house outside of the city limits, so we would have privacy. They fully believed no one would pay me any mind and even if someone did cause problems, they felt as if they were strong enough to protect me.

  “Things went fine for a few years. Then one evening, when I was about six years old, a wizard showed up at our doorstep.

  “My mother must have known immediately that he was there for me. He wanted my powers. She snuck me out the backdoor with instructions to run to Natasha’s parents’ house. I was scared of the dark back then and didn’t want to go, but she gave me no choice. The wild-frightened look in my momma’s eyes as she closed the door on her only child is something I will never forget.

  “Frightened and crying, I remember feeling evil for the first time. I knew it was coming from the man who was in my house, and it scared me. I wanted to help my parents, but I knew I needed to obey my mother at the same time. Our dog, Dexter, helped lead me to Natasha’s house. I was very grateful for his help.

  “I showed up at Natasha’s house crying hysterically that mommy and daddy needed help. Natasha’s mother stayed put, but her dad grabbed a handful of weapons and walked out the door. It seemed like he was gone forever, as Natasha and her mother tried to calm me down. When he walked back in the front door, one look at his face, and I knew my family was dead. I knew I was all alone in the world.

  “Natasha’s family took me in and tried raising me as their own, but they too died a few short years later. Since then, the only one I have to lean on or trust has been Natasha. Even when she was having her own problems with the Council, she always made sure she knew where I was and that I had what I needed to take care of myself. She has been there for me numerous times to protect me, or to hide me.”

  Dominic wrapped his arms around her and picked her up, bringing her over to his lap. “I’m so sorry, baby. You deserve the very best and this world has shown you the worst it has to offer, hasn’t it?”

  She lay her head down on his shoulder, feeling safe, loved, and protected. “Dominic, will it ever stop? Will there ever be a time I’m not looking over my shoulder to see if someone is after me? I can’t just go around killing anyone who might look my way, but I can’t exactly trust others, either.”

  “No, I wouldn’t expect you to kill, sweetheart, unless your life was in jeopardy. However, there is nothing wrong with standing your ground and letting them know you aren’t going to go down easy.”

  “Okay, but let’s say I do stand my ground. Then what? They might leave with their tails tucked between their legs, but then they gather reinforcements and come back. It is just easier to run to begin with.”

  She sighed as she rubbed her nose on his shirt, taking in his scent.

  “Yes, well, one thing I’m always worried about is that damn wizard showing up. He left a note after killing my parents that said, “Run all you want to, little girl. I know what you are. You will never be free, you will never escape me.” A shudder went down her spine as she recalled that eerie note from so long ago.

  Dominic held her trembling little body tightly against him. ‘We will be her strength. We will protect her, and I will incinerate that asshole wizard if he ever gets near her!” Ivormantis grumbled. He wasn’t happy their mate was upset, but knowing that Dominic was caring for and comforting her, he remained quietly in the background.

  ‘Yes, we will protect her, my friend,’ Dominic acknowledged his dragon before turning his attention back to his mate.

  “Baby, as your mates, Ivormantis and I pledge to protect you at all costs. I’m so sorry about your parents. But that still doesn’t answer my question. Why are you afraid to unleash your powers?”

  She looked up at him through tear-filled eyes. “Don’t you understand? If I unleash my power, it will alert every supernatural being within a hundred miles of me. They will be drawn to my power. They’ll crave it like a drug.” She stopped and shook her head. “No, that would never work. Even if I did unleash my powers and defeat whomever was confronting me at the time, I wouldn’t be able to get away fast enough before I would be surrounded by too many to take down.” She shrugged her shoulders in defeat. “This has always been a problem. There just doesn’t seem to be a place on earth safe for me.”

  Ivormantis picked his head up. ‘Maybe not on earth sweet…’ Hmm, maybe Dominic’s dragon was onto something.

  “Has Natasha had time to tell you about Dragonose?”

  “No, not really. We really haven’t had too much time to talk since I arrived.” He already knew this of course, because he was certain Natasha hadn’t told her best friend that she had been gifted with a dragon of her own.

  “Dragonose is a beautiful land. King Thoran, who is Blain’s cousin, is a great and fearless ruler. Most of our men are warriors, trained to fight our enemy the Raptorians. Now they are an ugly, nasty lot, but we’ll talk about them later.

  “We are a peaceful people, even though we are dragon shifters. We live in houses or castles, similar to this one. We have families, teach our children, and run businesses close to how earth runs. The difference is you don’t have the petty jealously, thirst for power, war hungry, or back-stabbing that seems to be so prevalent on this planet.”

  Meldamiriel sighed as she let her imagination conjure up a picture of this beautiful land. “It sounds wonderful, Dominic. Would they accept me, since I’m not a dragon?”

  “Yes, my little love. You would be accepted completely and with open arms. You wouldn’t need to worry about others trying to gain your powers. I seriously doubt anyone would even care. You wouldn’t even be the only elf there, we currently have another of your kind that is living there.”

  Meldamiriel was surprised when she glanced up at him to see his face was colored with embarrassment. “Dominic, what’s wrong? Why is an elf living in Dragonose?”

  “He kind of snuck his way in through one of the portals. King Thoran would like to be able to trust him with our secret and send him home, but Adorellan keeps getting himself in trouble, leaving the king little choice but to have him remain there.”

  She sat up so quickly her head almost hit his chin. “Your king is keeping an elf prisoner?” she screeched.

  “Not exactly a prisoner, love. Adorellan is free to go anywhere he wishes on Dragonose. He is out walking freely every day. And if he would learn to stop stealing from people, the king would gladly send him home. The problem is this little elf seems to get on everyone’s nerves because he’s a thief and a pick-pocket.”

  “Oh, well, I guess I can understand your king’s decision then,” she replied as she placed her head back down on his shoulder.

  “You know, love, I could take you for a visit. If you find you like it there, I would love nothing better than if you decided to call Dragonose your home.

  “I think I would like to visit Dragonose, Dominic.”

  His heart soared with the knowledge that his little mate wanted to visit his home world. He and his dragon were already itching to get back home, but first, he and his dragon had to take care of a nasty group of vampires that seemed hell bent of getting their hands on his mate.

  Dominic’s steps were heavy as he headed downstairs to the dungeon. He was determined to get the answers he needed this time, one way or another. Blain and Edmond were already waiting for him just outside the room the vampire was being held in. Dominic’s body was tense and the vibes rolling off him spoke loudly that he was in no
mood for niceties. He was a pissed off dragon on a mission to eradicate a rouge clan of vampires.

  “Has the scum said anything?” he stated between clinched teeth as he stopped in front of the locked door.

  “Not a word,” Edmond replied, pushing off the wall he was leaning against.

  “Dominic,” Blain stated, but Dominic snapped back quickly, knowing what his friend was about to advise him on.

  “Blain, I’m getting fed up with these bloodsuckers continuously coming after Meldamiriel. If the tables were turned, and it was Natasha they were after, would you be so calm?” Dominic didn’t even give Blain the chance to respond. They both knew the answer. Blain would be tearing the continent apart killing every vampire he laid eyes on. He glared at his friend in warning. “This vampire is mine and I’m getting the answers that I want this time, even if I have to pull them off his tongue.”

  Blain stepped back and nodded, sighing deeply. “You’re right. If it were Natasha, blood would have already been spilled ten times over.”

  “I’m glad we are at an understanding, my friend. I don’t ask or need any help from either of you.” His glance encompassed the werewolf also, before turning back to Blain. “Go join your mate, she is with mine having breakfast.” He quickly turned on his heel to enter the cell holding their prisoner.

  The vampire was not chained up this time, not like the others had been. Instead, he had his hands bound before him in reinforced steal cuffs. He shot a glare up at Dominic as he entered the room, daring to even hiss at him. He was attempting to intimidate Dominic with vampire tactics. Dominic casually strolled around the room, allowing time to be on his side, acting as if he wasn’t ready to throttle this vampire. Finally, he stopped and stood in the middle of the room, stance wide, hands behind his back, shoulders squared, and head held high as he narrowed his eyes on the vampire.

  “I’m going to ask you a few questions, but make no mistake, vampire, I will get my answers,” Dominic growled deeply. His voice would have even had the fiercest warrior shaking.

  The vampire scuffed up at him. “Yeah, right, keep on dreaming, big guy.”

  Dominic shook his head. “It’ll be you who will wish you were dreaming by the time I’m through with you.” He grabbed the front of the vampire’s shirt, and threw him up against the wall. Pinning him down, Dominic got right in his face, close enough to be able to see everything the pathetic creature felt flash in his eyes. “Bullock sent you, yes?”

  “What of it?”

  “He sent you for the Omega Elf. I want to know why.”

  The vampire laughed in his face. “You want to know why he wants her? Really? Are you that blind or that stupid?”

  Dominic threw him against the wall again, making sure to knock his head hard against the stone wall. “What does he want her for? What are his plans?” he snarled.

  The vampire shrugged. “To fuck her and drink her blood, allowing him to become the strongest immortal in the universe.” He gave himself away by chuckling at the end.

  “There’s a much larger movement here, what is the situation?” he questioned again, moving the vampire’s head closer to a torch mounted on the wall.

  The vampire looked up at the flames, fear clearly visible in his eyes. He could try to play it tough with Dominic, but he was too afraid of death and he knew he wasn’t going to win this battle.

  “Answer my question correctly and I’ll spare you for a few minutes longer.”

  “So you want me to spill everything to you only to have you kill me?!”

  Dominic shrugged. “Or I could wrap you up with a big pretty bow and have your ass postal delivered back to you master and let him deal with you. I’m sure he will be pleased with you once he finds out you failed and spilled your guts with all his dirty secrets. I thought it would be more pleasant if I just killed you. I was trying to be nice. Which is something I rarely do, so you might want to take the offer while it still stands.”

  The vampire silently stared at him for a moment, as if he was accessing the situation. He actually was having a hard time believing what he was hearing. He was a fairly new vampire and had only heard a little bit about dragon shifters, but what he had heard was that they were easy going and laid back most of the time. Obviously, that was not always the case. Clearly, if you messed with or threatened their mates, you were no better than a piece of dead meat.

  Dominic shook him. “Am I coming through loud and clear, bloodsucker?”

  He gulped. “Okay, I don’t know everything by any means, but what I do know is that Bullock isn’t working alone on this one. There’s been a witch and a warlock coming around a lot lately, having private meetings with him in the late hours of the night. There’s something bigger planned than just us vampire spawns coming and attacking. That’s really all we’re doing. Bullock isn’t expecting us to be able to bring the elf back on our own. He is just using us as a distraction and a way for him to be able to see how you dragons work and how heavily she is protected here.” He paused and looked around himself for a moment before continuing. “Bullock is the least of your worries. He may be the biggest and badest vamp in Russia, but he’s not the one you need to fear. Worry about the other two, because not knowing their role in all of this is scary.”

  Dominic nodded, loosening his hold on the vampire and allowing him to stand back on his own feet. “Though I’m glad you listened and gave me the answers that I wanted, I can’t help but question why you fessed up with little arguing.”

  The vampire shrugged. “You were right. It is better that I tell you what I know and have you kill me than to go back to Bullock. However, I have nothing else to add. I’ve told you everything I know, so I’m now ready to take my due. Kill me as you see fit,” he said with a deep sigh, bowing his head and lowering his gaze down to the ground.

  Dominic took a step back. Something was different about this vampire than the others he had seen. He had never known a vampire, even a young vampire, to be so willing to accept their fate. Almost as if it would be a relief to him not to worry about all the problems he was facing. Perhaps, he’d had a hard time with things since Bullock became his master. Whatever it was, it intrigued him. “You don’t seem quite the cold son-of-a-bitch as so many of your kind are.”

  “I never really got being the whole scary nightmare vampire thing,” he answered quietly.

  “So what would you do if you had a second chance? To keep your life and have a better lifestyle?”

  The vampire looked up at him in shock. He was giving him a second chance? Really? “I would take it! No matter what it was.”

  Dominic nodded. “I think I’ve got just the vamp to set you up with.”

  Dominic sat in Blain’s office directly across from him. On his left in the other seat was Edmond. He watched as Blain hesitated to make the call.

  “This could very well be the beginning of some major trouble on this planet. If word gets out the council is corrupt, nobody will listen to them.” He stopped and sat back in his seat as he sighed deeply. “I’ve long suspected Hazellette wasn’t on the right side of things. There is still the matter of her forcing Natasha into abusive situations before she came here. I know for a fact the witch had a hard-on hatred for Natasha. But now this goes much deeper.” He got up from his chair and headed over to the small built-in bar. Pouring three drinks, he handed his two guests theirs and then took his and sat back down in his office chair.

  “What concerns me is we don’t know who to trust. We are taking a chance in calling Elijah, although he has never done anything to lead me to believe he isn’t on the good side of things. I just don’t know how he is going to act when he finds out we’ve killed numerous vampires and that a co-worker of his has gone rogue.”

  Blain tipped his glass up and drank down the contents in one swallow. “Well, I guess we are about to find out who we can trust and who we can’t.”

  Blain hit the speaker button as he dialed the phone. A moment later, a deep male voice came across the line.

&n
bsp; “Blain Barrymire, I fully expected you to be on your honeymoon for another month. Don’t tell me your pretty little mate has kicked you out of bed already?”

  Blain chuckled before replying, “No, my friend, I wish I was able to stay in bed, however, life seems to be getting in the way of that. I have a problem that I’m hoping you can help me with. I’m going to have to ask that you keep this strictly between you and me. We have some problems brewing and they involve your kind.”

  There was silence across the line for a few seconds before they heard, “How many are we talking about?”

  Blain hesitated for only a second before replying, “An entire clan. And we have reason to believe that someone from the council is involved in this mess also.”

  “Hold tight on everything until tomorrow. I’ll be there by late afternoon.” The line went dead as soon as the last word was spoken.

  Did he already know the treachery going on within its ranks? Were they making their problems worse by confiding in him, not knowing where he stood?

  The men had talked about this in detail after Blain made the phone call. Finally, Blain had reminded Dominic that they could always go back to Dragonose to live. The council knew about their homeland, but had no jurisdiction there, nor did they have a way of getting there. That just left Edmond and his wolves.

  “If things go south, you might not want to be here,” Blain informed him after his phone call with Elijah. Judging a vampire’s emotions was almost impossible. And while Blain was confident that he could get his mate, Dominic, and Meldamiriel to the safe land of Dragonose if things went bad, he knew he couldn’t take an entire pack of wolves.

  Edmond was shaking his head almost before Blain stopped speaking. “No, my pack feels a responsibility to protect the Omega. My pack can take care of themselves. Just keep the Omega protected.”

  The following afternoon the doorbell rang right on time. Now was the time that they would find out if this vampire was friend or foe.