Ivormantis

by Alice Brown

  “It’s good to see you too, Blain,” she said sweetly, blowing him a kiss.

  Natasha’s hand was gripping the hilt to her dagger so tightly, her knuckles turned pure white. That witch was going to die today, if nothing more than for flirting with her mate right in front of her! Talk about poor taste!

  “You’re barking up the wrong tree, Hazellette,” Elijah stated coldly, gazing down into her chocolate brown eyes.

  “Why must you always ruin my fun, dear Elijah?” She batted her eyelashes up at him while twirling a long lock of her blonde hair about her thin, long fingers. Her long, pointed red nails stuck out like splattered blood against the paleness.

  “No one here will allow you to walk away with the elf.”

  Ivormantis huffed his agreement with the vampire.

  “Oh come now, tell me you haven’t dreamt of tasting her blood and the power it would give you,” she whispered in his ear. “I’m willing to share. The four of us could have so much fun together. And we would be untouchable immortals. All we need is her. Come with Clyde and me. Say that you want it, that you need it. Tell me that you want me.” She licked the shell of his ear, causing a shudder of revolution to travel down his spine. He knew she had slept with about every council member she’d been able to talk into her bed, save him. He had never trusted her. Now he knew why.

  Elijah’s face was completely ridged and unreadable. He leaned down, putting his lips to her ear. She moaned in delight, knowing she would have him on her side momentarily. Then victory would be hers! But his words were not what she expected to hear. “You are a disgusting slut who craves nothing but power.” He pushed her away from him, disgusted to even touch her. “And you don’t care who you hurt or kill to get it.”

  The look on her face was quite comical, at least to him, as he watched her too red, painted on lips fall open in shock.

  “Leave, and take your filthy wizard with you,” Ivormantis ordered, stepping forth.

  Hazellette turned to face him, determination in her eyes. “Dominic, how’s that spine of yours?” she questioned, not really caring to hear the answer as she threw her hand out toward him, her magic wrapping around his back. Even in dragon form, she was able to apply enough pressure around him to make him cry out in pain.

  He managed to swing his neck, his head coming down to knock into her, forcing her spell to break and her to stumble to the ground. Pulling back, he took a deep breath ready to fry the bitch up for an afternoon snack. Just as the fire came bursting from his breath, she threw a force field up around him. His fire hit the force field and came circling back around him, encasing him in his own ball of fire. It singed the top layer of his scales and his wings. It was too much to take too quickly. He stepped back to deal with his pain and forced Dominic’s human form to the forefront. The force field held through the transformation, allowing the flames to catch hold and quickly take over Dominic’s naked body. He roared in pain, not able to see anything but flames surround him and burning his flesh.

  “No!” Meldamiriel screamed, struggling to get free of Bullock’s hold of her as she watched her beloved mate be incased in an inferno of raging fire.

  “Not so tough anymore now, are you, little girl?” Clyde mocked.

  Her knees were weak and tears drenched her face more than the light rain that had begun to fall. Her body lost all strength and demanded that she just sink to the earth’s floor. Her heart willed her to run as fast as she could to get to Dominic’s side, comfort him, and tend to his now burned body. She watched as Elijah tackled Hazellette to the ground, rolling in the damp grass and dirt to get her away from the rest of them and to break her concentration from the spell to release Dominic. Dominic’s brutally burnt body fell onto the soft ground. Natasha and Blain ran to his aid, but his eyes were only on Meldamiriel as Bullock held her even tighter, pressing the sharp blade into her neck to the point of drawling blood.

  Bullock licked up the side of her neck mockingly, for now not taking from the stream of trickling blood that the knife wound had caused.

  “Let’s take her blood now, then we won’t have to worry with disposing the body along the way,” he suggested. He was drooling onto her neck as he kept licking nearer and closer to her trickling blood as it slowly crept down to her chest.

  “No, you fool. We wait and drink from her later. And we won’t drain her dry. Those are the rules we agreed upon,” Clyde stated casually.

  “But, her blood, it smells oh so sweet and it’s singing an intoxicating lullaby to me,” Bullock crooned against her ear.

  Meldamiriel fought back against the shutter of revulsion from his touch that threatened to shake her whole body. Her anger over her mate being burned by Hazellette was firing up within her and growing stronger with each agonizing slow second that passed. She did her best to keep her breathing level as to not throw off any signs that her emotions were changing. She kept her frame and stance weak, letting Bullock believe he was the one in control over her, but oh was he sadly mistaken. Her fingers were almost to the hilt of her dagger, tucked away safely in her jean’s belt. Just a few more inches…

  “I want her blood,” he said quietly at first. “I want your blood, my pretty pet,” he murmured, his fangs brushing across her skin.

  Just before Bullock had the chance to sink his teeth into her, she had a blood dripping point of a dagger appear right next to her eye. She froze, having a pretty good idea of what just happened. A half a second later Bullock’s cold, dead body fell past her and onto the soft ground. His eyes were still open and directed at her. Creepy.

  “Well, looks like it will just be the three of us after all.”

  Meldamiriel pressed her lips into a fine line as she turned to face the wizard whom had once haunted her dreams. Her eyes blazed with fury, her teeth were clenched tight, and her fingers were wrapped securely around her dagger.

  “By the way, Clyde. Your trick of hitting my weak spot didn’t work so well.”

  She loved the look of pure shock written all over his face as she was able to catch him totally off guard in a sudden move of jumping on top of him, forcing him to the ground. Enough time had passed and she was sick of playing his little games. He needed to be ended, now. She drove her dagger into his chest just above his heart. She pulled upwards, making a nice size incision in him. Pulling her weapon out, she quickly stuck her hand in.

  “What…what are…you doing…to me?” he wheezed. As her fingers found their target, she gave his heart a hard squeeze.

  “Making damn sure you die tonight,” she growled, ripping his heart out from his chest.

  She stabbed the dagger into the warm heart that was slowly beating in the palm of her hand. A burst of purple sparks flew out of the muscle, swirled above her head at first and then stabbed through her own chest. She coughed, gasping for air as she clutched her chest. With stabbing Clyde’s heart, all of his magic and powers had transferred over into her own body. She looked down at her tingling fingers and wondered what all this meant now.

  “No! You little bitch! What have you done?” She turned to see Hazellette running toward her.

  She stood slowly. There was no need to hurry. With Clyde’s magic now pumping through her veins, as well as her own, Hazellette was no longer a threat. She was just a demented old lady that needed to be taken down before any more harm was done. She faced her on coming opponent with determination. In destroying Clyde, she had just taken a very valuable item away from the old hag. She had killed her lover. Too damn bad. Her lover had killed Meldamiriel’s family. If they had been able to get ahold of her, they would have drained her dry just for her powers. Besides, an eye for an eye. The old witch had tried to burn her mate to death before her very eyes. She allowed her adrenaline to stay pumping through her veins as she felt her abilities become heightened by her new powers. She called upon all four elements to help her finalize this fight and set the balance of life back to being even.

  The ground shook as Hazellette continued to approach her, then suddenly
it opened up around her, surrounding the witch in a wall of earth. Everything stopped. Hazellette was locked into a coffin of solid dirt. The time had come to finish this once and for all. Meldamiriel threw out a strong blast of fire from her hands, lighting up the earth that encased the witch. Her power continued to flow through every vein in her body. Lifting one hand, she called upon the element of water to bring over a large stream from the nearby waterfall. As it poured onto the scorched earth coffin, she used her other hand and called upon the icy air from the clouds above that were still swirling around them. Icy air and water met, causing a thick layer of ice to form over the earth that held the witch immobile. Meldamiriel’s breath was heavy as she slowly walked over toward the ice-encased mound of dirt, which now resembled a frozen boulder. She stretched out her hands, feeling her newfound power bristling just beneath the skin. She allowed a hole to form in the encasement, enabling her to see her enemy’s face, but leaving the witch immobile.

  “Any last words, bitch?”

  “You killed him! You killed my Clyde! How could you?”

  “You shouldn’t have burned my mate. I might have let him live if you hadn’t,” Meldamiriel replied calmly, before letting her powers fuse out of her hands. The stream of power could be seen by all as a swirling stream of color coming from Meldamiriel’s hands. It left her and traveled over to the rock, surrounding it, slowly pushing its way down into the hard earth and down into Hazellette’s body before exploding and ripping everything into tiny pieces of nothing.

  Meldamiriel inhaled deeply, all her emotions flooding back to her now. She had done it; she had faced her life long enemy and taken him down. Sadly in the process her mate had been wounded. Her mate! She took off in a dead run to where he was laying, sliding to a stop on her knees as she dropped down to Dominic’s side.

  “Oh my God, Dominic…I’m so…”

  He lifted a burnt finger to her lips to silence her. “I’m so proud of you, baby. You did it, you fought your fear and stood your ground.”

  “But look at you. You’re burnt to a crisp. I can help, I can heal you, I promise.”

  He brushed her tears away with his thumb.

  “There’s no need, my love. It may look bad, but dragons can handle getting singed pretty well. You will see. Blain is going to fetch Quinn. He will have me up and running like a youngling by morning. You have nothing to fear.”

  “I’m not leaving your side tonight.”

  “I’ve got news for you, baby, you’re never leaving my side,” he said with a smile, pulling her down to kiss him.

  “I love you, Dominic.”

  “And I love you, my sweet Meldamiriel.”

  Chapter Eight

  The trip to Dragonose was like nothing Meldamiriel had ever experienced before. Standing in front of the invisible portal that would transport them to another world, she watched Dominic quickly shed his clothes. He handed them over to her before stating, “I need to let Ivormantis out in order to get us safely to Dragonose.”

  One second she was talking with her mate, the next a huge ivory dragon was in front of her. “Come, mate, put Dominic’s clothing in his bag and then hand both bags to me. Once I take them, climb on my back and hold on tightly. I will get us there safely.”

  She did as her dragon asked her and clung tightly to his neck. A quick moment later when it felt as if they were free falling into nothingness, she was glad she was glued to his neck. And then the winds hit, sudden and with enough force to rival a hurricane. Her heart was still clamoring in her chest when Ivormantis brought them to a gentle stop as he landed on the soft ground in a land he called home. He breathed in deeply, taking in the scents he knew to be home. He fully understood why Dominic had to leave in the first place, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t become homesick almost as soon as they left.

  They would have been home a few days ago, but their sweet little mate wanted to make sure Dominic was completely healed from the burns he received during the attack of the vampires, Hazellette, and Clyde. Nasty bunch. It hadn’t mattered, because she refused to wait until their dragon physician could be summoned. She used her own magic to heal him completely in just a matter of a few minutes. Exhausted, she fell into bed next to him, where she remained in a deep sleep for the next thirty-two hours.

  But now they were home. And they were here with their mate. He turned his head to look behind him. She was still glued to his neck, as if afraid to let go.

  “Sweetheart, we are here. You are safe.” When she made no move to detach herself from him, he sighed. “Melda, you are safe, baby. Climb down off my neck so I can step back and let Dominic come forward. He is quite anxious to see to you.”

  That seemed to have gotten her attention. “Dominic?” she asked as she glanced around, as if waiting for him to magically appear.

  Not knowing what else to do, Ivormantis gently lifted her off him by grabbing the back of her shirt and removing her from his back. He sat her down on the soft grass and took a step back knowing that Dominic was rushing to the forefront to check on their mate.

  The moment Dominic was back to his human form, he rushed over to his mate. Gently cradling her in his arms, he looked down at her too pale face. “Are you hurt, baby?”

  Her eyes were glazed over, but she managed a short shake of her head. She closed her eyes and took a moment just to regulate her breathing.

  Finally, she opened her eyes. “That was some ride,” she stated, still a bit breathless.

  He chuckled as he tucked a few stray pieces of hair behind her ear. “Yes it is. We’re here now and it’s over with. Is it okay if I go throw on my clothes? I doubt we will be alone for much longer.”

  As soon as he stood to go grab his clothes, he spotted at least fifty people coming toward them. And if his eyes weren’t mistaken, the king himself was one of the ones heading their way.

  “Dominic, welcome home! And who is this pretty little lady?” King Thoran’s voice boomed above the crowd.

  Dominic placed his arm around his mate and nudged her forward. “King Thoran, this is my mate, Meldamiriel.”

  King Thoran took one of Meldamiriel’s tiny hands in his rather large one and brought it to his lips. “An Omega Elf, I see.” He seemed to stare into her eyes for a few seconds longer than necessary. Once he released her hand, he gave her a huge smile.

  He glanced over to Dominic. “This one is similar to Natasha. She has powers that she hasn’t even begun to tap into. But they will come. She will be safe here from what I assume has been a rather hard life.”

  Dominic nodded his head to his king. “Yes, we ran into some of that trouble just a few days ago.”

  The king turned his head back to address Meldamiriel. “Fear not, little one. No one will be chasing after you here to try to steal your powers.” The king got a faraway look in his eye for just a second and frowned before seeming to jump back to the present.

  It didn’t escape Dominic that King Thoran was speaking in very hushed tones, so the crowd behind him couldn’t overhear. This was unusual for his king. Did that mean they truly would have to worry about someone wanting his mate’s powers? And what was that frown all about a moment ago?

  He found he had no more time to ponder his king’s unusual behavior, as it seemed half the residents of Dragonose were waiting to greet him. He brought Meldamiriel close to his side. Leaning down, he whispered, “I’m sorry there are so many people here, love. Once everyone meets you and says hello to me, they should all be on their way back home.”

  Meldamiriel was dumbstruck. Never in her life had she seen this many people gather to welcome anyone! Okay, well, maybe on television when she was a child, but that was it. She surmised that her mate must be pretty darn popular for so many people to show up.

  As they came forward in small groups, she was humbled by how many people were genuinely interested in meeting her! This crowd seemed to know nothing about the fact that her snow-white hair pegged her as an Omega Elf. They truly didn’t seem to care as to whether she had a
ny powers or not. Wow, she thought. Dominic was right. These people seemed to be open and kind, even if she was one of the very few females within the crowd. Dominic had explained their world had a much higher ratio of men than women. She kind of felt sorry for them as she glanced around. They certainly were a handsome lot! It was a shame they didn’t have females to mate with.

  Several men were talking to Dominic. “Hey, Dominic, why don’t you and your mate come over to the tavern and we will celebrate your return home!” someone called out.

  Dominic glanced down at his side, and his heart skipped a beat as he realized his mate wasn’t standing right beside him. A quick second later, it was revealed they had just been separated by everyone wanting to meet her and say hi to him. She was safe, a mere eight feet away.

  However, the fact she was perfectly safe didn’t keep him from walking away from his friends and joining his mate. “Hi, beautiful. Are you trying to sneak away from me?” he asked playfully as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her middle. He nipped her earlobe and enjoyed listening to her catch her breath.

  “No, I…we…” she looked over to where he was just standing, only then realizing that they had been separated by the crowd. “I guess we just got separated.” She leaned back against him, loving how his hands caressed her hips. She turned her head for a proper kiss, something he was happy to give her.

  “Are you hungry, sweetheart? A group of friends have invited us to the pub for some food and drink. If you are tired from the trip, we could just go home.”

  “No, Dominic, I’m hungry and I’d like the chance to see your world. What do we do with our stuff?”

  Just then a male elf stepped out from behind a group of people to stand before them. As soon as he saw Meldamiriel, he immediately started to get down on his knees before her. She was quick to catch what he was doing. “No!” she whispered forcefully.

  The elf-man would only glance up at her for a quick second before casting his eyes downward. “You’re the Omega Elf,” he whispered in awe. “You’re royalty. I’m not even worthy to kiss your feet. I only wanted to bow to you.”