Magic After Dark: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels

by Margo Bond Collins

  I looked over to Tarrin and Tauric, sending them a quick message with my eyes and a little head bob. They were a rare set of identical twins that could have passed for Viking berserkers with their blonde hair and Nordic blue eyes. They were my quiet, gentle giants.

  “My lady,” Tarrin began, addressing Dreah as he came forward. He and Tauric knelt in front of her, like warriors of old.

  “Would you come with us as we prepare to leave?” he asked her.

  She assessed them as only a child could, but with the knowledge and understanding of someone much older. Dreah was only about five years old, but she comprehended things as if an old soul inhabited her young body. She’d been forced to grow up by her traumatic circumstances.

  Tarrin continued to hold his hand out for her, giving her the option to accept it or not. I was about to intervene when she placed her little hand in his.

  “Thank you, Tarrin. I need to get my mother’s ring before we go. I forgot to earlier when I said goodbye. It’s been passed down through our family for centuries. I wasn’t supposed to receive it until I turned eighteen…” she paused to collect herself, “I’m just thirteen years too early, but I will do my best to honor the family tradition,” she told us.

  “Let me go and retrieve it for you, Dreah,” Tauric offered, as he stood.

  “No, but thank you. I have to be the one to remove it from her finger.”

  The twins rose and walked with her over to her mother’s brutalized body. I wish Dreah could have been spared the trauma of this night. I wanted to kill Hulbetto all over again! I should have prolonged his death when I had the chance.

  I wanted to go with them, but stayed where I was knowing they would take her outside and away from what would happen next.

  I kept my gaze on them and stayed connected to Dreah so I could offer help if needed. I continued to surround her in the comfort of my essence—much easier to do now that I was Phoenix.

  She removed her mother’s ring and held it tight in her fist. I could feel her sadness, but courage and determination were what filled her soul.

  She closed her eyes and whispered over her hand in a language I didn’t recognize. I could feel a spike in her energy. Briefly, her aura glowed in her hand, before she kissed her closed fist and the energy faded away in a wink.

  She opened her hand with intent of putting the ring on and my heart ached for the fact she wouldn’t be able to wear it. It would be too big for her, but when she slipped it onto her finger, it fit perfectly.

  Dreah nodded her head satisfied and with a little smile on her face. She turned to me and winked, then made her way out—Tarrin and Tauric trailing behind her queenly departure.

  Lord, I loved that little girl!

  I looked at Cipriano to see that he’d been watching the whole scene and asked, “What do you make of that?”

  “Honestly, I have no idea, but that little one has magic.”

  Yes, I thought, she definitely did. I would help her to realize her potential, whatever that would be.

  “Let’s throw some dragon fire on what needs incinerating and go home,” Cipriano directed Ian, Isabella and I.

  We torched everything, essentially erasing all evidence of torture. We had to protect ourselves from the normals or others discovering us. Though torture, dismemberment and death wouldn’t seem out of the ordinary to normals. Every culture had their own serial killers and murderers.

  I flew my way over to the hated cairn and hovered above. There was a residual essence of pain and suffering lingering in the air. It had to be that, as it was the only thing left untouched.

  No more dragon brethren would have their blood spilled across that blood soaked and stained sacrificial stone—not if I could prevent it.

  I landed on it with the massive force of my dragon and the weight of my vengeance. It was obliterated to rubble under me and the echo of a thousand voices trapped within were released. A choral chant of retribution and thanks filled the warehouse and we were held spellbound.

  Chapter 24

  What other lost, stolen or hidden objects contained the residual essence of our tortured and trapped brethren? I knew that Aiden was trapped in the Sword of Dramascus, but who else was out there, trapped and suffering? I would locate them all and find a way to release them!

  The drampire had a new enemy in me and I would revel in letting them know.

  The seven of us returned home to Kansas City and Cipriano’s estate. I spent some time with Dreah getting her situated in her new room, which was close to mine.

  She was completely exhausted and slept after having a snack. While she took her nap and rested for several hours, I met with Cipriano and the others in the great room. We had a lot to discuss.

  I shared with them what had happened at the warehouse before they’d arrived. The retelling seemed so unbelievable and if I hadn’t just lived through the experience, I wouldn’t have believed the validity of the story.

  When I reached the moment of my connection to Aiden, I turned to Cipriano and addressed him directly.

  “He was able to break through whatever dark magic keeps him trapped in the sword to give me a message. He’s still strong, Cipriano, and fighting. We will not destroy him! We will find and release him. That’s the only option that’s acceptable. Before he faded away, I was able to grasp a remnant of his essence and tether it to mine.”

  Cipriano looked away as grief swept through him.

  “Cipriano, look at me,” I demanded gently, “I have him…” I placed my palm over my chest for emphasis, “right here! We will trace that remnant back to him. We’ll find and free him,” I promised.

  When I explained, as best I could, about the collective and our integration, Cipriano and the others didn’t seem surprised.

  “There’s a prophecy, a myth, a legend,” Cipriano began, “call it what you will, but it has been a part of our oral histories for centuries. It foretells the birth and death of a unique dragon.”

  When hope is lost in darkness and death steals that final breath, a Renascent shall be born. When the essence of a thousand dragons coalesce into one, the last true Phoenix shall rise up. The dragon brethren shall be united as one. No longer fractured and fragmented, but whole and strong.

  “We believe that you, Charani, are the one. The last true Phoenix. The name you prophetically chose for yourself, Charani, means phoenix, as you know. You told us tonight that your true name is Sarah, which means princess. You will be the one to bring the fractured clans back together before we are extinct and there are no more dragons to be found.”

  “No…No, you must be mistaken. I’m nothing and no one, Cipriano, and I’m okay with that. I don’t need to be someone special. I am no prophecy come to life,” I denied, shaking my head.

  “You have to admit, that the words and what happened to you, seem just a little too coincidental,” Ian interjected, with a shrug of his broad shoulders.

  “No, actually I don’t admit this,” I said glaring at him and he just winked.

  “We want to support and guide you, Sister. You won’t be alone. We will be by your side. We may not be family by nature, but we are family by choice and that makes us a stronger,” Isabella said thoughtfully, as she reached out to squeeze my hand.

  My head was spinning with this information and supposition. Could it be true? Could I actually be the last true Phoenix? I told them I needed some time to think about all of this and went for a walk.

  I decided to take Dreah on the walk with me so that I could share an idea with her. I’d already explained it to the family and now I wanted to get her opinion since it would affect her the most. Plus, I needed some time to think over the prophecy or whatever you wanted to call it. I couldn’t wrap my head around the concept of me as the last Phoenix.

  There was no way it was true.

  Dreah and I went for a walk around the grounds and sat on the ledge of a fountain featuring a magnificent copper dragon caught in mid-flight. It was old and weathered with a beautiful patina
to its scales. Dreah reached down to run her right hand through the cold water and I saw the ring was still on.

  “Dreah, we were wondering if you would like to have a celebration dinner tonight? To honor your parents, like an evening of remembrances?”

  She sat up and looked at me mutely, concerned I had inadvertently caused her pain, I reached out to get a feel for her emotions. They were just as mute. I reached out with my hand and placed it gently atop her wet one, her ring was under my palm.

  I saw auburn hair and a smiling face, an older version of Dreah, giggling and laughing as she chased Dreah and threatened to tickle her to death. She was happy and love was apparent in her voice. A tall robust man with dark hair and eyes suddenly came into the vision and swooped them both up, twirling them in a circle of love and merriment.

  “Were those your parents, Dreah?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

  “Yes, before the bad man came and took us away. That is how I want to remember them, not…” she trailed off quietly.

  I saw what she meant, as my hand was still covering hers and the ring was still touching me. My heart broke for the visions that flashed through my mind of her parents’ torture. Visions that still plagued her.

  “I will help you, Dreah. We will all help you to remember them as you want to and eventually those horrible memories will fade and be supplanted by all the happy ones.

  “The bad ones won’t go away, they never do, but there will come a time when only the good memories will come to the forefront. The bad ones will fade to the background, still there, but their hold will have diminished and thankfully so.”

  I was still working my way through this same process myself and told her as much, letting her know that we could help each other to be stronger.

  “I like the idea of a dinner to remember my parents and helping each other too. Thank you,” she said as we walked back to the house, hand in hand.

  We were comforting each other and solidifying our pact to slay our demons together. I wondered what her gift was. Her ring felt ancient and there was a powerful energy emanating from it, but I couldn’t grasp its nature or its source.

  She was insanely mature for her age and I wished she could just be a little girl happy and carefree. We had that in common, forced to grow up by circumstances beyond our control.

  I would make sure that her formative years far surpassed mine. She would know love and acceptance, no matter her gifts, no matter her power, no matter her oddity.

  Chapter 25

  The evening was a success and just what we needed. We got to know Dreah and her parents through the stories that she shared with us and in turn, she got to know us. She fit right in to our little family, just as I had.

  Family by choice and by divine intervention—or so it seemed to me. The universe at work on a plane that I could neither see nor understand. We were brought together for a reason and a purpose. The key was to figuring out what and why, though quite possibly that would be impossible to do.

  Tarrin and Tauric had appointed themselves Dreah’s protectors and sat on either side of her. Her courage at the warehouse had been impressive and something to behold. The twins had bonded with her in that moment. They would protect her with their lives, exactly as they should. She had fallen asleep right where she sat and was resting up against Tarrin. I smiled over at him.

  We went around the room several times sharing stories or events from our lives. Cipriano told several about Scotland, the old country as he liked to call it. It was clear he missed his homeland, but loved his adoptive country too.

  Ian and Isabella shared how they met, finishing each other’s sentences as they told their story. They shared how they knew they were mates the moment their paths had crossed.

  “I wanted nothing to do with having a mate,” Isabella said laughing, when Ian pinched her, “but, you can’t deny what is fated to be and mates are destined,” she finished, acceptance and gratitude evident in her voice.

  Only mated dragons could produce offspring, Cipriano had told me before. This was one reason why there were so few dragons now. I wondered if that would turn out to be true as I looked at Dreah and contemplated her power.

  Our dragon essence ran through thousands of brethren—freely given to aid a normal attached to a particular dragon. Once given, it remains part of that normal for the rest of their lives and is passed down to their children. But as the generations and centuries progress, that initial essence becomes so diluted its virtually imperceptible.

  Unfortunately, these were the children that were being terrorized and suffering at the hands of the drampires seeking immortality. So in an effort to help their ancestors, the dragons had done their offspring a disservice.

  I would find a way to rectify this, even if I had to hunt down every single drampire and decimate their clans as they have destroyed our dragon brethren.

  Cipriano cleared his throat, pulling me from my brutal thoughts. I looked around the room and saw that everyone was watching Dreah.

  She had a faraway look upon her face as she approached me, as if she were sleep walking. She picked up my hand and placed it over her ring once she reached me.

  Looking at her her sweet little face, she seemed lost in her mind. Perhaps she really was sleep walking, but I knew, as well as felt, that wasn’t the case. It was something else.

  Her eyes were glowing from within, like light shown through amber glass.

  “Look, Phoenix,” she told me in a prophetic voice much older than her age, “look and know what shall be.”

  And with that pronouncement an incomprehensible future was laid out before me and me alone. Potential outcomes—various avenues of discovery and ones of destruction. Nothing was written in stone, yet outcomes predicated by my decisions would ultimately affect the entire dragon race.

  The visions stopped and Dreah collapsed before me. I managed to catch her and cradled her in my arms. I wiped her sweaty brow with the hem of my shirt, while Tarrin draped a knitted throw over us.

  The questions started, one after another, everyone wanting to know what was going on…

  “What just happened?”

  “What did you see?”

  “What was Dreah talking about?”

  “Is she okay?”

  I surrounded her in healing light, but I knew she was fine and just sleeping.

  “I would say that our little Dreah has the gift or curse of foresight.”

  “But she’s so young, too young for that kind of responsibility and knowledge!” Tarrin and Tauric exclaimed.

  “I imagine she wasn’t to have inherited the gift until she was older, but…”

  We all knew what that but signified, the torture and death of her parents. Poor child.

  “What did you see?” Cipriano asked.

  I took a deep breath to collect myself, there had been so much and it would affect us all.

  “A lot of what I saw were potential outcomes to choices that will be made now. But one choice that stood out among all the others has to do with you, Cipriano.”

  His eyes widened, “Please tell me.”

  “You have to leave, not immediately, but soon. You need to find Aiden, it’s imperative. I have an idea of where you need to search, but I cannot tell you more than that.”

  “No, Charani, I will not leave your side. You still have much to learn. I need to mentor you.”

  “I know my brother. You have time, but then you will leave and bring Aiden home to us. Bring him home to our family.”

  “I will do as you say. You are the Phoenix, Charani. Please accept this, for all of our sakes. For the future of the dragon clans, you must.”

  I nodded my head to him, “I accept all that I am and all that I will become. I am the last true Phoenix.”

  THE END

  Author’s Note

  Thank you so much for reading!

  Continue the series with the next book—

  Coalesce: A Phoenix Dragon Novel 01.

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  About Paris Andren

  Paris should come with a warning sign–proceed with caution! She writes emotionally evocative stories that touch on real and often intense storylines, suspenseful mysteries and thrillers that come with unexpected humor and romance. She also writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance. She drops the F-bomb like a pro and makes no apologies.

  Paris started her college career in literature, but graduated with a Master’s Degree in Anesthesia. She’s been in the medical field for over twenty plus years. When she’s not passing gas and saving lives as a Nurse Anesthetist, you can find Paris writing and editing the night away while streaming music on YouTube.

  Read More Works by Paris Andren: (On Amazon)

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.