Dax: House of Flames
Dragon Guardians 2
Scarlett Grove
Copyright © 2018 by Scarlett Grove
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Contents
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
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Chapter 1
The notes of Aria Sparks’ song echoed through the room of the nursing home. Her elderly charges looked up at her with rapt attention and soft smiles on their faces. She knew how her singing affected them. Every day, they got just a little bit better.
When Constance Reed had arrived, her dementia was so bad, she didn't even remember her own name. Now she recognized Aria and the other orderlies, doctors, and nurses when they came in the room.
Fred Hollister's emphysema had made it necessary for him to carry a tank around with him everywhere he went six months ago. But now he used his oxygen less and less. She let the last notes of her song drift off into silence and everyone clapped. She smiled at them and did a little curtsy.
“Thank you all so much,” she said, picking up her mop. “It's almost time for me to be done for the day. I'll see you all tomorrow.”
She took the mop and the mop bucket and pushed it back to the closet. She tidied everything up and put it all away. After removing her smock and changing back into her street clothes, she waved at the night nurse on the way out.
Aria strode into the parking lot, a song in her heart. She loved working her magic on the old folks. She helped people in whatever little way she could.
The air was cool with the scent of rain. A haze of clouds hung low in the sky, obscuring the stars and the moon. She clicked her car keys and her back lights flashed as she made her way through the darkened parking lot. This was always the time of night that made her most uncomfortable. She knew the old folks’ home was safe, but there was always that small shred of fear at the base of her belly whenever she had to walk alone at night.
As she made it to her car, a dark figure walked out from between the vehicles and approached her. She gulped down her fear and slid her keys between her fingers like she'd been taught in self-defense class.
“Where are you going?” said the man.
“I'm on my way home,” she said, exhausted from a long day of work.
“I don't think that will be happening,” he said with a laugh.
“If you touch me, I’ll scream. Security will be out here in less than five seconds. You won't get away with hurting me.”
“Oh, but I think we will.”
Another half dozen dark clothed men appeared from behind the cars and surrounded her. Before she could scream, they grabbed her and evaporated, taking her with them. Her scream was lost in the void as they charged down a tunnel of darkness. Concentric circles throbbed past as they moved faster than the speed of light and came out the other end.
She stood on solid ground, her scream still aching in her throat. She was surrounded by a forest, and there was a large mansion in the distance. She screamed again, but the men holding her just laughed at her.
“No one will hear you out here,” they said. “Scream all you want.”
“Make her shut up. It's hurting my ears,” said another one.
One of the men placed a piece of tape over her mouth, and they tugged her roughly through the manicured lawns of the mansion and into the building. She gasped at the sight of the fancy-dressed people in a garish living room.
There were dozens of them, dressed in red and black evening clothes. They were beautiful but had a cold, cunning look about them. It reminded her of serial killers in nighttime TV shows. The men tugged her up the stairs. She screamed under the tape over her mouth, but no sound came out.
“This Dragon Soul is powerful,” said one of her kidnappers.
As they climbed the stairs, a man in a black pinstripe suit came down. He seemed more imposing than the others. He had gold rings on his fingers and held a glass of red liquid.
“We've been tracking her for quite some time,” said one of her captors. “She has magic.”
“Her blood sings with power,” the man in the suit said, sniffing the air.
His lips smacked with hunger. Aria recoiled at the sound, but the other men held her fast.
“Take her to the tower. And make sure our wards are stronger. Now that the dragons have awakened we must up our game.”
“Yes, Victor,” they said.
The thugs in the hoodies and skinny jeans tugged her up the stairs and shoved her into a room, closing the door behind her. She turned and beat her fists against the door. But it was no use. The door was locked shut and there was no escape. She pulled the tape off, pulling tiny hairs and the top layer of skin from her mouth. She covered the throbbing wound with her hand as a tear slid down her cheek.
Turning, she inspected the room she found herself in. It was a circular tower with one tiny window, a small bed in one corner, and a desk in the other. The room was freezing cold, wind whipping through the narrow window.
“Where the hell am I?” she said, walking into the center of the room.
These strange people didn’t seem human. But to believe they were what they appeared to be? It was preposterous. Vampires didn't exist in the real world, just TV shows and fantasy novels. She sank down on the bed, rubb
ing her wrists where they had gripped her.
She looked down at her hands and clenched her fists. The men knew about her healing power. That's why they’d taken her. Her ability to heal the sick with her song had always been her secret. She’d always used it carefully, so no one would notice. But these men, these people, whoever they were, they'd been stalking her and watching her. They had noticed. And now they wanted her blood. She curled up in the tiny bed and cried herself to sleep.
Chapter 2
“We must save her now!” Dax demanded, staring at the video footage of the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. Her long light brown hair framed a cherubic oval face. Her heart-shaped pink lips begged to be kissed. And her curves? Her hourglass curves demanded his hands explore every peak and valley. He gritted his teeth, prepared to charge in to her rescue.
“We need a solid plan, Dax,” Kian said. “We can’t go in unprepared.”
“The vampire wards are ten times stronger than they were the last time we raided the compound,” said Cato.
“I don't care. I can take on two dozen vampires.”
“Be that as it may, Dax. There is still the question of whether or not we can even enter the property,” Cato said.
“You said yourself that vampire magic isn't as strong as it was a million years ago.”
“It's not. But we need to take precautions. We can't save the Dragon Soul if we ourselves get caught.”
“Are you suggesting that these weak vampires could catch us and restrain us?” Dax said with disgust in his voice.
“That is a possibility,” Cato said.
“I'm not risking my crew for one Dragon Soul,” Kian said.
“We must protect her,” Dax demanded.
“Why are you so attached to this girl?” Aiden asked.
“I don't know,” Dax said.
His dragon roared inside his mind, clawing at the backs of his eyes and blowing flame across his mind. He couldn't explain why. It was the oddest sensation he'd experienced in his long life.
“My dragon roars for her. He will not be calmed. Since the first moment I saw her, my dragon screams to save her.”
Cato and Kian looked at each other.
“Could it be his mate?” Aiden said to Cato in a low voice.
“There's no way of knowing until we run the mating analysis,” Cato said.
“Our kind hasn't depended on instinct since the sun began to dim in our home system. Before any of us were ever born. Mating has always been a matter of DNA analysis. And it will remain that way for the foreseeable future,” Kian said to Dax. “I waited to mate with Everly. And you will wait to rescue this maiden.”
“But they are going to drain her blood,” Dax screamed, standing from his chair and throwing his arms in the air.
“If none of you are going to help her, then I will go myself.”
“Dax, I forbid you to leave the mansion until we have decided on a plan of action,” Kian growled.
“You can't stop me,” Dax said, his dragon roaring uncontrollably.
His rage boiled his brain as dragon sent a stream of flame across his mind’s eye. Dax was a battle worn dragon who had fought the vampires long and hard before the cataclysm. He was over a thousand years old and had slept for a million more in a stasis chamber.
But Kian was his prince and his commander. He was obligated to listen to him. Dax growled, his lips quivering as he stared at Kian. Kian glowered back, his eyes boring a hole into Dax’s soul.
“I will listen,” Dax finally said with a stiff growl, sitting back in his chair. “But you damn well better hurry up.”
Kian merely cocked his chin and squared his shoulders. Kian was well-versed in dealing with angry, defiant dragons and coming out on top.
“Now that we've settled that,” Kian said, continuing with his speech, “Cato has analyzed the wards with the device he planted in the mansion. From this analysis we have gleaned that the wards are at least ten times stronger than they were previously. There is a possibility that these wards could trap us inside. We must take precautions.”
“How do we break the wards?” Aiden asked.
“I am running further analysis of the wards right now. Once I understand the magic we can use our technology to break through them,” Cato said. “The bigger problem is getting out. If we break in, we will only have a few moments before the vampires are aware of our presence. They will have the opportunity to cast new spells. And we will not have the benefit of our analysis to break back through.”
“I refuse to believe that these weak vampires could entrap us in their mansion,” Dax said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“It doesn't matter what you believe, Dax. What matters is the data,” Cato said.
Dax growled at Cato, and Cato growled back. Kian put his hands on his hips and snarled at both.
“What we have concluded is that we can break through the wards. But we will have less than five minutes to retrieve the Dragon Soul and then vacate the premises,” Kian said.
“Why would it take any more than five minutes?” Dax asked. “I could just burn the whole place down.”
“You tried to do that last time, Dax. It didn’t work,” Kian said, giving him a pointed glare. “We need to do this strategically. We can't just rush in on our impulses if you want to save this girl and for all of us to get out alive. That is what you want, isn't it?”
“When do we leave?” Dax snarled, thinking of the beautiful woman trapped in the tower. He couldn’t abide the idea of those vampires touching her. Threatening her. Scaring her.
“We will infiltrate the compound tomorrow morning at dawn. That is the when the vampires are at their weakest. The device that Cato left in the mansion the last time we were there has provided us with a great deal of insight into their current level of power, their movements, and their habits. It has also provided us with visual images of the mansion.
“What is she doing now?” Dax asked.
“Right now, she's sleeping,” Cato said.
“I can't stand the thought of those monsters having her in their clutches.”
Dax stood, panting and growling as he paced the room of the bridge of the spaceship they’d buried under their mansion. Dax was sure the Dragon Soul was his. He could feel it deep in his bones.
From the moment he had laid eyes on her, his mating impulse had been ten times worse than when he had first awoken. All of them had an activated mating impulse, making them slightly more irritable and aggressive than normal. But now... now, it was out of control.
He knew the girl, Aria Sparks, was his mate. He didn't need some mating analysis to tell him that. He was going to save her and claim her and make her his forever. No vampire, no man, and no dragon would ever lay their hands on her again. He would keep her safe. He would make her happy. He would make her scream his name with infinite pleasure. His inner dragon flapped its wings and roared at the sky, billowing fire into the air.
“We leave before dawn tomorrow morning,” Kian said. “Dax, get some rest. You will need it tomorrow. You are our strongest warrior. I need your head in the game.”
Dax grumbled, fisting his hands tightly as he left the ship and hurried upstairs into the mansion. He found Everly with baby Ember in the living room, playing with a rattle. Ember bounced up and down in her bouncy chair. Dax glanced at Everly, who had just found out she was with child. She gave him a soft wave and a friendly smile. Dax wanted to meet her kindness with his own usual good nature but was too wound up to do anything but growl and turn on his heel.
“What's gotten into him?” Dax heard Everly say to Kian as he made his way upstairs. “Dax is usually so happy and sweet.”
“Lady troubles,” Kian said.
Dax growled deep in his throat and slammed his door. He was so angry and full of energy that he couldn't stand being around anyone else. He paced the floor of his room, hating that Kian forbid him from saving Aria. The girl was his. She needed his help. He tried to breathe and calm his dragon. He knew Ki
an was a wise and good leader. He had led their crew in many battles in the past, and he trusted him more than anyone he had ever known.
But now that his dragon was in a frenzy with his mating impulse, he could barely listen to anyone else's words. The roar of his dragon was so loud, it drowned out every other sound. He would have to bend to his dragon’s will or he would soon lose his mind.
Chapter 3
Aria awoke with a start, the sunlight streaming through the narrow window at the edge of the room. She climbed out of the uncomfortable bed, her back aching, and walked across the room. She reached up on her tiptoes and peered out the window.
The sun was high. It must be late morning already. She had no other way of gauging the time, there was no clock in the room and the vampires had taken her cellphone.
Vampires? Could they really be vampires?
That was the only way she could think of these people. Nothing else made any sense. As much sense as being kidnapped by vampires made. She let out a deep sigh. The cool wind blew over her face through the open window. Goosebumps rose on her skin.
She stared out, examining the grounds beyond. The mansion was surrounded by dense woods. Even if she got out of here, how could she find her way home? She had no idea where she was. Maybe she wasn't even in Washington State anymore. Maybe she was in another dimension altogether!
The door swung open and the thugs from the night before stepped through. One of them had a tray of food and set it on the desk in the corner. He grinned at her, revealing sharp canine teeth. His eyes glowed hungrily as he looked at her. Sniffing the air, he licked his lips.
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