Synrith snapped his fingers. “You took your time getting away from the wolves. How on earth did you allow yourself to be captured in the first place?”
Jet stared back sourly. “I was taken by surprise. They used magic to prevent me from shifting.”
“But you made it out eventually.”
“I waited until the time was right.”
Synrith nodded. “So we now know where Rafe’s house is?”
“Well … his house … I’m sure they have other locations they will be retreating to now.”
“Naturally. And the vampires?”
“They had Cheryl because you sent her to them. They were trying to turn her against us.”
“What became of her?”
Jet smiled. He appeared uneasy. “I’m afraid I wasn’t able to retrieve her.”
“So they still have her captive?”
“It is my belief that upon my attempt to rescue her, they … executed her.”
Synrith’s eyes narrowed. “Is that so?”
“There was really nothing I could do.”
Synrith crossed his arms. “Can you please bow to me?”
Jet blinked. “As you wish.”
He got down on one knee.
Synrith moved behind him. “I wonder what … would make you lie to me?”
“Master?”
“I know how your voice sounds when you tell me lies. You become … far away…”
“I wasn’t lying, I swear.”
“Oh… Well, I did see her on my way here. So there’s that as well.”
“I’m sorry?”
Synrith leaned down and sniffed his neck. “Ooh. She’s been rather close with you, I suspect. What are you two lovers planning I wonder?”
Jet cleared his throat. “Alright. Enough.”
Synrith moved round to face him. “Have you something to tell me?”
“I have betrayed you,” Jet admitted. “I am a fool.”
Synrith stooped on one knee. “No, you’re not. But tell me anyway.”
“They did kill her before I got there. But …”
“But…?”
“They made her one of them. She is a vampire as well. I … took pity on her.”
“You did? Why?”
“Because she didn’t make the choice. It was made for her.”
“You made a choice though, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s stand up.”
They stood together.
“Listen to me now, Jet, and listen carefully.”
“Okay.”
“You have no idea, how angry I would be with you, had you killed her, before asking me.”
“Why?”
“She is now a gift to us. The queen on the chessboard. As long as she loves one of us, and we can keep her loyal, then there’s no telling how much information she could get from both the vampires and the wolves.”
Jet swallowed. “I see where you’re going. But won’t they try to convince her that she should play us? It would be their advantage, because at least they would be truthful.”
“She might be a vampire. She might have their blood. Their eyes. Their vision.”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“But she’s a girl too, Jet. She’s going to fall harder for me, than a girl has ever fallen before.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
As Cheryl’s eyes continued to search the sky for Synrith’s return, she was taken by surprise when he appeared within a short distance of her on foot. His jacket was unbuttoned, his shirt and tie out of place. The wind blew across the grass, flapping his clothes loosely from his body. He stopped in front of her, his eyes penetrable, and sincere.
“I know everything,” he said.
Cheryl stood up. Her hands dangled at her sides as she looked him up and down. “What do you know?”
“I told you. Everything.”
She walked towards him. She felt his eyes all over her body.
“How can I trust you?” Cheryl asked.
“Trust me to do what?”
“You’re not here to kill me, I suppose?”
“If I were,” Synrith stated, “would you really want to live in this world knowing that?”
The question left her dumbfounded.
“My little vampire,” Synrith cooed.
He touched the side of her face.
So cold he was. Just like her.
“I…” Cheryl breathed.
“Don’t say anything.”
He leant into her, and before she knew what was happening they were making out. His hands grappled her backside and they fell into the grass together, the night air breezing above them.
Synrith kissed and bit into her ear, and Cheryl bit into his neck. Hard.
There was a crunching sound, and Synrith’s blood began to flow into her. She immediately stopped when she realized what she’d done. She leaned over to spit out the contents of her mouth, but found she couldn’t. She swallowed and swallowed and swallowed and just wanted more of it.
Synrith sat above her, nursing his bleeding neck. He didn’t seem all that affected.
“I didn’t mean for that,” Cheryl said.
“That’s okay,” Synrith replied. “Dragons are immune to the disease.”
Cheryl suddenly felt a glowing presence inside her. Synrith’s blood was filling her up and giving her a strength greater than she could imagine.
“What’s happening?” she whispered.
“That’s dragon blood inside you now,” Synrith said. “It’s the most powerful and sought after blood a vampire can drink. As a side effect, it also accelerates your vampirism.”
“Accelerates?”
“It’s okay. You’ll just become stronger.”
“No,” Cheryl cried. She moved out from underneath him. “I don’t want to do this.”
Synrith moved in behind her. He put his hands to her waist and moved up to massage her sides.
“You won’t be this way forever. I promise.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
Cheryl turned to him. He kissed her lips passionately, and once parted she let out a sigh. “How can you promise it?”
“There’s a cure for vampirism.”
He turned her round and she sat up on top of his lap, wrapping her legs around him.
She looked into his eyes, to see if he was being truthful. “A cure? Really?”
“There is.”
“Jet … laughed at me when I suggested it.”
“Jet doesn’t know shit outside his own world.”
“Well, where is this cure?”
Synrith pushed her neck back and kissed underneath it. Their lips found each other again.
“I know of one person who has it,” Syn said as they parted.
“Who?”
“The alpha wolf. Rafe.”
“Why does he have it?”
“Not many people know this,” Synrith explained, “but before Rafe was a wolf, he was a vampire. I don’t know what the cure is, only that he was able to rid himself of the disease in some way.”
“Well, how do you know it’s a cure? What if there was some –?”
Synrith silenced her, pressing his lips again.
“Trust me, I know.”
Cheryl studied his face.
His gentle, loving face.
“I trust you,” Cheryl said.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Where to look? What time. What space.
For Synrith and Cheryl the grass plains of tonight were captured and crystallized in an everlasting state. She lusted for him – his body, his mind. And his blood.
He lusted for her too, and even though she didn’t understand it, the magic of this dazzling man who had entered her life, was far too great to not fall into. This is what had been missing from her connection with Jet.
Everything.
In Synrith’s arms, this was not the end of the story. This was only the beginning. For the problem
s they faced, there would always be some type of answer. Some path for them to crawl or fly through. Lies and truth – Cheryl knew none of it, but at least with Synrith there was hope.
“The night is not over, and we have many things to do,” he said to her. “But for the moment now, we must come together. You must be mine completely.”
Cheryl’s head fell into his chest. “You can do whatever you want with me.”
“And the same goes for you to me.”
Cheryl looked up. “Anything?”
“Anything.”
She pulled up his shirt and ripped through his bare skin so it was against her. She put his lips to his chest and felt the presence of his heart pumping the blood all over. She licked the spot where it was, his skin so firm. So yummy.
Synrith pushed her back to the ground and ripped up her dress to expose herself completely to him. She closed her eyes and let her head roll into the grass as he began to fuck her. Forceful. Strong. So right. She didn’t want to be anywhere else.
As the mass of his body descended to her, he bore his neck to her and whispered: “Drink again.”
Cheryl’s tongue dangled loosely over the old wound, before she pulled back the other side of his neck and bit into it. Crunch, crunch.
Synrith didn’t seem at all to mind. As she drew more of his blood into her, he moaned with pleasure. As her slurping increased its speed, so did his cock ramming into her. When of the first of Synrith’s blood seemed to travel down to that area of her body, she was hit with a rush of tingling sensations that almost made her explode with orgasmic delight.
Seeing her pleasure, Synrith encouraged her: “Keep going. I have so much more to give.”
Cheryl planted her mouth to his neck again and kept drinking, drinking, drinking…
Soon the blood was overflowing from her lips, and Synrith’s cock was exploding its white hot sperm into her.
With the pair of them both satisfied in more ways than one, they lay together in each other’s arms on the grass and looked up at the stars. Cheryl might have pushed that time was of necessity, but with Synrith there was no concept of time. She was safe, protected, and loved.
Or so she thought.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“What is going to happen?” Cheryl asked, her words echoing into the night. “To me? To us? What is the future?”
“Everything will be okay,” Synrith assured her. “But the specifics always depend on what we do now.”
“Well, what are we going to do?”
“You will return to the vampires. From there you will form your alliance with Rafe. He is your number one priority. You’ll have to placate the others but as long as Rafe is on your side, you won’t have concerns.”
“And then do I just ask him about the cure?”
“In a roundabout way. When he trusts you. When he believes everything you say.”
“Well, how will that work?”
“You will need to give me up. I’ll be your bargaining chip. Make him think you’re working me, and somehow you’ll have to get whatever the cure is from him before I am seized.”
“Why?”
“Because it will be a trap for him. And there will be no going back after that.”
“And when is this all going to happen?”
Synrith smiled. “The sooner the better, I suppose.”
Cheryl sat up. “You know, our plan didn’t exactly work out last time.”
“You’re right. It didn’t.”
“What guarantees are there that it will work out this time?”
“Well,” Synrith murmured. “They’re not going to believe you would betray their own kind. Mostly because – they would never believe I would befriend a vampire. It is against dragon lore.”
“Then why are you doing it for me?”
“Why do you think, Cheryl?”
She searched his eyes. “I don’t know. Tell me.”
“Because I’m in love with you. You knew that when we first talked down in the basement of my castle.”
“How…?”
“When these sorts of things happen, I don’t question it. I just go with the flow.”
Cheryl shook her head. “This is a big deal for me. Cause it feels right for me. I don’t want you to turn out to be an asshole.”
“Oh, I’m far worse than that,” Synrith chuckled.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The plan was set then. It was time to go.
As he now appeared in his magnificent green dragon form, Cheryl was lifted onto his back and then forced to hold onto dear life as he flew up into the sky with reckless abandon. There was no telling who, what or if in the future that laid ahead for them, only that Cheryl would do her best and hoped that Synrith would keep his word.
The lands past below them in even faster motion than they had with Jet. Either Synrith was a more passionate flier or Jet simply didn’t have the speed to match with him.
From the grass plains to the rural towns and forests – soon what they were flying over was nothing but the water. As Cheryl understood, he was taking her back to the vampires – and this didn’t mean Cassandra and Reiko whom had been left stranded in Rafe’s manor, but rather the caves on the beach where Cheryl had first met them.
They landed on the sand in a similar position to where Cheryl had walked there from and Synrith shifted back into his human form.
“Was that fun?” he asked her.
“You’re much nicer to ride with than Jet,” Cheryl confessed. “He has spiky stuff on his back.”
Syn gave a short laugh. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“I wish you would come with me,” she said. “I wish you were there to protect me.”
“I will be there,” Syn said. “I know I wasn’t before, and that was wrong of me. This time, I will be watching. From afar.”
“You really will?”
“Yes.”
“So if they decide to –”
“I will come to your rescue,” Syn said. He then added, “But they won’t.”
Cheryl put her arms around her dragon and kissed his cheek.
He held her.
“I don’t know why,” she said, “but this feels like goodbye.”
His neck drifted back, revealing the water’s reflection in his eyes.
“It is a goodbye,” Synrith said. “This might be the last time we see each other where we have to part.”
Cheryl hugged him again, eager for him to know that he was loved.
That was important.
“I hope you’re not playing games with me,” Cheryl said once the embrace was over.
“What if I was?” Syn came back with daringly.
They both laughed in union.
“You must be going,” he then said.
“When there’s an opportunity,” Cheryl said, “you will look out for Sophie too, won’t you?”
“You can count on it.”
He bowed his head and then walked several meters before his outline became no more than a shadow.
Cheryl closed her eyes and then turned back to the caves.
She hadn’t said it yet, but she knew she loved him too.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The trek towards the caves this time wasn’t as frightening as it had been earlier, but it wasn’t as depressing either. Just being away from Synrith now made her feel vulnerable. Of course, in her state of accelerated vampirism she was experiencing an awake feeling like no other before. The smallest details in the scenery around her were picked up, examined and noted without the slightest effort on her part. She was worried within herself, about the blood drinking, about being ‘not alive’… And yet there was a numbness as well. An acceptance. As if everything was somehow going according to plan.
The waves near the base of the cave crashed and howled. The moon had drifted behind the clouds so there very little light on the beach, so it was some time before the presence of others was known.
As she approached the edges of the cave, she realized that it could
be empty. As this was probably the place where the sect gathered during the day, they were now sure to be far from here, on the hunt for the nightly prey. She wondered why Synrith hadn’t considered this, and whether or not she would be waiting here for all hours of the night.
Not wishing to go into the darkness of the cave alone, she walked across the rocks in front of it that led out to the sea, and sat there, trying to remain patiently.
About a quarter of an hour past.
A short time after that, Cheryl made out the appearance of headlights in the direction she had walked from. Several headlights. Three motorcycles raced along the beach towards the cave. At the entrance she was surprised to see the emergence of dark shapes which had come out to greet the riders. Evidently the sect had been in the cave the whole time. And now their leaders, Reiko and Cassandra, had returned home.
As Cheryl walked towards where the group had gathered she also saw Sophie in the crowd, standing next to the only non-vampire present, Rafe.
He was the first to spot her.
“There she is,” he said, pointing. “Grab her.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Three vampires immediately rushed along the rocks towards Cheryl, and apprehended her. Whilst she felt equally as strong as they were, if not stronger, she did not fight them.
Once they were on the shore, she was thrown at Rafe’s feet, whilst the others circled.
“I didn’t expect to see you here,” Rafe stated. “This is most interesting.”
“Where’s Jet?” Cassandra demanded. “Did he bring you here? Is he hiding around some place?”
“No,” Cheryl shook her head. “When he found out I was a vampire, he didn’t want me anymore. But he allowed me to live. I found my way back here because it’s where I belong.”
“You can stand up,” Rafe said.
“Thank you.”
She stood and Sophie joined her side.
“So you have come to your senses then?” Sophie questioned.
Cheryl nodded.
“What’s it like? Better than before?”
Cheryl shrugged. “I suppose so.”
Badass Dragons: The Complete Set Page 10