Dragon's Conquest (Dragons of Midnight Book 3)
Page 1
Table of Contents
Prologue
Epilogue
Dragon’s Conquest
Mailing List Sign-Up
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
Afterword
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Get The Next Book
Dragon’s Conquest
Dragons of Midnight Book 3
Silver Milan
Copyright © 2017 by Silver Milan
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover design by Melody Simmons.
Contents
Dragon’s Conquest
Mailing List Sign-Up
Prologue
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
Epilogue
Afterword
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Get The Next Book
Dragon’s Conquest
Return to the world where shifters live secretly among humans, and dragons, witches and vampires vie for control.
Lion shifter witch Ariel Dirksen and her lover, the fatally beautiful dragon shifter Jett, have only just returned to their idyllic lives with the Blue Hurricane pride, when news comes their way of troubles in Midnight, secret capital city of the dragon shifters. Jett's brother, the dragon king Gabriel, is behaving oddly, confiscating the lands of powerful nobles and executing his closest advisers for seemingly no reason at all.
Ariel and Jett gather a team of witches and dragon shifters, and make plans to infiltrate Midnight in secret to learn the motives behind Gabriel's strange behavior. Has he simply gone mad with power? Or are more nefarious powers at work?
When they discover the terrible truth, forces are set in motion that could lead not only to the deaths of Ariel and Jett, but the destruction of Midnight and all of shifter society as a whole.
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Prologue
With death on her mind, Medeia Tenebris advanced through the cramped stone tunnel. The air smelled of mildew and dragon scales. She felt like a spider stalking an intricate web, one woven to catch a very particular type of insect. In this case, dragon shifters.
Since vampire witches were forbidden in Midnight, Medeia wore elbow-length gloves over her hands, hiding the bone gauntlets she wore. She had also removed her dragon bone tiara and secreted it inside a pocket of the cape that ran to the heels of her boots.
I’m just an ordinary vampire out with my master for a walk.
Ahead of her stepped Gabriel Vespasianus, dragon king of Midnight. The powerful man was bound tight with Weaves of Air. Through those Weaves Medeia forced him to walk, his movements forced, jerky. Unnatural. It would have to do.
Two vampires, slaves of the dragons, waited at the far end of the tunnel. A man and a woman, they wore black fatigues, with headsets reaching around their cheeks so that the mics resided in front of their scarlet lips. Small bronze collars enveloped their necks. Collars of ownership.
The sight repulsed her. That members of her kind should have to stoop to these levels, serving their ancient enemy, was sickening.
Medeia curled one finger, causing the microphones the guards wore to transmit only white noise.
As Gabriel approached the slaves stood to attention.
The king of Midnight stopped in front of them.
“Sire, are you all right?” the first slave asked.
Gabriel turned his head toward that slave, but said nothing. His lower lip twitched, and his neck muscles corded, as if he strained to speak.
Medeia stepped forward, emerging from behind Gabriel. “I have come to free you.”
She waved her hand and the collars that prevented the vampires from attacking their dragon masters fell away.
“You are no longer slaves to the dragons,” Medeia continued. “You have two choices. Submit to my will and help me take Midnight. Help me liberate all vampires from the clutches of the dragons. Or die.”
The vampires stared at her for several moments, apparently stunned.
“We join you,” the first vampire said. He presented his neck to her as required by the allegiance ritual, and Medeia sank her fangs into his neck and drank deeply. She kept her eyes on the other vampire the whole time, ready to strike out if needed. When finished, Medeia addressed the woman. “And you? Do you submit?”
The female slave lowered her gaze and offered her neck.
Medeia drank; when sated she pulled away. “What are your names?”
“Christopher,” the man said.
“Felicia,” the woman replied.
Medeia beckoned into the tunnel behind her and two of the vampires given to her by Aldam, king of the Middle East, emerged from the shadows to take up guard positions next to Christopher and Felicia. She didn’t trust the new converts enough to keep watch on their own, not yet.
The arrivals, Blade and Raptor, took the headsets from Christopher and Felicia, and then Medeia released the Weave that filled the microphones with white noise.
Medeia gazed at the long winding trail that led down into the vast cavern below. Her eyes drifted to the hundreds of fenced-off estates that sprawled across the stone floor. Within those estates were mansions and outbuildings sided in gold, silver, or gems. Overhead, LEDs embedded in the far ceiling gave off a dim illumination.
“The king requests a litter,” Medeia told the former slaves.
Felicia nodded. “I’ll place the request.”
Medeia glanced at Raptor. “Give her the headset.”
Raptor bowed, and complied.
As Felicia was putting it on, Medeia said: “Remember, betray me, you die.”
Felicia made the request without any issues and then returned the headset to Raptor.
Medeia lifted one of the fallen collars and placed it around her neck. She didn’t close the locking clasp, however, and instead held it in place with a Weave of Air.
“There,” she told Gabriel. “Now I’m simply one of your slaves.”
The king didn’t answer, of course, not with the invisible binds restraining his jaw.
Medeia wore a headset of her own, which she had taken from one of the vampires guarding the opposite end of the tunnel. She had changed
it to a private frequency band so she could converse with her minions.
Into the microphone she said: “Sevilla, grab a collar and join me. The rest of you keep watch in the tunnel.”
Sevilla emerged from the darkness of the tunnel. The vampire witch was dressed in a black, form-fitting outfit. She wore heavy-rimmed glasses. Like Medeia, thick black gloves hid the bone bracelets that covered her wrists. Out of the three vampire witches Aldam had given her, Sevilla seemed the most competent. Not to mention compliant.
Sevilla knelt, retrieved the remaining collar, and attached it to her throat using a similar Weave of Air, leaving the clasp at the back open so that it wouldn’t bind her to the dragons.
“What if one of the litter carriers notices the two of us are uncollared?” Felicia asked.
“Then my minions will handle them,” Medeia said. “We’ll have fake collars prepared for you once we obtain access to a forge.”
A few minutes later the litter arrived. It was essentially a long stretcher with a seat, topped by a canopy and draped by curtains, carried by four vampire slaves: shirtless strongmen dressed only in loincloths, with bronze collars at their necks. They were very pleasant to look at it, and she decided they would be her personal pets after she secured the king’s private estate.
The slaves lowered their burden beside Gabriel; Medeia manipulated her Weaves to make him move jerkingly inside the litter and take a seat.
Looking at him, she nodded to himself. That was much better. Now his unnatural walk wouldn’t draw attention. She considered closing the curtains and hiding him from view entirely, but that would only invite guards and other dragon shifters to challenge her on the streets. With the curtains open, and the king in full view, none would dare challenge his personal servants.
Medeia addressed the slaves. “Gabriel wishes you to take him to his estates.”
The slaves bowed and lifted the litter, assuming their burden. They started to carry him down the long winding trail toward the buildings below.
Medeia glanced at the Christopher and Felicia before following. “If a lone dragon comes this way, let him or her pass. If more than one dragon arrives, tell them that particular passage is closed by order of the king.”
She didn’t want her vampires to face off against more than one dragon at a time for the time being. Best to err on the side of caution.
Medeia and Sevilla followed the litter. Medeia could feel the hidden Weaves of the subterranean city pressing down on her, draining her Strength already. Magic use would be dampened here. It was a good thing she had fed on Gabriel before leaving the tunnel: the boost provided by his dragon blood made her power about equal to what it was without the dampening. Sevilla would be much weaker, of course, since she hadn’t fed on the dragon shifter, but her role was solely as backup.
When they reached the bottom of the trail, Medeia and Sevilla moved in front of the litter, taking the lead.
None of the dragon shifters out and about that morning paid them any mind. Or at least, the shifters pretended not to. She thought more than a few were watching her from the corners of their eyes.
Let them watch.
She couldn’t help but smile inside. She felt less like a spider and more like a viper now, infiltrating a den of defenseless rabbits. The same Weave that dampened magic use prevented the shifters from assuming their dragon forms in this place. They were helpless.
Medeia had some idea where Gabriel’s estate was—the vampires she had freed thus far had described it for her. But she didn’t have to worry about trying to find it on her own, because the litter-bearing slaves were guiding her right to it: she occasionally allowed them to take the lead, but once his grand palatial estate was in sight, she took her place permanently in front with Sevilla.
In moments she stood at the main gates to Gabriel’s estate. The enclosing walls were made of pure gold, and their tops reached well above Medeia’s head.
“Who are you?” one of the vampire slaves on guard duty said. “I’ve never seen either of you before.” His gaze ran doubtfully from Medeia to Sevilla.
“We’re the king’s new slaves,” Medeia said. She would try to convert these vampires to her side later, once she had the estate secured. For now all she intended to do was convince them to let her pass.
“Give me your names,” the guard said.
Medeia made up two quick names. “Felicia Hartley and Gertrude Hayes.”
The guard shook his head. “You’re not on the registry. Normally the king doesn’t allow unregistered vampires into his estate…” His eyes drifted to the litter. He was obviously expecting the king to give him some word of approval or denial.
Medeia smiled coldly. “You think the king somehow hasn’t noticed we’re in his company? That we’re trying to sneak inside right under his nose? Are you an idiot?”
“Sire?” the guard pressed, still looking at the litter. “May these two vampires enter with you?”
She glanced at the litter and altered her Weaves of Air slightly to make the king incline his head.
Medeia returned her gaze to the guard and narrowed her eyes. “You will let us pass or suffer the king’s wrath…”
The two vampires regarded her suspiciously a moment longer. One of them stepped toward the litter.
“What’s wrong with him?” the guard asked quietly. “Is he ill?”
“Yes,” Medeia said. “He hit a tree during his morning flight. Why do you think he called us to bring the litter? He’s healing well, though.”
The vampire hesitated.
“I wouldn’t delay us any longer, if I were you,” Medeia said. “He isn’t in the best of moods this morning.”
The vampire gave Gabriel a last dubious glance, and then shrugged. “Above my pay grade.”
“You’re a slave,” Medeia told him. “You don’t have a pay grade.”
“Exactly.” He and the other vampire guard stood aside.
Medeia suppressed a grin and entered with Sevilla. The litter followed just behind.
That one will be follow me loyally when the time comes.
The group passed numerous outbuildings on the way to the main mansion. A guest house. A kitchen. A servants’ quarters. A corral stuffed with livestock: mostly cattle, likely for dining purposes. Dragons had big appetites, after all. Large fans directed the stench of manure and fur away from the house. There was also a forge—which she would put to good use preparing fake vampire collars as part of the first wave of her plan.
Soon the main mansion loomed before her. An intricate fountain carved into the shape of a winged dragon resided directly in front of it.
Medeia released the Weave that would make her hyper-sensitive to the EM fields produced by security cameras, and she noted their positions.
At the front doors, a dragon guard joined the vampire on duty this time. Both were big men, dressed in camos patterned in forest digital. Assault rifles hung from their soldiers, and the hilts of swords could be seen protruding from behind their backs. Other vampires she had freed had warned her of these men. They were members of the Black Guard, the hand-picked soldiers Gabriel had chosen to guard his mansion and private hoard.
The vampire beside the dragon was uncollared, Medeia noted. Not a slave then, but here of his own accord. Too bad for him.
Medeia released three quick Weaves, these causing the nearby security cameras to cloud over. Then she reached inside the hidden pocket of her cape and retrieved the tiara, resting it squarely on her forehead. She would need all the access to the Strength she could manage in the next few moments.
The dragon guard’s eyes widened. He glanced at the king in disbelief, and then he pointed the muzzle of his rifle at Medeia. “Vampire witches are not allowed in Midnight! Step away from the king immediately!”
Medeia unleashed the necessary Air Weaves and wrapped both the dragon shifter and vampire in a thick vise at the same time.
“Open the door and clear the foyer,” she commanded Sevilla, and the vampire witch
obeyed. It wasn’t locked.
Sevilla vanished inside and emerged a moment later. “It’s clear. No cameras.”
Medeia glanced over her shoulder to ensure that no other estate residents had witnessed the commotion, and then she floated the bound-up pair inside.
She scanned the foyer for signs of hidden cameras and confirmed there were none. Her EM hypersensitivity was still active, and she sensed the field produced by a microphone. She spotted it in the ceiling next to a speaker. That would be an appendage of Dan, the infamous computer system that ran Midnight. The all seeing, all knowing Dan.
Dan wouldn’t be all seeing and all knowing for very much longer.
She released the Weave that interfered with electronics, allowing the microphone to pick up only white noise. Then she turned around and waved the others forward.
Once the litter was inside, she shut the door with Air.
The vampire slaves lowered the king and stared at Medeia with a mixture of fear and awe. She still held the two Black Guards in binds of air behind her, so of course the slaves had reason to be afraid.
“Swear allegiance to me and I will grant you your freedom,” Medeia said. “Refuse, and you will die.”
The four slaves immediately knelt and presented their necks to her. She drank their blood in turn, confirming their allegiance to her as required by the ritual. She did not drink deeply, however. No, she wanted to save room for the fresh dragon shifter whose veins she was about to open.
When she finished feeding on the slaves, she ordered the four to stand and wait in a corner of the room.
Then she turned to the bound up dragon shifter. “You’re certainly a beautiful specimen. You will serve me well.”