Fire and Ash (Rise of the Dragons Trilogy Book 1)

by N. R. Hairston

  I wanted to take it from him and bring it to me to see if I was better able to handle it.

  The two Yango below shot more electricity our way, and this time I turned, a rage in my gut. I opened my mouth wide, and fire shot out, disintegrating the electricity coming from their hands.

  Aiming to get a better shot, I dipped closer, and the Yango’s eyes widened. “She has the power of the dragons,” one of them said. “She carries the dragon with her.”

  The other seemed to think about it for a second, then held out his hand, aiming it at Reid who was already hurt. No way was it going down like that.

  I pointed my right index finger and shot fire at his foot, not trying to kill him, just throw him off balance. He fell to the ground, and the Yango beside him started to pull him backward.

  The other two Yangos, who’d been busy attacking the Vilion people, stopped what they were doing and came to see what was happening. I shot fire at them too, just to warn them off. I hit one in the shoulder and knocked her back. The other I hit in the foot as well.

  The last man standing, the only one I hadn’t hit yet, held up his porter and a small portal opened. In the blink of an eye, they were gone, and Reid was still beside me shaking and shivering from the electricity he’d called onto himself.

  Down below I could hear cheers as people celebrated, saying things like: “The dragons have come to save us.” “The dragons protect Vilion now.” “No Yango will pass now that the dragons are here to slay them.”

  Reid grunted, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Panic stunned me for just a second until I realized that his life was at stake, and if I didn’t get help fast, he would in all likelihood die.

  I swallowed hard, then remembered him telling me to stay calm and focus. I reached out my hand and tried to pull the electricity to me in the same way he had, yet nothing happened.

  “Edward!” I screamed, calling out for the man who’d put us in this position. “Edward, you come help us right now!”

  Ignoring Reid’s shake of the head, I got closer and could see his strength draining. My heart beat out of my chest as I dove on him, hoping to transfer the blue light from him to myself.

  The electricity sizzled and crackled as it wrapped around my skin and I felt my insides explode. Scared out of my mind, I tried to hold on as darkness swallowed me whole and took me under.

  Chapter 14

  I awoke with a warm blanket tossed over me and a soft mattress under me. I sat up, startled and only a little sore, relieved to see the wings had retreated into my back once again. “Reid,” I said, and strained my head until I saw him sitting on the edge of the bed right beside me, pushing strands of hair out of my face.

  “What happened? Where are we?” I looked around, trying to get a clue. The room was small, but from the brown couch and pictures on the wall, I figured it was a living room.

  “We’re at Edward’s, been here three days.”

  “Three day—” I tried to sit up, but he gently pushed me back down. “We were electrocuted, remember?”

  I let my mind wander back, and my eyes widened, as I reached out wanting to make sure he was really okay. I put my hands on either side of his face and rested our foreheads together. “I thought I’d lost you,” I said, never so happy to be wrong.

  “I could say the same.” He gave me a soft kiss on the lips, then pulled away, reaching for something behind him.

  He turned back around, a steaming brown bowl in his hand. “You need to eat.”

  “Eat what?” I asked, not at all thrilled at the prospect of what Edward may have cooked up, especially after he’d sent me hurling through the air.

  “Chicken broth.”

  “Chicken?”

  “Yes.”

  “They have chickens here?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have you seen them?”

  “Yes.” He ladled the clear liquid onto a large wooden spoon and brought it toward my mouth. “Come on now. You need to heal a little more, and the herbs in this will help.”

  “What herbs?” I asked, still not convinced.

  “From my personal garden.” Edward walked into the room, a big grin on his face.

  My fingers flexed because I was two seconds away from strangling him. He’d put us in danger, all for something he thought might work.

  “I want to go home.” I was being stubborn, and I knew it, but right now, Edward was not my best friend.

  Reid put the bowl back on the table and sighed. “So do I, but it’s not safe to move you until you’re a little better.”

  “How did you heal so fast?” He’d been hurt a lot worse than me. At least I thought he had anyway.

  Edward was still smiling. “The lejet didn’t burn you like it does everyone else. Probably because you are one with the dragon.”

  “Lejet?” I asked.

  “That’s the blue electricity that the Yango use. It’s called lejet. All Yango have it, it has to do with their body make up.”

  “If it didn’t burn us then what did it do?” I’d only been up for a couple of minutes, but I could already feel my strength leaving as the bed beckoned me back to it.

  “It acted as a sponge and took your energy. Drained you until there was hardly any left. I had a time getting you two back here.” He said that last part under his breath, but I glared at him to let him know that I’d heard.

  I started to lay back down, as I was barely keeping my eyes open at this point.

  Reid put a hand on my arm to stop me. “Eat this first, and then you can sleep.”

  Knowing he’d just keep bugging me, I opened my mouth and let him feed me.

  IT WAS ANOTHER THREE days before I felt ready to go home again. That meant I’d been away for almost a week. I thought about what my father had said about having my brother and sister bring me food every week and wondered if either of my siblings had stopped by in my absence.

  My car was still in the driveway, so when I didn’t answer, they’d just think I was avoiding them, or that something was seriously wrong. “We have to hurry,” I said to Reid.

  We stood in Edward’s small living room, bags all around us. “I don’t want my family to worry.” I meant it too. I didn’t want my mom and dad thinking something terrible had happened to me. I shook my head. Something terrible had happened to me, but I seemed to be okay for now.

  Reid looked at the bags at our feet. In the six days we’d been here, the Yango hadn’t been back. Edward was of the mind that they wouldn’t be for fear that dragons now protected Vilion. I wasn’t sure how right he was in that assumption, but for the sake of his world and its people, I hoped so.

  Vilion citizens had been coming by nonstop, bringing us gifts as a token of their gratitude. I hadn’t looked through them yet and as far as I knew, neither had Reid. That was a task I preferred to perform in the comfort of my own home.

  Edward stood in front of us, a shaky smile on his face. The last couple of days I’d been up and about, and though many had come here to bring us gifts, none had been here to see him personally.

  He’d said that all of his family had died at the hands of the Yango, yet he didn’t seem to have any friends either. My face softened as I looked at him. How lonely that must be, surrounded by neighbors with friends and family and having none of your own. Maybe he didn’t want any, I reasoned.

  The only friend I had was Reid, and that was plenty enough for me. My family was still alive though, and I knew if I needed them they’d be there. Edward didn’t have that luxury and my heart couldn’t help but ache a little for him.

  His body language said he wasn’t ready for us to go, and I didn’t know what to say to make him feel better.

  “Anytime you want to visit,” he said, looking at the small porter in my hand. “Just think of this place, this land, Vilion, and the porter will lead you back here.”

  Reid smiled at him. “We’ll try to make it back. I appreciate your help. We’ve learned a lot.”

  I nodded to let him kno
w I agreed, then thought about what he’d said. “So if I think of Yango, will the porter take me there?”

  His eyes went wide. “Yes, but you will be dead in three seconds. No one but those with Yango blood can breathe in that atmosphere. Besides, it didn’t sound like the two you search for would ever go there again.”

  He was right, and I shrugged, still filing it away for later. I turned to Reid. “You ready?”

  “When you are.”

  Edward waved, and the sad smile on his face solidified it for me, I would come back to visit him again one day.

  Chapter 15

  We couldn’t keep hiding in the house. Reid needed to get back to his business, and I needed to pick up the pieces of my life. He’d stayed the night that we’d come back from Vilion and went home the next day.

  As it turned out, I hadn’t missed my weekly delivery as my brother had shown up, arms loaded down with groceries, right after Reid had left.

  From the many weeks we’d been huddled in my house, Reid and I had gone through most of the food I’d bought. My father sending over more was an easy crutch for me to lean on, but I couldn’t take it anymore.

  I had to get out of the house. I hadn’t looked through the bags that we’d brought back from Vilion, and figured that was something that Reid and I could do together at a later date.

  I still had a little left of the five thousand and decided to treat myself to an ice cream cone. I loved ice cream and often ate it year-round. Most of the local ice cream shops also sold hot dogs and hamburgers, so it was easy to get a cone no matter the season.

  I pulled up to my favorite shop. A small building not too far from my house. Only three people were in line before me. Figuring that wasn’t too bad, I got out, thinking I’d chat a little, get my ice cream and be on my way.

  The flame hit me before I’d walked three feet. The gas grill was lit, three hot dogs and one smokie cooking atop it. I practiced everything I’d learned and tried to block it out, tried to control it.

  The fire had other ideas, and I could see it as it left the grill and came flying my way. No one else seemed to notice it, and I sensed the only thing they’d saw was the flame go out.

  I hurried to get back in my car because I knew what would happen next.

  Two of the people in line gave me strange looks, then passed a glance with each other. They probably thought I’d flipped, and at this point, they weren’t that far off. Damnit! I couldn’t even leave the house for five minutes without something going wrong. It made me want to hit something, and the need to find either the Handlers or Kyla grew even stronger.

  Before I could start the car, the fire engulfed me. Luckily the people in line had turned back around, but I still needed to get away.

  I commanded the flame like I had before to stay on me, to stay with me, and leave my car unharmed. I got the car started and crept into the nearest alleyway, knowing I couldn’t drive down the street like this.

  Tears of frustration blurred my eyes, because damnit, I was tired of living this way. My lids closed, and I put everything I could into making the flames disappear.

  After about five minutes they listened, and I slowly made my way home.

  Reid was waiting on my porch when I got there. “I almost burned my office down,” he said as soon as I got out of my car.

  The tension in my shoulders relaxed when he said that, and I lay my head on his chest. He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me closer. “I almost blew up the ice cream shop.”

  He laughed then, a true belly laugh, and I felt myself relax even more. “Want to go inside?” he asked, and I nodded, leading the way.

  I’d cut the heat on when I’d left so now my house was warm and toasty. “We have to do something.” I plopped down on my love seat.

  Reid stood in front of me, and his eyes traveled to the bags we’d brought back from Vilion.

  I looked that way as well. “Let’s go through these, see if there’s anything we can use. Maybe try to focus on worlds that the Yango have visited before,” I suggested.

  He nodded like he agreed. “Really think it’ll work?”

  I shrugged. “Edward said it would. While you can’t focus on an individual, you can focus on its world. So, saying something like, take me to where most Vilions like to vacation would bring up a list of worlds, it’s just up to us to find the right one.”

  “Okay.”

  I ran a hand down my face because I didn’t plan on being homebound for the rest of my life. We had to use the porter again, but hopefully, we’d be better prepared this time.

  Reid took a seat on the floor. “When do you want to leave?”

  I thought about it. “How about we go through the things from Vilion, pack what we need in our bags, eat a good dinner, takeout, if you want.”

  “My treat,” he interjected.

  I nodded and kept right on talking. “After that, we’ll get a good night’s sleep so that we can head out first thing in the morning. How does that sound?”

  He leaned back, using his hands to hold him up. “I say we go for it.”

  I was glad he agreed, because if we didn’t fix this then sooner or later something would happen that neither of us could take back. There was also the possibility of the wrong person seeing us and both of us ending up on a table in area fifty-one.

  I shook my head. No thank you. This was a real danger to us, and if Brad, Melinda, Kyla, or any other non-hostile Yango for that matter, could help, then we needed to find them.

  I scooted down on the floor beside Reid and lay my head on his shoulder, slipping my arm through his. “I guess tomorrow we go hunting.”

  Chapter 16

  We stayed up till around twelve that night, going through a good chunk of the bags. Some of the stuff was just weird, like a round brown thing, same shape and size of a penny, except it hopped across the floor and glowed. Then there was the bag of M&M shaped candy. All of the pieces were blue, and instead of words, they had symbols on them.

  We’d also found three bags of coins. Edward had said that we might need money, so I guessed this was it.

  Despite my apprehension, we’d also decided to go back to the house that Brad and Melinda had left me, combing through the whole thing from top to bottom, hoping to get some clue to their whereabouts.

  Nothing, we hadn’t found one thing to help us. Given that they’d been planning their little coup for years, I wasn’t surprised we’d come up empty.

  We decided to take one bag of coins from Edwards world with us, and leave the other two safely at my house.

  As before, we packed overnight clothes, food, and water. Since it’d been cold here when Brad and Melinda left, we figured they may have wanted somewhere sunny now, and decided to focus on warm places to start with.

  I stood in the living room, bag on my shoulder, trinkets from Vilion in my pocket. I had on a pair of black capris, a white tank-top, and white sneakers. It felt odd being dressed like this in the dead of winter, and I’d packed a sweater and long pants as a backup outfit just in case.

  Reid had on a pair of blue jeans and a black T-shirt. His broad chest filled the shirt out, and it was easy to see how thick and defined his muscles were. He had a slight stubble around his jaws, and that along with everything else showed just how good-looking a man he was.

  I kissed him on the cheek, unable to stop myself. He smiled at me and pulled me closer. “You ready for this?”

  I sighed, cautious of what we’d run into next. We’d gotten lucky in Vilion, and even then, we’d been hurt. “As ready as I’m going to be.”

  We laced hands, and I pointed the porter, thinking of somewhere warm that the Yango liked to visit sometimes. After only a second, the swirling lights of the portal opened, and we stepped inside.

  The world we entered into was bright and sunny, making me happy I’d dressed appropriately. From what I could tell, we were on the side of a road. The streets were asphalt like back home, and we stood on a large patch of green grass that seemed to stretc
h for miles.

  Reid walked forward a bit, turning and looking around. “All I see are streets, no buildings, no people.”

  “Then let’s walk farther.” Unlike on Vilion, where the air was clean and fresh, here I could tell that cars and maybe trucks were alive and well.

  The sound of birds chirping sounded off in the distance, and so I knew that some type of life form existed here. “Where is everyone?” I looked down the road because not one car had passed us yet.

  Reid shrugged. “Not every road in our city is occupied all the time. Let’s keep walking.”

  After about twenty minutes we started to see tall, slick buildings rising high in the sky. Some were black, while others silver and gray. They looked chic, modern, and sophisticated.

  As we got closer to the city, I saw that there were a few cars, round-shaped, small, and hovering about two inches off the ground. Most people floated, though. I saw one man suspended in midair, using nothing but his levitation skills, I presumed, cleaning the side of a building.

  Men and women dressed in business attire floated by, some in groups talking, others alone. “Do you think we should float too? So we don’t look so out of place?” I asked Reid.

  There were a few people walking like us, and it was them he focused on when he answered. “You can if you want to, but I don’t think it’s necessary.”

  I tried to stop a tall woman with shoulder-length black hair. She had on a navy-blue dress suit and a leather bag in her hand. “Excuse me miss, I just wanted to ask—”

  “I’m late,” she said, holding up her hand to stop me from saying more as she hurried past us.

  It went like that for the next three people we tried to talk to. “Think I miss Edward already,” I mumbled, and Reid put an arm around my shoulder.

  “I think we’re in the working district, come on, let’s go a little farther.”

  After about five minutes the landscape began to change, and the buildings became a little more spaced out. A flashing billboard caught my attention, and I stopped to look at it. It had a picture of a man on it with shoulder-length purple hair, dark-brown skin, and yellow eyes. On the caption, it read, “Yango trader. See what happens tonight.” Then it gave an address.