“Too close…” She muttered to herself, breathlessly. “Too close.”
Dragons clashed all around her. The sounds were horrendous. Snarling, the gnashing of jaws, and the raking of claws against scale. Hisses and screams of pain as fang and claw pierced through and hit tender flesh. Explosions of heat and the crackle of fires burning all around. It was hell on Earth.
She managed to put some distance between herself and the battle, making it to the far corner of the estate where it hadn’t suffered any damage. Pausing for a moment, she turned to watch. She couldn’t help herself. Her fantasy was coming true, at least in part, as Ladon and Enzo fought and tore into one another. Her eyes went wide as Enzo lashed forward and locked his teeth into Ladon’s scaly shoulder. The stony gray Dragon shrieked.
“No!” She screamed, though her words were drowned out by the cacophony around her.
Filled with adrenaline and rage, she turned her attention back to her initial task. Getting that damned key. She started to scan the area, looking for any sign of Enzo’s discarded cloths. She tried to think of where they would have come from when everything happened and where they would have transformed. Looking around, she saw another entrance into the estate that lead out into a small open courtyard. It was worth a shot.
As she got closer, she saw a sight that made her heart leap. Fresh dig marks in the ground from Dragon claws and six piles of tattered and shredded clothes. She almost did a cartwheel out of happiness but reigned it in and went right to business. She dropped to her knees at the first pile of clothes and dug around, feeling for the key as quickly as she could. With every passing moment, the sounds of battle raged in her ears and her heart pounded. Finding nothing, she moved onto the next pile… and then the next.
“Oh, come on, damnit!” She growled as she moved on to the third pile.
She was growing more and more frustrated and desperate as time ticked by. Her hands flew, tossing scraps of fabric as she felt for the key, her eyes searching and straining in what light was provided by the nearby building. Just as she began to feel that first flutter of failure in her gut, her hand landed on something solid and cold in the grass beside her. She gasped.
Looking down, she picked up what she had found and looked at it. A little iron key made out of what she assumed was the same iron as the collar round her neck. It was small enough to fit in the palm of her hand. There was no way she should have been able to find it… and yet there it was.
She felt around the collar for the key hole, jamming the key inside. She fought with it for a moment, growling and gritting her teeth as she battled it. Finally, it turned, and the collar popped open. With a joyful cry of freedom, she ripped the iron away from her throat and tossed it, and the key away into the darkness.
Her moment of celebration was short lived as another explosion of Dragon fire lit up the night sky above her. Turning, she watched from a distance as the four Dragons who had come to her rescue grappled with the Viscontis, though it seemed that two of the Italian Dragons had been taken down. One had transformed back and now hid, naked, behind a pile of rubble from the estate, the other remained in Dragon form but had lost the use of his left wing and front leg. Anger boiled up in her once again and she bared her teeth. Those dark, rich brown eyes flashed silvery-blue and her transformation began. Her body began to swell, her dress ripping away to leave her body and her change exposed.
As her human form was replaced with the sleek, powerful body of a Dragon, she let loose a roar of pure rage. Spreading her massive, snow-white wings she launched herself into the skies with more speed than any Dragon before her. Rising high above the estate and the Dragons who battled below, she opened her long jaw and unleashed a torrent of white-hot flames. A wave of intense heat spewed from her, igniting the world in smoldering Dragon fire.
The Visconti Dragons, as well as her cavalry, broke from their battle and scurried away from her intense heat. Even their formidable scales were no match for the heat she put forth. When her fire ended, and the smoke cleared, those silvery eyes of hers scanned for the one who needed to pay for all of this. The one who had kidnapped her and imprisoned her away here… not once, but twice. Enzo.
The moment she spied him, she dove. Her wings folded up against her slender body and she fell through the air like a pure white bullet. She plowed into him just as he saw her coming, but it wasn’t enough, and she smashed into him with a whopping force. They tumbled across the ground together, a mass of teeth and claw, tearing up the ground as they went.
They came to a stop with Enzo pinned to the ground. Isidora slashed her claws at his face and neck, hissing at him as he tried to wrestle her off. As she went in to bite at his throat, he swung his larger head and whacked her in the side of the face with his own skull. It rang her bell for a moment and that was all he needed. He managed to push her off and regain his feet, but that was as far as she let him get before lunging at him once again.
Ladon and the three Dragons he had brought with him, along with the remaining Viscontis, watched for a moment as Isidora and Enzo fought before jumping back into it themselves. Ladon launched himself at the first Visconti Dragon he could see and the DeLeon brothers followed suit without hesitation.
They made swift work of the remaining Italians, beating them senseless until the lot of them had transformed back to their human forms and had made a run for it. Not a single one of them made it away from the battle uninjured in some way. One had lost three fingers on his hand, two others limped along helped by the remaining two who seemed to sport matching head wounds. Once their foes had been run off, Ladon and his cavalry of companions turned back towards Isidora and Enzo, ready to jump to her aid. What they saw shocked them.
In that very moment, Isidora reared back with open maw and clamped her teeth down hard into Enzo’s scaly throat. Ladon and the DeLeon brothers watched as she ripped Enzo’s throat from his body in a bloody and gruesome display of rage-fueled revenge. The moment it happened, the world around them seemed to fall silent save for the crackling of fire. There was no doubt… the Visconti family had been defeated, their Patriarch killed and their home left in smoldering ruins.
Sensing the others slowly beginning to gather around her, Isidora turned those silvery eyes towards them and snarled. For a moment, her murderous rage took control… but the moment she saw Ladon, his shoulder seeping blood, she snapped out of it. All she wanted in this moment was to bury herself in his arms. But she knew, by sharing a simple look with him and the other three Dragons, that now was not yet the time for it. Without another moment lost, all four of them spread their wings and launched into the night sky, leaving the rubble of the Visconti estate behind them forever.
Chapter Nine
Ladon lead them to his home in England where they all came in for a landing just before the sun began to rise up in the sky behind them. The Drayce home, otherwise called Luddington Manor, was nestled in within nearly ten full acres of thick forest. The home itself was a U-shaped, two-storey structure with a central courtyard large enough for all four of them to land… though it was a bit of a tight squeeze with wings extended.
As they shifted back to their human forms, just as when she had arrived at the Viscontis, a group of awaiting staff members brought them simple robes to slip into. Isidora barley gave Ladon a chance to tie his off before she threw herself at him, her arms tight around his neck.
“Ah, ah!” He hooted in pain. “Shoulder… shoulder…”
“Oh my gosh!” She gasped, letting him go. “I’m so sorry!”
“It’s alright, I’m fine,” he said, a broad smile across his face as he wrapped his other arm around her. “Are you?”
She never answered. At least not with words. Instead she leaned up into him and kissed him, plain and simple. It was a kiss that sent the world around her out of focus. All her brain could manage to care about was the feel of his lips against her own. How soft and warm they were. How they made her feel safe and that all of this had be
en for a reason. That single kiss seemed to calm her nerves and ease her mind all in one swift second.
Ladon was the one who ended it, though he did so slowly and with mercy. He was magnificent. They shared a gaze, both of them sporting warm and silly little smiles. There was this unexplainable feeling of contentment within her when she was close to him, which she was going to undoubtedly laugh at later when comparing it to all of the chaos that had just ensued.
“There are some people I think you should meet…” He said softly, his eyes shifting elsewhere.
She followed his gaze, landing on the three DeLeon brothers who had stood silently by during her romantic reunion with Ladon. They seemed to have tended to one another, making sure none of them had been too badly hurt. When they realized they were now the center of attention, one of them stepped forward. From what she could tell… he was the oldest.
“Isidora?” He asked, to which she only nodded.
“I’m…” He started. “We… we’re your brothers.”
She just stood there for a moment, staring at him and then the other two. They looked so much alike… and they looked so much like her. The same dark hair… the same caramel skin. The only difference between them all were that her eyes were not the same brilliant amber that theirs were. But still…
“My name is Rafael,” he continued. “This is Ignacio, and Mateo”
As he gave their names they smiled and nodded at her, respectively. She repeated their names in her head. Rafael, Ignacio, and Mateo. Rafael, Ignacio, Mateo… and Isidora. It just seemed so perfect. It was then that she lost it. Her knees gave out from under her and she buckled under the weight of so much happiness. She was thankful for Ladon who managed to hold her up enough for her to compose herself. The moment she had her strength back, however, she ran towards her brothers and threw herself at them.
The DeLeon family, whole for the first time in twenty-five years, held each other tightly as they stood in that English courtyard. Isidora had lived her entire life having no idea that this family of hers even existed. To have them here now, solid and real in her arms, was almost too much for her heart to handle and she began to sob openly. She held them tighter, determined to never ever let them go again.
*
Their arrival in Ensenada was a whirlwind for Isidora from the moment they stepped off of the Drayce private jet. Of course, that was mostly because of her mind still being on the plane… wrapped up in everything her brothers had told her about the life she had never known.
She learned all about the details of her birth and the first few months of her life when the Visconti clan first kidnapped her. According to Rafael, who had learned all of this from their father upon his death bed, she had been taken from a hotel room in Spain while their parents had been traveling to bring her to Romania. Apparently, her first bout of captivity at the hands of the Visconti had been even shorter than this most recent adventure. Less than three days. She had snorted, laughed and made a joke that their old man made a faster cavalry than they did. Mateo laughed, Ignacio had smiled and Rafael… well he just smirked softly and shook his head.
She learned about the exploits and lives of her brothers. How Rafael’s marriage to his wife Camilla had been an arranged one that, after nearly a decade, had managed to work itself out into a happy ending. How Ignacio had run away and turned his back on the family some years ago in his refusal to go through with his own arranged marriage… and how he met the love of his life and his fiancé, Maia. Mateo had the best story of them all, if she was being honest. What with his drug-running, FBI targeted, wild Vegas lifestyle. Or at least the few years he had lived that life after following Ignacio’s footsteps and running off. Apparently, her family had broken into a million pieces for a long time… and she was the last piece to make everything whole again.
They told her all about their parents. Their father, Santiago, who was the first DeLeon Dragon to be born in Mexico and a wonderful father. He had been stern, but only after Isidora had been sent away, according to Rafael. Before that, he had been a very kind and wise father for the lot of them. Their stories about their mother tore her heart apart the most. Nothing but sweet, sentimental words about a woman who they painted as an angel. A beautiful woman, who Isidora looked so much like. Her heart was heavy at the thought of never getting to know her mother, but the joy of finally being reunited with her family helped to soothe the pain. At least, somewhat.
Their arrival to the DeLeon estate was like rolling up to a full-on party. Streamers of bright and beautiful colors had been hung all around the doorway along with flowers and balloons. Every single member of the household seemed to be standing outside waiting, and the moment the car pulled through the wrought iron gates they all began to cheer.
“Are you ready?” Mateo asked her with a broad grin.
“Ready as I’ll ever be…” She answered, more nervous in this moment than she had ever been.
“Watch out for Lucia,” Ignacio said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder from the back seat of the car. “She’s a hugger.”
Isidora just laughed. What other reaction could she have had? She was about to meet the rest of her new, original, family and she couldn’t have been more excited. She didn’t care if they came close to smothering her, it was all she could have asked for.
Ladon sensed her nervousness and leaned up from where he sat on the other side of the car, Mateo wedged between him and Ignacio. The smile he gave her helped to melt away the first few layers of her nerves, but it was the words he offered that really calmed the butterflies in her stomach.
“Welcome home, Isidora.” Sweet, simple, and perfect.
She drew in a deep breath, a smile threatening to split her face. This was the rest of her family. The people she would have, and should have, spent her life with if things had just been a little bit different. Her heart ached for that different world… though the pain was nowhere near as intense as when she first learned of this family she had never known.
The boys in the back climbed out first and both Ignacio and Mateo immediately went to join the rest of the family with big smiles and warm hugs. An older woman fussed over both of them, checking for injuries and finally throwing her arms around them when she found nothing beyond a few bruises and scrapes. Ladon hung back and opened the front passenger door for her. A little scared but more excited than anything, Isidora climbed out of the car and looked up at Ladon. His warm smile and those brooding hazel eyes made her feel a sense of comfort she hoped never went away. He offered his hand, and as Rafael climbed out of the driver seat they rounded the car and joined him for the short walk towards the group.
“¡Oh Dios mío! ¡Solo mírala! Ella ha crecido tanto que no puedo creerlo.” Rattled off the older woman in rapid-fire Spanish that Isidora found herself unable to follow completely.
Lucia charged right up to Isidora and reached out with both hands to cup the younger woman’s face. Isidora looked a bit startled, glancing at her brothers and towards Ladon, before surrendering to the older woman with a smile and a little laugh.
“Hello…” Isidora said, not sure what else to say.
“Lucia… she does not know Spanish yet…” Chimed Ignacio with a soft smile towards his little sister.
“Oh! Oh, forgive me dear, I wasn’t even thinking!” Spoke Lucia, this time in English.
Isidora always thought it was interesting that most of the world defaulted to English when speaking across language borders… but she figured it was likely convenient. When she was younger and first studying English, she learned that it was the official language of the skies. Well… at least amongst human pilots, of course.
“I haven’t seen you since just after you were born!” Exclaimed Lucia, pulling Isidora in for a tight and grandmotherly hug. “My God, you were so small back then!”
“Lucia.” Laughed Mateo as he shook his head. “Give the poor girl a chance to breathe.”
“Sorry! Sorry!” Said Lucia as she gave Isi
dora one last tight squeeze before letting her go. “I just can’t believe she is here!”
“I helped bring you into this world, mija,” Lucia said, locking eyes with Isidora as she smiled. “I am so, so happy you’ve come home.”
“So am I,” said Isidora with a smile.
Lucia pulled her in for another tight hug, holding her close for one last moment before stepping back to let the rest of the family say their hellos. Manuel stepped forward and offered his hand to Isidora. She took it, shaking his hand in greeting as he introduced himself with all of the regal grace a Butler was expected to have.
“A pleasure to meet you, Miss Isidora. My name is Manuel Pereda,” he said as he took her hand. “It is so good to have you back at the family home. Should you need for anything, simply ask and I will do my best to provide it.”
“Oh, well, thank you, Manuel,” Isidora responded with a smile.
She felt overwhelmed. So many new faces she wished she had known all of these years. So much love and happiness came from them that she wasn’t sure if she would ever be able to absorb it all. The smile on her face was threatening to become permanent as her cheeks began to ache from the constant joy she felt welling up in her heart.
Soon enough, someone in the group suggested they all make their way inside the house and welcome Isidora properly. The moment she walked through the front doors, she was in awe. The home was gorgeous and somehow managed to be a perfect mixture of contemporary design and old-world inspiration. From the impressive main staircase down to the simplest of design details… it reminded her of the Balaurescu estate. She laughed to herself… realizing that she wasn’t trading one family for another. She wasn’t going from a fake family to a real one. She had been with family the entire time… just not her immediate family. She made a promise to herself to return to Romania and make things right with the people, the family, who had raised her. Sorinah, if no one else, deserved it.
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