by Zara Zenia
“Who—who—where am I?” I shake my head and look up to Roger for solace.
He nods politely toward the olive-toned men, but doesn’t say anything.
“I’m Brent.” The largest man with a towering stature has warm, kind eyes.
“I’m Ken.” The other nods his introduction toward me.
“I’m—Katie,” I whisper in a wobbly voice.
Brent points to Ken. “We are brothers.”
A smile spreads across my lips. “The similarity is very prominent.”
Chapter Twenty
Brent
“Katie, right?” I take a step closer to her and watch as she recoils slightly. “I won’t hurt you,” I inflect in a gentle tone.
“Yes,” she faintly whimpers, “I’m Katie.”
She’s exuding bravery under a sheath of terror. Her bottom lip quivers, but her eyes stoically remain set on mine, scrutinizing my every move.
“We don’t have much time left to waste,” I tell her hastily. “The army is rising.”
“What army?” Katie shakes her head in overwhelmed confusion.
“Don’t you think we should let her sit down a moment—” Roger begins, but I hold up a hand to silence him.
“We don’t have time, remember, blood sucker?” Animosity flickers through my eyes as I stare at Roger.
His face is already as white as a sheet because he’s a vampire, but his features collapse.
“I just mean…we…she’s been walking an exceptional amount of time and she’s still a human…” he trails off. He’s stumbling through the book of excuses in his mind.
The ability to resound sympathy isn’t working on me, at least not yet. I already promised not to hurt her, I can’t offer many other special circumstances.
“It’s colder out there than it is in here, let them all the way into the den at least.” Carl’s annoyingly whiny voice stretches across the room.
Glancing over my shoulder, I flash him a scowl of annoyance. “Fine.” A low growl emits from my throat, but I step aside to allow them access into the den.
“We really need to get things on a roll,” Ken mentions. His determined features speak more than his words. He’s back to behaving as my fully supportive brother who will have my back no matter what.
“We are from Ethwan,” I explain to Katie, pointing first to my chest and then to Ken’s.
“Whats…Ethwan?” Katie shakes her head in confusion.
“It’s our home planet,” Ken answers for me and snickers sarcastically.
I shoot him a look of protest because we need tranquility and peace with this human girl. Her cooperation is dire. The last thing I need is for that window of opportunity to slip through our fingers.
“I’ve heard of you.” Katie is now nodding her head with recognition.
I toss a glance over to my brother and he meets my gaze with misperception. Looking back over to Katie, I question her. “What do you mean, you’ve heard of us?”
Katie shrugs with nonchalance. “I don’t mean I’ve heard of you in particular, I just know of your species. I mean…I didn’t know your planet’s name was Ethwan, but I knew about you and stuff.” She sniffs and glances at the ground, shuffling her feet against the dirt.
“This is my brother, King of Ethwan. You should be bowing under his command and in the grace of his presence,” Ken speaks brashly on my behalf as he puffs his chest with boastful pride.
Luckily for us, I’m more gracefully adapt at exhibiting humility. “You don’t need to bow before my presence,” I assure Katie and hold up a hand in front of her. My lips curl into a confident grin. “Although he is right. I am the King of Ethwan.”
A muffled snort echo’s behind me and I whip around, ready to breathe fire onto that slimy rat of a corpse named Carl. “Shut up, fool.”
He stops laughing immediately and stares at the ground. “Sorry,” he whispers hurriedly.
“Wait.” Katie’s voice is apprehensive. “I thought you guys were together…like…working together.”
“We are.” I glare at Carl then Roger. “We aren’t friends, but we have decided to put away our differences for a greater good and a common goal.”
“What is that goal?” Katie glances over at Roger. Like a good boy, it appears as if he’s kept silent as he was previously instructed.
“It’s complicated,” I begin.
“Good thing I’m smart,” Katie quips with a smile that flashes with refreshing light through the shadowy room.
“My planet is in danger,” I begin again.
“Our planet,” Ken reminds me sullenly. “We need to protect our lands, no matter what.”
“What is the source of the threat?” Katie asks through a pair of eyes that I find wise far beyond her actual age.
“There is a leader out there who wants to rule the entire universe, and take over every planet in our galaxy,” I explain.
Katie looks puzzled. “So why are you banding together with the vampires?” She points to Carl and Roger.
Roger’s expression changes to resentment, but he has a soft approach toward her that I admire. He’s doing his species a favor by not pouncing on her and sucking her blood out right in front of us.
Then again, he knows Ken and I would waste no time in bringing him down with magnificent fire and flame if he or Carl tried anything repulsive like that. Ken in particular, despises the vampires and how they feed on humans. He finds it repulsive and confesses that admittance to them any chance he gets.
“My people are being hunted like dogs,” I explain to Katie with a desperate edge.
“That’s horrible actually.” Katie’s eyes hover over empathetic uncertainty.
“Yes.” I nod and dare a step closer to her. She smells good, like the forest she just emerged from. “I can’t let monsters steal my planet right out from under me.”
“No, I would hope not.” Katie shakes her head vigorously in agreement, but her quivering body and huge weepy looking eyes forces me to keep a safe distance from her. I don’t want to frighten her even more than she already is.
“The reason we are joining forces with the vampires,” I say with a scowl in their direction, “is because we need their help, and they are in danger too.”
“Danger?” Katie flashes her eyes wearily to Roger who somberly nods.
“Vampire trafficking is a real thing, and they are being used to take over entire nations on planets,” I admit to Katie with sobering reality. “We are the victims as much as they are.”
“I’m no victim,” Ken snorts from behind me.
I hold up my hand to restrain him. “Let me finish,” I tell him.
“Why don’t we let this fresh and very frightening information sink in for Katie before we dive in any further.” Roger’s chuckle tinkles with shaky unease.
“I told you, we don’t have time.” My voice erupts through the cavern.
“Wait,” Katie yelps. “What will happen to me? What does all of this have to do with me? I still don’t understand what I have to do with your plot to take down a battling army of vampires and whatever else is out there hunting you.”
Katie interrupts my train of thought and an eerie silence waves through the den. Even though it’s hauntingly quiet, my eardrums vibrate.
Katie’s lip trembles and her eyes plead with mine. “Am I supposed to be bait?”
“No, of course not,” Roger answers for me, stepping closer to her. He places a hand on her back and cups her shoulder gracefully.
“Are you sure?” Katie whimpers.
“Yes, positive.” Roger nods.
“Then what?” A high pitched squeak bellows from her tongue. “Am I going to end up as a dragon or a vampire mate just like my sister?”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“I know what type you are.” Katie’s eyes narrow in on Ken and me with distrust. “You are dragon shifters. Now answer me,” she orders. “Am I here to be somebody’s mate?”
Chapter Twenty-One
&
nbsp; Katie
The younger dragon shifter, Ken, stands in the back altering his weight uncomfortably. He coughs, but other than that, there’s no sound in the room. Swallowing hard, I glance around at the four of them. Green eyes gaze into mine from Ken and Brent, as well as the steel blue of Carl and Roger’s boring a hole through me.
Nobody answers my question. I simply want to know if I’m here to become somebody’s mate, regardless of whether it’s against my will. That part won’t matter. It’s not as if I have a say in this, or anything.
“Katie, um…” Roger trails off. His hand waves droopily in the air as he gestures toward a creaky and tired wooden chair in the corner of the cave. “Why don’t you sit down a moment?”
I know that tone. He’s apprehensive and treading lightly before he burdens me with information I don’t want to hear.
“Okay…” Wearily, I take guarded steps across the room. All eyes are on me, searing me with unease. I wish they wouldn’t stare at me so intensely.
My legs sing my praise when I give them the sweet release of a seated position. It’s nice to sit down for a few moments after the long trek over here to this tree cave thing.
Ken clears his throat again. I stare expectantly at the guys, wondering which one of them will be the first to break the silence and dive right into the torture. My knee itches and I scratch it, waiting for my fate to be handed to me.
“What is going on?” I don’t need to get weepy on them, but tears pool in my eyes, hot bitter. I stand up again. “I want to know why nobody will tell me what is going to happen next.” The sound of my feet stomping on the ground echo’s through the dark cave.
“You really need to rest…” Roger reminds me with a sympathetic tone.
“What I need is to know what my path is,” I hiss at him and point an accusatory finger. “I came all this way, it’s the very least you can do for me.” I refuse to sit down again until they give me the answers I need.
“I’ll handle this.” The towering stature of Brent moves into my line of vision in the form of mounds of muscles and olive green skin. “I’ll do the talking from now on.” He glances behind him at Roger as if Roger repulses him.
“Fine,” Roger scoffs bitterly. “I am just trying to help.”
“You can help by staying out of the way,” Ken croons like a reflective mirror in the shadow of his older brother.
“Ethwan is in trouble,” Brent continues as if he wants me to gather empathy regarding the fate of his planet. “There is this man from our planet named Michael,” he states.
A noise startles me from behind, then I realize it’s Ken growling with animosity.
“He hates Michael,” Brent explains.
“Michael hates everyone,” Ken corrects him. “His soul is as black as his skin.”
“I still don’t understand what all this has to do with me,” I shake my head.
“Let me finish,” Brent hushes me. He grits his teeth and paces the den.
“Okay, sorry.” I wrap my arms around my chest, hugging myself for consolation because nobody else is going to give me that recognition in a cold and gloomy place like this.
“Michael is one of us, or used to be,” Brent continues. “His only goal in life is world domination. He’s native on the dragon planet, but we don’t consider him to be a part of us anymore.”
“That’s where we come in.” Ken cracks his knuckles with a malicious sneer.
“He wants to start with Ethwan,” Brent says, casting his brother an indignant glance over his shoulder.
“How do you know all this?” I stare up at Brent blankly, then over at Roger for any clues yielding from his expression. I come up empty, Roger is staring at the dirt trodden floor of the den, distracted and vacant.
“I’m the King of Ethwan.” Brent’s shoulders straighten as his posture stretches to the ceiling. His expression is fluffy and noble and Ken nods vigorously with approval behind his brother.
“So that means you are in tune with all affairs regarding your nation and planet?” I answer my own question with a raise of my eyebrow.
“Precisely.” Brent nods with a swift bow.
“And it’s the um…well, us that they need help from.” Carl snickers arrogantly, an emergent shadow in the background.
Brent glares at him. “They are foul, the vampires, but for whatever reason these two blood suckers have agreed to help join forces.”
“Will you please stop calling us that?” Carl yells. His fists form two round balls of anger.
“Stop speaking out of turn,” Ken jeers.
Roger glances at Carl and gives him a curt nod that is so subtle I’m positive that I’m the only one who catches it.
“There is a reason we are agreeing to cooperate and provide assistance,” Roger admits with a somber stare at the four of us. “It is true that Michael wants to rule all the lands, and he’s recruiting vampires for his cause who are willing and healthy enough to make the trip.”
“That’s where things get a little…dangerous for us vampires,” Carl adds, speaking out of turn again. This time, no one silences him.
“Right.” Roger’s head vehemently wags in agreement. “We are just as scared for our own kind as they are for theirs.” His white, almost opaque finger points directly at Ken and Brent.
“What happens to the vampires?” I ask. “If this Michael guy is recruiting them to go to the Ethwan planet or whatever…then won’t there be more vampires than dragon shifters on Ethwan if they win?”
“They are trafficking the vampires,” Brent admits. “They will become extinct shortly after arrival on Ethwan.”
“Why?” I cross my legs and lean in with curiosity.
“The climate is dry and extremely hot. The temperatures can swelter upwards of one hundred and ten degrees,” Ken says. “They can’t survive in the heat.” His lips stretch in a patronizing smile as he leers at the vampires.
I whistle. “That sounds unpleasant. It never gets that hot here, even in the summer time.”
“Rarely,” Brent amends.
“Well…” I ponder reflectively. “There has to be an option other than war…right?” Glancing up at the guys, I can tell that they aren’t going to cave on this one. Stoically, their eyes stare back at me with unwavering sobriety.
I jolt from my seat and it spins around behind me from the abrupt movement. “I have an idea.” It’s as if a lightbulb visibly clicks above my mind.
Ken’s eyes narrow into slits and he takes a sultry step in my direction. The ground shakes under his weight and profound stature.
“Um,” I gulp. “It might be nothing.” I nervously chuckle and instantly wrap my arms around my chest again. It’s a defensive tactic and Ken scares me. “My sister lives on Desergan. Maybe she can help?”
Ken is already shaking his head with disapproval. “No.”
“She is married to a shifter too. He’s the King of his planet and they have tons of money. I’m sure they’ll be willing to hel—”
“No,” Brent thunders, interrupting me before I get the chance to complete the word ‘help.’ “It just won’t work.”
“Why not?” Roger protests with a curious raise of his eyebrow.
“There is a rift between the two planets, Desergan and Ethwan. It’s longstanding, for a number of years. Even before I became King. We are not allies with Desergan.”
I want to suggest that there’s always room for growth or extending an olive branch of civility, but I have a feeling that my efforts would be lost on this particular crowd. I sag my shoulders and plop back down in the chair, cradling my head in my chin. There has to be another option other than defeat.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Brent
“What is the cause of the rift, if you don’t mind me asking?” Katie’s eyes twinkle with curiosity, not malice or hate. For these reasons, I opt to answer her.
I heave a long winded sigh and lean back in the hard backed wooden chair that digs into my skin. “Well, it’s a long st
ory,” I state somberly.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Katie’s eyes reflect a mixture of playful appeasement and rock solid determination.
“My father was very much like Michael,” I confess.
“You mean a rebel leader who wants to watch everyone crash and burn?” Carl laughs and hikes one leg over his knee.
“That’s not funny,” I accuse.
“Oh, come on.” Carl douses me with an eye roll. “You don’t like the pun I went for there? Crash and burn? Get it? Burn? Because you know…you’re a fire breathing dragon and all.”
“Yeah we get it and you are a complete idiot,” Ken states on behalf of the group.
“Can we please try to get through one conversation without clawing at each other’s throats?” Roger pleads.
Ken grumbles something inaudible under his breath and leans back sullenly in his chair while Carl grins at his accomplishment of getting a rise out of my brother.
“Anyway,” I continue as if I wasn’t interrupted in the first place. “My father had the same domination type of personality qualities that Michael has.”
“And he became king,” Ken reminded me.
“Yes, he did…but you know our father. His intentions were not as sinister as Michael’s.”
Ken rubs his chin. “I guess.” He shrugs and scuffs at the dirty ground with his boot.
“My father mainly wanted all the dragon planets,” I explain to Katie who’s poised on the edge of her creaky old seat.
“One’s like yours.” She nods with reiteration.
“Yes…right.” I nod and pause to catch my breath. I’m the talker of the family, and Ken is the fighter. “Michael shows those same threatening qualities and we must find a way to band together and stop him before his army wipes all of us out.”
“Even humans?” Katie’s voice squeaks.