by Ophelia Bell
But at least I know his power will be short-lived. The control he had over the minds of his Elites was partly thanks to me and now that he has lost that, he will soon lose their so-called loyalty as well.
He is weak, and won’t last long if he goes crawling back to her like a beaten dog. They all hate him, but I am no one to them. They will not suspect for some time what awaits, and by the time they grasp their peril, it will be too late.
Because you see, dear human, I will soon have unimaginable power at my fingertips. The power of time, space, and consciousness will be my playthings along with all the elements, and the human mind is an easy thing to control. I have been here since the start and will be here at the end, and there is nothing any of them—or you—can do.
True immortality will be mine.
Immortal Dragons
Book Two
DRAGON VOID
Ophelia Bell
“Whoever fights with monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster in the process. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
Chapter One
Marcus
Ultiori Headquarters, Canadian Rockies
Present Day
When the devil’s on your tail, the instinct is to run. Marcus wanted to run—time was not on his side and hadn’t been for decades—but Elites like him had to set an example for the other Ultiori hunters in the compound.
He desperately needed to be with Evie now—before the man Fate had chosen as her mate came to claim her. And before the man Fate had chosen to be his torturer came to kill Marcus.
There was no way his master wouldn’t bleed him dry the second he discovered Marcus had betrayed him. Marcus would happily accept his fate by the time Nikhil realized he’d been instrumental in Evie’s rescue. He only had a few hours, at best, to see Evie before his world ended. To tell her one last time that he loved her. And to ask her forgiveness for bringing her to this place.
Nikhil was distracted for the first time since Marcus had served as one of the Ultiori leader’s primary soldiers and enforcers. For the first time in five decades, the ancient man’s dark mental presence wasn’t lurking around in Marcus’s head.
His master would come for him. And if the events of the last few hours were any indication of true hope, Evie’s true mate would come for her.
He exited the elevator the very second the doors opened on the sub-level floor of the Alexandria Institute’s Canadian headquarters. Only he, his master, and his fellow Elites had access to this floor, where the most valuable captives were held. But there was one cell Marcus lacked the clearance to open and he hoped he’d find one of the two people who could open that cell. Naaz and Sterlyn were the only ones who could give him access to see Evie.
Before he rounded the corner of the wide hallway, Naaz’s deep voice reverberated faintly from the distance, then paused. In his mind, Marcus sensed his fellow Elite’s unarticulated question to him. He sped up, heart racing with anticipation and hope that Naaz would be willing to do this one final favor for him.
A sudden, loud crash made him turn his head. One of the two thick polycarbonate cell doors on this corridor vibrated with the violent impact of the huge body on the other side of it. Marcus paused long enough to stare at the big, muscular ursa male who raged beyond the transparent portal of glass.
On the other side of the corridor, another figure moved into view beyond a similar thick door. He didn’t have time for this.
The satyr on the other side gestured at Marcus and pointed toward the intercom on the side of the door.
Marcus scowled at the prisoner, prepared to ignore both interruptions, when Naaz pushed in front of him and tapped the button to activate the speaker.
“What is it, Calder? We don’t have time for your apocalyptic bullshit today, or for Nicholas trying to tear down the goddamn mountain.”
Naaz gave Marcus the weary look of a man who’s been relegated to holding down the fort. For the last week, only Marcus and his fellow Elite Sterlyn had been out, carrying out their master’s wishes.
“This is the last time I’ll ask,” Calder said, his deep, serene voice sending a trickle of ice down Marcus’s spine. “Today was the day the currents shifted. The dark waters have been disturbed, enough for the river to split. You need to let me into Nicholas’s cell one last time so he doesn’t drown in the deluge when Fate’s flood reaches us.”
“Naaz, leave him. I need you to do me a favor quickly,” Marcus said, unwilling to entertain the crazy satyr’s cryptic rambling.
“I’ve got you, brother,” Naaz said. “Just need your help to handle this crazy fucker first.” He glanced over his shoulder at the opposite cell where the white-haired ursa male still pounded at the door, a little less destructively, but no less emphatic. “Not sure which of the pair are crazier, but at least we’ll have some peace when we put them together.”
Naaz quickly keyed in a code on the pad by Calder’s door, then pressed his thumb to the small biometric scanner above it. As the door slid open, Marcus cursed softly and raised his hands, exerting his will to push the magic that had flowed through his veins for the last fifty years out through the centers of his palms. Naaz did the same, the magic coming from his hands manifesting as a red swirl of smoke that their prisoner inhaled along with the dark shadow of Marcus’s magic.
Calder’s pupils expanded until the deep blue of his irises were completely black, and his face went utterly blank, his knees buckling as the combination of Marcus and Naaz’s powers neutralized him. Marcus knew what Naaz’s power felt like mixed with his own—a combination of paralysis and overwhelming arousal, which was evidenced by the tent in Calder’s loose-fitting drawstring pants as he sagged to the floor. His cock was the only stiff thing about him when Naaz and Marcus stepped in and hooked the satyr beneath the armpits. They hauled him bodily across the hallway to the door of the now more subdued ursa’s cell.
Nicholas stood back and obligingly sank to his knees, indicating he had no intention of giving them trouble now that he saw his needs would be met.
“What do you think he meant about the currents?” Marcus asked, keying in the code to unlock Nick’s door, followed by the final biometric scan.
“Something big’s about to happen. He’s only ever ranted like this when there were about to be major changes. He did it fifty years ago before you showed up, and two hundred years before that, just before the whole fiasco with Nick and his mother.”
Marcus had only heard brief tales of the Ultiori’s experiences after capturing the queen of the matriarchal race of bear shifters. The female had been the first ever to become pregnant in captivity after undergoing several of the Ultiori’s experiments. The experience proved to the Ultiori how dangerously volatile a mother ursa could be when she escaped shortly after giving birth. It had taken two elites, Nikhil himself, and an army of Ultiori hunters to subdue the ursa queen long enough to retrieve the child. They had to give up on taking the mother back into custody after she’d killed half their soldiers, but they’d managed to keep the cub.
Marcus had witnessed the ursa male’s periodic rages and the resulting damage that had prompted reinforcing all the walls of his cell, including installation of doors that were impervious to his strength. He never wanted to come face-to-face with a female ursa if his fellow Elite’s stories were true and she had managed to be too powerful for them to recapture.
When the door slid open, he helped drag Calder into the room. Nicholas held out arms the size of tree trunks and immediately scooped up the unconscious man, cradling him against his large chest as if he were a doll, in spite of Calder being nearly as tall. The satyr had a lithe, swimmer’s physique, so was dwarfed in the ursa’s huge arms.
Nicholas glowered at the pair of them as they retreated, not even voicing any words of thanks. When the door was securely locked again, Marcus and Naaz watched the large ursa
carry his friend to his bed where he tenderly laid him down and curled up next to him with his head on his chest.
Marcus shook his head. “I’ve never really understood those two. I get the whole ursa fertility cycle and how the males pair up, but that he can substitute another race entirely makes no sense.”
“It’s like any surrogate, really,” Naaz said, crossing his arms and regarding the pair inside the cell. After a moment the scene became more intimate as Calder regained consciousness and Naaz swiped his hand across the control pad to obscure their view. The glass clouded until it was entirely opaque white. “Tiger cubs raised with golden retrievers don’t really care they’re not the same species. Nicholas wouldn’t have survived adolescence if Calder hadn’t known what he needed.”
Marcus’s chest tightened at the reminder. What Evie needed wasn’t Marcus. Somewhere out there a certain immortal black dragon was on his way and would soon arrive to claim her and take her away for good. Marcus set his mouth in a grim line. Fate didn’t seem to care about mixing two different races, either. She certainly hadn’t cared about the creation of abominations such as Marcus and the other Ultiori Elites.
“You want to see her now, I take it,” Naaz said, already turning to head in the direction of the last turn in the corridor, at the end of which were three more cells that housed the most valuable prisoners—the three females that kept Marcus and the other Elites from mutiny.
When they rounded the corner, Marcus saw a blond man at the end of the hall, sitting cross-legged outside the last cell. The cell door was clear and back-lit from within. Inside, lounging against the other side of the door, was a striking auburn-haired woman with eyes the color of rubies. Both turned to look at him and stood with smiles on their faces.
His other fellow Elite, Sterlyn, came toward him with a hand extended. They grasped wrists and hugged briefly.
“Come to take advantage of the respite and see your girl?” Sterlyn said.
“I don’t just want to see her today. I need you to open the door.”
Naaz stopped short and stared at him for a beat, then nodded. “Right. And I suppose you expect Sterlyn and me to scrape your carcass off her floor when Sayid finds out?”
“He’s busy, if you haven’t noticed,” Marcus said, tapping at his temple. “He’s been out of my head for the last two hours. I figure as long as he’s with the love of his life, we have a reprieve from him filtering through our minds. I plan to take advantage of that.”
“You know you can’t take her out of here. Her shackles won’t let her teleport, and if she leaves this floor the entire facility will be on instant lockdown.
“I don’t plan on taking her out. I’m going in. Brother, she belongs to one of them… the Dragon Council … the fucking Void claims she’s his mate and is on a warpath to find her. If anyone can get her out of this godforsaken place, he can. I just want one last night with her.”
Behind Sterlyn, the red-haired female inside the cell said, “If what you say is true, you had best hurry. The Void is not a dragon to trifle with, but I believe you know that, don’t you Marcus? It’s his blood that powers you, is it not?”
“Zamirah, you are as perceptive as you are beautiful. That’s how I know he’s the one for Evie. I don’t believe she’d still love me now if not for his blood running through my veins.”
The red-haired woman shrugged. “Even if Sterlyn hadn’t told me, I can see the dark magic in your eyes as clearly as I can see the white magic inside my love’s.” She gave Sterlyn an adoring look. “But any dragon would know not to test the Void, or any other member of the Dragon Council. I know I may lack company in this opinion, but I prefer the punishment of my incarceration here over any punishment they would mete out on my kind for misbehaving.”
“I’m sure Sterlyn wouldn’t hesitate to let you go if he could ensure your freedom, despite what our master might do to him after the fact. I want Evie to be free, and if that means I stay behind to appease Sayid with my blood or my loyalty, so be it. As long as she is free.”
He turned to look at Evie’s door, still opaque for privacy. The feature could be overridden from the panel in the hallway if needed, but until one of his fellow Elites agreed to open it, he didn’t want to disturb her sleep. The door opposite hers was clear, however, and a gorgeous, mocha-skinned woman with shining curls smiled at him from the other side.
“Hey, hot stuff,” Naaz’s twin sister said, her smoky voice sounding tinny through the intercom.
“Neela, looking delicious as always,” Marcus said, his suggestive greeting earning him an air kiss that he fake-caught and tucked in his pocket.
“You’re not here for me or Zamirah today, are you,” Neela said, the immortal dragon blood that infused her allowing more than a casual glimpse into his thoughts. He didn’t try to hide from her, though. Naaz’s sister was the only Elite who didn’t get to leave the compound—she was far too valuable as collateral to keep her brother loyal to their brutal master. She was also one of the five people in the world he’d be willing to die for, if it came to that—all the others were on the same floor with him now.
Marcus shook his head and gave Neela a sad smile. “Sorry, sweetheart. My heart belongs to another. And I know yours does, too.”
“It’s nothing, honey. I was just telling my brother it felt like time for someone to stir the pot. Nikhil being out of our heads is the perfect time for it. Just don’t get yourself killed, okay?” When Marcus remained silent, Neela cursed. “You fucking lovesick idiot,” she said, pressing her palm to the door. “She had better be worth it.”
“He doesn’t have to find out,” Naaz said. “I’m not going to tell Nikhil what Marcus is doing, and neither will the rest of you.” He gave the others a stern glare that would have been utterly menacing to an outsider. Marcus knew his fellow Elite far too well to be alarmed by his expression.
Marcus shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. He’ll find out when he discovers she’s gone. I’m prepared to take whatever he dishes out when that happens. All that matters is that she’s out of here.”
“Fuck me,” Neela said, in awe. “You found a way to get her out? For real?”
“I’m not going to be the one to do it. But if anyone can override the power of the shackles, the Void can.”
“The Void…” She trailed off and shivered while unconsciously rubbing at the dark designs inked around her wrists, the magical shackles that prevented her and every other captive from escape in case their cells failed to hold them. “He’s the only creature who ever came close to killing Nikhil. Naaz and I were barely old enough to remember the aftermath of that. I’d rather have him on my good side. Do you think he’d know you carried his blood if he saw you?”
Marcus met Neela’s gaze and nodded. Swallowing the jagged lump in his throat, he said, “I only have a fraction of the power he has, thanks to that magic. I’d have gotten her out long ago if I could, but the best I can do is obscure her tattoos for moments. Not long enough for a full escape.” He frowned, a thought occurring to him as he glanced around at the others. “I could find out if he’d help you…”
All four of his friends cut him off with objections.
“No,” Naaz said. “If you want us to run interference at all, we need to be here. We can’t expect Evie’s mate to save everyone. If she really is his, he might not want to, anyway. We just can’t…”
His and Neela’s protests were a little too emphatic and Marcus and Sterlyn both raised both eyebrows, glancing between the pair. Marcus didn’t need to ask to be able to sense their desperation.
“You won’t leave because of them.” The pair seemed to have an unhealthy attachment to two hibernating dragons Nikhil had found ages ago. All Marcus knew was that the so-called treasures were yet another reason the twins had stayed with Nikhil for so long, in spite of the fact that their master kept the two stone effigies securely locked away and never let Na
az and Neela close.
“We would give our lives to get them away from him, if we could,” Naaz said. “But you are right, we won’t leave as long as he has our mates.”
Marcus was debating whether to tell him the details he’d learned over the past day about the true identities of his friends’ mates, when light hit the side of his face from the other side of the hallway and he heard a light tapping sound at the glass of the third cell door.
His heart pounding, he turned to see Evie standing backlit by the lights in her cell, the glass of her door clear enough for him to see the petite woman smiling at him. She gave him a small wave and tilted her head, one eyebrow raised as if to ask whether he was there for her.
“Naaz…” Marcus began, too breathless at the sight of her to get more words out.
“I got it, brother,” Naaz said, quickly stepping across the hall and keying in the code to unlock the door before pressing his thumb to the pad.
Marcus’s heart raced as the door slid open. He’d seen her only infrequently over the past five decades, and only through the glass barrier that blocked the opening of her cell.
Today he could touch her… hold her… and if that look she had meant what he hoped—make love to her.
Unwilling to consider the silent reminders of why she might look at him that way, Marcus stepped into the cell and swept her up in his arms. His mouth found hers and their kiss heated his entire body, his blood surging in his veins like she’d set him on fire. He was only peripherally aware of the cell door sliding shut behind him and the light dimming as it went from clear to opaque again.
God bless Naaz for understanding.
In his arms, Evie moaned and clawed at the buttons of his shirt. Marcus wasn’t ready for that yet. He knew he only had a few hours, at most, to be with her, but he wanted to savor every second, commit it all to memory. Because if there was an afterlife, he would take the memory with him as his surest way to Heaven.