Crimson Dahlia (Book #3 of the Svatura Series)

by Abigail Owen

  "Oh, I’ll give you bigger," Ellie answered.

  A few minutes later, Lila saw Ellie in her black falcon form fly out of the ruckus. Once she got enough height, Ellie shifted into her magnificent black dragon. The sight of her was so awesome that for a moment the fighters stopped and stared. All of them.

  And then, they scattered as the obsidian beast dove at them. Ellie couldn't use her fire because she would torch allies as well as enemies. So instead she scooped up handfuls of Maddox's forces in her huge talons, flew to a great height, and dropped them to their deaths.

  Lila watched as Ellie did this over and over. And it seemed to be helping, possibly even turning the tide. Maddox had yet to show himself in this battle. She’d been looking for him. If they could kill him, they could stop all of this by cutting off the head of the snake. But he’d been nowhere to be seen.

  And then she caught a stray thought… Maddox! He seemed to almost be arguing with himself. "If I don't do this, we are lost. But I don't have Lila yet to bring me back."

  What on earth did he mean by that? And then she saw her enemy. He stood on a faraway hill overlooking the battle. He was in his wolf shape one second, and then he changed.

  The scene was like watching Ellie when she morphed. Maddox’s body seemed to shimmer and shift. His wolf head grew larger, the fangs dropping down to form a row of menacingly sharp teeth. His fur changed into gleaming silver scales. The light refracted off them, almost blinding Lila to the rest of his change. Tail… wings… talons. If Lila hadn't seen Ellie do it, she never would’ve believed her eyes. Where only moments before there had been a wolf, there now stood a dragon so gargantuan in size that he dwarfed Ellie in her own dragon form.

  Massive wings unfurled. The wind caused by them knocked fighters on the ground off their feet. Maddox shot into the skies and headed straight at Ellie.

  "Ellie!" Lila screamed at her friend.

  "I see him," Ellie said. She was fairly high up in the sky, having just dropped another talon full of wolves.

  The black dragon dove, wings tucked against her back, and slammed full force into the silver dragon. Their bodies hurtled to the earth, tangled in a mass of writhing limbs and tails. Jaws snapped. Claws raked.

  Just before they hit the ground, they broke away from each other and regained altitude. Then they crashed together again. The noise of their impact sounded like a clap of thunder. And this time there was fire. Purple and silver flames danced together around the struggling beasts as over and over they continued their deathly air battle.

  "He's too strong. Too big,” Ellie's frantic voice sounded loud and clear in Lila’s head. She knew the rest the family heard too. “Selene, turn him off!”

  “I… can’t,” Selene thought back. “I’ve been trying, but I can’t get a grasp on his power. It’s too big.”

  Lila shuddered. She knew if Selene and Ellie couldn’t stop him, there was no way they’d win the battle.

  "Alex, freeze him," Lila ordered, letting everyone else also hear her thoughts.

  "He says he can't,” Griffin answered.” He's also been trying. Maddox is too powerful. He keeps breaking out of it.”

  “Ellie, get out of there!” Adelaide’s voice pleaded.

  But it was too late. Maddox managed to get Ellie’s throat in his powerful jaws. Blood spouted from where he’d clamped down, and Ellie’s form went limp.

  “No!” Lila heard Alex’s scream from where she was still hovering in the air. His fear tore straight through her.

  Chapter 39

  The silver dragon let go. As the black dragon dropped through the air, Ellie morphed back to human. Still limp as a rag doll. Still falling.

  Oh my God!

  Lila dove, even though she knew she wouldn’t catch her friend and had no idea what she’d do to stop Ellie’s decent if she did. She willed Ellie to wake up. But that didn’t happen.

  I’m not going to reach her in time!

  She pulled up short as Ellie’s form suddenly froze in place just before she hit the ground.

  “Thank heaven,” Lila thought. “Alex caught her.”

  She watched as Alex rushed to where Ellie hovered and dropped her into his arms. Charlotte appeared beside them, and the three of them disappeared.

  Lila prayed silently for her friend to be okay, but her attention was pulled away by a fearsome sound. Maddox let loose a terrifying roar that slammed through the air and tossed her around as if she were caught in a riptide of ocean waves.

  As he dove toward the ground, Lila realized that this had been what he’d feared - his inability to control his dragon form without Lila’s emotional healing power. The silver dragon opened his maw and released an inferno of flames at the fighters below. Everyone scattered, including Maddox’s forces, as the fire bore down on them.

  “Ramsey?” Lila called in a panicked voice.

  “I can’t turn it off,” his voice came back to her, strained. “But maybe I can…”

  Suddenly the flames turned back in on themselves, not quite reaching the ground. “I don’t think I can do that again,” he said.

  “Griffin, shield everyone. Selene, get Charlotte and get them all out of here,” Lila instructed.

  “What about you?” Ramsey asked.

  “Ramsey, I’m afraid I have to break a promise a third time today,” she said. “And I won’t be able to talk to you while I do this.”

  “Can you stop him?” Griffin asked.

  “I doubt it. Not if all of us couldn’t. But I can knock him out of it I think,” she answered. I hope, she tacked on to herself.

  “I can feel your uncertainty,” Ramsey said to her. “But if you think it’s worth the try, do it.” The total faith and confidence he had in her gave Lila the last little bit of strength she needed.

  Lila turned and gained altitude. She needed to surprise Maddox for this to work, not that he was paying her much heed. Once she was high enough, Lila spun and put her body into a full stoop. The sound of the wind ripped at her as she dove at the silver giant. She reached unthinkable speeds. Maddox was distracted as he made another flaming pass at the people on the ground. Between Griffin and Ramsey, they were managing to keep the fire off everyone. Lila blocked that out. She concentrated on picking her place. She aimed right for his back.

  As she fell, she gathered the power within herself. She pictured it almost like shaking up a coke can or a bottle of champagne. She let all that energy bubble up and fizz inside her. She was going to need every ounce of it to do what she was about to attempt.

  She flared her wings at the last second and morphed back to human. She landed exactly where she’d wanted to—on his back where the left wing connected to his body. She held on to the delicate membranes, but Maddox didn’t seem to notice his passenger. He was too enraged and too focused on the people on the ground. Lila took advantage of his distraction to gather a little more power inside herself.

  Closing her eyes and centering everything she had on her ability to heal emotions, Lila slammed every bit of that power into Maddox. Her plan was to put a peaceful tranquility inside him that was so great that she hoped she’d put him to sleep, just as she had when she’d helped Adelaide that night.

  But almost immediately she could tell that things weren’t going according to plan. It almost felt as though Maddox was totally blocking her, as if there was no place for her peaceful feelings inside his body or mind.

  Lila pushed harder. This had to work.

  And then a strange sensation began to pulse into her. Mild at first, but as it grew, Lila recognized it for what it was.

  Rage.

  Her link with Maddox had somehow resulted in an emotional backwash. His evil hatred was pouring into her as her tranquility flowed into him.

  This is going to destroy me, she thought. But if it works…

  Lila opened her mind, allowing Maddox’s poison to gush into her. Flashes of his memories struck her all at once. Like watching random scenes of a movie, all from his point of view.

&
nbsp; She saw flickers of other dragons. There were four of them, all living in a cave underground. Maddox and another dragon about his size— a lovely, dark green creature. Beside them were two smaller pale green ones. Snapshots flashed through her mind that didn’t seem to be in any chronological order. The smaller dragons as babies. The four of them flying through the air. Maddox teaching the youngest to breathe fire. They had been… happy.

  His family. She could feel the intense love and devotion Maddox had for them.

  Then more flashes. Villages consumed by fire. People scattering like ants. Their screams were so annoying. Food…. That was how Maddox thought of them. And he had to feed his family.

  Before Lila could wrap her head around that, a new memory sucked her in. Maddox was in the air. There was another dragon – massive and dark purple in hue. And Maddox and his mate were fighting it. Lila watched as the purple dragon snapped Maddox’s wife’s neck with a sickening crunch and flung her body to the ground.

  Lila’s viewpoint changed. She could now see through Maddox’s perspective, as if his eyes were hers. The large purple dragon slammed its body into Maddox’s children, forcing them to the ground where it crushed them, right beside the motionless form of their mother.

  Residual pain from Maddox tore through Lila. She tried to block herself from it, before Maddox’s agony drove her mad.

  That’s it. This must be the source of his rage. Losing his family – and his true te’sorthene - destroyed him.

  Then another flash. Maddox in human form now. He was with the Vyusher, but they didn’t know his real plan. She could hear the thoughts bubbling in his mind. He was building an army. He would find and kill that purple dragon and massacre its entire family. He would use these insects. These wolves. Because he could. Because their hive mind allowed him to control them. That little bitch, Karin, who could change any gifted person into a wolf metamorph, had given him that gift… that curse, to shift into a wolf. He hated being inside his wolf body. Even his human body was an anathema to him. Only the freedom and power and glory of his dragon form felt right to him. But without his family, he couldn’t control it. And he needed control to destroy his enemy and all of his enemy’s kin. And when the purple dragon and his family were all gone, Maddox would use the wolves as slaves.

  That’s all they were worth, after all.

  Lila gasped in horror. He’s completely mad!

  More flashes. More snapshots in time. Faster now…

  Maddox recognizing the purple dragon, this time in human form, when he came to visit the King and Queen. The Vyusher weren’t all wolves then. They weren’t even called the Vyusher. He would wait, though the frustration ripping through him had him on the verge of shifting and killing the man right then and there. Patience was required.

  More memories… Maddox realizing his opportunity to gain more power over the Vyusher through Gideon.

  Maddox watching in satisfaction as the purple dragon fell under the might of his wolves. Selene’s power held him down just long enough for Maddox to kill him.

  And then frustration as his plan to kill the purple dragon’s family failed. Two of his descendants got away. Children. He couldn’t take over the Vyusher as slaves yet. More patience was required.

  More flashes. Faster and faster.

  His wolves killing more and more of the Svatura people. He had the Vyusher well and truly convinced now that wolf metamorphs were the superior race. That pack mind certainly helped. And so did Gideon’s ability to force his will on people. Maddox only needed to control Gideon to control them all.

  That bitch Ellie shifting into a dragon and killing Gideon. Once more his plans on hold. She and her brother were going to die. It was just a matter of time.

  Fear raced through Lila’s veins as the truth hit her. He’s deranged and completely obsessed. And he’s grown more powerful than any of us. How will we ever end this?

  Finally the flashes of memory stopped. Lila had taken every ounce of Maddox’s rage into herself. She felt something bubbling under her skin. A tingling a little like what she felt when she morphed into a falcon. But bigger. Much bigger.

  She clamped down on it tightly but couldn’t hold it. And then she heard Ramsey’s voice in her mind. “I’m here, Lila. Hold on to that. Anchor on me.”

  With great effort, she pushed Maddox’s rage back into him. He’d rejected her peace and tranquility. Maybe she could overload his system by mixing in his own rage. In one massive push, with the feel of her energy draining with every passing moment, Lila forced it all back into him as hard and fast as she could. Black spots began to dance behind her eyelids. With one last drive, she felt his body go floppy beneath her hands.

  Lila smiled. I did it….

  And then she blacked out.

  Chapter 40

  Lila felt familiar warmth penetrate her body. It made her want to snuggle deeper under the covers. It felt like home. It felt like…

  “Dad?” she mumbled though her dry, cracked mouth.

  “There she is,” she heard him say. “See, I told you, Lucy. She was just tuckered out from everything. She’s fine.”

  Lila could barely keep her eyes open. Blurrily she looked around. They were back at the castle, and her parents and Ramsey were standing over her with concerned looks on their faces.

  “What happened?”

  “You managed to give us enough time to get out of there, and you forced Maddox out of the dragon morph,” Ramsey said. “It was pretty bad ass, actually.”

  “Ramsey,” her mother gasped. “Don’t encourage her.”

  Lucy looked back at Lila and squeezed her hand. “It was a very dangerous thing to do. I understand that you did save a lot of lives, but don’t think that gets you out of trouble with me.”

  Ramsey winked over her mother’s shoulder and mouthed, “Bad ass.”

  Lila stifled a giggle. “I’ll try to avoid similar situations in the future, Mom.” She sat up and looked around, feeling much better now. “Where is everyone else? How long have I been out?”

  Hugh and Lucy glanced at each other. “Not long. Charlotte brought you back with the last group about twenty minutes ago. Your eyes were glowing pale blue when they brought you in. Have you ever had that happen before?”

  Lila frowned. “Like Ellie and Selene sometimes? No. But I’m gaining more powers, so maybe it as something to do with that. Where is everyone anyway?”

  “In the Great Hall,” Ramsey answered.

  Hugh stood up. “Which is where I should be now. There are a lot of injured folks. I’ve been working nonstop since the battle began.”

  “I’ll come with you.” Lila swung her legs over the bedside.

  Hugh frowned and looked away. “That’s okay. You stay here and rest a bit.”

  Lila narrowed her eyes. "What aren't you telling me?"

  "There's not much you can do," Lucy said.

  Lila got off the bed. "Physical wounds aren't the only things that need healing out there."

  "It's okay," Ramsey said softly to her parents. "She can handle it."

  Lila looked at each of their faces. "Handle what exactly?" Her heart sped up. Bad news was coming. She could feel it.

  Ramsey stepped up to her and took her face between his hands. "It's Marcus," he said. That's all he had to say, and she knew.

  Lila felt like she’d just been punched. And at the same time, it felt as if she were watching all of this from somewhere else. She stared into Ramsey’s green eyes, searching for solace.

  "He’s dead?” she whispered.

  Ramsey nodded.

  "I know you got very close to him this last year, honey,” her mom said. "And if you need someone to talk to, we're here for you."

  Lila didn't take her eyes away from Ramsey’s. The tears that she expected to fill her own didn't come. Not yet at least. Later… maybe.

  "Take me to him."

  "I don't think—" her mother began. But she stopped talking when Ramsey took Lila's hand and led her from the room.
/>   The Great Hall was a cacophony of loud noises and bad smells and horrible sights. Ramsey led her to where what was left of the Louisiana clan had gathered.

  The group parted as they became aware of Lila’s presence. Slowly, her face pale and her heart thundering away behind her ribs, she made her way to where Marcus lay. He was perfectly still and covered in blood, but to Lila he looked as if he could just be sleeping.

  She knelt down beside his body. "Marcus," she whispered, secretly hoping he would open his eyes and say something sarcastic to make her laugh. But of course he didn’t. She reached out with a trembling hand and placed it on his chest. It was still. There was no heartbeat, no movement, no breath.

  Nothing…

  Lila closed her eyes. “Marcus,” she whispered again. Then she looked up, her eyes pleading “Dad?”

  Her father’s comforting hand fell on her shoulder. “He’s gone, Lila. There’s nothing I can do.”

  Lila bit her lip, but nodded.

  She leaned forward and pulled Marcus’s body onto her lap. She wrapped her arms around him and stayed there for some time, just holding him. Finally, with a last, silent goodbye, she sat up and very gently laid him back on the floor. There were people who were still living that she could help now. She could practically hear Marcus telling her to get her weepy little butt up and get to work on them.

  Lila looked at the faces of the friends she’d made over the last year. “Put him in my room for now. We will honor him soon. But there is work to do before then.”

  She went to move away, but stopped when Stephen said, “Wait.”

  She hesitated a moment and then turned to face him. She’d seen him fall on the battle field, but guessed that Charlotte had got him to Hugh in time. He looked fine now She and Stephen had always had a little trouble getting along. He didn’t quite trust her, given her association with the Vyusher, and he hadn’t agreed with Marcus’s alliance with Selene in the first place. Now Lila looked at him a little warily, waiting for him to lay the blame for Marcus’s death at her feet.

  And then her eyes widened as he dropped to one knee. He looked up at her. “We want you to take Marcus’s place as the leader of our clan. If you agree, we will pledge our loyalty to you here and now.”