Looking into the massive open space of the warehouse, he spotted Jax fighting Marcius and five other men. There were three more ash-filled piles of clothing on the ground along with what looked to be a scruffy human man. At the sight of Marcius and his black clad goons fighting his brother, fury filled Sami.
“Who is that?” Goldy asked, indicating the man fighting Marcius.
“My brother, Jax,” Sami said and eyes beginning to glow with anger. “Stay here,” he instructed Goldy and Bastien then with a yell to distract the thugs, he rushed in to help Jax.
***
GOLDY WATCHED SAMI and his brother fight Marcius and five others with her heart in her throat. One of the thugs went down and Sami turned his attention to the others. Then when the same guy that Sami had dropped began to creep up on him from behind with a pipe in his hand, Goldy yelled in warning. No one paid her any attention.
No! Fear and rage consumed her. It wasn’t just losing Sami earlier that day, it was losing her mother, watching them burn her house down, chase her, and try to kidnap her, filling her with a terror and rage the likes of which she’d never experienced. It was them killing Dave. It was Marcius, and everything he’d done not only to her and Bastien, but also to his own sons. No, it was a combination of everything that did it and Goldy wasn’t about to stand by and watch Sami or anyone else die if she could help it.
A mighty surge of power flooded her when the guy whacked Sami across the back of the head. Goldy screamed with fury as he sank to the ground. She rushed into the room, her only thought was getting to Sami before the guy could hit him again. Without any conscious thought, she found herself in dragon form, and filled with more power than she could have ever imagined.
Goldy let out a mighty roar that echoed around the building, shattering a couple windows along the top of one wall as she swiped at the pipe-wielding attacker. She sent him flying about fifty feet to land with a sickening crack as his head hit the cement floor. He didn’t move again. At the sight of her large golden dragon, two of the guys ran for the entrance while another reached for one of the automatic weapons on the floor. Goldy roared again feeling out of control and the next thing she knew, fire spewed from her mouth, roasting the guy with the gun and another who had stepped in the way. Then she heard Sami moan. The sound drew her back into her head as she turned and spotted him on the ground.
The next instant, more power consumed her and Goldy found herself back in human form. She dropped to her knees and stared at her hands, and then checked out the rest of her body. Holy! I just turned into a dragon. Oh my God! Goldy blinked then glanced around the room and over to Sami. Quickly, she crawled the few feet to him. “How badly are you hurt?” she asked, her arms shaking as she reached out for him.
“I’m fine,” Sami said, slowly getting to his feet. Just as he pulled her to hers, they heard Bastien’s voice coming from behind them.
“Ah, G-Goldy?” Something in his tone made them both look his way. The guard that had left to go to the bathroom had his fangs inches from Bastien’s throat as he walked the boy into the room.
“Let him go!” Goldy cried, stepping towards them. Sami grabbed her arm to hold her still.
“What do you want?” Sami asked. Goldy saw Sami glance to where Marcius was fighting with Jax. Sami’s brother was beating the shit out of Marcius. Good. So much for Sami’s father being a badass, she thought wanting to smile but worry for her brother drew her attention back.
“You killed my friends,” the guard holding Bastien hissed, his eyes bright red.
“Well, you killed my mother and his father,” Goldy retorted, somehow aware that her own eyes were flashing bright gold with anger.
“You. You come with me,” the guard said to Goldy as he began to back towards the door still holding Bastien.
Goldy glanced at Sami who shook his head. “Not a chance and you need to let him go too, or you won’t be getting out of here alive,” Sami said in a chillingly deadly quiet voice.
“You give me the girl and I’ll let him go.” The guy was going to try to negotiate.
“No way,” Sami said at the same time that Goldy agreed to the exchange. Jax swore loudly from behind Sami, drawing her attention and she saw that Jax now had Marcius on his knees. Sami glanced back as well, then turned back to the guy holding Bastien.
“Let Bastien go. Marcius, your boss is done. You let Bastien go, and we let you walk out of here,” Sami said again.
The guy snorted. “He’s not the boss of any Daywalker or Nightwalker. He’s just a joke.”
So, Marcius wasn’t the boss and this guy was a Daywalker.
“Interesting tidbit–that.” Goldy heard Sami say inside her head. He also told her there was no way he was letting this guy get away with either her or Bastien. She shivered but trusted Sami.
“Then I guess we have a problem,” Sami said as he inched towards the creature. Seeing Sami close in on him, the guard smiled maliciously and sank his fangs into Bastien’s neck.
“That’s for my friend.” Then he let Bastien drop to the ground and shoved the knife into his own heart. A second later, he turned to ash.
“No. No. I don’t understand. What’s happening?” Goldy rushed over and pulled Bastien into her lap as he writhed and cried out in pain. “What is this, what did he do to him?” she asked Sami while staring down at her brother.
“He injected some kind of Daywalker venom into his system.” Sami said, then she heard him swear as Bastien cried out again.
Tearing her gaze from Bastien, she looked up at Sami, her fear emanating from her in all directions, she saw Sami scan the room then focus on one of the thugs she had tossed who was starting to come around.
“I’ll be right back,” he told her and hurried across the room. He was dragging the semi-conscious man back over toward them when Jax raised his dagger to sever Marcius’s head from his neck.
“S-stop, wait! You need me,” Marcius rasped.
Jax blinked and sneered. “Yeah, I don’t think anyone needs you for anything.”
Marcius waved his hand at Goldy and Bastien. “If you want to heal the kid you do.”
With a frown, Jax glanced back behind him and after that, everything seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. Marcius sent a knife sailing straight at Sami who shifted half an inch. The knife grazed his arm but sank into the thug’s chest, leaving Sami holding clothing filled with air as the guy turned to ash.
“Bastard,” Sami yelled, shaking with rage. Now they didn’t have any of the Daywalkers, and Bastien was dying.
***
SAMI HEARD THE SOUND of bone crunching and knew Jax was making mincemeat out of Marcius’s face. Stalking over, he reached down and grabbed his father. “Jax, let him go, he’s mine,” Sami growled.
Jax dropped his arm but still kept a fist wrapped in the front of Marcius’s shirt. “No, Sami, let me do it, you don’t need to do this, and I owe him.”
Sami shook his head and glared his hatred and rage at his father.
“You evil fucker,” he yelled. He reached down and grabbed Marcius by the shirt, pushing Jax aside. He was ready to draw his own knife across Marcius’s throat once again, ending his life for good this time when Marcius laughed. “Told you—you need me.”
“I’ve never needed you,” Sami growled, but Marcius waved him away with a sadistic grin.
“Oh, but if you want to save the boy, you do,” Marcius said with a gleeful light in his eyes.
“You just made sure that he dies—you fucker,” Sami yelled, near to losing control.
“No, I made sure I have safe passage out of here.” Marcius leered, pushing against Sami’s hand.
While Sami fought for control, Jax narrowed his eyes on Marcius while his darkness, a dark rage that he kept bottled up inside himself began to seep out of him. “What game are you playing now, old man?”
“No game, I promise.” Marcius panted and his eyes flickered with fear as he tried to inch backward. “I have Walker blood, to heal him.” Marci
us indicated Bastien who Goldy was rocking in her arms.
“Sami,” Goldy called to him.
Sami’s rage was demanding he take his father’s head and heart, but as Goldy’s voice penetrated his skull, he looked back and met her fear-filled eyes. Fuck! He swore silently at the same time that Jax swore aloud. Heart pounding, he met his brother’s eyes.
“He can’t get away with everything he’s done,” he said, feeling through a connection that only he and Jax shared that Jax not only understood, but also agreed. But, he also knew he couldn’t let Bastien die either.
“He won’t. If one of us doesn’t kill him now, we will get him later,” Jax replied and Sami felt the weight of Jax’s vow for retribution.
Sami itched to be the one to do it, though Jax had more than earned the right after what Marcius had done to him. Sami turned to Marcius. “Why should we trust you?”
“Well, you don’t have much choice now, do you…son?” Marcius grinned, eyes flickering briefly to Jax in fear before glancing back at Sami. The fear was gone. Or maybe just hidden. But his grin, along with his attitude, the fact that he was right and they didn’t have any choice, made Sami wanted to throw up. He snarled, while he could feel his eyes flashing green as his dragon rose inside of him.
“You said you have Walker blood, where?” he shouted, his power making his skin itch.
“I do but first, your word that you will let me go,” he said with a smirk.
Sami could feel Jax’s power and anger seeping from his brother and floating like razors in the air around them, and knew they would regret letting the bastard go free. He ground his teeth and nodded. “Fine, you have my word,” he said and released Marcius then stepped back.
“Give me your word that you’ll let me walk out that door and I will heal him,” Marcius said, looking at Jax who stood motionless, fighting for control.
“Jax?” Sami stepped towards his brother. Jax closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them, his eyes were glowing a deep blue ringed with red as he glared at Marcius. “I’ll let you walk out that door but mark my words, one of us will kill you and this time you will stay dead.”
“Now heal him,” Sami ordered his father. Bastien had gone terribly quiet behind him, and he could hear Goldy sobbing.
“Give me your word, all of you. Say that you will let me leave here and I will help the boy.”
“We did. You have our word,” Sami bit out while Jax snarled at Marcius.
“Her too.” Marcius nodded at Goldy.
Goldy looked over at them. “You have my word.” She sniffed and wiped at her eyes. “Please, just heal him.”
Marcius, with his eyes on both Jax and Sami, inched back.
“How are you going to heal him?” Sami asked as Marcius slowly climbed to his feet without taking his eyes off them.
“See that knife you’re holding?” Marcius pointed at Sami’s hand as he began to inch towards the door. Jax started to follow him.
“You gave me your word,” Marcius reminded him.
“Yeah, and you promised to heal the boy,” Jax said, threateningly.
“Unscrew the handle, there’s a vial of Walker blood in it. Give him a couple of drops, that’s all,” Marcius said and turning, he hurried to the door.
Sami unscrewed the top of the handle as he rushed over to Goldy. Nestled inside, was a long thin vial. Sliding it out, he pulled the top off and tilted the vial, letting a few drops drip into Bastien’s throat. In just a few seconds, Bastien’s breathing got better.
“How’s he doing?” Jax asked, having followed Marcius to the door and now had come back.
“He’s going to be fine,” Sami said as Bastien’s eyes fluttered open.
“Thank fuck,” Jax muttered and wandered away to check out the room the human had been coming out of. Two minutes later, Sami and Goldy were helping Bastien to his feet when Jax came back. “Look, I found these,” he said, showing them the photos and unfinished passports. Then, noticing Bastien and Goldy looking at him curiously, he nodded. “By the way, I’m Sami’s brother—Jax.”
“Shit,” Sami said taking the photos and passports even as Goldy nodded her head at Jax. Bastien just stared, still in shock.
Jax nodded. “You’ll need to fly home. One of you can carry the boy. Oh, and draw on your power. Use it, pull it around you to form a cocoon. It will keep him warm and according to Genna, keeps us off the humans radary-shit,” Jax said with a grin, starting for the door.
Radary-shit? Okay … “Wait, where are you going?” Sami asked, frowning at his brother.
“I’m not letting that bastard get away,” Jax said without looking back.
“Jax,” Sami called out, heading after him. “Hold up a second, will ya?”
Jax stopped and turned back around. “What? I can’t let him go, Sami…you know that. Not after everything he’s done. There has to be some kind of reprisal.”
“I know, but—” Sami pursed his lips. He hated the thought of Jax going after Marcius alone.
“I said I’d let him walk out that door. I never said I wouldn’t follow him or kill him. In fact, I promised one of us would,” Jax said with a smirk.
With a nod, Sami drew in a breath. “Yeah, that’s not it. I just don’t like you going alone.”
Jax snorted. “I’ll be fine.”
Sami bit his lip, feeling torn. Finally, he nodded. “Okay, but keep me posted. I expect you to be following right behind us.”
“Yeah, sure.” Jax turned away, pushed open the door and was gone.
Though Sami knew Marcius wouldn’t have gotten too far yet, he worried.
After Sami managed to make a connection to Goldy through the stones in his choker, he and Jax had left the Camaro he rented at a strip mall and flown here. Then, not wanting to give their enemy the chance to get away with either Goldy or Bastien, they had slashed the tires on the two vehicles Marcius and his thugs had been using. Now he knew Marcius would be on foot, looking for a car to steal.
Sami, wishing he could go with Jax, turned back to see Goldy hugging Bastien. A second later, the boy pulled away. “T-those were Vampires,” he exclaimed, looking at the piles of ash-filled clothing on the floor.
Heading toward the pair, Sami was only a few feet from them when a prickling sensation rushed through him. Glancing around, he spotted movement across the room in the shadows. “No!”
It was one of the guys who had taken off earlier when Goldy was doing her angry dragon thing. Now one of the runners had sneaked back in, for what purpose, Sami didn’t know but he wasn’t about to wait to find out. His heart raced when he saw the man lift and begin to aim the automatic weapon he had just picked up at Goldy and Bastien. Fear, combined with his pent-up rage filled him, and Sami let his dragon lose with a ferocious roar. Magic filled the air and an instant later, he was in dragon form. With a giant leap, Sami spread his wings wide, drawing on his power. Bullets pinged and bounced off him and he let out another roar before he blasted the Daywalker with a stream of flame.
“Sami!” Jax’s voice filled his head. “What’s going on, I thought I heard gunfire—”
“It’s all good, just doing a little cleanup,” Sami told him as he shifted back into human form to find both Goldy and Bastien tucked safely behind him. He looked around, wary, and wondering if the remaining Daywalker had come back as well.
“You sure?” Jax asked and Sami heard his brothers worry.
“Yeah, promise…we’re good. One of the guys who took off decided to come back and commit suicide by fire,” Sami told his brother.
“Sami. That’s not funny, you sure you’re okay?”
“Positive, you find Marcius?”
“I’m coming up on him now. Assholes trying to steal a car…” Jax’s gleeful chuckle sent a chill down Sami’s spine.
“Okay, well, be careful and don’t let him get away this time,” Sami said, fuming at how Marcius managed to finagle his way out of them killing him earlier. Jax didn’t answer and fear filled him. “Damnit
Jax, I should be with you.”
“No, you should be right where you are, you need to get the mother of your child back home—safe and sound. Now go!”
“You saved us,” Goldy said, hugging Sami once again. Loyalties torn, Sami swallowed hard while Bastien stared at him wide eyed. Finally, Bastien looked at Goldy.
“So, what am I?” he asked.
Goldy smiled at him. “We are Dracones and you are part Dracones.”
“What does that mean? I have never been able to do what you both just did,” Bastien exclaimed.
“You have to go through something called an Awakening first, then you can shift into your dragon after,” Sami explained, keeping an eye out for the other Daywalker as he escorted Goldy and Bastien towards the door.
“Well, how do I go through an Awakening? I want to be able to turn into a dragon too,” Bastien said, with a touch of awe in his voice.
Sami smiled then sobered. “You have to be twenty-one before you can go through your Awakening and not everyone survives.”
“Oh.” Bastien’s shoulders slumped, not so eager anymore.
“Don’t worry, if you go through your Awakening, you will have others to help you. We’ll make sure you survive,” Sami reassured him with a pat on the shoulder.
Bastien nodded. “O-okay, but I’m half human, what if I don’t go through it?”
Goldy started to re-assure him, but Bastien turned away from her and looked at Sami. It was obvious that he was still charging her with the sins of their mother, and wasn’t ready to forgive his sister for what their mother had done.
“Well, you may not,” Sami said softly. “But we’ll deal with that when the time comes. For now, we need to get going, someone may have heard the gunfire.”
“Where are we going?” Bastien asked as Sami opened the door and peeked cautiously outside.
“To my home in Washington State,” Sami told him. When he didn’t see anyone, Sami pushed open the door and stepped out into the parking lot. A mix of newer, refurbished and old buildings surrounded them. So far, there were no sirens headed their way. “Right now, we need to get away from here,” he said, leading them towards another building where there was some cover from the lights illuminating them. Finally, sure that they were safe, he turned to Goldy. “Okay, we need to shift into our dragons and fly. We’ll carry Bastien.”
Dracones Boxset Books 1-5 Page 52