Everybody nodded quietly, seeing that their handsome leader was very close to falling asleep. They began to silently file out of the room, some lingering and leading him to a soft bed of feathery pillows. He sunk into it and closed his eyes, and found himself pulled into the deep comforts of a rejuvenating sleep.
CHAPTER SEVEN
As Clayton slept, he dreamt about the Guardians. He remembered his first encounter with them when he was a young man, and had never fully gotten over the repercussions of it. It was this very encounter that had led to the death of his father.
The Guardians were merciless and cruel, and believed that they were doing everybody a favor by getting rid of any interplanetary species that might be invading the Earth. It was one of the most close-minded things that Clayton had ever heard, and he had originally believed that negotiating with them and showing them that they were not truly as bad as the ignorant men believed they were could somehow make a difference and bring an end the slaughter, once and for all.
It had been this crucial mistake that had cost his father his life. Clayton dreamt of the horrific day time and time again, and this night was no different. It always began the same way.
Clayton and his father strolling through the woods, looking for food and items that they could use to make tools out of. Clayton listening to his father’s voice, the soft rumble, as it explained the secret inner workings of the world to his only son.
And then, confusion and chaos. Clayton being knocked to the ground and his father grunting in pain. The wild men with no hair and beady, angry eyes as they tied ropes around his father. His father snarling and beginning to shape shift into his mighty dragon form, being electrocuted before he was able to finish the transformation and falling limply to the ground.
Clayton stood up, with his legs shaking, and yelled to the man as he always did in his dream as he had on that fateful day, to leave his father alone. That peace was possible. He had a fantasy that he would be able to explain the plight of the celestial beings who found themselves lost on Earth. Perhaps they could work together to find a solution and get rid of the problem. His father was weak and wounded, and people were hacking away at his limbs with axes. They were trying to get through the thick dragon scales, and his armor, but it wasn’t easy and it was painful.
“What the hell does this boy think he’s doing?” one of the men said with a snarl. “We’re going to have to put him in his place, you know. That will be pretty fun to watch, won’t it?”
With that, Clayton’s father grew furious. Nobody threatened his young son and got away with it. Especially not these men. His father stood and tried to attack, but it left his underside vulnerable. A man stuck a sword through it, and Clayton watched in horror as his father began to lose great amounts of blood. He fell limply to the forest floor, gasping for breath and staring at his son with worried round eyes. There was an expression on his face that drove Clayton into this nightmare again and again. It was more than just a nightmare. It was the miserable reality of their lives. The most traumatic experience that he had ever had.
“Father…” Clayton whispered as his father drew in his dying breath. His large body quaked and shuddered as the life escaped it, and Clayton turned on his heel and ran away. His father’s attackers were too busy tying ropes around the shifter’s corpse to notice that Clayton had gone. They wanted to get it back to their headquarters as quickly as possible.
Clayton had never been more horrified in his life, and found himself running as quickly as his legs could carry him, until he was out of breath. He collapsed onto the forest floor just as his father had moments before. He stayed there, silent and unmoving, until one of the members of his clan stumbled across him. They thought that he was sick, and lifted him up and carried him back to the underground caverns. It took three days before he spoke a word, but by then, everybody had guessed that his father was gone. He had not returned with his son, and the acute state of grief that Clayton was experiencing said it all.
Now, in his dreams as an adult, Clayton was able to seek revenge. Everything happened the same way every time, right down to the lost and scared look in his father’s eyes. However, now that he was grown and he had some experience as a warrior under his belt, he found himself capable of striking back against the enemy. He would attack them, and bludgeon them all. Sometimes he would rip them apart with his bare hands and teeth. He would turn into a savage, with an aching desire to destroy everything at any cost, even if that meant he himself would be doomed. Nothing else mattered; all he wanted was to have his father back. Because that was impossible, he was forced to live without hope. Nobody thought that Clayton was going to recover from his grief, and it was true. Clayton had remained quiet and reserved ever since.
The most joy that he was able to find was in watching Krista from afar, and the memory that he treasured of her smile as he handed her the paper that she had dropped on the sidewalk. Now, she was his to protect, and he would do whatever it took. He could not fail her the same way that he had failed his father. If he had only kept his mouth shut or paid more attention to the situation at hand, maybe his father would still be alive. Maybe they would have been able to best the Guardians rather than turning the day into a tragedy.
He tossed and turned, moaning, until he sat upright in bed with hot tears streaming down his face. It always unleashed the floodgates when he had this dream, and although it felt nice to get revenge and tear apart all of the men who had harmed him and his father, Clayton found himself feeling empty every time he woke up. It would never bring his father back, and no amount of revenge would be enough.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“What makes you think that we are going to find her at the bar again?” Frederick asked. He scowled to the leader at the front of the line, and Richard smiled.
“I don’t know that we will find her there, but I do think that perhaps we will find a clue as to her whereabouts now. And anyway, since it was the last place we saw her, it wouldn’t hurt to try. Would it?”
Frederick couldn’t argue with that, and followed Richard until they made it to the bar where they had seen the dragon-born carrier. If they were able to take her back to the laboratory, it was possible that they would finally have the key. Her blood could teach them all they needed to know about opening and sealing the dimensions of the time portals and the rips in the fabric between the worlds.
Based on a lot of the research that they had been doing, the blood of the carriers was extremely special. With it came great possibilities. There was a reason that this particular type of people from the world above had been so revered. They were the builders and creators; the oracles and the artists. Without them, not only would there be no culture, but there would be very little pleasure in the lives of the people of Kaldernon. Their gifts had been utilized, time and again, to maintain balance and order within the world they lived in.
But now the Loni were in the Earth world, and that was going to have to be enough. They were not special, not the way they had been considered special before in Kaldernon. They were not fantastic creatures who were meant to carve out peace and unity, spreading peace and art worldwide. They were the overlooked and under sung citizens of the world that they thought they belonged to but were truly too good for.
To harness any of their power, particularly the power of the last Loni on Earth with the ability to carry a child for the dragon-borns, was a great opportunity. With her in their possession, they would be able to learn more and perfect the greatest weapon in their arsenal. Something that could feel a rip in the dimensional fabric and keep it sealed. Something that could tear apart a paranormal being atom by atom. If her blood was able to help them as much as they thought it could, they would stop at nothing to capture her and keep her in their laboratory.
“How long ago has it been since we were here last?” Rodney asked.
“It’s been about seventeen hours. Which means the scent would still be fresh. Maybe we can get one of the bloodhounds on the trail.”
“That would be fantastic. You do that. In the meantime, we’re going to stay here and hope that we can catch a glimpse of the carrier.”
The group looked around at each other and nodded. Each had been told to keep their eyes on a certain area of a carrier’s body so that they could recognize her even under the most elaborate disguise. If the dragon-born were able to get to her first, that meant that all of their work would have gone to waste. And that was something that none of them wanted to see happen. They couldn’t afford that type of setback. Not when they were so close to achieving their goals.
Suddenly, Richard’s cell phone began to ring. He paused and answered it.
“Hello?” he asked. He listened intently as the voice on the other end spoke quickly. His eyebrows furrowed with concern and then relief.
“She was just at the police station,” Richard said, snapping his phone closed and stuffing it into his pocket. “She was filing a report against us for attacking her. Good thing Josie was there today. She’s so loyal to our mission. She used to attend the meetings when she was just a little girl, sitting on her father’s lap. I always tried to make sure there were coloring books there for her. What a precious and pure soul she is.”
Everybody nodded and murmured their appreciation for Josie. It was good to have friends in high places, and the guardian’s council certainly did have that. They needed to if they were truly going to shape the face of the world around them and protect it from invasive species.
“Should we go and intercept her now?” Richard asked the rest of the group. Everybody nodded and followed him toward the police station. Richard was pleased by the great stroke of luck that they had been having. It had been a long time since they’d had hope of finding the carrier, and now everything seemed to be falling into place. It was such a great stroke of luck that they had been able to discover just where the carrier was right when they needed her the most. If she provided the dragon-born clan with any more heirs, the eradication of their extremely dangerous species would be a waste. If they were reproducing and spawning, who knew whether or not they would turn against their human companions and use their power against them. It was dangerous and likely that this would happen, and everybody was terrified of the consequences of such behavior.
If she provided the dragon-born clan with any more heirs, their mission would be hopeless. They were certain that the Kersh clan had been improving their technology, and if they figured out the portal between the worlds before the guardians did, there would be hell to pay.
Josie had done her best to call as quickly as she possibly could without arousing suspicion. Krista was still finishing up with her paperwork, which gave the Guardians ample time to make it to the police station. They waited outside for her, smug smiles on their faces as they prepared themselves for another attack. Most of the police force knew of them as powerful men who worked behind the scenes, so their actions wouldn’t be questioned. They stayed concealed behind the trees, and quietly watched the front door of the police station as they hoped for Krista to emerge.
It seemed to take an extraordinarily long time, but finally, there she was. Her full lips were curved into a relieved smile as she descended the stone steps of the police station. When Richard gave a nod, everybody began to creep toward her.
Before they reached her, a female dragon-born landed out of nowhere in front of them, her eyes piercing through the group of Guardians menacingly. She had flown down from the sky and landed in half-human form, which was almost more dangerous than full-dragon form. It always depended. Sometimes, their guns didn’t work when the shifter was only half-dragon and half-human in appearance.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the woman asked indignantly, staring at the Guardians. They were annoyed and clambered over each other to move past her, some of them reaching for their weapons, but others more concerned that they were losing sight of Krista. The direction that she was going in was soon to be lost to them.
“Get out of our way,” Richard growled, pushing his way past the shifter woman. She gave him a menacing smile before swiping her claws painfully across his cheek. He hissed in anger, and motioned for everybody to attack her. This seemed to be the action that she had been waiting for, and soon, they were engaged in a full out brawl. Krista was completely oblivious, and had already reached the parking lot. Before long, she was pulling away from the police station in her little copper-colored car.
In fact, nobody seemed to notice the battle waging between the Guardians and the single dragon shifter that had volunteered to look after Krista for the afternoon. They had learned a trick from the faeries in captivity about concealment, and had stolen some of their magic to make their own deeds easier to accomplish.
Clayton was going to be furious, the dragon-born woman thought to herself as she emitted dangerous heat waves that scolded the Guardians. They cried out in agony as their skin began to blister and they covered their faces with their hands. Backing away from the shifter, they retreated into the wooded area around the police station.
The shifter, whose name was Jasmine, followed along with Krista’s car in the air, completely concealed from everybody. She had never been more thankful for her ability to blend into the Earth’s atmosphere. Her relief was short-lived as her thoughts began to catch up with her.
It was vital that they protect Krista from the dangers of the Guardians. Now that the Guardians knew who Krista was, they probably had an idea of where she lived, or at least the general vicinity of the city that she came from. They were going to have to be extra careful. In fact, if they had people on the inside who worked at the police station, it was likely that they already had her address on file. The thought made Jasmine pause, and she shuddered as an icy panic began to overwhelm her. She had to tell Clayton, and she had to do it now.
CHAPTER NINE
“Clayton!” Jasmine exclaimed as she burst into the underground room, her eyes wide with fear. “They know who Krista is. They tried intercepting her at the police station. I need some help.”
Clayton sat up immediately, his heart thudding painfully in his chest. Krista was in danger. The one person who gave his life meaning might be in trouble right that moment. He stood up immediately and ran outside, without giving Jasmine a second thought. Everybody watched with wide eyes as Clayton shifted into his powerful dragon form and launched himself into the sky, flapping his huge wings and emitting an ominous dark energy as he flew through the sky.
Krista was oblivious to the dangers around her, and was walking cheerfully to work. She felt a little lighter after talking about what had happened during the attack, and was allowing herself to enjoy the memory of the handsome man who had saved her. She had plenty of time to let her mind wander as she meandered along her way. She had been enjoying the fresh air and cool breeze, and decided to park a couple of blocks away from the library so that she could get some exercise. She had always been athletic and it was difficult for her to stay cooped up for too long. She always enjoyed the open air much more than the constraints of her vehicle.
She was humming to herself, as she usually did when she was outside. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks. Somebody was watching her. She could just feel it. She thought back to the night before, when she had been attacked, and looked around for whoever might be there. She saw nobody at first, but continued to glance around just in case. She didn’t feel like she was in danger, but she did feel a prying sense of concern.
She was shocked when a familiar pair of bright green eyes met hers. Her breath caught in her throat as the most majestic man she had ever seen became clear to her. Her savior from the night before.
The gorgeous man’s mouth curled into a kind smile when she met his eyes, and a surge of energy seemed to pulse between them, one that made her feel hyperaware of every sensation in her body. The cool breeze on her skin, the pounding of her heart in her chest. The unexpected heat of his gaze and the stirring
of desire that his gaze seemed to invoke.
Krista walked toward him slowly, the tension between them higher than it had ever been between herself and another human being. She opened her mouth to call out to him, to ask why he seemed so familiar, but suddenly, she dropped her cell phone on the sidewalk. She bent down to pick it up, and when she turned around to look for him again, he was gone. She felt a devastated sense of disappointment that he was gone, and was tugged into a faraway memory from childhood. Another dark, handsome boy who had been there one second and had vanished the next, leaving only the paper in her hand to tell her that he had really been there.
The handsome man’s face stayed with her throughout the day, and she randomly found herself thinking about him. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she recognized him from somewhere, and the fact that she couldn’t remember where he knew her from really bothered her. Where would she have seen a man that attractive? Whose sheer presence could electrify her in such a way? But she still couldn’t, no matter how hard she tried.
She groaned to herself, unable to focus on her work as her thoughts wandered to the gorgeous man and replayed her attack and the prominent visual of the dragon. Everybody around her seemed to be oblivious to the fact that she was still suffering psychologically from the night before. She had never been attacked, not quite so violently, and she decided to talk to her boss and ask if she could leave early to take some personal time to recover. She felt a little bit guilty about it, knowing that part of the reason she couldn’t concentrate was because she couldn’t stop fantasizing about the mysterious stranger who had saved her life, but either way, nothing was getting done and she would rather be at home.
Her boss nodded supportively and offered the services of the counselor who could come in to visit her if she needed it. Krista was flattered and touched by the offer, but she knew that she would only feel better if she was able to spend some time by herself for a while. And so, she packed up her things and headed out of her office at the library. She decided to go home to her apartment, and was grateful, once again, for the beautiful day outside as she walked for a few blocks to where she had parked her car. She paused by the spot where she had seen the man before and peered into the foliage, her heart pounding hopefully. She felt another confusing rush of arousal as she looked for him, but there was nobody there.
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