by Eve Newton
“I don’t think that is necessary, my love,” CK says to me with a chuckle. “I am sure the girl will meet your needs adequately.”
Adequately? She had better bloody do better than that. I take his hand and he leads us out of the room. I close the door with the book lever and with a last lingering glance at the pool, I say to CK, “We didn’t get to talk. I told my husb…” I trail off and shake my head. “I told Cole I was coming here to speak to you.” My brain feels a bit muffled and I frown again, rubbing in between my eyes roughly. CK is peering at me curiously as I open my eyes again. He quickly drops his shutters back in place though. “What was I saying?” I ask him.
“Are you okay, my love?” he asks in concern.
“Yes, I think so. I must be tired. I need to feed. It’s been a while.” Too long, I add to myself. “Take me home, please,” I ask, not wanting to use up the additional energy to Astral myself.
“Of course,” he says and takes my hand again. HeTeleports the three of us into my den at home.
“Whoa,” Jess says, grabbing me to steady herself. “That is the weirdest feeling.”
“Yes, it takes some getting used to.” I smile at her and sit heavily on the sofa. “Go and find Scott and then go outside. Make the most of the night.” She smiles and nods. I add, “Oh, and if you try to leave the perimeter of the grounds, you will be turned to ash on the spot. So, don’t try.” She pales and gulps. “I wasn’t planning to,” she mumbles, and I raise my eyebrow. Does she think I came down with the last shower of rain? “Go now,” I order her, and she does.
“I need blood,” I tell CK and he goes off to get me some, returning shortly with a glass and Cole in tow.
“You’re back,” he says and leans down to kiss me. “Everything okay? You’re looking pale.” He sits next to me in concern.
“I’m hungry,” I say as I accept the glass and gulp it down. “Very hungry.”
“I will get you someone,” CK says and pulls out his phone, clearly concerned.
“I feel weak,” I mutter to Cole.
He pulls me to him in an instant. “What’s wrong?” he says.
“I don’t know.” I breathe in deeply and try to focus. I feel better once I do this and smile at my husb… at Cole. “I’m fine. Really. I just think it has been too long since I fed.”
“Aefre, I told you to take care,” CK admonishes me softly. “Do you need someone to… you know, do what you said?” he asks hesitantly.
What did I say I wanted someone to do? Then I remember the bad joke from a couple of days ago and shake my head. “No. That was a joke, CK. I don’t need someone to follow me around.”
“I disagree. You are not looking after yourself. I have tried to help you but with all of this flitting about, it is getting increasingly difficult to keep up with your needs.” He sighs and says, “Nico can arrange it. Just say the word.”
I stare at him, horrified. Nico can arrange it? He can arrange to have a human follow me around for me to snack on whenever the feeling comes upon me?
We are interrupted by Xane, thankfully, as I now don’t have to deal with that conversation. “The spell you asked me to put up is set. If she tries to escape, she’s toast. I trust you warned her?” Xane says.
I nod. “Of course.”
“With regard to your feeding problem, it is only a problem because you aren’t doing it right,” he says idly, coming to kneel in front of me. He holds out his hands. “Feed,” he says.
“She needs human blood,” CK growls as Cole lets out a low rumble of his own.
“Not blood. Energy,” Xane says. “Remember what your mother told you. Showed you. It’s right in front of you, Liv.”
He’s right, of course. I had forgotten in all the upset over Jess waking and ensuing events. All this time I could have been feeding willy nilly off just about everybody.
“Feed,” he says again.
I put my hands up to his, a couple of centimeters apart.
He shakes his head at me. “Properly,” he says and grasps mine tightly to his. “Page one. The very first thing we learn.”
I sense the tension coming off CK and Cole as they are clueless as to what he is talking about and that I am engaging in some sort of Demonic act.
“You have been weakening the spell by trying to put a positive spin on it. Don’t. Use it as it was intended,” he says to me as he stands and pulls me up with him. “Do it,” he orders me.
I blink at him, recalling the spell I used on my mother and Sebastian. It is also the same one that I used to clean up Jess’s blood. I did try to twist it to make it less dark but he’s right, it weakened it. This is who I am. The swirly wind circles us, flicking my hair into my face. I see him smile in encouragement and I grip his hands tighter, pushing him back a few steps to gain more room. I hear the protest from my sire and my charge, but I ignore them. I pull on his energy, feeling it leave him and enter me, easing all the hunger, all the confusion. Making me stronger. This is me. I am ValamAtrux, Dragon Queen, to be feared and respected not treated like a weak child. This is who I am, I think again. Powerful.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-NINE
I pull away from Xane and spin to face two of my lovers, feeling the change come over me, starting with my eyes. I want them all to see it. I want them all to know who they are dealing with. I turn and kick off my shoes. I run outside to the terrace, pleased to see that everyone has gathered to see what the brewing storm is all about. The magickal wind increases, growing stronger as I get stronger. I’m about to Shift into my Dragon form and I couldn’t feel more alive.
The three houses all have a shadow cast over them so anyone who happens to be looking in would only ever see an empty garden. We are free to come and go and do as we please without fear of being caught, so I am happy to Shift right here and show everyone who I truly am. I feel the wings sprout from my back, an extension of my marking. They are virtual to start with but as I drop to my hands and knees, they gain form and the rest of me follows suit, until I am standing at a height of at least thirty feet. Smaller than my mother, but almost identical. I feel the black crystal-like scales rippling along my flanks and I shake my head. All my thoughts are coherent, exactly the same as normal and I can see everyone gaping up at me and stepping back, giving me room.
Everybody except Lincoln, that is, who is like my Dragon Whisperer. He is looking at me with pride and love. I duck my head to him. He nods back knowing instinctively what I’m doing and why. I tilt my head back and let out an ear-splitting screech to end all screeches, followed by a stream of fire that licks the air in a high arc. Couldn’t say for sure if sound goes through the shadow cover but I am beyond caring now. I want to fly.
I stare upwards, as does everyone else, when a large maw rips through the sky, flashing orange and black. I have no idea where it came from, but judging by the color, I would have to say it leads to the Underworld. I lift off with another shriek and fly straight at it, hearing the warning cries of my loved ones beneath me. Massive wings flapping, beating up and down, I fly through the rip and it closes up behind me.
I find that I am indeed in the Underworld. I am not left very long to wonder who opened the portal, when I come face to face with another Dragon. Well, by face to face I mean his or her face staring at me from several hundred feet away. It is silently hovering in the air, a steady sweep of wings. I think of treading water, but this is treading air instead. I fly closer and tilt my head. Dragons communicate telepathically with each other, so I ask, “Who are you?” in my mind.
“ValamAtrux. I am To’Kah. At your service, my Queen.”
I study him (it’s a him) closer and I see that he is a Blue Dragon. The next tier down on the hierarchical chain from myself and my mother, who as Black Dragons are at the top.
He continues to speak in my mind as I don’t answer him, “I heard your call. I opened the Portal to see if you were in need of assistance.”
“No, I’m fine, thank you. You heard me? You opened it?” I ask in am
azement. How come he has the power to do that? Mind you, I probably do I just don’t know how to do it – as usual.
He ducks his head as I get close to him and says, “Yes. I wondered if I would get to meet you. I, too, live in Los Angeles, when I am Earthside, but you haven’t been around, have you?” He asks this casually as I motion with my head that we can talk but while flying. I want to cover a large distance before I head home. Or at least ask to go home, as he will no doubt have to open the Portal for me to go back.
“No, I have been on the East Coast. You live in L.A.?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know that there were any other Dragons in California.”
“Just me. I can’t stay there for extended periods though.”
I nod, remembering what Xane had said about the air outside of the Dragon Realms being toxic to full-blooded Dragons. “What is your other name?” I ask.
“Other name?”
“Your Earth side one.”
“Oh, I go by the name of Finn.”
“I’m Liv.”
“I know.”
Oh. A bit fed up of trying to hold down this conversation, I give up and fly in silence for a few moments.
“Sorry,” he says shyly, “I am usually more of a talker. I am just a bit in awe of you. You are spectacular.”
“Thanks.” My turn to be shy now. “What are you doing in the Underworld?”
“I came here to fly. It’s easier than heading home, what with the time shift there.”
“Oh. You come here to fly?” That sounds like a brilliant idea. I wonder why Tiamat never mentioned it to me before. Oh, yeah right, my mother’s motto: learn by doing.
“All the time,” he says as if I am dense. “Don’t you feel like you are going to go crazy if you don’t Shift often?”
“This is only the second time I have Shifted to my Dragon form,” I admit, feeling foolish.
He turns his massive head towards me and blinks slowly. “Really?”
“Uh huh,” I say. “Have you met my mother?”
“No, She keeps to herself.”
Oh, my mother the snob, I think ruefully.
“No, I don’t think that. It is the way it is,” he says, almost in a reprimand.
I mentally clear my throat, sheepish to be caught with that thought. Must watch that.
“Are you heading back to Earth soon?”
“In a bit. I will come and find you soon,” he says shyly.
I nod. “Do you want to come now and meet my family?”
“Your family? You have a Dragon mate and hatchlings?” he asks in surprise.
“Oh, no, no. My Vampire, Shifter and Demon family.”
“Oh. No, I’d rather not. Can’t say they will be happy to see us together.”
Okay, no, that is true, but apart from my mother, I haven’t met another Dragon yet. Not even in the Dragon Realms. We have always been left alone. Oh, I see that now.
“How old are you?” I ask rudely as he swoops across me to fly backward facing me. Neat trick.
“One thousand, five hundred and fifty-three,” he says with a wicked glint. “Older than you.”
“Yes, you are.” I’m intrigued. I swoop over and under him enjoying this game.
He laughs. “A word of advice from an elder. Try to come here often. Even just your presence here, flying around, reminds the community exactly who you are and that you are watching over them.” He ducks his head towards the ground.
I look down and I do see that I am causing quite a stir. There are hundreds of Demons staring up at me and pointing. Some are even on their knees in reverence to me and I feel humbled and ashamed that I’m not taking this duty very seriously at all. That is going to change.
“Noted,” I mumble, and he chuckles at me.
“I will leave you now to your flight. I hope to see you soon, Your Majesty.”
“Wait, tell me before you go, how do you open up a Portal?” I know that I can Astral out of here, but in order to do that I need to be in human form. I have every intention of going back home in the manner in which I left it.
“That should be easy for you. Think of it the same as opening a locked door. You want it open and it opens,” he says.
“Easy as that?” I ask. That sounds way too simple.
“For you, yes. The rest of us have to work a bit harder.” He laughs at me again and swoops off leaving me to my thoughts.
Well, I’m pretty sure that this is not what Xane had in mind when he ordered me to feed off his energy. But I am confident my point has been made. I muse away to myself as I fly, it’s incredible up here. Wishing I were over Tuscany, to be able to see the countryside as I always wanted to do, brings my thoughts into focus. There is something eating at me, but I can’t place what it is. My sire and my charge. That’s it. I thought ‘my sire and my charge.’ Not my sire and my husband. And before, at CK’s house, I stopped myself from saying ‘my husband’ and used his name instead. Why? I wonder. It’s odd and I have no explanation for it. I mentally shrug and determine to keep an eye on that. See if it happens again.
I must have been gone awhile by now. They will all be freaking out which makes me chuckle to myself.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY
I concentrate on what To’Kah said about opening up a portal. Lo and behold, I do it and fly straight through it and I land in my back garden to everyone yelling at each other over whose fault it was that I Shifted and flew off. As I’m noticed, everyone goes silent and remains rooted to the spot. I feel the Shift come over me slowly, molding me back into my human shape, and then I am standing in front of them naked and oddly, a bit chilly. I have disappeared many times before in my various forms and always when I come back, I am stifled with hugs and ‘where the fuck were you’s’ and ‘don’t do that again’s.’
This time, there is none of that. Just plain and simple awe of my Power and my true form. Now this is more like it. Lincoln is the only one who steps forward, grabbing a towel off a sun lounger and wrapping me up in it. Leading me away from everyone and into the house, he whispers, “That was awesome V.A. I think you proved your point.”
“I hope so,” I mutter back. “By the way, Dragon clarity is something else. We need a Pack, you and me. It’s time I stepped up to the plate with regard to you and our commitment to each other.”
His eyes light up at my words. “I thought you would never ask. I will get on it immediately.”
“And Linc. You need to seriously think about that thing you won’t discuss. I can’t give it to you, but that doesn’t mean you should be denied a chance to extend your own family,” I say it matter-of-factly and he growls at me.
“No. I told you I’m not interested.”
“Just think about it. Whether it be tomorrow or a hundred years from now, you will need to think about it,” I say it firmly and he reluctantly nods.
“Fine. I will think about it. But I know that the answer will still be no,” he says mutinously.
“That’s all I ask,” I say sweetly.
He rolls his eyes at me, his humor restored. “Man, you kicked up a right stink with your Vampire brood. Christ, I thought they were going to kill each other.”
“Hm, I’m sure,” I mutter. We are almost to my bedroom now and I stop to turn to him. “Thank you.”
“What for?”
“Not kicking up a stink. You are just perfect.” I brush his face with my fingers, and he glows.
He gives me a swift kiss on the lips. “Do you want me to run you a bath?”
“Please. The Shift makes me itchy.”
He chuckles and pulls me inside my bedroom and to the bathroom. “Where did you go?” he asks idly while filling up my massive tub.
“The Underworld. I inadvertently opened up a Portal. Who knew?” I shrug. So, it is a wee lie, but if I start mentioning other Dragons, everyone will get their knickers in a twist over it.
He lets out a loud guffaw at my expense but I’m not mad at him. “Oh, Liv. You still d
on’t realize your true potential. You are so precious.”
“As are you, my love,” I say back to him and he stills at my endearment. “There is no drama with you,” I mutter. “I like being with you. Sometimes you are the only one I can stand to be around.”
He turns to me but doesn’t say anything for a while. “Come, sit,” he says eventually. “Do you want to be alone?”
“You can stay.”
“I mean everybody else will be clamoring at the door any second now.”
I sigh and sink into the bubbles. “I suppose I can’t keep them out.” I duck under the water for a long time relaxing in the fragrant bubbles and come back up to everyone staring at me. No stranger to being seen nude, I literally do mean everyone is staring at me in this tub. From my lovers to Xane, Scott, Dawn, Cade, Nico, Sebastian, and Jess. This is just weird. I shift awkwardly and find comfort in moving the bubbles over my bits to cover up.
I hear Devon snicker and I glare at him. “What? Since when did it ever bother you to have people staring at you?”
“Since you are all standing there staring at me,” I snap. “Respect, people. That was the moral of this story.”
“Oh, we respect you. Don’t worry about that. Christ, Lizzie, that was impressive,” Devon says, as ever showing big support. I do love him so.
“Are you better now?” Cole asks me hesitantly, sitting on the edge of the bath.
“Yes, I’m fine. More than fine. Xane was correct in what he was trying to remind me of. I have been a weak-arsed fool with regard to my own wellbeing. I have been too busy concentrating on trying to fix and please everyone else that I haven’t been looking after myself. That ends now. I have commitments to each and every one of you, in some regard or another, and I will honor them, but I will no longer be running around worried about upsetting any of you.” I stand now and forget entirely about the naked situation. I smile at Lincoln as he again passes me a towel. “This is my show and I will run it my way. Any one of you that doesn’t like it can piss off,” I say forcefully, and I see several blanched faces as they know I mean it. “Except you,” I point to Jess and she goes a whiter shade of pale as I focus my icy gaze on her. “I am not letting you off that easily. Besides, I still need an assistant and perhaps I can continue to teach you, if you so wish. I have been itching to get back into ballet and this may be the perfect opportunity.”