“Oh,” she said, trying to keep her giddiness contained.
“Put it on,” Raphael told her, his eyes moving up to her neck.
“She’s already accepted my claim prior,” Daemon said.
“She’s ours,” George said more bluntly, putting a hand on her shoulder to pull her behind him.
Raphael frowned at them both, like they had used the wrong fork at a formal dinner.
There was some etiquette or rule they were breaking.
“Vampire claims and marks are meaningless in Dragos. There may still be some lingering outcasts who believe any female they find is theirs to keep. A dragon torq is a strong message that Elizabeth is under my protection, which is proper, when she is the one who removed it and will fly on my back,” Raphael explained. “Besides, you know that I have a gaisa,” he reminded them.
“Wait until he explains the torq thing to Tor. She’ll want to make it water-cored and use it for weapons practice the first chance she gets,” Elizabeth predicted, twisting the metal open and placing it around her own neck.
She didn’t really see why it was such a big deal, but nothing was getting in the way of her flying on top of a dragon.
George turned around and drew her against him, biting her neck above the torq and taking a quick draw.
“Don’t trust that flying snake when we’re not around,” he whispered into her ear.
The feel of strong magic exploded behind her as Raphael transformed.
She elbowed George in her haste to get around him and see, muttering, “Technically, he’s a flying lizard. Arms and legs.”
The dark grey scales of Raphael’s hide didn’t gleam, looking dull, like he’d rolled on the ground and built up a good coat of dust. It was nothing like Pan’s shining mercury form.
She’d already experienced first hand how easily Raphael could sneak up in the dark, not reflecting a single ray of light, and gliding on his huge wings to soundlessly approach.
He was the biggest, scariest monster she’d come across in Maeren. She was going to ride on his back!
She clapped her hands and ordered the other two to hurry up as Raphael kneeled for them.
“George will go first,” Daemon said, pulling her back before she could clamber aboard.
“Spoilsport,” she whined.
“Keep it up and George will have the excuse that he’s looking for to use the strapping circle again,” Daemon whispered into her ear.
Raphael’s big head swung in her direction.
Maybe he had extra-sensitive hearing in his familiar form. She stuck her tongue out at him while Daemon was busy looking for a handhold for her to mount.
The metal of the torq wrapped around her neck heated, not burning, but making her skin feel sweaty.
She gave Raphael a harder look.
It appeared the torq had more than one purpose, like claiming tattoos.
“Give me your foot and I’ll help you up,” Daemon said, crouching down.
She placed her booted foot in his hands and let him boost her onto Raphael’s back.
George reached over to help haul her on board.
“I want you to hang onto Raphael’s sides instead of George,” Daemon told her as he climbed up behind her. “It should make connecting with Raphael’s mind easier in his familiar form if you’re touching as much of him as possible. George and I can keep you from losing your seat.”
She reached down and stroked Raphael’s sides, trying to send out the thought to ask his permission to hold onto him.
She immediately hit his animal mind, as strange to her as dragon minds always were to touch, but giving a mental push, she managed to get deeper.
It was like driving through the eye of a storm and hitting sudden calmness, when moments ago, everything was booming and pouring down.
"Hello, Elizabeth."
"Hi, Raphael. Can I hold on to your sides why we fly?"
"I won’t let you fall, but your touch is acceptable if it makes you feel better. I’ve never known an air-witch afraid of heights."
"It’s not fear. My lightning has difficulty connecting with your thoughts when you’re in familiar form. Daemon thought touching might help."
"Close your eyes."
Raphael rose underneath them, taking off running, like their weight was nothing to carry on his back.
As he gathered speed, his wings flapped, and they gained height.
"Daemon told me your power lets you look through my eyes. See what it looks like to really fly, little air-witch."
"I’m petite, not little, although I can see how your tonnage might make you think differently."
She accepted his invitation, peeking through his eyes.
The mountain they were flying off of wasn’t the highest peak, but it was the centre of a ring of valleys and peaks, surrounding them with glorious views in all directions.
Raphael’s dragon vision gave her an eagle-eye, bringing out the details of fawns drinking in the stream and the wildflowers clinging to the rock cliffs.
"Oh, wow. Tor is going to love this."
"Not what she said on the last flight I took her."
"You kidnapped her."
"It was a surprise trip."
"Are you joking? You terrorized her by breathing fire around when she was standing on a very flammable wooden structure, and then, you got into a fight with her big brother, all before you forced her on your vacation back to hell."
"Hell?"
"There are demons and bloodsuckers in Maeren. I consider it hell."
"You’re a witch."
"I’m a slayer."
"A what?"
"I dust bad vampires and demons with a stake to the chest—who are trespassing in the human realm—so they are ripped back to hell. It’s like my calling."
"Is that what you were doing with the demons I saw surrounding my gaisa when I found her? Geer did mention something—”
"I would have staked all of those demons in the park if you hadn’t attempted to kill me."
"I didn’t see you."
"Sure, whatever."
"You are very small, and I was busy looking at my gaisa and the danger surrounding her."
"So, I really was collateral damage?"
"I regret it. My behaviour that day was—”
"You don’t have to think it. I already know and I forgive you, honestly. We need to work together for Maeren and holding grudges isn’t going to help any of us."
"You really think my gaisa will enjoy another flight, under different circumstances?"
"Absolutely."
Elizabeth dropped her connection to Raphael, letting him focus on finding their destination.
She blinked her eyes open, seeing mostly George’s broad back, although the sky flying by and the sound of wings flapping made it obvious they were still airborne.
She turned her head to look to the side very carefully, well aware that the advice ‘look where you’re going’ still applied, even when you weren’t doing the driving.
She didn’t need her weight to overbalance on one side and send her tipping her perch on Raphael’s back.
"Isn’t it amazing, George?" she asked.
"It’s spectacular."
George sounded as awed as she felt.
He normally was a bit more stoic, at least on the outside, but sharing his thoughts, she was suddenly in the shoes of an earth-prince whose feet had never left the ground.
There wasn’t an ounce of fear in George, soaring with excitement as he viewed the world from a new perspective.
A sense of pride filled him as he looked over at his land in the Wastes and noted defences, he had long ago set up.
She hadn’t noticed them earlier when they had been walking the land, cleverly hidden.
She dropped out of his mind even though she was curious why he thought he needed defences in the middle of nowhere.
Privacy between all three of them was going to be important to respect, if they were going to be sticking together for a
while.
She switched her telepathic connection to Daemon.
"So, how is the view from back there?" she asked.
"I have the greatest temptation to jump off and try to fly beside Raphael. I’ve only used air for offence or defence before, never to fly purely for the pleasure of it."
"Perhaps dragons sometimes fly just like we take a Sunday drive, er, ride."
"A pleasure hack on horseback would likely be more enjoyable than another trip in the car with your mother."
"She is the safest, most cautious driver out of all three of us."
"That was before she found out you were attacked by demons and Jill couldn’t reach you."
"Oh."
"You might want to work on a better response before you see your mother again."
She dropped out of Daemon’s mind, not for his privacy, but because she didn’t need to know how mad her mother was at her for breaking the rules until later, much later.
All of their minds remained connected, even Raphael’s familiar mind, but she wasn’t reading any active thoughts.
Daemon and George were probably keeping their connection shallow as well, saving up their magic for familiar calling.
Raphael’s flight got a bit choppier as he started swooping down, his wings flapping back with more resistance to slow their landing.
She held onto Raphael’s hide a little tighter.
She hadn’t lied. She had no problems with heights, but crashing was a concern.
Raphael’s laughter broke the familiar barrier on his mind. His landing evened out, although Daemon had grabbed her hips, pulling her against him.
They all slipped off of Raphael’s back together, George immediately leaving them to scope the perimeter.
She kept one hand on Raphael, so they could talk.
"You can tell your earth-vampire that I already checked for any danger before landing."
"If the situation was reversed and George led you into caves, would you take his word for your safety, or would you guarantee it by checking for danger yourself?"
"Point taken. You can let go of me. I believe the torq will give us the ability to communicate, too."
"It didn’t earlier."
"Did you try earlier?"
"Well, not really."
"Then try."
She dropped her hand.
The mental connection between them seemed to waver, going in and out, like a radio station out of tune.
As she focused, remembering the path her mind had taken to connect, Raphael’s thoughts became clearer again.
"Elizabeth to Raphael. Does this work?"
"Yes. Your lightning telepathy is impressive. I’ve heard of some mated-pairs able to talk telepathically without lightning, but it is all hearsay. Have you heard of it between other, non-mated elementals?”
"When I was growing up, I honestly thought I was the only one in the world that could hear the thoughts of others."
"It is a rare gift that you have. Thoughts between mates are not the same as hearing the thoughts of everyone."
"I’m not sure it’s a gift, really. Did Daemon explain to you about my familiar?"
"A lightning type of familiar."
"A demon fox made out of lightning that eats vampires as snacks. Also, I can’t control her yet."
"Her?"
"Rai. She could be really useful, if I learned to stop her from eating the good guys. Uh, not that she ate any good guys, yet. Those vampires were going to suck our blood and I’m pretty sure they planned to drain the bottles."
"All of you were very lucky. I saw the killing field that you escaped."
"It wasn’t luck. It was magic."
Raphael huffed at her and circled around, curling his scaly tale as he plopped himself down on the ground to rest. Their guard dragon was napping.
Did he think she wouldn’t be able to pull out her familiar again or did he really trust the other two to keep Rai contained?
“Are you ready?” George asked.
He was back, already drawing out a circle. He didn’t even bother to look up at her for her response, preoccupied with adding the glyphs.
“I thought I was doing this outside of an amplifying circle this time?” she asked, confused.
“You are going to be outside of the circle,” Daemon answered. “The circle is a failsafe.”
Wait. What?
“You’re preparing for me to fail, you mean?” she asked, trying to keep the hurt out of her voice.
Compared to them, she was a toddler learning magic.
Still, did nobody believe she could do this?
"Your males want to keep you safe. It would be foolish to risk you needlessly. Would you throw a child in the deep end to learn to swim?"
She gave Raphael her back, ignoring him.
First Daemon tells her she’s bound to screw this up, and now Raphael reinforces that they thought her a child.
"You are being childish, sweetheart."
Daemon just threw gas on the fire with his chiding remark.
“Why don’t you and George lock yourselves in a circle before I start?” she asked with disgust, waving her hands towards the circle.
They didn’t respond.
“Who knows if I might hit someone with a stray bolt of lightning? My weak, female body may not be able to handle the strain of so much power,” she ranted, stomping over to George and yanking the fire-marked dagger from his hip sheath.
That got a reaction. A stone hard grip on her wrist stopped her from getting away with her theft.
“Let go,” she muttered, her voice hardened to hide her hurt.
"Elizabeth, you know we have a guest with us and yet you are pushing."
George’s mental rebuke slapped at her. She glared at his deep blues and dared him to do something about it.
She’d rather be angry than hurt.
“Give George back his dagger. We need to finish the preparation, and then, I’ll explain how you’ll call your familiar outside of a circle,” Daemon said, calmly walking up behind her.
He put a hand on her shoulder, not squeezing or pushing her to act. It was simply a reassuring warmth and weight, reminding her that she didn’t have to do this alone.
She took a deep breath in and out, closing her eyes.
There was nothing to be embarrassed about with their preparations.
That these overprotective, warrior trained males were the ones to approach her about learning to use her familiar, spoke of their respect for her power.
She was sure their first instinct was to lock her away to keep her safe, but they knew she had grown up in the human realm and had trained in her own way to fight.
They were providing her the opportunity to join them in a dangerous battle. Her own pride couldn’t be allowed to stand in the way.
She handed the dagger back to George, handle down.
“I’m sorry,” she said, loud enough for Raphael to hear.
George took the dagger for a moment and then offered it back to her.
“Do you always talk sense into yourself? That’s a useful skill I would love to teach the Dogs,” he told her, revealing that he had been in her head.
She made a little snorting sound, trying to cover up a laugh.
“How do you think I got so good at figuring out my weaknesses? I made a lot of mistakes growing up. Perhaps experience is a better teacher. It’s at least easier than trying to teach self reflection to a male adolescent.”
"But nowhere as much fun as correcting your mistakes in the strapping circle, kerashemeria."
She shot George another dirty look, picking up the mischief in his blues this time.
He would have let her have her temper tantrum, giving her the fight she’d been looking for, if she had insisted, instead of talking herself down.
George also would have used it as the excuse—Daemon had said that he’d been looking for—to try out his birch.
"Can you please stop thinking about your threesome so loudly while I�
��m trying to nap? With the way you screamed last day, half the dragons were betting you were introduced to the strapping circle, but that definitely isn’t how it is intended to be used."
The torq around her neck heated again, firing a blush to her cheeks.
Raphael could get into her head with this connection as easily as she could into his mind.
While she had been ready for it from Daemon and George, she found herself nonplussed to have her private thoughts open to another male with which she wasn’t intimate.
"Why don’t you sleep somewhere less noisy, Raphael? Less distractions right now would be better,” she suggested.
He blew a little smoke from his snout, but didn’t move an inch.
Fine, he was going to play guard.
Daemon startled her as he reached over her shoulder for her hand holding the dagger.
She gripped the dagger hard in surprise and then loosened her hand as he tapped her closed fingers and demanded she open them.
Thumbing the glyphs carved into the handle displayed on her palm, he asked, “Do you feel the power?”
“Not really,” she admitted, closing her fingers around the metal handle of the dagger again.
Sometimes, she could feel the warmth of fire magic, but it didn’t really call to her power.
“I also use fire-modified weapons to call my familiar, although it takes an extra effort to push through fire to lightning. We could try modifying the weapon solely for lightning, although it might interfere with how it works,” Daemon said, his pensive voice trailing off. “Do you want to try it, as is, first?”
“Sure,” she said, shrugging.
She swung the dagger in a half circle.
George jumped back, like she was waving a blow torch around.
Daemon grabbed wildly for her hand.
“Wait for us to get a safe distance, sweetheart,” Daemon gently chided. “You are about to pull out a very high level familiar with an appetite for destruction and no leash.”
“Maybe the two of you should stand in the circle and Raphael should stay somewhere behind us,” she said, her voice shaking a little as she realized the others were nervous. It didn’t garner confidence. “I’ll stand in front of you and point in the opposite direction,” she suggested.
Witch Darkness Follows (Maeren Series Book 3) Page 41