The Witch's Dragon

by Melania Tolan

  “These were made by elves?” I couldn’t hide my shock.

  “Yes. They will be perfect for when you cross into Transpatia to retrieve Evelina’s sword.” Padrick opened the second leather pouch.

  “Wait, what? Her sword? You never mentioned anything about crossing into the Otherworld before.”

  He chuckled. “Did you ever wonder what the cross in the symbol on Eva’s grave meant?”

  The vision I had seen when I touched her grave, and the one I had witnessed in the underground tunnels of Curtea de Arges flashed before my mind. There had always been a sword. It wasn’t until this moment that I realized what all the elements of that symbol meant. I had just assumed it was Eva’s symbol—her signature. But no, just like with everything else, Eva had used it to hide a message for me.

  “The cross is the sword,” I realized. “The upside-down triangle is the chalice from which I drank and discovered my purpose. The ring of fire bursting outward from the center of the cross is my element.” I held one of my hands up, allowing a few sparks to dance across my palm. I glanced over at Argo and Storm. “But I don’t understand where they come in… or you, for that matter,” I said to the elf.

  Padrick pulled out a forest green tunic and black pants similar to mine. “The circle represents the dragon egg. However, Eva mentioned nothing about a cat, which is why I didn’t want you around her. She didn’t fit in the plan, and I mistakenly thought she would take you off course.”

  “And here I thought you were a stinky, obnoxious elf.” Storm chewed on the shrew’s tail.

  I snorted at my cat’s comment. Sometimes her inner monologue could be downright annoying, but most of the time, she cracked me up.

  “Yeah? And what did you think of me?” I asked as I smoothed out my tunic and tied the belt around my waist.

  “That you were the perfect human companion my kind could ever ask for.”

  “But I was a weak human back then.”

  Storm continued devouring her meal, never looking up at me. “I’m not talking about your physical state, but your spirit and mind. You showed me compassion and took me in without a second thought. Little did you know that I had come looking for you.”

  Today must be the day for revelations. “You came looking for me?”

  “Of course. Some of us have magic too, and we must look for the companion that matches our needs.”

  “Oh? And what were your needs?”

  Storm took a break from chewing and finally looked up at me. “Someone who would provide shelter and food, who I could repay with my need to balance energy and protect.”

  My jaw dropped. Storm had always had a gift for calming the spark I’d felt in my palms back when I was a human. She still did.

  “Thank you for finding and choosing me.”

  “Thank you for taking me. I will finish my dinner and take a nap.” She went back to eating.

  Argo had finished his lunch and laid down a few feet away from me, licking his front claws clean. Padrick had changed into his elven clothes and had the electrical box on his lap.

  “What is that thing?” I asked.

  “It may be our ticket off this island.” He flipped a couple of switches, and a series of lights flashed at the top of the box. “However, with Octavian’s army closing in on our location, this will do us zero good.” He flipped the switches again, and the lights went out.

  When he had returned the box to the trunk and closed the lid, he met my gaze. “They will come here, and they will want to take you. Do not surrender right away, but, unfortunately, you will go with them.”

  “Why not surrender right away then?”

  “You need to give them the illusion you’re giving in out of desperation, because you feel you have no choice.” He stood up and walked over to the remaining deer carcass. “For now, we hunker down. Let’s get a little fire going and tan this hide.”

  I gathered some fallen branches and snapped them into smaller pieces, while Padrick stacked the wood into a nice burn pile and then gave the go-ahead to light them up. I didn’t even have to think about Traian before sparks shot from my hands like a torch, lighting the wood into a blaze within seconds.

  Getting my fire going seemed easier and easier, but could I control it better next time I kissed Traian? Would I be able to make love to him again without blasting him into the next country? Would I even get another chance?

  The more I thought about it, the more visible the path before me became. Silence fell around me as my mind analyzed my next step. Too much time had gone by since I had last seen Traian, either physically or in spirit. Padrick had a good point. We needed to infiltrate my father’s compound, which meant Octavian’s scoundrels had to take me prisoner. I would play the game, let them believe they could capture me and block my powers.

  But what if they really can?

  Octavian had taken my blood and his army of black witches could brew a nasty potion that would weaken me. Then what?

  When I looked up from the fire, I found Padrick, Argo, and Storm staring at me intently—all standing less than a foot away.

  How did they get so close without me noticing?

  I saw Padrick’s mouth move, but I couldn’t hear him. He raised his hand and knocked on an invisible wall surrounding me.

  I hadn’t even realized I had erected a shield.

  Chapter 25

  I stood up and dropped the invisible barrier the next moment. “Sorry, I didn’t know I had done that. It wasn’t on purpose.”

  Padrick nodded approvingly. “You just might survive the darkness to come.”

  “You and your crazy little stunts. Although, I can sympathize.” Storm yawned and turned her back as she padded back to the rock she’d taken residence on. “You should teach me how to do that sometime.”

  The thought of teaching a cat, especially her, seemed preposterous.

  “Your power frightens me sometime.” Argo nudged my neck with his nose.

  “Didn’t mean to.”

  “I know. But I’m glad you can protect yourself.”

  I scratched under his neck. “What about you? How can you protect yourself?”

  Argo stepped back and gave me the biggest dragon smile.

  “Don’t you dare blast me with fire,” I warned and backed up.

  “Who said anything about fire?”

  The next moment. he completely vanished.

  Padrick’s eyes widened. Even Storm turned her head in the direction where Argo had been a second before.

  I stared at the empty spot in disbelief. “What just happened?”

  Pop!

  Argo stood next to me. “Pretty… what’s the word you use?...‘cool’, huh?”

  “How did you do that?” I patted the top of his head to make sure it really was him and not some figment of my imagination.

  Padrick looked at me expectantly.

  “What?” I raised my shoulders.

  “How did he do that?” he asked.

  “Can’t you hear his thoughts?”

  “Not unless you open your mind.”

  “But you could hear him before, Storm too.”

  “That is when you had your mind wide open.” Padrick waved toward Storm. “I could hear both of them. But since we arrived here and started training in mental blocking, you’ve closed your mind, which is a good thing.”

  “But you can still…” I closed my mouth and focused the rest of the sentence into a thought. “Talk to me.”

  “Yes. But that is because you’ve opened a communication channel, not because I can read your thoughts.” He nodded and smiled. “This is good. Very good.”

  I turned back to Argo. “You still haven’t answered my question.”

  The dragon gave the side of his belly a scratch with one of his hind legs. “Easy.” He disappeared again for two seconds and popped back, still scratching away. “I wish to not be seen, and my scales blend in with the surroundings.”

  “Do it again.”

  He vanished once more, bu
t this time, I reached forward until I touched one of the spikes on his head, yet I couldn’t see it. This must be how it felt when I had my barrier up—there was something solid, but they couldn’t see through it.

  “So cool.” I found the side of his face.

  Argo materialized before me. “It’s a handy trick. My mother and father passed this gift to me.”

  “They could disappear too?”

  “No, their combined magic created this ability in me.”

  Dragons continued to fascinate me with each passing day. For a moment, I had an oh-my-god-I-have-a-dragon burst of excitement. How my boring little life in Seattle had changed in the last three months. I had mated with a vampire, gained an elf for a best friend, found a dragon and cat for companions, I could talk to creatures using my thoughts, and I had the ability to use some of the elements to protect myself. If only my mother and sister could see me now.

  I mean my sister and niece. Oh, who am I kidding?

  Gloria would always be my mother. She raised me, nursed me back to health after every surgery, and protected me like a mama bear. Stella was my sister, even though she hated me.

  Does she still hate me? I hadn’t thought about the hurtful words she’d said at my funeral for a while now, but they still stung.

  A hot nose sniffing my face brought me back into the forest of Drage øy.

  “You need to rest while you can.”

  I turned to my dragon and leaned my head against his. He was right. I needed to get as much rest as I could before the storm hit.

  “Okay.”

  I pulled the hood of my tunic over my head and curled up next to him by the fire. Argo wrapped his wing around me in a warm cocoon.

  My thoughts immediately went to Traian. I would see him soon, but what state would I find him in?

  Chapter 26

  “I’m not swallowing a stone.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I might differ from most strigoi, but I’m not ready to test my stomach’s ability to hold down anything other than blood.”

  “I’m telling you it’s completely safe.” Padrick held his palm out. On it were two white stones he’d pulled out of his special pouch where he kept magic potions, crystals, and other elvish things. “I need to be able to track you once they take you.”

  He’d explained several times the purpose of the milk quartz. The stone only grew in Gia Temple in Transpatia. It grew in pairs, and when harvested, the priestess separated and blessed the two. If someone swallowed one of the stones, an elf could always find it with the second one and intuitive vision. An elf had to possess the other stone for the process to work.

  Padrick had told me all this, but I had my doubts.

  “Okay, let’s say I can keep it in. Don’t you think one of Octavian’s witch bitches could find it?” I waved a hand around my abdomen. “And what do you think they will do to take it out?”

  “They won’t. This is elven magic. No one can find it except me.”

  “Ugh… I don’t like it.”

  “Take one of the damn stones.” He shoved his hand at me. “We’re running out of time.”

  Before I could do anything, a massive explosion rocked the island, knocking us to our knees.

  Argo roared, letting out a long tongue of fire that singed a black band across the green grass in the stone circle we’d taken refuge in for the last thirty-six hours. Storm, who had been curled up on the flat rock, jumped down into a crouch, hissing.

  The surrounding trees cracked and snapped as the ground rumbled violently.

  Padrick had closed his palm just in time to keep the stones from falling.

  “They’re here,” he said.

  A second blast send an avalanche of snow and rocks tumbling down the mountain. Then came another explosion. And another.

  All of us were being thrown around like little toys made of cheap plastic. The only thing that didn’t move was the stone circle. Each megalith stood tall and unmoving.

  I crawled over to Storm and pull her under me. “I got you, baby.” I held her to my chest. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  Argo kept spitting fire with each blast we felt. He gripped the ground with the talons on his feet and the tips of his wings.

  “I will tear those imbeciles into shreds for destroying this beautiful place!” He roared loudly. “I will kill them and feed them to the sharks.”

  “Your time will come, dragon. Right now, you must keep calm,” Padrick told him.

  We rode the waves of blasts. Rock rained all around us outside the circle, but we were protected. Eventually, the shaking stopped. An eerie silence filled the air as the dust settled. No one uttered a word, out loud or mentally, and I dared not move. All of us stood frozen in place, wondering what would come next.

  We didn’t have to wait long.

  Hisssssssssssssss

  I scanned our surroundings with my witch’s eye to determine where the noise was coming from. It came from everywhere. I could hear it in my mind and with my ears.

  Padrick caught my witch’s gaze. I quickly raised an invisible wall around us. I didn’t know why I hadn’t done that earlier.

  “We’re being attacked telepathically.” Padrick sighed as soon as I sealed us in my tiny mental cocoon. “They’re looking for you.”

  “Do you think they know about Argo?” I glanced at my dragon.

  “It doesn’t matter.” The elf shook his head as he slowly steadied himself into a crouch. He held out his hand, opening his fist to reveal the two white stones. “For the love of all things sacred, please take the damn stone.”

  At this point, I didn’t feel like I had much choice. I needed to reveal myself to our enemy before they obliterated the entire island.

  My heart ached at the loss of wildlife that had already resulted from this attack. Their deaths served no purpose.

  “Fuck this,” I muttered and tossed the stone back as if it were an aspirin.

  I waited for my gut to clench and my gag reflex to kick in, but nothing happened. It was like my body had absorbed the tiny rock just as easily as if it had been blood.

  Does this mean I might eat normal food too? I shook the thought away because there was no time.

  A hot nose tickled the back of my neck. I turned to find Argo standing right behind me… I hadn’t even heard him move this close. His sad eyes stared at me.

  “We must say goodbye. I don’t want you to leave, but if I don’t let you go, we will all die here.” He stepped forward and wrapped his front legs around my shoulders. “I will come for you. We will get you and your mate out. I promise this much.”

  “I know you will.” I let myself be pulled into his embrace and pressed my cheek against his warm neck. “I hate leaving you too. Perfect your flying. Take care of Storm. And listen to Padrick.”

  “I will.”

  My body shook as the gravity of what I was about to do settled in. Weeks had passed since we arrived on the island. Despite all my training, I was no more ready to face my doom now than I had been the first day I stepped on the island’s icy shores.

  Argo held me tighter. His wings wrapped around me. I wasn’t ready to let him go—not yet. Never. This world of magic had taken away everyone I loved in my human life, but it had brought me the most wonderful creatures. That made leaving them now even harder.

  I gave Argo one more squeeze and loosened my embrace. He pulled back and met my gaze for a moment before we leaned in, touching forehead to forehead.

  “We won’t fail you, and when I see you again, I’ll be strong enough to carry you.”

  I nodded and kissed the soft, warm spot between his nostrils. “See you soon, friend.”

  Padrick had been pacing awkwardly in the small space I’d confined us in. Now he threw his arms around me.

  “I hate this,” he mumbled against the top of my head. “You’re so young and new to everything. I feel like I haven’t taught you enough.”

  “You have.” I pressed my cheek against his solid chest. The sound of h
is elvish heart in a rhythm of three thumps always calmed my anxiety. “I hope your stone works and doesn’t get me or Traian killed.”

  “He won’t kill you. Not yet, at least. You’re too valuable to his agenda.”

  Agenda? What is my father’s plan? I’d never given much thought to what he had schemed. Sure, he wanted my powers, but he couldn’t steal them from me, could he?

  I pulled back to look up into Padrick’s eyes. “Can Octavian do magic?”

  “No, but his witches can.”

  “Can they take away my powers?”

  Padrick sighed. “Temporarily, yes, but not for long. You are a strigoi and can regenerate. They would have to drain you of your blood first, so you couldn’t do so quickly.”

  I shuddered at the thought and then saw the memory of Traian laying naked on a silver table, being bled slowly and painfully, silver knives and needles holding his veins open that would otherwise have closed in seconds. Would Octavian do that to his only daughter?

  Probably. I shook my head. “What is his plan then? What is he after?”

  Padrick rested his hands on my shoulders. “No one really knows. He’s obsessed with immortality. He also hates anything alien or Atlantis related.”

  “Why? He didn’t seem to mind using their technology.” I recalled the screens on the chopper used to transport me from Romania to Africa.

  The ground shook silently underneath us, as my barrier had blocked out any sound. Our time was up.

  “I’d better go.” I gave Padrick one more hug. “Find me before it’s too late.”

  I pulled off my tunic and unlaced the boots.

  “What are you doing?” His blond brows scrunched together.

  “I’m not letting these fall into the wrong hands.” I dropped the leather leggings into the pile of clothing at my feet. “We’ll need them when we go to Transpatia, right?”

  Padrick nodded. “Good thinking.”

  I stepped to the edge, preparing to do something I hadn’t done before—open my barrier so I could exit and then close it again to protect my companions while I made my way to the beach.