The Lost Siren: Rise of the Drakens Book 1

by Raven Storm

  “Wren!”

  I nearly cried in relief as Kieran and Ronan landed on either side of me, their wings flared high. They were already covered in blood and ashes, their eyes alight with the sheen of battle.

  Kieran sniffed the air around me, his eyes going wide, and lifting my hair away from the base of my neck.

  “What is that?”

  I should have known that either Kieran or Ronan would find the large fang marks sooner or later.

  “We have bigger issues at the moment,” I warned, pulling away from him. He snarled.

  “Unhealed fang marks could kill you, and because he’s the first mate he’s the only one who can heal them.”

  Lovely.

  “It’s fine, Kieran. I’m a big girl.”

  All of us ducked as a vampyre flew overhead, a draken struggling in his grip.

  “Come on!”

  We fought our way through the horde, the demons easy to kill but difficult to fight when there were so many. The vampyres were more difficult, faster and stronger than a draken, and thirsty for blood. I charged straight for D’Arcy.

  “Wren, wait!”

  I wouldn’t. I cut my way through the demons like a woman possessed, hacking and screaming. A vampyre dropped in front of me, his red eyes hungry as his veins glowed with draken blood. I stabbed him in the heart, watching in satisfaction as he disintegrated on the spot. His friend was not so slow and caught me on the shoulder as I whirled with the small dagger. I spun and struck out at him, not expecting to garner much damage. He clutched the small wound on his arm in pain, howling like I had amputated him. In astonishment, I watched as he burned away from his arm up, until he was nothing left but a pile of ashes. Kieran and the others caught up to me, while Ronan grinned like a lunatic.

  “Demon bone blade; told you it would come in handy!”

  I rolled my eyes and continued towards the middle, my eyes never leaving the head of blonde hair that spun neatly, looking for Sabien in the crowd. It gave me an idea.

  “Sabien! Give out a distress call! As a blood relation Benedict will hear you! He’ll come!”

  Sabien nodded, but Ronan held an arm out. “D’Arcy will know where you are! He’ll have every demon here converge on the spot and kill you!”

  I gripped my daggers, not knowing what to say. Ronan was right. I couldn’t ask anyone to willingly die for me or anyone else. Sabien looked around as drakens blood seeped into the rock, and then he looked back to us, his eyes afraid. He put an arm on Kieran’s shoulder, and something unspoken passed between them.

  “Make it count,” Sabien ordered.

  Kieran closed his eyes in sorrow, then opened them again with a determined glint. “Get ready to defend Sabien; he needs to stay alive until Benedict gets here.”

  I didn’t have time to react, say goodbye, or even express how awed I was at how easily someone could just decide to sacrifice himself for someone else. Sabien exhaled, then let out the most terrifying, soul-wrenching scream I’d heard in my life. The enemy paused, then as one ignored the drakens they were battling and turned their eyes on us. I put both daggers in my right hand and flipped my short sword to my left. We formed a tight circle around Sabien and braced ourselves. Kieran and Ronan both shot me looks that held more emotion than any kiss we’d ever shared. I looked up as D’Arcy’s eyes found us and the pathetic protection we had set up. I closed my eyes and felt Benedict’s enraged growl rumbling in my consciousness. I opened them and licked my lips.

  The demon hordes attacked.

  It was chaos and pain as they fell upon us, claws and teeth scrabbling to get close to Sabien. The other drakens roared as they realized why they were suddenly left alone, and they jumped to attack the fleeing backs of hordes. My heart caught as they fought through the horde to get to us, their own wounds dripping dark blood as they roared and slashed instead of fleeing and saving themselves.

  “He’s close!” Sabien yelled, his eyes wide with terror. The vampyres clustered together and attacked us as they pushed the smaller demons ahead first, who pushed and climbed over each, forming a seething mass of claws and teeth that tried to consume us like a tidal wave. I couldn’t feel my arms from the constant hacking and slashing, but I didn’t stop. Kieran and Ronan whirled with the precise efficiency born of years fighting together, but it wouldn’t be enough.

  Sabien shouted as a vampyre got a hold of his ankle, and yanked him from our circle of protection, right under our feet. I threw myself on top of him, stopping his progress. The vampyre grabbed me by the throat and pulled me to his face, his red eyes boring into mine. He licked a drop of blood that dripped from my forehead, and he turned towards D’Arcy, a shocked expression on his face.

  “SHE—"

  His head disappeared, rolling off to the side as a sword sliced cleanly through it. I shoved his body off me, and Kieran gave me a nod and turned, stabbing two more vampyres as they crawled towards us. I looked around in awe and terror at the chaos, but my heart sank. It was easy to see the demons had brought superior numbers, and despite the close quarters, drakens didn’t fight their best on the ground. Magick began to spark in the air, hot and heavy. All action stopped as D’Arcy simultaneously froze the closest ten vampyres around him, their bodies dropping in a heap. A dozen demon imps crawled to the bodies, their hands punching straight into their chest cavities and pulling out their undead, yet still beating hearts. Their faces were frozen in a rictus of tortured pain.

  “HE’S WEAVING A SPELL! WE CAN’T WAIT FOR BENEDICT!”

  Sabien stood slowly, getting his feet under him. He held his hand out, and I mutely gave him one of my daggers. They had seen me safely through all my trials here so far, gifted by the first people to show me any kindness in life. I prayed they would see him through this. Sabien stood facing D’Arcy, who glowed white as the thick magick surrounded him and the bodies. Screams rent the air, and I couldn’t tell if it came from the demons or the drakens, or all of us. Sabien trembled, tears running down his face. Kieran leaned into his ear and whispered something. Sabien whipped around to face me, smiling as he began to make several shallow cuts along his body with a suddenly steady hand: one at each wrist, and two on his neck. He closed his eyes and started chanting as the cavern was plunged into darkness, the only light source coming from D’Arcy.

  There was a mighty rumble and then suddenly the side of the arena was blown open, exposing us to the elements. Benedict stood in the rubble, fury and blood in his eyes as the storm outside raged around him. Rain pelted his body to mix with the blood that snaked down his chest, his sacrifice for blowing up the side of the mountain. I took my chance while everyone was staring at him in awe. I ran straight at D’Arcy, my sword held high.

  “SABIEN! NO!”

  The weight of Benedict’s command sent every draken to their knees, but Sabien was too far into starting the spell; too determined to listen. The cuts he made bled freely, trailing on the ground to form intricate patterns that glowed. He opened his eyes to reveal they’d gone pitch black, and then ritualistically positioned my dagger under his chin.

  “This is my choice. Respect it.”

  He thrust the dagger up with all his strength as I struck, hurling my sword at D’Arcy’s neck with all the remaining energy I had. Several things happened at once.

  Sabien’s black sacrifice roared through the mountain, striking down anything that wasn’t me or a draken. The demon hordes fell to the ground twitching, then disintegrating into ash. The mountain groaned and sealed the large cracks, and the vampyres were left writhing on the ground, easily dispatched by nearby drakens. My sword sang through the air, but D’Arcy blocked it, cutting off his spell to defend himself. Benedict was at my side an instant later, and then the fight truly began. D’Arcy knew he wasn’t a match physically against Benedict, and I was a minor irritant at best. White hot magick sparked at his fingertips, flying to hold off the raging draken king. Tears fell down Benedict’s face, his grief and rage a tangible force that whirled around him.

&
nbsp; “Why D’Arcy?” Benedict grunted, striking over and over at the erected shield D’Arcy put over himself.

  “I would have been king centuries ago if you had just gone on that raid with everyone else like you were supposed to! The draken race would have joined forces with the Overlord, and there wouldn’t have been an eruption! We are an extinct race because of you!”

  D’Arcy lashed out at me, but I ducked, dodging his claws. My body ached from the stress of fighting, and I wavered. The other drakens were almost here, almost within range of hearing D’Arcy’s traitorous acts from his own poisonous lips...

  “You’re all so blind! To think a human could be a spy!”

  I saw my chance to literally put D’Arcy off balance and took it. I leapt, surprise breaking across D’Arcy’s face as my weak, human body easily passed through his shield, not even considered a threat. I wrapped my arms around his legs and just hung on. It was all I had strength to do.

  “GET OFF!”

  D’Arcy teetered, off-balance with me dragging him down. Benedict took the opening as the shield fell and slashed his brother across the chest, causing D’Arcy to roar in pain. I managed to unsheathe my remaining dagger and stabbed it down in his foot as hard as I could, pinning his foot to the ground underneath. Then D’Arcy was attacking me, spitting in rage as I felt claws and teeth pummel my body. Instead of trying to get away I latched on, holding him down and rendering him unable to defend himself despite the abuse to my body. Benedict hesitated, so I decided for him. Using my short sword, I stabbed D’Arcy again in the thigh, finally bringing him to the ground. Kieran was suddenly next to me, not hesitating as he opened D’Arcy’s throat and spilled his blood all over the rocks. The white magick on his fingertips fizzled and died. His body tried to heal itself, then fizzled out.

  “Part of Sabien’s sacrifice; no one who intends to do our people harm will survive.”

  We stood as a sad group as we watched D’Arcy die, sneering and goading us even as he bled out.

  “The Overlord will come again with more, and he will hunt down every last one of you until our race is wiped from the planet. You should have—" He choked on his own blood, but none of us moved a muscle, “—just died. We’d be on Lyoness right now. My mate would be alive. You did this Benedict.” He gave a final cough and went still.

  I turned to Benedict to tell him it wasn’t true; none of this could possibly be his fault. He heard D’Arcy’s confession himself, surely, he wouldn’t believe his poisonous lies!

  Benedict was already gone and across the pit, kneeling over Sabien’s body. He gently lifted his cousin’s head into his lap, stroking his blonde hair away from his face. Every draken left standing kneeled, their claws held up with palms facing out. It would have made me feel better if Benedict had cried or screamed or did anything to outwardly express his grief. Instead, he sat there cradling Sabien, silent and unmoving as stone. Gelf stood next to Benedict with Pirth and Wyrren, covered in blood but mostly uninjured.

  “It should have been us. We have lived long enough.”

  I felt his regret in my soul. My legs swayed, and pain in my neck raced throughout my whole body. Kieran glanced at me and put one hand respectfully on Benedict’s arm.

  “My king, please—"

  Benedict shook him off violently, which was at odds with the gentle way he laid Sabien’s body back down. He stood and faced me, and I would have been terrified at the anger radiating from him if I hadn’t already been so consumed by pain.

  “Benedict, no, she is not our enemy!”

  He grabbed me by the hair and yanked me up, and it was hard to tell which pain was worse; that or the rest of my body. I hung there, unable to fight him. I understood his pain; understod what I represented: the one who had taken everything from him. The other drakens began to speak up, incredulous at his treatment of me.

  “She fought with us—"

  “Bled for us—"

  “Kept us together in time for you to come!”

  “The black magick would have killed her if she were a traitor!”

  “Sabien trusted her. You aren’t going to let his death mean nothing, are you?”

  Gelf was the last to speak, the three elder drakens the only ones who dared to reproach their king. Benedict slowly released me when it became obvious he was about to have a mutiny on his hands. I crumpled to the ground and Kieran caught me, saving my head from meeting a large rock. He pulled his hand back, wincing at the amount of blood pouring from the back of my neck.

  “Heal the fang marks, Benedict.”

  The king of the drakens was already storming off, and Kieran chased after him, leaving me on the ground to Ronan’s gentle hands. Gelf blocked Benedict’s path, his face so ferocious looking that Benedict paused.

  “Heal the fang marks, or I will challenge you.”

  Benedict laughed, an ugly sound that echoed loudly off the stone walls.

  “And if you defeat him, I will be next.” Wyrren’s large hand landed on Gelf’s shoulder.

  “And then me,” Pirth added. Benedict stopped laughing, his face ugly.

  “And then us.” Kieran and Ronan both stepped in front of me, and then as one every draken rose to their feet, clasping shoulders.

  “And me.”

  “And us!”

  “My whole family would be dead without her. Fight us if you have to.”

  Benedict backed away, his pride warring with his sense of duty. I knew he wouldn’t do anything that hurt his people, and so did Gelf. Benedict backed down, and roughly grabbed me.

  “I do this only for my people.”

  He bit down again into the back of my neck, and I shrieked in agony.

  SEVENTEEN

  I awoke abruptly, gasping. Benedict hovered over me, the smell of blood and death in the air. I tried to sit up, but his hands pushed me down. My neck at least felt better, but the rest of my body felt like it had been dropped off the edge of the mountain. His face lingered by my ear, his voice a deadly hiss.

  “You’ve taken everything from me; my uncle, my cousin, my brother, my people, and my hope.”

  His hand squeezed my neck, his fangs promising murder.

  “‘I know," I admitted weakly, unable to stop him as he grabbed my short sword from where it lay at my side.

  “I should have known this would happen. I can’t believe I ever cared about you.” My heart froze, elation clashing with utter despair as his eyes filled with such hatred. I didn’t care: if there had been a moment at some time where he had cared for me, it would make all of it worth it.

  “You’ve disrupted everything. For over six hundred years I’ve ruled my people, and at first glance you nearly send me to my knees with your eyes, your scent. I was disgusted with myself. I still am.”

  I writhed against him, but his hand across my neck squeezed lightly in warning.

  “Then I tasted your blood, and I knew I was in trouble. I obsessed about it, I got in fights with the others, for no reason, and every thought I had was just another scheme on how to make you bleed. That day in Dark Haven when you gave out a distress call, I realized I would have happily murdered every one of my subjects if it meant saving you."

  His hands slid down to grip my waist underneath the breeches, inching closer to that place that ached, that burned for him. Because despite his hatred, despite his pain, I had never wanted anyone else in the world more than I wanted him at this moment.

  “You liked it...liked being with me,” I whispered, a faint echo of hope stirring to life within my chest.

  "I obsess over being with you."

  I moaned as his tongue dragged across my neck, healing the little scrapes and lesions from the fight.

  “My every waking thought is of you. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, and every muscle vibrates in anticipation of the feel of your skin against mine. You've ruined me."

  His chest heaving with exertion.

  “And now, I’ve failed my people in every way. The Overlord knows where we are, and the siren is stil
l lost to us. I am a failure.”

  My dagger gleamed as he held it in his hands, and in one horrifying moment I knew his intention.

  “No, it isn’t your fault! None of this was your fault! Your uncle tries to murder you and take your people and it’s your fault? You’re fucking psychotic!”

  The other drakens muttered at the tone of my voice, but Benedict grabbed me, and we disappeared.

  He dropped me on the ground, and I was startled by the feeling of the wind on my face. The sky above me pelted me with cold rain, while the storm raged around us. Thunder roared, making it impossible to hear anything other than the fury of nature.

  “Rhyfel’s sacrifice was simple,” Benedict began, yelling over the tempest. “The lost siren would be protected as long as I stayed away from her, as long as I refused to claim her. If I kept my people in this mountain, no one would know where she was. If I just kept away, she was safe.”

  A small bit of my heart cracked, hearing him speak so fondly of anyone, even if it wasn’t me. It was a distraction from the pain riddling my body, at least. I vaguely wondered why he was telling me this. He continued, a snarl marring his face.

  “I fucked it up, as usual. I couldn’t stay away from her. I had to watch from a distance at first, to make sure she was there. Then the temptation grew too strong. I wasn’t strong enough. I’m still not.”

  My muscles tensed, warning bells going off in my head. Adrenaline flooded my body, and I was able to ignore the pain enough to stand. More than the news that he not only knew she was alive, but where, my mind latched onto a small, more singular detail.

  “You said you’re protecting the lost siren. Not the lost female, not the lost daughter, the siren.” My voice trembled, even as the wind and rain pounded my body. Benedict took a steadying breath.

  “Siren isn’t a real species; it’s just a myth given to the females who often defended the shores of Lyoness. It’s a silly human moniker, a pet name if you will—"