by Riley Storm
“Hi.”
“What are you doing here?” she said, managing at the last second to keep her voice somewhat thawed, and not as icy cold as it wanted to be. “Actually, better question. Why are you here?”
Jax started to reply, but she shook her head. “No, I take that back. Even better question, and one you had better have a good answer for. How are you here? How do you know where I live?”
Answering wordlessly, Jax held up one hand. Gripped in his fingers was her resume.
“I’d like to hire you.”
Sarah rubbed at her face, not entirely believing what she was seeing, or hearing. “Let me get this straight. You took my resume. Then you used the information on it to come to my house. All to tell me you wanted to hire me.”
Jax shrugged as if that answered all her questions and concerns.
“I’m sure there’s something illegal in that,” she said. “But all the same, no thank you.”
“Do you not need a job then?” he asked, expression slipping slightly as confusion entered his face.
“Yes, she does!” Grandma Mingott’s answer came from the kitchen.
Sarah buried her face in one hand as she heard the telltale shuffling of feet that meant her grandmother was coming to the door. This wasn’t happening. It simply wasn’t happening.
“Please just go,” she said softly, hoping to be rid of him before—
“Oh my, isn’t he a tall one,” G-Nance said, bustling up right next to her. “And handsome too. Such nice features, and muscles too. You want to hire my granddaughter, you said?”
Blushing furiously—partially because she couldn’t refute her grandmother’s comments about Jax’s attractiveness, which Sarah was very well aware of—she closed her eyes and introduced the pair of them.
“A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Mingott,” Jax said, bending low, taking her grandmother’s hand in his and kissing the back of it. “I can see where Sarah gets her looks.
“Flatterer,” Grandma Mingott giggled. “But you can call me G-Nance. All of Sarah’s other friends do.”
“G-Nance,” Jax said, rolling the label around. “If you insist.”
“I do. Now, what’s this about hiring my granddaughter? Is that why you’re here?”
Jax nodded, while Sarah suffered helplessly, suddenly invisible between the two of them.
“Well then, come in, will you? I can make another sandwich, we were just about to have some lunch. It’s really no trouble, I promise. No big deal at all. I can whip one up in a hurry while you two talk business. Or shop. Or whatever term you use now. Come on in!” she backed away, tugging at Sarah to make room for him.
“Alas, as wonderful as that sounds,” Jax said. “I must decline your generous offer.”
Relief flooded Sarah’s system.
“Are you sure?” Grandma Mingott sounded truly disappointed.
“I’m afraid I am. I have another engagement that I must attend shortly. This was on my way there, and I didn’t want to wait any longer, so I had to stop by. Couldn’t risk someone else hiring Sarah before I did, you understand.”
Sarah nearly died at the way her grandmother beamed at Jax.
“Oh of course. My Sarah, anyone would be better off if they hired her. She’s something special.”
Jax’s odd copper-lined eyes turned toward her. “She certainly is that, isn’t she?” he agreed softly.
“So, when does she start?”
“Grandma!” Sarah protested, feeling like a spectator while the two of them talked about her as if she wasn’t present for the conversation.
“I’d like for you to come by the office tomorrow morning if you can,” Jax said, looking mostly at Sarah as he talked, though he occasionally flicked his eyes back to her grandmother. “We can get started then, right away.”
“She’ll be there!”
Sarah’s jaw fell open. What? She had no intention of accepting his job offer! Not from Jax Drakon. Why would one of the Drakon brothers himself come to find her and offer her a job? There were no issues with that, not at all!
“I’m glad to hear it,” Jax said, taking her grandmother’s hand again and kissing it. “Truly, it was a wonderful pleasure meeting you, G-Nance. Hopefully, we’ll speak again soon.”
“You just take good care of my daughter, and I’ll bring you some baked goodies.”
Jax laughed, an easy, rolling sound like that of incoming thunder. “I can do that, Miss Mingott. I can most certainly do that.”
Then he turned to go, pausing only to catch her eyes one last time. “Eight-thirty,” he said quietly. Then he was gone.
“I hate you,” Sarah said emotionlessly to his back, closing the door and retreating to the TV room where she flopped into a chair, feeling helpless. “That wasn’t very nice of you.”
“He is quite handsome. You didn’t mention that to me.”
Grandma Mingott was many things, observant being chief among them. Sarah knew her grandmother had picked up on the fact that something was being left out about her story of applying for the job, and now some of it was coming to light.
Including the fact that she thought Jax was devastatingly hot and hated how he made her body feel when he was around. It simply wasn’t fair that all he had to do was direct those wonderfully mysterious eyes at her and she started to heat up from the inside. It wasn’t like she had that sort of effect on him after all.
“Grandmother, that’s Jax. Jax Drakon.”
“Drakon you say? Like the ones who built the Outreach Center?” G-Nance came back into the room with a plate in each hand, a loaded sandwich on each. “Here. Eat. You need to keep your energy up now you’re a working girl again.”
“Grandma, I can’t work for him. How could you even think such a thing?”
“The man came all the way to the house to offer you a job. You don’t turn such offers down, sweetheart. You know as well as I do that we’re almost out of money. I can’t afford this place on what little money I get a month from the government. I’ll have to sell and move in with my brother, and you’ll have to go back to the city if that happens.”
Sarah looked away. “How is this any different than that?” she asked. “He’s rich, powerful, used to getting his way. He’s everything I want nothing to do with, grandmother.”
“Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. This is one of the Drakon brothers. One of the founders of Plymouth Falls. It’s not the same.”
“How can you be so sure, Grandma? How can you know, that it won’t be different than last time?”
For once, her grandmother didn’t have a response.
6
Jax made two wrong turns on his way out of town, evidence of just how distracted his mind was after the visit to Sarah’s house.
Her grandmother’s house to be accurate, if the décor and furnishings are any indicator.
Getting the intriguing woman off his mind was proving to be nigh impossible. She detested him, yet he could feel a connection between them as well. He needed to know more about her, to talk to her more, and that was why he’d offered her the job.
Now it’s time to get your head in the game. There are bigger things at stake today. Much bigger.
Making his way out into the countryside, he glanced frequently in his rear-view mirror, checking to see if he was being tailed. The dragons had kept their operations outside of Drakon Keep to strictly daylight hours. It had proven tough over the winter, but they had managed.
Only one chance encounter with the vampires had happened during that time, neither side having been prepared. A quartet of young vampires had stumbled across the paths of Aaric and Victor while they were at an abandoned farmhouse outside of town. Two of the vampires had been killed before the sides had split apart, the vampires retreating back to the south of town, where they were building their enclave.
Jax still couldn’t believe what he’d been told. Vampires having returned was one thing. He’d always thought it a little suspicious that his shifter ancestors had claimed to have found all o
f them. Returning was one thing but coming back as an entirely new bastardized shifter species was something else entirely.
Not to mention their desire to rule over the other shifter species as lords. Jax could have handled a war to extinction. He was over three centuries old. He’d spent most of that fighting the mages. He was used to living under the threat of death if he was caught unprepared.
But this…this was unfathomable, and he had never been so angry as to learn that the vampires wanted to make him and his kind their slaves. Dragons! They wanted to make dragons their lackeys. Anger raged inside of him, and the asphalt under his car cracked and heaved slightly as the earth responded to his anger, simmering with him.
Forcing himself to breathe, Jax took several slow breaths, trying to inject calm into himself with every inhale and let the anger release with each exhale. There was no point in letting himself get worked up over it. It was what it was, and he couldn’t change the vampires’ desires.
But he was damn well going to stand up to them and fight for the freedom of him, his kind, and their mates and children. Not to mention all the innocent humans who had already been ensnared by the vampires, turned to Thralls by the demonic mind control powers of the wretched creatures.
Jax seethed silently as he made his way along the winding road to the north-east of town. The High Houses of Draconis, Ursa and Canis occupied the West, North and East compass points respectively around the town of Plymouth Falls. However, to the northeast, where he was headed, lay the grounds of House Raptere, one of the two minor shifter Houses, and Jax’s first stop on his quest to bring all the shifters together.
He pulled up outside of a metal gate and parked his car. The shifters inside would have been aware of his approach. He’d spied at least one large eagle soaring high above, and knew several more would have been posted along the route, warning anyone of approaching visitors.
I just hope they understand I come in peace.
Raptere were the only other shifters that could take flight. They had a great many forms they could take, from the mighty gryphon standing nearly half the size of a dragon to a hawk barely larger than those found in nature.
They were also extremely envious of House Draconis and those within. Jax figured if he could bring them on board first, it would show the other Houses things were serious, and they needed to put aside their differences if they were to achieve the goal of killing the vampires for good this time.
“I come in peace,” he called, his voice like a clarion call as it echoed out over the grounds of House Raptere.
The lands and the building he knew that lay beyond the treeline were much more modest than any of those belonging to the High Houses, but that was only to be expected. Raptere was the smallest of all the Houses, its numbers at perhaps two or three hundred worldwide. They simply did not need the space, nor had they accumulated the wealth and power that a house such as Ursa, Draconis, or even Canis, had.
“You are not welcome here, Drakon,” came the acidic reply from beyond the gate, though no shifter revealed themselves. “Turn around, and go back to whatever cave you emerged from. Count your gold some more.”
“How quaint of you,” he said dryly. “I did not come here to pick a fight. I came here to warn you, all of you, of a dire threat.” He paused. “And to ask for your help to combat it.”
It irked him to no end to admit his kind needed help. Just using the word humbled Jax, made him feel inferior. Dragons were not supposed to need help. The others were supposed to come to them for help! Everything was backward. But he couldn’t deny what his dragon brothers had said about the vampires, and this new breed that could shift.
He shivered at the picture of the child-vampire. A creature of immeasurable power, centuries-old, yet taking on the guise of a child barely eleven years of age. It was a cruel trick, especially to the dragons, who so valued offspring. Jax did not look forward to having to kill that creature, even if he knew it must be done.
It is evil. The child that once existed has been destroyed, corrupted by eight hundred years of power imbued into the tiny frame. I must remember that.
“Help?”
He heard a shuffle, and then the speaker appeared. The man was tall, slim of frame yet Jax did not write him off. Though he was slender, as most of Raptere were, his muscles were well defined. He would be wise to be wary of the other shifters’ wiry strength, not to mention speed. Raptere were the fastest of any House.
Long golden hair flowed down the man’s back, unrestrained by any device. A prominent nose and sky-blue eyes gave him an old-world noble feeling. Jax kept his face neutral, but he was aware of to whom he talked.
This man was a gryphon shifter, one of the rarest of all shifters. He had not expected to encounter one such as this upon his arrival. Perhaps luck was on his side after all.
“Yes. This enemy threatens us all,” he said, stepping closer to the gate. “They have been moving in secret, their power growing, for centuries. A threat we once fought against as allies.”
“The mages?” the gryphon shifter asked. “They have been dealt with. I was there, at the final battle.”
“As was I,” Jax said. “I fought to keep the earth from erupting and killing us all. But it is not the mages we face. This is an older enemy. The older enemy. One we had thought extinct.”
“It sounds like you’re speaking about vampires,” the man scoffed, his brilliant hair bouncing in the spring daylight, catching and reflecting the sun’s rays in a cascading flow. “But we know that is nonsense. They are extinct. Nothing. Our ancestors killed them all.”
“Not all,” Jax said heavily. “My brothers have fought them. Have been fighting them for a year and a half now.”
“Why have we not heard any of this?” the man demanded angrily. “You would keep such a secret from us? What does House Draconis hope to gain? More power? More gold? You probably caused this, and now that you cannot stop it, you come to us for help!” The shifter threw back his head and laughed. “I think not. Leave, and do not come back.”
Jax did the opposite. He stepped closer to the gate. The bright blue eyes focused on him like laser beams.
“We had hoped to deal with the problem on our own,” he said, wondering in truth why Aaric and the others hadn’t informed the other Houses. It was a good question. “But they are stronger than anticipated. Their numbers are growing. We must act soon before it’s too late.”
“House Draconis, in all its might, cannot defeat these creatures?” the man asked with disdain dripping from his voice.
“The magic has not brought House Draconis back,” Jax admitted quietly. “There are but four of us. We are too few.”
For a moment, he thought that this last admission would work. That he was winning the man over to his cause, that perhaps he would be allowed inside, to speak to the rest of House Raptere, to speak before their King.
“You expect me to believe such nonsense?” came the scoffed reply. “Go away. Leave us alone. We have no use for you.”
Jax stiffened at the dismissal. “No,” he growled, and the ground rumbled in agreement.
The gryphon shifter went still, but his eyes bore into Jax like daggers. “Leave.” The single word was spoken hard, cold, and filled with power.
“I must speak to your King. To your assembled Court,” he pushed angrily. “This is not a matter of small consequence. We are all threatened. They have come here to rule us.”
The gryphon shifter stared at him in amazement for a second, before breaking out into hearty laughter. “Oh, oh that is rich. I take it back. You aren’t like the rest of your kind. You have a sense of humor!”
Jax charged the gate. The metal fence bowed inward under his impact, then snapped, blowing open. The gryphon shifter slipped backward, avoiding the wild swing of the gate, and then came forward, reversing his direction in the blink of an eye.
Around him, Jax heard a cacophony of bird calls, and tall, slender naked men dropped from the trees as they resumed their hum
an form and charged at him, anger plastered on their faces.
“You must be made to see the truth!” he shouted, aware he’d screwed up irreparably. His impatience and lack of complete focus on the issue at hand had let his emotions get the better of him.
Reaching down to the earth, he called it to him. It heaved and bucked, throwing the approaching reinforcements to the ground. He and the gryphon shifter closed. Jax led with a flurry of blows, but none of them landed.
Fuck, he’s fast.
The gryphon shifter had evaded all of them. Jax had but a moment to marvel at his speed before the Raptere went on the attack. One, two, five punches connected with Jax’s face, chest and stomach, driving him back. They didn’t have the sheer power of a dragon’s strength, but they were stronger than anything any of the other Houses could hit him with.
Jax shook them off as best he could, managing to block the next one. His fingers tightened and he jabbed his blocking arm forward, catching his opponent by surprise as his blade-like hand drove hard into his ribs. One of them popped, but nothing more. The gryphon shifter grimaced, but he didn’t slow down or stop.
Tiring of the games, Jax called to his ally, the earth. It opened up under the man and swallowed him to the waist. The earth dragon walked by, a casual gesture doing the same to the reinforcements.
“I did not wish for it to end this way,” he said, his voice carrying easily as he looked over his shoulder. “But I must be allowed to speak to your King.”
A voice came from in front of him. “And what makes you think I wish to speak to you?”
Jax hesitated for a moment before facing the speaker. “King Tarryl,” he said, dipping his head low and holding it for several moments out of respect. “It is urgent that I—”
“Enough.” The commanding voice swept over him and across the land behind him. “Free my people.”
“Of course,” Jax said quietly, commanding the earth to release the others.
“Now take your tales and go. You and your kin are not welcome here. We have no need of your ghost tales.” The King of House Raptere snorted. “Vampires indeed. My father was there, you know. At the Battle of Rome. They were very thorough. Do not dishonor yourself any further by tainting his claim.”
