by Riley Storm
A rumble sounded, and the ground behind the vampire rippled and a large egg-like shape ripped free from the ground.
The shifters standing behind Tarryl and his shield all gasped as they recognized what it was, but Jax just kept his glare on the vampire. The more earth that rose up, the more it drained his own strength. But it didn’t matter. The earth was his friend.
Shoulders and a torso came next, followed by legs thicker than tree trunks. When the earth elemental took its first step, the child vampire finally realized what was going on behind him.
“You. Die. Now,” the elemental rumbled, one hand darting forward with surprising speed, snatching up the creature.
Shadows piled onto the earthen creature and it bellowed in pain, but it never relinquished its grip. Jax walked forward, past the vampire and a column of earth lifted him up toward the torso of the creature.
“How?” the vampire gasped as the grip of the elemental tightened. “This isn’t possible. You aren’t an elder! You aren’t an elder…”
The shriek tailed off as the earth absorbed Jax, and his full power was merged with that of the current elemental’s operator.
“Hello,” he whispered, the earth carrying his voice to the other occupant within the torso.
“Jax?” came a decidedly feminine voice. “What’s going on? How am I doing this?”
“We’re doing this,” he told Sarah, and let the living earth convey his thoughts.
The right hand of the creature fell to the ground, releasing the vampire. A giant stone foot shot out, sending the vampire across the chamber where it embedded itself two feet into the wall.
Their minds melded into the earth via their mated bond, Jax and Sarah went after the vampire together. The elemental snatched him up before he could recover, a new hand flowing down from the rest of the body and regrowing in seconds. They slammed the creature down into the floor and then drove a fist the size of a small car down onto it, once, twice, three times.
Jax took the right arm, Sarah the left. They grabbed opposite ends of the vampire and with a mighty yell that focused all their strength, the earth elemental tore the vampire literally in half.
A significant percentage of the room’s shadows evaporated instantly.
Turning their attention on the elder vampire, Jax noted the other creature didn’t seem particularly troubled by the attacks. It was more holding off the trio of dragons.
“Okay, time to end this fight.” Jax and Sarah moved the elemental back over to the patch of earth, from which he could draw more strength.
The giant hands slapped forward, pointed right at the elder vampire’s back. A stream of glossy black metal shot out, aiming to impale Honorius from behind.
It was stopped by a swirl of shadows acting like a shredder. Tiny bits of black earth flew everywhere but at the vampire.
“You cannot defeat me!” the vampire howled, and the cloud of shadows pushed out toward the elemental, while in front of him a similar wall headed for Aaric and the others.
Jax knew they were in trouble. They couldn’t hold him. He was too strong.
A third attack lanced in just then. Pure light hit the vampire from a third angle, striking him by surprise.
Tarryl stood from his crouch now and advanced, his entire body shimmering brightly as he joined the fight.
The vampire looked around wildly, noting his already fallen comrade and coming to a hasty decision.
“You have not heard the last of me!” he howled, and shadows exploded out from his body in all directions, blanketing the entire room in darkness even a dragon shifter could not see through.
By the time Aaric and Tarryl burned through enough of the spell to lighten the room, it was empty.
Honorius was gone.
37
Satisfied they were safe, Jax sent the elemental back into the earth. It slowly melted away, leaving him and Sarah next to each other. He immediately embraced his mate, holding her tight now the danger was gone for the time being.
“I’m sorry to spring that on you,” he said apologetically. “I hope you can forgive me.”
“I’m glad I was able to help,” she said quietly into his neck. “I hate the idea of standing around doing nothing while you put your life in danger. This allowed me to fight back as well, to protect myself, to help you. I’m not sure I want to do it on the regular, but this time, all is more than forgiven.”
Jax embraced her again, then kissed her, hard. “You truly are remarkable,” he said, pulling back.
A throat cleared behind him.
He turned to see Aaric and the other dragons arrayed in a line. Their attention was focused on Jax’s other side, however. He slowly turned in the other direction to see Tarryl, Benjamin, Kaelyn, Logan and the other shifters all standing, looking out across the Court chamber in silence.
Jax squared his shoulders and approached them.
“Is everyone okay?” he asked, his eyes staring at Kaelyn. “Are you alright?”
“I’ll be fine,” she said gruffly, waving off one of the bear shifters as he tried to get her to sit down. “Hurts like hell, but I’m still here.”
“Good,” Jax said. “Everyone else fine?”
“Yes,” Logan of Canis replied for the rest. “Tarryl here was kind enough to shelter us. I…” The tall shifter with golden-amber eyes and a near shaved head paused to ponder.
“The vampires are back,” Benjamin said quietly, his eyes surveying the damage like a lion did the plains, looking for prey. “You told the truth.”
“I had no reason to lie,” Jax said just as softly, truthfully awed himself by all the power released in the chamber just then.
“That was him, then?” Tarryl asked. “The elder vampire. The one we missed. It’s true.”
Jax shrugged. “So it seems. We had no information on who was their leader until now. In fact, I think it has helped us more than them. We know who he is now, and we also know something else about him.”
“What’s that?” Sarah asked, interjecting herself into the conversation without hesitation.
Jax smothered a grin as she returned a slightly defiant stare to the shifters who looked at her, wondering why she was speaking when she was but a human.
“That he is insane,” Jax said. “His long centuries on this earth have driven his mind to the breaking point. He envisions things will go a certain way, and when they don’t, he panics and lashes out with anger. Random, unplanned. Perhaps my brothers and I may be able to use that against him,” he said, receiving nods from Aaric and Victor.
“No.”
Jax turned his head back. Tarryl was shaking his head.
“Pardon?” he asked the King of Raptere.
“We may be able to use it,” Tarryl said. “All of us. Together.”
Jax held his breath.
“This is not a fight for Draconis alone,” Kaelyn said, standing up straighter. “Those creatures, they are beyond our ability to fight,” she said. “I take no shame in saying that. But they will have others. An army.”
“If you want to fight them,” Logan said, lending his voice. “Then you will need an army of your own. An army only we can provide.”
Benjamin was nodding now, bringing Panthere into the conversation as well. “We will send the word out far and wide, to our brothers across the globe. We shall assemble our strength to its fullest, a might the world has not seen in several ages.”
“When you are ready,” Kaelyn said softly. “You have to but call upon us. We’ll be there.”
She extended a hand.
Jax glanced over the assembled Kings and Queen of all shifters.
“Thank you,” he said.
And took the hand.
38
“We’re running out of time.”
Sarah eyed Jax as he spoke to the other dragons.
They had come back to Drakon Keep after recovering their strength, but it had proved pointless. The vampires had been dealt a blow they had not seen coming. None of them had b
een positioned outside of the Keep to hamper their return.
Personally, she couldn’t help but wonder if that had been done on purpose, that the vampires weren’t as disorganized as the others thought. By allowing the dragons—and her—to return to the Keep, they now had them kept under watch, the four of them gathered in one convenient place, instead of spread out and much harder to find.
The rest of the dragons, the sleeping ones, were all back at the Keep, however, and Jax had a very good point. Even if this was the vampires’ plan, it didn’t matter. The dragons had to return. They had to be here, they had to try and wake the rest of their brethren up.
They all agreed that if they couldn’t do that, then the odds against them were dire indeed.
Still, they had bought themselves some time. The only question was, now, if it would be enough.
“Running out of time to do what?” Aaric asked, speaking up.
Sarah remained silent, knowing that on this issue, it was not her place to speak up. Jax had come to her with his plan first, having laid it out to her. It made sense to Sarah, but that didn’t mean much if the others weren’t on board as well.
“We need to make a move,” Jax said quietly. “The vampires will recover in time, but we need to force them to act first.”
“How do you propose to do that?” Aaric wanted to know. “Do you have a plan on how to defeat the vampires?”
“No,” Jax replied bluntly.
She laid a hand on his leg, giving him a squeeze. It had hurt her mate to know that he could not come up with an idea, a plan, that would give them a chance at victory, yet he’d admitted it all the same. She was proud of him for that because it gave the dragons the best chance at victory if they were able to admit their shortcomings and then do something about it.
“So, what do you propose then? What is the point of all this?” Aaric wanted to know.
“I want to bring you all on board with the plan I do have,” Jax said.
Sarah looked out at the other three dragons. Valla, the youngest, was eager to help, eager to do whatever it took to overcome the vampires. He looked on with a clearly open mind, willing to listen to any ideas put forth, as he did not have much experience, and was thus unable to come up with many plans of his own.
Victor was more guarded. More reserved. Sarah really could not tell what he was thinking. The water dragon guarded his thoughts and emotions well, and until he spoke, she would not know how he felt about the plan Jax was about to put forward.
Aaric was suspicious. Wary. He felt he was responsible for them all, and so he looked to take the course that would cause the least pain or trouble for those he viewed as his charges. She knew Aaric would have the most to lose, and to gain, from what Jax was about to suggest.
“You just said you don’t have a plan,” the fire dragon pointed out, lifting one hand in the air, his face scrunching in confusion.
“I don’t have a plan to defeat the vampires,” Jax said. “But I do have a plan to find someone who can come up with one.”
“A plan…to get the plan?” Victor asked, sounding it out, making sure he understood.
“Yes,” Jax said.
“I’m confused. Please, just tell us what you’re thinking,” Valla said, gesturing for Jax to get on with it.
“We need a leader,” Jax said bluntly. “Aaric has done a magnificent job, but neither you nor I were born to lead. We both know it. You did so because you were the oldest of us. Now I am, but leading isn’t my strength. We need a King.”
“We have a King,” Aaric pointed out. “He’s down there. In stone. Like everyone else.”
“And that’s who I propose we try to awaken next,” Jax said pointedly. “A leader. A King.”
“We’ve tried that,” Victor pointed out. “It didn’t work. I tried to awaken the elders. It woke up Valla. The artifact awakens whoever you want.”
“Maybe,” Jax agreed.
Sarah spoke up now, unable to remain silent any longer as she watched what was going on. “But when you went to wake up Jax, it worked,” she said to the group. “You were all in agreement. You wanted a talker, a diplomat. You choose Jax as the representative of that, and it worked. You awoke him.”
Aaric was the first to get it. “So, you’re saying, if we’re all in agreement that we need a leader, a King, when the two of you go to awaken the next shifter, it should work and awaken the dragon we need?”
“Yes,” Jax said. Sarah nodded along in agreement.
Valla shrugged. “Sure. I can be convinced,” he said before anyone else could get a word in.
Sarah turned to Victor, sensing he was ready to speak next.
“They make a valid point,” he said slowly. “None of us has a plan on how to win this. We need someone who can come up with that. I have the utmost faith in your abilities, my brother,” he said directly to Aaric. “But we both know an elder would be the best suited to lead us now.”
All eyes turned to Aaric, the de facto leader of the dragons up until this point. It was he who would need to willingly embrace this plan, knowing it would remove him from leadership if it worked. Aaric had to go along completely, she felt, or else it would not work.
The fire dragon, in turn, looked over all of the dragons, as well as Sarah, Olivia, Cheryl and Liv, the last of whom cradled her child in her arms, the sleeping babe completely unaware of everything going on around her.
“I have done the best I can do,” Aaric said at last. “I believe I’ve made the choices that were best for the House, even if they weren’t always approved of. I believe I could continue to do that, to lead.”
Sarah tensed. They needed his support. His belief in the plan. If he refused…who knew what the awakening process would do when she and Jax ventured forth into the cavern below?
“But just because I believe I could do it, does not mean I should,” Aaric said heavily. “You are right, an elder would be better at this job than I am. And I’m sure Olivia would be more than happy to have me to herself a little more often.”
“You got that right,” the feisty little real-estate agent said. “I am not going to be the last one here who has a child,” she said. “But to do that, you’ve got some work to do, mister.”
The shifters shared a laugh, the sound carrying with it a note of relief from many assembled.
“Go,” Aaric said. “Take the artifact. Begin the ritual. As you said, we’re running out of time, and it will take a while to bring whoever is awakened up to speed. We must not delay.”
Jax shot to his feet, and Sarah was only a beat behind him, her heart brimming with excitement. She couldn’t fight the vampires, but she wasn’t about to sit around idly while her mate and his brothers did all the work.
She was going to help.
“This is going to work,” she said as they left the room, heading for the hidden staircase that would take them to the cavern below. “It’s going to work.”
“I know,” Jax said. “I know.”
But she wondered who he was reassuring. Her…or himself?
39
“A leader,” he said quietly as they descended the last of the stairs. “A leader. A leader. Hmm.”
“What are you saying?” Sarah asked several stairs above him, following swiftly.
“A leader,” he repeated thoughtfully. “Need to awaken a leader.”
“Yes. We discussed that,” she said as he paused at the entrance to the cavern.
As always, Jax was overwhelmed by its awe and grandeur. The ceiling disappeared into the darkness above. Even the permanently lit torches spaced at regular intervals around the perimeter could not cast light high enough to find it.
The giant space spread out wide in front of them, filled with massive stone statues of dragons of all types. He spied fire dragons, wind dragons and storm dragons. Ice dragons here, and other earth dragons over there. All of his species were represented.
The stone statues looked like nothing but very intricate carvings, but Jax knew the truth. He
knew that underneath the exterior, a dragon waited to be brought back to life, contentedly snoozing away the years, dreaming of piles of gold and fair maidens in the meantime.
Or something like that, at least.
“It’s beautiful,” Sarah said from beside him, resting her head on his arm. “Oh, Jax, look at it. Look at them.”
He smiled. This was the pride of House Draconis. Its beating heart contained here in the cavern.
“Which one is the King?” she asked, waiting respectfully until Jax had entered the chamber.
He flinched slightly as he walked past a powerful spell, one that removed most of his powers, dampening all magic that entered the chamber. But he bore up under it stoically, not wanting to show weakness in front of his mate, though he knew she would not judge him for it.
Still, the times were dark, and she deserved to feed off every bit of strength he could provide her.
“The King?” he echoed before pointing off into the darkness on his left. “He lies over there. A right crotchety old fire dragon,” he muttered.
“So, let’s go awaken him then!” Sarah said eagerly, tugging on his arm, trying to pull him in that direction.
Jax didn’t move.
“What’s wrong, Jax?”
“Nothing.”
“Then…King. Magic. Awaken. Us. Let’s go?”
He smiled at her blunt words. “I came down here with a plan, Sarah. That plan was to awaken the leader we would need. The one who could help us win.”
She was smart, one of her qualities Jax most appreciated, and it didn’t take Sarah long at all to understand his meaning.
“You don’t think your King is the one to lead you,” she said quietly as it dawned on her.
“No,” he replied. “And I don’t think any of the others do either. The King is…old. He inherited the position when our last King fell in the final days of the Shifter-Mage war. He did not have much time to demonstrate his leadership before we retreated into the deep sleep, waiting until the magic needed us once more.”
