High House Draconis Box Set

by Riley Storm

  This looks fragile, he thought, reaching down and grabbing one of the feet that was wrapped tightly around his midsection. Then he flexed hard. The ankle shattered.

  By now, his world was going red as he lost both oxygen and blood to his brain, but still Victor didn’t panic. He reached down and casually crushed each of the vampire’s toes before snapping the entire foot in two.

  Still, the vampire gripped harder. Victor grabbed one of the broken feet and hauled on it with all his strength in one sharp jerking motion. Several things broke or shattered, and the vampire abruptly hung loose from around his neck, dangling like a cape, unable to grip properly.

  Shaking himself violently, Victor managed to dislodge the vampire and send him spinning away into the rubble, a cloud of dust momentarily occluding his view. He growled and went after the vampire, but by the time he got to the dust cloud, he was gone.

  “Sonofabitch,” he rumbled, voice hoarse.

  There was a low growl behind him. Turning, Victor’s eyes went up as he saw what had to be the entire construction worker force coming toward him, their eyes filled with hatred.

  “Hey,” he said, putting up a hand. “Stop there. Don’t come over here, it’s not safe!”

  Not one of them slowed. Dawning realization stole over Victor now, as he realized the gravity of his mistake.

  Aaric had warned him about the vampires! Warned him, and Victor hadn’t taken him seriously. Now all the men he’d hired in his blind desire to show off to Cheryl had been taken by the vampires and turned into Thralls. Dozens of them, more than enough to pull him limb from limb unless he shifted to his dragon.

  Not an option. Not here in broad daylight. The vampires would just love that, I’m sure.

  He scowled down at the empty spot by his right foot where he’d thrown said vampire, as if the creature would somehow be aware of the anger he felt just then.

  He started backing up, buying himself time. Where was Cheryl? Had they taken her? Or in the haste to get to him, had they left her alone?

  New instincts took over. His mate was in danger and he needed to get to her, now, no matter what. His feet hit a pile of rubble, and he realized he’d backed up against a fallen part of the factory.

  Turning, he scrambled up the pile. As he went, he pushed out from himself. Concrete and metal grew slick with a coating of water that refused to drip off. Men came after him but they slipped and fell, bouncing back down the pile in a welter of cuts and bruises, often taking more of the Thralls out in the process.

  He regretted the injuries his actions would cause, but it was better than killing them. Besides, Thralls were tougher than normal humans, their systems pushed to the maximum by the mind-spell of the vampires.

  There must be four or five dozen of them. Whoever this vampire is, to keep such control of them, he isn’t weak.

  Victor cursed at himself for ignoring Aaric, not believing to his core that the vampires truly were back. Now he knew, though, without a shadow of a doubt. But others were going to suffer, because of him. Again.

  You just can’t do anything right, can you?

  He shut down the blameful thoughts. There would be time for that later. After Cheryl was safe. Then he could try to figure out a way to solve this that wouldn’t result in more suffering and atone for his mistakes.

  Reaching the top of the pile, he vaulted himself down to the ground and headed back to where he’d left Cheryl, desperately hoping against all rational logic that she would be okay. The vampire wasn’t blind, he would have seen the closeness between them.

  But when he rounded one of the remaining upright mobile cranes, Victor breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps overconfident in his ability to mob the water dragon under a pile of Thralls, the vampire had left a pair of his men guarding Cheryl.

  They had their hands on her arms as she struggled to get free, while one of them clapped their hand over her mouth, his big burly palm covering her mouth and much of her arm as well. Still Cheryl didn’t give up, she thrashed violently trying to get free.

  A fighter, that one, he thought as he skidded to a halt. “Let her go!” he snapped.

  The two Thralls didn’t speak, but they didn’t let her go either.

  “Please,” he said, forcing himself to remember that there were two men underneath that mind-control, that when—not if, but when—he killed the vampire, they would be freed. He couldn’t just rip them limb from limb.

  The one with his hand over Cheryl’s mouth shook his head slowly.

  “I don’t have time for this,” he growled angrily, knowing that the rest of the Thralls would be following up very shortly.

  Reaching out with both hands, he felt for his element.

  Water came in many forms, shapes and manners. Sometimes, it was a visible body of liquid. Other times, it was invisible droplets scattered throughout the air around him. And other times, it formed most of the matter of a human being.

  Victor simply grabbed that water and made it dance to his own tune. He hated it, knowing the excruciating pain it put his victim through, but there was no time. The mob was coming, he could hear them growing closer.

  With a wince, he pulled. Hard.

  The two Thralls shrieked in pain as most of each of their bodies was suddenly yanked toward Victor without mercy for their comfort. Water in their bodies stretched the skin, flexed against nerve endings and was nearly ripped right from their skin as they flew forward, only stopping when he grabbed them by their necks and clunked their heads together.

  Both men collapsed to the ground unconscious and Victor dashed past their bodies, scooping up Cheryl while only barely slowing.

  “What is—”

  “Later,” he said tightly, heading for the front gates. “I don’t want to hurt any more of them. We have to go.”

  “But…” Cheryl fell silent as she looked into his face.

  Victor wasn’t sure what she saw there, but he knew by the way her skin paled slightly that whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

  She’s seeing you for what you truly are now. The side of you that relishes this, that longs for combat, to exert your power on the world.

  He could only hope that she would talk to him once it was all over, and that he could explain. But Victor wouldn’t blame her if she was too terrified to ever spend another second in his presence either.

  Chapter 30

  The nightmarish glow she’d seen deep in Victor’s eyes kept her silent and staring forward the entire rushed trip out of Plymouth Falls.

  Only the sight of Drakon Keep for the second time stirred her. “Does the view ever cease to move you?” she asked quietly, forgetting everything else on her mind as the Keep came into view, its spires and flowing arches threatening to steal her breath.

  “No,” Victor said just as softly. “This is my home. Every time I can return, I am at ease.”

  She glanced over at him, noting the way his face had relaxed as well, lines around his eyes easing for the first time since before the crane had collapsed. Yet with that fading, she could see now that he wore a haunted look. Something was wrong.

  “Victor,” she said, saying his name as he pulled up out front of the Keep instead of taking the car into the underground parking garage she’d seen when leaving the last time she was here.

  “Yes?” he asked, staring straight ahead, hands on the steering wheel.

  Someone else came out of the front. Aaric. Victor’s brother. She hadn’t seen him since he’d transformed from a dragon to a human in front of her very eyes.

  He came around and waited outside the door for the two occupants. When neither of them immediately got out, too caught up in the silent, unspoken thoughts between them, the other dragon shifter pulled the door open.

  “What is it?” he asked immediately. “What’s wrong?”

  Cheryl was about to reply, but Victor beat her to it.

  “I screwed up,” he said so quietly it could barely be heard. “Again, Aaric, again. I just can’t do anything right. I trie
d, I really was trying, I thought I was doing the right thing, and then—”

  With a start, Cheryl realized that Victor was on the edge of breaking down. His knuckles had turned white around the steering wheel, and she knew with his strength he had to be on the verge of crushing it.

  “Come on,” she said, pushing her own questions and fears aside.

  Victor needed her right then. Whatever had happened back there had affected him on a deeper level, she knew that. It wasn’t physical; he barely looked harmed. No, it was something else, something she couldn’t understand.

  So, steeling herself—bringing up all the good changes in Victor, forcing herself to see that him, not the steely-eyed look of a killer that had been etched into his face during their escape from the construction site—Cheryl lifted her own hand and let it rest on top of one of his.

  “Let’s get out of the car,” she said, trying to keep her voice as even as possible.

  Victor flinched at her touch, but he didn’t pull away. Slowly, his head turned until he was looking at her. Aaric, for his part, backed away, sensing that the two of them needed a moment.

  “How can you still look at me?” he asked hoarsely. “You saw me back there. The real me.”

  Cheryl shook her head. “No. That’s not the real you. Maybe it’s a part of you, but you live in a world I can’t understand, not completely at least. Perhaps it’s necessary for your survival. But the you that I know, he’s the guy that came into my office this morning and somehow won over my staff, who all hated him.”

  She squeezed his hand tighter. “The real you is the guy who didn’t hesitate to put himself between me and any sign of danger. The Victor that I know is the man who can make me smile at a dime, who understands that mistakes are made by everyone, and that no one is perfect. I saw him two days ago because that Victor is the one I let take me to bed. It’s the one that I let my stomach flutter over a little. That is the real Victor. What I saw back there was a necessity, but not who you are. Just a skill you have.”

  The big man’s features softened slightly. “You believe that?”

  “Every word,” she said. “Now let’s get out of the car. Because I have a million questions, and honestly, I need the real Victor to hold me tightly, because I’m scared.”

  “You’re safe now,” Victor said, his eyebrows knitting together. “There is no need to worry.”

  “Everyone is scared of the unknown Victor. I don’t know what happened back there. Neither does Aaric. You need to come inside and talk to us. And you need to hold me tight. I can make that an order, if it helps?”

  To her immense relief, Victor sighed, the ghost of a smile crossing his face. It wasn’t much, but it was a step in the right direction.

  “Thank you,” he said in his typical rumble. “I don’t deserve to have someone like you around me.”

  “Yes, you do,” she said. “Don’t say that.”

  “I put you in danger,” he said, his voice stronger. “Aaric warned me, but I refused to listen. You could have died twice, Cheryl, and that’s my fault. I nearly got my m—someone I care about, killed.”

  She frowned, wondering what he’d been about to say. “I’m safe though. Because of you. That matters for a lot. Now come inside. Please?” she asked quietly, squeezing his hand as hard as she could. “I still need you Victor.”

  He shuddered but nodded. “Yes. I’ll be there for you, Cheryl. Whenever you need it. Just ask. Let’s go, the least I can do is give you some answers.”

  Leaning over his seat, she kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you. You’re a good man. I know it. If you don’t believe that yourself, then ask yourself if you think you’re ready to accuse me of being a liar,” she said lightly, then kissed his cheek again, the stubble tickling her soft lips.

  “That’s not fair,” he complained, but at last his grip on the steering wheel went limp and he moved his free hand off it.

  “Neither is not believing me when I tell you something that I know to be true,” she said, patting his hand and lifting her door open. “Now come on. I need to know what that was.”

  They got out of the car.

  “Victor. What happened?” Aaric asked immediately.

  “You were right,” Victor said, the three of them heading up the stairs.

  Cheryl smiled to herself as Victor’s hand found hers and held it tight while he walked in the middle of the two of them. Instantly, she felt safer, more at ease.

  That all changed with Victor’s next sentence.

  “The vampires are back.”

  Coming to an abrupt halt, Cheryl’s arm was yanked as Victor didn’t immediately stop as well.

  “D-d-did you just say vampires?” she stammered, looking around wildly, as if they were going to come crawling out of every nook and cranny.

  “Yes,” Victor said. “I did. Aaric warned me they were back, but I didn’t believe him. I thought he was…over-reacting.”

  Aaric snorted, but remained silent, though a look that could only be described as ‘I told you so’ remained on his face.

  “Vampires,” she said, taking a breath. “Okay. Dragons. Magic. Vampires. What else is out there that humans don’t know about?”

  Victor and Aaric exchanged glances, then answered in unison. “A lot.”

  “Do I want to know it all?” she asked, resuming their walk up the stairs.

  Neither of the shifters replied as Aaric hauled open one of the giant bronze doors and held it open for both of them before following inside.

  “Not at once,” Victor said. “You’re already having a hard time taking it in. Suffice to say, that you should start believing more of your legends. That will better help prepare you for the real world you live in.”

  “Great,” she said quietly, more to herself than anyone else. “Okay. Vampires. What’s the story there? They died off?”

  Aaric took up a scholarly tone. “Not willingly. Vampires were, or are, I suppose is now the correct term, the oldest known paranormal entity on the planet. As far as anyone knows, they’ve been here before the first shamans discovered magic, before the Fae-kind coalesced into being, and well before shifters. We’re the most recent, actually.”

  “Hold on,” she said as Victor tried to turn them down one hallway. “Is this the way to the bar? Because I need a drink.”

  Without hesitating, the two shifters reversed direction and went another. It was so coordinated she almost laughed. Almost. If it weren’t for all the new knowledge she was trying to process, Cheryl might have allowed herself to relax enough to do so.

  Fae? Like Faeries? And Vampires too?

  Fortified with a spicy Caesar in hand, courtesy of Aaric’s heretofore unknown bartending skills, she sat next to Victor on a plush leather loveseat and leaned into his arm. Now, externally and internally prepared, she nodded at Aaric to continue his lesson. Scared as she was, her curiosity wasn’t going to be dampened.

  It was time to know what she was truly getting herself into if she was going to keep Victor in her life. Leaving him wasn’t even a thought that entered into her mind.

  “Back around the end of the Roman Empire, the vampires were crushing human society beneath them. They ruled the Empire. Every one of their senate members and much of their partisan society were vampires. Those that weren’t, were enthralled by them.”

  “Enthralled?” she asked, frowning. “What’s that?”

  “A power the vampires have. While I can control fire,” Aaric explained, lifting a palm, where flame burst into being out of nothing. “And Victor, water.”

  A miniature rainstorm erupted over the fire, extinguishing it.

  “The vampires can control the human mind. The stronger they are, the more control they can exert and the more minds they can control. We call those taken by this Thralls. Only killing the vampire frees them.”

  “Oh,” she said with a shudder.

  “Exactly,” Aaric said. “While no shifter left alive was there, I have read the histories, and talked to those who we
re only a few generations removed. We dragons are the longest-lived of shifters. The memories are most recent with us.”

  “What happened?” she asked, thoroughly engrossed.

  “Shifters,” Victor said, taking up the story. “We appeared sometime around 350 AD. Nobody knows exactly when or how. That secret is something that only a few at the highest levels know, and they don’t discuss it with anyone.”

  Aaric nodded, the two dragons shifting off one another as they spoke. “In small numbers at first in northern Europe, but we grew fast. The vampires mobilized their Legions to fight the barbarians. But we were too strong. We drove them back, in battle after battle. Thousands of shifters died, but always more stepped up.”

  Horrified and fascinated, she sipped at her drink, trying to imagine what these men and their ancestors must have gone through. It was so different from the world she knew about.

  “Then, at last, we made it to Rome itself,” Aaric explained. “A great battle took place. Tens of thousands of our kin—wolves, bears, lions, tigers, and others—backed up by thousands of dragons. It was terrible,” he said, speaking quietly, his eyes elsewhere, almost as if he’d been there.

  “We fought not just the Thralls then,” Victor said when his brother remained silent, “but the vampires as well. The oldest, strongest vampires. Thousands of years old. Powerful beyond your imagining. Dragons fell from the sky like hail while entire legions of others were wiped from the earth. It was a bloodbath.”

  “But we prevailed,” Aaric said, looking up at her sharply. “We killed them all. Every. Single. One.” He sighed. “Or so we’ve thought for the past fifteen hundred years. Until about six months ago, when I fought one.”

  “They’re back,” she said. “Why? How? After so long? What are they after?”

  Victor and Aaric exchanged looks.

  “We don’t know,” Aaric admitted. “But we can only think of one thing.”

  “What?” She looked back and forth, feeling panic bubble up inside her. This was serious.

  “Revenge.”

  Aaric uttered the one word, before getting to his feet. “I have to see to some things. Take care of her, Victor. Tell her anything she wants to know. We’ll talk later. Plan out what we’re going to do.” His eyes shifted to Cheryl. “I’m sorry you’re caught up in this, but I couldn’t think of a better person to have with Victor.”