by Raven Storm
Copyright © 2021 Raven Storm
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13:
ISBN-10:
Cover design by: Amanda L. Matthews
Contents
Copyright
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Acknowledgements
THANKS
Books By This Author
SNEAK PREVIEW
From The Lost Siren: Rise of the Drakens, Book 1
Benedict’s form materialized beside me, standing tall as he resolutely surveyed the Drakens scurrying around him. I wanted to punch him in the face almost as badly as I wanted to kiss him. The ground under my feet shook, a deep rumbling that sent alarm signals racing throughout my body. An hour had been right about on the mark.
“EVERYONE OUT!” Benedict bellowed, as the Drakens lined up in ordered formations, with the Elders out front leading after I had refused. I wanted to make sure everyone else got out first.
“Stay in the middle of the pack, they don’t know about you yet, and it’s vital we keep you a secret as long as we can.”
His hand lingered on my lower back, just below my wing joints. It was tempting to make a smart comment, but the look in his eyes was so genuine, so pleading.
“Please, Wren, get to Lyoness and don’t die.”
It was all I could do to nod dumbly. “And where will you be?”
His wings twitched. “The rear.
The mountain groaned in protest as rocks and dirt fell around our heads. I placed myself in the middle of a group of drakens, and then looked around wildly.
“Where is Georg?”
No one answered me as three drakens weaved spells on the elevator shaft, intending on blowing it open so we could make a quick escape through the sky. They made shallow cuts to their palms and cheeks, blood dripping down their noses. They would be carried by other drakens if their magick left them too weak to fly.
Part of the mountain exploded, as the magick blew the entire shaft into pieces, opening our eyes to the sky above. The drakens screamed in delight as their wings tasted the air, but all I felt was fear. Where was Georg?
I screeched in distress and fought my way to the back of the pack.
“What are you doing?” Benedict roared but withdrew when he saw the panic in my eyes. “Georg! Where is Georg?” His eyes narrowed in determination, and I think I fell in love with him all over again. He nudged me towards the fleeing drakens, and I leapt into the air. Just as the last of us cleared the mountain, it exploded in a shower of fire and shrapnel.
I screamed as Benedict disappeared underneath the mountain.
One
I screamed when the mountain exploded, shrapnel and debris thick in the air like a downpour. The force of the blast propelled me forward and away from the mountain, when all I wanted to do was turn around and go back, to find Benedict and Georg and make sure they weren’t dead because of me. I felt Kieran and Ronan’s answering screams and heard the roars of the other drakens around me. Terror was tangible in the air as we strained our wings and fled towards the island of Lyoness, due east.
The demons fell around us, claws scrabbling uselessly at the air when the blast threw them high. All around us they plummeted to their deaths, shrieking and wailing the entire way down. For a moment, the hordes backed off, confused and alarmed as the drakens took to the skies, leaving behind the mountain they’d been trapped under for centuries. An arrow whizzed by my ear and I turned, spotting a vampyre standing on the high cliffs with a bow, glaring at me.
Rage burned from red eyes, his veins protruding through his translucent skin. His hair was as white as his skin, and a large scar ran from his left eye to the right corner of his mouth. He raised his fingers to his lips, letting out a high-pitched whistle that cut through the chaos.
Horrific screeching followed his signal, and I had to pause in midair to clap my hands over my ears. Creatures with hulking, muscled bodies and wings descended amongst us, much larger than even Brogen had been. They swooped down from the sky, snarling as they collided with drakens. Their faces were ugly—twisted with bulbous features that were as out of place as the large tails they swung like battering rams. I watched one knock a draken out cold, flinging him against the rocks as his brother swooped in to catch him, flying away as fast as he could. Another creature wrapped his arms around a blue-scaled draken, crushing his wings as easily as if they were paper. Gelf slashed the creature across the face and he dropped the draken, as Pirth was waiting underneath to catch him. Gelf and Pirth each grabbed an arm on the wounded draken as they hauled ass away from the mountain. What were these creatures?
“DON’T FIGHT THEM! FLEE!” I screamed, praying they would all hear me, that they would ignore their instinct to fight. We couldn’t afford any more drakens dead. I felt Kieran and Ronan through the chaos, trying to get to me, trying to reach me, but there were too many bodies. Too much death. We quickly lost sight of each other.
I flew after my people, my wings already tired and strained with effort. The other drakens had centuries of strength and endurance built up, whereas I’d only been in a draken form for a few hours, adrenaline and fear spurring me onwards. I felt my strength waning but refused to quit. I ignored the pain in my chest as I gasped for air and my muscles burned. I kept flying east—east and tried to ignore the empty place in my heart that reached out for Benedict and Georg, who were likely dead and trapped beneath the rubble of the explosion. I sobbed as I flew, unable to do anything as my altitude drifted lower, and lower. My body screamed in agony, and I quickly lost sight of the drakens ahead of me.
A searing pain shot through my left wing, and I veered crazily. I knew without looking that the vampyre with the scar and the arrows hadn’t missed this time. The treetops rushed up to greet me as I desperately tried to stay in the air, but I wasn’t strong enough or acclimated enough in this new body to know what to do. My muscles spasmed and I dropped like a stone. Branches beat at my body as I fell, whipping my face, my arms, my back and my legs. I couldn’t do anything to stop my descent, the space too narrow for me to risk flaring my remaining wing, lest I injure that too. The ground finally caught up to me and I met it hard, knocked unconscious before I could even think to release a distress call.
Someone was with me.
I fought the instinct to open my eyes or call for help. I focused inwards, intent on observing whoever stood over me, one finger gently stroking the skin on my arm. Whoever it was, they seemed more curious than harmful. I gave a small prayer of thanks that I had shifted into my human form while unconscious—it was a small mercy.
“Shiny skin! Pretty like the snow.”
A child’s voice—a female. I listened closely as she stepped around me with a smoothness that didn’t fit her bubbly voice.
“Grandmother would want to see the sparkly girl.”
Panic seized me, and I shot straight up,
ignoring the pain in my body.
“Don’t tell anyone I’m here!”
The little girl jumped, then clapped her hands as though I had just played a rather clever joke on her. She looked younger than Georg, but I wasn’t exactly an expert. I had only ever seen human children as babies. Her hair was a ring of fire, tied up high and secured with precious jewels and ornaments. It nearly reached the ground, as she looked at me with startled eyes so black and dark that it was unnerving. She wore a simple, shapeless white gown with no shoes. I took a deep breath and tried to remain calm.
“There are bad people looking for me, who want to kill me. I fell here when they hurt my—I mean, they chased me here.”
I was acutely aware that my continued survival depended on no one discovering what I was. The girl frowned, and I pushed ahead, my tone falsely bright.
“Is there somewhere I can hide? You live here—I bet you know all the good places!”
Her face lit up.
“I know the best places!” She grabbed my hand and pulled, and I tried to stand. My muscles screamed in protest, but I managed to stumble after her. She led me through the thick undergrowth as I hobbled and limped along, trying not to gape at the lush forest around us. We stopped along a small, bubbling stream and a massive willow tree that stood over it like a regal guardian. The woods here were surreal—quiet and soothing. The sun peeked out between the thick leaves that stretched overhead, and I breathed in the scent of the trees and flowers. It was so good to be outside again and hear the birds.
“Follow me.”
The girl jumped and flung her body at the tree, claws extending from her fingers and toes as she stuck into the bark a good six feet above the ground. I jerked, realizing there was no way she was human. I shifted enough to unsheathe my claws and climbed after her, slithering up the tree easily as if I’d been doing it my whole life. She tilted her head to the side, confused.
“You aren’t a witch, but we match!”
She held out her black claws, which were long and elegant, tapering off into a razor-sharp edge. My own were sturdier; thicker and more rounded. Did she say witch? As with anything outside of the breeding manor, my knowledge of witches was non-existent. Were they allied with the Overlord, or one of the neutral species Domik had mentioned in his history lessons?
We reached the split in the center of the trunk and she leaned down, carefully cutting into the bark with one claw. I watched in interest as she pried open a hidden door and pointed down in the darkness. A bird nearby let out a loud squawk, and I jumped. The girl giggled at me and pointed down again.
“You first.”
I was skeptical but didn’t have much of a choice. I jumped down and landed in a crouch, soft moss and rotted wood meeting my hands and feet. Dark, cloying air greeted me, and my draken instincts immediately panicked. Trapped! Closed walls! Can’t fly! Get away! I clamped down hard on my fear as the little girl landed next to me, pulling on a string to close the door above us. It was tight. The bottom of the trunk was completely hollowed out, barely large enough if I wanted to curl into a ball and lay down. With both of us there, it was hard to keep my draken’s claustrophobia in check. The girl was almost flush against me, her dark eyes appearing as vacant holes in her head. She smelled of chaos and ashes. I breathed out, dismissing such foolish thoughts, and felt around the trunk. A few indentations were cut into the bark, allowing for a few candles. The little girl lit them easily with a wave of her hand. I tried to control my surprised reaction and failed. The girl didn’t seem to mind.
“This is the best place to hide.”
I swallowed, not wanting my fear to overcome my gratitude. This was better than nothing. I needed somewhere safe to heal, hidden from the demon hordes. Even if the walls were closing in, the darkness cloying, and the—
I chased away the bad thoughts, focusing on breathing deeply and calmly.
“I don’t think there’s room for both of us.” I said evenly.
She giggled and shimmied up the tree and out the trap door. Her wide, dark eyes stared back at me, and I wondered if I was making a mistake by trusting her.
“I’ll bring some dinner and tell Grandmother and the rest of the coven!”
I tried to protest, but she was already gone. I couldn’t follow her out and risk discovery, so I was stuck trusting she wouldn’t say anything to get me killed.
I carefully sat. The moss was at least soft on my body as the candles flickered. I wondered if it would be better to blow them out—if I could calm myself easily if I thought of wide-open spaces…The real question was whether witches were neutral. It was embarrassing just how little I knew about the different magical creatures. As soon as I was in Lyoness, I would seek out Domik and learn as much as I could about every creature in Dorea!
I slid into my draken form, keeping my wings tucked in close to my back. Pain assaulted me immediately from the tear in my wing, and I wished in vain my mates were here to help me heal. My mates. I struggled to keep a sad warble from my throat as I thought of Benedict, who was likely dead, his body crushed under the rocks. The urge to screech and wail, to have my people find me was overwhelming, but I squeezed my eyes, keeping them shut until it passed. Benedict had to be alive, he had to be.
Carefully, I stretched on the soft moss floor of my hidey-hole, hissing as I tried to find a comfortable position for my wings. At least here, I could lay in my draken form. If I were stuck as a human, I wouldn’t heal at all. I needed to recover and get to Lyoness as quickly as possible. I dozed for a bit, unable to fall asleep with the pain and anxiety. I twitched when the trap door above me yanked open, the dwindling sun still causing me to squint when I looked up. I was in my human form in an instant.
“Luci came baaack!”
The girl hurled a parcel wrapped in cloth at me, which I caught in reflex. The delicious aroma of roasted meat hit my nose, along with freshly baked bread and some mushrooms.
“Luci? Is that your name?” I asked, sniffing the mushrooms cautiously.
She giggled as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I decided not to question it or the food, instead gulping it down. Luci clapped her hands in delight at my eagerness, giggling.
“I’m Wren,” I offered, and her smile grew wider.
“Do you want more?”
More would be amazing. Was this a draken thing? I assumed only male drakens ate like they were starving, but perhaps draken bodies just required more than I was used to eating.
“I don’t want to get you in trouble,” I replied instead. She tsked, then scurried back off into the woods. Luci returned less than fifteen minutes later with more mushrooms and a dead grouse. I furrowed my brow, not sure how to react to the raw bird in front of me. I gasped when flames shot out of the palm of her hand, roasting the mushrooms. She wrapped them in a large leaf and stuffed one in her mouth. She dropped the rest down to me and set to plucking the feathers on the dead bird.
“Pluck them out, then roast it! Done soon.”
I nodded dumbly, having nothing else to say. I was friends with a young witch who could conjure fire and didn’t seem too concerned about a strange woman hiding in her tree. I decided to let all my questions go, and just focus on eating, sleeping, and staying alive. For the moment, I could take some time to heal and try to rest. It would have to be enough for now.
Two
I settled into a comfortable routine, sleeping in the hidden tree and eating when Luci brought me food twice a day. I kept my wings out when I was alone, hoping to heal as quickly as possible. My worst complaint was the claustrophobia, but it could have been so much worse. Luci tried to coax me to leave and wander the forest with her, but I refused. I was terrified I would be caught out in the open by a vampyre or one of the lesser demons.
An indulgence I did allow was for Luci to leave the trap door open when she was nearby. To see the leaves above, with the blue-sky peeking through white clouds filled me with a strange sense of peace. The sound of birds filtered down to me, their music
caressing my ears as I longed to join them in song as well as in the sky. I twitched my wing, feeling only a slight lingering soreness. Soon.
One afternoon, I awoke from a nap to the sound of Luci screaming followed by harsh, guttural laughter from outside the tree. My body flooded with adrenaline as I banged my head against the wall in my haste to get up. I slid effortlessly into my draken form, ready to defend my small savior.
“Little witches shouldn’t stray so far from their coven,” a voice snarled, and I bared my teeth from within my hiding spot. Judging from the laughter, there were at least two more. I twitched my wings, testing it carefully as I flexed and bent it. It still hurt but was more manageable. I could fight, and I could win.
“We’re looking for a draken. We know she landed somewhere nearby; you seen anything?”
My heart stopped in my chest as I put an ear against the bark, listening closely for her reply. I needn’t have worried.
“I don’t know what a draken is! LET ME GO!”
There was a loud crash and cursing from Luci’s captors.
“You little witchling bitch!”
Luci screamed again, and I acted without thinking. I punched my claws forward, and ripped the base off the tree apart, emerging into the bright light. Two Lykos and two vampyres stared at me, their jaws hanging open. The first vampyre cradled his hand, nursing a large burn. Luci hissed at him.
“Looking for me?” I snarled and exploded into action. I threw both of my knives, each of them finding a vampyre throat. They fell, gurgling with their hands at their throats, the first managing a high-pitched whistle before I struck. The lykos growled and I drew my short sword. I eyed them warily, but they didn’t attack—just continued to growl while backing away. The whistle must have been a signal, because the small scouting party quickly swelled, and I found myself surrounded by nearly a dozen ampyres and lesson demons. Luci backed into me, whimpering. Lesser demons were small, only coming up to my waist. Their skin was a dark red, their heads bald and eyes pitch black. They chattered at me, their sharp tails whipping back and forth with the promise of blood. Vaguely I noted the Lykos were gone.
