by Lela Grayce
Kreed jerked suddenly, then once again covered me with his body as gunshots rang from the dining room. Bullets punched through walls and over our heads. I tucked my face into Kreed’s neck wishing that this would all stop. If it didn’t we’d both be dead.
Zazu squirmed on my chest being squished by Kreed’s body and mine when something occurred to me. I worked my hands between us searching for Zazu’s collar. It took me several seconds to locate it and then the button hidden behind the strap. I pressed it as soon as my fingers found it.
The penthouse shook as the hidden security measures, that I had thought were overkill before, engaged. Thick metal walls descended into place, covering every outside wall with a three-inch thick impenetrable sheet of protection. It would take way more than the bullets that these ultra-ninja-thugs wielded. I prayed they didn’t have a tank because that’s what it would take to get through the walls.
The floor shook a final time before silence descended. If the bad guys were still firing at the metal walls we couldn’t hear it. Kreed remained on top of me waiting for what I wasn’t sure and I didn’t want to break the ringing silence.
“What happened?” Kreed breathed into my ear.
“I engaged the security,” I whispered.
“How?”
“Zazu,” I answered, then swallowed through the pain in my throat. “There’s an activation button on his collar.”
“This place is full of surprises.” Kreed pushed himself up so he could look down at me.
Tears filled my eyes when I saw that his eyes had returned to their normal color.
“Shh.” He wrapped his arms around my back and lifted.
I winced at the pain that covered every part of my body, but I didn’t tell him to stop. The pain told me that I was alive.
“I’m sorry,” Kreed murmured into my hair as he held me against him. Zazu having made himself scarce as soon as he could.
“There’s nothing to apologize for.” I hiccupped.
“I heard them outside, but I had no idea what they were going to do. I was distracted.” It sounded like he regretted our kiss, which hurt worse than the glass cuts on my back.
“It’s not your fault,” I assured him, knowing that he would still blame himself. He was my protector and in his eyes he had failed.
With effort, I withdrew from his arms and did my best to look him over. He was soaked in blood. Cuts crisscrossed his arms that seeped. I ran my hands over his chest and back, searching for more but didn’t find any life-threatening wounds. Though my inspection, I managed to get some of his blood onto my fingers, then began to try and draw my fire up and to my hands.
“What are you doing?” Kreed asked as I held my hands out in front of me, palms up.
“Healing you,” I answered praying that I had recovered enough. His blood started to heat, then bubble. I kept the heat even, asserting better control over it than I ever had in the past.
I’m pretty sure Kreed would have protested but he was too busy watching me. As the blood boiled on my hands, it began to dry, then flake away as ash. Once my palms were clean, I sucked the fire back down deep inside then looked Kreed over again. His wounds were healed without even a scar.
A tired smile spread across my face as I looked to find that he was centimeters away, our noses dangerously close to touching.
“Thank you,” he said reverently, grabbing my hand and bringing it to his mouth for a gentle kiss.
“You’ve saved my life multiple times. It’s the least I could do,” I assured him because it was true. My other power was useless in my opinion. Others didn’t think it was though.
“May I return the favor?” he asked, his fingers grazing the cuts on my back.
“If you’d like.” I would leave it up to him. Was I in pain? Yes, but I didn’t want him to think I expected it.
“I’d be honored,” he breathed, placing a soft kiss on my cheek. “This will be different than what my father did.”
“Oh?” I had lifted my wrist half-way to his mouth.
“To drink from you would bind us more than we already are, but I can heal without drinking from you.”
“How?”
“I’ve healed your injuries multiple times before. With just a touch of my blood and the magic stored within you will heal your body.”
“I thought you have to drink to heal?”
“Only to heal the ailments that are hidden. With visual cuts, scrapes, broken bones we can heal with a couple drops.”
“You must have healed many.” I leaned on him for support as he found a shard of glass with his fingers.
“So many I’ve lost count,” he replied, pricking his finger with the glass until a bead of blood had formed on the tip. “I need to put a little bit of my blood on your wounds to heal them.”
How very vampire of him.
After my head nod he ran his finger gently over every cut and scrape he could find. Even the smallest ones he healed. My neck was bruised and I’d thought he’d have to skip it since it wasn’t an open injury but he surprised me when he rubbed his fingers over the sore skin and massaged. I internally groaned from his touch, or from the heat that was building inside of me. Slowly the pain dissipated along with the soreness. It was amazing.
When he was finished, I could barely keep my eyes open. Fatigue tore at me from the fight or the healing or both. I snuggled closer into Kreed’s chest, feeling his arms wrap securely around me as I let myself drift off to sleep.
Kreed
Nik’s soft snores in my ear reminded me she was alive and well in my arms. My blood did the trick and healed her wounds visibly. I could physically feel my blood healing her and bonding me deeper to her.
I’ve healed many in my lifetime, all different species, but I have never felt this connected to someone. What did this mean? Was it because she healed me then I healed her soon afterward? Nothing made sense anymore. Sitting here holding her warm body to my chest, I realized what I had been living for, or more importantly, who. As long as there were dragons in this world none were safe. I held onto Nik tighter.
Glass crunched under me as I lifted myself and Nik from the floor. The penthouse was in lockdown and my senses were on high alert. This was the second time I’d failed to keep her safe. The first, I hesitated, and this time was distracted, too caught up in the feel of her body, her sweet scent, the small noises she made.
Just thinking of it was enough to make me pause in the kitchen and take a deep inhale. My muscles tightened and I had to shove the memory with more strength than it should have taken.
I slowly made my way into her living room, thankful that this room wasn’t hit by the Hybrid attackers. The remaining bodies in the house were invisible to my sight but whomever made the spell forgot to include a part to negate the smell. It was a quick not-well-thought-out plan and it showed. The scent of dragon all over the invaders told me who had sent this team. They all had underestimated the lengths I would go to protect Nik.
I gently laid her on the couch as the blood I drained from the attackers sang. It pumped through my body giving me a boost of energy. I was already craving more. This game was dangerous, I knew I could lose myself to the blood lust, but I’d come farther than any before me.
Covering Nik with a worn blanket, I pulled from the back of the couch. I needed to protect her. Now more than ever. The blood bond between us was growing. Impossible, and still there. Did I want it? Did she? I can’t deny what my own body was telling me. What my heart was suggesting. Her sly glances my way made me think that maybe she feels the same way. Or at least could. If the bond deepens, what then? Damn the vow I made when I was desperate. If only …
My mind wandered back to that day when I struck the pact with the other princes from my world.
Saxon, my oldest friend, opened the door then lowered his hood. I crowded in behind him shutting the door before pushing off my own hood.
“Want a drink?” Saxon asked, making his way to the overly opulent bar.
“
I’m good,” I answered, warily looking around at the patrons.
“Can I get a beer?” Saxon asked the short pixie behind the bar.
The small creature nodded, glancing from Sax to me curiously. Pixies had excellent noses and despite our attempt to hide our scents I knew he smelled us. He was probably tucking it away for later. Pixies were better than wolf-hounds.
Saxon grabbed the bottle, then made his way to the side of the bar, waving for me to follow. Another pixie nodded at my friend before lifting a trap door on the floor behind the bar. He stepped aside and watched as we descended before dropping the door shut behind us.
The room was dark and smelled of wet earth. My sight sharpened and I made out the silhouette of five others, noting that all seven princes of Zavar were in attendance for the first time since we were brought to Earth.
“Saxon? Kreed?” A voice asked from the shadows.
“It’s us, Zane,” Saxon answered, then took a long swig from his beer. Zane sat in a rickety chair looking like it would break under his size.
“We’re all here. What’s this about?” Kern asked, turning on a flashlight. I blinked, letting my eyes adjust again. He leaned against a support post his blue-black hair was tied in a knot and he looked more haggard than I’ve ever seen him.
“I have a plan,” Saxon announced, holding out his arms with a sadistic smile on his face.
“What’s he talking about?” Doru directed his question at me. I noticed his once long, golden hair was now cut short. I barely recognized him. Gone were the days when we raced across the dunes of his clan-lands without a care.
“I’m in the dark like you all are,” I answered.
“We’re all here, now explain why?” Nelo grabbed a chair and dragged it forward before sitting down. He looked different, too. The braids and beads that once adorned the prince of the White City by the Sea, replaced with jeans, T-shirt, and hooded jacket. How far we’d all fallen.
“I know how we can take down the dragons once and for all,” Saxon began, pulling a box from somewhere and sitting on it. “I asked you all here to discuss it. For this plan to work it’ll take all of us.”
“Have you gone mad?” Zane spoke always quick to anger, shadows danced across his pale face. “The dragons have all but wiped us out. We don’t have nearly the numbers that we need nor the power. Don’t be a fool.”
“Ahh, but there’s a way we can get the power.” Saxon leaned forward so his face was shrouded in the light. His green eyes flashed, and they reminded me of another similar pair. Aquila’s smiling face appeared in my mind and her laughter rang in my ears. An echo of another life.
“We’ve tried to start a rebellion before,” Hale interjected, his accent not as strong as it used to be. His hair was the same color of the stars that clustered above his northern clan’s keep.
“We’ve been looking at this all wrong,” Saxon explained, putting his bottle on the floor. “They have the numbers and the power for now but given enough time, we can gain that much and more. Then we can finally avenge our people.”
“What could possibly give us that much power?” Radimir asked, his orange eyes gleaming in the darkness so similar to the stones his clan mined back home.
“You’ve all heard of Naga, right?”
That got our attention. No one moved. We all stared at Saxon waiting for him to continue. I knew I wasn’t the only one who wanted to make gestures of protection.
Naga were dark beings that roamed our world. The life blood offered for healing was the basis of the bond that was created. A Naga was a Zavarian who craved blood far beyond what was needed to heal. The blood of the slain was at its most potent. Death was a sudden and violent thing. There’s power in it. Drinking the blood off the dying and transferring that power without an exchange. It was incredibly dangerous and feared by our people. Stories of Naga were told to young children to teach them the importance of the healing and safe exchange.
“You want us to become Naga?” I whispered, fearing for the first time that my best friend had gone mad. Aquila, his sister’s death, and so many others weighed on us all.
“We promised each other we’d do anything we must to avenge our people. We’ve tried everything else, this is our only option.” Saxon’s words warned against further argument.
The tone might have worked on others but everyone in this room was equal. We were all princes of Zavar. Questioning each other was normal and encouraged.
“I don’t think this is the only option.” I watched as the others nodded their agreement.
“Do you have a better idea?” Saxon grabbed his beer and took a long swallow.
“Not now but you can’t just spring this on us suddenly and expect us to follow blindly,” I replied icily.
“I’ll wait while you all come up with other viable options.” Saxon crossed his arms and sat back, glaring at each of us.
The others whispered and murmured possible suggestions, while some gave a laundry list of why this was a bad idea. No one spoke up with a better solution. I remained quiet, thinking about the situation and trying to recall what I knew of Naga.
When I was around five summers, I remembered my father speaking to my mother about them. There seemed to be an influx during that time. In order to drink slain blood, they needed a newly dead person so whomever went on a kill spree.
Father had said the Naga’ were nearly impossible to kill because after drinking from so many, they were so bloated with power that they were close to unkillable. I could only guess that since the exchange hadn’t taken place that the natural healing magic was forced to find a cure, but no one could cure the dead.
It was a terrible idea but I had to say that it was a good plan. Better than no plan.
“I think we should at least consider Saxon’s proposal,” I announced to the group.
“You’re just as mad as him,” Zane accused.
I felt my hand ball into a fist. “Don’t you get it?” I asked through clenched teeth. “The dragons twisted their nature to become what they are. To fight that and have any chance of winning we need to do the same. Fight fire with fire, as the humans say.”
“This path only leads to darkness. When a Naga dies, if they even can die, they will be gone. Lost to the void with no way to return to the golden fields,” Kern spoke softly as was the way of his clan. “This path will blacken our souls. Not even the cleansing rain from the mother’s tears will wipe it away.”
“Have you forgotten the night they came?” Saxon growled. As if we could ever forget. “How many they killed? How much of our sacred treasures they tarnished? How they drained our women of life while drinking the blood of our children? Blackness already stains our souls. If I’m to go into the void, then I’ll go willingly and without regret if I can take every single one of those scaley demons with me.”
A chill entered the room making us stir as we sat. It was unnatural and it swirled something inside. A thirst for revenge and the blood of those who had taken everything I ever loved from our world.
I licked my lips seeing the same emotion and determination on my fellow prince’s faces. “What’s the plan?” I asked Saxon seeing a red gleam in his eyes and knowing he’d already chosen the path and we’d follow.
I blinked, banishing the cold cellar from my mind’s eye and refocusing on Nik’s living room again. She was on the couch, her breathing erratic but she calmed when her ugly Chia curled up at her side.
I pressed my back against the wall opposite her and let it support me as I slid down its surface to the floor. The sleeve of my shirt was torn, a white scar visible on my wrist. Zavarian’s didn’t scar, our healing ability would wipe away any evidence of injury and yet this remained. A shimmering white reminder of the pact we’d made that fateful night. We had tied our blood and the course of our lives together and to this cause.
That was now decades ago. A lifetime really. We seven Princes of Zavar had bled, blackened our souls, and died one by one, passing the power and burden to the others
who remained alive.
I was the last.
The power and life force of the princes was colorfully etched into the skin of my back.
Dragons had destroyed our home, nearly drove our race to extinction. I wouldn’t allow Zavarians to be wiped from the Earth.
I’d become a monster and I would destroy every single dragon even if it meant losing myself.
Though I was exhausted, my sleep was restless. I couldn’t get comfortable even when Kreed moved us to the living room couches. His presence was reassuring but sleep still evaded me and the little bit I did get hadn’t been enough.
The penthouse was dark when I opened my eyes, a soft glow coming from the kitchen. Kreed wasn’t in the living room and my stomach knotted. The penthouse was secure but what if an invisible person was still here hiding.
Wrapping the comforter around my body I tiptoed down the hall to the kitchen. I found Kreed shirtless with a broom in hand as he swept up glass.
“Hey,” I announced, not wanting to spook him, my mouth gaping.
He turned, a troubled expression on his face but by the time his eyes met mine it was gone. I gave him a smile, wondering briefly if I had imagined it.
“I found your phone.” He nodded to the counter. “It’s been vibrating incessantly.”
I stepped closer reaching for my phone as Kreed turned his back to me continuing to sweep and I got a good look at his back. It was covered in an elaborate tattoo of a snarling dragon. The rainbow of colors shimmered like it was made of diamonds as he moved. It was the most elaborate, most colorful, most sexy tattoo I had ever seen. My fingers itched to touch it. That would be rude right?
Instead, I grabbed my phone and clicked it on, seeing over twenty missed calls and even more text messages. I sighed knowing that the security system must have alerted people.
Gavin had called every thirty minutes for several hours, while Lyndee and Syd had sent text after text demanding me to pick up or text them back. I hurried and shot off messages to them both saying I was fine, just locked inside the penthouse until someone could come disengaged the system.
