Adored by The Dragon: (The Dragon Lord - Book 3) (The Dragon Lords)
Page 87
“You will die,” he said, softer, staring into my eyes as if to make me understand. He wasn’t angry. If anything; I noted; he was proud of me.
“But, I will die with honor,” I replied. I gathered the power that had attracted the attention of all the vampires— that hidden store that I felt deep inside me— and focused. “You should go, quickly.” My plan was to simply blast out all the energy I had in me and hope it cut down on the vampires they had to fight on the way out.
Instead, I saw a flash of light from the top of the staircase as Lady Borgia set off a flash grenade. Blinded, I dropped to my knees automatically; my body kicking into training mode from all the work and obstacle courses Simi had put me through. I felt a tap on my shoulder and shifted to the left, staying low. Vampires and hunters clashed at the base of the stairs and my voluminous skirts got in the way as I tried to help the hunters fight their way back toward the door.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and Professor Eldritch was there; Nicholas at his back. I tried to warn him, but Nicholas grabbed us both and suddenly I was at the top of the stairs with the professor standing next to me. Nicholas was ahead of us, in the doorway; as he motioned for us to follow him. I looked back, trying to find David, or Clay, or Simi, but they were too far to call to without attracting the attention of every vampire between us. Eldritch grabbed my good arm and shoved me ahead of him, and I shook my head.
“I can fight!” I hissed.
“I know you can. But, you have a power that needs to be protected. Go with him now. We’ll come find you. I promise,” he bellowed over the din of the fight. I finally obeyed, looking back only once to see my professor fighting a vampire with his sword.
Nicholas ducked to one side as more vampires and hunters battled in the grand foyer and led me through a labyrinthine set of corridors that took us deep underground. Together we ran faster and faster until I skidded to a stop, amazement on my face. He laughed and took my hand; turning another corner and stopping outside a forbidding steel door.
“Through this room, is your freedom. It is a back door of sorts.” He opened the door to a room lit only by torches hung on the walls to each side. There were doors at the far end and a single coffin in the middle, wrapped in heavy chains.
I walked closer to it and it began to shake. Ragged screams echoed from inside, making me jump back in alarm. I pulled Nicholas back into the hall we’d just come through.
“Vittorio?” I stammered, clutching Nicholas’ hand. He nodded and tugged me past it to a door on the other side. Through it was a short hall with a door at the other end.
“There is a path that will take you to the top of the hill.”
I shook out the heavy skirts. “Will I be able to run without you by my side, or should I leave this here?” I asked.
“It will fade, but for a few days, you are almost as fast as a vampire.” It explained why vampires seldom kept human servants. If the blood exchange gave the human so much more than it did the vampire; it could be detrimental to the community.
“Wait,” I asked, grabbing Nicholas’ hand and holding him tight as he turned to go back into the room with the horrifying vampire prison. “What are you going to do?” He ran his fingers over my cheek and slid his hand behind my head, fisting my hair as he pulled me to him.
“I’m going to get your hunters out of there. Go home, sweet, young Caroline. I will always find you and you will always know when I’m near.”
“I will know you, because of my power, just as I will know when Vittorio is freed from his cage,” I argued, selfishly stalling; even though my friends were fighting for their lives.
“Your psychic gift is now strong and will be stronger once you come back to me.” He kissed me then and the heat in my body leapt to a fever pitch as his fangs gently scraped over my tongue and lips. He managed not to pierce me. I was finally leaving, but all I wanted was more of that kiss.
“There’s a trick to kissing a vampire,” I whispered, stroking my finger over the cool skin of his hand before backing away.
“There are many things I look forward to teaching you, Caroline,” he said, his voice full of dark promises. “Take care, tiny hunter, that you come back to me in one piece.” I trembled and he ran his fingers down the low neckline of my dress, making my legs rubber. “Now, run Caroline, go.”
I walked through the little wooden door and when it closed behind me I couldn’t see anything suggesting an underground fortress lay behind it. I tried the latch and it was locked tight. It stung my hand with the energy from the spells that kept people from wandering in unannounced.
I left the underskirts next to the door in case Rachel ever came looking for them. I picked up the skirts of the rest of the dress and held it around my waist as I ran. The trees and bushes flew by me in the light reflected by the moon and I ran full out, my good arm holding my skirts, my injured one pressed against my chest. Even as I ran, I felt the pain lessening in my arm and soon I could hold it by my side with a fraction of the pain it had been in before.
The vampire blood would fade, Nicholas had said. As I wiggled the fingers on my right hand, I was grateful for it. He had sacrificed power to heal me and the thought warmed and thrilled me. I slowed my run and tried to sense vampires or hunters, but there was no one immediately near me.
I kept moving until Dominique reached out to me and when I sensed her presence, I slowed my run, trying to see everything around me. I then slowed more to a walk as I reached a paved road. I walked along the edge; drawing closer to Dominique’s power, until I saw a car ahead of me pulled over to the side. A door opened and in the light from the overhead dome, I saw Clay inside. I staggered towards it, suddenly overcome with emotion, and the realization that I was truly free and going home.
Clayton splinted my arm and made a sling out of fabric from my skirt, even though I explained that I was much better. I saw regret in his eyes and knew he was trying to make up for what had happened between us in the ballroom. Simi— that beautiful, brilliant woman I was afraid I’d never see again— wrapped me in a blanket and held me in her muscular arms all the way to the safe house in Burbank, California. I didn’t complain.
It was Clay who got me alone as I stepped out of the shower; dressed and towel-drying my hair. He called me over to him in a corner and handed me a tumbler of whiskey, which I took after checking to see if any of the adults were going to stop me.
“What happened back there?” I finally asked. I hadn’t spoken the whole ride, too afraid that I would find out that everyone else had died. But when I saw Eru Somayo guarding the door, and another hunter I didn’t recognize nodding us through to the suite I was sharing with Dominique and Simi, sheer relief almost made me cry.
“Nicholas showed us all why he is the master of the city,” he replied. “Both sides had injuries but no one on our side died. It was like being caught in a whirlwind. I never want to go through that again.”
“And David?”
“Eldritch thought it best to send him somewhere else, with the other hunters. You’re too special to risk and he’s too angry to trust.” He paused, and touched my shoulder gently. “Are you going to be all right?” he asked, as I sniffed, then gingerly sipped the amber liquid that burned its way from my mouth to my stomach. I shrugged and nodded, then handed him back the glass. I jerked my thumb toward my bunk.
As I lay there, I heard them talking in low whispers about my mental health and psychic ability, and how much counseling I would need to recover from my ordeal. I stretched both arms above my head and smiled to myself, relishing my “vampire” abilities while I still had them. Soon, I would go back to being just Caroline, dorky kid in school who tripped over her own feet and was everyone’s first choice for “whose paper to cheat off”.
But now I had something no one else had, or could take away from me. I ran my fingers over my lips and called up the memory of his mouth on mine: the sweet, metallic tang of blood under the mints he devoured to appear less monstrous. I felt him in my head and
knew he was close, watching over me, keeping me safe.
“You will come back to me, tiny hunter,” he reminded me and I watched a shadow pass over my window. I sighed, trying not to cry over the things I was sure I would now never learn. I rolled over and bunched up the pillow in my arms and with a start realized there was something under the pillow.
I slid the familiar leather-bound sheaf of parchment out and glanced out the window. Nicholas was close, even if I couldn’t see him. He would never be too far away and once his kingdom was back in order, and I was old enough to choose where I would go, I would see him again.
The End of Book 1
Subscribe to our Newsletter!
This exclusive VIP Mailing List will keep you updated on our latest content. Subscribe and receive “The Vampire Kiss” absolutely FREE to your email and stay in touch with the latest updates to your email by clicking below.
GET ACCESS NOW
http://www.PersiaPublishing.com/subscribe-to-romance-lucy/
LIKE US AT
https://www.facebook.com/LucyLyonsRomance/
CAN YOU HELP?!
PLEASE leave a quick review for this book if it gives you any value. It provides valuable feedback that allows me to continuously improve my books and motivates me to keep writing.
Thank You!
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE