Ivormantis

by Alice Brown

  Meldamiriel nearly jumped across the table when one of Blain’s guards came bursting into the room, throwing the doors back so hard they slammed into the walls, causing the room to shake.

  “Sir!” the man exclaimed as he rushed over to Blain’s side. “We’ve caught them,” he said a bit breathlessly as if he had been running hard and long.

  Blain and Natasha looked toward Dominic and Meldamiriel. Not understanding what was happening, she turned her big blue eyes up to Dominic in hopes of discovering just what was going on. Instead, she found him sitting on edge like he was ready to leap at some kind of prey. Who had they caught? Why had they caught them?

  “Let’s go,” Blain stated in a gruff and barking tone.

  Meldamiriel tried not to jump in fear of his biting order.

  “All is well, love. Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon,” Dominic whispered softly into her ear, placing a gentle kiss to the side of her head before following Blain as he left the room.

  She looked over to Natasha for answers.

  “Maybe it would be best if after breakfast we took a tour about the castle and have a nice chat.”

  She smiled, Natasha always did know what she needed and when. She was the best friend anyone could ever ask for.

  Chapter Two

  The guards that Blain had sent out the night before in pursuit of the vampires that seemed hell-bent on chasing little Meldamiriel down had returned with three angry Russian vamps. And yes, these three were beyond pissed. Dominic leaned casually against the dungeon walls as he watched the three bloodsuckers struggle with the reinforced steal chains that were holding them captive. The bigger vamp—the leader Dominic guessed—snarled and growled as Blain slowly paced back and forth before him, holding a taunting goblet of O Positive and whiskey mix in his hand.

  “Now, I know you’re only a simple delivery boy, so to speak,” Blain began. “So, I really have no need in torturing or killing you today. But you have to willingly and truthfully answer a few questions.”

  The vampire growled.

  “Okay, let’s start with you telling me your name.”

  “That means nothing to you,” the vamp snarled.

  Blain shrugged. “Maybe not, but just in case I change my mind, I would like to know the name of the idiot I kill this afternoon.”

  “Alek, Alek Pachinko.” He snapped his fangs as if trying to scare the dragon before him.

  “Okay, Alek, I know you were chasing after a young elf. It just so happens, she is my mate’s adopted sister, and that big guy over there,” he said, pointing over to Dominic, “well, he’s the little elf’s mate. And just a bit of advice that I’ll be nice and share with you. I really wouldn’t go pissing him off, especially when it comes to his newly found mate.”

  Alek shrugged. “The twit means nothing to me.”

  Blain nodded, walking around a bit. “You’re right, maybe not to you, but to Bullock, yes.” It wasn’t a question.

  Dominic honestly didn’t think it was possible for an already pale white creature such as a vampire to lose any coloring; apparently, he was completely wrong.

  “Ahh, yes. I do believe we just staked the heart, so to speak of course,” Blain stated.

  Dominic smirked; Blain was having entirely too much fun with all of this. If it weren’t for his messed up back, he would beat the bloody hell out of each of these pathetic leeches in honor of his beloved. But sadly, in order to keep his health, and so he could be by Meldamiriel’s side, he was having to force himself to take a step back and stay cool headed through all of this and let Blain handle it all himself. That was fine; he knew there would be more where these three low lives came from. He would be ready and waiting for the rest of them.

  “Alek, humor me on this. Though I believe I already know why Bullock sent you after the elf, tell me why he wants her so badly?”

  Dominic held his breath while waiting for the vampire to speak his answer.

  “Just the slightest taste of her blood can strengthen a vampire, can you imagine the powers one vampire would have after draining her dry?” Alek questioned back, then he turned his eyes across to Dominic. “Besides, I’ve heard stories that she’s even more of a treasure behind closed doors.”

  ‘No one touches my Meldie!!!’ Ivormantis roared from deep within, rising up and pushing against Dominic’s barriers.

  Suddenly, Blain was standing in front of him. “Dominic, Dominic! You must calm yourself. You can’t allow Ivormantis to get the better of you, not right now,” Blain stated softly, shaking his shoulders. “She needs you,” he whispered. “Concentrate on the fact she needs you, she needs you to survive. You have to be strong and be there for her.”

  He could feel the change threatening to take over his body as Ivormantis fought to push his way to the surface. His hands were extending out into claws and his eyes were shifting over to their reptilian side. His spine was cracking and trying to twist as if to realign itself and make room for his wings to sprout out. The heat of his fire breath burned deep in the back of his throat. No, no, no, he couldn’t do this. He couldn’t allow himself to change over because his temper got the best of him. It would cause himself to become worthless and useless because he no longer had the use of his spine. She needs me, she needs me, she needs… He closed his eyes and pictured Meldamiriel standing before him, so small and fragile. Yes, she needed him and he’d be damned if he let her down.

  Reopening his eyes, Dominic could finally breathe without smoke puffing out of his nose and Ivormantis was no longer forcing his way to the top to rein control. He looked to Blain, who was still watching him cautiously, then he glanced around him to the vampire whom had started this to begin with. The bastard had a shit-eating grin on his face and a wicked glint in his eyes. Looking back to Blain, he nodded to let him know he was alright and out of danger of shifting. Blain trusted his friend and took a step back, but Dominic didn’t give him the chance to go back to interrogating the bloodsucker.

  Snatching the goblet of blood out of Blain’s hand, Dominic marched right up to the vamp and stabbed the glass through his chest, cupping his heart inside the goblet. He enjoyed it, probably a little too much, watching the pain write itself across the vampire’s face as the blood and whiskey seeped in around his heart and open wounds. With a nice quick jerk, Dominic twisted the goblet to the side, wrenching it in just a little farther. The vampire roared out in anguish.

  Leaning in close, Dominic whispered in his ear, “Hell will be a welcoming home compared to what I would like to do to you right now. Say hello to the devil for me.” And with that, he yanked the large goblet out of his chest, pulling the heart out with it. He then turned back to face Blain, heart partially inside the goblet and lapping over. “What?” he questioned.

  Blain stared at him, wide-eyed for a moment, not believing he just watched his lifelong friend rip someone’s heart out. He had known the man most of his life and had never seen this side of him, even when fighting their deadly enemy, the Raptorians.

  “Nothing,” he quickly said, shaking his head and closing his mouth.

  With a slight nod, Dominic then turned back to the other two vampires still chained to the back wall looking like complete ghosts; they had turned that white with fear. Their leader had just been killed right before their eyes, now there was no one to save their hides. They might be able to get Blain on their side, but that was most unlikely as long as the big, crazy one was still in the room.

  “Now, who wants to go first?” Dominic questioned, holding the goblet with the still beating heart in it and looking between the two other vamps.

  They turned and looked at one another with an unmistakable “oh shit” look on their faces.

  Natasha and Meldamiriel silently climbed the stairs to the second floor of the castle. Natasha had just finished showing her the downstairs, where the kitchen, dining room, parlor, formal ballroom, and an up-to-date media room were located. She had explained that a large training room was down in the basement area, along with th
e interrogation room. Now they were on their way to finding Blain’s office, the library, the medical room, and all the guest rooms that were all located on the second floor. Natasha stated the third floor belonged to the guards and workers of the castle and there really was no need in going up there. It was such a large and beautiful place, though she couldn’t help wondering how no one got lost in there. She would need a map to memorize for weeks before she tried walking even the inside of this place by herself. She already felt lost, but trusted Natasha knew well where they were going and that she was completely safe with her.

  As they came upon the medical room, Meldamiriel couldn’t hold back the one question that had yet to leave her mind since she arrived last night. “How did Dominic get so injured?” she questioned quietly, looking down at her hands as she wrung them together like a wet rag.

  “The dragons are not from this world. They live in another land called Dragonose, another realm in time. Blain was summoned by the king of Dragonose, King Thoran, because of a threat from the Raptorians. They’re the foulest creatures you’ll ever see. A group of them came and tried attacking us, but we held strong. I was able to work with a dragon named Naquadus and it was an incredible experience. We seemed to work as one and we were totally smoking out the enemy!” Meldamiriel giggled at Natasha’s excitement at remembering her victory battle. Natasha decided that now was not the best time to tell her best friend that she was now a dragon shifter. No, everything was still too up in the air with Meldamiriel right now. She was still scared of Dominic, even though she had helped his pain levels this morning. Natasha knew it was something she couldn’t keep from her forever, but surely a few days for things to calm down wouldn’t hurt, would it?

  “A group of them ambushed Dominic, Blain tried to help but more took him down. By the time I got there, they had cut out Blain’s eye and broken Dominic’s wings. We were all worried he wouldn’t be able to shift back, but their medical technology is far superior than ours and the doctor took very good care of both of them. He was able to get Dominic to shift back into his human form. The drawback to that is he has to stay in his human form until his spine is completely healed, and that isn’t easy for him to swallow.”

  Natasha looked around Meldamiriel and into the medical room. “There’s a doctor coming to help him recover. His first treatment is this evening. Hopefully we’ll be able to see some improvement within a few sessions, if not, he may have to learn to live without his dragon.”

  Meldamiriel felt crushed at hearing those words. She couldn’t help her small gasp as she clutched her chest as she suddenly felt a heartbreaking sorrow wash over her. Why was there so much cruelty in the world they lived in? And why did all the hateful beings out there always go after the innocent?

  “But why did they attack Dominic? He’s not a bad person…is he?”

  “No, Melda, he’s not a bad person. But he is a warrior, and Raptorians are the type of creatures that will destroy anything that gets in their way; Dominic was one of our top fighters and they hit him hard.” Natasha could still see the worry in Meldamiriel’s eyes and knew she had to quickly find a way to ease the worry lines stretching across her friend’s forehead. She wanted her to find happiness, not sadness. “If you want, you can come in here and be with him while the doctor works on his back. It would mean a lot to Dominic for you to come, and Blain and I will be right there with you the whole time.”

  Meldamiriel cast an unsure glance over her shoulder into the cold metal room and with a slow nod she looked back to her friend.

  “I’ll think about it, though I’m not sure if I can handle dealing with that right now.”

  Natasha nodded, completely understanding and feeling proud of the little elf for being brave enough to admit to her fears. Plus, there would be plenty of time to work on matchmaking Meldamiriel and Dominic while he healed from his injury.

  Meldamiriel sat curled up in a tight ball in the big, comfy chair in the middle of her room. She was facing the window with the doors sealed closed behind her. Her nerves were already starting to unravel as she tried her best to lose herself in a book. She had hoped it would take her mind off Dominic who she knew was in the medical room, waiting for the doctor to arrive. Natasha had explained his spine had been injured so badly they had to wire it back together on a temporary basis. Now, the time had come to go in and fuse it back together. Whether or not he could shift back into his dragon form depended solely on the outcome of this procedure.

  She had thought about meeting him in the medical room, to be near him during the surgery, but ended up backing out at the last minute because she let her fears get the best of her. Taking a deep breath, she turned the page in her book. All she was seeing was nothing more than just some annoying black dots littered all over the smooth cream sheet, no words with any meanings to them. Her mind was too far gone, stuck down the hall in the medical room with Dominic as the doctor worked to prepare him for his first rounds of treatment. Taking a deep breath, she settled herself back into her seat and looked a little more closely at the letters printed on the page.

  “Marie drove down the highway, her mind lost in space as she fantasized about getting back home to her fiancé whom she would be saying I do to in less than a week…” Meldamiriel felt sick at reading these words. Surely there had to be a better way to keep her mind off of things than reading this sappy crap. She sat staring out the window and tried to think of something that would occupy her mind to keep her distracted; her mind kept on wandering back to the medical room down the hall where she knew Dominic currently was.

  “That’s it,” she grumbled to herself, slamming her book shut. There was no other way around this, she was just going to have to put her fears to rest and go down the hallway to the medical suite. She would know no peace until she saw with her own eyes how things were going.

  She stuck her head out around the corner of her door, finding the hallway bare. The castle was quiet, too quiet for her comfort. She padded her small feet silently down the hall, listening closely for any signs for panic or distress, just the slightest sound to tell her to make a run back to the safety of her room. Nothing. There was no sound at all to be heard. Taking a deep breath, she rounded the corner in the direction she remembered the medical room to be and sure enough, she saw a door standing open and light beaming through. As she neared, she could even hear voices, although they were keeping the volume down very low. She picked out Dominic’s, Natasha’s, and Blain’s voices instantly. A fourth voice kept piping in occasionally, but she guessed that to be the doctor.

  “Did she at least have a good day?” she heard Dominic ask. She hadn’t seen him since earlier that morning when he and Blain had been pulled aside from the guards that found the vampires that had been hunting her down.

  Meldamiriel smiled, a warm sensation filling her heart at having someone who cared and was concerned for her. She wasn’t accustomed to that. Usually she only had Natasha to watch out and tend for her. This was new, and kind of nice, too.

  “Yes, Dominic, she had a good day. That is the third time you’ve asked me that this hour. She’s doing fine, though she’s still adjusting and trying to get her bearings together,” Natasha stated, a smile in her voice.

  “Will I be able to see her soon?” Dominic’s clear voice carried to her ears.

  “If you’re feeling up to it, I’ll take you to see her later tonight after you’ve had time to recuperate a bit,” Blain stated.

  “The hell with feeling up to it and recuperating! I want to see her tonight.”

  Meldamiriel inched up to the door, hiding just around the corner and listening in on the conversation. She didn’t know if it was alright to come in after telling Natasha that she thought it would be best if she stayed up in her room during the procedure. But she could feel a small smile tugging at her lips after hearing Dominic’s words and the determination behind them. Butterflies started to flutter about in her stomach, in a good way though.

  “Dominic, I know you’re dealin
g with the pull right now, but you also need to take your health into consideration. Meldamiriel needs you to be well almost as much as Ivormantis needs it. And with everything she’s gone through, taking things slow and keeping some distance might just be for the best, for her sake that is. You don’t want to take the chance of scaring her or pushing her away, do you?” Blain spoke calmly. Even though he knew the words would come out a bit rude, he needed to try to keep both his best friend and his dragon calm; he didn’t know how much Meldamiriel could take, and neither did his wife. All they could do was try to help the two of them along the best they could, keeping a not-able-to-shift dragon and his human calm and a running-for-her life elf feeling safe and learning to be loved.

  Blain noticed Dominic’s eyes were no longer looking at him as he spoke, instead his sight seemed to be locked intently on something behind him. That, or he was just staring off into space and ignoring him. Either way, he questioned the man. “Dominic, are you listening to a word I’ve been saying…” Natasha jabbing her elbow deep into his side cut him off there. He opened his mouth to say something to her about it, but found her eyes also turned in the same direction as Dominic’s. He turned himself around to find Meldamiriel standing in the doorway. Her stance was one that screamed she was ready to bolt back out of the room if there were any signs of trouble.

  “Meldamiriel,” Dominic breathed out, a wave of ease and comfort washing over his body at the sheer sight of his beautiful elf.

  She smiled bashfully, blushing deeply as Dominic’s unfaltering gaze stayed upon her. She cast her eyes down to the floor as she nervously fidgeted and picked at her fingers. She tried desperately to come up with a plausible explanation as to why she was there.

  “I…uh…I changed my mind. I thought I might come over for a little while,” she mumbled nervously, chewing on her lush bottom lip.