“She’s his intended,” Avery said, giving me a reassuring smile like he was helping me out.
Slowly, I sat and turned forward. My face felt way too hot. I was very ready to be done with this class.
The next few periods were even worse; compared to the juniors, the freshmen had been timid. I stood up in every class, introduced myself, then had questions about Wyvern thrown at me. No other cousins were in my classes, but I was lucky enough to have Mele in my fourth period Writing Composition class before lunch.
“Pay attention to the teacher!” Mele snapped at a girl who was staring unblinkingly at me.
The teacher glanced over at Mele, but she looked a little uncertain, then just continued explaining the syllabus.
“Just a couple hours back in my life, and he’s already ruining it,” I said under my breath.
“Ah, these people will get over it,” she whispered, swiping her hand through the air. “Or at least they’ll stop badgering you and just obsess about you behind your back.”
“Thanks,” I grumbled at her.
“I’m serious,” she said. “It’ll be fine. I already met some pretty cool people. After your security team does they’re background checks and strip searches them, maybe you can meet them too.”
“You’re hilarious,” I whispered.
The teacher glanced over at us, obviously noticing our whispering, but to my shock, she said nothing and continued with her lecture. When the bell rang and I faced the prospect of going to lunch with the rest of the student body, I considered ignoring Ailani’s orders and just driving to her daughter’s house.
Not playing by Ailani’s rules would likely cause me to lose this opportunity and good relations with the Hells’ Hogs as well. This was the only reason I zipped up my backpack and headed out of the cafeteria to face the ravenous masses, also known as my new schoolmates.
The moment we filed out of the classroom, Mele and I were again surrounded by the ‘human car’—as Mele called it. We were halfway to the cafeteria when a huge smile broke across Mele’s face. She dove out of the human car and started running. When I stopped and looked, I saw the huge figure of Alika standing with a group of just-quite-not-as-huge Mabiian high school boys. He was laughing until his girlfriend literally leapt on him. She wrapped her arms and legs around him like a crazy squirrel.
“I didn’t know you were going to visit me!” she said.
Alika said something I couldn’t hear.
Mele looked back at me, then said something quietly to Alika. He set her down and just as he did, I saw her shove something into her back pocket. They shared another quick kiss and then Mele walked back toward me.
Alika man-hugged his friends, then turned to walk toward the parking lot.
“That for me?” I whispered as Mele got close.
“Yeah,” she muttered. “Follow me to the bathroom; he said to give it to you when it’s not obvious.”
The bathroom had only a couple girls in it and with Teddy and Brian guarding the door, no one else came in. When it was entirely clear of people, Mele handed me the note.
“Who’s it from?” Mele asked before I even opened it.
“Honua,” I lied. “It’s the info for the next place we’re meeting.”
“Ah. She’s still bringing you info?” Mele asked.
“When she can,” I said.
Scrolled across the paper were the words:
Mabiian History Museum five o’clock pm tomorrow
“What?” I whispered, confused.
“What does it say?” Sophie asked, coming close to me.
“The Mabiian History Museum,” I said.
“That’s in the Mabiian Heritage Society Headquarters? Why in all the hells would Honua risk bringing you there? They’d kill you on sight.” Mele said, sounding pissed off.
“Is it surrounded in a water ward?” Sophie asked.
“Three,” Mele said.
“What’s a water ward?” Annie asked, standing beside Sophie.
“The humans here have designed a way to keep infected and dracons out of isolated areas. It’s like a Herotto Gate, but it’s non-magical,” Sophie said.
I had no idea what a Herotto gate was, but I didn’t ask.
“Wow, Hun, that sounds like a pretty obvious trap to me,” Annie said, rolling back to her heels.
“I seriously doubt it’s a trap,” I said. “It sounds more like the risk I’d have to take to find out what’s really going on.”
It would make perfect sense to me if the Mabiian Heritage Society was involved again. Honestly, they would always hold a special spot on my top suspects list for any crime on the islands.
“I think there’s very little chance that the Rex will let you go,” Sophie said. “We’ll have to send another human in.”
“That won’t work,” I said.
Sophie shook her head. “We’ll discuss it with him but I—”
The blare of her phone interrupted what she was saying. “Hello sir,” she answered then she looked up at me. “The Rex says to turn your phone off silent, Dakota.”
I rolled my eyes but pulled my phone from my backpack. Sure enough, there were three missed calls from Wyvern. There was also a text with only three words, three terrifying words: ‘Crimson Midnight, tonight.’
Chapter Thirteen
Wyvern drove his boat directly toward the very same ship I fled from only two nights ago. It was hard to believe that mad escape had been less than forty-eight hours ago.
In such a short time, my life had completely flipped on its head, once again. It seemed to be a trend. Every time Wyvern entered my life, it completely fell apart. Though to be fair, this time wasn’t Wyvern’s fault.
My eyes felt hot once more as I watched ship lights ripple across the water. I’d never faced this important of a mission before in my life, and I’d never been so emotionally unprepared.
Glancing down at the gown I was wearing, I thought maybe, just maybe, the complete transformation Annie had done on me would make me unrecognizable. Why I had to wear a gown to plead my case to these dracons I had no idea, but Wyvern was similarly dressed in a tuxedo.
Pulling the boat to the passenger loading platform, Wyvern threw a line to the well-dressed vampire-dracon waiting for us. With my dampener off, I could easily tell that he was a dracon rather than a mere-vampire. I didn’t recognize him as one of the brothers, but he had a substantial amount of that distinctive dark powerful soul.
“You know, I can see why humans love their boats so much,” Wyvern said as he placed a hand on my back. “We should do this more often.”
“You really do have a death wish, don’t you?” I said to him. “If we fell overboard we’d have about five minutes until we’d be too weak to swim.”
“That’s half the fun of it,” he said, eyes gleaming.
He was insane. To a creature with fire in their blood, being submerged in that much moving water would be a death sentence within ten minutes. I’d swum in the ocean only once in my life with my dampener on, so I wasn’t hurt, but I was the only dracon I knew of who had ever done it.
“Don’t vampires not wake until full dark?” I whispered to Wyvern.
“We’re meeting with dracons, remember?” Wyvern smirked.
“Yeah, but aren’t they...? You know what I mean.”
“They’re not nocturnal,” Wyvern said, laughing. “Well, to be fair, the Regina is nocturnal, but that’s a story for a different time.” He waved off the dracon’s offered hand and climbed out of the boat first. Turning, he picked me up by my waist and set me down on the platform.
I glared at him and poked him in the chest. “Stop all the unnecessary touching,” I whispered.
Wyvern had no trace of flirting in his voice when he whispered back, “Right now, it’s necessary.”
Nodding, I realized how stupid I was being. The black gown, the speedboat, the way we had to act, it was all a part of the plan to save Lorelei and my grandfather. I was letting my fear of Wyvern’
s affection override my ability to do what I needed to do.
In response, I leaned into him and his arm came around me. It was the opposite of comforting. His touch was more electrifying and unsettling right now, but I made myself smile up at him.
The well-dressed dracon bowed low to Wyvern, then said, “Hello Mr. Manderson. My name is Jack. I was sent to bring you to my father and uncles.”
“Thank you,” Wyvern said as his hand slipped down to rest on the small of my back.
We had docked at a much fancier entrance to the ship. On this patron end, the golden walls weaved like ribbons along the hallway, lights twinkling down their length.
At the end of the hall, elevator doors slid open, dinging that all too familiar sound, and I almost lost my courage. I’d been on a hundred dangerous assignments, but I had never been so terrified of failing in my life.
Wyvern’s strong hand pressed against my back, and I let him lead me into the elevator. As the elevator rose, I closed my eyes.
When I heard the ding and swish of the elevator opening, I opened my eyes slowly, expecting to see Harrison where he had been standing last time.
No one stood there.
The dracon held the door to the VIP section out for us to walk through. In the resplendent dining room, faint outlines of set tables and crystal baubles gleamed from the darkness. A line of lights over our path gave off just enough light to lead us to the room I was not supposed to have escaped from two nights ago.
The dracon leading us turned the large wheel and opened the door.
Swallowing heavily, I let Wyvern lead me inside. As it had been the last time, the room was filled with dracons and vampires, but with my dampener off today, it was obvious to me that almost all of them were truly dracons. All faced us standing, and many of them gave varying levels of bows our way. Wyvern gave a slight bow in the direction of the dracons standing at the brazier. I bowed low, not knowing which dracon was Joseph, the one I should be bowing to.
After standing, I glanced around and immediately saw Harrison. He stood out so much in this sea of monotonously perfect faces, my eyes immediately found his dark hair and bright blue eyes—his imperfect features. Wreathing him was a soul as dark and dense as obsidian. He was unquestionably the most powerful dracon aside from Wyvern in the room.
His face broke into a grin, and he walked purposefully toward us. “Vern,” he said, “I am so glad you’re here.” He reached out, and Wyvern let go of my back to give Harrison a hug. They patted each other once on the back, before they broke apart.
“Harrison, I’d like you to meet my intended, Dakota Kekoa,” Wyvern said.
Harrison’s kind expression turned to me. The moment he saw me I knew any hope I’d had that he wouldn’t recognize me had been foolish. A look of absolute shock and horror fell across his face.
“What in all the hells?” he mumbled under his breath. Then he took a long inhale, and if it was possible, his look of shock intensified. “She’s the same as the other one. She’s like the girl who attacked the Regina,” he growled.
“She’s her sister.” Wyvern’s voice was controlled and calm.
“What is this Vern? Did you sanction the attack?” Harrison yelled.
“What is going on here?” one of the other brothers strode toward us.
“This is the sister of the girl who attacked Imogen. She was here that night too, impersonating a human server. Her power is the same as the other one.”
“Their powers are not the same,” Wyvern said, still with that complete calm.
I stared at him, not understanding why he wasn’t defending me. We’d made another deal on the boat ride out here, I would not talk until he asked me to. But if he didn’t speak up soon, I was going to break that deal.
“Is this true Wyvern? Did you sanction an attack on my sister?” the newcomer said, outraged sounding.
“I did not, Joseph. I learned about the attack yesterday afternoon,” he said.
“So did you come here to hand over the culprit?” Harrison spat.
“I came to explain to you what happened that night, and hopefully remedy any bad blood between your and my intended’s family.” It sounded like Wyvern was talking about wine or a good restaurant, not defending me against soul-stealing charges.
“We can’t risk her being in the same room as us, we know what she can do,” Harrison growled.
“Actually, you don’t. Dakota’s ability is completely unique. Like her sister, she could potentially take a soul. Unlike her sister, she has to be touching someone to do it. Also differing from her sister’s ability, Dakota can take and give away emotions. With a touch, she can take your anger, Harrison, and move it into Joseph.” He gestured to the other dracon standing beside us. “But as I said, she has to be touching you to do this.”
They each took a step back.
Wyvern took a napkin from his pocket, holding it out with one hand and unwrapping it to show my dampener with the other.
Harrison looked at the bracelet, then turned his glare on me. “She was wearing that the other night.”
“This bracelet is a power dampener. It has low-level water magic. Only people with Mabiian heritage can use this charm. It makes all other dracons instantly ill.” He was so careful not to touch the bracelet, it made me wonder if he thought that just touching it could extinguish his powers and reveal his heritage to Harrison. Using the napkin, he clasped the charm bracelet around my wrist. “When she wears the charm, her powers extinguish and she can’t access them.”
Harrison only glared at me, anger fuming in his eyes.
“Check her for magic, Harrison,” Wyvern encouraged.
Harrison took a long inhale, then huffed out the breath. “How do we know she can’t access the power?”
“On my honor, she can’t,” Wyvern said. He took my hand without the bracelet in his.
Harrison glared down at our joined hands, then back to aim yet another hateful stare at me.
“I think we better sit down,” Joseph said. He ushered us down to the seats around the brazier. Joseph sat down directly where Regina Imogen had been sitting, and in a weird parallel to last time, he gestured for Wyvern and I to take the space beside him.
When I did, I couldn’t help glancing to Harrison, but finding him still glaring at me, I quickly brought my attention back to Joseph.
“You said you wished to explain what had happened that night,” Joseph said, leaning so far back I was sure the fire behind him would catch on his hair. His face was without fault, high cheekbones, deep set eyes, a strong brow and chin. His only distinctive feature was the slight difference in the colors of his eyes. He looked around forty, making him pretty darn old.
The rest of the half-dragons took the seats on the other couches, except for Harrison, who elected to stand. Obviously he wanted a better vantage to glower at me from.
“How well do you know George?” Wyvern asked.
“Well enough,” Joseph said, “His family and mine are not always on the best of terms, however, we do business.”
“He was very threatened by your family’s business venture here, as well as personally insulted that Regina Imogen invited him to dine on his own citizens.”
Joseph held up a hand. “That was my sister’s way.”
“True. Regardless, because of his anger he sent his granddaughters in here to threaten the Regina. They were assigned to impersonate feeders and gain access to this room. Dakota here was then told to get close to the Regina and deliver a message.” Wyvern looked at me and rubbed my back, signaling me that it was time for my part.
I took a deep breath and then said, “I was supposed to get close to the Regina and remove my bracelet. When I touched her hand, I was supposed to funnel massive amounts of sadness into her, then I was supposed to say, ‘Remember your promise to my grandfather.’ If she attacked me, I was supposed to threaten her with my sister’s ability to soul sing.”
“But you didn’t deliver any message, you left,” Harrison hissed.
“Her uncle signaled for her to abort the mission.”
“She admits she was going to threaten the Regina with her sister’s power?” Joseph asked.
“The threat was an empty one.” Wyvern stuck his hand in his breast pocket and pulled out my little portal ring. “Harrison, will you?” He held the ring out and Harrison plucked it from his fingers.
Harrison snapped the ring open and sniffed it. “It’s a portal,” he said.
“Each sister has one; they are a direct link between them and their grandfather. Neither girl has the ability to absorb the emotions they take from others, but George can. Through this small portal, they deliver the emotions to their grandfather to feed on.”
“I am confused on how this makes that threat an empty one,” Joseph said.
“Because none of them can absorb another’s soul. If either girl took a foreign soul into them, they would die.”
“So who took her soul?” Joseph asked.
Wyvern held up the ring. “It passed through Lorelei’s ring and into George.”
“Is he still alive?” Joseph asked.
“He’s in a coma, we don’t expect him to recover,” Wyvern said.
“Why did she do it then?” Harrison asked.
“The girl is fourteen, she just inherited her aspect. I was there on the day she inherited her soul-singing. If Dakota hadn’t been there, my friend would have faced a similar fate to Imogen’s. My guess is that when the other servers got into a fight beside her, they somehow separated her from her power dampener. She lost control.”
“George still sent an untrained, unstable girl with a dangerous power into our midst over a petty dispute,” Joseph said.
“He did,” Wyvern agreed with a shallow nod, “And George also paid the ultimate price for it.”
Joseph stayed silent for a long time, staring at the flickering flames before him. When he finally spoke, his voice was low, “I see that this situation was not as nefarious as we originally believed, though I do feel a wrong has been done to our family and our country.”
“It has, and I am willing to settle that wrong,” Wyvern said.
Rex (Dakota Kekoa Book 2) Page 12
