I wanted to come back because she was here. There, I admitted it to myself, but it was no use dreaming impossible dreams. How could I, a prince of Dracos, and in all likelihood the next white dragon, and Katie, vampire of Earth fighting for her and her friends’ lives, ever hope to have . . . anything together?
Nindock leaned forward and clapped a hand on my shoulder, forcing me to drag my reluctant eyes away from Katie. “Jevyn, oh, princely one, I thought I told you not to come back here. Although I’m very glad that you did. I really don’t know how we would have coped with all those men without you and your friend here.” His voice and the leering grin on his face suggested to me that he was being nothing more than a sarcastic ass.
He bent down, and with a lightning fast flick of his hands, snapped the neck of the last living SCAR soldier in the saloon. I jolted at the sound and finality of the swift, cold action.
“There,” he said. “I just finished your job for you, like I had to do so many times when we were small.” He stood tall, staring into my eyes with thinly disguised hatred.
My brain was still trying to come to terms with what I’d been thinking about before he stuck his big dragon snout into it. I shut my eyes for a second, not wanting to give him the pleasure of seeing me clear my mind to concentrate on what I needed to say to him. I had to deal with this before I could spend any more time thinking about what could never happen between me and Katie.
“You need to go, Nindock. These people will be but the first of many. Too many for you to handle.”
“Really? I think we’re perfectly capable of handling a few toy soldiers, don’t you? Now, you and Katie need to go and stay gone. Leave us alone, Jevyn. Your family influence no longer counts for anything here. You can’t force me or any of us to go back, and if you try to, well,” he waved an arm around the apocalyptic scene inside the saloon, “let’s just say I wouldn’t want you to come to any harm.”
“Can you not understand, Nindock? If those toy soldiers as you call them do get a hold of you and torture you until you open a tear to Dracos, they could come over and destroy our world, and they would kill all of your people here.”
“And can you not understand, Jevyn, that I don’t care about Dracos?” He leaned in conspiratorially. “I don’t much care for the humans either, but don’t tell them that. I care about the dragons who are here and nothing else, and I care for them because they follow me, Jevyn, not you and that witch of a mother of yours.”
I held myself back from trying to rip his throat out. Just.
There was nothing else to say. Nothing else I could say that would make a difference. I was more convinced than ever that Nindock was mad, insane, but I couldn’t see the point of trying to argue with him when it was clear that he wouldn’t listen.
“Come on, Katie, we should go.” My voice was ice cold.
“Oh, you want me to come with you, do you?” she asked.
“What?”
“You need to go, but you want me to come with you. Don’t you?”
“Yes, of course. I couldn’t leave you here on your own.”
“No,” she said, suddenly sighing. “That was what I was hoping.”
I took her arm gently and turned away.
But Nindock wasn’t finished. “Remember what I said, Jevyn. Don’t come back. Next time I won’t be so forgiving.”
I ignored him, giving him the dubious pleasure of getting the last word in.
When I reached the main door to the saloon, I tried to push it open, but it only moved a couple of inches. When I pushed a bit harder and could see through the gap, I realized why. The dead body of one of the SCAR soldiers was leaning against the door, wedging it closed. I gave it a good hard shove to shift the dead weight and stepped out into the bright sunshine. I had never seen a sight like it anywhere on my travels.
As I stood on the steps, the bodies of twenty or so soldiers lay strewn around the hard ground. A few non-uniformed humans also lay around, but not more than a handful. The coppery tang of blood hung in the air as the bodies slowly leaked onto the dusty road, bright crimson soaking away to make dark-brown stains to mark where the life it supported had ended.
Other, less noble bodily fluids had darkened the uniforms and clothes of the dead, adding their own pungency to the still air outside.
Behind me, I felt Nindock emerge into the light, and without urging or warning, the throng that had gathered there began to chant his name, roaring it louder when he flung his arms into the air as if to gather the adulation to him.
It sickened me to see such a spectacle for such an undeserving being, but it was pointless trying to silence a crowd of that size by making rational arguments. They wouldn’t listen.
I held onto Katie’s hand and slowly forced my way through the crowd, the happy band of Nindock’s devotees, knowing that their fate lay in the hands of a madman.
Once we reached the back of the crowd, I let Katie’s hand go and marched ahead, my mind concerned with nothing more than getting away from the sickening sound behind me.
“Jevyn.”
I raised my hand to swat away Katie’s inquiry. I didn’t want to have to think. I just wanted to get away.
“Jevyn, wait up, please.”
I kept walking but slowed down, giving Katie a chance to catch up. By the time she did, we had reached the road, and the hideous chant was little more than a murmur on the slight breeze that had started to blow once we were clear of the buildings.
We walked along the road, heading back to the car. The sun was dropping in the sky but still burned hot against my neck. I could feel a trickle of sweat begin to run down my back but ignored it. I just wanted to put some distance between us and that camp. There was really no way of knowing for sure just what that maniac Nindock would do next.
“So, what happens now?” she asked.
“I go back to Dracos, and you go back to your life. I need to come up with a way of getting Nindock off this planet.”
“Yes, and I need to find a cure for this virus, but I can’t do it without you.”
“What do you mean? I’m no expert.”
“I know, but Famil is, and don’t forget that Nova is still over there.”
In all the excitement, I had forgotten. I would have to return after all to ensure Nova left Dracos and didn’t come back. I also still had unfinished business with Lynnette and Derek to try and persuade them not to open any more rips. Maybe I could sort those two out before I left? I wasn’t sure I had the energy to do it, but I had to try.
In my heart, I knew what I really wanted to do was take Katie with me or stay here with her, but that was not an option. It didn’t make it any easier to do what I had to do, but I had to do it.
The rest of the walk back to the car and the drive back into Boise passed in near silence between us, with Katie refusing to look at me. I hoped she wasn’t feeling as sick as I was.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Katie
Lynnette’s shop
Boise, Idaho, Earth
WHEN I WALKED back into Lynnette’s shop after we dumped the car a couple blocks away, the main emotion running through me was sadness. I’d developed feelings for Jevyn, and I was sad that he was leaving, but I was also sad that I’d ever got to the stage where I thought those feelings might lead somewhere.
I’d allowed myself to dream a dream that could never come true. Since I was back at Lynnette’s with the rest of my crew to think about, plus Lynnette and Derek to try and persuade to stop their little enterprise, it hit me that I was almost back to square one. We had no dragon blood, although I also knew that any dragon blood would help, and I knew where Nindock’s town was. So, if things got desperate, maybe I could go over there.
That would be a very risky step though, given his warnings and his obvious instability.
I’d also made the interesting discovery that maybe SCAR wasn’t the overwhelming force we all thought they were. That gave me hope, because sooner or later, I was sure we were going to end
up facing off with them.
Frankie came to the door to let us in, acknowledging us both with a flick of his head that didn’t move even one of his carefully combed, swept-back hairs out of place, and an understated greeting.
“Is everyone okay, Frankie?” I asked.
“Yeah. A couple of the guys are getting a little strung out for,” he glanced at Jevyn, “well, you know.”
I knew very well what he meant, and I was pretty sure Jevyn was well aware too.
“Oh, and Lynnette has gone,” Frankie said, his words clipped and tense.
“Gone? What do you mean, gone?” Jevyn asked, his voice taking on a tense edge.
“I mean, she’s gone. Yesterday she was here, and this morning, gone.” Frankie headed off into the shop and through into the back room. He pulled open the door to Derek’s den and started to walk down with cautiously slow steps.
“Where did she go?” Jevyn asked Frankie’s retreating back.
Frankie shrugged.
“Does anyone know? Derek?” I asked.
“Derek says no, and nobody else has a clue. Hey, guys, look who just turned up,” Frankie said over his shoulder as I followed him into the basement.
The whole group of people who were down there let out probably the most unenthusiastic welcoming groan I’ve ever heard. I could see straightaway that some of them were close to the edge.
Penny had no makeup on, so that was a sure sign. Sparks was lying on the floor staring at the ceiling, and Marty was pacing the floor chewing his nails.
I looked at Jevyn, and almost as if he knew what I was going to say, he shook his head.
“Why not?” I asked quietly. I hated that I even had to say it, but this was a matter of survival. “All we need is a few drops each.”
“Because it needs to stop, Katie. What happens if there is no cure or Nova and Famil can’t find an alternative? I can’t condone you taking any more dragon blood. It’s wrong.”
Marty stormed over, stopping just a few inches from Jevyn’s face. “Well, maybe we could just take it from you anyway.”
I sucked in a breath. This wasn’t the way I wanted things to go.
Jevyn held Marty’s glare for a moment and then looked down at the ground, a humorless chuckle evident in the slight shake of his shoulders. “You could try, Marty, but you wouldn’t succeed.”
I thought back to how Nindock’s goons had shifted into dragons and the devastating effect they had on the SCAR soldiers. Even though I had thought about trying to get Jevyn to agree to us having some of his blood, that wasn’t the answer long-term. All of our hopes in that respect lay with Nova.
“So, what happens now?” I asked Jevyn, stepping between him and the still-angry Marty.
“I have to go,” Jevyn said. “I need to rest, and I also need to check on Nova and Famil to see if there has been any progress. I sincerely hope there has. While I am doing that, I need to come up with a way of dealing with Nindock.”
I nodded along to all of those things. He did look tired, and finding out about Nova was something I wanted too. Dealing with Nindock was evidently more important to Jevyn than it was to me. I wanted nothing to do with that particular dragon.
“What will you do, Katie?”
“Well, first off, we need to find Lynnette and probably have to stop her from doing whatever she is doing. I want to do some digging around about SCAR and find out why they didn’t all have weapons, and then we need to find a friendly human who is happy to donate some blood to us to keep us going until Nova comes back.”
“Who, though?”
“Well, we have had a couple of sympathetic guys who have let us use their blood, but they live clear on the other side of town so with the blockade in place, so they are out of the question. I suppose we will need to go out and try some of our contacts to see if they know of someone who can help us out.”
“Why do you need to go out? Maybe there’s someone close by who might help.” He flicked his head toward Derek who was sitting at his desk messing around with his computer. I turned my head to look at him, and at the same time, the other three members of the group sat up and started to stare hungrily in Derek’s direction.
“Derek?” I said. “You know how we’re all your friends.”
“No blood,” Derek said.
“Please, Derek, listen to what I have to say first.” I walked over to put my hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it away. I evidently needed to be more persuasive.
“Great idea, Jevyn,” I said with a sarcastic edge. “See how keen he is to help.”
When I turned to share the humor of the situation with Jevyn, he was gone. I wanted to follow after him, to run up the stairs and catch him before he disappeared through a rip. But I couldn’t.
I spared a sad look at the stairs before I turned. There wasn’t time for indulging my own emotions.
I had to figure out how to keep myself and my friends alive.
~ ~ ~
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the next book in
the Vampire’s Elixir Series by Pippa Amberwine and Jayne Faith!
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Books by Pippa Amberwine
Vampire’s Elixir Series
urban fantasy
Chasing Legends
Riding Rifts
Drinking Destiny
Books by Jayne Faith
Ella Grey Series
urban fantasy
Stone Cold Magic
Dark Harvest Magic
Demon Born Magic
Blood Storm Magic
Stone Blood Series
urban fantasy
Blood of Stone
Stone Blood Legacy
Rise of the Stone Court
Reign of the Stone Queen
War of the Fae Gods
Sapient Salvation Series
dystopian sci-fi romance
The Selection
The Awakening
The Divining
The Claiming
Chasing Legends Page 19
