In a Dragon's Mind (Dragons of Mount Teres Book 1)

by Riley Storm

  Vlad bared his teeth. “You must be joking. Tell me you’re joking Sache.”

  “You left me,” Sache snapped. “I had no choice. I did what was best for me. I thought you would understand that.”

  Shaking his head, Vlad tried to come up with a response, to tell Sache that he’d tried to help him, so that the three of them could leave together. He’d done everything in his power to bring his friend home, but Sache had wanted to stay. Vlad couldn’t control that.

  “Now hand over the girl,” Jason said.

  “Speak another word,” Vlad growled, “And I will end your life where you stand. Understood?”

  Sache looked at the human assassin. “I’d probably do what he says. He can do it.”

  The assassin looked around at them, as if trying to figure out just what Sache was implying. Vlad could well understand his confusion, but he didn’t have time for that.

  “It’s good to see you again,” he said, focusing his efforts on Sache. Behind him Ellyn had drifted backward slightly he noted, giving her a good angle at Jason. With the gun she still held in her hand.

  Vlad was going to have to trust her if this went sideways. If he couldn’t convince Sache to stop this, then they were going to end up fighting. That meant Ellyn would have to handle the assassin on her own. He had to believe in her, believe that she could do that. That if it came to it, she could pull the trigger.

  “You mean, it’s good to see me again after knocking me out? Is that what you mean?” Sache asked.

  “You were going to ring the alarm,” Vlad said. “We would never have gotten away, and they would have killed her, and quite possibly me too. So let’s see here. You getting knocked out, for the two of us living. That seems like a good trade.”

  Vlad sighed, ignoring Sache’s sudden spike of anger. “Listen, Sache. How did we get like this? You’re my friend, my closest friend. Screw this guy,” he said, thumbing at the assassin. “Come back. We can leave Five Peaks, go live somewhere else. Just come back.”

  “You don’t get it, do you?” Sache asked quietly. “I have to do this Vlad. I have to, or else they’re not going to let me in. This is my test. I don’t have a choice.”

  “There’s always a choice Sache,” Vlad said quietly. “Sometimes they aren’t easy. Sometimes the right choice is also the hardest choice. You need to make that now Sache. Make the hard choice, and do the right thing.”

  The other dragon shifter looked torn. Vlad could only understand a fraction of what the younger shifter was going through, but he hoped that maybe, just maybe, his words would reach him. They had been through a lot together. Vlad had looked out for his friend, helping guide him along the path, hoping that it would help him blossom.

  He didn’t want to see it end like this.

  “I have to do this,” Sache said. “I’m sorry.”

  “Me too,” Vlad whispered. “Me too.”

  He didn’t wait a second longer, throwing himself at the other shifter in a surprise attack. Sache was ready and waiting, but the two still went down, rolling away from the others as they wrestled, each trying to gain the upper hand on the other.

  “I don’t want to hurt you!” Vlad grunted, blocking a vicious elbow thrown at his midsection.

  Sache just stayed quiet. Fingers of steel wormed their way past his defenses and the younger shifter squeezed down on Vlad’s right shoulder, digging his thumb into the bruised chest hard.

  Vlad snarled in anger and slammed his head into Sache’s, dazing the younger shifter. The pain eased as his friend reeled backward. Vlad backed away, putting some space between them. Ellyn was still behind him, and he couldn’t risk looking over to see how she was doing, but given that Jason hadn’t threatened to kill her, he could only hope that things were going okay.

  “You can still decide to leave them, Sache. It’s not too late,” Vlad said, trying one last time.

  “Enough!” Sache shrieked and lunged at him.

  Vlad met him in a flurry of punches and kicks. He blocked most, but wasn’t able to land many of his own. Sache had worked himself up into a fury and was using that to power his onslaught, while Vlad was just trying to find a way to end the conflict.

  He couldn’t see any easy ending though, and Sache wasn’t in the mindset to listen to reason. Vlad was going to have to do things the hard way.

  Setting himself, he went on the offensive seriously for the first time. Ducking Sache’s next wild swung he drove his fist into Sache’s side. Even as Sache started to double over in response, Vlad then flexed his bent legs, driving upward with his other arm, catching Sache in the jaw with his forearm.

  The younger shifter left the ground momentarily under the impact as his teeth slammed together and he flailed about, trying to find purchase for his feet. Vlad didn’t give him time. Reversing his motion he grabbed Sache by the shoulder with the arm that had delivered the shot to the jaw and twisted hard at the waist.

  The effect was that the free-flight Sache had his direction suddenly switched, and he was driven down into the ground. He tried to pop to his feet, but Vlad had also recovered by that point, and with a grimace he drove his fist right into Sache’s temple.

  Sache dropped face-first into the gravel road and lay still.

  Breathing heavily Vlad flipped him over and brought him up into a sitting position.

  “Come on,” he said, tapping Sache gently on the cheek. “Time to wake up Sache.”

  It took him a couple of tries, but eventually Sache started to come around woozily.

  “Hey little buddy,” he said gently. “Good to see you.”

  Sache fixed on him, and Vlad could watch the progress as function returned to his friend’s brain and the eyes focused on him.

  “I’m sorry Vlad,” Sache whispered, blood pouring from his nose and a split lip. “I had to do it. I had to.”

  “I know,” Vlad said, nodding. “I know. But it’s over now. It’s done. You can come back with me.”

  “But I can’t,” Sache said, shaking his head. “Not now. You don’t know. But I can’t go back. Not after what I’ve done.”

  Vlad started to narrow his eyes and ask Sache what he was talking about when Sache exploded into motion, flinging a clump of dirt and gravel in Vlad’s eyes. He followed that up with a blow to the head.

  Jumping backward Vlad shook his head, both to clear his eyes and his brain, bringing his arms up into blocking position, ready to renew the fight.

  “He’s gone,” Ellyn said quietly from behind him.

  Vlad was rapidly coming to that conclusion as well. Sache had fled into the night, leaving them all alone.

  “I’ll find him,” he growled, ready to rush straight off.

  “Um, Vlad?” Ellyn called, reminding him that there were other things going on. “What about this guy?”

  Vlad turned to survey the situation. What he found was the assassin face down in the ground, Ellyn standing near him, pistol held in both hands, aimed right at his head. The barrel didn’t waver.

  “Right.” Vlad walked over to the man and crouched down at his side. “Do you want to live?”

  “Yes,” came the subdued response.

  Vlad reached into the man’s pocket. “Then call your boss. I’d like to have a chat with him.”

  The enforcer tapped the phone a few times, then handed it warily back to Vlad, who calmly took it and stepped back while Ellyn kept him at gunpoint.

  “Why are you calling me at—”

  “Stop talking,” Vlad said.

  The voice stopped.

  “This is over, Lex. Do you understand me? Over. I don’t know who you are, and you had better hope that it stays that way. Because if you ever come after her again, I will make you regret it. Are we clear?”

  “Who is this? Where the hell is Jason?”

  Vlad sighed, holding the phone out.

  “I’m here,” he said sullenly.

  “Now, I have chosen not to kill your enforcer, nor come after you, simply because Ellyn wishes to be d
one. She doesn’t want to hear your name, or your voice, or have anything to do with you ever again. I send your goon back, you go on about your life. Otherwise, I come for you, humiliate you, and end you.”

  Whoever this Lex was, he was made of stern stuff, but Vlad hoped he was also intelligent as well.

  “If she comes back to the east coast, all bets are off,” Lex said icily. “She stays there, stays anonymous. If I ever hear a word about her again, I will come for you.”

  “That,” Vlad growled. “Would be a mistake. Ask Jason about it.”

  Then he hung up the phone, glancing at Ellyn. “You hear that?”

  She snorted. “Nothing for me back there anyway.”

  Vlad threw the phone at Jason. “Get out of my sight. Now. Don’t come back.”

  The other man got up and ran for his SUV, dirt and gravel flying everywhere as he gunned the big vehicle up the road and into the darkness.

  Then they were alone.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, taking the gun from her hand. He slid the clip free and popped the round from the chamber. Then with a grunt he squeezed as hard as he could and focused. Fire blazed to life in his palm, and the heat grew so intense Ellyn shied away from it, putting her hand up to cover her face.

  “Sorry,” he said, squeezing harder. The metal gave way under the dragonflame and Vlad dropped it in the dirt. It was still obviously a weapon, but it would never be fireable again. “I hate guns.”

  “What do we do now?” she asked quietly, looking around in the dark.

  “First, we get some sleep. Then you take a couple of days to relax and adjust to everything.”

  “What about you?” Ellyn asked, looked up at him with mild concern.

  “I’m going to find my friend,” he said quietly, staring out into the darkness. “I’m not giving up on him.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Ellyn

  Vlad’s tossing and turning eventually roused her from her sleep. She rose up on one elbow, watching his face. He was having a bad dream, or a nightmare perhaps.

  Reaching out, she gently rested her hand on his chest and began rubbing it lightly. Almost immediately he relaxed slightly into the bed, the wrinkles between his eyebrows easing.

  Ellyn hoped that her touch would send him back into a more pleasant state, but she had her doubts on how long it would last. Two long days Vlad had spent combing Five Peaks, during the day, during the night. All trying to locate his friend. Sache had fled after the fight, without leaving any clue as to where he had gone.

  I still think he’s left Five Peaks for good, personally.

  Vlad didn’t think so though. He was adamant that Sache was nearby, that he just needed someone to talk to, and Vlad was insistent that it should be him. The blame that he carried for Sache’s choices and actions weighed heavily on him, and Ellyn hadn’t yet found a way to counter that. No matter what she could say, Vlad would have to come to that conclusion himself.

  It worried her seeing him like this.

  You have to talk to him about it.

  Ellyn sighed and lowered herself back into the bed. She knew that Sache wasn’t the only thing bothering Vlad. It was quite clear that something else was also eating at him.

  Despite all his talk of not running, of facing problems and dealing with them, she knew that there was still one big one he wasn’t facing himself. An issue he had so far avoided talking about with her, or with anyone else.

  Ellyn knew, because she had interacted more with the rest of the household in the past forty-eight hours than had Vlad. When he wasn’t out searching for Sache, he was essentially locking himself in his room. He left for food, but that was it.

  Unless he changed that, Ellyn suspected that once he found Sache and the other Cado member, Liroi, was dealt with, then Vlad would want to move on. To leave Five Peaks. With his friend ‘saved’, and the danger to anyone else in Five Peaks over, there would be nothing stopping him from leaving.

  Which sucked. It’s nice here, I like it. Small town vibe.

  The calm, relaxed manner of everyone in town was what really spoke to Ellyn. It helped her feel at ease, without the rapid hustle and bustle of everyone in the bigger cities that had been her home. There was no rush to get anywhere, everyone took their time. Stress was just so much less out here.

  It was somewhere that she could, for the first time in her life, envision herself settling down perhaps. Certainly at least staying for a long time.

  Unfortunately, Vlad didn’t seem capable of seeing that, and she was swiftly running out of ideas on how to convince him. She wasn’t willing to give him an ultimatum, even if, for the first time in her life, she no longer feared someone casting her aside. Ellyn felt confident that Vlad would choose her over anything.

  But she didn’t want to force him to choose.

  Unfortunately, she simply didn’t know what to do. He was slowly cutting himself off from his support system as he avoided them more and more. The only person he talked to was her—and so far Ellyn hadn’t pushed him to talk about his other issue.

  Vlad uttered a soft groan and shifted again in his sleep. Ellyn bit her lip, making a decision, and reaching out to gently stroke his face.

  After a few moments his eyes fluttered as he returned from sleep.

  “Hey sleepyhead,” she said quietly, getting his attention.

  “I was doing it again, wasn’t I?” he asked softly.

  Ellyn nodded, then shuffled closer under the covers, until she could comfortably prop herself up on her elbow while resting her other hand on his chest. Vlad’s far hand came up to cover hers, and she smiled at his touch.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, trying to look away.

  She reached out and took his chin, pulling it back toward her. “Hey. Enough of that.”

  He grimaced unhappily.

  “I’m serious Vlad.”

  “I know,” he said dejectedly, turning his face all the way to look at her. “I know you are.”

  “Talk to me,” she whispered. “Trust me.”

  Vlad looked at her, pained, but he didn’t immediately deny her request.

  “Let me in,” she said, leaning down until their foreheads rested against one another. “Please.”

  Vlad trembled, and she thought that he was going to say no, that he was going to push her away and keep her there.

  “It’s Sache,” he said, drawing a breath. She could feel his chest trembling. “It’s always Sache. Like always.”

  “Why does that bother you so much?” Ellyn already knew most of the answer to this question, but perhaps by having him start there, she could get him to explain the details behind why it did.

  “I’m the older,” Vlad said quietly. “It was my responsibility to look out for him. This is twice now I’ve failed him. Once in letting him stay with the Cado, and once…before.”

  It was that ‘before’ that Ellyn knew was at the root of a lot of his other issues. If she could just get him to tell her what had happened there, what had caused the two of them to leave Five Peaks in the first place, maybe she could do something about it, maybe she could help. Somehow.

  “It’s all my fault, really,” Vlad said. “He followed me to the Cado, and then he got lost in them.” His lips pulled back in a snarl of anger she could tell was self-directed.

  “How come you ended up joining the Cado in the first place?” she asked when Vlad didn’t continue. “What happened Vlad?”

  His eyes met hers, and she knew that he understood what she was asking now. What Ellyn truly wanted him to talk about. She waited for the inevitable shutdown, the denial of an answer and refusal to discuss it.

  “What happened here Vlad? In Five Peaks?”

  Vlad bit his lip, and glanced away, focusing on the ceiling above her.

  “Let me in,” she pleaded, desperate to help, even if it was just an outlet for him to talk about it. Anything was better than him bottling it up and holding it in.

  He started to turn over, to block her out.


  “No,” she said, surprising them both with that. “Not this time Vlad. I have uprooted my entire life, left everything behind, for you. I have shown you the dirty bits and all. I have let myself become more open and vulnerable for you than I have with anyone. You tell me you want me, that you like me and want me to stay. If that’s the truth, you need to trust me.”

  She pushed her hand down on his chest as she spoke, forcing Vlad to remain on his back. He looked at her the entire time.

  “It’s time you let me in,” she said quietly. “Prove to me that you’re telling the truth. That you aren’t just using me.”

  A sliver of doubt reached deep into her, as a fear she’d thought she’d overcome started to creep back.

  Was this where Vlad turned on her, and revealed his true motives, like everyone in her past before him?

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Vlad

  “I’m not using you,” he said, understanding exactly where she was coming from.

  Ellyn was doing this for the both of them. Even in his current state, and not wanting to discuss this, he could see where her mind was at, and where it would go if he didn’t tell her.

  Not only that, she was telling the truth about herself. Ellyn had opened herself up to him, after repeatedly giving him very valid reasons as to why she never did that with anyone else. She’d made it abundantly clear about her hesitations, and he had rushed to assure her that he wasn’t like that.

  So why haven’t I done the same for her? Does she not deserve that level of trust and openness from me?

  The last thing Vlad wanted to do was make her think that he perhaps wasn’t being truthful with her because he was trying to use her. If she thought that, then she would leave him behind. On top of that she would probably never trust a human again. Because of him.

  Vlad was already responsible for where Sache was at. The younger shifter was brainwashed into thinking he needed to be a member of the Cado to find a place in life. That was because of Vlad.

  I’m not going to do that again. I don’t want to do that again!

  So don’t.

  He steeled himself. It was going to be painful. Ellyn was likely going to judge him in a bad, bad way. Hopefully not so bad that she left, but the possibility was there and he couldn’t discount it.