The Event

by Scarlett Grove

  The woman in the Greek robes had sacrificed herself for something. It was important, but it had cost her the ultimate price. What could be worth one’s own life? Questions rolled through Lucia’s mind too fast to figure out. She had to push them aside.

  She curled up on the couch, focusing on the one memory that gave her the most joy. The dark-haired man who had watched her give her life up. His love for her held her in the darkness. Who was he? She’d never met anyone like him in her life. Men like that didn’t tend to peruse adult fiction at the public library.

  He was something bigger than an ordinary man. A titan, or a god. She curled into a ball on the couch, holding Felix to her chest in the dim candle light. The vision of the man grew inside her like a ripening fruit. The thought of him was sweet and juicy, full of untold pleasures.

  What was his name? She wished she could remember. Hours ago, she’d been cataloging rare texts on the third floor of the public library, just an ordinary girl from southern California. Now she was having memories of her long lost love from some other lifetime. In her new reality, wanting to know his name seemed perfectly reasonable.

  She focused on his face, zeroing in on the essence of him. She felt a white-hot fire burn back at her. The vision behind her mind’s eye changed and the man she loved shifted into the monstrous form of a silver dragon.

  Chapter 5

  Orion spread his silver wings, pushing north along the coastline. The dark outline of what was once California spread out below him. Who knew what it would be called now that the immortals walked the Earth again.

  His heart ached for the time before the veil when the world knew that the sons and daughters of eternity walked among them. The last two thousand years had been torture without his dragon. Without Selene.

  Big Sur flew past below him, he swooped on an updraft that sent him higher over the dark forest. The blanket of the eternal night sky shone with a multitude of stars. The moon too had gone dim, its light only a reflection of the sun. Anger burned in Orion’s heart. To turn off the very sun that warmed the planet and allowed life to grow was beyond unforgivable. Xander had to pay for this.

  Orion would stop at nothing to return the light to the world. He gritted his teeth, his mind turning to Selene. It was as if he could feel her calling out to him by name.

  He wanted to heed her call. She’d been gone for so long. Was it possible that Selene’s spirit walked this Earth, in this time, perhaps close enough to touch?

  Selene had defied the laws of probability once, perhaps she could do it again now. He ached to see her after all this time. Two thousand years without his heart mate was too long. His body screamed for her, the beast at his core furious to give her his mark once more.

  He had to find her. Orion pumped his wings, feeling the cool ocean air glide under him. He was approaching civilization again, his keen senses picking up the subtle impressions of the lives below. He could smell their fear and despair. The cool scent of vampires crossed his senses. They were feeding below in the darkness.

  And it wasn’t just vampires. The dragons of The Surge had joined Xander’s team. Many had waited long for this night. Few had the courage to protect the humans. Orion gritted his teeth. This had to be put right. If the immortals openly walked the Earth again, they had to allow the human race to live in peace.

  However, Orion knew that it would be a hard fight to win. For now, they had to take the fight to Xander. The rest of the lower level Surge would be dealt with later. He knew many other immortals who still believed in the sacrifice of the witches.

  The witches were the female genetic link all immortals had to the ancient bloodlines. They were part of the lineage of the old gods, just like dragons and vampires.

  No matter where the elders had gone, Orion and his clan remained. As did The Surge, who intended to enslave humanity and use it for its own ends.

  Who would stop them? The fathers and the mother of all immortals had left two thousand years ago at the time of the veiling.

  Had they left on their ships to other worlds or run away to the bowels of the Earth? No one knew. They’d left their children to finish their quarrels themselves. How Orion had landed in this fight he did not know. He was the great-great grandson of the god Dahaki and the goddess Gama, as were all the dragons in the world today.

  Most dragons were many thousands of years old. Like the oldest vampires. The immortals had lacked the female line since the witches sacrificed themselves to create the veil. They hid in reincarnating human bodies, devoid of all their magic, their energy given to keeping up the veil.

  Sometimes they would be born as wise women or psychics. Sometimes they were persecuted and burned alive. Midwives and healers, the women who always felt a little bit off in the world, as if there was something more than the mundane reality.

  None of the immortals could be sure which women were the witches. Even if an immortal found one of these psychic humans, there was no way to tell if she was a witch or if she was just human. Her children would not carry the magic gene either way and she would not produce immortal young.

  The immortal family lines had been dwindling. The clans grew old. Many had died in accidents or battles during the veil. Their bodies’ natural healing ability had been severely compromised. It was the same with vampires who could no longer walk in the light of day due to the genetic code of their kind. The veil took away their ability to withstand the light.

  Like female dragons, female vampires could not produce fully immortal young. Even the oldest females from the strongest gene pools did not produce immortal children.

  Only witches carried the female genetic line from Gama, the goddess. When an immortal male mated with a witch, her young was a demigod, like Orion and his brother Titus.

  Witches would become a hot commodity in these times of unveiling magic. The awakening witches would think they were human one moment and then realize they were something else the next. His heart ached for them. His great love, his heart mate, Selene had been one of the greatest priestesses of all time. Selene had been a shining star upon the Earth. She’d died with his baby in her womb.

  His heart ached at the memory of her dead body floating in her gazing pool.

  He pumped his wings harder as he approached the San Francisco Bay. The dark city loomed above the blackened water. His mind stretched out over the multitude of cries. He felt something there. A mind searched for him by name. A bright spot shone on his mind’s eye. It was like a burning flash of white heat. Magic. He could taste it on the air. Not just any magic. Witch magic.

  Swooping, he descended from far above, shooting like a rocket toward the magic. He landed on the roof of a five story apartment building and shifted. His clothes came along with him in a flash of nano-technology and holographic illusion. Orion walked to the edge of the building and looked down at the balcony below. She was there.

  He hopped to the balcony on the third floor and looked through the sliding glass window. A woman slept on her couch, holding a cat in her arms. His acute dragon senses made out the outline of her shape and he heard the gentle purring of her feline companion.

  Orion sniffed the air, gripping the glass door’s handle. It was locked. He pulled out his glass pad and flicked the screen, using his nano-technology to create a skeleton key. When the lock clicked, he slid open the door. The scent of her hit him. She filled his senses with spices and honey. The spring blossoms at sunrise. The morning dew on the grass swaying in a sweet breeze. He would know that scent anywhere. He went to her side and knelt over her. The cat awoke and hissed before scrambling away into the darkness of the apartment.

  “Stop Felix,” the woman murmured.

  Her voice was a song. Like the whispered words she’d once said to him so long ago on the grounds of their home. It was her. It had to be. He’d found his beloved Selene! By some incomprehensible chance, he’d found her here in San Francisco. Her loveliness filled his heart as he watched her sleeping face in the flickering candle light.

&nb
sp; He had to get her out of here. He had to protect her. His dragon rumbled. He needed to make her his own once again. No other immortal would ever touch her. He vowed to keep her safe.

  The woman’s eyes fluttered and she yawned. When she finally focused her vision on him, she scrambled to sitting and reached for her glasses. She put them on and then threw them back on the side table.

  “Who are you?” she finally demanded.

  Orion could smell the magic building in her belly.

  “It is I. Orion. Your heart mate.”

  “How did you get in here?” she snapped, inching away from him until she’d scooted around the back of the couch.

  “I flew. How much do you remember?”

  “Remember?”

  “Do you know what’s happening?”

  “Does anyone?” she said flatly.

  “You must be feeling the effect. I can smell the magic all over you.”

  “Magic?”

  “The energy of the void. It has been kept from us for so long on this planet. Blocked by Gama’s last spell on Earth. She blocked magic from the world. It took your life in the process.”

  “My life.”

  “Do you remember?”

  “I remember…something.”

  Orion strode toward her and took her hand in his, pressing it to his chest. Her face lit up in shock. His dragon called to take her. This woman had been his wife. The mother of his children. She had to be his again. He had to protect her.

  “You must come with me,” he said, wrapping his arm around her waist.

  She let out a gasp and gazed into his eyes. Her long brown hair hung down her back and her green eyes twinkled in the candle light. He knew she felt what he did. Somewhere deep inside. She had to remember him.

  “Selene,” he whispered.

  “I’m not Selene,” she said, pushing away. “I’m Lucia Amador. What is your name and how did you get into my apartment?”

  “I beg your pardon, lady. I am Orion Silverdrake. Your husband. And I flew in here and used nano-technology to pick the lock on your door. Now please, waste no more time and come with me.”

  “You flew…”

  “I’m a dragon. I thought you knew that.”

  “No…that’s a new one for me. Although, I don’t know how it’s possible, but I have seen you in my mind. I thought I was hallucinating. Like as a side effect of a nuclear explosion or something. Come to think of it, you could be a hallucination. That’s the only reason I’m not using my shotgun on you right now.”

  “You’ve touched me, Lucia” he said. “You’ve felt my heat against your body. You know I’m real.”

  He could smell her arousal rise from her core and it filled his nostrils. He wanted to take her in his arms again, but she was on edge. She still didn’t know herself. She didn’t know him.

  “I want to take you to safety,” he said. “Out of the city.”

  “It’s getting worse by the minute out there.”

  “Come with me,” he said, reaching out to her. “I will protect you.”

  He saw the thoughts move across her face and the scent of her magic swirl and change. She wanted to believe him. She needed his protection. But more than that, she burned for answers to her many questions. He smelled the sharp scent of thirst for knowledge and the deep earthy scent of a desire for insight.

  “I can’t leave without Felix,” she said, running to her bedroom.

  She came back a moment later with a white, plastic cat carrier. She found the cat, who had been lurking in a dark corner and she put the creature into the plastic box.

  “Is that everything?” he asked.

  “My laptop,” she added with a laugh.

  “I have better at my fortress. Now come, beloved, we must go.”

  She pulled on a jacket and slung her purse over her shoulder. With the cat carrier in hand she followed Orion out onto the balcony. She stared up at him in the darkness. A fire burned in the distance. A gunshot rang out among the screams and cries. Lucia shuddered in the cold breeze.

  “What now?” she asked.

  “Now, we fly.”

  Chapter 6

  Xander Valdis wiped the blood from his lips, his belly warm and full of human blood. He grinned gleefully into the darkness, his night vision picking up the movements of the vampires and dragons around him. The Surge had taken Denver by force, their army spilling out of apartments and houses, rising up and eating their neighbors in a great feed.

  The virus they’d sprayed over the cities in the years leading up to the Dark Sun had infected tens of thousands of people. The moment the sun went dark, the great armies of mindless vampires had taken to the streets, feeding and reproducing until entire cities had been captured by them.

  Even the dragons had taken part in the feed, gleefully feasting on human flesh, reveling in the feeling of their true form. For two thousand years, the dragons had been trapped in their human bodies, much like the vampires had been trapped in darkness.

  Feeding on humans during that time had been difficult. With their power severely limited, most vampires had to go to other means to procure their life blood. Animals, the dead, blood banks, many vampires had even managed become surgeons. All just to get the fix they needed to survive.

  Unlike the vampires, the dragons could still walk in the light of day. The dragons who had come over to The Surge were some of his most valuable resources. Esher had served his purpose well, funneling great stores of wealth from multiple countries into Xander’s coffers. It had built his Dark Sun Machine. Even though he’d had to hide from the Silverdrake clan and their constant interference with his plans.

  Many immortals still feared Xander’s power. And he didn’t blame them. As the oldest living immortal on the planet, he was the elder god of them all. Even the long-time Alpha of the Silverdrake clan paled in comparison.

  In Xander’s opinion, immortals were superior to the weak humans who were native to the planet Earth. The immortals had every right to use the resources of the planet for their own means. Humanity was nothing but playthings and food for immortals.

  He intended to put everything right again. The witches would be awakening to their true power. They would still be weak from their lack of training.

  But the awakening witches would bring with them their immortal wombs. What he could do with those female bodies, ripe and ready to take his ancient seed. Gama would pay for her betrayal. Xander hoped the Goddess knew what he intended to do to her precious bastard children. He would take witches and humans alike to breed and to feed upon.

  Glee filled his heart again and he dove back into the corralled crowd of screaming humans. Esher’s massive black dragon head darted into the crowd, crunching a man’s body in his grinding jaws. The Surge had pinned five thousand people in the Denver Superdome. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, but twice the fun.

  Xander grabbed a young woman, whose dark hair hung in sheets around her pale face. She screamed repeatedly as he held her terrified body close to him. Her fear was palpable and arousing. He considered raping her as he drained her blood, but decided against it. Who had the time for such things with so many bodies to suck dry?

  He bit at her neck, opening her vein into his hungry mouth. He lapped up the blood as it coursed through her and into him. She struggled and shuddered, giving one last fight before he took her life. The pleasure of those final throes. The knowledge that she was a pathetic cow, meant only for his food, was what tasted so sweet on his tongue. He could never get enough of that particular flavor.

  As he let the girl drop to the floor of the superdome, he felt his glass pad ping in his pocket. He wiped his lips and withdrew his device, tapping on the screen.

  “Lord Valdis,” the vampire said. “The new vampire armies have taken New York and Paris. Tokyo and New Delhi will soon follow.”

  “Very good,” Xander replied.

  The Surge had used a virus to create an army of rabid, zombie-like vampires to ravage the cities of the world after
the veil was lifted. The Surge would rise again and immortals would take their rightful place at the throne of mankind. It was already happening.

  “Tell them it’s feeding time,” Xander said. “No holding back.”

  “Yes, Lord Valdis. I will tell the armies your orders.”

  The odds were heavily stacked in Xander’s favor, and that was just the way he liked it. He would keep the world in eternal night forever.

  Chapter 7

  Orion Silverdrake, the man wearing a leather jacket and sporting a rugged five o’clock shadow, had just shapeshifted into a massive silver dragon right in front of Lucia’s eyes. Before she could even catch her breath from the shock, he’d grabbed her in his huge talons and carried her into the dark sky.

  Lucia had watched in horror as the ground fell away below her. Felix meowed at the top of his lungs, screaming and hissing hysterically until even he managed to calm down.

  Lucia stared at the night sky through the space between Orion’s talons. The stars still shone over the dying world. She wanted to forget the screams of her city and believe that this dragon man could somehow make everything alright.

  He did say he had a fortress with technology better than her laptop. In this dreamlike reality, anything was possible, she decided. Or maybe she should have shot him. She might have if she actually owned a shotgun. But she didn’t have one. All she had was her cat, and they both needed a safe harbor.

  Ever since the sun had gone dark and her heart had gone berserk, she’d been having visions of this man…this dragon. She knew him somehow and he claimed to be her long lost husband. What were the odds that this was all a big coincidence? In her old life, she would have looked for rational explanations. But now, believing he was her soulmate was just as likely as anything.