Both of the vampires snickered again.
“And you are a Dragon Soul,” said the vampire in black, sniffing her neck. “So delicious.”
She tried to pull away, but he was holding her tight.
A dozen people sat in a lavishly decorated living room. They pulled her through the room as the men and women stared at her hungrily.
“What are you people?” she demanded.
“Your dragon friends certainly haven't informed you of much,” said the one in red.
“Don't you know vampires when you see them?” said the one in black.
“Vampires?”
“It doesn't matter if you know, now. We’ll probably suck you dry before nightfall,” said the one in black, holding her. The both snickered again.
“You are going to drink my blood?” she asked.
“Of course we are. You are a Dragon Soul. And a strong one at that. The dragons must have been keeping you around for a reason.”
“We nabbed a Dragon Soul and a dragon baby. What a good day,” said the one in black, congratulating himself.
“Let me go,” Everly said, struggling against them as they pulled her down the stairs and into a basement.
They took her into what looked like a spare bedroom mixed with a torture chamber. They threw her on the floor and set Ember beside her. Standing over them, they sneered.
“Now we have to decide who goes first,” said one in black.
“The Coven Council will want them. We shouldn't have brought them here. We should have just drained them on the spot.”
“You know the rules. We must bring Dragon Souls back to the mansion to share with the rest of the coven. Otherwise Victor and Marcus will kick us out.”
“But they smell so delicious,” said the vampire in red. “Maybe it would've been worth it.”
“Nothing is worth being kicked out of the coven,” the one in black corrected.
“You know, the Council will want to keep them for themselves.”
“We found them. So, we will get our taste, by coven law.”
“They’ll take them from us and not share.”
“We have laws for a reason,” the one in black snapped.
“You're always defending Victor.”
“I’m loyal to the coven. And I always will be. You should watch your tongue.”
Everly watched all of this with fascination. Sitting up from the floor, she pulled Ember into her lap to comfort her. She'd been crying relentlessly the entire time and was nearly inconsolable.
“Why do you want our blood?” she asked them again.
They stopped their bickering and turned back to look at her.
“We told you, the baby is a dragon and you are a Dragon Soul. Vampires get extra strength from Dragon Souls. The power we would get from a full dragon, I can only imagine.”
“I've never encountered a real dragon in my life,” said the one in red.
“None of us have. But the scent is unmistakable. You see, my dear,” said the vampire in black. “We had something of a security breach recently. We couldn’t keep them out, but we did pick up their scent. We tracked it to their compound. And there you were, waiting for us like a little present all wrapped up and ready to be ripped open.”
His eyes sparkled at her as he grinned maniacally. The other one laughed at his joke and she inched backwards against the wall.
“I won't let you hurt the baby,” she said, shielding Ember from the vampires.
“Oh look, she's brave,” the one in red said.
“And loyal.”
“Tell us, little Dragon Soul. How did you get mixed up with the only dragons on the planet?”
“I didn't know they were dragons,” she said at a whisper.
“Well, we didn't know there were any dragons on Earth. And here you are with a dragon baby, hanging out with the only dragons in existence,” said the one in black.
“What exactly is your relationship to these dragons?” asked the one in red.
“I'm the nanny,” Everly said.
“The nanny?” the one in black snickered.
“Kian and I are dating,” she said, almost inaudibly.
“Dating? A dragon is dating a human?”
“She must be his fated mate,” the one in black said excitedly, clapping his hands and licking his lips.
“The fated mate of one of the only dragons on the planet,” said the one in red.
“Mmm, this does present an interesting opportunity.”
“Kian will come after us. He will save us,” Everly snapped.
“Oh, we're counting on it,” said the one in black. “A dragon baby is one thing, but a full-grown dragon is quite another.”
“You'll never beat them,” she said, rocking Ember, trying to get her to calm down.
The poor thing was absolutely wretched. She wouldn't stop crying and clung to Everly's hair for dear life.
“Well, we'll just see about that.”
“It may be dangerous,” the one in black said. “We've never encountered a dragon before. They could rip our entire home to shreds for all we know.”
“We need to speak with Victor,” the one in black said. “We need to let him know about the threat.”
“We’ll leave you here for now, dragon mate,” the one in red said, his lips curling back over his sharp teeth.
“If you're lucky, I'll drain your blood later.”
They snickered and left the room, locking the door behind them. Everly shuddered, the reality of her situation finally sinking in. She'd been kidnapped by vampires. The man she adored was a dragon. How could it be? How could it be real? But everything before her was telling her it had to be true.
These vampires were clearly evil souls who wanted to feed on her and Ember’s blood. They had some kind of magical power, power she had never seen in her world. As frightening and strange as it all was, she had to accept what she witnessed in front of her.
She only hoped that Kian was on his way and he and his crew were strong enough to fight these vampires. She feared the vampires were setting a trap for the dragons, and it would be all her fault. She hugged Ember to her, her sobs finally slowing.
“Don't worry, baby,” she said, rubbing her back. “Daddy's coming. He’ll fix everything.”
Chapter 18
“I can't get through the wards,” Cato said.
“Dax, smash it open,” Kian said.
With a marvelous roar, that could be heard through the entire compound, Dax rammed against the door, half shifting at the same time. His wings flew out from his back. The other dragons lowered their invisibility cloaks as the door flew open. The room was empty.
“Were you looking for your mate and baby?”
Kian turned, seeing dozens of vampires standing in the hallway, led by the one called Victor, who he’d seen the first time he’d been to the mansion.
“You fell right into our trap,” said a vampire in a blood red hoodie.
“Cato, you said you saw their signature in this room,” Kian growled.
“Our magic worked,” said Victor, raising an eyebrow.
“What have you done with them?” Kian demanded.
“You’ll never know,” said Victor.
“I'm scanning the house again. The scans have changed. I will find them, Kian,” Cato said.
“Hurry.”
“It's time to take on some vampire scum,” Dax growled, still in his half shift form.
He extended his two-handed laser sword from this wrist device and charged at the vampires. They evaporated into wisps of smoke. Dax swung at thin air, turning and growling at their disappearance.
“Where did they go?” Aidan asked.
“Over here,” said one of the vampires. They were suddenly behind the dragons. Kian went into his half-shift form and blew fire at the crowd, the room caught fire and the vampires shrieked.
“They’re fire dragons,” said one of the vampires.
“Attack them,” said Victor.
T
he vampires all jumped on the dragons, bearing their teeth. They were strong, but not nearly as strong as the dragons. Kian bashed half a dozen men off of his half-shifted body and breathed fire at the rest.
“Have you found her, Cato?” Kian demanded.
“I'm still scanning,” Cato said, ducking under the blow of one of the vampires. Dax was out in the hall, punching and biting and slashing at the vampires attacking him. There were more coming all the time and the dragons couldn't seem to turn back the tide.
“I can't get a hold of them,” Dax complained. “They keep disappearing into smoke.”
“I've already scratched three of them,” Aidan said. “You have to be quicker. You can't just slash. You have to use some finesse.”
The two dragons were back to back in the hall as the vampires emerged from every door, attacking Kian’s crew. He had his own hands full. Kian tried to distract the vampires from Cato as he scanned the mansion for Everly and Ember.
“Finesse?” Dax snorted. “I'll show you finesse.”
Suddenly there was a massive roar, and Dax's dragon tail whipped around in the narrow hallway.
“Now you've done it,” Aiden complained. “You're stuck, you big oaf.”
“That just means they can't get by,” Dax said through their mental link. He breathed fire down the hall.
“Now you've set the whole place on fire,” Aidan said, ducking and swerving as he used his laser swords on the vampires.
“I've ignited some vampire scum!” Dax said triumphantly through the mental link.
“Well, I've slashed the neck of at least six,” Aiden said.
“I found her,” Cato said. “She's in the tower above the third floor.”
“How do we get there?” Kian asked.
“The quickest route is through the air,” Kian said.
“Dax, make a path.”
Kian could hear the building creaking as Dax shifted back into his half-shift form. The vampires were still attacking from every side, but their teeth couldn't penetrate the dragons tough hide. All four men barreled down the hall and out the front door. Aidan sent a stream of flame into the sound system and chuckled through their mental link.
“Was that really necessary?” Kian asked.
“Are you kidding me? They have the worst taste in music of any living creatures on Earth. Where did they even find that stuff?”
“Would you shut up about music?” Dax said.
“When you learn to fight then you can tell me to shut up.”
They hurried out the front door and shifted into their full dragon forms.
“Where is she?” Kian demanded through their mental link.
“There,” Cato said, sending an impression to the other three dragons.
They flew up to a tower. It had one single narrow window.
“How are we supposed to get in there?” Kian asked.
They landed on the roof and inspected the window. Kian went into human form and peeked in the window.
“She's in here.”
Everly saw him and ran to the window, placing her palm against the glass.
“Kian,” she wailed. “I knew you'd come.”
She held Ember affectionately in her arms, with her hand over the back of the baby's head.
“Stand back,” he said. She ran away from the window, and Kian bashed it in with his elbow. The glass shattered, and he used his scaly arms to clear it away.
“Come, you can fit through this window.”
“We have vamps incoming,” Aidan said.
“Keep them off us,” Kian said, taking Ember as Everly passed her through the window. “Cato, take the baby.”
Kian handed Cato the child. He took Everly's hand and helped her out of the window. She threw her arms around him, her soft curves pressing against his hard chest. She looked up at the other men.
Dax was in full dragon form, blowing fire indiscriminately all around him. Aidan was in half-shift form with his burning red laser swords spinning and dancing as he sliced and diced at the vampires. Cato was also half-shifted, holding Ember protectively in his arms.
“It's true then,” she said, her mouth dropping open. “You are dragons.”
“We are. I should have told you before, and I'm sorry, but we don't have time to explain now. We have to get out of here.”
He half-shifted in front of her eyes, and the surprise on her face was heartbreaking. But when he reached out to take her hand, she accepted it. He lifted her up in his arms, pumping his wings to take her away. Cato was right behind him in half-shift form, holding baby Ember against his chest.
“We can't kill them,” Dax complained. “Even when I set them on fire, they just disappear into smoke and the fire goes out.”
“And my swords are not killing them,” Aidan said. “They just get back up a minute later.”
“We leave,” Kian shouted through their mental link. “We will deal with this later.”
The dragons followed their leader and flew away from the vampire’s compound. Going under their invisibility cloak, they were unrecognizable to the human eye as they flew through the air back to their home. He cradled Everly in his arms and she clung to his neck.
“I'm sorry I didn't tell you,” he said. “I didn't want to shock you.”
“You don’t have to worry about shocking me now that I’ve been kidnapped by vampires,” she said.
“We have shields around the property, but you must have walked across them. It was irresponsible of me not to warn you. I won't make that mistake again.”
“I knew you would come. I knew you would defeat them. They told me they were setting a trap for you, and I was afraid for a moment that you would be trapped. But then I told myself, no. Kian is too strong and brave to be tricked by these vicious vampires. He'll come for me and Ember. And save us both. I knew you would.”
She buried her head in his chest and a tear trickled out of her eye and soaked into his scales.
“I'll always come for you. I'll always protect you. And I won’t ever keep a secret from you again.”
Chapter 19
Kian set himself down gently inside the perimeter of the shields around the property, and Everly slid from his arms. She looked up at him in his half-shift form, still unable to fully believe that this man that she had come to adore was really a dragon.
“I can tell you're still afraid,” he said. “I will explain everything.”
Cato landed beside him and handed him baby Ember. Aiden and Dax landed next and everyone shifted back into their human form. They walked back to the mansion.
Kian and Everly took Ember to the nursery, where they changed her and got her ready for a bath. Standing over the bathtub together, they watched Ember splash bubbles happily in her baby tub. She seemed fully recovered from the trauma of the kidnapping.
“Children are so resilient,” Everly mused.
“So are you,” he said, touching her hand as she slid a sponge over Ember’s shoulder.
She looked up at him and she saw a concerned father and kind man. Moments ago she had seen a scaly dragon warrior. She let out a deep sigh and her shoulders relaxed.
“Tell me, where did you come from? Why are you here?”
Now that she had seen what she had seen, there was no going back to the world as she knew it before.
“We came from the planet Dragonia at the far end of the galaxy,” he said.
He pulled Ember out of the bath and wrapped her in a hooded towel with a little ducky on the head. They walked back into the nursery to dry her off. Everly chose a pair of footed pajamas with balloons on them and brought it over to the changing table for Kian. He put on her diaper and dressed her in her pajamas.
“Why did you leave your planet?” she asked as he sat in the rocking chair with his daughter and fed her a bottle they’d brought up earlier.
“There was a cataclysm,” he said.
She sat across from him in the other rocking chair and watched him feed his daughter. Ember sucked hungrily o
n her bottle.
“What happened? How did you end up on Earth with Ember?”
“Our sun was dying for a thousand years. The dying star caused the female birthrate to plummet. But the elders refused to leave until it was too late. Just before the sun finally went out, there was only one female dragon left in existence. She was a Female Prime. She could mate with any male, even dragons who weren't her fated mate. The leader of each house sent his seed to the Female Prime, and she gave birth to one child for each house. Ember was her daughter. She died soon after the eggs had hatched, the birth of so many young being too much for her body to recover from.
“Those who were left escaped Dragonia as the sun finally went dim. Members of each house took their final heir and escaped. I am the prince of the House of Flames. We are all fire dragons. The dragons who escaped searched the galaxy for a new home. We finally found the planet now called Earth.
“The planet was primordial when we found it. Determining we could eventually live here, the houses scattered the souls of their ancestors across the land. We seeded this planet with our DNA in the hopes that someday when we awoke, there would be Dragon Souls among the native population.
“Back then, the creatures who became human were not what they are today. We had hoped that through generations of selection Dragon Souls would enter the human genepool. A million years later, humans have evolved into beings who look very much like a shifted dragon. We believe that our seeding may have had something to do with it.”
“Are all humans Dragon Souls?”
“No. Only .001% of the population are Dragon Souls. At least, that is our calculation. But just the influence of the Dragon Souls in the genepool has helped humans to develop into what they are today.”
“And what about the vampires? How did they get here?”
“We don’t know for sure.”
Kian rocked Ember to his shoulder and patted her back, helping her burp out the air bubbles in her stomach before standing and placing her in her crib. Ember was exhausted, and her eyes fluttered closed almost immediately.
He cocked his chin toward the door, and they quietly crept out of the nursery. They sat together in the sitting area of her bedroom, looking out the window as the sky opened up with rain.