“It’s the park at the university, I think,” she said. “We pass it every day.” She frowned. “We’ve never been there at night.”
“Who are the men, Zoë?” her father asked quietly.
She shrugged and bit into her cookie. “They wanted to be there.” Her gaze barely flicked at Drake, then she finished her snack and went to her room, picking up her pack at her mother’s reminder.
“It’s Thad and me,” Drake said. “This is where the stone brought us the second to last time.”
“So close,” Erik mused. “But not so close that you could sense my presence, or that I would be much aware of yours.”
“Were you?”
Erik slanted a glance at him. “I felt a glimmer a few weeks ago, but it disappeared. I thought I had imagined it, because it was so fleeting. How could you be here and gone again so quickly as that?” He pressed his fingertips to one temple and closed his eyes. “The darkfire is changing everything,” he whispered, then grimaced.
Drake was on his feet in a moment, knowing something was wrong but unable to name it. Before he could speak, Erik’s eyes flew open and he stared at the door. He crossed the room with long strides, and Drake guessed that he had felt a breach of his dragonsmoke barrier.
There was a knock at the door. Erik inhaled deeply, frowned, then cast open the door.
The corridor was filled with unfamiliar men, young and vigorous men who held themselves with determination. There had to be three or four dozen of them.
They were Pyr. Drake stood behind Erik and breathed deeply, not believing his own senses. How could there be so many Pyr of whom he knew nothing?
“We are the descendants of the Dragon Legion,” said the Pyr in front. He tugged up his shirt sleeve, showing a tattoo on his upper arm that was the same as the tattoo Drake and his men had gotten as a sign of solidarity. Drake considered the young man with wonder, liking the intelligence that shone in his dark eyes. “I am named Theo, for my forebear, the son of Stephanos who became Drake,” he said, his words startling Drake. “We come to pledge ourselves to the leader of the Pyr, Erik Sorensson, as we pledged to our fathers, who pledged the same to their fathers and their fathers before them.”
“So this is what I sensed,” Erik said, almost under his breath.
Theo offered a piece of paper. “We surrender to you this prophecy, made millenia ago but for these times. We have kept it in trust, preserved it and awaited the moment it should be revealed.” He handed an envelope to Erik.
Erik opened the envelope and removed a sheet of paper. Drake could see that it had eight lines of script, though he couldn’t quite read the words.
Erik read it in old-speak.
“Across the centuries and the years,
You will wait and shed your tears,
Until the darkfire is freed again;
Your vengeance can cause Pyr no pain.
I close the portal, for once and all,
To see those I love out of your thrall.
When darkfire will burn once again,
Your sister’s death can be avenged.
When daughters of all elements are mates
Then will the dragons face their fate.”
“So, it is time,” Erik said aloud. He offered his hand to Theo. “Welcome, Theo. Welcome to you and all your company. Please, cross my dragonsmoke and share your tidings with us.” He turned and indicated Drake with a slight smile. “This is Drake, who was Stephanos. He has been weary, but I think you may bring him joy.”
Against Drake’s every expectation, a son of his line stood before him. Theo smiled and there was a gleam of tears in his eyes. He stepped forward and gave a crisp salute. “I have always dreamed of meeting you. It is an honor beyond all, sir.”
“Not sir,” Drake said hoarsely. He took Theo’s hand and shook it, liking the firmness of this young man’s grip. “I would have you call me Drake.” And then he embraced Theo, glad beyond belief that the darkfire had brought him this gift.
* * *
The repair of his scale was a wonderful moment, and one Thad would remember forever. He couldn’t have imagined how any part of it could have been improved.
The sun was setting, the western sky painted with brilliant streaks of orange. He could see the stars overhead and feel a cool breeze from the ocean. He smiled, wondering if it was a friend of Aura’s. The tree with the silver leaves tinkled in the breeze, as if to make music to celebrate their bond.
The firestorm had faded, but the weight of Aura’s hand in his own still brought a lump to Thad’s throat. He was surrounded by friends and comrades, each of whom had found love through the firestorm. He was amongst his own kind and would be with Aura for the duration. He dared to believe that thanks to their efforts, the Pyr in the future would triumph over every obstacle.
He felt like the luckiest Pyr in the world.
“There must be a token, freely given,” Katina said to Aura.
“She has surrendered her immortality,” Thad said with pride.
“Something tangible,” Petra insisted. “Something that is a measure of her link with the elements.”
“She is air and I am fire,” Thad said.
“But what are your secondary elements? The four must be divided between the two of you, or you wouldn’t have had a firestorm,” Alexander explained.
Thad met Aura’s gaze. She smiled at him. “You must be earth for your practicality,” she said and Thad sensed that she was right.
“And you would be water, for your empathy.”
Aura’s smile turned mischievous. “Or for my love of sensual delights.”
The others chuckled at that, but Thad couldn’t look away from Aura’s shining eyes. He would show her sensual delights, once they had a moment of privacy together. He smiled and she blushed a little, as if she’d guessed his thoughts.
Her eyes widened suddenly and she reached into her tunic. To Thad’s surprise, when her hand was revealed again, she held a golden apple. It was perfect, not missing a single bite, and he wondered if she had stolen another one.
“A gift from Hera,” she said with a smile. She glanced up at the peak where the garden was hidden. “A wedding gift.” She lifted the golden fruit and offered it to Alexander. It looked like it was made of gold, more like a piece of jewelry than fruit.
Alexander accepted it with a slight bow. “I never thought I’d hold one of these myself,” he said with awe. “It will more than suffice.”
Thad felt Alexander change shape beside him and glanced at the dark dragon Alexander had become. Damien shifted shape next and he nodded acknowledgement of that. The dragon known as the Heartbreaker had changed, and the transformation was more than the color of his scales and of his hair. Damien seemed more focused and less restless. Thad knew it was because he was with Petra, his destined mate, once again.
Thad smiled at Aura, then summoned his own change, reveling in the way it surged through him with such strength. The firestorm had made him more than he had been, Thad was sure of it.
The wind lifted Aura’s hair and swept through her tunic as she offered Thad’s lost scale to Alexander. Alexander held it in his claws and breathed fire at it. Damien stepped forward and breathed his dragonfire on it as well. It heated to a golden glow before Thad’s eyes. They turned their fire on the apple and it turned molten on one side before their surprised gazes. Alexander pressed it into the scale and the two merged together, so that the golden apple sat on the surface like an emblem.
“Fire,” Alexander intoned as he pressed the hot scale against Thad’s chest. Thad gritted his teeth at the burning sensation of it against his exposed skin. He heard Aura gasp and saw her eyes fill with tears of sympathy.
“Water,” Aura whispered, lifting a tear from her cheek and placing it on the scale. It sizzled on contact and evaporated.
“Earth,” Thad said, and pressed the scale more deeply into his own chest.
“Air,” Aura concluded, blowing against the hot scale as sweetly as a summ
er breeze. Thad caught her close and spun her around, his heart bursting with pride that she had given so much to be his mate. He swept into the sky and flew around his fellows, then spun to land on his feet, in human form, with Aura in his arms. He bent to kiss her, but she gasped in wonder as she looked past his shoulder.
“Twins!” she said with delight. “Thad, we will have twin sons!”
There was only one good way to celebrate that news, as far as Thad was concerned. He caught Aura close and kissed her soundly, knowing that this particular night would be filled with the exploration of sensual delights.
And so it would be for all their entwined future.
Thad couldn’t wait to begin.
The Dragon Legion Novellas are also available in a print collection.
The Dragon Legion Collection includes
Kiss of Danger
Kiss of Darkness
and
Kiss of Destiny.
Available at online book retailers.
Ready for more Dragonfire?
Read on for an excerpt from
Serpent’s Kiss
The Tenth Dragonfire Novel
Copyright © 2013 by Deborah A. Cooke
* * *
Erik checked the perimeter of his lair, ensuring that his dragonsmoke barrier was woven thick and deep. It was late at night, or early in the morning, depending upon how he looked at it. Zoë had been put to bed hours before and even Eileen had fallen asleep. Drake had departed with the new Pyr a week before, revitalized by the opportunity to train a new company of dragon shifters.
Erik had spent the week trying to avoid a sense of pending doom. He couldn’t scry the future or see anything beyond the present moment, but he’d had a sense of trouble brewing.
Maybe it was that footage of Jorge appearing, then disappearing, in Seattle. What had the Slayer been carrying? It had looked like a severed arm, one that was still bleeding. Erik hadn’t thought much of Jorge shaking blood over the gathering crowd, not then, but today’s news had changed that.
People were becoming sick in Seattle. Very sick. There was a hum of panic building in Seattle as doctors and hospitals noticed the connections between sudden illnesses and deaths. They hadn’t used the word epidemic yet, but the first hospital had put itself into quarantine. They’d already realized that most of the victims had been at the scene of Jorge’s appearance.
It was only a matter of time before dragons were blamed.
Erik shivered, remembering the old hunts that had driven his kind into hiding and claimed so many Pyr he’d known and loved. Surely it couldn’t happen again.
Surely his suspicions were unfounded.
The loft was still, despite Erik’s restlessness. He stood at the window and watched the moon ride high overhead, listening to the pulses and breathing of his partner and child. He heard the resonance of his dragonsmoke and felt its icy glitter. The blaze in his mind had quieted, perhaps because he no longer feared it.
The numbers of the Pyr had swollen, virtually overnight, thanks to the darkfire crystal and its ability to make reality out of possibilities. The stone remained dark—he had checked it again after Drake’s departure—and he sensed that it would always be so. Its task was completed.
His, unfortunately, was not.
Erik knew he should feel optimistic instead of worried. What could he do? If Jorge had a plan, was it possible that the other Slayers knew of it? He had never been able to determine how much they communicated with each other, and their alliances shifted like the wind.
Confident that his barriers were robust and his family safe, Erik left the loft and went to the apartment he’d acquired directly below. There the Slayer JP was imprisoned, confined by a barrier of dragonsmoke breathed by Erik and buttressed by every Pyr who had come to visit since JP’s capture.
Erik felt a little bit sorry for the other dragon shifter. JP had been branded by Chen, claimed by that old Slayer and held captive by his more ancient magic. He had raved and fought when he’d first been captured by the Pyr, venting about injustice and plots. Erik had hoped to learn something about Chen from JP, but he was too incoherent to provide any information of use. Then he’d collapsed into a deep slumber, dozing in his dragon form and seldom awakening.
Chen’s sorcery seemed to be killing him. JP’s scales became thinner each time Erik visited him. He wasn’t sure when the other dragon shifter ate, but he didn’t eat much. JP’s breathing was becoming shallower and his pulse slower. Worse, the fight had gone out of him. It was such an unnatural state for a dragon shifter that Erik assumed JP would soon die.
It was such a waste. He could never understand why a Pyr would turn Slayer in the first place, never mind why Chen would enchant another Slayer just to let him fade away.
Erik unlocked the door to the apartment, fearing as he did each time that he would make a gruesome discovery. He passed through the cold shimmer of the dragonsmoke, only to find the apartment in darkness. The drapes were drawn but the apartment was unnaturally dark, given the light of the full moon. It should have stolen into the room somehow, as well as the lights of the city itself.
Erik smelled brimstone.
He slammed the door and shifted shape immediately, but even at his fastest speed, he was too slow. A plume of flame illuminated the middle of the main room. It was breathed by a young Asian man dressed in leather, a man with malice and violence in his eyes.
Chen, in one of his human guises.
Erik leapt at him, talons bared, but Chen laughed. He grabbed the inert JP by the scruff of his neck, waved to Erik, then they both disappeared.
Erik landed hard on the bare floor, but his prey was gone. Chen had used his powers to spontaneously manifest in other locations to bypass the dragonsmoke barrier and collect his prey.
Why did he want JP?
What would he do to him?
What else had the darkfire changed? Erik closed his eyes and checked the connections in his mind, following each conduit to one of the Pyr. It took him longer, with the influx of new dragon shifters, but he soon realized that one was missing.
Thorolf.
Erik had been angry with Thorolf for revealing himself to humans. There was even a YouTube video of Thorolf shifting shape in Washington, one that was impressive in its popularity. Thorolf was all impulse and powerful energy, but he spent himself in indulgence. That he made such foolish choices was in direct contrast to his impressive lineage. If Thorolf focused, or even tried to hone his skills, he could have become one of Erik’s most reliable Pyr. He could have replaced Erik as leader. But he didn’t try and he didn’t seem to care, and when he had vowed to go to Asia to hunt down Chen, Erik had let him go. He’d been sure nothing would come of it, that Thorolf would find a woman somewhere and spend a few months exploring her charms.
That had been exactly what had happened. Erik had checked and checked again just the day before.
But now Thorolf was gone. There was no glowing conduit to him from Erik’s mind. There was no link to his spirit, either. He wasn’t dead, just missing.
Erik shifted back to human form, impatient with his own failing in this. He should have kept a closer eye upon Thorolf, and he knew it. His frustration with Thorolf had driven his choices, and that had been a mistake.
He turned on the lights, intent upon checking the apartment, on the outside chance that Chen or JP had left some clue.
Chen had. There was a spiral burned into the hardwood floor, a spiral exactly like the mark branded on JP’s neck. It was about eight feet across and had been the source of that smell. Erik stepped into it and knew too late that he shouldn’t have done so. The spiral drew him forward with relentless force. He was pulled against his will to the very core of the spiral, fighting it even as he saw it begin to burn again. First the mark glowed, like embers, then it was coaxed to a small fire by a wind Erik couldn’t feel. In a heartbeat, the flames were burning as high as his knees. He couldn’t stop himself from moving closer, even when he heard Chen’s laughter
echo through the empty apartment.
Was this what had happened to Thorolf? Erik struggled against the force of the spell, but couldn’t change his situation. Would he be compelled to join the other Pyr? Or did Chen have worse plans for him?
It appeared that Erik would soon find out.
* * *
Watch for
Serpent’s Kiss
The Tenth Dragonfire Novel
Coming Soon!
The World of Dragonfire:
A Glossary
Every fictional world has its own terminology and that is particularly true of fantasy realms. Here is a glossary of terms frequently used in the Dragonfire novels. Although every attempt is made to include an explanation in context, sometimes a longer explanation is desired. Be warned—if you haven’t read the entire series, you may find spoilers here!
Affinities—as custodians of the four elements (air, water, fire, earth), the Pyr have a strong relationship with them. Each Pyr has affinities to two elements. When any given Pyr experiences his firestorm, his destined mate will invariably possess affinities to the two remaining elements. Their strengths and weaknesses are complementary, as a result, which makes a permanent union such a powerful alliance. When the mate gives a gift to aid in her dragon’s scale repair (see Loss of Scale) that gift often echoes her two affinities.
Airdaughter—an Elemental Witch with an affinity for air. An Airdaughter cannot just control the element of air but can become it. Aura is the first Airdaughter introduced in the series: her story (and the link between Elemental Witches and nymphs) is told in the Dragon Legion Novella, Kiss of Destiny.
Apothecary—the healer of the Pyr. The Apothecary is a hereditary position, involving a long apprenticeship and training in the medicinal uses of herbs etc. for the specific treatment of Pyr. The current Apothecary is Sloane Forbes.