Dragon 5 Chapter 26

“T won’t be able to magically solve this.” Morgana reminded me. “But he would definitely be a heavy hitter against an army of newly turned vampires.”

“T?” Polydora frowned at the name.

We rounded the last corner to the idyllic little nursing home as dark clouds rolled overhead, and the first lightning flash announced the coming of a storm.

“He’s an old friend of Morgana’s.” As I replied, two hungry vampires attacked someone in the parking lot ahead of us, and each took a side of the nurse's neck.

It was like the scene where two lovers share a pasta noodle, only far less cute and a lot more grotesque.

Morgana gunned the van and hopped the curb, going into the parking lot and expertly clipping just one vampire, ripping them off their victim.

I threw my door open and growled. “Contego.” A shield came to life, separating the other vampire from the nurse.

Polydora was racing around my shield, pouncing on the remaining vampire.

I caught the nurse and picked the poor woman up. “Are you okay?”

“Uh don’t know.” She answered with a slur and a glazed expression. The venom worked almost too well on humans.

There was a splatter noise as Polydora got a hold of her vamp, and Morgana got out of the van, flicking her blades and killing the other.

“Not good!” Polydora dropped the dead vampire onto the pavement and ready to rush into the nursing home but she stopped dead.

I turned to the entrance of the nursing home.

A tall gaunt old man leaning on a younger elf came to the entrance. “They are drawn to you.” T replied. I assumed he was looking at me, but it was hard to tell because of his damn bushy eyebrows.

“Hey old man. There’s a big problem in the city, and we could use your help.” I replied. “On behalf of the council, I’d like to ask for your help in subduing the wave of vampires coming through the city.”

Another thought occurred to me. “And if possible, we would appreciate you partnering with the fae to create a potion to stop any recently turned humans.”

“Oh?” A spooky light flashed underneath T’s eyebrows. “My help?” He stopped leaning on his daughter, Hestia, and stood up straight. “Too bad my knees ache during storms.”

“Cut it out you old windbag.” Morgana stormed up to him. “Yes or no?”

“Morgy.” Hestia scolded her friend and stayed close to her father.

Another vampire came streaking across the parking lot towards our group.

T lifted his hand, and the vampire screamed as its flesh was ripped completely off its body, leaving nothing but the bones that didn’t fall to the ground.

Instead, the bones hung there a moment before solidifying back in place as two spooky lights that looked just like the ones that had been in T’s eyes a moment ago appeared.

“You say the council has allowed me to act?” T replied, curious.

“I’ll take the full burden if there are problems. But you have my support, the fae and the sirens’.” I was honest with him. “Do the best you can to minimize damage and exposure?”

T looked up at the storm, which seemed to be growing quickly in intensity. “I think people will be off the streets here shortly. It is about to get quite dark.”

“All vampires on the street are free game.” I told him. “Except our favorite one.” I grabbed Morgana’s hips.

We had said we’d give them time, but that was clearly over.

The attacks had escalated beyond a point of return. It was time to clean up the streets.

T’s eyes flashed again, and another vampire died across the street in a puff of black smoke. “Deal. But I get to keep any reagents I find, and I’m too old to do much more than these little guys.”

I didn’t believe a word he said. Age shouldn’t really bother a lich. “Any help is appreciated. Wonderful to see you again old man. Keep an eye out for my wedding invitation soon.”

“Come back, I’ve been working on my hair styling just for you.” The old man smiled as he pulled out a pair of scissors and clipped them in the air a few times.

I shook my head. He always wanted pieces of me, even nail clippings or hair clippings, to use in his potions.

“We’ll see. I’ll come by though. I certainly owe you a favor.” As I headed back for Morgana, I promised.

T had already shown that there was nothing to fear in leaving him alone. The ancient elf waved with a smile on his face like an elderly neighbor. He was so happy to have a favor; I wondered if he’d ask for skin scrapings or my toenails next.

But he’d fought in quite a few battles back during the seventeenth century. As I understood it, Liches were immortal.

We all hurried back into the car. Once the doors closed and the car got moving, Trina spoke up.

“He’s a lich. A fucking lich, Zach?! I thought they were all wiped out. How can you give a lich carte blanche like that?”

“T’s harmless.” Morgana waved a hand as if to dismiss the concern.

Trina choked. “Harmless? A lich could fucking wipe out the eastern seaboard.”

“He’s not so bad. He’s helped us out a few times now.” I backed Morgana’s assessment of T.

“I’m going to need to check any and every potion you get from a lich.” Polydora’s tone brooked no argument.

“His daughter is the one that makes the fertility potion for the pack.” I reminded her, letting them put the pieces together.

Amira wrinkled her nose behind me. “You mean she has access to your seed? Do you understand the horrible curses she could place on you with that?”

“Morgana grew up with both of them before T became a lich. She trusts them, and I do too. He’s done nothing but help me so far.” My tone said there was no room for further argument, and the girls settled down as the van’s engine roared and we swung from one side of the van to the other as she took corners far too quickly.

“I’m going to be sick.” Amira held her mouth as Sabrina rubbed her back.

“I thought Dragons would be tougher than car sickness.” Sabrina stated.

“We do fine when they aren’t driven by crazy people!” Trina shouted back with a huff.

Little did she realize that such a statement was only more of a challenge to Morgana. Morgana sped up, forcing me to cling to the oh-shit-handle.

But we were crossing into the industrial area, and I could see the grain silos pop above other buildings.

“At least we haven’t seen more vampire attacks since T’s.” I said, trying to find something positive to talk about.

But as I said it, the lights flickered all around us and then went out. Most of the city seemed to have lost power.

It only made it spookier as dusk was rapidly approaching.

“That’s not good.” Sabrina observed.

“I’d bet money that the council just cut the entire city’s power and cell towers.” Morgana replied, far less concerned. “Things have gotten terrible. It’s the only way to stop somebody from getting a video that goes viral. When the dust settles and everything comes back online, we’ll work to scrub whatever goes up. But this is a last resort.”

“Meaning elsewhere in the city, shit has hit the fan.” I rubbed my chin. If their ultimate target was the fae, then we needed to go to Wissahickon park after this.

The brewery came into view, and the place was a hub of activity as people moved about in a hurry. Large pallet crates were stacked up everywhere amid the loading zone, with the bay doors wide open. The brewery was far too busy, even for a business.

One car pulled up, and two vampires speeded out of the front two seats before opening the trunk and pulling out a couple. The couple was bound and covered in blood.

“What are they doing?” Trina frowned, watching the spectacle.

“Setting up a long-term feeding solution.” Morgana answered as she pulled in, not even attempting to slow down.

Our van quickly caught the attention of several vampires moving about.

Morgana sort of stuck out like a sore thumb, and they started shouting in alarm.

“If they swarm the city and the fae, they need many people to bleed daily to keep all the new vampires fed.” Morgana commented before gunfire hit the van and bounced off.

While the vehicle was safe, the sound of the bullets hitting the metal was still loud as shit.

“My king, allow us.” Polydora, Trina and Amira all shifted, tearing their clothes.

Poly was first out of the van, throwing open the door amid the gunfire and charging out.

The gunfire focused on her, the easiest target, but it did nothing as the bronze warrior charged through them like a meat grinder.

Trina and Amira shot out behind her. The copper was like Polydora, with a form like my dragon knight, but Amira was different. She was hunched over, more like a werewolf. And her head had shifted more to match the dragon.

I had seen the varied hybrid forms amid the conclave, and now some of Amira’s difficulties made sense. She identified more with being a dragon than a human, even in the modern world.

But her form certainly had an advantage. She fell on all fours and moved far faster than Polydora and Trina.

“Like they get all the fun.” Morgana scoffed, throwing open her door and stepping out as she whipped out her curved blades. She started expertly spinning them before she blurred away.

Some vampires were already screaming to retreat; they could see that despite their numbers, they were outmatched.

“Sabrina.” I closed Poly’s door to protect the succubus from gunfire. “You’re here for the magic. Can you support us from inside the car?”

The dragons weren’t in any danger from the small fries, but Sabrina might be.

She nodded before shaking her head. “I’m fine. Just give me a little juice?” She held the edge of her glasses, not taking them off as a smile lingered on her lips. “Remember what you said about the next time I did this? I do.”

Her statement caught my full attention as she lifted her glasses, letting her succubus nature flood the inside of the van like a pink cloud of lust.

I breathed in deep, remembering my promise that I’d mark her the next time she did it.

The beast in me did too, and I lurched into the back seat of the van and pressed the hot and sexy succubus to the seat.

But despite the desire churning through my body, I was at least present enough to know that we didn’t have much time. I needed to help the others, including my mate.

Leaning down to mark Sabrina, she claimed my lips first. I lost myself momentarily in the pillow softness and tender sweetness of those lips. I rubbed myself against her as I felt my body becoming red hot.

I could also feel her feeding from me as my lust continued to swell. But it didn’t affect me at all beyond the sensation. It didn’t last longer than a few seconds.

When she was done, Sabrina had to push me hard to get me off her, and my jaw crackled as I looked at her shoulder.

“Do it. We’ll play later if you come out of this alive.” She gave me a lusty look, her pink eyes sucking me in.

I found myself nodding as my jaw finished shifting and my teeth became sharp.

“Mark me then.” She whispered.

My teeth clamped down on her, and magic flooded my mouth. I left my mark on her, branding her with magic that I could always follow to find her.

She held the back of my head for a moment before I felt the lust pop like a water balloon, suddenly far more aware of the battle noises outside.

I pulled back to see a furiously blushing Sabrina that was having trouble looking me in the eye. “That was lovely.” I pushed her chin to force her to look into my eyes. “Mine.”

“Yours.” She blushed so completely red that I thought for a second she was returning to her succubus form. “I-I’ll work on tracking down Helena.”

“We need to get out there before they do all the work.” I chuckled, dragging Sabrina back out the side of the van where Morgana had excited less than a minute before.

Small arms fire was going off sporadically, but the four ladies had torn through the welcoming party while I’d been powering up Sabrina.

I felt a little guilty, but there was no time to dwell on the moment. And Sabrina had needed the strength to protect herself.

Sabrina stepped out next to me and her hands swirled in the air with red magic, creating a diagram in the shape of an arrow. “Give me a minute.”

I caught Polydora walking back in our direction. “Any injuries?” I shouted at the leader of my honor guard.

“No, my king. They fought us here until they realized they were outgunned, and then the vampires retreated into the building.” She stared over to where the bay doors had been closed. “We were cleaning up outside the building while you… occupied yourself.”

I snorted to hide my embarrassment. “Sabrina is fully charged up and ready to help us.” I tried to defend my distraction.

Poly’s nose flared, and she stared at the stretched and torn collar of Sabrina’s shirt. “And marked.” There was a low growl from the bronze dragon as her eyes flashed with jealousy.

“Let’s go.” I slipped out of my clothes and shifted into a gold and red dragon knight form. I had yet to announce to the world that I was the son of Bahamut and Tiamat, but I figured I’d need all the power I could to fight a demon prince.

Sabrina finished her diagram, and the arrow fell parallel to the ground. Then it swiveled to point at a wall of the brewery. “It isn’t a GPS with turns, but it should help find her. Let’s go through one of the bay doors.”

I scoffed. “I’d rather make our own door. They’ll have less time to prepare that way.”

“Trina, Amira, Morgana to me.” I pulled Sabrina along with me, following the direction of the arrow up to the concrete industrial building’s side and wound back my arm. Then I punched right through the slab, sending cracks in every direction before I got a grip on it and tore open a hole.

I went to move into the opening just as a big ice lance shot out of the hole.

It caught me in the chest and pushed me a step back as it shattered like broken glass that covered me.

Thankfully, my scales prevented anything besides the impact.

Polydora crashed through the hole a second later, and a vampire screamed as she tore it apart.

“Are you okay, my king?” Trina went to heal me.

I pushed her hand away. “Let’s go. We are hunting vampires.”

Inside the building, the vampires were older. They knew how to use their magic, even if it was simple.

“Contego.” I shouted, creating a barrier against a barrage that peppered us on entering.

“Stay together. Amira, Poly, you two go first. Trina, Morgana, cover our backs.” I pointed down a hall that roughly matched the direction of Sabrina’s magical angel compass.

“Yes, my king.” All three of them echoed their agreement, but Morgana just chuckled and bobbed an eyebrow at me, taking charge.

Poly and Amira wasted no time in their task, charging down the industrial hall, taking magic and small arms fire as they found pockets of vampires.

“There are a hell of a lot of vampires here.” Trina commented, looking over her shoulder often and sweeping the nearby areas. “You said they were stocking up, Morgana?”

“Yeah, I know this place. They make bloodwine for the vampire community. Normally, they either source it from blood banks or from willing humans. But it looked like they were trying to significantly increase their operations.” Morgana kept her hands on her blade handles as they smacked against her leather clad rear.

“Willing?” Sabrina said with doubt.

“You’d be surprised.” Morgana rolled her eyes. “Humans love a good high.”

We walked slowly behind Poly and Amira as they cleared the way for us.

Soon we came up to a hallway that opened into a large main processing area. There were storage tanks and pipes everywhere, winding around walkways. But my eyes went to the leader.

Ricardo stood in the middle, surrounded by a small group of vampires facing us.

“Congratulations, Dragon King, but you are too late. My master will take what he wants from this city. Not even you can stop him.” He stood calmly, clearly sure of his advantage.

Further behind Ricardo and his group, Helena hung chained to a balcony.

A female vampire wearing an outfit that was more leather straps than actual coverage turned away from the angel, with eyes that glowed red like Sabrina’s magic.

I recognized her. She was the woman that Deniz had fed on at the club and was present when they captured Helena.

“Dragons are such greedy gluttonous creatures, wouldn’t you agree?” Beelzebub, I assumed, stood. I noticed their stomach was shrunken in, almost as if she was in a permanent state of starving.

Gazing at Beelzebub hit me like Sabrina’s lust, only I wanted to devour everyone in the nearby vicinity, starting with the three juicy dragons around me.

“Zach?” Sabrina asked with wide, worried eyes. I wanted to tell her she was safe. That I would never eat somebody marked as mine, but I was too focused on the tasty dragon morsels near me.