Two hours before the ball was set to start Archibald knocked on my door once again and led me out of the castle to their official ceremony hall. The King was standing with his back towards us and Archibald closed the doors behind him.“Ryder, come join me,” Rex called from the stage.“I guess we’re going to the dragon realm now,” I said and he smiled at me.“If you don’t mind,” he said.Abeloth separated from me and flapped his wings once. He bowed his head in front of the King and in return Rex also bowed his head to Abeloth. The King handed me a knife and I cut our palms and pressed them together.“My blood will grant you entry to the dragon realm,” Abeloth said.I smelled the dank cave first and then I started feeling the pull. Rex looked ready to throw up and then the dim darkness enveloped us. I heard faint scratching against the cave wall and a few pebbles fell to the ground.“Lord Typhon,” I said loudly and looked down.“I see you’ve brought a friend,” Typhon said and his voice
As I made my way to the front of the ballroom towards my table the King motioned for me to join him. I sat down on Florin’s chair as the King pushed a tumbler towards me. “Is the ball not to your liking?” he asked me.“It’s a grand affair my King, but I’m used to much simpler things,” I said as he laughed.“I saw you leaving the ballroom and wondered if my daughter had upset you,” he said.“Not at all, I needed to have a quiet conversation with a friend,” I said.“Of course,” he said as four warriors walked towards us.“Your Majesty, two watchers just discovered the body of Lord Thomas Summerton in the far gardens. We are investigating the breach as it seems like he was killed by a vampire,” the warrior said.“Was he bitten?” King Rex asked them.“No Your Majesty, his heart was ripped from his chest,” the warrior said.“Please report your findings to me as soon as possible,” King Rex said and dismissed them with a wave of his hand.“What a tragedy,” I said.“How on earth did you manag
Almost three years later ….Rex and I spoke over the phone once a month and he’d give me the name of a new enemy. I killed them all silently but always left their bodies as a message. The discovery of these men and sometimes women always made the papers and Rex would congratulate me the next time we spoke.The jobs for the King I did alone but Felix always went with me when we did work for the Elders. Wynter and Milo would turn five in two days and Megan had about four weeks of pregnancy left and they were both little hellions. Milo was faster than Wynter but Wynter was stronger.Megan was pregnant again, this time with a girl, and we were both excited at her arrival. I was also awaiting the news of the King’s passing. Time had caught up with us and I had an uneasy feeling. Rex himself had said that Florin was spoiled.“Why aren’t you dressed yet?” Megan asked as she came out of the bathroom.“Just thinking,” I said.“You can’t sit and wait for him to die every single day,” she said.
Wynter was five years old and the dragon displayed on his back took my breath away. Abeloth would come forward and peer at him and every time Wynter’s eyes would turn yellow it scared me. He was too young to handle the power of a dragon.“Daddy?” Wynter asked as he woke up after his merging.“Do you remember what happened yesterday?” I asked him.“Something jumped into me,” he said his eyes flashing yellow.“You merged with your dragon,” I said to him.“Like Abeloth?” he asked me with wide eyes.“Yes, do you think we can go outside so I can meet him?” I asked.“Okay,” he said smiling.I picked him up and we headed downstairs. Megan was starting breakfast and she kissed Wynter on the forehead when I put him down. “We’ll be outside for a bit.” I said and opened the kitchen door.Abeloth separated from me and lowered his head towards Wynter as he called on his dragon. “Come out thing,” Wynter said out loud.“He doesn’t know how to come out,” Wynter said.“Come forth child of mine,” Abelo
“I present to you Mr Grey, Chief of the Grey Tribe, from Florida in the United States of America,” the man announced me.“Please Mr Grey, take a seat,” King Florin said as the man left me standing in the doorway of the grand dining room.“My King, my condolences on the passing of your father,” I said and bowed my head.“Thank you, he was a good man,” Florin said.There were new faces around the table, faces I didn’t recognize, younger men in the positions previously held by his father’s men. Now I was convinced that Rex didn’t die naturally, that his death had somehow been orchestrated.“Mr Grey, we meet again,” Alexandra said where she sat on Florin’s left side.“Princess,” I said and bowed my head without looking at her.“Let’s eat shall we, we can talk business later,” Florin said as servers walked in and placed plates down in front of us.I ate and listened to the conversation around me, only answering when someone spoke directly to me. Alexandra kept giving me looks which I tried
I could smell fire and I started running as Abeloth circled overhead and landed on the far side of the pond. There were bodies littered in the forest and on the footpath as I ran screaming Megan’s name. I stopped for a second as someone grabbed my leg.“I’m sorry little Ryder,” Tank said and closed his eyes as he died.“Tank,” I said and shook his shoulders. His head rolled from side to side and the anger bubbled to the surface.I pulled my gun out and took the gun that lay next to Tank as well and I started creeping forwards. I heard the roar of dragons and more screaming as men died. I shut my mind off and ran straight into the midst of fire, smoke and blood as I shot anything that moved.“Megan!” I yelled.I had killed over ten men and Abeloth had taken care of the ones that had tried to escape by air. The cabins had been burnt to the ground and I could smell the putrid scent of burnt flesh. I found Ava five minutes later, her dead eyes staring up into the night.“Rest in peace Ava
We had burned all the bodies on the island and Lucas and Rylee had arrived a few hours later. I had called Chase too but I told him not to come, he had his own lair to protect and I didn’t know if anyone else could be a target.“Rex left me this,” I said and showed Lucas the memory stick.“Let’s see what’s on it,” he said.We were in Elio’s office and we both sat down on the sofa with the laptop on my knees as a video of Rex popped open. His skin was pale and his eyes were sunken in. He looked halfway dead in the video.“Ryder, I don’t have much time. I’m being poisoned by someone close to me and the Florida Elders have reported your wife and son’s dragons. I’m sorry for what will happen to you because they will come for them.A friend of mine wrote this spell for you, any witch can perform it, the people present in the room will remember you but everyone else will forget your history. Your life will be erased and so will your accomplishments but that will also set you free.The first
Hartwell was only a seven hour drive away and the land that I’d bought was almost forty acres of pure nature and bliss. It was large enough for our dragons, concealed from the neighbours by large wooded trees and the house was far enough from the road to give us privacy.The house had six bedrooms of which two would be for guests and each room had their own bathroom with a half bathroom downstairs for visitors. It was a large house but space was one thing I needed right now. The cabin had been significantly smaller than our house in Princeton but it was okay because we were building a future on the island.I tried not to think about the island because that made me think about Megan and how she’d died. This was a fresh start for all of us. I wasn’t sure how much Wynter and Milo understood about death but I steeled myself for when they’d ask.Lucas and Rylee followed behind me and we stopped to eat after five hours. It was near dinner time and Abby had just started crying for a change a