Of Dragons & Vampires

Chapter Eight

ABEL:

It had been an hour and he hadn't stopped staring at the beautiful boy he had held in his arms. It had happened so quickly. Wyatt had been quick to scry for the portal in the Aetos mansion, and it had taken little magic to re-open it again. What the group had not expected was for the vampire boy to run straight into Abel's arms, quite literally.

You were running from someone. Abel brushed a strand of soft hair from the boy's head. He was as beautiful in the flesh as he had been in his dreams, his skin was practically pore less, smooth and so delicately pale it looked as though he were a China doll. He hadn't woken since Wyatt had cast the sleeping spell, and from the scarlet circles underneath the boy's eyes, the sleep was well needed.

"He's adorable, now stop staring."

Abel scowled at his sister. She had been in deep conversation with Lysander Quickenden, a Dhampir whose house they had taken refuge in. It wasn't like he had had much choice, when a witch, a hunter, three werewolves and two dragons turn up at your door, what is a half immortal to do, especially since he had owed Amber Drake a favour. What Amber hadn't expected was for the Dhampir she had known for forty years to have married a mortal man and adopted. She had been entertaining a two-year-old with dancing flames for an hour now, her eyes barely leaving her brother who, in turn, had not left the side of the vampire boy.

"Evander," Lysander spoke up. "His name is Evander, and he's eighteen..." Lysander joined Abel in kneeling next to the boy.

Abel allowed himself to study the man, after all he had never seen a Dhampir: they were illegal, Lysander's very existence was rare. Instead of the vibrant red coloured eyes British vampires usually possessed, Lysander's were burgundy: the red of his vampire mother mixed with the brown of his human father. He wasn't as pale as other vampires, and he lacked much of the skills. He was deadly, Abel had no doubt about that, and was not subject to the same weaknesses as vampires, but he would die just like a mortal: where vampires could stop ageing at any time and were gifted with immortality so long as they were not killed, Lysander would grow old slowly, dying naturally.

Much like a dragon, Abel mused. Vampires, Faes and other Earthly spirits were the only immortals within the supernatural world. Everyone else lived long lives, dragons especially could live for thousands of years.

"Well!" Lysander exclaimed, his face lighting up with an impish grin. "Look at that!"

Abel glanced down as Lysander twirled a large diamond ring on Evander's finger, it was worth more money than Abel, Amber or Colette had in total.

"The little vampire is engaged, he must have had his ceremony recently."

"Ceremony?" Abel frowned. He cast a glance down at the boy, he was barely an adult, how could he be engaged?

"The vampire aristocracy have a God-given tradition, when they come of age, which varies between each society mind you," Lysander shrugged nonchalantly, taking a seat beside Amber and pulling his daughter onto his lip. Mei giggled and snuggled closer to her father. "The ceremony is a little old fashioned for my taste, the High Lord of each country cuts the palm of the lucky vamp, and their blood forms a name. The name is supposed to be the person they are destined to marry, their paths forever entwined."

Abel arched an eyebrow, looking to Amber who remained staring at Evander's sleeping body.

"The blood forms a name? How is that possible?"

"You're asking the wrong person, dragonling. I'm not even meant to exist, never mind know of their barbaric practices."

Abel gazed back to Evander, his eyes never leaving the soft rise and fall of his chest. He caught sight of something purple marking his perfect skin. "Amber, look." He gently tugged the sleeves of Evander's shirt up, revealing black and purple bruises lining the boy's skin. Only another vampire could cause such harm.

"Someone hurt him," Amber sighed, her voice laced with concern. "That might be why he was running...get Wyatt, we need to wake him up."

OOoOoOoOoOoOoOO

"He hit you over the head, then ran?"

Mordecai could barely look his father in eye. If he could blush, he would. His own fiancée had subdued him, he had hit him unconscious and ran. No one did that to Mordecai, no one who didn't want to die an excruciating death. However, he had a soft spot for Evander. He always had. When Mordecai got his hands on Evander, the boy would learn to never disobey him again. Threats and commands had done nothing, so perhaps it was time Evander felt his fists and some iron, a few bruises and broken bones would mould him into the man he needed him to be, then Evander would be on his knees begging for forgiveness.

"I was...distracted by him." Mordecai mumbled. A snigger from his brother, Constantine, caused him to glare. "Something funny about my fiancée having cold feet, brother?"

"Evander has more than cold feet, Cai." Constantine turn, a smirk spread across his face. "He's always been a disobedient little brat. Perhaps you should have let father break him instead of trying to woo him."

Mordecai huffed, he was right. Their father was a terrifying man, even Evander would bow to Atlas Heridicles.

"That boy is the key to power," Atlas glowered at his sons, "with a union between an Aetos and a Heridicles, we'd be unstoppable. I would be the most powerful High Lord in our world, do you understand? I don't care what you do to that foolish little boy once I drag him back, just ensure he doesn't cause an embarrassment like that again."

"No one knows he ran!" Mordecai blurted out. The guards had found him unconscious after a nosy little maid had peeked in, and Evander had been declared missing. Whispers were already spreading about a kidnap, and Mordecai would rather that be the accepted version than the fact he was overpowered by Evander. Evander wasn't small, nor was he weak, but Mordecai was stronger.

"And they won't." Atlas grinned. Mordecai knew that grin, he watched as his father walked solemnly to the fireplace, glaring into the flames. "The guards scented supernaturals...among them, dragons."

Mordecai and Constantine gasped, eyes wide and mouths agape.

"Dragons? How dare they come anywhere near here." Constantine spat, "How did they get in?"

"It seems out of all of Zephyr's children, Evander isn't the only rebellious imbecile. His older brother, Damien, fell in love with a witch. Apparently, they flitted around the manor during their courtship, the witch used portals to get around." Atlas rolled his eyes, waving a hand as if it were a minor detail. "The dragons had a witch with them, they re-opened the portal. That's where Evander's scent ends, they took him with them."

Silence blanketed the room.

Mordecai seethed, the thought of another person's hand on his fiancée made him sick. A dragon's hands made him want to slit their scaled throats.

"Or he went with them willingly?" Constantine arched his eyebrows, pursing his lips and ignoring the glare his younger brother threw at him.

"No." Atlas turned, "Evander is impulsive, short sighted and ungovernable, but he isn't stupid. Unfortunately. They most likely took him, but for what, I don't know. Luckily for us, my sons, we can use this to our advantage."

Mordecai's face creased into a frown, his fiancée had disappeared into the night with dragons after near bludgeoning him to death. He failed to see how any of this could be to their advantage.

"We will tell people that you and your fiancée were lovingly planning your wedding, Evander was so filled with excitement that you both didn't notice the presence of two dragons. They hit you unconscious as you tried to protect your husband to be, and they took him. Perhaps...as a declaration of war?" Atlas leered.

A smile crept onto Mordecai's face as he shared a look with his brother. The vampire community would not stand for this, not only had they kidnapped an Aetos, they had assaulted a Heridicles. There would be a massacre.

"We'll spread this, we will destroy those great worms for good, and send them back to the dirt."