Dragon Heat (2 page)

Probably in his obsessive state of mind, Vrajitor had forgotten to

lock it up when he came in.

‚I have an urgent message from the dragon lord,‛ the female

carried on. Tardieh could sense the uneasiness in her voice.

Time stood still. After what it felt like decades, but it must have

been just a couple of seconds, Vrajitor roared, ‚How dare you interrupt

my session?‛

Tardieh heard the girl gulp in terror. ‚I-I have an urg-urgent

message from the lord for you, sire.‛ Breathing with difficulty, she

continued, ‚He requests your presence at once.‛

Vrajitor’s anger was palpable in the air. He would probably make

the poor girl pay for interfering in his work.

‚Stay here,‛ he barked at the guard, who looked as frustrated as

Vrajitor, then left the room mumbling obscenities.

‚Would you like some water?‛ Tardieh heard the girl say to the

guard. Her voice sounded much stronger now. ‚You look thirsty. Here, I

brought some water.‛

Tardieh focused his eyes and saw the girl step into the room

holding a clay jug and a cup. The guard looked her up and down with

hungry eyes. Tardieh could smell the razbian’s arousal. The girl seemed to

also be interested because she gave him a coy but very open smile.

‚I doesn’t know if I want water, lass. But I sure gonna have some of

what other yer offerin’.‛ The guard took a few steps toward her. She

poured the water in the cup and handed it over to him. The guard

brought the cup to his lips without taking his eyes off her. Once finished,

he threw it on the floor. ‚Now, let’s have a bit more of what yer have,

hein?‛ He grabbed her by the hips, pulling her toward him.

The girl turned her head to avoid his ugly lips and saw Tardieh for

what he thought was the first time. She had dark honey-colored eyes, not

like the other dracos whose eyes glowed yellow.

Tardieh tried to take advantage of the guard’s distraction and free

himself but only managed to increase the cut caused by the silver chain on

his ankles and wrists. Unbearable pain shot down his arms and

reverberated throughout his body. The sound of gurgles caught his

attention. He could not believe his eyes. The guard who was minutes from

having his way with the girl now crouched on the floor holding his throat

as if he was choking on something. Brown foam started to pour out of his

mouth. Shaking, the guard looked up at the girl, trying to understand

what had just happened, but she was already moving toward Tardieh.

‚Shh, don’t say a word,‛ she said. ‚We have to get you out of here

before Vrajitor realizes he was set up.‛ With the strength of a full-grown

soldier, the girl released Tardieh from the silver chains and held him so he

wouldn't fall flat on the floor. She took off the dead guard’s trousers and

threw them on Tardieh’s naked lap. ‚Put these on, quick. Can you walk?‛

Tardieh tried to stand up but failed. She wrapped her arms around

his waist and helped him put the trousers on. They were a bit too big for

him, but they would have to do. Despite him being of above average

height for a vampire, he had lost quite a bit of weight during this ordeal.

He felt her hands lifting him up. With the girl’s help, Tardieh managed to

get out of the torture chamber, leaving the guard’s lifeless body behind.

The door led to a dim corridor that had another door at the end.

The girl dragged Tardieh toward it as fast as she could.

‚Why-why are you helping me?‛ Tardieh’s voice was so hoarse he

could barely hear his own words.

‚Shh, don’t waste your energy with stupid questions. We need to

move faster.‛

The door at the end of the passage led to a long, descending

stairway. Tardieh could feel his body giving in to tiredness. Blackness was

enveloping his eyesight, but he found enough energy to take each step

without falling down. They finally reached the bottom which then led to

another dark hallway with a few doors alongside it. They were below the

fortress, Tardieh realized, because the air was thicker and damper here.

‚Come, we’re not far now,‛ she whispered, pulling Tardieh toward

the far end of the hall. When they were almost at the end, he heard a door

open behind them. Immediately the smell of rotting meat permeated the

stale air in the tunnel.

‚Well, what have we here? A little kitten stealing my feast?‛

Vrajitor was a few feet behind them. He was slowly advancing like a

predator sure of his dinner. The girl moved so that she stood between him

and Tardieh. Tardieh did not like it a bit. If someone was to face Vrajitor,

it would be him not a fragile female. He tried to stand up, but she stopped

him with unexpected force.

‚Oh no, sire. Please forgive me. The prisoner looked so weak. I

pitied him. Please don’t hurt me, sire.‛ She bowed low almost touching

the floor, the way a plaintive would. Vrajitor did not seem convinced but

closed the gap between them with four long strides. ‚What of the guard?

Where is that imbecile?‛

‚He’s met his fate.‛ With that, the girl stood up with a speed and

grace only known to vampires and stabbed Vrajitor in the right eye. While

he was trying to recover from the girl’s surprise attack, she was already

striking him on the throat, a draco’s most vulnerable spot. Vrajitor fell on

the floor, trying to stop the gush of blood coming out of his neck.

Without wasting any more time, the girl grabbed Tardieh by the

waist and ran out the door, and then Tardieh felt the floor vanish from

underneath him. It wasn’t a door, he realized; it was a gate, and they were

free falling. His body hit the icy water with a loud splash. When he

opened his eyes, he saw the girl pulling him even lower toward the

bottom of the lake. Vampires did not need air to survive, but he did not

know that dracos shared the same talent. Who the hell was that girl?

After a few minutes, he saw what she was heading toward. There

was an opening on the base of the lake that looked like an underwater

passageway. She led them through it, and they immerged on the other

side of a cave. Tardieh could barely get out by himself. She helped him out

of the water, and they collapsed on the cold cave floor. They both

remained there for a few moments, catching their breath.

‚Who are you? Why are you helping me?‛ he asked between

shallow intakes of air. His mind was working overtime. He had to find

out who she was, where they were, and how to get out of there. The

dragon lord was not the only enemy he had in this war. If she was

working for another draconian sect trying to capture him for their side, he

would be in deeper trouble than before. After all, the war had started

when his father had been betrayed by one of his own councilors. The

councilor in question was scheming with the dragon lord, who had

ensured the councilor that he would be the vampire king once the dragons

took over Romania.

‚Not yet. We can’t stop now. There’s still a long way to cover

before we’re safely out of their reach.‛ She stood up and started toward

the inner part of the cave. After what felt like hours of walking, they

reached an opening that led to a very familiar forest. So he was still on

vampire soil, Tardieh realized with relief. They had not taken him out of

his father’s domain. Such arrogance. The sight of his land gave him extra

strength to carry on. But the newly found energy deserted him after a

while. He stumbled and fell by a large tree.

‚We can’t stop now. We have to keep on going,‛ the girl insisted.

‚They will reach us in no time.‛ She was panting as well, Tardieh noticed.

‚I can’t. I have to stop to regain some energy.‛ He closed his eyes

and opened his senses to his surroundings. He had to find an animal,

preferably a big one, to drink from. But he couldn’t sense anything close

by. Vampires could survive off animal blood but not for a long period of

time. Animal blood was not as fortifying as human or dragon blood;

however, it would have given him enough strength to dematerialize out

of there.

‚You are still bleeding. How come?‛ Her voice was closer now.

‚You’re a vampire. You should have healed a long time ago.‛

Tardieh opened his eyes and met hers. She was crouched in front of

him, studying him. Her voice had been sharp, but her eyes showed more

worry than annoyance.

‚I’ve lost a lot of blood.‛ He took a deep breath and closed his eyes

again.

Inhale, exhale.

A strong smell of blue mist flowers hit his nostrils—blue mist and

blood.
Her
blood. He could hear her heart beat and the blood flowing

through her veins. Strong, plenty. Tardieh opened his eyes and asked in

low tones, ‚Who are you?‛

She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again but closed it

once more, as if undecided of what to do. That’s it; he’d had enough. He

had to know what she was up to before it was too late. ‚I will not take

another step before you tell me who you are and why you are helping

me.‛

‚It does not matter who I am. What matters is that you need to go

back to your people and end this bloody war,‛ she retorted, leaning back

on her heels.

Tardieh could see her properly now. She was wearing a dark

brown woolen kirtle over a loose-fitting shirt with long bell sleeves. The

kirtle was topped by a dark green apron that complemented her eyes. Her

long, black wavy hair, which had been pulled back by a plain headscarf,

now cascaded down her shoulders in front of her full breasts. The

combination of her striking almond-shaped, hazel-honey eyes with her

thick lips gave her an exotic, mesmerizing appearance.

‚End the war? I thought you dracos wanted this bloody war,‛

Tardieh countered, trying to wake up from the trance of having her so

near.

‚We? No, not
we
. That dragon lord and his bunch of ignorant

followers. Who do you think has suffered the most from this war? The

draconian people had never wanted to invade Wallachia. We were happy

with our crops and our own land in the eastern mountains. We did not

need more land. And now, it’s all gone, devastated, burned to the

ground.‛ She stood up and turned her back to him. Tardieh could smell

her anger mixed with fresh tears.

‚So what do you want me to do? Go back to my people and tell

them to stop because the draconians have asked me to?‛ That was

ridiculous. How could he, the vampire prince, go against his father’s

commands? Yes, he would be king one day but not now, not soon enough

to make a difference in the near future.

‚Yes. That’s exactly what I want you to do. I have risked my life to

show you that not every draco agrees with this war. Actually, only the

aristocratic minority supports that stupid dragon lord. The others who

opposed him were hunted down, and their fate was worse than that of the

war slaves. You have to go back and stop the attacks.‛

‚I don’t have to do anything. And even if I could convince my

father to stop the attacks, your dragon lord would continue. He would

keep on trying to take not only Wallachia but the whole of Romania.‛ She

was insane! She truly believed he had the power to stop this war.

She stared back at him for a couple of seconds. ‚He won’t be

around for much longer.‛

A cold chill ran up Tardieh’s spine. ‚What exactly are you talking

about?‛

She raised her chin and looked at him with narrow eyes. It was

then that Tardieh understood it fully. She and whomever was working

with her were going to assassinate the dragon lord. Or at least they were

going to try. And if she could get him to commit to stop the attacks from

the vampires, the war could actually come to a halt.

Until the next dragon lord decided he wanted a bigger backyard.

She took a step closer and crouched in front of him again. ‚I know

what you’re thinking. You think you are just the prince, just another pawn

in this game. But you are mistaken, Tardieh. You have more power than

you realize. Your people look up to you. They admire you despite your

young age.‛

That was true. The vampire community esteemed him despite him

being just under two hundred years old.

‚Promise me you will end the attacks on my people upon your

return,‛ she continued. Her voice carried a confidence that clashed with