Shared By The Dragon Clan Complete (20 page)

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

Stacey didn’t know why, but something
about it didn’t feel right. Perhaps she was being overly cautious, but after Conrad
was able to use magic to completely shift into his brother, then it seemed any
appearance of Zane could be an imposter, much less a voice over the phone.

But then on
the other hand, if Zane was dead, why would Narses or the Mage come after her
to such a degree? Were they really that hell bent on revenge?

Hmm.

Yes, they
were.

“Walk
faster,” Stacey said to Jasmine.

“I am,” her
friend complained.

Stacey looked
over her head and saw the car was accelerating.

They were
passing Matthew’s house now.

“Should we
just go inside?” Jasmine asked.

“No,” Stacey
shook her head. “No – I –”

But then, she
thought, what if that really was Zane? And this was her one chance to be with
him again? She didn’t even know if this red car was being driven by Xander. She
could be freaking over nothing.

“Okay,”
Stacey said. “Let’s just stand still.”

They both
stopped. Jasmine eyed her carefully.

Then their
attention turned to the car. It was slowing down.

When it came
to a complete stop, the girls looked at each other.

The car door
opened. This was it.

A young,
extremely handsome man with dark hair, leaned over the roof of the car.

“I’m looking
for Stacey Caversham,” he said.

“Who wants to
know?” Jasmine shot back.

“I’m a friend
of Zane’s,” he said. “I’m Xander.”

“Prove it,”
Stacey said. “Prove you know Zane.”

Xander closed
his door and walked over to them. He shrugged. “How do I do that?”

Stacey racked
her brain. What was something only a friend of Zane would know?

“Where was
Zane born?” Stacey asked.

“In the
otherworld,” Xander replied.

“And when did
he come here?”

“He was sent
here when he was eighteen. He joined the ranks at the Island and had to work
his way up.”

Stacey
blinked. “Zane said he missed the otherworld and one day wished to return. He
had a favorite place there he liked to call home. What was it?”

Xander didn’t
flinch. “There was no such place. The Island is Zane’s home.”

Stacey took
in a deep breath.

Jasmine
looked at her. “Was that the correct answer?”

“I guess so.”

Xander smiled
politely.

“How do you
know Zane?” Stacey asked.

“I used to be
a member of the Dragon’s Guard on Firebound Island. But I found it wasn’t for
me. So I moved on.”

“And why didn’t
he go to you for help yesterday?”

“I was an
obvious choice,” Xander said. “Since the Clan knew of our friendship, I was the
first place they went to find Zane. He wouldn’t be safe with me.”

“And where is
Zane now?”

“He’s leaving
the Island. I’m supposed to bring you to a safehouse where the two of you can
meet up.”

“He can’t
come here?”

Xander
shrugged. “I don’t have contact with him. If you don’t feel like you want to
come with me, Zane hasn’t said I’m to force you to. He said you would want to
come.”

“Can I bring
my friend?” Stacey asked.

“I guess so.
If she wants to come.”

Stacey looked
to Jasmine pleadingly.

Jasmine
sighed. “I guess I owe you one for yesterday.”

Xander headed
back to the car and the girls obediently followed him. Stacey still had her
reservations, but even if Xander turned out to be not who he said he was, she
had Jasmine with her, and they would figure a way to get out of it.

The promise
of seeing Zane was far too tempting to ignore.

Once in the
car, with their seats buckled, Stacey turned her head to face the house. She
heard a shout from it, and saw Dennis’s figure approaching from behind the
screen door.

“Shit,” Stacey
murmured turning to Jasmine.

“What?”
Jasmine replied.

“Your
brother…” Stacey trailed off.

As Xander
started the car, and began to accelerate, she saw Dennis’s figure was still
behind the door, and closer to it.

But for some
reason, he had completely frozen still…

CHAPTER
NINETEEN

Stacey had no idea where Xander was
driving them. She asked a couple of times but he hadn’t given a direct answer.
She didn’t trust him. She felt really off about it. At the same time, he hadn’t
done
anything. He was a man of few words. At one point, early on, he
offered the girls some gum. Jasmine accepted and Stacey declined.

Dusk was
setting in across the suburbia. They were on the freeway, watching the glow of
it fade out, between each tunnel they traveled through. It was about half an
hour before the car made a stop. When they did, it was in the parking garage of
a high end apartment complex, which carried on for at least twenty floors.
Xander led them out of the car and into the elevator, where they stood
together.

“Is Zane
waiting for us here?” Stacey had asked him.

“No,” Xander
replied. “But he knows about this place. If he wants to meet you somewhere
else, he will let me know. Until then, we will wait here.”

“He’s not
going to be too long,” Jasmine muttered. “Is he?”

“Hopefully
not,” Xander said.

They arrived
at his apartment a few minutes later. It was modern, spacious and very
expensive looking. He said they could take what they wanted from the fridge and
to just amuse themselves whilst he got changed in the other room. Jasmine found
couple of vodka drinks tucked away in a bar fridge in a room at the far end of
the complex when Xander was out of sight, and she gave one to Stacey to drink
whilst she had one for herself.

“I bet Dennis
is pissed,” Jasmine remarked.

“Maybe you
should call him,” Stacey suggested.

“I’ll wait
another hour or so. Someone better be giving me a ride back there as well.
You’ve really put me in the deep end here.”

“Sorry,”
Stacey said.

“That’s
alright.” Jasmine smiled brightly. “Can you do me a favor?”

“Okay.”

“When Zane
shows up, can you find out if that Xander guy single?”

“Single?”

“What? He’s
hot.”

“But –”

“But he’s a
dragon? Apparently they’re all the rage now – haven’t you heard?”

Stacey
chuckled. “I’ll mention it to him. Zane will be able to tell me if … you have
any chance.”

“Why wouldn’t
I?” Jasmine remarked. “You don’t think he’d be attracted to me?”

“I really
have no idea.”

“You should
ask him for me.”

“Come on.”

“You come
on,” Jasmine insisted. “I’m bored – so just ask him for me. Go on. While he’s
not with the both of us.”

Stacey put
her drink down, smiling, and made her way out of the room. She walked through
the kitchen and then took a turn to the hallway she’d seen Xander go down just
before. There were a series of closed doors.

She stood in
the middle of them, and called his name. “Xander?”

She heard
water running from one at the end. It wasn’t fully closed, just pushed shut.
Stacey gave it a nudge, and then ventured into the bedroom.

She heard the
water still running, and Xander humming to himself in the bathroom. His shirt
and pants were laid out on the bed as she passed them.

“Hello?”

She stopped
in the edge of the bathroom doorway, and then saw him standing over the sink,
brushing his teeth. She started to speak and but then her eyes drifted to the
mirror.

The face in
the mirror was not Xander’s.

It was the
most unspeakably, grotesque, demonic like creature – like a corpse covered in
black slime. It’s eyes glowed red and so did it’s tongue.

“Hello,”
Xander said calmly.

The monster’s
mouth in the mirror moved with his words.

Stacey
stepped back, on the verge of screaming. She tripped over her feet and landed
on the floor below him.

He advanced
and stood over her.

“Not one
sound,” Xander whispered. “Not one.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY

The scream had died inside of
Stacey’s throat.

Xander
motioned for her to get up and sit on the bed. Not wanting to be touched by
him, Stacey struggled to her feet and complied. Xander turned around and went
to the closet. He pulled something off a hanger and threw it to Stacey.

“Put that on
please.”

Stacey looked
down at the object in her hands. It was a diamond necklace.

She looked at
Xander uncertainly, but there was nothing to get from his empty gaze.

Stacey put
the necklace around her neck and immediately she felt a sharp pang of
electricity centre there. She put her fingers to the necklace and found it had
transformed to an iron collar.

“Now you
don’t have a choice. Now you have to do everything I say.”

Stacey gaped.
“Who are you?” she whispered.

Xander
ignored her. He walked out of the room. Stacey struggled to sit up but found
her feet would not leave the ground. She couldn’t stand, or move very far at
all. It was as though the necklace was holding her in place.

A minute
later Xander returned to the room with Jasmine.

“What’s going
on?” Jasmine asked.

“Sit with
your friend,” Xander said.

“Don’t,”
Stacey said. She tried to say more, but her mouth would no longer open.

“Don’t what?”
Jasmine asked.

Xander moved
passed her and went to his closet. He gave Jasmine a necklace to wear too.

Soon she was
on the bed next to Stacey.

Both of them
unable to move.

Xander leaned
forward. “I suppose you’re going to want to stay alive. See Zane again.”

His presence
flashed in Stacey’s mind.

“Yes, he’s
still alive,” Xander said. “Narses has him captive in the dungeon. But he won’t
kill him. I’ve tried my best, using that miserable human of mine to fix things,
but it’s as though Narses is onto me. I’ve got to stay one step ahead. This
will be a very crucial night for us. You, me, Narses. And Zane.”

Xander
stepped back from the bed, and leaned against the wall behind him.

He watched
them seductively.

“Stand up
both of you,” he said.

Stacey and
Jasmine stood up.

“Undress each
other.”

Another command.
While Stacey’s mind was still conscious she found herself obeying Xander’s
words, and completely ignoring the thoughts of her own.

Xander could
hardly stand still as he watched, even this simple revelation of nudity from
both of the girls. Stacey could see his whole body was full of lust. As if
reading her thoughts, Xander replied, “I’ve been away from this place for such
a long time. I haven’t even mated with a human in almost a thousand years…”

He breathed
heavily.

Savored the
moment.

“I guess it’s
finally time for someone to give Quraal his share of the spoils…”

He removed
what was left of his clothing, and stepped forward to consume their bodies with
his.

PART FIVE

CHAPTER ONE

Evil had descended into Stacey’s
life. Evil, and pain.

Before she
closed her eyes as it was happening, she was focused on the bedroom door. She
had come close to being taken this way before. So close, so many times. But
Zane had been there each time to save her.

Her childish
wish was to see that happen again. The knowledge that Zane was trapped in a
dungeon hundreds of miles away didn’t mean anything to her. Somehow there must
have been a way for him to break out. Or maybe he was never truly there in the
first place. He had protected her time and time again, and each time, her love
for him blossomed and grew.

But now the
door was closed. The rest of the apartment was silent. He didn’t know she was
here, and if he did, there was no means for him to get here in time.

Her attacker,
beautiful on the outside, hideous within, seemed to know at least what she was
going through. She could tell by his inquisitive expression, his hesitation to
move at anymore than a snail’s pace. His fingers touched her gently before
pressed hard and tore at her flesh. His kisses were light and hesitant, until
he bit into her and drew blood.

It was only
the beginning.

Xander, or Quraal
as he had identified himself, moved from Stacey’s naked body on the bed to
Jasmine who was lying next to her. He’d yet to penetrate either of them, but
when he did, they knew it would the most horrifying experience they’ve ever
known.

What they
needed now was a miracle. Something to interrupt this monster from hurting them
anymore than he already had. With tears in her eyes, Stacey watched the door
remain closed, her mouth open, uttering an indecipherable scream.

They didn’t
deserve this.

The world couldn’t
be that bad.

But in this
moment here, it seemed that it was…