Smoke, Vampires, & Mirrors E-Book

Dima Zales

• Herausgeber: Mozaika Publications
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

The epic conclusion of Sasha Urban's story

I found my family, I found my heart, I found myself.

But it’s not over.

No matter how many allies I have, there's no escaping destiny.

The end of the world is coming, and I'm the only one who can stop it.

Leseprobe

Smoke, Vampires, & Mirrors

Sasha Urban Series: Book 7

Dima Zales

♠ Mozaika Publications ♠

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Excerpt from Dream Walker

About the Author

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2019 Dima Zales and Anna Zaires

www.dimazales.com

All rights reserved.

Except for use in a review, no part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.

Published by Mozaika Publications, an imprint of Mozaika LLC.

www.mozaikallc.com

Cover by Orina Kafe

www.orinakafe-art.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-63142-515-8

Print ISBN-13: 978-1-63142-516-5

Chapter One

“Nero,” I whisper loudly. Wriggling out of his embrace, I shake him. “Wake up.”

His eyes snap open, then narrow in on my face as he jackknifes to a sitting position.

He must’ve noticed my panic.

“Did you have another nightmare?” he demands.

I blink, momentarily distracted. “Another nightmare? When did I have the first one?”

“You don’t recall?” Lifting his hand, he rubs the back of my head as if I were a cat. “You were making whimpering noises and soft cries in the middle of the night. Woke me up twice.”

Seriously, nightmares? How come I don’t recall any?

Could I have dreamed about the upcoming apocalypse before I had my awake vision? But no. Dream-based visions went away when I gained conscious control. They must be run-of-the-mill nightmares—and they probably pale in comparison to grim reality.

Nero lowers his hand. “So what’s wrong, then?”

I take in a breath, fighting the urge to put his hand back where it was. “I just had two nightmarish visions.”

“Visions?” He frowns. “What visions?”

I draw in another breath and rattle out that Tartarus—the extremely powerful Cognizant who can feed on whole worlds—is coming to Earth for an all-he-can-eat buffet.

“I saw both of my parents as dried husks,” I say, my chin trembling. “Everyone you and I have ever known will die.”

Nero stares at me, then reaches out and pulls me against his powerful chest, his arms wrapping around me securely. Though soothing, his touch doesn’t calm me—especially when I realize that he’s not actually saying anything in reply to my story.

I was hoping for a “let’s run to Earth and save everyone this very moment” kind of response.

Stroking my back, he kisses my temple. “You sure this wasn’t a nightmare?” he murmurs, continuing to pet me as if I were a chinchilla.

I jerk away. “Of course I’m sure.”

He studies me, then nods. “Okay. Given the circumstances, I had to ask.”

“I was wide awake and stone-cold sober,” I grit out. “And it was two visions in a row. I’m sure this Armageddon is the real deal.” Jumping to my feet, I grab my clothes and furiously pull them on, then stuff the gate sword into the back of my pants.

“Fair enough.” Nero stands up, unconcerned with his nudity. Not that he has any clothes—he flew here in his dragon form. Stepping toward me, he says, “I want you to tell me exactly what happened after I left Earth. Specifically, how you ended up becoming a vampire. You mentioned it briefly at the castle, but I want—”

“What?” My nostrils flare. “I tell you Earth is about to get destroyed, and you want me to tell you a campfire story?”

His jaw tightens. “I need to consider every variable.”

“And I need to know what our plan of action is,” I say sharply.

“So let me get this straight.” Nero leans in. “You don’t find it suspicious that Tartarus shows up so soon after Lilith and Nostradamus—two people who are obsessed with him?”

I stare at him. “I didn’t get a chance to think about that.”

Nero raises his eyebrows, waiting coolly, and I give in with a sigh. I tell him everything, starting with how the chorts attacked Felix and how they would’ve killed Mom and Dad if I hadn’t turned myself in. When I get to the part where they tortured me, Nero’s face looks so frightening I get the feeling the chorts are lucky they’re already dead. I then tell him about Nostradamus’s memories and his quest to avenge his family—who were killed by Tartarus—and how he prophesied to Lilith that Tartarus will be her doom.

“Then Felix used his power to get me Lilith’s phone conversations, and I found out about the setup,” I say toward the end. “She was the one who sicced the chorts on me, and I’m a vampire as a result of that. Can we act now? We need to—”

“Think before we ‘act,’” Nero says. Switching to Russian, he adds, “Measure seven times, cut once.”

“Assuming there’s anything to cut after all the measuring,” I grumble, recognizing the proverb from one of the textbooks I recently studied.

“You want to be proactive? How about you ask your seer powers what needs to be done.”

“How about I what?” I gape at him.

“When I consult seers, I tell them my goal, and they look at the future to find a course of action that can bring about the goal in question.”

“Oh.” I bite my lip. “I’ve never tried something so direct.”

“Do so now,” Nero orders, his gaze falling to my lips.

“Fine.” I close my eyes and do my best to calm down enough to jump into Headspace.

It takes me a few seconds to reach the necessary state of focus, but as soon as I do, I find myself floating, surrounded by vision shapes.

Shapes that don’t seem to be interesting, as the tune they emit is reminiscent of elevator Muzak.

There’s no way these bland visions have anything to do with Tartarus. If I had to guess, they probably foretell Fluffster talking about our yearly paper towel budget, or Felix prattling on about why he loves his favorite computer algorithm.

But if these are not what I need, how do I do what Nero said? How do I “tell” my powers I want to see a vision of something that will prevent Tartarus’s arrival on Earth?

Well, since everything else in Headspace often involves the essence of concepts and people, why don’t I try that?

Somehow.

I float there and do my best to get at the essence of the problem. I channel the grief I felt at seeing my parents’ empty husks. For good measure, I also add in my annoyance at Nero for not instantly jumping into action, and my awe at the enormity of the task at hand.

Even though I’m not sure what I’m doing, it seems to work. New shapes show up around me, and they’re as unsettling as the others were boring. The music they emit makes me wonder if I’m about to see a future where I personally skin every fluffy kitten on Earth in a ritual to make Tartarus go away.

Or make soup out of Fluffster and Lucifur.

Leave it to fate to turn something good—like preventing apocalypse—into something bad.

Metaphorically shivering, I float for a bit, unsure if I dare to touch the shapes in question.

Well, there’s no helping it.

I must know.

Gathering my courage, I reach for the nearest shape and ready myself for the worst.

Chapter Two

I wake up to the sound of familiar voices.

“Batman v Superman should still have a higher score on the movie review sites,” Ariel says from somewhere. “Even the last Matrix movie—your own least favorite—has higher ratings.”

“Why do you always have to bring TheMatrix into it?” Felix grumbles. “Is it because you’re still jealous that the first Matrix has better scores than any Batman ever?”

“I’m not going there again,” Ariel says, and I can almost see her eyeroll. “You must at least agree that Armageddon—a movie that also stars Ben Affleck—shouldn’t have a higher score than Batman v Superman.”

The word Armageddon sends a jolt of adrenaline through my system, dispelling the remnants of my grogginess.

Sitting up, I rub my eyes.

Felix and Ariel are both looking at me with worried expressions on their faces. Speaking in unison, they say, “How are you feeling?”

“I’ve had better days,” I say, trying to figure out where we are.

The bland room doesn’t have any furniture besides my bed, and there are no windows. It also smells vaguely of medicine—so maybe it’s a nurse’s office or a hospital room?

With a loud bang, the gray door behind my friends breaks into shards.

Hovering a few inches from the ground is Lilith—my biological mother and, on one of the Otherlands, an evil goddess.

Eyes turned into mirrors, she flies inside.

Ariel turns.

“Stand there, and don’t move,” Lilith orders in a honey-laced voice.

Ariel’s body tenses as the glamour turns her into a mannequin.

“You too,” Lilith croons to Felix, who instantly turns into a statue.

“Good job,” she says to my friends before her eyes turn back to normal and she faces me. “Sasha, dear, how are you feeling?”

“What are you doing here?” I jump off the bed, staring her down.

“I’m here to check on you.” Her beatific smile shows off her fangs. “Your well-being is very important to me.”

“Yeah, right. Which is why you called the chorts and told them to ask me about Rasputin. Are you going to pretend you didn’t expect them to kill me?”

Her smile disappears without a trace. “I was working with a seer, which means I knew you’d turn. Every mother wants her children to reach their true potential. You should be thanking me for this.”

“Uh-huh, sure. Thank you so very much. Getting tortured was a blast.”

Frowning, Lilith floats down until her feet touch the gray linoleum floor. “If you’re going to be an ungrateful brat, I’m going to stop playing nice mommy with you.”

I stare at her uncomprehendingly. All the people she brutally killed in front of me, all attempts to get me to finish off the injured chorts—that was the nice version of her?

“It’s a lot to take in,” I lie, deciding I don’t want her to turn off the charm.

But it’s too late. She narrows her eyes and says, “Since you seem to hate me for no reason, how about I give you one—and make you that much stronger in the process.” She looks at Ariel, then at Felix and says, “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.”

A horrible feeling grows in the pit of my stomach as her gaze lands on Felix.

“It’s settled then,” she says with a predatory smile. “I want you to kill this one.”

I stare at her, dumbfounded, but she just stands there expectantly—like she really thinks there’s a universe where I’d kill my friend just because a psycho asked me to.

“Listen,” I say, putting more acting into it. “I’m not ungrateful, I just—”

“Did I not say it clearly enough?” She rubs her chin. “How about this? I command you to rip out his heart.”

The word “command” slams into my brain like a truck, and I feel like I’m falling.

Except I’m not really falling. It’s my free will and the core of my consciousness that are being banished somewhere deep down.

A millisecond after the strange sensation comes over me, I feel as though I’m locked in some secret underground bunker inside my own brain—and my body begins to move with a zombie-like determination.

“There you go,” Lilith croons. “I know this can be tricky in the beginning.”

From deep in my exile, I want my mouth to scream in horror, but nothing passes my lips.

Desperately, I will my body to halt, but that doesn’t work either.

Before I can process what’s happening, my right hand lifts in a marionette-like movement, then plunges into Felix’s chest with a speed and strength I didn’t know I was capable of.

Despite being under the influence of glamour, Felix screams in pain—but only for a second. Then he slumps around my hand, unconscious.

What am I doing? What is my body doing? How can this be happening?

“No. Please stop!” is what I would be shouting if my mouth worked.

Oblivious to my will, my body grabs Felix’s no longer-beating heart, rips it out, and tosses it at Lilith’s feet.

What remains of Felix collapses into a bleeding heap of meat on the floor.

In the depths of my mind, I’m howling in horror and grief—but my body just stands there, calm as a stone.

“Very good,” Lilith says. “Now as your reward, you can drink that one.” She nods at Ariel.

This is one of the nightmares Nero mentioned. It has to be. There’s just no way—

My body leaps toward Ariel.

I struggle to snap out of it, but my fangs enter Ariel’s throat and her blood floods my system with unwelcome, unholy pleasure.

“Finish your food,” Lilith commands—and to my horror, my body keeps drinking until Ariel has no more blood to give.

“Ready to go?” Lilith grins at me as Ariel’s dead body collapses on the floor next to Felix’s.

Turning, she heads to the door, and my treacherous body follows.

Chapter Three

I’m back in the dragon world, standing inside the crater Nero and I made last night at the edge of the forest meadow. I’m wheezing—which means I’m in full control of my body again.

“What happened?” Nero grabs my arms. “Are you okay?”

“It was a vision,” I gasp out. “A horrible, horrible vision.”

“What did you see?” Nero’s gaze drills into me. “What needs to happen to stop Tartarus?”

Stop Tartarus.

I was so overwhelmed by the horror I just witnessed, I forgot that the vision was supposed to tell me how to prevent an apocalypse.

But how could the death of my friends possibly help with—

“Sasha.” Nero’s gaze darkens. “Speak to me.”

My heart racing like a gerbil in a wheel, I raggedly tell Nero what I just foresaw.

As I go on, Nero’s limbal rings grow out of control. “When you mentioned Lilith at the castle, I was worried about this very scenario,” he grimly says when I’m done. “She gave you her blood to create a sire bond when you turned.”

A sire bond.

Of course.

How did I not think of this sooner?

Lucretia drank Gaius’s blood, and when she turned into a vampire, he was able to make her do his bidding—until we killed him, that is.

I should’ve thought about the sire thing as soon as I turned, but I was too busy saving Nero’s life and then enjoying my reward.

Numbly, I rub the back of my neck. “So Lilith has power over me. I have to do her bidding.”

“Yes, but she needs to actually speak to you in order to utilize that power,” Nero says menacingly—and I can almost picture him ripping out Lilith’s tongue to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Except he wouldn’t necessarily succeed. With all the power Lilith has acquired by being worshipped on her world, she could kill him if he tried to intercede on my behalf.

As if reading my mind, Nero growls, “Stop thinking about it. What you foresaw will not happen. I won’t let her near you. I’d sooner see Earth die.”

Earth.

I almost forgot about that.

When I asked my seer powers how to save everyone, they replied with “become Lilith’s slave.”

But why?

How could that help?

Maybe I didn’t focus on the question properly?

This warrants a second opinion. And third, if need be. And fourth.

I strain to go back into Headspace, but the focus doesn’t come. I must be too stressed.

With huge effort, I inhale a deep breath and focus again. Then again.

By the fifth attempt, I admit defeat. It’s not stress. I’m out of seer juice because I just had two visions of the targeted timeframe variety—and those are extra costly. But—

Before I can finish the thought, Nero steps back, shines with energy, and turns into his dragon form.

Wow.

Gently reaching out with his claw, he grabs me and deposits me on his giant back. Then, without so much as a “buckle your seatbelt” roar, he leaps into the sky and whooshes toward the castle.

If I were prone to heart attacks, I’d have one here and now. Dragon-back riding is stressful on a calm day, and given how freaked out I already am, my heart feels like it might jump out of my ribcage and punch me in the face.

In a blink, we pass the battlefield—which has been cleaned up, especially closer to the castle entrance where Nero lands.

Pozoj—the hawked-nosed dragon from the other day—is there to greet us. Calmly, he watches as Nero deposits me next to him and turns back into his naked self.

It’s a sign of my extreme anxiety that the sight evokes only a mild tingle of heat in me.

“This is Sasha,” Nero growls at the other dragon. “Watch her. I need to go power up.” And in a blur of motion, he disappears into the castle.

“It’s nice to meet you, Sasha,” Pozoj says. “Claudia was just telling me about you.”

“She was?” I even out my breathing. “Good things, I hope.”

“I was telling him how impressed I was,” Claudia says as she steps out of the castle, a megaton smile on her face. “I was also telling him how happy I am to know that my brother has been in good hands all this time.”

“Oh, um… he wasn’t in my hands.” I shuffle from foot to foot. “Speaking of your brother, do you know where he just went? There’s something we need to discuss and—”

“To enjoy his new hoard of treasure, I’d imagine,” Pozoj says with a note of wistfulness. “You heard him. He said he needs to power up.”

“Power up?” I look at Claudia, then back at Pozoj. “What does that mean?”

“How much do you know about dragons?” Claudia asks, and I can’t help but notice how close she’s standing to Pozoj, and how they both look like they’re itching to touch one another’s hand. Clearly, Claudia has been socializing in double time while Nero and I were away.

“I know Nero can heal major injuries by lying on top of his treasure on Earth,” I say. “And that he’d have more energy and need less sleep after doing that.”

“Right, but powering up is much more than that,” Claudia says. “Everything that makes us what we are is enhanced. Speed of movement, reaction time, stamina—”

“I really need to talk to him,” I say, but I can already guess where this is going.

“You don’t want to disturb a dragon on top of his hoard,” Pozoj says matter-of-factly, confirming my concern.

“Give my brother at least a few hours,” Claudia says. “Then I’ll take you to him myself.”

“But I’m in a rush,” I say. “I’m a seer and—”

“A seer and a vampire?” Claudia says as both she and Pozoj look at me with renewed interest.

“Yes,” I say, wondering how upset they’d be if I grabbed them by their collars and gave them a shake to impart my sense of urgency. “Can you take me to Nero now?”

“I’m sorry,” Claudia says. “I don’t want to upset him after just reuniting.”

I look at Pozoj.

“I don’t know where the imperial trove is,” he says. “And, more importantly, I’m not suicidal.”

“Fine,” I snap. “Can you at least take me to the Cognizant from Earth?”

“Gladly,” Claudia says and finally grabs Pozoj by the hand. “Follow us.”

She prances into the castle, dragging the male dragon behind her, and I hurry to keep up.

As we walk, Claudia begins flirting with Pozoj, and I learn that he’s from the richest, noblest dragon family on this world—which is probably why Nero gave him a safer post in yesterday’s conflict. After a while, I tune out their banter in another attempt to enter Headspace.

No luck.

Well, I don’t need a vision to predict the near future. I can do so based on past events.

For starters, to keep me safe, Nero is probably going to want to lock me up and throw away the key. And maybe it’s a rare case when I should let him do so. After all, if I don’t go to Earth, I can’t kill Felix and Ariel.

Assuming I killed them on Earth, that is.

Of course, there are other, much better ways to prevent that vision from happening. For example, I can avoid hospitals and other medical facilities—and that is exactly what I’m going to do.

I can’t not go to Earth. Though my seer powers are depleted, a powerful intuition tells me that if I don’t try to deal with the Tartarus problem personally, my parents are as good as dead.

Now the million-dollar question is: will Nero help me prevent the upcoming apocalypse in the first place?

He did say he’d sooner see Earth die than let Lilith have me.

Is it possible he’ll be content to rule here, on his dragon world, and let the denizens of Earth deal with the threat on their own?

“There they are,” Claudia says as we enter a large dining hall that is noisier than a night club.

At a humongous table in the middle sits almost everyone Nero had brought to help him fight those big battles. Only the giants—Colton excluded—and the centaurs are not present.

Everyone is feasting on varied delicacies except for Vlad, who is sipping a liquid that looks suspiciously like blood.

“Sasha,” Kit exclaims excitedly, turning into me. In my voice, she says, “I was wondering if Nero caught up with you.” She wiggles her/my eyebrows suggestively, and I fight two urges: to blush and to smother Kit.

“No time for gossip,” I say, imbuing my tone with as much urgency as I can. “I have information that everyone from Earth needs to be aware of.”

Vlad, Kit, Colton, Albina, the big werewolf guy, the lady who can control animals, and the maybe-elf look at me with varying degrees of curiosity.

“It’s Tartarus,” I say loudly. “He’s coming to Earth.”

The room goes dead quiet.

Now that I have everyone’s attention, I tell them what I foresaw, and—coming up with an evil idea on the fly—I end with, “Nero owes you a favor for your help here on the dragon world. If you care what happens to your home, call in that favor today and demand that he help you save it.”

There. Even if Nero didn’t plan to help before, he’s going to find it hard not to do so now.

Everyone starts asking questions at the same time, and I attempt to answer what I can, which isn’t much.

“Listen,” I say after what feels like an hour of back-and-forth. “Every minute we spend here talking is a minute less for Earth.”

Everyone falls silent, clearly waiting for me to tell them what the next step should be, and I have no clue.

“You should’ve told me your conversation with Nero is literally world-changing.” Claudia grabs my elbow. “Let’s go to the trove—to hell with his grumpiness.”

“Great,” I mutter. “Let’s go.”

Vlad, Kit, and the rest get up to join, but Claudia shakes her head. “He shouldn’t harm me or Sasha, but anyone else would be taking too much of a risk,” she explains.

The other Cognizant sit back down and start talking amongst themselves.

“Are you sure Nero holds me in the same ‘do not harm’ group as you?” I ask Claudia as we rush through a corridor and reach a spiral staircase leading down.

“I saw the way he looks at you.” Claudia runs down the stairs so fast I have trouble keeping up at my vampire best. “I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t harm you. Much. Probably.” A floor later, she adds, “Maybe let me do the talking just in case.”

“Great idea,” I say, my stomach squeezing with a bad feeling.

“Oh, and you should know the trove is outside the castle wards,” she says a few more floors later. “Which means he’s going to be in his dragon form.”

“Perfect,” I mumble. “Angry Nero in dragon form. What could possibly go wrong?”

Chapter Four

The staircase goes down and down and down, seemingly to the center of the planet. At first, the walls around us are the signature silver-tinted obsidian of the castle, then they turn to rock strata.

The noise begins when the strata goes from brown to black. It sounds like a distant dragon roar.

As we descend farther, I realize the roar isn’t a roar, but the dragon version of snoring.

Before I can ask Claudia about it, she speeds up, leaping five to six stairs in each jump until we reach a musty and cold cave-like opening that leads to another, much bigger space.

“Wow,” I say.

“Yeah,” Claudia replies. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen this place.”

Diamonds, gold, platinum, priceless works of art—the place is brimming with so much wealth and bling it hurts my eyes.

Nero’s Earth treasure trove is but a tiny imposter compared to this vastness. Converted into cash, this treasure might exceed ten years of GDP for a mid-sized nation.

On top of all the loot lies Nero in his dragon form—except he seems bigger than usual, and more majestic.

The roar-snore is coming from him, and at this distance, it’s nearly deafening.

“Earth is on the brink of destruction and you take a nap?” I say loudly. “Seriously?”

Nero keeps on snoring.

Taking off her clothing, Claudia walks over a million dollars’ worth of gold and turns into a dragon herself.

Nero doesn’t show any sign of being aware of her.

Claudia roars.

Nero keeps on sleeping.

With a flash, she turns back and gets dressed.

“Healing sleep that deep is rare,” she shouts in my ear over the snoring. “It only happens after grievous wounds or extremely strenuous activity.” She looks thoughtful. “I didn’t think the fight with Yudo took this much out of him.”

“So what do we do?” I ask, hoping Claudia doesn’t see my blush. I can think of anotherstrenuous activity Nero partook in recently, one that resulted in a crater in the ground and felled trees. Also, relatedly, how much blood did I drink from him last night? Could it have been an amount that equates to a “grievous wound?”

“There’s nothing we can do,” she says. “We go back up and wait.”

“But—”

“It’s for the best.” She puts a hand on my shoulder. “As I was trying to explain before, when a dragon is awoken from this state, he can be crankier than an army of hibernating wool-beasts.”

“Fine,” I say. “Lead me back.”

We go up and into the giant dining hall where we left everyone—and we find them on their feet, getting ready to leave.

Vlad approaches with a concerned expression. “Where is Nero?”

I roll my eyes. “Getting his beauty sleep.”

“He might need a few hours in the best case, a day at the worst,” Claudia says. “He’ll be of more help to you when he’s done.”

“In that case, the others and I will head back to Earth and discuss your vision with the rest of the Council,” Vlad says to me. “Tell Nero that we indeed would like to call in the favors he owes us in order to save Earth.”

“Will do,” I say solemnly.

“How about that drink?” Kit winks at me, then turns into Nero and shows me his/her neck.

“I’m still good,” I say. “Besides, you wouldn’t want to delay your fellow Council members, would you?”

Kit’s pout looks comically foreign on Nero’s face. Then she turns back into herself and joins everyone as they stride out.

“So,” Claudia says when they’re gone. “It’s just us.”

“Yeah,” I grumble. “Are you sure there’s no way to rouse your lazy brother somehow?”

“Not that I know of,” she says.

“What if we go back down and smack him?” I start pacing the room, but the vampire stamina makes it hard to burn off anxious energy in this way.

She cringes. “Even if such a violent approach worked, we’d risk dying in the aftermath—especially you, since you’re not as sturdy as a dragon.”

“What if I give him a kiss?” I say half-jokingly. “That works on sleeping princesses, so maybe it can also work on a sleeping king, or emperor, or whatever he is now.”

She grins. “This might be that one rare case where kissing my brother might not get you what you want.”

“Hey.” I stop my pacing. “What are you trying to say?”

“Nothing.” She walks over to the table and takes a seat. “Come join me. If you keep on walking around like that, you’ll give me a headache.”

Dragons get headaches?

Grudgingly, I walk over to the table and plop into a wooden chair opposite hers.

“Now,” she says. “Since we have privacy and time to kill, can you please tell the story of how you and Nero met?”

I take in a deep breath and exhale noisily. “We didn’t have a charming first encounter, if that’s what you’re after. I have no idea when he first saw me, but I imagine I was inappropriately young at the time.”

Claudia’s eyes bulge.

“Yeah,” I say. “And the first time I saw him, it was at a job interview—so, given the way jobs work on our world, romance was the last thing on my mind.”

Despite being clearly disappointed, Nero’s sister drills me for more info. Soon, the interrogation pivots, and I end up telling her all about my recent adventures.

“The Council forbade you from indulging in your greatest passion?” she says disapprovingly when I get to the part where they told me not to perform magic ever again or else.

“Yeah,” I say, frowning at the memory. “They don’t want humans to learn about the existence of the Cognizant, and though my illusions are not utilizing my powers, I can still grow more powerful if the humans worship me just so.”

“I’m glad our humans know who and what we are and that we don’t have those stupid Councils.” She grabs a nearby goblet with wine. “I’m surprised Nero put up with all that nonsense.”

“I’d say he adjusted to Earth well,” I say. “He’s one of the wealthiest and most powerful beings on Earth—and you know what that means for dragon powers.”

“Still.” She sips her wine. “I don’t think I will like Earth.”

I raise my eyebrows. “You say that as though you’re going to go there.”

“Of course I’m going to go,” she says. “It’s not just Nero who owes everyone a favor. If it weren’t for you and the others from Earth, I’d still be in that cage.” Her expression momentarily darkens, but turns sunny just as quickly. “Besides”—she grins—“this fight sounds like it will be a lot of fun.”

“Fun for a dragon, maybe,” I say. Then, choosing my words carefully, I ask, “What was it like, to be a prisoner for so many years?”

The dark expression is back with a vengeance, and I immediately feel guilty for prying.

“I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,” Claudia says after a beat, her voice strained. “If it weren’t for books and revenge fantasies, I would’ve lost my mind.”

The door creaks, and Pozoj walks in.

“There you are,” Claudia says, her gloom gone without a trace. “Sasha was just telling me about her skills as a conjuror.”

“A what?” he asks, joining us at the table.

“How about I show you?” I say, deciding to cheer up Claudia with my favorite pastime. “Do you have this here?” I take out my deck of cards and spread them on the table.

“That looks like a Tarot deck,” Pozoj says. “Only they’re all wrong.”

“I’ll have to show you something where card values don’t matter,” I say and shuffle the deck. “How about this?” I split the cards in half, turning one half face up as I keep the other half face down.

I then shuffle the cards in this tipsy-turvy fashion, so that the interlaced cards are a mix of face-up and face-down at random.

“Now how long do you think it would take to sort out this mess I just made?” I ask as I do some secret moves that are made that much easier with my newfound vampire dexterity.

“Three minutes,” Claudia says.

“Two,” Pozoj adds.

I wave my hand over the cards, then spread them ceremoniously.

As if by magic, every card is now facing the correct way.

“That can’t be,” Pozoj exclaims. “Are you an illusionist on top of seer and vampire?”

“I’m not,” I say. “At least not that kind of illusionist.”

“Do something else,” Claudia says greedily.

I strain my brain to recall more effects that don’t require much knowledge of the card values and proceed with a mini show that makes me realize how much I’ve missed performing like this.

Their reactions are outstanding—in part due to the fact that there are no sleight-of-hand magicians on this world, but also because these guys don’t have TV or computers, so their attention spans are way longer and standards for entertainment are way lower.

Maybe I can stay here with Nero and become his court magician à la Merlin? That would be almost as cool as my own TV show—maybe even cooler in some ways.

Wait, what am I thinking? Earth is in danger, and I’m already looking for a new world to settle on?

My keen vampire hearing informs me that someone new has stepped into the room. Then I hear Nero ask, “Where is everyone?”

I guiltily hide the cards and turn to face him.

That nap did his body some serious good. He looks radiantly healthy.

And as a side effect, sexy as hell.

“They’ve gone ahead to Earth,” Claudia says, standing up. “I will go get ready for our journey.”

“You what?” Nero narrows his eyes at his sister, then looks accusingly at me.

“I’m joining Sasha’s quest to save Earth,” Claudia says in a tone that seems to imply, “And I dare anyone to try to stop me.”

“This sounds like a family matter,” Pozoj says, backing up. “I’m going to go.”

“No,” Claudia says imperiously. “You’re coming with me.”

“Sounds like I am.” Pozoj rubs his chin.

“Let’s go.” Claudia grabs his hand and drags him out at a speed that would dislocate the shoulder of a non-dragon.

Nero watches them leave with an unreadable expression on his face, and I can’t help feeling like I’m in big trouble—for no reason.

“I’m also going to Earth,” I say firmly when he turns to face me. “Don’t even think about locking me up somewhere for ‘my protection.’”

There.

I said it—and will defend my stance with everything I’ve got.

Chapter Five

Nero nods. “Okay.”

“It should be up to me to put myself in danger or not as I wish. You can’t just—wait.” I look at him like he’s sprouted horns. “Did you just say ‘okay?’”

“Yes.” He comes toward me. “Since you always find trouble despite whatever guards I place on you, I decided it would be best to keep you at my side at all times.”

“Right.” I lift my chin. “Just know that I’ll be at your side only if I want to be at your side.”

“And you do.” A dark smile touches the corners of his eyes as he stops in front of me. “You know you do.”

“And we’re going to Earth,” I say, ignoring the swarm of butterflies his proximity stirs up in my stomach. “The members of the Council asked me to tell you that the favor you owe them is going to be your help with Tartarus.”

His face hardens. “Did you really think I was going to let Lucretia and my other employees die? And your parents and all my allies on the Council? That I boosted my power just for laughs?”

Deciding it wouldn’t be wise to remind him about the “let Earth die” comment he made earlier, I quickly put on my magician hat and rattle out, “You should thank me. Now you get to save Earth—as you would have anyway—but also owe fewer favors to people when you’re done.”

“And how should I thank you?” He leans in, his limbal rings expanding.

I swallow. “I don’t know. I can’t think of anything that wouldn’t turn this nice castle to rubble.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” he murmurs, gazing down at me. “Thanks to the wards, things would be different if I thanked you here.”

Oh, that’s right.

The castle prevents dragons from turning—the turning being, presumably, why our last encounter got so damaging to our surroundings.

I gulp in air audibly as my gaze flits between his lips and his neck.

Nero’s lips curve, and he dips his head until those lips touch my ear. “No blood this time,” he whispers. “I want you to be aware of every moment. Every touch. Every thrust.”

Wow.

I think I just had a heat flash.

I’ve never been this turned on by words before. But we can’t do what I’m dying to do. Earth is running out of time.

“Time,” is all I manage to say to Nero when he raises his head. “Have to hurry.”

“If we go to Earth by wing, we’ll get there before Vlad and the others,” he says logically—and even this, somehow, sounds seductive.

Before my blood pressure can spike at the idea of traveling ‘by wing,’ he bends his head again and captures my lips with his.

Double wow.

Our kiss is more mindful this time, like we’re savoring each other, trying to memorize every movement and sensation. At the same time, we start ridding each other of pesky clothing. With each piece of material that comes off, the heat inside me grows, every stroke of his palms over my skin further stoking my need.

Feeling like I’m burning, I sweep glasses and plates off the table onto the floor with a wide arc of my hand, and Nero grabs me by the waist and sits me onto the freed-up space, still kissing me.

Damn, this is good. Even better than I recall—not that I recall much of our last encounter. But I do remember us kissing when I was human, and this is infinitely hotter.

Could it be my vampire senses heightening everything? Or his power nap?

Then again, maybe it’s my feelings toward him that are changing and coloring my perceptions.

Before I can delve into that further, Nero moves his lips to my neck, then down, down, down, and my brain scrambles like eggs on a frying pan as he starts feasting on me. My whole body shudders with orgasm after orgasm that arrive as if to the beats of the Candy Shop song. And then things escalate as I return the favor and we proceed to the home run.

It’s official.

This is the best sex I could imagine.

Mind-blowing doesn’t even start to describe it.

When it’s over, and I lie sprawled on the table on top of Nero, I feel glad he didn’t let me drink his blood—or do anything else that would mess with my memory.

I want to remember this.

If we fail and Tartarus kills me along with all the people on Earth, I will still die a relatively happy woman. Especially if Tartarus lets me do what I just did with Nero one more time.

Or two. Or three.

“We should get ready,” Nero murmurs, but he doesn’t let me go.

“Yeah, we should,” I say, but I don’t extricate myself from his hold.

“I made arrangements for you to see someone about those nightmares,” he tells me softly. “I also want you to have a session with Lucretia when—”

“You what?” I pull away, more confused than angry.

“I spoke to Bailey Spade,” he says, sitting up. “She can see you as soon as we get to Earth.”

Bailey Spade. Why does that name sound familiar? “The dream walker?” I exclaim, remembering him talking to her during our helicopter ride. “How did you speak to her? Is she here?” I look around as though this mystery person is about to jump out from under the table.

“To power up, I slept,” Nero says matter-of-factly.

“Great,” I say sarcastically. “That explains everything. Thanks.”

“Once she establishes a connection with a client, Bailey can visit their dreams regardless of what Otherland she’s on,” Nero explains. “Only the first session needs to be in person. She has to touch you when you’re asleep—which is why I asked her to meet us on Earth.”

No longer feeling the post-coital bliss, I jump off the table and start to dress. “Why do I have to do this? I don’t even need to sleep anymore, so no nightmares. Problem solved.”

“Nightmares are just a way for your subconscious to let you know something is wrong,” Nero says, pulling on his own clothes. “And you don’t have to do this. It would just make me feel better if you did.”

Is this Nero asking nicely?

It’s so sudden I swallow my snide remarks and consider it—and quickly decide that no harm could come from some therapy. Provided I’m alive to enjoy the healed mind, that is.

“I’ll definitely talk to Lucretia,” I tell Nero. “And I’ll think about the dream stuff as well.”

“Good,” he says. “Now let’s go.”

As if possessing some sixth sense, Nero locates Claudia in the labyrinth that is the castle, and we all go outside where Pozoj is waiting by the door, holding a rucksack.

“I want you to look after things until we get back,” Nero tells Pozoj as he undresses once more and sticks his clothing into the rucksack.

“Must he?” Claudia says with a pout. “I wanted him with us.”