Dragon Blood

Chapter 48

Zesstra collapsed, every muscle was shaking so hard she couldn't support herself. She had never had to stop something so violent as military-grade missiles in her training. It was a good thing she didn't hold back. If she had, there was a chance that none of them would have survived.

A big hand touched her shoulder and she pulled back, hissing in pain. "I'm sorry," came Atticus's deep, gentle voice. "Are you alright?"

"Sensitive." She croaked.

Gods, it was like her nerves were all firing all at once. The slightest touch sent waves of pain through her whole body. Nevertheless, she didn't flinch away again when he took her by her waist and lifted her back onto her feet. She slumped against his body, thankful for his strength. She didn't have the sense of smell of a shifter or a vampire, but this close to him she could smell his natural scent. It was a comfort among the destruction around them.

Nolan's outraged scream made her jump and look for the sound. She watched the vampire breaking the weapon in his hands over a spike of rock. It exploded into a thousand pieces. Lightning continued to spark off his body at his every move.

Zesstra edged closer to Atticus. "What is wrong with him?" she whispered. "Vampires do not have that kind of power."

Atticus didn't answer. He was pretty sure he knew what it was. That noise Rhia made... It was like she was summoning every dragonkin within in earshot. As adamant as Nolan had been about not having any dragonkin magic left, something inside of him had responded to that call.

He suddenly stopped his angry pacing and looked down. Several of the soldiers were still alive. Nolan grabbed one of them, lifting them effortlessly to throw them against another spire of rock. "Where are they taking her?!" he roared.

The soldier didn't answer. Nolan ripped off the soldier's helmet, revealing a steely-eyed female glaring up at him. He gripped the woman's throat and leaned close enough that his new magic danced across her face, making her flinch.

"Where. Is. She?" he snarled.

She spat at him and he went stone-still. Atticus felt the hair on the back of his neck stand straight up. The last time he'd seen Nolan like this was during the Second World War. He quickly turned Zesstra's face into his chest to shield her from what was about to happen.

The soldier's scream rang out over the yard as Nolan sunk his fangs into her throat. By the time he pulled away, her eyes had rolled back in her head and she was whimpering in pleasure. He lifted his wrist to his mouth and ripped open a vein before holding it out for the other survivors to see, dragging the woman behind him.

"You bastards know what will happen if she drinks this now!" he roared, his voice closer to that of a demon's, instead of his own. "I will turn her! I will turn all of you! Tell me where she is!"

The only soldier that made any sound was the one that Rhia had bitten. He rolled on the ground, gurgling in pain, an eerie green foam bubbling at his throat and past his lips. Nolan shoved the female in his grip to her knees and forced his wrist to her mouth. Still reacting to the high of his venom, she latched on immediately and started to moan, drinking deeply from his vein.

"You fucker!" one of the other soldiers finally snapped. He tried to get up but was stopped when another vampire kicked out his kneecap and pulled the helmet off. "She has a family!"

Nolan tossed the woman aside and gripped the man's throat. "Then I will track them down too, and I will make her turn them. Every. Single. One." He pointed to the woman squirming on the ground. "Twenty-four hours, and she will be one of my people. You can put her out of her misery. Just tell me where they're taking my family!"