Dragon Mark Read online

  My own personal angel of death, coming to finish me off.

  I failed.

  I failed them all.

  Seventeen

  Everest

  My body was breaking down. Each hit from an enemy only urged it on faster.

  Nora lifted the sword to block another attack and slashed the Black Diamond clean through before she fell back to the ground, her breathing ragged and vision blurring every few seconds from the hit on the head we took. After Radnak struck us, we’d been thrown right into the midst of the fighting and had no choice but to pick up the nearest weapon and fight to survive.

  A dragon’s pained roar drew our gaze to the skies, just in time to see Slade come tumbling down, bleeding and broken.

  “No… Slade!” I ranted inside my head. “Nora, get up!”

  “Trying,” she hissed. She managed to get to one knee, but the second she attempted to stand, her legs gave out, and she fell back down.

  “Nora, you have to move. Now! Slade is going to die if you don’t.”

  I wasn’t sure what to do, trapped inside my head like this, watching as Slade was thrown to the ground by Radnak’s massive dragon form. He’d grown so much stronger since absorbing the other two souls, and Slade’s dragon appeared almost small beside him.

  I had to reach him. I was not about to let it end like this, watching him die. Watching his soul ripped out. I wouldn’t.

  I pushed all my emotions into a yell, my will to live and save Slade. I flattened my hands to the boulder before me.

  Nora gasped in shock, but then was on her feet, stumbling over debris and the dead as she zeroed in on Slade as he was attempting to regain his own footing. His right wing was torn, and dark red blood dripped to the ground beneath him.

  I glared furiously at Radnak, wanting to do to him every last wound he caused Slade.

  “You have failed,” Radnak growled as he approached Slade. “Now, you will die like all the others.”

  He drew his head back, sucking in a deep breath and I knew what was coming next.

  Slade attempted to stand again to flee, but his legs gave out, and he crashed back to the ground.

  Just as those flames erupted from Radnak’s mouth, Nora shot her hand out and a bright, violet shield formed around Slade.

  The flames ricocheted off, and Radnak had to duck to avoid the blast.

  Nora sprinted to Slade’s side and reached out to touch his large, scaled cheek.

  “You have to get up,” I demanded, surprised to hear the words come out of Nora’s mouth. “Slade, look at me. It’s not over.”

  His eyes only reflected pain back at me, each time he tried to move making it worse. Blood drenched the ground where he lay, and Nora leaned her forehead against his face, mirroring what I did in my mind.

  “You have to keep fighting. We swore not to give up, remember?”

  He blinked, tilting his head confused at the sound of my voice. Nora’s hand rubbed up toward his snout and back again, and I glanced at my hands still against the boulder. I felt his scales on my palm, as if I was really there, and not here.

  Radnak sucked in another breath, and the flames struck the shield for a second time.

  It held, but the blast shook me to my core.

  I shut my eyes against the fear threatening to overwhelm me and stared only in Slade’s eyes.

  “Fight with me, Slade,” I urged, and the peaceful beach setting I’d known these past days started to crumble around the edges. “Fight with me. I’m here with you, understand? I’m right here with you.”

  The boulder split in two, right before my eyes and a dark void opened up, dragging me inside.

  A second later, I slammed back into my body and gasped for air as I fell into his side.

  Those blue eyes of his found mine and I clung to him as hard as I could in this form.

  “It’s me,” I whispered, not sure what the hell just happened and if it was good or bad. “Slade, I’m back.”

  His broken wing moved to cover me, and his massive head pulled me in close.

  But there was still a fight to finish.

  Radnak bore down on the shield, the flames flowing out of his mouth in a steady stream.

  We had to stop him, but I wasn’t Nora anymore. Had I lost them?

  We’re here, Everest, we’re still here. Use us before it’s too late.

  But how was this possible?

  It appears you are far stronger than we first realized. Use the power we hold within you. Destroy Radnak. With Slade beside you, you can finish this.

  “Right, right!” I got to my feet and faced down Radnak through the violet shield that wasn’t going to hold much longer. “Slade, we have to attack together. I need you to get up for me. I need you to attack, one last time.”

  With a growl of pain, he pushed himself up to his full height beside me, bowing his head.

  I lifted my hands, not sure of what was about to happen, but the necklace warmed against my skin, and I felt their strength flowing through me and around me.

  “Ready?” I asked Slade, and he bowed his head again, sucking in a deep breath to draw on his shadowy flames.

  “You will not defeat me,” Radnak roared. “I will devour everything in this world. I will rule for all eternity.”

  “Not in this lifetime,” I muttered then lowered the shield. “Now.”

  Slade unleashed his fire as violet streaks of lightning fly from my fingertips, striking Radnak in the chest. They wrapped around his body, pinning his wings to his sides when he attempted to flee.

  Slade’s fire surrounded him, licking at his feet and reaching higher up his scaled body.

  Radnak roared in pain, fighting to get free, but Slade took another deep breath, and fell forward on his front legs, unleashing another powerful burst that knocked Radnak back. He toppled over, flailing on the ground as the rest of our army still alive moved in to surround him. Scales fell from his body as his wings disintegrated before our eyes.

  I took a step closer, drawing back my arms, then with a fierce yell, attacked again, the lightning crackling and exploding as it reached Radnak’s body.

  The necklace pulsed like a second heartbeat, driving me to attack again and again as Slade kept up a relentless flow of flames.

  Radnak screamed as his flesh was peeled back and the shadows consumed him. His body went completely rigid before it collapsed to the ground.

  Slade closed his jaws, and I lowered my hands, watching Radnak’s body break down into nothing, but ash and bone. Two glowing embers remained, bright blue and swirling with life.

  “Charlette and Quinto,” I whispered. “It’s their souls.”

  The embers rose out of the ashes and swarmed around us both, then shot off into the sky, freed from their imprisonment.

  “Everest?”

  I turned to find that Slade had shifted, holding his bleeding right arm, and limping as he came toward me.

  I was more than ready to embrace him when a sharp pain shot down my back. I felt my arms thrown out to the side as the necklace grew so hot, it burned.

  Violet mist filled my hands, and as soon as Slade tried to reach me, it surrounded me in a shield, throwing him back.

  “No! Everest!”

  I tried to speak, but no words came out.

  Inside, my mind was a mess.

  I heard the six voices of the witches, but it was the power that had taken over my body. It had found its vessel, and now that the deed was done, it wanted to be free.

  Lightning exploded out of my hands, striking the ground all around me. I glared at my hands, attempting to close them, but they refused to listen.

  I saw Slade through the shield, as he took a few steps closer, but had to jump back again when the lightning struck near his feet.

  “No!” I managed to gasp. “Stay back.”

  “I’m not letting it destroy you,” he argued.

  “I can’t… control it and I will not… not watch it kill you.”

  I pleaded with Nora for i
t to stop, but she was gone, her voice and the others, they were just gone.

  I was on my own, little old Everest who was never strong enough alone. I screamed as the power coursed through my veins like fire, wanting to control me forever. All it was going to do was kill me, break free of its vessel and then what? Where would it even go? My mind raced, wondering what to do when I felt something pushing against the shield.

  “Slade,” I whispered, begging for him to stop.

  “I am not going to watch you die,” he growled, pushing his hands harder against the shield, but it threw him back a second time.

  The lightning increased its strikes, and I watched, horrified, as he got back to his feet and with a ferocious roar, dove through, dodging blasts as they hit the ground. When he reached the shield again, he dug his nails into it, his boots sinking into the dirt.

  I willed the power to let me go, but it only pushed back harder.

  Slade held on, veins popping out in his neck and his muscles straining as he refused to give up. Blood pumped from his wounds, but I was too weak to tell him to stop. Too weak to do anything, but watch.

  “I can’t hold on,” I breathed, feeling the end approaching swiftly. “I can’t…”

  “Yes, you can. Hold on, Everest, just hold on,” he bellowed, and with one final push, I saw his hands break through the shield. They reached for the necklace and just as the darkness started to close in around me, he yanked it free and smashed it on the ground.

  The stones exploded, sending us flying through the air.

  I hit the ground with a thud and swore I heard something crack. Dirt and ash fluttered over my face. I couldn’t hear anything, couldn’t move.

  Then Slade was there, his face hovering over mine as he smoothed his fingers down my cheek. His lips moved, but the words were lost on me.

  My hand lifted to cup his cheek, and he held it warmly in his, but then the world faded away, and I was left with a horrible feeling of sadness that I hadn’t been able to survive this war after all.

  I was warm, very warm. I expected death to be cold, or to feel like nothing, really. My hands discovered a heavy blanket covering me. Why would I need a blanket if I was dead?

  There were people talking around me. A lot of people, but they sounded far away. There was cheering, too, and laughter.

  I smiled. Despite the fact I was dead it sounded like the people here with me, or wherever, were having a good time.

  I shifted and gasped at the agony I felt.

  “Ow,” I mumbled, then followed that with a stream of curses.

  “Everest?”

  I opened one eye, followed by the other, and frowned. “No, don’t tell me, you died too?”

  Slade, with his bruised face, stared down at me for a few beats with a confused look on his face before he kissed me. Those lips warmed mine, and my arms found their way around his neck, holding him as close as I could.

  “You’re not dead,” he said against my lips. “Close, but not dead. Not yet.”

  “I’m not?” I patted my hands down my body as he sat back, and I cringed at each new bruise I found… as well as the fact that my left leg was in a cast. “Maybe I should be. Feel like shit.”

  He smiled then burst out laughing. “You went through hell. I’d expect nothing less.”

  “What happened?” I asked, and started to sit up. He tried to protest, but I shot him a look, and he helped me instead. We weren’t in the mountain base, but an actual room, in what looked like an actual house. “Are we in the town?”

  “We are. Already started getting it fixed up again, or at least well enough to make room for people. Everyone’s still celebrating the death of Radnak.”

  That’s right, we killed him. He was nothing, but bones and ashes now. “How long was I out?”

  His lips thinned, and I sensed at some point I was going to get a lecture.

  “A week. You were out a week, and you and I are really going to have to discuss this whole notion of you giving yourself over to whatever powers so you can save the world.”

  I smiled sheepishly. “It worked, didn’t it?”

  “That is not the point, and you bloody well know it.” He leaned in, and when he kissed me this time, my toes curled, and I clung to his t-shirt. “We—uh, we should let your parents know you’re awake. And your brother.”

  “Mason? He’s here?” I looked around the room as if he was about to come bounding in at any second. “How is he?”

  “Happy as all hell to meet your father. He’s doing fine. Everyone’s fine.”

  He ran his fingers through my hair, and I leaned into his touch, not ready to believe it was really over. Just as my eyes started to close and I was ready to go drift back to sleep with Slade holding me close, my eyes opened, and I poked him in the chest, hard.

  “Ow! What was that for?” he muttered.

  “You. You’re a hypocrite, that’s what.”

  “About what?”

  “About my not throwing myself onto my enemies and what did you do when Radnak attacked the town? You launched yourself at that bastard. You call that a plan?”

  He caught my hand when I went to poke him again, and shrugged. “What can I say, you rubbed off on me, bad habits and all.”

  “Bad habits, my ass,” I mumbled, but then all I wanted was to kiss him again.

  When the door opened a few minutes later, we were deep in the middle of a kiss.

  The two of us quickly pulled apart. It was my mother.

  “Everest, I’m glad to see you’re awake and clearly feeling better.”

  My cheeks burning, I sat back against the pillows as Slade coughed.

  He smiled down at me, kissed my forehead, and excused himself.

  “Don’t worry,” he said when I started to protest. “You need to see your family too, and I need to make sure Tank isn’t drunk and singing again.”

  “Oh, don’t worry, he is,” Mom told him, and he cringed as he ducked out the door.

  “Mom, you have excellent timing,” I mused, but hugged her close when she sat on the edge of my bed.

  Aiden and Mason walked in a few moments later, and I was surrounded, for the first time in years, by my whole family. Mason had grown up so much since I’d seen him last and I couldn’t stop just hugging him, despite his wanting to get away from his overbearing older sister.

  We talked and laughed as they told me they were going to be rebuilding one of the homes here to live in. Mason had a hundred questions, as always, and I told him everything I could about my time away from him.

  He, in turn, couldn’t stop talking about finally meeting Aiden. Whom he called Dad. Guess I should pick up that habit.

  We talked for what seemed like hours until Slade came back and said the food was ready to be eaten in the town square.

  The guys all left, and Mom helped me get dressed in fresh clothes, then handed over crutches so I could walk.

  “I’m happy for you,” she said as we slowly exited the small house and made our way down the sidewalk, the guys ahead of us a bit.

  “I am, too.”

  “Good. That’s all that matters in this life. You found a good one, Everest.”

  “Yeah, I know.” I smiled at Slade as he turned and winked at me. “And now we might actually be able to stop risking our lives for one another, right?”

  Mom laughed with me.

  The war was over, finally over. It would take time for the world to be put right again, but as I surveyed the crowd of dragons, all the clans together again, I felt an overabundance of hope.

  We were going to be alright, all of us. I met Slade’s eyes again and grinned. Yeah, this was exactly where I wanted to be.

  Epilogue

  Slade

  The streets were crammed with people as the stormy morning gave way to what was a perfect spring afternoon. The sun poked through the clouds, lighting the fresh flowers planted up and down the sidewalks, the window boxes of houses and storefronts, the memorial dragon statue that stood in the new town
center, and everywhere in between. The grass had grown in, dark green and full. Not a bald patch to be found.

  Each building was freshly painted, and the doors were ready to open in just a few short moments.

  I beamed at everyone from my place near the statue, expecting this to all be a dream. Nearly a year after the battle at the Fell Gates and the death of Radnak, and finally, our world was coming together to form a much brighter picture for all the dragon clans, the witches, and warlocks. Everyone.

  Peace. I never thought I’d live to see this day, but here it was. Right in front of me.

  Shadowguard dragons had taken residence in this small town in the shadow of our mountain base. A base we would no longer need. Hollow Wells walked beside them. Emerald Petites filled the tree branches, and Golden Sphinxes glittered as they darted through the clouds before landing to join the rest of the gathering crowd.

  My cheeks started to hurt from smiling so much, but I couldn’t stop. This, right here, this was true happiness.

  “This looks like a scene from a dream,” Jenny said, as she and Preston came up behind me. “Well done, clan leader. Well done.”

  “Thanks, but this wasn’t all me.”

  “Oh no, not even close,” Preston agreed. “Speaking of which, where is Everest?”

  “The troublemaker,” I mused, frowning as I searched the crowd.

  I spotted Mahlia and Aiden, Mason between them, but no Everest.

  Her family had chosen to be one of the relocated families here in town. Mahlia was going to teach at the school that Elsa agreed to get up and running for magic and non-magic students to be together.

  Aiden was one of the dragons up for election to the new Council, and I had no doubt he would win a seat, becoming part of a Council that would no longer hide away from the world, but actually be a part of it.

  There would also be twelve councilmembers, not just six, to guide all of us into this new age.

  I glanced around more and wondered what Everest was up to. “She’s supposed to be here.”

  “I haven’t seen her since this morning,” Jenny said, grinning madly.