The three men dropped their hands and their voices went still. The tunnel was so quiet Charlotte could hear her own heartbeat. It drummed loudly, but even that couldn’t distract her from watching the stone dragons intently. There was the blue leader, a large one so detailed now that she wanted to touch his scales to see if he was alive. Behind him were four smaller dragons, red, green, brown and a striking orange.

Abruptly and simultaneously, the three men clapped their hands, a single word bursting from them. The blue dragon shuddered. His great sides heaved and then moved in and out like a bellows. Very slowly his head turned first one way and then the other. His tail switched. The slightly smaller dragons began to move as well, twisting their necks and shaking their heads, breathing until the sound of the air moving in and out of their bodies filled the tunnel.

“Oh. My. God. Tariq,” she whispered, pressing her forehead against his side, never taking her gaze from the five dragons. “That’s incredible. An incredible gift.” She’d been so fascinated she hadn’t noticed the passing of time and was shocked that it had only taken a few minutes for the three hunters to make their dragons out of rock and plants.

Tariq didn’t respond with words, but he tightened his arm around her so that her front was locked tight to his side.

The blue dragon took a step forward, turned its head toward Tomas, Mataias and Lojos, eyes intelligent as it listened to the commands the three men gave it. The gemlike eyes glowed with purpose as it once again faced the entrance and began to walk slowly toward the opening. The other dragons followed, one at a time. The men moved as a group behind them.

Tariq swung around and lifted her into his arms, his brilliant blue eyes staring directly into hers. “Hold on, sielamet. We go out in dragon form. Keep your mind as still as possible. Vadim will try to push through the barrier. Stay strong. He’ll use his voice on you to try to trick you into thinking he knows where you are. Remember, he can’t get to Lourdes, no matter what he says. Believe in me through this. Trust in me.”

She could drown in his eyes. Just live there forever. She nodded slowly. Who else was she going to trust? She was so far out of her element she didn’t have a clue what to do. Even Genevieve, who had a vivid imagination, wouldn’t believe any of this.

The last of the five stone dragons were through the opening and the others went out, Tariq and Charlotte with them. When she looked around her, as they launched into the air, there were no men, only dragon bodies in full flight. The stone dragons circled the other dragons as if they were the Carpathian hunters protecting the other dragons as they emerged. Once all of them were in the sky, the blue dragon took the lead with the others following, forming a V shape. Tariq, with Charlotte clinging to him, was on the left side, two dragons down from the blue dragon.

The formation was tight as they blasted across the sky. Suddenly, the blue dragon dove, jaws wide, fire blazing. Charlotte leaned into the black dragon’s embrace, shocked that she not only saw his scales but felt them. Her man, Tariq Asenguard, sophisticated owner of a string of successful nightclubs, was a compact black dragon complete with wings and scales. When she looked down at her own arms, she was part of that dragon, with the same shiny black scales.

An illusion. Oh. My. God. Her dragon suddenly dove as well, mouth wide, spewing red flames. All around her the sky erupted with fire and color. Below them, an army of vampires, humans and puppets scattered, trying to protect themselves from the dragons spraying them from above with fire.

Won’t the people in the city below see this?

We’re protecting them. Tariq’s grim response was terse.

The vampires hastily tried to concoct cover for the humans in their army. Spears whistled through the air. One hit the orange rock dragon and bounced off, the tip shattering. Even as the black dragon dove to spray his fire, she realized all the dragons continued toward the compound. They dove down, and as they came up, they were winging their way through the sky away from the failed ambush.

Stop them or your niece dies. I have her. Lourdes. She screams for you, do you not hear her?

Oh God. She could. She could hear the child’s shattered cries. Everything in her responded. She needed to go to Lourdes.

Show me yourself. Show me which dragon you ride. Drop from it and I will ensure you live. If you do, I will spare this child. Otherwise, her death will be long and hard. She will feel every moment of pain before she dies.

He would do that. Vadim was a monster, but…

Sielamet. Tariq, his voice. Warm. Reassuring. He’d told her Lourdes was safe and she had to believe him.

I can find him. Follow his voice back. She wanted to close her eyes, but she couldn’t. She needed to find Vadim. To see him. She searched the ground as the black dragon raced through the sky, leaving her breathless – and unable to make out a single face below her. But that voice coming at her… into her mind… was filling her with doubts.

She turned her attention to that voice wrapped in such sweetness. Sticky sweetness. False. It had a lingering aftertaste. Sweet turned to bitter. Almost like ashes. Deliberately she let herself get lost in that bitter ash. She turned her head and looked down toward the harbor. There, Tariq. On that ship. He’s there, directing all this from safety.

The leader of the dragons made a wide circle, his followers in tight formation behind him, the circle wide enough to include the harbor. The moment the realization came to the vampires on the ground, they took to the air in defense of Vadim. Fire rained, spears of fire, great bolts that sank deep into the deck of the vessel, hit the sides and went in deep, so deep she couldn’t see the spears, only the giant holes. The terrible spears penetrated the ship from every direction, a fierce, unrelenting attack as the dragons dove low, spraying the decks until the vessel erupted into a fiery ball.

She heard the shriek in her head, the scream of a madman, made more insane by the explosions of violence surrounding him. A black shadow rose, a huge one that seemed to encompass most of the sky. Immediately the dragons went after the shadow, blowing great columns of fire that tore through the shadow until it was in tatters.

Vampires rose, shrieking, throwing themselves at the dragons in a frenzy of fury, trying to protect Vadim as he raced across the sky away from the battle. Charlotte glimpsed Fridrick, not the smooth man she’d seen in the parking garage, but a vile being, with glowing red eyes and bloodstained, jagged teeth. He rose up fast and sliced at the neck of the dragon carrying her in its arms. Terrified, she closed her eyes, curling into Tariq. The body of the dragon shuddered. She felt the great wings beating in the sky, the heat of flames. She knew Fridrick had scored a hit, but the dragon continued to fly.