“I don’t understand why you’re filled with such dread, my love,” Anton said.
Zack could feel the zing of Seamus’s fear, though he didn’t understand the specifics of it. But the general understanding he could pick up on. “You’re afraid of something big. Powerful. Who have you pissed off?”
“No one. Recently.” Seamus moved over to a high-back chair and sat down. He ran his hand through his light brown hair, but he didn’t speak until he dropped his hand back into his lap. “Zackery has the correct idea in his notes. I do want to declare a kingdom, but not out of greed. A war is on the horizon, and our kind must unite. We need one leader. One cause. All of this bickering over territory is merely a distraction to keep us from our real enemy. I will put an end to the divisive squabbles for our species’ protection.”
“You were planning on bankrolling a war,” Zack said. “Humanity will never?—”
“Humanity is food and hardly a challenge. Do you think their petty concerns and inability to perceive the threat we are to them is an accident? Myself and other elder supernaturals have spent centuries guiding them to the state they’re in now. It wasn’t even hard to use mankind’s greed against itself,” Seamus said. He met Zack’s gaze. “Our true enemies are the dragons.”
CHAPTER 30
A terrible dread settled into Takashi’s bones. Being sent away from Seamus wasn’t easing the creeping inside his veins or the urge to look over his shoulder. Zack’s beautifully decorated living room didn’t soothe the inkling of foreboding that was growing in Takashi. The puzzle pieces didn’t make sense, but he had the bigger picture they belonged to. He was missing the fine details and more than a few elements to the puzzle. However, knowing where they were meant to go answered questions and raised others.
“Dragons are the true enemy? He’s got to be making that shit up, right?” Zack asked as he paced.
Takashi leaned his head against the back of the couch and stretched his legs out ahead of him. On one hand, he was glad that Zack was distracted with what Seamus had said. On the other hand, the absolute last scheme he wanted to think about was Seamus going to war withdragons.
And on yet another hand, he was exhausted from turning Katie into a vampire. His own intelligence was cursing him as he’d rather ignore the way the pieces were clicking into place.
Seamus had bookshelves filled with binders of potential soldiers. But to turn more than two in a five-year time span wasrare, more than three unheard of.Does he mean to turn them all into vampires? Create some sort of brood? That shouldn’t be possible.
“I mean, if we’re going off what myths everybody talks about, then first of all, dragons are massive creatures. People would notice if Godzillas were running around the planet smashing shit,” Zack continued. “They’d certainly notice fire-breathing giant lizards.”
Watching Zack was draining what little energy Takashi had left.No, what’s draining me is trying to keep from thinking about that long-ago night. The dragon in his memory was a looming shadow, a voice that had cackled, and a snuffing breath that had made Takashi shiver.Not this one. He’d never been so glad to be rejected.
Zack had been lost in his thoughts, even if he had been sharing them aloud, but he paused and frowned at Takashi. “You haven’t said anything.”
“I don’t know what you expect me to say,” Takashi replied carefully.
Zack narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing him. “You’ve got your quiet, reserved face on. That means you’re trying very hard to say the right thing. What aren’t you saying?”
“Quite a bit.” Takashi crossed one ankle over the other and stared at his shoes.
“The evasive act isn’t funny.” Zack knelt in front of him and put his hand on Takashi’s leg.
It wasn’t skin contact, but Takashi didn’t want him anywhere near his mind. Gently, he nudged Zack’s hand off his leg. Zack took that as a sign to hold his hand instead. When Takashi pulled away, Zack opened his mouth to speak, his concern obvious.
“I’ve had a long night,” Takashi said, cutting him off. He sat up. “Unlike you, I haven’t been feeding right.”
“Which considering that you did something incredibly stupid tonight, which I’ll get to, but first, dragons. Seamus is crazy, right? Dragons don’t exist,” Zack said firmly.
The gray of Zack’s eyes had been banished by his transformation, leaving only the deep red. After Seamus’s revelation that the two shared a telepathic bond, Takashi doubted he’d ever see Zack’s beautiful steely gray again. Seamus couldn’t have the power to make another vampire like Zack anytime soon.
Could he?
Something wasn’t adding up, and that bothered Takashi, increasing the dread in his stomach. It became a silver gag against his tongue.
“Takashi,” Zack complained. “Don’t hold out on me.”
“Dragons are real,” Takashi said quietly.
“Bullshit,” Zack said as he sprang to his feet. He had said the same word to Seamus just before they were sent away. Nervous energy poured off him as he renewed his pacing. “I’ve studied more lore than anyone else in my family. If dragons were real, I’d know.”
“They have spent the last seven hundred years hiding themselves,” Takashi replied. “They are real, Zack. A school of them have an island in Lake Michigan.”
“Dragons haveschools?” Zack asked.
“No, that’s the name for a group of them.” Takashi leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees. “Dragons are one of the purest forms of shapeshifters. They don’t just use magic, theyaremagic. As humanity grew and other supernatural creatures either found their way to our reality or increased their influence, dragons were hunted close to extinction. They migrated to the fey realms. Over time, they have regained their numbers and began influencing this world again. The fact thatless than one percent of the population controls half the wealth of the world is not an accident, nor only mortals’ designs.”
