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  “If you walk towards the shops and turn right you should reach the alley where his gang normally deals with vampire blood,” he said, standing outside his home. It was a large townhouse, and I sensed faint magic rising around me. There were probably more wardens living there, pretending to be humans. “I know you have your reasons, but Dexter Black is dangerous. Maybe you should reconsider?”

  Rooney was worried about me and he didn’t even know me. It was sweet, and he reminded me a little of Nicolas. I pushed away my overwhelming emotions. It was time to stay completely focused.

  “No, I can’t. Besides, I’m sure I can make some sort of deal with him. As you said, we have something in common: We both hate the Dark Ones,” I said, patting him on the back and then walking away.

  He shouted, “good luck” after that and I smiled. The truth was, I was terrified, and Avianna was with me. I couldn’t risk leaving her alone with Aly. Nowadays we belonged together, and I didn’t think I could risk being separated from her.

  “Aww, that’s so sweet, Fran. We’re a good team, and yeah, the old lady is awesome, but I think I scare her a little bit,” Avianna said, and I smiled to myself.

  Soon, I reached the area that didn’t seem safe at all, and after a few minutes, the surroundings reminded me a lot of Cemetery. Humans out here were from different backgrounds. I could hear at least ten different languages as I was passing small shops and stores. The faint scent of magic drifted around me, but I wasn’t seeing any wardens, which surprised me.

  Rooney told me to ask around about Dexter; he said that I wouldn’t have to worry about any vampires in the day time. They only came out after dark, and Dexter ruled the entire neighbourhood, very similar to Harvey, so people knew him.

  Eventually I walked into an old barber shop and asked where I could find Dexter Black. Two barbers paled instantly at the mention of his name and then told me to get out. They obviously knew him, but they weren’t willing to talk.

  I kept walking until I found myself in a large car park outside a rundown supermarket. It was early afternoon, but the shop seemed empty or maybe it was under renovation.

  I headed back the way I came, considering calling it a day and going back to Alyson’s house when a moment later, I heard a rattling noise. Then several bearded men arrived on huge vehicles that Nicolas had once called motorcycles. Within moments, I was surrounded and there was nowhere to hide. Magic lifted every tiny hair on the back of my neck when some other burly-looking men flanked them on the other side. It was broad daylight, so this was completely unexpected. All my routes of escape had been cut off.

  “Hey, girl, get the fuck out the way. I will fuck ya, but first I have to deal with these dumb arseholes,” a balding man said. He had various skull tattoos on his face and a creepy smile. My magic charged through me. I knew that I could hit them with a few spells, but fear chained me to the ground. Avianna’s voice was muffled, something was blocking her energy.

  “She might work as our bait. I get her first, Zazu, and then she’ll become the bitch’s pack. She smells like a warden, so the boys will enjoy playing with her,” a bearded man with silver hair barked, while licking his lips and running his eyes over my body. I felt sick to my stomach.

  He must have been their leader, because his men laughed and a few of them exchanged some words with each other.

  My energy was going berserk. I had no idea what Avianna was doing, but she was trying to get out of the backpack. This wasn’t a good idea, especially not now.

  I was paralysed, as my magic began to swirl in my core, but I couldn’t control it. Seconds later, a large tall man stepped off his bike. I assumed he was Dexter Black. Well, I really had no idea, but magic radiated from his body. It was a different sort of energy—darker, and I could feel his authority. The energy surged, spreading everywhere, consuming me completely. I felt like it was burning me from the inside out.

  All of a sudden, the men standing around me began shaking from head to toe. Something was going on, because their eyes rolled into the back of their heads. I glanced around, not believing this was happening in broad daylight. This area was filled with humans, but suddenly, there was no one around. As I watched, I managed to see most of them were just about to shift into wolves.

  I was shocked that the Dark Ones hadn’t even tried to control this area. Within moments, their limbs started changing into paws with claws, their dark grey fur sprouted from their limbs and changing snouts. I pressed my hands to my ears, not wanting to hear their bones bending and breaking. A moment later I heard a loud howling noise, and vicious snarling.

  The skinheads were shifting, and I was still standing between them all. There were at least five large beasts in front of me now, and I had to make a split-second decision. What felt like a ton of heavy bricks cascaded down to my stomach, making me feel nauseous. The image of the vampire who was feeding off of me in that old house back in Draconia flashed into my mind. I closed my eyes, willing those horrible memories away, then took a long deep breath. When I opened my eyes a moment later, a bright blue sphere of light appeared in the centre of my palm. Then they all charged at me at once.

  I released the energy not even knowing how, and then shut my eyes again, willing my power forth. A few of them must have raced past me. A bunch of bikers who didn’t shift began roaring. They probably didn’t expect me to fight back. Magical energy radiated from my skin. When I looked around, seeing thick dark clouds appearing in the sky, I realised someone must have released a masking spell. My surroundings changed; thick mist appeared everywhere. I heard snarling noises and the gnashing of teeth, but I couldn’t see anything. Then I was thrown sideways and someone, or rather, something landed on top of me, just a second before two beasts attacked one another in exactly the same spot where I had been standing. It seemed I was in some sort of turf war; the bikers and the shifters were ripping each other’s throats apart. Then a raspy, familiar voice shouted in my ear,

  “What the hell are you doing? You’re going to get yourself killed!”

  It turned out that the voice belonged to a man, the half Dark One who’d betrayed me only last night. Idris was back, and it appeared he was trying to save me.

  Chapter Four

  The bite.

  I was too shocked to make any kind of sound, and too distracted by the wave of blazing heat that rushed through my core. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Idris was the enemy, but I felt warmth as it started rising in the pit of my stomach.

  In that moment I hated him with the passion, but for a second, I was blinded by his enigmatic blue eyes. Then the sound of snarling and screaming brought me back to reality. I swiftly pushed him off of me and managed to stand up.

  “Stay away from me, arsehole, or I swear to God, I’m going to kill you,” I shouted, spitting on the ground and then wiping my mouth. There were a lot of noises around me; two massive wolves slammed on top of each other right next to me. I stepped to the side, watching as one sunk his claws into the other’s neck. He growled loudly, and blood poured from his wound. Fear chained me to the ground again, but then I remembered Idris, so I turned around and started running.

  I headed towards the supermarket, while my heart pounded loudly in my chest. It looked like the warlock, Dexter, wouldn’t be helping me after all. Idris must have been following me all the way from Harvey’s paper factory. Either way, he could go to hell for all I cared. First things first, I had to get the fuck away from all that havoc. The mist was slowly vanishing. There were werewolves everywhere, killing each other, fighting, most likely over territory. I couldn’t be sure, but I didn’t care to stick around and find out. The sound of breaking bones and the smell of blood was overwhelming.

  Magic was pounding through me as I raced across the car park, not even knowing if I could get out of there alive. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking that surely, humans must have noticed the strange fog and sensed supernatural forces. The Dark Ones weren’t around, and I had no idea what happened to Idris. Losing Harvey was
a huge setback for me, and I didn’t want to get caught, especially now when Avianna was inside my backpack.

  She was saying something, but I was too busy trying to save our skin to stop and listen. Seconds later, two large wolves blocked my way; thick saliva was dripping down their mouths, bearing their large teeth at me. Their fur was standing on end and front legs were slightly bent. I charged my energy and began throwing purple orbs of light toward them, one by one, until my strength started to diminish.

  My magic seemed to bounce right off of them, and I stood there wondering what the hell was going on. I felt so pumped, but nothing was working. The wolves started approaching. I heard howling in the background, but the mist began to thicken again. I couldn’t see shit around me, just two, huge, hungry wolves.

  “Have it, son of a bitch!” I shouted and released fire from the centre of my palm. That shocked even me, but at least the beasts backed away. For some reason I felt invincible again, and I laughed out loud, not even hearing Avianna anymore. I could feel her moving around inside the backpack, and knew she was talking to me, but something or someone was still blocking our connection.

  The wolves were distracted for a bit, so I decided to run past them. A split second later, someone crashed into me; the impact throwing me several meters across the ground. Pain enveloped my limbs and I must have lost consciousness for a few moments.

  When I started coming around, it felt like someone was biting me. I let go of an inhuman scream, as sharp pain exploded along the side of my arm. It took me another several seconds to realise that a real wolf was attempting to tear my arm apart. The pain was unreal.

  I started kicking him as hard as I could. He sunk his giant claws into me again and then began dragging me towards the entrance of the car park. My vision went blurry and my energy began fading away. Panic erupted in my lungs as the world around me spun out of control. What the hell was wrong with me? I had to keep on fighting. I could feel energy soaring all around me, connecting with my molecules. My breathing was ragged, and I didn’t think I could go on any longer. My backpack was still attached to me, and I needed to free Avianna somehow. I grabbed onto his fur, trying to damage him with my soaring magic, but the pain was unbearable. He was tearing my skin, and my life was flashing before my eyes.

  “Get off her, you son of a bitch!” I heard a loud voice, recognising it instantly. The wolf finally let go.

  I heard a loud growl and whimpering. I managed to open my eyes; blood was pouring out of me. I felt so lightheaded and ashamed. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Normally I kicked butt, but right now I couldn’t even defend myself.

  The wolf was growling a few meters away from me. It was Idris.

  I couldn’t even complain when he started dragging me away from the wolves. The pain was mounting, spreading like venom, burning me and festering. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs, but I had no strength left.

  “Fran, girl, come on. You have to keep it together. You can’t leave me alone out here,” the voice in my head was saying.

  “Keep it together, little one; they won’t follow me. The others are coming, and I can’t believe you were so fucking stupid,” he whispered into my ear. I must have passed out a moment later, because when I lifted my heavy lids we were moving again. I was in a tight space, maybe in a car; I couldn’t be sure. I smelled leather and that musky, spicy scent that caused the tiny vibration of my heart. My head was spinning and there was more pain. I noticed someone must have taken off my backpack.

  “Avianna, where are you?”

  She didn’t answer, and I couldn’t imagine continuing on without her. I was being tossed around the back seat, and whoever was driving was most likely speeding through the streets.

  I bumped my head a few times. Eventually, I must have passed out because of the loss of blood. Either way, everything went dark a moment later. It was a done deal. I screwed up and put Avianna’s life in jeopardy.

  “It’s infected and she’s lost a lot of blood. To be honest, Idris, I have no idea if I can help her.” The voice sounded distant, like it was coming out of a broken radio, but it was slowly coming to me. It felt like someone had burned my insides with raw fire. The smell of rotten flesh wafted in the air. I wanted to throw up.

  “Avianna, are you here? Avianna, can you hear me?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m here. You’ll be all right. Idris saved us, and he let me out of the backpack. I’m flying! Yuppiiii. You were wrong about him. I’m telling you. The guy is a top bloke.”

  “Come on, Lucas. You must do everything in your power to heal her. The dragon can’t die; besides, this girl is a tough cookie. She’s the host, too,” the other voice responded, and I instantly wanted to get up, tell them both to leave me alone, but I couldn’t bloody move. Everything hurt, and I couldn’t take the pain any longer. There was more darkness and more bad memories coming to the forefront of my mind. My chest felt tight and that other person was doing something to my lower left side. I remembered the fight in the middle of the car park when someone saved me. The werewolf bit me—yeah, now everything was slowly making sense.

  “All right, I have silver that should clear her bloodstream. The dragon should stay next to her; it will feed her with energy. She needs it, because to be honest, she doesn’t look too good,” the first voice repeated.

  Sweat was surging down my body; I felt so ill. It was too hot in this room and the stinging pain was getting worse.

  I couldn’t understand why my eyes wouldn’t open. I just knew the Dark Ones were going to show up here soon and I had to save Avianna.

  “Little dragon, I have no idea if you can hear me, but Fran needs you. Stop flying around the room and do what you can to remove the poison from her bloodstream. We need all the help we can get,” I heard Idris talking to Avianna.

  “All right, all right. I have no idea why he’s so impatient. I’ve been kept in that bloody backpack for way too long. Fran, wake up and tell him your magic is too strong to fade away. You will survive this. We’ve been feeding each other for so long,” she was saying.

  I couldn’t respond to her, and I had no idea if she eventually came closer to me. Either way the pain intensified. I was shaking, trembling uncontrollably, and then I was screaming. Somehow, I was losing touch with reality, because I was certain Idris tried to open my eyelids. His blue eyes were staring down at me with a mixture of admiration and fear. Avianna’s voice was fading again.

  Then the third time when I began coming around, I was much more altered. It took me a long time to open my eyes. Eventually, I was staring at the face of some stranger. He was wearing a white kilt—he was a Dark One. His skin was shimmering with crystals and his irises were red. Panic filled my gut and I was ready to use my magic against him. A moment of distraction, that was all I needed right now, but my system was empty.

  “Calm down, I’m not going to hurt you,” he told me. He was young, maybe around my age with thick eyebrows and light blond hair. Idris was in the room. I could sense and smell him. I could feel him watching me from the corner. Seconds later his handsome and hot face came into the view. My entire body felt stiff and painful.

  Avianna was flying around the large room and I suddenly exhaled with relief, knowing she was still with me. She was fine, but we were stuck now. It was obvious that this Dark One wasn’t going to let us leave.

  “What the hell am I doing in here? What happened?” I asked, and my voice sounded hoarse. Idris’s expression was unreadable, and his blue eyes were shining like two neon lights. My arm was extremely sore, and I could barely move it.

  “You were bitten twice by a werewolf. Dexter Black doesn’t fuck around, and you showed up in the middle of his riot with another gang,” Idris said, raising his voice. “You could have gotten yourself killed!”

  Idris looked pissed off, and it suddenly dawned on me that he was the stranger who had gotten me out of that mess.

  Everything was slowly coming back to me. Rooney showed me the way to Brixton. I had no idea ho
w I ended up outside that supermarket. I was so furious that Magnus and Idris’s sister raided the factory that I decided to find another warlock.

  I must have walked straight into the conflict between two gangs. Since having the dragon egg, and then Avianna hatching, magic had never let me down, but then that strange mist covered the car park. The gang members started shifting into wolves when Idris tried to save me. No, fuck that. He couldn’t have showed up there to help me. He ratted me out to his father and then…

  I remembered being pushed off the bridge or maybe it was my imagination. Either way, it didn’t matter—he had me now.

  “I need to get out of here. Now. You can’t keep me prisoner. I’ll kick both your arses!” I shouted, trying to lift myself up, but the dizziness kept me down. Moments later, a small golden dragon sat on the table I was laying on, just by my head. Instantly warmth began to rise within my system, and my muscles started to relax. Energy bounced around, tingling inside me like I had been infested with millions of bugs.

  “Idris saved us, Fran, and he brought this man. I wanted to burn them both, but he started treating you,” Avianna’s voice echoed in my mind.

  “At the moment, it’s better if you lie down. We weren’t sure if we’d be able to heal you. To be honest, I’ve never seen anything like it. You should be dead. No one has ever survived a werewolf bite before,” the Dark One was saying.

  “It’s the dragon. I told you, Lucas; that creature is linked to her on an emotional and psychical level. She’s the strongest warden I’ve ever met. We’ve been fed with nothing but lies,” Idris told him, but I didn’t really care what he was saying to me.