Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
You can’t have him, she whispered to the universe, more determined than ever to keep Benedek safe.
Can you handle Castello’s replicas? Benedek demanded. I need the hunters.
Go. This is what I do.
I stay with the slayer, Tora announced firmly. I would get in your way. Good hunting.
Silke was grateful. Tora and she had been fighting side by side for as long as Silke could remember. She doubted Tora would be in anyone’s way—she was a fierce fighter—but the hunters knew one another and had worked together before. She wanted them to go with Benedek. She sensed his conflict. He needed to see that she was safe, but this vampire-beast creature they chased was extremely powerful and couldn’t be let loose on the world.
Go, Benedek. I’ll be fine. She kept confidence uppermost in her mind, holding her concerns at bay.
Be safe. He gave a flick of the dragon’s tail and was gone.
There were so many demons, all targeting the slayer. The moment the dragons pulled back, whipping through the sky to follow the vampire, the demons went into a frenzy, rushing the porch.
Silke didn’t wait. She ran across the stone floor toward the highest point and leapt into the air, calling, “Lily, now.”
Her dragon launched herself from the flower bed, exploding into the sky and streaking to intercept Silke before she began her descent. They had practiced the move countless times. Silke landed perfectly just behind the dragon’s head, knees digging in as Lily whipped around. Silke held the sacred water in one hand and her crystal sword in the other.
She couldn’t kill the demons with crystal light. That only seemed to make them stronger. But they had no protection against dragon fire. The armor they had wouldn’t stand against a pure earthen creation such as a dragon. The dragons were of the earth, just like the ancient forest. The creatures might be slowly going extinct. They had had their time on the planet, but they weren’t evil. Like Benedek, dragons could be violent, but they weren’t evil despite the way they were often portrayed in books or modern movies.
Silke thought Lily was beautiful and unique. She had dragon lilies for horns and more down her back. The petals were rolled and dark, looking for all the world as soft as velvet. She had a full open lily at her tail. Her body was covered in leaves. Wherever she chose to rest, she appeared to be several dragon lily plants clustered together. It was impossible to tell that she was a live creature. She often lay in the beds in the forest where the dragon lilies were planted.
Every scale tipped in those petals going down her back was a weapon. Her paws were weapons. Not only was the fire coming from her belly a red-orange flame that burned so hot it could incinerate in seconds, but her breath was poisonous. Those fumes, combined with the flames, were deadly.
Silke’s vision expanded, taking in the entire yard, the demons on the porch roof, the ones rushing to climb so they could try to knock her from the back of the dragon. Some had climbed plants and trees; others were on the porch tracking her dragon. All were desperate for her to hear their voices, trying to compel her to obey as Castello had. She heard the buzz in the back of her mind as the demons made a concentrated effort to compel her to listen to them. She was able to keep the voices at a distance, but found it alarming that they managed to penetrate her shield enough that she could hear them.
They seem to have forgotten you’re even in the sky, Tora, Silke pointed out. I can distract them, keep them totally engaged with me, and you and Peony can do the honors.
Tora rode an elegant dragon adorned with peonies. The colors of a sunset, pink, purple and gold flowers made up the back and tail of the dragon. She was gorgeous—just like Tora. And just like her rider, she was lethal. Like the dragon Lily, Peony could easily be overlooked when anyone came to the garden to look at flowers. She lay still, her flowers real, yet they were part of her, making up her scales.
Peony moved in and out of the night sky shadows, blending in with her deeper, richer colors so that she seemed to emerge out of thin air when she attacked. Tora wore her long thick hair down, rolling like waves with the force of the wind as her dragon whipped around, banking and then swooping down like an arrow. The clouds of dark hair flowed behind her, strangely taking the shape of black birds, crows, several of them, as if they were caught in strands or flying in close formation to aid her.
Silke flew Dragon Lily through the sky above the porch roof. Three of the clones stood, chanting in unison, feet planted wide, arms outstretched, weaving patterns in the air. Their joined voices grew stronger and louder.