My parents had spoken of the horrors of the time when the Elders had taken over The Shade. The devastation they’d caused. The lives they had ripped apart.
No. That can’t happen again. It just can’t.
And yet here I’d been, with each gulp of blood I took, bringing this threat closer to reality.
As I sat there alone in that silent bedroom, it became clear to me that far more than just my life hung in the balance. And the more I thought about it, it wasn’t even the lives of everyone I loved in The Shade either. No. This was a much, much greater fight.
The entire human realm could be threatened by these spirits’ need for human blood. And from what I knew, the Elders posed great danger even to other supernatural realms.
My head reeled at the implications if I allowed myself to consume even a few more liters of blood. The consequences that could follow for all realms.
All of this rested on my shoulders. My shaky, unsteady shoulders.
Through the confusion I’d been in, one thing became crystal clear as I sat there in the early hours of the morning:
I had to thwart the Elders’ plan… no matter what the sacrifice.
Chapter 5: Derek
It was no surprise that all of our closest companions immediately volunteered to come with us on our journey with the dragons. As we stood in the clearing preparing to take off, I was surrounded by my family and friends. Sofia and Aiden stood by my side. A few feet away was Rose with Caleb, the Novalics, Ashley and Landis, Zinnia and Gavin, and dozens of other familiar faces. Even Cameron—always the fearless warrior—had offered to come with us, even though he was still a human. Of course, we’d declined his offer.
Apart from witches, Jeriad had also thought that it was better that no werewolves came with us. I wasn’t sure why that was—why jinn had a particular dislike for wolves compared to vampires—but I didn’t bother pressing for an answer.
It had dawned on me that I possessed a magic of sort—the ability to conjure fire from my palms. A power that I had inherited from the great witch Cora. But Jeriad didn’t mention there being a problem with me coming, so I didn’t mention it either.
As soon as everyone was gathered, Ibrahim along with three other witches cast a spell of shadow over all the vampires. Since we were traveling atop the dragons’ backs, we would be exposed to the sun. We just had to hope that this spell would last until we returned.
Then we each climbed on top of the dragons—most of us traveling in pairs. Sofia and I rode Jeriad, who was the first to launch into the sky, leading the horde upward, high into the clouds. It was important to me that we gained altitude before crossing the boundary, because I didn’t want the hunters spotting us.
Once we had flown high enough and exited the boundary, the dragons picked up speed.
Jeriad had been cryptic about what we would find on reaching the realm of the jinn, and he still hadn’t given any description about the place itself—except that supernaturals called it The Dunes.
It didn’t take long for the dragons to begin descending again, for we were going to be passing through a gate that was close to The Shade. It was situated in an old, dried-up well on a small island that Caleb and Rose had once been stranded on with Annora. Rose had the misfortune of passing through this very gate, having been kidnapped and carried down there by the prince of ogres. Indeed, it led to the realm of the ogres. I wasn’t entirely happy about using this gate, but it was the gate the dragons had initially passed through on coming to the human realm, and they were comfortable with it. So we found ourselves descending to the jungle-infested island.
The dragons ended up crushing many of the trees in the surrounding area as they landed. We climbed off their backs before they shifted back into their humanoid forms—for there was no way they could have fit through the gate while in their dragon forms. I caught Sofia’s hand, and we all gathered around the small well. I couldn’t help but look at my daughter’s face. Her expression was a mixture of nostalgia and horror. I could only imagine how traumatic that experience must’ve been for her.
I pushed to the front with Jeriad, Sofia following behind me.
“Three of us dragons should pass through first.” Jeriad spoke up. “Just in case there are any ogres on the other side.”
Jeriad and the others passed through the gate first. After that, Sofia and I followed, and as we landed on the other side, we found ourselves on a beach lined with high, sinister-looking walls, connected by a massive iron gate spiked with what appeared to be skulls. Human skulls. The wind was harsh and chilled even me.
As the dragons passed through the gate and landed on the beach beside us, they began shifting back into their beastly forms. Jeriad had already shifted back, having arrived before us. I was about to suggest to Sofia that we climb onto his back again, but as we approached, he spread his wings and took off into the sky before we could climb up.