Fantasy

ALEXANDROS
“Thank you for meeting with me again, brother.”
Giorgios arches one thick eyebrow. “I have seen more of you these past three months than in the last three decades, Alexandros.”
He is not wrong, and sooner or later, someone else will notice that too. A weary sigh escapes me, and he places a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Nobody knows about my coming here. We are safe here in these walls.” He glances around the faculty library.
I nod before dropping into the armchair. He sits opposite, hands clasped between his spread thighs, and his eyes staring into mine. “Is it about the girl? I have not yet discovered any more information about her past. It has only been a little over a week since you asked me, brother.”
“If the information were easy to come by, I would already have it. I do not expect answers immediately.”
He tugs at the shirt of his collar and rolls his neck. “Then has s

MALACHI
Thucydides Library is quiet as usual. In all my years at Montridge, I don’t think I’ve ever seen more than five or six people in this cavernous space at any one time. I crane my neck to peer at the gold embossed titles on the books on the top shelf, certain I will find the one I’m looking for here. Since Ophelia’s revelation that she and Alexandros can talk to dragons, I’ve found myself fascinated with discovering why they left the mortal realm to live in the netherworld.
“It has been a long time since I’ve seen you in here, Malachi.” His voice sends goosebumps skittering over my forearms.
I spin around, my teeth bared in a snarl.
He leans against the bookshelves, legs crossed at the ankles and arms folded over his broad chest, a smug grin on his face. He always was an arrogant asshole. Star quarterback and next in line to be Alpha of the Brackenwolf Pack, one of the oldest and m

ALEXANDROS
I
rub my throbbing temples and screw my eyes closed until the swell of voices in my head calms to silence. How is it that my gift grows both weaker and stronger at the same time? I am less able to tune out all of the noise, but when I focus, I can hear so much more than I could before. It has been two weeks since I bonded with Ophelia, and the shift in my power since the moment I claimed her is surely no coincidence.
I lean back in my chair and stare out at the gray clouds rolling in. For once, it is merely the weather changing in Havenwood rather than anything to do with Ophelia’s mood. I stare at the sky and nothing else for a few moments, recalling the long-ago days of my youth when some of the most fearsome and powerful creatures who ever lived roamed those skies. As a child and later a man of House Drakos with the gift of communicating with such powerful beings, I was considered blessed beyond all others. Such a shame I have not been able to use that gift for almost a thousand years.
A shudder runs down my spine like a dark shadow passing over my soul.
Is that really you, old friend? Her voice is as familiar to me as if I had heard it only yesterday. But it cannot be. It is impossible.
Are you here in the netherworld?
I ignore her question. Elpis, is that really you?
Who else would it be, Dragon Whisperer?
An unexpected laugh falls from my mouth at that name. Time has done nothing to dull your razor-sharp wit, I see.
Her deep, rumbling laugh echoes around my head, reminding me of happier times when dragons roamed this earth as freely as any creature.
I have thought of you often, my old friend, she says, her voice tinged with sadness.
And I you.
Tell me who sent you to the netherworld, and I will tear off his head on your behalf. Or is it a she?
I rub a hand through my beard. I am not in the netherworld. I am still here in the mortal realm.
So your powers are now capable of traveling beyond the veil that separates the world of men from the damned?
I cannot fathom why that would be, but as surely as we are having the conversation, it must be true. It seems so.
The question I need to ask her sticks in my throat, so I clear it. I already know the answer, for it resides deep within my soul. Yet still, I must hear it from her, or I will forever wonder. I had a wife and two daughters, Elpis. Are they⁠—
They are not here, friend. They were pure of soul and took their rightful place amongst the stars.
My relief is tinged with despair. I knew they were not in the netherworld, for if I had believed they were, I would have followed them without a second’s hesitation. Yet her assurance is a balm to a wound I have nursed for over five hundred years. Thank you, Elpis.
Now there is the other question I am loath to ask, for the answer may destroy me.
I also had a son. Lucian? I hold my breath as I await her response.
There is no child of the Dragon Whisperer in the netherworld, my friend. I assure you.
Cool air floods my lungs. I knew in my heart that he was not dead. It is a bittersweet feeling to have irrefutable evidence that my son is not in the netherworld. He lives, and that is both profound and terrifying.
Even more concerning is that his hatred for me somehow allowed him to sever our bond centuries ago. The sting of his betrayal is never far from my thoughts; however, Elpis’s voice stops me from falling into that particular black hole. I was so very sorry to hear of the demise of the elementai, Alexandros. But the blind arrogance did not surprise me. To think they could vanquish an entire species and not suffer the consequences. She snorts, and I can almost see the thick black smoke curling from her giant nostrils.
Your kind knew better than most of the foolishness found in so many of the younger generations, Elpis. The foolishness that set sons against mothers, brothers against sisters. The mangled pieces of my heart twinge with a fresh wound.
I once hoped that we would one day return to the mortal realm. She sighs. Alas, things do not seem to have improved since the last of the dragons left over nine centuries ago.
No, they have not.
The door to my office bursts open, and Ophelia bounds inside, her blue eyes wide and shining and her hair mussed like she just got out of bed. Her excitement vibrates through the room, so palpable that even if I were not so in tune with her, I would nevertheless feel it. She closes the door with a soft click before turning back to me and whisper-shouting, “Are you actually talking to a dragon?”
Once more, I slam shut the door to the vault containing my memories of Lucian. Giving her my attention, I cannot help the small smile that curves my lips. I should not be surprised she can hear me. It requires more energy than I anticipated to block her out, and I am painfully aware that I have no desire to do so. “What have I warned you about staying out of my head, little one?”
“I wasn’t in your head,” she insists, crossing the room before perching herself on my lap and snaking her arms around my neck. Instinctively, I wrap my own arms around her, pulling her close. “You were in mine. Or at least Elpis was.”
I frown. “You heard her in your own head?”
She nods, her bright-blue eyes so full of trust and innocence that my heart aches.
Elpis, did you talk to anyone else in the mortal realm this morning?
Only you, Dragon Whisperer, comes her swift reply.
I brush Ophelia’s hair back from her face. “Say something to her.”
She blinks. “Like what?”
“Anything, Ophelia. Just speak to her.”
She presses her lips together. Um, hi, Elpis. It’s very exciting to meet you.
Well, who is this delightful creature, Alexandros?
So she can talk to dragons. I should not be surprised by this given all I have learned about her extraordinary abilities, yet I am. It is such a unique gift, one that I have not shared with another living creature since my uncle died over a millennium ago. This is Ophelia.
I can feel the excitement in her. See her in my mind’s eye standing to her full height and shaking her scales. And she shares your gift? She is a vampire too?
She shares my gift is all I tell her for now. I trust Elpis with my life, but the fact that both Ophelia and I can communicate with her when she is in the netherworld … whilst interesting, it is also unnerving.
“Dragons are real!” Ophelia squeals. “And I can talk to them?”
I press my finger to my lips, signaling her to be quiet before she wakes the boys. She presses her lips together and nods.
It was wonderful to hear your voice, old friend, I tell Elpis. And we will speak again soon, but right now I have some business to attend to.
She snorts a laugh. Vampires! And then, as quickly as she arrived, she is gone.
I focus all my attention on Ophelia. “Dragons?” she says, her voice quiet yet exuberant.
I nod. “Dragons.”
“So they’re real? Why haven’t I ever seen one? Why don’t people know they exist?”
Always so many questions. I am distracted from answering by the fluttering pulse in her throat, and I trail my tongue over it, letting the taste of her sweet skin flood my senses. My fangs protract.
“Alexandros!” She admonishes me even as she tips her head back and tangles her fingers in my hair. “The dragon?”
With a sigh, I stop short of biting her so I can answer her questions instead. “Dragons roamed the earth long before humans or demons. Even dragons themselves cannot say how long they dwelled here. Human measurements of time are meaningless to creatures of such age. But it is certain that they survived their dinosaur cousins. They possess a great magic. Some believe they were the cradle of where all magic began.” I tuck her hair behind her ear as she listens with rapt fascination. “And that made them the targets for creatures who wished to use their magic, to exploit it for their own ends. Almost a thousand years ago, they grew tired of being hunted and manipulated, and they emigrated to the netherworld, where they have remained ever since. Until today I was never able to reach them through the veil that separates our worlds.”
“So today was the first time you spoke to Elpis in almost a thousand years?”
I nod.
“Wow! How long do dragons live?”
I shrug. “Nobody truly knows, but Elpis was born centuries before I was.”
She blinks, and questions race around her head at such speed I am surprised we are not both dizzy. “So can all vampires talk to dragons?”
“No. It is a unique gift of a chosen few vampires from the line of House Drakos. A gift that very few beings have ever possessed. The last man I knew who shared my gift was my Uncle Antony.”
“So nobody else that you know can talk to dragons?”
I shake my head. Her unrestrained awe is so pure that it makes me smile in spite of the lingering melancholy from my conversation with Elpis. I have not thought of her kind for so very long, choosing to erase their existence from my conscious as much as possible. Their loss was almost as painful as that of the elementai, albeit less bloody and not marred by the same soul-obliterating betrayal.
Ophelia sucks in a breath, drawing my attention back to her, and more specifically to her chest and the hard nipples protruding through the fabric of Xavier’s faded red Montridge T-shirt. His scent combined with hers is intoxicating, and I suppress a growl of frustration as my patience for her questions, as well as my resistance, grows weaker by the second. My restraint is never so uncharacteristically close to snapping as it is when I am with her. “So why can I?” she asks.
I stare into her eyes and wish I had more answers for her, whilst also wrestling with my base desire to distract her from further questions by sinking inside her. “It seems you are able to channel the powers of the vampires you bond with. That is why you could hear the boys’ thoughts even before your powers were unlocked. Whether that is temporary or permanent has yet to be seen.”
“Is that normal?”
I drag the pad of my thumb over her lips. “No, but then nothing about you is normal, Ophelia. You are extraordinary in every possible way.”
She smiles, and the simple act has my cock twitching with the desire to take her right now. “And dragons live in the netherworld? Where is that? Is it like hell?”
“Not exactly. The hell humans are taught about does not exist. Nor does heaven.”
She blinks. “Oh. So do we all go to the netherworld when we die? Is your family there? Can Elpis get a message to them for you?”
I screw my eyes closed as pain lances through my chest, and she places her soft hand on my cheek. “I’m sorry.”
I dust my lips over her cheek. “You have no reason to apologize, agápi mou.”
She curls her body into mine.
“No matter what kind of being they are, when pure souls like those of my wife and daughters die, their energy rejoins the universe, and they live for eternity in the cosmos. But when the damned die, they go to the netherworld. A place of darkness and despair where memories die and only the cruelest thrive. It is the twisted joke played on vampires and elementai that they can never be together in the afterlife because one is eternally damned and the other is inherently pure.”
Her nose scrunches up, and she tilts her head. “But why are vampires eternally damned?”
“It is our nature.”
“But it doesn’t have to be. I mean, you’re good. I know you must have done bad things, but that doesn’t mean you’re not a good person.”
That she surely believes that is concerning, yet it also pleases me more than I would care to admit to see myself through her eyes. “Make no mistake, little one, I am as far from good a man as you will ever meet.”
She places her hand over my heart, and it thumps against her palm. “I think you’re one of the best men I’ve ever known.”
I rest my hand over hers. “I will always be a good man for you, agápi mou, but any kind of goodness in my heart begins and ends with you. I would sacrifice every soul in this world to protect you and not give it a second thought. Every. Single. One.”
Her eyes glisten with unshed tears, and her fingers twitch against my skin. “I hope you never have to sacrifice a single soul for me, sir.”
“As do I.” But I surely shall and will. I do not voice that last part. There will be time enough to contemplate the sacrifices we will all certainly have to make, and that time is not now. Not when she is warm and soft in my arms.
“What about Lucian?”
Another piece of my heart is ripped away. “He is not in the netherworld.”
Her eyes grow wide. “So he’s alive?”
Alive and avoiding me. “It would seem so.”
“But how?” She shakes her head. “Can’t you feel him through your bond? Don’t you know where he is?”
“I cannot, Ophelia, and before you ask, I do not know why that is, nor do I wish to discuss it any further right now.”
She presses her lips together, and I am thankful she respects my wishes by suppressing her curiosity. Instead, she asks a question almost as heartbreaking to me. “So if you’re eternally damned and I’m inherently good, that means we don’t get to have eternity together?”
If she tears another slice from my heart today, there will be nothing left of it. “No, but we can still have a lifetime. As long of one as we can survive.”
Tears well in her eyes. “That’s so heartbreaking.”
I nod. “I know. And that is why we try to live forever. And why to bond with an elementai is such a profound decision for any vampire to make.”
“So biting me was a huge deal for you?”
I bark out a harsh laugh. “Ophelia, there are no words to accurately explain the enormity of my decision to bond with you.” Sorrow clouds her features, and I cup her chin in my hand. “But know that I was aware of the inevitability of our union from the moment I first saw you in my basement. And it took every ounce of strength I had to resist you for as long as I did.”
“So you don’t regret it?” Her voice is small and quiet, everything she should never have to be.
I shake my head. “Not for a fraction of a heartbeat. I would choose you in every single lifetime, little one. Every single one.”
She melts into my arms, nestling into me until her body molds perfectly to mine. Until I cannot be sure where she ends and I begin.
After a few moments, she hops up and grabs my hand. “Time to go decorate the tree that Kai picked out for the den. It’s huge!”
I bite back a laugh and follow her from the room. In all my years on this earth, I have never decorated for a holiday. When I had a family to celebrate with, the traditions were vastly different. However, when Ophelia revealed that she had only celebrated Christmas one time, five years ago, I allowed the boys to convince me we should do all in our power to make this year special for her. I try not to give too much attention to the notion that it may be the last peaceful Christmas she will know for a long time.
Instead, I recall the childish delight on Malachi’s face earlier when he proudly declared he was going to choose the largest tree on the lot. Axl and Xavier rolled their eyes at his exuberance, but they were unable to hide their own excitement. Ophelia Hart has already brought such joy to our lives—so much that I cannot even bring myself to be mildly annoyed by the fact that I am about to spend several hours hanging tinsel and garland.

ALEXANDROS
“Thank you for meeting with me again, brother.”
Giorgios arches one thick eyebrow. “I have seen more of you these past three months than in the last three decades, Alexandros.”
He is not wrong, and sooner or later, someone else will notice that too. A weary sigh escapes me, and he places a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Nobody knows about my coming here. We are safe here in these walls.” He glances around the faculty library.
I nod before dropping into the armchair. He sits opposite, hands clasped between his spread thighs, and his eyes staring into mine. “Is it about the girl? I have not yet discovered any more information about her past. It has only been a little over a week since you asked me, brother.”
“If the information were easy to come by, I would already have it. I do not expect answers immediately.”
He tugs at the shirt of his collar and rolls his neck. “Then has something happened with her powers?”
“No. I have not summoned you here to discuss Ophelia.” I scrub a

Chapter 75