Page 39 of Vampire Sins
I grabbed my head at the same time that Yan and Bo went for theirs. Apparently the dragon was speaking to all of us.
I stumbled forward and allowed my tattoos to writhe on my skin. I hadn’t been inked with them by a machine. The tattoos were a natural part of my genetic makeup; a type of scar that marked my shifter abilities and gave me my power. No one could mistake what I was… one of the Hugh Modali. I couldn’t hide it any more than I could hide my surprise that the ruins had not been completely abandoned.
The dragon yawned, sending the air wavering with heat as it opened its giant maw. I’d never seen a dragon so large as this one. Dragons were large, in general, but this one spanned the entire length of the cavern. Gold and magic drifted over its scales and gleamed with ethereal light.
I grow impatient, young one. Why have you come here?The dragon narrowed its one good eye at us and the Dragon’s Eye swirled in its head.
Yan gripped my arm hard. “We should leave.”
I pulled from of him and stepped onto the pile of treasure. My aching feet sank into the cool golden coins as I approached the dragon. “I apologize, ancient one. I came for my birthright, but I did not know that my lineage yet survived.” The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as the dragon appraised me, but I refused to show any fear or weakness. I kept walking towards it until I was within arms reach. The dragon lowered its head and its giant nostrils glared. A black tongue snaked out and tasted the air around me.
My blood memories didn’t tell me about this dragon. I had no knowledge of who or what it was, or even if it was a shifter at all. Perhaps it didn’t have a dragon form and this was some ancient relative… or conqueror of the Hugh Modali line.
I wouldn’t expect you to know me, young one. I have been here so very long, without conversation, without servants.The dragon fluttered its eyes closed and released a heavy sigh, sending heat wafting over me.I’m glad to finally have some. Do scratch my scales at my left elbow. They’ve been bothering me for centuries.
I glanced at Yan and Bo, who mouthed at me to get the hell out of here, but I couldn’t just leave. We’d come all this way and I was going to be damned if we were going to leave empty-handed.
I stepped around the dragon’s large head, moving towards its elbow as it had asked. I walked slowly and deliberately, taking my time to appraise this creature and see if I could spot any weaknesses. The only benefit I had was this side was on the side of the Dragon’s Eye, and if it really was an orb of magical power, perhaps the dragon couldn’t use it to see out of it.
“So, you know who I am?” I asked, hoping the dragon would give me more information I could use against it.
It growled at me until I stretched and reached for a scale that had flaked, not quite shedding its dead skin until I scratched at it, sending the old layers peeling off into ash.
The dragon sighed with relief.Of course. Only one of the original line could come here. I thought them all dead. At the time, it seemed a good idea to undo my creations, but I’ve been so very bored. I do regret it.
Blood hummed hot in my ears as adrenaline shot through my body. This wasn’t just any dragon.
This was our god. The creator of all dragonkind called the Azure Dragon.
Before I had a chance to digest that, a searing pain speared through my chest and I buckled over. I bit my lip hard to stifle the cry that wanted to rip out of me. I couldn’t do anything that would set the dragon off. Not when I knew what he was capable of. There was a reason I had no genetic memory of him. I wasn’t related to this dragon. He’d created me, just like he’d created my parents and all the dragons who’d come before me.
The ground shifted and fresh heat spilled into the chamber, but I had a feeling this heat wasn’t coming from the dragon.
The creature shifted, sending gold and magic swirling at my feet. Bo and Yan yelled for me, but I could barely hear them over the grumble of the dragon god. It opened its good eye to glare at me.What is this? What magic do you bring with you, young one?
I expected the dragon to snap at me and eat me whole. The pain that ransacked my body demanded a price. I fell to my knees and released the scream I’d been holding in just as the ground opened up and something drew me down into it.
The last thing I saw in the red haze of power was Bo and Yan running towards the dragon in mid-shift, scales sprouting across their skin as claws broke through their fingernails.
And then the portal closed, and I found myself trapped in my nightmares where the skies bled with smoke as if the entire world had burned to ash.
Greed
Sonya
“You know,this is the part where I ask if it hurt falling from heaven,” Nate informed me with a grin.
I rubbed my ass, which I’d landed on very ungracefully. I gave Nate a glare before accepting Xavier’s hand to get back on my feet. “Well, tough luck for you. I didn’t fall from heaven. I fell from the third circle of hell.”
Nate shrugged and kicked one of the gold coins into the darkness. This layer of hell was greed, and Jet’s sin which I needed to help him overcome. I figured that would be easy, as I didn’t see Jet as a particularly greedy person, but hell didn’t lie. An entire sea of gold glittered back at me as proof of what was in Jet’s heart.
“Close enough,” Nate said with a mischievous glint in his eye. “I’ve been waiting forever to use that pickup line.”
I pinched him on the cheek. “You don’t need any pickup lines with me.”
He playfully snapped his teeth at my fingers as I pulled them away, and it won a smile out of me, but the good humor quickly faded from my mood.
Luke wandered through the coins. He stopped and stared, although I couldn’t see anything in particular that might have gotten his attention. “What is it?” I asked and walked to his side. I looked down at the spot that he seemed so fascinated by, but all I could see was layer upon layer of gold coins.
