Dragul in Daylight

  Marie Treanor

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright ©2007 Marie Treanor

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  ISBN: 978-1-59596-702-2

  Formats Available:

  HTML, Adobe PDF,

  MobiPocket, Microsoft Reader

  Publisher:

  Changeling Press LLC

  PO Box 1046

  Martinsburg, WV 25402-1046

  www.ChangelingPress.com

  Editor: Crystal Esau

  Cover Artist: Zuri

  This e-book file contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language which some may find offensive and which is not appropriate for a young audience. Changeling Press E-Books are for sale to adults, only, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.

  Dragul in Daylight

  Marie Treanor

  The secret of the Dragul is out.

  Human agents of the Dome are delighted to capture a shape-shifting dragon. Michael and Aaron, on a mission from the City of the Damned, are even more delighted to rescue her, especially when she turns out to be Danna, the beautiful winged Dragon Dancer, revered by her people and her king.

  Danna can’t explain her powerful reactions to Michael, the half-human vampire -- unless he is her One, which would be an unthinkable tragedy when their destinies lie so far apart…

  Chapter One

  The soft ground shook beneath Michael’s feet. He stopped dead, staring at Aaron, who stood perfectly still at his side. The thud came again, making the leaves above them tremble as if in panic. At the same time, a human shout reached them, muted by the thickness of the woods.

  “You said there was someone else here,” Aaron murmured.

  “Someone else,” Michael corrected grimly. “This is several… Come on.”

  Without waiting for agreement, he sprinted through the trees. His direction wasn’t random. He simply followed the sounds in his ultra-perceptive ears and the clamouring of his other sense, blasted by someone else’s anxiety. And he moved fast, too fast for his friend to keep up, although it never entered his head that Aaron wouldn’t follow.

  The wood soon thinned, letting the late afternoon sun shaft through. Michael sniffed the air, sifting through the fresh damp smell of the undergrowth after rain and the various musky animal scents. He could smell human. And he could smell something definitely not.

  Excitement rose swiftly. He had known they were close…

  Abruptly, he halted, for his quarry was directly in his line of vision.

  The sparse trees opened up into a meadow, all green grass and wild flowers. Trampling it were four men, wrestling the corners of a large net while a fifth shouted orders and aimed a weapon -- a rifle -- at the plunging creature they had trapped.

  Michael’s breath caught. No wonder the ground had trembled…

  Abruptly, the creature stopped trying to escape the net and stood still. Its great scaly body trembled though not with fear, for its eyes flashed fire. From the point of its powerful tail to its long, white teeth, covered now as the dragon closed its mouth, it was a magnificent specimen. Strong, alien and peculiarly beautiful. A faint stream of what might have been steam, or smoke, trickled from its nostrils.

  Even captive, it was awesome. Michael found himself smiling as he hadn’t smiled in a very long time. The dragon moved, turning its great head toward the wood, toward him.

  Behind him, Aaron said breathlessly, “Jesus Christ, what’s that?”

  “That, my friend, is some unscrupulous agents of the Dome, capturing one of our soon-to-be-allies. No doubt to force negotiations. Ready to go in?”

  “Not that I mistrust your judgement, Michael, but our ally looks perfectly able to take care of itself! If what Beth says is true, it can easily fry that net as well as the bullies at each corner.”

  “I know,” said Michael, “but a good ally shows the enemy where to get off. I’ll get the guy with the gun first.”

  “Mike, they’ll all have guns!” Aaron warned.

  “I know. Take care.”

  Without waiting for more -- the men were winding the net around the dragon, drawing closer -- Michael burst through the trees and sprinted across the grass.

  His attention focused on the gunman who was advancing on the dragon and still hadn’t seen him…

  Fool! Stay back or I can’t fight them!

  The voice in his head took him by surprise -- but not enough to shock him or even slow him up. Instinctively, he knew it came from the dragon. Somehow it arrived in his head with this information.

  He spoke back to it. You don’t need to fight them now. We’re the cavalry.

  It was a weird kind of telepathy, more conceptual than verbal, as if it could have been understood in any language. Interesting. Almost as interesting as the voice itself. Low and pleasant, husky with anxiety, and definitely female.

  At last the gunman saw him, let out a shout of warning, and swung the rifle away from the dragon toward Michael.

  Michael jumped, partly to keep everyone’s attention on him and off Aaron, and partly because he just liked to do it.

  The gunman’s mouth fell open as Michael shot into the air and flew straight at him like a bullet. Panic dawned, but no constructive thought before Michael’s boots slammed into his head. Landing lightly on his feet, he grabbed the gun by the barrel, threw it unerringly at the head of the nearest net man. Before it had even struck him, Michael jumped across the dragon for the most distant captor. Like the other two, he went down like a stone. But Michael had to turn quickly to deal with the fourth man who ran at him, wrenching a handgun loose from his belt as he came. This was more of a fight, but the outcome was never in doubt for Michael. Nor was the knowledge that Aaron could -- and did -- deal with the final man.

  “Four to you, one to me?” Aaron said quizzically. “Show-off.”

  “Sometimes, it’s good to be a vampire.”

  He spoke vaguely, for his attention was distracted by a vague smell of burning. Turning, he saw that a large hole had been burned through the net. And the dragon had gone.

  Instead, a naked woman calmly rolled up the net.

  Aaron’s jaw dropped. “Where the hell did she come from? Where did it…”

  “Go?” Michael finished. “Nowhere. Nowhere at all.”

  In profile, she presented a charming if tantalizing picture as she knelt among the net, all long, strong thighs, and curved hips. Long, thick hair the color of ox-blood fell to her waist, hiding her breasts. She rose and turned to face them, holding the rolled up net in front of her like a shield, from breast to the juncture of her legs. Even so, her beauty was staggering. The luxuriant hair framed a face of delicate, even-featured beauty. She stood perfectly still, gazing at them. Michael walked slowly toward her, observing as he went that despite the frailty and delicacy of her face, she was tall for a woman, all voluptuous curves and long, luscious legs…

  Lust thudded into him like a blow. Not only was she beautiful but she stood there quite unafraid. The magnificent dragon was no less splendid as a woman…

  I am not a woman. I am Dragul.

  Behind her, something stirred, as if by the wind or the agitation of her body. Wings. Long, pale wings the color of skin or warm sandstone…

  Michael expelled his breath and came to a halt before her. “I know,” he said aloud, and smiled.

  The Dragul’s breasts heaved beneath her hair, and though the thickness of the rolled net prevented Michael’s observation of the full effect, the very knowledge that it was happening went straight to his still hardening cock.

  Still in his head, she said abruptly, “You should not have interfered.”

  “We couldn’t let them take you. They’d have used you as a hostage to get to your people.”

  “I was quite able to deal with it myself, and what’s more,” she added disdainfully, “you were well aware of that.”

  A straight puncher -- and a strong telepath. He hadn’t even felt her probe. Hastily, he re-checked his mental barrier. At the same time, he said easily, “True. But it goes against the grain not to show the Dome who’s strongest now and again. It’s good for them.”

  He had no way of knowing if she could tell he had also wanted to impress the Dragul with his strength and courage. He sent a quick probe into her mind, but it met nothing. She had shields that made his mother’s seem like eggshells, and they didn’t even seem to be there.

  At last, he began to get an inkling of the sheer power Beth had tried to convey. No wonder she wasn’t afraid of them, even of him.

  He held out his hand, saying easily, “My name is Michael…”

  “I know. Beth’s Michael.”

  Ignoring his hand, she turned to the man behind him. Aaron, who was not remotely telepathic, looked both bewildered and frustrated by the one-sided conversation he could hear. But this time the Dragul spoke aloud, her voice an exact replica of the one still echoing in Michael’s head.

  “And you are Aaron, also Beth’s friend.” His hand she took, if only briefly. “You are welcome in the Kingdom of the Dragul.”

  She turned away and began to walk across the flowered mea dow to the stream beyond. The two men exchanged glances, and then with a shrug, Michael began to follow her. Aaron smiled and fell into step beside him.

  The Dragul’s hair and folded wings hid most of her flesh, including the upper part of her smooth buttocks -- but not enough to calm Michael’s smouldering lust. Her naturally elegant movement in front of him made it difficult to walk without pain, but he forced himself to follow, barely aware of their triumph in achieving what he supposed was an invitation.

  Aaron said dreamily, “I knew that one day I’d be grateful Eve chose you instead of me…”

  Michael frowned at him. “Meaning what?”

  Aaron’s brow lifted. “Meaning you’re spoken for, mate.” He grinned after the Dragul’s gorgeous, winged back, and her taut upper thighs undulating in the sunshine. “And I’m not. Not yet… Jesus Christ, what’s that?”

  Michael’s head snapped upward. For an instant it looked like another dragon dropping through the sky, but it was too small for that. Like a great golden eagle, it swept down toward them until he saw that it was a man. A winged man with angelic golden hair and below a plain black tunic, the sort of body you had to be wary of. Here was power, Michael thought grimly, bracing himself. And threat…

  The winged man came to a graceful landing between them and the Dragul female. It crossed Michael’s mind, not quite pleasantly, that he might be her mate. Oh well, it was a long time since he’d been in a fight that presented any challenge…

  Don’t be an arse, he told himself irritably, you’re here to keep the peace!

  Almost as if he’d heard him, the male Dragul’s lips quirked upward.

  The female said silently, “Aurel, these are Beth’s friends.”

  So this was Aurel. Keeper of the Dragul Laws. And of Beth, apparently…

  Aurel spoke aloud. “I know. Are you hurt?”

  “A few scratches,” the female said hesitantly.

  Aaron stepped forward quickly. “I’m a doctor -- let me see --”

  “Your kindness is appreciated, but unnecessary here,” Aurel said politely. “Our physiology is a little different. You would like to visit Beth.” As he spoke, he took a bundle of soft, shimmering white threads from a concealed pocket in his tunic and shook them, before passing them casually to the female. But it wasn’t jumbled threads she pulled over her head, it was a white tunic that fit loosely over her body and around her wings.

  A conjuring trick…

  Aurel smiled. “We shall show you more. Come.”

  * * *

  Since morning, they had walked through land that appeared untouched by the radiation still poisoning the rest of the country to some degree. Over hills and glens and unexpectedly dense woods, the trees and grass had seemed to become gradually greener, the late summer flowers brighter and more exotic, the air cleaner and fresher, the streams more frequent and lively. By the time they had encountered the trapped “dragon,” Michael had found it almost idyllic. That had been the edges of the Dragul Kingdom.

  Entering it took away the “almost.” The Dragul led them along grassy paths that didn’t seem to be tracks at all until you compared it with the wilder undergrowth on either side. They were surrounded by beautiful, rolling hills, divided by deep valleys veined with gushing streams. Here and there, large, camouflaged houses were built into the hills and rocks, not hiding, simply blending with their surroundings.

  As a city boy, who had once loved roaming the open country in jaunts with his father, Michael was impressed.

  Wordlessly, Aaron picked a large, beautiful lily-like flower from the side of the track, and handed it to him.

  “What have I done to deserve this?” Michael asked sardonically.

  “It shouldn’t grow here. It isn’t warm enough.”

  “Apparently it is…”

  Thoughtfully, he gazed ahead. Aurel had just flown off again, back the way they had come. Michael wondered what he would do with the injured Dome dwellers, but mostly, he wondered about the dragon girl who walked so gracefully in front of him without once turning back.

  Impulsively, he loped forward the couple of steps that took him to her side. Her glance betrayed unexpected alarm, quickly veiled. Michael smiled, and held out the orchid to her. Startlement flitted across her lovely face, quickly followed by bewilderment and uncertainty.

  How odd that her expression gave so much away when her mind was so easily and firmly closed to him. And that she should be so wary of him now when he had detected no fear of him at all at their initial encounter…

  “It’s for you,” he explained, reaching for her hand and closing her fingers around the lush stem. Her skin was warm and smooth, softer than silk. “By way of an apology.”

  Blood trickled around her wrist from some abrasion hidden by her long sleeve. A nasty looking bruise spread down toward her hand. And as an unexpected jumble of anger and sympathy began to crowd him, he found himself stroking his thumb tenderly over the bruise.

  Her breath caught, she tried to tug free, and reluctantly, he let his hand fall away. He liked the feel of her in his hold, and he liked the faint tinge of color his touch had brought to her cheeks -- although he wasn’t vain enough to imagine that was caused by anything warmer than embarrassment.

  She cleared her throat slightly, as if unused to using it. “Apology for what?”

  He shrugged. “For butting in on your fight.”

  She looked flummoxed. For a long moment, Michael thought she wasn’t going to answer and didn’t know whether to be piqued or amused. Then, with apparent difficulty, she said, “I am not ungrateful for the risks you and your friend took on my behalf. But we might all have been killed by your methods.”

  “Unlikely. Dome dwellers are rotten fighters -- they rely too much on weapons and can’t cope with anything that moves faster than a slow jog.”

  A hint of a smile gleamed in her amazingly deep, sea-green eyes. “You fly without wings.”

  “I jump,” said Michael deprecatingly. “It’s just a trick my mother taught me. She’s a vampire.”

  Unfazed, the Dragul woman only nodded. “Like Beth’s father.”

  “Beth avoided the tricks. I embraced them.”

  She looked at him directly, the brief softening over. “What else do you do? Kill for blood?”

  Stupidly, it felt like a kick in the stomach. Michael did what he always did when kicked. He smiled. “I’m not allowed to in the City.”

  “Or anywhere else,” said Aaron dryly from behind. “He’s a policeman.”

  Her eyes widened as she looked from Aaron back to Michael. “Like Aurel? You are Keeper of the Law?”

  “Beth really hasn’t told you much about us, has she?” Aaron said ruefully. “And no, not quite like Aurel…”

  As if speaking his name had conjured him up, Aurel reappeared over the crest of the nearest hill, and flew down beside them, folding his great bat-like wings silently behind him.

  “You didn’t kill them,” he informed Michael and Aaron. “Although I doubt they’ll remember too much about what happened. Or where.”

  So he could alter memories. Interesting…

  Aaron gave a twisted smile, but Michael caught the Law Keeper’s gaze, and held it. “It won’t make any difference in the long term. They’ll be back. In one guise or another. Word is out about your people.”

  Aurel shrugged. “Perhaps we were naive to assume we could remain hidden… But on the same subject, how did -- er -- word reach you? I was under the impression that in the so-called City of the Damned, only Beth’s parents knew of our existence.”

  “Well… Beth’s parents are very close to mine, and to Will, the City leader.” Though the Dragul’s gaze was very intense, it didn’t appear intentionally intimidating, so Michael shrugged and told him the truth. “Your existence is not generally known, but we had word that the Dome knows. For our own safety we have to pay attention to that. And… Beth and I grew up together. We have a telepathic link that she may not care to use, but I do occasionally. The rest of us wanted to know she was all right.”

  “And is she?”

  Living in a fairy tale kingdom with a gorgeous man who subjects me to hot, prolonged sex every night -- and most days too? I suppose you could say I’m not unhappy!

 

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