A Turn of Tides (A Shade of Vampire #13)(56)

By the time ten minutes had passed, among the other vampires we’d gathered were Claudia, Yuri, Zinnia, Gavin, Eli, Matteo, Helina, Landis, Ashley… We also had a dozen witches and a generous crowd of werewolves—although, since it was daytime outside The Shade, they weren’t in their wolf form.

I wondered where Kiev, Xavier and Vivienne were—why they weren’t among the crowd.

I also wondered how my brother had been keeping all this time, but I didn’t want to distract my parents at this moment.

We all needed to focus on the task at hand.

Most of our army still had no idea why we were gathering them, until my father and mother began shouting instructions as we raced through the trees.

We made one last stop before arriving at the Port—The Shade’s armory.

Everyone gathered weapons—mostly long spears and guns.

My forehead was dripping sweat by the time the last of the crowd grabbed their weapons and we headed straight for the Port.

I was sure that we were already pushing the time limit.

A deafening roar piercing through the air confirmed that for me.

“We need to hurry!” I urged, tugging on my father’s cloak.

“Sofia,” my father called, lowering me to the ground as The Shade’s warriors began hurrying away toward the Port.

“Stay here with Rose.

We don’t want her anywhere near the beast.” My mother gripped my arms as my father ran into the woods after the army.

A spear in his hand and some kind of sharp hook resting over his shoulder, Caleb cast one last, lingering glance at me.

“Remember what I told you earlier,” he said softly before racing after my father.

I choked up as I stared at two of the most important people in my life, disappearing into the darkness.

I motioned to run after them, but my mom gripped my midriff and held me back.

“You heard what your father said,” she said sternly.

“Mom,” I said, clutching her shoulders, “it’s all my fault that the dragon is here and our people are risking their lives for it.

I want to at least be there to witness what happens.” She ran a palm over my forehead, then sighed.

“Okay.

We’ll watch from a distance.” Her lack of resistance showed that her stomach was also in knots about what was about to happen.

I climbed onto her back and she ran into the forest.

She stopped once we reached the borders of the clearing just in front of the Port and we ducked down in the bushes.

She shuddered as we both laid eyes on the dragon.

“If that thing comes within a hundred feet of us,” she murmured, “I’m dragging you away from here.” “Okay… Charis is his name, by the way.” She shot me a bemused look before fixing her eyes back on the beast.

Our army hadn’t entered the clearing yet, but I noticed their shadows moving around in the bushes surrounding the Port as they observed Charis.

Several harrowing moments passed before my father darted out from the trees, a spear in one hand, a gun in the other, and the rest of the army followed closely after him.

The dragon let out a deafening roar, and the minutes that followed next were sheer chaos.

A blaze of fire shot from his mouth and would have burned the warriors leading the attack to ashes had the witches not manifested a wall of water to extinguish it.

As the dragon continued to spit fire, it soon became clear that this would likely be the most useful thing the witches could do—focus on dispelling the flames while the others attempted to get within shooting distance of his eyes.

By now, I could barely see what was going on with all the smoke choking the area.

“They’ve got to end him before he launches into the sky,” I said, coughing.

No sooner had I said the words than there was another roar and I could make out the outline of Charis’s wings spreading.

With three mighty beats, he launched into the sky.

“Give up the girl now,” he boomed down from above, “and I might still spare your island.” My mom began to clutch me so hard it hurt.

We both stared up at the sky through the gaps in the trees.

I was expecting to be met with a terrifying sight, but what I saw nearly gave me a heart attack.

Hanging beneath the belly of the dragon was Caleb.

He was holding onto a hook wedged into Charis’ hide, which was so thick the dragon hadn’t even noticed.

“Oh, my.” My mother covered her mouth with her hands.

I watched in horror as Caleb swung himself up the side of the dragon and, gripping his scales, climbed up onto his back.

It wasn’t until Caleb reached the back of his neck and attempted to spear the beast in the eye that Charis noticed.

I screamed as Caleb missed his mark by what looked like a fraction.

The dragon lurched downward and jerked around wildly in the sky, trying to fling Caleb from his back.

Caleb’s spear fell to the ground.

Now the only weapon he had against the monster was his claws.

Charis twisted his head back over his shoulder and heaved a blaze of fire.

If Caleb hadn’t quickly leapt on top of the creature’s head, he would have been scorched.

But as Charis began shaking his head violently, it was clear that it was only a matter of seconds before Caleb lost his grip and hurtled down to the ground.