Everly screamed as the dark men grabbed her and Ember. She had just walked into the meadow a few feet when the man appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her.

“You're coming with us, little Dragon Soul,” sneered a man in a black hoodie.

“What do you want from me?” she screamed.

“Your blood, of course,” he said. The other one, who wore a red hoodie, snatched Ember and held her up, sniffing her body.

“It's a true dragon,” said the one in red. Everly could practically hear his mouth watering.

“Let her go,” Everly demanded, straining against the man in black.

“Never, she belongs us now. We just have to decide if we drain her now or keep her alive to drain her slowly over time,” said the one wearing the black hoodie.

“I think we should keep her alive,” said the one in the red hoodie. “I hear dragon blood is tasty.”

“We've been subsisting on Dragon Souls and now we have a real dragon of our own,” the one in black said gleefully.

“Let her go,” Everly insisted.

The vampire simply laughed at her as they clutched her and Ember in their cold, steely strong hands.

Suddenly the vampires evaporated into a cloud of black smoke, taking her and Ember with them. A split second later, they materialized again and were standing in front of the three-story mansion, deep in a green pine forest.

“Who are you? What do you want? What are we doing here?”

“Don't worry little Dragon Soul. You will be taken care of.”

Both of the men snickered and pulled her bodily into the house. The one in red was holding Ember in a precarious position. Everly reached out, trying to take her from the man's arms.

“Don’t touch,” he said. “This is my dragon baby.”

“What do you mean dragon?” she said, his words finally making sense to her ears.

“You don't know?” he said.

“We thought we smelled dragons. They must've snuck in here. But the jokes on them,” said the one in red. “We followed the scent and spied on them. Now we have their baby.”

Both of the vampires snickered again.

“And you are a Dragon Soul,” said the vampire in black, sniffing her neck. “So delicious.”

She tried to pull away, but he was holding her tight.

A dozen people sat in a lavishly decorated living room. They pulled her through the room as the men and women stared at her hungrily.

“What are you people?” she demanded.

“Your dragon friends certainly haven't informed you of much,” said the one in red.

“Don't you know vampires when you see them?” said the one in black.

“Vampires?”

“It doesn't matter if you know, now. We’ll probably suck you dry before nightfall,” said the one in black, holding her. The both snickered again.

“You are going to drink my blood?” she asked.

“Of course we are. You are a Dragon Soul. And a strong one at that. The dragons must have been keeping you around for a reason.”

“We nabbed a Dragon Soul and a dragon baby. What a good day,” said the one in black, congratulating himself.

“Let me go,” Everly said, struggling against them as they pulled her down the stairs and into a basement.

They took her into what looked like a spare bedroom mixed with a torture chamber. They threw her on the floor and set Ember beside her. Standing over them, they sneered.

“Now we have to decide who goes first,” said one in black.

“The Coven Council will want them. We shouldn't have brought them here. We should have just drained them on the spot.”

“You know the rules. We must bring Dragon Souls back to the mansion to share with the rest of the coven. Otherwise Victor and Marcus will kick us out.”

“But they smell so delicious,” said the vampire in red. “Maybe it would've been worth it.”

“Nothing is worth being kicked out of the coven,” the one in black corrected.

“You know, the Council will want to keep them for themselves.”

“We found them. So, we will get our taste, by coven law.”

“They’ll take them from us and not share.”

“We have laws for a reason,” the one in black snapped.

“You're always defending Victor.”

“I’m loyal to the coven. And I always will be. You should watch your tongue.”

Everly watched all of this with fascination. Sitting up from the floor, she pulled Ember into her lap to comfort her. She'd been crying relentlessly the entire time and was nearly inconsolable.

“Why do you want our blood?” she asked them again.

They stopped their bickering and turned back to look at her.

“We told you, the baby is a dragon and you are a Dragon Soul. Vampires get extra strength from Dragon Souls. The power we would get from a full dragon, I can only imagine.”

“I've never encountered a real dragon in my life,” said the one in red.

“None of us have. But the scent is unmistakable. You see, my dear,” said the vampire in black. “We had something of a security breach recently. We couldn’t keep them out, but we did pick up their scent. We tracked it to their compound. And there you were, waiting for us like a little present all wrapped up and ready to be ripped open.”

His eyes sparkled at her as he grinned maniacally. The other one laughed at his joke and she inched backwards against the wall.

“I won't let you hurt the baby,” she said, shielding Ember from the vampires.

“Oh look, she's brave,” the one in red said.

“And loyal.”

“Tell us, little Dragon Soul. How did you get mixed up with the only dragons on the planet?”

“I didn't know they were dragons,” she said at a whisper.

“Well, we didn't know there were any dragons on Earth. And here you are with a dragon baby, hanging out with the only dragons in existence,” said the one in black.

“What exactly is your relationship to these dragons?” asked the one in red.

“I'm the nanny,” Everly said.

“The nanny?” the one in black snickered.

“Kian and I are dating,” she said, almost inaudibly.

“Dating? A dragon is dating a human?”

“She must be his fated mate,” the one in black said excitedly, clapping his hands and licking his lips.

“The fated mate of one of the only dragons on the planet,” said the one in red.

“Mmm, this does present an interesting opportunity.”

“Kian will come after us. He will save us,” Everly snapped.

“Oh, we're counting on it,” said the one in black. “A dragon baby is one thing, but a full-grown dragon is quite another.”

“You'll never beat them,” she said, rocking Ember, trying to get her to calm down.

The poor thing was absolutely wretched. She wouldn't stop crying and clung to Everly's hair for dear life.

“Well, we'll just see about that.”

“It may be dangerous,” the one in black said. “We've never encountered a dragon before. They could rip our entire home to shreds for all we know.”

“We need to speak with Victor,” the one in black said. “We need to let him know about the threat.”

“We’ll leave you here for now, dragon mate,” the one in red said, his lips curling back over his sharp teeth.

“If you're lucky, I'll drain your blood later.”

They snickered and left the room, locking the door behind them. Everly shuddered, the reality of her situation finally sinking in. She'd been kidnapped by vampires. The man she adored was a dragon. How could it be? How could it be real? But everything before her was telling her it had to be true.

These vampires were clearly evil souls who wanted to feed on her and Ember’s blood. They had some kind of magical power, power she had never seen in her world. As frightening and strange as it all was, she had to accept what she witnessed in front of her.

She only hoped that Kian was on his way and he and his crew were strong enough to fight these vampires. She feared the vampires were setting a trap for the dragons, and it would be all her fault. She hugged Ember to her, her sobs finally slowing.

“Don't worry, baby,” she said, rubbing her back. “Daddy's coming. He’ll fix everything.”