Kian and the crew walked out into the forest surrounding the mansion. The first rays of predawn glowed in the East.

“Activate mental link and stealth mode,” he told his crew.

They slid their fingers over their wrist devices and activated stealth mode. With the mental link active, they could hear each other and Bethi inside their minds.

“Directions to the vampire stronghold,” he told Bethi through the mental link.

“Directions commencing,” Bethi said.

“Everyone, shift into dragon form.”

They all shifted, their wrist devices keeping them cloaked in invisibility. Four dragons launched into the air. Kian’s animal mind took precedence. All he wanted was to go back to the mansion and claim the little human still sleeping in her room. But he still did not know if she was truly his mate.

“Kian and Everly sitting in a tree, k.i.s.s.i.n.g,” Dax teased.

“What the hell are you singing, Dax?” Kian snapped.

“It's a human children's song used for teasing people in love,” Aiden informed him.

“Well, stop it. We need to focus on the mission,” Kian chided.

“Take a left at the mountain peak, past the city,” Bethi chirped.

The four fire dragons glided left at the AI’s direction and continued over the city.

“The vampire stronghold is straight ahead,” Bethi said.

After about an hour of flying, they came to a massive mansion, illuminated by the first rays of dawn.

The dragons swooped down and landed on a manicured lawn. The mansion was huge and modern, with large windows that looked out onto sprawling grounds. Each dragon shifted into human form, maintaining stealth mode.

“There are vampire magic wards around the perimeter,” Cato said.

“Bethi, break these wards,” Kian said, holding his wrist device pointed at the mansion.

“Processing,” Bethi said.

“How long is this going to take?” Dax asked, sounding bored.

“Wards neutralized,” Bethi chirped.

“Forward,” Kian said.

They continued across the lawn, quickly scurrying toward the back of the house. They climbed up to a back balcony and found an unlocked door.

Inside, a vampire in a tailored suit sat at a large mahogany desk, smoking a cigar and twirling red liquid in a tumbler.

“I know we believed they were long gone, but I'm telling you, they're here,” said the one sitting behind the desk.

Another vampire sat across from him, smoking his own cigar and holding a wine glass of deep red liquid. His eyes were dark. His jet-black hair was slicked back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. They both wore tailored black suits, but the one behind the desk wore a silver tie, and the one in front wore red. The one in the silver tie smiled, sharp teeth revealed as his lips parted.

“We have nothing to worry about. The dragons are gone. Extinct. At this point, they are nothing but a myth.”

“I know what the elders said. But I'm telling you, I'm picking up something. Something different. I feel it more every day.”

“You are just getting nervous in your old age, Victor,” said the vampire in the red tie. “Maybe you should take a hiatus. Go to sleep for a few decades. When you wake up you'll feel better.”

“This isn’t age anxiety, Marcus. It's something else.”

“You and I both know that you have never met a dragon. So, whatever you’re sensing could very well be a product of your imagination.”

“I retain the sensitivity of the ancients,” Victor said, standing from his chair. He was clearly exasperated. “I may have never encountered a pure blood dragon, but I have encountered many Dragon Souls in my time. The sensation is similar.”

“All I'm saying is that you shouldn't let whatever sense you're having spoil your fun. Especially not today. My sentries brought us the tastiest morsels in the city, and you spent all night brooding,” Marcus said. Victor swirled his glass. “Perhaps the influx of Dragon Soul blood slaves is making your senses tingle.”

“It could be,” said Victor, tossing back the red liquid. He slammed the glass on the desk.

“Let's go mingle before the party is over,” said Marcus.

They left the office and continued down the hall, leaving the door open. The four dragons followed silently, down a staircase to the first floor of the house. There were dozens of vampires dressed in luxurious human clothing. Music played and there was a tinkle of laughter and conversation. The two vampires from upstairs continued into a ballroom.

Beyond the double doors into the ballroom, Kian saw something that made his heart stop. The room was draped in blood red velvet with red carpets and red velvet settees.

“I think I’m going to vomit. This décor is atrocious. And what kind of maniac chose this music? I’ve heard better beats in an elevator,” Aiden said through their mental link. “Worst party ever.”

The gaudy decorating and bland music was not what shocked Kian. It was the dozens of naked humans lying about the place, and the numerous vampires feeding off their flesh. Fangs dipped into skin, sucking passionately at the flesh of their blood slaves.

Kian had lived a thousand years before the cataclysm forced dragons from their home. He had known these creatures in battle. He’d seen what they were capable of.

They had lost some of their strength, but their primary source of food, the living blood of other creatures, had not changed. They had taken to feeding off humans as they had off the beings in the Dragonian home systems so long ago.

Unfortunately for humans and human Dragon Souls, they were an easy target. Kian sent a jumbled chaotic message across the mental link, and he received the same garbled message back.

“I cannot watch this,” he said.

The other dragons followed him and slipped through the front door of the mansion without being noticed.

“How could this have happened?” he said as they hurried away from the gruesome sight.

“Humans have no defenses against vampires,” Cato said.

“How did they get here?” Kian asked. “When we left, they were still a power base in our home systems.”

“Bethi does not have access to those histories. But if I had to venture a guess, I’d surmise that, without dragons to keep them in check, they probably devoured the entire section of the galaxy, including their own world,” Cato said. “Bethi, run an analysis on the effect of unchecked vampire feeding on the Dragonian galactic neighborhood, one million years ago.”

“Commencing analysis,” Bethi said over their mental link as the dragons made it to the edge of the estate.

“It is a good theory, Cato,” Kian said. “We'll see what Bethi comes back with.”

“But how did they get here?” Dax asked.

“Probably the same way we did,” Aiden said.

The Houses of Dragonia had left their home system when their sun had died, leaving the quadrant without defenders. The vampires had already taken over most of the populated systems at that time. The Dragonians had fought them. But as the sun began to fade, a thousand years before, so had the dragons’ strength.

After the evacuation, the Dragonians searched the galaxy for a new home. They had found this one planet, now known as Earth. It was a nightmare to find their old enemy here.

“Preliminary analysis complete, results indicate that if the vampires were left unchecked, they would have devoured the inhabited solar systems in the Dragonian home quadrant within one thousand years.”

“So, if they had no one else to feed on, they would have evacuated themselves,” Cato deduced.

“They couldn’t have been here that long,” Kian reasoned. “They would have already destroyed the entire planet if they had.”

“But these vampires are much less powerful. And they have no technology,” Aiden said.

“We won't solve this mystery now,” Kian said. “It is time to go home.”

Kian instructed his crew to shift, and they launched into the air in their dragon forms, slowly gliding on the air streams back to their mansion. The horror of what he had witnessed in the vampires’ mansion haunted him all the way home. His thoughts drifted to Everly, and her delicate, vulnerable form.

The humans lacked defenses against vampires, but he knew that there was so much good in humans. Unlike the vampires, who were pure predatory evil, humans could show kindness and love. They were worthy of protection. With the help of the dragons, they could become even greater.

“Deactivating stealth mode,” Kian said upon landing and shifting in front of the mansion. The other dragons deactivated their stealth modes and became visible again.

“Cato, I want you to do an analysis of human history to see if we can glean when the vampires first became active on this planet. Then we may be able to understand the extent of their interference with human development.”

“On it,” Cato said.

“First, I need to know if Everly is my mate,” he thought to himself.

He didn't know for sure if she was his mate, but everything inside him told him that she was. He just had to wait for Bethi to tell him for sure. But Kian didn't think he needed the analysis. At this point, he believed it was nothing more a technicality. He had never been so sure of anything in his life. And he would do everything in his power to protect her.