Dragon ran as fast as he could, his feet flying on the wooden boards of the walkway, thinking, How did they find us so fast?

Gabriel was already issuing orders to the crew assembling on the porch as people poured outside, looking for safety.

In front of them, a thick plume of white smoke rose over the tiled roof, and the stench of doused flames filled the air, but it wasn’t the only fire. Two different spots burned, and nobody seemed to be working on soaking the structure. A blackened portion of the roof collapsed.

The house was being attacked on several fronts, and the screams and anguished cries coming from inside chilled Dragon’s heart.

Valentine had swept Mirella and Valemir into his arms. The little boy was crying, and his father soothed him with shushed words as he caressed his back.

“Take them to my studio,” Gabriel said to Valentine, shouting over the cacophony. “Stay with them.”

“We won’t let anyone cross the bridge,” Dragon assured Valentine.

The werewolf nodded and sprinted in the opposite direction, taking his family to safety.

A boisterous crack followed by a loud thud stopped everyone for a moment. The sounds came from around the section of the porch hidden from sight—the same side where the princesses’ quarters were located.

Dragon bolted, heading toward the guest wing, but veered when Valerian appeared among the throng of swaying people that exited from one of the lateral communal rooms. His lieutenant’s eyes searched ahead, and his expression slightly relaxed when he saw Dragon.

“Where are Lauren and Gilda?” Dragon asked when he reached his friend.

Gilda stepped out from behind Valerian’s shadow, looking pale. “I can’t find Lauren,” she said, her eyes wide and filled with unshed tears. Usually composed, she now looked a faint echo of the woman Dragon had come to know. Her hands worried the hem of her shirtsleeves as she stared ahead, slightly shaking her head. “We were arguing, and she stormed out of the room, and then I heard the explosions, and people started screaming, and the flames… I went looking for her, but I couldn’t find Lauren anywhere—”

“The princess wasn’t in her quarters,” Valerian confirmed.

A second loud explosion silenced everyone. Dragon looked over the roof where the flames had engulfed more of the structure.

A hastily put-together crew commanded by Gabriel pumped water from the sea through a series of clockwork hydrants that churned out highly pressurized water and fish. The sight looked straight out of one of those Terran legends of old, and soon the smell of broiled, fresh catch mingled with the other scents.

Gabriel raised his hand to draw Dragon and Valerian’s attention. “I need to check on the rest of the house,” he said as he stepped away from the pump, taking with him a few of his guards.

“Go.” Dragon replaced the vampire at the head of the water squad as Valerian went to man a second clockwork pump.

Large fish swam closer to the house, and the hydrants’ sieves creaked and slowed under the strain as they tried to keep the bigger catches at bay.

One by one, all able men and women approached Dragon, offering help. He directed the strong arms to the pumps, and everyone else to form as many bucket lines as they could manage. After an intense hour, the front of the manor was safe, and they moved inside, slowly chasing away the flames, one room at a time, as more people joined the effort.

Half of the day passed before Dragon reached the other end of the manor and met Gabriel and his men in the atrium. The once-elegant room with its white walls and polished marbles was a gutted version of its former self. The vaulted ceiling had collapsed, smashing the furniture that the fire hadn’t already burned.

Covered in ash, the vampire raised his eyes toward Dragon and shook his head. “Rubble,” he said, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. Black soot spread from his hand to his face. “People barely escaped with their lives. The medical bay is filled to capacity. More than half of my house destroyed. All in the name of racism.” He reached inside his vest and pulled out a piece of parchment he extended so Dragon could read the message written on it. “I found it pinned on my bedroom door.”

You should’ve remained on Earth and died a long time ago.

We’ll cleanse the Fifth Moon System of you, worthless scum.

It’s time humanity rules again.

T F P H

Dragon read the neatly printed words, and bile rose in his throat. “The Front Pro Humanity—”

“They don’t care who dies.” Gabriel leaned against one of the few intact columns. “Besides myself and my guards, the rest of my household is human. It’s nothing short of a damned miracle that there were no fatalities today.” Sliding down the column, he pointed toward the hallway that connected the atrium to the internal gardens. Black stumps stood in place of the verdant plants. “Look at this devastation. And for what?”

“We can’t find Lauren,” Dragon said. He had looked for the princess as the fire squad opened a path through the house. Every time they cleared a new portion, Dragon rejoiced that they didn’t find bodies, but soon after, dread engulfed him because there was no trace of Lauren anywhere.

“I saw Valerian with Gilda.” Gabriel stood at once. “Wasn’t she with Gilda?”

“No. They had an argument and separated.” Dragon passed a hand through his hair, sending gray dust all over his shoulders. “She might have jumped into the water to escape from the fire.”

Gabriel motioned for one of his aids to come closer. “Organize a search team,” he said to the man, who nodded and left. “We’ll find her,” he reassured Dragon.

* * *

Instead of waiting for the news to reach him, Dragon dragged his tired body outside on the porch and followed the team as they worked in pairs to find Lauren.

The shiny clockwork suits and helmets of the divers cut the black sea with their blue lights, revealing what lay underneath the surface with crystal-clear clarity. In places, the sea bed showed pink and purple corals, surrounded by schools of fish that slept anchored to green pastures, undulating with the sway of the waves created by the men’s passage. Big and small marine mammals floated closer, made curious by the human activity.

As it had happened during the firefight, every time the men gave him a shake of their heads before diving back in, Dragon expelled a sigh of relief that Lauren’s body hadn’t been found. But as the night progressed and it dawned on him that they weren’t going to find her, a heavy weight settled on Dragon’s chest.

A starless night engulfed the sky and dawn had just illuminated the darkness with pink light when the search team emerged one last time from the placid waters.

Silently, Gabriel pulled one of the men onto the deck.

The diver’s suit hissed as clockwork gears pumped water out of the hollow space that separated the inner layer from the external one. The lights on the visor dimmed to white before the man turned them off as he opened the front of the light armor. Gabriel and a second man helped the diver out of the suit.

“The morning tide is about to sweep the island,” the diver said, looking at Dragon. “Everything that isn’t anchored or doesn’t know how to swim will be sucked toward the high sea. I’m sorry.”

Dragon thanked the man, then absentmindedly repeated the words when the second diver offered his apologies for not finding Lauren.

Gabriel praised their efforts and sent them to rest. “They did their best,” he then said to Dragon, who nodded.

“I know.” Dragon’s mind refused to work. He couldn’t think any longer.

“Dragon!” Valerian called from somewhere inside. The skeleton of the house carried sounds further into the night.

“Here,” Dragon shouted.

Running steps echoed, sounding closer until Valerian appeared around the corner, visible through what remained of the frame of the manor. He waved a piece of paper in his hand. “Lauren’s alive.”

Dragon grabbed the paper and read.

We’ll make an example of a dragon lover.

TFPH