Orion spread his silver wings, pushing north along the coastline. The dark outline of what was once California spread out below him. Who knew what it would be called now that the immortals walked the Earth again.

His heart ached for the time before the veil when the world knew that the sons and daughters of eternity walked among them. The last two thousand years had been torture without his dragon. Without Selene.

Big Sur flew past below him, he swooped on an updraft that sent him higher over the dark forest. The blanket of the eternal night sky shone with a multitude of stars. The moon too had gone dim, its light only a reflection of the sun. Anger burned in Orion’s heart. To turn off the very sun that warmed the planet and allowed life to grow was beyond unforgivable. Xander had to pay for this.

Orion would stop at nothing to return the light to the world. He gritted his teeth, his mind turning to Selene. It was as if he could feel her calling out to him by name.

He wanted to heed her call. She’d been gone for so long. Was it possible that Selene’s spirit walked this Earth, in this time, perhaps close enough to touch?

Selene had defied the laws of probability once, perhaps she could do it again now. He ached to see her after all this time. Two thousand years without his heart mate was too long. His body screamed for her, the beast at his core furious to give her his mark once more.

He had to find her. Orion pumped his wings, feeling the cool ocean air glide under him. He was approaching civilization again, his keen senses picking up the subtle impressions of the lives below. He could smell their fear and despair. The cool scent of vampires crossed his senses. They were feeding below in the darkness.

And it wasn’t just vampires. The dragons of The Surge had joined Xander’s team. Many had waited long for this night. Few had the courage to protect the humans. Orion gritted his teeth. This had to be put right. If the immortals openly walked the Earth again, they had to allow the human race to live in peace.

However, Orion knew that it would be a hard fight to win. For now, they had to take the fight to Xander. The rest of the lower level Surge would be dealt with later. He knew many other immortals who still believed in the sacrifice of the witches.

The witches were the female genetic link all immortals had to the ancient bloodlines. They were part of the lineage of the old gods, just like dragons and vampires.

No matter where the elders had gone, Orion and his clan remained. As did The Surge, who intended to enslave humanity and use it for its own ends.

Who would stop them? The fathers and the mother of all immortals had left two thousand years ago at the time of the veiling.

Had they left on their ships to other worlds or run away to the bowels of the Earth? No one knew. They’d left their children to finish their quarrels themselves. How Orion had landed in this fight he did not know. He was the great-great grandson of the god Dahaki and the goddess Gama, as were all the dragons in the world today.

Most dragons were many thousands of years old. Like the oldest vampires. The immortals had lacked the female line since the witches sacrificed themselves to create the veil. They hid in reincarnating human bodies, devoid of all their magic, their energy given to keeping up the veil.

Sometimes they would be born as wise women or psychics. Sometimes they were persecuted and burned alive. Midwives and healers, the women who always felt a little bit off in the world, as if there was something more than the mundane reality.

None of the immortals could be sure which women were the witches. Even if an immortal found one of these psychic humans, there was no way to tell if she was a witch or if she was just human. Her children would not carry the magic gene either way and she would not produce immortal young.

The immortal family lines had been dwindling. The clans grew old. Many had died in accidents or battles during the veil. Their bodies’ natural healing ability had been severely compromised. It was the same with vampires who could no longer walk in the light of day due to the genetic code of their kind. The veil took away their ability to withstand the light.

Like female dragons, female vampires could not produce fully immortal young. Even the oldest females from the strongest gene pools did not produce immortal children.

Only witches carried the female genetic line from Gama, the goddess. When an immortal male mated with a witch, her young was a demigod, like Orion and his brother Titus.

Witches would become a hot commodity in these times of unveiling magic. The awakening witches would think they were human one moment and then realize they were something else the next. His heart ached for them. His great love, his heart mate, Selene had been one of the greatest priestesses of all time. Selene had been a shining star upon the Earth. She’d died with his baby in her womb.

His heart ached at the memory of her dead body floating in her gazing pool.

He pumped his wings harder as he approached the San Francisco Bay. The dark city loomed above the blackened water. His mind stretched out over the multitude of cries. He felt something there. A mind searched for him by name. A bright spot shone on his mind’s eye. It was like a burning flash of white heat. Magic. He could taste it on the air. Not just any magic. Witch magic.

Swooping, he descended from far above, shooting like a rocket toward the magic. He landed on the roof of a five story apartment building and shifted. His clothes came along with him in a flash of nano-technology and holographic illusion. Orion walked to the edge of the building and looked down at the balcony below. She was there.

He hopped to the balcony on the third floor and looked through the sliding glass window. A woman slept on her couch, holding a cat in her arms. His acute dragon senses made out the outline of her shape and he heard the gentle purring of her feline companion.

Orion sniffed the air, gripping the glass door’s handle. It was locked. He pulled out his glass pad and flicked the screen, using his nano-technology to create a skeleton key. When the lock clicked, he slid open the door. The scent of her hit him. She filled his senses with spices and honey. The spring blossoms at sunrise. The morning dew on the grass swaying in a sweet breeze. He would know that scent anywhere. He went to her side and knelt over her. The cat awoke and hissed before scrambling away into the darkness of the apartment.

“Stop Felix,” the woman murmured.

Her voice was a song. Like the whispered words she’d once said to him so long ago on the grounds of their home. It was her. It had to be. He’d found his beloved Selene! By some incomprehensible chance, he’d found her here in San Francisco. Her loveliness filled his heart as he watched her sleeping face in the flickering candle light.

He had to get her out of here. He had to protect her. His dragon rumbled. He needed to make her his own once again. No other immortal would ever touch her. He vowed to keep her safe.

The woman’s eyes fluttered and she yawned. When she finally focused her vision on him, she scrambled to sitting and reached for her glasses. She put them on and then threw them back on the side table.

“Who are you?” she finally demanded.

Orion could smell the magic building in her belly.

“It is I. Orion. Your heart mate.”

“How did you get in here?” she snapped, inching away from him until she’d scooted around the back of the couch.

“I flew. How much do you remember?”

“Remember?”

“Do you know what’s happening?”

“Does anyone?” she said flatly.

“You must be feeling the effect. I can smell the magic all over you.”

“Magic?”

“The energy of the void. It has been kept from us for so long on this planet. Blocked by Gama’s last spell on Earth. She blocked magic from the world. It took your life in the process.”

“My life.”

“Do you remember?”

“I remember…something.”

Orion strode toward her and took her hand in his, pressing it to his chest. Her face lit up in shock. His dragon called to take her. This woman had been his wife. The mother of his children. She had to be his again. He had to protect her.

“You must come with me,” he said, wrapping his arm around her waist.

She let out a gasp and gazed into his eyes. Her long brown hair hung down her back and her green eyes twinkled in the candle light. He knew she felt what he did. Somewhere deep inside. She had to remember him.

“Selene,” he whispered.

“I’m not Selene,” she said, pushing away. “I’m Lucia Amador. What is your name and how did you get into my apartment?”

“I beg your pardon, lady. I am Orion Silverdrake. Your husband. And I flew in here and used nano-technology to pick the lock on your door. Now please, waste no more time and come with me.”

“You flew…”

“I’m a dragon. I thought you knew that.”

“No…that’s a new one for me. Although, I don’t know how it’s possible, but I have seen you in my mind. I thought I was hallucinating. Like as a side effect of a nuclear explosion or something. Come to think of it, you could be a hallucination. That’s the only reason I’m not using my shotgun on you right now.”

“You’ve touched me, Lucia” he said. “You’ve felt my heat against your body. You know I’m real.”

He could smell her arousal rise from her core and it filled his nostrils. He wanted to take her in his arms again, but she was on edge. She still didn’t know herself. She didn’t know him.

“I want to take you to safety,” he said. “Out of the city.”

“It’s getting worse by the minute out there.”

“Come with me,” he said, reaching out to her. “I will protect you.”

He saw the thoughts move across her face and the scent of her magic swirl and change. She wanted to believe him. She needed his protection. But more than that, she burned for answers to her many questions. He smelled the sharp scent of thirst for knowledge and the deep earthy scent of a desire for insight.

“I can’t leave without Felix,” she said, running to her bedroom.

She came back a moment later with a white, plastic cat carrier. She found the cat, who had been lurking in a dark corner and she put the creature into the plastic box.

“Is that everything?” he asked.

“My laptop,” she added with a laugh.

“I have better at my fortress. Now come, beloved, we must go.”

She pulled on a jacket and slung her purse over her shoulder. With the cat carrier in hand she followed Orion out onto the balcony. She stared up at him in the darkness. A fire burned in the distance. A gunshot rang out among the screams and cries. Lucia shuddered in the cold breeze.

“What now?” she asked.

“Now, we fly.”