Sevilla sat on top of her Gabriel, riding him in a completely non-sexual manner: her lover had turned into a blue dragon with white streaks along the sides, and his eyes shone a bright jade.

She had summoned local black clouds to blot out the morning sun above her, clouds that followed along with her dragon; it was a relatively easy Strengthwork, at least for one of her skill level, and it provided her with the necessary shade for the flight. Because of her age, the indirect sunlight that reflected from the forest below didn’t bother her too much: she would get the equivalent of a minor tan, nothing more. Gabriel would probably like the change in her skin color. The auto tint feature of her glasses had activated already, protecting her sensitive eyes from any glare from below.

“Hold on,” Gabriel boomed in his deep dragon voice.

He abruptly spread his wings wide and glided at high speed down the shoulder of the mountain.

Sevilla couldn’t help but mimic the pose, and extended her own arms wide, enjoying the intense ride. Her legs were tightly wrapped around his neck. She was positive she wouldn’t fall, but as the pines passed in a blur below, she was overcome with the sudden worry that she might fall, so she quickly grabbed onto his scales with one arm.

Like riding a bull. But without the bull.

The fear passed, and she relished the experience once more.

She felt so free on his back. And complete, somehow: like she had lived her whole life waiting for this one moment to pass.

She dismissed those thoughts, and the joy she felt, when her keen eyesight picked up the targets fleeing through the forest ahead.

“Do you see them?” Gabriel asked.

“I do,” she replied.

“Be ready.”

Before they arrived, a defensive fireball launched from the forest. It struck Gabriel in the underside, but his scales seemed to absorb the blow easily. The flames momentarily wrapped around his body, and Sevilla created a quick shield of Air to protect herself. The fire vanished half a second later. Gabriel didn’t seem to suffer any lasting damage: Sevilla did notice a slight darkening under his wing area after the impact, but that was it.

Gabriel breathed ice down on Medeia and her minions. Everything struck by his breath immediately froze solid, as if doused in liquid nitrogen. Trees broke away, shattering when they hit the ground. Those vampires that didn’t shelter behind the pines faced a similar fate.

Medeia had created a shield of Air for herself but Sevilla dispelled it easily—it was good to finally be free of Midnight’s magic suppression.

Gabriel turned around for another pass and breathed again. This time Medeia dove behind a pine. Gabriel pulled up and hovered in place. Sevilla launched a Weave and tore the tree out by its roots, revealing the cowering vampire witch.

Medeia immediately created a dark cloud above her to protect her from the sun’s rays. At the same time a black mist materialized in front of her, a smear in the fabric of the world that repelled all light around it, and she hurled it skyward, forming a black missile. Sevilla recognized it as a powerful work of the Death affinity—if it struck Gabriel, he would be sorely wounded even with his resilient scales. It took longer to create such a deadly Strengthwork, which was why Medeia had probably chosen to commence the fight with a simpler fireball.

Sevilla immediately issued the countering Weave, pouring much Death into it, and swept it in the path of the vile smear, narrowly deflecting it.

Gabriel was already breathing his next blast and he caught the vampire witch off guard. One of Medeia’s minions leaped in front of her, sparing her from most of the ice, but her right leg was squarely hit, freezing her to the ground.

Medeia raised a shield of Air and deflected Gabriel’s next blows. Frozen as she was to the ground, Medeia was on the defensive, and the exchange that followed was essentially a war of attrition, with Sevilla countering and dispelling the witch’s shield and Medeia constantly raising it again.

Medeia was slowly outpacing Sevilla, however, because the witch had imbibed fresh dragon blood that morning, drinking a poor dragon to his death. Sevilla had never agreed with the practice, and hadn’t partaken in all the time she had been in Midnight—it wasn’t right to forcefully take blood from anyone, especially to enhance one’s own powers. Sevilla had survived on the blood offered to her by the other vampires.

Medeia also wore more bone accessories than Sevilla, which allowed her to Siphon more than her. Yes, the witch had the advantage.

At the rate Medeia was recovering from each blow, the vampire witch would soon return to the offensive, regardless of whether she was rooted to the ground or not. Sevilla knew Medeia would soon bring the attack to them.

“I can’t get through her defenses,” Sevilla shouted at Gabriel.

“Drink my blood,” Gabriel said.

“No,” Sevilla said. “I swore to myself that I’d never use the blood of dragons to fill myself with power. Especially after being with you. It’s wrong.”

“You must,” Gabriel said.

“But the amount I’d need to draw would weaken you,” Sevilla said. “It’s not like the small prick I gave you in your bedchamber!”

“Do it,” Gabriel said. “Before we lose the advantage.”

She glanced doubtfully at his thick scales. “How?”

And then she saw a small portion of the scales near her hand fade away, replaced with the silky skin of the man she loved.

“Drink!” Gabriel commanded.

She dispelled Medeia’s latest shield, and while Gabriel breathed ice, Sevilla bent over, impelling her fangs to grow so that she could drive them into the soft flesh. She drank deeply, as fast as she was able. There was more blood flowing in him in this form than in his human state, so she imbibed a little more than she would have if he remained a man. She felt the incredible power coursing through her veins, and she suddenly became greedy, unable to stop herself. She forgot where she was, everything around her. She forgot Gabriel. All she wanted was that blood. She wanted more. More.

Everything.

“Quickly!” Gabriel said.

His booming voice roused her, and Sevilla ripped her fangs away, sending a stream of dragon blood into the air at the same time.

Multiple smears of Death were tearing toward them from the ground.

Just in time Sevilla countered the terrible blows.

Filled with power, she launched black missiles of her own and rained down Death on Medeia and her remaining minions. The missiles punched through the trees, seeking out the vampires in their hiding places and blackening them.

Gabriel joined in, bringing his deadly cold breath to bear, and together they defeated Medeia and her last minions. The dark cloud Medeia had created in the air above the forest dissipated, leaving only the protective cloud Sevilla had made.

“We must completely destroy the body,” Sevilla said. “Otherwise, with dragon blood still flowing through her veins, it’s possible she might heal even from this.”

Gabriel breathed his frigid ice onto all the surrounding trees, and broke them away with his wings and talons, forming a clearing, and then he landed.

Sevilla dismounted, and went to what remained of Medeia’s body. She prepared a Weave of Fire, Death and Darkness, and let it settle on the woman’s corpse. With the dragon blood flowing through her veins, the work was enhanced, and when it activated, the resultant fireball instantly incinerated Medeia, leaving not even dust behind. There were no bones. No nothing.

“It’s done.” Sevilla returned to Gabriel and mounted him. “Let’s go home my gorgeous dragon.”

On the flight back they met up with the other members of the pride, as well as the White Swords, who had been dealing with the undead dragons Medeia had left behind outside the mountain to delay them.

“News, Flame?” Gabriel asked the beautiful red dragon Flame who flew in formation beside them.

“We took care of the undead,” Flame said in a voice that boomed with a power equal to Gabriel’s. “The vampire witch?”

“She won’t be bothering us anymore,” Gabriel replied.

Sevilla leaned down and hugged Gabriel, resting her cheek against the scales of his neck. “I love you, Gabe.”

“Gabe?” Gabriel said in a soft voice she didn’t think was possible for such a big dragon. “So we’re calling each other pet names, now? What should I call you, then? Vamp?”

She giggled. “Whatever you want. Though Sevilla is nice. I like hearing my name on your lips.”

“And I yours,” Gabriel said. “Have I told you how much I love you yet, Sevilla?”

“You have,” Sevilla said. How could she forget that moment, when he spoke what he thought were his last words while his head was on the chopping block, and the executioner had raised the ax to end his life. I love you, Sevilla. “Besides, actions speak louder than words.”

“And so they do,” Gabriel told her.

“You two are disgusting,” a great bronze dragon said from where he flew in formation nearby, his voice thundering. Sevilla had heard the others address him as Brazen. “You know we can hear you, right? Dragons have extremely sensitive hearing. ‘Ohhh Gabey baby, I lovey dovey you!’ ‘Oh my sexy vamp, I love you right back!’ Gahh!”

Sevilla leaned to one side to glance at the pride members below. Racing through the trees, the shifters matched the casual pace of the dragons. They were all in their natural form—lions, plus two bears, a wolf, an elk, and a falcon. She wondered if they could hear, too: all shifters had enhanced hearing.

“This is a talk we’ll have to resume later,” Sevilla softly told her dragon. “In the privacy of our bedroom.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Gabriel said.