While the northern hemisphere was beginning to tip away from the sun and temperatures cooled into fall, the southern half of the world was in the middle of a vibrant spring. The skies were clear, the water was calm, and with the Australian coast in view, Nekros flattened his wings to his body, turned his snout down, and plummeted towards the earth.

The ocean north of the island continent still held onto the last of its winter chill, and the racing in his heart made him feel alive. Erupted back out of the ocean in a spray of water, he followed the air currents high, high up, before doing it again. The song emerged from his throat in his own unique melody that Lysander harmonized in his deeper, hoarser chords. Ares completed the magical sound with his deep resonance, and the three dragons allowed themselves this moment of freedom and joy.

Freedom!

What a concept! Nekros never realized how much he took this world for granted until it was taken away from him. He stretched his wings as far as he could, just to feel the muscles strain and the feel of the wind between every barb of his feathers. Though it technically slowed his flight, he extended his talons from their tucked position close to his body and cut his claws through the water just to feel it.

Freedom.

Closing his eyes to listen to the song he and his brothers sang and drank in the smell of the ocean air. Open fresh air that wasn't pumped underground and recycled until it was stale and lifeless. Salty ocean water teaming with life. Wild, untamed magic as old as the world answered his call and resonated with his own.

Through a unique bond between father and daughter, he could feel Rhia's presence in his heart. She wasn't wholly aware of the bond, and he didn't often take advantage of it to check in on her. But once and a while, he just needed to feel that she was alive. Her heart was heavy with fear and worry for Nolan, but she was alive.

This moment was almost perfect. The only thing that could make it better was if Rhiannon and Phoenix were flying with him. As close as he felt to her through the bond, it had nothing on being with her in person. And, while it might be a foolish dream, he hadn't yet entirely given up on the chance that Phoenix was still out there somewhere. Caught by the same monsters that held him for so long, or perhaps lost to her own fear and doubts. There were still nights that he dreamed of her beautiful smile. Her touch. Her voice. Those mornings after he woke up full of hope for the future. The future of his family.

Even the looming threat of their destination, another Organization facility, could not break his sprits now. He'd recovered from the shock and painful memories that came with going back into the facility he'd been trapped in for so many years a lot faster than he expected. They weren't even sure if they were going in the right direction for this new site. The list Rhia had found was far from specific.

Grouse Ridge was the most defined the list got, and it was recognizable to those who knew the Tahoe area. It had been Ares to figure out that Ich Obo was one of the mountains near the actual entrance of the facility Nekros had escaped from. Cerro Steffen was yet another mountain in South America, where Rhia, Bastian Wes, and Dáithí were headed towards now.

One of the remaining two was Telfer, which either referred to a university in Ontario or a remote location in the middle of the Australian Outback. There were many places in Canada's barren north that would be an appropriate place for a facility, but not right in the middle of the capital city.

So, the three dragons flew in the direction of Lysander's territory. Nekros was hopeful. He believed with every fiber of his heart that Nolan was out there. He would not allow his own daughter to spend one more second in the state of pain and misery he'd left her in. And he wouldn't leave her alone like that ever again, no matter what she said.

"You're in a good mood," Lysander spoke through the link. "It's good to see you like this, Nekros. I missed these flights with you."

"I feel the same, Lysander," Nekros answered, letting down his passive defenses to let the other two dragons feel the sincerity of his joy. "I had hoped to bring Rhia here one day to show her the joys of flying in the air currents here, but..."

He broke off, and all three of them laughed. They all knew about Rhia's fear of heights and flying. All of them found it strangely endearing. How does a dragon, a creature born with wings and therefore an undeniable connection to the air, have an instinctual fear of heights? Even after her awakening, when she essentially became indestructible, she was terrified.

Weeks it had taken Nekros to convince her to try. She was smart and took to the lessons in theory well. But she was so hesitant to put it into practice that the only way it happened was for Nolan to come to the little Greek island for a few nights to convince her. Rhia's first true flight was probably the least graceful thing Nekros had ever seen in his long life with stiffened wings and all four legs sticking straight out instead of pulled into her body. But she did it! It was a first for her that he actually got to see and be a part of!

Over time, she got stronger and more confident, but they were a long way off from flying becoming her main method of travel.

"That may happen still." Ares added to the conversation, his voice uncharacteristically gentle and kind. "She made the flight from Paris to Alexandria in two days and the return flight in half that."

"Impressive. She must have been exhausted."

"I think there was too much on her mind to allow her to consider resting. Either that, or she was trying to brute force her way through alcohol withdrawal."

"As long as she has hope," Lysander added with a trill. "I think we are going to see a side of her that even she did not know was there."

"I think you're right," Nekros said quietly, thinking back on the gathering at Madeline's residence. "She's dropped her glamour."

The spell was a coping mechanism that Nolan taught her back when they thought she was just a yfeerie. His logic had been to give her the illusion of control of her situation. To slowly introduce her to the world of the Ancients piece by piece after her first shift and no longer in danger of imploding.

But learning that she was a pure-blood dragon had been one revelation too many. Since the day she was rescued, Rhia had rarely gone without the spell to change the shape of her pupils to the circles she grew up seeing in the mirror. Nekros knew that when she felt truly alone with either Nolan or himself, she would let it down. More often than not, however, she refused to let others see the signature cat-like slits of a dragon's eyes.

But when she answered the door at Madeline's, there was nothing left of the spell. It must have slipped at some point, and she likely didn't notice. No one pointed it out either, and he'd gotten to see for a few moments just how beautiful her eyes really were. The majority of her humanoid form she had inherited from Phoenix, except for her eyes. His daughter was gorgeous, in his opinion, and Nekros was damn proud to see the progress she had made in such a short time.

"Do you really believe that Rhia and Nolan are soulmates?" Lysander asked tentatively.

"I do." There was such finality in Ares' voice that it left no room for argument. "She spoke to a demon spawned from two sins and is strong enough to breed with a third. There is little reason to doubt her testimony. There is plenty to back up their claim as well, if you consider the signs."

"Their relationship did develop quickly," Nekros agreed. "And they are fiercely dedicated to one another."

"And taking Nolan himself into account," Ares continued. "Keo works closely with the Counsel, and any time the Counsel has notice ahead of time, Nolan is never there. He has avoided contact with us and the kin since he was turned. Rhia has brought him back to us, even if he was a vampire."

"Do you think he will ever take back his name?" Nekros asked the question without really expecting an answer. "Erebus suits him well. I'd almost forgotten that he'd changed it."

"Careful how you speak of Erebus in front of her. I don't believe for a moment that Keoni was successful in convincing her out of seeking out Nolan's dragonkin family."

"She did what?" Lysander's head rose snapped around to look at Ares, causing him to sharply gain altitude and dragged him back.

"She thought Nolan was dead. She wanted to be close to what was left of his family. We told her that Erebus was sealed away for the safety of the world, but all she heard was that he was still alive."

"She's not wrong. He is still alive."

"And so long as he is, he is a danger to us all!"

"I know! I was there when he was sealed, too, Ares!"

"But only one of us was friends with the traitor."

"He wasn't a traitor! It was Quin's pride that drove him to the edge, had he not-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Ares rolled his eyes dismissively.

"I will speak to Rhia," Nekros said quickly before the argument turned physical. Lysander always did get a little touchy when it came to Erebus and his crimes. "She may take it better from someone who knew him on neutral terms."

"Neutral terms?" Ares snorted. "Your mate taught him everything he knew."

"Yes, and I stayed well out of their way. I wasn't about to get between two hellfire users who both have anger issues."

All three dragons burst into rattling laughter, and the tension eased.

As they crossed over the Australian coast, they rose higher once again and increased their speed, Lysander taking the lead. Their senses sharpened the further into the desert they went. They were back in enemy territory. Telfer was the name of the mine and work town, but there was nothing to indicate where the facility itself was. Like the others, it was most likely underground.

They were prepared for a long, tedious search using both Ares' and Lysander's magics to feel deep into their earth. But it wasn't needed. A hundred kilometers from the town, there was a loud explosion far to the east that sent a plume of smoke and red earth into the sky. The dragons banked sharply and flew at breakneck speeds towards the forming cloud.

Minutes later, a roaring cacophony of sound assaulted their ears. Machinery struggling to cool themselves from the heat, engines compensating for missing parts, gunfire, screaming... a helicopter came out of the dust, barely giving Lysander the chance to and catch the spinning blades in diamond-shielded talons. With a snarling roar, he dragged the aircraft down, Ares and Nekros following quickly so they wouldn't be separated.

The aircraft crumpled like a tin can under Lysander's weight, instantly killing the humans inside. Ares landed and, as he touched the earth, it shook and cracked open. Nekros opened his jaws and roared, casting a wave of powerful magic that could break through the shielding the Organization developed and shut down the remaining electronics.

Weapons turned on the dragons, and the three all flattened their feathers to their bodies. Even without power, the Organization still had ways of firing on them and causing real damage. The only ones that didn't aim for the newcomers was a single vehicle still function. It took off as fast as it could, kicking up an obvious dust trail. "Go!" Ares barked as he and Lysander faced the oncoming army.

Nekros pumped his wings and exploded forward. A ground vehicle had nothing on him, and he quickly caught up. Extended a claw, he grabbed the vehicle and lifted it high in the air. The one in the front passenger's leaned out the window and dragged a man-portable missile unit and aimed it up at his wing. Just as the soldier fired, Nekros tilted sharply to the side to avoid the projectile. The infrared homing system, unable to tell the difference between living flesh and the hot ground, veered off wildly. Nekros dragged the soldier out of the vehicle and tossed them out after the missile. They only needed one survivor to get the answers they wanted.

Ares and Lysander had quickly and effectively either killed or subdued the rest and were standing over an open elevator shaft in their human shapes when Nekros dropped the vehicle on its side to stop it from driving off again. "Is that it?" he asked the other two.

"I don't feel anything moving underground," Ares confirmed. "It's hard to tell with all the metal and concrete. We should go down to make sure."

They were free to go if they wanted, but Nekros was done with going underground. He was already starting to feel anxious from the gunfire and having a missile aimed at him. He shifted to his human form and walked to the van doors, rubbing hard at the scar on his neck.

Everything was fine. This was an easy victory. They were one step closer to-

The second he pulled the latch on the van doors, a wave of magic blasted them open and knocked him back. "Daddy!"

Rhia's voice resonated in his skull. In the truck, she was bound in chains with one of the soldiers holding a gun to her head. All other thought wiped from his mind, and he launched himself into the car with a shriek of rage. The force was so great, they went through the side paneling. Once clear, he shifted, opened his jaws and vomited acid and noxious gas on the soldier.

These bastards had done enough! Never again! Never again would he let them hurt his family!

Lysander suddenly slammed into his side, and the two rolled fifty meters away from the soldier and the car. "Stop!" Lysander shouted through the link, backing away while planting himself between Nekros and the humans.

"Get out of my way!"

"It's not her, Nekros!"

"Move!"

"It's not Rhia! It's a mimic!"

Slowly, the Nekros sucked in air and the red haze began to clear. Looking past Lysander, he saw a dome of crystal had formed over the soldier.

"Rhia is in Chile, remember?" Lysander spoke low and gentle, reaching out and pressing his head into Nekros's neck in a soothing gesture. "She's safe. You know that."

Nekros closed his eyes and focused on Lysander's touch and the bond he had with Rhia. She was safe. Pain and disappointment bled through their link. But she was safe.

"Feel that?" Lysander assured him again. "She's okay."

He nodded and hung his head, suddenly exhausted. "Hey look!" Ares called out, and they looked up to see him holding a massive circular rock. "Caught me a mimic! Lysander, grow some spires, I bet I could get a strike from here!"

"How does our equivalent of a high school jock find more enjoyment in bowling than any other sport?" Nekros chuckled breathlessly.

"It's the one thing Valkyr can't beat him at," Lysander shrugged his wings. "No, Ares, we can't bowl with the entity we just saved from the Organization."

"Oh, come on, it's just a mimic. What's tossing it around a bit going to do?"

"Traumatize it?"

"No harm, then," he tossed the stone prison in the air and caught it again. "It's already traumatized!"

"Look, Ares, I'll set up the surviving soldiers as pins after we question them, but you can't use the entity as a bowling ball. Deal?"

"Fine... Killjoy."

Nekros sank to his belly and took slow, even breaths while Lysander and Ares argued. Ares finally dropped the boulder, drawing Nekros's attention to it again. Whatever happened... he could not allow that thing anywhere near Rhia.

~

Hey all!

I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you so much for another incredible year on Wattpad. Seriously, I wouldn't be able to do this without all of your support, comments, and votes. I feel so lucky to have such an amazing audience; all of you, from those who have stuck with me since the beginning of Dragon Blood to everyone who just got here, thank you.

Those of you who have been here for a while already know this, but for my new readers and followers, I don't post anything for the entire month of December. It's always a busy time for me between work and family, and it's an opportunity for me to take a break and focus on my offline life and write without worry of a posting schedule.

I'm out of the country the first week of January, so my next post won't be until January 12, 2023. I know it's a long time to wait, but I hope it's worth it.

Have a great December. Enjoy your celebration, whatever faith/tradition you follow. Stay safe and happy New Year!

~