Chosen Destiny (14 page)

vampires and dragons.

“You won’t keep this village. It’s ours.” The wizard stepped up beside the beast.

Meagan stiffened. She opened her mouth. “Your village—”

“Be quiet, Meagan. We’ll handle this.” Jaeson’s hard voice slashed through the

night.

Her head whipped around to look at him. He glared at her. Fury rose inside her.

She’d told him she’d fight at his side as an equal. She didn’t take orders from anyone in

battle. Her days as an apprentice were over long ago.

“You don’t tell me what to do in battle,” she said quietly. She’d never been treated

like this. Not even by her older sister and brothers just after she’d gotten out of training.

Her youngest sister hadn’t even been coddled nearly this much.

Jaeson’s eyebrows rose as if he was surprised by her reaction. She didn’t know how

they treated other women, but they’d better learn fast. She was getting tired of giving

them time. Many more incidents like this and she’d go where she could actually feel as

if she was doing something useful. Truthfully, they could handle all of this on their

own. They didn’t need her. She’d only stayed this long because of something one of

65

Rebecca Airies

those books had said. They were stronger as three. Her power was stronger with them.

She had no idea how that would happen but she had a feeling they’d need it later. She

wanted to get as much practice as possible. Even knowing that, she couldn’t let them

order her and do as they liked. She wanted their respect and she knew they probably

wouldn’t just give it to her. They were too accustomed to protecting others for that to

happen.

“We’ll talk about this later.” Samiel’s voice drew her attention. “Let’s deal with this

sorcerer and clear the town before we get into that.”

Meagan had to admit that Samiel was right even though it infuriated her to admit

it. They had to clear the town. That had to come before straightening out those two.

“Yes, just stand there and look pretty. I’ll get to you as soon as I deal with your two

escorts,” the Dark Sorcerer said easily.

Meagan wanted to retort, but she wasn’t going to let him know that he’d irritated

her. She gathered energy, letting it build. With a swish of her blade, she hurled the bolt

down the street. It flared as it hit the shield in front of the Dark Sorcerer. She didn’t

know if he was leader or minion and didn’t care right now. That would matter only

after they removed the threat. In spite of how strong he was, he couldn’t hold out

against all three of them.

The Dark Sorcerer glared and sent three bolts of energy hurtling toward them. The

energy flared, forming a nearly solid curtain of white in front of them. Meagan was a

little worried that the Sorcerer would flee while they were nearly blinded by the shower

of magic. She didn’t see any movement, but knew the man could disappear as easily as

he’d appeared.

Samiel hurled a flaring ball of fire down the street as soon as the light cleared and

they could see. Meagan gathered energy. She was relieved to see that the sorcerer was

still there. The magic hit, but it didn’t flare as much as it had before. The sorcerer’s

shield was weakening. Excitement stirred, but she refused to let her mind get ahead of

the fight. Something could easily go wrong before the sorcerer’s energy failed. Meagan

let the orb fly. It slammed into the shield. She knew it wouldn’t hold for much longer.

“I’m going to kill you,” the sorcerer grated.

“Not this or any other time.” Jaeson threw an orb toward the sorcerer.

The sorcerer slammed orbs down the street in quick succession. She felt an arm

hook around her waist. Startled, she whipped her head around in time to see Samiel’s

determined face just before he put her behind him.

She stood there stunned, gaping at his back as the Sorcerer’s magic hit her shield.

Fury rose inside her. She’d warned them. Her first impulse was to leave right then and

let them take care of the sorcerer. Her own sense of responsibility wouldn’t allow that.

Almost immediately she knew she couldn’t do that. After the sorcerer was defeated was

another matter. She moved to slip around Samiel. He pushed her back just as another

bolt hit the shield. She heard a low rumbling growl. She couldn’t believe he was

actually growling at her.

66

Chosen Destiny

“I told you that I’d fight right beside you.” She moved up between them again.

Jaeson shot her a sharp look, but didn’t say a word. Samiel’s hand hooked around

her and tried to push her in back of them again. She kicked him in the back of the calf

and moved forward again. She formed an energy arc before he could make another

grab for her. The man was stubborn, but he wasn’t stupid enough to grab her when she

was creating an orb.

The Dark Sorcerer flinched as Meagan’s magic hit his shield. She saw the fury on

his face. What she didn’t see was determination. He wasn’t going to risk his life tonight.

It wouldn’t be long until he left. She had been in enough fights to know when a sorcerer

was going to run. She wanted him gone so she could move on to where she could

actually be useful. She slashed her blade, slamming a powerful orb into his shield.

Jaeson hurled a bolt down the street. The magic hit and the shield flickered. The

sorcerer turned and ran two steps and jumped into a tunnel. Jaeson cursed and swung

around. Meagan slammed an orb toward the
merdanon
. She wanted to take it down

while it was relatively unprotected. The bolt sizzled as it hit the beast. It picked up a

huge chunk of rock and ran toward them. Its arms raised as it prepared to throw the

rock. She formed another bolt of magic and sent it flying at the creature. The
merdanon

screamed as two more balls of magic flew down the street. They hit the beast. It fell to

its knees. Meagan hurled a final bolt. She wanted the beast dead. It fell to the ground.

She stepped forward and drove her dagger into its thigh. She turned and faced Jaeson

and Samiel.

“Somehow we’re going to have to learn to work together. I’m not going to try

anymore tonight. I don’t need your protection.” She tried to ease the tension in her jaw.

The urge to scream was nearly overwhelming. “If you keep it up, I can find someone

else to help me easily.”

“Don’t do—” Jaeson began.

Meagan didn’t hang around to listen to any more of the man’s warning. She took a

step back and formed a tunnel behind her. She knew they would follow if they could.

She didn’t intend to make it easy. As she stepped out of the tunnel, she sent out a burst

of magic in all directions.

She looked around the area. She saw a downed
merdanon
on the street in front of

her. Walking slowly forward, she looked around the dark street.
Merdanons
weren’t

subtle. She knew that if any were in the area they’d have made themselves known

unless they were being directly controlled by a Dark Sorcerer. That was the only thing

that worried her as she moved up the street. She had no idea how many wizards were

involved in these attacks, but there was probably more than one in the town tonight.

She kneeled and took the magic before beginning her walk down the street. Eventually,

she found one of the battles. A lone witch faced a
merdanon
. Meagan walked slowly

toward them. When she drew close, she stopped outside where she guessed the

woman’s shield was. She definitely didn’t want to get shield stunned right now. She

waited until the
merdanon
was stumbling back from the woman’s magic.

67

Rebecca Airies

“Hi, do you need some help?” Meagan asked quietly.

Lillia turned her head and smiled. “Get up here. I thought for sure that you’d be

with the vampire and dragon during this battle.”

“I was for a while. Now I’m here.” Meagan walked slowly forward, still careful of

any shield. She knew Lillia wouldn’t take it down until the last possible moment.

“Ah, so what happened?” Lillia asked.

Meagan moved up beside her. “They didn’t work well with me. I don’t know if it’s

because they see all females as in need of protection or if it’s something to do with me.

Either way I was fairly redundant there. They didn’t need my help.”

Lilli hurled an orb down the street at the
merdanon
. “I don’t think them needing you

is what the relationship is supposed to be about.”

“I know that. We’re supposed to work together, but they kept making the same

mistakes over and over. It frustrated and infuriated me. I needed a break from it. They

didn’t even seem to realize that they were doing anything wrong.” Meagan slammed a

ball of energy down the street. She wished she could get rid of the anger as easily as she

did those balls of energy.

She knew something had to give. She really couldn’t have stood being pushed to

the back again even one more time. Even now, it made her so angry that she wanted to

kick Samiel again even harder than she had. She shouldn’t have to prove that she could

fight at his side. She hadn’t just been released from training. That hadn’t been the case

for years. She was a battled-tested witch.

68

Chosen Destiny

Samiel felt shock roll through him as Meagan disappeared. He couldn’t really

believe that she’d actually left. He’d thought she was just using the threat to get her

way. After the shock began to fade, fear and anger built. She belonged with them,

where they could protect her and watch over her. She should know that.

“Where is she? Go get her and bring her back.” Samiel looked over at Jaeson. He

knew she could take care of herself and that physically she’d be safe, but the dragon

part of him raged. He felt the urge to change and find her. Only the fact that Jaeson

should be able to find her easily held him back.

“I don’t know where she is. She sent out a blast as she exited her tunnel that

blanketed the village in her power. By the time it fades the battle will probably be over.

Don’t worry. I’ve alerted the other vampires in town, they’ll find her.” Jaeson put his

hand on Samiel’s shoulder.

“She belongs here with us.” Samiel couldn’t keep the growl out of his voice.

“She can take care of herself, Samiel. You are being just a bit overprotective. I can’t

say that I blame her for trying to make her point.” Jaeson looked over at him.

Samiel was in no mood to be reasonable about this. The dragon inside him growled

and clawed to get out and search for her. As irrational as it was, part of him believed

she was trying to leave them permanently. Her last comment certainly hadn’t helped.

Building a working relationship would take time. He didn’t know why she couldn’t see

that. He couldn’t take chances with her life and just wait to find out what she could do.

His first priority would always be to protect her.

“Have they found her yet?” Samiel asked as they moved down the street. He forced

his mind off the thought of her out there alone and back onto fighting the beasts. He

still had to help clear the village.

“Not yet, it’s going to take a little time.” Jaeson walked at his side, his entire

attention on the street in front of them.

Samiel growled. He could feel his muscles tightening and his teeth lengthening. He

knew he wasn’t that far away from changing into the midform. He didn’t want to lose

control with her. He was afraid he’d hurt her if he wasn’t in complete control.

“Calm down and breathe. She’ll be fine. She’s well-trained.” Jaeson stopped as a

merdanon
lumbered out of the darkness.

Even though they were busy, the wait until she was found tore at him. Finally, just

as they received the word that the village had been cleared, one of the other vampires

contacted Jaeson. They’d found her.

69

Rebecca Airies

* * * * *

Meagan knew Samiel and Jaeson were coming. She’d expected it ever since she’d

seen the first vampire. She hadn’t expected it to take so long. She was a little nervous.

She knew there would probably be an argument. Hopefully, it would make them see

her as something more than just a female.

She heard a gasp and turned her head toward the sound. Her eyes focused on a

shape moving down the street. At first, she had no idea what it was. The tall, two-

legged creature had wings. Only when she saw gold streaks on his shoulders did she

realize that she was looking at a dragon in some in-between form. That was Samiel. Just

as her mind began to process that fact, his arms closed around her. She pushed against

his chest.

“Let me go, Samiel.” She managed to put only a little space between them.

He growled, baring his teeth at her. She drew in a sharp breath. She wasn’t scared,

but she was nervous. She didn’t know how to handle him. He was even more

intimidating in this form and the fact that he hadn’t said a single word to her. He

moved forward and changed completely. She suddenly found herself clutched in two

large paws against his chest. Wind swirled around her. She felt her feet leave the

ground and looked down to see it get farther away from her. She hooked an arm over