Exile: Sídhí Summer Camp #3

Sídhí Summer Camp #3

By Jodie B. Cooper

Copyright 2013 Jodie B. Cooper

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for purchasing this e-book. This e-book is
licensed for your personal use only. It remains the copyrighted
property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied, and
distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Thank you
for respecting the hard work of this author.

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This e-book contains minor curse words, violence, and
sexual innuendo.

16+ is the recommended reading age.

^{_____________}

Contained in this e-book:

Exile
- 84,000 words

Sídhí Glossary - 2,500 words

Beloved LifeMate
excerpt - 2,875 words

Forbidden Temptation of a Vampire
excerpt -
1,800 words

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I Thank God

Without God’s grace, this book would not be
possible.

“I can do all things through Christ which
strengtheneth me.”

PHILIPPIANS 4:13 (KJV)

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Beta Readers,

Thank you, thank you! You know who you are!

^{_____________}

Mom,

Thanks for all you do!

You are awesome!

Dear Reader,

Thank you so much for purchasing
Exile
!
Without people like you, I could not continue writing the
series.

Exile
is the third book in the Sídhí Summer
Camp series, and the ninth book I have written.

Exile
actually starts during the last part of
Forbidden Temptation of a Vampire
and continues through
Vampire's Forbidden Territory
and
Guardian's Beloved
Mate
. Even though the four books overlap, only a couple of very
short conversations are word-by-word.

Before you ask, the answer is yes, I could have
chopped off the first twenty thousand words (of overlap), and I
considered exactly that - numerous times! In the end, I talked to
several fans, and due to their input, I decided to leave the
section alone. It adds a lot of depth to the story that would be
lost if I removed it.

Thanks so much for reading
Exile
. I hope you
enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Jodie B. Cooper

In order
to remain undetected by mundane humans on Earth, The Dragon High
Council has decided peace between the Sídhí races is critical.

Therefore, all Sídhí Valleys will participate
in a summer camp hosted by Dragon Valley. It is believed the unique
blending of races within the summer camp will achieve the first
step toward peace.

Participants shall include the eldest two
teenage children (or direct descendants) of each council member.
Participation in the Peace Camp is not optional. If any Sídhí
Valley refuses to participate, all known gateways within that
valley will be shut down immediately.

NOTE: 1.) A copy of this proclamation has
been dispatched to the governmental bodies of all known valleys.
2.) Valley is defined as a second dimensional area not accessible
to Earth or other valleys except through gateways (aka portals) or
teleportation. 3.) This will be your only warning!

Sarah leaned against the damp cave wall, hoping her rocketing blood
pressure didn’t rupture a blood vessel. She pressed her thumbs
against her throbbing temples, moving them in tiny circles. It
didn’t help, all she could hear was the bass boom of her heart
pulsing in her eardrums, repeating word-for-word Nick’s parting
words as he stormed away.

Why did she allow him to upset her? Upset?
Ha! Infuriated was the more accurate emotion. Of all people to have
as a cabin mate, she had to get stuck with a lifeMate who couldn’t
make up his darn mind! One minute he wanted her protected and safe,
and then the next minute, he believed she was an evil Exile.

A sigh of frustration hissed out of clenched
teeth. She hated getting so angry; things (or people) tended to die
when her temper dropped over the edge of no return.

“
Sarah! Help us!”
Katie’s terrified
words burst into Sarah’s brain, along with the image of a dragon
shapeshifter, the size of a Grey Hound bus, diving straight at them
and belching deadly dragonfire.

^____________

Gloom surrounded the underground lake,
mirroring Clarabelle’s grief. Rage turned her soft hazel eyes ruby
red. Deep in her throat, deadly dragonfire sparked to life.

“The life of a dragon, any dragon, is worth
ten thousand of the filthy interlopers,” the mighty dragon muttered
to herself. Her bone-deep growl of fury emphasized her words. Smoke
trickled out of her snout. The gut-deep hatred, which had simmered
through her blood for years, blazed through the dark gray
dragon.

Clarabelle’s beloved half-sister no longer
answered her mental touch. Among hundreds of half-siblings, Ella
had been her favorite. The powerful dragon had not only been her
sister, but a key player in Clarabelle’s plan to return dragons to
their rightful glory. Reality was a bitter pill to swallow. Ella
had been a dragon with the ability to make her human body appear
young or old. Replacing such a powerful ally would prove
difficult.

Her roar of pain echoed across the vast
underground cavern, demanding vengeance for the loss of her
sister.

Clarabelle swung her head around, searching
for her prey. A single, slow beat of mighty wings kept her hovering
high above the brackish lake. The tips of her wings brushed the
ceiling, waking the glow moss. A splotchy carpet of moss, covering
the stalactites, bloomed to life filling the cavern with a bright
pink glow.

A hundred feet below, on the edge of the
shore, stood her enemies, uncaring to the hideous crime they had
committed against the Khr'Vurr, dragon-kind’s greatest
warriors.

Determination flowed through her body,
enhancing her bloodthirsty vow of vengeance. She couldn’t wait for
their screams of pain to begin. She swore the teenagers would not
receive a quick death at her hands. She wanted them to suffer, just
as she was suffering.

“I’ll rip them into pieces for what they’ve
done," she insisted passionately to herself, hatred toward the
teenagers and the Dragon Council crashed through her like a surging
river of fire. Her mind replayed her sister’s final scream, the
agony filled sound echoed through her.

Clarabelle’s body trembled. She fought to
pull herself together. Now was not the time to lose it, not in
front of the ones who were responsible. Later, in the safety of her
mate’s fortress, she would allow herself the time to grieve. Not
now.

Along with the horror of the day remained a
single glaring question.

How could her sister have died at the hands
of a couple of teenagers? It seemed impossible that two brats
cuffed in silver had killed a full-grown Sídhí, much less a
dragon.

The answer was blatantly clear. The brats
must’ve had help.

She surged forward as warm liquid gushed up
her throat. Dragonfire, the most glorious weapon of all dragon kind
was incredibly unstable. It was the deadliest weapon in a dragon's
arsenal. All Sídhí races feared the destructive fire. The fire’s
incredible molten heat burned through nearly anything it touched,
including solid rock and even steel.

Flame exploded from her gaping jaws, burning
a reddish-orange with the faintest of blue laced throughout. The
deep colors hinted at her age, growing stronger year after
year.

The teenagers screamed in fear, running
toward the unforgiving wall of the cavern.

Clarabelle’s eyes sparkled with a combination
of unsuppressed glee and hatred, gloating over their screams of
terror. Excitement, as the hunt began, rippled down her back,
causing the black spikes buried along her spine to burst upward,
quivering in anticipation.

She grieved for her sister, but Clarabelle’s
heart sang in joy over the fear she produced within the young
Sídhí. Their screams created a fuzzy, warm glow within her,
reminding her of the numerous villages she torched during earth’s
medieval age, a time before the Dragon Council destroyed the
dragon’s true place in the world.

She missed the old days so badly. The
depressing thought actually perked her up, because if everything
worked out as planned, the summer camp would be the first step
toward returning to those joyful years of terror, but not on Earth.
That was truly the sweetest part. Why should dragons be stuck on a
world the mundane humans had mucked-up with billions of
offspring?

She surged forward. Black spikes running up
her back quivered under the cave’s soft light. Her burning red eyes
sparkled with cruel anticipation.

The teenagers ran faster, darting farther
away from the shoreline toward a tumble of rocks, trying to escape
her retaliation. They wouldn't succeed.

Then she noticed what, or rather who, they
raced toward. A man sprawled on a ledge. She snorted her ridicule.
Instead of seeking shelter, they stopped to help a third person,
destroying any chance of escaping her. Only Clan fools would do
something so ‘honorable’ as risk their life for another.

Clarabelle narrowed her sparkling red eyes as
the pink light of glow moss glinted off the man’s smooth head.

The image stuck in her brain, repeating
itself. The injured man did not have any hair.

“Filthy, wretched dragon guardian,” she
growled in recognition of the man. Somehow, the brats had freed her
prized prisoner, the arrogant Guardian Alexander. He was a prize
she had planned to use in her bid to overthrow the stagnate council
of elders.

She roared her displeasure. Dark fury
splintered through every inch of her body, erupting in a burst of
flashy dragonfire. Before she could contain it, fire spewed from
her throat in a torrent of burning flame.

A third teenager suddenly appeared on the
rocky shore, teleporting into the cavern without warning.

The new arrival, a tall, young woman, seemed
overly calm. The absurd over-sized t-shirt didn’t detract from her
beauty. The man’s shirt actually enhanced the girl’s unearthly
appearance. Her long hair swung around her as she stepped between
Clarabelle and her prey.

The mighty dragon was very familiar with the
third girl who ported into the cave. Sun-reddened vampire eyes and
shocking pale hair gave the lethal freak an edge at frightening her
intended victims that Clarabelle’s human form could never
achieve.

Clarabelle grinned suddenly. Eagerness filled
her at the thought of killing this particular vampire, a stuck-up
half-breed from the Dhark Valley. Half elf, half vampire, the Lady
Sarah Trellick was an oddity among the teenage campers. The weird
combination of the girl’s youth combined with ancient eyes made the
gray dragon nervous, not that Clarabelle would ever admit that to
anyone.

Honestly. The girl was a freak of nature,
moving with the grace of someone several thousand years old as if
the very act of walking was a dance. Even the other teenagers,
straight from the Dhark Empire, gave the freak a wide berth. The
white-haired witch knew things no simple vampire had the right, or
the ability, to know.

Clarabelle tilted her head, highly amused as
she watched Sarah raise a useless clear shield. The big dragon
snorted in contempt.

The girl held a small piece of flimsy armor
made of a semi-translucent substance against dragonfire. What a
laugh.

Though, Clarabelle had to admit, the shield
probably wasn’t flimsy. The little shield had to be synth crystal
if the girl was trying to protect herself with it. The shield
itself would be impenetrable, even to dragonfire, but hiding behind
it was an act of supreme stupidity. Only an idiot would think a
shield that small could provide any protection against the deadly
fire Clarabelle carried within her.

The shield began to grow.

Shock slammed through Clarabelle’s body,
raising the short spikes along her spine to stiff attention.

The small shield expanded outward, growing
thinner as it shaped itself into a dome, enclosing Sarah and the
three people positioned behind her within a protective shell of
living crystal.

Impossible! The mighty dragon hissed to
herself. No one had the ability to shape synth crystal, the world’s
purest form of energy.

That’s when reality smacked Clarabelle in the
snout. Had she been in her human form, she might've collapsed to
her knees. As it was, the air froze in her lungs and fear burst
through her massive body. She shuddered, sucking in a huge gulp of
stagnate air as fear morphed into something darker, more terrifying
than she ever dreamed possible.

Still, her mind shied away from the obvious
conclusion of who, of what, Sarah had to be.