Whatever they saw on his face caused them to lose their smiles. A few even backed away from him.
Perhaps they had forgotten that vampires could fly. Perhaps they thought a broken, bloody man could do no damage. They were wrong.
"SUSAN!" Layel leapt up and attacked, his war cry an echo of all the pain inside him.
The agonized screams that next cut through the forest far eclipsed any that had ever come before them.
CHAPTER 1
Two hundred years later
JUST A LITTLE CLOSER, fire-bastards. Just a little bit closer.
Hidden by lush, dewy foliage, Layel watched as the dragon army marched through the detestably named Forest of Dragons. Where they were going, he didn't know. Why they were going, he didn't know, either. He only knew that he was going to relieve them of their burden. A young—human?—female was bound and gagged inside a portable prison. That prison was balanced by two wooden beams slung over several of the warriors' shoulders, swaying with their movements.
Obviously, she was their enemy.
He didn't know the girl, but a dragon's enemy was his dearest friend. And he didn't like his friends being bound.
The dragons continued to march forward, slowly, steadily. He motioned for his own army to hold…remain composed. They obeyed without hesitation. Since that dark day two hundred years ago, he had happily led his men with an iron fist—straight into a never-ending war. His will was not questioned. Ever. Not without severe consequences.
"…not going to end well," Brand, second-in-command of the dragon soldiers, was saying. Golden light seeped from the crystal dome that surrounded all of Atlantis, forming a halo around his pale, braided hair and disgustingly handsome features.