TAKEN BY THE DRAGON KING

Chapter forty one

For a fortress under siege it was all to eerie and shadowy, the air had an ominous flow to it, sending chills down my spine, I really hoped Dracul was alright.

“Stay close to me.” Gulliver whispered harshly. “We don’t know what to expect.”

His warning caused a chill in me, but I kept going reminding myself who I was doing this for, Dracul needed me and I wouldn’t fuck up. If Ryder and Delan had so much as hurt a single strand on his hair.

A harsh hand clamped over my mouth and pulled me rather abruptly into a darkened room.

“Shhhh.” Gulliver said clamping his hands tighter around my mouth. “Be quiet or they’ll catch us!”

I swallow a whimper as the guards marched right past us, the staff in my hand feeling all to small for the defense purposes it was supposed to serve. Hr waited for the footsteps of the guards to fade away before letting go of me.

“Why did you do that?” I snap at him. “They can help us!”

“Have you just lazed around stuffing your brain with fruit!” He says harshly. “Dragons follow power, if Dracul were to overthrown, they’d be sooner tossing us in jail and filleting our keisters.”

“First off I don’t stuff my face.” I say lowly. “And two kindly stop being a douchebag for two seconds.”

He muttered something under his breath before quietly exiting the shed. I followed closely behind him occasionally stopping and pausing for traps, we huddled our way in the dark until I was abruptly pulled back.

“Veur!” He whispered all too quickly.

“What the-!”

Again his hands clamped harshly over my mouth.

“Not a sound.” He says. “Or the illusion breaks.”

The sounds of heavy footsteps and a voice I recognized all too well sent a chill arcing down my spine.

“It worked like magic.” Delan says, a sort of giddiness hanging on his tone.

“It is magic you fool!” Ryder’s cold growl reverberates across the corridor. “And She might just have your head for talking about the Dragonsbane!”

Something resembling a hiss escapes Gulliver’s lips before he could stop himself.

“Did you hear something?” Delan asks.

“Probably just your underactive imagination trying to cook up some crazy shit.” Ryder growls. “Let’s go check on the prisoner.”

I heaved a heavy sigh of relief as their footsteps passed by us, luck seeming to be on our side more than once.

“What’s dragonsbane?” I ask as we seemingly increase the pace after the retreating figures.

“Something very very bad.” Gulliver says. “Something that shouldn’t exist anymore, we have to hurry!”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

He picked up the pace, going quicker still and I had to pull him before we caught step with Ryder and Delan.

“Who’s being stupid now?” I hiss at him. “You’re going to get us caught or worse killed!”

“If we don’t hurry, we could lose him forever!” He says. “Dragonsbane is not a toy Elena, if we don’t hurry he’d be hurt!”

He continued moving forward increasing his pace until we came towards a rather cold dreariness of the dungeon, the harsh screams and groans emanating from the room.

“I’m going to kill you!” Dracul’s voice echoed through the dungeon. “I’m going to fucking kill you!”

His declaration fades off into chilling roars and the smell of burnt flesh emanates from the dungeon, I’m in motion, wanting to descend down the steps and stop the madness that was going on, but I was abruptly pulled back.

“What do you think you’re going to do?!” He snarls holding me tightly in place despite my struggles. “Whack them with a stick”

“How can you stand there?” I whisper yell. ” Help him!”

“I am.” He says back. “By not getting us killed, We’ll get him when they leave, for now stuff it in and watch!”

He held me in place as we listened to the horrid sounds coming from the room, it seemed to go on for ages on end accompanied by the evil laughs and taunts from the two bastards who imprisoned him. It seemed unending and a tear cascaded down the side of my face.

After what seemed like eternity the two of them finally decided to leave, guffawing and laughing about something so horrid, the urge to lunge at them and sink my teeth into one their ears laid strong, it was only tapered and tamed by the silent groans of pain coming from the cell.

We waited for their footsteps to disappear before slowly venturing into the dungeon, it didn’t take long for us to find his cell due to his heavy rasping and breathing and the sight if his current state caused my insides to churn.

They were deep gashes lining his skin clearly refusing to heal, his head was bowed down and his breath came in ragged tones.

“Dracul.” I say affectionately moving closer towards him

For the second time I’m pulled back by Gulliver who seemed to enjoy clutching me in his firm grasp.

“Wait!” He says aggressively.

At the same time Dracul’s eyes are lifted up, gone are the molten gold of the dragon, replaced by an intense fiery red that burned with an unnatural fire.

“Dracul.” I call unsure of what was playing out.

A low growl escapes his lips an he tugs at the chains holding him back.

“Shit!” Gulliver groans. “The effects are sinking in quicker than it should, it must be blessed by moonlight.”

He tugs at the chains harder muttering unintelligible yet harsh sounding words.

“Can you fix it?” I turn to Gulliver who has already begun setting up what resembles the prerequisite for an incantation.

“Not here.” he says distractedly. “Quick before they come back!”

I have no idea what the hell is going on but I’m setting up for what seems to be a sort of ritual, I’m careful to beware of the snarling and animal sounding Dracul, while placing the objects right out of reach frim him.

Gulliver began muttering a strange set of words and the air seemed to hum in response. But it seemed our luck had ran out, a spike of fear ran through me as a set of footsteps descending down the stairs reached our ears. Gulliver began chanting faster, the rhythmic flow of his hands began to move with even more speed

We were out of time though and the leering faces of Delan and Ryder came up from within the darkness, their features shifted from one of pure surprise to instant anger in a fraction of minutes and without pausing for my thoughts or questions the ran towards us preparing for an attack

“Any second now!” I said to Gulliver trying to hurry him up with my eyes

“Tap the staff on the floor!” he said just as Ryder’s meaty hands came bursting through the barrier

I banged the hilt of the staff onthe floor as hard as I could and in an instant the figurines and circle we had drawn lit up, blinding me from seeing what was going on outside the barrier, there was shriek from Ryder and a string of curses leaving Delan’s mouth before it all faded away.

One minute we were there and the next we were not, instead we were back at Gulliver’s apartment which seemingly had the same set of figurines and shape waiting for us, Gulliver was quick, in a blur he instantly trashed his voodoo creations before finally collapsing onthe floor huffing and panting.

It seemed that we’d succeeded until a low growl reminded us if just what we had transported with us

“Oh shit!” Gulliver groaned staring at an unbound Dracul, still chained but unbound

“What are we going to do about him?” I look to Dracul, hoping for an answer

“I haven’t thought this far ahead.” he admits “I didn’t really think that this would work out as well as it did!”

It’s no time to be scared even as I spot a piece of what resembles Ryder’s arm strewn across the floor beside him, he gives ine more warning growl and lunges like an animal. The chains slow him down but only considerably and we only manage to evade for so long before he has me pinned down underneath his mighty frame.

There is nothing sexual about this, cold fear streams through me as I desperately search those luminescent Red eyes and search for the Dracul I knew.

“Please.” I say to him as his heavy breath gets closer, “please.”

Gulliver’s knocked out cold, thrown across the other side if the room like a rag doll, it’s just me and him.

“Please.” I beg again shutting my eyes tightly as his hot breath inches closer and closer to my face,

“Dracul.” I call in a desperate attempt and slam my lips against his.

It’s odd and cold at first and just when I think I’m finished, he’s kissing me back our lips stay in an unending lock our tongue swirling and teasing unable to get away from each other.

We break for air and he stares at me, the red fast fading away from his eyes

“Elena.” He whispers my name before collapsing heavily on top of me.