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  Copyright © 2022 by Theophilus Monroe.

  All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Cover Design by Deranged Doctor Design

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  Chapter 1

  Zale's muscles glistened in the moonlight as he and his sea dragon blasted through the surface of the water. His upper-half did, anyway. His bottom half was all tail. The wyrm he rode transformed into a regular dragon, sprouting wings once it cleared the surface.

  I gave Drayke a swift kick.

  You can kick harder than that! The wyrm-turned-dragon spoke to me using a connection we’d established through my bloodwitchery. Not even most of the Fomorian Wyrmriders could communicate directly with the beasts. Joni, aka La Sirene, was the exception.

  I huffed. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  My hide is almost as thick as your entire body. I think I can handle it.

  “You asked for it!” I kicked Drayke as hard as I could.

  That’s more like it!

  Drayke chased after Zale and his wyrm, Smauk. I clutched my dragon’s reins. I squeezed my thighs around his sea-silk saddle. It wasn’t meant for someone with legs. It was more like a side-saddle, built to accommodate a merman’s tail. I wasn’t some southern or Victorian belle whose “virginal” status needed protecting. How would a young maiden in those days explain herself? Sorry, hubby, I know you were expecting I’d still be a wholesome maiden on our wedding night, but my horse deflowered me years ago. I don’t think you’ll ever quite measure up. Sorry to be the one to tell you!

  I didn’t have a tail, and I wasn’t a virgin. Sitting that way felt weird and unstable, anyway. I was a badass vampire dragon rider! Huzzah!

  No sooner did I have the thought and Zale and his scaly companion made a hard right-turn. Drayke followed, his tail spinning out behind him. The next thing I knew, the dragon was no longer under me. I was flying through the air. I belly-flopped into the Gulf of Mexico.

  Ouch! I could hear Drayke from quite a distance, even though I couldn’t speak back to him through the connection. It was a one-way deal. I consumed a few drops of his blood—more delicious than you would think—and it allowed me to reach out with my will and read his mind. It didn’t work in the reverse. Still, he had no problem understanding me the regular way provided I was within an earshot.

  I looked off at a distance to see Mercy, Mel, and Sarah applauding my less-than-graceful landing. They took The Little Ship of Horrors, a small yacht Mercy inherited from Nico, each night to watch my training session with Joni, Zale, and our respective wyrms.

  I extended my right hand and middle-finger as high as could in their direction as I treaded water. At least I’d worn a bathing suit this time. The night before, well, let’s just say I underestimated how difficult it was to hold on to a flying dragon—even with vampiric strength.

  Learning to hold on while Drayke blasted through the skies was a part of my training. Moving at those speeds, it doesn’t take too many falls and crashes into the ocean to teach you how to hang on.

  Drayke circled me above. Zale doubled-back to check on me. His biceps bulged as he dove with Smauk. The beast’s wings disappeared the moment it contacted the water. Joni and Nammu—her wyrm—flew past Drayke and led him back to me.

  “Sorry about that,” Zale said. “You were doing so well. I figured you could handle an advanced maneuver.”

  I chuckled. “I appreciate the confidence. My saddle sucks ass.”

  Zale smirked. “If it sucked on your ass, I don’t think you’d have such a hard time staying on it.”

  I grinned and tucked a few strands of hair behind my ears. “Fair point. Water’s cold, by the way.”

  “Wouldn’t know,” Zale smiled widely. “I’m used to it.”

  Damn, I thought. Could he be any cuter with those dimples when he smiles?

  Zale flapped his tail against the side of his dragon—nothing like a swift flutter of a guy’s tail to remind you he isn’t the man of your dreams.

  I could hear Joni’s hoots and hollers as she and her wyrm flew alongside Drayke.

  “Nice moves,” Joni said. “Do you know Jagger?”

  “Thanks for the Maroon 5 reference.” I snorted. “I was going for a reverse four-and-half times somersault in pike position with an extra twist. I really thought I’d win the gold that time.”

  Joni jumped off of Nammu and did what I suspected must’ve been something similar to the dive I just described. She came up behind me, her tail back in place where her legs were before.

  I glared at her. “Show off.”

  Joni splashed me a little. “I’ve lived in the ocean for a few years now. I’d say that gives me an advantage.”

  “What’s that feel like?”

  “Diving into the ocean?”

  I shook my head. “Changing between legs and a tail. Can all the Fomorians do that?”

  “They can. Fomorian magic is powerful stuff. Since I’m half-human, though, I have an advantage the others don’t. I spent my first two decades of life as a normal girl. I’ve had more practice walking with legs than swimming with a tail.”

  I glanced at Zale as he took off back into the sky on the back of his dragon. Joni caught me.

  “He’s easy on the eyes, isn’t he?”

  I snickered. “I guess so. It’s just…”

  “Never chased tail before?”

  I laughed. “Not literally. And usually it’s the boys chasing after mine.”

  Joni winced. “I’m sure most of them find out that they’re in for a little more than they can chew when they go after you, Hailey.”

  “I can chew them just fine!” I giggled.

  “My point exactly!”

  I tilted my head. “Didn’t Mercy bite you and turn you once before?”

  Joni nodded. “She did. So long as I have access to Fomorian magic, though, all my vampirism goes dormant. I’m even good under sunlight now. The sun drains my Fomorian magic a little faster, but I can make it most of the way through an overcast day with no problem at all.”

  “And on a sunny day?”

  Joni scratched her head. “Half a day, give or take.”

  I snorted. “Damn. I need some of that juice.”

  “I’m unique. You know, my primary ability is as a siphon. I absorb and amplify the magic around me. Unless you have that skill, I’m not so sure you’d be able to wield our brand of magic.”

  I shrugged. “Probably not. A girl can dream, though, right?”

  “Are you talking about being able to go out in the day, or are you back to talking about Zale again?”

  “Both!”

  Joni laughed. Even her laughter had charm about it. “Drayke is coming back around to grab you. We’re going to try this again. Can you tap into a little more strength from his blood?”

  I nodded. “I’ll need another bite. If he’s up for it.”

  Joni nodded. “Just remember, right behind his ears. That’s the only place your fangs will penetrate. And make sure you get his consent first.”

  “I’d never bite without consent!”

  Joni huffed and raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, right.”

  “Hey! I may not leave them much of a choice when I harness my victims with my allure. But they do consent. Frankly, I think most boys are pretty easy, anyway. I don’t even need my allure. A little bat of the eyes, show a little leg, and they’ll do just about anything.”

  Joni smiled widely. “Mermen are the same way. Except for the legs part. Show them a nice set of fins, and a mermaid who knows what she’s doing can have most mermen wrapped around her tail. All mermen ever think about is satisfying that thing between their scales.”

  I tilted my head. “How do merpeeps do it, anyway?”

  Joni raised an eyebrow. “Merpeeps? The term is merfolk, Hailey. Merpeeps makes it sound like we’re sugar-coated Easter marshmallows.”

  “Well, my question remains. I’ve been staring, you know. Zale isn’t wearing a damn thing, but I see nothing in his anatomy that might be useful if he ever wanted to do the dirty.”

  Joni laughed. “I had the same curiosity when I first came to Fomoria. Didn’t even realize half my ancestors were merfolk. The fact I exist, though, shows that it is possible for a merman and a human to hook up.”

  My eyes shifted back and forth. “You still didn’t answer the question. What does a merman use, you know, when he’s aroused…”

  “Am I interrupting something?” Zale ask

ed as he and his sea-dragon swam up beside us.

  I gulped. “Nothing at all.”

  Joni laughed. “We were just talking strategy. You up for an experiment?”

  I tilted my head. “Joni! I’m not ready for that…”

  Joni glanced at Zale whose furrowed brow revealed he had no clue that I’d been gawking at him during our sessions, or that I’d been asking Joni about his dickey-doo. “It’s just one bite, Hailey.”

  “A bite… are you sure he’d be… oh! You mean biting Drayke?”

  “Did you think I was going to ask you to bite Zale’s…”

  Zale gulped. “Bite my what?”

  Drayke slithered through the water behind me. It was a convenient exit from what was becoming an awkward conversation.

  “Bite my what?” Zale asked again.

  “We weren’t talking about you!” Joni piped up. “Get over yourself, honey. We’re training here and all you can think about is Hailey’s lips all over your, you know…”

  My eyes widened. “So, anyway! How about we try that maneuver?”

  Zale smirked. “The maneuver in the air? Or the one Joni was talking about?”

  I stared at Zale blankly. I turned to Joni and narrowed my eyes for a split-second before fixing my eyes back on Zale’s. “You know what? I need to hold on better. If we’re going to face Corbin over land, I can’t risk falling to the earth.”

  “Right,” Joni said. “She’d probably survive a fall, but it could take a while to heal. And if she landed on anything pointy, well…”

  “I get it,” Zale said. “We wouldn’t want you to get poked with anything pointy.”

  I gulped. “Right. Definitely not!”

  Chapter 2

  The dragon blood did the trick. I don't know what it was. It must not have been the same dragon blood Corbin drank—that stuff changed him into a dragon. Maybe the difference was the sort of dragon I was working with. Maybe it had to do with the fact that Corbin was seven hundred years old and I was only twenty-three, including my first sixteen years as a human. The more dragon blood I consumed, the more in sync I was with Drayke. It was almost like we were a single being. I felt what he felt, and vice versa.

  We only had a couple of hours to train every night. The trip out to sea and back again took longer than the time I had to work with Joni, Zale and the wyrms. Still, we were doing the best we could. Bringing the dragons ashore could be problematic for several reasons. We also had to get far enough out to sea that we could train unnoticed.

  All of it might have been for nothing. Was Corbin still a dragon? Not likely. The effect of the dragon blood probably wore off. When I bit Drayke, it only gave us the connection we needed for half an hour, if that. Still, we had to be ready to fight Corbin if he started soaring over the city and blasting the people of New Orleans with fire breath.

  The wyrms had an acid breath. Not all of them. Joni's wyrm, Nammu, didn't. Drayke was a part of the second litter Nammu had since she emerged from the void—the birthplace of dragons. Dragons were the original guardians of the realms. Before there were gatekeepers, like the legendary Merlin, there were dragons who ensured that people couldn't travel freely between earth and the otherworld.

  Drayke dropped me back off at The Little Ship of Horrors. Mercy and Mel were waiting for me with shit-eating grins splitting their faces. Sarah was snoring on a deck chair.

  "What are you two looking at?"

  Mercy and Mel exchanged glances.

  "That wyrmrider bloke's fine, isn't he?" Mel asked.

  I shrugged. "He's alright."

  "Please." Mercy snorted. "You couldn't stare at him more if you shot your eyes out of your head and stuck them up his ass."

  I tilted my head. "That's an awfully strange visual."

  Mercy shrugged. "You'd be the one looking up his ass."

  I rolled my eyes. "He's sexy, I admit."

  Mel held out her hand. Mercy sighed and handed her progeny a hundred-dollar bill.

  "Told you!" Mel grinned.

  "What was the bet?"

  Mercy shook her head. "I told her I thought you were still too hung up on Connor to admit you found another man attractive."

  I shrugged. "Well, he isn't exactly a man."

  "Good point." Mercy snatched her money back from Mel.

  "Hey! I won that fair and square. You can't get out of the bet on a technicality."

  Mercy grinned. "Watch me."

  Mel shook her head. "The substance of the bet is clear. Hailey has a thing for the wyrmrider. So much so she wants to be one. You know, she wants to ride Zale's worm."

  I laughed so hard I snorted. "I suppose the whole 'wyrmrider' thing does sound a little dirty."

  Mel shrugged. "You're basically going from a wolf to a fish. That's what I'd call scaling up!"

  Mercy groaned and rolled her eyes. "I see what you did there."

  I giggled. "It's not like I'm dating the dude. I can't live in his world. He can't live in mine. That doesn't mean I can't enjoy the view while we're training."

  "Technically, that's not true," Mercy said. "Annabelle went to Fomoria for a spell. They have a magic that can grant a person the ability to breathe underwater, albeit temporarily. And Fomorians can shapeshift pretty much however they like. That means they can have legs. You could take Zale on a date if you wanted to. You might have to spritz him with salt water periodically, or better, sponge bathe him constantly. Even the humid air of New Orleans is too dry for a Fomorian's complexion."

  I scratched my head. "Eczema is gross. I get it."

  Mel snickered. "I can think of less enjoyable things to do than sponge bathing that filet of a man."

  "Yeah, that would be a blast for a whole two minutes."

  "That's not accurate," Mercy said. "I think I could spend two minutes around his pectoral muscles alone."

  "You're both missing the point. I barely know the guy. He's hot from the waist-up. That's hardly a foundation for a relationship. I don't even know what he's got going on between the ears."

  Mel huffed. "Does it matter? I'm more curious about what he's got going on between the scales."

  "I'm not saying I don't share that curiosity. It's sort of like the kind of curiosity that might lead me into a Ripley's Believe it or Not museum. Not the kind that stokes the fires of passion."

  "You don't know that," Mercy said. "Still, Hailey, when Connor said he needed space and I told you that there are plenty of fish in the sea, I didn't expect you'd take me literally."

  A half-grin formed at the corner of Mel's lips. "Talk about angling for a rebound man."

  I narrowed my eyes. "I swear, Mel. You must've been a dad in a past life."

  "The fish puns are all right there on the surface, begging to be hooked. It's not like I have to dive in too deep to find them."

  I grinned a little. "I suppose there is something alluring about Zale. If the situation was different, you know, species-wise, he'd be quite the catch."

  "Look on the bright side," Mercy said. "You've already seen him. There's no chance of getting catfished."

  Mel sighed. "I thought we agreed never to mention that again."

  Mercy laughed. "You agreed never to mention it again. I didn't concur. Do you really think I could let that one rest?"

  I tilted my head. "What are you guys talking about?"

  Mercy had the widest grin on her face I'd ever seen. "So, get this. You know how Mel has been on my case about how we could start using the Internet to identify prospective meals?"

  I bit my lip. "Sure. You had me prepare a report to the council on the risks and benefits of hunting prey online."

  "Right. Anyway, Mel signed up for a dating app."

  I rolled my eyes. "A dating app?"

  "Sure," Mel said. "I love clubbing for meals. Sometimes, though, if I'm really hungry, it's a hassle. How much easier would it be if I could text some guy to meet up for a good time, meet him in a private spot, and have my way with him?"

  "Let me guess. Didn't work out like you hoped."

  "I swiped right on what looked like the perfect guy!"

  "That was the problem." Mercy snickered. "He was too perfect. Tall, dark, and handsome. Mid-twenties. Posed in front of a Ferrari."

  I laughed. "What guy in his twenties who isn't a professional athlete owns a Ferrari?"

 

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