Chapter 20

It was a special event ... something those Kavalians and Lycavorians with Yuriko that day would remember for the rest of their natural lives. It was a moment frozen in time that they would share with their children and grandchildren in the decades to come and tell them “I was there that day!”

The day Kalis Leonidas was reborn and announced his presence so spectacularly to the universe and the dark eyes of the Uncle he so wanted to impress. Another set of dark eyes also watched ... watched with the utter pride of a father as Mata saw the man Kalis had hidden and suppressed for so many years finally and truly awaken. Three full seconds after Kalis exploded through the foliage hiding them; Mata let loose a battle scream of his own and followed without hesitation. Mata considered Kalis an adopted son, though he would never tell him that for fear of being rejected, and he would not allow him to fight this battle alone. Mata had trained him since childhood and watched him grow into the man he had become. Now he would bear first hand witness to Kalis forever tossing his dark, abhorrent past to the abyss and becoming what he had always been destined to become. What Mata didn’t know right then was that Kalis’s actions also served to cement the hard-earned trust in him and every other Kavalian under the command of General Koguth; for an instant after he left his feet; Nedoli roared his own anger and surged forward. These vile monsters had taken the daughter of the woman he had come to covet and love more than his own life in so short a time. This was something Nedoli could not allow to take place. As Ceale staggered back in shock, she watched with wide eyes as first Koguth and then a dozen Kavalians and Lycavorians alike began to pour from the cave entrance and into the battle. Though most of the Kavalians were technicians and members of their now destroyed ship, there were still nearly fourteen that were full fledged soldiers of the Juturi Pride and in a rush of large and powerful bodies, those men joined the dozen Lycavorians and elves who were part of Yuriko’s team as they plowed through the cover of thick foliage intent on destruction and death.

Serale ignored the pain in her back from where the beast had tossed her to the ground and she beat on the shoulders and head of the Svorag who had pinned her to the hard forest floor with his weight. He straddled her midsection obscenely, trying to grasp her flailing arms as more of his kind moved closer. He roared his anger as her blows landed, causing him no pain, but making it difficult for him to stab his tongue down into her throat and make her docile enough to insert his appendages and begin the transformation. His clawed hands finally were able to grasp her thrashing wrists and slam them to the ground none to kindly. Serale cried out in surprise as sharp jolts of pain shot through her arms causing them to go almost numb. She looked up into the ghastly face of the creature above her and saw it’s misshapen face snarl and shower her with warm salvia. Her eyes grew wide in disgust and fear as the lower portion of the armor like protrusion on its jaw lifted away to reveal the tentacle like tongue. A inch thick and easily more than a foot long, Serale’s eyes grew wide in even more terror as she realized what the monster was intending to do.

“NO!” She screamed trying to twist her body this way and that to dislodge him. “Get away! No!” She wailed to no avail.

Serale tried to fight the beast but he was far stronger than her. A flash through her bright mind of what she was going to lose if she gave up infused her with a burst of strength. Kalis’s handsome face and soft lips and his powerful arms holding her. The future she could have with him after finding him amongst such misery and pain. She tried to heave her lower body off the ground and succeeded in lifting the Svorag perhaps four inches off the ground just as it roared out it’s frustration and plunged it’s tongue toward her mouth. Her motion, unbeknownst to Serale, quickened the Svorag’s death.

The deep throated roar that drowned out all other noise was unlike any that Serale and obviously the Svorag had ever heard before. This caused both their heads to snap around to the side to see the towering figure of Kalis Leonidas, his lips curled back in a twisted, savage snarl, revealing the long and incredibly lethal dual set of fangs exclusive to the Leonidas family and those they had turned. His eyes were changed, the dark rings around his blue pupils larger than Serale had ever seen and his face a mask of pure, unadulterated rage. The roar that leaped from his throat was that of an Alpha wolf gripped in the effects of a berserker rage. His whole body trembled as spittle flew from his gaping mouth and the sound that came out chilled Serale right to her center. It chilled her, but the expression and near partial transformation that had come over him did not frighten her in the least. If anything, Serale felt her love for him become even more complete as he revealed to her what he truly was beneath his handsome features.

“Kalis!” She screamed then, drawing the Svorag’s attention back to her and making him snap his tongue forward towards her parted lips far faster than the eye could follow.

The Svorag’s twisted eyes grew wide when something gripped the center of his tongue long before it ever reached the female’s mouth. He had a split second to shift his eyes to where Kalis stood, as if expecting him to be swarmed over by his comrades and then Kalis wrenched his hand back with all his strength. The Svorag felt a momentary tearing of flesh and then hot, searing agony filled his mind as Kalis tore his tongue from his head right down to the root. Yellowish gray blood splashed wetly on Serale’s chest and Kalis’s arm as the Svorag reared back in horrific anguish, his hands releasing Serale and reaching for his head. His hands never reached his head as Kalis tossed the vile appendage into the brush nearby and took two steps forward. Due to Serale’s actions, the Svorag’s head was at the perfect height and he drove his large hand forward; the calloused fingers bent inward and forming an angular, almost pointed hammer. Into this blow Kalis poured all of his rage and all of his might. It represented all he had endured under the cruel yoke of his father. All the anger and the beatings directed at him for some perceived failure or another. All the mistreatment and never one iota of praise. The foul words and looks of disgust. It also was the first blow Kalis had ever thrown in defense of love. His love for the exquisite young Hadarian woman who had shown him that there was so much more to live and breathe for. The obvious pleasures and the delights he could experience with her; but also the laughter and moments of joy he could also experience. That is what fueled the blow, and while it was a lethal attack to begin with, even Kalis was unprepared for what the force of his strike would do. What the combined strength of his Lycavorian and Kavalian blood could produce if driven by the forces that filled him now.

Kalis’s knuckles impacted the Svorag’s lightly armored jaw just above what would have been his cheekbone. The audible sound of his armored cheek cracking and shattering was grisly to hear as the force of the strike first crushed and then shattered every bone in the side of his face. The Svorag’s head snapped nearly completely around, his neck popping like the sound of a branch breaking and his body went completely limp instantly. Kalis did not stop there though as he stepped into the blow and using his large hands he grasped the Svorag’s malformed head and twisted it savagely even more, lifting the now dead Svorag from atop his beautiful Serale with the ease of lifting a newborn baby. With a roar that was in every way equal to the one he has just released, Kalis heaved the large body of the Svorag away, watching as the limbs danced about wildly while his limp body crashed through the trees and light brush. It landed at the feet of three other Svorag some ten meters away who had stopped in their tracks, stunned at how easily this alien thing had killed one of their own.

As Mata and Nedoli and the others began to swarm around him with their weapons out, Kalis turned immediately to look at Serale and he dropped to his knees beside her. “Serale!” He panted, instinctively reaching for her and pulling her into his arms.

“Kalis!” Serale gasped. It was at that exact moment that Serale truly knew how much she had fallen in love with him. She reached for him just as he did for her and she felt a wave of desire and passion sweep through her unlike anything she had yet experienced in her nineteen years of life as his arms crushed her to his broad chest and she buried her face in the hollow of his throat. She felt his cheek pressed to her head, felt him inhale deeply of her scent and pull her to him intending to die protecting her.

“Stand ready!” Mata’s voice echoed. “They will attack!”

Kalis turned quickly to see Mata and the others forming a protective barrier around him and Serale, Koguth and Nedoli among those who had rushed from the cave. They were shoulder to shoulder with Lycavorians and did not even blink. His changed eyes darted to where Yuriko settled next to Mata without hesitation, her eyes now the cobalt blue eyes of her vampire nature and fully exposed as she held the P190A4 at the ready.

“Sound off! How many? Check your fields of fire!” Koguth shouted out the orders as it came so naturally to him to do. He was no stranger to battle and in actuality, he was a superb commander of men. “Watch the flanks! Short bursts! Aim for their center!”

“Left flank General!” A Lycavorian shouted out.

“Right flank sir!” A Kavalian answered.

Yuriko looked at Mata as both Lycavorian and Kavalian troops called out their fields of fire to Koguth with barely a hiccup in their answers. That they were reporting to a man who, not so long ago, would have been their enemy did not seem to faze them in the least. More of the Svorag began to appear from the trees and make themselves seen. “I don’t think they are going to be happy!” She shouted.

“Fuck them!” Koguth screamed in reply. “They will be even less happy when they die at our hands!”

Yuriko felt a familiar surge through her and her cobalt blue eyes grew wide. “Papa!” She gasped loudly.

Kalis felt it too now, fully engulfed in the sensations and the meaning of the blood that flowed through his veins, as he now was. He had never felt anything quite like it in his young life. Overwhelming, pure, focused and flawless power. It flowed over both of them like the warm embrace of a hot spring, embracing them and enveloping them completely. Kalis had never experienced anything like it before and it shook him down to his inner being. He could actually feel his uncle’s emotions to a certain extent. The awe-inspiring pride in the name he bore and in what Kalis had accomplished. It was almost a palpable thing for him and Kalis finally knew what it was like to know someone was proud of him. He could feel the irresistible need from his uncle to protect and support all that he loved and held dear. Then there was the carefully controlled anger that seethed and bubbled beneath the surface like an unexploded mega volcano. Kalis and Yuriko turned at the same time to look behind them and slightly above their position. Unlike the last time he had seen this sight, what Kalis saw now filled him with wonder and untarnished pride at the door he had so willingly stepped through this day. A door that allowed who he was meant to be to finally come out.

“Father!” Yuriko let out the excited scream, causing Koguth and all the others to turn to look behind them.

Martin Leonidas stood in the center of the single line of men and one woman. Danny stood to his right, Murano to his left. Julie, Kenny, T’lolt, Pablo and Tony making up the eight-person line. Kasdan was bent over at the waist beside Kenny on the far end just behind T’lolt drawing in deep breaths as he tried to recover from the incredible sprint they had just conducted over the last kilometer to get here.

Kalis looked at the tall, armored form of his uncle and those with him, taking in the well muscled shape and the raw power that radiated from him like a burning sun. His Spartan helm covered his head and all but his eyes and a narrow portion of his lips, but Kalis could see the dual fangs that were bared in a unique combination of anger and utter control. The yellow/gold eyes blazed from under that helmet, the high plume with six different shades of soft horse hair blowing gently in the wind. The hair color of each of his uncle’s Queens Kalis knew. He carried no firearm, only a strange looking tubular object in his right hand and his extended Nehtes in his left.

“This a private party Yuriko?” Danny barked out the words from beside the man he had called brother since they were babies. “Or can anyone join in?”

If all of them thought Kalis’s roar was something to behold, the sound that escaped the throat of Martin Leonidas was much deeper, much louder and far longer. It held so much more power and domination in it. Even under the Spartan helmet, his dual fangs were now fully bared as he roared out his emotions for all to hear and Kalis could only shudder at the length and sheer utter terror those fangs could elicit from someone who didn’t know better. As with Kalis, spittle flew from Martin’s lips, his changed wolf eyes nearly glowing in their intensity and everyone present could feel the vibration of the roar through the air shudder through their entire bodies.

“By all that I hold holy!” Kalis heard Mata mutter softly from beside him. “This ... this is what we would have fought?”

“Shit! Now you have done it!” Julie quipped in a laconic tone of voice from beside the man she had called brother for equally as long as Danny. “Now you have done pissed him off!”

“Hah! Stupid motherfuckers!” Tony bellowed with a tone of jovial happiness. “T’lolt my Immortal brother! Let’s bring the pain!”

“Oh yes!” T’lolt echoed with his own shout of merriment.

With two screams of their own, Tony and T’lolt brought up the harness mounted 20mm chain guns secured to the front of their bodies and broke in opposite directions from the ends of the line as they mashed down on the fire control buttons gripped in their hands. The three barreled chain guns began to spin and suddenly there were four-foot-long tongues of flame leaping from the barrels, sending hot death down range with unerring accuracy.

“Now Martin!” Murano screamed as a light blue shimmering cloak enshrouded his entire body. He was feeding off the passion and emotion he felt in his fellow Praetorian and to him it was like he had been reborn all over again. He literally surged with power he hadn’t felt in millennia. “They are confused! We go now!”

With a snarl of rage Martin Leonidas bent his knees slightly, a similar light blue cloak wrapping around his form and then he launched himself across the nearly hundred meters of open terrain between him and the first rank of Svorag soldiers with Murano a heart beat behind him.

“Bring it you sonsofbitches!” Danny screamed as he, Julie, Kenny and Pablo formed a small wedged shaped wall, their weapons coming up and they charged into the battle with no pause in their actions or intent.

EARTH

CRANAE ISLAND

While Cranae Island could have held them all easily, it was one of the reasons Andro had purchased the massive island and villa, Resumar and all of his brothers and sisters had chosen to stay at their own villas within the surrounding city of Gytheio. All of them were well within range of the island and only minutes away on their dragons or even by foot for Zarah and Lucia if they blurred. The only one to remain on the island and use one of the large guest apartments was Dorian, who did not yet have his own home.

The apartment was part of the family wing of the villa and entirely self contained. Six of these apartments were positioned across from each other, opening into the long courtyard and flower garden that ran down the center of the Family Wing. As the sunlight began to filter into the room from the large skylight above and touched her skin, Sheva Juconi shifted on the large bed and stretched her petite form under the thin sheet along the length of Dorian Leonidas’s tall, powerful body. She blinked several times and then opened her green eyes, seeing the side of his jaw and cheek from where her head rested on his shoulder. She lifted her head slightly and bit back the groan of blissful soreness. She dropped her head back to his naked shoulder with a smile of utter satisfaction and let out a long sigh of delight. Technically he may have only been a few months old, but Dorian Leonidas possessed the size, knowledge and sexual skill to leave her a whimpering mass of sated flesh. Never in her over three hundred years of life had any man given her such glorious pleasure in her bed. Never had any man devoted so much of his time to insuring she was screaming in delight before he took his own pleasure. Dorian never seemed to tire of her body or her for that matter. There were times when he would simply stare into her stunning eyes and she into his multicolored orbs and they each could see and feel everything the other was thinking and feeling. It was so completely surreal to her, yet it made her feel so totally fulfilled.

He had only taken her once the previous night, but that one time had lasted for nearly three hours and culminated in his fangs sinking deeply into her neck as they had every time they had made love since this affair began, resulting in them exploding together in a rapturous orgasm. Last night had been different however. So very different indeed.

Last night had been so utterly rapturous, that Sheva Juconi had forgotten her control and in the grips of her heavenly orgasm, she sank her vampiric fangs deeply into Dorian’s thick neck and fed on the most delicious blood she had ever tasted in her life. She remembered it vividly as she quivered and shuddered in the mind-blowing orgasm, so warm and spicy with a hint of mint and lilacs in the flavor. Sheva tossed away all her stern control and clutched him possessively as she drank deeply of his delicious blood and he drank of hers, tripling the power and intensity of their mutual orgasm until they both collapsed on the bed unable to move. That is how they had fallen asleep, Sheva’s smaller body atop his, still impaled upon his impressive manhood.

Sheva Juconi stared at the side of his face now and knew that she was falling in love with him. Falling very hard and oh so very fast. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, but she could no longer refuse what she had denied herself for so long. What her heart was telling her she wanted more than anything. It was something she had denied herself in the hopes of some measure of revenge for her loss so long ago. A loss she had long put behind her. Young though he may have been, Dorian Leonidas shared both the memories and wisdom of his father and his dragon brother Ryner and Sheva could not deny she found that knowledge, coupled with his youthful playfulness, completely irresistible. Yes ... she was in love with him. And while part of her questioned how she could have ever allowed it to happen, the other, dominant part wanted to insure it never went away. When he gazed upon her with those eyes of his she felt like the only woman in the universe and all of his desire and attention was focused entirely on her. As she lifted her upper body with her elbow, she held the sheet over her breasts and gazed at his exposed flesh. She took in his broad tattooed chest and tattooed shoulder. The intricate tattoo was something that enhanced his persona in her eyes. He was simply put the most beautiful man she had ever laid her eyes upon. She was tiny compared to him, but there was no denying that she fit perfectly into his embrace. His skin was deeply tanned, even more than her own and her green eyes glance out of the skylight into the brightening sunlight. It was still very early, but the sun rose early in this part of the world she knew. Sheva chuckled softly for a brief moment at the legend perpetrated here on Earth from the human population on how sunlight could kill vampires in seconds. That had never been the case at all. Due mainly to the atmosphere on earth, the upper layers of the ionosphere protected them from the very lethal neutron radiation that came from Earth’s sun, many of the vampires who lived on Earth spent hours outside on purpose. It was the perfect place to a vampire and had been a good hunting ground. Though the hunting part came to an end very quickly many hundreds of years ago.

Her eyes turned back to gaze at Dorian’s face and she concluded with no doubt that he had stolen her heart. Against all her training and judgment, she had fallen in love with him in so short a time and that frightened her to some extent because of what he was. Dorian Leonidas was a hybrid child of perhaps the two most lethal species in the universe that she knew of. While he would never have the raw power of his pureblood brother Androcles, physically he was more than a match for any pureblood vampire and many pureblood Lycavorians right now. Only a pureblood of either species, thousands of years old and with much more experience could hope to stand against him in any way. His strength and speed was something she had never witnessed and she had seen firsthand the aftermath of the abilities he commanded while on Solmar. She had talked to others who had been there and they had told her of what he had done. Dorian was being trained by his brother Androcles and Sheva knew very well that Androcles Leonidas and their father their King were considered without question, the foremost hand to hand combatants within the Union by even the most senior Durcunusaan and vampire instructors. And that was before they had discovered this magical power they all seemed to possess now. It was a power that intrigued her, but didn’t matter to her in the least when held up to her growing feelings for him. As the warmth of Dorian’s body reached for her she dismissed the thoughts forming in her head and lowered her body back to his and snuggled close. The wolf blood in his veins was very dominant and it allowed him to generate so much more body heat than the few vampire males who had shared her bed. His powerful arm lifted almost absently as she snuggled closer and curled around her shoulders to draw her tighter and Sheva smiled contently. It was the first time in her life that she felt like this and it was heavenly.

The door chime rang and rudely snapped Sheva out of her thoughts. Her head swung around towards the door and she lifted her body up, the sheet dropping away to reveal her firm globes. She heard Dorian groan softly and she looked back at him as he spoke to the air.

“I’m late! So sue me!” He snarled as his eyes opened and his face turned to look at her. He saw her firm breasts protruding proudly outward only inches from his face and he grinned devilishly. “I’ll be there in a while!”

Sheva looked at him as he spoke out, her green eyes wide and she realized that he was speaking to someone within Mindvoice. “Dorian?” She questioned. “Who... ?”

“Andro.” Dorian answered her cutting off her question. “We were supposed to train this morning. I’m late.”

“Does he... ?” Sheva began to ask.

Dorian lifted his upper body and pressed his face between her firm breasts planting a soft kiss in the valley there. “Know you are here?” Dorian finished with a hint of humor in his voice. “It would be kind of hard to miss the scents that are probably filling the atrium after last night. You smell very good. So ... I would say yes.”

Sheva pushed him back reluctantly with a groan at his reply. “Dorian!” She gasped in horror.

He lifted his eyes to hers and smiled. “Sheva ... Andro has known since our first night together on the SCIMITAR. His sense of smell is nearly as advanced as my father’s. He could smell you all over me the next day. I’m sure others have noticed as well.”

“Others? Who? Jomann?” Sheva spat with more venom than she intended. Sheva saw his beautiful eyes fill with hurt and he leaned back from her. The look in his eyes caused Sheva nearly as much pain in her heart and she lifted her fingers to her lips in horror at how she had reacted.

“I’m sorry if that bothers you Sheva. I ... I thought you would have known that.” Dorian said softly. “I should ... I should get dressed and meet Andro.”

Sheva watched as he turned slowly and tossed aside the sheet and began to rise out of the bed. His body was so completely beautiful to her, so lean and powerful. His cock was still so very impressive even in its flaccid state. He treated her as some rare gem to be worshiped and adored and still she fought the emotions that were so prominently filling her very essence. She had become so very confused and torn in the last few years and Dorian Leonidas had suddenly become the anchor she had been seeking from the very first day he had entered her life. The anchor and the reason for the conflict of her emotions. The conflict that was about to end right now. Holding the sheet over her upper body with one hand she reached out and grabbed his large hand with the other. “Dorian!” She nearly yelled his name. She watched as he turned slowly away from her. “Dori...” Sheva spoke the nickname his siblings had given him softly. She had thought it was a stupid nickname when they first started using it but it came from her lips as easily and smoothly as breathing. She spoke it almost reverently for that is the emotion that filled her. “Dori ... I’m sorry.” She said.

Dorian moved quickly and knelt beside the bed, pulling her smaller frame close to him. Almost instinctively Sheva allowed his hands to grab her firm ass cheeks and pull her near and she chose to wrap her legs around his sides and lock her heels at the small of his back. His face was suddenly only inches from her and she could smell the sweet scent of his blood. His lips grazed hers and she couldn’t help the shudder of desire that coursed through her. “I know ... I know you are not comfortable with this.” He said softly. “With me. I...”

Sheva shook her head and lifted her hand to place two fingers on his lips silencing his words. She knew what he was going to say and at the beginning she may have felt that way, but in the days since their first encounter she had fallen so deeply in love with him she was not going to allow him to blame himself.

Sheva shook her head and leaned forward, replacing her fingers with her lips and she kissed him tenderly, passionately, with all the emotion she could bring to bear and then some she never knew she even had. Her body rejoiced when he reciprocated without hesitation. “No.” She said softly pulling her head back after a moment and looking at his surprised but happy face. “Don’t you dare ... don’t speak those words Dorian.” She told him finally. “Not now.”

“Sheva Juconi ... I love you.” He told her confidently. “With every breath that I take, I love you. I know that you believe I don’t know what I’m saying and that I’m too young and ... I do not want you to be ... I do not want to force you to believe something you do not. I...”

Sheva shook her head again. “No Dorian ... it is I who needs to ... who needs to open my eyes and believe what I see.” She said. “There is so much more out there in the universe than what I believe and understand and know. Meeting you ... meeting you and then ... and then falling in love with you has made me see that. I can’t dismiss it. I don’t want to dismiss it for it fills me with such happiness.”

Dorian’s eyes grew a little wider, the brown and cobalt blue orbs wide as he gazed at her. “You ... you love me?” He gasped in surprise.

Sheva felt in control of her destiny for the first time in her life and she nodded her head confidently. She would no longer rail against her emotions and what they were telling her. This was a decision she was making of her own free will based on the emotions rushing through her so powerfully. She was smiling brilliantly as she nodded her head and took his handsome face in her small hands. “I ... I can’t begin to describe how much I love you.” She told him with small tears running down her cheeks in happiness. “How much I want to be with you. What you make me feel. I’ve never felt this way for anyone Dori. Never in all my life and it feels ... it makes me feel so alive.”

Dorian tilted his head slightly to the side and his right eyebrow lifted a little causing Sheva to smile. “Ok ... what did you do with the Sheva Juconi that wanted to kick my ass a couple weeks ago?”

Sheva laughed heartily, genuinely and relished the peace it brought her. “She realized that everything she has ever wanted was right in front of her face and staring back at her.” Sheva said. “You ... you are the son of King Leonidas and his vampire Queen Isabella. A Prince. Most woman would jump at the chance to experience what you have shown me.”

“Sheva ... I don’t want any other women.” He told her rolling his eyes.

Sheva nodded her head. “And it is I who needs to understand that you are different. That something so very special happened to you and now you are so much more mature and wise than I.”