Dragon's Fake Wedding Date - Riley Storm Page 0,37

his horned followers and disciples.

Blah, blah, blah.

That’s what the preacher was going on about now, though Rann tuned it out. He’d heard the rhetoric before; it was always the same.

If he’s preaching though, that means he has an audience. More than just Jed, I’d hazard.

Rann crept forward a bit more until he could ever-so-slightly stick his head around the corner.

About a dozen humans were standing on the ground, whilst the preacher railed against the dragons from an elevated platform. He stopped right as Rann stuck his head around the corner, and for a heart-stopping moment, Rann thought he’d been caught.

“Now, let me introduce to you to two people you haven’t met, and one that might be a bit familiar,” said the bald, wiry male with eyes dark enough to be black, despite their feverish glow. “Eli, Roh, please, step forward.”

Metal shelving trembled under Rann’s grip as two unmistakable figures stepped forward out of a darkness even his vision couldn’t penetrate.

Vampires.

I knew it! I knew the damn Church and the vamps were in league together. I fucking bloody well knew it!

Rann almost stepped around the corner then and there, incensed by the appearance of the creatures of the Otherworld, but he stopped himself. The two vampires, he noted, appeared…healthy. It was the only word that fit. They had shed the pitch-black skin tone they’d had upon appearing from the Otherworld, and now their skin was nearly pale. Nearly human.

In fact, if they hadn’t moved with the superhuman grace of creatures born of another dimension, he might have passed them on the street and never known.

Before he could analyze the situation further, everything changed.

“Let me introduce to you, a new face. One you may recognize,” the preacher said with a chuckle. “Isabella, you may show yourself.”

A third figure stepped forward. A tall, athletically built woman. Skin a shade paler than normal. And two very noticeable bite marks on her neck.

Sonofabitch.

Rann stared in astonishment as the woman he and millions of others had seen bled dry on local TV smiled at the gathering.

“They’re building an army,” he whispered, in a mixture of shock and horror.

Everything was becoming clearer now.

First, the video had been a fraud. Unless they had simply been watching the creation of a vampire without knowing it. To his knowledge, nobody had ever seen how it was done. Secondly, he couldn’t shake the feeling that it had been aired on purpose. To show humans what else was out there. To make them feel like the dragons couldn’t protect them.

Rann wasn’t sure yet what the vamps hoped to accomplish from that, but he knew they had to be up to something. Perhaps they were going to use fear to recruit more to their cause. He didn’t know.

Second, however, was that this woman had wanted to be turned into a vampire. That she’d actually desired it. After all, that was the only way the change could take. The person had to go into it willingly. If they fought, the vampire DNA would kill them. Which meant the dragons now had to contend with at least three vampires.

Four, he corrected, spying a set of much smaller marks on the preacher’s neck. Older marks. He had been taken quite some time before, judging by the difference.

The third thing Rann realized was the purpose of the audience. These had to be the most fanatical of the Church, the ones who believed most thoroughly that the dragons were evil.

How long, I wonder, until the preacher or this woman offers them a way to ‘fight back’? To gain the power to do what must be done. Sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

He wanted to snort at the ludicrous notion but knew that many would fall for it. They would accept the vampires’ ‘gift’ in exchange for being able to stop the evil tide of dragons.

“Jed,” the woman called. “Come forth and receive your gift.”

Rann’s lips peeled back in a silent snarl as ‘his’ informant took to the stage.

The woman—Isabella—smiled, stroking the man’s face as she pushed him to his knees. Jed trembled at her touch, but he sank to the ground, ready to receive his blessing.

Isabella’s teeth lengthened, her jaw opening wider than any human as she prepared to feed.

Rann shook his head as he realized that he wouldn’t stop it. He could if he chose to. He even wanted to. The sight of Jed being turned into a vampire made Rann see red. Burning the place down in a wall of flame would bring him immense satisfaction.

It