Shared By The Dragon Clan Complete (22 page)

CHAPTER
SEVEN

Days. Weeks. Months. Hours.

Stacey didn’t
know how much time had passed.

She was now
awake, with her eyes barely open, and she could just make out she was in a
hospital bed. Very thin cover. Very thin sheets.

Even though
she was mostly awake, she was still drifting in and out of consciousness. Her
body felt as though it had been hammered by a train. It was exhausted, but
rested at the same time. In her mind, she grappled through images. The first
thing she thought of, was her old apartment. Just being at home. Studying for
her exams.

Dennis.
Coming over and being a nice guy.

Teresa, still
alive.

It felt so
real. It was the normal life she’d once lived.

And then she
remembered the Island. How she had held a dagger out to defend herself and
caused someone else to die. She remembered the blood falling. How its heat burnt
into her face.

Then there
was Jasmine. Poor Jasmine, suffering beside her. Stacey had been sure they were
both about to die.

Zane…

Her beloved.

Where was he?

Was he with
her here?

Stacey sat
up, her eyes squinting around the room. There was a man asleep in a chair
against the back wall. A young man. But one she didn’t recognize.

“Hello?”
Stacey murmured. “Someone…”

The man’s
eyes fluttered. Seeing Stacey caused him to sit up in alarm. He reached to his
jacket and pulled a pen and paper from it. Then he got out of the chair and
made his way over.

“Who are
you?” Stacey demanded. “What’s going on?”

“You’re in
the city hospital,” the man said casually. “You’ve been here for almost a
week.”

“How did I
get here?”

“There was an
incident. Involving…” The man’s attention was suddenly interrupted. He gazed
out the door to Stacey’s room, and then turned back to her. “I have to go now.”

He wrote down
something on his paper and tore it out for her.

“Call this
number when you’re able to,” he said.

“Why?” Stacey
demanded.

She heard the
sound of footsteps. People coming to her room.

“I want to
help you,” the man said.

The door
burst open and two security guards grabbed a hold of him.

“Come on,
you,” one of the guards said. “How many times do we have to tell you –?”

Stacey rolled
up the piece of paper into her hand and stuffed it under the covers. A man and
woman wearing white coats, and a nurse had now come to her bedside.

“Who was that
guy?” Stacey asked. “What did he want?”

“Never mind
him,” the female doctor stated. “He shouldn’t have been in here.”

“Was he going
to hurt me?”

“Oh no,” the
doctor gushed. “He was just a stupid reporter. We get them in here all the
time.”

“How are you
feeling, Stacey?” the male doctor asked. “Are you in any pain?”

“No,” Stacey
said. “I just feel really tired.”

“You’ve been
in a brief coma,” the doctor explained. “You sustained a significant blow to
the head. Fortunately there doesn’t appear to be any serious damage.”

“Oh. Thank
goodness.”

“But we’ll
need to ask you a series of questions, and run some further tests on you before
we can be sure you’re okay.”

Stacey
nodded. “Where is…?”

“Who? Where
is who?”

Stacey looked
around anxiously.

She felt the
screwed up paper to make sure it was still there.

“Nothing,”
she said. “It doesn’t matter.”

CHAPTER
EIGHT

Over the course of the next few days,
Stacey had a number of visitors. These included the police, her parents, and
Jasmine who had also made it alive out of the apartment collapse. Judging by
what Jasmine had told her, and the questions she’d been asked by the police,
they seemed more than little concerned with covering up the truth of what had
happened. Despite witnesses reporting the appearance of three dragons fighting
in the sky above the apartment complex, the police were insistent that those
reports have yet to be confirmed.

“Did you have
a reporter come see you?” Jasmine asked on her visit.

Stacey
nodded. “I didn’t get his name but he gave me his number.”

“You should
talk to him,” Jasmine said. “I spoke with him, and it seems he’s building a
case to get the laws changed. He says the dragons are abusing their rights with
their human prisoners.”

“Not all
dragons are like that,” Stacey replied. “Zane is good remember.”

“Well, you
have to tell him that. I told him that you were innocent of your convicted
crime, and he’s looking into that too.”

“How do we
know we can trust him?” Stacey complained. “Every new guy who shows up turns
out to be someone or something else.”

Jasmine
shrugged. “I’m sorry. I’m just telling you the truth.”

Stacey
squeezed her hand. “I know you are. How … are you dealing with…?”

“I hardly
remember it,” Jasmine answered. “I don’t want to.”

“Yeah. I know
how you feel.”

“I should be
going anyway,” Jasmine said letting go of her hand. “I told Dennis to stay away
if he was thinking of trying anything with you.”

“Yeah…”
Stacey sat up a bit more. “You haven’t spoken to Zane at all, have you?”

“If I had, I
would’ve told you,” Jasmine replied.

“Okay,”
Stacey smiled.

“Don’t
worry,” Jasmine said. “If he loves you … he’ll come back and rescue you again.”
She then lowered her head and walked through the door.

“Zane,”
Stacey whispered to herself in bed. “Where are you, my darling? Where on earth
are you…?”

CHAPTER NINE

Zane was standing in the garden
outside his deceased brother’s manor, watching the moonlit stars hovering on
the faraway horizon. He was thinking about Stacey. Thinking how he wished they
could be together now. But the full extent of Quraal’s manifestation in this
world had yet to be realized. There were troubling times ahead.

 Zane and
Narses had lost their battle with the Dark Dragon. He had proven himself far
more powerful than either of them were prepared for. Thankfully, they had both
escaped with their lives. But Narses was mortally wounded, and in Zane’s care.
He continued to encourage Narses that with each day his health was restoring,
and soon he would be better, but the older dragon’s eyes confirmed the very
thing Zane didn’t wish to believe. Narses was on his deathbed.

It was not
only his attending to Narses’s health that had kept Zane from reaching out to
his beloved Blossom. Narses foretold of a grave turn of events that had now
been set in motion. On Firebound Island it was said that Quraal had returned
and had taken over the Palace and the Dragon Guards. When Zane asked if he
should be concerned about Quraal seeking out vengeance against either of them,
or perhaps his beloved, the old dragon had replied: “He has much bigger sights
in his eyes than that.”

“What are you
talking about?” Zane demanded. “Who is he after now?”

“There will
be a war,” Narses answered. “The first war. The only war. A war between Humans
and Dragons.”

“Then I must
leave now!” Zane cried. “He must be destroyed before he can go any further!”

“Trust me as
I say this,” Narses replied. “If you go after him, or your beloved, you will
deeply regret it. The best thing, the only thing for you to do is to stay here.
Ride out the storm. And then one day, it will all be over.”

That was four
nights ago. Last night, Narses hadn’t even been able to speak he was in so much
pain. Upon visiting Narses tonight, it appeared he was unconscious. Perhaps
only hours away from death.

Standing
there, it was so hard for him to stay still. He trusted Narses and knew that
the old dragon believed he was speaking the truth. But he also knew his beloved
was calling for him, pining for him, needing him to be there for her. Zane
could hardly stand it. It made him sick to the core.

If only there
was some way he could reach her. Some means that he could perhaps…

But then what
was the point?

What did it
matter unless he was there with her?

As they
should always be. Always and forever.

The dragon
inside Zane roared a painful roar. He realized that in spite of how strong he’d
been, and how long he’d been able to keep still here, he could bear his
separation from Stacey no more.

CHAPTER TEN

Technically Stacey was still under
arrest. Since she’d woken up, the police had someone loosely stationed outside
the door to her room, in the event she tried to escape. He also followed her
around the hospital with the doctors during her tests and examinations.
Uncomfortable, to say the least. She couldn’t really believe they’d send her
back to the Island after all she’d been through. She still hadn’t spoken with anyone
in regards to this, but she knew that detectives were regularly keeping up to
date with her condition and pushing doctors for a date of release.

In spite of
all this, there was nothing to stop Stacey from making calls to anyone. She had
the nurse escort her out in a wheelchair to the patient’s phone room, where she
was able to make her call to the reporter Jasmine had been so insistent was on
their side. With the cop on duty outside the room, and being unable to listen
in on the call, Stacey was safe to speak freely.

He answered
after a couple of rings. “Steve Sherper, speaking.”

“Hi,” Stacey
said nervously. “Are you the reporter?”

“Uh-huh. I’m
freelance. But I get my stories out there. Who’s speaking?”

“Stacey
Caversham. I was … you were…”

“Oh, I know
who you are,” Mr. Sherper said immediately. “I’ve been looking forward to your
call.”

“Yes.”

There was a
pause on his end of the line. It seemed he was moving around wherever he was.

Stacey heard
a door close.

“What I’m
going to do Ms. Caversham, is ask you a series of questions related to your
accident, and your most recent conviction. Do you have any problems with that,
or any questions for me?”

Stacey
sighed. “Not yet.”

“Right. So
just be relaxed. Be yourself. I am recording this so, just be aware of that.”

“Okay.”

“Shall we
begin?”

Stacey leaned
back in her wheelchair. “I’m ready.”

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

Downstairs at the ground floor of the
hospital, Dennis was loitering there, but had yet to approach reception. He was
completely sober unlike the previous couple of times he’d met up with his
ex-girlfriend. Although he’d never admit it to anyone, he was seriously
embarrassed about the night he’d pulled a gun on her. It was just that he’d
thought she was gone forever, and then seeing her there in the house with that
‘I’m so perfect’ dragon-mutant made him want to claw his own eyes out. After
all, how was he supposed to compete with that guy? The man wasn’t even a human
like Dennis was, so it was completely unfair. He’d never liked the idea of
these shifter-dragons or whatever they were called. They were supposed to stay
on their Island and not fuck with his people’s way of life. Yeah, they’d stolen
his girlfriend away from him … but once she made it out of there that didn’t
mean the dragon was allowed to follow her. The whole thing was weird to Dennis.
He knew in his heart that Stacey truly loved him and not this fake creature…
But the way of the dragons was evil and their powers had taken hold of her.

Now that he
was sober and he could see straight, he realized that he must protect Stacey
from them. He wanted to badly go see her, but hadn’t summoned the courage. He
would have to work his way back with her. Earn her trust. He wasn’t exactly
sure how he could do that, but showing up unannounced might freak her at this
stage. His sister Jasmine had greatly advised against it.

He was
thinking about calling her. Asking what she thought about it now. If she’d had
a change of heart. On the face of it though, he knew the dragons had messed
with her mind too. She still spoke of Stacey’s dragon/boyfriend as though he
was some kind of rockstar. Had they forgotten that his friend had raped one of
them, and threatened to do the same to the other? Thank God the building
collapsed when it did. Otherwise they might not even be alive.

His sister.

His
girlfriend.

Dennis could
feel the sweat pouring off him. He wanted a drink and a joint so bad, but it
would probably make his anger even worse than what it was.

“Are you
alright?” a passing nurse asked him.

“Yeah…” Dennis
murmured. “I’m just … dealing with anxiety.”

“Why don’t
you have a seat?” the nurse said kindly. “I’ll get you some water.”

Dennis
smiled. “Cool.”

Hot nurse,
he thought to
himself.
I wonder if she has a boyfriend.

She brought
him the water and he sat down, thanking her. He stared at her jugs for a bit
when she returned to the desk. It calmed him. He shook his head.

Focus,
Dennis. Focus.

He shouldn’t
be here now. The dragons weren’t coming. They had plenty of opportunity to
already without him being here. But they stayed away. They finally got that she
was a human and did not belong to them.

“It’s not
like I’m trying to bang a dragon bitch,” Dennis muttered to himself. “That’s
disgusting.”

But it wasn’t
as though he could blame Stacey. She was just a chick.

He leant his
head against the wall, and pulled out his phone. Dialed his sister’s number.

“Hey,” she
answered the phone. “What do you want?”

“Yo,” Dennis
said. “So … I’ve been thinking about Stacey.”

“What about
her?”

“I thought I
might get her some flowers.”

“No, Dennis.
I told you to stay away from her.”

“Come on,” he
argued. “She needs some cheering up. I swear I’ll only stay for like … half an
hour or –”

“Please,
Dennis. Don’t do it. Don’t go. Promise me you won’t.”

Dennis
sighed.

“Promise,”
Jasmine repeated.

“Alright,”
Dennis muttered. “I promise.”

“Thank you.
Trust me. It’s for the best.”

“Yeah, well…”
Dennis put his water down. He stood up. “You owe me, sis.”

“Okay. Just
leave Stacey alone.”

Then right
about then, Dennis almost dropped the phone.

“No,” he
whispered. “Get the fuck out of here.”

“What is it?”
came Jasmine’s voice on the other side.

Dennis put
the phone back to his ear. “That fucking dragon’s back here.”

“Which one?”

“The
boyfriend. I’m gonna fucking kill him –”