Page 83 of Dragon's Honor

“Hello, pretty girl. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you in the flesh up close.” He reached down to cup her cheek, his gray gaze holding hers.

She jerked away before he could touch her. “You did all of this.”

“What is she talking about?” Ash’s voice was low and menacing.

Grey stepped to the side, keeping his back to the wall. “I’m afraid she’s absolutely correct. Leave it to the human to figure out over all you Neanderthals.”

Cillian charged and Grey was gone with a woosh of smoke.

And then the room erupted.

17

Truth

Ash couldn’t hear himself think, let alone anything else that was being said. The conclave was here to condemn Tristian, everything Ash wanted. Except, Tristian was a victim like the rest of them. He’d probably killed under Grey’s influence. And now Tristian was going to have to live with it.

And live with it, he would. Ash would save him from Grey. He had to.

Gavin lifted Olivia off the ground and pushed through the crowd taking her to the back room where there was a cot.

“She can’t be trusted,” someone said.

Finley looked completely dejected. Ash gathered her in his arms. She pushed him away. “Where are they taking her?”

Gavin called to her. “Come on, Finley, I will show you.”

Finley left while Gavin took her sister down to the dungeons beneath the bar. The entire place was fortified. She would be safe below and she wouldn’t be able to harm them.

“What about this guy?” Dalton of the Amazonite Clan was advancing toward Cillian.

“You think I’m following Grey’s sermon?” Cillian laughed. “If you want to start not trusting anyone, go ahead, but you’re going to need my help if you’re going against someone like Grey. He was working with the tourmaline king centuries ago. If that’s true, Grey has had nothing but time to fine tune his evil plan to take over the world. If he revealed himself, you can bet that he’s very sure he can pull it off. I wouldn’t underestimate him. In fact, if you do, you’re all dead. I’m dead. The human race will be nothing but brainless zombies waiting for the instruction to bare their necks so a vampire can drink you.”

Ash wanted to punch something. He wanted to punch Grey until his face was unrecognizable and then he wanted to punch the rest of him until he was nothing but mush.

“The hospital was merely a show of power,” Marcus said. “He can do that on a grand scale. We have no idea how he gave the command to so many at once…”

Syrena interrupted. “Blood. He put his own blood into the potion. Blood magic is always the strongest. Vampires aren’t supposed to be able to do that, but with Tabitha’s help, he managed to find a way to do it.”

“If he’s trying to get rid of all supernatural creatures, this wasn’t his only play,” Henrik said. “This isn’t some plan he can hatch out overnight. He’s got a lot of steps, which means we still have time.”

“We’ve been so clever in figuring it out so far,” Ash grumbled. “We need to find Tristian. If he is truly under Grey’s spell, we need to find him. Having one less dragon for him to control would be a good start.”

Cillian glanced around at all of them. “Grey has a following. I didn’t realize it was Grey, until now, but it makes sense. He always used a pseudonym. Never showed his face. I know some of the followers. Radical vampires, hellbent on the humans being nothing more than lambs to the slaughter. I didn’t think he was anything more than a walking, talking head piece. He spouts off a lot of stuff, but the crowds love it.”

“There are crowds of vampires?”

Cillian chuckled. “Fair point. He posts this shit online all the time. Vampires are listening to him, but I honestly didn’t think it was anything more than a flaccid INCEL rant. Every man would like to think he can rule the world, only a few get close. Royalty, presidents, and dictators. If Grey is serious, this is a huge undertaking. Humans outnumber the supernatural by billions. It’s not like they’re all just going to fall in line. He can’t infect them all.”

“He doesn’t have to.” Finley’s voice was quiet.

Ash found her standing against the wall. Gavin was leaning against the door frame next to her. “What do you mean?”

“He only has to scare them. He can get hundreds or thousands of people hooked up to Dragon Fire and his control and then he can show the world what he can do. Who is going to question his power?”

“There are always those who will start a revolution,” Cillian said. “I’ve seen enough of them in my lifetime.”

“The American president would nuke him on American soil if need be,” Gavin said.

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