Call Of The Dark

The Shaman was petrified. His gaze was darting between Nephie and the mountain of crystal under which Ailill and Maeve were buried alive. He had performed so much dark magic that he was sure this ritual would be a success, but the whole thing took a terrible turn.

Nephie was earlier seeing Lazarus and Emma but now her large head moved to see the Shaman. Her chest vibrated with a rumble which was so dangerous that the floor of the temple shook. Anton and King Viktor grabbed the nearest column as they looked at Nephie with fear in their eyes. Both of them were unable to understand where the dragon came from and attacked Ailill. They had too many questions in their head but they were too terrified to even speak.

Gusty winds that were earlier swirling around them had stopped. It was all too quiet now. Only the rumbling of the dragon was heard. It was more like a growl, a warning to all of them. She watched them with hawk eyes. Lazarus had wrapped his arms around Emma and had turned her away from the crystal mountain. He was reassuring her that all was well.

The Shaman couldn't take his defeat. Even though he was shaking terrified as hell, the humiliation that he was unable to carry out the ritual in front of the king was too much. He gathered his guts and shouted at Nephie, "You tried to obstruct a holy ritual! I am going to make you pay for it!" He closed his eyes and brought forward the darkest of his magic. It coiled down his hands and as soon as it reached his fingertips, he hurled it towards the crystal mountain. There was a tremor in the mountain as the magic coiled around it, but the next moment the magic disintegrated and collapsed on the ground with sigh.

Nephie watched him with amusement in her eyes. She saw that he spat a lot of blood on the ground, lifted his hands and then called his magic again. She had had too much of his drama. With a roar, she opened her mouth and attacked him. She picked him up with his head in her mouth. His skull crushed with a loud sound and Nephie spat it out on the floor next to King Viktor. King Viktor jumped from his place, looking terrified like a mouse who had just seen a cat.

Lazarus took a deep breath in and slightly loosened his grip on Emma. She was pressed hard against his chest, shaking with dread. The way King Viktor had traced her over here, she was still feeling jittery. There were tears in her eyes. He curled his fingers beneath her chin and lifted her face. "She is gone," he said in a soft voice and kissed her lips lightly. He brushed her tears with his thumb. "No more crying, love. We both are getting married soon."

Emma's lips quivered when she said, "Thank you…"

He chuckled. "Say thanks to Nephie."

A few hours before the ritual, Lazarus had gone to meet Nephie along with Emma. He had explained his plans to Nephie with Emma's help. The plan was to get rid of Maeve by luring her in Ailill's body. Nephie was going to hover over the temple and at Lazarus's signal she was supposed to come to the temple and bury them both in the crystals that she created with her fire. No one could ever break that mountain.

While everything in the plan went well, Lazarus never expected his father to get Emma to the temple. Viktor was sneaky. He showed Emma to Maeve and that time a shiver of terror ran down his spine. He knew that Maeve would aim for Emma. At the same time he wanted Maeve to enter Ailill's body. So he used this opportunity to his advantage on a quick thinking. He lured Maeve to enter Emma and shoved her behind Ailill when Maeve lunged at her. Maeve's soul went straight in Ailill's body.

Emma turned her head over her shoulder. She left Lazarus and ran towards Nephie. Nephie lowered her head and Emma wrapped her arms around her snout. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!" She couldn't stop herself from crying out loud.

Nephie closed her eyes and reveled in Emma's embrace. "You will be fine with me, little one," she said affectionately. "No one can harm you."

Emma grabbed her tightly and a few moments later, she kissed her snout.

Anton, Viktor and Yul watched her with amazement. Emma was with a dragon and was least afraid. She was hugging it as if she had met an old friend.

Viktor's gaze went to the body of Shaman that was so badly crushed that he repulsed. He looked at Lazarus and his anger returned with full force. He wanted to kill Lazarus with Maeve's help but Lazarus had sabotaged his plans in one master stroke. Nephie. He clenched his teeth as he saw Emma with Nephie. He promised himself that he was going to kill Emma before she takes over as Lazarus's queen. His eyes went to Anton who too was watching them with fury.

Lazarus had ruined all the plans so perfectly that there was no way to retrieve Maeve unless someone could break the dragon's magic.

Viktor strode out of the temple and then traced back to his room with the worst disappointment of his life. However, he began thinking on how to cage the dragon. Maybe by capturing the dragon he would be able to control Emma and then Lazarus. But how would he capture a dragon as large as that? This wasn't the first time he had seen a dragon in his life, but this was the first time he had seen it so close. Viktor was mesmerized by the dragon and wondered what it would be to have one.

Anton was so disgusted by the whole thing that he wanted to shout. He never imagined that Lazarus would choose Emma over Maeve. He had miscalculated. And suddenly Lazarus's reduced interest in Maeve made sense. He was actually working on how to get rid of Maeve. His older brother had fallen in love with his mate.