Talon of Darkness (#18) (Dragon's Fire)

By Danielle Kazemi

A giant red dragon threatens the city, breathing fire upon buildings and destroying them swiftly. Crispin and the others are unsure how to deal with this problems. True dragons haven't been seen in ages. They'll need to concentrate their efforts if they want to get rid of it.

A familiar face is also looking for the dragons. When she meets with them, neither side knows how to react to her return.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Danielle Kazemi
• Release date: May 6, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301682447

Danielle Kazemi

Danielle Kazemi is the author of the YA series Dragon's Fire, The Fire Journal, and The Phoenix Token. She's a native from south Louisiana and spends her day balancing between kids and writing.

Book preview

Dragon's Fire

Talon of Darkness

Danielle Kazemi

Copyright 2013 Danielle Kazemi

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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Dragon's Fire

Talon of Darkness

Danielle Kazemi

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 1

The shadow of a large red dragon moved slowly over Annabel, the darkness engulfing her view before it flew into the distance without glanced once more in her direction. She watched as it disappeared behind the tall buildings in the city before directing her attention to Crispin and the others reeling in pain. Are you okay? She put her hands on the side of his face and brought his attention towards her.

The grimace on his face showed pain as he fought through it; his teeth gritted against one another. Whatever sound they heard, she could only imagine how loud it sounded to them. The noise had spared her – likely since she wasn’t a dragon like the others. She wished someone could explain what happened to her.

Crispin looked at her finally, blinking through the pain he experienced moments earlier. I have no idea what came over me, he said as he looked at the others. They too also seemed dazed over what happened; blinking and holding onto their heads.

Did you see the dragon? There was an actual dragon, Annabel said, her voice a mixture of terrified and excited. She never knew dragons existed with wings and scales before. She assumed all of the dragons remaining in the world were the same kind like the ones in front of her – blended into human society without a problem. The only aspect these had which set them apart was when they shifted their hands into claws or blew fire.

He nodded, his curly black hair seeming as distressed as he was. I don’t know what that is. I mean, it shouldn’t exist. Those aren’t real. He believed if he said it enough to himself, it might make the creature disappear. He heard stories when he was very little about how dragons long ago used to have scales and fly but he didn’t believe it. None of them existed in modern times.

Sera shook her head, clearing her mind of the recent noise. They were at one point. She brought her hand to her temple, pushing her dark hair behind her ear.

That was thousands of years ago, Crispin reminded her. He knew the same history as her – the Watchers were the ones who changed them into their current form for protection. It helped keep those who wanted to kill them, like knights, from tracking them down easily.

And if they were real at one point, they might still exist. Maybe one of the dragons didn’t take up the offer. She wanted to figure out what a plausible reason for seeing a dragon in this form would be. Like her brother, she knew it didn’t make sense. At this point, she needed some sort of explanation.

Henry looked to Crispin. Do you think we still need to see the elders? He knew that was their original purpose for driving through the city but it seemed like a dragon, a really big one, being loose might be worth the trouble of delaying their trip. It might take long to defeat the creature though and they knew it.

Crispin returned the same look. He knew if they continued on to meet with the elders, no one here could stop the dragon. Normal humans already seemed panicked when the shadow of its wings fell upon them. His only hope, the knights, were too busy fighting one another. They wouldn’t care about what happened to other people. This was a hard choice.

We could split up, Sera offered, unsure if this was something plausible. Splitting the group never seemed to give the results they wanted.

Maybe, Crispin said as he tried thinking about their entire scenario. There were so many different things which could wrong if they decided to split up. It didn’t help that his mind remained fixated on solving the elder problem so he could redeem himself in front of other dragons.

Henry nodded slightly to himself and took a step forward. I think that might work. The three of us, he said pointing at himself, Sera, and Jules, Can stay here and you two can see the elders. Besides, you don’t need us. We can handle it.

Crispin folded his arms across his chest. I don’t know. We’ve never dealt with a dragon before or at least not one that looked larger than most of the buildings around here. He scanned the distance to see if he could find it again. The shadow appeared every once in a while but as for the actual body, he couldn’t spot it. The dragon knew how to hide itself well.

That troubled him. It seemed nearly impossible for something as large as it was to hide within the city but it did. There had to be some way he could locate exactly where it was and then determine the best plan of action. If it rested, there was a chance of attack.

There has to be something we could do to catch its attention. Jules? Henry turned to the other man standing beside them. You thought of anything yet?

Jules shrugged, his dark hair and eyes continuing to scan the skyline in hopes of spotting the creature. I’d imagine some kind of light would probably get its attention. Especially at night.

Good. Hear that? We’ve got a plan. Henry felt slightly better knowing now they had some sort of direction. As much as he preferred going into things blind, it always helped to have some sort of plan. Otherwise, there was no telling what might happen.

Crispin turned to Annabel and asked, Do you think you can come with me and explain everything to the elders? He hoped it would clear his name if she explained how he wasn’t the one who joined forces with the knights. It was Lysander, one of the elders, who decided to work with their enemies. The only reason Crispin was being blamed was because he decided not to help Lysander train a new army of dragon warriors for his army.

Annabel had been at the knight retreat when the knights turned on one another. She knew it was Lysander who helped orchestrate the dragons into attacking as well.

She nodded. Absolutely. I know we’ll get your name in good standing within a few minutes. The moment they got there, they knew they’d need to go through the bodyguards who protected the elders. That would be the hard part. Once they made it to the elders though, there would be no choice but to accept the fact Crispin was telling them the truth.

He looked back at Henry. Looks like we’re splitting again. His gaze continued on until it reached his sister, Sera. He felt concerned for her. Even though she was Henry’s mate, she was still his little sister whom he promised to protect.

I promise everything will be fine. Henry knew what Crispin referred to. His hand went to Sera’s side for a moment, bringing her in closer to him. They both wore a determined look on their face.

Crispin looked at everyone once more. He felt worried leaving them– knowing it would be dangerous for both sides. Hopefully things would work out. If he was accepted back into dragon kind, then he could get support from other dragons to defeat this monstrosity.

"If anything happens, make sure you