Smoke and Flame: Rise of the Dragons Trilogy, #2

By N. R. Hairston

Intent on rescuing her teammates, Alisa finds herself pitted against her own allies as the fight with the relentless Yango rages. Can delving into the origins of her dragon powers give her the strength to prevail in this seemingly endless battle?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fire Ink Media
• Release date: Nov 23, 2017
• ISBN: 9798201514266

Book preview

Smoke and Flame

Rise of the Dragons Trilogy Book Two

N. R. Hairston

Copyright © 2017 by N.R. Hairston All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover Design by Miblart

Published by

OTHER TITLES BY N. R. Hairston

Magic and Mischief Series

A Magical Reckoning, Book One

A Symptom of Magic, Book Two

A Victim of Magic, Book Three

Sun Cursed

Cursed Magic, Book One

Savage Magic, Book Two

Lethal Magic, Book Three

World Breaker

Rogue Magic, Book One

Bloody Magic, Book Two

Battle Magic, Book Three

World Breaker Beginnings (Novellas set before the events in Rogue Magic, though you don’t have to read one to read the other.) Read this series for free when you join my mailing list, here.

Rebel Magic, Book One

Stolen Magic, Book Two

Crooked Magic, Book Three

Dirty Magic, Book Four

Feral Magic, Book Five

Lawless Magic, Book Six 

Rise of the Dragons

Fire and Ash, Book One

Smoke and Flame, Book Two

Dust and Cinder, Book Three

Atina and Ridge

We Got Powers Too, Book One

We Wreak Havoc Too, Book Two

We Got Witches Too, Book Three

Rebel Writers Anthologies

Street Spells

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

Author Note

Other Titles by N. R. Hairston

Acknowledgements

About the Author

For a better reading experience, it’s probably best to read book one, Fire and Ash first.

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Smoke and Flame

Intent on rescuing her teammates, Alisa finds herself pitted against her own allies as the fight with the relentless Yango rages. Can delving into the origins of her dragon powers give her the strength to prevail in this seemingly endless battle?

Chapter 1

I’d been trapped. They’d caught me slipping. As a private detective, I aimed to give my clients one hundred percent, always. 

When Melinda Handler had come into my office and told me she suspected her husband Brad of cheating on her, I’d vowed to find out the truth.

I cussed myself when I thought about it. I’d been stupid and naïve. The whole thing had been a setup. Something she and her husband had concocted so they could escape our world.

Me and my boyfriend Reid had chased after them. We’d hopped universes to find them. But we'd run into others from their world.

They were called the Yangos. They pillaged other worlds, killing, and taking everything they could get their hands on. Yangos were bloodthirsty and ruthless. They killed anyone who disobeyed them.

I let out a breath and looked around my brother Todd’s kitchen. His kitchen was as big as my whole house. Everything was stainless steel, from the refrigerator to the counter tops.

He had three kitchen islands with stainless steel pots and pans hanging above them. He also had two large double sinks, with dishes above them.

My brother was a clean freak. If I didn’t know better, I’d have sworn the kitchen and everything in it was just purchased today.

The counters stretched the length of the kitchen and probably had every appliance known to man packed neatly on them.

Large double-hung windows were placed a few inches apart in the kitchen. They allowed for an optimum amount of sunlight to shine through.

All the windows in Todd’s home had the same forest green curtains on them. My brother kept them open and pulled back.

Todd wasn’t here now, but his house was packed. Reid and I had new friends. We’d met Iago, Trout, and Coen on a world called Litvan. One of the worlds the Yangos had overrun.

We’d saved them from the Yangos and brought them back to our world. Why? Because they’d agreed to help us.

See, before meeting Brad and Melinda, Reid and I hadn’t known other worlds existed, much less how to get to them.

Brad and Melinda had left behind a device called a porter. It allowed us to open portals to other worlds. Only... The first time we used it we acquired strange powers. Dangerous powers. Dragon powers.

We'd since learned that no one had seen the dragons in thousands of years. Most of the time, when people saw us using dragon powers, they took off running.

We had no clue how these powers worked and since the porter was a Yango porter, we hoped Brad and Melinda could help us before we accidentally set our loved ones on fire.

Iago, one of our new friends, wanted to find his sister Lantana. She’d been taken hostage for defying the Yangos. She was on one of three worlds. We needed to find out which one.

Lantana had the power to summon. If we found her, she could summon Brad and Melinda to us.

After we’d saved them, Trout, Iago, and Coen, had decided to train us. That way, if we ran into any problems, we could defend ourselves.

Having powers, and hopping worlds was new to Reid and myself. We’d gladly accept any help offered.

Reid and I had worked on our fighting technique with Iago and Coen for a few weeks. In my opinion, we’d both improved significantly.

Since we’d gained a little more knowledge about our powers. It was time to go. We needed to rescue Lantana and find Brad and Melinda.

I didn’t trust these dragon abilities. For all I knew, they could kill us. Brad and Melinda had given me the porter. They should be able to tell me something about the side effects from using it.

I hoped we found Lantana too. I wanted to save her, but also, she could bring Brad and Melinda to us in the blink of an eye. 

Tanko, a friend of Iago’s, said Lantana had been taken to either Graven, Emor, or Loden.

I let out a breath, pushing hair from my face. Brad and Melinda had left me everything they owned before hopping worlds. Hmm. I wasn’t impressed by this one act of kindness. They probably felt guilty for using me as a human shield.

Iago and Trout lived in their house now. Coen had refused to live in anything once owned by a Yango. He lived with my brother Todd.

My brother was moody as hell. He didn’t like anyone invading his space. Yet, he’d apparently found common ground with Coen. They worked together, lived together, and still seemed to enjoy each other’s company.

I thought about the light that now shined in my brother’s eyes. I pondered how easy and familiar Todd and Coen were with each other. The two had formed some kind of simpatico that worked well for them. 

I flexed my hand. It was a little sore from practicing with Iago earlier. Does it still hurt? my sister Vonda asked. She was with us at my brother’s house.

She’d been to all my training sessions. Except for the ones that occurred during her work hours. I smiled at her and shook my head. I didn’t want her to worry. She’d been a big help lately.

She seemed happy to bounce her time between my place and Todd’s, doing whatever she could to make things run smoothly. It made me realize something I hadn’t before.

We didn’t have close friends, my siblings and I. We never had. Maybe it was because of the strict way our parents had raised us.

I mean, I had Reid, but Reid was Reid. I looked at Vonda and smiled. This whole hopping universe thing was exciting for her and Todd. 

Before this, we’d just been humming along. We’d gone to work and went home. We’d also meet every couple of weeks to have lunch and catch up.

Other than that, my siblings and I had led solitary lives. Then, here came three beings from another universe to shake things up. Both Todd and Vonda seemed to like the change. They liked being included in something that was bigger than any of us.

My heart softened. For some reason, that sent a warm feeling fluttering through my chest. 

I’d seen a different side of my brother and sister, lately. Vonda, in a quiet and reserved kind of way always made sure we had enough water during training. She also kept us supplied with fresh towels to wipe down the sweat.

Todd, who was a chef, kept us in delicious foods. He didn’t seem to mind when we came to his house. He’d throw out a few rude comments every now and then, but other than that, he was the perfect host. And he always fed us.

Since Todd was absent today, Coen had taken over that role. He fixed a tray of my brother’s gourmet ham and cheese sandwiches and put them on a platter in the middle of the kitchen table.

He also made a pitcher of lemonade. I sipped from my glass, marveling at how good it tasted. I’d never seen Coen drink the stuff. How did he make it so good? 

Iago popped a finger-sized sandwich into his mouth. He paused a second to appreciate the taste. We need to find Lantana, he said after swallowing. The first world we should try is Graven. I’ve never heard of the other two worlds Tanko mentioned.

Apprehension made my palms wet. My eyes went from Coen to Trout. Both men wore blank expressions. None of you have heard of the other two worlds? That didn’t bode well because we had no idea what we were walking into.

I didn’t like going into a world without some knowledge of how it worked. It was risky. We didn’t know what we’d run into. Still, we needed to get Lantana back.

We needed her on our team. I was willing to do whatever it took to make that happen.

Coen opened the fridge and grabbed a soda. Grape. He really seemed to enjoy that flavor. He hadn’t drunk anything else in the past two weeks. Not that I’d seen, anyway. Todd’s refrigerator now had two cases of the stuff.

Coen leaned against the counter where the sink was, drink in hand. Nope! Never heard of those two worlds, but it’s Graven that’s the problem.

Reid’s brows furrowed. Why’s that?

Trout popped a cherry tomato into his mouth, a nonchalant look on his face. We’ll probably die the moment we step onto Graven.

Iago chuckled fondly. Stop scaring them. This is serious.

I know, Trout said. But I had to warn them.

Reid leaned back in his chair. Tell us about it.

My sister sat at a kitchen island. She typed fiercely, taking notes on everything we said. I watched her closely. What are you doing, Vonda?

She looked up, brown eyes staring directly into mine. I’m cataloging.

Cataloging what? I asked. Was she keeping notes for my parents? Frustration made my breath tight. I really hoped she wasn’t reporting everything back to my mom and dad.

She swiveled her chair around, a small bit of black hair falling into her face.