Her Dragon, His Demon (Dragon Guard Series Book 12)
Her Dragon, His Demon
Dragon Guard Series #12
by
Julia Mills
There Are No Coincidences.
The Universe Does Not Make Mistakes.
Fate Will Not Be Denied.
Copyright © 2016 Julia Mills
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 author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictional manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
NOTICE: This is an adult erotic paranormal romance with love scenes and mature situations. It is only intended for adult readers over the age of 18.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
DEDICATION
HER DRAGON, HIS DEMON
Also by Julia Mills
The Dragon Guard
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Epilogue
ROMAN: Fury of Her King ~ Kings of the Blood ~ Book 2 | AVAILABLE SUMMER 2016!
VIKTOR: Heart of Her King ~ Kings of the Blood ~ Book1 | AVAILABLE NOW!
ZOEY: A ‘Not-Quite’ Zombie Love Story | AVAILABLE NOW!
About Julia
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Edited by Lisa Miller, Angel Editing Services
Proofread by Tammy Payne with Book Nook Nuts
Cover Designed by Linda Boulanger with Tell Tale Book Covers
Cover Model Zeke Samples
Photographer Eric David Battershell with Eric Battershell Photography
Formatted by Charlene Bauer with Wickedly Bold
DEDICATION
Dare to Dream! Find the Strength to Act! Never Look Back!
Thank you, God.
To my girls, Liz and Em, I Love You. Every day, every way, always.
HER DRAGON, HIS DEMON
Index of the Words from the Original Language of the Dragon Kin
Mo chroi’..........My Heart
Mo ghra’..........My Love
Ta’ mo chroi istigh ionat..........My Heart is Within You
Cuimilt.......... Tear
Is Féidir le Fail arm Mo ghrá..........Appear My Love
A Bheith Imithe..........Be Gone
Stór Giolla..........Darling Boy
Máthair..........Mother
Tha Gaol Agam Ort..........I Love You
Oscailt na Geataí ar Ifreann..........Open the Gates of hell
Cheadú Iontráil..........Allow Entry
Aon Dochan..........Do No Harm
Dachaigh..........Home
Stad.........Stop
Titim..........Drop
Codladh..........Sleep
Quench an Tine..........Quench the Fire
Mharú an Draíocht Dubh..........Kill the Black Magic
Scaoileadh an Dragan..........Release the Dragon
A Mhuirín..........My Darling
Ar Ais Chugainn..........Return to Us
Mo Dheartháireacha..........My Brothers
A Thabhairt do Dóiteáin..........Bring Your Fire
Scaoileadh Dúinn go Talamh..........Release Us to Earth
Trócaire.........Mercy
Alainn..........Beautiful
Also by Julia Mills
*****
The Dragon Guard Series
Her Dragon to Slay, Dragon Guard Series #1
Her Dragon’s Fire, Dragon Guard Series #2
Haunted by Her Dragon, Dragon Guard Series #3
For the Love of Her Dragon, Dragon Guard Series #4
Saved by Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #5
Only for Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #6
Fighting for Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #7
Her Dragon’s Heart, Dragon Guard #8
Her Dragon’s Soul, Dragon Guard #9
The Fate of Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #10
Her Dragon’s No Angel, Drago Guard #11
Her Love, Her Dragon: The Saga Begins, A Dragon Guard Prequel
*****
The ‘Not-Quite’ Love Story Series
Vidalia: A ‘Not-Quite Vampire Love Story
Phoebe” A ‘Not-Quite’ Phoenix Love Story
Zoey: A ‘Not-Quite’ Zombie Love Story
*****
Kings of the Blood
VIKTOR: Heart of Her King ~ Kings of the Blood ~ Book 1
The Dragon Guard
We soar the skies
Free to a certain extent,
As long as we stay hidden
From prying human eyes.
Our scales differ in color
Our defensive weapons,
Tails, horns, talons and all,
Are never the same.
We are one with nature
We blend in with nature
The wind helps us soar high in the heavens
While the earth grant us healing strength in our hour of need.
We are one with the world
We are the guardians of our kin
When evil conspire to maim and hurt
We are protectors of this human race.
As majestic animals of fairytales
We share our beings with great men
They walk in honor and the grace of Fate,
Fate that we cannot deny.
Copyright © 2016 Melanie Williams
- This Poem is based on the Series, The Dragon Guard by Author Julia Mills.
Chapter One
“Hello, my sweet, and how was your day?”
Just the sound of his voice made Audrey want to rip her ears off her head and stomp them into the soot covered rocks to avoid ever hearing him again. It made her skin crawl and her stomach roll. It sounded like rocks in a blender, nails on a chalkboard, and a cat’s screech, all at the same time. If there was a more horrible sound in all of hell, Audrey hadn’t heard it in her hundred years of servitude.
Of course, it fit the large, grotesque figure who’d been her Master since her uncle’s bitter betrayal. The Demon Lord stood over seven-feet tall—not counting his hideous tail—and was covered from the top of his reptilian-shaped head to the tip of his six-inch claw-studded toes with deep green, iridescent scales. His vertical, elliptically shaped pupils were eerily highlighted by his fluorescent yellow irises and gave Audrey the feeling that he was looking through her instead of at her. The large horns growing from the sides of his forehead and curving over his scaly head were a sign of his high rank in the realms of hell but did nothing except serve as a reminder to the princess that he was an evil beast of the first order.
Audrey had seen firsthand that the claws decorating both his hands and feet could inject horrifically pain-causing venom into his prey. She’d been made to stand idly by and watch Adramelech’s underlings writhe in pain while screeching so loudly her ears bled as he punished them for their disobedience and failure with a mere prick of his talons. It was one of the many ways the Chancellor thought to keep Audrey docile, but he was always infuriated when it failed. She
felt bad for those who’d suffered but found a bit of solace in the fact that he’d never subjected her to the mind-numbing agony.
Audrey wasn’t silly enough to think it was because the Chancellor cared. Oh, no. It was because just like she, he knew his toxins would kill her instantly. For although a demon squatted inside her very soul, the malignant spirit Adramelech himself had placed there the day he’d brought her to the very depths of hell and used as another form of torture to keep her off balance, Audrey was still very much human. She enjoyed all the frailties and inadequacies that came along with the lovely beat of her heart. It was her greatest blessing and worst curse all rolled into one messed up package.
At the sound of Adramelech clearing his throat, Audrey let out an exasperated breath while pretending to be busy at the fireplace. “It was the same as the one before and the one before that and...” Turning on her heels, she looked the Chancellor and President of the High Council of Demons in the eye and spat, “The one before that. Get the gest?” She threw her arms wide open and spun in a circle. “I’m your prisoner, have been for one helluva long time, so you know damned good and well that I’ve been right here doing absolutely nothing but waiting for you to arrive, my lord.”
She soaked her last two words in as much sarcasm as possible and gave a quick curtsey for added effect. Baiting the bastard was Audrey’s only form of entertainment, even though she knew it was dangerous to her health. She could see the Demon Lord working hard to control his temper and stopped for a beat to wonder why. Any other time, Adramelech would’ve simply whipped his spiky, six-foot tail out from under his black, floor-length, soot-covered robe and slashed her across the back a few times for her insolence. She had the scars of a century to prove he was not above corporal punishment. But tonight, he was being unusually pleasant and reining in his murderous temper, which was never a good sign.
Taking a step back just in case he decided to attack, Audrey had to figure she was lucky that Adramelech was always careful to avoid her face. After all, he reminded her every chance he got that it was her only redeeming quality. Her beauty, something she never thought she had but the demon coveted, was what had drawn him to her. Well, that and her father’s kingdom, and the fact that the bastard knew she was the mate of a Dragon Guardsman long before she ever did.
For all the things the Chancellor despised about Audrey—and the list was long and detailed—he hated her humanity the most; even though he and he alone possessed the ability to take it away. One slash of the barbed tip of his tail across the tender skin of her throat and the evil spirit he’d placed within her would take over. It was sad how easily he could take her life, but it was a reality she’d accepted long ago.
Audrey had to figure he loved to hate her. It was the only thing that made sense. The list of things he bitched about was endless. He loathed her iron will. Reviled her willingness to take a beating instead of bow before him. Had more than once told her how much he detested the very air she breathed. Her Demon Master had gone so far as to wrap his long, scaly fingers around her throat until she’d almost pass out then let go and laugh as she fell into a heap on the ground, gasping for air. In those days, she’d prayed for death and had actually tried suicide on a few occasions—but it never worked. The black magic Adramelech surrounded her with to prevent her from harming herself always stopped her. The slimy feel of the evil spell had flared to life and had been sliding across her skin every minute of every day since then.
Looking over Adramelech’s shoulder, Audrey saw her reflection in the mirror and shook her head. If she had a nickel for every time she’d prayed to get old and haggard with the hopes that the Chancellor would finally tire of her as he had all the others over the years, she’d be a damned millionaire. Sure, he would kill her and that would stink, but there would be peace in death. Not that it mattered because her prayers went unanswered; her looks never changed. She blamed her gypsy heritage but was sure the Chancellor had a hand in her eternal youth as well. To say enough was enough was an understatement. Audrey was ready to try anything to escape her prison—even death, but...
That would mean she would never see Rian O’Reilly again, and if the stories were true, she would be dooming him to a solitary existence without love. It was unthinkable to imagine the handsome Dragon Guardsman, whom she’d met the night of her first birthday in hell, dying of a broken heart. Audrey was immediately enraged when she remembered how Adramelech had tried to use her as bait to capture said dragon shifter and doom him to the Underworld. She had no idea why the Chancellor wanted her mate, only knew that he did and that she’d paid dearly with her flesh and blood for not luring Rian into the Demon Lord’s trap.
Year after year, Adramelech trapped shifters of all shapes, sizes, and varieties...but never a dragon. No sooner did the two-natured creatures appear than the Chancellor would have one of his many minions whisk the poor soul away to parts unknown. Audrey would listen to hour after hour, day after day of their anguished cries, both human and animal, begging to be put out of the misery inflicted upon them. Finally, when their pleas were little more than whispers, their wish would be granted. Adramelech would absorb their soul and have another of his minions feed the body to the hellhounds.
Several long years into her servitude, it all seemed so sad and pointless and drove Audrey to take a huge risk to find out what the Demon Lord was truly after. Creeping silently out of the cave she was forced to call home, Audrey followed the horrible sounds of torture that bounced off the stone walls of one of the smaller dungeons and listened to Adramelech ask the same question over and over of his prisoner, “Where is the lair of the dragons?”
For weeks after that, she’d searched every nook and cranny of the Chancellor’s cave when he went to judge and punish the unfortunate beings brought before his court. She looked for any clue as to what he wanted with the dragons...with her mate. Every day she came up empty handed. Every day she went to sleep praying that the next day would be the day she found something that would stop Adramelech’s single-minded extinction of shifters of all species in an effort to trap an elusive dragon shifter.
Almost a year later, while Audrey was recuperating from an especially heinous beating for calling the Demon Lord a toad, Adramelech took her to his library. She figured in his own messed up way, the Chancellor felt bad for almost killing her and thought letting her out of their region of hell would make up for the slashes decorating her back and buttocks. Audrey would’ve rather died but since that wasn’t an option, she’d followed him like the dog he thought she was.
Several days into her vacation as the asshole had offhandedly called it, Audrey found a piece of dried human skin, also known as paper in hell, covered with what she immediately recognized as Gaelic written in human blood (hell’s ink). Her grandfather had spoken the old language and thankfully had shared his knowledge with his favorite granddaughter.
Although it had been more years than she could recall, Audrey remembered enough to quickly translate the words summon, stone, and dragon. It was part of a spell. Unfortunately, the skin had been torn and the incantation was incomplete. Never one to be deterred, she spent the next week deciphering the rest of the words and trying to figure out what was missing.
As luck would have it, Audrey came across a book written in the same dialect as the words on the skin. The longer she read, the more it became apparent that certain words were purposely misspelled. On the following day, she brought a quill and ink, real ink—one of the few luxuries her jailor allowed her—and began to list the misspelled words on the inside cover of the book, correcting them as she recorded them.
It took days, but Audrey was finally able to put the words she had corrected in order. The pages of the story lined up perfectly with her tiny piece of skin but instead of a spell, she found a detailed account of how to escape from hell. It read like someone’s diary or a letter to a friend.
If you have found this book and are reading this story, then you must be an unwilling occupant of the Underworld.
The tasks below will be daunting and at times seem impossible, but if you have a pure heart and have had the abundant fortune of discovering a love greater than the evil you face, then have faith and persevere.
There is no specific order you must follow when collecting your tools of escape, but it is imperative that you have them all before entering the deepest realm of hell. If you do not, the hellhounds will be summoned to drag your soul to the pits where you will suffer eternal damnation and punishment.
Before I begin, I feel I must tell you I have been in hell for quite some time. Although I possess all my faculties, it could be said that my mind has its moments for frivolity. Please read the words on these pages as carefully as I have written them, lest one of us might make a mistake.
It is my suggestion, and only a suggestion mind you, that you first enlist the help of the one you hold most dear. As I stated before, you have to have found a love greater than the evil you face. Not only must you have found it, but you have to have embraced it, taken it into your heart and nurtured it, then returned it a hundredfold back to the one who gave it to you. You see, a love like this is rare. It is one of a kind. You cannot live without it once you have experienced it. You will know immediately that it has been blessed by the Universe and Fate and most importantly, because of the blessing and your trust in that love, it is one not even the depths of hell can tear asunder.
The next one takes a bit of faith and a lot of determination. You must find the dragon warrior buried in the deepest cavern on the side of the river Lethe. As the lore goes, and the lore is never wrong, he was attacked, bespelled by evil wizards, separated from his kin, and then imprisoned in human form. The wizards drew power from the river Lethe, the symbol of the goddess of forgetfulness and the god of sleep, to keep the mighty Guardsman under their spell. They need him to remain comatose. For you see, he is one of royal blood and destined for greatness. He holds the power of his ancestors. He is of two bloods. This warrior is not one to be angered until the time is right. There is a true fire inside of him that once released will show you the way to freedom. I have no idea how long he has been there or how long he will remain, but I can assure you I am the only one, besides the wizards, who knows his location. Once you have found him, you can only free him by calling his given name, a name only those closest to him know. You will be able to summon that information once the Focus Stone is near the dragon’s crypt.