Chapter 162

Drew

It had been almost two weeks since Angie had begun what she called phase two training. It had been an enlightening experience. The Kindred had learned to work as a team to the point they could almost telegraph an attack plan from across the field. He had learned more about his mate and her lovers in the last few days than he had in the months since they had been put together. The group had truly begun to feel like his family.

One thing was for sure, Angie wasn’t pulling any punches with their training. Each day the arena got larger, the challenges got harder and the stakes were higher. Drew had spent more than one evening patching up a Kindred who had gotten too close to a fireball, shadow sword or found themselves the victim of an aerial attack. Some of their wounds had been absolutely brutal.

Angie had them learning to fight on all planes, including water and air because she said that when Mara came for them, she would bring everything she had. She made a good point when she said that so far that had faced shadow warriors, vampires, werewolves and dragons that she commanded. He wasn’t naive enough to think, she didn't also have fae and humans at her disposal. When the war came, it would be all or nothing.

Drew was finishing his morning warmup when Angie called them over. She had a rather grave look on her face. They all sat down in the space around a burned-out fire where they normally shared meals.

“As you all know, time is short. I have taught each of you to the best of my ability and you are all working to your potential. I'm proud of what you've done here, but the time has come for you to return to your own lands. This will be the last day of training. Tomorrow you must begin your quest to find what is lost.” Angie looked around the circle at them. She smiled warmly.

“Today you will be facing your hardest challenge. Consider it your final exam.” Angie’s smile became wicked and Drew groaned internally. He knew before he even got to his feet that it was going to be a rough afternoon.

Drew and the rest of the Kindred walked over to the starting line and surveyed the field. Three flying dragons circled over an advancing army of Shadow warriors and random magical creatures. There were about one hundred opponents in all. Some carried vicious looking swords, while others were clearly magic users.

Drew and Damian, take out the enemy dragons. David laydown dragon fire on as many of the squadrons as you can while Dean and I mop up. Stormy signed the plan to them.

Angie blew the whistle and Drew took flight alongside Damian. During their skirmish with the three dragons that accompanied the shadow warriors’ squad back at the crossroads, they had discovered that Damian’s shadow magic and Drew’s fae fire were very effective against dragon scales. Working together made them even more powerful.

David flew ahead of them and began to blast the enemy troops on the ground with his flame breath. The shadow warriors below him began to burn. Stormy and Dean started to cut down the stragglers with amazing precision.

Drew shot his fae beam at the first dragon while Damian hit the same one with a shadow ball. The enemy dragon screamed and thrashed his tail at them. They both dodged as Drew used his light to blind the dragon.

“Behind you!” Drew yelled. Damian flew to the right as dragon number two blew out a huge flame that would have burnt his friend to a crisp had he not moved.

“Thanks” Damian said over his shoulder as he blasted dragon two with a shadow ball. Drew hit the first dragon a few more times before he was able to defeat it. Once the husk had fallen from the sky, he joined Damian with the dragon he was battling.

The third one had engaged in a fight with David. Drew could hear the crashes and rumbles as the two of them barreled into each other. The enemy’s painful screams mingled with David’s angry roars. Drew heard the neck snap and knew that David had taken out his opponent at the same time Drew landed a blast to dragon two’s heart and it fell from the sky.

Once the enemy dragon’s were dispatched, Damian landed to assist Stormy and Dean with the ground troops. Drew joined David in attacking the soldiers from the air. His light beam wasn’t as widespread as David’s dragon flame but it was none the less effective. The two of them worked together by swooping back and forth so that the ground troops had trouble tracking their movements and opened themselves up to Drew while defending against David or vice versa.

On the ground, Damian, Dean and Stormy were using a combination of magical attacks in tandem with their claws and swords. They were already at least two thirds through the mob of attackers. They were striking down the enemy with gusto.

On one particular pass, Drew noticed a straggler had gotten past Stormy and her ground crew. It’s sword slashed into Damian who was busy taking on two warriors before it turned to Stormy. Drew was in the fight in an instant, blasting the enemy with his power. The enemy screamed as it caught fire and began to burn.

Drew landed near Stormy and ran to Damian who was clutching his side. Blood was already soaking his clothing and Damian was hissing. “I got you,”

Drew said as he used his healing ray to stop the bleeding. Damian removed his hands and the wound began to heel. Drew looked closely at the wound before turning to help with the invading hordes.

“It won’t even scar.” Drew said over his shoulder.

“Thanks, I’d hate to lose my ability to be the best-looking mate.” Damian said with a smirk.

Drew heard Dean growl from several feet away.

“Oh please! Everyone knows I’m the sexy one.” Bones were crunching behind him as Dean ripped the enemy apart with his claws.