**3rd Person POV**
Jude let out a cry of terror as Ashton grabbed his neck. He shut his eyes so that he would not see how he was to pass on to the other side.
He waited for Ashton's hands to fasten themselves around his neck but nothing happened; all was still. When he opened his eyes he saw a more frightening sight. In front of him stood a giant dragon.
She was as fierce-looking as she was beautiful.
Her scales were a bright gold colour marked with a hue of bright orange at the very tips of her wings; her eyes burned with a wildfire.
Jude
Jude looked up afraid. No one had called him but he had clearly…
Look up. You have been chosen.
Jude looked into the eyes of the dragon. She had been speaking to him. He had not known that that was even possible.
It isn't but you are different. You have the blood of a dragon king running through your veins.
Jude had temporarily lost his ability to speak.
Don't be scared. You have work to do.
****
Ashton felt the heat before he saw her.
As she swooped down with her mouth wide open, she was going to eviscerate him with fire. He had missed being burnt alive by just a few seconds. He stepped out of her way and ran for his dear life. He knew that she would take care of Jude for him. But at the moment he had to leave this place. He was relieved he had not touched the egg yet. If he had then she would follow him until she had torn him into pieces with her long sharp talons.
He shuddered to think of what a horrible death that would be.
Having left the vale of the dragons, he proceeded to his hideout. It was many miles outside his kingdom. He got there in record time because he was still under the influence of the dark magic he had summoned.
“We are going to war now,” Ashton said to the man he met at the entrance. The man looked confused.
“I thought we had time,” was his response to Ashton.
Ashton looked at Thomson and for the first time, the man's neck looked enticing. He was thirsty; he needed blood and he had to have it now.
Thomson sensed what was happening to Ashton. He acted very quickly. He proceeded to open the cell of a human and presented it to Ashton. Ashton bit the human’s neck and sucked until he had had his fill.
When he was done, he wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
“We are not ready,” said Thomson.
“We have fifty thousand of those creatures already,” refuted Ashton.
“If we release them now they will infect others and we will have an apocalypse; I fear that things may get out of control,” replied Thomson.
Ashton thought about this for a moment but there was no other option.
“We have no choice. Rosaline has revealed our secret to the world. She will tell everyone about our lab and they will burn everything to the ground. We match tonight,” said Ashton with a note of finality in his voice.
****
“A plague?” quipped Alpha Dagen.
Dagen was tired of fighting wars. It seemed that since he had assumed the throne there was always one fight or another. Why couldn't he just be at peace? Why did his rule have to be characterised by so much bloodshed?
“Ashton calls the man doctor. He has created a virus that has turned vampires and werewolves into another creature entirely and he has created an army of over forty thousand men out of it,” said Rosaline.
“So if we go to war with this army, will they infect us?” quipped Lord Tyler. He was the master strategist but even he did not know how he was supposed to deal with a zombie apocalypse.
“Is there no way to reverse this? Is there a cure for this virus?” asked Lord Edvin.
“The only time the world experienced such an apocalypse, Hades himself had to come to earth to burn everything. There is no cure,” came Rosaline's response.
“But we can contain this, can't we?” asked Lord Tyler.
“These creatures, they can die, can't they?”
“If you must kill them, you will have to cut off their heads entirely. If you do not, they will heal in a matter of seconds,” said Rosaline.
“It will be a tough battle but…”
“The virus was made with a combination of vampire and werewolf DNA. When they see you, they target your neck to suck blood. The more blood they suck, the more powerful they get and if they should bite you, you become infected,” added Rosaline.
“Will we become like them?”
“Yes. And it has been encoded in the virus that you obey all of Ashton's commands. You will become his puppet if you become infected,” replied Rosaline.
“And you say there is no cure? What are we to do?” inquired Lord Edvin.
“What else? We burn everything to ashes.”
“Ashton is not that dumb. Inside that lab, there are royal prisoners,” she turned to look at Harlin who sat with them, “that is where Queen Irvette resides.”
“We do not have an option. Everyone will…”
“We will not burn the lab unless Irvette is safe,” it was Charlotte who said this. She knew that her friend had been struggling for days, regretting that he had not taken up the vampire's offer.
“Charlie…” her father said softly. He knew that she loved her friend but they had to do what was best for the entire planet.
“Please, do not kill my mother,” said Harlin, his voice revealing his deep sorrow.
Everyone turned quiet. They did not quite know what they were to do.
“The dragons are the only ones that can fight this war,” Rosaline said.
“The dragons? They exist?” quipped Lord Tyler a little bit surprised. He had thought that they had gone extinct a long time ago.