A Shade of Vampire 31: A Twist of Fates by Bella Forrest Page B

Lucas and I scoped out the mountains, while the rest began to roam the landscape. There were a number of caves in this range which might make for a suitable residence for some kind of supernatural.
    But we failed to find anything in the caves other than a family of bear-like creatures with tusks, about twice the size of any earthly bear species I was aware of.
    So the three of us left the mountains and caught up with the others, flying overhead as they swept along the ground.
    “Any luck so far?” Ibrahim called up to me on noticing us.
    “Nope,” I replied sourly.
    We entered a stretch of thick forest, those running below becoming less visible to us.
    Our basic problem was, we had no idea what to look for. If we had an idea of what kind of supernatural might live here, if any, it would be easier to pinpoint locations.
    We surged forward in the snow blindly for the next hour, hoping to stumble upon someone or something. But again, we failed. We did come across some rather large caves which looked like they might have been recently inhabited. But perhaps that was simply by more bear things, or some other kind of animal.
    We gathered together, preparing to leave and try our luck on the next island. But before Ibrahim could vanish us, we caught sight of something circling in the sky. Two things , actually. My first thought was that they were two of the harpies, searching for the lost orphans. But as I stalled Ibrahim from working his magic and soared up into the sky to get a closer look, I soon realized that these winged creatures were not harpies.
    They were massive, for a start, and they had long sweeping tails with razor-sharp tips. Both of them shimmered in different shades of blue, one light and one dark. They were dragons. Ice dragons.
    I remained transfixed, staring at them as they descended to the island. They touched down about a mile away, causing a mini-snowstorm to billow up all around them.
    Then they moved toward the caves in the hills we had spotted. Not inhabited by animals after all…
    Lucas, Kailyn and Ibrahim had followed me into the sky by now and had seen exactly what I had just witnessed. We quickly returned to the ground and explained the situation to the others.
    “Ice dragons, eh?” Rose muttered. “They must’ve left The Heartlands. Maybe they had a disagreement.”
    “Let’s go and talk to them,” I said.
    It was a little risky all of us going, seeing that we had no idea who these dragons were and what their temperament might be. But everybody was already moving in their direction, and we had Ibrahim to provide protection if they decided to unleash a deadly whirlwind of ice shards.
    We caught them just before they set foot in their cave.
    “Excuse me!” I called out, moving up ahead of everyone else.
    They stopped in their tracks, narrow eyes bulging as they caught sight of us.
    Then their demeanor turned defensive. They reeled on their hind legs, ears perked up, and it looked as though they were holding their breath, ready to release their ice at a second’s notice.
    “We come in peace,” I said quickly, holding up my hands. “We would simply like to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind. It will take up only a few minutes of your time.”
    The dragons—whose genders I was still unsure of—loosened a little, and exchanged glances.
    “Who are you and what do you want to know from us?” the darker blue dragon boomed. I felt a cold wind blowing my direction—the beast’s breath touching me.
    We approached within ten feet of the creatures and stopped.
    “We are from The Shade,” I explained. “My name is Benjamin Novak. I’m here with friends and family. The first question I would like to ask of you is: how long have you been here on this island?”
    Both of them shrugged. “We don’t keep track of time like that.” The second, lighter blue dragon spoke up.
    I guessed the question was kind of arbitrary anyway, considering that dragon years were different from