Sanctum: Dragon Guild Book 1

Chapter 1: The Vision

“Gabri!” Donny’s voice echoed through the forest, disturbing Gabriella’s peace in her favorite hiding place. She didn’t respond.

On the bank of a stream swollen with snow runoff, her boulder hid her in a smooth hollow on the river side, away from the trail in the woods. Clusters of trees on the slopes across the water puffed out vapor, painting the land foggy blue. They resembled a gathering of long-haired tribal elders smoking pipes. Her people, the Cherokee, named these highlands the place of blue smoke for good reason. On many mornings, Gabri woke up to fog shrouding her home in Blue Mountain valley, a Cherokee reservation in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Sun sparked off fast-flowing water, tumbling over rocks as it carried tree debris dropped during a recent storm, while fragile fleeting rainbows formed in the mist. An aggressive wave splashed over the bank, soaking her bare feet.

Gabri had shared the location of her secret place with only three other people: her parents, Wolf and Sequoia O’Connell, and her friend Donny. Right then, she wished she hadn’t told anyone. Donny didn’t call out again, but he’d show up at any moment.

She rested her chin on her fists, elbows propped on her knees, resenting the intrusion while she waited. After the nightmares she’d been having, she needed some alone time.

“There you are, little wolf.” He climbed up and settled next to her, taking deep breaths of the warming air.

Gabri glanced sideways at him, noting his frown and admiring his unconscious grace. Donny’s frown melted into a heart-stopping grin when he looked at her. It wouldn’t win him any points, though. Not now.

Gabri had known Donny since before she was born. Nine years older, his perfect smile contrasted beautifully with his smooth, dark skin, the color of milk chocolate. Thick, wavy hair framed warm, brown eyes and a straight nose. He wore it neatly trimmed. After Donny had completed his post-graduate engineering degree at M.I.T, he’d settled nearby. He fancied himself her personal bodyguard. She didn’t need one.

Born with a unique ability, Gabri had been manipulating frequencies since before she could talk. As a baby she’d protected her family and saved the world with her gift. Since then, she’d learned she could make sound do anything she dreamed up, including create invisible objects.

Gabri reached for the subtle tones of water bubbling over a rock and leaves swishing in the breeze and wove them into a net. She added the bite of nettles disturbed by a nibbling creature and tossed it over Donny’s arms, all without moving a muscle.

Donny squirmed and jumped to his feet. “Stop, Gabri. That stings.”

“Sorry.” She smirked and lowered her forehead to her crossed arms, not at all sorry. Maybe a little. It wasn’t his fault he had to come find her. She’d left the cabin without telling her mother.

“Come on.” He gave her shoulder a gentle shove. “Your mom’s getting lunch ready.”

Her stomach growled. Sighing for show more than from annoyance, she got up and dusted off her shorts. Do almost-sixteen-year-old girls have growth spurts? She was always hungry.

They followed a deer trail toward the cabin Gabri’s dad had built when he was Donny’s age. Their alien friends had insisted on enhancing it with advanced technology after her cousins, with Gabri’s help, had kept the world from imploding. Dad had agreed, so long as they didn’t change its rustic appearance. Weathered logs and a wrap-around covered porch looked authentic, but it was far from a simple log cabin.

Gabri quickened her steps at the familiar thwack of an axe chopping wood. She and Donny soon reached their clearing where her dad, bare chested and glistening, raised his axe for another hit. Sequoia watched from the porch swing, gently patting her belly swollen with Gabri’s brother, due in six weeks. The baby sent out contented waves when he wasn’t sleeping. Empathic ability ran in the family. Gabri hoped he’d be this happy once he was born.

Warmth filled Gabri’s heart. She took a step toward her mom when everything changed.

* * *

Their warm, inviting cabin, alive a moment before, sat dead and hollow, covered with shriveled vines crawling over walls, writhing onto a rusted roof, and shoving tendrils into broken windows and rotted holes. Impossible. Their roof would never rust.

Gabri gagged at the suffocating stench filling her nose, clogging her lungs with the odor of death and rot. She bent over, clutching her stomach when a sudden pain shot through her gut. Her knees buckled and she dropped to the spongy ground.

“Dad!” The murk muffled her scream, turning it into a weak murmur. “Donny!”

When no one answered, she curled up, unmoving. Someone or something stirred the soupy stink around her, freezing her skin where it brushed past her, first one way, then the other. Filled with loathing, she forced down the bile burning her throat.

She closed her eyes and waited. As in her other dreams, the laughter came next, cracking her heart into icy shards.

“What do you want with me?” She hated that her voice squeaked like a scared mouse.

“World-destroyer.” The rough, deep timbered voice made her skin crawl at its next words. “You are mine.”

Gabri’s “no” emerged as a whimper. She pushed up, got to her feet, and said it again.

“No. I am not,” she managed, this time stronger as she remembered who she was.

She reached out to gather frequencies and found nothing. Impossible. She heard her own words when she spoke. What happened to the sound waves? She hummed, and again heard herself, but the tune produced nothing to manipulate.

“I’m dreaming,” she said aloud. “You are not real.”

She slapped her hands over her ears as more laughter, harsh and loud, surrounded her.

“Real enough.” Its voice doubled her over like a physical punch to the gut. How was this happening?

Words rose in Gabri’s mind, an affirmation her mother had taught her, one that had dispelled this monster in other dreams. She forced them out of her tight throat

“I am a daughter of my people, the Cherokee. My mother is the medicine woman and my father an elder.” Her voice became stronger with each declaration. “I belong to Creator. I am human, friend to all who follow Creator on Terra and beyond. I reject evil. I do not belong to you.”

The disembodied voice silenced her, filling her with dread.

“You are destroyer. You are mine.”

It laughed, louder and wilder by the second, shattering her as she fell to the ground, swiping at the slime clinging to her skin.

* * *

Warm arms scooped her up. Light returned, replacing the gray of the dead forest with color. Echoes of maniacal laughter dwindled to silence. Gabri threw her arms around Donny’s neck, clawing him closer. His heartbeat jump started hers. No living heart could pump blood in that horrible place. She shuddered. A lump in her throat blocked her voice.

Donny carried her into the cabin and laid her down on the couch where Wolf covered her with a blanket. Her heart ached at the concern written on their faces, but she was too weak to send them comfort. Donny sank to the floor next to the fireplace.

Sequoia knelt beside her, lifted her head and held a cup close to her mouth. “Drink.”

Gabri took a sip. The spring water tasted sweet. Her mom must have added a drop of Aracai nectar. Warmth flooded her on the inside, strength returned to her muscles, and she breathed deeply as calm settled over her.

Gabri finished the water, sat up, and hugged her mother. Sequoia’s fear sent dissonant ripples through her daughter, who rearranged them and returned them as harmonious peace. Sequoia relaxed.

“Don’t think for a moment that your ability will get you off the hook, young lady,” her mom said, shaking her head. Sequoia’s eyes glistened with unshed tears as she attempted to look stern.

“Tell us what happened.” Her gentle voice belied the steel behind it.

“I will, Mom. Just let me rest a little first. Please.”

Sequoia nodded and headed toward the kitchen. Wolf followed her. They wouldn’t wait long. Gabri didn’t want to involve her family, but they deserved an explanation. Whatever this thing was, it was after her. She wouldn’t let it take them, too. As if she had a choice. As if they would ever stop trying to protect her.

Chapter 2: Donny

From his vantage point on the floor, Donny concentrated on getting his heart to stop racing while not taking his eyes off Gabri. He didn’t think she knew he had experienced the same thing she did. Why hadn’t she sensed him? His gut seethed with the need to destroy that creature. Why hadn’t he seen it?

Donny, you were there? Her voice in his head sounded surprised and then changed to anger. Why didn’t you answer me when I called you?

He’d swear girls were born women, complete with sudden mood swings. Gabri projected hers into his mind. Until now, he’d believed she only heard the thoughts he addressed to her, as if he were talking out loud. How did you miss me? You always know where I am.

What if it had grabbed me and killed me and… and eaten me? Would you have just stood there and watched? Her fury pounded like fists against his chest.

As horrifying as that would have been, it had been a vision and the thing couldn’t have harmed her. Could it? It had felt real. Still, the idea that he’d let anything happen to her struck him as funny, and he let out a short laugh. Big mistake.

“Ouch! Gabriella!” He swiped at invisible needles jabbing his arms, knowing it was useless. “Cut it out!”

The needles softened into the brush of soft rabbit-like fur, caressing away the pain.

Stop it. It concerned Donny that Gabri was learning new ways to use her ability.

Why did you laugh? You were there! A sob escaped her. Donny jumped up and moved to the couch, where he pulled her close despite her half-hearted attempt to push him away.

Sorry. I’d never have allowed that monster to hurt you. If I had said something, would it have revealed itself to you? I didn’t want it to know I was there, Donny replied.

He was struck by how right it felt to hold her. He loved her as if she were his younger sister, in need of protecting. Nine years was a significant age gap between them.

Why did it call me destroyer? What did I destroy? Her body shook with sobs as he stroked her thin shoulder.

I don’t know what it meant, little wolf. That thing is insane.

Long legged and five-feet-five-inches-tall, the awkwardness of her age had skipped her. Much like a young wolf, sleek and wiry, smart and strong, she moved with unusual strength, fluidity and grace. Her auburn hair framed high cheekbones and eyes whose colors ranged from bright blue to deep purple, depending on her unpredictable moods. With her tanned skin and full lips now set in a pout, he pictured the beauty she was promising to become. Donny saw her as light, and himself as shadow.

He shrugged off Gabri’s crush on him. She was a kid. She’d get over it.

Sequoia returned carrying a plate with sandwiches, followed by Wolf holding a carafe of water in one hand and a stack of cups in the other. Donny cleared a spot on the coffee table and waited for them to get settled in their recliners. They bowed their heads while Wolf thanked Creator for the food, then Donny passed the plate around. They ate in silence while Gabri gathered her thoughts.

Tell them everything, Donny advised her. She did.

* * *

Wolf stood when she’d finished. “It’s time you told your cousins about these visions.”

Donny could tell Gabri had tried to keep her emotions out of the story for them, but she couldn’t hide anything from her empath mother. He wanted to wipe the pain from Sequoia’s face, but she was right to be concerned.

“I was there with her,” Donny reminded them. She’d glossed over that fact.

Her father paced in front of the fireplace. “If this thing is a credible threat, Gabri shouldn’t be left alone. She’ll need constant protection.”

Donny felt the air turn sharp and threw her a warning glance. Let them work this out. They’re trying to figure out how to keep you protected because they love you.

The air softened and her eyes glittered with unshed tears. I know, she responded. But I don’t need to be watched every minute of every day. Can you imagine how awful that would be?

Even if I’m the one doing the watching?

Especially if it’s you! A furious blush covered her face. Her father was right, and Donny agreed. She needed her cousins.

In the Cherokee culture, a cousin was anyone close to the family. In Gabri’s case, it included her actual cousins, Storm Ryder, and his sister, Juliana Jenkins, both with strong telekinetic abilities. Storm and his empath wife, Sky, had two rambunctious boys, while Juliana and her Dracan hybrid husband, Murphy, had a boy and a girl. Still, they would come running in a heartbeat to protect Gabri. None of them would have been alive without her.

“I’ll contact them,” she said with an eye roll. He understood her reluctance to involve them. They didn’t know what or where this thing was. It could be from another planet, or in a different dimension.

Chapter 3: Gabri

Steamy afternoon air sat heavy in the woods, dulling sound and dampening Gabri’s skin as she made her way to the pond. Brambles grabbed at her legs along the narrow trail while she watched for roots and fallen branches. She hadn’t been out this way since the end of last summer, when her family had gathered at the small lake with friends for one last picnic and a dip in the clear water. She was such a kid back then.

The early May heat made her want to dive in, but she had promised her mom she wouldn’t swim alone. Donny followed a short distance behind and would join her in the lake, but she still felt it was not a good idea. She needed to think.

In the slight breeze, weeping willow branches brushed the water into ripples. Its trunk grew up through broken slabs of flat stone that may once have been part of a road leading away from the lake. Ancient history. Now it made a conveniently shaded seat with the trunk as a backrest. Gabri made herself comfortable. Donny sat on a stone at the other end of the pond, dangling his legs in the water. He waved, and Gabri waved back, glad he was giving her space.

She didn’t want to involve her cousins for a lot of reasons. They had lives, for one. They were old, for another. Almost as old as her parents. This thing was after her, not them, and she would deal with it. Correction. She and Donny would deal with it. The problem was, Gabri had told her parents she would contact them. If she didn’t, her dad and mom would know and call in the troops, anyway. None of them knew what they were dealing with. Oh well. If anyone could figure it out, her grown-up cousins would.

Storm? She sent out a telepathic signal, another of her abilities. An engineer specializing in alien tech, Storm might be anywhere right now, on earth or on another planet. She hoped he wasn’t asleep.

Gabri? He responded immediately. He wasn’t sleeping.

Are you some place we can talk? She asked, hoping a project occupied his time so she wouldn’t have to involve him.

Sure. I needed a break, anyway. What’s going on, baby girl? I rarely hear from you.

Gabri grinned. Her cousin would always call her baby girl, even when she was old and gray. She took a deep breath. Okay. Sit down and open your mind. I’m sending everything at once.

They had done this since before she could speak. In fact, she had communicated this way with everyone she loved. She would show them what she wanted in images and feelings. When she learned to talk, she became more selective and able to hide what she didn’t want others to see. This wasn’t the time for hiding anything.

She sensed him struggling to control his rage as the experience unfolded. Of all her cousins, Storm was the most protective. Her warrior. So was Donny, but he had to be. Gabri believed he would be her future mate.

So, let me get this straight, Storm said. Donny was there with you, but you didn’t sense him in the vision. What does he think this thing is?

He didn’t see it. Neither of us did. We smelled it, heard it, and I felt it. It reeks of evil and hatred. Gabri shuddered, remembering.

Did it give you any clues to where we can find it? Did you recognize anything?

She swallowed the bitter bile rising in her throat. Didn’t you notice our cabin? It was right here, broken, dead, and empty. It’s coming for me, Storm. I don’t want anyone else to be hurt.

Silence. He’d withdrawn, either to gather his thoughts or to call in the others. They had wristbands that opened their telepathic links. Gabri had never needed one.

Sky’s voice in her head surprised her. Hi, sweetie, she said, as if none of this worried her. Storm showed me. He’s between projects, and the kids and I miss the mountains. We’re coming. We’ll be there tomorrow.

Tears stung Gabri’s eyes. She was putting them all in danger. Don’t… she tried to tell her not to come, but Sky interrupted her.