* * * *

Part Twelve

She could smell something, sharp and sweet. It was choking her almost, dragging her out of strange dreams where she, for once, was the hunted. And she could hear voices from a distance, weird and floating.

Dragon opened her eyes. At first, there was only a sickly blur of colour. She felt heavy; even her vision was sluggish as she tried to focus; like moving underwater. Her head hurt like hell. She was flat on her back and there were wooden boards above her. What was that smell? With a groan she sat up, kneeling, hair falling over her face that she pushed out of her eyes to find in was dark and clumped with what she guessed to be her own blood. There was someone beside her, unconscious. She recognised him immediately. Matt.

She sent a panicked nudge at his mind, but his eyes stayed shut, one already starting to swell and darken. He was pretty battered, she realised. Humans couldn't take the injuries the way a Nightperson could.

"Oh, so you're awake finally." That voice, it was so familiar. Dragon looked up, silver eyes wary. Shadow was standing there. Thank Goddess! He had rescued them, somehow. She glanced around swiftly. And knew at once just how wrong she was.

She was in a small hut, wooden. Crammed full of people lounging at the edge of the room with that casual grace that made her heart sink. They were obviously here for her and Matt, who were in the centre of the floor. Surrounded by the coven. Only these people weren't human, they were vampires. She counted thirteen. Not surprising really. But what *did* surprise her was that Bella Majwiel was standing there, fangs indenting her lips, white eyes wild. She was a vampire? She had sure fooled Dragon.

Bella-the-vampire wasn't much different from Bella-the-witch. The black hair tumbled wildly round her face, the white eyes were the vampires' lethal silver as the two long slender *deadly* fangs were bared. Just the same, but a little more beautiful and a *lot* more dangerous. All enhanced by the fact she was holding a long wicked knife. She kept turning it so it caught the light, seeming fascinated with the glittering patterns it threw onto the walls. Occasionally stabbing it into her finger and watching blood blossom before the cut healed. Just like a kid, thought Dragon. Or someone seriously unhinged.

She looked at the others. These were the real predators. All lean, hungry. Some were dressed in the latest fashions, some in costumes that looked like, well, like what she was wearing. Others were in filthy rags. All staring intently at her with hungry, evil eyes. A rainbow of colours, all around her, but it was a tarnished rainbow, like you might see in a patch of oil. All Nightpeople and all very obviously here and waiting for something.

Bella looked at her and giggled. High-pitched, shaky, it grated on Dragon's nerves. Made her want to throttle someone. No, not just someone - Bella. She bent over Dragon, grinning lopsidedly, eyes wide and mad. The cloud of hair was tangled, a thin trickle of blood was running from her lips where her fangs were.

"So, you thought you could deceive us, did you little dragon- witch?" Bella leaned down, closer to Dragon until all she could see were her wild crazy colourless eyes. "Well you were *wrong*!" Then she straightened, threw back her head and cackled, so high and thin Dragon thought the windows were going to shatter, it was that horrible.

"Obviously," Dragon said, fighting hard to keep her anger and fear down. The fact she *was* feeling even that twinge of fear just enraged her more.

"Don't try to be sarcastic," Bella jabbered, her voice running from low pitch to high effortlessly. How anyone could put up such a formidable guise of sanity, Dragon would never know.

"How?" Shadow said lazily. His smile widened as he saw the shock on her face. He had read her mind; he shouldn't be capable of doing that, even with the gargantuan headache she had. "With a little help from her friends." He looked at the witch and his lip curled. "Or allies."

"What are you talking about?" the witch cooed. Her voice was syrupy sweet as she gazed at the lamia with adoration that made Dragon want to retch. "Can't we talk about something more enigmatic - like how we're going to kill her. I want it to be slow." The pupils dilated until her eyes were almost black. "But she's a dragon, isn't she? It'll have to be slow." She giggled.

Angry silver eyes glared at Bella for a fraction of a second, before Dragon started to think. No one knew she was a dragon. The coven had always thought she was a witch. So how had she worked it out? Dragon knew all of Circle Strange were trustworthy. No one else knew. Unless…her eyes swung back to Shadow accusingly. The lamia was wearing the same mad grin as all the others, but his was a little more detached, fake. Behind that, she thought, there was something utterly sane. Someone who wanted her and Matt dead. The humans were just a front. This was the real cult; the one that picked off Nightworld and Daybreak informants. For fun and to protect themselves. Circle Doomfire.

* * * *

Chatoya groaned as her eyes flickered open. She eased herself off the floor, aching all over. What had happened? One minute Shadow had been standing there, smiling, next, flat out on the ground. And nothing in between then and now but bleak darkness.

Slowly she got up, staggering a little. The whole of her right side was *plastered* with mud. And the coven was gone. How long had she been out? Chatoya didn't know. Oh, Goddess, it had all gone so wrong. Now, because of her, her best friend was trapped somewhere with Bella 'insane-as-hell' Majwiel and Shadow, who was even more insane if he was on the wrong side.

Jepar! Her heart leapt into her throat as she remembered he had been on guard. Had Shadow hurt him too? Ignoring the pain, Chatoya Irkil, child of the earth and knowing she looked like it at the moment, reeled off to find Jepar.

* * * *

Black and white, that was all he could see. Pretty sparkling little points on a black canvas with even blacker spiky lines cutting across that canvas. It was very beautiful, he thought in a stupor, but a bit frightening in its weird vastness. But he didn't move. Didn't think he could. His back was horribly numb and besides, he quite liked this dream world. Comfortable, at least. And familiar. One of his dreams of lying out on the savannah and watching the world go by, tracking yaks and then breaking into the killing-run…

There was pain, distant, at the back of his mind, but he tried to block it out and besides, it grew fainter every minute. His body healing, he guessed.

"Jayyyy-par…Are you there?" Someone was calling him, in a ghostly lilting voice.

~ Hmm…never had this part of the dream before. So, do I see who it is, or do I stay? Stay. If it's important, they'll find me, ~ he thought hazily. ~ Wasn't I doing something before this? Something to do with a…with a…dragon? But what would I be doing with a dragon? Must be imagining it. Better just stop and watch this weird thing above me. Wonder what all those lights are? Look like stars. ~

Somewhere, at the back of his mind, Jepar was aware that he shouldn't be thinking like this. As though he had drunk a few gallons of Iry Lupine's moonshine. It must have been that impact with the ground. The one that had started all this.

"Jepar?" There was that voice again. Clearer this time. Lilt still there, but it was more worried. It was a lovely voice. Reminded him of birdsong. Very poetic. And brought an image to his mind; tall girl, with murky green eyes and the scent of herbs. He felt affection at the thought of her. Perhaps she was his sister.

~ Maybe I'd better answer. It sounds pretty upset. ~ "Yeah?" he called, surprised to his voice, sleepy and slurred. ~ Do I always sound like that? Don't think so. Would've remembered. ~

Someone stumbled nearby and he heard creative cursing. Then a horrified gasp. "Oh, Isis, Jepar, are you all right? You look terrible." Then someone was bending over him. Heart shaped face, mud smudged down one side. Concerned swamp-coloured eyes and mist of dark hair. The girl in his head, the one who was like his sister. But not. He was confused.

Say, do I know you? He wondered if he should ask the creature that. So he did.

* * * *

Chatoya looked down at her shifter friend, half-amused, half- worried. His voice was very wrong, all lethargic and blurred. And his eyes, normally crystal clear and snapping looked just as confused. His expression was…weird.

"Were you in the tree?" she asked gently, but watched him with eagle eyes. Mentally, her mind ran over herbal remedies that she was going to have to force down that feline throat after tonight. She didn't even contemplate that they wouldn't survive.

"Tree," he mused in that very odd tone. "Yesss. Was inna tree. Fell."

Chatoya sighed. How like him. So, he must have been sitting in the tree and fell. So he had a concussion. That should wear off in a few minutes, provided he hadn't hit his head on any silver on the way down, which was a little unlikely.

"What made you fall?" she prompted gently, wondering why it was always Jepar these things happened to, and why it was always her that got dragged in. Quietly, she leant over and put her hands on his temples, sending healing energy.

He sat up, pushing her hands away. The voice was clearer now. Obviously the effects of hitting the ground like a cannon ball were wearing off. "Sssome basstard gave me a mental punch and knocked me out. If I catch them, they'll be sssorry." He was hissing, furious, feline. In a fluid motion he got up, back to what passed for normal with him.

He looked at her. "Got you too?" She nodded. "Dragon?" She shrugged. Jepar groaned, looking mortified at the thought.

"We're in trouble," he announced unnecessarily. Then he sighed, looked at her with crystal green eyes and she saw his lips quirk. He was trying not to laugh. She seethed inwardly but hid it. "Felt like a mud pack, did you?" he inquired oh-so politely.

She ignored that. They didn't have time to waste. "Ideas, Einstein?"

"Go and fetch help. Not our Elders. Cougar and Lisa, Cern as well. Any 'shifters, vampires and witches with fire spells." He paused, and added with a wry expression, one hand touching the faded yellow bruise on his head, "that we can trust."

"What about you?" she asked, hoping he wasn't going to do anything stupid.

"I'm going to find out what's happened." There went that hope.

She stood looking at him, debating. Then with an inner shrug, Chatoya realised she couldn't change his mind. He was stubborn as they came. "Be careful," she said, knowing he would ignore her, then headed back to town at a run, or at least a fast stagger.

* * * *

She looked at the creature opposite her. It was like she was seeing for the first time. His hair, yes, it was black but tousled. Shadow was always immaculate. It was one of his redeeming features. His eyes - they were glittering unnaturally, like two gems. Fiery black obsidian. That was the big give away. Windows to the soul. His soul was black as night, dark and deep. And his eyes were round, without the slant that gave the lamia such a cunning look. The aura. How, by all that powers that be, could she have missed the swirling black fire that cloaked him?

And of course, what about all those little mistakes she'd ignored.

Goddess, what an idiot she was!

"You're not Shadow, are you?" The minute the words were out of her mouth she regretted them. Oh, good question, Dragon.

He smiled. "No, my dear, of course not. But you know that already, don't you? Allow me to introduce myself. I am Anguis. Add a letter and you get Anguish, which is what I bring. Now what *am* I going to do with you, little dragon-witch?"

She stayed silent. Anguis smiled in its sly, dangerous way. The Shadow-creature, Anguis, the dragon. All one and the same. And she was in trouble. The dragon smiled, almost angelically. "By the way, your little cheetah friend - he won't be coming to help you now."

She just glared at it, fixing a smouldering silver stare on it. Lazily, Anguis bared his teeth. Then shifted. Tiger, wolf, bear, hound, rhino…it was like playing roulette. It kept 'shifting. Where will it stop? Puma, cobra, vulture, lion, hawk, fox, elephant, leopard and…

~ Oh. My. God. What the hell is that? ~

Eight feet high, with intelligent reptilian eyes and sharp claws like knives. It stood on its hind legs. Bared long pointy teeth. A three foot tail swiped wildly as those behind it. What was it?

Not Shadow, that was for sure. *He* had been a quiet lamia, not a damn great raptor with teeth the size of her hand. Raptor. Fast. Lethal. And this one was smart.

It lunged for her. She jumped sideways, hitting the wall. Its hind claws scraped Matt's face, leaving three bloody trails. It turned, ran at her. She dived past it, hitting the floor, rolling back onto her feet. Time and time again, she dodged it, being missed by barely a millimetre. It swiped its tail at her. Weapons, weapons, she needed one desperately.

Her eyes focused on Bella, holding that gutting knife. She dodged round the lizard again, threw herself at Bella. She had it!

Dragon spun, it was heading straight at her. Wait. Not yet. Draw the knife back so you get a good fast slice at it. Now! She swung the knife round, heard the 'splat' as it dug into the creature's eye and she whipped it back. Anguis was minus an eye. But he was *furious*.

With a screech he ran at her, feet pounding on the wooden floor. Dragon desperately, dodged, ducked, rolled, leapt. Every defensive move she had ever learned, she used now.

One of the vampires, an emaciated female, kept pushing Dragon, and once the 'shifter stumbled and the raptor's claws flicked through her arm. The vampire woman laughed and kept shoving her. Until an irritated Dragon tripped her right into the raptor's welcoming claws. Her scream echoed through the room, into Dragon's bones.

She watched, disgusted yet morbidly fascinated as it killed the vampire. The creature shook the last few rags of flesh from slavering jaws. A bone dropped onto the floor with a clatter.

Dragon shook her head, revolted. "Didn't your mother teach you table manners?"

The cold black eyes fixed on her, then the shape melted. The Shadow-'shifter stood there, mouth ringed with gore.

"Outside!" it bellowed. "I've had enough waiting."

Bella shoved Dragon out onto the field. A couple of the vampires dragged Matt out and dumped him by the altar. Dragon remembered only too clearly the last time she had been there, just a few nights ago.

She was shoved unceremoniously next to the stone altar. She watched Matt anxiously, knowing she was going to have no chance to heal him, this time. She heaved a sigh of relief as he groaned dazedly, then sat up shaking his head. "What…?" His eyes lighted on Dragon, grim, bruised and realisation dawned.

Without warning, both of them were pulled to their feet by the coven, the real coven, not just the high school kids. They must have been a cover for the vampires, rebels that where doing this for fun. Fun! Ripping up teenagers, killing them in awful barbaric ways.

The vampires had ringed the altar and Anguis stood by it, waiting eagerly. She could see the horns now, just two, evenly spaced on his wide forehead. Bella, she saw, held another knife in her hand. She must have a never ending supply. And like the other one, this was made of that most lethal of metals. Good solid silver. Damn.

As she looked around, she realised it was all of the Nightpeople, not just vampires as she had first thought. Laughing, sneering vampires with fangs glowing, of course. Savagely grinning 'shifters with rippling forms. Wild, dark witches, power flowing around them. All holding a variety of weapons, wooden daggers, silver knives, iron bars. And of course Anguis, the terrible dragon. Her people. The Nightpeople, who were going to kill her.

She caught Matt's wrist, ignoring the dizzying sensation. ~ Stand back to back. We are going to fight. We have to. ~ She sensed his agreement and subtly she slid round until they were back to back.

"Look," mocked a male witch, "the mice want to play." He threw back his head, screaming with laughter that was echoed by the others.

A 'wolf slid up to Dragon, tipping her head up. "My, this will be- "

Dragon had stabbed him with one of the slender knives she always carried. He was whimpering softly, curled in a heap with a silver blade in his shoulder. Before they could react, she gave Matt a knife. They hadn't bothered to search her. It was double sided, one made of wood, the other side of silver.

Screaming in rage, the others hurled themselves at her. She stabbed a vampire, kicked a witch, hastily flung the knife at an approaching vampire. She had a couple more knives left, that was it. And Matt wouldn't last that long, she was sure.

Desperately they fought, holding the coven off. But as she punched a witch, the dragon laughed and changed. He was monstrous, a huge wingless reptile, a leviathan lizard. She could hear its insane laughter ringing through her skull, smell the putrid scent of death and decay. It looked at her malevolently, its single black eye bright, the empty hole where the other should have been dripping black blood. Dark power crackling in a halo around it, the creature stepped forward, blocking out the sky.

~ Fools! ~ Its voice shot through her head. The cult members stepped away, leaving her and Matt, still back to back.

"Now," it hissed, in a reptilian sound, "for you."

* * * *

Jepar 'shifted flawlessly and as Chatoya loped back to town, he sped off towards the field. He ran fast as he could, and that was a fair speed considering he was a cheetah. Finally he was just a few hundred yards from the field, then his eyes widened as he saw people coming out of the hut. Not just people. They were dragging an unconscious Matt and an angry Dragon. And…was that *Shadow* following them? It was. What was going on - and where had his other eye gone?

Curious and troubled, Jepar slunk along behind them, so he watched in admiration as Dragon stabbed the 'wolf and as the pair fought off creatures twice as strong as them. But them he stared, as Shadow lost his shape and exploded into a huge lizard, Goddess, what a monster. A big monster. He looked around desperately for Dragon, saw her kneeling over Matt, who had a knife in the middle of his back.

~ Oh no, now is really *not* the time for you to go to pieces Dragon! ~

He saw the dragon swing round towards her and realising what was going to happen, Jepar desperately hurled himself at the creature, claws swiping, teeth sinking into the swamp skin. And to his horror he felt himself thrown into the air, easily as a tennis ball and his head smacked against the ground as he felt bones break.