"Do either of you think that Ryan's girlfriend is a little...well, odd?" Max asked. He didn't get a reply, mainly because Phil and Sara were once again arguing about who-knows-what. Max tried again.
"Are you two listening to me?"
No response. Max growled.
"Hey, lovebirds!" This did get a response.
"What did you just say?!"
'Works every time.' Max mused. "So I have your attention now?"
Sara glared. "You broke up a perfectly good fight just for attention?"
"Get a room if you want to fight. I was just saying about how Rain seemed a little on the weird side."
Phil laughed. "This from the guy who wore a Spiderman costume to school every day for two months when he was a kid."
"Hey, that's different! I was only young!"
Sara smirked and started speaking in a mock-sinister manner. "So, you think our Rain is odd, do you? Pale face, black revealing clothes, uneeeeeeaaarthly aura..." Sara grinned evilly. "It all makes sense, doesn't it? Rain must be...a vampire!"
Max groaned. He should have known better than to expect reasonable conversation from Sara, who looked to be launching another one of her tangents.
"Yes, a vampire! And poor Ryan is her helpless victim! She visits him every night, charming and seducing him with her wiles, then bites his neck and drinks deeply on his blood. Soo, he'll become a vampire too, her willing slave, and the two of them will go on a rampage, killing and enslaving, until they conquer the world! And people like us, they'll force us to work till we drop in their cake mines, digging and presenting them with delicious desserts, never to get even a crumb of chocolate for ourselves..."
Sara stopped when she saw the looks that the two boys were giving her.
"What? What are you looking at?"
"Don't take this the wrong way, but have you been drinking?"
"Oh shut up, Phil. Just because you have no imagination..."
"I have imagination! You just don't have any common sense..."
Max grabbed his temple and sighed. "Guys, I'm turning right here. See you on Monday?"
"Yeah see you. No common sense? I'll have you know..."
Max turned away and started walking. After a moment, he realised that Sara and Phil had abruptly stopped arguing. He frowned, that was unlike them. He turned back, but they were no longer there.
"What the..?" Max took a step back. His hand brushed against his pocket, and he realised his wallet was missing. His eyes widened and he yelled.
"You jerks! Give me back my wallet!"
From around a corner, he heard Sara and Phil burst into laughter and run off. Snarling, Max ran after them.

"Fairly soon, we'll have to deal with him." Rain said. "He can't be allowed to just walk up and attack you."
Ryan nodded. Rain was embraced in his arms, and he still felt a little in awe of her. But each time Rain came to him, it felt less surreal and more natural.
"Do you mean kill him?"
"I don't like killing any more than you do, Ryan. But if it's us or Scavenger, then I have no qualms about doing so."
"I guess..."
Rain kissed Ryan again. "Don't think about it now. We'll deal with him when the time comes."

Max ran around a corner, tripped on an uneven paving stone and tumbled to the floor. His ankle flared in pain.
"Damn it, damn it...I'm going to kill them when I catch up with them!" Max pulled himself up and limped into the side street. He heard Sara cry out, but not a laugh. Probably she and Phil had started up yet another fight. That would give Max the time he needed to catch them and beat them both into the ground.
Wincing slightly, Max limped into an alley, and stopped dead. A man on the other side of the alley was stuffing Phil into the back of a small van. He couldn't see Sara. Alarmed, Max tried to dash to his friend's help, but his hurt leg didn't allow him to move nearly fast enough. The man got into the front of the van and drove off while Max was still halfway down the alley. A feeling of dread gripped Max's heart. He panicked, turning and stumbling back into the street.

Rain and Ryan walked arm in arm through the streets of the streets, watching the fading sunlight in the sky. The Dancer's presence had calmed Ryan after his earlier scare, and he was smiling and laughing with her again. Rain was in the middle of telling Ryan about a night in his previous life when he and Dante had decided to learn how to juggle (and failing at it) when Max ran around a corner and bumped right into them.
"Max? What's wrong?"
"Ryan! It's Sara and Phil! They're gone!"
"Gone?"
"I was chasing them, and there was this guy, and I hurt my leg..."
"Max." Rain put a hand on Max's shoulder. "Calm down. Breathe. Now, slowly, what has happened?"
"I was chasing them to get my wallet back." Max gasped. "I slipped and hurt my leg. I went round a corner, and I saw this man throw Phil in his van and drive off! I didn't see Sara, but he must have got her too!"
"Do you know who?" Ryan asked urgently.
"I-I didn't see! I couldn't..."
"Max." Rain said again. She moved Max's head so that it was looking into her own. "Think carefully and calmly. Look into my eyes, and tell me what the man and his vehicle looked like."
"He..." Max was staring deep into Rain's eyes. Ryan wasn't sure if Rain was performing magic or simply coaxing the information out of his friend, but Max seemed to be a bit calmer now. "He had short dark hair. Clean shaven. Blue sweater and jeans. One hand bandaged. The van was white, clean..."
Rain's eyes narrowed. "One of the back doors. Did it have a gash or a scratch in it?"
"Yes...a thick one in the right door..." Max blinked and shook his head. "How did you know?"
Rain cursed. "That damned Scavenger."
"Again?" Ryan shook his head. "But I pretty much crippled him earlier! He can't have recovered enough to kidnap Phil and Sara. Not in three hours!"
"No, he shouldn't have. But he has. I don't know how..."
Max looked from Ryan to Rain. "Wait a sec...do you two know..? What the hell's going on? How do you know who...and what's this about crippling someone?"
The Dancer and her Lionheart looked at each other. Neither could think of what to tell Max.

Phil's head hurt. It was worse than even the morning after the time he and Sara had 'borrowed' a few bottles from his parents drinks cabinet. He looked around. He was in a bare room with concrete walls and floor. It was very dark, but he could make out the form of Sara lying on the other side of the room. He tried to get up, but his head span dangerously, so he opted to crawl instead.
"Sara? Sara? Are you OK?"
There was a groan, and Sara opened her eyes. "Oww...it hurts! What happened?"
"I can't remember. My head feels like someone's pounding on it..."
Sara managed to sit up and look around. "Phil? Where are we?"
Phil looked around the room again. Still bare. He couldn't even see a door. "I don't know. I don't know..."

Max stared down at the sword in Ryan's hand. His mouth was opening, but there weren't any words coming out.
"Max?"
"But...that...how did..?"
"It's a long tale, and one we don't have time to go through right now." Rain said. "After we rescue Sara and Phillip, we can tell you all about it."
Max looked up at Ryan. Ryan tried to console him.
"It's called Tigerbite..." That was the only thing he could think of. It didn't help.
"What are..?"
"We'll get them back. Don't worry. You'd be best off going home." Rain was on her knees, rubbing Max's ankle. Max didn't even notice that the pain was completely gone. He nodded his head and started walking off.
"Do you think we were right to just tell him that?" Ryan worried. "I think he's in shock."
"We can take care of him later. First we have to find the other two before Scavenger harms them."
"Where do we start looking?"
"I know where he lives. We'll start there."


"Nothing." Phil punched the wall in frustration. "No door, no cracks, no holes, no nothing!"
Sara slumped to the floor. "We're dead, aren't we?"
"We're not dead! We're just...we'll be OK!"
"No we won't. We've been dumped down here to starve."
"Don't be ridiculous! That only happens in horror movies!"
Sara was silent for a moment. The Phil heard what sounded like a sob. It scared him more than being locked up in this room did. He'd never seen Sara cry before. She was the least crying sort of person he'd ever known.
"Sara?"
"I-I'm OK..." Sara's voice cracked. Phil sat down beside her and gently touched her shoulder.
There was a flash of light as an opening in the ceiling was removed. The prisoners both jumped to their feet. Something was dropped into the room, then the hatch closed.
"Hey!" Phil yelled. "HEY! WHO'S THERE?"
"Phil..."
"WHAT DO YOU WANT? WHY???"
"Phil, it's food." Sara pointed to the bread loaf and flask of water that had been dropped in.
"Oh...I don't feel hungry."
"Yeah..." Sara stared at it. "Let's have it later."
Phil sank back to the floor next to Sara. He felt an arm slip around his waist. He pulled Sara over and put his arm around her shoulder.
"Don't worry. If they're feeding us, then they want something. Once they get it, they'll probably leave and we'll be found."
Sara tried to joke. "Don't be ridiculous. That only happens in action movies."
"No. In those movies, there's a hero who comes to our rescue. And the kidnappers are pure evil. And there are more gadgets and guns and stuff. And loads of sexy, easy women."
"Phil!" Sara lightly hit him in the arm. For a moment, the situation didn't seem so bad.
Phil sighed and leaned into Sara. "You know something? I'm glad I don't have to go through this alone."
He felt Sara nodding against his shoulder. "Me too."


"Nothing!" Ryan punched a wall in frustration, totally unaware of how his actions were echoing those of his missing friend. "Damn it..."
"There must be something here..." Rain insisted. "He must have left some clue..."
Ryan sighed and opened another door. It led to the bathroom. Ryan stopped dead. On the mirror was a message written in red...

Bottom of Chaser's Hill. 3 am Tonight
"Rain!"
Rain entered the bathroom behind him. She scowled as she read the message. "Oh, very quaint." She touched the red writing, and blinked in surprise. "Lipstick."
"Lipstick?!"
"Probably meant to make us think of blood."
"Why would Scavenger have lipstick?"
"Maybe it's Sara's."
"Sara doesn't have lipstick. She thinks..." Ryan shook himself. "Why are we talking about this? Scavenger's got them! Where's Chaser's Hill?"
"Chaser's Hill..." Rain seemed deep in thought. "I wonder...Ryan, I need to return to the forest."
"What for?"
"A possible advantage. I'll meet you outside your house in ten minutes."
With that, Rain left the room. Ryan went to follow her, but there was no sign of the Dancer. Short of walking through the walls, there should have been no way for Rain to disappear that quickly. Of course, for all Ryan knew, Rain might be capable of walking through walls...


Almost a quarter of an hour later, Ryan was sitting on the wall outside his house, kicking the bricks in anger. From the corner of his eye, he saw Rain approaching.
"Well?"
"It's time to go."
"Where? Do you know where this hill is?"
"Yes. It's on the outskirts of the forest. If we hurry, we'll get there by 3."
Rain started walking briskly down the path. Ryan followed, keeping Tigerbite just on the surface of wherever it was when it wasn't in his hand.


"Sara?"
Sara sighed. She'd been trying to sleep, but she was finding it pretty much impossible. Phil had been silent since the bread and water had been thrown to them, until now.
"Yes."
"You think we'll get out of here?"
"Hey, you were telling me we'd be out of here by tomorrow earlier, Phil! Don't you trust yourself?" Sara joked with a humour she was far from feeling.
"I dunno...What if the guy walks off? What if we don't get found?"
Sara tried to think of something to take their minds off the worry and fear. "Well, remember what we were asked in that pastoral thing a few weeks back? If you knew today was going to be the last day of your life, what would you do?"
"Yeah...and you said you'd beat me up again! Like you've ever managed it before!"
"You're just jealous that you didn't think to write it! 'Borrow lots of money'...Ha!"
"Oooh, that's it!" Phil jabbed Sara in the ribs. On some level, he knew that this was probably not the right thing to do when imprisoned in a small cellar or whatever, but if he was thinking about teasing Sara, he wasn't thinking about starving to death here.
Sara apparently was working on similar lines. She slapped away Phil's hand and drove her shoulder into his side. Phil hit the floor with Sara on top of him, but rolled to the side, pinning Sara on her back.
Both friends stopped struggling. The reality of their situation was creeping back, and their momentary distraction was fading. Phil looked into Sara's eyes and saw a growing despair that he'd bet was mirrored in his own eyes.
"Phil..."
"Sara, I...I..."
Phil didn't know why he did it. It was like his body suddenly slipped into auto-pilot. He let his head drop and started kissing Sara. He felt Sara's arms circle his neck as she kissed back, with a passion that bordered on desperation. Perhaps Sara and himself were trying to keep the fear away any way they could.
On the other hand, perhaps they'd both decided what they really would do on the last day of their lives...