AN: It's been a while since I've read these books so feel free to smack me if I get something wrong! And no... I don't own the Night World series... *cries*

Please review! :D It makes me feel specialz! tehee ^_^

Chapter One

Rhea's tomb was warm and peaceful as it had been for over two thousand years. Ever since that group of witches had sealed her within it. She had been angry then, brooding and malicious. She had hated the witches and a cruel smile had lit upon her lips when she felt their life force drained out of them, even as the Earth opened to swallow her whole. For centuries she had waited for one of her people to come and release her; and when they didn't come she waited centuries more. Never did it occur to her that sometime during all that waiting, she would forgive the witches for imprisoning her, and even less did it come to mind that she would even agree with them and feel indebted to them for their sacrifice. The shapeshifters had been out of line with their vicious ways, Rhea only wished that she and her kin had been imprisoned sooner.

It was a subtle realization when it came: she had been wrong. Rhea, queen of all 'shifters and conquered ruler of that small world, had been terribly, terribly wrong. A new hate rose into her soul – if she even still had one of which to boast – but rather than being directed at the witches, it was instead intended for herself. How could she have been so cruel? How could she have been so merciless? How could she have let herself loose control so thoroughly? How, how, how? These questions and thousands more drifted through her head and very few were gifted with answers, even less of which were most likely correct. Then came the 'why's'. Why had she let herself become such a monster? Why hadn't she been stopped sooner? Why hadn't her own people seen that she was wrong? Why? WHY? WHY?

No answer….

Centuries more passed and still Rhea slept in a deep, enchanted slumber. She couldn't die or age; she could hardly even consider this magically induced hibernation to be living. Of course her heart still beat endlessly in her breast, and sure her brain still functioned properly, but she couldn't move or open her eyes and the meal she had eaten directly before her entombment remained undigested in her stomach. It wasn't a very appetizing thought, but it was true. She was – for lack of a better word – paused.

That is, until a certain group of witches woke one of her kin. She had probed the world for this one awakened being, surprised by whom the Night World had chosen. "So Azhdeha, you would work as their pet just to stretch your legs?" Rhea had goaded, attacking his mind vehemently with fangs and claws of anger and resentment. "You always were easy."

"Your jealousy speaks for you my queen. You are simply angry it was me that was called upon first." Replied a cool, evil voice in her head as knives of cruelty and malice grappled against her for dominance in this clairvoyant battle.

"Jealousy? You amuse me fledgling! How could I ever stoop as low as to be jealous of a snake?" With one last jab of her mind – which she was pleased to find it struck a blow in spite of herself – she spat an insult at him and retreated behind her mental barriers, leaving that traitor by himself in a no-man's-land. He remained on the outer edges of her consciousness for quite a while, but eventually he grew bored of his futile attempts to penetrate her mind and disappeared.

Even after Rhea had felt the dark cloud that was Azhdeha recede, the ageless queen waited before revealing herself to the world. She waited for at least a month, the last week of her imprisonment spent in vengeful celebration when she felt the death of that dark traitor.

Finally, with ancient power flowing through her veins, the shapeshifter queen blasted out of her tomb and out of the Earth that had so long ago consumed her. Oxygen flowed into her veins, clear and refreshing; a pleasant change from the stale stuff that had been circulating her system during her captivity. She breathed in a deep breath, flexing her muscles and rejoicing in the world she had returned to. Her ever changing eyes took in anything and everything they could as the limbs of her human form returned to their corresponding functions.

Rhea Titan had returned home at last.

Garth stretched as the sun light poured in through the crack between his curtains. The morning seemed to come earlier and brighter as his missions got longer and harder. He groaned and reluctantly rolled out of bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he grabbed a clean T-shirt and yanked it over his head. The pants at the foot of his bed were still dusted with dirt in some places but he pulled them on over his boxers and tried to brush some of the debris off as he walked out of his bedroom.

The safe house was unusually busy that morning and he reached out a hand to snag the arm of a flighty looking werewolf that had been part of his team on the last mission he had done as she jogged by. Irritation showed plainly on her face until she realized who she was looking at. "My apologies Sir, but I'm kind of in a hurry…" The young wolf let the sentence drop lest she risk angering the man holding her.

"Yes of course, but what's going on? This place is never this busy, and I mean—"

Someone shouting down the hall drew both of their ears and they jerked their heads simultaneously in the general direction from which the voice had come. Before he knew it, the young werewolf had squirmed out of Garth's grasp and was once more jogging down the hall.

"I'm sorry Sir! Really I am! If you wanna know what's going on then go find Thierry!" She called over her shoulder as she disappeared around the corner.

"Wait! He's here?" The unkempt man yelled after her, but she was either out of hearing range or was out right ignoring him. He suspected it was the latter.

"Oh come on!" Garth growled under his breath before turning the opposite way as the werewolf, heading for the stairs – he never took the elevator, it was a personal choice. He took the steps three at a time, practically jumping over the banister when they made their about-face at every half-floor. After what seemed like hours – not really, of course, he was just impatient – his feet finally stomped onto the first floor. His head was instantly on swivel as he searched with something akin to franticness for Thierry. He wanted to know what was going on and he also wanted to talk about maybe taking on fewer missions, or at least some easier ones until he had time to recoup.

The safe house was stationed in the upper five levels of a hotel, so more than a few head turned as Garth burst out of the door leading into the stairway. Some looked at him with fear, others with amusement, and all with curious interest. With a jolt, he realized what he must look like. With an even bigger, and maybe more influential, jolt he noticed a security guard eyeing him suspiciously. The young Daybreaker made an apologetic smile and spoke to him in a low, joking voice. "Sorry, didn't mean to disrupt the peace, but I need to get outta here before the girl upstairs wakes up." He joked, disgust at the shallowness and heartlessness his excuse implied. However, as he had expected, the guard took the bait and gave him a playful elbow in the ribs, chuckling as he returned to scanning the hotel lobby for a more likely threat.

Garth scanned the room as well, but his quarry was located within a few seconds. Thierry's white-blond head bobbed toward the door as he strode across the room through a sea of people that seemed to part for him to walk. The young man set off for him, hoping to at least catch him as he walked out the door.

"Thierry!" Garth called over the noise of the crowd as they reached the long line of glass doors. The vampire lord turned his head and caught his soldier's eye. The ashen haired man nodded his head at the young man calling his name and jerked his chin outside before stepping through the doors.

"I was hoping I would see you today, Garth." Thierry said as his man reached his side and his personal limousine pulled up to the curb. He opened the door and motioned for the young man behind him to follow. "Come on. We'll talk in the car."

Garth nodded his head and ducked into the vehicle, plopping down onto the cushiony black leather seats. He was surprised at how worn the lord of the Night World looked, as if he hadn't slept in weeks. Although the vampire didn't really need that much sleep, that was about as good of a correlation that the Daybreaker soldier could come up with at this early hour. "Thierry, what's going on? That hotel is never that full of Night People. Seriously not ever." Garth asked as the car moved forward, slightly worried now that he saw how his commander was acting. "Did something go wrong? Did one of the Wild Powers—"

Thierry cut him off with a wave of his hand, the other coming up to run tiredly down his face with a ragged sigh. Moments later turned his head to look at the young man, his eyes seeming black in the dim lighting of the car. "Garth, something's happened. And I am, for what seems to be the hundredth time this week, at a loss as to what I should do." The worn out vampire confided, the look in his eyes almost pleading. "Hannah is at her parents' house this week or I swear I'd go insane. With the Crone of the witches being killed—oh don't jump like that and duck your head it wasn't your fault—but with the witches in a disarray trying to replace their leaders as quickly as possible, while at the same time enact revenge without ruining the recent tie with the shapeshifters. And in the middle of all this, everyone looks to me like I have the answers to any problem that just happens to pop up!" By the time he was finished, Thierry looked more than a little unsettled and he was out of breath. With a coughing rasp, the vampire continued, "And on top of that, I need to feed again and so every human I look at turns into a walking talking blood bag that I want so desperately to tear into and suck every last drop of blood from. Goddess, do you know how agonizing that is?" He smacked his forehead, remembering whom he was talking to. "Well of course you do, when is the last time you and your men went out for a hunt? You know exactly how agonizing it is." Finally the lord fell silent and let his head fall into his hands with a groan.

The young man glanced out the window anxiously, wondering if he could jump out the door if his commander carried on with this rant. Thankfully, he saw the huge mansion come into view as they pulled down the long driveway, trees standing on either side of the gravel road on an ageless vigil. "Well, Sir, you know maybe you should just take a few days off." Garth suggested, trying to calm Thierry down before they had to go inside and face who knew what. "You know, maybe take Hannah and go on a hunting—I mean! Camping trip! Hey look we're here! Heh, heh…" The young Daybreaker leapt out of the car before it even came to a complete stop, rushing around to Thierry's side of the car to make it appear as if he had been hoping to miss another break down.

However, as the Night World lord stepped out of the car – nodding obligingly at Garth as he did so – his face was composed and serious. Not a trace of the emotion he had unleashed in the limousine showed on his stony visage, he was completely hidden behind his mask.

Garth followed Thierry up the steps and through the ornate double doors into his mansion. The entry hall was empty but Lupe came from around a corner to meet them, a hesitant smile on her face. "Hey." She said simply before turning and leading them to the sitting room.

Once there, Garth realized what kind of a something his commander had been talking about in the car. Poppy gave them a wide smile, her pixie-like face seeming to brighten up any atmosphere, and James beside her gave a slight nod though his face stayed grim and uncertain. On the other side of the room, Ash Redfern gave a wry smirk as his eyes flashed through a wide array of colors. Close by him stood Quinn who had his hand resting on the shoulder of his soulmate Rashel who was currently sitting in a plush red velvet chair and looking very tense. Leaning against the wall across from Garth and Thierry leaned Galen with Keller sitting in another chair, similar to the one Rashel was sitting in. The fore mentioned of the pair leaned with his arms resting on the back of the chair and his chin resting on his soulmate's head, one hand distractedly playing with her black hair.

For a brief second, Garth felt a twinge of pain in his heart that he was missing out on what these couples flaunted so ignorantly. But as quick as it had come, he pushed the thought out of his mind, telling himself that these were his friends and he wanted only the best for them. Still, the throb in his heart reminded him what it meant to be lonely.

Unexpectedly, movement caught Garth's eye from the center of the room, ending any thought of love and slamming his mind back onto the current situation. And as the young man took in the breathtakingly beautiful young woman silently sitting cross legged with her palms resting on the ground beside her. White hair, blue and purple veining subtly throughout the strands, cascaded down to the middle of her back and bangs cut across her forehead to taper down and frame her face. Her cat-like eyes were constantly changing color, somewhat like Ash's but hers were more complete. More vivid and beautiful. Her cheek bones were angled slightly and her lips turned upward ever-so-slightly in the corners giving a pouting, mischievous look to her feline visage. Her figure was slender though not too much so, she was simply built lithely and agilely with her muscles rolling beneath tanned skin with every small move. A white spaghetti-strap tank top covered her torso and faded blue jeans covered her legs. A pair of black riding boots came up just below her knees and were dusted with dirt. To say in the least, she bore a hauntingly striking resemblance to a goddess. Garth's heart raced at the mere sight of her. He though it would beat completely out of his chest when she returned his gaze, her eyes flashing from a blue-violet, to blood-red, to aquamarine, to sapphire, and back to the blue swirled with violet. Her lips parted slightly as she breathed in, tasting the air. Tasting him? The thought was surprisingly new to him, but it made sense in an outdated sort of way. And that's when it hit him. Heartstoppingly beautiful, ever changing eyes, old habits that could be considered ancient!

"Oh Goddess…" Garth breathed as the realization flooded over him. "That's a dragon…"