C h a p t e r S e v e n

N o o n

They trekked for two days. Kaneonuskatew felt lonely in that time. Fala kept snipping at him, no one was talking to him, and Beth was downright ignoring him. Marching was quickly becoming boring. He spent most of his time thinking, and when Beth became tired, he spent a majority of the time making sure his jealousy wasn't showing as Louis-Etienne carried Beth.

He wore clothes. They felt strange, but he was slowly becoming accustomed to them. The sandals kept his feet from becoming cold, dirty and sore. The jeans kept the brambles and nettles and pines from scratching him. They reminded him of the leather he used to wear before he had been put to sleep. The shirt he simply could not fathom. It itched and he didn't like it. He rolled up the sleeves to his forearms, and he preferred that, but it still itched.

Eventually they stopped for supper. Zhi Niao unrolled the bedrolls she had been carrying; Louis-Etienne went off to dig a latrine and Emile began to build a fireplace while Mac gather firewood. Fala went off to hunt, and he stayed to watch Beth. She was curled up on one of the bedrolls, still wearing her jacket. She looked so helpless when she slept. Where did the defensiveness and the ferocity go when she slept?

Her hands were gently curled, her thumb just brushing her lips. Her arms were held close to her body for warmth. Her legs were slightly bent. They were surprisingly shapely and he wished the others were not paying such great attention to him so he could fondly watch her more.

The men returned and took over the camp. Gawain crawled into a sleeping bag. Kaneonuskatew could tell from the sweat emanating from the young boy that he had pushed himself to keep up with the adults. He didn't want to appear weak. The women went off to hunt and the men held down the camp. When the dragon picked up on Gawain's breathing becoming deep and even, Kaneonuskatew realized his opportunity had arrived.

"Louis-Etienne, I'm sure you wish to hunt with your lover. Why don't you go and hunt with her? I'm here to watch the prisoner and Mackenzie is here as well. The camp will be more than adequately protected. Besides, I wish to talk to Mackenzie privately."

The werewolf turned to his boss, his pale eyes glowing with a yellow tinge in the firelight. "Can I, Mac?"

Mackenzie shrugged. "Sure. I think we'll be all right. You know Beth. She waits until she has the chance to win when she fights. Beth has patience when it comes to that. She doesn't have the chance right now, so long as we have the dragons on our side. Besides, she's asleep. You go and join Niao. I'm eager to hear wait Cain has to say."

He grinned excitedly. There was little he liked more than hunting with Zhi Niao. The only thing he liked more than that was fighting with Zhi Niao and having sex with her, which mostly seemed to overlap in the first place. His smile kept pulling back as his jaw changed. Dark fur spread over his body, replacing his clothes. In mere moments he raced off, howling joyously for his mate to join him in the hunt.

"You've made him a happy man, Cain."

He shrugged. "I'm glad I was able to please him."

"You've gotten the hang of using contractions, I see." The dragon nodded. Mac was sitting cross-legged on the ground. He bent one knee, leaning his chin on it as he stared over the fire pit. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Kaneonuskatew gestured over to Beth with his gaze. "Her, and her world. To be able to fight for control over the world, I must understand her world. I wish training to understand your technologies and your history."

The vampire thought about it, rubbing his chin. "You're a little too old for school in that body. Can you give yourself a younger body, around Beth's age? I'm sorry if it's impolite for asking, but I'm not exactly sure how your shifting ability works—I actually doubt that anyone knows."

The dragon smiled. "Understandable. I am able to take another human form, a Native American boy of Beth's age."

"Great. Gawain can hack into the school computers. We'll send you to a place where you can learn and study your opponents and socialize. You'll be able to start in two days. If Fala would like to join you, we can arrange for her to attend as well." He paused, judging the dragon's reaction. "As Fala doesn't like you very much, I'll run the idea by her. If you ask her I worry she'll pick a fight with you."

He didn't want Fala to accompany him. This was his project. Fala would do nothing but complain about how stupid the humans were, or about the smell. However, he decided it was best to let the subject go. He hoped Fala wouldn't want to go in favor of the other thing he wanted to discuss. "I also would like to talk about Bethany."

For a long time Mackenzie had been wondering about his sister's name. Beth had made it clear to him no one called her by her full name and yet Cain had been using it for several days without any sign of retaliation from the young girl. His voice was stern, the streak of protectiveness he had spent the last few days denying and hating. "She likes to be called Beth."

"She has not complained to me. I will continue to call her Bethany until she asks me to stop. I wish for you to free Bethany from her captivity when we return home."

"You want me to do what?"

"Free Bethany. You don't need her right now. Why keep her? Why cause her family stress? Let her go. We can still keep tabs on her so that we know where she is. I'm a good hunter, Mackenzie. Trust me, I could find her anywhere. She doesn't know our plan. Let her go."

Mackenzie frowned as he thought about it. He wanted to say yes, but he had other people to think about as well. What would Emile say? Or Zhi Niao? He didn't want to keep Beth locked up in the basement. They were kin, after all. Daybreaker or not, he was aware that Beth should be allowed to enjoy life to the fullest extent possible.

"You will be responsible for taking her home," he said, "as it is your wish that set her free. I'll explain it to my people, but if Fala argues, it will be your job to keep her from going ballistic."

He nodded. "I have already taken that into consideration."

Cain left when he felt Fala drawing close. Sleep had made her careless. She was returning to the camp from upwind, her scent filtering into the camp. Cain was not so careless. He always made sure to keep his scent hidden from Fala, knowing fully well that though they had peace at the moment, Fala would surely one day break it. Red dragons were treacherous like that. Centuries of sleep could not break the centuries of animosity that stretched between them.

"Fala," he interrupted her, surprising her. Hatred hardened her eyes as soon as she realized it was him. He kept his voice hard and stern. "We need to talk."

Her dark brown eyes narrowed and her lip curled upwards in a sneer of disgust. He had grabbed her shoulder as she walked by him, pulling her to a stop, and her gaze was locked on the way his fingers were defiling her clothes. "What is it, green-one? Speak quickly. Our treaty does not mean you need to retain your hand."

Cain was surprised by how different Fala was from Beth. They had the same face shape and hair, and when she hit puberty, he was certain that Beth would have the same kind of figure Fala did, and yet the anger they both reacted with to his presence manifested itself so differently. Fala's anger was disfiguring, a disgusting emotion that twisted her face. Beth's he saw as honest and made her face become flushed, her eyes shining brilliantly with the ferocity and depth of her anger. He was actually a little jealous that Beth was able to feel her emotion so completely and still show such little of it on her face. In contrast, he felt little and showed nothing.

"I don't want to awaken the other dragons."

"What?"

Cain was laying the foundation for his web. He wanted to ensure that no harm would come to Bethany. The first step had been to make sure she was set free. He couldn't stand the idea of thinking of her held up, locked up in some dark basement. The second step was to make sure that Fala wouldn't have a reason to harm Beth. Fala hated humans; that was the way of her tribe. They ate humans without remorse or justification.

Fala had made it perfectly clear she wanted to wipe out Bethany from existence. Their tribe believed that no dragon should ever mate with a human. Even shapeshifters were too weak for their tastes. He knew, even if the others didn't, that Fala had agreed to their plan because they alone knew a way to awake the other dragons. As soon as she had that power herself she'd turn on them.

He had to make sure that Fala would not want to bring back the other dragons.

He brushed his hand against her cheek lovingly. She glared at his touch, but he could smell the subtle changes around her body as it leaked hormones. Hate him as she may, Fala was still well aware that, to the best of their knowledge, he was the only male dragon awake and therefore, the only potential mate. He let tones of seduction creep into his voice, the slightest hint of fondness removing the crisp edge of authority.

"We have been given a great opportunity here, Fala. The world can be ours if we only wish to take it. Time has made these mortals weak and foolish. They will be easy prey for us if we work together."

"I?" she sneered. "I, work with a dragon like you? Don't insult me, Kaneonuskatew! What could you possibly offer me that would tempt me to turn my back on my family, on our morals and side with my enemy?"

"Power." Immediately she froze. Yes, Fala wanted power. "I can offer you as much as you would like. Together, we could rule from the mountains to the ocean. We could do whatever we liked, whenever we liked. You would be Queen of all you see here, Fala. We wouldn't have to share it with anybody." He moved closer to her, wrapping his arms loosely around her waist and holding her close. His long hair brushed her face as she stiffly subjected to being held in the crook of his arms. "And there would be me. You know I would produce fine children with you."

"Mate with a green dragon? I hate you all. Human-loving scum…"

"I hate you too. In the bedroom I have scarcely been able to tell the difference between hate and love. You will hate me more for what I will make you do and feel and say when I mate with you, Fala. I will have liaisons with others, yes, but you will bear my children. When they grow up, we will send them to the other side of the mountains and we will regain more of this land, our two bloodlines intermingled." He paused for effect. "The red dragons would, in time, rule the whole continent. It is just as your family dreamed of all those years ago."

She didn't have a witty response. Fala was giving his plan consideration. "What do you get out of it?"

He let himself smile, exactly the type of smile that Fala wanted to see when she looked up at him. It was predatory and a little cruel. Cain always made sure that he wore his masks well. "You. And, of course, my children will also have this continent, just as my family as always wanted."

She was still wavering with indecision. He leaned down and kissed her soundly on the lips, the types of kisses he had learned in his youth that made girls fawn on him. If only Beth had let him kiss her! No, he corrected himself. He could never kiss Beth like this, so hard and full of need, not as a first kiss. She needed pleasant, languid kisses that made her mind feel numb and warm.

Fala licked her lips, tasting him. He could taste the blood on her lips from her kill. It reminded him that he needed to feed, but business came first. She smiled, but her eyes remained disturbingly withheld from the smile. "I accept your offer, Kaneonuskatew."

With a pang of sadness, he kissed Fala again, knowing that no mask he wore was good enough to hide the pang of guilt which wrenched his heart when he thought of Beth.


When they got home, Beth was pulled aside by Cain. Her jacket kept the Soulmate connection from starting up, but even being that close to him was enough to make her feel off-centered. When he was around she sometimes doubted she could tell left from right or up from down. She gave him a tired look, not quite having the energy to glare at him. He was holding a bag of clothes in his other hand, which he extended to her.

"These are the smallest-sized vestments Emile owns," he told her. "She has told me they should fit you well enough. Get in the bathroom and change, please."

"Why?" Not that Beth didn't appreciate the idea of clothes. She was tired and hungry and whenever she thought of how she was wearing nothing but a jacket she felt as if she blushed so hard her ears were burning. What she really wanted was a warm bubble bath followed by a warm shower and then hot chocolate and the biggest, fluffiest sweaters she could find followed by her bed. She simply didn't understand Kaneonuskatew. Why was he giving her clothes?

The others hadn't seemed to overhear what they were saying. They were ignoring the two of them, standing in the kitchen and glaring at each other. Beth cursed herself. Had she been less tired and paid more attention she would have seen that four seconds ago, before he had grabbed her arm, she had the perfect opportunity to escape. His voice was low to keep from drawing attention to them.

"I know you don't trust me. I'm not asking you to start trusting me. I encourage you to think of me as your enemy, and I will do the same for you, but I would be doing myself a great dishonor if I failed to abide by my promise and keep you safe, and the safest place for you is away from Fala. I'm giving you an order as your captor, Bethany. Go and change." She didn't move, stubbornly staring at him, as if that could help her understand him. His dark eyes were like mirrors, hiding his true thoughts from her. "Now."

She went off to change. Shutting and locking the bathroom door behind her, she pulled out the clothes from the bag. Wrinkling her nose at the idea of putting on someone else's underwear—however clean they were—she put them on regardless. The idea of wearing jeans without underwear was even less appealing to Beth. The jeans were an inch too long, but she rolled them up. They fit fine around the waist, however. The shirt was baggy in all the wrong places, and it itched a little without a bra. Beth knew that nothing the lamia owned would have fit anyway. Lastly, there was a sweater. She put that on with gusto, wrapping it around herself and trying to bury herself in the warmth of the wool, even if it did itch.

She folded the paper bag back up only to realize that there was another door out of the washroom. Pressing her ear against it, she didn't hear anyone and wanted to have a peek where it went. The bathroom turned out to be linked to Emile and Mackenzie's bedroom. The décor was maroon, decorated with gold here and there to lighten the room and add accents to it. She wanted to shut the door, but there was such a feeling of normalcy that she couldn't help but step into it, just for a moment, to remind herself that there were still people in the world who were normal.

Beside the door was a bureau. It was lined with a jewelry box and pictures. She found herself looking at the pictures. Emile and Mackenzie were posed in front of the zoo together. The sun was shining. Emile was wearing a miniskirt and laughing as Mackenzie splashed water from fountain at her. Both of them were smiling. Beside it was one taken at Christmastime. Mackenzie looked handsome in a dark red sweater, and strangely relaxed with the book he held in his hands. His eyes were closed as he napped against Emile, who was nestled tightly in his arms, as sound asleep as he was.

She shut the door to their bedroom quietly. She didn't want to see anymore. It was easier to hate Mac when she thought of him as a terrorist, and not a man who had a loving wife and a life.


They drove for a long time. Beth noted that Mackenzie, driving the white van, was making the route as complicated as he could, as if trying to confuse her. Beth didn't care. She wasn't paying attention. She was just trying hard not to think. She'd done a lot of thinking in the past six days, and she was tired of it. If there was a way to keep Cain from siding with Mackenzie, she hadn't been able to think of it. She had come to terms with it long ago: they were enemies.

But saying it and believing it were two different things. It was hard to keep thinking of them as enemies when he dusted off her coat or did something similarly nice for her. He confused her. He was dangerous because he was tearing her in two. How could she fight him? How could she let her friends fight him when they would probably die in the attempt? How could she side with him when he wanted the subordination of her people?

She had often thought it would be better if she just seduced him and slit his throat when he slept. But she couldn't do that. He was her Soulmate. When he got close to her she tried to physically push him away but her very body refused to act to such a thought. It would be easier for Bethany's hand to slit her own throat than to harm him.

So she just thought and reflected. Eventually they were going to kill her. Maybe she could deduce one of the theories of the universe first, and then die happy knowing that she had finally discovered the meaning of life only to let it die with her. Yes, she decided. Douglas Adams would have appreciated that humor.

Mackenzie pulled the car to a stop at a Mac's convenience store. He hoped out and nodded to Cain. The dragon undid his seat belt and motioned for Beth to undo hers. He opened the door for them to both hop out. Beth's legs were sore as she stood, looking around. She recognized this area. She was only two blocks from…

Don't say anything, he warned her. His arm slipped around hers and he steadily pulled her away. Her head hurt from the sound of his telepathic voice. It kind of rumbled. It was like standing next to a waterfall when the sound echoed around you. There was a definite, deafening kind of rumble.

They walked steadily in silence. Had they not been dirty and tired and grumpy and ignoring each other as intently as they could, it almost would have been a pleasant walk. Beth could feel her heart beginning to beat harder in happiness. Yes, she was close to home. It dawned on her as they drew to a stop only a few minutes from her house. He had promised to keep her away from Fala. He was letting her go. She was going home.

He didn't need to tell her when she turned to see him. The shine and light of hope in her eyes told him everything. She had already figured it out. He wanted to tell her anyway as his hand slipped from her arm. "I'm letting you go."

"But… why?"

It was a question neither of them wanted to have asked. Beth didn't want an answer, and he didn't want to hear the question. Why did she have to ask it? Couldn't she just have accepted it?

"There is no reason for you to remain a prisoner. But I will continue to keep an eye out from you. I release you from bondage, not from being a prisoner. You are still my responsibility to care for and ensure no harm comes to you."

Her face settled stubbornly. She shook her head, and her limp hair barely moved. Even it was tired. "That doesn't answer why. If you're going to kill me to bring back your family, then why not just do it and get it done with?"

"That is not why I am going to watch over you." His voice was stern, but Beth knew why. He was doing it for the same reason that she wouldn't be able to kill him if fate ever gave her the chance. "Mackenzie wants me to tell you not to tell Daybreak where they took you or else he promises he'll do more than read your diary."

She meekly nodded. Yes, Mac had proved that he and Louis-Etienne could do much more than read her diary. She'd give them no reason to attack Eliza. "And you? Do I tell them about you? Do I tell them you're awake?"

He shrugged. "Do whatever you please. I do not care if they know I am awake or not. They will not be able to find me. There is only one person in the world capable to tracking me down. Though she refuses to let me know her, I have seen enough of her life to know that she is too honorable to use the connection between us to tell them where I live."

Beth blushed. No, she would never use their connection like that. She knew then that she would not tell Daybreak that Cain was her Soulmate. She didn't want them to use their connection as bait for him, or to trick her into betraying him, or to wonder whose side she was on. She would show them nothing but fear and loathing. She knew she was good enough to pull it off.

They stood on the corner. They didn't know what to say to each other. "You confuse me," she admitted to Kaneonuskatew.

He held out his hand in silent offering. All she had to do was touch him and she could see his intentions. She shook her head no and stepped back as if she were afraid of what he was offering… and she was. She didn't want to see his mind. She didn't want to hear his thoughts. If it was a twisted place she'd be scared of him and if it wasn't then she knew she'd only long to see it again. She didn't want that connection. She didn't want to remember what it was like to feel that… that complete, not after she had just become accustomed to the emptiness of her own mind again.

He let his hand fall back down. He let his mask come right off, knowing that it was the only way Beth would see his sincerity. "I don't love you, either. Nothing I do is out of love. It's done selfishly, or perhaps out of fear of knowing that without you, I… I would be truly alone. I don't want you to love me. I just wish that you could give me a chance to get to change. Give me a reason to change, Bethany. Give yourself a reason to change. Maybe we can find some kind of a middle ground."

She looked up at him in surprise. Hadn't he seen her hate? Sometimes she felt like she was swimming in it. She hated so many people… she felt so dead and bitter on the inside sometimes. She was so tired of life, sometimes!

"I don't want to be like them. I want change, but I won't help start a war to get change."

"It's not a war until your side fights back," he countered, trying to trap her with words.

Beth held her chin proudly. "Yes," she agreed. "It's only a war if we fight back. If we don't, it's a slaughter."

She turned and walked away, letting him chew on that idea.


No one was home when Beth walked through the door. She called Eliza's cell phone, but no one picked up. Knowing that people would have been worried about her, she then called Kotori. With no answer at her house, she called Nicolas. After the phone rang at is house several times and no one picked it up, Beth decided that she'd had enough of the conscientious friend. She wanted to be selfish and have a shower.

The shower was so hot most of her body had a red shade when she stepped out of it. Wrapped in a bathrobe—the fluffiest one she could find—Beth tossed her dirty clothes in the laundry hamper and ransacked her closet for suitable clothing. She found a pair of lounge pants and a fluffy orange sweater bought from the men's section at Goodwill. It was perfect, coming down to the joints of fingers and making her feel like a fall-colored marshmallow.

Marshmallows made her think of hot chocolate. Beth headed down to the kitchen to make herself some, rummaging around until she found the marshmallows. She sat on the couch with the television playing, fingers wrapped around the hot mug and her body curled in on itself as she tried to relax and forget about her ordeal.

Her mother found her like that when she returned from work. She saw the light on in the living room and ran the rest of the way to the house, throwing open the door. "Bethany?" Then she spotted her daughter and ran to her. Beth welcomed her home with open arms. "Bethany! Where were you? We were so worried about you!"

There were tears clinging to her eye lashes as she unwound herself from Eliza. "Momma… I think it'd be better if you sat down to hear this."


Eliza excused Beth from school the next day, at Daybreak's request. They needed to talk to her. She had contacted them and asked to meet with her team the following morning—Kotori included. Beth knew she would not be able to talk unless Kotori was there to back her up. After Eliza had listened to her story and accepted it with a grain of salt, Beth had doubted Daybreak would believe her. Not that Eliza had called Beth a liar—she knew her daughter was a good and honest girl—she just found it hard to believe that a fifteen year old boy had seriously been able to break the spells of a witch like Hellewise. Beth had faith that Kotori would support her.

It was because of Kotori that Beth kept from blowing up and getting frustrated. It was because of Kotori's hand laying supportively over hers that Beth's voice never rose, not even when she had to repeat the story for the third, fourth and fifth times. She sat in a meeting room in the Daybreak headquarters, in a cramped and hot room. Clustered around the table were Beth, Kotori, Alicia, Robert and Nick at the head of the table.

The room was painted a shade more grey than blue, and was windowless. Halogen lights made their shadows flicker across the table when they moved. The buzzing sounds from the lights were the only sounds in the room as Beth concluded her story for the fifth time. It seemed her companions had finally concluded she was telling the truth.

Nick ordered them to take a fifteen minute break so he could go and make a phone call. Kotori accompanied Beth to the second floor cafeteria she could buy an Evian. She waited until they were walking back before she inquired about Beth's ordeal.

"What aren't you telling me, Beth?"

"What?"

Her friend shrugged casually, but her body language indicated she was emotionally withdrawn from the conversation. "You haven't looked me in the eye since you arrived. You only do that when you're avoiding me. Something happened out there that you're keeping from me…" She trailed off before she swallowed painfully. Beth suspected that though the tremor she heard in Kotori's voice sounded born from fear, there was a torrent of rage underlying it. "These people abducted you, tore off your clothes, and nearly killed you. What else could they have done to you that's so bad you're ashamed to look me in the eye?"

"Nothing else happened," she lied.

Kotori appeared to remain dubious. Slowly, Beth lifted her face to Kotori's. Her green eyes were determined. She knew she could lie to Kotori and make it believable, although the feeling of that silver tongue touching her lips made her skin want to shudder. She repeated her words and Kotori visibly relaxed, her cheeks blushing with the same of having accused Beth of lying to her.

When they returned to the meeting room, a lamia was standing there. Beth had never seen him before. He looked classy in a black suit with a warm, orange Oxford shirt underneath. It complimented the dark color of his skin, and with the top two buttons left open, it appeared suitable for work but not uptight. Beth wondered, though, if the top two buttons were undone because is neck was too thick for those buttons to even close.

Like all the vampire kin, he possessed the strange kind of beauty that marked all Night Worlders. It was strange to see that he possessed long lashes, blending invisibly against his skin, or the way his lips seemed to move so suggestively when he spoke. He looked much more like a fighter: a large neck, muscular hands, thick limbs, broad shoulders, and a stern chin. When she shook his hand in greeting, Beth found his handshake firm and competent, and he squeezed tightly as if testing her. Beth squeezed back for every bit of strength in her much smaller hands.

He smiled when he felt her fighting back. His teeth were perfectly straight and pearl-like. Bethany sized up the predator in him. He was one of those people who liked to play with his food before he ate it as a kid. She'd stake her allowance on it. "So, you are Bethany."

"It's Beth," she corrected him. Her hand felt kind of numb from shaking hands with him.

Nick smiled. "Beth, this is the man in charge of running Daybreak, Mr. Duncan."

"Nicolas, Nicolas, Nicolas. It's just Duncan. The last thing I want is to have people calling me 'mister'." He smiled fondly at Beth—and she saw then how he was able to become the leader of a region of Daybreak.

He may have had the underlying streak of dark satisfaction all Night Worlders had—probably from an unhealthy relationship with seeing too much violence and bloodshed—and he was clearly a fighter, but there was a charisma there too that left all his other traits forgotten. The man could charm a rock, Beth was sure. So completely and utterly unlike Kaneonuskatew, who rarely showed anything…

She steered her mind away from that train of thought and took her seat.

"Nicolas has been kind enough to fill me in on everything that's been happening," Duncan said, taking Nick's vacated seat at the head of the table. Again, he flashed that sincere smile Beth's way. Nicolas took an empty seat beside Kotori, and Kotori's cheeks turned red by his proximity. No one but Beth noticed. Everyone else was too busy concentrating on Duncan. He commanded the room. "Don't worry. I won't make you repeat your story, Beth. If you say there are two dragons loose, then I believe you. The question remains, what do we do now?"

Alicia answered, staring across the table at Beth. "We protect her. She's the key, right? They need her to awaken the others, right? We make sure they can't do that! We hide Beth, put her in a safe house or something where they can't get at her again!"

Duncan was already nodding his head in agreement. Beth didn't want to go to a safe house. Leave school? Leave Daybreak? Leave her home? She was shaking her head. "It won't work. They'll be able to find me. Kaneonuskatew, he's my… he's a good tracker. He can find me anywhere, probably by scent alone. It doesn't matter how far away I am, he'll find me. Besides, all they need is someone half-shifter and half-human. It doesn't have to be, just someone like me."

The leader of Daybreak arched an eyebrow curiously. "And what do you propose we do, as you are so quick to shoot down the ideas of your companions?"

Beth chewed on her bottom lip. She wasn't used to being put on the spot, and especially not about tactics. She felt guilty she had been so quick to judge Alicia's idea. Alicia didn't know Cain was her Soulmate. If it wasn't for that, it would have been a good idea. But even in Daybreak she could feel their connection humming steadily between them, stretching across the city. If she touched it she knew she'd be able to pick up on his emotions and make sure that he wasn't scared or in danger… but she never wanted to touch that connection. She wanted to ignore it and pretend it didn't exist.

"Kaneonuskatew wants to protect his people. Mackenzie has led him to believe that this is the right and only way of doing it. We may be able to convince him otherwise. If we did, we'd have a match in firepower for Fala. I tried to convince him whenever we spoke, but he wouldn't listen. He was... preoccupied. The others aren't bad. They may listen to change as well. We just lack the ability to put them in a time and a place where they listen."

"They almost killed you," Kotori hissed over to her. "How can you say that they're good people? Think of all the others they killed!"

"I know!" Beth snapped back. Her face was red with embarrassment. What if the other thought she was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome or something, now? "But the fact is that they are still people, not monsters. All of them have some kind of a reason for acting in this way. I'm not absolving what they did—I think they need to be punished for the crimes they committed, but you have to understand that they all possessed real reasons for wanting to change our society! They're just doing it in the wrong way. Remember psychology and sociology class, Kotori? If all a body is ever shown is violence, then violence is all it will ever know! Isn't that what Daybreak is here for? To give a non-violent option?"

Duncan was nodding his head approvingly. That was what Daybreak was there for. They weren't pacifist, but they preferred taking first, and fought only when all other options had been examined.

"Fala is the dangerous one. If it gets to a fight, we should concentrate on taking her down first. She kills indiscriminately. Cain will wait until he has a reason. We do research. Figure out how to hurt, capture, slow down a dragon, whatever. We could talk to other sects of Daybreak, maybe try to get our hands on the same documents they had. Maybe Roger could put them to sleep.

"I really don't know. Hell, I'm a high school student. I don't even have a decent grasp of Shakespeare yet. The point is: we have time. They're gaining power before they try to take us down, but that won't mean they wouldn't kill or attack humans in the meantime. If they press us, I say we should fight, but our primary goal should be to subvert them by some other means."

"You would wish us to fight?" She nodded. Duncan's eyes bore into her. Her mind felt fuzzy. Outside the walls Cain had erected for her she could feel his mind trying to reach hers, to feel out her thoughts. "It would cost us many lives. Why?"

Beth held her chin up proudly. "Because it's better to fight and have some live to carry on our ideals than to sit by and be exterminated."

His mind pulled back from hers. There was the slightest shift in his broad shoulders. He hadn't been able to read her mind. "Bethany, we must discuss the rest of this without you here."

"What? Why--?"

"Thank you for your input. We will take it into consideration. We won't be able to discuss anything, however, because this involves your life too." He paused, fixing the collar of his shirt and slowly letting his eyes drift to her face. "You are a member of Daybreak. Sometimes it means that you must put your fate in the hands of your elders and peers, as you would do with the people who would die fighting these dragons. Now it is time for you to share their fate: what happens to you will be decided by us. You will have no sway in the decisions of this council, just as I will have no say when I take our answers to my leaders. You are excused."

He exuded a coldness from the room. Beth was glad to leave it.


To be continued...