To whom it may concern.
Yes, we're back. Tentatively. I personally trust about as far as I can throw a Volvo, but fans of these fics have asked that I continue to update here on However, this will not be the main place to find our fics. We will always update our Message Board waay before we even think about And if deletes any more of our fics without due cause and without explaination, we're gone. Lashana Inferno
Time stopped. All gazes were drawn to the black cat who had just spoken. First a minute went by, then two. Finally, Draggin' rolled his green eyes and sighed. "Boo!"
"Ack!" Kaeli took a writhing leap backwards and tripped over Draco, sending the two of them crashing to the floor while Erica screamed and darted behind Alex, who looked like he was ready to either collapse or have a nervous breakdown. "Sweet flamin' hellfire! It talks?"
"I told you!" Draco growled from where he was partially pinned under her. "I told you it talked!"
Erica peeked around Alex's arm and swallowed. "Draggin'?"
"Yes. It talks," he said flatly. "Now are you all done with the melodramatics?"
Kaeli crawled off of Draco, then slowly got to her feet, staring at the cat for a moment longer before turning back to the dragon. "Oh, Draco... Oh, I am so sorry! I swear, I never meant--"
"Ugh, here we go again," Draggin' muttered disgustedly. "If you could tear your attention away from the lizard..."
"Draggin'!" Erica chastised. "Behave!"
"As if you should talk. Did you know that I was under the bed that night your hunnybunch stayed over?"
She blushed down to her toes. "Hey!"
Alex blinked, then rose a hand to his forehead. "I think I have to sit down."
"Whoa!" Startled, Erica grabbed his arm as his knees buckled, waiting until Kaeli had run forward to grab his other arm before the two of them walked him over to the couch, gently depositiing them there. "Alex? Hun, you okay?"
"I need a drink," he mumbled. "Okay, so something is attacking my car, there's a dragon in the livingroom, the cat talks... is there anything else I need to know!"
"I'm an elf," Kaeli shrugged, meeting his weary gaze with a sheepish smile. "Just FYI."
"Uugh."
Draco sighed and settled himself down onto the carpet, stretching out there as he gazed at the couple on the couch, then to the elf that moved to sit beside him, drawing a smile from him as he curled his tail around her.
Draggin' mock-gagged. "Oh, puke," he muttered as he lithely jumped down from the table and strolled into the livingroom, leaping up again to perch on the arm of the couch.
Erica glared at him. "You shut up. And why the hell are you only talking to me now!"
"Simple," he purred. "Because Maeve told me to wait until you two kids were together. To insure that everything would happen as it should."
"What are you talking about?"
He sighed. "Maeve was a Seer. She could see into the past and the future. That's how she knew to expect you, and that's why she left everything, including me, to you. She knew she was dying. That's why she needed an apprentice. Someone to leave the shop to."
"I can understand that," Erica frowned. "But what's the business between me and Alex?"
"Simple. Your children."
Alex twitched. "Our what!"
"Your kids," the cat said slowly, as if he was talking to someone very young. "You two will have very powerful children. That's why I'm here, to act as a protector and guide to you and yours. I had to wait until I was sure you two were going to stay together before I revealed myself."
Kaeli glared. "Then why the hell have you been tormenting, Draco!"
Draggin' shrugged. "I got bored."
The lightning spell flew from Kaeli's fingers before anyone had time to blink, and Erica recoiled from the cat that gave a shriek and then toppled from the arm of the couch, crashing to the floor and lying there, twitching. Eventually, she dared to peek over the edge of the couch, dimly aware that Kaeli's sharp gaze was also on the black furred form that lay unconscious on the floor.
"Is he dead?" Erica whispered, hesitantly reaching out to poke the furred form.
"I dunno," Kaeli muttered, leaning forward.
Draggin' snapped his eyes open then, and leapt to his feet with a yell, laughing when the two women both screamed and scrambled away from him. "Haha! Oh, man, that was great!" he chuckled, raising a paw to wipe at his eyes. "I'm immune to magicks, girls. Spells don't work on me."
With a great suffering sigh, Draco closed a claw around Kaeli's belts, keeping her from throttling the animal. "Could you at least try to be serious?" he rumbled to the creature, glaring when it stuck it's tongue out at him.
"I think I liked you better when you didn't talk," Erica sighed as she took Alex's left hand in hers, squeezing reassuringly as he looked from the cat to the dragon, and then back again. "Alex, honey, you okay?"
"This... I only came here to pick you up to go to the party! I didn't expect, dragons and talking cats and psychotic horses on crack that went after my car!" he said, his voice gaining a bit more of it's usual strength. "How long have you been keeping this stuff secret?"
"All my life," Erica answered softly, summoning her courage as she met and held his gaze. "Kaeli's the only person that I've trusted. She taught me most of my wicca when we were in high school. When I met Maeve, everything got turned around. I felt like I had finally found what I was meant to do... and then I met you. And that's when I knew that I could be something more than I had ever thought... This may scare you, but you showed up at exactly the time where I was ready to give up, and when I look back now, I realise that you were sent to shape my destiny. You gave me strength, Alex. You really did."
Kaeli sunk her cheek into a palm and leaned against Draco, a slight smile on her lips as she watched them. "If this gets any sweeter my teeth are going to rot."
"Now, Kaeli, where's the romantic in you?" he teased, wrapping a wing around her shoulders to pull her a little closer. "I think the same of you."
She blushed and glanced away, blinking when Draggin' calmly walked closer to the couple and hopped up to land on Erica's lap, nipping at her fingers to get her attention.
"There's something at the door," the cat announced, looking over at Kaeli when she rose to her feet and headed for the door, rumbling when Erica picked him up and deposited him on the couch before she followed her friend.
Taking a breath to steel herself, Kaeli unlatched the deadbolt and opened the door, glancing at the glowing runes before she looked out at an empty front yard. Alex's car looked like swiss cheese, but other than that things seemed normal, so why were the runes glowing? A slight tap on her shoulder made her glance at Erica, who pointed to something at her feet, and she arched an eyebrow as she followed her friend's pointing finger to the small black furred thing on the doorstep. "Oh you have got to be kidding me."
The creature was barely a foot tall, covered in coarse black fur with small three fingered hands. It's eyes were red with black elliptical pupils, and she met that gaze with an air of exasperation as she folded her arms over her chest and tapped her foot.
Looking embarrassed by the entire situation, the Critter turned, curled itself into a ball and rolled away into the darkness.
Shaking her head, Kaeli slammed the door shut, then walked back into the livingroom. "Considering how pitiful that was, I think things may be dying down, but I wouldn't count any surprises out until after midnight."
"Oh man," Erica sighed. "The place'll be packed by then. We'll never get in!"
"Nice set of priorities there, 'Rica," Kaeli retorted with a smirk.
Alex sighed and rose a hand to massage his aching temple. "How can you two take this so lightly? The cat talks!"
Draggin' rolled his eyes. "The cat can also lick himself. Are you gonna be shocked at that too?"
"Don't make me flame you," Draco growled warningly, reaching out to take one of Kaeli's hands in his when she moved to sit next to him again.
The gesture was not lost on Alex. "Uh..." Blinking, he glanced at Erica, then looked back to the two on the floor, a little hesitant to say anything. "You two are... uh... together?"
Kaeli's gaze darkened. "Yeah. So what of it?"
"Geez, touchy much?" Erica grumbled as Alex muttered an apology and looked away from the icy glare the elf was giving him. "All he did was ask an innocent question. You don't have to bite his head off."
"Sure she did," Draggin' smirked. "See, since I was listening on the other side of the door, I heard tham talkin' and--"
A low threatening growl rumbled out of Draco's throat. "If you finish that sentence, it will be the last thing you ever say," he snarled murderously, fangs bared.
Draggin' tugged at his collar nervously. "Yessir."
Alex stared at them for a moment, then wisely let the matter drop. "I don't wanna know."
"Pervert!" Kaeli yelled, grabbing an encyclopedia from the floor and making as if to throw it at him, sulking when Draco wrestled the book from her. Grumbling, she shifted to sit lotus-style and sunk her chin into her hands.
"Anyway," Erica said forcefully. "At this rate it's obvious that we're not going to survive the next four hours with each other, so why don't we head to the club?"
"You expect me to go out there with the psycho horse going after my car?" Alex yelped.
"It's gone now," Erica told him gently. "And besides, Kaeli's coming with us."
"She is?"
"Erica asked me to go with you," the elf muttered, running her hands through her hair before she fell back and leaned against Draco's shoulder. "I'll be your bodyguard for the night."
"There's a scary thought," Draggin' mumbled, falling silent at the glares that Erica and Draco sent his way. Kaeli grumbled at the comment and turned her head to bury her face against Draco's neck, muttering out her opinion that the dragon really should eat the cat.
A long drawn out sigh escaped Alex's lips as he looked over at the two on the floor, noting that they really did seem at ease with each other, sharing a closeness that he himself shared with Erica. "You sure you want to come with us?" he asked curiously. "You can stay here."
"No. I'm not chancing anything getting to, Erica," she answered. "Since she won't tell you, I will. She's being hunted by someone. We don't know who, but they've sent demons to try to kill her."
"What! Erica! Why the hell didn't you tell me?"
The redhead sent a glare at Kaeli, then turned to look at him. "I didn't want to drag you into this, that's why! I don't want you getting hurt."
"Oh, but it's okay if you get hurt? What kind of warped logic is that!"
"Female logic," Draggin' smirked, ducking the smack that Erica aimed at him, but not the thrown pillow that Alex lobbed at him.
"You stay out of this!" Alex growled to the cat before he turned back to Erica. "You can't expect me to just stand aside if someone's after you! Do you know what it'll do to me if I find out you got hurt when I could have done something to protect you!"
"But you can't protect me! Not from this! What are you gonna do, get an unlicenced gun and shoot the demons?"
His eyes were deadly serious. "If I have to."
"Oh, I like him," Kaeli chuckled, eliciting an agreeing rumble from the dragon.
"You shut up," Erica snapped before she turned back to her boyfriend. "Look, I love you, I don't want to see you get mauled by a demon!"
"And I don't want you to get killed by whoever it is that's after you!" Alex countered. "Stalemate, love. Whatcha gonna do?"
Erica stared at him, then sighed heavily and folded her arms over her chest. "Fine. You want in, then you're in. Welcome to the club. Now shut up, we're going dancing."
"We're a nice happy dysfunctional group," Kaeli grinned, showing her fangs and winking at Alex, chuckling when he paled. "First rule, when I say run, run. I'll make up the rest of the rules as I go."
He nodded. "Fair enough. And... y'know, I didn't mean anything before."
Draco chuckled and stretched his wings a little. "We know. Kaeli's just a little defensive," he smiled, chuckling at the derisive snort that came from the elf. "She's never felt the need to avoid saying what needs to be said simply because of bad manners. It's part of her charm."
"...right."
"Anyway," Kaeli said cheerfully as she hopped to her feet and then stretched. "Let's get going. There's a lull in the demons and I want to get this over with. The sooner we leave the sooner I can start drinking."
"Oh, there's an intelligent statement," Draggin' sniffed, licking at his claws.
"Erica's right," the elf growled. "You were more likable when you didn't talk."
"Bite me."
"You. Shut up," Erica said to the cat. "Go hack up a hairball or something. And if I come back and find out that you annoyed Draco all night I'm shaving you and selling you to Mrs. Lambert!"
Light green eyes widened in horror. "You wouldn't!"
Grinning, Erica planted her hands on her hips and chuckled evilly. "Try me."
"You think Draco's okay?" Kaeli yelled to Erica over the beat of the music, wincing a little at how loud everything was.
"He'll be fine! lighten up!" With that, she pushed her empty glass into the elf's hands and twirled away to press up against a grinning Alex, playfully grinding against him as they moved to the music, the wild, thrumming notes thudding in time to her heartbeat as she danced, laughing happily.
Wary, Kaeli made her way off the dance floor, dodging groping hands as she moved to the bar and ordered herself a drink, turning to lean back against the counter as she watched the dancers. In truth, the music was calling to her, but she was fighting it, feeling a little awkward amongst so many people. Instead, she chose to watch, a small smile gracing her lips as she gazed at Erica and Alex as they moved in time with the beat, the two of them nearly crossing the line between dancing and foreplay.
Seeing that, she turned her gaze to the ceiling high screen, watching the music video that played across it as she sipped at her drink, playing with the little umbrella that had come along with it. There was a lot of vodka in this drink, she noted as her thoughts became a little fuzzed. The ale back in her time was much weaker than this stuff, and it showed.
Rather mellow now, she flipped her hair over a shoulder and turned her gaze out over the dancers again, the various lights that adorned the upper catwalks flashing in an almost hypnotic rhythm, adding to the beat of the music. The bass had been turned low, making the floor rumble in time with the song, and she smirked as she downed the rest of the drink and threw caution to the four winds, letting the thrum of the music meld with her heartbeat as she went to join her friends, grinning at Erica's hyper laugh as they danced, letting the beat lift their spirits and enchant their minds.
The song changed then, and she rose her hands above her head as she moved her hips, her hair wild as she let the beat take over, joining with her heartbeat until it seemed like the song was just an extension of herself. Alex put his arms around her from behind as she laughed breathlessly as she turned in his arms and rose on her toes to kiss him, nipping at his lower lip playfully before she pulled away again, loosing a wild yell as the elf shook her hair out and tilted her face towards the ceiling, grinning widely.
Singing along, Erica grabbed Kaeli and swung her around, glad to see that the elf was lightening up as they danced. She smelled something sweet on her friend's breath, and guessed that the elf had helped herself to the bar, not that she objected, she had already had a few drinks, as had Alex. Tonight was about having fun, and nothing, not even the demons, was going to stand in her way.
TBC
