Rose couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the array of lights before her. Growing up in the middle of New York City, she was no stranger to bright lights and glamour, but Las Vegas was on an entirely different level than the one that she was used to. She glanced over at Jake in the passenger seat, who had his head tilted out the window like a curious dog would.

"This is what I've been waiting for!" he crowed. "Look at it!"

"Time to see how good our fakes really are," Rose said dryly.

"I wish I knew how to play poker," Jake said, taking a seat. "Where are we staying? One of the famous places?"

"I have no idea which ones are the 'famous places'," Rose said, "but when I was looking up places at that library in Utah, I liked the name Treasure Island. The reviews were good and we can afford it."

"Vegas, baby!" Jake cried. "Man, I've been dreaming of this place since we started driving! You know, you can smoke in the hotels, right?"

"Neither of us smoke."

"But, we have to smoke one inside, just for the novelty of it. There's nothing wrong with that, right?"

Rose snorted. "That's the gateway to addiction."

"You can't say that about smoking when you've been drinking," Jake said. "You can have one every once in a while and it won't a problem. I know you've learnt that."

He shook his finger at her and Rose just smirked as she maneuvered the car into a parking spot.

"Maybe one," Rose said, "but we'll see what happens."

They checked in. It was a nice room, lots of mirrors with a TV on the wall. But, Jake promptly threw open the windows. They weren't even remotely on the highest floor but they did have a room with the view. The sky was dark but Rose doubted that much of the stars would have been visible with the shining lights.

"What are we going to do first? Gamble? No. Drink, of course we should get a drink. There's got to be cheap cocktails everywhere. I guess it just depends on what kind of gimmick we're into tonight."

Rose laughed as Jake bounced around the room.

"Just don't touch the mini bar. We'll go stock up on snacks and stuff after."

"Gotta stock up the mini fridge too," Jake said. "We don't want to run out of supplies at three a.m."

"I doubt there will be a shortage of places to find liquor at three. Or any other time of the day," Rose said. "They call this place City of Sin for a reason."

Jake laughed.

"It's not like New York has a lot that's inaccessible," Rose said.

"I wouldn't know. It's hard to have access when you've got people like my grandfather and my parents always hanging out." Jake shrugged. "We're big on 'family time'. Which, my little sister thrives on but who wouldn't when you're the golden child?"

Rose paused, fingering the zipper on her bag. Every time she thought that she could open up to Jake, she always found a stumbling block when it came to opening her mouth. She had told him much bigger things before, and he could probably guess the thing she was about to tell him. But, sometimes, it still tripped her up so much to share things. She wasn't used to sharing so much of herself or feeling like she had much of herself to share.

"I was the golden child."

"You seem like a nerd," Jake agreed. "I mean, you've told me that you were a nerd so … I'd say it's not a big secret. How many kids did you have to beat out to be the golden child?"

"There were a fair few of us," Rose said. "Perhaps forty or so children."

"So, golden child," Jake said, "what do you say we go ruin your bad reputation?"

Rose took his hand. "Well, it's not like we can ruin yours."

"Hey, I'm wounded," Jake said, but all of his dramatics couldn't cover the smile in his eyes as they left the hotel.

(-.-)

Haley felt awkward and she picked at her skirt, trying not to show it. She had thought that this would help her deal with the fact that Jake still wasn't here, like the therapy her parents went to once a week and that she had tried to make work for her. Haley knew that it was something that she needed and she was smart enough to know how therapy could help and she was also smart enough to know how she needed it but every time she sat down across from Sharon – who was perfectly nice and exactly what one would need from a therapist – Haley found that she just couldn't get her mouth to open. She felt like she needed to talk, she wanted to talk, but she couldn't talk to her parents and she found herself getting annoyed by her friends who tried to understand and her friends who didn't bother to try to understand. That, logically, had led her to seek out Jake's friends.

Trixie and Spud hadn't said no to seeing her, just as Haley had expected. She was something like a little sister to the both of them, with how much time they had all spent together. Well, they had spent with Jake and she had spent trying to get in their way. She was older now, old enough at least to not be as annoying as she was when she was younger. At least, that was her hope.

"We'd have told you, Haley, if we had heard from Jake," Trixie said.

"I know that." Haley stared down at her fries. She knew that Mom had talked to Trixie and Spud; she knew that Gramps had interrogated them as he would a Huntsclan member. They had stuck to their guns – no, they didn't know anything. No, they'd been trying to reach Jake too. Except, and it was a lingering concern of Haley's as well as one that her parents talked about late at night, how could Jake have left without them possibly knowing?

Jake was closer to Trixie and Spud than Haley was to anybody in her entire life.

"I just don't understand. I think Gramps knows something but he won't tell us and I know it's killing Mom not to know why."

Trixie and Spud shared one of the most obvious looks that Haley had ever seen in her life.

"What?" Haley cried, pinning her eyes on Spud, who she knew was much easier to break than Trixie.

"Look, we were with Jake that night –" Spud said while Trixie shook her head.

"We didn't know that he was going to leave," she clarified quickly. "He never mentioned that."

"We told your grandfather what happened," Spud said. "We were headed to a party. Something came up. You know how things always came up with him."

Haley nodded. Jake could hardly leave the house without having to transform at least once, going to help and protect like he always did.

"Creatures died," Trixie said bluntly. "The Huntsclan was there. He did his best but he didn't know there would be so many of them and I don't think he realized there were so many creatures out either. He told us to go to the party – that he had to go talk to your grandfather about what happened and that they needed to try and figure out what the Huntsclan was up to."

"It wasn't weird," Spud said. "He usually did that. We knew this one had been bad but we didn't think that there would be any problem letting him go on his own."

"We actually thought that it would be better. To let him clear his head."

Haley folded her hands in her lap, suddenly feeling her appetite leave her. It all made sense now. She still didn't think that Jake should have left but she understood why he had wanted to.

"And you told Gramps?"

"Yes," Trixie said. "He didn't want us to tell you or your parents. I didn't question why."

No one questioned Gramps. That was just a fact of life.

"Are you okay?" Spud asked.

Haley wasn't sure.

(-.-)

The Pacific Northwest. They were officially on the western side of the country, having far left behind their east coast roots. Already, Rose could breathe a little bit easier as they found a hotel room for the night, in a small town in Washington, not far from the Canadian border.

"Let's go for a walk," Jake suggested. "The sun will go down soon so it'll be romantic."

Rose agreed and went to go get changed. In the bathroom mirror, as she brushed out her long blonde hair, she stared at herself in the mirror. Though she tried to keep eye contact with herself, her gaze kept being drawn to the heavy brace around her arm. Jake kept saying things about romance, even though he had only said that he loved her once. But, she could see it in his actions. He was still Jake, of course, he was never going to change any of the smart-ass, mischievous qualities that had charmed him into her car in the first place. There was something different though. Something that was softer, something in the way that he looked at her. If Rose had any more experience in the department, she might have known how to handle him or her own feelings.

Still, she was going to keep him close. It could be selfishness on her part, but Rose wanted him with her. Even though they were on the west coast, even though he had a home to eventually go back to, she didn't feel as though time was running out. They were still in the hot throes of a summer that felt endless and, so, Rose left the bathroom and took Jake's hand, heading out into the setting sun.

This feeling was what she had run away for.

(-.-)

The Dark Dragon flew high above the evening clouds, keeping an ear out for any approaching aircraft. New York City was far behind him but the two dragons he'd left behind wouldn't have figured that out. Not that Andam or Lao Shi would know their tails from their noses and the Dark Dragon had made sure that he'd left behind enough anarchy that they wouldn't be able to follow him. At least, not right away. He had business to attend to, business that he now knew was more west than east and they had their own business to attend to. He had made sure to terrorize every creature that he had come across, shown himself to every human that would pull themselves out of their cell phones, and then he had poked that hornet's nest that was the Huntsclan, just for the hell of it, and then listened to their communications.

It had been great fun, for a while, but he was a dragon on a mission and he wasn't upset to leave the chaos behind. He flapped his mighty wings and tested his tongue against the air, feeling the thrill go through him. He was, at his core, a hunter.

And his prey was nearly his.

(-.-)

Jake took a bow, hopping off the small stage. There was a hesitant smatter of applause that greeted him. He knew that the cities of Washington were liberal, though he wasn't sure about the towns, and he was sure that some short, scrawny Chinese kid hopping up on a karaoke stage only to bust out with Sir Mix-a-Lot's Baby Got Back with the force of the three beers he'd consumed wasn't what the audience was expecting. But, Rose was smiling and clapping when he returned to their table and, really, hadn't that been the whole aim.

"You know, I think you might actually be good," she mused.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"The first time you did that in front of me, you had just barged into my car. I'm not even sure I knew your name at that point. It was just overwhelming."

"I'm pretty sure you knew my name at that point," Jake said, taking her hand under the table. "And, I'm not going to admit whether or not you have a point because I know I can rap and because you're up next."

Rose laughed and then when he didn't laugh too, glanced horrified at the stage and then back at him.

"What? No! Jake, I can't sing."

"Luckily that's not a requirement of karaoke."

"I don't know any of the songs."

Jake shook his finger at her. "We both know that's not true. You like when I put the radio on now and you're starting to be able to sing along. Don't worry, I picked one that I'm sure you know."

Rose grumbled something under her breath about not actually knowing any songs and how he was full of something. But, like he knew she would, when her name was called, she got up from the table and strode confidently toward the mic. As much as she griped about things, her spirit was as adventurous as his own – she just sometimes needed more of a push than he did.

Jake watched as she nervously stood behind the mic, fiddling with the edges of the t-shirt she was in. Then, a smile lit up her face as she learnt that he'd been right – she did know this song. As she opened her mouth and let the first few words of Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun start to fly, Jake leant back, wondering how she was still doubting him. Didn't she realize that he knew her better than anyone else by now, even with all of the secrets that they were both keeping? She could say the same about him; he knew he wasn't being arrogant by saying it.

And he was glad that she was the one he knew that well and that she was the one that knew him that well. Jake had left home with the intention of healing and going back. He'd never thought he'd be on the other side of the country, the summer have slipped away. For the first time, Jake felt like he had the whole world in front of him. He didn't have to go back and be who he was, he could follow a beautiful girl with an awful singing voice away from the continental U.S.A. altogether, picking up odd jobs as they took time to explore instead of just run away.

Flushed and grinning brilliantly, Rose dropped into the seat beside him.

"Please, don't ever tell me how bad that was."

"Did you have fun?"

Rose hesitated for a moment, as if she were going to be shy with him, and then she nodded enthusiastically. "But, I never would have done it without you."

"There's a lot I wouldn't do without you either," Jake said, taking her hand as she picked up her Cosmo. "That's why we work so well."

"What do you want to do in Seattle?" she asked. "It's got a lot of music history and that's your thing."

"I mean, we have to go check out the Nirvana exhibit," Jake mused. "Just because. I'm not the biggest Nirvana fan but they were a big influence. What do you think?"

"I think I couldn't name a Nirvana song to save my life," Rose said and then she nudged his knee, "and I also think that now that I've said that, it's the first thing you're going to put on when we start driving tomorrow."

Jake glanced toward the now empty stage. "Why wait?"

And he went to pick a new song.

(-.-)

Lao Shi met Andam at the agreed rendezvous point, on a roof high enough that they would not be noticed by anyone else. Fu Dog climbed from his back, going to the edge to look down on the city but Lao Shi knew that his ears were cocked to catch every word that Lao Shi and Andam exchanged.

"The Dark Dragon has left the city, I am sure of it," Andam said. "But what we can't be certain of is where he went."

Lao Shi glanced upward, picking out the few stars that could be visible amongst the light pollution. His enemy was out there, his grandson was out there, and he was clueless to them both.

"Are you sure there is no way to get in contact with the American Dragon?" Andam asked, for what was probably the thousandth time. And, for the thousandth time, Lao Shi wished there was a way to push him off the roof and watch him fall. "He could be of help and –"

"I have tried everything. Wherever he is, he's out of our reach. I will go after the Dark Dragon."

Andam shook his head. "You should not go alone."

"I know this enemy. I have defeated this enemy –"

"When you were much younger!"

"I will take Fu Dog," Lao Shi said, "I will be in contact all the time. But the Huntsclan is more open right now than they have ever been and we must leave someone behind in the city!"

Andam used his long neck to look down at the street but Lao Shi didn't even need a glance to know that he would spot one of the masked menaces running about, being obvious to the average citizens of New York – for all they noticed outside of themselves – and being obvious to the magical creatures whose blood they lusted after. The Dark Dragon must have stirred them into a frenzy and it was just another reason for Lao Shi to want to get his old enemy within his grasp.

"They are being more obvious," Andam said, "it's seemed like a lesser issue with the Dark Dragon in our faces but, perhaps, we should put the Huntsmaster next on our list."

"And we will," Lao Shi said. "When Fu and I return. We'll pack our bags at once."

"Then fly swift and communicate regularly," Andam said. "I hope you catch up to him soon."

Lao Shi nodded at him and then felt Fu climbing up his leg to settle into the hollow of his neck.

"Where are we even going to start looking for the Dark Dragon?" Fu asked once they were well out of Andam's earshot.

"We will figure that out as we go – there is something that I did not tell Andam."

"Which is?" Fu asked, impatiently tapping at Lao Shi's neck.

"A scale, last we fought. We can use it in magic to track him."

"Oh great," Fu said, "performing magic tricks at ten thousand feet. What could go wrong?"

"And I have a feeling," Lao Shi said, setting his eyes on the horizon, "that we will be going west."

(-.-)

Rose laughed and pulled Jake's head toward her, pressing her lips against his. It was raining outside, which left the inside of the room cool, even if the summer temperatures hadn't finished yet. She could feel goosebumps on her own arms but as Jake leant over her, she could feel nothing but heat from his skin. He ducked his head, kissing the back of the hand that was resting against his chest. Then, he picked up her hand and kissed the back of her brace.

"I think it's a little unfair that, technically, I've never seen you completely naked."

"Maybe one day," Rose said, thinking that if anyone was going to get to 'one day' with her, it would be him. "When I can face it myself."

Jake's eyebrows raised. "I thought you said that it was an old injury."

"An old cult scar," Rose said. "I'm hoping that someday, I'll have enough time and distance from them to face it myself."

Rose could read it on Jake's face that he wanted to ask more questions but there must have been something in her expression that told him to hold his tongue, because he didn't ask, even though she knew that it was in his nature to ask.

"You're beautiful," Jake said, leaning over her so that their bare chests were pressed together, his lips underneath her ear. "I mean that. In and out."

"No need to suck up to me when I'm already naked," Rose said, even though she could feel herself beginning to grin like it was the first time she'd ever heard anything like that.

"But I want to, because I want you to know," Jake said. "I want you to know that I love you."

Rose felt her heart swell with feeling but her throat close up. She felt as though she could barely breath or think and so she just pulled him down, kissing him to tell him everything she couldn't say aloud.

(-.-)

The Huntsmaster watched the Chinese Dragon carefully. He knew a great many things that he wasn't supposed to know or, at the very least, things that his enemies assumed that he would be ignorant of. The moment that the Chinese Dragon took off, the Huntsmaster knew that he was not just patrolling the city – he could see the shape of supplies sitting on the dragon's back. He was leaving the city and the Huntsmaster knew that he also had to go.

He ordered a car at once, equipped with radar that would show the dragon's movements – as long as he stayed within range of the beast. He didn't tell any of his subordinates where he was going, he had just moments before the dragon got too far ahead. And, he didn't want them to know that he firmly believed that the Chinese Dragon was heading off to wherever the Huntsgirl and, this time, nothing would stop him from getting her back.

I likely won't be posting anything over the holidays but I'm finally getting back into the writing groove so hopefully I'll be able to put myself back on a schedule after this. But, the next chapter coming up is one of the two that I've been waiting to write since starting this story so I'm excited for you to be able to read it.

Let me know what you thought of the chapter, stay safe out there and don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now!

~TLL~