Chapter One:

Chapter One:

The Past

"No, you can't. Please, you can't!" Selena Chimes pleaded, blue eyes wide with unshed tears. She struggled to hold onto the slender arms of the girl before her and her golden blond hair fell wildly with her movements. She tried to tighten her grip, force some emotion into the girl's wise brown eyes but she was immovable.

"Let go of me, Selena." Hellewise Hearth-Woman said to the distraught woman before her. She shook off the woman and her face was blank of expression. "You don't understand what happens if we don't do this. And you'll just be in the way if you try to stop us."

Selena looked to the side and Maya Hearth-Woman stood impassively, her eyes shifting colors, each shade of the spectrum. She didn't seem blank so much as cold. But that was Maya. She was the eerie sister, the dark one. Her hair was black, shimmering like light reflecting off the wing of a raven. And her soul was far darker than her hair could ever be. The witch pursed her lips and Selena turned back to Hellewise helplessly. She should have known there would be no help from Maya's corner.

"I'm begging you, Hellewise. Don't allow your mother to do this." Selena said to the lighter sister, jumping in her way again as the blond witch tried to go around. "Please, don't do this. Think about it! At least think!" she cried, reaching out for her once more.

Hellewise shook her head, shoving aside Selena's arms and then her own hands clamped down on Selena's shoulders. Her grip was surprisingly strong for a human body. "I can't save him for you, Selena. I could barely save you. But he is a dragon. He is dangerous." She paused, exhaling slowly. "If you get in our way you'll be put to sleep also." And her voice dropped to a whisper. "If not killed."

Selena stared at her sadly. "He's my soulmate." She said softly.

Hellewise's eyes softened as well and her long slender fingers rose to her friend's face. "I know, Chime. I know. And I am sorry. With all my heart, I am sorry." But her face darkened. "Nonetheless, he is dragon."

"Helle-" Selena uttered.

"No." Hellewise shook her head curtly. "I have to go." She lifted her gaze toward Maya. "We have to go. Mother is waiting." And she swept past Selena without another glance.

Selena looked toward the darker sister in panic. "Maya, please." She said quickly, fists tightening at her sides. "Please, help me. Do something, get involved-"

She hadn't expected Maya to even listen to her but she most definitely had not expected the cold reaction she was given. Maya merely smiled at her, as if everything were happy with the world. "Mother is waiting." She echoed her fair-haired sister.

Selena's jaw fell open in stunned disbelief as the two sisters began to move away. She couldn't have possibly just heard that, it wasn't damn possible. "You're agreeing with her?" she whispered faintly after them.

Maya paused, looking over her shoulder at the woman. "They're dragons." She shrugged emotionlessly. "I will have nothing to do with dragons."

Hellewise waited wordlessly, brown eyes blank. And for once there was no wisdom there, no emotion in the deep brown. There was nothing but the need to finish the task at hand and to insure that it followed through.

Selena took a step away from them suddenly feeling as if the earth had shifted under her feet. "For once, the sisters agreeing." She said dumbly to herself. She risked a quick glance at Hellewise and then turned a glare on her sister, Maya, anger beginning to rise in her. If she couldn't take it out on Hellewise Maya was the next best choice. She deserved nothing but her anger as it was. "I've seen your future, Maya, I know it. The dragons are not the only dangerous ones." She said coldly.

Hellewise looked toward Maya. Her jaw clenched as she gazed at her sister but when her gaze was not returned she whirled and left them.

Maya's dark eyes were still on Selena. "The time to act is now." She said, expressionless, skin far too pale, eyes too dark. "But the one to act shall be Hecate." And without another word she turned away and followed after her sister at a slower pace.

Selena stared after them feeling strangely lost. She watched as a young man with pale-golden hair and dark eyes stopped to talk to them. Hellewise greeted him wordlessly, only nodding, but it was Maya who paused to speak to him, a wicked smile spreading across her lovely face.

Selena swallowed. She had to find him and get to him, all of them, before the sisters did.

The Present

She awoke from the dream, limbs damp with sweat, the bed covers tangled around her long legs. Her room was blue with moonlight and shadows, the white curtains of the balcony billowing faintly with the soft breeze. No sound came to her, none at all. No animals, no people. No life. Had it come down to this?

She had dreamt again. Had remembered what life had been like so long ago. Her old life. She raised a hand to her face, palm rubbing her eyes. Would she ever forget? No, she very much doubted it.

What had happened? What had gone wrong?

Her eyes drifted to the bottle of amber liquid resting on the nightstand beside her bed. She had gotten rid of the bottle Jack the Bartender had given her years before. Now she had a new bottle, one she had purchased herself. She couldn't help herself these days, every bottle of brandy she saw she wanted with a strange desperation.

New bottle. New name. New life. But she continued to feel the gaping hole in her so-called perfect world.

"Do you know the story of Selene and Endymion?"

Had it been so long since her talk with Theorn? What year was it again? She had to constantly remind herself because these days every day was the same, everything a sick, twisted dream. Everything empty. Curse it all...

1998.

Sound suddenly came back to her as she remembered everything. The world began to turn again and she heard the faint patter of raindrops, could smell the scent of green leaves saturated in the crystal drops from the sky. The gentle melody of her wind chimes. The animals, coming to life.

She bowed her head. Opening her heart to the world around her and she listened to the spirits speak through her memories.

She still remembered Hellewise, her best friend turned traitor. And her mother, Witch Mother Hecate. Maya, the dark witch.

And Rayne.

The name caused her to grimace, even after all these years. Rayne. Raindrops. So cool on her skin when she would stand under a storm, alone. Feeling the tears of the sky wash over her and comfort her. The Goddess cried for her only because she couldn't do it for herself anymore.

And she couldn't bear to think of him anymore. Who could've known a hot-headed arrogant dragon was her soulmate? The past had swept right past her in her absence and thoughtlessness. After he had been put to sleep everything had no longer held meaning. The past events were just a mindless blur and she didn't see anything anymore. Skies were gray. People mumbled. Any music and sound, except for the soft melody of her wind chimes was ugly and unwanted in her monotonous life. And everything was slow. But several things had gotten through to affect her.

The disappearance of Maya. The death of the four babies from that small village. What had it been called, that witch village? That had been important for some odd reason. Not that she could really care why she paid attention at all to that damned Witch Village. Hadn't it been their fault she now lived in agony? And then there had been the disappearance of Theorn and she hadn't seen him again since...since...that day in the bar. And Maya had reappeared not long after Theorn had disappeared and she had returned with her son, Red Fern.

And the battle.

She dropped her head into her hand. The battle. The historic battle between the sisters that had ended with the defeat of Maya and the death of Hellewise. The one that had claimed her best friend's life even though she wouldn't have dared called her a friend after everything that had happened.

"I'm sorry, Hellewise." She whispered. "I'm sorry that you died. I'm sorry we ended on such bad terms."

Her hand fell to the back of her neck and she ran her fingers of the two dragon horns there, the small lumps she always kept covered because if any one saw them she would be good as dead. She shook her head, pulling her blond hair over the horns.

"And I'm sorry you betrayed me," She said finally.

Outside the wind blew and the wind chimes tinkled.

Another wretched morning. Another wasted day.

"Ms. Devlin." The woman behind the counter smiled. "How are you this fine morning?"

Even after all these years Selena had to remind herself that her name was different. She hadn't strayed far because she doubted she could've made herself react to any other name. The name was Chime Devlin now and it was on her forms of identification and on her credit cards. She had to keep reminding herself but these damn humans didn't make it easier. "Please," she said to the woman for what seemed like the hundredth time. It was always the same routine, every time she came to this store. "Call me Chime."

"Of course, Ms. Devlin." The woman beamed. "It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"

Chime felt like swallowing her tongue. But she would humor the woman only because shifting into a dragon, or even a tiger for that matter, and ripping the woman's smile from her lips would give her away. And blood was rarely a pleasant thing for humans to see. She turned to look out the front windows of the store and she glanced at the blue sky. Cloudless. She hated the sun. She wants clouds and rain. Raindrops to rain down kisses from the sky. Enough wind to send her wind chimes crashing together in a burst of musical noise. "It's lovely." She lied.

The woman was nodding, already moving on. In this business it seemed like nothing mattered as long as the patron agreed to what was said. It made everything the easier. "We've gotten a new shipment." The woman was saying. "Fruit scented candles in the far left corner. And more sets of wind chimes toward the back." The woman motioned.

She would give her soul to sell anything in the business.

Chime nodded to her, nonetheless. "Thank you." She said politely. She turned away and set to work shopping. She was running low on candles and she was beginning to miss the airy scent of lilac and the deep sweetness of green apple. These days her home was smelling bland.

Her eyes caught on an amber candle but she ignored it with all her might. Scents, not colors, she had to remind herself.

The door opened, wind chimes crashing together loudly.

Chime grimaced from the sound. What kind of idiot had wind chimes hanging at the door when the purpose of the chimes was the soft melody? An explosion of sound like that one merely destroyed the chimes slowly. She continued to look around with a mental shake of her head. Her eyes caught on a set of chimes decorated with a crescent moon and diamond studs for stars in the face of the ornament.

A cheerful voice began to chatter behind her, light and carefree. It set Chime's teeth grinding and she disliked it instantly. It reminded her a bit much of Hellewise, how she had always been quiet and wise but also carefree. The voice that answered the cheerful one was soft and husky on the contrary. Obviously bored.

"The silver one, Blaise. The silver one." The first said excitedly.

"Whatever, Thea. Just move it," The second voice said impatiently, the tone dark.

Chime glanced over her shoulder, trying to seem nonchalant. They were the only ones in the small store, in the whole area perhaps. Whose fault was it that the owner had built the shop on a hill all by its lonesome self? She looked toward the only other two people in the shop.

And her world came to a screeching halt.

One of the two girls, the impossibly bright one, had honey-blond hair falling in waves down her back. Her wise brown eyes sparkled as she pointed, a hand on another girl's elbow. The other girl had smoky black hair, thick and wavy as well. Her gray eyes were hooded and she seemed very bored.

Chime took a step forward in awe. "Hellewise? Maya?" she whispered before thinking.

The girls looked at her and she realized her mistake. Maya was gone, Hellewise long dead. Everything was in the past, buried. And this girl, with the blond hair, now that she stared dead at her there were slight differences. The same went for the black-haired one. Her eyes were gray. Just gray. Not the ever-shifting beauty that had been Maya's trademark.

"Are you ok?" the blond girl asked politely.

Chime took that same step back, lips parting in confusion. They looked so much like them, so much. How was it even possible? All she could think was that Maya and Hellewise were standing before her and she felt that same rush of love and hate. With a cry she turned and went for the door, bursting out of it in a flurry of colors. The wind chimes crashed behind her once more and it only served to further her anger.

The day was brisk, the wind lifting her hair from her shoulders just as she made it to her black Pathfinder parked on the bumpy road. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that the two girls had followed her to the door, were staring at her from the porch of the shop.

No, not at her. At her neck. Her horns.

She clamped a hand over them in her panic, how had her hair come free? She threw herself into the jeep, slamming the door behind her and hiding herself behind the tinted windows. The jeep came to life with a purr and then roared away with a screech of tires.

Even in the rearview mirror she saw them still looking after her.

Night had fallen once more.

Chime leaned against her jeep, hands tucked into her pockets. She was the picture of laziness, slumped the way she was. But she was stiff with pent-up energy and emotion. She still hadn't gotten over the shock of seeing those two women. She was a fool, she was realizing it of course, but seeing them together like that after all these years...

She shook her head and then inhaled. It was time. She had to go before it got even later.

She rose from the jeep and slowly climbed the small hill toward the top where the grave rested under the cherry blossom tree. It was early spring and the rose-colored petals fell like kisses from the sky, caressing her skin and hair breathlessly. She loved cherry blossoms. Perhaps Cassandra had too because she rested under them, had rested under them for the past eighteen years.

She paused before the stone lying horizontally upon the grass and looked at the shiny surface of the plaque. She had been buried as merely Cassandra, no last name and no dates at all. The only other thing upon the plaque was the small moon symbol engraved at the bottom corner.

Cassandra had taught her to love the Moon and to love the Goddess. Even when things didn't go right, especially when things didn't go right, and they hadn't been going right since the day she had met Rayne. The Goddess didn't fail people, Cassandra had said to her many times over. People failed each other.

Chime laughed quietly, hands still stuffed in her pockets. "Yeah, well you failed me, Cassandra." She said, her voice carrying in the night air. "I'm awake and I feel. And I don't want to."

The Moon shone down upon her, bathing her in cool white light. She felt like the Goddess in the myths, the one named Selene. The young goddess standing elegantly in her pool of moon beams.

But she wasn't a goddess. She was a shape-shifter, the half-dragon half-tiger that had been allowed to live when all else had been put to sleep. She had been lucky.

"Lucky. Yep. That's me. Miss Happy-Go-Lucky-Dragon with no one to be with anymore." She laughed humorlessly again and it didn't stop her expression from crumbling. "But Hellewise wasn't lucky. Rayne wasn't lucky. Neither were you, Cassandra."

He was alive somewhere, that she knew. She hadn't stopped looking for him but after so long she doubted she would ever find him again without placing herself into danger.

"They'll come looking for you..."

Theorn had said that to her. And Hellewise had seen to it.

"Made yourself seem like such a savior, keeping me awake and fighting for me. Made it seem like I owed you my life." She said coldly, lifting her eyes to the peaceful moon. "And you knew!" she suddenly shouted. "You knew! You knew the way I would end up! And I hated you! I hated you!" she screamed into the night sky, the stars shining brilliantly. No tears came and it had been a long time since she'd felt them roll down her face. She inhaled shakily, still staring up at the sky. "But then you died..." she whispered, her voice hoarse with those unshed tears, "and I realized that I had loved you...because you were my friend," she closed her eyes, expression that of pain, "After everything, we were still friends..."

She sighed and bowed her head. And that's when she became aware of the sounds coming up behind her. She slanted a glance to the side but didn't turn. Instead she raised her eyes again, her blond hair blowing across her face.

"Friendship is one of the most beautiful gifts." A masculine voice said quietly. And she would've agreed with him. She did, deep down, but there was a cold edge to the voice which turned her off from him. She finally spared him the glance and did a once over of him.

He wasn't familiar at all. But he was lovely. Of average height with dark hair and eyes and a strange animal look to him. Primitive and beautiful.

"Yes. It is." She agreed aloud, staring at him critically.

"Of course you would think so." He said with a chilling smile. "Selena Chimes."