Chapter Nine:

Chapter Nine:

Raksha Keller pushed aside the flannel shirt she wore and looked down at her bodysuit, searching for the time on her pager. They were late by ten minutes. And the traffic couldn't account for it. They were supposed to be taking a deserted route to meet her. She raised her eyes to the blue sky, crossing her arms and frowned. It was too clear, the day too quiet. Something had gone wrong. She felt it in her bones. If nothing else they were alive. Even through the distance she was tied to her soulmate, Galen. She hoped they were ok, the dragon included, although the memories of Azhdeha were still fresh in her mind.

There was the sound of a car.

She lowered her head, silver eyes narrowing. If it wasn't them there would be some blood spilled on this deserted road. Uncrossing her arms she rose away from the side of the white jeep she rested on and waited.

A vehicle was coming. And fast. The dirt it was throwing up was enough to block the size of it but not the color.

Black.

She prepared herself nonetheless, shifting her muscles a bit. Her senses heightened as she called to them, and now she could see through the dirt to the black van racing her way. She heard the pebbles as the van crunched over them. She almost choked on the dust. Now she had to wait to see how it played out. Galen knew what he had to do. If he didn't follow through she would do her job first and regret later. That was the way it had to be and that was the way it would be.

The van slowed as it pulled up beside her jeep and she saw Galen in the front passenger side. His green eyes came to rest on her as the van stopped and she arched a black eyebrow at him. He looked away and pushed open his side door, getting out. He slid the back door of the van open and Thea Harman came out onto the road, lifting a hand to calm her blond hair. A second person came out after her, a blond-haired woman with a suspicious look on her face.

The dragon.

Galen shut the door behind the young women and came around the van, patting the driver of the van on the shoulder as a farewell.

Thea and the dragon followed cautiously.

Keller lifted her head and stared Galen down, watched him through hooded eyes.

Galen came up to her, sauntering up before her. There was a mischievous look on his face, an 'I-know-a-secret' look. He paused several inches away from her and leaned into her, eyebrow lifting. "What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?" he asked in a low tone and Keller was struck by the smoothness of his tone. For a moment she simply forgot that he was supposed to come onto her. It was part of the plan but they had never practiced it. They should have because she was suddenly feeling a bit weak in the knees.

She nearly forgot her line but it came to her as Galen sent her a questioning look. "Waiting for my prince." She finally whispered, gazing up at him with glassy eyes.

Thea glanced toward the woman beside her, the dragon, and the blond woman was scowling, looking around cautiously. As if it were a trap.

Galen lifted his arms out at his sides. "Well, wait no more. Here I am," He said softly, eyes still trained on Keller. And then he shifted back into the sweet faced proper young man Keller knew him to be. He turned to Thea and the dragon and called, "Ladies. Let's get going."

Keller felt a tightening in her chest as she simply stared at him. The contact. She needed the contact or she would have to finish it, she would have to end the meeting the wrong way-

Galen turned back to her and leaned forward once more, this time invading her space. His lips brushed her cheekbone momentarily but it was enough. Their soulmate link flared, the silver line shimmering in the darkness and in that small eternity Keller could hear Galen laugh mentally.

Keller instantly exhaled in relief. Then she narrowed her eyes at him as he pulled back. "Why don't you use that tone on me when we're alone?" she asked him and she flashed him a teasing smile.

"Wasn't sure if you were into it," he shrugged.

Keller tilted her head thoughtfully. "I wasn't sure either but now…coming from you…" she let the sentence die as she gazed at him. He stared back, an impish smile curling his lips.

And then Thea cleared her throat.

The dragon began to pat down the duffel bag she carried. "Damn it, where were those handcuffs I was carrying?" she murmured mischievously.

Keller's eyes finally took in Thea's appearance, the tattered shirt that hung in rips. "They knew." She stated, looking at Galen for confirmation. She pulled off the flannel shirt she wore over her uniform and came up to Thea, wrapping it around her slender frame.

"They knew." Galen nodded. He motioned to the dragon. "Raksha Keller meet Chime Devlin."

Keller looked at the woman suspiciously, her silver eyes running up and down the dragon's frame. She was a pretty little thing. Maybe not little. They were almost the same height, Keller beating her out by an inch or two. The dragon had golden-blond hair and milky skin, smooth. And she had the eyes and face of a child. Wide blue eyes. A soft mouth. And a straight, upturned nose.

Chime stared back at Keller, studying her. The woman had black hair, long and silky looking, an elegant bone structure to her face, with sculpted cheekbones and faint hollows under them. Tight jaw. A definite model type if she would lose the wary expression in those silver-gray eyes.

They were complete opposites.

Keller was moving, holding out her long, slender arm. "Welcome aboard." She said finally. Chime accepted the handshake with a look of relief and Keller suddenly knew. Chime wasn't like Azhdeha. The power was there, it radiated from the dragon and thrummed down her arm, into her hand and through her grasp into Keller. Yes, it was there. But the will to use it was not.

"Let's get going, then." Galen said with a nod.

The driver of the black van honked once and they turned to him as he saluted them. Then he was backing up, the van veering and driving back off the way it had come.

Keller motioned to the jeep. "Let's get out of here." She said and she waited until the group had climbed in before seating herself and starting up the jeep. A moment later they were off, disappearing into clouds of dust.

Chime looked up at the average looking mansion. Average only because it didn't seem to fit the definition of a sanctuary. She frowned at Thea beside her who threw her a look of reassurance.

The jeep beeped as Keller checked the alarm and then she and Galen were coming up the circular driveway toward them where they waited at the foot of the mansion. "We have wards surrounding the house." She explained as she joined them, looking up at the second floor windows.

The mansion rested on top of a cliff. Redwood trees had blocked the view of the sanctuary from the road and behind the mansion the cliff dropped away suddenly. Chime craned her neck to the side and noticed the small, beaten path that led around the mansion and over the edge of the cliff. She could only guess that there was a shore below.

Keller was still looking up at the windows.

Chime glanced up also just in time to see a pale face pull away from the window, curtain falling back into place.

"I swear, that girl is too damn curious." Keller sighed and Galen gave her a sympathetic smile.

"That was Iliana." Thea whispered in an excited tone.

Iliana Harman. Witch Child. Chime squinted thoughtfully. She had looked awfully young from the quick glance she had gotten of her.

Keller clutched the car keys against her side and glanced over her shoulder toward Chime and Thea. Galen was already moving, striding toward the front of the mansion. He hopped up the front steps in one smooth jump and cast a quick look at Keller. His hand grasped the shiny doorknob.

"Come on." Keller said in a low tone and she sprinted up the steps, her figure agile and lovely. She hesitated behind Galen, slowing to a stop, her hand reaching to touch his elbow and he looked down at her blankly.

"Let's go. We have to go in." Thea said suddenly in an urgent voice. She pulled Chime and the dragon allowed herself to be dragged. As they came up to the door they heard Keller whisper to Galen.

"Count of three." She whispered softly against his ear. "One, two, three."

Galen shoved the door open into a large cubicle and Keller streaked passed him, going toward a corner of the box. Thea pulled Chime forward, arm winding around the dragon's waist and then the door slammed shut behind them, Galen securing it and locking it.

Chime looked at him with a frown. And then in the upper left corner of the wall a small red bulb began to blink brightly. She glanced at it and then stared, confused by it. Thea's brown eyes were also on it.

"You have yours?" Keller demanded at the exact moment that Galen came off the door. He darted toward the other corner, opposite Keller and flashed a key at her with a determined smile. Then they were both turning to two separate control panels in their respective corners, Keller brandishing her own key. Together they shoved their keys into key slots and Keller inhaled shakily. "One. Two. Three."

In unison they turned their keys and looked toward the bulb flickering near the ceiling.

The red bulb blinked off.

"What was that?" Chime whispered as Galen exhaled in relief. Her blue eyes were wide and she fixed them on Thea in confusion.

"That," Keller said, leaning away from the panel, "was the first round of security. The second anyone opens a door or forces a window that light goes on in every room. For one minute. Which means if Iliana is in the mansion she has a minute before the second alarm goes off." She shoved the key into her pocket and then fished out her car keys again, unlocking the other door of the cubicle. The door opened up into the mansion and she beckoned for them to follow.

Chime moved forward, Thea with her and Galen bringing up the rear.

"The second alarm is an actual siren. That goes off for two minutes. By then hopefully Iliana will be safe in the sub-level basements." Keller said, pausing in the center of the hallway.

"And if she isn't?" Chime asked, swallowing.

Keller looked at her over her shoulder and her face was closed off, emotionless. "Then we wouldn't have done a good enough job."

Chime nodded, not reassured but finally looked about. The mansion was amazing. A large staircase directly before her branched off into separate left and right wings, large windows bordering the staircase landing. On the ground floor there were rooms on the left and right of her and more doorways leading into even more rooms under the branching staircases.

"Ok." Thea said, snapping Chime back to reality. "So what if you don't shut off the alarm in the next two minutes?"

Keller motioned toward the ceiling, pointing to a vent on the wall. "Gas. Sleeping gas. We, as bodyguards to the Witch Child take shots every week, so that the gas doesn't affect us. But it will affect the intruders. That goes on for ten minutes. Iliana has to be in the sub-level basements by then. Has to be."

Chime dreaded her next question. "And if she isn't?"

Galen shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and looked at Keller warily. Keller glanced at him before shrugging nonchalantly. "There's C4 all over the house, especially in the four corners. Three minutes after the gas, if no one has turned off the alarm…"

Thea's jaw dropped open and she stared at Keller in shock.

"Then?" Chime demanded. "Just…boom?"

Keller nodded. "Yeah. Fifteen minutes to get out of the actual mansion or into the sub-level. If intruders do get in, it's best that the mansion go down with all its secrets then have them handed to the Night World."

"But…but, Iliana…" Thea sputtered, in disbelief. "She's a Wild Power! She has to be alive for the Millennium-"

"Yes, I understand that." Keller nodded reassuringly, "but if the Night World gets a hold of her what are the chances she will be kept alive? It's better she die here than in the hands of the vampires."

Galen's lips were tight, green eyes agreeing with his soulmate.

Chime settled back on her heels, looking around observantly. "A window of fifteen minutes." She murmured. "Not much time…"

A figure suddenly appeared at the top of the staircase, standing in the direct center and all conversation was cut off.

Keller turned as if she had sensed the intrusion. "This is Iliana." She said, motioning upward toward the figure. "Come on down, Iliana."

Chime watched the girl float down.

If there had to be one word to introduce Iliana Harman, the Legendary Witch Child, it would have been beautiful, or stunning. Perhaps even magical. Iliana had milky-pale skin, an angelic baby face with fairy-fine platinum blond hair falling down the sides of her sweet face and back like silk. Her amethyst-purple eyes shone as she came toward the group, and she gave them all a tender smile. There was an aura of goodness about her, a caring expression on her face.

She almost seemed like love in human form.

"Iliana. Meet Chime. The dragon." Keller said slowly.

Iliana's expression didn't waver in the least at the mention of the word. She merely held out her hand and clasped Chime's hand in hers. "Nice to meet you, Chime. Hi, Thea. Nice to see you again." She beamed. "You'll be staying for a while, right? We need new faces around here, I never see anyone." She released Chime to grasp Keller by the chin, her fingers making hollows in the dark woman's cheeks. "This is all I see every day. She never smiles."

Keller pulled away with a roll of her eyes. "You never give me a reason to smile, Iliana. I thought I told you to stay away from the windows."

Iliana grimaced faintly. "Caught that, did you?" she sighed.

"Anyway," Galen cut in, "Let's get Chime and Thea settled and then we'll fight. Sound good?" he didn't bother to wait for answer. "Good. Come on, ladies. I'll take that for you." He pulled the duffel bag from Chime's shoulder in a smooth movement, throwing it over his own shoulder. "You'll meet Nissa and Winnie soon enough."

"Nissa and Winnie?" Chime asked as Galen escorted them up the staircase. Keller didn't follow, instead moving toward the rooms under the staircase. Iliana happily tagged along with them, bouncing childishly, face bright with excitement.

"Nissa and Winnie are my two other personal bodyguards. They also have keys. Only them and Keller and Galen. Not even me." Iliana pouted.

Galen threw her a grin over his shoulder as he took the right-hand staircase. "Iliana can't be trusted." He explained to Chime and Thea in a low, secretive voice. "If she had a key she would only need one more person with a key to get out. And she'd go right after Winnie. Winnie's the softest of our group." He playfully smirked at the Witch Child. "And Illie knows it only too well."

"See what I put up with?" Iliana asked Chime and Thea, motioning to Galen. "I am the Legendary Witch Child and who do I have watching me? Him!" she said, feigning disgust.

"Yes, only the Prince of Shape-Shifters." Chime nodded in agreement.

Galen came to a dead stop and looked at her. "Hey. How did you know that?" he asked her curiously.

Chime shrugged. "You fit the description of the prince and your name is Galen. You're also a NightWorlder by the way you move. I sense an animal form from you. Leopard. And there were rumors that the Prince had helped find the Witch Child so I thought, 'Why leave her after everything he's helped her do?'" Chime shrugged again. "It all seemed to fit."

Galen was nodding and he arched an eyebrow. "Either way, you're correct. Although I rarely see myself as prince these days. Now it's all baby-sitting Iliana…" he cast a quick glance at Iliana and playfully ducked as she swatted at him. "Anyway, before our Witch Child resorts to name-calling, here are your rooms." He motioned as he paused halfway down a dark hallway. "For now you guys should get some sleep, rest up. And later we'll come get you so that you can meet Winnie and Nissa. And…" he hesitated, "we'll talk."

Thea glanced at Chime and nodded. "Sounds great, thanks."

"No problem." Galen opened one of the doors he had motioned to and placed the duffel bag just inside. "We'll see you later. And you, young lady," he said, turning on Iliana, "You'll be coming with me."

Iliana blanched. "Oh, no, Galen." She said, looking flustered. "It isn't necessary. Really it isn't. I can find my way around perfectly well-"

"Come here." He stressed.

Iliana turned and fled with a small shriek, blond hair floating after her nimble frame.

Chime arched an eyebrow, biting down a grin.

Galen smiled at them. "See you two. I got me a Witch Child to hunt down." And with a wink he turned to follow Iliana, whose laughs echoed in the mansion hallways.

Thea giggled, looking at Chime. "Ok, I feel beat. How about we set up our alarms for two hours from now and meet up again and hang before they come for us?" she suggested, glancing at her watch but frowning when it didn't match the time on the clock hanging on the wall.

Chime nodded. "Sounds good. Maybe I'll dream about Rayne." She shrugged. "Kills time."

"Hey! Don't you dare dream about him without me!" Thea called after her as she ducked into her new room.

Chime stuck her tongue out at her. "You have your own soulmate!" Then she closed the door on Thea and looked at the bed with a small smile. She was definitely going to dream about him.

The Past:

Selena crouched by the stream of raging water, washing the dirt from several vegetables. Her hands were cold from the water, her lap drenched as she laid the plants across her knees. The sky overhead was clear but it was a bit cool. She squinted toward the sun, forgetting the vegetables for a moment. It was going to be a beautiful day. Already the morning was looking cheerful. The animals were awakening, the birds chirping musically. It was the time for love, new and old. And where was she? She was washing vegetables because she required sustenance. She sighed dramatically and looked back down at her lap.

The presence of someone next to her, picked up be her peripheral vision, made her cry out in surprise and she flinched away, dropping a vegetable into the stream.

Rayne reached down in one fluid movement, scooping up the vegetable in mid-air and holding it toward her, his other arm resting across his knee. His smile was quirky, an arrogant twist to the corners.

Selena threw him a look and snatched the vegetable from his hand with a roll of her eyes. "It's you, again." She said wearily, leaning forward to wash the vegetable once more. It had been in contact with his hands and who knew where his hands had been.

"Yes. Me, again." He said with a nod and a sigh. He lifted his head toward the sun and closed his eyes, bathing in the warm rays. "It's a lovely day."

Selena smirked. "Yes, it was. Then you showed up." She said sardonically, scrubbing at flecks of dirt across the smooth surface of the food. She laid it aside into a basket beside her and pulled forth several dark berries, lowering her hands into the cold water once more.

"Is that sarcasm I detect in your beautiful voice?" he asked her with a tilt of his head and his amber eyes were narrowed devilishly. He lowered his gaze toward her hands and watched her as she rinsed the berries expertly.

"Sarcasm?" Selena echoed with a troubled frown, the berries blurring before her. She had to keep her attention on the berries. Sustenance, she reminded herself. "No, of course not. You know what it is?" she paused, looking up at him against her will and she nodded when she saw she held his attention. "It's regret."

"Regret?" he asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Regret." Selena nodded again. And then she glared at him, "Regret that I am still sitting here talking to you when I could be on my way home."

Rayne chuckled, bowing his head and shaking it. He seemed sweetly handsome when he smiled like that, she realized. He had smiled around her probably more than he had ever smiled in his entire life and yet all she had done to provoke the smile was insult him. She almost felt sorry but he was speaking again.

"You really hate me, don't you." He said and it was a statement. There was no question about it. He turned his head to look at her again, clearly interested in her response.

Selena threw him an innocent look. "Gee, you think?" she asked. Then she tossed the berries into the basket and rose, lifting the basket into her arms. Rayne stood with her, towering over her as he straightened to his full height. And there was a bit of impatience forming on his face.

She stared up at him, eyebrows lifted close to her hairline. "Was there something you wanted, Endymion?" she asked politely from her small spot in his shadow, "because I really must be going now-"

"A chance perhaps…Chimes." He said, biting out her name.

"Chime." She corrected him. When he frowned at her she explained wearily, "Everyone calls me Chime." Not that she wanted him to know that but she didn't see a reason why not to tell him.

He pulled back a bit, cautious. "Chime." He said slowly, as if testing the name, trying it on. And he shrugged, not giving a damn one way or the other, it seemed. "Whatever. Selena sounds nicer, more feminine…"

"How lovely for me." Selena said through gritting teeth. And she wound around him, heading toward the village.

His hand lifted and wrapped around her elbow. Lucky for her it was clothed. She looked at him as he turned her around slowly to face him. There was something in his expression, like he was impatient but sympathetic as well. The early trace of arrogance was lost from his face and that was always a good thing. "Can we just talk for a second?" he asked her.

Selena frowned faintly as he pulled her closer to him. She felt so small around him and the fact that she was one of the tallest women in the Witch Village did nothing to help her. She stared up at him, gazing straight into his eyes and they were so thick, the amber. They drowned out everything else in her line of vision, even reaching toward the peripheral.

"We were talking." She said quietly, swallowing. She looked around in a quick glance, looking for a distraction from him, anything to take her attention away. But there was nothing, except the stream and she would much rather drown in his eyes than in that icy water.

He stared down at her and nodded slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, I know." He said in a low voice. "But not here. Later. Around evening. Meet me."

She blinked and then began to shake her head. "No, Rayne, I don't think that's a good idea. This isn't a good idea, what we're doing here-"

"Just meet me," He said hoarsely, grip loosening on her elbow. "Outside the First House. Where we first met. Wait for me there and we'll talk. Just talk."

Selena gazed at him, knees weakening for some strange reason. She shouldn't. She shouldn't meet him. She should just tell him no thank you, wish him a happy day, a happy life on top of it, turn and walk away as quickly as possible. But her legs weren't listening to her. They stayed planted firmly in that spot and was it her or was she feeling a bit warm? She shuffled her legs a bit nervously and then he leaned toward her a bit, bringing his eyes even closer to hers. Oh, no. Not those eyes. Her lips tightened into a straight, tight line, arms curled around the basket.

"Meet me." He said again, softly. And his voice was low, sending delicious shivers down her spine.

Finally she nodded. "All right. I will see if I can get away and we'll talk." She murmured. After a moment she stressed, "Just talk," before pulling away. He released her but there was a small smile on his face.

"Evening." He reminded her as she turned to walk away.

"Evening." She murmured to herself.