Chapter Fourteen:

Chapter Fourteen:

Chime walked down the street slowly, eyes downcast. She felt stiff and she winced around the bruises left behind by her self-inflicted wound. The gash itself was closed over, healing nicely but there was discoloration all around. She realized her healing was far too slow for her to risk anything but it was still better, faster, than a human's natural healing.

Her bloodied shirt had dried, becoming hard and stiff. She slowly pulled it away from her skin, grimacing as it stuck a bit.

This was great. Just great. Walking even slower now she began to think, looking down at the box of dragon scrolls. She had no home, no shelter. The entire Night World was after her hide. She had been betrayed. Again. She was almost human.

And Rayne was still asleep.

She didn't even have a bottle of brandy to comfort herself with. Not that she would have drank any of it. But the color was soothing.

She sighed and lifted her face to the sky.

Dawn would be upon her in less than an hour. Morning meant more people, everyone getting up to work or do whatever needed to be done. By that time she had to have a change of clothes and a change of overall appearance. But she didn't know who to go to, didn't know who would be on her side.

A young woman turned the corner up ahead, walking quickly. She glanced at her watch almost frantically and then raised her eyes, catching sight of Chime.

Chime was not surprised in the least when the woman slowed and then stopped altogether. Had she seen a woman coming toward her, with dried blood sprayed across her shirt and a haggard appearance on her face she would at least have thought there was something not right with the picture. She sized up the woman as she floated closer. The woman was a little taller than her. More voluptuous. And hundreds of years younger. But she would do fine.

Chime dropped her gaze to the sidewalk once more and walked. Out of the corner of her eye she watched the woman, observed as the stranger just stared at her in shock. She had the insane urge to laugh, maybe cackle at the poor woman. But there was a possibility she would traumatize her. So she kept her eyes on the ground as she reached the woman.

And then she reached out and clasped down on the woman's hand almost gently.

She had to hand it to her. The woman didn't scream. She inhaled in surprise, gasping, and automatically tried to free herself, pulling away and struggling. But Chime only needed a few seconds, a small amount of time to take down what she needed. She needed an imprint of the woman. The exact color of her hair, the exact shade of blue to her eyes. Her weight. Her height. Bone structure.

And her memories.

Even as the woman moved to open her mouth to scream, obviously having realized that fighting would get her nowhere, Chime released her and moved along. Just continued on as if nothing had transpired between them. She felt the woman's gaze on her back, digging in. It was all right. She had what she needed.

And she would see the woman again.

"What do you mean, 'What dragon,'?" Thea demanded, releasing Blaise's hand and sitting up rigidly. "Selena Chimes. The half-dragon, half-tiger. The one you want so that you can put her to sleep."

Mother Cybele was staring at her. "Thea, I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about." She said slowly.

Thierry was shaking his head, eyes distant. "She's not the one." He murmured and he rose from his chair in one fluid movement, lifting his leg away and turning to pace. "She didn't order it."

Winnie looked at his back. "No?" she asked faintly, confused.

"But…" Iliana motioned helplessly, frowning, "The scrolls. You sent us the scrolls. Why did you..?" she broke off, not understanding.

Mother Cybele blinked. "Because you asked for them, child. I sent you the scrolls because you asked for them." She looked around at the group in its entirety, perhaps looking for an answer in their faces. "I don't understand…"

"There is a dragon loose." Keller said, holding up a hand as Iliana continued to sputter in the background, "A half breed, half-dragon, half-tiger, but a dragon nonetheless in full control of her black energy and shape-shifting abilities."

Mother Cybele raised a hand to her lips slowly. "All right…" she breathed.

Keller motioned to herself and then her group. "We were under the impression you wanted her to put her back to sleep. She arrived here about two days ago with Thea-"

"Wait." Blaise suddenly cut in. "You were under the impression? You didn't have direct orders to bring Chime in?"

Thea raised her eyes to Keller, jaw clenching.

Keller's eyes narrowed. "Thea said the Mother was after Chime. We thought we had good enough reason to bring her in. As Azhdeha's daughter she was a threat-"

"Azhdeha's daughter?" Cybele frowned.

"You cornered her into her position! We didn't give her a chance." Thea argued. "She thought the Mother was after her! And after discovering one thing about her we turned on her, forcing her to run. We never even heard her out."

"It was for Iliana's protection-" Keller began.

Thea shook her head, twisting her lips. "For Iliana's protection…give me a break. It might have been for her but you were still wrong."

Thierry held out a hand. "At the moment it doesn't really matter who is to blame. What does matter is finding out who wants Chime. Finding out where she is and getting the scrolls back."

Winnie crossed her arms over her chest. "In a few days we'll know where she is. Monitoring flights out won't get us anywhere. But guarding the House of Dragons will. And she'll have the scrolls with her because she'll need the spell."

Mother Cybele cut in. "Spell. What spell?"

Winnie arched an eyebrow. "The spell to revive dragons."

Cybele's lips parted and there was a definite change to her skin tone. "Oh, dear…" she whispered, eyes widening. She looked from Winnie to Thea. "Is she a threat to us? And I want the truth."

Thea answered her slowly. "She's a threat if she can get the spell to work. But only if."

"Pretty damn big if." Quinn mumbled from the back.

Mother Cybele was nodding.

So was Thierry. "All right, then." He shrugged. "So, who is after her?"

The woman's name was Rachael Cain. She lived alone and had no children, no spouse. No signs of family, parents or siblings. She had planned to call out of work after returning home from an all-night bash.

It worked perfectly well for Chime.

She was balanced on a thick tree branch outside the woman's bedroom window. Her arm tightened around the box of dragon scrolls. She would have to hide the box in something less conspicuous because waltzing into an airport with a box of dragon symbols did not make her the least bit comfortable. She would also have to get rid of her clothes, maybe even wind a bandage around her sore ribs.

Bandages. She almost snorted. In the past, even after waking up, she had never seen the need for bandages. And now? Now she would wear them twice in one week.

What was the world coming to?

She leaned forward carefully, going over her plan in her mind. She was going to assume Ms. Cain's identity and get a damn airplane ticket. And she would have to knock her out for a while, a day or two. Did Rachael have any sleeping pills? She was sincerely doubting it. Maybe some brandy? She pulled herself onto the window ledge, balancing herself precariously. She needed to protect herself as well. Her body was too frail now. She could handle more than humans, dish out a few attacks but she would need more. Weapons? Did Rachael carry weapons? Did she, herself, still remember how to use weapons? She had given up hunting already, a good seven years now. But inside she knew, picking up a rifle would be like riding a bike. You never actually forgot but you did get rusty.

Weapons were out. Even if Rachael carried them she couldn't get passed airport security with them. And Rachael really didn't seem like the kind to carry guns. She was still laughing over the thought as she pushed open the window and climbed in. She had her back to the door of the room, softly closing the window, when she heard the faint click from behind.

"It's you again." A low, feminine voice whispered from the doorway.

Chime turned slowly and caught sight of the pistol in the woman's hands.

And then she laughed, out loud. She hadn't meant to, really she hadn't but it was all too damn ludicrous for her to handle. She hugged herself around the stomach, holding the box to her chest and she laughed merrily.

The woman's eyes narrowed.

"I'm sorry. I'm so…sorry." Chime managed to wheeze. "It's just that…you actually do…have a gun…" and she began to laugh all over again.

The woman took a step forward. "And you think I don't know how to use it, bitch?" she demanded, dropping one hand away and aiming at Chime's forehead.

The laughter melted away. "Please," Chime said, face becoming stony. "There's no need for name calling."

Rachael merely stared at her, gun hand unwavering. "What do you want?" she asked distinctly.

Chime pursed her lips. "Your life." She answered truthfully, quickly adding, "But only for a day or two. Then you can have it back, I promise."

The woman frowned, lips parting.

And Chime chose that moment to act. She darted to the side, falling to one knee. She was moving slow, she knew she was, and she had to pause for a split second to summon her black energy. Then she had it, felt it boiling down her arm, heating her muscles. Her arm swept upward and she unleashed a small concentrated burst of black power. The bolt flung the pistol from the woman's hand, sending it sliding across the floor. The next second Chime was up, her body flying through the air. She came down upon the woman, saw the exact moment the woman realized she was no ordinary opponent. They crashed to the floor, also sliding and Chime came up on top, straddling the woman.

Rachael's blue eyes were wide. "What…what are you?" she uttered in fear.

Chime shook her head. "If I told you I would be forced to kill you." She placed a hand over Rachael's eyes. "Thank your lucky stars I'm not a gossip."

"Tell me her story." Mother Cybele ordered..

They had gone over several reasons as to why one would want a dragon alive, coming up with manipulative plans to kidnapping a Wild power to something as simple as robbery and arson. Many reasons to have one but not one in favor of killing it. They were still on Square One.

"Her name is Selena. Selena Chimes." Thierry began, pausing in mid-pace. "She's over thirty-thousand years old, having lived during the time of Hellewise and Maya."

Mother Cybele was nodding. "I know of her. The only one with dragon blood, besides the dragon princess to be kept awake. I was under the impression she had died." She said.

Thea shook her head wordlessly but did not pick up the story. Instead she leaned forward and dropped her head into her hands.

"Chime, as we call her," Thierry continued, "had her soulmate put to sleep before the end of the shifter world. She survived the volcanoes, obviously, and hundreds of years after that she befriended a witch named Cassandra. I had also befriended Cassandra, only several years before Chime arrived. She had been made into a vampire not long after Maya made me."

"You knew Cassandra?" Thea asked through her fingers. She rubbed them over her face wearily.

Thierry glanced at her and nodded faintly. "She helped me out."

Cybele sighed, leaning back to fit her large frame in her seat. "She has been asleep this entire time?" she asked.

"No, actually," Thea answered for him, "Cassandra was killed in 1980. Chime has been awake since then." She explained.

Cybele frowned. "Was it this Cassandra who put Selena to sleep?" she asked in confusion. And when they nodded she continued, "Since 1980. This dragon has been awake since 1980 and no one knew?"

Thea and Blaise looked toward Thierry wordlessly.

The Night Lord cleared his throat. "Actually, she and I met up after she woke up. Luck." He shrugged. "I told her to go away, to change everything about herself and move on." He continued quickly, "And she did. I kept a bit of an eye on her after, made sure she was ok. For a little while she was a redhead. A few years brown-haired. Even became Asian once."

"What he's trying to say," Thea said lazily, slumping down in her seat, "is that she left everyone alone. She knew she was alone. She knew there was no way for her to find her soulmate. She was moving on."

Mother Cybele had turned her eyes on the young witch and now there was a bit of sadness there. Of understanding, it seemed. "You know a lot about her." She said slowly.

Thea snorted. "Not enough, obviously."

Cybele nodded patiently. "So, what happened to change that?" she asked, turning back to Thierry. "Why is she suddenly a threat?"

"She wasn't before these incidents." Blaise answered. Her gray eyes were hooded. "Something happened. Someone knew and they came after her. She almost died once already."

"So…" Cybele prompted.

Thierry crossed his arms over his chest. "So, I took her in. Just long enough for her to heal. But-" he looked toward Thea.

"But then I told her I would help her." Thea said in a dark tone. "I told her I'd help her find her soulmate and that I would need Iliana's help."

Mother Cybele began to nod in prefect understanding. "I see…"

"No," Thea said with a quick narrowing of her brown eyes, "No, you don't see. You don't see at all-"

Blaise looked at her. "Thea."

"You haven't seen what she's been through. You haven't lived it with her." Thea shook her head, her cheeks turning a dark red with her anger. "The only reason she fled is because she thought we were going to hand her over. To you."

Mother Cybele glanced at Winnie quickly. "I understand that." She said, turning her attention back to Thea. "But she did walk out of here with our scrolls."

Thea wondered for a moment if she should become snappish. Then she decided against it and settled for being sullen. "They're more her scrolls than ours." She sighed. "The witches continue to hold the grudge and I understand that it's our biggest fear to revive the dragons but the blame shouldn't be placed on Chime."

Thierry held up his hands. "No one is blaming anyone. First things first. We find Chime." He glanced at Mother Cybele. "And after, we try to find who id hunting her."

Thea looked at him and her look turned into a stare. "Then what?" she demanded. "After we find Chime, then what? What will you do with her?"

Winnie crossed her arms over her chest. "Let's just hope she makes it out alive." She said quietly.

Thea glanced at her quickly. And nodded.