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.
