Chapter Fifteen:

Chapter Fifteen:

Chime checked the time. It was late in the night. Or early in the morning. The airport was still crowded but there was a quiet hush to the atmosphere, a certain peace. Her new clear blue-tinted eyes took in everything and she searched for any familiar faces, anyone who could have been following her. But she saw nothing. Only people mulling about.

She had borrowed some clothes. Black pants that fit like a second skin but opened up toward the bottom of the legs, enough to fit around boots. A sleeveless navy blue tank top allowed her to move comfortably and the leather jacket was warm over her cold skin. She looked down at her duffel bag. She had also borrowed a pocketknife Rachael had owned. Obviously the girl knew how to protect herself. The laminated scroll pieces and computer printouts were in a manila folder inside. The box that had held the scrolls had been left in Rachael Cain's house, along with Rachael who wouldn't wake up for another two days.

More than enough time for Chime to get to the museum and get herself killed.

She shook her head. She shouldn't think like that and especially not at this time. Now she had to make sure Rachael Cain didn't arrive late for her 1:00 am flight to Cairo, Egypt. She knew the witches would be keeping an eye out for anyone heading toward Iran. That was fine. Once she reached Cairo she would find another way to reach Iran. To reach the museum.

To reach Rayne.

She swallowed. "I'm coming for you, Endymion." She whispered and running a hand through her new short, dark hair she headed for her gate.

The Past:

There was something in the air. A gentle breeze. A faint melody. And a soft, soft scent. She looked down at the old rickety bridge she stood on, at the stream running under it and then at the mossy green banks bordering the stream. It was lovely, all of it. She had never cared for it, but things were so different now, so much better. She felt happy, unconditionally so. She wanted to throw herself off the bridge and fall to the stream, fall to the earth and lay there in the sun forever.

Her vision was suddenly impaired as hands closed over her eyes.

"Hello." A quiet voice whispered close to her ear, soft breath warming the lobe.

She smiled faintly under the hands as the darkness before her eyes slowly turned a dark pink, the color pounding with life. "Rayne?"

The hands came away. Falling to the wooden rails of the bridge on either side of her. And a strong body leaned against her. "Maybe." He answered against her cheek. "Maybe not. Someone dear to you?"

She shrugged, looking down at his hands. They were long fingered, slender. Elegant. Perfect. She lifted her own hands to cover his, entwining her fingers through his. "My soulmate." She replied and she lifted her gaze to the blue sky, watched as the crystal clear heavens turned a golden-flushed rose.

The person behind her sighed. "I see. But he isn't here with you now. Which means I have you to myself." There was a suggestive tone to his voice that she found utterly delicious and rather devilish. He was up to his arrogant ways again. Further taken as his chin came to rest on her shoulder.

She bit back a grin. "True." She nodded slightly, feeling the tips of his wild bangs brush against her cheek. "All right. But whatever you do, don't tell Rayne."

The person pulled back a bit. "Say again?" he demanded in a feigned hurt tone.

Chime whirled, breaking into laughter and she embraced him, feeling as light as air. Her cheek rubbed against his jaw, her carefree giggles carrying around her. His arms met around her back after a moment and he exhaled against her comfortably.

"What did you do today?" he asked, seeming perfectly content to stay in her embrace.

She didn't mind either. She felt protected in his arms, feeling his sharp angles and surfaces settle against her curves. They fit together, could mold their bodies into one if they tried, she knew. But she was happy to just breathe the same air he breathed, share the same space. She inhaled deeply, taking in as much air as she could fit in her lungs and then she pulled back to stare into his amber eyes. "The usual." She said, noting with pleasure that he didn't let her escape him much, as his hands were still firmly wrapped around her waist. "Helle and I planted some and took care of the gardens." She shrugged again, falling back into just gazing into his warm eyes. And then she found herself lifting her fingers to them, to his lashes. His eyelids vanished into single folds, the epicanthic fold, and his lashes were so thick and long they seemed to elongate the lines of his eyes. His irises were mere circles of hot amber, pupils wide.

But there was an impatience there, a slight shift in his mood. "Hellewise again." He sighed. "Always with Hellewise."

A tired frown creased Chime's brow. "Rayne-"

He closed his eyes, hard jaw setting grimly. Then he opened them and glanced off with a weary nod. "I know, I know." He said quietly, "But I just don't…" he winced, lines appearing along his forehead with the gesture, "I don't like you with her. She's a witch…" he broke off, the corners of his lips tightening.

Chime tilted her head. "She's not so bad. She's actually quite nice. And if you two became friends my family would be complete." She smiled, knowing the mere thought of befriending Hellewise made him retch.

Sure enough he snorted. "Chime, the day I befriend her is the day lightning will strike me down." His arms tightened around her. "Besides, my family is complete. I have you. And all I would ever need is you. But I also have…" he suddenly broke off, glancing at her cautiously.

Chime had already caught on. "Your prince. Of course. You will always have your Prince." She stated stonily. "Am I right?"

Rayne exhaled, impatient this time. "Chime-"

"You hold him in such high, regard, your prince. But he is one man." She took a step back, out of his arms. "Not even a man. A creature!"

The pupils of Rayne's eyes shrank into ellipses and Chime knew she was pushing it. When he was mad the amber of his eyes seemed to boil. And they were steaming now. "What is your fascination with this topic? It's always the same thing!"

Chime shook her head and reached out, taking his hand in hers. "Your allegiance to him scares me, Rayne. He is but one man and yet you would give up everything for him. Everything!" she swallowed, clasping his hand with both of hers. And she was cold, deep inside. She looked down at it, his hand. At the slender fingers that were curled around hers. And then she raised her eyes to him and lifted his hand against her heart. "Why?" she whispered.

Rayne stared at her, jaw clenched. And he shook his head wordlessly.

Chime gazed back. Her heartbeat seemed to pulse all around, the throb running down his arm. "And me?" she asked softly, as light as a leaf falling through the air. "Would you give me up?"

Rayne's eyes dropped to his hand, his knuckles pressed against her heart.

Chime blinked, feeling tears unbearably close to the surface of her eyes. He wasn't answering her question. Why wasn't he answering her question? She dug her nails into his palm and he grimaced, quickly controlling the slip of expression. It wasn't a physical pain he was showing her. "Answer me." She said quietly and then louder, her face nearly crumbling, "Answer me! Would you sacrifice me to save your prince?"

Rayne's eyes seemed to be glued to their hands. "Yes." He answered, almost inaudibly. He blinked once, lashes sweeping down momentarily as he inhaled shakily. "Yes, I would."

Chime's lips parted in disbelief. No, not disbelief. Pain. Terrible pain, so powerful it was physical. A single tear rolled down her face but she was too stupid, struck dumb, to notice it. Rayne reached a hand up toward her face, alarmed, but she stepped back once more, ramming into the bridge railing. And then she looked down to see his hand still caught in her grasp and she flung it away, pulling away with an expression close to horrified shock.

He tried to say her name, she knew he did. But his lips moved and nothing came out but an exhalation of breath. And even if he had had anything to say she wouldn't have been able to hear it. She stumbled to the side, practically staggering, her hand lifting to cup over her mouth.

'I kissed you, I loved you. I told you everything. Everything! I gave you everything!' It was all she could think, all she could repeat to herself. She couldn't breathe, could only gasp as pain washed over her. She had never felt so cold, so dead. Not even when her beloved mother had died.

Without another word she turned from him and walked away, her knees unsteady.

And his voice followed her.

The Present

Several hours later:

There was a hard pounding at the door.

Thea's eyes snapped open and she sat up instantly. Over at the window Blaise whirled in her seat, blinking. She was pale, dark circles under her eyes. Thea stared at her, moved to ask if she had slept at all. But then Iliana threw open the door, cheeks red.

"We may have something!" she shouted, a mixture of worry and elation on her face. "Hell," she corrected herself a moment later, "we do have something!"

Thea rolled off the bed, rising. And she felt dizzy. Moving too fast was never a good thing. She gave herself a second to regain her bearings before blinking and looking toward the flushed Wild Power. "What did you find?"

Iliana motioned, backing out of the doorways into the hallway. "Rachael Cain, age 26. She was found unconscious by a friend yesterday morning. There were signs of a struggle, a gun on the floor-"

Blaise followed Thea, frowning impatiently as Iliana rambled on.

"And the best part!" Iliana practically shrieked. "The box of dragon scrolls! Without the scrolls themselves but Chime was there!"

"Was?" Thea asked in a hard tone.

Iliana nodded as she turned and led the witch cousins toward the large staircase. "Was." She repeated. "Some of Rachael's stuff is gone. A leather jacket. Pants. Boots." She glanced at Thea over her shoulder. "Credit card."

"Has she used it?" Blaise asked instantly.

Iliana grinned knowingly. "Yup. One am flight to Cairo, Egypt."

Thea looked at Blaise. "Chime. She's going to the First House. She's actually going-" she said, panic beginning to set in.

Blaise waved a hand at her. "The First House isn't in Egypt. It's in Iran." She said patiently.

"Yeah." Iliana agreed. "But the way we figure it she's going to Egypt and from there she'll go a different route toward Persepolis."

"Toward where?" Thea asked and she was her cousin's twin as her patience began to thin.

"Persepolis." Iliana said again. "According to Mother Cybele Persepolis was this ceremonial capital of some Persian Empire, some dynasty back in the day. And some of it still stands. But what was written in the scrolls is that the Persians came across the deserted remains of the First House and built from there, made it some big place to honor some king." She shrugged.

Blaise had an eyebrow arched. "How very informative you are."

Thea shook her head, "But it's not all still standing?"

Iliana's expression turned woeful. "Persepolis was burned by Alexander the Great. Any of it still standing, such as the First House, was renovated to look the way it had before. The Persians made records of what the audience halls looked like and they were used to restore a bit of it. But not all."

Blaise was nodding now. "Just the First House. Because it's the biggest piece of Night World history."

Thea shook her head thoughtfully. "Not Night World history, exactly. History of the dragons. Vampires didn't enter that picture until several years later when Maya turned." She broke off, exhaling. "So, she's heading to Persepolis." She murmured. Her eyes caught on Iliana and she slowed, forcing the Witch Child to halt. "And is she going to get into the First House?" she asked pointedly.

Blaise looked toward Iliana, bored once more it seemed.

Iliana shook her head. "I doubt it. She's down to half-strength and she was never full-blooded. There are powerful wards up around the First House plus witch guards." She shrugged. "My guess is she's formidable but it would take all her remaining strength to bring down the wards."

Thea inhaled, lips tightening at the answer. "Will they hurt her?" she asked stiffly.

Iliana cast a quick glance at Blaise but Thea knew her cousin wasn't going to help her. Sure enough the Witch Child's eyes were back on her in a second. "If it's necessary." She answered reluctantly. And she added quickly, "You know as well as I do, Thea, if she makes it this world is going down in flames. It's improbable but not impossible."

Thea nodded stonily and brushed passed, heading toward the main floor. With a sigh Blaise followed, Iliana bringing up the rear wordlessly.

Chime yawned wearily, checking her watch. She had slept on the plane, had a distant dream of Rayne, of the time he had finally let her know exactly what the Prince had meant to him. Needless to say it had not been the best memory. But then again, they were soulmates. Even soulmates had problems, ran into walls in their relationship.

She looked about. First things first before she began to think about Rayne all over again. She had to purchase a few maps. A map of Cairo and the quickest way out of there to Iran. She caught sight of a small shop in the airport and wandered over.

"I need a map." She said to the small man behind the counter.

He nodded, mumbling under his breath in a different language. Vaguely familiar, the language. She could catch a few words of it. Then he was holding up a map and she took it from him, smiling cheerfully. With a wave she turned and moved off, leaving the man to shout after her.

It was hot. She jammed the map into her mouth, holding it with her teeth as she stripped off the leather jacket and then she secured the jacket on top of her duffel bag, keeping it close to her hip. Another few steps took her toward the bathroom. She floated in, pausing by the mirror to check her face and realize she still chewed on the map. "Hmm…"

She ducked into an empty stall and locked it, putting down the duffel bag with a sigh. Thank the Goddess, the strap was making her shoulder sweat. With a sigh she opened up the map and looked at it.

One direct route would take her out of Cairo. And she could see she was not far away from that highway.

She closed the map, stuffing it into the side pocket of the duffel bag. The folder's corner poked up inside the flimsy material of the bag and she smoothed it down carefully, tying the strap of the bag around the leather jacket. Her hair was short, unfortunately so she had borrowed a bandanna from Rachael to cover her horns. Now she untied it from her neck and adjusted it around her head, knotting it at the base of her neck. There. Perfect. She now felt good enough, confidant to find Rayne. She picked up the duffel bag, managing to fit the now-tight strap around her shoulder and across her breast.

Her knees trembled a bit.

After all the rest she had gotten she had prayed that she wouldn't still be weak when she awoke. But it was almost worse when she woke. She couldn't feel her black power in her blood, could almost convince herself it wasn't there. In fact she had done that to herself, scaring the wits out of herself. She had to call to it to make sure it was still present. And if she didn't pay enough attention her disguise would begin to shift away back into its original form. She was still fast, definitely faster than a human, could react quickly, but she felt as if her senses were muffled.

And she found herself slowly getting scared again. What was she going to do if vampires attacked her? Shape-shifters? If they found her they would easily take her down, rip her apart. She swallowed, looking around the stall as a sudden claustrophobia clutched at her.

Breathe, Chime. Breathe.

She couldn't afford to be scared. Not right now. Her life depended on her clear-headedness and she needed to keep an eye out for people who looked familiar. If they had found her after eighteen years of hiding, after she had fled to and out of Washington, it would only be a matter of time before they tracked her to Cairo.

Something clicked in the stall next to hers.

She came to a dead stop. She had not been aware that anyone had entered the bathroom. Or perhaps they had already been there and she just hadn't noticed it. It wouldn't surprise her, she was so absentminded these days. She shook her head and looked down at herself once more. Everything seemed to be in place. She smirked thoughtfully and then went through the duffel bag and pulled out the pocketknife, dropping it into her boot snugly. She straightened and wiggled her foot a bit.

Another click came, this one long and drawn out. Chime stopped once more and raised her eyes, keeping her head bowed. She trained her gaze on the wall of the stall beside her, to her right and she strained to hear. There had been something ominous in that sound. She frowned, holding her breath and muffling any sound that she might have made and she became aware of a shallow breathing in the stall next to hers. An occasional deep breath being drawn in.

Something wasn't right, and as if to prove it a shiver ran down her spine. She lifted her head slowly, all her movements quiet and thoughtful, and she looked at the ceiling. Water pipes ran along the ceiling, not too far above her head. And they looked like new pipes, not rusty or chipping in the least. The ceiling itself was an ugly yellow.

She heard the moment the person began to move. There was a quick inhalation of breath, shallow, and clothes rustled. Then a loud explosion sounded, almost directly in her ear it seemed and she ducked her head, pain stinging her temples. She shouldn't have been straining to hear, it made noise all the louder in her head.

Silence ensued in which all she heard was the faint echo of the earlier noise and a high pitched ringing. She opened her eyes slightly and looked at the wall to her right.

There was a hole in the stall wall.

She blinked at it in confusion, shoulders falling back stiffly. And at that moment a second explosion sounded, another hole appearing in the stall wall. And then a third, the terrible sound and a third hole. But the last one brought a sharp twinge of pain and her body suddenly spun against the opposite wall, slamming into the metal loudly. For a moment she was stunned, her face against the cold wall and then she grimaced as another wave of red-hot pain shot down her arm. She slowly bowed her head against the wall and looked down at her arm, toward her elbow, trembling. There was blood sprayed across her ivory skin, across the stall in a horrible design and her flesh along the side of her elbow joint was torn, ripped open.

She'd been shot.

She couldn't comprehend it. It took her a moment. She merely stared at her ruined skin, lips parted in shock. She was automatically reaching around with her right hand, clamping down on her elbow and wincing as it stung. And then there was blood on her right hand and she just couldn't believe it.

With a shuddering breath she lifted her eyes to the opposite stall wall and stared at the three holes, at the paint that had ripped and chipped from their entry.

Gunshots. They had been gunshots.

The door of the next stall opened and she followed the noises fearfully, eyes wide. She heard the person come out of the next stall, circle about to inch up and pause outside her closed door. She looked down frantically at her arm as tears of anguish rose in her eyes. It hurt, more than she could say.

But not as much as burning alive had. She clenched her jaw, slowly lifting herself away from the wall and ignoring the outline of blood she had made on it. Her eyes rose to the pipes running above her stall and she thought fast, in panic.

A slight click came from outside her stall and she brought her attention back down just as more explosions came. They were somehow louder than the ones before and this time they followed in formation. A gunshot, followed immediately by another. Holes ripping through the metal of the wall.

And she dodged. She did her damnedest to get out of the way but there was precious little room to maneuver in the small cubicle. The gunshots streaked by her, some narrowly missing as she ducked, darted and flattened herself against the walls. Others flew wild, pounding into the brick wall behind the toilet. Her elbow burned horribly but she forced it down, detached herself from it until it became a distracted throbbing running under her adrenaline. She had to keep moving because eventually her attacker would run out of ammunition.

With a growl she ducked one last gunshot and then hopped onto the toilet seat. Another gunshot streaked by her neck as she whirled and jumped again. Her good hand caught onto a water pipe, her wounded arm clutched against her chest. She bent her legs in, inhaling deeply. Then she exhaled and kicked out for the door.

Her feet slammed into the metal and the lock broke, hinges snapping loudly. The door itself flew off its frame, slamming directly into a person hiding behind it. A female cry rang out, ending abruptly in a choke as the stranger, then the door, crashed into the brick wall before Chime. A body fell to the floor, collapsing under the door and finally there was silence.

They had found her. So quickly.

Chime lowered herself slowly, hopping down from the pipe, her feet dropping to the tile with a soft thump. She came forward warily and while the body hidden under the door didn't move her hand was still wrapped around her weapon, finger caught by the trigger. Chime moved forward silently and dropped into a crouch beside the gun, staring at it intently. It was sleek, and it could fit comfortably in her hand. She had had her share of weapons in the passed few years, had even been held at gunpoint a few times. Hadn't lasted long but it had happened nonetheless. She was tempted to laugh at the humans once more.

Then she looked at her elbow and scowled at the wound. It was healing but her blood still ran. If she hadn't been weakened it wouldn't have happened. Her good arm snaked out and she took the gun into her hand. Sig Sauer. She checked the clip. Empty. Her eyes went to the unconscious body again and she saw the metal peeking out of the belt.

The Goddess was shining now.

She took the clip from the person's belt, jamming it into the weapon. And she admired it for a moment before tucking it into the waistband of her pants, along her spine. Looked like the leather jacket was going back on. She should wash herself off. But those gunshots had been loud. If she stayed any longer she would get trapped by security. But if she walked out bleeding she would be a sight. She was going to have to ruin the leather jacket interior. She bent toward the duffel bag and untied it, slipping it on once more and sighing as it molded against her body. Then she slipped the duffel bag strap over her shoulder, tightening it. And finally she checked her attacker.

Small. Brown-haired. Brown-eyed. Olive complexion with a lean body.

Her eyes widened a bit. And human. No vampire teeth. Her pupils didn't shift into ellipses when she opened them. And while she was attractive she was not inhumanly so.

They were sending humans after her?

The bathroom door opened and only then did Chime realize in what position she was in. She raised her head, blue eyes catching on a woman coming in. She wore mirrored shades, had a cap of blood red hair and a tight jaw. And before Chime could move she had another Sig leveled at the dragon.

She smiled coldly. "Gotcha."