Part 20

Sephra wasn't sure she liked Leandra's new friend Ash Redfern. Something about him disturbed her. He was a Redfern vampire without question. His eyes were a dead give away.

So far they hadn't had any luck in figuring out who the dragon was, or catching Zelda to pound some information out of her. Another new guy had arrived as well, and was oddly attached to Caprice, which Sephra did *not* understand. Rylan was acting weird as well.

He'd withdrawn from the group and was slinking around in the background and shadows which she found unusual - and so did the others for that matter.

Deanna and Miria didn't like her or dislike her any more or any less, which didn't bother her in the slightest.

Despite hunting dragons she still had classes to attend. And things got even weirder. As she entered one of her morning classes the other new guy grabbed her arm, turning her around, demanding, "What are you *doing* here? I killed you."

Sephra blinked, eyeing the unusually attractive guy disdainfully. "Excuse me? Who the fuck are *you?*"

The guy glared at her, his yellow eyes flashing oddly. "You're Sephra Redfern, aren't you?"

"Yeah. And I repeat: who are you?"

The guy blinked, looking confused. "Lucifer Draigh. I'm surprised you've forgotten me, you malevolent bitch."

Sephra didn't understand. She was positive she'd never seen this guy in her *life*. How did he know who she was, and that she was a bitch? (Which she wasn't denying).

"Are you insane? Whoever you think I am, you're mistaken." She jerked her arm free.

Lucifer glared at her helplessly for a few minutes, trying to talk and failing to find any words. He turned and barged out of the classroom. She glanced around to see Caprice watching silently. She frowned and walked over forced to sit down as the teacher came in and the lecture started.

"Who is that guy?" she whispered.

Caprice shrugged. "God knows. He's weird."

For once they were in perfect agreement. "You can say *that* again." How had he known who she was? She hadn't thought there could be *that* many Sephra Redferns out there in the world.

"He came this morning. He didn't seem too happy to see that friend of Leandra's."

"He knows Ash Redfern?"

"Apparently."
Sephra was confused. What the hell was going on? She didn't get it. She hadn't wanted to come here. And it seemed as if her arrival had been some sort of - of - *catalyst* - to start a chain of unusual events.

She'd been stuck with a weird girl, met one cute guy who was turning out to be even weirder, met a rival (of sorts), discovered a plot about a dragon, and now this.

What the hell did *any* of it have to do with her? And where the hell was all this going?

She sighed with irritation, glancing over as she watched Caprice rubbing the back of her neck. Sephra frowned, seeing some odd sort of growth underneath the girl's dull brown hair. A brown pointed lump. Sephra thought she saw several others in a row.

Then realisation hit. They were *horns*. Fucking dragon horns, right there under her nose the entire time.

*Caprice* *was* *the* *dragon.*

* * *

Author's notes: :grimaces: I realise this is probably highly Undramatic, most of you had probably guessed Caprice was the dragon, but a reminder, the bad guys DON'T know that, so forgive the dramatic cliché.