Yay! Thanks for the reviews, guys.
Stacey: I'm glad you came clean. Well, more than glad. I appreciate it much.
Eleyne: Red is a babe. ::sly smile:: Just wait till the next chapter… you'll see.
LadyNyght: Well, thanks! You should see many more chapters. And I'm currently side tracking with the story of the Silver and Black Dragon, Eclipse… you'll see… You'll all see.
EnigmaChapter 5
"I ran from Anjasina Tierlan and Raymond Chimera. It was the smartest thing I've ever done. I ran through out the whole house," San said, voice changing to a bitter tone. "I kept an illusion spell around me the whole while, and I thought Red didn't know where I was…" She explained the conversation she overheard, leaving out the queen bit—but included the part where Red spoke to her directly.
When her quiet voice finished, no one knew if she had been speaking in despair, triumph, horror, or shame. It sounded more emotionless, which confused the witch's in the room beyond belief for they did not know that such a friendly girl knew how to shield her voice from emotions.
Jahn, strangely, had watched the girl speak with true interest, eyes wide the whole time. The red in them had been maroon with a hint of burgundy, dancing with respect as well as slight intimidation of strength.
The other three witches had been even more interested, if possible, than Jahn.
Jahn took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You actually got away from the two strongest Dragon's in your world, without getting hurt by them," she said, awed. Trent knew that she could have as well, for she was a Guardian, but didn't mention it.
Sandrine shrugged, eyes staying a pink-white color. Her face wasn't stony nor soft, but somewhere in-between. "What about it?" she asked, and her voice wasn't in a casual bragging way.
"I could have done it, but you? I mean, you're Thin Blood!"
San felt inwardly that she should deny such a thing—she had never done so for all of her life--but choked it back. She had done the same with the "without getting hurt by them" part, for she had. Just not psychically. And she wouldn't let them know, either.
"There's more than meets the eye, Jahn Dranth," the Dragoness said quietly, almost inaudibly. "You should know that better than anyone else in this room. Well, maybe Trent." A flick of a glance towards the blond haired boy, and then back towards the red-eyed girl.
Nobody in the room moved until Sandrine stood. She still had to look up at Jahn, but it was nothing she wasn't used to. "Now, Jahn, why are you here?"
"Business." A sharp, one word answer was apparently all she would receive.
"What type of business?" The iridescent eyes flashed sky blue, followed with a tail of red.
"My business," Jahn said coolly. Her red gazed never flickered, starring down the smaller girl.
San took a step back warily, watching Jahn with pure distrust on her features. Jahn smiled innocently, red eyes glowing to an abnormal color. She looked like a demon in a horror film.
A hand with black painted nails struck out, aiming a blow at Sandrine's waist. San caught the wrist easily, her hair not even affecting the turn of her body, and snapped her leg up to deliver a tripping kick to Jahn's thigh. The vampire didn't let emotion—neither fear, nor surprise—show on her cold, pale features. Her feet rocked only a moment, before she pulled her wrist out of San's grasp with a painful tug.
That was when everyone in the room noticed that the Dragoness did not intend to kill the elder girl. She was only defending herself, trying to throw Jahn off balance, but didn't make a killing strike while her opponent was unsteady. But what also shocked Trent, Slyve, and Jake, was that they hadn't known Sandrine knew how to defend herself in hand-to-hand combat. She was an evolved Dragoness, after all, with more power than a witch had in her left thumb.
Jahn's eyes glittered menacingly for only a moment before a dark tone took over. She had moved herself into an attacking/defensive pose, one hand sneaking behind her back. She stepped out of the pose and watched San through narrowed eyes. "Sandrine Transinale, you aren't going to fight, are you?" she asked, voice as cold as glaciers.
A shake of a silver covered head. San watched quietly from her own casual position, eyes warm with a red-orange glow. "No, I'm not. I don't live to kill, I live to survive."
Jahn snorted, shoulders twitching as she relaxed the muscles in them. "To survive you must kill," she said, twisted truth dripping from the words.
"That's what you think. I've heard of you, Jahn. You kill for the color," the Dragoness said, disgust and horror etched in the red-orange orbs.
The vampire tossed back her head, laughing, and black hair spilling around her shoulders to her waist. When she finished, she turned the glowing red orbs they called her eyes towards the Dragoness. Visibly, the witches in the room didn't understand. "Yes, I love the color red. Its so…vibrant." The last word was emphasized profusely, taking on a predator's edge.
Finally, Trent, Slyve, and Jake understood. Two sets of light green eyes and a pair of blue filled with outrageous disgust looked at the two competitive girls.
A smirk was laid lazily over San, as one was on Jahn. "I would love to hear what you know of me, child," Jahn said, making the words twist to a dark and ugly sounding.
The Dragoness just kept the lazy smirk on her face as she began to speak. "I heard you used your soulmate as target practice once." She beckoned towards Trent.
"Yes, I did. Show her, Insetle," the vampire commanded quietly. Almost at once Trent stood and pulled his shirts collar lower, to reveal a four-inch scar below his throat, slightly slanted. "Now how did you know we were soulmates."
"I have… psychic capabilities. Its one of the many legacy's from my mother." San pushed back her long hair, disarraying the silver strands. "Another thing I heard about you, Dranth, is that you are the most well-known Guardian. Your reputation is known far and wide, and word travels fast in the Dragon Realm." This caused a smug look go through Jahn's features, and it was obviously just something she didn't mind concealing. "Laden Jash once spoke to me about you. He said, 'If you ever escape into the Human Realm, watch out for Jahn Dranth. Her power is beyond believable for being only a couple thousand years old.'" ' Like I have a doubt you couldn't beat her,' she didn't finish.
"Laden always did think that," Jahn agreed quietly. Her red eyes had brightened once more to a vibrant red, listening intently. Or at least pretending to.
"And I was once heard—" She didn't finish the sentence, for she had shoved a blast of power directly at the vampire while she was distracted.
Jahn was barely knocked off of her feet, absorbing the power like a sponge. Her eyes glowed even brighter than before, like a demon's eyes in an old film. Automatically, her hand shot back towards her back, and pulled a long five-inch, double-edged knife from a sheath hidden there. Its blade gleamed silver, handle imprinted with the words, "Pain is the problem of the mind—blood is the problem of the heart," in small letters. She took a crouching position, aiming the knife in front of her as the other hand reached into another sheath hidden amongst her body. This one was pewter with a silver center to strengthen it, the handle engraved with, "Diamonds are a girls best friend—they're sharper than knives."
San had no weapons on her, only her power and skills she had learned from Red while they had been friends. This meant she was deadly to anyone that came near her.
Finally, Jake jumped up from his silent spot and yelled, "No fighting in this damned house! Jahn, get out now. Or I will personally—do something," he finished, realizing there wasn't much he could do.
Jahn eyed San warily before slipping back the knives back into their hidden sheaths. Those red orbs never left the younger girl, dancing with warning. "I'm going," she said to Jake, head never turning an inch. "But her head is being called for by a powerful girl, and I will bring it to her." She stepped into the shadows, and practically disappeared.
When the tension in the room was vanished without a trace, insuring San that the Guardian had left, she turned and looked at Jake. "Sorry about that… It could have gotten ugly." She bowed her head, silver hair spilling around her shoulders as if a river.
Trent stood and looked between San and the ground once or twice, then stated, "In my opinion, it did get ugly."
San turned her magickal eyes towards him, and smiled sadly. "I'm afraid to inform you that that was absolutely nothing compared to what I'm use to."
After a few more minutes of silence, Slyve said, "Sandrine, you must be tired… I mean, you've been, um, well, escaping from bad guys and fighting with a Guardian and all, so…" The sentence left in midair.
Sandrine nodded and began to walk towards the door. "I know, and now I shall be going before I cause deaths here." Her voice had a sad edge to it, because during the short time she had been in the house, she had come to like Jake, Trent, and Slyve as friends, and she hadn't many of those.
Slyve's eyes took an alarming look. "No! That's not what I meant," she said more calmly. "I meant I should show you where you're sleeping."
The Dragoness turned, and smiled at the green-haired witch. "I appreciate that," she said in a joyous tone.