Bet you can guess what's coming next just from the title, sorry to be so predictable.

Ch 9 A Horse of a Different Color

The next morning Selenay set up another meeting with her council to introduce Dorian to them, this time they made sure the word got out, there was someone who could tap into the killer's mind.

Then they waited, in the meantime Lori was confined to their family's townhouse, though some of her friends and Gareth could visit. He had taken to visiting when he could, bringing her little treats and news from the palace. Dorian smiled every time he thought of the two, at least something good was coming of this.

He tried not to think about being a target himself. He had to keep his shields thinner than he would have liked, as well.

And now he always had a shadow, currently he was walking towards Companion's field with an apple for Fianna. He stopped by in between classes, out in the open, his shadow was less evident, they would see anyone approaching him long before they would reach him.

She was waiting for him by the fence, he was busy giving her a good scratch when he heard another voice.

:Do you have one for me:

"What" he looked up to see a stallion he had never seen before, then he found himself caught in blue eyes and a wave of love and acceptance.

:Dorian, I'm Gaven and I choose you: he said.

"But" he started to say.

:You do have another apple, don't you: Gaven, his Companion asked.

"Sure" he said, still in a little shock. He pulled out the apple and offered it to Gaven.

"Why did you choose me, I'm my father's heir. I thought heirs were never chosen" he asked, confused.

:It's been known to happen, not often, but then your father has other children too. Your options are broader than you think: he said. Dorian could feel the pleasure he was getting from the apple.

:Besides, it was time. You're going to need me soon: he said.

Dorian waited for more, but Gaven didn't add to that statement.

He leaned against the wall watching the boy feed the Companions. He frowned, they were watching him too closely, not that it mattered much anyway. He had been testing him, trying to discover the distance he needed to keep to remain undetected, at least he knew now how they had happened to find him the night of the party. The boy wasn't his target anyway. And the one he truly wanted was confined for now, she would be easy to find when he was ready for her, no one suspected him, she would be easy to take.

Dorian's head jerked up, he had felt almost a flicker of the mind that was becoming almost too familiar, he turned looking with a frown, searching for it again, but nothing was there that shouldn't be there.

Lori looked out of her window towards the gardens, but they didn't register. She couldn't believe that Dor would keep so much from her, they had always been close. They shared everything, or had until they had come to court. Court, she thought with disgust. At first the attention had been highly flattering and she had enjoyed the parties and games of the court, she had followed the gossip and fashions. Danced with the men, made friends with the women and enjoyed herself the whole time. But now it seemed to pale.

She thought of Dorian's friend Gareth, she smiled, he was real, He didn't act the way those at court acted, if he thought something about you, he told you. There was no guessing with him. It appealed to her, she really liked him and not just the way he looked. The one thing that meant more to her than anything else was that he only liked her for herself, he didn't care about the money or her blood.

At the thought of blood she shivered, I can't stop thinking of it, she thought to herself. The image was engraved in her mind, every time she closed her eyes she could see it.

Shaking her head, she turned away from the window. And now he wants me, the thought never truly left her.

He walked the corridors of the palace, secretly laughing as he passed the posted guards, they would never catch him. He had been feeling more urgency lately he wanted to be done, he wanted his true love with him, they would always be together.

Shortly before she had come to court, he had found the book, it hadn't been in the library. Instead it had been hidden in a old room deep beneath the palace, he had long taken to haunting the old sections of the palace and the day he had found the book had been a day like any other he spent, when he had the time to explore. Then he had felt something when he found the old room, an echo of something familiar, something missing, and he had been drawn in.

He had walked right up to the shelf where the book hid, and felt at the very top, where no one ever looked, he felt it's binding. It had disturbed him at first, how he had found the book, but as he read, he learned.

It had been leather, red at one time, but age had darkened it to a deep burgundy. He could easily read the gilded lettering, though in places it had almost worn away. A Ballad of Blood, the title had been, but it was no book of poetry, instead it was one of magic.

He had learned, if it was done right there was power in death and suffering, the first time he had been nervous, it was two weeks after he had seen Lorrilyn. And he knew, she was his. There were spells of binding in the book, it had taken him the two weeks to get the lock of her hair.

The girl who had gotten it for him would be the first, she would begin the binding, her blood providing the power. It went well and he had felt a connection snap into place, an echo of his thoughts flowed back to him, but something, didn't feel quite right. Now he knew the stupid girl had gotten him the wrong hair, it must have been the boy's. He knew the two had the same coloring.

He shook his head, if she hadn't been dead already, he would have ripped her heart out slowly. He smiled imagining the things he would do with her if she had been there.

Dorian moaned in his sleep. He thrashed around trying to escape, but there was none from his own mind, and that of the madman he was connected to.