Author's Note:

Disclaimer in the Previous chapters.

Now I must say that Onyx and S are now my co-authors. This story is not entirely mine now.

After all the food was placed upon the table, the occupants dug in. Everyone ate and chatted. Troy and Kate were the only ones to remain silent. It wasn't until a loud bell began to sound that silence was heard and silverware was dropped. All of the residents of the village leapt to their feet and Celtos' chair crashed to the floor, followed shortly by Troy's chair, although that one still contained its occupant. Over the crashing of chairs came another sharp pop, and looking up, Troy found that Onyx had appeared behind her seat at the table.

"All monsters to me!" She shouted, her voice ringing above the sudden eruption of noise from the outside. "The dragons!" And with that she vanished again.

There was a volley of pops in the room, and Troy covered his head with his hands. When he looked up again, everyone except Kate had vanished. Kate still remained seated and looked un-phased by the noise as well as the sudden appearance of the Yami. He watched her stand up slowly and move around the table to his side before holding out her hand.

"Come on." She said softly.

Troy took her hand and was pulled up. When he got to his feet he stared at her. She looked slightly depressed but he didn't care. He had a mission and he was going to complete it without emotional attachments. Kate let go of his hand and left the room. Quickly he followed after her as she moved gracefully down the hall. She turned into the room where he had been dropped on the floor earlier. He stopped as he looked out the large windows into the village.

It was night in the village outside, but there were fires lit around the homes in standing torches. By that flickering light cast by burning cottages, he could see a pair of enormous beasts. Dragons! One, an enormous, silvery-blue creature, was standing with its long neck reared back, shrieking in fury. Further away, a smaller, thinner creature; this one jet-black and almost invisible in the night was spitting balls of fire from its mouth, aiming them at the white dragon. On the ground, tiny figures, people and monsters could be seen racing back and forth, attempting to retrain the two dragons. An explosion of blue-black light struck the black dragon, stunning it. The white dragon relaxed slightly and quietly submitted to a man in heavy armor, who was wielding something that appeared to be a large horn.

Troy stood in one place for the longest time. He was stunned. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. As he thought about it, he figured maybe these dragons would be of assistance later on. He would keep that in mind.

"Interesting creatures they are." Kate said as she leaned against the wooden window frame, watching Daragon lead the dragon away.

"How many dragons do you have here?"

Kate thought for a moment, her eyes never moving from the village outside. "Not sure. Have to ask Daragon or Dhan."

"Dhan?"

"Yeah, he's the dragon master." Tapping lightly on the glass, she pointed out the heavily armored man who was leading away the silvery dragon. Many of the other monsters had gathered around the other dragon, and were busy placing chained collars on its neck.

Troy looked over at the young woman. His eyes moved slowly from her face to the pendants that hung around her neck from two silver chains. The first pendant was a greenish sort of stone with white swirls. It was in the shape of a heart and Troy couldn't figure out exactly what it was. The other Troy glared at, even though there was no point in giving the stone dirty looks. The pendant was exactly like the one that hung around the blonde man Neo's neck. It was an oval-shaped topaz and made him wonder what connection the two might have.

"What are those?" Troy asked, pointing to the gems.

Kate looked over at him before taking the pendants in her hand. "Oh, my pendants. This green one is malachite and this other one is topaz."

"Oh. They're very nice looking." Troy said.

"Yeah, very nice." She answered, letting them go and straightening up. "Want the tour?"

Troy just looked at her for a second before answering. "Sure."

The two left the room and began the tour of the house.

Infuriated, Daragon gave the chain around the neck of Rojaron, the Red Eyes Black Dragon, a fierce yank, pulling the massive creature back to the cave where it usually lived. Working with him was a grey-skinned man in armor, by the name of Gaia, as well as an Elf identical to Gartic.

Despite the incredible strength Daragon had, due to his half-dragon blood, it took all of them to lead the struggling creature back to its cave. A short distance away, Dhan, the Lord of Dragons, was playing a tune on his flute to lead the more willing Sapphiris, a Blue Eyes White Dragon, back to her own enclosure, which was in the opposite direction. Dian Keto, the Cure Master, was darting around the fire-scorched area, tending to any monsters that had been injured too severely to heal themselves. With him were Sarah and Damus, both of whom had enough majic to offer help with the healing. Celtos was studying the damage to the homes and buildings near where the dragons had been fighting with a grim expression on his face. Repairing the damage done by the dragons would take time and a great deal of work. Many of the small houses that the monsters of the Village lived in had been struck directly by the blasts of the dragons and annihilated instantly, and many more had caught fire from stray sparks.

Frowning, Celtos turned back to report to Sarah just as one of the thatch-roofed houses collapsed behind him. Rolling his eyes, the Elf made another note on the sheet of parchment he was carrying and stomped off to check the Village's available lumber supplies. The girl grimaced and returned to bandaging the arm of the blue-skinned female elf in front of her.

"Sometimes, Mysti, I regret making Celtos the one responsible for Village upkeep... especially since it's my Yami that insists on keeping those damn dragons here." The Mystical Elf frowned slightly, but didn't respond. The deep wound in her arm, caused by a flying chunk of wood, was too painful for her to focus on speaking.

"Daragon!" Glancing up, the half-dragon acknowledged Onyx's call with a nod as the tall Yami slowed to a walk next to him, glaring briefly at the black dragon towering above them. She acknowledged Gaia and the Elf, Garrus, by name, before turning back to Daragon. There was a bleeding gash on her forehead that rained blood into her left eye, but the wound was healing quickly and closed itself even as he watched.

"This has to stop."

"I know, Master."

"Although I realize these two are not natural allies, I notice that there is no bloodshed between Azul and Rojaron. Any ideas?"

Daragon shook his head slightly as he and the others led the dragon into the cave where it usually lived and began fastening their chains to heavy rings in the wall.

"None, Master."

Onyx frowned slightly and shook her head.

"Do what you can, Daragon. I just realized we left Troy up at the house alone."

And with that, she popped out, leaving the three monsters to finish securing the massive beast.

Finally they finished inside with the tour. Troy hadn't been shown a few of the rooms and it made him wonder what they might be hiding on this majical compound.

"Well, it's late and you probably need sleep so I'll escort you to your room." Kate said as she made her way to the stairs.

"I am pretty tired." He said faking a yawn.

Troy grinned as he followed the young woman up the stairs. She opened the doors and moved to her side of the corridor before walking over to the first door on the right. She stood there and waited for Troy to enter his room and close the door before entering her own. She couldn't help but feel terrible. This had been the worst day of her life. She started for her bedroom behind the two French doors.

The majority of the room was dominated by a king-sized four-poster bed with velvet curtains around it and a canopy, made from alternating panels of navy blue and hunter green velvet. The bed itself was dark oak, a rich, red-gold colored wood. The carpet on the floor was a very thick navy blue, with faint silver threads in it that made it glitter slightly as she moved. The remaining furniture in the room, a large blanket chest at the foot of the bed, a couch along one wall, two large chests of drawers and a door leading to a walk-in closet, were all polished dark oak. The walls had a cream-colored undercoat with hunter green daubed on over it, giving a nicely three-dimensional look. Last but not least, a crystal chandelier hung from the high, vaulted ceiling, at the center point of the arching rafters some fifteen feet above. The chandelier had gold trim, making the entire room seem to glitter

Kate began to undress, pulling off her heavy boots first and letting them hit the floor with a loud thud. She unbuttoned her pants, removing them and her shirt before throwing on a silky nightgown that fell to about mid-thigh. It was soft and a light green color that made her eyes shine a little brighter. The straps where just thin pieces of cloth that hung over her freckled shoulders. She had pulled back the blankets on her bed and was just about to hop into bed when a soft pop was heard and someone put their arms around her waist.

"You're back," she murmured softly, leaning against the person behind her.

"Nothing could keep me away." Neo replied softly, pulling her tightly against his powerful body.

Kate couldn't help it. She felt so much better having Neo next to her after a horrible day. He always listened, and always made an attempt at helping her. Sometimes it didn't work out that well, but afterwards, she always realized that it was the thought that counted. While Kate was lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize Neo was slowly starting to tickle her sides.

"Neo!" She cried out with a laugh.

He grinned and kept tickling her until she was almost out of breath and begging for mercy. He stopped and let her catch her breath before moving around to the front so they were face to face.

"You made my day." She whispered when she could finally breathe.

"I know." He whispered in her ear making her shiver.

"Come on Neo, I think we need sleep." She said before moving away and hopping into the bed.

Troy waited a few minutes until he heard the girl's door close before he reopened his slowly and peered out. No one was in the corridor; the only movement was the flicker from the torch lights. Slowly Troy made his way out the door. When he turned back to it in order to close it, he felt a chill run down his spine and froze. Someone was behind him. He felt a cold tickle at the edge of his throat and tensed instinctively – whoever it was had a knife at his throat. When he heard the dark chuckle, his stomach twisted in fear but that fear was a sick pleasure to him.

"Having fun?"

The question, pitched low and very close to his ear, had a deadly undertone of steel to it. Onyx leaned her body a little closer to his own, and he could feel her tight against his back. It might have proven arousing under different circumstances, but not when he had a knife to his throat. Especially not a knife in the hands of someone who most likely would not hesitate to use it.

"I.... beg your pardon, but I forgot something in the dining room."

"Such as?" The knife dug a little deeper and Troy closed his eyes, expecting to feel his throat opened any second.

"Your sanity, perhaps? Your sense of self-preservation?"

Troy refrained from answering at that point, realizing that that was the safest thing to do. When she received no answer, the Yami seized his shoulder and easily spun him around, throwing him backwards into the wall next to his door. She was on him again in a split second, one arm against his chest, the other holding the knife's edge to his throat. Half of her face was stained crimson and black with dried blood, and without a wound present on her he wondered whose blood it was. Troy tensed slightly, preparing to push her away, and felt the blade cut into his skin, a warm trickle of blood start down his neck, and mentally berated himself. No good soldier would be killed like this, not before completing his mission.

Astoundingly, the dark woman took a half-step away from him, giving him enough room to breathe. The knife was withdrawn, and he could see his own blood glittering ruby-bright on its edge.

"This is your last warning," she informed him.

He could see her eyes darkening slightly, and the air around them seemed to be growing darker as well, as though all the torches were failing at once. Suddenly, a force like a physical blow caught him in the center of his chest, hurling him back through the door of his room. He landed hard on his back in the middle of the floor, the wind knocked out of him. He raised his head just in time to catch a glimpse of the woman, laughing horrifically, before the door slammed shut of its own accord.