The city spread out around us, a maze of scent trails belonging to humans and "others". The sheer size, noise and activity was almost overwhelming and I shook my head to clear it before tuning back in to what Mr. Tiny was saying.

"Before we go our separate ways," the man said. "We will go out for a proper lunch." He started to walk up the street without looking back and I followed, stumbling around humans.

My stomach muscles hurt from being taut and anxious. I had awoken multiple times throughout the night due to nightmares of varying things. The starring figures were almost always Mr. Tiny forcing his bleeding wrist toward my mouth or Harrison clasping the collar around my throat, drawing the dial out of his pocket with a wicked smirk. My body had been so hot I feared I was sick and my limbs, while shaky felt like they could have lifted a hundred tons. At three in the morning I'd finally given up on any sleep after vomiting rather spectacularly in the bathroom; I would have fled into the night for fresh air, but I hadn't wanted to alert Mr. Tiny and returned to bed. At one point I was sure I had been sleepwalking because I'd found two gold trinkets tucked under my pillow. They were up my sleeve because I hadn't had a chance to put them back without Mr. Tiny noticing. On top of all that I didn't know how many days we'd been asleep, which was a problem because I had no idea how long I'd gone without blood. A vague itching in the back of my throat told me I was hungry, but I didn't feel like ripping out any throats yet which was a plus.

We settled on a slightly rundown place, sitting in a red colored booth. Unfortunately the red shade was closer to crimson then I would have liked and I kept staring into space over Mr. Tiny's shoulder; drowning in the blood color. When the waiter came, I absently noted she had long black hair and her eyes were brilliant violet. The pulse in her neck beat steadily and I had to tear my eyes away to order cherry soda. Mr. Tiny ordered white wine and Harkat settled on coke. I opened the menu and scanned it, gripping my knee under the table.

"I was hoping we could discuss the events that brought us together," Mr. Tiny said, closing his menu after barely a minute of studying it.

Harkat and I tensed and I leaned further over the menu, trying to appear occupied with the side dishes. The waiter came back and placed our drinks in front of us. Mr. Tiny told her to come back in five minutes and she left. I picked up the soda and sipped at it; the sugary liquid rushed into my mouth and my fangs popped out to suck it down. I drank the entire glass before setting the cup down on the table with a louder thump then intended.

"What about them?" Harkat asked uneasily.

"Everything," Mr. Tiny said, looking between us.

I swallowed hard and fidgeted in my seat. The idea of explaining what had happened there made me want to bring up every ounce of cherry soda. Even if I could spin a slightly alternate story to keep my magic secret I would still have to keep most of it the same. "There isn't much to tell," I said tentatively. Next to me Harkat looked like he was thinking the same thing I was.

"Harkat was there for several days," Mr. Tiny said. "As were you Shadow. Are you telling me that in the time you were there nothing happened?"

"Nothing happened," I lied. If I had felt sick before it was nothing to how I felt now. I wanted to bolt from the chair and run away screaming until any talk of Harrison was miles away.

"He's right," Harkat said.

"I don't believe you," Mr. Tiny said scowling.

The waiter came back and refilled my drink. She waited for our orders impatiently and I quickly looked back at the menu before selecting a hamburger and fries. This time her pulse was slightly faster and it was that much harder to look away. When I did I was immediately met with the red fabric of the booth and I sighed. It took Mr. Tiny thumping his hand onto the table to make me jump and look back at him.

"Now," Mr. Tiny said crossly. "Is the problem you will not, or cannot tell me?"

I knew we had to tread carefully. Mr. Tiny hadn't been this angry since I had first seen him at Harrisons. "Can't," I said and folded my hands in my lap, staring at Mr. Tiny through my fringe of hair. I was trying to put on the same slightly inhuman act like before, since it had worked to calm the man last time.

"Why not?" Mr. Tiny demanded.

My lips had sealed themselves shut and I shook my head wordlessly.

Harkat rubbed his arms and under the illusion I could see a hint of the white string that the nurses had put in him. "I don't think you would understand if we explained why."

"Do they have magic?" Mr. Tiny hissed. "Are you under compulsion?" He looked like he wanted to kill us, but was barely hanging onto his self control.

Harkat straightened and looked straight at Mr. Tiny, apparently mustering up every bit of courage he had. "Pain," he said. "Pain and fear is what happened." He looked sideways at me. "I don't know exactly what happened to Shadow, but it was…different for both of us." He stared at his hands and shrugged helplessly. "I don't think either of us have the words to express it. At least I had something else before it though. Shadow woke up in that…place with no memory."

Mr. Tiny leaned back and seemed to calm down slightly. At least he no longer looked like he would explode. He seemed to be thinking over what Harkat had said and either he found enough information in it or he knew there would be no more gotten out of us. He probably wouldn't be happy with that little bit for long and somehow he would be planning to get the full story out of us one way or another. But for now Harkat and I had dodged the question for the most part.

I sucked down the second glass of soda and Harkat, who seemed to be seeking something funny laughed.

"You really drained that drink," he chuckled.

I clenched the glass so hard it cracked and shuddered. "Don't talk about draining anything," I said.

Harkats eyes widened and he stared at me questioningly; when I nodded he paled slightly and seemed to count how many humans were in the restaurant. I already knew: thirteen other victims if I broke.

Finally the waiter came back with food and I dug in, trying to sate my hunger with solid food. I knew it wouldn't work, but at least it would help my more normal hunger. Harkat kept staring at me out of the corner of my eye so much he almost spilled his soup. It was a very odd experience sitting at the table with Mr. Tiny while he ate shrimp. If I didn't look too closely I could almost imagine he was the man I had known before, but then he looked over and the shine in his eyes was so different the image shattered. I sighed and stared at my plate. When our meals were almost finished I got up from the table. "Bathroom," I explained.

I rushed past the waiters and a few waiting patrons before I was standing over the sink. My fangs kept threatening to push past my upper lip no matter how many times I slapped up the illusion. I splashed water over my face and walked back out into the main part of the restaurant. Our waiter was standing next to another woman in the hallway while they waited, facing away from me and out into the rest of the restaurant. I walked up behind them and was about to cough and ask to pass when my eyes locked on the pulse beating in the twos necks. I stopped and blinked, biting my lip. I opened my mouth, fully intending to speak and then closed it again. My stomach growled and my fangs ached. I took a slow step forward and raised my hand to tap our waiter on the shoulder to pass, but again I stopped. One tiny sip wouldn't kill the woman; I was so, so hungry. I leaned forward toward her neck, fangs sliding free. The two women kept talking oblivious to their peril and I grinned, ready to sink my teeth into her throat.

"SHADOW NO!" Harkat bellowed.

I snapped my head up and Harkat threw himself out of the booth, tearing across the restaurant toward me. Mr. Tiny turned in his seat and then got up; it was clear he didn't quite know what was going on yet. Harkats shout made the two women turn around and then scream. They bolted for the doors and then several others in the restaurant caught onto the fear and ran for the doors too. I growled and stalked forward, jerking my head from side to side as multiple humans fled this way and that. There was so much food running around I wasn't quite sure which to go for first. I inhaled and sifted through the scents in the room, trying to distinguish the most flavorful. The man trying to push through the door first caught my attention and I flew across the restaurant, bounding over tables to get to him. When I was about half way there, the human noticed and his terror escaped in a high pitched scream that hurt my ears enough to send me in a different direction. Then I was hit in the legs so hard that that both my attacker and I toppled off the table and onto the floor. Harkat tried to push me down and pin me by the arms but I bucked him off and sent him flying into the wall where he hit hard and slid down.

"What the hell is going on?" Mr. Tiny roared and his voice was so loud and angry that the entire restaurant stopped, including me. He pointed at me and I growled at him. "What is this?"

Harkat stumbled upright and flexed his hand, wincing. "He's hungry."

Mr. Tiny lowered his hand and stared at me. I tilted my head and looked back equally challenging. "He just drank," he said irritably. "From me."

Harkat looked like he wanted to ask more about that but instead continued. "He needs to drink every two days or…," he gestured at me. "That."

The humans in the restaurant had been looking between us but now the man I had wanted before cursed loudly and threw open the door. I whipped around and leapt at him, but something invisible slammed into my right side and sent me across three tables before I stopped. My ribs burned with red hot pain and every breath sent needles up my chest. I tried to curl up, shocked out of the hunger for the moment but I was pushed back down and Mr. Tiny towered over me, pushing his hand flat on my chest. The rest of the humans filed out the restaurant and I squirmed unhappily, watching all the free meals escape.

"Explain," Mr. Tiny snapped, digging his fingers even harder into my chest.

Harkat wobbled over to us. "I just did. He needs to drink blood much more often then a normal half vampire. This is how you found him when we escaped, but he didn't have so many meal options last time."

"Why would he not say something?" Mr. Tiny spat.

Harkat scowled back. "In case you haven't noticed, you aren't exactly the most approachable person."

Mr. Tiny pushed his hand into my chest so hard I cried out.

The pressure on my chest did not let up and I moaned in pain, tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. I was sure at least a couple ribs were broken. Mr. Tiny continued his argument with Harkat and his hand slid further up my chest until his fingers were digging into the base of my throat. I saw my chance and pulled my head up, sinking my teeth into his forearm. Mr. Tiny pulled back but I hung on stubbornly, not even trying to drink just repaying him for the pain. But when his blood flooded my mouth my fangs broke free again and I stopped trying. I had gotten barely anything when Mr. Tiny ripped free. I stumbled backwards and over Mr. Tiny's shoulder Harkat mouthed "run."

I did so, crashing through the restaurant doors and stumbled out onto the street. I could barely walk and my chest ached fiercely. Mr. Tiny and Harkat were still shouting and I hoped Harkat bought me enough time to get far enough away so Mr. Tiny would have to search awhile and cool off first. But barely two blocks away I gave up and went into an alley, sitting behind a dumpster. In a puddle on the ground I gingerly pulled up my hoodie; I looked myself over and winced. My side was black and blue and running my fingers over the bruise made my side scream in pain. My chest had a handprint shaped bruise and more fingerprint bruises dotted my throat and collar. A gash on my hairline that I hadn't felt before bled sluggishly, trailing red lines down the left side of my face. The dragon was curled up on my leg shaking and I wholeheartedly agreed with it. Sirens sounded in the distance and I mimicked the dragon's position behind the dumpster. I wouldn't be running anywhere if they found me.

Enough time went by that I stopped bothering to wipe the blood off my face and it dried in a sticky mess in my hair and down my cheek and chin. When I opened my mouth the blood cracked and flaked off, falling onto my jeans so I stopped moving. Police officers ran up and down the streets, even coming into the alley but strangely they never saw me. One even looked directly at me and he only looked confused before leaving. I had hoped that even if Mr. Tiny wanted to abandon me Harkat would leave him and find me, but it seemed that wasn't going to happen.

I dozed off and woke up when the sun was setting. It was a cold evening but I could only think it had nothing on the desert; but sitting on cold cement with no shirt while leaning against an even colder dumpster was not fun. I couldn't leave because the police would definitely see me then. I picked at the blood on my face, trying to take shallow breaths to lessen the pain, thinking that both Evanna and Mr. Tiny needed a lesson in how to take surprising news. I was still hungry too; I had drank enough to keep me from hunting humans right now, but by the morning I would be back at it if I wasn't too stiff to move. Whenever I was alert enough I splashed water onto my hoodie to soak it. The water sank into my wounds and while the water wasn't clean enough to heal me it helped with the pain. When I looked up again my heart nearly stopped. Mr. Tiny was walking on the other side of the main street, looking if possible more pissed off then he had in the restaurant. His head was turning from side to side and he was barging through humans like they weren't even there. I didn't see Harkat with him and my stomach churned. Maybe he had killed Harkat and was coming after me now. I watched him pause in front of a clothing store and stare at himself in the window. His reflection distorted and then melted apart as I watched, coming together to form an entirely new face. Then his clothes changed too but before I could catch a glimpse of more then a brown leather jacket and dark eyes he was swallowed up by a group of people entering the store; when the crowed cleared he was gone.

"Crap," I muttered. I soaked the hoodie for the last time and put it back on, wincing as the fabric stuck to my side. The rest of the puddle went toward getting the blood off my face and splashing some on my chest bruises before using the dumpster to stand up. I probably looked like a homeless lunatic, so no self respecting store would let me buy new clothing with the wallet. I looked at my phone and saw that both Mr. Tiny and Harkat had tried to call several times; the latest call of Harkats had been only five minutes ago. I touched the screen and sent Harkat a quick text saying "Alive" before wobbling out of the alley and looking up and down the street. The phone buzzed again and I looked at the reply.

Where are you!' It read.

'Still near the restaurant. Saw Mr. Tiny and he looks livid, so relocating.' I sent back.

'Are you hurt badly? Mr. Tiny wouldn't believe me that I thought you were. He thinks he only knocked you around a bit.' Harkat sent and I could practically feel the indignation in the message.

I hesitated before answering, thumbs hovering over the keypad. 'A few broken ribs, bruises and a cut but otherwise fine. Pain level is under management for now.' I put the phone back in my pocket and straggled up the street, keeping a wary eye out for Mr. Tiny. I tried to walk normally but it was almost impossible the more my clothing dried. The phone vibrated and I fished it out of my pocket to look at the screen. The caller ID was Mr. Tinys and I watched the call go on and on. When it ended I made to put the phone away again but an idea came to me and I sent another message to Harkat. 'Text Mr. Tiny and tell him I won't answer you. Also did you change my name to Shadow in your phone?'

'Yes I changed it. I already told him you wouldn't answer before after the third call. That's when he left.' Harkat replied. He sent another message directly after the first. 'You need a doctor. Your ribs could shift again and puncture a lung if you get in a fight.' Then another message came before I could reply. 'Mr. Tiny needs anger management classes.'

I would have snorted if I wasn't nursing broken ribs. I typed up a quick reply. 'I will be fine. Right now a punctured lung would be the least of my worries if Mr. Tiny caught up to me. And speaking of that I need to move. I'll text again when "safe".' I tucked the phone back in my pocket and pulled the hood lower around the sides of my face. It wasn't to keep Mr. Tiny from noticing me, he knew exactly what I was wearing but it was to keep people from seeing the fangs that were stubbornly refusing to withdraw. Every time someone came up behind or in front I turned my head in the other direction until they passed. Scenting the air was hard when I couldn't take a deep breath without excruciating pain but I managed to identify people who came towards me pretty quickly. The pain was spreading into my shoulder and arm, making movement even harder and I hadn't even made it three streets over. I leaned against the wall and cursed. I had suffered multiple wounds far worse then this and somehow these injures were even more incapacitating. I slowly slid down the wall and managed to get out the phone again. I swiped blood out of my eyes from my head wound which had reopened and wrote a message that I hated to send. 'Can't walk anymore. He really did a number on me.' I set the phone down on the sidewalk next to me and tried to look completely normal to the passing people.

The reply came much faster then I expected and when I looked at the screen I mentally beat myself over the head. I had sent the message to the only other number in my phone. 'I suppose you meant to send this to your cohort. Where are you?' I didn't answer and another text came through. 'Unless you were lying to Harkat, you are in need of medical attention. Tell me where you are. Now.'

I sent a short and to the point message. 'No.'

'I did not drag you out of a desert with my blood in your stomach to watch you die in a filthy Vegas alley.' Then. 'If you do not tell me where you are I will simply leave.' And again. 'You are being utterly ridiculous.'

The last message enraged me into replying. 'Sure. I am being stupid for refusing medical help from the person who sent me off in this condition in the first place!' It was only after I sent the message that I got the desperation in the things Mr. Tiny had sent. Whatever twisted plan he had in mind, had me as the starring player and he couldn't very well put it into motion with me hiding in some alley. Under normal circumstances I was sure he would merely have thought about finding me and been able too, but I guessed whatever kept the police away was working on him too.

'You were being irrational.'

'So beating me up was the answer? Congratulations you sound like Harrison.' I nearly cracked the screen with the force of that message.

'I do not lower myself to the level of that man.'

'You already have! What happened in there was exactly what he did! You found out something you didn't like and acted like a child. Why would I stay with a man that seems no different then the person who locked me up and tortured me? I had nothing when I woke up. Nothing. I have no memories of nice people and so far most of the ones I've met this time around are bastards.' That time I sent the message with shaking fingers. This was the hardest act I'd put on as Shadow and it wasn't even a lie. Harkat had really been the only decent person. Of course I wouldn't really leave, I needed to stay and figure out how to fix Mr. Tiny and the rest of my friends, but I would not put up with Mr. Tiny's unpredictable mood swings. While Harrison had been awful, he had been partially right. It was really easy to make my magic hate someone or something, and equally easy to instill fear. Even before the restaurant the dragon and I always got tense around the man and it would only be worse now. The phone remained silent and I smiled. My message was probably making Mr. Tiny think about how he could manipulate me into staying, but the end result would be he would have to act politer and rein in his anger even more. I didn't intend to keep my magic a secret forever, but I would only reveal it on my terms and when Mr. Tiny was in a very, very good mood.

"Shadow!" A quiet voice was saying from some distance away. The voice was moving from street to street, calling down each alleyway they found. It was Harkat, and there was only his footsteps. When he got to my street I responded to him with a grunt and he ran, crouching in front of me.

"Took you long enough," I said wincing when Harkat touched my ribs and chest. "How did you convince Mr. Tiny to go alone? Or did he leave us?"

Harkat sighed. "I told him that you would have run a long ways into the city so he went to look there. I knew he had done enough damage that you wouldn't have gone far. He wouldn't let me go for a long time. I haven't seen him that mad before," Harkat said almost reverently.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I should have said something."

Harkat waved me off. "I told him the truth. If he was a bit less creepy and approachable maybe this stuff wouldn't happen."

"You called him creepy?" I said, raising my eyebrows.

"Yep," Harkat said proudly.

"I bet he loved that," I said and closed my eyes. "What a first day in Vegas. We didn't even get drunk!" I mock complained.

Harkat smiled before lightly patting me on the shoulder. "There is always tomorrow. Mr. Tiny said we would have about a week. Stay here. I'll go and get some pain killers," he said and walked back up the street.

I rubbed the screen of my phone and frowned. I knew Mr. Tiny would think about his answer, but taking this long was odd. He was probably crisscrossing the city right now, either in fury or reluctant acknowledgement of his mistakes. I had given him a little bit more information about Harrison to pacify him, but I was in no mood to go into details and doubted I ever would be.

A bit later another set of footsteps walked toward me. "Go away," I said without opening my eyes. The steps stopped right in front of me and a pair of green rain boots scraped on the cement when the man crouched down. "I mean it," I hissed and cracked open my eyes.

Mr. Tiny had his head tilted and was studying me rather intently. Harkat was right. Creepy was the perfect word. "Harkat lied to me," he said almost contritely. "You didn't make it very far."

"Came to finish the job?" I asked spitefully.

Mr. Tiny arched an eyebrow. "If I wanted to kill you I would not have fed you my blood to keep you alive. I would merely have ended you right away." He sniffed. "I don't waste time in idle chit chat with people I intend to kill."

"Comforting," I said.

"It should be," Mr. Tiny said seriously. He shifted a little closer and did something that I never would have thought he would do. "Though occasionally I forget myself."

I stared at him silently. That was the closest I had ever heard him get to an apology and for a moment I caught a glimpse of the Mr. Tiny I had come to like. Perhaps wiping his memories hadn't erased everything? "Fine," I grumbled. "Though I would appreciate if you "forgot" yourself on an inanimate object next time."

Mr. Tiny's lips curled into a half smile and his old shrewdness came back in an instant. "Of course," he murmured. He tucked his watch back in his pocket; I hadn't even noticed it in his palm and reached forward to pull me upright. "I will see to your injuries at the tent. I do not wish to stay in this dirty place any longer." He stared at my grimy self and his fingers twitched.

I hid a smile and allowed Mr. Tiny to haul me up. He half carried me down the street and I looked over his shoulder, to where Harkat had vanished. "We need to get Harkat," I said.

"He will meet us back at the tent," Mr. Tiny said and his phone disappeared back into a hidden pocket. We walked in silence for a while before the tent came into sight. Harkat was already waiting outside and he took my other side, helping me to the chair he normally sat in and lowered me down. Mr. Tiny set his watch on a table and snapped his fingers. My hoodie vanished and he stared at my torso with a blank expression; I was still just as black and blue and when his fingers touched my side my teeth clicked next to his arm before he pulled away. Mr. Tiny summoned a cup to him and slit his wrist with a fingernail, letting blood flow into the cup until it was completely full. He handed me the glass and I stared at the contents with a tiny bit of revulsion, even though my fangs were completely out and aching.

"The blood will speed your healing," Mr. Tiny explained. "And perhaps I should tell you that you will no longer be able to drink from humans."

"What?" I exclaimed.

"When a vampire or vampaneze drinks from me it does not kill them like commonly believed. Instead it binds them and I together permanently. Your thirst will not be satisfied by anything but my blood and if you drink human it will poison you." Mr. Tiny smiled widely. "And do not try to hide your hunger because instead of going after humans, you will seek out me."

I stared down at the cup again and tipped it to my lips before I lost my nerve. Somehow it tasted different then when it had come directly from Mr. Tiny and it took a few seconds of sucking through my fangs before I figured it out. Before his blood had held huge amounts of magic and now it was empty. The blood still sated my hunger, but it felt lacking somehow. I emptied the cup and sagged in relief, finally being rid of the bloodlust was a wonderful feeling.

"Tomorrow you two will have the run of Vegas by yourselves," Mr. Tiny said. "I have other business to attend." He pulled out his heart shaped watch and placed it on my chest; even though I was mostly sitting up the watch did not slide off my bruises. It started to glow so brightly I looked away and stared at the ceiling. It was strange feeling my bones knit together and the pain flow down to my legs then out of my feet.

Harkat spoke up and he looked like he had just figured something out that he didn't like in the slightest. "How did they find us in the desert? They would have been driving during Mr. Tiny's shielding to catch us sleeping."

I put my head back up to stare at my friend and frowned. "I don't know," I said slowly. The implications of Harkats words were worrying. If they could find us under the protection of the most powerful man in the world, then they could find us anywhere.

"They could already be here," Harkat said. "They could have been in that restaurant watching."

"Let them come," I snarled.

"Brave words," Mr. Tiny said quietly.

"We could run," Harkat said.

"No," I snapped. "Harrison's men will keep on coming even if we run to the edge of the world. We need to show them that their presence will be met with lethal force." I grinned darkly.

Harkat rubbed his hands together. "It's been too long since I last had a fight where we are the attackers," he said gleefully.

I squeezed the cup with the last bits of Mr. Tiny's blood in it so hard that it shattered. Pieces of glass went everywhere and I ignored the tiny cuts in my palm. "They have no idea what we are capable of," I muttered.

Harkat held out his hand to me and took off the necklace providing his disguise. He rolled up his sleeve and the white string gleamed. "I'll be ready and waiting," he vowed.

I leaned back my head and let the injuries keep healing, my thoughts drifting to tomorrow and all the possibilities that lay within it. Vengeance and of course getting roaring drunk in celebration. The corners of my mouth lifted and I chuckled. Tomorrow had the makings of a fabulous day.