Jake was really starting to get sick at the sound of his own coughing. His body was soaked in sweat and blood. Nausea had over taken and left the dragon puking unknown fluids across the cold floor. By this time he'd grown used to the taste of iron in his mouth, but the smell.. it was putrid! The teenager groaned quietly then winced.

Outside the door where Jake rested was the mysterious man in a dark cloak. He had thrown the dark haired boy in there and left him for half an hour then returned without saying a word. The room itself was cold and dark. The only light in the place was that of Jake's fire whenever it flared from his nostrils or his torched throat. The door to the room was solid steel, or at least that's what Jake assumed the material was, yet it wasn't 100% solid. On the upper center through the door was a small barred window in which the cloaked man watched Jake through. His fingers curled around a metal bar and his nose pressed between two of them.

The American dragon, still in human form, glanced up. He would question the odd behavior of his captor if he was conscious enough to think straight. The poor teen returned to pitifully coughing while the cloaked man sniffed the air and licked his swollen lips from behind the bars. The tip of his nails strummed against the metal bars blocking the small opening on the door. "Such a shame that's all going to waste.." The man croaked. His voice was hoarse and sounded strained. It was difficult for him to resist opening the door and sinking his fangs into the teenager's delicate flesh- but he knew very well it was best to not do so. Feeding upon a sick dragon is dangerous. Not only would his body get infected by the toxins and be ill, but the blood wouldn't have the same taste that he lusted.

Vampiric wizards were very particular on the blood of dragons. If survival depended on it, they would not hesitate on feeding on a dying dragon, yet seeing as this isn't the case.. The man sighed roughly and tore his gaze away from the room within Jake lied and turned on his heels. He nearly moaned just thinking about it.. The hot, fueling blood of a healthy dragon. A shudder ran down his spine. He was forced to wait until Jake was in better health, unfortunately.

Inside his cage Jake gripped his head. To his surprise he wasn't chained down or restricted in any form. If he wasn't feeling as awful as he was he would've dragon up'd and attempted to bust out the door, or at least blow fire at his captor's nose whenever he poked it through the caged window. Speaking of fire, a hot gas blew from his mouth and dried his lips. His tongue, unknowest to him in dragon form, licked over them. The boy whined as he felt them swell and crack. Every part of his body ached in one way or another. He just couldn't seem to catch a break!

"Thi-is sucks." His voice squeaked out. Then fire ruptured from his back and shrouded him with a protected shield. His wings covered the front have of his body as he curled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them. He felt safer that way somehow, like if he didn't see the cloaked man out side the door, then he couldn't see him back. "Alright ..-" The boy winced and coughed. "..A-alright Jake..calm down..G-gramps will be here any ..minute." He whispered quietly to himself. He needed a hope, something to cling to and encourage him to keep fighting. Although sleep seemed so heavenly right now.. to just shut his eyes, his muscles to relax, warmth to spread over his body.. never wake up. No!

Just as they began to droop Jake's eyes snapped open. Everything was too real to believe. The blood and regurgitated fluids from his stomach pooled around him and stained his clothing. What if he did go to sleep, but never woke up again? If he lost consciousness.. with an empty stomach and lack of blood, would he die? Jake bit down on his swollen lip and forced his eyes open. Tears began to swell in the teenager's eyes and his body shook far worse than before. Slowly he began panicking and his left eye twitched. What if he never got out? Died in his smelly, cold and dark place. Was it worth being the American dragon, to only end up in a place like this and die alone? He wasn't so sure if it was.

Lao Shi and Nigel had lost Jake's trail and his kidnapper at the worst moment. Currently Nigel was on the ground and concocting a spell whilst Jake's grandfather gathered ingredients that were requested by the wizard.

"We must hurry.." The Grandfather muttered, sweat beading down his wrinkled face. By now Nigel looked a few years older himself. The stress and worry on his features was wearing him down. It had been two days since they lost the trail of Jake and the mysterious man who took him.

After they had lost him, the two backtracked to the cafe and inspected every inch of the last room they saw Jake in. The office of the manager was dirty, wrecked, and reeked of alcohol. They were able to collect strands of DNA, hopefully that of the cloaked man, and returned to Lao shi's shop and experimented in the back.

Currently Nigel, with the help of Lao shi and Fu dog, were making a potion that would reveal where the cloaked man had teleported to. They knew he was a wizard, and thusly able to teleport. It was the only reasonable explanation for the sudden disappearance of Jake's scent and lack of the blood trail he left.

Fu dog was abnormally quiet through the process. Chances were that Jake was already dead, but none of them slowed their pace or gave up hope.

"If only we knew more about them.." Lao shi cursed silently to himself and ran his fingers through several old books, flipping the pages and attempting to find any information that could aid them in finding and defeating the vampiric wizard.

"Yeah, well I don't really think creatures that hate dragons would let their info be out in th' public for dragons to find." Fu dog muttered disdainfully. The old dog really wasn't himself. It was the first time that the odds were so stacked against them. It struck him hard, as well as everyone else.

For Lao shi, yesterday was one of his worst, and that's saying a lot considering what the old man has been through in the past. Of course Jake couldn't be 'gone' for two days. The grandfather was forced to contact his daughter and break the news. She was keen and Lao shi knew it, otherwise he would've lied to her- say something along the lines that Jake had hard training he needed to accomplish. Instead of talking to his daughter on the phone as she wept, he hung up right after being blunt as possible. He couldn't handle the truth himself, and if he got emotional.. No, he had to be strong for them, it was his duty as the Chinese dragon. He assumed his daughter, unlike himself, would lie to Jake's dad if she could calm herself and say he was on an over night field trip that she forget to mention at the last minute. Lao shi shook his head. He only wished her husband could know and handle the magical world. That was a husband's duty after all, to calm and support his wife, but that wasn't the case here it seemed.

There were other problems tangled in everything as well. There was Trixie and Spud, Jake's best friends. They wouldn't fall for the field trip gimmick. Since they already know of the magical world, it really wouldn't be fair to not tell them the truth. The problem was Lao Shi was sick of thinking over 'the truth' and wanted to get something done about the situation. The normally calm dragon was tense and stricken with.. fear. That's an emotion that hadn't come up since he last faced the dark dragon.

"I think I've got it!" Nigel's suddenly yelped out and nearly dropped his formulated potion. The bottle in which the mixture lied sparkled a gorgeous blue hue. Lao shi was torn from his thoughts, thankfully, and nearly dropped the book he was looking through.

"Let's not waste time." He muttered and was engulfed in flames. The chinese dragon wrapped himself loosely around Nigel and placed his claws gently on the red head's shoulders. Fu dog followed pursuit and grabbed onto Nigel's blue cape.

The poor teen was so nervous that he nearly forgot the spell he was to speak out for the potion to ignite. Nigel swallowed hard and narrowed his eyes. None of them had slept in the past two days, so it was difficult to remember that silly little phrase. What.. what was it? That's it!

"This creature we are looking for, running with a dragon, let us look no more- then we may take talion!" Nigel spoke aloud and felt the two around him brace themselves for the teleportation. Only problem is, nothing happened. The red head blinked in confusion and glanced at the sparkling potion. Just when Lao shi was about to speak, Nigel cut him off. The poor boy's face brightened into a deep shade of red that matched his hair. Whoops, wrong spell!

If they had a potion prepared that would take them to wherever the vampiric wizard currently was, then that would have been the proper spell to use. Instead, they're looking for words to use a potion that will take them to the last place the cloaked man teleported off to. The teen cleared his throat, then tried a new set of words.

"Where was it you last disappeared too? Take us there now, to a scene anew!"

The trio disappeared and left a thin cloud of smoke behind them.

Thank you all so much for commenting me to update _ Without the last person telling me to do so I would've blown this story off like I have been for too long and wait to update it later! Please keep nagging me at it, and I'll get around too it, otherwise I get distracted and skip off to other things xD I'm very sorry for not updating more frequently ^^ aheh, better than nothing though right?