Chapter 4

            Scarlett sat in the bus, making plans for the next 24 hours. She had already decided that she couldn't risk meeting with Ian at Vorshlag or the mansion. There was to great a risk to others present if Blair came. She would call Ian as soon as she reached the bus stop and go from there.

            If she made it that far; there had been no sign that Blair was anywhere near New York, or even knew that she was presently here. But she wouldn't put it past him to have an ambush waiting for her somewhere around here.

            It was that thought that prompted her to write the letter she now slipped into her journal. It was a simple black leather covered book that had a red and gold phoenix embossed on the cover. It had been a gift from Danny, and contained her thoughts and observations on all the Dragons.

            She slipped the book into the green duffel bag as the bus pulled into the stop. She got off the bus and proceeded to walk a few blocks down. She was a little less than a block and a half away when she sensed them.

            Blair had come for her, just like she had known he would.

            "Hello, Christian." She said her voice even and cold to him.

            "I knew you'd come here, Red. You always ran to Ian when you were in trouble."

            "I'm not running to Ian, I came to find you. I knew you would expect me to come here. So here I am."
            She watched calmly as Blair stepped out of the alleyway in front of her and knew the other five were fanned out to flank her from behind. She spared a glance towards Hector, and the others.

            "Why won't you just leave me be, Firebird? I'm perfectly happy where I am, I have no quarrel with you if you want to go through with this. I won't say they are all perfectly innocent, I know better. But that doesn't mean you should make the innocent pay, it's an obstruction to what we all hold fast to."

            "It's a war, one that we need to wage. If innocents die, it's a small amount to pay to get retribution for the crimes committed against us, Phoenix."

            "It's madness that's what it is." She said, shaking her head in pity towards them.

            "You can either help us. Or…." Blair trailed off, as he tossed a manila envelope to her.

            She opened the envelope, and perused its contents. Pictures, very candid pictures of her and her friends at the Pit. The Dragons had been there, earlier and taken those pictures without any one's knowledge. In giving her the envelope, Blair had just said that he could get in and out easily enough to kill them all without a single thought.

            "Or they can pay for your refusal with their lives."

            "You bastard." She whispered.

            "Fine, I'm in. Like you knew I'd be." She answered him.

            She walked away from the street with the rest of the Dragons, leaving behind the green bag. It sat on the street as the only evidence that she had been there safely hidden within lay the journal and the letter.