Chapter 8

Strolling down the corridor with Rose, Red Dragon could not shake the impression that there was something wrong. She felt strangely tense, and once again her mood changed rapidly, from slight tranquillity to acute unease, again a feeling that was alien and certainly not her own. Fearing she would be taken over like a few minutes before, she slowed her pace, causing Rose to slow down as well. In a voice tinged with nervousness, Rose enquired,

"What's wrong?"

From her tone Red Dragon deduced that there was something bothering her. Gazing shrewdly at her, Red Dragon noticed the aura around rose was tinged with purple, a sure sign of worry. She frowned as she internally questioned how she knew this.

"I could ask you the same question."

Rose looked even more nervous, seeming reluctant to reveal the cause. Red Dragon grew irritated, discerning from Rose's behaviour that it was something to do with her.

"Oh, spill why you don't! Whatever it is has really got you wound up" she growled. Rose's attitude was beginning to grate on her nerves; the last thing she wanted was to lose her temper again and it was difficult to suppress her anger.

"I…I…W-what happened in the Headmaster's office?"

Red Dragon snorted in slight amusement.

"Surely you know…" she drawled, "You must have heard everything that happened; you were so close to the door I nearly fell over you going out".

Rose coloured slightly at this and mumbled in embarrassment "Not enough to understand what was going on".

Red Dragon rolled her eyes in response.

"I'm afraid I don't understand myself what all of it's about, but I should know in a day or two. I'll tell you then."

Rose seemed slightly disappointed but to Red Dragon's surprise did not press her for answers. Instead she looked away and centred her gaze on the door of the back entrance. As they neared the door, the foreign sense of unease grew to almost unbearable levels and Red Dragon was forced to stop abruptly, gasping for breath as her heat speeded up extremely rapidly. Rose stopped as well, her expression displaying a concern that was much unexpected.

A few metres behind them the white-coat scowled. His plan was unravelling already! He had hoped the bestial half of the girl would not have detected him, but it evidently had. He raised his gun, levelling it squarely at the girl's chest. She had to be taken out first, she was the most dangerous, but the other one was relatively harmless. He had no desire to let the creature bond with another, that would ensure its survival and he was there to make sure its life was terminated, even if it meant killing the host as well.

Red Dragon stiffened as control of her body began slipping away. However, this was very different to what she had experienced before. In the Headmaster's office, her body had been taken over in a split second, but now the process was a lot slower. There was a tentative approach, almost as if whatever had possessed her before was now asking permission to use her. In the same instant that she realised this, Red Dragon's sharp eyes picked out the white-coat with the levelled gun (although he was pressed almost out of sight against the wall). Knowing that the only chance of stopping him was to let her other half take over she had just enough time to snarl at rose

"Get Headmaster, reinforcements! Now!"

Then she grimly surrendered control. As the familiar bestial fury and fierceness sprang up from within her she leapt at the white-coat which extended claws, dimly aware of Rose rushing past them and towards the Headmaster's door. The white-coat's finger squeezed the trigger and she moved the trajectory of her leap slightly, twisting her body sideways to avoid the bullet which whined over her right shoulder. With her momentum and speed she believed her other half would be able to prevent the white-coat from shooting again. However, she miscalculated. As she buried her claws into his arm, he fired again and she was now so close she was unable to dodge. As she slammed into him, a sharp and agonising pain erupted in her shoulder which seemed to obscure everything else. Distracted, she almost loosened her hold, but another burst of urgency and the solid mass of the gun pressing against her brought her back to reality. She slashed repeatedly at the man's fingers, causing him to release the gun with a scream. The fiery pain in her shoulder was still there but it was as if it was trickling through a filter, she barely felt it. Abruptly, she rammed her elbow in his stomach, and while he fought for breath and sagged against the wall, she landed on top of him and placed the tips of her claws against his neck, hissing in satisfaction at her capture.

Suddenly, there was a thundering of hurried footsteps and a group of white-coats, along with the Headmaster and Rose, rushed into view. Seeing them as rivals for her newly captured prey she snarled "Mine! My prey!" Rose gasped at her changed voice, but the Headmaster snapped,

"Red Dragon, release your prey at once!"

At the sound of his cold voice control of her body was relinquished once more, along with the pain. It was so strong that she was unable hold herself up anymore and she rolled off the white-coat. Landing on the floor she was unable to hold back whimpers at the pain, while the Headmaster flicked a hand to start the rest of his white-coats immobilising the now disabled gunman; before turning his attention to his stricken Prefect. Deftly he uncovered the bullet wound and noted that it was not too deep, the bullet could be extracted relatively easily. Noting that Rose was almost hysterical with anxiety he gestured back to his office and commanded curtly,

"Inform Red Dragon's family that she will be staying here for a while to assist with some important research. She has stayed here at great lengths before so the explanation will be believed".

After Rose had gone, the Headmaster noticed that Red Dragon's whimpers were getting loader. Evidently the pain was getting too much. Knowing that it would be ideal to have her asleep while extracting the bullet he removed his glasses and spoke firmly.

"Look into my eyes…"

The Headmaster was not certain that this would work, but her sleep would easier to control if it did. Red Dragon barely heard the Headmaster's order to Rose; she was too preoccupied with the pain in her chest. However, at his command she looked up. As her fierce eyes met his wide and vibrant green ones he spoke once again:

"Funny that you should be so tired, so early in the evening. You are tired, so tired, you can hardly hold up your head…"

The Headmaster's crooning and soothing voice, as well as his words and eyes began to relax her.

"So tired…so sleepy…sleep…"

As the last syllable was uttered, a great exhaustion rose up and overwhelmed Red Dragon as her eyes closed and she dropped into deep sleep.

A/N: I am SO SORRY an update has taken so long! I am afraid exams have rapidly consumed my time. I do hope you can forgive me, my readers. I am proud of this chapter; I think this is one of the longest I've written for this fic. Btw, did you think I got the hypnotism right? I read though all of the books and saw quite a number of TV episodes to get the wording right. What do you think?