RPOV

Freaking snow. Why does there have to be so much God Damn snow?

I had noticed some weird behavior from Mason last night. I had wanted to talk to him, but he just shut me down. It hasn't been the same between us since he realized Dimitri and I were together. That was seriously pissing me off. Was I only worthy of attention when I was available?

I woke in the middle of the night, because my brain was still fuming over the fact Mason was basically ignoring me. I looked around and noticed he wasn't there. When I noticed that Eddie was missing too, and that all their stuff was gone, alarm bells went off.

My first instinct was to wake Dimitri, but he had been so hard on Mason for the last few days, I decided that someone else was probably better suited to talk Mason down. And I didn't want him to get in any more trouble with Dimitri. So I did something I never thought I would do, and probably will never do again.

I asked Christian to help me. Yes, he was also helping with my flame, but Dimitri had orchestrated that. Not that I wasn't grateful, but I hadn't actually uttered the words 'help me' to him.

Christian and I had a bit of a strange relationship. We both recognized we would be in each other's lives and that it would mean so much to our better halves for us to get along, and in some way, we did get along. But we were simply too much alike to admit it.

I had carefully detangled myself from Dimitri and had woken a mumbling Christian up. When I explained that Eddie and Mason were missing, he quickly woke.

He had argued that we should tell Dimitri, but I first wanted to see if we could spare Eddie and Mason some humiliation and punishment by bringing them back before everyone, including Dimitri, woke up.

So that is why we were now trenching through the snow. So much snow. The further we went the harder it was to simply walk. The snow was already up to my knees. We were still able to follow their trail, but more snow was falling, obscuring their movements with every passing second.

It was almost light out, and I knew we would have no hope of returning in time to the basecamp, so no one had known we had gone in the first place.

I was starting to get discouraged of finding them when we spotted them sitting against an old cabin. It was a lonely structure here in the wilderness, and by the looks of it, it hasn't been used in ages.

When they looked up and saw us, I could see their disappointed faces.

"You idiots, what were you thinking? You could have walked right into a Snow Dragon trap!"

"I was thinking I was tired of your boyfriend waiting around and doing nothing. We knew they were here and he was not doing anything about it. He has been picking on me from the start. I would show him I was worth his time. I would show him that I could handle myself in a Snow Dragon fight… but they aren't here."

The last bit sounded like he was five years old. I understood his need to do something, but this was foolish.

"We have to get back. If we hurry, maybe I can spin it so they think we simply went on a walk or something?"

I saw Eddie nod, almost eager to be getting back but heard Mason say something colorful under his breath about me sure being able to convince Dimitri. I chose to ignore that for his sake.

"So there was no activity here at all?" Christian asked.

Both boys nodded.

"We checked the cabin. But it doesn't seem like it has been used in a while."

I wondered why giant Snow Dragons would transform and use the cabin in the first place. Most likely they just used it as a way to orient themselves. It was the only distinguishable trait from the sky in the wide vicinity.

"You can check if you want."

Well, we were here now. I looked towards Christian and he simply shrugged. We moved inside and looked around. It did look like an old dusty cabin. One part of the roof had collapsed and the snow had also infiltrated the cabin there. I was really starting to dislike snow. It seemed like a virus, infiltrating anything, the cabin, the trees, my shoes and somehow my undergarments.

The cabin wasn't big. I doubt a full sized Dragon could fit in here. It was made for humans. There were some old pots and pans around, a large fireplace and one lonely rickety chair. Really the only thing that seemed to be new in this cabin was some writing on the wall. Letters mostly, but also some squiggly lines.

"There is nothing here, we checked. This was a waste of time. What we are doing here is a waste of time. We should be fighting Snow Dragons at the front with the rest. This war is going to pass us by, and we won't even have had a change to fight."

I sincerely doubted that. Not just because Yeva had told me otherwise, but also, because as I was staring at the writing it started to become clear what it represented.

Letters indicating the different battalions and the lines indicating where they were and if they had been dealt with. Some of the letters had a cross next to them.

This was a relay station for information. They had been here, and they would be here again.

"We need to get out of here."

All three boys noticed the slight panic in my voice as I was basically running outside. We would be sitting ducks here.

But it was too late. I ran right into the waiting claws of a Snow Dragon.

He looked somewhat confused to see us here. But as more and more of us came pouring out of the cabin his smile grew.

I had never seen a Snow Dragon, and I could see why the mere sight of them could entice someone to scream. Their scales were white, almost translucent. I could actually see blue veins just beneath the surface. Their eyes were an intense crimson red. Rumors go that they drink the blood of their victims and that turns their eyes red. And I would have to agree, the red in their eyes, was the exact color of blood. Their fangs were certainly longer than our Dragons.

Their overall appearance definitely screamed vicious predator, but there was an air about them that animals didn't have. They didn't just look dangerous. They had an air of death around them. And when I looked into their eyes, I couldn't detect anything of a soul. Even the most ferocious predator I had seen in my life had a reflection of a soul in their eyes, but with these Snow Dragons, their eyes were empty. Like staring into the night sky and nothing looks back.

The smirk that was pulling up at the snout wasn't helping things either.

The boys had all transformed into their human form to fit inside the cabin, and it was costing us now. The Snow Dragon didn't give them any time to transform back to their full size. And although I had been trained to fight Snow Dragons in my human form, they hadn't, and I kind of had to use them in their Dragons form to be able to fight Snow Dragons too.

A second Dragon landed beside him, and I could tell this one was female. Also, the vibe I was getting from her was less frightening than I had been getting from the male. Maybe because he was bigger, although I doubted it. Maybe because there was still a lingerance of humanity left in the eyes of this woman. I could feel the power and experience emanating from the male, whereas the female looked new and inexperienced. I immediately pegged the male as one of the leaders. Well, at least we found him.

"Look, Elena, I didn't think we would find Fire Dragons so far north. And with a human too. How peculiar."

He thought I was human. That would give me an advantage later on, but right now I had to play it cool. I wondered what it was that set me apart from the other fire Dragons. Dimitri is able to sense my power, so why couldn't he? But I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Let them transform back, Isaiah, at least they will be a proper meal that way."

I saw Eddie and Mason flinch. So the rumors were true. They did drink from their victims. Great, they would be done with me in one gulp.

"Oh, Elena, You have much to learn. We will feast on them, but they aren't here alone. I suspected they would send a troop north to intercept us. These are the scouts. I have no idea what the human is doing here though. Probably some battle whore for one of them."

"Hey."

Isaiah raised the scales above his eyes at me. He seemed amused at my reaction. I suppose that was better than the alternative.

"No, we are going to torture them until they talk and then we are going to drain them dry."

He moved so quick I didn't have time to move. I didn't even have time to blink. He had Mason and Eddie knocked out before I took my next breath. Elena was standing behind Christian, daring him to make a move. But he knew that there was no choice but to admit defeat now and hopefully have a chance to escape later. We would need all of us to be able to get out of here.

The Snow Dragons tied Mason's and Eddie's limp bodies to a tree. I saw Christian calculate if one of us could make a run for it and get the others, but neither of us was comfortable leaving Eddie and Mason. Isaiah had his hand around Eddie's neck and stuck his tongue out. The slimy appendage was slithering across his neck. But Eddie made no move, and Isaiah's eyes never left ours, daring us to make a move.

So reluctantly we surrendered to Isaiah, and he strapped us to another tree.

After he decided the power of his sheer size wasn't necessary anymore to keep us in line, he transformed into his human form, Elena following close behind.

When I say human, I mean humanoid. He had a head and body, arms and legs, and stood upright like us. So technically he looked human. But the creature before me had abandoned all forms of humanity long ago. Somehow seeing the pale skin and piercing red eyes in human form was more disturbing to me than seeing the equivalent in Dragon form. The fangs that were still present weren't helping matters either.

The sight of those fangs and red eyes became even more frightening when he sank his teeth into poor unconscious Eddie. I knew he wouldn't kill him, but he seemed to be taking a lot of blood and Eddie looked paler by the minute. His red eyes seemed to glow with new life as Eddie's blood was fueling Isaiah.

For a moment there, I thought he was actually going to kill Eddie, and I tried very hard not to let the panic show on my face. But eventually, he pulled back. He wiped his mouth almost in a dignified way, it being in stark contrast to his savage ways a moment ago.

"I assume you know the drill. You talk, or I kill him."

I looked at Eddie. I didn't want to let him die. I would do anything to stop that from happening, but I couldn't give up Dimitri and the others. Not only because it was Dimitri, but because keeping them safe was the only chance we had of winning this war.

I looked over to Christian for a moment, and he nodded. He was telling me to be strong and keep my mouth shut, no matter what happened, and I was telling him the same.

I thought I saw a small smile appear on Isaiah's face when he noticed our reluctance. He seemed almost pleased we were refusing to talk and effectively choosing Eddie to suffer. I understood why. He still had bodies left. He only needed one of us to talk.

I saw he was about to drink from Eddie again, no doubt taking everything this time, and I was about to abandon all my principles and scream what he wanted to know, to spare Eddie when we were interrupted by a third Snow Dragon. Isaiah seemed annoyed, and I could tell this was probably a gopher.

"What?" Isaiah snarled at the Dragon who landed next to him. It was almost comical to see that the large Dragon was afraid of Isaiah who in his human form seemed rather small. But the power radiating off of him, even in human form, left no doubt about who the more powerful creature was.

"I…I have information about the eastern front…Sir."

I saw Isaiah roll his eyes but walked away with the Snow Dragon none the less. They moved into the cabin and the gopher transformed in order to handle the human size map and the mark the wall.

Elena was following the two men inside and left us alone. With the binds and two of our men unconscious, it was a safe bet that we would stay put, but Christian and I looked at each other anyway, trying to come up with a solution to our predicament.

"Can you burn the ropes?" I asked hopefully to Christian.

He looked at me as if I was crazy. Of course he could burn the ropes. I probably could too. But he motioned towards our two unconscious brethren.

"I can't carry two unconscious Dragons and you on my back. Getting rid of the ropes doesn't help us if we can't flee."

Right, of course. Snow Dragons were fast. We needed to figure out how to get out of their reach. Unfortunately, I knew of only one way, and I think Christian had come to the same conclusion. They only way we would make it out of here alive is if we killed them. Now I had no problem taking the lives of these monsters, after all, that was the whole purpose of Christian's and my training. I just didn't like our odds.

"Well, at least they didn't take my weapon."

I saw Christian look and he did see my weapon strapped to my back. Only the tip of it was visible from my coat.

"They probably didn't even think about checking the 'human battle whore.'"

I looked foully at Christian both for calling me a whore, and for finding time in these dire circumstances to make a joke. But I suppose he was right. They didn't know I was trained to kill them and had the means to kill them. And that has to be our trump card.

I heard groaning come from Mason's now semi-conscious form. He looked around in a bit of panic and noticed he was tied up. He scanned Christian and me, and I saw relief on his face as he took in our unharmed states. The relief vanished when he turned to Eddie. I must admit it was a gruesome sight. His neck was coated in dried blood, and he looked very pale. Mason looked at me in alarm.

"He is alive. The Snow Dragon wanted to intimidate us, but he needs him alive… for now. Are you okay? Can you fight?"

He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck.

"I will have a killer headache for a day or two, but I am good."

I looked towards Mason and Christian.

"So here is the plan. Mason, you are going to carry Eddie and get as far away from here as possible. Find Dimitri and get him to safety. Christian and I will hold off the Snow Dragons for as long as we can."

I saw Mason physically recoil at my suggestion. I wonder what had him so wound up? The fact that I was putting myself in danger, that he didn't get to fight the Snow Dragons or that he felt responsible for putting us in this situation? Judging by the mixed expression on his face, it was all of the above.

"You can't be serious Rose; I am not letting you fight a battle I created."

I looked over to Christian, but I knew he agreed with me. Strategically it was the soundest plan.

"Look, Mason, someone needs to take care of Eddie, but even if the other two will fight the Snow Dragons, there could be a real chance we will die, and that the Snow Dragons will be coming after you anyway. They will be much faster than you, certainly when you are carrying Eddie. They think I am human, so I hope I can use that element of surprise to take at least one Snow Dragon down. So I have to stay. I can't fly or carry Eddie anyway. Then it comes down to you or Christian staying, and Christian is simply more experienced in fighting Snow Dragons. So the two of us staying, while you flee with Eddie and get him some medical attention as fast as you can, gives all four of us the largest chance to survive. Any other combination, and the odds plummet."

I saw he was thinking it over from every angle trying to come up with an argument against this plan, but there really wasn't one, and after a few moments he seemed to realize this too.

"Now come on Sparky, I can get my own ropes off, you take care of theirs."

Christian very skillfully let out a string of fire that he was able to bend around Mason and Eddie so he could burn their ropes. I had only ever seen a straight stream coming from his mouth, but at that moment I realized how skilled Christian really was.

"I have to leave Eddie with some, otherwise he will fall, and they will notice."

"That is fine, I can rip the last bit," Mason replied.

"Quick, Mason, pretend to be unconscious. They are coming back. And when we break loose, go immediately. Don't hesitate."

He nodded, but I saw the indecision in his eyes.

"Well, bad news for you Dragons. We have gained more ground on the eastern borders. Now all you have to do is tell me where your General is, and we will have won this war."

Not on my watch.

I quickly stood up and pulled my blade from my sheath. While all three of them were simply staring at me like I was crazy, and then bursting into laughter, Christian and Mason were able to transform. Mason took Eddie's human body in his claws, and took to the skies. Christian and I moved in between the Snow Dragons and Mason as he was flying off into the distance.

"You can't be serious."

I simply waved my sword around in front of him.

"Dead serious."

"Well you'll be dead soon" Isaiah snarled at me. Transforming into his very impressive Dragon size, his companions not far behind.

"Sir, do I need to intercept them?" The recruit that had provided the information about the front asked.

I saw Isaiah look to the skies and smile. I followed his gaze, and I could still see Mason. He wasn't very fast even with Eddie in human form. Maybe we did make a judgment in error. Christian would have been faster.

But it was too late now, we would have to protect them. The recruit flew into the sky after a nod from Isaiah, and Christian looked in panic towards Mason and Eddie.

"Go," I said with a steely determination I projected more than I felt.

The whole point was to save as many of us as possible. There were two Dragons there and only one hybrid here. Besides Christian shouldn't be long. I saw he was chasing the Snow Dragon and unleashing his flame, trying to trap him in it. It was a game of cat and mouse, except with huge ass creatures.

So that left me with Isaiah and Elena. Stall as much as you can Rose.

"So, if you beg me for your life, I might let you live," I said towards Isaiah pointing my sword at him.

He laughed again.

"You are funny human. I do hope you will live the longest of you four. I might even spare you if you tell me what I want to know."

"How about I tell you something you need to know instead." Isaiah looked at me shrewdly but seemed curious. He knew I was stalling, but he didn't seem to care. In his mind, neither Christian nor I were a threat.

I felt deep inside myself and started to fan my own flame. I wasn't showing anything physical, yet but I was preparing myself to strike at a moment's notice. I coiled my muscles, I let the adrenaline fuel my body and I took off.

I was ducking underneath Elena, and hit her hind leg, making her stumble, and then I moved to Isaiah and used my blade to cut a scale on his shoulder. It had been somewhat close his neck, and he seemed very surprised I was able to get so close. Although Snow Dragons are faster than Fire Dragons, the element of surprise went a long way.

I let the flames engulf my hand and transfer to my blade. I saw his eyes widen in shock and realization.

"I am not a human, I am a hybrid and I will be the last thing you see in this world."

He seemed more annoyed at my revelation than anything else, and I must admit as he was charging me, and I could barely evade him, that he had skills to brag about. And to make matters worse, Elena was mixing in as well. Now I might have been able to take one of them down, but two of them? I could just stay out of their reach, and it was taking everything I had not to die. I was engaged with Elena and I knew that if Isaiah would attack now that I would be dead. I was waiting for the final blow, seeing him enter my field of vision.

Then all of a sudden I was only fighting Elena. Now still no easy task, but I was able to get in a few good hits and take a sneak peek at who my rescuer was, fully expecting Christian to have come back.

But it wasn't Christian. It was Mason. Mason looked at me with a goofy smile, when Isaiah was ready to strike. He should have never kept his eyes off of Isaiah.

It happened so fast. Isaiah moved like lighting. I froze. I knew that Dimitri said something about Snow Dragons being able to use their icy breath much like Fire Dragons breathed fire, but I doubt that was the source of my immobility now. How Elena didn't take that moment to take me out, I would never know. Maybe she wanted to see the spectacle. Although it wasn't a spectacle. It wasn't brutal or savage or bloody. It was simply that Mason was here one moment and the next he had left this world. The only sign of his demise the emptiness in his eyes and the slightly awkward angle of his neck.

It was almost funny, because it wasn't the fact I saw Mason die that was jump starting me into action again. It was when Isaiah threw him away like a ragdoll that got me out of my stupor and into a blind rage. The fire was no longer contained solely on my hands or sword; it had engulfed me.

Elena was charging me again, but she wasn't able to touch me because of the fire, and I simply evaded her punch, jumped and landed on that sweet spot on her back, glad Elena had been much smaller than Dimitri and I had practiced my own jumps a lot. I drove my sword and flame into her spine. When she fell lifeless on the ground, I noticed I must have overdone it a little. Her head was nearly completely severed from her spine, her head attached by a few tendons and a small piece of vertebrae in her neck.

I directed my eyes at Isaiah, and he seemed to have accepted the challenge. We charged each other. He was faster, but his bulky form made it harder for him to maneuver. Being small and agile did have its uses. But he had seen me jump on Elena's back, and the damage I had done afterwards, so he was determined not to expose himself there. But I had other plans. I didn't necessarily have to hit his spine. At one point I ducked underneath him, slicing open part of his belly. I heard him scream in agony as I both cut and burned him at the same time. He was frantically grasping for me underneath him, trying to put some of his gut back in. But I was already somewhere else. And when he finally looked my way, my sword connected with his snout. And I just kept hacking and hacking, until his screaming had died down.

His blood felt hot on my skin, and I found it strange that such an icy breed had warm blood. I would have thought their blood would have been as cold as them, I also somehow found it strange it was red as mine was. Somehow he and I having anything in common offended me.

After I made sure he was dead by hacking a few more times, until he head was completely severed from his body, I moved over to Mason. His body still felt warm, but I could no longer feel the internal flame within him. I cradled his large head in my lap and started to cry.