A kiss on the cheek stirred Sira from her sleep, her eyes fluttering open to be greeted by the smiling face of the man who'd woken her.

"Good morning, Mrs. Moyer," he said with great pleasure. Sira laughed and pulled him in for a brief, loving, kiss on the mouth.

"Good morning, Mr. Moyer," she replied with equal pleasure. The pair lay in an over-large, over-pillowed, over-everything bed located in the over-lavish Honeymoon suite of a Caribbean resort that Sira hadn't asked the name of lest she be tempted to see how much her new in-laws had spent on the gift. Liam's parents saw money as no object, but her parents were much more frugal with their wealth. The difference between old money and nouveau riche.

She took a moment to rake her eyes over her new husband laying next to her. Bathed in afternoon light he looked like an angel with his dark hair, his pale skin, and those sparkling blue eyes. Irish blue. He was propped up on one elbow, with his cheek cradled in his hand. He'd let the blankets pool around his waist, so most of his toned upper body was left bare to her lustful review.

With a groan and her face flushed a brilliant scarlet she fell back into her own pillows, embarrassed by her own thoughts even if they were about her own husband. Her husband. She held up her hand to admire the rings on her left hand. Liam's mother had insisted she take the family diamond for her engagement ring, but he knew Sira didn't care for such flashy things. Her wedding band was carved from golden wood and inlaid with tiny flecks of different colored semi-precious stones. She was about to say something when the voice next to her interrupted her thoughts.

"Not thinking impure thoughts are we, pet?" She frowned. That's not what he'd said. That wasn't Liam's voice.

Before she could roll over to see what was amiss, then man next to her moved to loom over her. Those blue eyes were more gray, the hair blonde and far shorter than Liam ever kept his. Sira lay shock still, paralyzed with fear.

"Not who you were expecting?" Val asked in a mocking tone. "That's too bad, pet. I'm the one you're left with." He leaned in to kiss her, but Sira shoved him away. He laughed and said, "Maybe I'm not the one you want to see in your bed?"

When she sat up to yell, it was yet another man there next to her. Sun-kissed skin, dark hair streaked with sand, and yet another set of blue eyes different from the first, these more violet, and intense and....

Sira had been no where near the edge of the bed, but somehow she tumbled backwards in surprise, into unending darkness.

- - - - - -

Back in the realm of reality, Sira startled awake and sat straight up in bed. It wasn't the lavish one from her dream, nor the inn, not even her old apartment. This was a small, narrow thing in a small, sparsely decorated room. Mercy had been kind enough to let her stay with her on her ranch while she figured out where she could live. The woman was one of her oldest friends, but an odd sort of recluse, and probably even more wary of magic than even Sira. And a deep seated hatred for all things vampiric that she didn't feel necessary to suss out the reasoning behind.

She cradled her head in her hands, her cheeks suffused with color. "What the hell was that?" She asked the night air. Bryn was laying on the floor next to her, completely undisturbed by his human's distress. Sira rubbed the back of her neck and reflected on the details of the memory. It was a good one, that had been a great day, and it wasn't long after that when things started going horribly wrong in her life. She and Liam had been high school sweet hearts who got married after they'd finished their undergrad programs. Sira had just gotten into her first pick med school, and Liam was trying to decide between going for his Master's and taking a job at his father's security firm.

Val appearing there didn't disturb her as much as where the memory lead her, and she was sure it was just her own mind that had conjured it up. Still, she rubbed at the cheek he'd kissed earlier that same night and wondered if the gesture had triggered this particular walk down memory lane. The Elf appearing there at the end....Her cheeks were burning again and she flopped back into the horribly thin pillow behind her. She was going to have to talk to Mercy about her guest accommodations....

She thought she'd never fall back to sleep, as confused and mortified as she was, but it wasn't long before the darkness captured her once more.

- - - - - -

This time there was only darkness, at least at first. Sira stood in the center of the space, dressed as she had been for bed in loose black sleep pants, and a white tee shirt. The first thing that she noticed that was not just standing in a void, but rather there was dewy grass beneath her bare feet. She twisted and turned about to see if there was anything that she could see, but no. The shadows were just to thick.

When she'd turned to face the direction she'd first been looking when the dream started she realized she was not alone. Like the edges of the space she was in, she couldn't make out the tall figure ahead of her, yet she knew he was there.

"You are lost," a familiar voice said. Sira frowned and squinted as she tried to place where she knew it from, the face it belonged to. For a moment she could almost make out the outline of the man before her.

"I suppose I am," she said slowly. "I don't know how I got here."

"That is a deeper observation than you realize you are making," the voice replied. "You have received help to get here."

Sira shook her head, and tried to step forward to get a better look at the figure, but she found herself stuck in place. "Where exactly is here?"

The figure laughed as he replied, "There is no exact 'here', Sira." She couldn't see it, but she sensed he tipped his head. "I am surprised to see you make it this far."

She made a frustrated noise and tried again to move. "I hate these vague, non-answers," she spat. "Even when they come from my own mind."

"What makes you think you're still in your own mind?" The question gave her pause. She narrowed her eyes.

"I'm asleep, this is a dream, of course it's my own mind," she argued with some disbelief that she was arguing with a figment of her own imagination.

"Some dreams touch a higher plane of being," the voice said. "You should not be here if you are not more aware." She sensed movement again, a rustling of sound she couldn't place, and then actually saw a pale hand outstretched with a single, small feather settled in it's palm. "Take it."

Sira reached at the command without thinking about why she was obeying. She found herself unlocked from the ground so that she could cross the step or so she needed to so that she could reach the feather. In that moment she also caught sight of the golden eyes of the man who offered it out. She got another shock of surprise, because for a fleeting moment she knew who they belonged to, but the moment her fingers closed on the feather everything was gone.

- - - - - -

There was daylight streaming through her window when she woke this time, though she couldn't believe that dream had taken up the space of hours. The dream....She couldn't remember the details, they slipped through her fingers like grains of sand. Oh god, sand. Why couldn't she forget the other dream as easily!? She went to press her hands against her face, but something tickled her palm.

A feather. She held it up in surprise, wondering if it'd come from her pillow, but not. It couldn't have. It was the wrong kind, not a soft downy. It looked like a flight feather, but it was unlike any she'd seen before. It looked white, but when she turned it and it caught the light it had a faint golden sheen.

"Huh."

It was time to get up and leave the dreams behind. They were just going to make her head hurt.

"Try again."

A bucket of ice water hit Sira in the back and she cried out in shock, pain and frustration. The man pacing in the dark behind her had discovered how poorly she tolerated the cold and was taking advantage of that fact during their 'training'. Worse. Worse, he had discovered how much she hated the way her wet clothes clung to her body, how humiliated when he and the others looked on her without shame.

Trying to cover herself up had only earned her extra punishment, so she stood there with her arms at her sides, dripping wet in the cold, dark room, staring at a man strapped down to a chair. He hadn't been spared the water either, but that wasn't the torture he was there to endure. He was gagged, bruised from earlier....tenderizing....but he was there for Sira.

"I'm trying! It's not working," she said through clenched teeth, turning her head to look backwards over her shoulder. She could hear the man's steps, but the dim light hanging above her and the prisoner was intentionally too weak to show him. His face was etched in her mind, a man in his middling years with short cropped graying hair and emotionless brown eyes. Sociopaths make excellent serial killers and agents in top secret government programs.

"You're not trying hard enough," the man said in a sighing voice. "I don't think you really want to earn your freedom." He came closer, close enough that Sira knew she'd be able to see him, but she snapped her head forward. Looking meant punishment. Talking back like she wanted to would earn her more time in the chair herself with another IV drip in her arm.

She stood still with her eyes focused ahead when he had stepped close enough that she could feel the warmth radiate from his body. Fear welled in the pit of her belly like a hard stone. Already she'd lost at least twenty pounds while in captivity, her appetite gone. The little she'd forced herself to eat earlier in the day churned in her stomach and she fought to keep it down.

They were trying to break her. Trying to harden her. Trying to make her into something she wasn't. She'd never hurt someone before they'd gotten their hands on her. She'd taken the oath! Never had she used her abilities to do anything but take away pain, never to give it. The skills that had made her a unique doctor they were trying to corrupt into....they were trying to make her monster.

When she felt the cold metal against the side of her arm she jumped and let out a squeak of terror. She couldn't pull away, because a hand grabbed at the back of her neck, fingers coiled in the strands of her hair painfully. A whimper she couldn't suppress eked past her lips as the flat of the blade ran slowly down her arm, taking the hair that'd been there clean off.

"Maybe we need to try a different tactic..." The voice whispered in her ear. The blade turned and pulled away, leaving a thin, shallow cut on her arm. Sira was too shocked at the searing pain to cry out, and before she had a chance to fully registered what was happening the hand on her neck had pushed her into the seated man.

Her hands up she just barely managed to keep on her feet, but her knee slammed into the side of the wooden chair. One hand flew to the man's arm and gripped there for support, her other to his shoulder. He grunted and struggled. Blindfolded and ear muffed he had been unaware of what had transpired no more than a foot away. Sira stared at him, horrified to be so close to someone she was supposed to....

"I'm sorry," she whispered though he wouldn't hear. She slid her hand from his shoulder, up his neck to cup the side of his face. Something within her stirred and reached out. Fine tendrils of razor sharp thought some seeking answers, some soothing the man in her grip until he stilled.

Moments later she stumbled back, gasping, eyes wide. "The safe in his office doesn't contain what you're looking for," she said in a hushed voice. "It's under the floorboards in his kitchen. Third board from the left of the stove, there is an screw, then it's on a hinge. The combination is 24 9 32 12 4." Her voice trembled when she relayed the information. Her eyes were locked on the face of the man in the chair, on the purplish hand print she'd left behind, like an old faded burn.

"Good." The voice in her ear was pleased. "We'll keep working. Next time you'll access the information instantly, first touch."

Sira flinched. If not for the fact this was going to continue, then for the caressing hand suddenly on her shoulder. Or worse, the whispered intentions she could pick out from the brain of the man behind her.

- - - - - - - - - -

She woke up from the dream drenched in sweat, sheets tangled around her legs and blankets thrown clear from the bed like she'd been thrashing. Based on the memory that had played out in her sleep she wouldn't have been at all surprised if it were true. There had been too many dreams like this recently, too many nights she'd woken up in a panic or terrified or....

In a flurry of desperate movements she fought to free herself from the tangle she'd found herself in and the more she struggled the more tangled up she seemed to get. Her shoulders shook and her eyes burned and dammit but she blinked back the welling tears.

A hoot from the end of the bed had her freezing and looking up. There perched on the corner post of the foot board was the little owl she'd named Loa. Most nights she'd seemed content to be outside catching mice or whatever else owls liked to do. She really seemed to like the barn on Mercy's property, probably because it's lack of cats meant there were plenty of squeaky treats. But some nights, like tonight when Bryn had fallen asleep by the fire in the living room, she'd follow Sira in to perch on the tall wardrobe and roost there.

Sira met the owl's lamp like eyes in the dark and slowly her breathing began to still from the panic she'd been lathering herself into. More calmly, she freed her legs and straightened out the sheets. Then she leaned over to retrieve one of the fallen blankets from the floor to cover herself against the chill of the night. Once again comfortable in the bed and curled on her side, she patted the spot next to her. Loa, the glutton for pets that she was, flew right over to settle in. Sira laughed a little and reached out to scratch the spot between the owl's eyes that she seemed to preen the most for.

"You better not be a spy for that damn Elf," she told Loa in a tight, shaky voice. "You're too cute."

And she better not be, because Sira quietly cried herself back to sleep.

This wasn't a dream. It was reality.

Sira stood on the edge of a field, far to the north of the city, on the edge of Mercy's remote property. The ranch wasn't all too large, with enough space for a barn and small stable, a good sized paddock for three horses, and Mercy's modestly sized farmhouse. It was a nice little hideaway at the base of the mountains and mostly ringed with trees.

This one field Mercy had yet to touch. She'd told Sira that she had thought of plowing it in order to plant a sizable vegetable garden to become even more self-sustained than she already was. The pair of old friends had laughed at the thought of the former detective in a pair of denim overalls working a plow....

Sira was going to have to apologize for setting it on fire.

- - - - - - - - - -

She had gone for a walk early in the morning, on the cusp of dawn. The first rays of sun were threatening to spill over the mountain peaks, but for now the land was dark, coated in a thin layer of autumn fog. It had reminded her of the fog in the cemetery from hours before.

Would she never be free of these people" If they weren't pushing, they were pulling. If they didn't want to use her, they wanted to destroy her. Who knew what that cloaked man, a man whose name she still hadn't learned, really wanted from her. His words didn't make sense, not their first encounter in the glen, not this second encounter. What was worse was whatever this examination was that she had been subjected to by his....minion.

She was somewhere on a path in the woods, well-marked, so even though it was dark she'd be able to find her way. She looked down at her hand where the armored being had taken flesh. DNA. All in order to figure out what Sira was. It amused her that the figure hadn't known himself though he seemed like he knew everything about her. But maybe SHE didn't know what she was either, after all these years thinking she did.

They hadn't known in the Agency. They'd run a million tests on her blood, her brain, everything that they could. They were never able to detect anything that wasn't expressly human, unless that was another thing they kept secret from her. Sira hadn't told them the stories her mother told her of her father and her mother had passed away just before she'd entered college, so it wasn't like they'd found out from her. She thought it'd been a secret she'd managed to keep hidden from them, but now she wasn't so sure what she thought she knew was true at all.

The masked man had called her an aberration. The other had called her the "spawn of godly things". What in the hell did that mean'

Their encounter had ended there, though Sira suspected if....another hadn't arrived it might have gone on. He had been a surprise to her, a man she had seen at the inn the week prior....a man she had not seen since she was a child.

At first she did not remember him. Something he had of course intended, if her suspicions were indeed correct. His statement to her that night all but confirmed it for her. The feather was another clue, laced with a memory that had been bothering her since it's trigger.

She was near the edge of the woods now, the trees thinning and ahead was the field that had not yet been turned into an ashen wasteland. From the pocket of her fleece jacket she pulled the feather and while in the low light she couldn't make it out very well, she knew it well enough. It wasn't unlike the downy feather she'd pulled from her dreams some weeks ago, but this feather wasn't pure white. It was a reddish gold like an autumn leaf and was warm to the touch all on its own. Despite the abuse it'd received over the past several hours it looked freshly plucked from the source.

It wasn't the first of such feathers she'd seen, but the first she remembered in a very long time. Anger had her fingers curling into a clenched fist tight enough that her nails were sure to leave crescent moon marks on the tender flesh of her palm.

She strode out into the field, cursing, kicking at clumps of grass and wishing that she had something or someone to hit. The events in the cemetery had been bad enough, but they were overshadowed by Declan's arrival back in her life. The cloaked man had cautioned her on something she was already working on, even if she didn't know the full depth and range of her powers, the full breadth of their danger. As annoying as it was to get such a violent reminder from him, Lexius already cautioned her to do the same every time they met. She was trying.

To know that she apparently wasn't even aware of what she happens to be or what those powers really were, well, that might get in the way of her being able to control them, now wouldn't it' To know that someone may have been taking her memories away from her....that act wasn't helpful in her learning how to control herself, now was it'

The memory the feather held was the last time she had seen Declan. She closed her eyes tight and tucked her chin towards her chest as the thought overtook her.

- - - - - - - - - -

Sira had grown up in New York City on Manhattan's upper east side. A nice duplex in a nice building, surrounded by the hustle and the bustle of the city that never sleeps. In the summers they traveled upstate to a small property in the woods that her mother absolutely hated because it was away from absolutely everything, and her father loved for the same reason.

It was midsummer. The longest day, shortest night of the year. She had been out in the woods playing by the small creek, trying to catch a particularly fast frog that had been eluding her small, six year old hands. She was splashing about when Declan had come up behind her.

"Sira," his voice was low, fond, and like he didn't want to interrupt her play. She'd heard him, though, and she turned with the frog in her hands.

"I got him!" She exclaimed, holding out her squirming, slimy prize.

"I can see that," he replied with a smile. He crouched down so that he could be at her level. "Sira, I need to tell you something very important." When she approached with the frog still in hand he gestured for her to put it down with a laugh.

"Awww..." She pouted, but she stooped down to let the amphibian go. "Bye froggy!" She waved as it hopped away frantically and wiped her grimy hands on her already grimy shorts. She turned to the red-haired man with expectant eyes. Was this going to be another game" She loved their games! Ever since grandma had died, they had played a lot of games.

At that age she couldn't decipher the sadness in Declan's smile, though she could feel it coming off of him in waves. Her empathy had been at its strongest and most unrestrained at this age. It had also been her only power to manifest. School had been hard enough with her feeling her peer's emotions so strongly, imagine if she'd started hearing their thoughts"

"Dear one, I have to go away," he told her. He'd reached out and taken her hands in his own.

She pouted even more. "But why! For how long?" She tugged on his hands. "Can I come with you?" Declan shook his head.

"You can't come with me, Sira, I'm sorry." He let go of one of her hands so he could cup her cheek. "It will be forever, dear one. I won't be able to come back."

Sira had started to cry. Stubborn, willful crocodile tears. "But I don't want you to go! You have to stay!" She threw her arms around his neck and he had hugged her close.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he stroked her hair. "I'm so sorry, but it's going to be okay." He'd whispered and he'd woven strands of thought. He plucked and pulled and manipulated her mind. He'd woven in a web so fine the greatest lace makers in the world would have been jealous. It would go unseen, hopefully forever. She would go unseen....hopefully forever. He hadn't taken into account that even suppressed her powers would grow until some would spill past the barrier he had created. He couldn't have known that she was too much like him to be contained in that way.

He pulled away with some difficulty. Her tears were real now. Something inside her knew what her young mind couldn't understand yet. She was losing him. She reached and she reached, but he was too far away. And then he was gone in a shimmer of heat.

"Daddy!"

- - - - - - - - - -

The feather had been on fire in her hand when she had broken free of the memory. The flames licked at her skin, but they didn't burn her. She barely noticed the heat.

A few days after that meeting in the forest her father had died. He had been away on a business trip and the private flight he'd been on had crashed due to engine failure. When she was older she'd read the investigation report and had learned that the engines had reportedly burst into flame. The pilot and another passenger had escaped, but Declan had gotten trapped inside. The wreckage had burned hot and fast, so much so they had concluded it had been foul play, but nothing had ever been discovered. Sira had forgotten all about seeing him in the woods up until she'd grasped that feather.

Hot tears dripped down her cheeks until there were enough of them to be a torrent. The blood in her veins burned like fire....so hot....and she didn't realize as the flames in her hand leaped higher and higher.

The dry field didn't need much and it got more than required to start to smoulder. Then catch ablaze. About the time she started coughing from all the smoke she realized that she was surrounded by flame. She hadn't even felt the heat and it was until she started to panic that the temperature seemed to skyrocket to near unbearable levels....and that she realized she held fire in her hand.

She turned in a tight circle, half looking for a path of escape and staring at fire that didn't burn her. The feather was also untouched. When she noticed this she began to focus on it, tried to will it to go out, and much to her surprise it did.

The fire around her wasn't so responsive. Half the field was scorched by the time she'd managed to get it to quiet down. Some by will, but a great deal from good ol' fashion stomping. She was lucky that the fires hadn't been too hot or all consuming, but the end is where we began with her staring at the field and wondering what a good excuse would be.

It was the approaching clatter of hooves on the ground that pulled her from her dark thoughts.

"What the hell happened?" Mercy demanded. The tall woman surveyed the damaged field from the back of her roan. She'd left the house in a hurry, it seemed, because she hadn't even saddled the horse. Sira didn't like horses much, but they were no where near snakes on the list.

"Just a little fire, I think it's out." She tucked her hands into the pockets of her fleece.

Before that fateful day when the Agency pulled her from "normal" life Sira had never thought she'd some day find herself staking out a meeting spot after skulking through dark alleyways to make sure she hadn't been followed. She had in fact been followed for a time, the second time in as many days that she picked up a tail not long after entering the city, but she'd lost them. Once she could chalk up to some curious creature. She'd let them get close enough to sense that if they meant harm and when she sensed no ill intent she let it go. A second time was the beginning of a pattern she didn't like.

The man wouldn't stand out in any crowd in nondescript clothing, with a plain face partially obscured by a set of dark sunglasses, clutching a tourist's map from the Welcome Center. To Sira's eyes he was textbook thug, only reinforced by his confusion when she suddenly disappeared from view. She had turned down an alley far enough ahead that she was able to quickly get herself up the fire escape and onto the two-story building's roof before he had ranged close enough to keep her in line of sight. He didn't look up, either. Amateur.

She dropped a thread of thought down while the man trotted to the other end of the alley, and while she kept enough out of sight that he wouldn't see her if the gentle probe alerted him. It didn't seem to, but it also didn't give her much more than a snarl of emotion (frustration, confusion, surprise) rather than clear thought. Not a strong projector and not entirely human. That only served to raise more questions than it answered, but she didn't have time to seek them out. He wasn't an immediate threat.

Leaving behind her tail she made her way across the rooftop, speeding up near the edge until she easily cleared the gap between that one and the one that butted up against it. If there was one thing Sira had taken from her "training" it was how to dodge, evade, and run away. It had come in handy. She repeated the move to move herself across two more buildings before she found herself needing to descend back to the street level to find her way to the little park that would serve as the meeting spot.

Some months ago, after the little event with a hired knife trying to slit her throat, a client of hers and a close friend had hired a man to follow her around. Julian had said Garrett was just there to keep her protected, but he had assumed that she would leave it at that. After all, she was the one keeping his daughter alive. Sira isn't a very trusting woman and Garrett is a man whose loyalty can be bought and paid for. It was in that same spot where she discovered the big man's true purpose. Oh, it was all rather benign. If someone powerful was out to kill her, it could spill over into Julian's life. He couldn't have that.

Still. She didn't like being followed. She especially didn't like to learn that even when Garrett wasn't watching her, another was. A being whom she couldn't sense in any way. Truth told, there were many of such in Rhydin, but if they watched her she didn't know it. And he had an agenda all his own. Garrett might have some hold over him that Sira didn't quite understand, but it wasn't complete.

Sira watched the park from the shadows cast across the mouth of an alley. The hour was early enough that the sun hadn't yet broken the horizon, but late enough that the sky had begun to lighten. She swept the area with a brush of thought and all she found was a few people sleeping in their homes, none close enough to worry about.

It was useless to scan for him, he'd appear when he was ready. She strode into the park. It was a simple little place with just a few trees and decorative bushes, a couple of benches to sit and a small fountain. She stopped and was watching the burbling water when he appeared.

I told you the day you'd need me would come. It was a thought in her mind that wasn't her own. They had come face to....well he didn't quite have a face. And Sira couldn't quite say why she thought he was male....but she knew. Just like she knew the language he spoke wasn't Common, but she had no trouble understanding it. Still, he had revealed himself once before. She didn't bother to turn.

"Don't gloat," she replied quietly. "I never said I never saw myself employing your talents, just that I had no use for them then." Now she knew his price she had an idea of why he had been so eager to be called on. He wasn't the first being to be eager for her blood. "What are you calling yourself today?"

Ahhh....Today I am destruction....angra mainyu. The voice slithered over her skin like many snakes. She shuddered at the sensation. Call me Ahriman, call me God.

Sira caught sight of a shadow moving out of the corner of her eye and she turned sharply. He was gone again, out of sight before she ever truly saw him. Her eyes narrowed. "Being a little dramatic, aren't we?" She inquired flatly. "We both know you are no god."

Am I not' Just because you don't believe doesn't mean you speak truth. Another slither, another turn, Sira never saw him. Your lack of belief continues to hurt you.

Her lips thinned into a line. "This is not a conversation we're going to have," she said firmly. "You know the task I seek you for?"

It is more relevant than you yet see. But as you wish, we shall move on to business. The voice was filled with amusement. This time when Sira saw movement and turned it was to face a man-shaped shadow standing next to her. All too close. Such a distrustful daughter you are, Sira. I must admit I am curious to learn more of your lineage. I'll still require a full payment, of course.

Now that she could see him she remained still, arms hanging loosely by her sides though she wanted to rub them. His voice still tickled every time he spoke. It reverberated within her mind in a most unpleasant way. "Garrett said that you require blood." Her tone made it clear she was not fond of this idea. "How much will you need and how do I give it?"

So clinical. This could be....fun. He moved around her, stalking in a circle, she stayed rooted in place until his hand brushed against her arm from behind. When she looked down it was more than a shadow, it looked real. It will be fun for me no matter how it is done, but it could be fun for you, too. I'd allow it. Suddenly the arm was around her, pulling her back into a broad chest. Lips were on her neck under her ear. Before she managed to break free she'd even felt the graze of teeth. She spun on him, her initial words of anger replaced when she saw what form he'd chosen. A man she....didn't want to dwell on in private. It only helped a little that he was washed out like a black and white photo. Her cheeks still flushed red.

"I am no longer in need of your services," she said coldly. The figure's grin was out of sorts with reality as she knew it, but it faded back into just shadow come to life.

You don't mean that. You need me to find answers you cannot get on your own. You know I can follow where you cannot go. He whispered simple truth. The more stubborn you are, the steeper I will make the price. Blood is the easiest sacrifice I ask for.

She let out a hiss. "Not like that," she got out through clenched teeth.

I could take another face... The slither was more suggestive still. Sira swiped at her arm to brush away what was not there.

"That's not the only problem I had with that!" She exclaimed and crossed her arms firmly over her chest. She cringed at the fresh laughter.

And I will need something different of you. Sira narrowed her eyes and said nothing. A favor, yet to be determined.

Sira's expression hardened even more. "That might be worst than you drinking my blood..." Yet another laugh, this one harsh enough to have her cringe.

I will still need a sample. Just a taste. The shadow moved closer again, but the movement was obvious. Are we agreed" A favor now for a favor later.

Mouth open to agree....Then she changed her mind. "...A favor to match what is gathered. If you get nothing I will give nothing."

And who will determine the worth of my results" The voice was arrogant.

"You can either trust that I will repay you in full," she began, arms out, palms up. "Or you can drift away. You're right, I don't know anyone else who can do what I'm asking. At the moment. I'm a resourceful woman, though....I found you."

My we grow bold. Very well, then. Agreed. But know if I feel slighted I will take tenfold."

Sira nodded. "Agreed." She let her arms drop again to her sides. "How are you going to—!" She cut off with a startled shriek. The shadow man had turned into a shadow snake that struck faster than she could react. It dug its fangs into the delicate flesh of her wrist and was gone a moment later. The wounds, a pair of identical holes, only dribbled but she slapped a hand over them anyway to apply pressure.

The shadow remained a snake and it writhed as if in pain. Sira watched in surprise as it shuddered and struggled to reform into a man-like form. For a split second he was more man that shadow....then he was a wraith again.

We will meet again. The voice was hoarse. Then the shadow was gone and she was alone.

"****," she swore, peeking at the wound. She took off down the alley behind her to go recover her bag where she'd hidden it a couple of blocks away. Inside she had bandages.

She never saw the man in the shadows, wearing dark shades against a sun that was just rising.

(Duplicate post)

Run away. That was Sira's modus operandi when it came to things she didn't understand. It hadn't always been that way, she hadn't always been such a flake. She had loved figuring out problems, loved things that pushed her to her limits. These days she was always in the red, though. Always at her worst.

It seemed like when things started to go well someone came crawling out of the shadows to bite her in the you-know-what.

Declan had wanted her to head to the village to meet someone, to continue talking. She didn't do that. She had stayed right on that hillside where he'd left her for....not very long. He'd walked away, she watched him go, and as soon as he was far enough away she got up to head back they way they'd come.

A mirror plane, he'd called it. A place that didn't really exist. Well it felt real enough to her and she felt real lost after a short while. She had been certain that they hadn't walked all that far from the ring of stones, but it seemed to take her twice as long to find it again. Long enough that one of the suns in the sky seemed to be on its way to sleep.

When she got there it wasn't empty.

She had seen dragons in Rhydin, some small, some large, but none with the presence that this one did. She could tell he was both ancient and powerful just being near him, but it was odd that she hadn't been able to sense him until she rounded on the stones. He was easily ten times as long as she was tall, with a wingspan that could blot out the whole sky. His scales were the purest silver she'd ever seen, shimmering brightly with every color of the rainbow. Just standing there she could feel the goodness he radiated.

"I have been waiting for you," the dragon spoke, his deep, warm voice resonating in her mind. Waiting. How that word had been haunting her for days.

"You're the one my father wanted me to meet," she replied knowingly. "I wasn't expecting?"

"No one ever does." The great wyrm lowered its giant head. "I am Kiorventh, you are Sira. Now that we have introductions out of the way we can talk about what you are here for." He scratched at a spot at the hinge of his jaw with a very sharp looking claw. "Do you remember the first time we met?" Sira shook her head slowly. "I would be very surprised if you had. You were but a babe. Declan had sought out my counsel before you were born, he worried about you being 'different"." The dragon's laugh was a deep rumble. "With his blood he should have known better. I told him he should leave that magic-fearing world and find a settlement where your heritage would be embraced. He did not follow my advice."

The dragon stood then and moved out of the ring of stones. Part of him had been blocking the center, though he was large enough he had spilled out. Sira could only guess that he had meant to block her exit, not that she thought she could activate them to go home. She had wanted to examine their pattern more closely. She'd not dare with those keen eyes watching her.

"You're not the one who' bound me?" Of course she didn't know what that meant yet. Her father hadn't explained very well. The dragon snorted.

"Of course not. What that fool did was like ripping wings off an angel." He settled again outside of the rings. Blocking her way towards the village. "I cannot undo what was done, but perhaps I can give you guidance."

Sira was too restless to stand still while she listened. She began to pace. "What exactly was done?"

"Struck a deal without knowing all the terms." She couldn't tell if the dragon was becoming bored with their conversation as he began to groom his claws. "What he wanted was impossible. He was lured by a sliver of a chance and blinded by infatuation. He thought the contract would be contingent on a choice he would never give you. He did not realize it was never within his control."

"He called it a curse," she said slowly. "The way you phrase it does not sound that way."

"You younglings are so dramatic," he drawled. "Though it would certainly appear that way to one as self-loathing as your father is. He has his reasons, but I will allow him to explain that detail better." The dragon reached out a claw and tapped one of the stones. It flared to life, burning blue and bright. "The contract was thus, your heritage was to be locked away, but should it ever break free it will grow until it destroys you."

Sira stopped dead. That sound a little like a curse to her, too. "Why the hell did he think that would be a good idea?"

"He was not allowed to help you in any way. He thought that this meant he would have to live as a human and there would be no harm, no foul. He did not realize that the contract was not restricted to divine help." The dragon shook his great head. "Like I said, foolish. But so wasn't the one who bound you. He could not do so without leaving a piece of himself behind."

"My father told me more than once he couldn't look into the mind of others like I can." The dragon rumbled a confirmation.

"It is why you struggle to control it. You need a teacher to guide you properly." Sira sighed. "You of course have more pressing concerns. You have almost broken free of your bonds."

"How can I tell" How will I know?" The dragon touched another stone and it too flared to life.

"You will feel the fire within grow. You will not feel cold as keenly. It will begin to cloud out the minds around you. When you cannot hear them any more you will know it has begun." Another stone tapped. Three of the five now lit up.

"How long will I have at that point?" She tried to push down her fear, but it showed in a tremble in her voice.

"Your willfulness will not help you. You are too headstrong for your own good." He laughed again. Sira didn't think this was a funny subject! "There is a way out." The fourth stone lit.

"What' How" Please, tell me!" She begged.

"As you are you cannot survive this ordeal. You were not meant to, you were meant to turn to corruption. So you must ascend, become something different that can." He activated the last stone and a portal began to form within the circle of stones.

"Ascend" Into what?" Sira stared at the portal then looked back to the dragon.

"That is up to you, Sira. I cannot choose for you, but I will give you one parting gift." Kiorventh reached out a claw and before Sira could move it touched her right at the sternum. The crackling she'd felt beneath her skin faded away. "The clock has been reset to zero. Good luck, Sira Ardhal. You have a long journey ahead of you."

With that the dragon took off and Sira stared after him. He'd used her maiden name. He hadn't given her enough information! What did the portal lead to'

A glance answered that last. The shimmering blue pool showed a clearing she knew very well.

She had been about to step through when something glimmering caught her eye. A couple of silver scales on the ground, duller than they had been on the dragon and probably dislodged when he scratched. She scooped them up before stepping through the portal.

She had a feeling they would come in handy.

"Don't get into too much trouble," she'd said to Mesteno

"You just want it yourself."

Well. He wasn't wrong. Despite her best efforts, however, it wasn't the trouble she was expecting to find.

Sira had meandered her way north through the city, headed in the vague direction of her temporary home with Bryn in tow. It was past time she discovered who this tail was that had been following her for the past couple of weeks. He never came close enough to be doing more than watching her movements, but that didn't tell her much. It wasn't the leech this time. Enough was enough, she hated having to look over her shoulder every time she came into the city and he found her nearly every time, though she'd been careful to mix up her routine.

She was nearly to the edge of the city when she gave up. Maybe he was spooked by the dog, but she hadn't sensed him at all. Usually at some point they crossed paths, almost as if on accident. He would follow at a distance, sometimes she would be able to shake him, sometimes she would just let it happen. Depended on what business she needed to attend....Didn't matter, he just simply wasn't showing.

They were about a block from the city walls when Bryn suddenly stopped, hackles raised and began growling. He had spun around to face the way they'd come, ready to attack. Sira wrenched herself around, dropping into a defensive stance with one hand reaching for the knife she had tucked into one of her tall boots.

"You sent me on a fool's errand." It was odd to hear the shadow's voice spoken from a throat and not the voice that reverberated in her mind. The one who called himself Destruction amongst other things was more corporeal than she had ever seen him, though not quite solid. His edges were blurred, shifting, like he wanted to turn to shadow once more, but was unable. Sira could tell that he was hurt from the way he slumped, the way he shuffled. This was not the silky, suave, agile creature she had met previously. And he didn't sound happy.

"It was a trap!" He snarled, barely loud enough to be heard over Bryn's growling. Sira grabbed at his collar to keep him from lunging forward. She pulled him as she moved backwards.

"Not one of my making," she said lowly. The fingers of her free hand wrapped around the hilt of the blade in her boot. She didn't expect him to be assuaged by her words.

"Nooo..." The shadow-man hissed. "Not of your ken. You are too stupid to know what you've done." He had stopped moving forward, but Sira didn't stop moving backwards. There wasn't anywhere near by for them to go where she was certain he couldn't follow. She wasn't sure if she could even hurt him.

"Yes, yes," he cackled. "Run, little deer. I will hunt you down so you can share my death. Apt reward, apt payment."

"****!" Sira released the dog's collar, pulled her knife and was headed at the shadow rather than away. Maybe the blade would work. Maybe she could find some fire.

Ahriman was not expecting an attack. He lurched out of the way too slow to avoid the slash aimed at his chest entirely, but fast enough that it only grazed his arm. Instead of blood there was black ash expelled from the wound in a puff. He laughed. "Not good enough, lovely."

It was Sira's turn to dodge, stumbling backward awkwardly at a cumbersome swing of a fist. It missed her, but sent her off balance and open for a second swipe. Bryn jumped in this time, maw connecting with arm a second before the punch could land. The heavy dog was trained to ground his opponent and his bite strength was as strong as a bear trap once he clamped down. The shadow was more man now than ever, washed out like he was but a ghost, but solid and struggling with the thrashing dog.

Sira had regained her balance in time to intercept a blow aimed for her dog, tackling the Ahriman from the side and burying her knife in his gut.

The shadow-now-man roared in pain and she knew by the sticky feeling gushing over her hand that she had made him bleed for real. In the same moment he wrenched himself free from the dog he also threw Sira backwards. She landed hard on the pavement on her back, the wind knocked clear from her lungs. Too slow to recover she was in no position to fend Ahriman off when he jumped atop her with his hands seeking out her throat.

She struggled and grabbed at his hands, trying to pry his fingers free while he tried to choke the life from her. She had a moment's reprieve when Bryn latched on again and the shadow-man let go with one hand to throw him off again. Anger surged in her when she heard her dog's whine of pain, but she couldn't prevent him from gaining grip with both hands again.

A face she knew. As the world began to dim and she fought for breath, she recognized the face above her. She knew him, the shadow. He was....She was on the edge of consciousness when she saw the flash of light off of something shiny, the slash of something she vaguely knew was a blade.

The weight above her was gone, the pressure on her neck gone. She gasped and coughed and fought to greedily pull in more air than her lungs would allow. She rolled to her side, desperate to try to get up, but her body wasn't cooperating. And then there was a minute where her mind gave up on the world.

When she came to, Bryn was whimpering and licking her face. She sat up slowly, trying to look around much faster, but the world was still spinning. Whoever her savior had been was gone. Next to her rest the headless body of Ahriman, oozing out blackish blood and looking like it was slowly flaking away into ash. The head was gone as well.

She started at the clop of hooves on pavement, coming from behind her. Sira managed to get as far as her knees by the time the rider came into sight. Sira let out a relieved sigh.

"Mercy," she croaked. That one word was almost too hard to say. The tall woman had swung down from the horse in time to help Sira to her feet.

"What happened?" Sira shook her head, tried to wheeze a few more words. "Never mind, later." Sira gave her a questioning look. "Your bird nearly pecked me to death," she said dryly, glancing towards the horse. Perched on the saddle horn was Loa, the little owl, looking rather pleased with herself. Sira shook her head slowly. How..." Later.

While Sira was checking on Bryn, who seemed okay, Mercy was nudging the body with her boot. "How'd he get that haircut?" Sira shook her head again.

Closing her eyes she sent out a web of thought. There wasn't any life she could detect within the block and she didn't dare push herself further just then. She opened her eyes and gestured to the horse.

"Yes, better get you home." Mercy helped Sira onto the bay's back and climbed up behind. Once they were both settled they headed off out of the city.

Neither noticed the figure on the rooftop watching down.

"So who is it you're boning, huh' Anybody I know?"

Sira cringed at Hunter's question even though she knew it had been coming. She was just glad the woman had relented long enough for them to get away from the porch.

"Was it that guy at the inn" Nice eyes but too skinny. Oh, **** I'm right aren't I?"

Sira rounded on the other woman and used up every inch she had. She was only about an inch or so shorter, but Hunter had the habit of wearing boots with a thick heel that made her tower. "No," she replied firmly. Dealing with the hacker was like dealing with a child sometimes. Worse when she had radiation sickness, like now. She'd felt it when Hunter had touched her earlier. She was half convinced that the woman touched her so often to get 'free' scans when Sira didn't want to oblige. Hunter's crazy on a good day.

"It's not him, you don't know him," she started, then faltered a step as she reconsidered. "I don't think. His name is Daniel, it's nothing. Just sex." Her mouth twisted at actually saying those words out loud. It was Hunter's turn to give her a flat look.

"You do that' Since when." She patted Sira's arm to take them down a side street where she had left a small pack full of her low-tech burglary tools as well as a set of heavy bolt cutters. "What?" At Sira's look. "I know you want to do this with as little a footprint as possible, but not all locks can get picked. I'm realistic."

"I don't want to talk about it," Sira said through clenched teeth. It worked for both things. She had found space in her bag for the gift bag, so no, Hunter hadn't gotten her hands on it. Yet. She wasn't even sure what it could be, other than she was positive it was some slinky lingerie.

"He's giving you sexy things to wear, that's not nothing."

Sira made an unhappy noise and narrowed her eyes on Hunter. "This isn't not talking about it," she pointed out. They were making their way a few blocks from the inn when Hunter took the lead again.

"I'll get you drunk later and you'll talk about it." The hacker sounded sure. She all but shoved Sira down a certain alley, then grabbed her arm to stop her before she or her dog could cross the threshold of the gateway. Most people wouldn't even realize something was amiss, maybe they'd catch where the graffiti seemed to be a little wavy. "You ready for this" How long has it been since you've been back?"

Sira drew in a deep, shaky breath. "Years," she said quietly. Answering one question and taking her time to decide upon the next. "I'm ready." Before she could lose her nerve she stepped forward.

It was like walking through a wall of water. Sort of cold, wet, but coming out dry on the other side. A moment where it seemed like there was no air. And one moment Sira had been in a quiet side street on Rhydin, the next they were in the City that Never Sleeps. Even at the late hour there was the thrum of life still pounding, lights still flashing. Hell, the bars were even still open.

One thing she was not expecting was how loud it was inside her head. It was almost staggering. Rhydin had spoiled her with all it's 'specials', beings who had mental shields or just couldn't be read easily. So many glorious blank spots. Not here, oh no, not here. She pressed a hand into the alley's wall to steady herself and work on her shield. Her mental blanket she wrapped up that part of her mind with.

"You okay, doc?" Hunter was bothered by the city just in a different way. Her lip curled with disgust. "Sheeple."

"I'll be fine," she murmured as she tried to focus on the buildings. Landmarks. New York City was full of them. "We're in lower Manhattan?" She nodded to herself. "Lower east. We need to make it about fifty blocks north. That's a long way to walk." She cringed at the thought.

"We're not walking, we're taking an Uber." Hunter was already on her wrist device calling one up.

"Hunter, we're trying to leave as little a 'footprint' as we can," she reminded. "A cab is a footprint!"

Hunter scoffed and grabbed Sira's arm to drag her onto the street proper and a bit more towards a busier road. "Calm down, this is a clean account with no ties back to you. We'll get out far enough away not to be suspicious and I'm already working on area cameras. You brought me along for a reason."

"You have got to stop touching me, Hunter," she said as she wrenched her arm out of the other woman's grasp. "You are just too strong a projector and I don't need your crazy in my head."

"Fine, I'll try."

They passed the remaining few minutes until the cab showed up in relative silence. The trip north was fairly unremarkable, with the driver a non-stop chatterbox. Sira remained her surly, quiet self, while Hunter deflected most of the questions with fairly innocuous replies. They got out at their false destination and hoofed it five blocks to a self-storage place.

Sira had remembered it as being much more isolated, but there were other buildings clustered close around. It wasn't the sort with all outdoor lockers, no, it was like an apartment building with the units on the inside. It had 24 hour access, and with Hunter on the case, the keyless entry was no big deal.

"I don't know why you brought the damn dog with you." Hunter said as they worked their way up the stairs to the floor the unit they were after was on. "He is big an noticeable."

"It will be late when we get back. He's safe."

"He's noisy and people remember him."

"This is it," Sira stepped out of the stairwell and onto a floor. It was dark, quiet, cold. The perfect setting for a horror movie. Bryn did make her feel safe, even though she knew they were alone. They made their way past unit after unit. "These two," she said as she pointed out a pair of units. They had blue folding doors like a garage, secured in place with heavy padlocks. Sira had her lockpick set out to work on the first.

"Why don't you have a key to these if they're yours?" Hunter was no help with this low tech stuff. She had the bolt cutters for a reason.

"Because I didn't exactly get a chance to take my house keys with me when the black van got me," she replied dryly. It had been a while since she'd last done this, but these weren't the best locks and soon enough the tumblers fell into place and the lock popped open. Sira pulled the door up and stepped backwards into time with the flick of a light switch.

The unit was filled with furniture and things from her mother's home. She'd stored them with the intention of eventually furnishing her own house with them. Her and Liam had been house hunting and....That was a memory she couldn't get into.

"So what are we looking for?"

Sira was staring into the packed unit feeling a little overwhelmed. She couldn't remember packing all these things away. She'd been a senior in high school when her mother had died, just turned eighteen a couple of months before, so she had taken care of everything herself. Her mother's family, she had three aunts she didn't care one whit for, had wanted to swoop in to "help out' with settling the estate. That was just their way of getting their grubby hands on whatever they could. With the help of her mother's assistant who had been caring for the estate as long back as Sira could remember, she put her foot down.

Most things were sold fairly quickly. The family raged at the loss of heirlooms, but she didn't care. They were just things that had no value to her. She'd sold the upstate house. That had been difficult. The duplex hadn't been as hard, though she'd actually lived there most of her life, it was just too busy for Sira alone. She downsized to a much smaller apartment, putting a great deal of what was left in these two units to be dealt with later. All the things she wanted to keep, like the giant four poster bed and the matching dressers. The parlour furniture that was both nice to look at and comfortable. Paintings and vases and other ornamental things.

A quick sweep over the contents of the unit and Sira shook her head. "There is a small safe it could be in, or one of the jewelry boxes," she said as she backed out and pulled the door back down. "They aren't here." She replaced the lock and then headed to the next unit. When she bent down to work her skills on this lock, she frowned. Stopped to just stare at it.

"What's wrong?" Hunter was bored. It had been fun in her head, because who doesn't like a little old fashion breaking and entering" This was just dull.

"The lock is different, newer," Sira murmured. It was a different brand than the other unit. She wandered to the unit on the other side, that didn't look right, either. She was sure it was number twenty-two and twenty-three. "Can you check their records" I am positive both units are up to date." She moved back to stand in front of the unit to glare at it.

"Already on it." Hunter was still bored. Accessing the company's digital account was stupidly easy. She tapped a few times on her wrist device, scanned and scrolled until she found the info she wanted. "Looks good. According to this no one has been here in about two years, and that was logged as a James Landin?"

Sira nodded. "He manages the estate," she said. "That may have been around the time I contacted him to tell him I was still alive. I never put Liam in my will and I wanted to make sure he didn't take anything when he tried to declare me dead." The lock could be two years old. Not exposed to the elements it wouldn't rust. It looked dusty. She crouched down to work on getting it open. This was a much better lock than the other one and took a little more finessing, but eventually she got it open.

"He looks like he's keeping his nose clean." Of course Hunter would look him up and do a more thorough background check than the government could manage. "Has a lot of cats." Scoff.

"He is a good man, always treated my mother well," Sira said as she stood, pulling the door with her. She flicked the switch on and nodded at what she saw. It'd be here if she even still had it. "It's an electric lock on the safe, you'll be able to get that, right?" She picked her way into the unit which was mostly filled with her mother's personal items. Vacuum sealed bags contained linens and clothing that Sira just hadn't been able to part with, as well as her dressing room things like her giant carved wardrobe and the beautiful make up table. The latter she dragged her fingers along, leaving a trail in the dust.

The safe was buried in the back, out of sight behind a large carved chest asian-inspired chest, that she knew contained silk paintings and all sorts of things from her grandmother's trip across China. Much of it was in reality touristy junk" So many memories. "Over there, Hunter." She pointed out the safe while she went digging through another chest that she knew should contain the various jewelry boxes her mother kept. One for each season, all her informal daily pieces. All of the really nice stuff was locked away in the safe.

She couldn't recall ever coming across the angelite necklace while going through these things. Sira had never really taken to wearing jewelry, so her mother kept most of the trinkets she'd been given over the years in another box that she searched for now. She carefully removed the heavy boxes to set them on the floor to find the one she was looking for. Black lacquered wood, inlaid with opal petals and dotted with tiny pearls. A pretty thing too fine for a child and too childish for an adult. She could count on one hand the times she'd actually gone into the thing. She had just pulled it free from the chest when Hunter started swearing behind her.

"Someone has been in this thing about a week ago." She had merged with the electronic lock which kept a date and time log for the last few entries. "And it's empty." She swung the door open to peer inside.

Sira tucked the box under her arm and picked her way quickly to where Hunter was staring into the very empty safe. There had been a considerable amount of valuable jewelry in there, including pieces that had been passed down through generations. Including her parents" wedding bands. But it wasn't completely empty, no. There was one small ring box on the middle shelf, where someone would only look if they were searching every corner. Sira let Hunter grab it, she knew what was inside. A carved wooden ring that she hadn't seen since they had taken her away.

She set the jewelry box in her arms on the top of the safe so she could open the heavy lid. The top, removable shelf was full of dainty, delicate pieces one would expect a child to own. Stud earrings in the shape of stars and unicorns. Rings and bracelets and necklaces set with cheap, semi-precious stones appropriate for a child. The second shelf held her sets of birthstone jewelry, one in white gold, one in yellow. One of the rings had been her favorite, though her mother hated it. Blue topaz set like flower petals with a yellow topaz in the middle. It was a gaudy, oversized thing. She fit it onto her pinky and left it there as she pulled the shelf out to reveal the bottom of the box.

There nestled on top of thick strands of pearls and other things that wouldn't tangle very easily was a long, thin box. The only evidence of the bow that had been there was a smear of adhesive where it had been stuck. Sira pulled it out to crack open the box to be sure the necklace was still inside. Once she was sure, she headed for the wide doorway out. "Let's go."

"What about the mess?" Hunter trailed behind, jut a thumb towards the boxes and things Sira had left out.

"Leave it," she said with her hand on the door, ready to pull it down. "I want you to look up footage from the cameras." She looked down the hallway to the little red dot in the corner. She knew at the moment they weren't recording.

"Of course" Hunter followed out. Sira shut the door and the pair picked up Bryn where he had been laying and waiting patiently, then they made their way back out of the building. They had agreed to walk about ten blocks in the wrong direction before picking up a ride back to the gateway. Hunter was the one who knew all of the spots in the city. Sira was out of her depths here. So much had changed and back then she didn't have a reason to have any hideouts set up. They had made it about five blocks before Hunter said quietly: "We're being followed."

Sira nodded. "I see him," she said knowingly. "Check his tech, I've got him." Hunter peeled off down the next alley, while Sira kept walking forward at a sedate pace. As if this had been an agreed upon parting. After another block she bent down to check her shoelaces. The tail ranged closer while she seemed distracted, but he appeared to know something was up. Sira had the dog, after all, though Bryn was calm and hadn't alerted to the presence. A little closer" The man tripped through the shrouding web she had set while she walked. She'd been picking up a bunch of fun, helpful little tricks.

The man was in a daze, disoriented when Sira got to where he had stumbled up against the wall. This street wasn't entirely quiet even at this late hour, with a bodega on the corner that was clearly open, but no one was out. If they were, they'd just see a woman concerned about what could be a drunk man. They couldn't tell that her reassuring hand was to establish a connection to scrub his memory of seeing them at all and give him some new instructions. When he walked away Hunter returned to her side again.

"He got a couple messages out."

"I know," Sira replied with a frown and picked up her pace. They stuck to the main street until they came across a yellow cab a block later. The cabbie had picked up on their tension so he hadn't even argued too much about letting the dog in. He might have had a little help from a thread twisted into his mind. The ride downtown was much more quiet than the ride up, and took them right to the gateway instead of the couple of blocks away.

Once they were back through Sira let out the breath that she hadn't been aware she'd been holding.

"That was boring. Next time we need to blow things up." That was Hunter's good bye.

"I'll see what I can do," Sira told the departing figure, though her attention had turned to the box in her hands. She couldn't explain why it had been so important for her to get, but she had started to take her dreams as more significant that just memories.

Who was this angel she was supposed to talk to?

(Parts adapted from live play with permission)

Sira stood in front of a mirror in her new bedroom. There was little else in there, the smell of fresh paint still hung heavy in the air, but the room was finished enough to begin furnishing. It was the only room complete, the second half of her Christmas gift from Daniel. The thought made her wrinkle her nose at herself. That hadn't been a very fun conversation...

After getting back to Rhydin after their trip into Manhattan, Sira had stopped by Teas to get herself some coffee for the walk home, and a treat for Bryn who had been so well behaved. The to-go cup had turned into a real mug and her quick stop turned into an extended stay to avoid the chilly night. While she was there she pulled that black-and-silver gift bag out again so she could take a more private peek at the contents. That's when she noticed the note inside.

"The rest of your surprise is at home - Danny"

She wouldn't have gone to the house without it, they were still a couple of weeks out from really being finished, though she had slept there a few times for....reasons. She'd almost waited until morning to go, which in hindsight would probably have been a good idea since she was so tired already, but instead of heading to the ranch she made the longer hike into the woods.

It amazed her every time, the magic that made her little castle look like a falling down ruin from a distance. Up close it transformed into the fairy tale castle she had come to think of it as. It was late, but she knew Daniel was still inside. He said that some of his magic was easier to perform at night, he had tried to explain it, but Sira didn't care to learn. She could feel the tingle of him working the moment she stepped across the threshold into the upper room.

She found him in the kitchen, standing on a scaffold with his hands pressed against one of the skylights that really looked into the pool of water above them. He had his eyes closed and since he seemed like he was deep in concentration, she just watched him while he worked.

"The glass is letting in too much cold." He hadn't opened his eyes. He knew Sira was there. "I'm tempering the glass so it will block out the cold but not warm up the water. It's very difficult."

He was always trying to impress her with all of the tricks he used. He didn't need to bother, Sira had told him as much. "I got your....present," she told him flatly. "You didn't need to get me anything."

"I wanted to get you something." He had finished and got down from the scaffold. "Did you open it at the inn?" He had the audacity to grin at the thought of her pulling out some slinky lingerie in front of a crowd.

"I didn't," she replied dryly. "I realized what it was in time to save myself from that embarrassment. I just noticed there was a note inside."

He had started walk down the circular hallway towards where her bedroom was. "Come on." He gestured for her to follow.

Sira sighed, paused to unhook Bryn's leash and followed after. The hallway was still mostly undone except for the floor, the walls still unfinished while Daniel installed the rest of the lighting. It was dim, the only light coming from some temporary lights strung up. He lead the way into her room which in contrast was filled with light.

She gasped a little to see the room was done. The walls were painted a soft lilac, with the back wall painted to look like a birch tree forest. The wall to the right is actually Japanese-style sliding paper walls and separated the closet/dressing area. The floor was covered in tatami mats. And most importantly there was a simple bed made up with gray and white dressing piled with pillows looking very enticing to the tired Sira. The room lacked the little things like bedside tables, anything on the walls, but it could be slept in.

"I finished getting the appliances installed in the kitchen, and Seven finished up the water, so even though the bathroom still needs tiling, it's usable." Danny was leaning in the doorway watching her with a smile on his face. "So long as you don't mind the clutter, you can start moving in. You can help paint!" Another set of hands for the more mundane stuff would be a help.

It didn't really count as a 'gift' considering this was what she paid him to do, but the fact that he went out of his way to get all this set up....Sira turned and threw her arms around him. "Oh Daniel, thank you," she said into the side of his neck where her face was pressed. "I didn't get you anything, you're making me feel bad."

"We agreed no gifts. I just had my fingers crossed when I said it." He was still grinning. He was pleased with her reaction.

Sira sighed. "You're awful," she said as she released him. She put her bag down on the bed, took her coat off and tossed it there as well. Then she went to push open the sliding doors, trying to decide if she liked them better opened or closed. That was a surprise, too. It wasn't a detail they had decided on, but it was a perfect addition.

"I am awful." He could agree with that. "So when are you going to let me take you on a proper date?"

This had been a point of contention with them for a while. Him wanting to make things more official and real. Sira running away from the commitment. "Daniel, I don't want to argue about this again," she said with another sigh. "Nothing has changed for me. I don't want to be in a relationship."

"Why won't you at least give me a chance?" They were going to argue about it.

Seems they were! "Because I can't make myself be ready to be with someone." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"You'll never be ready if you don't even put the effort in." He pushed away from the door and headed down the hallway again.

Sira didn't chase after him. She just let him go.

She hadn't seen him since then, even though she had been sleeping in the house most nights, and he had still been working. She'd seen his apprentice a bunch of times, but no Daniel. It hurt more than she thought it would, but she pushed the thought aside. Having a hard heart now was far preferable to worse later.

The flat expression staring back at her in the reflective pane in front of her agreed. Sira made herself really look and see herself. It had been hard for her to put the chemise on much less look at it. It was really far more tasteful than she thought it would be, all black silk except for a panel of lacing around the mid-drift, thin and delicate, but comfortable. The g-string on the other hand....It didn't matter. She intended on throwing it all away.

Sira didn't look at herself much. She rarely wore make up, she could do her hair without needing to see it. Wearing so little she could see the flush didn't just color her cheeks....she could see it extend all the way down to her....

She pressed a hand to the spot between her breasts where there was another creep of color. Daniel told her he couldn't see it, thought she was crazy for insisting it was there. A nine pointed silver star had appeared after her encounter with the dragon on the mirror plane. She hadn't noticed it straight away, but it marked the point where he had touched her. It was slightly raised, like it had been etched into her skin, felt much like one of the scales she had taken.

Another symbol, another thing that had a meaning and a purpose she just was not familiar with. Another question she did not want to ask.

"Sira, you need to wake up."

"Sira."

"You can't stay here, Sira, you're fading."

"Sira!"

As the voice grew more and more insistent, the shaking did as well. Sira's eyelids felt like million pound weights. Opening her eyes was beyond her. The ground beneath her was cold and wet. The hands on her shoulders were so very warm. The voice familiar.

"SIRA!"

With great effort she opened her eyes to look into a face she almost knew. A pair of gold eyes she'd only ever seen in a dream.

"Feather?" She asked faintly.

"You need to wake up now," he replied without confirming.

"Am...?" She tried to move to get up, but she barely could pick up her head. And there was a pain in her back.

"You're not awake, Sira. You need to wake up."

That didn't make any sense she was awake. Her head lolled to the side as she continued to try to get up. A few feet away sat a white fox, the same one that had been following her. "Yours?" Her helper looked at the fox, with an expression of surprise.

"No." He gave her another shake. "Never mind that, you need to leave the Dream before your energy has faded. You will die."

Sira made a pained sound. She felt awake! Brushing off the hands, she rolled to her side. She wanted to get to her feet. The man let out a hiss that was nearly drowned out by her groans of pain.

"Of course, I knew you were here too strong," he said as he put a hand on her side. "It's a Mind Spike. I need to pull it or you can't wake up." Sira made a pained sound when he grabbed hold of the metal spike in her back. "I'm sorry, this is going to hurt."

She didn't have time to say anything else. He pulled the spike and Sira woke.

———-

It may have been a dream, but she woke in agony, certain that she was bleeding out from a hole in her back. Moving was a lot easier than it had been, and when she touched her back she found....nothing. No blood, no wound where she had been stabbed, just pain like she had been.

Bryn made a worried sound and nosed at her face. Bryn! He hadn't been there in the Dream but....that's right. She had resolved to return to her apartment. She hadn't needed anything there, but her lease was running out. Leaving her things for the landlord to dispose of would have been rude. Val's web was still in place, stronger than ever. At full power, she suspected. A trap. She wondered if he knew she'd stay away long enough, not mess with the plan. She had been so sure she could break it. Well. She had, just in doing so she triggered the trap to come down.

When she pushed herself up to a seated position, she noticed in her hand she clutched a spike, similar to another she had pulled from a wall months ago. This one wasn't iron like that had been, this was silver, and it was etched with the same swirls and whorls as the other had been. Though it was such a simple thing she could tell it was much more masterfully crafted than the one she had given to Lexius. As she turned it she got a jolt of surprise when she noticed a bit of blood trapped in one of the whorls. Could it be hers" She wasn't hurt...

No, she hurt. Moving to try to dig through her bag for something to wrap the spike in proved to her that she was indeed hurting. She just wasn't wounded. An important distinction. And she felt so tired. She had nothing in her bag to use, so she slipped off a shoe, then a sock, and put it inside that. She just needed to not touch it any longer.

That was when she noticed the dark sky. And the fox. It was afternoon when she had made the trek from the inn, now the moons were high in the sky. She'd figure out the time later, how much time she had lost later.

"Who are you?" She asked the fox. Being just a fox it didn't answer. "Who do you belong to?" Why did it look like it was laughing at her"

"Go away."

Sira let her head fall back against the wall behind her. How had she gotten into this particular alley when she had been on the other side of the square when she pulled the spike" Ignoring the fox that was still looking at her, she wasn't sure it was really there as her dog didn't see him, she looked around. Yes. This was her building. This was the center of where the web had been, though she could no longer feel its hum.

She let out a groan. Bryn pressed into her side and nuzzled her face. "I need to get up," she told him. "But I don't think I can. I need to get up because it is very cold, and I have been out for too long." The dog couldn't help her with that. She felt like a limp doll and she knew her legs would refuse to hold her up. She was so tired and....drained. That was what he had been doing, wasn't it'

Her eyes fluttered, threatened to close again. She couldn't fall asleep here! She needed to get warm. She needed help.

A shaky hand pulled her phone free from her pocket. There weren't too many numbers in there, she didn't have too many people who she could call, but she tried. Hunter must be off world, the call failed. Garrett didn't pick up, though she left him a message. Was that it' She felt a pang. Yes, that was it. Two people. No one else she knew carried phones.

There was one more thing to try. She opened up her bag and with the last of her energy pulled free the leather bound journal. She carried it with her, but had only used it a few times. It was a lovely, apt gift, but every time she looked at it she remembered who gave it to her. He said that he would see it if she wrote on the last page. She hadn't trusted him not to see everything.

She flipped the book open, managed to get a pen free from her bag. Everything was getting harder, her arms were limp and hard to lift. But she wrote on the page, a single word. The ink seemed to melt into the page, leaving it fresh and white.

The world was starting to grow hazy. Bryn whined at her and barked alarm. Was someone coming" No. No one was coming. The journal slid off her lap, the pen fell from her hand. What was that her dream had told her" She was fading" Yes. Even here, she was fading.

The effort of getting a hand into her pocket also made her slump to the side. It was worth it, because her fingers curled around a stone there. She hoped she didn't need to get it free, because the wasn't happening. "Be warm," she whispered to the night air. Finally, some luck. The stone flared to life, heated up instantly to a a gentle warmth. It wasn't enough. "Warmer. Warmer." She repeated the chant until it was almost too hot to touch. She let it go and pulled her hand free.

Hopefully it would be enough. Sira lost her fight to stay awake. She didn't see the fox run off, didn't know that Bryn lay against her protectively.

Didn't know the man who returned with the fox. Couldn't hear him when he praised the fox's diligence. Bryn growled at him, but calmed at some soothing words.

"Here?" The man asked the dog. He pointed to the building like he expected the animal to be able to tell him. "Good, lead the way." He scooped Sira up effortlessly.

———

When Sira woke it was morning again. She was in her old bed, in her old apartment, and there was Bryn snoozing on her feet. She was dressed, but her coat was gone, her shoes were gone. Her head was pounding.

When she started to get up she noticed a glass of water on the bedside table, a pair of what looked like Advil, and the now-cooled fire stone sitting on top a note that just said "Clever" in handwriting she didn't recognize. After confirming that the pills were in fact Advil, she took them, drank the water, and let sleep take her again.

She could wonder when she was feeling human again.