Nenona ran ahead, leading the guardians in a retreat from the club they had been infiltrating. She was frustrated. Again and again, the darklighters have sensed them and alerted others.
This was beginning to be a problem, she thought, later icing down her bruises. The team sat in different places about the room, all of the nursing various injuries. Karis watched the posse from the corner of the library, making sure ice was kept on sprains, and that no one had any ill after-effects. Erik had been struck with one of the darklighter�s darts�Karis watched him especially close.
Nenona didn�t think about the pain, though, she thought about the book, her book, the grimore of her demon, more precisely, the book that she had recently aquired using her newfound abilities with semi-auto handguns and a nine-guage. It waited for her at home, a thick black volume that unlocked only at her request. Michael would not like for her to have it�Navisa used it in her heyday, so it contained the darkest of things.
Karis finally pronounced everyone healthy and let them go to their apartments. All of them were situated in the same hallway.
Erik stripped down to his boxers and fell face first on his bed. He lay there for a second, then turned over onto his back.
He sensed it about .02 seconds before it hit. Pain. Intense knots of it that tore his insides apart. Screams rose from the apartments around him. Nenona dove for her cell, calling Karis as she writhed on the floor.
A hour later all of them were in the small on-site hospital. The pain was slightly numbed by the lessening of their mind�s connection, but the five unhurt team members still knew that Erik was in pain. The doctors, healers, and paranormal toxicologists were all examining Erik, and as much as the team wanted to be in their with him, the room was crowded enough, plus the team could sense him, his pain, and they were there for him.
It was about 3 AM and the entire team was in their various nightclothes.
Marco in gray pajama pants, a wife beater, and gray vans with no socks. He wore his usual lucky necklace, a strand of tarnished bullet casings.
Bryan wore a dark heather gray t-shirt, blue cargo shorts over his boxers, and hemp sandals, and his water triskele necklace.
Andrew wore a loose dark green pajama set, that had a shirt and long shorts. He wore Japanese-style slippers and his sandalwood rosaries were wrapped around his left hand.
Aimee had on a lacey babydoll set, bright yellow, but wore a knee-length khaki trench coat over it, and pink bunny slippers.
Nenona had on a dark red nightie with ivory eyelash lace trim, ballet flats, and a knee-length black a-line coat, with loose bell sleeves. She had in her hands her cell phone and keys.
She felt Erik�s pain almost fully, sitting with her head in her hands, supporting him, drawing as much unto herself as possible�the doctors would not like this, that much she knew, but she didn�t care. Erik would not bear this alone.
Two hours later, just as the sun�s first rays began to show in the waiting room down the hall, the doctors and healers left the room, filing out slowly.
Karis called them in.
Erik lay on the bed, covered in sweat, twitching as the pain lessened and then returned for another attack. Karis stood beside the bed, bags under her eyes from no sleep�she was, after all, only human.
Nenona was the first in, beside the bed, holding Erik�s hand�
�It�s not good, Nenona.� Karis said slowly and softly.
�I don�t know�I really don�t. It could be poison or a darklighter virus or even just a temporary thing.�
Nenona exploded.
�WHAT?!?!?!� She balled her hands into fists�.they began smoking.
�YOU JUST SPENT THREE HOURS WITH THE BEST WE HAVE, and you have no idea?!?!�
Karis drew back from Nenona�s fury.
�If you think that you could do better, be my guest, but--�
Nenona swept out of the room, then broke into a run down the hallway.
The four others looked at each other.
�Andrew, Marco, follow her�make sure that she doesn�t do anything stupid.� Aimee nodded to them in turn, taking her rank as third-in-command behind Nenona and Erik.
�Bryan and I will watch Erik. Go.�
Nenona tore into her apartment, not bothering to even shut the door. She shed her shoes, coat, and nightgown in her bedroom and jumped into the shower�she would need to be awake for this.
Andrew and Marco arrived just as she was getting dressed. Leathers, with a black tunic-top underneath. Her talis dagger was already strapped to her left thigh.
Throwing her jacket on the bed, she reached down and in one smooth motion, pulled out her trunk that held her personal weapons and set it on the bed. After flipping the latches, opening it, and finding the book, Andrew spoke up.
�What. Are. You. Doing?� He said loudly, but not yelling. Memory flashed. They knew what the book was.
�Saving my team.� Nenona said, unlocking the book and laying it out flat on the bed, holding both hands above it to search the book. Poisons, Antidotes�she thought, the pages flipping as if turned by ghostly hands.
Marco lunged at her, grabbing both of her wrists and holding her still.
�Think about this, please�� He begged. He looked at the inside of the trunk. �Guns, Black magic�.Nenona, are you okay?�
�I�m FINE.� she struggled for a few more seconds, then he let her go. Returning to the book, she said, �I�ve heard of this poison. It�s like the only thing that can really kill us. There�s an antidote��
The book stopped on a page and Nenona held it up to read it.
�What then?� Andrew asked.
�Blood, and flesh�of a Graxen dragon.�
Marco was silent�his common sense screamed that it was suicide, but his caring for Erik and his trust in Nenona�s judgment overruled it.
Andrew spoke for him. �What do you want us to do?�
And hour later, they were headed for the dragon sanctuary, that is, Andrew and Nenona were in midair, in an MV-22 Osprey(stolen), headed for the mountain pass where the entrance to the sanctuary was, loaded down with whatever talis weapons they could find(also stolen). Andrew had changed into his leathers while Nenona and Marco raided the weapons storeroom for anything made of talis, which is the only thing that can penetrate a dragon�s hide. The result�s weren�t good: Two crossbows, a spear, and Egyptian sword, and three daggers(including Nenona�s own). Marco had given her a clip of darts, in case they ran into one of the many rangers that patrolled the preserve.
�See, the preserve has lots of sanctuaries, dragon, unicorn, griffin, winged horses, etc. It�s full of mythical or otherwise non-existing species relocated from this world into a slipstream alternate dimension. There�s very few humans there, all of them rangers or handlers. Now there is poaching, something I�ve researched extensively�.� he trailed off.
�You okay?� Nenona asked, not taking her eyes off the dials and controls as she flew the cargo helicopter.
�Yeah, I just� I never thought that I�d be doing something like this. We�re risking getting suspended, breaking the dragon treaty, killing something sacred, we might even be relieved of our powers��
Nenona took her right hand off the controls and placed it over Andrew�s left.
�Erik would do the same for any of us.�
She looked at him as she said it, but quickly returned to steering.
They reached the valley, and both could sense the shielding. A flip of a switch, and a 3-d image of the valley appeared, showing the vortex as one dimension ran into another. They would have to hit it head-on. Nenona dipped the chopper into the valley, joining her mind almost fully with Andrew�s to steer it in correctly.
Her training paid off. The chopper passed through the fabric of time-space into the preserve, or Denezeala, as the elven guard once called it, long ago when the elves still hoarded their woods magic. They no longer did, but this sanctuary still was still cloaked, many thousands of years after the elves rose and fell, a testament to their once-great power.
Denezeala was beautiful. Huge trees, mountains, valleys, it was very well a small continent. Nenona spotted a unicorn drinking from a brook.
She flipped on the ground radar, keeping an eye out for large objects. Graxen dragons liked the plateau, so she decided to try there. The first time around, she spotted one. It was rather young by comparison, but still large. Nearly the size of a small car, it�s wingspan reached nearly 120 feet. Graxen dragons are different from other breeds. Their magic is more potent, and they tend to be the strongest fighters because of their flexibility.
Nenona landed the chopper far enough away to not alert the dragon too much.
Each picked up a crossbow, and Andrew took the spear and two daggers, while Nenona chose the curved sword.
They hurridely approached the dragon, finding it near it�s cave, sunning in the morning air The breast was a deep orange color, and it�s scales clicked slightly when it turned to see Nenona and Andrew.
Nenona knew that after she shot it, there would be no going back�
She took a deep breath and raised the crossbow. The dragon roared a warning.
�I don�t care.� she whispered, and pulled the trigger.
The arrow hit it�s mark, catching the dragon in it�s neck where a nerve cluster was. It screeched in agony, and the two guardians separated, each firing arrows, then throwing aside the crossbows, and drawing their secondary weapons. It rounded on Andrew, snarling and smoking at the mouth. Andrew talked to the trees and plants, making them grow up around the dragon, the orange one was too quick, it slipped away, then charged at Andrew, who, holding the spear in both hands, drove it into the beast�s leg, causing it to roar in pain and retreat. It took the spear with it.
Andrew took out his daggers, but Nenona knew that they wouldn�t be any good against the animal. She ducked low and quickly got in front of Andrew, holding the sword horizontally between her and the dragon.
�What do we do?� asked Andrew.
�I�ll distract it. You try and trap it.�
After gathering the weapons she returned to the chopper, where Andrew sat, resting after using so much energy.
�We killed it.� he said. �We killed that thing.�
�I killed it. You helped.� she put the blood-soaked weapons in a towel. �I need your help to drag it back here.� she told him, picking up two large tarps to wrap it in.
Ten minutes later, they were back in the air.
The orange dragon was strapped into the cargo area of the chopper, wrapped with tarps so the blood doesn�t get everywhere.
Andrew was quiet on the way back. Nenona too. Both were encrusted with dragon blood, and a little of their own. Minor injuries, though, small scratches, a claw had grazed her cheek, Andrew had large welts on his arms from channeling so much energy directly into the plants.
Nenona landed on the helipad outside the mansion, a place where honored guests usually stay. It was deserted right now, and the fact that it was all made of concrete would make the cleanup easier. Andrew and Nenona dragged the carcass inside and unwrapped it before a wide-eyed team. Marco held up Erik, who could barely speak.
�I�I can�t�
�You can and you will. That�s an order.� Nenona said, the soot and blood on her right cheek highlighting her cheekbones. There are bags under her eyes, and a fire behind her irises. She knows that Erik�s time is short. Nenona stripped off her jacket and crossed over to Erik, placing his free arm over her shoulders and helping him to the side of the dragon�s neck. She used her talis dagger to slice open the fresh skin, and held Erik lower so he could drink.
He lowered his head and bit into skinned flesh, his fangs piercing an artery of the carcass.
Once he had gained enough strength from the dragon�s magic, Nenona backed away a bit, anticipating the surfacing of Erik�s instinct, when he would become slightly dangerous.
Erik dug in with his hands and teeth, ripping into the beast�s side, then tearing off chunks of raw flesh, which he devoured greedily.
The team watched in horror. All except Nenona, that is, she simply waited.
Blood all over them. A piece of raw dragon flesh still clutched in his fists. He dropped it and backed away from the dead dragon. He was on the floor, on all fours, staring wide-eyed at the side of dragon he had just devoured.
Nenona was ready for this and got on her knew beside him, then pulled him into a hug.
�It�s over.� she whispered into his ear. �It�s over, you�re okay.�
Later that night, after returning the chopper, the weapons, checking the carcass into the cryptozoology lab, cleaning up Erik�s mess, and sending her leathers to the cleaners, Nenona collapsed on her bed.
The moment of killing the dragon replayed over and over in her mind. She shuddered and pulled her legs up to her chest. There would be reprimands for this day. Many.