And no one would be able to hear them.
"Come on. We need…"
Her voice was suddenly cut off when a shape lunged out from the trees. It struck Kotori so hard that she was flung on to her back. The math textbook in her hand flew out to the
street. Beth was still holding on to Kotori and was pulled down with her friend. The rough surface of the sidewalk scratched her arm. It stung and bled, but it wasn't serious.
Before the girls could recover, hands grabbed their shoulder and covered their mouths, dragging them into the tree line. Beth felt Kotori's hand pulled from her roughly. Her eyes
were open: she could see. She knew it would be Michael. She hadn't expected the three men with him, his cronies: two more vampires and a witch. Michael was holding down
Kotori as the girl struggled with the aid of one of his vampire friends. The other vampire was holding Bethany to the ground, and the witch was watching.
"Take them in deeper. We don't want the thrashing to get anyone's attention."
Her captor picked her up. Beth struggled across the arm bar over her chest that kept her press close to the vampire and the arm over her mouth. She kicked, but they didn't land.
She didn't weigh enough for her struggling to do much good. Kotori, unlike Beth, was dragged by the two vampires. The witch kept a spell on her to keep her from crying out. They
carried them for what seemed like forever. Michael was chatting amiably about how the strip connected to woods beyond the school's baseball diamond. The woods were supposed
to have acted as a buffer to give the school some privacy from the strip mall on the opposite side of the block.
He dropped Kotori, letting the other vampire hold her down. Kotori was still struggling to get up. Mike kicked her in the side to make her lie still. Her eye shut with pain and
Bethany felt her stomach lurch at the side of Kotori curling up on her side with pain. Michael whipped around to point a finger at the vampire. "Keep her quiet!"
"Sorry, Mike."
He fell on Kotori, straddling her. His lips were pulled back into a smile, revealing even, white teeth that were a little too sharp to be human. His brown eyes were glittering with
uncontained happiness and sick, twisted enthusiasm. Kotori was still struggling. He grabbed her by the chin.
No! Beth began fighting harder. Kotori was pale and furious, kicking with all her might. Her skin was etched with featherpatterns. She was losing control of her shape, her body
trying to take on a halfand halfshape that most shifters found the most comfortable. Beth opened her mouth to scream only to feel the vampire's palm press tighter, his skin
entering her mouth. His skin tasted salty. Beth bit down as hard as she could and the vampire yelped in pain. She could taste thin, coppery blood on her tongue before his hand
pulled away. Beth dropped to the ground.
"She bit me!"
He hit the back of her head—hard. Bethany went tumbling into Michael, toppling him off of Kotori. The shifter saw her opportunity and automatically swung up her legs, hitting the man who held her in the head with her kneecap. There was a heavy thud and then they went tumbling into the grass. Kotori landed on the ground and received a punch in the cheek
for her carelessness. With an angry roar she kept rolling and landed a punch back on his cheek, followed by her elbow as she drew the punch back. Kotori struck hard and fast and
then moved back out.
Beth wasn't the fighter. She managed to catch herself as she fell. She was a good tumbler, capable of taking hits and still remaining capable of defending herself, but she wasn't
very good at punching. She slid on to her feet, just dodging out of the way as the vampire she'd bitten rushed her. He ran into the tree behind her instead, but Michael had taken the
opening to tackle her to the ground. His hand closed around her neck. Immediately Beth scrambled to pull his hand away. She was careless, leaving her guard down as she tried to
get that hand off of her neck. She couldn't stand the idea of choking out or losing consciousness—God! What would they do to her if she lost consciousness!?
He landed a strike to her temple. Her world began to fade to black, but somehow she managed to hang on tenaciously to that grey world. She peeled one hand from Mike's to
defend himself as he pulled back for another blow at the same time that her legs came up, forcing him away. A jab to his chin made his teeth rattle obviously and the hand fell
away. Someone grabbed her hair and pulled back her neck. It was the witch. Cold metal lay flat against her skin: a switchblade.
She went still without being told. She didn't want to see how much damage he could do. There was no more sound of Kotori fighting, only her sobbing. The witch forced Beth to turn.
Kotori was hunched over on the ground. Small feather clung from her hair. They were all that remained of the partial transformation. Her arm hung at an odd angle as she
sheltered it close to her body. The vampire above her, his face dotted with bruises, looked nervous.
"I'm sorry, Mike! I didn't mean to! She just… her bone're hollow—like a bird's. I hadn't expected that to happen."
"It happens." The black lamia shrugged it off, kneeling to examine Kotori. He pushed her on her back on the grass. "Hold down the good arm. Only touch the other one if she starts
fighting back. She'll scream real good and I don't want to attract attention of a passersby."
"Get off of me!" Kotori found her voice and hollered her rage. Mike motioned to the witch and instantly Kotori's voice was gone—but still her lips moved and she fought, trying to
shake Michael off of her. He grinned and pointed to the other arm. His companion grabbed it and pulled it down over Kotori's head. Her mouth opened in pain and tears leaked from
her eyes. Mike took the opportunity to lean down and kiss Kotori.
Anger flared in Bethany. It was anger unlike anything she had ever known before. Her friend was in danger and she knew exactly what was going to happen to her afterwards when
they were done with Kotori. There were other reasons besides her halfbrother to explain why so many shifter minority females disappeared—there was Michael and his friends.
No, part of that anger knew what was going through Kotori's mind. There was the fear and frustration and anger, and the sadness. Kotori had found her Soulmate, and now
something that was supposed to be reserved only for him was going to be taken and abused by someone else, and Kotori… she'd never be the same again.
A roar started deep within Bethany's stomach, working it way up. All she had was a knife pressed to her neck—what did it matter? What did it matter how much blood she lost? This
was Kotori! This was her best friend! This was ice cream and soda pops and movies and laughter and love and she was not going to see it defiled!
Beth spun so fast that the witch never saw it coming. She sank her teeth into his neck, forcing his body down under hears. Devin was shocked and came to try and help his friend
as Beth let her instincts go and tried to rip his neck out. She felt arms on her, but it wasn't pulling her off. There was flesh caught between her teeth. She didn't seem to care. She
didn't seem to care that he was screaming under her. Then the witch stabbed her. Pain shot through her body, freezing her momentarily. Devin, in that instant, was able to pull her
free.
He hadn't been expecting her to suddenly stop resisting his attack. He put too much force into it. Beth felt her body pick up into the air as she was thrown aside. A tree came
looming up at her. She was going to hit it, the same way that Devin had a moment before. But she'd die doing it. She'd break her neck.
But she never hit the tree. Warm hands cradled her and she landed against something hard—but much softer than a tree would have been. The men were looking up, and even
Kotori seemed surprised, staring. Beth didn't need to look to see who it was.
The Soulmate link that connected their minds was blazing with intensity, humming and pursing and
churning wildly with anger. She could feel his need pounding into her, not burning hatred, but the need to protect. Loyalty. Defense. Honor.
God, she loved him.
His hands brushed her neck as he made sure she was all right. The link sparked to life, and she could feel his voice in her mind. For a moment, when his whispered words drifted
over her confused world, she felt whole again, and then the connection vanished as he set her on the ground. His dark eyes were worried and scared. She followed their gaze to her
side. The switchblade the witch had held was stuck in her side, jutting out between the lowest of her ribs. She stared at it as if trying to make sense of it.
So that's what the fuzzy thing was…
Fuzzy thing? His voice was still there, even if his presence wasn't.
Yes, she sighed, it feels all fuzzy…
Shit.
Michael was standing up. Kotori spun around to kick the vampire in the head who still held her down. He launched himself at the dragon, intend on starting a fight. Cain was waiting
for it, striking the vampire so hard that Michael went down on the ground hard and did not move for a long moment. The other two launched themselves on Cain as well, trying to
protect their comrade. Bethany could feel his anger rising, letting it feel himself up with power.
Something low was stirring. She could feel it. It was rumbling, like a car getting closer. She forced herself to keep her eyes open, watching as Kaneonuskatew fought the three men, Kotori dealing with the last one… and holding her own. Of course she is. She's a Night Worlder… and a good one. Beth's thoughts felt warm and comfy. If it wasn't for the fuzzy
feeling on the itch on her skin from her side, she could almost fall asleep.
Because of that, at first she attributed what she saw to her blood loss and shock. Cain was opening his mouth, and little spikes of black electricity seemed to be racing along his
skin, leaping about from tooth to tooth inside his open mouth, and the roaring sound was getting louder, and Mike's eyes were widening at the sight of that mouth filling with black
lightning, and the humming, buzzing sound was screaming in her ears, and Cain was yelling, ready to lash out, and…
"No!" She lurched from where he had placed her. Her side flared with anger that made her world go black again for a second before her vision returned, dotted with angry red dots.
She threw her arms around his chest, under his arms, hugging him tightly. The black lightning spread to her body, snapping between the strands of her long hair. Dragonmagic
tingled. "Don't do it, Cain. Don't do it."
"Sit down."
"No."
He didn't have time to argue. He snapped something to her, the meaning unmistakable, even if she didn't know the language. She let go of him just in time for him to block another
attack. He was barely constraining his anger, and she knew that some of that anger was directed at her for having stopped him from using the black lightening. He caught Mike's
second attack and held it. His other hand came down hard and fast. Mike howled when the bone snapped. Kaneonuskatew glanced at his shoulder to see if she had any objections.
Beth nodded approvingly before letting herself slide back into the fuzzy, blacktinted world. She couldn't let him use his dragonpowers; it would blow his cover and Kotori would not
take having been lied to very well. Daybreak would know if she ever found out.
Cain frowned and kicked Michael. The impact struck the kneecap, breaking it. He fell to his knees, held up that far only by the broken arm Cain still held in his hand. Long ago,
when he had been able to carry weapons, he would have cut off the man's head to ease the suffering of his wounds. Instead, he reached into the man's mind and let off some of his
power there. The teenage boy's head dropped, unconscious.
He felt no satisfaction. He had not punished the fool enough for what he had intended to do. He had wanted to make them all suffer, but Bethany's injuries, the injuries of her
friends, and her obvious desire to keep this boy from dying made Cain eager to finish the fight.
He did the same to the other two and then heard the sound of a gun arming. The other vampire had been beaten into unconsciousness by the birdshifter. He turned to see a redheaded
vampire standing beside a sickly, naked looking maple, the weapon in his hands pointed at Cain's head.
"You."
The red head appeared confused. "Have we met before?"
"No, but I've seen you before. You know Bethany."
Kotori wearily stood up, limping a little. "Relax, Nick. This guy showed up and saved the day. We have to take Beth to the hospital." She bit her bottom lip anxiously, turning to
gesture with her head where Beth lay on the grass. "She's been stabbed."
"Stabbed!?" Immediately the gun went down. He ran a hand through his short hair. "Fucking Jesus H. Christ almighty. I'm in a meeting and the next thing I know, there's you
screaming at me through the Soulmate link and I come here: there's some strange guy with ninjamoves, Beth's been stabbed and you can barely stand up…" He pursed his lips,
shoving the gun into the back of his jeans.
Cain relaxed. Apparently this was the Soulmate of the Japanese girl. In that case he wasn't a threat and didn't have to be removed. Cain decided he could not eat the red head—
although when he had been in Bethany's room the night before and his scent had still lingered on her from being inside the white car Cain had wanted to rip the man in half. "High
school's gotten harder, hasn't it?"
"This is hardly the time for joking, Nick." She was chiding, but there the faintest of smiles on her face, chasing away the tight lines of pain she was too young to have.
"I know, I know. Can you walk? I'll carry Beth."
Cain drew up taller. "I will carry Beth."
Nicolas didn't look very happy. Kotori placed a hand on his shoulder. "Relax, Nicolas. Cain likes Beth. We're in class together. She'll be okay with him. We should call the cops or the
ambulance or something on the other guys, though. They're still alive and may need medical treatment."
Cain could scarcely believe what he was hearing. "They tried to rape you both!"
"What?!" Apparently Kotori had failed to mention to her Soulmate just why she was so scared and crying for help. He whirled on Kotori.
"That's what they were trying to do?"
The dragon shrugged. "Read their minds. You have telepathy, vampire."
"Nick. The name is Nick."
"Whatever." He bent over and carefully picked up Beth's body. She was lighter than he had remembered and he wondered if she'd remembered to eat properly. Her face contorted
with pain when she tried to wriggle closer to the comfort and warmth of his body and only made the knife move. "You have a white vehicle. We should take her to the hospital."
"Yes," Nick agreed, helping Kotori to walk. "I'll drive, you just keep Beth alive."
How're you feeling?" Beth opened her eyes. She was laying in a hospital bed. Kotori was in the bed beside hers. Beth had known she was in a hospital. The smell of the astringent
was making her nose itch. What she couldn't recall was precisely why she was in a –oh, yes. She'd been stabbed. "So I don't need to explain?" her best friend inquired, watching
Beth's face pale.
"How bad was it?" Beth asked, pushing down the coarse, thin blankets and feeling her ribs. The area was still tender and sore. Hazy white spots of pain danced in her eyes when
she touched it.
"The doctors said you were lucky. Your lungs weren't hit, and because both you and Cain had the foresight not to take out the knife, you didn't lose a lot of blood. There was some
internal bleeding, but nothing bad. I thought I was going to faint when
they took the knife out from you right in front of me, though…. I've seen a lot of things in my life, but nothing
ever scared the shit out of me like that. They have you heaped up on a bunch of painkillers and antibiotics. We're both supposed to spend the night for observation. I don't know
what happens tomorrow if they come in and check on us and find out we're further healed than we should be." She paused, looking around disgustingly. Her pert nose wrinkled at
the smell. "I hate hospitals."
Beth agreed, nodding. "How are you doing, Kotori?"
She held up her cast so Beth could see the cast. Kotori was forcing herself to smile and her dark, beautiful eyes were dim with pain. "It's a clean break. The doctors set it and have me on painkillers. I guess this means I won't be flying any time soon. I never thought I wouldn't be able to fly, even if it will only be for a week or two. I feel so caged in here."
"It is a hospital." She slowly lay back down in bed, curling her legs up to her chest. She felt lonely. When Cain had carried her, she'd been able to feel his thoughts pressing against
hers even after she had passed out. They felt like the sun hitting her eyelids as she'd ride in cars, staring out the window with her eyes closed. She could feel the sun and the
warmth pressing against her even though she was blind to it. They were the sweet promises of what she would see if she touched him when she was awake. They were whispered
kisses and sweet, delicious exploration and discoveries… for both of them.
Now she was lonely again, longing for that mind. She reached for the connection inside herself, touching it gently. From his end she felt a bit of curiosity but nothing back. He was
giving her free reign with it. Beth let it be, contented for now with knowing that he was safe.
"Cain's an amazing guy," Kotori said, stirring Beth from her thoughts. She faced her friend. "He brought you here and waited until he found out you'd be okay. Then he went back
out to get the others. He said that you wouldn't forgive him if they died, because that was just the type of person that you were. Even Nick was completely against the idea of
bringing them to the hospital, but Cain talked him into it."
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