The Stone Dragon

by H. M. Gooden

  IMPRESSIVE, CAT THOUGHT as they entered. The entire room was done up in a 'Putting on the Ritz' 80's tribute and the music was good enough that even though it was early, several people were already out on the dance floor. The girls joined up with a few other people from Vanessa's work and started to dance. Cat stood to the side for awhile, preferring to watch, until Evelyn dragged her out on the floor. She found herself relaxing as she laughed at Evelyn's over the top dance moves. But when Legend of an Urban Cowgirl came on, Cat pulled out some moves of her own. She wasn't sure what it was about that song that did it for her, but anytime it came on she felt fierce, shedding her introvert skin and breaking free for the duration.

  A few songs in, Evelyn's head jerked up and she abruptly stopped dancing. Cat noticed immediately and guided her to the edge of the dance floor where their drinks were located. They'd kept to the area beside them to make sure no one slipped anything into them, but Cat sniffed her drink anyway as she waited until Evelyn looked at her, her face drawn.

  Drink forgotten, Cat placed her hand on Evelyn's forearm.

  "What is it? What do you see?"

  Evelyn took a deep breath. "Dub is outside, on the bridge. He's starting to siphon energy from the party right now. It's time. We need to get out before he finds us here and before it affects our energy."

  Cat nodded and closed her eyes, trying to get a sense of what Evelyn had seen. She opened her eyes and looked around with her aura vision. Evelyn was right. As she watched, she could see all the glowing lights from the party people drifting out toward the open door, unnoticed by anyone except her. Cat examined the faces of those nearest the door, realizing that they appeared more intoxicated the longer she watched.

  "Oh God, Evelyn, you're right. And it’s moving really fast now. See the people by the door? They just got here and they look half cut. They were fine a moment ago."

  Cat pointed in the direction she was looking and Evelyn nodded slowly.

  "We have to leave, now."

  Cat went to take a sip of her drink and had it almost to her lips when it suddenly flew out of her hand. Looking at Evelyn with shock, she was floored to see the look on her face.

  "No, Cat. Not that drink. Someone..."

  Evelyn trailed off, looking around suspiciously and Cat sighed. So much for keeping her drink safe by dancing nearby. Next time, she'd just stay right with them. She was thirsty, but no way was she chancing getting roofied right before the big event. She looked around and caught a blotchy aura close by. It belonged to a man with a pot belly and receding hairline who looked at her and winked.

  Ugh.

  Cat shuddered. She didn't have time for this.

  "Come on. Let's get Vanessa and Mai."

  Evelyn caught her repulsion and saw the man in question. Cat knew that at any other time Evelyn would have given him a huge chunk of her mind and attitude, but time was running short. She growled then took Cat's hand and they ran to get Vanessa and Mai.

  Jake wasn't dancing, but hadn't taken his eyes off his soul mate from the side of the dance floor where he'd been talking with Dustin. He came over to see what was happening, leaving Dustin behind when he noticed the worried expressions passing between the girls.

  "What is it?"

  His words were calm and his voice was steady, but Cat recognized the dependability in his eyes with gratitude. He may not be chatty, but she knew that he would be a rock in times of trouble and could feel some of his steadiness transfer to her.

  "It's started. Dub is already siphoning energy from the party and people are starting to become drained. Within a few minutes, everyone in this building will be drunk in appearance or worse, passing out. We need to get out now and get down to the bridge before we're affected too."

  "Okay. I'll let Dustin know I want to take Mai out to see the stars."

  He smiled and Cat noticed he had a twinkle in his eye. "He'll buy that with how we've been acting. He's been grinding my gears hard about her already."

  Jake looked down at Mai and his face softened.

  "Mai? Would you like to come with me?" He glanced at Cat again. "We can meet you just outside the doors."

  "Good plan. Evelyn, Vanessa? Bathroom break?”

  Jake shook his head as he laughed. "You guys use the bathroom as an excuse for everything. Too bad that excuse doesn't work for guys!"

  He tucked Mai's arm into his and kissed her gently on the cheek, causing her color to rise, then they headed for the door.

  Cat, Vanessa and Evelyn headed to the bathroom as planned, stopping briefly to let Dustin know. As expected, he just shook his head and asked no questions.

  "I've got to remember the bathroom thing for the future. I had no idea how easy that would be."

  Cat had to almost shout the words as they left through the crowd as the music had begun to get louder, but Vanessa heard and Cat caught her sister’s snort above the noise.

  "Oh yeah. Anytime you need out of any situation involving guys, just say you have to go to the bathroom. There's this whole cultural thing that they have that makes them think we all need like thirty minutes in there to freshen up. I've used that more than once to cut down the time on a bad date."

  Evelyn nodded. "Yes, it's truly one of our greatest weapons against them. The mysterious ladies room. They don't ask questions and it's often a fun place to hang out with all the other women who are also escaping boring dates."

  Cat shook her head, but filed the knowledge away for later. They managed to push through the increasingly rowdy crowd around them and as they moved Cat could see patches of darkness forming all around her and felt her heart rate speed up. This was all moving way too rapidly for her. She felt relieved when they finally found Jake and Mai, waiting beside the door as promised, although looking a little more tired than they had a few minutes earlier.

  "Are you guys okay?" Cat shouted the words then winced. They'd ended up being a lot louder than necessary, but her ears felt blocked from the hammering music behind her.

  Jake smiled and squeezed Mai beside him.

  "I'm always great, but by the time we got to the door we could feel the drain. Not sure what's happening, but I'm way more tired than I was a minute ago."

  "Yes, I almost fell down a few times. I feel weaker than I should as well. Vanessa warned me earlier about drinks, so I know it was not from that. I did not get one as I did not want to be poisoned." Mai nodded earnestly at Cat, which caused Cat to glare at her sister.

  "Really? You told her she'd be poisoned?"

  Vanessa shrugged. "Hey, it kept her safe. And technically it's true. Roofies are poison."

  Cat sighed and waved her hand. "Anyway, not the issue. Okay everyone, come here for a minute."

  Cat waited until everyone had gathered close to her before she took the hands of Vanessa and Evelyn, who were closest to her.

  "Hold hands. I'm going to give you guys a small top up before we get out there. Way easier for me to do it now instead of while we're in the thick of things."

  They nodded and did as she'd asked and Cat could see everyone's auras light up bright as she pumped energy to offset the drainage that had occurred at the party. When she was satisfied, she dropped their hands.

  "Okay, that should be good. Let's go."

  THE NIGHT WAS DARK, damp and foggy, exactly what Evelyn had predicted just a few days earlier in her nightmare visions. They crept around the foliage by the bridge, staying off the road. Initially they couldn't see anything, but when Cat flipped into aura vision, she was horrified to see energy leaving the building where the party was in a big cloud of light, travelling down the road a few blocks, right to the edge of the bridge. It reminded Cat of pictures of the Milky Way as seen from space, which would have been cool if it wasn't so scary.

  Cars were coming and going over the bridge, but traffic was light. There, standing on the pedestrian walkway underneath the other side of the light rainbow like a dark pot of gold, was the hooded man whose memory haunted each of the girls. Dub was a marble-faced fig
ure of what used to be a man, with soulless eyes the colour of the deepest, blackest space. Arctic winter emanated from him, so that even from a block away, Cat could feel the cold.

  She took a breath and gave the signal, then they began. Splitting up, Cat saw out of the corner of her eye the blurred transformation of Jake as he shifted into a golden dragon. He was almost twice as big as the beautiful azure serpentine dragon shape of Mai beside him. Together they slipped soundlessly out of Cat's view into the water underneath the bridge, unnoticed by the dark man.

  Vanessa put her head back and raised her arms, floating silently behind a tree into the clouds and out of sight. Cat and Evelyn watched as each of their friends assumed their fighting positions before looking at each other. Adrenaline coursing through her veins, Cat held hands with Evelyn and began to walk towards Dub. They were about 20 or 30 feet away before he noticed them. He seemed surprised at first, then almost mirthful, but in a dark, humourless way.

  "Oh, it's you again. Have you come to take part in my celebration? I'm more than happy to take some of your energy this time. You were a bit of a bother last summer. I bet you taste delicious."

  He leered at Cat and she tried to suppress a shudder at the cold she could feel reaching toward her. Instead, she sent a wave of heat towards him and could almost see it shimmering over the ground between them.

  Evelyn backed away, moving behind Cat. They'd decided that her role would be to try to shield the others from notice as much as possible, using her mind as a weapon of invisibility for protection. And it was working, as Dub didn't comment and hadn't noticed she was there, even though she was standing beside Cat.

  Cat moved closer to him, using the shimmering heat as a shield to block the ice from affecting her.

  "It's time for you to go, Dub. You and your kind are not welcome in this world."

  The hooded man laughed at her, as close to happiness as she could imagine him looking.

  "Oh, my dear, how wrong you are! I am always welcome. I live in the hearts of every man, woman and child on earth. I control many, most whom have willingly donated their lives to my service. People that you know, that you think of as friends, acquaintances. They all belong to me. I think I would like to own you, as well."

  He looked at her appraisingly, before moving his hands towards her, seeking out the source of her energy. Cat could feel her aura starting to leave, draining towards him, when suddenly a huge gust of wind pushed Dub back.

  Vanessa, looking like a wild banshee in the sky with her hair twisting in the air like snakes, was throwing a hurricane strength gale directly at him. He struggled to stand up and Cat initially thought that Vanessa had him and might be able to beat him down single-handedly, when he flung her aside into the nearby tree. She slammed into it before falling into the branches. He lost interest as Vanessa fell from sight, turning back towards Cat.

  "No!"

  Cat screamed, almost dropping Evelyn's hand in her shock and worry for her sister, but Evelyn squeezed tight and with difficulty, Cat turned her attention back to Dub. He began to draw her energy away again and she felt herself weakening. Struggling to remain standing, she sent a mental S.O.S to Evelyn, then immediately saw two giant water spouts douse Dub, hiding him temporarily from her line of sight.

  Jake and Mai were an amazing sight, gold and blue-green flashing through the water that surrounded them. They'd watched Vanessa and seen the results, so instead of staying to try and finish Dub, they remained only long enough to ensure that Cat was back on her feet and fuming. They swam quickly out of sight as Evelyn shielded their aura so that Dub lost sight of them. He turned back to face Cat with a growl, but this time she was ready for him.

  She didn't wait, running toward him with her power shimmering to a blue-white level of heat she hadn't hit before. Anger at the thought of the evil this man had done over the centuries and the people he'd hurt consumed her and she felt as if her heart would explode.

  For the first time, Cat burst into flames, becoming a human ball of fire when she touched Dub. The power of her attack lifted them both and the heat kept them in the air, surrounded by fog with the traffic far away in another invisible world as Evelyn continued to shield them from people going by, the battle contained inside the privacy screen of her power. No one outside of the fight zone could see the people on the bridge or feel the heat being generated.

  Cat and Dub twisted in a battle of dark versus light, heat versus ice. She saw flashes of people he'd taken and the man he'd once been, all wrapped up inside her mind as she poured her life and her heat into him. While knowing there was nothing human to save, she still focused on the blue-white light of healing and on pouring it into the darkness. He fought her fiercely, continually trying to suck out her heat and energy. She could feel wind and water buffeting them from the outside, but it felt far away. Cat distantly sensed Evelyn adding power to her and knew that she was with her in spirit. With one final burst of healing light, Cat felt herself explode into the night, then everything went dark.

  EVELYN PICKED HER WAY across the bridge, avoiding the debris left behind minutes earlier by a very isolated, unannounced hurricane that had just flattened a two block radius. Between dragons and divas, the area had never looked so awful. She went over to the tree where she'd last seen Vanessa and was grateful to hear a string of loud swears coming from the upper branches.

  "Need a hand?" Evelyn asked, entertained by the sight of Vanessa, her hair full of leaves, trying to untangle her expensive, brand new, and most favourite dress from a branch.

  "No, I'm totally fine," Vanessa snapped, then took a breath. "Really, go see if you can find out what happened. I'll be down in a minute. It feels like it's over, but I'm worried about Cat, because I can't see her."

  Evelyn nodded, continuing to pick her way across the battlefield. Vanessa floated down a minute later, her dress mostly intact but her hairstyle completely destroyed. They walked together, stunned and worried about the damage around them, knowing that it was their combined powers that had caused the devastation. Jake and Mai had already crawled out of the bay and transformed into two very wet and breathless people, dressed in their wet party clothes.

  They joined Vanessa and Evelyn and with a great sense of foreboding, they approached the last place they'd seen Cat face off against Dub. Instead of bodies, there was only a dark scorch mark on the ground, with a crumpled hood smoking nearby. They didn't see Cat at all.

  Tears welled in Vanessa's eyes, while her words were choked by emotion.

  "My baby sister! She can't be gone, can she? It isn't possible!"

  Panic was evident in her face and body language, especially when Mai started to cry quietly as Jake held her.

  "She's tough, bigger than life. It's not possible that she could be gone. Nope," Vanessa said, "I don't believe it. I refuse to believe it."

  Yet looking around, there was nothing. No body, nothing to show Cat had ever been there, just an old black hooded cloak. Vanessa moved closer to the cloak and lifted it up. There was nothing but ashes beneath it, much as she'd seen when Cat had taken on Bathory and the Englishman. But no Cat. Evelyn gripped her hand tightly, trying to give her strength, but Vanessa continued to shake her head. She looked at the water, into the foggy dark night, and wouldn't believe it.

  Then slowly, almost imperceptibly at the start, flickers of light began glowing in the sky. The light got brighter and brighter, then flashed like a star, almost blinding them. A giant winged bird popped out of the dark night sky like a supernova, expanding outwards into its full shape, before landing gracefully on long legs like an eagles, wings outstretched as it came to a rest. The bird was at least six feet tall, glowing with gold, red and orange feathers and sapphire blue eyes and it looked at Vanessa, who burst out laughing with a hysterical edge.

  "God dammit, Cat! Don't you ever scare me like that again!"

  The glorious full phoenix laughed in musical tones before it shimmered back into the shape of Cat, dressed in her boots, disco sequinned dress,
and all. Evelyn, Mai and Jake stood with their mouths gaping, while Cat smiled mischievously back at them.

  "Hey guys. Wow, hey? Now that's what I call ringing in the New Year! Is everyone okay?"

  Evelyn rushed forward to give her a hug, smiling with relief.

  "That is awesome! What happened? One minute I could see you wrestling in fire with Dub, then you just vanished."

  Cat shrugged, wrinkling her nose. "Honestly, I'm not sure. Like you said, one minute we were fighting and I could feel him sucking away my energy. I was freezing cold, then it was like I got a second wind and regenerated myself or something, then I felt myself explode."

  She stopped, wincing with the memory.

  "By the way, super painful. I don't recommend it. And then I was waking up, my consciousness returning with warmth and tingling that went throughout my entire body. I burst back to full awareness, apparently shaped like a bird. I think the shock of the transformation is probably why I was able to change back again this easily. But guys, here's the strangest part. I feel fine. I'm not tired. I feel like I just woke up and could go for a run."

  This time it was Mai who nodded with understanding.

  "You turned into your true form. Each time I change, normal injuries and stress don't bother me. This form is where you can heal and when you return to your human shape, you feel well again. Also, you're a phoenix. In my culture, they can rise from the ashes of their death, reborn."

  Cat nodded. "That makes as much sense as any other explanation I can think of. Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving and in the mood for a party. Any objections?"

  They all looked at each other, fatigue mixed with elation, and smiled. It was New Year's Eve, they'd just kicked some ass, and it was time to celebrate.

  "I'm in," said Evelyn. "After all, I have a hottie waiting for a midnight kiss and we have ten minutes to get back. Let's go!"