Night World : Witchlight Chapter 2

Theyd gotten a dragon.Kellers shopping m each(prenominal) was pounding.Somehow, somewhere, the people of the Night globe had found one and awakened him. And theyd nonrecreational him-bribed him-to join their side. Keller didnt even want to imagine what the price might bind been. Bile rose in her throat, and she sw each(prenominal)owed hard.Dragons were the oldest and around agencyful of the shapeshifters, and the most evil. They had every gone to quiescence thirty thousand years ago-or, rather, they had been put to sleep by the witches. Keller didnt k nowadays precisely how it had been done, but all the old legends say the mankind had been better off since.And now one was indorse.But he might non be fully awake yet. From the glimpse shed had, his dead body was close up cold, not a good deal heat radiating from it. Hed be sluggish, not mentally alert.It was the chance of a lifetime.Kellers decision was made in that second gear. thither was no time to think ab step forw ard it-and no need. The inhabitants of the Night World wanted to destroy the va allow world. And there were plenty of them to do it, vampires and swarthiness witches and ghouls. But this was something in another league altogether. With a dragon on their side, the Night World would easily crush Circle Daybreak and all other forces that wanted to save the humans from the end of the world that was coming. It would be no contest.And as for that pocket-size missy in there, Iliana the Witch Child, the unused Power meant to help save humankind-she would get swatted akin a bug if she didnt obey the dragon.Keller couldnt let that happen.Even as Keller was thinking it, she was changing. It was strange to do it in a public piazza, in front of people. It went against all her most stockyly ingrained training. But she didnt adjudge time to dwell on that.It matte good. It al representations did. Painful in a nice room, like the tone of voiceing of having a tight bandage removed. A re lease.Her body was changing. For a moment, she didnt feel like anything-she near had no body. She was fluid, a being of nice energy, with no more fixed form than a candle flame. She was abruptly free.And then her articulatio humeris were pulling in, and her arms were becoming more sinewy. Her fingers were retracting, but in their place long, curved claws were extending. Her legs were puffing, the joints changing. And from the sensitive place at the end of her spine, the place that always entangle unfinished when she was in human form, something long and tractile was springing. It lashed behind her with fierce joy.Her jumpsuit was gone. The reason was simple she wore only habilitate made out of the hair of other shapeshifters. Even her boots were made of the entomb of a dead shifter. Now both were being replaced by her avow fur, thick black velvet with darker black rosettes. She felt complete and unit of measurement in it.Her arms-now her front legs-dropped to the ground, h er paws hitting with a soft but fundamental thump. Her hardiness prickled with sensitivity there were long, slender whiskers extending from her cheeks. Her tufted ears twitched alertly.A rasping growl rose in her chest, stressful to escape from her throat. She held it pricker-that was scant(p) and instinctive. A panther was by nature the best stalker in the world.The next thing she did was instinctive, too. She took a moment to gauge the distance from herself to the brunet boy. She took a step or two forward, her shoulders low. And then she jumped.Swift. Supple. Silent. Her body was in motion. It was a high, bounding leap designed to take a victim without an instant of warning. She landed on the dark boys back, clinging with razor claws.Her jaws clamped on the back of his neck. It was the way panthers killed, by biting done the spine. The boy yelled in hysteria and pain, grabbing at her as her weight knocked him to the ground. It didnt do any good. Her claws were too deep in his flesh to be shaken off, and her jaws were tightening with bone-crushing pressure. A little blood spilled into her mouth, and she licked it up automatically with a rough, pointed tongue.More yelling. She was palely awake that the vampires were attacking her, trying to wrench her away, and that the security guards were yelling. She ignored it all. goose egg mattered but taking the life under her claws.She heard a sharp rumble from the body beneath her. It was lower in pitch than anything human ears could pick up, but to Keller it was both soft and f undecomposedeningly rubbishy.Then the world exploded in agony.The dragon had caught hold of her fur just to a higher place the slump shoulder. Dark energy was crackling into her, searing her. It was the same black power hed used against Winnie, except that now he had direct contact.The pain was scalding, nauseating. all nerve ending in Kellers body seemed to be on fire, and her shoulder was a solid red blaze. It made her muscles convulse involuntarily and circle a metallic taste through her mouth, but it didnt make her let go. She held on grimly, letting the waves of energy roll through her, trying to distract her mind from the pain.What was frightening was not just the power butthe nose out of the dragons mind beneath it Keller could feel a terrible coldness. A nerve centre of mindless hatred and evil that seemed to reach back into the mists of time. This creature was old. And although Keller couldnt come apart what he wanted with the present age, she knew what he was focused on right now.Killing her. That was all he cared about.And of course he was going to succeed. Keller had know that from the beginning.But not before I kill you, she thought.She had to hurry, though. There almost certainly were other Night People in the mall. These guys could call for reinforcements, and they would credibly get them.You cant make me let go, she thought.She was fighting to close her jaws. He was much tougher than a normal human. Panther jaws could crush the skull of a young buffalo. And right now, she could hear muscle crunching, but still she couldnt finish him.Hang on hang onBlack pain blindingShe was losing consciousness. For Winnie, she thought.Sudden potentiality filled her. The pain didnt matter anymore. She tossed her head, trying to break his neck, wrenching it back and forth.The body underneath her convulsed violently. She could feel the little lapsing in it, the change that meant death was close. Keller felt a surge of fierce joy.And then she was aware of something else. Someone was pulling her off the dragon. Not in the fumbling way the thugs had. This person was doing it skillfully, touching pressure points to make her claws retract, even getting a finger into her mouth, under the short front teeth between the deadly canines.No Keller thought. From her panther throat came a short, choking snarl. She lashed out with her back legs, trying to rip the persons guts out.Afo. The voice didnt come in through Kellers ears. It was in her mind. A boys voice. And it wasnt afraid, despite the fact that she was now scrabbling weakly, still trying to turn his stomach to spaghetti. It was concerned and anxious but not afraid. Please-you have to let go.Even as he said it, he was button more pressure points. Keller was already weak. Now, all at once, she saw stars. She felt her hold on the dragon loosen.And then she was being jerked backward, and she was falling. A vitamin C and ten pounds of black panther was landing on whoever had yanked her free.DizzyHer ken was blurred, and her body felt like rubber. She hardly had enough strength to twist her head toward the boy who had pulled her away.Who was he? Who?Her look met blazing green- aureate ones.Almost the eyes of a leopard. It gave Keller a jolt. But the rest of the boy was different. Dark gold hair over a rather pale and strained face with perfectly sculpted features. Human, of course. And those eyes seemed to be bl azing with worry and intensity rather than animal ferocity.Not many people could look at an angry panther like that.She heard his mental voice again. ar you all right?And then, for just an instant, something happened. It was as if some barrier had been punctured. Keller felt not just his voice but his worry inside her head. She could feel him.His name Galen. And hes someone born to command, she thought. He deducts animals.Another shapeshifter?But I cant feel what animal he turns into. And theres no bloodtbirstiness at all.She didnt understand it, and her panther brain wasnt in the mood to try. It was grounded in the here and now, and all it wanted was to finish what she had started.She wrenched her eyes away from Galen and looked at the dragon.Yes, he was still alive but gravelyly wounded. A little snarl worked out of Kellers throat. The vampire thugs were still alive, too one was picking up the hurt dragon and hauling him away.Come on he was shouting in a voice sharp with pani c. Before that cat recovers-But the girl the second vampire said. We dont have the girl. He looked around. Diana was standing by a display of porcelain figures, looking just as pale and graceful as any of them. She had both hands at her throat and seemed to be in shock.The second vampire started toward her.Afo, Keller thought. But she couldnt get her legs to move. She could only lie unable to help and stare with burning eyes.No a voice beside her said, out loud this time. Galen was jumping up. He got between the vampire and Diana.The vampire grinned, a peculiarly nasty grin. You dont look like a fighter to me, pretty boy.It wasnt exactly true, Keller thought. Galen wasnt pretty he was beautiful. With that gold hair and his coloring, he looked like a prince from a storybook. A rather young and inexperienced prince. He stood his ground, his structure grim and determined.I wont let you get to her, he said steadily.Who the infernal region is this guy? Keller thoughtIliana, pale and wide-eyed, glanced up at him, too. And then Keller saw her melt. Her drawn features softened her lips parted. Her eyes seemed to quiver with light. She had been cowering away from the vampire, but now her body relaxed just a little.He certainly looked more like a champion defender than Keller had. He was clean, for one thing.Kellers fur was entangle with her own blood and the dragons. More, she couldnt help the little raspy snarls of rage and desperation she was making, showing dripping teeth in a red-stained muzzle.Too bad he was about to be slaughtered.He wasnt a fighter. Keller had seen the inside of his mind, and she knew he didnt have the tiger instinct.The vampire was going to massacre him.The vampire started forward.And a voice from the front of the store said, Hold it right there.