Andreas was livid as he watched Lana walk out the door. Every fiber of his being was screaming for him to stop her, but he didn’t because he had told her to go. Leita made some comment about the situation, but he wasn’t listening to her. She was nothing more than an annoyance that he had to remember to get rid of.

Instead of stopping Lana, he instead simply decided to follow her. If she was going to insist on being so stubborn, he still needed to make sure she was okay. What he had told her had been the truth. He would not survive losing her again. An angry Lana he could live with. A dead Lana would kill him. He would much rather have her hate him than live in a world where she does not exist. Even though Andreas refused to admit that he was in love with her, he couldn’t deny that the little witch had snuck her way into his heart and wrapped herself completely around it.

Relief became Andreas’ main emotion when he got outside and noticed that the dragon was gone. The girl and Aska were still there, but the other dragon that had been threatening them was gone. Lana’s stubbornness wouldn’t be the end of her today.

He watched as she walked over to where Casian and Kalen were standing. Concern was etched into her beautiful face as she regarded Kalen. The latter had a massive gash running across his torso, but he seemed to be reassuring him that he was find, even though he flinched as he said so. Andreas’ own concern for the other sorcerer subsided somewhat. He was smiling and pulling Lana in for a hug, and that had to mean that he was fine.

Andreas envied the easy relationship Kalen had with Lana. And he forced himself not to go over there and pry Kalen’s arms off of his little witch. He knew Kalen would be a much better option for Lana. He could make her happy and keep her safe, two things Andreas could not guaranteed her. Casian walked over to Andreas with a bright smile, and without warning pulled the sorcerer into a hug.

Andreas, unused to this display of affection from anyone, stiffened. Casian pulled back, sensing Andreas’ discomfort, but his smile never waned. “We did it! Or rather,” Casian gestured at the girl, “she did it.”

Raphael was kneeling next to an unconscious Eric and the girl was making her way over to Casian and Andreas. With her daggers still in her hands, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the two friends, her expression weary. “Thank you,” Casian said to her before she could say anything.

She nodded. “I apologize for my father. He was corrupted a very long time ago. Helping you was nothing more than my duty. Not Aska or I could just sit by and let him kill you.”

Casian extended his hand toward her. “If it weren’t for you, many if not all of us would’ve ended up dead.” Andreas scoffed and Casian rolled his eyes. “Ignore him, he has a problem with gratitude.”

The girl eyed him with a raised eyebrow. “I’m Roxi,” she said accepting Casian’s hand.

“Casian, and Mr. Dark and Brooding over here is Andreas.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you.”

Lana and Kalen joined them, and Andreas couldn’t take his eyes of the former. She seemed lighter in Kalen’s company. The darkness he shrouded her in didn’t seem to have an effect on her with the latter around.

“And this is Lana and Kalen,” Casian announced. “This is Roxi,” he said to them.

They exchanged smiles and Andreas couldn’t help but think all of this to be extremely awkward.

“Thank you for helping us, Roxi. We would have been screwed without you,” Kalen said with a charming smile. Andreas studied him closely. Kalen’s color was off. He was extremely pale, but Andreas tried not to worry.

Roxi smiled at him. “You will be safe here from my father and Timophy. The oath I forced him to make will keep them from returning here under any circumstances. But they aren’t the only dragon and dragon lord you need to watch out for. From what I gathered with my meeting with my father and the queen, there are many others under her bidding… many more dragons controlled by corrupted lords. My father could easily explain to them how to get here, and you need to prepare for that.”

“You are welcome to stay here as well, if you have nowhere else to go. Consider that a way for me to show my gratitude,” Andreas said, his posture stiff as Lana leaned into Kalen. The latter of which was smiling fondly at Andreas’ little witch.

Casian shot him a look. “So now it is easy for you to invite people to stay in your home when just earlier you were so against it?”

“The difference is that I am the one doing the inviting this time. And we had a deal. Everyone I do not want here needs to leave today.”

“So you are just going to kick out everyone else now that we have seen the full extent of the danger we are dealing with?” Lana asked, her brown eyes hard.

“I gave them all a night and a night has passed.”

“If they leave, then so will I.” Lana crossed her arms over her chest in a very stubborn manner, and Andreas couldn’t help but find it adorable. He cursed himself for the direction his thoughts were heading and forced his resolve to remain un-wavered.

They locked eyes for a moment, but Roxi interrupted his thoughts. “I’m not going to pretend to know what’s going on here, but if you want my opinion on the matter, you could use as much help as you can get. If it’s not too much trouble, I will remain here and help you out to the best of my abilities, lend you my knowledge and what not. But now wouldn’t be the time to reject anyone willing to help. And from what I’ve seen, Andreas, even you need all the help you can get. You are faced with an enemy that you cannot defeat on your own.”

Without turning to Roxi, Andreas replied. “You are saying that I shouldn’t kick anyone out then?” His voice was cold and hard.

“Not unless they purposely cause problems that cannot be solved. You have quite the gifted group of sorcerers here at your disposal. You will all be stronger together than you will be apart. I’m afraid your chances would be slim should you split up.”

Andreas finally shifted his eyes from Lana to the dragon lady. Her words were logical, and they also gave him an excuse not to address Lana’ ultimatum. He nodded and turned without adding another word and headed back into his house.

He felt a hand on his shoulder from behind when he was almost half way to the threshold. “Andreas, wait,” Kalen said and Andreas let out a large sigh before he turned to the younger sorcerer.

“Yes?” he said, almost annoyed, until he noticed the gash across his chest again. It looked really bad; there was still blood dripping over the already dried blood and Andreas suddenly wondered how Kalen was able to stay upright at all. “Someone needs to heal you,” he commented, his eyes narrowed, although he managed to carefully conceal the concern he was feeling.

Kalen waved him off, but Andreas noticed the flinch. “I will be fine. What happened between you and Lana? She looks more pissed at you than usual.”

“I’m an awful human being and I hurt her feelings again. Same old, same old. Andreas always says and does the wrong thing even when he is only trying to keep people safe.”

Kalen frowned. “You should apologize to her.”

“No, I should not. Because this time was the one time that I actually hadn’t done anything wrong. If either of us need to apologize, it is her.”

“You both are too stubborn for your own good.”

Andreas was about to say something else, but Kalen was unable to hide the pain he was feeling. “Kalen, are you alright? It would be no trouble for me to heal your wound.”

Kalen’s smile was twisted in agony. “I’m fine.”

“You are clearly not fine.” Kalen wobbled on his feet, but still tried to insist he was okay. And then his legs gave out beneath him and Andreas hurried to steady him, letting his magic rush into Kalen with his touch. But the wound was not healing, and Kalen’s eyes were rolling into his head.

Concern burned red and hot inside Andreas. Something was very, very wrong with Kalen. His friend. His… brother. Kalen became heavy very quickly, and Andreas carefully lowered him to the ground. “Kalen, Kalen!” Andreas said, shaking the sorcerer, but he made no response. The rest of the group that were standing a short distance away from them noticed the commotion and came running to them.

Roxi was the first to reach them, her eyes wide with what Andreas assumed was realization. She knelt down on the other side of Kalen her widened eyes on Kalen’s gash. “What caused that? Did you see what caused that?” she asked frantically.

Andreas tried to recall the details. It had happened when the dragon first arrived. The dragon dove toward Andreas and Kalen, and the former had been able to jump out of the way in time. But Kalen hadn’t been so lucky and the dragon had cut him with his teeth.

“His teeth. Kalen was cut by the dragon’s teeth.”

Roxi’s eyes widened further and her hand covered her mouth before she looked down at Kalen again. Andreas’ pulse was pumping too quickly in his veins as the apprehension settled in.

“It is worse than I feared…”

“What’s wrong with him?” Andreas’ mask fell, he lacked the energy to keep it in place. All he could think was no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. He couldn’t lose Kalen. Despite their differences and reluctance to acknowledge the other as friends, Andreas cared about Kalen very much. He had feared that the moment he admitted it something like this would happen. It was Lana on the stake all over again.

“I’m so sorry. But there is nothing we can do. Your friend is going to die.”

//Author's note: This is the end of book 2! But fear not, book 3 is available and I will try to update as often as I can. Haunting Shadows has to undergo some serious editing, so writing might not be as fast as I would like it to be. I will try for at least one chapter a weak though! Also, check out Predators if you get a chance to see Leita's story. =D //