Okay so obviously Syrra won, partly because some of you guys went nuts and started spamming the comments with her name. I'm not even kidding, the last chapter has over 100 comments even though I average about 30 normally. BTW I get a notification every time you guys send a comment so I got in trouble because my phone kept going off in class so thank you for that.......jk I still love you guys and your comments XD. I hope you enjoy!!!!!

**********

I let my gaze wander as I walk through the halls of the dragon castle. It is truly quite impressive. Glossy black marble with veins of shimmering gold; the volcanoes cast a red glow through the windows and give it a warm, fiery feel.

The corridor gradually widens and opens up into a large circular room with a deep pit in the center. It is empty aside from a dark figure sitting at the edge of the hole. The room feels like it's pulsing and I instantly realize who it is.

"Queen Syrra, I thought you left with my mother," he says.

"That's not something I expected to be called while I was here," I remark.

He shrugs. "You deserve that title."

I smile. "Thank you. Well your mother doesn't need help to simply bring the dragons back here so she said I was welcome to stay while she was away. Besides, I like it here, no one questions my authority or tries to overthrow me," I chuckle.

He looks taken aback. "Who the hell would try to overthrow you?"

"There are a lot of witches, especially the males, that don't like having a young female as an elder. They've tried to kill me on more than one occasion," I tell him. Amusement crosses my face at his reaction.

"Damn, that sounds like fun," he snorts, shaking his head. He reaches down into the pit and I move closer, my interest peaking.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

He waves me towards him. "Just come here and look," he says.

I frown, sitting down on the other side of the pit. I look down and my eyes fly wide. "Oh my gods," I breathe. "Okay I'm not crazy right? Those things are actually real?"

He laughs and it instantly makes me smile. He laughs with his whole body, throwing his head back and clasping his hands together.

I bite my lip, trying to hide my grin as I shake my head and look back down into the pit. It is pretty big, about 10 ft across and at least 6 ft deep. But what freaks me out are the creatures inside the pit: six massive scorpions are crawling around, each one with claws bigger than my fists. They are completely black—a stark contrast to the glowing red coals they walk over.

"Okay seriously, why do you guys have a pit full of giant scorpions?" I ask, staring at their massive pincers and barbed tails.

"My brother and I would catch them when we were younger, they live near the tops of the volcanoes. They're super fast and their sting will kill instantly, unless you're a dragon, then it just hurts like a bitch," he chuckles. "But when our mom was busy with something that my brother and I couldn't help with, she'd bet that we couldn't get one. It was mostly to keep us busy but we loved it. We would spend hours trying to get one and then bring it back to her. They're tricky little bastards and so we decided to keep the ones we managed to catch."

My eyes grew wider with each word. "So you caught these things with your bare hands?"

He nods. "Yeah, they're usually hiding under boulders or at the edge of the volcanos. They like to bury themselves in the dirt too so sometimes you have to dig them up and hope they don't sting you. Once you find one though you just have to grab them by the tail and then hold them by the middle so they can't pinch you—and I just realized I've been talking almost this entire time I'm sorry," he mutters, nervously rubbing his neck.

I smile and shake my head. "No it's great, you're really good at telling stories," I say.

He looks surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah. So why are the scorpions walking around on hot coals?" I ask.

"Oh they're used to the heat of the volcanoes so they're more comfortable with the coals in there. Oh! Watch this!" he suddenly says.

He reaches down towards the scorpions again and wiggles his fingers a little bit. A single flame begins to grow from the coals. And then I watch, mouth agape, as the flame morphs into a cobra, hissing and spitting as it sways back and forth. The scorpions immediately turn on the fiery snake, raising their claws. The cobra slithers around the pit with the scorpions chasing after it. After a moment the cobra bursts into sparks and I laugh as the scorpions try to catch the flecks of embers floating in the air above them.

"That was amazing! I knew dragons could control fire but, not like that," I murmur.

"Yeah I'm not very good with magic, my brother is way better than me and my mom can do unimaginable things with fire."

"I'll have to ask her to show me sometime," I murmur thoughtfully.

"Hey you're a witch, I'm sure you can do stuff that's a lot cooler."

I shrug. "I don't know if I can beat a fire snake. The magic I use isn't something you can just mess around with."

"Oh come on! Please?" he pleads.

I laugh. "Okay fine, but I'm going to warn you right now, most of it's not very pretty. I specialize in blood magic," I tell him.

He frowns. "What's blood magic?"

"Magic that can only be performed by witches or mages of a certain bloodline. The spells are extremely difficult and extremely powerful, and blood from the witch is needed to make it work."

"Oh shit, that sounds intense. No wonder everyone knows your name," he mutters making me smile.

"There aren't many blood witches left. But honestly the real reason they probably remember my name is because unlike most witches I can also shapeshift and do several other types of magic." The look on his face makes my chest swell up with pride.

"So you're just a super witch then? I bet in the future they'll call you the Great Witch Queen Syrra, leader of the clans and ruler of the world!" he declares in a dramatic voice, flourishing his arms above his head and showering us with sparks.

I keel over as I laugh, my cheeks hurting from smiling so much. "Wouldn't that be something?" I murmur, shaking my head. "Okay I'll show you something cool, but only since you've made me laugh more than anyone I've ever met." I shift to my knees and motion for him to come closer.

He smirks and scrambles to his feet, moving quickly to my side and sitting down again. I hold out my arm and press the palm of my hand against the symbol tattooed onto the inside of my wrist. I close my eyes for a moment before whispering, "Rexall."

My eyes snap open and I know they've gone foggy. I see dark storm clouds swirling below and tall peaks rising in the distance. I clench my fist before throwing it forward, opening my hand and blinking hard at the same time.

"Oh my gods," I hear Kaine breathe, awe in his voice. "What is this?"

"Rexall. This is what he is seeing right now," I tell him.

He leans forward, peering closer at what looks like a floating window into another world. "Who is Rexall—what is Rexall?" he asks, squinting at the hovering scene.

"He's my companion, he's what the humans call a bearded vulture."

"Wait I thought witches called their pets familiars or something?"

I shrug. "Some witches have familiars, but Rexall is actually a dæmon. A familiar is more like a servant, they have special abilities and a lot of them time they're connected at birth. Rexall and I are bound by a spell so we can communicate but he doesn't have to serve me," I explain.

"Yeah this is way cooler than a snake made of fire," he snorts. "So why a bearded vulture—assuming you picked him yourself."

"He's a scavenger so he's really good at finding things I need for spells, plus he's easy to feed. He eats bones," I shrug.

Kaine stares at me. "He eats bones?"

I nod, smiling a little.

"Wow, is there any way I can see him? He sounds a little terrifying to be honest."

"Yeah actually, he is heading here now. I made him pick up a few of my things so he should be here by tomorrow. Quick warning though, there's a good chance he'll start stealing things. He's kind of a sneaky little bastard," I laugh.

He suddenly shakes his head and bows his head, running his hands through his hair.

I frown. "Are you okay?" I ask.

He shakes his head and looks up, his golden eyes swirling with emotions. "You're just such an amazing person, I feel so honored to have actually met you."

My cheeks grow warm. "Thank you Kaine."

*********

Okay what did you guys think?????? I actually really enjoyed writing this chapter so I hope you guys liked it!!!! (Obviously I enjoyed writing it, I finished in less than an hour)

So I think I am going to start doing Jaxon, Kaine, and Maia's POV and then having a fourth chapter with a POV that you guys choose, what do you think???