Chapter One – The Monster that Hunts Us.

Where are you?

Darkness surrounded me like a cocoon, pulsating a cool comfort along my skin. The world moved around my hiding spot as I sat cross-legged between the joining of two walls. My eyes were closed tightly as I reigned the painful longing inside my chest that was growing too strong, too powerful as time went by. It was too quiet in this darkness without Nethore's voice to join in, but the outside world was too loud.

I was caught between the two, unable to rest, unable to do anything other than hunt for the Seal members.

"Where has she gone now?"

Dem stepped into the loft, dimly searching the empty room. The past few months had taken a lot out of us, but I missed Dem's smile that used to come so easily. It was drawn down now, but in his true moments of laughter the world felt right again, at least before we realised that our joy wasn't being shared across the bonds in our souls, and we remembered again that our dragons were far from our reach.

The mark along my arm pulsated but I didn't spare it a glance as I let the darkness ebb from my skin and Dem blinked, unsurprised as I appeared in his line of vision.

"That's creepy, Neely."

"It's useful though." I dropped from the low wall of the loft which separated two sections of the room, padding over to our board. It contained a carefully organised map of Seal members and I guarded the setting of the board viciously. There were photos gathered of lower Seal members who had been all too ready to sell out their upper level, creating the spider-network of twine stretching wide and far, but their honesty hadn't saved them.

We could all feel the essence of our dragons on them and knew that they were suffering because of those bastards. There was no mercy for that. Most we didn't kill, but I had learned to infect their minds and wrench any magic wielding from them and brush over what they remembered. It rendered them useless in the eyes of the Seal, which was worse than death.

There was a mirror in our make-shift 'operations' room and I could barely even look at the young woman in it. I had let Dem chop by hair up to the nape of my neck again as it grew longer, unable to deal with the feel of something on my neck. In my nightmares, the brush of silken blond-white hair morphed into a chain and I felt like I was choking in my sleep. My face was gaunt and harsh, my eyes dull, but we all looked like this.

"Are we ready for tonight?" Peter strode in after Dem, a cap pulled low to help mask his face.

My stomach churned at the thoughts of tonight. Nearly five months of living under the radar, avoiding any thoughts of Valaxia and having only the sparest conversations with Abner to ask for advice, and now it seemed like it was coming to an end.

I'm nearly there, Ne.

I didn't let myself think about it, because if tonight was a bust, I wouldn't be able to cope with the crushed dreams. I needed Nethore back, but I also wanted to be able to return to Valaxia and breathe in that crisp, magic-laden air. I hadn't returned to the human realm since I left for Valaxia, but now the very air seemed poisonous to me and I coughed and hacked when I first arrived, broken and bruised from Naughton like I had asthma.

"We have to be ready." Dem surveyed the board critically. "Two high-ranking members are meeting with our planted therianthrope specialist. We need to know if they know anything about where our dragons are being held."

I rubbed a hand over my mouth, frustrated and nervous. The Seal were smart and yet so stupid at the same time. They knew to work beyond the borders of Valaxia, which stretched our net far too wide. We had the whole world to look through and only recently learned that they had confined their human-realm base to England.

In the beginning they were cocky and believed no one was hunting for the dragons they took because their Riders were 'dead.' But our first lead came from a drunken group of Seal witches blubbering about dragons in a human bar. Everyone thought they were just joking but we had dragged them into a booth, pretending to be curious. They got suspicious fast, but they confirmed what we wanted to know – the Seal definitely had our dragons.

So, the five Ashbourne Riders became the 'bogeyman' to the Seal.

"If we find out where the dragons are being held tonight," I mused, staring at the face of the High-mother on the board, "then we have to act fast. If they find their high-ranking members compromised, they'll think it's us."

"They don't know we're searching for the dragons though, Neely." Jamie stepped out from the kitchen. In her stress and grief over Turana, she had turned more into the master-chef we all knew her to be. During every brainstorming session, during every excursion, there was food cooked, things baked. We never went hungry and before we went to bed, there were mugs of hot chocolate to help with the insomnia that came with the separation.

It rarely helped, but the thought was there.

Jamie handed us bowls of stew, but her attention was fixed on me. "They just know that there is something hunting them."

"Ah, but they'll definitely put two and two together." I took the meat-less bowl she handed me with a mumbled 'thanks'. "I mean, it's only Seal members who are involved with the dragons that go missing and never return."

Never return – sometimes it was easy to ignore what we were doing and sometimes it wasn't. For the other four, it bothered them much more, so I took over. There was something broken inside of me, warped from the mountain or from being the Vidalin Rider, I didn't know, but I had made a promise. I would get Nethore back and if it meant disposing of those Seal members, then I would do it.

"I think every Seal member is involved." Another body joined the discussion. Steam rolled out from the bathroom and Gabriel was bare-foot as he padded inside, rubbing his wet curls with a towel.

Twitching at the wet foot-prints he was leaving on the ground, I couldn't stop myself from grabbing another towel to dry up after him. Jamie turned to cooking, Dem turned to books and I grew more neurotic – nothing was not spotless for more the five minutes before I came bustling through with a rag to clean it and a duster to make sure that in ten minutes, there wasn't any dust starting to gather.

"I want nothing left to chance," Dem instructed. "Marion Revel is going to be at this location tonight and we cannot move on her if we aren't sure whether she knows anything about our dragons' location or not."

"We have a couple of hours." Jamie motioned to the stew. "Eat. Rest. We'll be stressing enough about this later."

I curled up again at the corner of the wall, watching the board carefully. I ate, and I watched, whilst also trying to feel anything through the bond. But it sat dead and cold and had been that way since the culling of Naughton mountain.

"Lads..." I broached carefully. "What do you think it's like back in Valaxia?"

Dem's eyes found me swiftly, and as always, he seemed to know what I was asking without having to clarify it. "The incident in Naughton decimated the number of Riders in Valaxia. The Lycans and Elves took a battering as well – three of the strongest contenders in Valaxia have been damaged severely. And as Acheron had said, they knew we were coming. There is going to be finger-pointing. They'll need a scape-goat."

"Well they can't use us," Gabriel said. "We've been 'dead' for the past five months."

"It's better that way." Peter crossed thick arms, his brow heavy. "The Seal have no reason to suspect that the people hunting them are Riders. They won't know who to look out for until it's too late for them."

"True," I murmured, while Dem flashed Peter a warm smile.

Peter had been our rock, our pillar of support during this entire thing. Maybe it was because he wasn't reeling from the loss like we were, or maybe it was because that was who Peter was, but without him to pull us back I think we all would have spiralled into our rages and our despairs. We all had our roles, each as necessary as the next.

I closed my eyes again, reaching for the cold bond.

I am going to find you, Ne.

∞ ∞∞∞∞ ∞∞∞∞ ∞∞∞∞ ∞∞∞∞ ∞∞∞∞ ∞∞∞∞ ∞∞

I reclined in the corner of the bright, airy pub and nursed a whiskey and coke. My lips were stained with a deep, vibrant wine lipstick, my face painted like I was getting ready for a night on the town. It masked the gaunt, sickly pallor of my skin. I pasted on a slightly irritated expression and 'checked' my phone.

A thick woollen headband kept my hair pulled back. The wig scratched at my scalp, but I couldn't afford to go without it. To an organisation like the Seal, my features would be recognised immediately, and I wasn't even allowed to take risks with my eyes. Wearing contacts was honestly horrendous and it just felt wrong, but I was slowly getting used to them, even though I hated the thought of anything going near my eyes.

I had also been wrestled into a flowery dress that hung just above my pale, knobbly knees in an attempt to make me blend in. The sleeves were long, and the back was covered, both to cover my Rider's mark and the scars covering the length of my back. Both were giveaways to who I truly was.

The mark on my palm was carefully covered over with derma-blend and we had spent time carefully covering over each other's marks to make sure that not even a glimpse of colour could be seen.

Our target tonight was tucked down a narrow side-street of the bustling city of London. Only those with magic in their blood could see it and tonight there was a pleasant, comfortable buzz in the air. The pub was packed and drinks were raised in celebration to the upcoming nuptials of a dwarven couple visiting from the countryside. Occasionally, loud laughter would erupt, and it took everything in me not to jump, or scowl at those laughing.

A thread was woven between the five Riders, invisible and rooted to me. I had realised after Naughton that using their energy and their power in such a violent and abrupt way had left me open to them. I had left a sliver of Nethore and I in them and it was like being able to create an airway that worked when we were within a certain distance of each other.

"Do you see them?" Dem asked through our shadowed thread.

I only had to glance at the opposite end of the bar to find where Dem sat. He had changed his appearance too. His hair had been buzzed shorter at the sides to blend in with the human males, as he put it, and he had put in contacts with no complaint. He was watching a soccer match with avid interest and if tonight went well and all our plans fell into place, I knew he would be chattering about the intricate workings of the human sport.

"I do. I felt them the moment they came in."

I had sensed them as I entered. Shadows rushed to seek the witches and wizards we were hunting, and it had taken all my energy not to let the darkness that buzzed in my veins wrangle them into an un-natural shape. It was feeding off my rage, and with every bite it took, the stronger it grew.

There were five here tonight, but I only cared about two. A man named Eli Ireli, though we weren't completely sure what he did. His face was gaunt and worried, and his bald patch had grown more prominent than it had been when we first encountered him. We had pictures of him around Marion Revel repeatedly, so we marked him as a person of interest.

My attention turned to Marion Revel; she was long and thin, with a permanently smiling mouth that snapped orders and insults. Crow's feet pressed into the corners of her eyes. Light brown hair, streaked with grey, was scraped back into a bun and she hadn't even bothered to loosen her long coat when she entered with a flourish.

Neither of them could sense the darkness slithering along their skin, sinking into their clothes. I could feel them – the strains of annoyance and fear that emanated off of them regularly.

I took a long drink, struggling to wrestle with the hatred that burned so violently within me. Whiskey scalded my throat, distracting me.

The door to the pub opened softly and patrons cried out as the cold wind ripped in through the opening, bringing rain and stirring their perfected hair. A woman, with shoulders hunched, gave an apologetic squeak and shucked off her coat.

The woman was none other than Jamie. Her wild and impossible hair had been impossibly straightened which had taken three of us to do, and it was smoothed back into a sleek ponytail. Those tawny eyes were muted with blue contacts and through she wore a long-sleeved top, her mark too had been painted over with layers of derma-blend until none of Turana's tattoo could be seen.

"I like the skirt," Dem sniggered.

Jamie's eyes swung towards him momentarily, narrowing angrily before her lips twisted into a nervous smile. Tonight, Jamie was 'June Anderson' and to the Seal, had been for quite some time. The real June Anderson was clueless to these investigations, never realising that she was supposed to have been approached by the Seal to do some 'work' for them. It had to be Jamie because June herself was from New Zealand as well and I would've butchered the accent.

"You are late," Marion Revel snapped.

Dem and I watched breathlessly. That tone of voice would normally make Jamie lunge, but instead she just pursed her lips. "I am taking precautions, like you said, Miss Revel."

Revel stared up at her sharply, her sloe-coloured eyes 'missing' nothing. Or so she thought. Sighing through her teeth, she motioned for June to sit.

"Precautions are necessary. We all know how hard it has been for our kind, lately." Revel's lips were pursed. "Our sisters and brothers are being hunted in the dark and since we last spoke, we lost two more."

The three nameless witches with Eli and Marion shifted uncomfortably. As I wondered if they had dared to lay their hands on Nethore, my rage built swiftly and the shadows curling along my fingers strained to break free. I couldn't close my eyes or risk looking out of place, but my teeth were gritted as I wrestled with it.

"Why are you being hunted?" 'June' sat back curiously. "I realise that in Valaxia, the Seal are not popular, but you haven't been hunted so viciously before."

"I do not know," Marion said sullenly. "Calla and Adam are the latest to have vanished. They just stepped into the night and never came back. I do not know what kind of creature would be so bold as to hunt a Seal witch or wizard in the dark. It is our domain."

"Maybe this 'creature' wants something that you have?" 'June' rubbed a hand over her mouth thoughtfully. "Would it have something to do with why you want me, perhaps?"

"What we're doing, and what we need you for, are two completely different things, Miss Anderson," Marion Revel snarled. Her lessors stiffened at her anger, but neither Eli nor Jamie blinked.

"Maybe I do need to know, if I am to track what you seek?" Jamie blinked peacefully, though Dem and I both knew she was reigning in murderous anger. "I am sick of meeting in these pubs, kept out of the loop and fed only scraps of information. You are hiring me to track something, but I am not a puzzle-solver. Tell me what you want me to find."

Fingers pressing against her temple, Marion Revel gave a sigh. "I always forgot how hungry trackers are. Fine, Miss Anderson, we will tell you but if you betray us, the full might of the Seal will come down upon you and your entire family."

"Tell me." 'June' raised her chin expectantly.

Marion's dark eyes cut to one of the lessor witches and she quickly muttered something under her breath. I felt the air turn and their words became muffled, but I had feelers already wrapped around them completely.

"We have obtained four young dragons in recent months. Two males and two females." Marion Revel's face was smug.

Rage stirred again.

"They have been surprisingly...hard to contain. They are insolent, feral beasts who do not respect their keepers no matter what methods we use to intimidate them."

Dem's eyes met mine and icy rage glittered in them. I took a deep breath, waving a hand for another drink.

"Dragons aren't known for their docile nature," Jamie said coolly. "Go on."

Marion continued. "Eli here is adept at 'delving' into a creature's mind. It helps control them by letting them think they are safe before we rip that from them. It confuses them, so they no longer trust themselves. So far its working, but the Vidalin is an additional problem."

"The Vidalin!" Jamie's expression was that of perfect shock. "You captured a Vidalin dragon?"

"We captured the only Vidalin dragon known. His Rider was killed at Naughton, which is a shame because a pair like that are only at their strongest together. Even with Eli's 'delving,' the dragon has no interest in breeding."

Breeding.

The word reverberated in my skull. They thought he was a common animal to be used as some kind of donor instead of the beautiful and innocent creature he truly was. Dragons only picked one partner for their entire life and they were trying to whore my Nethore off like he was nothing.

I felt the cool touch of Dem's affinity through our shadowed thread. I took another long drink and forced myself to keep listening.

"We want to have control of the next Vidalin dragon. This one is too unruly, too wild to ever follow us. So, we have two options. We can either continue to break his mind until he breeds with another female dragon or we find an unhatched Vidalin egg."

"An unhatched Vidalin egg?" Jamie questioned lightly. "All dragon eggs are coloured the same and are closely guarded by the Valaxain government."

"It could lead to nothing," Eli cut in. His voice was low and uncaring and I imagined this fecker 'delving' into Nethore's mind. That was my place and no one else's. "In any case, these dragons are in no danger of escaping. Wings grow weak when they can't stretch them."

Somewhere small. Underground.

Dem was whispering things to Jamie through that thread of shadows that had been woven in what should have been our last minutes of life.

"It must have been difficult to get those four dragons into England. Portal control is getting stricter these days since Naughton. Demons are trying to flee into the human realm, which can't happen of course."

One of the witches snorted and Eli answered in barely suppressed amusement, "We wouldn't be stupid enough to move them across the portal. They're safely stored in one of our bases in Valaxia."

"Smart." Lips pursed, Jamie leaned back against her chair. One of the bartenders or waiters lay a tall slim glass in front of her. Sophisticated June Anderson was a gin and tonic drinker and playing the part brilliantly, Jamie took a gentle sip.

A long moment passed. The laughter around the pub felt too bright, too positive for our state of mind and I could barely sit still as I tried to contain the instinct to lunge at those Seal members and demand that they tell me where he was.

A shadow passed over the room.

My eyes fell to my glass as I wrestled with it again and I made a show of checking my phone, muttering about how boyfriends couldn't be reliable. Always late. Of course, my last real chance at a relationship thought I'd died angry at him. I wasn't angry – not any more. People made mistakes when they were afraid; I had made plenty already in my life. Sometimes I thought about calling him and explaining because I knew he could keep a secret, but the words always failed me, and I felt like a coward as more time passed. It had gone on too long now and I didn't want to face his anger.

"...as you know, trackers form a special connection with the things we track. That's why we are so successful. I'll need to see the Vidalin in person and take in his scent if I am going to have a hope of tracking down an unhatched egg in Valaxia."

Eli and Marion shared a look.

I held my breath. Four months of keeping up pretences, of learning all we could about 'trackers' and making sure the real June Anderson never came into the spotlight had all led to this. Dem's research had been thorough because trackers lived outside of Valaxia as their practice was outlawed within the borders – they were usually of Valaxain descent, human-born but with a skill they developed as they matured for being able to find almost anything. They were a rare breed, however, and exceedingly hard to find and hire.

"We will be in touch," Marion said. "Time is of the essence. You'll need to make your own way across the portal into Valaxia. They aren't on the lookout for trackers, but we don't need the pressure of having you captured and questioned. If that happens, you will be terminated."

Their attempts at intimidation were laughable. Jamie only nodded her head and moved to leave. Her eyes flashed to Dem, and then to me before she strode across the pub, dodging a meaty hand that grabbed for her ass.

The meeting had been short, but my mind was churning with the knowledge that had been heaped onto me. I slid my stool back, knowing that I really should have waited for Jamie make it down the street before I made my move, but I needed fresh air because if I looked at Marion Revel's face again I would explode, and there were too many people in here to avoid collateral damage.

I slipped out into the rain, letting it plaster my wig to my head. The meeting was done, and I didn't even care about the cold seeping into my skin or the shiver that skipped over my body as the cold wind whipped past me. It was these moments that almost seemed to hurt the most.

There was a stillness between our actions, before another attempt at planning. Where the world just went on by, mindless to the devastation being inflicted. As always, there was a squeezing sensation inside my chest and a desire to just be anywhere but where I was, to be alone and away from the distant sounds of laughter and of life. It was worse than physical pain because you could find where that pain was, but this could only be solved by the one soul I couldn't find.

The doors opened behind me and I absently stepped to the side. A man stepped out into the rain, meeting my eye for only a second before he walked out onto the cobbled road.

Hatred unfurled, ratcheting through me with frightening intensity as I watched Eli Ireli cross the road. Without thinking, I took a step after him into the growing night. Night was folding around me and I was slipping into the blank coolness that helped assuage my ever-growing rage.

But before I could follow Eli and show him exactly what was hunting the Seal, a figure stepped in front of me. It was a feminine figure, wearing dark clothes. She held an umbrella above her and had a frown that was instantly recognisable.

"Hello, sister."