Power of the Witch

Chapter 4

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 skilfully, touching pressure points to make her claws retract, even getting a finger into her mouth, under the short front teeth between the lethak canines. No..! Rachel thought. From her throat came a short, choking snarl. She lashed out with her back legs, trying to rip the person's guts out. No. The voice didn't come in through Rachel's ears. It was in her mind. A boy's voice. And it was afraid, despite the fact that she as 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 pushing more pressure points. Rachel 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, she was falling. A hundred and ten pounds of dark brown pantherwolf was landing on who ever had yanked her free. Dizzy... Her vision 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 eyes met blazing blue-gold ones. Almost the eyes of a wolf. It gave Rachel a jolt. But the rest of the boy was different. Dark black hair over rather pale and strained face with perfectly sculpted feauters. Human, ofcourse. And those eyes seemed to be blazing with worry and intensity rather than animal ferocity. Not many people could look at an angry hybrid like that. She heard his mental voice again. Are you alright? And then, for just an instant, something happend. It was as if some barrier had been punctured. Rachel felt not just his voice but his worry inside her head. She could feel.... him. His name.... Gabriel. And he's someone born to command, she thought. He understands animals, another shapeshifter?

But I can't feel what animal he turns into. And there's nonbloodthirstiness at al.... She didn't understand it, and her brain was not 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 Gabriel and looked at the dragon. Yes, he was still alive but badly wounded. A little snarl worked out of Rachel's throat. The vampire thugs were still alive, too; one was picking up the injured dragon and hauling him away. "Come on!" He was shouting in a voice sharp with panic. "Before that thing recovers.." "But the girl!" the second vampire said. "We don't have the girl." He looked around. Rebecka 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 vampre started toward her. No, Rachel thought. But she couldn't get her legs to move. She could only lie helplessly and stare with burning eyes. "No!" A voice beside her said, out loud this time. Gabriel was jumping up. He got between the vampire and Rebecka. The vampire grinned, a particulary nasty grin. "You don't look like a fighter to me, pretty boy." It wasn't exactly true, Rachel thought. Gabriel wasn't pretty, he was beautiful. With that black hair and his colouring, he looked like a prince from a storybook. A rather young and inexperienced prince. He stood his ground, his expression grim and determind. "I won't let you get her." He said steadily. "Who the hell is this guy?" Rachel thought. Rebecka, pale and wide-eyed, glanced up at him, too. And than Rachel 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 Rachel had. He was clean. For one thing. Rachel's fur was matted with her own blood and the dragon's. More, she couldn't help the little raspy snarls of rage and despair she was making, showing dripping teete in a red stained muzzle. Too bad he was about to be slaughtered, he wasn't a fighter. Rachel had seen the inside of his mind, and she knew he didn't have a tiger instinct. The vampire was going to massacre him. The vampire started forward. Suddenly, a voice from the front of the store said; "Hold it right there."