This is not going to be easy, I told myself. This is going to be hard. Harder than anything you’ve ever done before. And you’re going to do anything it takes.

Because I knew I would. I’d do anything to get Anyan back. And that fact scared me a little.

‘We can’t begin to thank you enough,’ I said, my hand resting on the book on my knee, when two robed monks rushing into the hotel suite interrupted us. They were speaking frenetically in their language, and I had no idea what they were saying. But I knew it was bad when the old man paled visibly. Turning to me, he spoke urgently.

‘There are dragons. On the roof.’

My heart practically seized. It was bad enough facing the Red, but from the plural I knew both the Red and the White were in attendance.

Knowing I had to face Anyan, on top of everything, was infinitely worse.

Chapter Seven

Rather sensibly for ancient forces of evil, the dragons weren’t actually on the roof. Instead, they were on a huge helicopter pad that was only about a quarter of the way up what turned out to be a massive skyscraper. That said, we were still very high, and between the wind whipping around and the dragons, I was pretty scared.

Scarier, however, was the fact that one of those dragons was white.

Is he in there at all? I wondered.

We were watching from a doorway as the dragons did what could only be described as play.

They pushed off one of the hotel’s helicopters (yes, the hotel itself had helicopters), and then dove after it, snapping it up to throw it around like cats with a dead bird. It kept crashing against the outside glass walls of the hotel, causing me to wince every time.

Then they’d bounce off the skyscrapers themselves, the Red pouring fire forth from her jaws, the White these massive gusts of air that were as dangerous as the fire.

‘What the hell are we supposed to do against that?’ Ryu said, his face pale.

I shrugged, knowing my own misery showed on my face.

Behind us, I heard footsteps, and I was surprised to turn around to see a virtual army of Buddhist monks. Even more surprising was when our new friend, the old man, made a series of gestures that sent everyone to a cross-legged position on the floor. Ryu and I exchanged furtive glances, wondering what was up.

One of the monks started chanting, an oddly cadenced, hummingly eerie set of tones that made the hair rise on my arms.

To my surprise, I could also feel power rising from their ranks.

I closed my eyes, letting my senses take it in. It was, essentially, elemental power, like mine. But it was … the only words I could come up with were ‘harnessed’ rather than ‘channeled’. When my brethren or I used the elements, they went through us, becoming a part of us just like transfused blood became a part of our bodies even if we then bled it out.

This power was more like what happened when I lent someone like Ryu, who used essence rather than elements, a burst of my strength. He could funnel it into things like his shields, but he couldn’t use it like essence. He couldn’t channel it through his own body and make it his to control.

But just because it was only ‘harnessed’ didn’t make what the monks were doing weak. The power they were raising was strong, and unique, and I itched to get my hands on it.

‘That’s interesting,’ Ryu said, undoubtedly feeling what I was feeling. His voice was wary. Ryu was very used to humans, for a pureblooded supernatural, but he still wasn’t really of their world. And he obviously hadn’t known humans could be capable of what the monks were doing. Nor was he very happy about it, from the look on his face.

‘Life is full of surprises. Now we need a plan.’

‘We can use this … power they’ve raised.’

‘Yes. We can. But I think they can, too.’ I didn’t know what the monks had up their sleeves, but it was obvious from the way they were working together that they did.

Ryu grimaced. ‘So what do we do?’

‘First we have to get them on the ground. Then…’

We looked at each other. Then?

Creature? I said in my mind.

[I am here. The monks are fascinating. Their minds are so complex…]

That’s great, I interrupted. But we have some dragons out here that need dealing with.

[Of course. Well, we don’t want to kill them yet, so that changes things.]

Right.

[But we need to get them away. Separate them. Make them have to work to find each other.]

Can we do that?

[I think I have enough power to apparate one, at least.]

My mind must have revealed my confusion over just how much power the creature actually possessed.

[My power is not unlimited, child,] the creature chided. [And much of it is with you.]

I can give some back? I offered.

[Not how the game works, I’m afraid. What’s freely given is given freely.]

I didn’t point out that made no sense.

But you’re not, like, maxing yourself out? I asked, worried for my trapped savior.

[Oh, no, of course not,] it said. But I had the distinct impression it was lying to me.

‘I think we have a plan,’ I said to Ryu, who’d been watching me curiously. Ryu knew everything about my link with the creature, but watching me converse mentally with my own brain had probably looked a bit odd from the outside.

‘We’ve got to get them down on the ground. Then the creature thinks it can apparate one of them, somewhere far away. That way they’ll be busy locating each other for a few days. They can’t actually apparate, right?’

[No,] the creature responded to my question. [A fluke for which we must be grateful.]

‘That still leaves us with one of the dragons,’ Ryu said.

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘But hopefully it will bolt when it’s on its own. I think the hard part will be to get them down, and get one of them netted in our power so the creature can apparate it.’

Ryu gave me a long look. ‘What if the one that’s left over is Anyan?’

‘I’ll still deal with him.’ My words were brave, but my heart wasn’t in them.

‘You have to believe he’s in there, or we wouldn’t be trying to save him,’ Ryu said.

‘Of course he’s in there,’ I said, thinking about everything I’d seen with Morrigan. When she became the Red, she was both her and not her. Her personality changed utterly, or at least it seemed on the surface, becoming much more flamboyant. But we’d never really known the ‘real’ Morrigan, so I didn’t actually know if that was true.

Certainly Morrigan had impacted the Red. The creatures had been evil, but only after Morrigan and the Red had become one did the Red care about things like racial purity. We’d witnessed the armies of the Red practicing, and they’d all been divided up by factions to train, something only Morrigan would care about.

So how much of the Red was Morrigan, and how much of Morrigan was the Red?

It seemed she was as much Morrigan as Red, but was that even how we should be thinking about their relationship? Because, after all, she’d wanted her fate – she’d wanted to host the dragon. But Anyan had been forced. He must be more like a prisoner, not a host.

Yet he had to be in there. I couldn’t believe that the White had wiped out Anyan. I knew Morrigan hadn’t been, so why would Anyan?

Because Anyan’s not a host, like Morrigan, he’s an enemy, whispered a traitorous part of my brain, a part that I ignored.

The dragons were still lazily circling in the air, but their play had gotten more destructive. Instead of focusing on each other, they were now lashing out at the buildings surrounding ours. They were trying to get our attention, and I wondered how they’d found us.

[Probably my fault,] the creature said in answer. [I didn’t shield your apparation. I didn’t think anyone would be paying attention.]

‘How’d they get here so fast?’ I wondered aloud.

[Just because they can’t apparate doesn’t mean they can’t move quickly.]

I filed that away. Even if our plan did work, it might not give us as much of a head start on the book as I’d hoped.

The kind old monk cracked an eye open from where he sat, chanting, in front of us.

‘We have reached our limit,’ he said dreamily. ‘You must act quickly, before what we’ve called forth fades.’

I nodded, and he closed his eyes again. Turning to Ryu, I called the labrys. His eyes widened as it appeared in my hands, then squinted shut as it blazed forth light.

It knew its enemies were near.

I dialed back its power, until we could all see again.

‘Sorry, it has a mind of its own.’

Ryu only nodded, still looking rather befuddled. I guess it’s not every day that someone you used to have to babysit reappears in your life, wielding ancient and powerful forces.

He was dealing with it quite well, really.

‘Are you ready?’ I asked him. He nodded again, his gaze focusing with his purpose.

‘Get them on the ground,’ he said, repeating our plan. ‘Let the creature get rid of one of them, and take on the other. Somehow.’

‘It’s a plan,’ I said. Not necessarily a good plan, but a plan.