"Tabitha, why are you running away from me? What's wrong?" Ky yelled after her friend, her swaying blonde hair was all Ky could see.

Ky was chasing Tabitha down a dark hallway. None of the fixtures were recognizable. She felt lost, but somehow knew where she was going.

Tabitha kept running, about ten feet ahead of her. Ky thought she could take one large leap and grab her shirt.

"Tabs? Tabs, what's wrong?" she cried out.

Tabs stopped. She didn't slow down, she didn't fall or lean forward. Ky couldn't hear any heavy breathing like she'd been running.

Ky stopped running, slowing down. She was an arm's length behind Tabitha.

Still, Tabitha did not turn around.

Over Tab's shoulder, Ky could see the dim outline of a door in the murky light. It looked like a heavy duty metal door, the kind used to lock people out . . . or in. A steel door knob stuck out, and she could barely make out the keyhole in it.

She stretched a hand to touch Tab's shoulder. Her head started to turn towards Ky.

She came to with a roar, and a small burst of flame.

Ky stood up fast, shifting almost unconsciously to human form. She shook a little, the dream fresh in her mind.

She closed her eyes and counted to ten. She let the frustration and fear wash over her in waves. It was always bad when dragons dreamed. She refused to give into her feelings of premonition and fright.

"We'll find Tabs tonight and she'll be okay. I just..." she spoke aloud to herself.

Just what? her conscience quipped. Just imagined it? Hallucinated seeing her dead body? Did you dream that too?

"Yes. Something. I . . . I can't give up hope. She's been my only friend in so long."

Yes, well, sometimes we have to face the hard facts of life. Your friend is dead. You'll have to deal with that now.

"I know," Ky whispered in the dark.

So, head over to her apartment. Use David to help track down where she was last seen. You can't save her, but you can punish her murderers. The voice sounded gleeful, like a child going to a candy store with a new twenty dollar bill. We can punish her murderers.

"Yes," Ky said, her voice strong and unwavering now. "We will."

She changed her clothing. She had taken serious damage in the sunlight that morning, and had been unable to keep a grip on some of her clothing during her transformation. It was lost, sent back to the black material that made up matter, energy, light, dark- everything.

She learned long ago to be careful with her magic, and use it wisely. She had to keep a strong grip on it at all times. She could lose a piece of herself in the transformation if she was not careful.

She laughed grimly at the holes in the shirt and pants as she stripped. There were large circular patches missing, displaying pink flesh. Perfect circles. Just gone. Disappeared. The edges were not frayed or ragged. A smooth cut.

Shaking off the unease she felt at her lapse in control, she replaced the destroyed shirt and pants with a clean black blouse and jeans. She laced up her black boots, and donned her jacket. It's leathery cool texture soothing to her lightly sore skin.

The soreness would be fully gone by morning, but she relished in the fire this pain brought to the fore. It hurt more, keeping it burning so bright inside, but it was exquisite in its agony.

A dangerous look crossed her eyes, setting to blaze small fires in their depths.

"The hunt is on," she murmured into the night as she departed, the dark dream forgotten. For now.

copyright 2007 Shanna Wynne. All rights reserved.

"Sounds like you guys have a great relationship" Ky said when David finished.

"Yeah, she's great. She means the world to me."

"I can tell." Ky set down her coffee cup, its contents long past drained. "I need to leave David."

"Oh... okay." David took a deep swig from his cup, finishing it off.

"I'll be back tomorrow night, early evening. Can you be here waiting for me?"

"Sure, why?" he asked.

"We're going to look for her together."

"I'll be here."

"Good, David. I'm counting on it." Ky said as she took a step towards the balcony. She remembered at the last second her current situation.

She turned back to David, planting a Oh I'm such a silly woman look on her face. She giggled, tittering a bit to add to his confusion. "Heh, the door is that way."

She walked to and through the door, making a grandiose exit. David still sat on the couch, perplexed by her behavior.

He heard the door close, shut firmly against the outside. He stood up and walked to it, peering through the peephole, watching her back disappear down the hallway.

Something about the jacket bothered him, but he couldn't quite put his mind on it. Every time he tried it slipped away from him.

He shrugged, letting the feeling pass.

He walked to the balcony door, which still hung open, allowing the cooler air of the city into the warm apartment. The horizon was turning a light blue and pink, the sun only fifteen minutes or so from rising.

Winter still clung to the morning air, despite the coming of spring. Goosebumps pringled his skin and a shiver rolled down his spine.

He laughed aloud. He was standing on the balcony. In his boxers.

Yep, time to send me to the loony-bin.

He stepped inside, closed the doors, and went straight back to bed.

Tab's apartment was on the fifth floor and Ky bounded down the stairs in quick leaps. The elevator was slow in comparison to her speed.

She landed on the last floor, kneeling down for the briefest of seconds. She quickly contemplated her route home, mapping it in her mind.

Duck out the side door, the exit one here. It leads into a dimly lit alley way, but still too bright. With the sun rising, I'll be seen. Run to the street and head over two blocks. The alley way there had a broken light. Then fly up high and east fast.

With route in mind, she ran, the soles of her barely touching the ground.

She slammed the emergency exit door aside, and behind her she heard the alarm start to wail. She ignored it.

She passed a few homeless people in the alley, crouched down between the dumpsters and brick walls. When they saw her, saw the change coming over her face- her skin changing to a deep golden hue, her eyes flashing fire- they turned away, pulling a dirty newspaper or tattered blanket over their eyes.

She looked fierce, angry, and vengeful to whomever saw her.

By the time she reached the darker alleyway, the sun was cropping the horizon. Half of its golden, burning eye staring over the edge of the world.

She ripped her coat off and dropped it. It would be useless now. She had others at home. She began the change while her wings extended behind her, lifting her up towards the sky.

Higher, she screamed in her mind, higher!

Anyone glancing up at the early morning sky that morning would claim they saw a small glowing ball of fire rising towards space. Some said it was an unidentified flying object, those particular people stating it had obviously absconded with a few more homeless people or children from their beds.

If David had lingered at the balcony for just another moment, he would have seen it too.

The sunlight burned Ky. It was agony on her skin. She was in complete dragon form now, her human-skin was more susceptible to the sun and a hindrance to her now. She flew back to her cave, heading east faster than she'd flown to the city.

She flew up and high, well above the cloud line. She could only catch brief glimpses of the land below, but she knew she'd made a regrettable mistake by staying at Tab's apartment so long, talking to David. She hadn't learned anything useful in her search, and she'd let a few more people die by not hunting that night.

She roared into the rising sun, spilling her frustration to the world. People below, leaving their homes for work or walking to their barns to milk their cows - whatever task might have driven them out of bed at such an early hour - thought it was a sonic boom, a military jet that was flying far afield.

She landed on the rocky outcropping to her cave and dove in, knocking asunder her few belongings, and rolling to a stop in the back, atop her bed of straw.

She sighed long and deep, and a blue haze alighted over her, barely noticeable in the dimly lit cave. The sunlight would not reach her back here, she knew that, but still she scooted back until her scales touched the wall behind her.

She folded her wings over her body, and the blue haze that had spiced the air with its prescence descended down, touching and feeling along her scales, seeking the burned skin and torn muscles. She'd damaged her body to fly back at such break neck speeds, and was lucky she hadn't permanently crippled herself.

She settled into a deep sleep, and breathed softly, whimpering in small bursts of pain.

The day passed slowly, each second before the sun reached its zenith and shined directly down upon her mountain top was agony. She felt it like small claws in her skin, despite the healing spell she'd begun before she slumbered.

When the sun passed its zenith, settling down in the western part of the sky, she truly fell into a healing sleep.