Chapter 27

The white raptor was already circling slowly overhead.

The man looked up at Daniel, and followed his gaze. He saw the raptor and whimpered. "Saints preserve us," he whispered, crossing himself.

Daniel felt the tingling beginning in his fingers. He rubbed his hands together slowly, and the raptor let out a shrill call and dropped down lower. It was skimming the tops of the buildings now.

It was not, Daniel noticed, pure white -- more of a light gray. And he realized, with a jolt, that he had seen this raptor before. There was something about its motion that was more fluid than the other raptors, and something in the way it moved its head as it looked around. He knew this raptor. And it hadn't always been that color.

His mind raced in crazy circles. It eats ghosts, it thought. That's why it's turning white.

I wonder if my hair is turning white, too.

Okay, he thought, that's crazy talk.

He kept his eyes on the raptor circling overhead, and began walking slowly around on the pavement, trying to match its movement. He shook his arms out at his sides and bent his knees, and kept his eyes on the raptor, moving fluidly around beneath it. Not matching its movement, but anticipating and complementing it.

Kelly watched, transfixed. "Damn," she murmured. "And I thought straight men couldn't dance."

The raptor shrieked and dove for the wounded man, who cringed and ducked back behinds his arms. But Daniel was already there, blocking the way and knocking the raptor off course and into the ground.

It sunk into a crouch and backed away a step. He walked sideways in a semicircle around it, turning it to face away from the man, who hastily scooted backwards.

Then he was darting forward, grabbing the raptor by its arm, and pushing fire into it.

It roared and threw him backward.

He stumbled back to his feet, just as it leaped at him. He curled his fingers, feeling the tingling, the claws, and lashed out with all his strength as it landed. Fire burst forth, and then he was flying through the air. He landed, hard, on his wounded side, and could feel pain piercing through his side. Without even looking, he knew that his wound had been torn open again; he felt the warm sticky feeling of fresh blood seeping into the makeshift bandage.

He looked up. Flickering stars covered his field of vision, and in the middle of them, he could clearly see the white raptor stooping over something. Then he felt the white fire start, the wind blowing toward the raptor.

"No!" he cried, stumbling to his feet amidst the maze of colors and running toward the raptor. His vision cleared slightly as he moved, and he saw what he had hoped not to see: the man's throat had been torn out, and the raptor was feeding off of what was left of him. He could see the man's life force being drawn out. He could see the raptor growing stronger.

"God damn you," he said, turning his stumble into an unsteady, but all-out, charge at the raptor. It was busy feeding, and didn't even notice his approach.

He crashed into it, sending it sprawling, and pushing attack into it.

He was dimly aware, in the distance, of a woman's voice screaming, "What the fuck were you thinking, sending him out there without iron? You're just the sharpest fucking crayon in the box, aren't you?"

There were still faint stars in front of his eyes, and suddenly he could see the fire that was flowing out of his hands and into the raptor as he tried to attack. It was the same fire that was the raptor had been drawing out of the man's body.

The woman's voice was still screaming. "If he tries to pull that shit on the white raptor, he'll just make the goddamn thing stronger!"

Time froze, and Daniel looked at the fire, flowing out of his hands, into the raptor, through its veins, lighting the fires in its eyes.

"Oh, shit," he said, and then he was crashing heavily into the side of a building.

Pain was slicing through him, and his vision went mostly dark. He was aware of the scent of Kelly's hair, and of a distant pounding sound, coming nearer.

Somewhere very close by, he distinctly heard a door opening, a body hitting the pavement, and a deadbolt locking again. Voices were screaming indistinctly, and stars swam through the darkness.

Then he had a dim awareness of something warm and comforting close by. It shone through the darkness, accompanied by a scent of warm horse.

His arms were stretched above his head, and the bleeding in his side got worse.

Then he blacked out.


A cricket chirped, and Daniel opened his eyes.

The room was dark, except for a sliver of moonlight shining onto the floor across the room. He sat up. Covers came with him, and something metallic slipped off the bed and clattered onto the floor.

"Daniel?" Kelly's voice was sleepy. "You're awake?"

"I think so," he said, blinking and trying to remember what had happened before he had arrived there. All he could remember was something about a large bird, and a horse.

She sat up next to him and ran her hand down his side. He suddenly realized that he didn't have a shirt on, and wondered why. After all, he reasoned, if they'd been having sex, then he probably wouldn't still have pants on.

He checked, just to make sure. Yes, his pants were there.

Her hand lingered on his side, where he was vaguely surprised not to feel pain. He looked down to see dried-on blood and a large scar. Where had that come from?

"Are you all right, Daniel?" she said. Something warm splashed on his arm, and he looked down at it in puzzlement, then looked up at her face.

And everything slammed into him at once.

"Shit," he whispered, falling back onto the pillow. "What happened?"

"Taylor found Goewyn," she said. "She rode up and got us, and we all got out of there."

"She found her? How?"

She shook her head. "I didn't ask yet. I was worried about you."

He looked out the window. The branches of a tree were waving gently in silhouette across the moonlit clouds. "I heard a door open, back before we left," he said quietly. "What was that?"

Kelly looked away. "Someone opened the door and pushed Junior out. I didn't see who, but there was someone yelling at him just before that. He... the raptor got him."

"Where are we, then?" he said softly. "Are we safe?"

She lay down next to him, putting her arm around him and resting her head on his chest. "Yes," she said. "We're safe."

He put his hand on her side, and realized that she wasn't wearing the T-shirt she had been wearing for the past few days; she had exchanged it for something smooth and satiny. She shivered as he ran his hand down her side, and then across the curve of her breast. She turned her head to look up at him.

He bent his head down to kiss her. If anything, she kissed him more hungrily than she had the last time, rolling over to kneel over his chest as they kissed.

When they finally pulled apart, he caught his breath and looked at her. His eyes had begun to adjust to the dim light, and he could tell that the things she was wearing were not things she had brought along. The neckline, in particular, he found to be quite stirring.

She bent down to kiss his shoulders, and he tightened his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him.

He ran his hand down her back and slipped it inside her underwear. "Do me a favor?" he whispered.

She smiled. "You're safe," she whispered.

The moon drifted behind a cloud.


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