That evening, Flicker, Philippa and I stumble out of an upmarket bar, giggling and tipsy as heck. Niko is unaffected, despite the three bottles of wine she'd drunk, and she shepherds us out of the road like a huge goth mother-duck.

  "Fli-hi-hicker, I didn't think you could GET sauced~!" My older sister giggles, weaving slightly as Niko wrangles her back into line beside the inebriated vampire. Philippa leans against the shorter girl, Flicker's hands on her back, and the pair share a clumsy, but VERY enthusiastic kiss.

  I whoop, spinning in circles as Niko guides me gently in the right direction, preventing me from bumping into a car on the way, as we all chatter and even sing snatches of off-key lyrics from the test chart-toppers, having way too much fun to stop.

  With Niko trying to control me, Philippa, AND Flicker, we end up passing through a deserted park. There are mps every few yards, but there's no sign of anyone else. Flicker and Philippa pause for another kiss, until I spot three figures, no... Five, actually, heading towards us. I giggle, wondering if we're not the only ones with the brilliant idea to cross a park te at night, and then frown as the quintet halt, just outside the pool of light cast by the mp ahead of us.

  The middle figure, eyes burning an eerie orange, speaks in a deep, husky voice, with a strange accent. It sounds.... Scottish? Or maybe Irish. But the speaker's female, that much is certain.

  "....You. That stench wafting offa ya. Yeh're a damn bloodsucker, aintcha. An' don't bother lying t'me. The nose knows, after all."

  Flicker frowns, blearily focussing on the strange, aggressively-rude girl and her four silent compatriots.

  "Whwaaaaa...? You're mean! I don't think I like you very much."

  Philippa huffs, looping an uncoordinated arm around Flicker's waist. "Yeah! You tell 'em, babe!"

  The shadowy figure snarls, but it doesn't sound human. "An' what're ya gonna do with that girl, vamp? Your scent is all over her.... you've FED on her, haven'tcha! Right, that tears it! Time t' die, ya demon!"

  Flicker scowls, narrowing her eyes. "That's uncalled for! I'm a passy... a passive... passafish, but I'll make an essepshun for you!"

  She squares up, clearly never having gotten into a fight in her life. The ugh that comes from the very rude dy is mocking. Derisive. And completely understandable.

  "You... are gonna fight ME? Well that's funny, but it's not a fight if ya won't st a minute! But enough o' this shit! Kiss yer arse goodbye, ya two-legged mprey!"

  She snaps her fingers. "Two of ye, take the big one! One each fer the little ones! I'll handle the real monster!"

  The woman hunches over, dropping to all fours as a snarl rips out of her, followed by the sounds of tearing fabric. In a welter of cotton and linen scraps, the woman's gone, repced with a massive canine shadow, golden eyes bzing even brighter. Baring two-inch long fangs, the immense, 6-ft-tall creature growls, the pitch-bck fur making it nearly impossible to tell where it ends and the night begins.

  Flicker's defiant expression wavers. "Uh.... am I still drunk, or.... is that a..."

  I yelp, eyes wide.

  "WEREWOLF!"

  With an earsplitting howl, the colossal wolf unches herself at Flicker. The nerdy vampire's confidence crumples like aluminum foil, and she turns and runs, screaming for help as the four remaining strangers, all male, converge on us.

  Philippa starts crackling with thunder, but I shove her away. "Go after Flicker, I'll handle this with Niko!"

  With a grateful look at me, my sister hares off, almost rocketing over the grass in a fulgurating ripple of cerise lightning, as I sh out with a fist, smming it into the cheek of one of the two men attempting to wrangle us. He snarls, and I sucker-punch him in the gut.

  "The fuck's wrong with you guys?! Why are you attacking us, you dickheads?!" I yell, as the two charging at Niko end up getting knocked ft on their butts when she moves like a shadow, whipping her foot out in a brutal side-kick and sending the first one careening ass-backwards into his friend.

  They scramble to their feet, far more agilely than even my sisters, circling Niko as she stands calmly, her bnk face pale in the moonlight.

  I, on the other hand, am increasingly grateful that I've fought DRAGONS, since these guys are tough, fast, and strong, and without my training, I'd have been tossed about like a kitten.

  Instead, it's me tossing THEM around like bags of potatoes from Walmart, the two men grunting in surprise and pain as I fling them around like I'm at a drunken Amish square-dance.

  From nearby, I can hear Flicker screaming, lupine snarling, and Philippa shrieking for the werewolf to "stop chasing my girlfriend and eat lightning-y death!"

  While I grapple with the well-built pair of silent assaints, Niko is having an even easier time of it than me, since she's barely even trying, shing out with ferocious kicks that might even give Jekk Ironhide pause. Her hands are spping away punches, and I smile, having been on the receiving end of plenty of blocks like that back in the Drakeblooded Cities.

  Finally, I decide to stop pying 'nice', and pirouette. As I spin, I slightly dragonshift, my tail whipping out and smming into the face of the nearest man, dropping him in an unconscious heap on the grass. The second guy blinks, his momentary loss of focus giving me a window to unch myself at him in a ferocious uppercut.

  When he comes down, he nds firmly on the nearby wooden bench, which protests his sudden arrival by coming apart in pieces.

  "SHORYUKEN!"

  Before he can rise, I freeze him to the ground in a bst of dragon-breath, the subzero vapour aftershock wreathing my face as I turn to Niko.

  "Have you got this?"

  She nods, each hand wrapped around the throat of one of the two men who'd gone after her. She's not harming them, just holding them off the ground while they growl and kick their legs in impotent fury.

  "Yes. Go after Flicker and... Philippa, Rika. I can... handle this without you...."

  Sighing in relief, I snap my leathery white wings out and, with somewhat more effort than usual, I take off, skimming the grass about six metres up, my eyes scanning the surroundings as I follow the sounds of snarling, as well as terrified sobbing.

  In the minute it's taken me to catch up, Flicker has apparently forgotten that she can fly, or at least levitate, and has managed to climb several feet out of reach up a mppost, with the huge bck wolf leaping up and cwing at the air, getting closer and closer with each leap as Flicker begins to slip due to the fear-sweat on her palms.

  I arrive at the same time as Philippa, and my sister snaps, "Rika, pin that mutt in pce!"

  Without hesitation, I wait for the moment the massive werewolf's paws are all on the ground, and exhale. While I miss her forepaws, I manage to get her back ones. The werewolf's tail flies up in shock and she tries to turn, but, with her paws still trapped, she's unable to move.

  A shrieking whine builds around Philippa, strands of violet lightning snapping out around her for a foot or so in all directions. I've never seen her charging up so much power, not even against the Battleshell, nor have I ever seen her this apocalyptically livid.

  "I said.... GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER, YOU FOUR-LEGGED BITCH!"

  Throwing her hands out, Philippa unleashes every stored iota of thunder, a beam of magenta electricity spearing straight forwards.

  The werewolf whimpers, then HOWLS, as the bolt imapcts somewhere VERY uncomfortable, the shaggy bck beast trembling, paralysed by the high voltage running rampant through her entire body, before colpsing, twitching briefly. Flicker scrambles down and hides behind Philippa as I freeze the monstrous lupine form to the ground thoroughly.

  "Let's collect Niko and get out of here! Flicker, you can stay with us tonight." Philippa says firmly, holding her trembling girlfriend tightly.

  I furl my wings, stalking around Flicker and Philippa protectively, in case there were more of this werewolf's friends out there, Niko calmly knocking the two guys out once she sees we're returning with Flicker safe and unharmed. I bite my lip.

  "If that werewolf dy can track Flicker by scent, we shouldn't walk, right? I'll fly her back to our pce, if that's okay with you, Phili?"

  Philippa nods. "That's a great idea. Flicker, you go with Rika, okay? She'll get you to our new pce nice and quick, and we'll be right behind you. Okay?"

  Flicker, still sniffling, nods and un-Velcroes herself from Philippa's side, slowly approaching me as I hold my arms out. "Ready, Flicker? Hold on tight, I won't drop you, I promise."

  She wraps her arms around me tight, and I wrap mine around her in kind, my wings unfurling as I beat them, taking off smoothly, Flicker letting out a little gasp as she feels suddenly weightless.

  Rising quickly into the night sky, I rotate us until I can spot our new apartment building, then power for it, slowing once I get close enough to check if the rooftop garden is deserted.

  Landing, I let Flicker go once she's confirmed her feet are on solid ground again, swiftly transforming out of my dragonshift and heading for the stairs into the building.

  At our door, Flicker's stuck, unable to set a single toe over the threshhold, as before, and I smile. "Flicker, I give you permission to come in."

  She bolts inside as soon as she's physically allowed to, wrapping her arms around me. I rub her back soothingly as Tricia turns her head from the tv.

  "What happened? You guys just went for drinks! Why is Flicker clinging to you??"

  I expin, my face going tight with anger. "We were walking back through that nearby park, when this woman and four guys who followed her orders attacked us. She was a werewolf, and she went right after Flicker without hesitation. We didn't provoke her, she started it!"

  Tricia's eyes widen, and she hastily limps over to join the Flicker-hugging. "What?! Oh that's awful! You managed to win, then? Are Philippa and Niko on their way back?"

  I nod. "I flew here, trying to prevent that werewolf tracking Flicker by scent until we can get her back to the Assoociation tomorrow. She'll be safe there. And we can protect her tonight, for sure."

  Thirty minutes ter, Philippa and Niko have returned, and Flicker's fast asleep, lying on the couch with her head on Philippa's p, my sister soothingly running her hand through Flicker's blonde hair. She smiles tenderly.

  "Poor Flick. She's not a fighter, and an absolute coward. It's how she survived before the Association found her. But yeah. As soon as dawn breaks, we'll move. Werewolves have a lot more trouble transforming in daylight, so whatever happens, we'll have an advantage."

  I nod. "I won't be able to fly her, there'll be too many people around. That means the werewolf won't be able to try anything, either, at least, but yeah. We were lucky this time. I don't want to push that luck with a second meeting."

  Philippa nods. "Yeah. You and Niko go get some sleep. I'll stay up in case Flicker has a nightmare."

  I smile and give her a kiss on the cheek. "Okay, sis. I'm gd Flicker's safe. She's a sweetheart and I'm so happy that you both found each other."

  I lean down and give Flicker a gentle cuddle, careful not to wake her, before heading for my bedroom and getting changed into pajamas.

  My dreams, when I finally drift away, are filled with fshing fangs and snarling, glowing golden eyes and thick bck fur.

  When I wake, it's just past 7 AM, and I emerge from my room to find everyone else already awake. Philippa smiles.

  "Alright, we can have breakfast at the Association's canteen. Our priority is making sure you're safe, Flick."

  The petite vampire looks worried. "I'm so sorry, I know you had pns with Rika today, since she has to go back somewhere by noon-"

  I shake my head, hugging her. "I'm more worried about leaving my new friend in trouble! So, let's go! Operation Save-A-Vamp is underway!"

  The drive to the Association is, while tense and nerve-wracked, completely uneventful, and we hustle Flicker into the loby, surrounding her like a Presidential security team, heads on a swivel. I break off to inform the receptionist that we're heading down to see Grand Incantor Managold urgently, and she nods, utterly unphased, passing on the message, as Philippa ushers our group into an elevator, sliding her metal Association I.D card into the slot and sending us all the way down.

  We barrel out of the elevator once it hits the bottom, and Niko grabs a passing man in robes. "Where is.... the Grand Incantor?"

  "Sh-she's in a meeting, in her antechamber!" He yelps, and Niko nods.

  "Thank you."

  With Philippa in the lead, we almost sprint down the hallways, people dodging out of our way as we head for the Grand Incantor's magical study area. As we enter the room with her acolytes working on runic circles and bubbling brews, the sound of Lyse's voice can be heard.

  "-well, it seems you are in luck. One of our best teams has just arrived, with the head of our technical support bureau. I'm sure we'll be able to find the ones responsible-"

  The Grand Incantor pauses as we charge into the room. She's wearing rich scarlet robes, and she smiles at us.

  "Ah, here they are!"

  We all freeze for a moment, then Philippa bursts into a crackling storm, I dragonshift fully, spreading a wing out to shield Flicker, as Niko sshes her thumbnail over her index fingertip, a sword of bck blood forming in a heartbeat, as Tricia raises a hand, the air warping in front of her.

  Facing us across a small meeting-room is a quartet of men in bck suits, with a woman in the centre, wearing torn jeans and a bck leather jacket, her amber eyes wide in shocked rage. We all shout at each other.

  "YOU!!!!"