Something New Ch. 13

My apologies for the extremely long wait on this chapter. Without going into details, the past several months have been interesting, and much of it not in a good way. As a result I have been very delayed in my writing, for which I sincerely apologize.

My thanks to all of you for sticking with me through the long wait on this chapter. Enjoy, and please don't forget to vote!

Here's a quick recap of what's happened up till now:

Lisa is trapped in the spirit world with the shadow creature as it tries to trap her. The fey are needed to assist directly against the creature, and the vampires under Keisha and weres under Christian and Carol are defending Tiernan's lands as well as guarding Thom, Shari and Shari's sister, Marianne. Max is heading up a combined team that is protecting Lisa's, The Voice's, and Thom's bodies as they deal with the shadow creature in the spirit world.

This story is copyrighted, please do not use any part of it without permission. Thanks!

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Lisa watched the shadow creature stiffen, anger filling its eyes as it stared off into the distance. She didn't know what was causing that reaction, but she figured whatever it was, could only mean something good for her.

"Max and Ember just gave it a bit of a blow," Tiernan commented, his mental voice radiating satisfaction. "Now is the time for us to start," he said, and broke contact to put words into action.

Lisa prepared herself, hiding Tiernan and Amergin's creation.

"Is there a problem?" Lisa asked the shadow creature sweetly. "Perhaps we should finish this another time."

Its blue eyes snapped back to hers, and Lisa saw a flash of satisfaction. It thought it had something on her. Lisa had not once attempted to deceive or manipulate it since she'd been brought here. Now she was changing tactics.

"Are you tired of my company already? I assure you, I have not tired of yours. Still, it may be that I will have to leave you here for a short while to attend to some matters..." The shadow creature trailed off, hearing the horn call of the Wild Hunt.

Lisa heard the horns as well, but more than that she heard all their frustration from their long wait. That frustration promised more than their usual ... pleasantness.

A smile passed over the creature's face. "So they think that will work on me, do they?" it commented almost in a whisper, and Lisa felt the shift as it tried to pull itself into someone else.

Relief washed over her when it frowned slightly, being denied access. Lisa watched it try each link it had, and its frustration and anger grew with each blocked attempt.

Lisa didn't know, and at the moment she didn't care, how Tiernan's people were keeping the creature trapped, but she was beyond grateful for the help. Now she had her own performance to put on. She turned her head slightly, as if looking for a way out, and shifted as if hiding something.

A moment later, the creature was before her. "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing," Lisa replied smoothly, keeping her tone cool and controlled. "It's not like I had time to pack before coming here."

The creature looked into her eyes, standing close, attempting to use its presence to intimidate. The horns of the Hunt sounded again, definitely getting closer, and Lisa caught its slight twitch. She prepared herself. It was running out of time, and it would try something soon.

"If I were you," Lisa commented offhandedly, "I'd leave before they get here. They don't sound too happy with you."

It looked at her in irritation and Lisa allowed her smile to widen slightly. "Or are you trapped here? That does seem a bit like poetic justice."

It gave her another hard look, and Lisa could practically see the wheels spinning. "You are not concerned about The Hunt?"

"Why should I be? It's not me they're after."

It gave her a chilling smile. "That's quite true. It isn't you they're after, but I can certainly change that."

"Oh really? And how would that work? They aren't tracking something as easily hidden as your scent."

Its smile grew sly. "Why don't I show you," it said softly before launching itself at her.

Lisa found herself pinned before she knew what was happening, but that didn't worry her much. No, what concerned her was the creature probing at her energy, trying to latch on and take over.

Lisa kept shifting her energy to keep it from gaining purchase. Raven lent his aid, adding an extra dynamic to her energy shifts, and keeping her just one step ahead. She felt a brief flicker of amusement as she realized that this scenario was rather like fighting borg from Star Trek.

She clutched Tiernan's creation, still hidden in her hand, and pushed a thread of her power into it. Now was the time of greatest danger to her, the moment to spring the trap.

Lisa deliberately faltered in her resistance, revealing the false trail she'd created. It followed without even thinking, and Lisa felt it push itself into Tiernan's little gift.

It pulled back from her in shock, its eyes wide in disbelief. "No," it whispered. "This is not possible."

Lisa watched, relieved, as bit by bit, the shadows disappeared and the creature before her turned more and more human. Finally all the shadows were gone, and a young woman stood before her, anger and dismay on her face.

Lisa watched, as brown eyes that had once been blue, turned towards her, filled with anger and hate.

"You bitch. What did you do?"

"I did nothing. You have chosen this every step of the way," Lisa answered in a cold voice. "You chose to give up your humanity. You chose to attack Thom. You chose to attack the Sidhe. You chose to drag me here. You chose to attack me. The situation in which you find yourself is entirely of your making, not mine."

Lisa felt Eldingar bring her presence forward, and she knew the woman could now sense her.

"How I wish you had chosen differently, Dótta. You are like my child, and it hurts me that I cannot save you from this path."

Lisa could hear Eldingar's pain and sadness quite clearly. There was no doubt in her mind that the inevitable fate Dótta had chosen, cut deep. Lisa watched the woman carefully, hoping for any sign of regret or remorse. Instead, Lisa saw only jealousy.

"You! You set me up!" Dótta hissed at them before a dark smile twisted her beautiful face into something hideous. "I may be doomed, but I can take you with me!" She yelled, before suddenly disappearing.

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Max tightened his clawed hand on the tree branch, leaving light scratches in the bark. Something had drastically changed, and he didn't yet know whether it was a good thing. He searched for the source of the shift, trying to track it down. His eyes widened, and a moment later he felt a faint tremor.

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Misha frowned. Harriet and the other weres had started to get restless, though none of them knew why. The best he'd been able to figure out was that they were all picking up on some unspecified danger through their animal halves. For the life, or the death, of him, he thought with a wry smile, he had no idea what kind of danger weres would be able to sense, but not vamps.

Misha reached out to check with Max again. Their dragon commander had been occupied before, and Misha hadn't deemed this urgent enough to interrupt.

"Everybody into the clearing, now! Watch out for falling trees." Max's harsh command was broadcast to all of them a moment before they saw him launch himself from his tree, and fly up into the night sky on wings he hadn't had before.

Misha noted the weres were already moving, as were most of the vamps, and quickly joined the rest. He checked in with Harriet, and the two of them formed a quick plan for safely redistributing everyone, while still protecting the clearing. Though they couldn't see or smell anything there, all of them knew it held some very important people doing very dangerous work.

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Max soared above the forest, warning Christian and Keisha as he scouted out safe locations for their people. It was tricky work. While he continued communicating with the vamp and were leaders, Ember was busy working through him, doing his best to calm the land long enough for people to reach safety.

Both of them knew they wouldn't be able to keep it up long. Banishing the shadows earlier had significantly drained them both. Still, every moment they gave people to reach safety, was one more chance at survival.

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"You need to get back to your bodies. NOW!" Eldingar yelled at all of them.

Lisa felt Thom pulling them as she raced back through the link he held open for them. It was only moments before Lisa found her body again, and began to wake up. It took her a few minutes to climb up out of the blackness, and in those minutes, her ears were assaulted by loud crashes, snarls, people screaming, and orders being roughly barked out in a woman's voice.

Finally Lisa opened her eyes and sat up, stunned by the scene before her. The ground was heaving and trees were crashing down randomly. A woman she recognized as one of Christian's seconds was the origin of the orders being barked out, as she attempted to free someone trapped beneath a large pine. The most shocking thing of all, though, was the sight of Max in his full draconic form, passed out next to her, his clawed fingertips almost touching hers.

Lisa reached out and grabbed his limp hand, relieved to find warmth radiating from beneath his red scales. She checked him over and relaxed when she found that he had simply over extended, and would be fine with some rest. He's okay, she told herself, taking a deep breath to let out the tension.

"Lisa," Tiernan's voice entered her thoughts, his urgency plain. "These tremors are not natural, but we are still tied up blocking Dótta. You must stop this. Here, this is the link to the land."

Lisa quickly grabbed hold of the ley line he all but threw at her. It was a key energy channel, leading directly to the instability that was causing the tremors. Dótta was manipulating it, deliberately building the tremors into full blown quakes. Lisa sank into the ley line, following it deep into the ground below, Eldingar and Sonja following her in, close on her heels.

You have no right to do this, Dótta, and you shall not, Lisa thought to herself with steely resolve.

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"Mags, we're ready to lift. Brace his hip when we do," Harriet growled out as she shifted to her bear form. As a bear, she was one of the strongest here, and that strength was needed. The pine trapping Misha was not small.

Harriet grabbed hold of the large Ponderosa, her claws digging into the trunk as she and three others lifted. Slowly the trunk rose, and Misha grunted in pain at the sudden rush of blood to his broken hip. Maggie, their resident medic, braced his leg and hip while two others pulled Misha out.

When he was clear, Harriet and her helpers lowered the tree back down to the ground, and she shifted back to human. This was a moment she was extremely grateful for the advances her alpha had made in tactical gear. Her clothing and body armor was actually able to adjust to her shift, though it was a near thing, and was a bit tight in her bear form. She was just happy that she didn't have to waste time removing it when she shifted.

Harriet checked in with the people on guard duty, and sent her helpers to join the rest of the ranks while she went to check in with Mags.

"So tell me doc," Misha was whispering through the pain with a strained smile, "Will I be able to dance after this?"

Harriet's lips quirked, recognizing the joke, but Maggie was focused on treating his injuries and just gave him a distracted "Yes."

Misha's tight smile widened slightly, and he managed to gasp through the pain, "Well that's fantastic, because I never could before."

Harriet laughed, and Maggie just ignored him, entering an almost trance-like state of focus while she worked. Pain filled his face, and his smile faded as he gasped, clenching his jaw to avoid biting anyone as his fangs descended.

Harriet moved closer, ready to intervene if it became necessary. Like weres, it would appear that vamps had to control their feral side when in pain, so they didn't hurt the ones trying to help them.

"Don't ... worry..." Misha gasped out. "I've been ... in worse pain ... than this, and didn't ... bite, crap! ... anyone."

Harriet just nodded but stayed put, and instinctively put a hand on his shoulder. She saw his eyes darken and his nostrils flare at her scent, and she realized this was probably the first time he'd deeply scented her. That's right. He told me his nose isn't that much better than human, so what he smelled of me before was probably pretty faint, she thought to herself.

Harriet watched his reaction with interest, feeling no fear. Somehow, some part of her knew he wouldn't hurt her, and so she offered him something she thought she would never do willingly.

Harriet bent down, and put her lips by ear. "If you can promise you will take only a few mouthfuls, you can bite me. It's the least I can do since you got hurt pushing me out of the way."

Shock passed over Misha's face as his eyes locked onto hers, still wincing in pain. Misha saw sincerity and trust in Harriet's gaze, and was amazed that she put so much faith in his control. "It would help, but are you sure? I don't want you doing this just because you feel obligated."

"It's fine, I don't mind. I think I would offer even if you hadn't just saved my life."

Misha held her gaze a moment longer, seeing that she was telling the truth. He opened his mouth to speak and instead hissed in pain at whatever Maggie just did. Harriet shoved her arm under his nose, and he had to resist the urge to tear into her.

Instead, Misha gently stroked her hand, and softly touched his lips to the skin of her wrist. Holding her gaze, he gently bit, going only deep enough to get the blood flowing before retracting his teeth, and softly suckling at her wrist. Misha took pride in very few things. His ability to bite gently and accurately was one of them.

Harriet watched in amazement at how tender and precise Misha was, despite his pain. A shiver ran down her spine a moment before a pleasant warmth washed over her. Harriet was surprised that the feeling was so gentle. Everything she knew of vampires said that their venom sent the receiver into a state of euphoria.

"I cut down the amount of venom. I thought you'd prefer it," Misha said directly into her mind, while keeping eye contact with her. "Thank you for this. It's helping the pain."

Harriet felt the extreme relief in his mental voice, and noticed he was no longer wincing and twitching so much, which confirmed his words. "No worries. This feels quite nice, actually. And thank you for toning it down."

Harriet watched as Misha took one last swallow before placing a light kiss on her wrist as it healed, sending another wave of heat through her. Harriet slowly pulled her arm back, letting it slide through his hand.

He'd better be ready for me later, because after that little display, there's no way in hell I'm not jumping him, Harriet thought to herself, nearly growling her frustration. Misha smiled at her look of promise, before she turned and walked away, getting back to work.

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"We got here just in time," Eldingar commented. "Dótta layered instabilities and then linked them together. If one goes, the entire things falls like a house of cards. It wouldn't be a large area of destruction compared to other quakes, but it would be devastating."

"From what I saw earlier, the damage is already significant. I don't even want to think about this whole thing going," Lisa replied somewhat absently. She was completely focused on calming the fault and not tripping any of the pitfalls Dótta had laid down. "She must have spent months, maybe years, putting this in place. I'm amazed she could do this without detection. Speaking of which, do we know where she's gotten to? I can feel her still messing with this, but I can't spare my attention to track her. And where's The Hunt? Why haven't they caught her?"

"I ordered The Hunt to stay away for now," Tiernan answered Lisa, startling her. "While they are adept at navigating most terrain, I will not risk them making a mistake here."

Lisa acknowledged his words, realizing she should have expected Tiernan to be keeping tabs on them. This land was his responsibility, and it was one he took very seriously. In his place, she'd be doing the same thing.

"I'm not handling anything else right now, I can try to locate Dótta," Sonja broke into the conversation. "I was fully aware while Eldingar trained Lisa, so in a sense, I received the same lessons. I do not have the gifts needed to calm things, but I do have the skills to seek, and Eldingar's teaching should allow me to navigate safely. The only thing about this, is that Eldingar will no longer be able to use me to mask what she is."

Lisa reminded herself to focus on her work, though Sonja's last words definitely had her attention.

"Well the charade had to end sometime, may as well be now," Eldingar replied. "Go. The need is greater for you to track my problem child, than to waste further energy masking my identity. I only ask that you, Lisa, do not lose focus. The results would not be ... pleasant. "

"Enough already," Lisa snapped slightly. Her patience tended to become much more limited under stress, and she'd already been through enough to test the nerves of a saint. "Just get it over with so we can get back to work. What's the big secret?"

Eldingar chuckled at Lisa's plain speak. "Very well. Let's just say that Ember and I share a certain heritage."

"Ember? Ah, so you're a dragon then," Lisa stated.

" You are not surprised? Eldingar asked, sounding a little disappointed.

Lisa snorted, "There's only so many beings that have the kind of tie in to the elements that you have. The training with natural forces narrowed down the field a lot. I hadn't figured out which being you were, yet, but a dragon was definitely one of the stronger possibilities."

Sonja laughed long and hard. "I told you!" she gasped out when she'd regained some control of herself. "I told you this wouldn't work for long! Lisa's a fully trained shaman, and on top of that, she specializes in emotional and spiritual wounding. Those injuries are always deeply hidden. This little charade was probably like trying to stop an expert cracksman with a padlock."

"Yes well, I'd like to think this worked a bit better than a padlock, but your point is taken, and you were right. I underestimated Lisa, and overestimated my ability. I'm afraid it is a flaw that Dótta has exploited more than once."

"Speaking of Dótta," Lisa cut in. "Does this mean she's Dragon Touched, like Max?"

"Yes and no. Yes, she was created as one of the Touched, but no, she is not like Max," Eldingar replied, sadness evident in her voice. "First, each of the Touched has different skills. Max's and Dótta's abilities are quite different. Second, and more importantly, Max never rejected Ember. This means his ties are stronger and more solid. Max can draw strongly on Ember, as well as Ember being able to work directly through Max."

Lisa heard the pain of that rejection, and it called to her healer's nature. Later, now is not the time, she thought to herself .

Eldingar continued oblivious to Lisa's momentary preoccupation. "In Dótta's case, now that her shadows have been stripped from her, she is really quite weak in terms of pure power, though no less dangerous. She is both extremely crafty and clever, and she never needed much power before meeting me. She has more than enough to be dangerous and in addition, she is now backed into a corner."