It didn’t take long for the others to arrive. There had been no question as to where they would meet or just how urgent the matter was. Holden had heard the panic in Julian’s voice, and now all the dragons and their mates were sitting in his dining room. It was well past bedtime for the children now, but they were all playing amicably in Kaylee’s room. The steak dinner Julian had cooked had grown cold on the counter.

He did his best to explain what had happened. “I just stood there like an idiot, watching her fly off over the neighborhood. I didn’t know what else to do. She was so insistent that there was something in the room with us, and she was even talking to it. By the time she left, I don’t even know if she could hear my voice anymore.” The others were sitting, but he paced the floor in front of the breakfast bar. He couldn’t sit still as long as he knew Naomi was out there, possibly in danger—or possibly going insane.

“It’s okay,” Holden assured him. “We’ll find her, and we’ll figure this out.”

“You said this was a demon?” Autumn asked, her eyes sharp. “Did she give it a name or say anything else about it?”

“Just that it had followed her here from the Otherworld.” Julian wondered how things could have gone so wrong so quickly.

“Oh, no.” The whispered voice had come from Summer, who had suddenly gone several shades paler. “I should have said something last night.”

Autumn leaned across the table. “What?” she snapped.

Summer floundered, her hands moving through the air and her lips trying to find the words. “I never expected to be the one to go into the trance. We had all agreed it would be Autumn. But then I found myself just sliding down into that other world, like a hole had opened up in the bottom of my brain and I had no choice. I didn’t mind, because as long as we got Naomi back, that was the only thing that really mattered. The drums were serving as a line to bring me back when I was ready.”

“That all sounds pretty normal from what I recall reading,” Autumn replied.

“Okay.” Summer pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It was like I dove down into the Otherworld. Everything was thick and blurry, and there were shadows and light, just like if I was swimming in a pond with a bunch of shade trees over it. Naomi was like this brilliant burst of light, but there was darkness all around her. As soon as I grabbed her hand—or whatever you would call the equivalent of a hand in a place like that, since nothing has any real form—I felt something cold and icy against my spine. I just assumed it was a part of being there, and I didn’t think about it at all. Not until we’d had some time to recover. I was going to ask Naomi about it when we got back to Autumn’s house, but then we found out about her and Julian and everything just went from there. I figured there would be time later, once we were all rested.”

“Don’t blame yourself.” Leah sat next to Holden, her face lined with concern. “None of us really knew what we were getting into when we brought her back. It was one big experiment.”

Autumn was on her feet now. “There’s no need for blame,” she agreed. “There’s only time right now for action. We brought this thing into the world with a shamanic ritual, right?”

“Right,” the other two women chimed in.

“Then maybe there’s a chance that we can send him back with one.” Her eyes were alight, and she was making a slow circle around the table as she thought. “Clearly, the trance that Summer went into was a powerful one.”

“But dragging her back down into the Otherworld could be dangerous,” Xander protested, his fist curled against the wooden surface of the table. “What if we lose her?”

“You won’t,” Summer promised. “Now that I’ve done it once, I know more about what to expect. I’ll be in complete control.”

“The rest of us aren’t completely useless, either,” Beau volunteered. “We’ve got plenty of firepower to attack him with. There’s just the matter of finding him.

“I don’t think that will be a problem.” Ever since she had left, Julian had been resisting the urge to go flying off into the night sky afterward. It was only Kaylee that kept him from such a foolish errand, and he was grateful. It would be much better if he had his friends at his back. “I can find her.”

Leah cleared her throat. “I took the liberty of calling the Rochesters on the way over here, just in case. They said they can come right over to watch the kids if we need them.” The couple ran the local print shop and had always been sympathetic to both Leah and her psychic powers and the twins with their new age shop. They had met the dragons at a party last year, and they were now the closest ‘normal’ friends of the group.

Julian looked into the eyes of each of his friends and saw the same determination he felt in his heart reflected back at him. “It looks like we do.”

The sky was beginning to lighten. It would soon be morning, and people would be getting up out of bed and getting ready for work. Somewhere, out on the edge of town, someone might be stretching as she got out of bed, pausing by the window to admire the sunrise. She might be surprised to see four dragons go whizzing by her window, the early light reflecting off their scales. That would be a surprise enough, but it would surely be even more of a shock to see that three of those dragons had riders.

“How come we’ve never done this before?” Autumn shouted over the wind to the gold dragon between her legs. “This is amazing!”

“Silly me. I thought I was giving you enough of a ride as it was,” Beau retorted.

“Get a room, you two,” Leah said with a giggle. She was perched on top of Holden, his red scales brilliant in the sun. But she looked as though she was enjoying this as well. After all, there wasn’t much they could do until they actually found Naomi.

Summer was on Xander’s back, her hands running slowly down his copper hide as though she was sending him messages through her fingers. Her head was tipped back and her blonde hair streamed out behind her. With her eyes shut, she looked as though she was already slipping into the shamanic trance they were all relying on. She had one of the drums strapped over her back.

Julian, flying solo at the head of the group, felt a bolt of loneliness in his heart. He’d had Naomi back, and now she was gone once again. The rest of the crew seemed confident in their ability to find her and save her from this beast that had followed her to Earth, but the only thing Julian really knew was that he couldn’t survive without her once again. It would break his heart beyond the point of bearing.

He spread his wings wide, letting the wind lift him higher as they zoomed past the city limits and the trees underneath them began to thicken. Now that he was back in dragon form, he knew he had a better chance of finding her. Every sense was trained on her, listening for her heartbeat or the sound of her lungs, his nostrils flaring as they sought her scent, his very blood coursing only for her. If this was what the others had felt when they’d met their mates, then he almost felt sorry for them.

“Are we at least headed in the right direction?” Xander asked. They had made their best guess based on the orientation of Naomi’s escape and the fact that she seemed to want to keep away from all the rest of them. It would be just as difficult to find her in a rural area as it would be to find her somewhere in town, unfortunately.

“I think so,” Julian replied. He had been wondering if the faint clues of her scent that he’d caught had just been his imagination, but she was growing more solid in his mind as they left town. He closed his eyes, listening for her with every sense he had and letting his body do the work. He felt himself drift slightly east, and he didn’t fight it. The others followed suit.

As the rural homes on smaller plots of land grew into large farms and then dwindled into forest preserve, Julian felt the raw beast inside him suddenly come to life. His claws itched to dig into flesh, and he desperately wanted to burn down anything that got in his way. “She’s close.”

Swooping down in a dangerous nosedive, Julian picked up on her scent. It was heady, making him feel drunk, and he had to get to her as fast as possible. Once he did, he only wanted to scoop her up and take off with her, carrying her to some far-off place where they wouldn’t need to worry about anything. But there was no such place on Earth right now, and they had work to do.

He landed with a thunk in front of a bluff. The rounded rocks created a sheer face tangled with vines and weeds. At one time, this edifice may have looked out over a lake or river that had long ago been lost. Julian headed forward even before he heard the others landing behind him. “Naomi!” he roared. “I know you’re in there. You can’t hide from me, and I want to help you.”

A long blue muzzle poked out from the dark entrance of a cave. This side of the bluffs was still in shadow, the sun not yet high enough to reach down into the valley it formed. “Go away, Julian. You don’t belong here.”

He turned around. Holden caught his eye and nodded, urging him forward with a tip of his narrow head on his long neck.

“I do,” Julian affirmed, still coming closer. He didn’t think the cave could be very deep. If it was, Naomi probably already would have buried herself in it. “We’re here to help you.”

She thrust her head out all the way now, the deep blue stones of her eyes hard. “I left to keep you safe,” Naomi yelled. “That thing is following me, and I’m the reason it’s here. Now go away before it comes back and finds you all right here where it wants you.”

Julian couldn’t say he was unafraid of death, but at that moment, he would have gladly died at Naomi’s side. “No one should have to fight their demons alone, and neither do you. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Julian—”

“Don’t bother trying to argue with me.” He was at the mouth of the cave now, and he could just see the outline of her body in the darkness. “I love you, Naomi. You can’t run from this thing forever, and you can’t defeat it by yourself.”

“But you don’t understand,” she insisted. “This isn’t just some evil creature. This… this is Tazarre.”

“What?” Julian’s head snapped back slightly on his neck. That name wasn’t one he had ever expected to hear again. “Surely, you don’t mean—”

“I do. He told me that he was the one responsible for poisoning all the dragons on Charok. He was killed in the process, and that’s how he ended up in the Otherworld. But he’s here now, and the only thing he wants is to finish the job. I don’t care if he kills me; I’ve already died. But I can’t let him kill you, too.”

The confidence he had been feeling drained from his system. Julian gestured with a wing for the others to join them, and he told them Naomi’s news. “This is even worse than we imagined.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Autumn said stubbornly. “Knowing a thing’s name actually makes it easier to take down, not harder. We just can’t let ourselves be affected by that knowledge.”

“That’s easier said than done, for those of us who were there,” Beau replied. “Tazarre is a thing of nightmares. We haven’t even told the children about him.”

“And with a little bit of luck, you won’t have to.” Summer, who always looked so peaceful and pleasant, jutted out her chin as she whipped the drum from her back and looked at the dragon in the cave. “Naomi, tell us where to find this thing.”

“I don’t know for certain, but I’m sure it will be back.” Her wings shuddered against each other. “He’s powerful, so much more than you probably imagine.”

As if on cue, a darkness blotted out what little sunshine they had. It slowly slipped down the rockface, so massive that Julian had to take a step back to see the entire thing. It was no wonder Naomi had acted the way she had when the demon had shown up in his dining room; Tazarre was a terrifying sight. He’d been only a shadow to Naomi back then—and invisible to Julian—but now, he somehow had a depth to him that seemed infinite. As his massive form slowly descended down the bluff, the very oxygen seemed to be sucked from the air. “I can see him now.”

“I see it, too,” Holden gasped.

Tazarre bellowed a laugh like a collision of planets. “I’ve grown stronger. I’m getting used to this planet, and I think it suits me. Maybe once I’m done slaying your lot, I’ll stay here and see what I can accomplish with the humans. I have a feeling they’re a weak species.”

An odd noise struck Julian’s ears, and he realized that Summer had started drumming. She sat on the ground at the mouth of the cave with her eyes closed and her hands moving rhythmically. Her eyes were closed, which was probably a good precaution.

Leah, who had been standing just behind Holden’s wings, ran to her side with her own drum and joined in.

Tazarre watched them for a moment before he let out another roaring laugh. “Just as I suspected! Not only weak, but ignorant, too! At least the dragons on Charok had put up a bit of a fight and made things a little more fun.” Two long shapes detached from the shadow and became arms with ghastly hands. They waved through the air, red sparks flying from their newly-formed fingertips.

“I don’t think we have time to stand around and wait for the trance to start!” Beau shot into the air, puffing out his chest before unleashing a massive fireball. It struck the evil wizard and gave him only a moment’s pause before he resumed his efforts.

Julian lifted himself on his wings. Holden was at the monster’s face, filling it with a blasting heat, so Julian swung around behind. He pushed his body forward and his wings back, reached out into the air with his claws as he descended onto the back of Tazarre’s head. He felt flesh under his grasp, but not like any other flesh he had encountered. It was cold and almost spongy, and the small amount of blood that spurted out of it was just as black as the rest of his body. Tazarre shook his horned head and sent Julian careening toward the cliff face.

Catching himself just in time, Julian rode the wind current up into the air and turned to look down. This was going to be a long and difficult fight.