Sunshine: Tales of an Assassin

Chapter Four

***Lydia's POV***

    After making sure that I got my point across, I sent everyone out, I'm sure I'd be hearing from them again at some point, but for now, I had more important things to do.  After hearing the confirmation that they all had the same feeling about Katrina, I had a vague feeling I was forgetting something important, something I'd seen before somewhere, and felt it was time to visit an old friend of mine I hadn't seen in a while.

    After opening a locked drawer and entering the code into the keypad that came out with the drawer, I entered the doorway that opened behind me and walked down the hall to an arch that shimmered with magic through the gateway.  Holding my hand to the cool stones, they quickly warmed to my touch as if they had missed me.

    "Take me to Janelle."

    The magic within the arch pulsed, glowing a soft red, before shifting to purple, showing it was safe to walk through.  Gate magic was difficult to maintain and dangerous to use if you didn't understand how it worked, but I'd had this one for a long time, long enough to know when it was safe to walk through.

    I found myself in the center of Janelle's horde, no surprise there, her library, and the scent of books was a great comfort to me at this moment.

    "Long time no see, my friend."  I heard Janelle state from behind me, the decibel of her voice telling me that she was in human form, not dragon. "Would you like some tea while you tell me what brings you here with none of your usual warnings?"

    "Tea would be lovely at this moment, and yes, I've got a rather interesting situation on my hands, and I was rather hoping that you could help me with finding some information."  I turned to look at my old friend, she was sitting comfortably on a couch, a pot of tea and cups already waiting.  "Though it seems you still managed to anticipate my coming."

    "I felt a strange power flare earlier, and one of our younger silver dragons has been having unusual dreams and is currently preparing to leave the horde for while based on these dreams.  Given the two, I thought perhaps something had happened that you might be aware of and may be able to help me with this young dragon."

    Taking a seat on the couch, I lifted the cup of tea, inhaling the scent of green tea and pomegranate before taking a sip, perfect as always.

    "I may have an idea of what is causing it, but the why eludes me at the moment."  I looked to Janelle who simply arched an eyebrow at me waiting for me to continue.  "This started years ago, we found a human that had abilities no human should have, and stronger with them than a human should be."  I explained the details of how we had found Katrina, and what we found of her past, going through and explaining how we had trained and recruited her, before I paused, unsure what my friend would think of me for what we had done to this human girl after that.

    "She is someone that is very special, that is certain, but there is more that you are not telling me, you fear judgement, though you know I would not judge you without reason.  There is a shadow on your heart but something is telling me you must get this out."

    I hang my head with and stare into the tea, searching for the words.  "As she progressed with her training, and kept developing new abilities, we feared that a strictly human body would not be able to handle what she was developing.  We told her it was to help her survive against others, but in truth, we were started to find a way to try and limit what she could do, or give her a stronger form to control it so she herself would not be destroyed and it didn't do what we thought would happen."

    "Tell me Lydia, it seems your intentions were in the right place, but there is still more to this."

    "We started with a race that was strong with psychic talents, fay, thinking that if we injected some into her system, it may help change her genetics and bring her across.  She felt the pain of a transition, and got stronger, but her bloodwork came back looking human.  We tried other races as well, each time, the same thing would happen, some part of her would get stronger than a human, but still not as strong as that race, but her tests would remain human.  We put her through almost a year of solid pain as one after another, every attempt failed."

    I paused, a part of me still believed it was the right thing to do, but another part still heard her screams of pain each time.  Though we never did it against her will, she was always asked, always allowed to say no, Matthew and I still struggled with the knowledge of how much agony we had put her through.  

    "I see, that is very unusual to say the least, and knowing you and your honor, you gave her the chance to say no every time, right?"

    "Yes, she always had the choice.  Now this human has at least four potential partners, and each of them is different.  A vampire, a wolf and panther shifter, and a witch.  Which is what brought me to you, I haven't ever seen a case like this before, but I had a feeling I read something on it before, long ago, and I had hopes that you would be able to help me figure out what is going on here, before anything else can happen."

    Janelle looked deep in thought, taking a sip of her own tea while she focused.

    "I believe I have as well, but I need a few minutes to find that particular book.  Would you mind speaking with Kai? I can sense him nearby and it would save us both some time."

    "Of course I can talk to him, though I am not certain how much help I can be."

    Janelle nodded, and had a distant look in her eyes for a moment before she turned towards the shelves of books, obviously on a mission, while I waited for Kai to show up, last time I'd seen him, he was barely more than a hatchling, so I was rather curious to see how he'd grown since.

    Hearing a door open and shut, I turned to face the direction and saw that Kai had grown into a fine looking, if a bit sleep deprived young man.  His hair was a silvery white and his eyes had darkened to a stormy gray color, fairly typical of a silver dragon.

    "Hello Kai, it's been some time since I have seen you, I understand that you've had some dreams that are causing you issues, is this the first time this has happened?"  Dragons senses could cover a much greater area at once, though once they found what they focused on, they could be honed down to being hyper aware of just that one thing for extended times, putting them at risk if they were not careful.   There were only about a dozen or so dragon shifter left that I knew of, they had a hard time breeding, and their hyper focus often left them at risk to an attack from someone or something else.

    "Yes, mother stated that you may be able to help me, and no, this isn't the first time."  Kai sighed and flopped into a chair near me, rubbing his head a little.  "Years ago I used to hear an echo of a voice in my dreams screaming in pain, sometimes, other times it would be chanting thing like numbers counting down or repeating that it was almost over.  After a while the voice changed, cursing the number of races, cursing themselves for agreeing again and again, and then it just stopped."

    "And you weren't able to focus on the voice?"  I could tell who it was, but I was shocked a dragon couldn't lock on.

    "I tried, more than once, but it was like it was echoing through other layers or bouncing off other things before reaching me, I couldn't trace it.  Recently I've had dreams of a woman, a fighter, but I can't see more of her, there is darkness closing in that she isn't aware of.  I finally felt what almost seemed like an awakening of energy and power the other day, as well as faint hints of different emotions, but I still can't track it down.  I've never been so frustrated before, and mother has taught how to focus, nothing has ever eluded me like this."

    And here is player number five.  What else is going to happen here, I glance at Janelle, who seems to be focused on a book in her hand, before answering Kai.

    "Well, I'm actually confident that I can help you this time, but I'm waiting on some information from your mother first, then I may be able to at least get you on the right track, how close are you to being ready to go?"

    "What I need is packed."  Kai looked at me with a question, but didn't press for more at the moment, which worked in my favor as Janelle was returning.

    "Lydia, I think I found what you are looking for, or at least part of it, if this is correct I may need to do more research as this is something that even I had forgotten about."  With this Janelle laid the ancient tome on the table in front of me, it looked to be something that was talking about the different races, but based on the age of the tome it was hard to say when it was written.

    "Guardians - there are rare beings that are born appearing to be completely human, though as they awaken they gain different powers through their life.  There are usually only two or three that ever exist at any given time, most of the time, nothing causes their power to awaken, letting them exist appearing to be completely normal as humans.  Because of what they are, Guardians are not limited to their own kind for mates, and it isn't unusual for one to have more than one, or even having multiple ones from other races.  Due to the nature of Guardians, they often need multiple people to balance them out if their powers fully awaken so that they can..." I stopped reading as the words became illegible.  

    "Guardians?" Kai asked, while Janelle and I exchanged a look.  "I've never heard of those before, and that isn't exactly clear what they are or what they do."

    "Why do I feel like the rest of that was important, and that we are going to need more information soon.  Kai, I'm thinking this is at least part of the information I needed, but I need to head back to my office soon, and I think you should join me if you can get your stuff."

    Kai simply nodded and headed out, while Janelle gave me a look.

    "Your human isn't a human, is she?"

    "I don't believe so, and I am concerned that if she is one, there is a reason she is 'awakening' and we need to know more about what these Guardians are, would it be possible for you to continue looking for more information?"

    "With what is going on, and with Kai acting the way he is, I think I have no choice, though I would anyways for you.  Please take care of my hatchling, he is not so world wise as he thinks."

    "Of course, I'll make sure he is cared for."  I caught Kai coming back from the corner of my eye, a bag slung over his shoulder.  "Ready?"

        "As much as I can be."

      I simply nodded and headed back to the gate arch, activating it to bring us back to my office, Kai stood next to me as the gate changed colors, and I waived him through first, giving Janelle one last nod before I followed him through.

    We walked back down the hall, towards my office, Kai following quietly behind me was a calming presence and one that I could use at this point given the tempers that I'd seen flaring earlier, and it would be interesting to see what effect he would have on Katrina.

    "Kai, let me take you to a room, and let you get settled in, and preferably get some rest."  I led Kai to the room next to where Katrina was, and while all the rooms were soundproof, I figured this might be the way to establish if there was something going on.