Moon Sworn (Riley Jenson Guardian 9)

There was something in his voice that had alarm bells ringing. An edge that spoke of sorrow and death and all those things I didn't want to contemplate or believe.

"Where is she?" I said, almost desperately. "I need to know she's okay."

"She's being taken care of by someone else," he said, and I sensed the lie in his words.

No, I thought. No!

Rainey had to be alive. Had to be. She wasn't just my friend, she was my strength, my courage, and my confidante. She'd hauled me out of more scrapes than I could remember. She couldn't be gone.

Fear and disbelief surged. I tore my hand from his and scrubbed urgently at my eyes. Warmth began to flow anew, but I was finally able to see.

And what I saw was the crumpled steering wheel, the smashed remains of the window, the smears of blood on the jagged, twisted front end of the car.

No, no, NO!

She couldn't be dead. She couldn't. I'd survived, and she was stronger - tougher - than me. How could she die?

How could that be possible?

And then I saw something else.

Bright sunlight.

Dawn had well and truly passed.

That's why my rescuer had been so vague about Rainey. They couldn't find her. And no matter how much they looked, they never would. The flesh of a dead dragon incinerated at the first touch of sunrise.

I began to scream then, and there was nothing anyone could do to make me stop. Because they didn't understand what a dragon dying unaccompanied at dawn meant.

I did. And it tore me apart.

Though in the end, I did stop - but only because the pain of being wrenched free of the twisted, broken wreck finally swept me into unconsciousness.

I left the hospital as soon as I was physically able.

The staff had tried to make me stay. They'd tried to convince me that one day after an operation to remove a six-inch piece of steel from my side, I should be flat on my back and recovering, not strolling around like there was nothing wrong with me.

But they didn't understand what I was. I couldn't have stayed there even if I'd wanted to, and not just because they would have noticed how fast I healed and started asking questions.

No, the real reason was Rainey.

Her soul still had a chance to move on.

The souls of dragons who died without someone to pray for them at sunrise were destined to roam this earth forever - ghosts who could never move on, never feel, and never experience life again. But those who had died before their time had one small lifeline. If I caught and killed those responsible for Rainey's demise within seven days of her death, I could then pray for her soul on the rise of the eighth day and she would be able to move on.

I had five of those seven days left, and there was no way on this Earth I was going to waste them lying in a hospital bed. No matter how much it still hurt to walk around.

Which was why I was sitting here, in this dark and dingy bar, waiting for the man we'd arranged to meet before that truck had barreled into us.

I reached for my Coke and did a quick scan of the bar. It wasn't a place I would have chosen, though I could see the appeal to a sea dragon. Situated in the Marina district of San Francisco, the bar was dark and smoky, and the air thick with the scent of beer, sweaty men, and secrets. Tables hid in dim corners, those sitting at them barely visible in the nebulous light.

There was no one human in those shadows.

A long wooden bar dominated one side of the venue, and the gleaming brass foot railing and old-style stools reminded me of something out of the old West - although the decor of the rest of the place was more shiprelated than Western-themed, with old rope ladders, furled sails, and a ship's wheel taking pride of place on the various walls.

I'd attracted plenty of attention when I'd first walked in, and I wasn't entirely sure whether it was due to the fact that I was the only female in the place, or the rather prominent scar on my forehead. Most of the men had quickly lost interest once I'd sent a few scowls their way, but the bartender - a big, swarthy man of indiscriminate age - seemed to be keeping an eye on me. While some part of me figured he simply didn't want trouble, something about it bothered me nonetheless.

Then the door to my right opened, briefly silhouetting the figure of a man. He was thick-set but tall, and his hair was a wild mix of black, blue, and green, as if some artist had spilled a palette of sea-colored paints over his head.