Amethyst dragons are one of the weaker crystal dragons as far as magical abilities go. They have great curative and healing powers both for themselves and others. Their proficiency in protective magics goes only as far as self-protection and seem to have an inability to maintain an effect at a range further than touch. They also appear to have some ability in emotional effects as they are unaffected by such magic and are able to dispel such effects in others.

Bryan

I hold my spell as the giant creature of shadow continues to make it wider, me bearing the brunt of the assault of the denizens now pouring out of the portal. Within minutes the portal is large enough for the massive monster to crawl through the gateway.

The vampire waits a moment before it speaks in a tongue that I do not recognize regardless of the lack of supernatural power that spells tend to have. Red mist however spills out of the vampire and forms bands around the portal barring any new creature from entering, though he does nothing else.

Streams of golden fire are released by Talia and Lysan, the giant shadow slowly burning as it disregards my Undead Ward and strikes at the swords between us. It shatters as it’s hand passes through it, shadowed claws destroying my shirt as they fail to harm me like all the other denizens of its home.

Even though I feel drained I chant another spell, one to call forth a blade of sacred energy with which I can fight and I strike the crouched over probably ten-foot-tall humanoid. Shadowy blood spills or more accurately wafts out of the cuts I inflict and I begin to recover my energy as I draw it in.

Each bit of damage we do to the giant the priest closes a bit more of the portal and after a few minutes both are destroyed.

“So what are we going to do now? Why are you here?” the priest asks.

“My friend wanted to talk with one of the vampire in this city. You can talk to him about it when he wakes up” I answer.

“No, you will tell me now. You barged into my domain and haven without permission. Why should I not exercise my right and kill or enslave you now?”

“Because you’re not stupid and are willing to talk. . .”

The vampire points at one of the elves and a blood red bolt of energy is launched at her. My assesment was wrong.

Kythia

I sit sharpening my sword as Abagail argues with some soldier of the local Terran government. They want to know where my mate is and I refuse to talk to them. Neither the fox or me told any of the others where or what half the pack went off to do.

I worry over my mate as he was supposed to get back here last night but he told me to stay and protect the part of the pack that is here and that is what I will do. The fox has been nervous the last few hours and has been pacing in the room we share.

The fox then turns to the north east and smiles, freezing in her tracks before her face changes to one of worry. An unease builds in my heart and I can feel Moonlight Runner's wish to go and hunt for our mate.

A piece of paper, one ripped out of the easily destroyed books the Terrans use for just this purpose, appears in front of me and I grab ahold of it. It is written in my mate's handwriting.

Have Ria guide you to me. Vampire kidnapped us. Escaped via Shadow Plane.

I stand up and begin a brisk walk towards the door as I speak to the fox, “our mate calls for us. Conceal us from the Terrans, there is no time to waste talking to them.”

The fox does not say a word but nods before casting an Invisibility over us. We can follow each other by scent and begin to rush down the halls in shared urgency. For a moment, I consider dragging my mate's mother and Abagail but neither will be worth slowing down and having to deal with the Terrans.

We reach the lobby of the hotel before anyone notices we are gone only to have the soldiers who started guarding the front exit bar our way and look right at us with their weird colored glass in front of their eyes.

“I am afraid we cannot let. . .” one of the two starts to speak before they are interrupted by a semi-lethal blow to the windpipe; just enough to bruise it and leave him struggling to breathe for a while.

The other soldier looks shocked and I am disappointed in his training. Why are many of the Terran soldiers inadequate in dealing with battle but other better than most Althaen warriors?

“My mate is calling me to him. If anyone touches the rest of my pack while I’m gone I will destroy everything in this city” I threaten the soldier knowing full well my words will be passed upwards to those in charge.

Once outside both the fox and me begin to run, our Invisibility broken by the conflict but no one stops us, the few who chased after us had Neither the endurance nor speed to keep up. Neither of us tire in the many minutes it takes us to find ourselves in front of a stone church.

The doors were unlocked and there were a few individuals cleaning up after their younger children. They must have been worshipping and I frown as a few of them glare at the fox. Other than this however we ignore them as I follow the fox towards a set of stairs going down into the earth. A youth moves to get in our way, and I don’t pay attention to what he says as I push him away from both me and the fox.

The boy is insistent though lacks the strength to do much of anything and I knock him unconscious on the stairs away from the sight of the other Terrans. Once we reach the bottom of the stairs I see a room that makes no sense to me that becomes a small crypt. A man in strange black and white clothes that I have never seen before in melee against Bryan while the rest of the pack is unconscious. A blade in the hand of the undead is parried by Bryan before he, Bryan, looks at me before collapsing. The strangely dressed man smells wrong, undead but with somewhat fresh blood.

The fox throws a bolt of her green fox fire at the undead while I draw my blade and already casting a spell that should end this fight before our blades even cross. I pour as much mana into a casting of Halt Undead and smile as the vampire ceases to move. As long as I continue to feed the spell the vampire is not able to do anything. The drain of my spell grows as the undead struggles to act, no doubt placing the weight of his mystical might against my spell. I nick the back of my hand and add the power of blood magic to my spell as I take steps forwards.

If it were not that my mate wanted information from the vampires of this city I would decapitate this creature but instead I break the frame of one of the pieces of art on the wall. I need a wooden stake, and a rough one is quickly made.

“You are going to be a prisoner of ours for a bit bloodsucker” I say before driving the wooden splinter into the chest of the vampire.

I release my magic as the vampire collapses to the ground, rendered immobile by the very curse that grants him unlife. The fox moves to our mate and fails to find an injury on him. Once I reach his side, I also find no physical injury and can only assume that he is unconscious for some other reason. Talia and Lysan however have nonlethal injuries inflicted by vampiric magic used to take captives, discolorations similar to bruises.

I attempt to dispel the magic directly via Dispel Magic but achieve nothing with the small burst of antimagic. Not an enchantment or charm of any kind then, probably only damage then. I begin to cast healing spells over the discolored splotches on their skin. The injuries slowly begin to vanish albeit slowly. I notice that they have been fed on by a vampire and treat the damage done to their essence with another spell.

I check Bryan next and he seems largely uninjured though paler then normal. Exhaustion more than injury is what incapacitated him. Makes sense Undead Hunters are immune to most methods a vampire can use to attack aside from physical power and indirect effects. He is the best suited for fighting vampires.

Several minutes later I can hear the approach of several people, ordered footsteps at a set pace. Whoever is coming is going to be ready for a fight. I briefly consider fighting anyone who comes down here before abandoning the idea. Without my mate to disable their firearms I have no defense against the Terran's weapons of choice.

“Conceal us, more than just basic Invisibility” I whisper at the fox.

She nods and begins to layer multiple illusions. I do not know what they are but when my guess as to whom is coming down the stairs proves right the soldier looks confused.

“No visuals, radio echo is however confirmed. Establish a perimeter and defend against intruders” the soldier says into a black slightly deformed rectangular prism before looking in our general direction.

“I don’t mean any of you harm. I’ve just been assigned to protect you. The city is not as secure as we have made it seem and there are those that would see you dead” the man says and I internally scoff.

He then turns away and hold a position at the stairs. The fox moves over to me as she continues to maintain the illusions.

“How does he know where we are even though your illusions hold?” I ask in a whisper.

“I don’t know. Maybe they are looking at something I am not concealing?” she answers unsure of herself.

Oddly enough the soldier makes no hostile actions and simply waits. I still don’t trust this but they had some way of determining where we are regardless of the fox's magic. Until that is solved this not combat passing of time is better than lashing out for the pack.

I move back to my mate and try to see if there is anything else I can do to help him. As time passes I am able to tell that my mate is suffering from mana depletion but as to why I do not know. He doesn’t use mana for anything so he shouldn’t be in this condition. The dangerous point in the affliction has already passed and I attempt to move him to one of the alcoves.

I am however unable to move him, which I find odd. He is in human form right now so he should not weigh this much but he still feels like he weighs as much as he would in dragon form.

The elves wake first within a few moments of each other after nearly an hour had passed and I think it will soon be dawn. They glance at the soldier before looking to me. I make a gesture my mate has used as a signal for silence and they move over to me before they whisper.

“Why is the soldier there?”

“The Terrans tracked us here somehow and while they know we are here they don’t know exactly where. They’ve been looking for Adrian yesterday and seem to want to avoid battle” I answer in a whisper.

Nothing to do but wait, we can’t move my mate for some reason and even if we could the Terrans are tracking us somehow.