When Time Runs Out

"I....Just need to know thatI'm doing the right thing. I don't know any more..." I told her. "Because Sasha can be here for you. She's always here for you....I wish I could be...but...your cure...Four years......I wish I could even take two of them to just stick around...but every time you're in pain I freeze up and get worried... Then she kissed me. Short, sweet. But definately enough to get me to shut my trap. I had to kind of look away. Kissing istnt exactly a Dragon practice, since we lack lips and all...regardless.... This woman is pure torture. She really is...it's too bad I can't just cure her and be done with this.
I stood up and followed her inside, using the water to remove the smell of blood from my body.

Salone sighed, “Jake, you do your best. That’s what counts and as far as Sasha is concerned I know she cares and will be there for me. I just need someone to tell me it will be okay, even if… I will be dead in the next minute.”

Then she went through the door and spotted Artemis sitting on the couch eating more cupcakes. Salone grinned and retrieved one before sneaking up on her friend… or attempting to anyway before wiping frosting on her friends face.

A roar of a motorcycle told Sasha and Salone that Penny was home. Sasha dashed at the door and yowled for her, apparently sick of Salone and her friends. Penny was ambushed by the dog and she put her helmet on the side table and bent over to pet the dog.
“Hi guys,” She waved. “Salone aren’t you going to ask Jake about-“

“Oh yeah,” Salone darted down the hall and returned with a small silver ring in her palm. The ring held small engravings similar to the ones on the medallion.
“I found this while I was in London. What is it?” The girl slid into the couch next to Artemis and she ate her cupcake. Waiting for an answer… she had a feeling it had to do with one of the sites. According to Penny there were similar runes in the Site nearby.

Artemis waved to penny as she walked in, still obviously not happy. She munched on her cupcake moodily, watching everyone talk. Something about a ring and medallion. Artemis had a vague idea what these things where. They where some type of human clothing, she believed the were called jewelry. They didn't mean much to her but some of them caught her eye, mainly the shiny one. "So what if they look alike? I could mean nothing." said Artemis.

"I have to agree with Artemis. It's likelry...hold on a sec." I said, taking the ring form her, not forcefully, but enough that she knew that something was up. I noticed the Runes spelled something out. The Dragon word for emerald, find the standing stones....that's what the runes say." I explained. Suddenly it hit me, the Dragon word for emerald is Ire... The Emerald Arch Dragon of the winds ruled on a large land that was once called the Ire Isle, the territory was Ires's Land. Ireland was still approproately named it seems. "So Ire is the name of the emerald Arch Dragon of Wind. Ire owned a large island, and it was called Ire's land....any guesses where the next Focus Site is?" I asked them, with a knowing smile and an excited tone.

Salone felt pleased with herself, though she didn’t like the idea of Jake going to another site again. Sasha wined faintly at Jake as if trying to pass on Salone’s feelings, dang dog. Much like her human, the dog had a soft spot for Jake. Not as soft as Salone's was obviously but it was still rather attached to the dragon human.

“Well, I’ve always wanted to go to Ireland,” Salone stated and Penny grinned. No way on heaven or earth Salone was going to sit this one out… again. She looked at Artemis who still seemed to be in a bad mood after her show down with Jake, “You wanna come?” Salone asked, “It will be an adventure.”

The Shape Shifter could use a good adventure now that she thought about it. Salone felt that her life had taken a boring turn after England and she was getting itchy feet in a way.

Artemis made a grunt when Jake agreed with her. She finished her cupcake then turn herself to her side, her back facing Salone. Apparently they where talking about going some place now. A place called Ireland. Artemis actually had no idea what this Ireland was now, heck she didn't even know the name of the place of where she was now. She didn't have any idea was this place was but one thing was certain. She wasn't going to yet Salone be with this 'Jake' by herself. No one who is 'normal' smells like blood. "Of course." said Artemis, doing her best to sound happy.

I was glad to have slaone along. It would be like when we first met. Except I have darker eyes, a ppissy temper, and I'm depressed that she could die on me. I can't even really hide it anymore. She means too much to me. Yeah sure, we knew ach other, but it wasn't for a LONG time. I still miss her everytime I'm away, I miss her even when she goes to the bathroom. I fee like a lost puppy without her, and I'm just suick to my stomach when I think that she's going to be gone one day. I do bad things, I'm slowly killing myself for this girl, because....I really don't know why. Or do I know but too afraid to say it?
     Everything I just said...I told Artemis the first chance I could catch her away form Salone. I even told her that I understand if she doesn't trust me or like me. But I begged her...on my honor as a God, on my honor as a Dragon...on my honor as a friend, to please try and get along with me so Salone won't be stressed out. At the end of this, if she still sees me as the horrible bloody monster, then she's welcome to hunt me down and kill me.
     I managed to get everyone a hotel room. I would sleep in the pool, but they didn't need to know I was that cheap. I checked the girls into the one room and carried in whatever luggage they wuld let me. Then I offered to go find food. But when it was all said and done I was able to sit down and try and decipher what it meant by 'Standing stones'.
     "Ireland having standing stones? What does that mean?" I asked the girlsd, hoping they knew more than I did.

Salone looked up at Jake, her feat soaking in the pool. She considered his question before chewing on the edge of her lip.

“Standing stones…” she mused, tilting her head back to look at the blue sky. Penny had vanished into their room to get onto the internet to do some research. “Is it Stonehenge? That is the only thing I can think of. ”

They had left Sasha at a friend’s house and currently she was howling at the back door. Salone wanted to plug her ears but alas she couldn’t as the noise was inside her mind. Salone only winced before sliding into the water. She was clad in a swim suit top, black swimming shorts, and her towel was sitting on a open bench. She turned back to Jake resting her arms on the sides of the pool.

“It’s like a circle of standing stones; no one is sure where it came from. Speculation ranges from humans to something like aliens… they said that about the pyramids too."

Salone had a faint tan from running around everywhere at school and she was about as buff as a female could get without looking like a body builder. Some strands of hair had come out of her ponytail and had plastered themselves to her face. Salone sighed before pulling out a squirt gun and squirting Artemis, feeling rather bored.

Artemis had a less then pleasant trip up. She spent most of her time keeping an eye on Salone, trying to keep her away from Jake. Artemis didn't trust him, and it still annoyed her that Salone didn't smell the blood on him. It even got worse. One point during the trip when Salone was doing something Jake had pulled her aside and pretty much spilled his guts. Artemis didn't really know what a god or a dragon was but she had a feeling she didn't like it. She has begrudgingly told Jake that she would try to get along with him. Which was something she wasn't exactly used to. If something annoyed her or her pack in the past, they would kill it, no second guessing or looking back. But she couldn't do that here. Humans put themselves into easily avoidable situations then looked annoyed when they couldn't do anything. Artemis didn't understand it. But now they where at a small pond looking thing on the outside of the... what was it called again? Artemis vaguely recalled something about a hotel. Was that where they were?

Although Artemis stayed out of the water. It smelt funny to her and her eyes followed Salone as she went into the strange smelling water, a small part of her scared something would happen to her in it. Salone and Jake were talking about what the ring meant, although Artemis couldn't actually pitch in to help at this moment she paid attention to what they were saying, even if she didn't understand all of it. Salone squirted her with water from a toy gun. Artemis shifted her body to try and block the stream of water. She tried to avoid looking annoyed as well.

"That sounds about right. So long as they are on the island I mean. This entire thing was once under Ire's command, so if it's on this island it counts as Ireland." I said happily. I looked at Salone with a smile. This was insane, there's too much to do, and too much to say. It's not like I could get Artemis away from her though. Salone looked bored...really bored.
    I waited for a little while and decided that I needed to address something with Salone. Something only she and I could really talk about. I waited for the girls to go to sleep and I was going to sleep in the pool. I waited for quite a while, then I managed to get a small peice of water in to try and wake up Salone. I needed to get things straight.

Salone gave Artemis a concerned look, she was in a bad mood. The woman briefly dwelled on why that was… It was late to begin with and Penny had already gone to bed by the look of things. Hauling herself out of the pool she bid the two goodnight and then walked back into their room through the sliding glass door. Salone was notorious for shredding Hotel beds with claws so she opted for a pillow and the floor. While sleeping Salone couldn’t help but shift, her form flickered between a human to wolf to a massive black panther. After a few hours her form seemed to settle into the large black cat who slept tail twitching on the floor.

Salone woke abruptly at a wet jab in the ribs; she blinked her amber eyes before realizing what it was. A thing stream of water… Salone shifted back, then opened the sliding glass door and headed out to the pool. She plopped down in front of Jake.
Suppressing a yawn she inquired, “What’s up?”

Artemis left the pool the same time as Salone. She was going to sleep on the floor but when she saw that was was Salone was staying, she jumped up on the bed and shifted to a wolf and drifted to sleep. However Artemis is a light sleeper and was woken up by the sound of a door sliding open. Her ears perked up at the noise, shortly followed by her head. Who would leave at this hour? Looking around the room she saw Penny but Salone was missing from her spot on the floor. She stood up on all forces and shifted to the form of a house cat. She jumped off the bed and stealthy walked across the room, staring out the sliding door. She saw Salone sitting with Jake. She didn't like it, but she didn't interrupt. She just watched from the door.

"I wanted to ask you something...a while back..did you...ya'know...meet anyone by chance?" I asked her as she was sitting there with me. I held up my hand. "I was just wondering because...it made me think of soemthing. I just...don't really know....would you come with me?" I asked her, motioning for her to come with me. I was planning to take the lake near by. This is really the only thing I can think of. No seriously...it is the only think I can think of.

Salone arched an eyebrow, “Met someone? No- wait are you talking about Sam? Nothing happened Jake, you should know that.”
She shut her trap after the dragon man raised his hand and asked her to go with him. He seemed… uncertain… silently Salone cursed the fact her dog had gotten the other half of the medallion and now she couldn’t feel his emotions anymore. Uncertainty looked like the least Jakeish expression she had seen on his face.
“Yeah,” Salone stood before following him and taking his hand.

Artemis shifted back to her human form when Salone took Jake's hand. She slid the door open, walked out, closed it and shifted back to a cat. The pair seemed to be heading somewhere, and she didn't like it. She didn't trust Jake and she sure as hell didn't trust him alone with Salone. She quietly followed the two to a lake, just what this place needed, more water. She watched at a distance, downwind but still close enough to be able to hear what they were saying.

I looked at her and smiled. I backed up, letting my foot touch the water, but focusing just a little, I manage to let myself remain boyant enough to walk on it. I tried pulling Salone with me I smiled and tried to reassure her. "Trust me. I got you." I said. She came out onto the lake and I led her out to the middle. There was great view of a town being lit up in the distance, and I sighed. "Now you need to trust me okay? This will tickle just for a second." I warned her, but not giginv her any time to protest I sent all of my stored up quientessence into the lake, but not in a malicious way. Just a calm way. The outer areas by land were a beautiful angelic yello-white, and the entire water turned into a blue and green glowing color. I looked at her and smiled.
   "Want to dance?" I asked her with a smile. This was the most me I've felt in a while. I remember who Jake is now, and I really don't want to forget, ever again.