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Kayla shyly climbed onto Arden's back "I know... I just hope I don't let you guys down" She said nervously and held on tight gasping when they took off laying on him and holding on tighter closing her eyes tight. "Please just take me straight to where he will be coming out if he hasn't already..." She said to him softly.

Sebastet gave a shrug over everything and transported everyone but Ash and Rebecca over to the Castle Garden without warning. For her, the shadows were the best form of travel, after all.

Ash pulled Rebecca into his arms and placed a light kiss on her neck, "We'll go to our room and pack then head over to the demon realm. That should give you a chance to speak to your family before we leave," he told her softly then transported them both to their room.

The Goddess moved over to Lao, "For all his age, Cedric is still young, Lao. Think of him more like Kane, only without the knowledge of his dragon side as you've given to your son. When this is over, charm him, speak to him, but don't arouse his temper. Give him the knowledge he needs then let him come to you," she advised him softly then gave him a kiss on his cheek, "I have faith in you, my son..." she told him in a soft whisper, acknowledging him with a title she'd never given anyone else.

Then she stepped back to Rowan, "Send one of your children to us when chance permits, Lao. I will see you again soon," she stated simply, then took herself and her brother to the King's Castle so that they could see Wren...

Dancer, in his snow leopard form, and Michael, his mate, stepped through the portal Desha had made for them and looked up at the mountain where Lao and Ebony lived. They would have to get to the top. Thankfully, there were steps carved inside the mountain. They wouldn't have to play mountain goat to get up there.

And Dancer could smell that someone was cooking up there, making his stomach protest his lack of food in the last few hours. One of the problems he'd noticed that he had on the full moon, besides having to stay in his snow leopard form, was the fact that he had to eat more, primarily meat. And he could smell meat cooking. Most likely deer, maybe some fish and bird as well. But he knew the smell of cooking venison and that was what he was getting right now.

So it shouldn't have been too much of a surprise to Michael when Dancer lead the way to the stairs and immediately started moving up them with a purpose and a will. He was hungry.

He didn't care that they were headed up into a dragon's lair. He wanted food.

When they finally reached the top, Dancer let Michael introduce himself to Ebony, Lao, and their family as he padded over to the fire where he reached one snowshoe-like paw out and tapped the whole deer crackling merrily away then made a grumbling noise because the meat didn't automatically bounce out of the fire so he could eat it.

He licked at his paw and purred at the flavor then moved around the fire, trying to find some way of getting a meal without turning into a crispy critter. Thankfully, and strangely, it was Kane that took pity on him. The fire dragon had returned to his family after reporting that the demon realm obelisk had gone down. After witnessing much of what had happened there, he'd returned quiet and thinking.

Right now, though, the dragon reached out and pulled a bit of the venison and a few of the birds out of the fire and placed them on a clean stone slab for Dancer to eat then had to give a soft laugh at the way the cat pounced on the meal, eating like he was starving.

Ebony stepped out of the shadows, still in her fighting/assassin display. She smiled at the pair though and offered a hand to the vampire, "You must be Michael. I'm Ebony ShadowScale, mate to Lao Shan-Lung. These are my brood: Shen, Kane, Arden, Shira, Aria, and Karina," she felt introductions on her part would make things go smoother. As she named her brood, they either nodded where they were or stepped forward to shake Michael's hand. The ones that nodded were still in dragon form; mainly Kane and Arden.

Of course, Michael got plenty of admiring looks from the older two females, though Karina simply shook his hand politely then retreated to one side of the cave again. But he was nice to look at. When Dancer didn't throw a fit about it, it was simply because he knew the females were simply admiring, not poaching.

"Kane already told us about the obelisk in the demon realm, Arden about the one on Vampire Island. We haven't heard back from the Elven Realm yet. I assume you're here about the one in Sebastet's tower?" she asked Michael as Kane dropped another bit of venison for Dancer while Aria and Arden moved over to pet the unusually large snow leopard.

They were used to seeing the natural animal, though. As a shifter, Dancer's snow leopard was a bit larger than normal. So it was a bit of a treat for them to be able to pet him and he was vain enough that he was soaking in the attention.

Ebony gave him a respectful nod, "We felt it when it happened. Thank you for coming to tell us, though. I'm afraid that the final battle will be dragon against dragon. As strong as you are, you will be no match for what we will be facing. I do thank you for the offer, though. You and Dancer can stay here for a bit, if you like. The forest below is kept wild deliberately. There are plenty of places to swim," she offered instead and turned to watch Kane feeding Dancer, giving a smile and shaking her head slightly over it.

"I remember when he was born. Such a tiny thing, he was. But he grew quickly and strongly. I was one of the ones who helped him when he made his first shift to that form. It took him a bit of getting used to it. You're a very lucky man, Michael. Dancer is special in ways that even he knows nothing about," she said softly then turned back to him, silently assessing him for a moment.

"If you want to help, Michael... Take care of Dancer. He will be needed before this is all over. In ways that none of us can guess at just yet. Take care of him for us all," she told him in a voice that was barely there then moved over to the ledge, the night sky fully illuminating her. It showed that she was very much her namesake: Ebony from head to toe. Her draconic display marked her as an assassin more deadly than any Michael would have ever encountered before, a creature of the shadows she controlled and very much like her element.

Meanwhile, Kane somehow found himself giving Dancer a belly scratch with one claw and looked very confused on how he'd managed to be doing so. The large red dragon's head looked over at Michael as if begging to be rescued.

Dancer was in petting and scratching ecstasy. His loud rolling purr proved it. But when Michael suggested a nap, he had to admit that he had a point. Karina shyly approached then and motioned further into the cave, "There's rooms back there. You can choose one of them to rest in, if you like. They'll all still have plenty of cushions to lay on and you won't get cold," she suggested in her soft voice.

Kane gave a bit of a grumble but nodded, "My sister's right. Go ahead and pick out a room to rest in. Mom can send you guys back after," he offered in his deeper voice, though he did make an effort to keep it down a bit so he wouldn't hurt their sensitive ears.

Dancer didn't have to be told twice. By the time Karina was finished speaking, he was moving further into the cave to explore the rooms, looking a bit like a kitten compared to the size of the cave the dragons called home.

Dancer padded around and looked into each room until he found one with a cushion he liked. Maybe it shouldn't have been that much of a surprise that the one he picked out was Kane's old room, though he honestly didn't know that.

He moved into the room and got on the very large cushion that had once served as a dragon's bed and circled it, kneaded at it, and worked until he had just the right spot to lay down. He curled himself up but waited for Michael to lay down with him before he even thought of taking a nap, knowing that it would still be hard for him to sleep without Michael beside him for a while longer. Not that he was complaining about it. He enjoyed it alot, in fact. But the fact still remained that he wasn't going to be able to get any sleep at all until Michael was beside him.

The forest was quiet as Kane and Shira flew, but the air felt different. Static was building in the air, and a black cloud of smoke started following the two. It formed into a massive dragon, made of lightning and fire and fury. It was almost the size of Lao, though much more savage and bestial. The flap of its mighty wings helped the beast close distance on the two, getting ready to eat them like prey.

Michael fallowed Dancer into a room and smiled as he watched his love get comfortable on the big cushion then when Dancer looked at him waiting for him to join, Michael went over setting his weapon off on the side and laid down next to Dance wrapping his big strong arms around him and cuddled his purring warm furry kitty lover to him as he just held him with so much love, not minding if his love kneed him in his sleep again, he was just happy to have him in his arms.