He groaned and opened his eyes.
The sun was nearly straight overhead; he guessed that not more than an hour or two had passed. He rose slowly to a sitting position and looked around, surprised to notice that he was no longer in the courtyard; now he was out in the street in front of the pawn shop. To either side, a line of men and women extended across the road, blocking escape.
Kelly was sitting next to him, her knees drawn up against her chest, her head lowered. He reached over and touched her arm, and she looked up suddenly. "Oh, God, Daniel, you're awake," she said, her voice hoarse.
"Yeah, I guess." His voice was shaky, and he took a deep breath to help calm himself. "What happened after I blacked out?"
She shrugged. "Not a lot. They dragged you out here, set up people to guard the street, and Junior left. He said he was going to look for someone. Either he's not back yet, or he just hasn't come outside yet. That's all I know."
Daniel nodded, stretched, and rose stiffly to his feet. "I wonder what our friend has in store for us now," he said.
She looked up at him. "So... what happened out there? I was watching through the window, and I saw you attack the raptor, and there was some sort of fire, and then it was gone."
"Yeah," he said, shaking his head. "It was weird. I felt... I don't know. I was thinking about cats, for some reason. It almost felt like I had claws. And I know I wasn't thinking like myself -- I was just running on pure instinct." A shiver ran through him. "It was really weird. I'm not sure I want to have to go through that again."
"What about after?" she asked, hugging her knees more tightly.
He looked down at her, puzzled. "Oh -- you mean after it died, and before I blacked out? That... that's something I'm not so sure of. It was like there was this fire that I couldn't see, but that I could feel. It was there where the raptor had been. And I pulled it into myself, sort of soaked it up. It was really cold." He wrapped his arms around himself as if to fend off a chill. "It's never felt quite like that before. Of course, magic is probably getting stronger, as more Guardians die off, and as the raptors get stronger. The inverse-square thing Lance was talking about -- I'm sure it cuts both ways."
He shifted his arms, and winced. He carefully prodded his injured side in a few different places, and made a face. "Shit," he said softly. "I think it's infected."
She looked up at him and shivered. "That doesn't sound good." She swallowed hard. "That really doesn't sound good."
"Yeah, well, I'm still on my feet so far," he said grimly. He paused, looking off to one side. "Hang on a second."
He walked slowly down the street, drifting first to the left, then the riglt. Kelly watched silently for a few minutes, then rose to her feet and followed.
When Daniel stopped, he was only about twenty yards away from the human wall that blocked the street, and two of the guards had raised their rifles. He ignored them, staring at the street and holding his hand out, as if to feel the warmth rising from a steam grate or a campfire.
Directly below his hand was a splatter of dark red.
Kelly stopped behind him, and he spoke without turning. "This is where Lance died. I can feel it... that cold fire I mentioned. I can feel it here. Or smell it, or whatever it is." He withdrew his hand and shivered. "But just a glimpse. It's like seeing something out of the corner of your eye. It's like it was there, but... something happened."
He felt her hands on his shoulders. "Daniel, are you all right?" She sounded worried.
He turned back to her and ran his hand down her arm. "I don't know."
Then they heard a commotion from back near the pawn shop. They turned, to see that Junior had emerged and was talking to some of the people blocking the road at the other end. Evidently satisfied, he turned toward Daniel and Kelly and called out, "I have a proposition for you."
Daniel's hand tightened on Kelly's shoulder, then fell to his side. "Let's go," he said.
They walked back to where Lance was waiting, next to the door. Neither said anything on the way, but Kelly cast a worried glance at Daniel's makeshift bandage as they walked. Was he favoring that side?
They came to a stop in front of Junior, who grinned at them. "So glad to see you're awake, Daniel. I need your help."
"With what?" Daniel said guardedly.
"I've been speaking to one of our Guardians. Evidently she has some concerns about your bare-handed tactics. Nobody's ever done anything like it before, as you might imagine. And there's a... very particular raptor that we have some concerns about. We think you might be able to help us take care of it." He grinned again, showing his white, even teeth. "Your life expectancy will be much improved if you help."
"What's so special about this raptor?"
"Well, you had mentioned that most raptors seem to feed off car batteries. It's more than that, of course, but that's one of the ready sources they've settled on, so I'm told. Apparently the raptors can't survive very well in our world, because we have no magic. So they take sources of energy -- electricity being one of the easier ones for them to work with -- and turn it into magic. Part of that magic feeds the raptor, and part of it is released into our world. They're... well, I read a good bit of science fiction when I was younger, and I think the word 'terraforming' would be apt. They're making our world into a version of theirs -- a place where they can survive and thrive."
Kelly had turned pale as Junior spoke, but Daniel waved his hand impatiently. "I had already figured as much. The eggs in the power substation, the dragon nest in the car dealership. That's old news. What's so special about this raptor?"
Junior frowned at his failure to impress Daniel with a sense of drama, but continued. "This one isn't feeding off of the same energy as the others. This one is feeding on the spirits of the dead, on their way to the next world."
That got Daniel's attention. He froze, with his mouth halfway open and his eyes fixed on Junior. "W-what?" he finally managed to gasp. "How the hell did you come up with that idea?"
"Quite frankly, from watching you this morning," Junior said quietly. "You seem to have discovered how to do the same thing." He turned and walked a few paces away, then looked back. "This raptor -- the white raptor --"
"White raptor? What is this, the flying lizard version of Moby Dick?" Daniel interrupted, his voice slightly hysterical.
"Whoa," Kelly said, gripping his arm. "Calm down."
Daniel took a shaky breath. "Fine. Go on."
"This white raptor," Junior continued in an annoyed voice, "came down this morning after you had passed out. Our Guardian told me that she could... 'see' it trying to feed on what was left of the black raptor's life essence." He folded his arms and walked back up to them, stopping face-to-face with Daniel. "It also tried to feed off of you. And when we tried to drive it away, we found that it was not weak against iron."
Daniel started. "What? What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said," Junior said evenly. "After speaking with you last night, Lance took the liberty of sending teams out to find knives, cleavers, swords, whatever was available. None of it was effective. So either there was something special about your sword, or there's something special about you, or you were lying."
Daniel's face darkened, but he said nothing.
Junior nodded curtly. "So we propose to lure the white raptor here, and then set you against it. Before it has the chance to grow any stronger."
Daniel set his jaw. "What makes you think I can kill it?"
Junior shrugged, stepping back. "From what I'm told, nobody here has a better chance." His face took on a shrewd expression. "Besides, from what I've heard, you have a good reason to try. Didn't your ladyfriend lose a child to a raptor?"
Kelly's grip suddenly bit into Daniel's arm.
"Ah," Junior said, nodding. "You see the connection. An ordinary raptor would not attack a human, unless in self-defense, or to get at something it actually could eat. But this one does attack humans. I'm giving you a chance at revenge."
Mary's tiny form flashed across Daniel's vision, then Anna's face, then Amanda's body after being attacked by the raptor. "What do I need to do?" he said hoarsely.
"Just stay out here, while I get the bait," Junior said, his teeth showing. He turned and walked briskly back to the door.
"Bait?" Kelly whispered.
"Kelly, you'd better stay out of the way," Daniel said. He clasped her hand tightly, then gave her a little push toward the building. She moved reluctantly away, watching him over her shoulder as she walked.
The door opened, and a small, dark, frightened man emerged, prodded along by Anders. Junior brought up the rear of the procession.
The small man caught sight of Daniel. His eyes widened, and he stumbled slightly. Anders shoved him roughly with the barrel of his rifle, and the man caught his feet and kept moving. Anders moved him out into the middle of the street about thirty feet from Daniel. "Just stay there," he said, and began backing away.
"Junior, what the hell game are you playing?" Daniel called angrily.
Then Anders' rifle fired, once, twice. The small man screamed and clutched his leg, where blood was already welling up, and fell heavily to the ground.
Instinctively, Daniel broke into a run. The small man yelled and tried to roll away from him, babbling. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to shoot at you! Please, I gave you my gun! Please don't kill me!"
Daniel recognized his voice: the gunman from the mall. "Shit," he whispered. "No wonder he didn't want to come back."
He turned back to where Anders and Junior were disappearing into the building. "Junior!" he roared. "What the fuck is this?"
Junior paused in the doorway. "What did you expect, Daniel?" he said. "How are we supposed to get the white raptor here without live bait? Would you rather we used your girlfriend?"
Then he pulled the door shut and bolted it, turning to watch through the glass.
Daniel looked at Kelly, trembling and leaning on the bars in front of the pawn shop; then at the small man, shaking violently and clutching his leg. He swayed, then lowered himself gently to the ground and swallowed hard.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, and turned his face to watch the sky.
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