I was escorted to a holding cell, in a small hallway with three cells on the right. The first one held the one who was shooting at us earlier. He wore a black silk dress shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. His pants were gray, and his shoes were brown, and smelled of foreign leather and shoe shine. As I passed, he held out his necklace tightly in his hand, closing his eyes. I heard him sigh as the officer, A tall redheaded female who wore the name Madison on her name tag, fumbled with the keys to my cuffs.

I said nothing, willing myself to be still as possible, in hopes of easing this woman’s nerves. I think it was safe to say that she was green, and dealing with people who were in an obvious gunfight was not on her top ten list.

She got the cuffs off and got me in the holding cell without incident, and left the room. I noticed a camera mounted on the wall at the end of the hall, but the flashy red light told me that we were being watched. Damn. Being on camera was not something I was fond of.

I forced my arcane energies into the spell I learned. “Confession…” I uttered, as everything around fell into dead silence. only the breathing on both sides could now be heard.

“Cannot me… “ I heard, whispering on my left as I relaxed a bit.

“Doesn’t this just beat all…” I exclaimed, sitting on the metal framed cot in the cell. Everything was light gray, from the paint on the cinder-block walls, to the floor tiles, to the spackled ceiling, to the painted metal bars. I could smell the iron through the paint, along with other scents I don’t wish to mention. The blanket on the cot was a scratchy wool, and the mattress pad beneath did little to protect you from the coils it tried to hide.

“Madrecita, is that you?” I heard from the cell to my right.

“Raziel?” I asked, recognizing the voice. “I thought you would have been taken to County by now.”

“So you know what happened.” he sighed. “My lawyer filed something, which got me brought back here for a hearing. She thinks if I get convicted and sent to County, I’ll never make it back. But enough about me. What happened to you? Emily and I went by the ‘Queen Of Spades’ and it was locked up tight. Cops got me coming back to the Flayre.”

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“I’ve only been back a couple of days. Someone put two 9mms in my back and buck-shot in my face…” I let my voice carry so that the man to my left heard it clearly.

“Don’t look at us,” I heard from the man to the left.. an Italian accent dripping from his words. “Sorry about earlier. We did not know you were blessed. We were informed that you and your bodyguard were both Diavoli… which I can now see that you are not. We’ve only been in town about a week, getting things in order.”

“I couldn’t have been you, then,” I mused, aloud.

“You shot my brother in the shoulder,” he said, but there was no anger in his voice. Was that… admiration…? “Before today I hadn’t met a woman of any kind who was ever able to hit either of us.. What was that, a Sig Sauer?”

“Yeah. And what’s the deal with the AK-47?” I asked.

“Inexpensive, easy to acquire, and not hard to be good with. My brother and I were trained on it.”

“I see,” I said as I broke the spell. The adrenaline was wearing out, and I felt a little sleepy.

“Do you remember…?” I heard Xochil whisper into my mind, “I think this will become my new favorite memory…” she giggled as I fell asleep.

~v~

Before I could reply, I found myself in another dream. It was early afternoon, and a large lake was below me. I was flying, relaxing as the wind enveloped me. I looked down to see my golden reflection in the lake’s glass-like surface. As I approached the banks of the lake, I saw a small herd of horses drinking. I roared above them, startling them and sending them into a run. I was in a slow glide… moving just enough to keep me in the air. As the herd out-paced me. I sped up, matching their speed, as this twenty-foot dragon flew with them for a spell. They cut to the left, then to the right, as I laughed, trying to keep up with them. The herd headed toward a small group of humans, starting to make camp. Their raven black hair and deep bronze skin I liked, as I made a mental note to look for one later to model a new shell out of. I cut sharply away from them, and towards the skies. It was too early for them to know of my presence.