Immortal Dreams by Chrissy Peebles Page B

up.
    I feel another strike just as I stand, and I'm knocked backwards again.  This time, I hit so hard my tongue gets chomped between my teeth, drawing blood.
    I spit it out, steadying my breaths as I search for something to use my magic on.  But it's hard to fight back when I can't see them coming.
    I scream as my body gets lifted from the ground by a force I can't see, and then I get whisked up to nearly the tops of the trees just as several other shadows rush into the party from behind us.
    Just when I accept my fate, I realize these shadows aren't evaporating, they're just fast as hell.
    Screams erupt, and I'm dropped from the monstrous height, screaming all the way down.  I brace for impact, but I feel swift, gentle arms catching me and then gently dropping me to the ground as the figures emerge more obviously.
    Dark-hooded silhouettes rush from place to place as the dark users scream out their pain.  The mystery people don't speak or slow down.  Instead, they work together like a band of choreographed dancers fighting against my attackers.
    Then I see it.  Their faces are masked and their heads are covered, but I see the glowing blue eyes as they drain the dark users of their energy with the ease only one creature can hold.
    Night stalkers!
    Here I was, foolish enough to think I was being saved, only to find out I'm someone's next meal.
    I slide over, and then kick Frankie's foot, trying to stir him awake, but it's no good.  I watch in horror as the night stalkers continue to drain the dark users, deflecting their attacks as they feast, never fazed by their outnumbered circumstance.
    Then I squeal as two lycans crash through the trees, roaring and shredding the dark users who were trying to rush the night stalkers from behind.  One of the lycans spots me, and it snarls as it pounds the ground with its heavy paws.
    The beast I've only ever heard about but never seen is far more terrifying than I imagined it to be.  It's head is the size of seven human heads, and it stands six feet tall on all fours.  I cower back, covering Frankie, offering myself as sacrifice.
    The rabid beast snarls and rakes the ground with its dagger-like claws, readying itself for a charge as the battle behind it rages on.  A pair of glowing blue eyes offer me a glance before a silhouette leaps over, kicking the beast in the stomach, sending it sailing.
    I squeal, and shield my eyes momentarily.  When I look up, I see the lycan is licking its paw, and then it charges back into the fight, no longer acknowledging me as it returns to shredding the dark users.
    "Frankie!" I screech desperately, and he finally stirs just as the last of the dark users retreat.
    "What?" he murmurs through sleepy yawns, and my eyes look up once more to see the glowing blues fade before the unlikely rescue team darts away, disappearing from sight instead of coming to drain me dry.
    Both of the lycans disappear, leaving us behind in the darkness without a threat.
    "What the hell just happened?" Frankie gushes as he rises up to see the bodies of the dark users lying around like limp, drained rag dolls.
    "Believe it or not, night stalkers and lycans just saved our lives."
    "Night stalkers and lycans took down a flock of dark users to help us?" he asks in disbelief.
    I look around, understanding his shock.  I watched it happen with my own eyes and I'm still struggling to find it true.
    "Yeah.  These dark users were apparently fairly new to their abilities, so they died easier."
    "Those had to be some badass mother fuckers to do all this even if they were new to the change," he murmurs to continue our very whispered conversation.
    I step over the bodies of the men and women shriveled up, their eyes glazed over with death's glare. 
    "That's creepy," Frankie shivers out.
    "What's creepy is watching the dark ones of our kind trying to tear us apart and then watching our heroes be night stalkers and lycans."
    Frankie shakes his head, still reeling from the absurdity of