The lady stopped in her tracks, the hairs on the back of her neck were rising, feeling something was wrong. She had been walking to get her mail from the box just down from the house, along the street when she felt someone or something watching her. Turning completely around, watching everything in her line of sight, she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. "C’mon girl," she told herself quietly. "You don’t need to be jumping at the slightest sound." She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to happen though. Taking one last look around she continued to the end of the driveway to her mailbox.

The bushes along the street started to shiver as a breeze sprang up as she retrieved her mail. She was glad for the breeze, it had been a hot summer so far and it looked like today was going to be a beautiful day. Looking through her mail, finding more bills than anything else, she came upon a letter from an old friend. She hadn’t heard anything from her friend in such a long time that she was surprised that she had sent a letter. She didn’t think her friend had her address.

Walking back to her house the hairs on the back of her neck rose again as she got that strange feeling again. Being in her mid-thirties, the lady had seen enough for two lifetimes. Getting ready for a fight was not something she had planned for today but would be ready for anything. Turning around again, she still couldn’t find anything wrong with the neighborhood she was living in. The trees swayed with the breeze, the bushes as well. The houses along the street, all two story, Victorian style, were quiet with only a few cars in some of the driveways. Still turning, she watched a car come down the street to park a few houses down. Not understanding anything that was going on she felt the air grow still and she felt static electricity crawl down her arms.

There was a blue flash behind her. Quickly, not wanting anything to catch her from behind, she turned to face whatever was back there. She saw a portal opening up in front of her; the edges of it were crackling with energy as it swirled into the middle. Colors were swirling as well; mixing into the white light that was slowly forming in front. Something was coming out of the portal towards her. Unable to identify the shape yet she backed away to look at what was coming through. There were three shapes that began to separate the closer they came to the front. They were walking upright, vaguely humanoid but much larger than any human she knew of. The forms solidified as they stepped out of the portal. Now she could see who they were.

They were about seven feet tall, very muscled human bodies with human heads and faces. The one in front had a helmet shaped like a stylized head of a dragon, complete with snout. The front of the helmet had only a slit in it for the wearer to see out of; you couldn’t see what he looked like underneath. The other two behind him had similar helmets but you could see their faces. The two of them had scales like lizards, but were human looking. The scales she could see looked to be soft, like a snake, so she knew why they had the helmets. "Well, well," the one in front started saying. His voice was deep, gravely sounding. "Look what we have found." He sounded extremely pleased with himself. "I knew I was going to be the one to find you, child."

"You may have found me but you haven’t caught me," she snarled at him. She thought she could take these creatures on but she didn’t want to take the chance of getting captured. She felt her own powers gathering, getting ready to flee into the light of day.

"Get her before she tries something!" The front one commanded the other two. They quickly fanned out from him to either side of her. The one to her left made a feint, trying to get her attention while the one to the right brought something out of a pouch. Expertly blocking the left one, she caught a glimpse of a net the right one swung around waiting for an opening in the fight. Not knowing where it came from she anticipated his move and moved to the right when he swung it to the left. The net managed to entangle the other fighter so he fell to the ground struggling. The second fighter came at her, enraged, but she was able to fight him back and felled him with a blow to the head.

"Is that the best you've got?" She sneered at him, adrenaline getting the best of her senses. She hadn't fought like this since the time of her father, when she fought along side him in the competitions. She had been in a few wars, none of them giving her the excitement of a challenge. War was her duty to her clan (?) and she was proud to be the daughter of the High General.

"You won't be so cocky when I get through with you!" He laughed menacingly. Crouching in a defensive position, he stood there poised to attack.

Watching him, ready for anything he would throw at her, she didn't realize that someone was behind her until it was too late. A pair of arms wrapped around her pinning her arms to her sides and lifting her off of the ground. She struggled but was unable to get a purchase on the ground so she just futilely kicked the air.

Swaggering over to the pair, the leader grin maliciously at her when she stopped struggling and glared at him. "Well, now," he said. "What can you do now?" Bringing up a pouch, he dangled it in front of her.

"What do you want with me?" she asked, furious that he had been able to capture her. Her powers were useless with her arms pinned at her sides. Oh, what she wouldn't do to wipe that smirk off of his face.

"Why, only your father," he said, cordially. He could already feel the reward in his pockets know. She had a high price on her head and he had paid a lot of gold to find her in this dimension. The seeker had been taken care of when he found her resonance here. The leader had dispatched a squad of his finest, not like these two dolts, guards to finish the seeker after he left. They had returned saying the deed was done. Reaching into the bag he had shown her, he brought out a small creature the size of his fist. It was shiny black, spider type creature but had only six legs with the eyes on stalks like a crab. Everything was shaped as a spider, even down to the inch long fangs.

She began to tremble with fear at the site of the creature. Knowing it for what it was she began to struggle again, trying to escape what he had planned for her.

"Ah, I see you remember what this is." He sounded pleased; he knew how much she feared them. "This one is quite primed with venom, it hasn't bitten anything for a day. But don't worry, it won't hurt…much." He placed the creature on her arm, just above the other's arm and she grew absolutely still as it started crawling up.

She knew the creature's venom wouldn't kill her but she was afraid of it, almost deathly afraid of it. When she had been a child, no more than five, she had fallen into a nest of the things. She screamed as they crawled all over her and began to bite as she tried to climb out of the nest. She screamed as the venom from all of the bites began to work and it felt like fire was flowing through her veins until she passed out. The venom paralyzes any type of magical abilities in the victim and also works on the brain so that the victim is, essentially, out of their minds with pain. They will lash out at anything and anyone, thinking that they are attacking the victim instead of trying to help.

As the creature worked it's way towards her neck she looked to the leader of the guards who attacked her, silently imploring him to take it away.

Watching with rapt interest, he almost laughed as the creature stopped crawling when it reached the base of her neck. With a delicate feel, the creature felt for her pulsing artery. The way it moved, one might think that it knew her fear and was empathetic towards her as it quickly pierced her neck with it's fangs, emptying it's sacs. Jumping off the lady, the creature crawled to the leader and he put it back in the bag.

"Let her down," he said to the man holding her. The guard let go of her and she dropped to her knees, holding her head as the venom began to work on her system.

She looked defiantly at him, knowing she wouldn't know him in the next instant. "You…will…pay," she said, hissing every word. Liquid fire began to flow through her and she cried out in pain.

"Ah, not this time," he said. "When this affair is over, you will be mine." He put his hand under her chin to lightly stroke it. Laughing when she jerked her head away, he said, "You are my prize for capturing your father when my Lord has won the king's throne."

"Not in this, or any life time," an angry male's voice replied from the street.

The voice was familiar to her but she couldn't remember exactly until she turned around to look. "Un… uncle?" She quietly said, then fell to the ground heavily, trying to figure out which way was up. The world was spinning to fast for her.

The leader stood up; very surprised that anyone would come as quietly as he did. He scowled at the man's answer. "You!" He recognized the man as the woman's protector from the past. He was wearing jeans with a light polo shirt, side holster for a gun and a scabbard with a sword. "Not this time, Prime!" He snapped his fingers and the guard charged the man in the street.

The man she called 'Uncle' charged the two of them, sweeping the guard across the front with a sword that he pulled from the scabbard at his side. He slashed again and the guard's head flew in to the street, his body falling a second later. "I have no time for you, Serati. Either you leave now or I will kill you here." Making sure the other man understood Prime stood between him and the woman, sword ready.

"She is MINE!" Serati shouted, pulling out his sword and attacking Prime.

As the men fought, the woman was slowly losing ground to the pain and insanity that the venom was inflicting. She could no longer hear the clashing of the swords, just the sound of her blood rushing through her veins. The world was still spinning as she stood up to try and run away but fell back to the ground and started whimpering. She couldn't remember who was who or where she was.

The men had been fighting for a few minutes when she suddenly stood up and attacked the man she called uncle. The shout of anger from her stopped the fight as she began to batter the man. Laughing, Serati backed off to watch the spectacle. Prime had fallen to his knee, trying to protect himself while trying not to harm the woman. She beat him down until he was curled into a ball on the ground. Suddenly stopping, she slowly stood up, turned around and pointed the handgun at Serati.

"What…?" He couldn't believe what he saw in her eyes. He sensed she knew who he was, and he became afraid of what she was going to do. He knew at this point that he was going to die. "Damn you to the furthest reaches of Hell!" He shouted defiantly at her.

Calmly, she said, "You first," and pulled the trigger on the gun. He was hurled a few feet into the air and fell to the ground, lifeless. Looking at the gun with disgust she threw it out in the street where it landed next to the decapitated guard. Running to where Serati fell she began to kick and pummel the lifeless body, the sense of the light in her eyes dimming into darkness as she fell back into insanity.

Prime, who had watched this, unfolded from his position on the ground, relaxing a little as she began to beat the dead body. Standing up again, he surveyed the area for anybody who might have been watching. Seeing no one around he retrieved his sword and the gun, putting them back into place. Walking to where the woman was beating the body, mindful to stay out of reach for now, he softly called out, "Shaina? Niece?" There was no response from her. Sighing, he didn't want to harm her but there was no other way he could think of to make her stop. Quietly, he stole up behind her, extremely careful not to startle her before he could stop her.

Reaching into his right boot, Prime pulled out a small dagger. With one swift motion he hit her on the back of her head, knocking her senseless. She fell over Serati and he quickly pulled her off to check her out, making sure there was no other damage. Sighing, he said, "Ah Shaina, if only I had come sooner." He picked her up and carried her to the edge of the yard, placing her on the grass.

Going back to Serati, he picked him up and threw him into the portal that was still open, doing the same for the decapitated guard. Coming to where the entangled guard laid, Prime looked down at him with disgust. "Tell your master that if he ever tries this again, I will personally kill him." With that he slung the guard over his shoulder and tossed him into the portal. When the last of them were through, the portal closed in and disappeared with a pop.

Walking back to where he laid Shaina, he checked her signs again to make sure everything was okay. Knowing he needed to get her someplace safe he pulled out an amber amulet shaped like an eagle. Closing his eyes in concentration, the amulet began to glow and another portal opened near the two of them. Picking her up and cradling her against his chest he walked into the portal. As he faded from sight the portal closed and with a pop, disappeared.