The Zalt Household

Lavinia frowned and stood aside, but tried her best to think of a way to handle this situation. She certainly did not need to have death energy flung at her. The rubble provided a clue to her. Quickly, she used her telekinesis to pick up a chunk of wood and flung it at the back of Zalt's head, trying to hold him in place for just a moment.

--------

Alistair shook as the soot hit him, positive he should have been roasted. "Get the bloo'y 'ell ou' of 'ere!"

Dmitri just barely managed to stop himself from running straight into the dragon. The lunging head clipped him, however, and sent him rolling. He covered his head as he rolled, gritting his teeth even harder as his wound twisted. He eventually stopped and scrambled to get up, knowing the dragon would continue trying to get him. His arm was bleeding now, having scratched it probably when he made contact with the dragon. Holding him arm, he looked at the lumbering beast. Sighing, he closed his eye. There was no way he would be able to outrun the dragon, and there was nowhere to take shelter. Dmitri was certain this would be it. And he hadn't even been able to save Ivanna.

Mr. Zalt tried to duck out of the way of the flying wood, quite attuned to dodging objects hurling for his head. What he did not expect was the lack of ability to move out of the way. While he may have been highly tolerant to pain, he was still well beyond his best years and went down with just one hit.

Lyons on the other hand was quite a bit more concerned for his partner. With a quick curse under his breath, he tried to dart up the stairs as fast as he could. Once he reached the top he moved to check on the griffin, concern spread across his face. He didn't linger on his fallen companion for long though, quickly heading to detail and handcuff the unconscious Zalt. He said to Lavinia without turning to face her, "Thank you for the help. I probably would have had to shoot him if you weren't here."

---

"Stop screaming, it's not 'elping things," Luke growled to Alistair. He knew they should have been dead, he saw the flames coming for them. But someone, or something, had intercepted it. He was fairly positive it was the voice from before, though for the moment he didn't care. He'd worry more about the threat as soon as there wasn't a dragon to take care of.

The dragon meanwhile stood over Dmitri, snapping it's jaws open and moving to swoop down to grab him in its great maw. However, in the middle of the motion the entire creature froze, then fell limp, crashing to the ground, right on top of Dmitri should he have chosen not to move.

Alistair watched the dragon drop with some surprise. "It's stopped moving..."

------

"I am glad I was able to help," Lavinia answered quietly, turning to look out the door again. "I could not help Syme..." She saw the dragon laid out in the street... and the man pinned under it. "The dragon is down," she informed Lyons as she bustled into the street again, silently cursing her skirts.

Dmitri had felt the dragon fall on him, and let out a grunt of pain, but he didn't even feel the ground when he hit. He had been knocked unconscious by the dragon, and now lay under it. Not quite crushed, but still pinned, unable to escape if he had been awake.

--

Ivanna had watched as the dragon was about to finish off Dmitri, horrified. With what little amount of strength that had returned, she had gone to him, even though she knew she could do nothing. When the dragon instead fell limp, Ivanna was relieved that Dmitri hadn't died. She knelt next to Dmitri, placing a hand on his face as she looked at his unconscious form. Tears swelled in her eyes, and a couple fell down her cheeks. She thought that he was still alive, so to speak, and was happy, but she didn't like seeing him like this.

Luke moved to stare at the mess as well, still keeping a good grip on Alistair. "Think the voices did that too?" He asked, still panting.

---

Lyons remained inside to attend to Jant, shouting down the stairs, "Don't touch it. We don't know what to expect with it."

"Voices can't do anything," Alistair grumbled. "And you can set me on my feet now."

"I do not plan to!" Lavinia answered back, moving closer to the downed dragon and unconscious Dmitri. She glanced around and spotted the Fairchld brothers. "You there! Help me unpin this man. My magic can only do so much."

Luke glared at his shoulder, about to remind Alistair that he was too weak to run in the first place, though Lavinia caught his attention first. Glancing between her and his brother, he hesitantly set Alistair down on the ground again, as if he was being disarmed. "Right." He moved closer to assist Lavinia at the task. He couldn't help but think that two people was not going to be enough, but saying no to a magic user tended to be quite the health hazard.

"If you can push against the dragon's head, I can slide him out," Lavinia explained, pointing to where she wanted Luke to position himself.

Meanwhile, Alistair sat on the street, taking a break. What he wouldn't have given for a bottle of whiskey at that moment.

Luke moved into position to push against the head, a look of disgust crossing his face when he realized just what he was going to have to push against. "Sorry for the commotion," He said to Lavinia.

Lavinia used her magic to tug Dmitri free of the dragon. "It is not the worst that has happened today." She kneeled next to Dmitri then, trying to ascertain whether he was still as alive as an undead could be. He felt the same as he had whenn she was a child, but that was not necessarily helpful. "At the very least we managed to keep down the damage."

Luke paused to look over Dmitri, trying to assess where he stood on him in general. While he had apparently attacked Alistair and had a smug attitude he just plain didn't like, he owed him at least a bit for the help with the dragon. "Should we call a doctor for him?" He asked hesitantly. He wasn't sure exactly how a hospital would help a vampire, but it was the gesture that mattered.

It was then that Lyons emerged to look over the dragon, followed by a very sick looking griffin. "Was anyone here hurt?" He asked, looking over the scene. His eyes stopped dead on the vampire. With a grim look, he moved closer and looked him over. His handcuffs were already in use, but this man was wanted. "Could someone call the knights for back up?" He asked, not moving his eyes off Dmitri.

Dmitri groaned as he regained consciousness. He was in a fair amount of pain and, opening his eye, realized why. The dragon was laying stiff in front of him, and Dmitri knew that he had just been under it. Moving to sit up, he held his head. He saw a face that looked familiar. "Livvy...?" She was so grown up, it took him a while to recognize the little girl he had been a personal bodyguard to. His arm was still bleeding, but rather slightly. Even so, it was still in pain, and his attempt to sit up failed, and Dmitri instead just fell back to where he was laying on his back again, with a small groan.

"Do I know you?" Lavinia asked quietly, staring intently at him. Of course she knew him, but she didn't want him to seem associated with her considering the trouble he had caused the last few days and the fact she was with Syme when he died.

Alistair, being the type to notice such things knew there was something behind the pet name from the off. To one so well-versed in reading people, the woman's attempt to throw off the vampire's familiarity was completely obvious. Still, he could only read into it so far. He could they were related, but not how.

Lyons furiously unholstered his handgun, aiming down the barrel at Dmitri as he began to move. "I asked if someone could call back up. Do I need to ask again?"

Luke paused, trying to decide a course of action. "This was the bloke what attacked you, right Alistair?" He asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Yeah," Alistair answered Luke. "That's him." He kept his eyes on Lavinia though, suspicious.

"How would one summon backup?" Lavinia asked.

"Use the phone to call the knights. There should be one back in the house," Lyons growled. He wasn't letting this man get away again.

Luke gave Alistair a curious look, trying to figure out if there was yet more he knew. "I'll take care of it," He responded, moving to stand up and head back for the Zalt house.

Dmitri was a little taken aback by Lavinia's reaction, as he was sure she was who he thought he was. He didn't continue talking to her, however, as he realized that there was a gun being pointed at him. He looked at the thing with a dazed expression, wondering, in his confusion, why it was being directed at him. He heard Luke and Alistair talking, but his headache kept him from thinking about what it was they said.

--

Ivanna gasped as the gun was pointed at Dmitri. She wanted to do something about it, but she still felt much too weak to be able to do much of anything. She began wondering just what Dmitri had gotten himself into, and why he was in so much danger this past day alone. She sighed, shaking her head as she repeated, "Vy idiot*..." ((You idiot.))

"So..." Alistair said, trying to get a handle on the situation. "It seems you caught the man, Officer Lyons. Though could someone explain the bloody dragon? And who is this woman here?"

"My name is Lavinia Cardham," the lady answered stiffly. "Yours, sir?"

"Alistair J. Fairchild at your service, dear lady."

"Miss Cardham was just involved in a sensitive incident. I was escorting her to the station for more questioning," Lyons replied, keeping both his eyes and gun trained on Dmitri. "The dragon belong to the necromancer Mr. Zalt, and was released over a theft."

"Theft, huh? Sounds like him," Alistair answered, glaring at the vampire and adjusting his sleeve over the bandage on his wrist. "Has Zalt been arrested?"

Dmitri had finally regained enough of his senses to say, "I wasn't stealing anything. I wanted Zalt, or, rather, as it turned out, a friend of Zalt's, to return something dear to me." He still had a fairly blank look on his face, as if unfazed by the fact that there was a gun pointed to his face.

"He claims you were there to steal something. Quite frankly I'm not inclined to believe either you or the necromancer at the moment. Also, Zalt has been arrested," Lyons replied.

Luke returned from the Zalt mansion not long after, panting. "Called the knights for now. Said they're sending more people on their way."

"Well, seems he'll be too busy worrying about that to bother with me today, then," Alistair answered, almost cheerful at the prospect. "He wished me to clear out his ghosts, but I told him already I was hardly able to do that today... for some reason."

Lavinia glanced between Alistair and Dmitri, thinking it over, then asking, "You knew Lord Syme, correct, Mr. Fairchild?"

"Of course," Alistair answered before grumbling under his breath, "bloody bastard he is too."

"Was," Corrected Lyons with a flinch. "He met an unfortunate accident not long ago."