Sidney sat at the top of the waterfall watching the flaming orb slowly sink below the tree line; the top edges of the vast forest set alight with hues of red and orange. Shadows had already reached the rock crevice beyond the pool far beneath her. She climbed down to join Dainton as he crawled from his hide.

Finally, she got to see him in his full glory. Taller than her 6ft, judging by how far his head soared above the rock pile, his leanness made him look taller still. Deep brown hair hung in limp straggles below his collar and framed his face. If you can call a man pretty without it sounding feminine, that's how she saw him - delicate perhaps would be more apt. His nose was straight and drew the gaze to his cool blue/green eyes framed by perfect long lashes that many women have strived for with the use of eyeliner and mascara. High cheekbones, although partially hidden behind several weeks of beard growth, were a little more prominent than they would normally have been had he been eating properly. His dark denims and plain, once-white T-shirt hung loose on his frame, adding to his lean appearance. Filthy and blood stained, the T-shirt sported a perfect hole to the middle of his chest, front and back, where the arrow had pierced it.

Dainton watched her descend the rock face with the nimble ability of a seasoned climber - dropping to ledges and swinging for hand and toe grips. He was in awe of her. The first thing he'd noticed about her that morning was her flame-red hair. He'd seen it at its most magnificent when she'd brought the deer for him to feed from. Lit from behind by the sun, her head looked like it was surrounded by fire. Her body, a vision of loveliness clad in a long cotton sweater that just about covered her modesty, and when it was wet, it became see-through so everything was revealed to him; she might as well have stood before him naked. What man wouldn't notice the athletic lines and flawless length of leg when presented with such a vision? He already knew she would be close to his height because she had fit perfectly to his body when they lay curled together in the crevice. Her compassion astounded him, she could easily have let him die, and he would have had she left the wooden arrow in his chest. Instead she removed it, and fed him from her own vein giving some of her much needed life-force to help him heal.

An angel, he thought. My angel of mercy.

"I can assure you, I'm no angel." Sidney told him as she came to stand by his side. She was right about him being taller, he stood over her by a good three or four inches.

He smiled slightly, embarrassed. "Sorry I forgot; I'll have to try to guard my thoughts."

"No worries. I'm flattered really. Given the image of my head on fire you could have considered me a demon."

Much too beautiful for a demon. His thoughts made her smile.

Suddenly shy, she turned to gather the blood from the pool and stuffed it into a bag along with her spare clothes then tossed it over her shoulder. "We best get moving. I can hear the faint echo of the boy's thoughts heading this way."

They headed north-west toward the village Dainton thought the others of her world were being held prisoner. The worried and nervous thoughts he was broadcasting were getting on her nerves. Always the same thing: as soon as they saw him, they would surely kill him this time. She caught a flash of memory: a house, his home, broken doors and windows; people he considered friends coming at him with knives and stakes.

"I need to teach you how to shield your mind. You're invading mine so much I can hardly think at the moment." She caught the slight movement of his hair as he nodded. "We'll stop here then."

He frowned. "Here, in the middle of the road?"

"No." She sighed, shaking her head in disbelief at his gullibility. "The fallen tree behind me will do. I don't fancy picking the pieces of you off the road when a car or bus comes tearing round the corner."

They sat, concealed from the road by shrubs and bushes. Sidney began trying to teach him the basic shield. She still needed to get in to his thoughts so a complete block, like the one Callie had, was out of the question. Instead, she tried more of a muffler.

"Okay, I need you to think of your mind like a large store room. Give it walls... and a door... fill it with boxes for your memories..." Half an hour later, she breathed a sigh of relief when the foundations of his shield were finally in place. The intense headache his constant babbling thoughts had given her subsided. "How much further is it?"

"Perhaps twenty minutes or so," he replied, looking down at his filthy T-shirt and jeans. "I really should tidy up a little before we get there. My appearance will draw more attention than necessary and home is on the outskirts. We pass within a half mile of it. Would you mind if we stopped off?"

"I thought you didn't want to go home?"

"If I'm to pass as normal then a shower and change of clothing will be essential. That's if it still stands after they chased me off."

She shrugged. "Fine, we'll make the detour. I'll stand watch outside while you change, warn you if anyone approaches. How does that sound?"

He nodded. "Sounds good."

They walked on, chatting about the surrounding area, the siofra and draoi. "The mountains to the south are very similar to those at home, we call them Mourne, What do you call them?"

"The same."

"And the country?"

"Ireland, and yours?"

"Same. In my world we call siofra, shifters or were, pretty much every mammal you can think of will have someone who can transform from human into that animal. Assuming of course we have the same animals, there are so many other similarities that I assume we would."

"Hmm," he said distractedly. "We don't have snakes anymore; the draoi Patrick banished them after his wife was bitten by one." He kept glancing behind them and picked up his pace a little.

"You seem preoccupied, is there a problem?"

"I have a feeling we're being followed. Can you sense anyone?"

She searched for stray thoughts close by, but found nothing. Not even a faint echo. "Nothing, you're being paranoid because we're getting close to your home."

"Call it what you will but it's never been wrong before," he assured her.

"There's a crossroads coming up, we'll split up and I'll have a look. Keep your mind open to me, like I showed you, so we can talk."

He nervously agreed and kept walking toward his home as she took a different route - waving goodbye. Do you still have the feeling? she sent him as soon as she was out of sight around a bend in the road.

Yes and it's getting worse.

I'm moving back to you now... There are fresh small paw prints in the dirt at the side of the road... I can make out something small and patchy it looks like... a dog?

She felt his relief. "Penny? ...Penny," he called, and the dog bounded toward him with its tail wagging fiercely. It jumped at his leg and when he picked it up, it immediately started licking his face.

"You knew she was following you, and you say you've never been wrong. Do you mean you can feel when siofra are close by in animal form?"

"I guess so, yeah."

"What about in human form?"

"Nope just animals, it's how I managed to evade them for so long, they hunt with at least two or three as animals."

"That's still good!" she nodded, pleased. "Maybe you'll be of some use after all because I can't read animal nor siofra minds in animal form. We'll make the perfect team."

His home remained standing, albeit not in one piece. Every window was broken and both doors hung off their hinges. Thankfully, there was little to no structural damage on the inside, just a bit of water from the rain pouring in through the glassless windows.

Sidney stayed close behind him as he shoved the door aside and stepped in to the dark hall. She listened intently for any sign of approaching trouble, but all remained quiet on the street. Nothing moved. Not a single person had a waking thought. That in itself would have raised suspicion in her world, but there seemed to be very few people here. It was almost too quiet.

Within what seemed like no time at all, Dainton was walking casually back down the stairs; his upper body naked but for the towel around his neck. If there was an award for the fastest shower he would have won it easily; he'd even washed his hair and shaved in the short time it took him.

"Do you think I should cut my hair, maybe it would alter my appearance slightly?" he asked, already holding the kitchen scissors out for her to do the honours.

"Sure, if you want." She shrugged, taking the scissors from him and waited for him to sit in the chair she pulled out for him.

After giving the towel a quick shake, she placed it around his shoulders to try to stop the wet hair cuttings from sticking to him and itching later. He handed her a brush, which she used to scoop his hair into a ponytail than chopped it off at the base of his skull; the scissors weren't the sharpest but they did the job. She methodically started at the top of his head, taking layer after layer between her fingers and chopped away like a professional. She trimmed around his ears and the back of his neck, cutting close to his scalp. The top she left longer then blended it to the meet the shorter sides.

"I don't suppose you have hair gel?" she asked once she'd finished cutting. He went to get up but she stopped him with a hand to his shoulder. "I'll get it just tell me where."

"Bathroom: cupboard over the sink; first door on the left at the top of the stairs."

She had to admit that he did scrub up well and the new haircut suited him. He put on a clean T-shirt with similar jeans to the ones he wore earlier and added a lightweight jacket - probably to try to blend in better. Hesitating only a moment when he offered his arm, she linked hers through it. Arm in arm, they strolled the half mile to the village.

The main street primarily consisted of the village square, a grassy area about the size of a football pitch. Half of it was grass, bordered by a knee height hedge. The other half had a child's playground at one corner, a small toilet block in another and what looked like wooden stocks in between the two. The square itself was bordered by a road and beyond that were shops: a small convenience store, a post office, a garage, an off-licence, a pub, a small chip shop, a hairdressers, a bakery and a small police station tucked right back in the far corner.

Sidney quickly scanned the thoughts of the people in the area and confirmed in Dainton's mind, Everyone is busy with their own troubles and haven't noticed us yet. Let's have a seat at the bench near the stocks and just observe for the moment. They moved together at a slow stroll emulating another couple ahead of them until they came to the bench. I've found only one human in the immediate area, but there is also one deochfola. Both are in the pub. The police station currently holds several witches and a couple of other breeds that I assume to be the prisoners but everyone else seems to be siofra.

I'm surprised at the deochfola being out in open. Can you hear what's being said?

Sidney was quiet for several minutes while she listened, her eyebrows raised in surprise. The human is with the deochfola, and a siofra is trying to persuade them both to leave quietly. He says he doesn't want trouble. Several of his friends are hiding close by to attack them once they leave the village boundaries... she relayed. A scowl appeared on her face a second later. He's wondering how much he can get for the human.

What do you want to do? he asked, knowing already that they were in for a fight of one form or other.

The prisoners don't seem to be in any immediate danger. The deochfola on the other hand could use some assistance. What do you say we have a little fun up the road?'

That depends on how many there are. I'd need to be closer to feel if they're in animal form.

Is that a yes then? she grinned, getting up and offering her hand.

We'll check it out and see how we go, he agreed.

We have a few minutes head start. They'll be heading toward a car park on Glenhead Road.

He stood and took her hand, leading them toward the opposite side of the village. "There is one already following us," he informed her after only a few streets.

"There are three in human form hiding behind a fence. Do you feel any animals ahead yet?"

"No, not in front of us, just the one behind. I think it's a large predator, maybe a lion or puma, some sort of large cat anyway."

"Okay. I can handle the three in front no problem," she stated confidently. "Do you think you can handle the cat?"

He laughed "No problem."

They split up. Dainton ducked into the back garden of the next house and Sidney skipped on up the road.