**
Serenity jumped out of the way of the dragon's massive claws. They hit the stone floor with such force that it cracked several feet down, spraying a mist of water into the air. Serenity took out her sword and it instantly burst into flames. The dragon roared as it brought it's clawed hand back down over Serenity's head. She moved just in time to save herself from the dragon's blow.
"Take this!" She yelled as just hurled her sword at the dragon's neck.
The sword began to spin in a furry of intense flames and soared to its mark. The dragon's head and neck leaned back and it breathed, not fire, but ice at Serenity's sword. It was frozen in the air, unable to move, with the fire dying under the frosty ice.
"Yea, that's what I figured. An Ice Dragon in the waterways." Serenity sighed as she jumped out of the way of another swing from the dragon's claws.
Serenity ran as fast as her legs would take her and jumped for her frozen sword. Just as she gripped the handle the dragon let out another jolt of icy breath, freezing her hand to the hilt. Serenity screamed despite herself as ice traveled down her arm and up her neck. She was trapped. She struggled in vain against the ice as the dragon opened its mouth and began another assault. Serenity had just enough time to look the dragon in it's cold eyes before it unleashed yet another icy blast. The dragon growled as it brought its long blue tail out of the water. Serenity couldn't move, but she could still see and think.
"What am I supposed to do now? I can't move, not even an inch."
She saw, with horror, what the dragon had planned for her. The dragon brought its tail around and was preparing to smash the ice statue it had created.
Serenity's eyes grew with horror; the pain of being smashed into tiny pieces while she was frozen would be unbearable. And what's worse, she wouldn't be able to survive the impact. Even if she was a vampire, vampires couldn't regenerate if their bodies were in pieces. She put all of her concentration on her sword, if she could get the ice to melt at least a fraction before the dragon brought it's tail back around she could shatter the ice before the dragon shattered her. A small flicker of flame glowed in the ice, but before it could gain strength the coldness of the ice put the flame out.
"Damn it, this isn't going to work. I don't have anymore time to get a flame going."
The dragon swung its tail with a huge force and it roared with anger. Serenity couldn't close her eyes or even wince as she saw the tail coming straight for her.
"No, not like this. It can't..."
Before Serenity could finish her thought a fireball flew from a dark part of the room and hit the ice. At the same time, from the same place, a green light sliced through the air and cut off half of the dragon's tail. Serenity's eyes darted back and forth between the dragon and the area that the two attacks came from. The dragon roared in fury as the half of the tail that had been severed fell into the pool. The water was already beginning to turn red with blood as the dragon's roar echoed off the walls of the waterway. Serenity could feel the ice around her melting; if she was going to act she had to act now while the dragon was distracted with pain. She strengthened her grip around her sword, as a large flame burst from it, with the ice getting warm it could no longer put the flame of her sword out. A second fireball flew and smashed into the ice, Serenity used all of her strength to break free off her icy tomb.
She landed in a pool of dragon blood as she stated, "Let's try that again shall we?"
The dragon had no time to react to the now free Serenity as she plunged her fiery sword into its heart. It reared its head back and let lose a combination of blood and ice. In seconds the dragon sunk below the surface of the now crimson colored pool, it thrashed for only an instant before it died and sank all the way to the bottom. Serenity was breathing hard, the ice had stolen the sliver of warmth that she had in her body. Her thoughts turned back to where the fireballs and green light had originated. None of the hunters that had joined her here could have done that, and to a dragon no less.
Serenity stood ready as she called out, "I know you are still here, come out or I will come to you."
Serenity's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in terror, she thought she was prepared for anything, but certainly not for this.
"Hello Serenity, it has been ages. And I must say you have gotten rather bold, to take on an Ice Dragon with that sword of yours and think you could win by yourself." The figure standing in the shadows came out into the dull light and continued with a smile, "I thought I taught you better than that."

To Be Continued....