"Eat, boy," a guard snarled, sliding food under the opening of the cell. Inside the cell was a little boy with long, curly dark hair drooping over his face covering everything but his eyes and nose. Zion couldn't have been more than 7 then. He was filthy, covered in dirt crouched in the corner of the dirty cell, clutching the wall protectively. He eyed the guard carefully before snatching the bowl of slop and gobbling it down a few gulps. He shoved the bowl back through the opening, glaring at the guard.

"Good. Now rest." The guard walked away, bowl in hand, leaving the boy alone in his dark, dirty cell. The boy went to sleep shivering, with only a torn, faded shirt to keep him warm.

A few hours later the guard returned, unlocking the cell before dragging the boy out by his shirt. He led him outside where sweaty soldiers were practicing with wooden swords. He shoved the child forward, letting him fall to the ground. Angry, the boy turned around to glare at the guard with bright, red eyes.

"Show us your power boy!" he commanded, eying the boy hungrily, clearly coveting his power.

The memory sped up showing the boy live out his life in a cramped, dirty cell eating slop every night until he was brought out and ordered to fight men, twice his age for sport. He was ridiculed, pushed, spat on, whatever it took to awaken his power and turn him into a monster. It always resulted in a blood bath, applauded by his captor. His innocence was snatched away from him only to be used as cruel entertainment. This continued on for years until he finally escaped when he was 12 years old.

I slowly opened my eyes, looking at Zion. Tears trickled down my face as I felt his pain, his agony, his regret, his fear. I reached out, grabbing him and pulling him towards me in an embrace. He stiffened under my embrace, slowly relaxing and bringing his arm around me.

"It's okay," I whispered.

I felt furious, blood rushing through me at the thought of anyone using him for sport. They made him do cruel and inhumane things and I clenched my teeth to control my thirst for blood. I could feel my entire body heat up, overcome with emotion. I felt pure rage. I wanted to destroy everyone who ever had a hand in destroying his life. I felt a thirst for vengeance and my talons began to emerge as a result of my rage. I growled, as claws began to protrude from the base of my nail as I focused my rage on everyone who had ever hurt him.

Noticing what was happening, Zion began shaking me, "Saron, SARON! STOP!" His voice was just a faint whisper. I felt my strength growing as my eyes gleamed with resentment.

Before I realized what was happening, Zion grabbed the back of my neck, pulling me towards him, planting a kiss on my lips. My rage slowly began to subside as all my emotions faded away, calming me. It felt as if lightning had struck between us, freezing me where I was. My claws slowly began to shrink, sinking under the base of my nail. Sparks were exploding inside of me as we kissed, my senses on fire at his touch. I could feel our magic rushing between each other. It was as if we were no longer two bodies, but one. I felt a bond form between us, getting stronger the longer we kissed. It felt like an electrical current flowing between our bodies. It was like nothing I had ever felt before. What is this feeling? My eyes fluttered open and I saw his pupils dilate, letting me know the kiss was having the same effect on him. Terrified by the intense feelings I was experiencing, I pushed away, gasping. I stared at him, panting, unsure of what to say. He watched me expectantly, waiting for me to break the first word.

"What was that for?"

"I didn't know how else to stop you. You were losing control."

"Did you feel that?" I asked him, still disoriented.

"Yes."

We sat there in silence for a couple minutes as I processed what just happened. Something had changed between us. I didn't know what it was and we both wouldn't speak it out loud. I tried to push it out of my mind but I couldn't. I changed the subject in an attempt to distract my brain from what just happened.

"I'm starving." I said, breaking the awkward silence.

"I'll be back." He disappeared, returning in a few minutes with a bag filled with food. He dumped the bag's contents onto a table. Blood bags, bags of chips, slabs of meat, etc. spilled out of the bag.

Shooting him a grateful look, I grabbed a bag of chips, tearing it open before plopping the chips in my mouth without pause. He settled down beside me, downing a blood bag as we devoured the food before us.

"How was it for you when you first changed?" I asked curiously. He relied on his vampire side more so I had almost forgotten he was a werewolf vampire hybrid.

"I passed out," he admitted, sheepishly.

"I thought it was just me." I shuddered remembering the pain that lasted hours. "Is the second time as painful as the first?"

"It's painful but nothing compares to the first time," he reassured me.

My phone buzzed with a notification. I had two missed calls from Star and a text. I opened the text to see what the issue was.

Where are you?

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion looking at Zion.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know." I clicked the call button, worried something happened. It rang and rang until the answering machine told me to leave a message.

"Hey Star, are you alright? Call me back." I left a message, hanging up the phone.

"We have to go. Something's wrong." Something wasn't right. I could feel it in my gut.

Nodding, Zion grabbed my hand. We zoomed together towards the White Wing.

"I'll text you," I told him before rushing inside.

Star was sitting at one of the couches, looking worried. I ran over to her, asking, "Star, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Where have you been?"

"I was with Zion, I'm sorry."

"Tom and Joel were attacked."

"WHAT?! What happened???"

"After you left, the Five came. They just walked around the Wing, inspecting everything and left quickly. It was really weird, they actually came into our section. After they left, I was tired so I decided to take a nap while Joel and Tom went to see what they were up to. That's when Joel called me saying they were attacked. Tom's in the infirmary. Joel is okay. He was only grazed with an arrow. They don't know who attacked them."

Widening my eyes, I asked, "Do you think it was the Five? I heard they're very secretive. Maybe they saw something they weren't supposed to see."

"That's what I thought but why would they attack students that seems careless."

Nodding in agreement, I asked, "Where's Joel?"

"He's at the Infirmary with Tom."

"Can we go see him?"

"I don't know. I don't think-"

"Do you know where the Infirmary is?"

"No, why?"

"I know who might," I said, quickly texting Zion.

Can you meet me now?

On my way.

Shoving my phone back in my pocket, I looked to Star. "Let's go, Zion will take us."

"But how?" I grabbed her hand, pulling her after me as I heard the familiar buzz of Zion's arrival. We ran out the door to find him waiting outside.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, glancing at us both.

"Tom and Joel were attacked," she stated.

He glanced at me for an explanation. "I'll explain later. Can you get us to the Infirmary?"

"Of course." He grabbed my hand in one and Star's in another before taking off towards the Infirmary. A minute later, we were standing in front of a tall white door which Zion barged through, us following him on his heel. We walked in to see a huge hospital with hallways going every which direction with numbers above each door. It was plain white all around with doctors and nurses rushing from every direction. We walked up to the nurse who was seated behind the huge desk. Sensing us nearing, she stopped shifting the papers scattered on her desk to bring her attention to us.

"How may I help you?"

Star stepped forward to explain, "We're here to see our friend, Tom. He was attacked."

Grazing through the files in her hand, she pulled out a paper, reading carefully through it before looking back up to us.

"I'm sorry, Tom is not accepting visitors at this time."

Leaning forward, Zion demanded, "What room is Tom in?"

Her pupils dilated before she looked down at the paper, uttering, "26A."

He smiled before stating in a calm, collected voice, "We were never here."

She repeated it after him before he motioned to us to follow him.

"That is so cool!!!" Star commented

After slowly realizing the doors were ordered by odd and even numbers, we followed the pattern until we reached Tom's room. We walked in to see Tom, laid out on a hospital bed, laughing with Joel seated beside him.

I rushed over to Tom, concerned, "Tom! What happened? Are you okay?"

He smiled up at me, weakly, before nodding.

Turning to Joel for an explanation, I asked, "What happened?"

"I- I don't know. It happened out of nowhere. One second we were crouched behind a bush overhearing a conversation between one of the Five and a student. Then a spear came flying out of nowhere and pierced Tom in the heart. Then another arrow came flying towards me. I was able to dodge it before it hit me too and that's when I called Star."

"What did you hear?" asked Zion, a grave expression on his face.

"I don't know. It was hard to hear. Something about finding a student to take back."

"So they found what they were looking for," Zion said, deep in thought.

"What do you mean?" asked Star

"It's just a rumor. I'm not sure if it's true."

"What is it?" Tom asked, interested

"Apparently they're here to find a student. One that's powerful enough to become one of the Five."

"NO WAY," Star said, staggered.

I diverted my attention to Tom, asking, "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I'm all healed up now. I'm just waiting to be discharged."

"You guys should go. You're not supposed to be here. I'll stay with him until he can leave," Joel said, nodding at us

"See you later," I said, standing up. I smiled at Tom before grabbing Star.

Zion grabbed both of our hands, taking us back to our Wing in a flash.

"Thank you!" Star said, thanking him

"No problem," he said, shooting her a warm smile. He leaned over, tucking a strand of my frizzy hair behind my ear before planting a soft kiss on my cheek before taking off.

I blushed at the act of affection and looked over to see Star staring at me, open mouthed.

"Shut up," I said giggling, before walking into the Wing.

Grabbing my arm, she pulled me back to ask, "Have you guys kissed?"

"Maybe," I replied, my cheeks reddening at the memory.

"OH MY GOSH HOW WAS IT?" she shrieked at me

"Good," I said walking quickly towards our room.

"It was definitely more than good. You're not looking me in the eye AND you have the 'I just got kissed' smile on your face."

I shoved her before walking into our section. I plopped down on my bed, exhausted.

She sat down beside me, still staring at me. Rolling over, I asked her, "Soooo tell me about the Five."

Grinning, she laid down beside me, getting comfortable.

"Okay so the vampire one that we met yesterday, that's Liam. The dragon, his name is Caesar. He's super hot and muscular with blonde hair. But he's short. The witch, her name is Bay. She has long black hair and brown eyes. She's stunning. She's the only one who actually smiled at any of us so I'm guessing she's the nice one. The werewolf, he's a brunette with light brown eyes. He's super tall. He's Sam. The same height as Liam. The angel is Sarav has grey eyes like me and brown hair. She's tall, like you."

"Wait, I thought only Angels could get through the door? How did everyone else get in?"

"The witch did some spell before they walked in, which broke the boundary I guess."

"What did they do when they came in?"

"They didn't even really speak at all. It was super weird. It was like they were in sync. They walked in single file and just separated into different parts of the Wing I guess, to snoop. The Vampire we ran into that was looking at you weird, he came into our section. I could have sworn he was looking through your things. He's super scary so I didn't look at him too hard. Do you know him?"