Blood, I want it, giving up the fight.
Blood, I want it, lay me down tonight.
Blood, I want it, take me to the sky.
Blood, I want it, everything's alright now.

Meg Myers - Curbstomp

I gasped awake, sitting bolt upright in my bed. I felt freed, like I had been trying to escape the dream and was finally granted access back to the world of the living. I noticed I was shaking as I tried to steady my breathing and sank back into bed, staring at the ceiling. After a few more calming moments I pulled out a notebook from my bedside table and wrote as much of the dream as I could remember. It was easier for me to write the dream than questions, and I filled page after page.

I finished, feeling silly for the dream's end, and plopped the book onto the bed next to me. As I continued to gather my thoughts and take inventory of my emotions I noticed I was starving. I hadn't eaten all day and I felt claws in my stomach. I checked the clock, half past nine. I had only slept for a few hours.

I slowly changed out of my gear into sweats and a tank, easing my sore body into the clothes as gently as possible. I shuffled down the stairs, half expecting the trio to still be seated in the media room, watching another one of Kael's choice shows. Instead, the main level looked to be deserted. It was odd not knowing where anyone was, or if anyone was even home. Maybe they went to bed early?

I glanced around to be sure James wasn't lurking somewhere. He appeared out of nowhere often, and it wouldn't surprise me if he did it now, just to startle me. After taking a last look around to make sure I wasn't being secretly watched, I went to the fridge. The thought that it would be empty crossed my mind, or maybe it was full of takeout. Chinese sounded good to my grumbling stomach.

The stainless steel doors swung open easily upon my tug and the light clicked on. To my surprise the fridge was full of fresh produce. Vibrant colors smiled at me through the open doors: lettuce, spinach, peppers, artichokes, carrots, sprouts and every kind of fruit I could think of. There were cheeses and breads lower, along with spreads and sauces. I stared at the shelves dumbfounded, not what I had been expecting at all.

I bent down to peer into a large container. Sandwich halves, perfect. I maneuvered the dish around all the food fixings and pried the lid off, grabbing two. I took a ravenous bite, too famished to care that it was all greenery, humus and a thin, hard cheese, though I would have preferred meat. I finished both in record time.

As I replaced the Tupperware into the tightly packed fridge, I heard a small thud come from below, traveling up my legs from the soles of my feet. So that's where they were. I walked to the camouflaged door that led to the basement training room and opened it. Distant yells drifted up the stone steps to my waiting ears, along with another louder thump.

My eyes quickly adjusted to the subdued light of the stairwell as I walked down. I wound around the last curve and froze, my eyes immediately rising up at the hint of movement. Electricity seemed to pulse through the room, James' presence was so heavy it was almost visible. The feeling of his power was so strong I felt like it was vibrating against my skin.

Kael, Nev and James were high above the gym's floor, on one of the thick wooden beams. And they were fighting. Kael was on one side of James, and Nevaeh flanked the other. The fight hardly looked even, each time James blocked one hit, another was flying at him. He didn't even have time to throw a punch of his own. Despite the unfair numbers, he wasn't losing, though someone would be hard pressed to describe him as 'winning' either. It was beautiful in a strange way; the movements and connections that were made, the creativity and power and grace...it looked like art, like a dance.

A second later James landed a heavy hit to the center of Kael's chest, sending him sprawling back, though he stayed on the beam. James spun back to Nevaeh but wasn't fast enough, she lifted a high kick which knocked him across the cheek, hard. The force sent him over the edge and I felt myself cringe. She clearly hadn't softened the blow. And she looked angry.

James was mid-fall when at the last possible moment he grabbed onto the edge of the beam, his body precariously hanging below. He seemed to be about to haul himself up, his arms angled into a half pull-up, muscles tensed, when he slowly lowered himself back down, arms fully extended.

I followed his gaze to Nev, who had an arrow nocked and aimed straight for his side, chest height. Even from my distance I could see the point shine fiercely. This wasn't one of the blunted training arrows. The thought shot through my head that she had snapped, she was going to kill James, or at least seriously, seriously injure him. Why wasn't Kael doing anything? Why wasn't he stopping her? He must be on her side.

I glanced around but didn't see any way I could help. He was too high for me to get to in time and regardless I didn't see any ladder or steps. I couldn't even figure out how they had possibly gotten up there. A short distance away I saw a small sandbag, probably used to fill one of the punching bags or hold something down. I scrambled over and lifted it. It was the perfect weight, not so heavy it would impede my throw, but not so light it would flutter short of its target.

I looked up, hoping I wasn't too late. Nev had a smug sneer on her face, and James was still insecurely hanging thirty feet in the air. Why didn't he pull himself up? I knew he could. Hell, he could probably flip up with one arm tied behind his back, but instead he just hung there, his face turned towards Nevaeh, waiting. Maybe he was trying to convince her to stop, to reason with her. It didn't seem to be working. She pulled the bow taut as a snarl painted her face, and I hurled the weight, aiming for her head.

What happened next seemed impossible. It all happened so quickly it almost blurred out of my vision. Nev let the arrow fly, my weight seemed to move through the air in slow motion compared to her slender, deadly weapon. But the arrow didn't even make it halfway to James before it was devoured in flames, the wood and feather burned to ash and the small metal head bounced off James' side harmlessly. Outrage filled Nev's petite features for a moment before her face was blocked from view by a brown mass. My sandbag had hit home, if a moment too late. She took a small step backwards and if she had looked angry before, she was now as explosive as a volcano, fury pouring from her. She looked around, searching for the source of the blow and her eyes followed the bag's assumed trajectory to me, standing stupidly below.

"You." She said in a voice so dark I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end, though surprisingly I wasn't afraid. I knew I should be, I held no chance against her, but I didn't care. I stared up at her, proud of both my actions and my aim.

Suddenly, James dropped from where he was still hanging, landing lightly into a half-crouch, as if he had only jumped down six feet, not the thirty-some he'd plummeted from. Nev was close behind. She straightened, stalking towards me but James stepped in her path, his arms slightly raised out to his sides as if he was stopping a cat fight. So they had only been practicing, clearly, apparently they just weren't scared of hurting each other. Duly noted. James chuckled as he looked my way, his hair falling in his face. His smile looked devious.

"Has my pair come to save me? Even the playing field?"

He looked back to Nev and tried to calm her.

"You should have seen it coming anyways. You were too focused on me. You got cocky because you thought you had won."

He said this like a teacher reprimanding one of his star pupils. In short, he wasn't doing a very good job of placating the fury still pulling Nev's face.

"She wants to join in the fun? Fine." Nev said, her eyes like storm clouds. "Pick your weapon."

Kael was staying safely off the battleground, sitting on the beam looking over the edge with an expectant face, apparently thoroughly enjoying the show. James was suddenly by my side, and handed me two daggers, his devious look now pure mischief.

"Did I guess right? I figured you'd choose knives, your little show in the woods made it clear you're comfortable with them. Don't throw them away this time."

His casual tone sounded overly familiar, and he was standing closer to me than I would have expected, especially since he had tried to stay as far from me as space allowed on the couch just a few hours earlier. So that was what our relationship would be this time, friendly companions, family even. Again, duly noted. I took the knives from him, giving him a suspicious look and tucking one into my waistband. I was used to only one.

He ignored my wary look and turned back to Nev and Kael, who had jumped down while James and I spoke.

"We don't know if she has a Sign yet, so keep those off limits." James said to them both.

"She doesn't know how to fight yet either. Does that mean we're all just going to sit around sharing our feelings and singing Kumbaya together?" Nevaeh said with a scoff.

James merely raised his eyebrows at her words.

"Don't go easy on her, she won't learn anything that way."

He squared his shoulders back towards me and dropped his voice.

"Just relax, this is natural to you. It's in your blood." He sounded mildly teasing. "All you have to do is make the other surrender by whatever means possible, like Uncle, but we call it Master. I have something to help your instincts a little too, take the edge off, or give it, I suppose."

He looked up and quietly said something that sounded like 'Rogziel help her' before leveling his eyes to mine.

"Feel better?" He asked as a devilish smile crept across his face. And I did. I felt powerful and dangerous and violent. I felt invincible.

"That's Rogziel, Angel of Punishment, Wrath of Heaven. Kael mentioned to you that we can call upon certain Angel names, but we'll teach you all that. Just don't get too badly injured, I'm a terrible healer." He winked at me in an oddly intimate way before continuing, "Today was meant to ease you in, tomorrow will be a full day. No more naps."

My heart sank a little, groaning at the mere thought, but I kept the emotion from my face, keeping a composed, calm mask.

"We'll teach you our history, heals, tricks..." His eyes twinkled, "...starting tomorrow. Angel names are in the Book of Dust. The original has been copied and most affluent Clans own one. We got ours from Nevaeh's parents. It holds a lot of useful information, including the list of Angel names from which we can pull. The Irin originally compiled it. We use these for extra abilities. I almost always call on Rogziel before a fight.

The book holds Demon types as well that you'll have to familiarize yourself with. It also holds the basis for our ancestral language; Spoken, for healing, signals, everything. It's our guide. Most only know the heals now, it's a dying language, but some of us still know it, all of it."

His face was close to mine as he spoke, bent down in a way that made our conversation seem private, though no others were near. His eyes locked with mine, making it difficult for me to focus on his words, but his mood swing was what had me most off balance. I nodded slowly.

"Are we going to play or not?" Nev called over, impatient and clearly still aggravated. Kael was leaning on a tall staff, apparently his weapon of choice.

James stayed still for a moment longer, looking down at me with his deep, blue eyes. He had been talking in a low voice, almost soothing. Everything about his demeanor was different than it had been earlier, personal in an odd way. He hadn't even looked to Nev when she called out to us, he just kept his eyes on me, trapping me.

You ready for this, Lamb?

James' thoughts wove through my mind.

Don't listen to them, focus on me. I'll walk you through if you need it. Follow my instructions and let your body do the rest, it knows what to do, if you only let it. You won't seriously hurt them. And don't worry about a little pain, they're used to it and we can always use the practice of healing each other. Try your hardest to get at them. Fight dirty, no rules. None.

His eyes looked curious now, as if he was honestly interested in how I would do in this test. And though I hated backing down from any challenge and I didn't want to disappoint him, this game didn't seem possible to win.

There was no way I could fight Nev or Kael, they were so much faster and stronger than I was. However, Rogziel's name had given me feelings I couldn't have even imagined two minutes earlier. And the way James was looking at me, the way my skin felt charged by his mere proximity, reverberating with his power, or my power, or whatever it was that caused the fire, radiating off of his skin and sinking into mine, maybe I could do this. I knew how to fight, had fantasized about it often enough. Just maybe...

I gave James an infinitesimal smile and nodded, answering his questioning thought. His lip twitched up into half a second of a heavenly smile before he turned and broke the invisible connection we had held during our conversation.

I glanced to Nev and Kael who were sharing a look that seemed to mean something. Immediately I knew their plan, as if they had said it out loud. Kael was going to come at me first, trying to catch James off guard since they were assuming we'd think Nev would charge me.

I held the dagger eptly, feeling the rough metal handle bite into my palm. James was right, I could do this, Kael was bigger and stronger, but that meant I was quicker, I hoped. This was natural to me and with the Angel's aid I felt immortal. I was ready for the game and I was excited. I would finally see what I could do. I briefly wondered if I was actually supposed to try to stab them. Then I remembered Nev's arrow whizzing through the air towards James' chest and I had my answer. They would heal, James had said so.

A flash of fear for my own safety went through me. Would I heal? I shook the thought. I wasn't going to get hurt, so I wouldn't need to be healed. I looked back at James, relieved my face hadn't given away the plethora of thoughts I had just run through.

I mouthed 'Kael' as I lifted a finger slightly towards myself. He gave a curt nod acknowledging the message and tightened what looked like dark braces onto his hands and forearms. The leather had armored metal pieces on the knuckles and a strip of it up the inside and outside of his wrists, all the way to mid-forearm. They looked nasty and I didn't think the reddish coloring was just for show. A beat of silence settled over the gym, letting a momentary lull of peace settle on us.

"Let's play!" Kael roared.

In a flash Nev had an arrow strung and aimed at James. It flew towards his chest as he turned slightly to his left, allowing the point to fly by, missing him by inches. Somehow it seemed to move slower, he seemed to be moving slower too, almost at a Human pace, almost. I quickly realized it wasn't the arrow or James, but me that was different. I felt like lightening, bursting with speed and deadly energy. Another arrow zoomed towards James, but this one he blocked with the metal strip on his gauntlet, making the shot glance off to his side.

Seemingly out of nowhere Kael was directly in front of me, his staff swinging towards my head. I dodged back a step and slid to the side to avoid the subsequent blow. I pulled my dagger up and made a shallow swipe at him, grazing over his shirt. He looked surprised as he twisted away, glancing down at where a thin red line was just beginning to appear. He looked up and brought the staff down with a crack right where I had been a second earlier as I quickly sidestepped. I kicked his staff away, throwing off his following move and slammed my knifeless fist into his stomach. It felt like punching a wall. I heard a crunch and was worried I had broken my hand. He didn't even flinch. I hastily drew back, out of his reach as he swung at me again. My hand throbbed and I made a mental note to stab, not punch.

Our mock-fight fight continued for a short while. Kael seeming to absorb the few blows I could get in, no real opportunities arose for my knife, and I dodged away from the majority of his. Some part of me still wasn't quite sure if I should try to stab him, really stab him. What if I hit something vital? What if James had only told me to not hold back because he didn't think I'd be able to get any real damaging blows in. He had said hearts were deadly, so was I supposed to avoid the chest all together? Probably necks too? Spines? What exactly couldn't be healed?

It felt so strange to finally be told to do something I had wanted to so many times, but always pushed down. To be told your whole life to not hurt others and then in the matter of a few minutes have it thrown at you like a schoolyard game. It all felt strange, unknown, though not fully wrong. Regardless, instead of trying to go for winning blows I continued to get in lesser strikes whenever I could, but I felt like a fly annoying an ox. And I hated flies.

Suddenly, Kael turned his staff lengthwise and shoved me back with the added reach. I stumbled away from the force and landed on my ass. Without thinking I pulled the second knife from my waistband and hurled it at him to prevent him from advancing on me while I was down. It was complete instincts and as soon as the dagger left my hand I regretted it. I was shocked at how easily my body had decided to injure Kael, to throw a knife at someone without hesitation. The thought that followed was that I was completely ignoring James' advice to not throw away my weapons, but that realization just made me want to smile a little.

Kael seemed just as surprised by my tactic as I had been, or maybe he hadn't been expecting a second weapon to make an appearance, or maybe James had taught all of them to not throw away weapons and he was shocked by my blatant disregard of their leader's lesson. That made me want to smile too. Regardless of my disobedience, the blade stuck high in his thigh with a grisly sound and he gave a small groan as he shifted his weight away from the injured leg, the first sign I had seen that he could feel anything I was doing.

I was grateful for the moment's pause, as my mind was sputtering to process that I had really just stabbed someone to the hilt. I had thought of it thousands of times, pictured it in my head, but now I really had done it. A part of me felt appalled for causing Kael pain. I liked him and I didn't want to hurt him, but a deeper, darker part of me was in Heaven, or maybe Hell, whichever it preferred. The dark in me enjoyed my violence and I was too. My mouth involuntarily curled up as I got to my feet, the sight of Kael's blood making me feel giddy and lightheaded.

Before I had time to react further, Kael let go of his staff with one hand and swung at me. My flinch back deflected some of the force but his fist still heavily connected with the bottom of my jaw. Pain blossomed before my eyes as I stumbled back again. I had never been hit so hard in my life and the pain and shock immobilized me. Kael was built like a bear and he had clearly followed James' instruction and not pulled his punch in the slightest. I wondered if my jaw was broken, it felt that way and I couldn't get it to move on command. Kael swiped my legs out from under me next and I found myself staring up at the rafters, the wind knocked from me and my jaw throbbing.

Sorry, kiddo.

His thoughts swept through my groggy mind as I lay on the floor gasping for the breath that had been chased from my lungs. He pulled the knife from his leg with a sick, wet sound. As blood poured down his thigh, soaking his dark jeans, he gave me an odd look, almost pleased, proud? He whipped his head towards James and Nevaeh a moment later at the sound of Nevaeh's grunt from a heavy blow.

Nev had abandoned her bow and was now flying at James in a flurry of kicks, elbows and punches. He was blocking most and landing a few of his own, each with terrible thuds and crunching noises. As if he felt my eyes on him, James glanced in my direction, his eyes met mine for a moment before Nevaeh landed a kick to James' temple and he went to a knee. Something deep in me rose angrily at the sight.

Never kneel! Never submit!

The words rang through my mind so fiercely I almost thought it had come from someone else's, but then I realized my fists were clenched. It had been my own thought. Or I thought it had been.

James looked up with a face like the devil himself. Apparently I wasn't the only one who didn't like losing. His eyes burned with something vicious and in a blur even my heightened senses couldn't quite track, he had Nev up against the wall, his hand wrapped around her throat, his other pushing the center of her chest back, hard, crushing her.

Her face changed from rage to pain and then her eyes darkened. A moment later they were black orbs, depthless and void. She bared her teeth to reveal sharp fangs locked together as she clawed at his hand with one of her own, leaving deep red rivers down his wrist and forearm, and trying to push him off of her with the other.

James growled something I couldn't quite hear but it made Nev's face light with a new wave of fury. Her focus moved past James to Kael as he sprinted to his pair's rescue, only the remnant of a limp slowing him. He dropped my blood-soaked knife halfway across the floor as he split his staff in two, revealing sharp points where it had divided.

As Kael ran to his partner's aid, something inside me clicked and the need to protect my own partner flared. I pulled myself from the floor and unsteadily advanced towards Kael. My head was still swimming, but the floor seemed to have stopped rolling beneath me. I heard Nev give a pained cry as James applied more pressure, crushing her windpipe and then Kael was upon them. He made a move to stab James in the back with one of the stakes just as James spun away from the wall, releasing Nev. She grabbed her neck and gasped, but didn't collapse. She quickly regained composure and joined in the fight between Kael and James, teaming up on him.

If I had thought the first fight between James, Kael and Nevaeh had been art, then the scene before me now was a masterpiece. James' style was a unique mix of formal structure and instincts, innate and trained, brutality intertwined with efficiency. He turned and dodged with speed I didn't think was possible for a man his size, landing strikes with a precision and control I found daunting while still looking loose and relaxed. Occasionally, I would catch a look of amusement cross his face, a little smile as he bested Kael or Nevaeh over and over again. Figures, even in training his arrogance would shine through. I realized I was smiling slightly as I watched too, but chased the expression from my face.

James didn't quite use the proper, strict patterns that Nevaeh often followed, but he also didn't have the seemingly random movements that Kael did, where he threw his whole body into each hit recklessly. James was perfectly balanced at the crossroads between his two opponents. His style was natural, like killing was born to him, just the same as breathing or letting your heart follow its rhythm.

I had always felt like fighting, killing even, was instinctual for me too, innate. I realized I wasn't showing all I could do, all I was capable of. I was holding back because I wasn't sure how I should act, or what was expected of me, but watching the others fight gave me confidence that they could handle whatever I threw at them. I wouldn't hold back anymore. I began to move more steadily towards the fight, watching and learning as I did.

Kael's style was fully street. He didn't seem to have near the altitude of training the others had. He was all brute movements and animal instincts, his years of fending for himself showing in each of his dodges and strikes. In some ways James was the opposite, as far as night from day. He was calculated precision and control to Kael's coarse style. Though Kael was clearly the strength of the group, his engagements weren't nearly as smooth as James'. It seemed like James' every move was made to waste the least amount of energy while creating the hardest impact, maximizing output while minimizing effort. He was opposite from each of his opponents, while still sharing their strengths. It was beautiful.

As I watched, I saw that though the boys' styles were vastly different in many ways, both Kael and James used a gritty, dirty technique that Nevaeh lacked. She used her quickness and agility to avoid needing tricks. However, both James and Kael seemed to enjoy throwing low blows to surprise their targets, taking any and all opportunities to get the upper hand.

I guessed they were softening their hits at least a little to make sure they didn't seriously injure one another, but then again, maybe they weren't. James hadn't even seemed slightly worried about possibly killing Nevaeh a few moments earlier. I wondered if they always fought with this amount of passion. James had a fire burning in his eyes that I imagined would rival the skies of Hell. I could almost imagine him as an avenging Angel, as Rogziel.

Before I had the chance to get any further into my thoughts of James and Hell and Angels, Nev broke away from the men and began to stalk in my direction, I was still dazed from Kael's blow, but the spinning had stopped and my body seemed to be complying with my demands, if a little more slowly than usual. I was almost to the fight and Nev was quickly closing the gap from her direction when I heard metal scrape the ground at my feet. I looked down to see the dagger Kael had discarded. I scooped it up.

Nevaeh's face seemed to swim in front of me slightly as she approached and she had a look of pure sadistic pleasure painted on her beautiful features. I felt faint, but held my ground regardless. I refused to lose, especially to her. I had a weapon, she was bare handed. I could do this, even if my mind refused to help.

On perfect cue, Kael threw one of his short staffs across the empty space to Nev, who caught it without even looking, her eyes fixed on her prey; me. They were a perfect pair, fighting together and apart as if one person. I admired it slightly. I raised one knife as a predatory smile that almost matched James' played with the edges of her pouty mouth and a small flutter of nerves flew through my stomach.

Stay calm. Kael's just as good as she is and you held your own with him. And she's much more predictable. Kael uses more tricks than she ever will. Anticipate her moves, you've seen her fight – surprise her. I'll be over shortly.

I visibly calmed as James' thoughts coached me. He thought I could do this, so I could. He didn't strike me as the type to be wrong often and his vote of confidence bolstered mine. I adjusted my stance to loosen it. I did know Nev's style. Even just from the couple of times I had seen her in action I knew what she favored; she relied heavily on her quickness and kicks, she dodged to the left more often than the right, she was open for attack as she spun out of her high kicks, before she regained her footing and balance. She wouldn't be as direct as Kael had been, she wouldn't be so blunt as to try to knock me out with a straight fist to the face like he had.

She was nearly upon me and I took the opportunity to flip one knife backwards so the blade stuck from the outside of my hand following my wrist up my arm, instead of its usual upright angle. As soon as she came within reach I swung a punch with the back-knifed hand and felt it graze her cheek as she turned her face to dodge.

The knife left a long, ugly scratch across the right side of her face. She turned to the left, as I had expected, and I brought up my other knife and slashed at the arm holding the pointed staff as she arced it to hit from the side. I heard a shocked intake of breath as the knife sliced deep into her upper arm. Her eyes darkened. Nev's knee flew up and caught me in the thigh, cracking against me with a force her small frame didn't seem possible to create. My leg instantly went numb and I collapsed to one knee. I looked up just in time to see her bring the pole down across my face, whipping my head to the side. I felt blood spray and tasted it a moment later, but my anger at being so quickly beaten eclipsed the pain.

The edges of my vision exploded into sparks of white light as my vision swirled, but I refused to lose consciousness. I forced my eyes back up to her, hoping she would feel the loathing that burned in them. She smiled down at me with pointed teeth as she raised the staff, pure glee in her black eyes.

Across the gym I heard Kael gurgle 'master' with James atop him, his own staff spearing his shoulder. Blood covered the left half of Kael and a small pool was growing on the floor. It looked like a dark ocean, slowly spilling across a beach. The blood made my stomach flip, but not from repulsion, excitement danced through me instead. James' golden hair was dripping with the red liquid, giving it a strawberry blonde tinge. He looked frighteningly beautiful.

Nev looked back to me with a renewed ferocity, apparently also momentarily distracted by her partner's submission.

"Say master." She growled, with the glee of an executioner sparkling in her wild eyes.

It took a moment for my dazed mind to comprehend her words, but once it did it lit a fire in my stomach. The fire grew, fueled by each and every one of her little snide remarks, her threats and acidic thoughts leaking into mine. Her glances and constant commentary making it clear she didn't want me here, that I was not welcome in her family, that I was not worthy of this, of them.

I spat the remaining blood in my mouth at her, the spray of bright red only increasing the look of insanity on her face. I saw James heave the stake out of Kael's shoulder unceremoniously and hurl it like a javelin towards Nevaeh from behind. She followed my eyes and deflected it easily with her half but I knew this was my only chance. James was giving me an opportunity, even without his thoughts in my head I knew what he expected of me. Nev was just starting to swing her head back toward me, her staff quick to follow when I paused for a breath, just one. A second later I thrust the dagger up into her abdomen, just beneath her ribcage.

I felt warm blood stream down my arm as she pulled in a sharp breath. I had dreamed of this moment for so long, wondering what it would be like to feel myself pierce another, to feel their hot blood on my hands. The twisted thing inside of me was doing flips in excitement. I had to work hard to keep the rapture from my face. I twitched the blade up, feeling it rip further and Nev let out an involuntary cry of pain.

"Say master." I spat up at her.

Her lips moved as if to form an 'm' but then she staggered back, allowing the knife to slip from her, slick with blood. My eyes moved to the blade and the darkness inside me grinned. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and I had made it. I never knew how beautiful blood was. How dark and enticing its shine was.

I looked back to Nevaeh as her face changed from one of pain to sly triumph, her mouth curving up into a wicked smile. She held my eyes and I immediately knew she had something planned.

"Elijah, comfort me! Isda, give me strength!" She called out to the roof.

She looked down at me in victory as the deep wound suddenly stopped gushing blood. It looked like an invisible seal was covering it, holding the blood in. The grimace of pain dissipated from her face a second later, and with a little smile she brought the sharpened stake down through the top of my shoulder just as James' voice boomed a command for her to stop from across the gym. She twisted the weapon and her venomous thoughts seeped into my head.

I am your master, this is my Clan and you will not take it! They are mine! Kael is mine! James is mine! Say master! Say master!

Fire raced through my shoulder as I dropped to the floor. She was instantly on me, stabbing the point into my chest and stomach. With each stab her thoughts yelled the command.

Say master! Say master!

Soon it filled my ears as well as my mind.

I vaguely remember James appearing, tearing her off of me as if she was a rag doll and flinging her across the floor. She skidded to a halt yards away as he bent over me and chanted in a rough voice.

"Raphael heal her. Assiel heal her. Ariel heal her. Haniel heal-"

Slowly the pain began to subside, but coldness crept into my veins instead. I had lost too much blood. James' hands were already covered with it. As shadows crashed in around me I repeated the single mantra giving me strength.

No one is my master.

That's my girl! I adore each and every action that Jordan does...so far ><

Are James' mood-swings giving anyone else motion-sickness yet? I feel like he's gotta get his head straight, because he certainly isn't playing fair. Also, don't say I didn't warn you, I told you Nevvie had claws...she just so also happens to have a stake, and a LARGE nasty streak.