How does it feel?
Well it feels like I'm on fire.
Wake up, I know you can hear me.

Pierce the Veil - Match Into Water

I woke up in a bright white hospital room and it took me a few moments to remember how I had gotten there, and where 'there' was. I gingerly shifted, expecting fiery pain to wash over me, but amazingly, I felt fine, a little sore, but not at all what I had been expecting. I ghosted a touch over my jaw, moving it to be sure it wasn't injured. I flexed my hand and then touched my chest and finally my shoulder where I could still vividly remember the staff ripping down, cutting through muscle as it glanced off bone.

As I took further inventory of my body's lack of injuries I realized I still felt like I had adrenaline pumping through me, crawling under my skin. I sat up and looked around. James sat in a chair a few feet away, staring at me with his frighteningly dark eyes. So it wasn't leftover fight-or-flight chemicals from the 'game', it was him and his inexplicable sizzling presence making me feel like a live wire.

"You're all healed, no permanent damage. Kael helped once he got there, so there shouldn't even be any scars. I leave scars when I heal. It isn't really my forte."

He spoke evenly, a look of calm indifference on his face. His mouth opened into a long yawn, making him look like a lion, lounging in the shade, the perfect picture of relaxation.

I peered at him from my bed of starched sheets. Something seemed off. Under his carefully composed mask, there was something hidden, making his casual actions feel mismatched.

He looked tired.

"How long have I been out?" I asked quietly, surprised by how dry my mouth was. There was a metallic taste at the back of my throat that made me want to gag, I swallowed a few times instead to try to rid it.

"All night. You lost a lot of blood or you would have come-to earlier. You still aren't near as strong as us. I should have given you the Blood Angel's name, but I didn't think you'd need it," he almost sounded apologetic, or as apologetic as he could, I supposed.

A part of me felt comforted at hearing this, I hadn't been out for days at least, but that feeling was quickly dwarfed by the boiling anger I felt for Nevaeh. I glared to the door, letting it fill me.

"You guys are messed up, you know that? Especially Nev. She's crazy. Who tries to kill a member of their so-called 'family'?"

"She's been punished. She won't disobey me again. Our fights normally aren't quite so...spirited. At least you aren't afraid of injury, you proved that. Stubborn too," he said with a slight smile in his tone, "I have a good partner, even if you aren't trained yet. You have good instincts, good potential."

I felt a surge of pride at his words, but lost it as I remembered Nevaeh's face as she had healed herself.

"I would have beaten her if she hadn't cheated and healed halfway through. I thought you said only Earth's could heal themselves, is Nevaeh one?" I said the words bitterly, but I knew I was just angry I had lost. "Your game is just as messed up as Nev. You could have at least given me a warning." I fixed James with my best glare.

"I thought you liked to learn by doing? Besides, how will you learn if you only practice with people who won't actually hurt you? The things out there will rip you apart, so we train similarly. And Nevaeh didn't heal herself, she's a Water, so she can't. She just used a loophole. We can call on other Angel names for our own use. She asked for the pain to go away, and then for her blood to slow - we use it to stop poisons from spreading or from losing too much blood when there isn't time for a heal, but not in active battle."

He spoke with no emotions on his face, a blank canvas before me.

"It isn't a wise choice during a fight, as slowing your blood slows your movements too much, but she wasn't exactly thinking of that at the time. It was a poor move, low, and unrealistic. She knows it."

I closed my eyes and tried to ignore him, his presence, but the fire running over my skin made it difficult and I could feel his gaze on me still. I gave up and opened my eyes, really taking him in this time. He looked awful. There was blood matted in his hair, giving it a rusty color and his arms still had the slight tinge of its stain, mine or Kael's, I wasn't sure. He looked like hell but I was glad the blood on him wasn't his own. Something about the idea of his blood leaving his body made my stomach constrict. His dark blue eyes had the tired look of a man who hadn't gotten near enough sleep and even his skin seemed duller, though the harsh lights of the infirmary might have been to blame.

There were dark circles under his eyes adding to his look of exhaustion. He ran his fingers through his matted, dirty hair and hung his head as he scratched his scalp in little circles, dried blood sprinkling the floor. I watched, transfixed. Even the lines of his body as he leaned forward, elbows on his knees, head in his hands, were beautiful. Even filthy and stained with blood, he looked a masterpiece, maybe more so because of the blood. Something in the set of his shoulders seemed vaguely familiar though, as if I had seen it before, the way his head hung, the way his hair fell...I pulled myself back from my mind, returning to the infirmary.

"Teach me how to use Angel names too then. I want to train today. Really train, in everything."

I couldn't believe I was damning myself to whatever James had planned, but I hated losing, being the weak one. I had never experienced it before, not being capable of something. When James looked up, he spoke with an amused pull to his lips.

"Good to hear, now get up. Meet me in the library after you've cleaned up. You look like hell."

I closed my eyes again and groaned inwardly, he had clearly been expecting that reaction from me. A small part of me wondered if the annoyance I felt at being predicted was similar to what most people felt when I figured them out so quickly. I threw my legs over the edge of the bed and welcomed the stiff soreness.

My room was right down the hall, which made me feel silly for spending the night in the 'hospital' when my own bed was so close, but I guess I hadn't had much of a say. I peeled out of my ruined shirt, stiff with my own blood. Tears mottled it like I had been used for target practice. I tossed it in the trash and stepped closer to the mirror to examine where the wounds should have been, but there was nothing but smooth skin, just like James had promised. No trace of injury, except for the dark streaks of blood crisscrossing me. It was almost like the previous evening had been a dream. But then I wouldn't remember the pain, the feeling of something tearing through me. I regarded myself in the mirror calmly as I contemplated how many more times I would feel that, pain most couldn't imagine, injuries others wouldn't survive. I wasn't worried, simply curious. I hadn't enjoyed the injury, but I had never felt more alive than when I had played the game, and if pain was the price for such a thrill, then I was all too happy to pay.

I jumped in the shower and sanded off as much of my red second skin as I could. The scalding water drummed on my shoulders as my muscles slowly relaxed. Finally, I hung my head and watched as the water turned from clear to pink to a deep, ruby red before slowly changing back to a light pink. I wrung my hair out a few more times, until I was sure it wouldn't have any more gory color lurking. The thought of James' strawberry blonde bloody hair flashed in my mind and I felt the same feeling overcome me that I had felt when I saw him on his knees in front of Nevaeh, a deep feeling of it being wrong. James should never bleed, and he should never bow. I had to remind myself that it hadn't been his blood coloring his hair just to settle my roiling stomach.

I stayed under the hot water for a long time, washing the unsavory bits of the last twenty-four hours from my mind. Finally, I stepped out and reassessed myself, dripping onto the tiled floor, steam rising from my skin. I looked better. The coarseness of dried blood was out of my hair, my eyes looked alert and alive, more so than they had since my arrival, I no longer looked to be in a dazed stupor, merely floating along. My face was still flushed from the shower's heat and I looked clean and refreshed. I looked ready. I felt it too. Yesterday had merely been a taste, but today - today was what counted.

James was lounging in one of the deep armchairs in the library. He held a big, black book that resembled a bible. He didn't look up, so I sat in the chair across from him and waited. The electricity was gone, he was blocking me. A flash of annoyance shot through me. As if he felt it, he looked up and handed me the book. I took it and waited for him to say something. He didn't. Finally I looked down at it, he had it open near the beginning, but the page was blank. I flipped through the empty book before I dropped it into my lap, exasperated.

"Hilarious. What's this about?" I said, carefully controlling the amount of irritation in my voice.

"Pick it up, focus on it. Pick one thing out and concentrate."

I reopened the book and glared at the perfectly white, blank page.

"Concentrate doesn't mean try to light it on fire with your mind. Just look at it. You know the words are there, call them and they'll come."

I softened my glare a touch and scanned the page again. Still nothing. I looked to the side, trying for the peripheral-vision route. Still nothing. I let out a noisy breath and looked up at James, who made a face that clearly meant keep trying.

A half-hour later after trying open sesame, abracadabra, hocus pocus, alohomora, 'I solemnly swear I'm up to no good', and every other magical gibberish I could think up I was still staring at a blank page. James had started writing in one of his slim black books in the scribbled language I couldn't understand, completely ignoring my existence. I dropped the book again and broke the silence.

"How long did it take for the magical words to reveal themselves to you?" I faked an overly-interested, cheery tone.

"A week, but I was young and you have a better teacher," he said without looking up.

"I'm supposed to stare at this for a week?" I said, incredulous.

"We'll do this for an hour or so a day until you see it, yes," he still didn't look up. I bit my lip, hard, and glared down at the page again.

Though my frustration still simmered, this was infinitely better than work at my old grungy store, and even with all of my unanswered questions and sore muscles, hell, even with Nev's murderous breakdown, this was better. I was excited for the future. Something I couldn't remember ever truly feeling before. I found myself smiling slightly as I thought of how much my life had changed in just a few short days.

At some point during my pleasant thoughts, James must have looked up.

"Mind sharing the joke with me? Or is it an inside one between you and the paper?"

He had a note of annoyance in his voice that I found strangely satisfying, even though I didn't know how I had put it there.

I peered at him through my lashes, dipping my head coyly.

"We're just gossiping about you, this book has some juicy secrets."

James looked unamused, which was quite rare for him.

"Get out of your head and focus for once," he muttered shortly before looking down and continuing his writing.

I ignored his order completely and instead took the opportunity to watch him. He had showered too, and though he still looked tired, he didn't look the wreck he had earlier. He really did have timeless features, charming even. If only he used those charms more instead of acting like an arrogant ass half the time and an apathetic teen or mischievous child the other. Though the amused look he so often wore when he was misbehaving somehow made me feel lighter as well.

As I looked at him longer, I started to see things I had missed before. Normally his eyes were so captivating I wasn't able to study the rest of him.

He had smooth skin with a golden glow that made him look godlike, the only disruption being a thin, white scar that ran from just behind his right ear down across his neck until it disappeared beneath his collar. His mouth was set sternly into a thin line, making him look older. His hands moved fluidly, leaving the strange, heavy black marks behind. But when he paused, I could see more white scars spider-webbed across his knuckles and the backs of his hands. Marks of the trade I assumed.

Occasionally his arms were marred by a thicker line of pale skin, showing where a larger past wound must have been. He had a shadow on his jaw, he must have not shaved the day of my injury, and the scruff added to his older look. He seemed like the kind of man who had seen so much, knew so much, that even if he was just barely at his prime physically, his mind was already far beyond his body, older, wiser. That's what his eyes so often showed me, he understood things others didn't. He knew things, saw things, in ways others couldn't.

As I watched him, I realized he still reminded me of a lion but something wasn't quite right. Like a puzzle missing a few key pieces. I could tell what the picture was, but it wasn't complete. James was like that, behind all his confidence and his teasing air that suggested he didn't care about anything, he seemed incomplete. He wasn't as indifferent as he wanted people to believe. He was closed off, guarded. He hid himself in plain sight, using his lazy apathy and threatening words to keep others at arm's length. He acted cold and arrogant to others, to me, to keep all far from him. But there must be more to him than that, and I always loved a good challenge. I wondered what he was so afraid others would find in him, what he was trying to hide.

His hand paused for a second and he looked up. Our eyes met and his dark ones seemed to hold the answers, just beneath their surface. He was biting his lip and his raised eyebrows had the decidedly authoritarian look my guardians used to give me when they were expecting me to do something. I ignored it, again, and asked what he was writing about, trying my best to copy the mischievous tone he so often used. He merely dropped one eyebrow into a questioning look, glancing down at the empty book in my lap and back up at me.

I shrugged and relented, fixing my eyes on the right, top corner of the bright white page. I peeked back up after a few seconds, but he had been expecting it. He was still looking at me, waiting for me to skirt his order again. His mouth set in a stern line, but I clearly saw one side twitch up slightly, just a centimeter or two, but it foiled his attempt at a chastising glare. I quickly acted guilty anyway and returned my eyes to the page. I felt his gaze linger on me for a while longer.

I waited probably three minutes more before I cautiously raised my eyes, keeping my head bent to look like I was still studiously staring at my assignment. James was writing again, but he had shifted in the chair, one leg hanging in a relaxed fashion over the left arm, his back leaned up against the right. The way he was sprawled out showcased his long limbs and he would probably be considered gangly if it wasn't for the amount of muscle that clung to him.

I absently wondered if he was just gifted or if he had purposely tried to make himself the picture of health, youth, and strength. I couldn't really imagine him in a gym, checking out his muscles as he finished reps, so I decided on the former. He was just blessed. It had to be genetic. That led me to wonder what his father looked like, and mother. I knew about everyone's background except his. Kael was adopted, ran away, and found James nearly eight years ago, Nevaeh was raised by her real parents and therefore knew more about Fallen and Darklings than any other member of the Clan. Everyone knew about me and my fostering, but James, he had never mentioned his early years, not even in passing, not even casually. Just another way to keep others out, to keep himself separate.

I made a silent vow to climb his walls, if for no other reason than the challenge. And maybe because I knew he wouldn't want me to.

Heat like an ecstasy driven fire blazed through my body, so sudden and strong it made me let out a short burst of breath as my whole body tensed. I realized a second too late that my exhale had sounded faintly sexual, like a moan. I prayed at the ceiling that James hadn't noticed as I peered up from the page again.

His hand momentarily paused from its smooth writing, a look of mild surprise on his face. His eyes flicked up to me and a small smile appeared. He dropped his eyes and continued his swift writing. Oh hell - he knew. The fire continued to smolder, but it gradually subsided until it was more bearable than at its ignition. I peeked up one last time, to make sure he was no longer wearing the smirk.

The longer you pretend you're trying, the longer I'll make you practice. Stop staring at me and trying to pry into my thoughts and instead put that effort into the book.

His voice echoed in my head but it was all faux-annoyance, I could almost hear his thoughts' amused undertones. Just as much as his voice, his face completely gave away his enjoyment of my little noise. I felt my cheeks burn. I quickly lowered my head further and studied the page, wishing I could erase the last sixty seconds from James' mind. Nevaeh's Gift was looking a hell of a lot better than mine.

After sitting in mortified silence for the rest of the hour James sent me to change into gear and meet him and Kael in the gym. I made it down there to see that the men had set up all the punching bags into a forest of hanging leather and man-sized canvas pillars.

I felt my heart sink and leap at the same moment, or at least in quick succession. I was burning to hit something, to throw myself into destroying something, but I was starting to feel a deep soreness creep back into my muscles and the thought of a full workout was daunting. Luckily, all I had to do was think of Nevaeh standing over me, my blood dripping from her stake, to renew my eagerness to learn to fight, and fight well.

I walked across the gym to my torture session with a determination I was a little proud of. I stopped just short of the boys who seemed to be discussing the game plan. James broke off and leaned against the wall, sliding down to sit, his hands lightly clasped around his knees. The muscles in his forearms standing out in deep shadowed grooves. I pulled my eyes away as Kael turned to me with a playful grin. He had the gleeful look in his eyes of someone with a secret.

"Ready to play?"

"The last time you called it 'play' you tried to knock my head off," I replied casually.

"Oh please! I didn't even hit you that hard. Didn't James give you a little help in the strength department? Afriel or Uzziel, maybe?" I gave him a blank look. "Sandaphon? Zuphlas? Ataphiel? Come on, throw me a bone here."

I shot James a look. He had his eyes closed, head leaned against the wall and a small self-satisfied smirk on his face, one corner of his lips just barely pulled up.

"Rogziel?" I said, hoping I remembered it correctly and wondering if James had somehow tricked me with some kind of placebo effect Angel name.

At my reply Kael turned to James too.

"Really? Wrath of God?"

James' smile had grown and was now all fox, eyes still relaxedly closed.

"Well, it worked. I didn't hear any complaints."

Kael made a sound in his throat that I assumed was meant to show disgust.

"You didn't hear complaints because she was unconscious and bleeding all over the floor, uhg!"

He turned back to me and sweetened his voice.

"Barkiel, Nemamiah or Hofniel are better general options, but we'll work on that when we do language and Gifts. James isn't gifted in the area of Angel names quite like I am, you know, being the healer of the Clan and all," he puffed his chest out in mock pride as he spoke, "and besides...I'm a much better teacher than him," at this he dropped his voice into a conspiring whisper and I laughed out loud.

It felt good to laugh, like a coil of tension was being released. Kael was the only one I'd laughed with in the last few days, he made it impossible not to, he reminded me of a playful puppy despite his size, his looks. Despite how menacing he had looked when he nearly ripped my jaw off the day before. The thought lead me back to some of my questions. I never felt like I could ask James unless I wanted to fight them out of him, but Kael was so much more open. I paused to think of how to word my first inquiry before deciding to just plunge in.

"Why do you look different when you fight? I've seen it with all of you now, your faces...morph, change." My question clearly shocked Kael, and James was the next to speak.

"You haven't seen me," he sounded slightly disgruntled, and then I remembered I had only seen his change in my sleep, in a dream before any of this. I shrugged in response.

Kael seemed to recover from his momentary surprise and answered as if James hadn't interjected.

"Well, when we pull from our powers, when we're really using them deeply, the power changes us on the outside as well as within. When I use my Gifts, any of them, I lose some of my humanity. You could say I am less Human when I use my magic or Sign than when I'm just standing here with you. When my powers come through, my Fallen blood takes over, and the part of me that's Human is forced out. It's called a Shift."

"But you get your humanity back?" I asked, still not fully understanding.

"We don't actually lose it permanently, it's almost like it flees us while we are pulling from our Fallen blood, like our humanity can't live in the same body as our Gifts. It's not as scary as it seems. Some Humans can't even see the changes in us unless we show it on purpose, unless we show them our true face. But some can see what others can't, just like how you can see through things others can't. Even this early in your training, you're already seeing things that most new Darklings take months to learn."

"Like James trying to look like a drug addict," I said flatly.

Kael laughed at this.

"Well, he actually puts on the glamour to stop girls from throwing their panties at him, not necessarily to look like a druggy. He just said that dumb excuse to try to get you off his case, back when we thought you were Human," he said this with a twinkle in his eyes so I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"What about the city, the night we met...again. That was you guys in the alley, where that body was found, right?"

At this Kael looked surprised again.

"You were there?" He turned to James. "Is that why we left so fast? She was there?" He turned back to me, still looking confused. "What were you doing there?"

James finally cut in. "One question at a time. Yes, she was there. Yes, that's why we left. And I'm guessing she found us by coincidence, she seems incredibly lucky." The last word somehow seemed like an insult. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"So it was you that...stopped me from crossing the street? With the wind?"

At this Kael let out a small laugh and answered my question before James could.

"No, we don't have an Air in our Clan, I mean I guess I could have used my Sign to push it at you, but I didn't know you were there, only James saw you apparently. And he's a Fire, no connection to Air whatsoever."

Kael sounded positive that this was impossible, but James had an odd look on his face. I ignored it, I still had more questions for Kael.

"Why did you talk to that marble thing back in the woods when the Gorsche was after us?"

James made a noise of irritation from his spot on the wall. "Does she never stop asking questions?"

I ignored him, again, and kept my eyes on Kael. Maybe if I pretended he wasn't there he'd stop talking and let Kael answer my questions in peace.

"Oh yeah, that's a Call. It's a piece of magic I actually created, something that can relay messages to the rest of the Clan. In this case, I was telling them to get their asses over to us and help." He smiled proudly at being able to explain his invention. "I'm pretty good with enchantments, and I like making stuff."

I nodded, giving him a small smile.

"Any more questions?" he asked a little warily and I could almost hear Ambriel's name drift through my mind on his thoughts. He was afraid I would ask about her, and he didn't want to talk about it.

I thought for a moment longer.

"Yeah, one more; what are you teaching me today?"

Kael visibly relaxed before answering.

"Well, most mornings you'll meet me here and I'll work on your strength and hand combat, then you'll switch teachers and do some work with bows and whips and throwing daggers and other ranged weapons and then you're back to me, lucky goose. I'm going to help you learn and apply your Gifts."

He gave a big, goofy grin at me that made me smile back.

"Afternoons you'll work with James, knives and bringing everything together, and then it'll be school all night. Well, not all night, but late into the evenings. You won't be getting much sleep from here on out."

"You get used to it," James said.

Kael made his scoffing noise again.

"Coming from Mr. Nocturnal over there. He never sleeps, just goes out at night, all night, almost every night. If you ever get the balls to follow him, lemme know what the fuck the bastard's up to, will yah?" Kael's teasing voice once again gave me the distinct feeling that there was brotherly love between the two men.

"Bars and whores," James replied with a deadpan look, not missing a beat.

Kael burst out laughing as if this was some private joke they'd been through before.

I cut in, seeing the conversation drifting away.

"School? You've got to be kidding me," I said with a sinking feeling in my chest.

"Angels, heals, our history – you need to know a lot about us. I hear James has already started on some homework. Book of Dust? Heard that went great."

James made a noise that might have been a chuckle he attempted to cover with a cough into his fist. I sent him an icy glare, but it was lost on him. His face was hiding behind his knees where he sat but I could see his shoulders shaking slightly with silent laughter, his messy, golden hair shielding his eyes from mine.

I slid my eyes back to Kael, daring him to say something more about it. He feigned a look of angelic innocence and continued in a more sympathetic tone.

"It took me a month, but apparently that's normal, so don't sweat it. James will work on the book and your writing."

While Kael went off on some tangent I mouthed 'a month?' to James, who seemed to be over his fit of laughter, he just shrugged and silently mouthed 'late bloomer' back with a look of mischief in his eyes. Kael didn't seem to notice our mute conversation and continued to rattle off my schedule.

"I'll do some common Spoken terms which will include Angel names and heals and Nev'll do history," he sped through the last part but it caught my attention anyways.

"I don't really like the idea of her being responsible for any part of my training," I said with an unintentional edge to my voice. I didn't want to seem like the bitch, that was her role.

"Yeah well, she isn't thrilled either, part of her punishment for...well...." Kael cringed and started making stabbing motions.

I smirked despite myself. James merely raised an eyebrow, though he did look mildly amused. The corner of his mouth pulled up into his ever-present sly smile as he spoke.

"You ladies have to learn to get along. You're family now. Plus, Kael and Nev already bicker like an old married couple, I can't deal with you two picking at each other constantly too."

"I'll play nice if she does," I said evenly.

"Your version of nice and hers might differ a little, lamb," James replied.

I couldn't tell why on earth he was defending her. I still distinctly remembered James' fervent voice as he spoke the Angel's names over me, his angry command for her to stop from across the gym, his worried eyes as I lost consciousness, the carefully hidden relief in his tired face when I woke up in the hospital room. He hadn't sounded confident when he was shooting out healing name after healing name, and he had looked like he was up all night watching over me, waiting for a sign of consciousness, the dried blood on him attested to the fact that he hadn't even left my bedside to clean himself.

I kept seeing flashes that seemed to show me his character, a good character, someone who cared for others, but every one of his conscious efforts said the exact opposite. He was annoyingly contradictory. Instead of letting on my frustrations, I just gave a small shrug.

"I think I can handle it, I'm not easily riled up. Nothing much fazes me." I was trying to sound apathetic and unconcerned, taking a page from James' book of behavior, but it came across as flat.

"Ha! No kidding!" Kael burst out, startling me out of my carefully composed cool look. "I've never seen anyone take the 'you're Demon-spawn' speech so fucking well! I mean, technically I've never seen anyone besides myself get the 'you're Demon-spawn' speech since Nev already knew, but still! Nothing much fazes you? More like nothing even touches you!"

Kael had the jubilant puppy look on his face again, but James was giving me a curious look. His eyes almost looked sad. In a flash it was gone, back to his cocky standard.

"I'll work with Demon types as well," James said with a poignant look at me, as if he was trying to let me know something else with his words. When I stared blankly back, he continued, an edge of frustration in his voice. I felt a flash of annoyance right back, he could just tell me with his thoughts, if he'd let me in. But he'd been closed off to me ever since the little library incident.

"Some can only be killed in certain ways, others have blatant weaknesses you should be aware of. Like Gorsches, they're fetchers, retrievers. They are used to bring something back to the one who summoned them or controls them. They aren't very smart, but they're tough and can only be killed with heat," he paused, possibly for dramatic effect, "from the inside out. Weapons can injure it, but only boiling it from the inside can kill it. That's why having all four Signs are especially needed in a Clan and in ideal conditions, all are present in each quad of a large Clan."

He looked hard at me, his dark eyes boring into mine and even though the way he said the next words didn't sound any different, I knew what he had been trying to tell me earlier.

"Some Demons can block certain powers and Gifts and be impossible to kill if not all Signs are present. Their ability to block is very powerful and useful. After the rest of your work, meet me in the library tonight and we'll work on a few common types."

What he really meant was that he was keeping up his end of our deal and was going to begin training me to block others' Gifts, to guard my mind from people like him. I decided to play along with his little code and gave him a casual nod of agreement before looking to Kael again.

"So, hand combat and strength. Teach me, oh sensei."

James rolled his eyes at my flattering tone.

"Yu car me sensea cos I Asian? Yu disrespect ma famiry!" Kael squinted his eyes as he put on his best Asian-grandfather accent. I burst out laughing at his unexpected humor and even James flashed a genuine smile, a sliver of bright teeth making a brief appearance.

The memory of my first dream of James came rushing back to me; his easy, handsome smile, the dark alley, his frightening beauty, his eyes quickly changing to dangerous, black pits, his arms wrapping around me. A fear rose out of me and I had to stuff it down and focus hard to appear calm. James' smile faded quickly and his eyes settled on me, searching as if he had sensed my momentary terror. He seemed to lose interest quickly though and leaned against the wall, letting his head lay back as his gaze slid to Kael.

"Don't mind me, I'll just watch."

Oh good, Jordan isn't dead. That would have left a rather sizable plot hole in the next few chapters. But then again, maybe this life is a bit more serious than she thought.

Also, that was my first real 'fight scene' (Gorshe doesn't count, that was like, 7 lines)...So, how'd I do?

Feel free to comment, vote, message...whatever you please!