This is where your vision starts, where your visions starts to blur.
Have you ever thought of giving up on what you love the most?
Did you forget about the ones that you would hurt?
Just a few more seconds, then the pain will be gone.

In Fear and Faith - The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions

Four more figures began to take shape out of the fog; a quad. I could sense their bonds to each other, their connections. My mind couldn't concentrate on theirs though, my thoughts were swimming, spinning, as I tried to understand what the man in front of us was saying. James' father was dead. Was he threatening us? Saying he was going to send James to Hell to be reunited with the monster he had grown up with? That wasn't how it had sounded. Was he back somehow? Did James know? My questions were answered a moment later.

"You're new family look shocked, Gabriel? Don't tell me you haven't been honest with them? You were always such a truthful boy."

He paused to look at our faces, and I took the opportunity to do the same. James looked sick, no longer a mask of calm control, no longer able to hide his feelings. A mix of horror and hatred was so blatant on his face he looked like a different person. His eyes held the look of an animal whose paw was caught in a trap, desperately looking for an escape, any escape.

"Come with me without a fight and I won't have to kill your friends...I still will, of course, but at least I won't have to. So I'll enjoy it more. Except her," his eyes settled on me, the grin returning to his lips. "He would prefer to have her alive as well. In fact, I hear you're a bit of a package deal here of late."

He nodded to one of the Darklings that had appeared from the darkness, she raised a gun, pointing it directly at my chest. The man looked back to James after a short pause.

"You can't win, not this time, boy. Come without needless injuries, your father will be upset if I have to damage you. That's his pleasure, not mine, and I don't want to kill her, but I will if you make me. You're more valuable to him. She's a bonus - but you, you've always been his favorite."

The man looked like he very much wanted to kill me, but James wasn't even looking at him, his eyes were glued on the gun in the woman's hand. His jaw clenched.

How fast can you make a shield?

My mind was still spinning and for the first time, his presence didn't calm it. Who was Gabriel? And who was this man before us? It certainly sounded like James' father was very much alive. I felt the claws of betrayal run down my back, squeezing my heart and making each breath painful. I knew James could feel my mind, everything directed at him, I knew he understood every doubt I was battling, but I didn't answer his question, I just looked over at him, all my questions on my face.

Forgive me, Angel, please. I'm sorry.

And then he was gone.

One moment he was standing beside me, the next he was across the grass and before the man. I heard the gun fire in the same moment my Shift ripped out of me. I called my Sign and hastily threw it up before me, but it wasn't strong enough. I didn't have enough time to pack it and I felt the bullet tear into my shoulder, right beneath my collarbone, barely off from my heart.

The pain rippled down my arm and across my chest, but my air had softened the shot and it was barely an inch into my flesh. My entire arm burned, but I ran for one of the men coming for James' open back as he attacked and dodged and countered the man whose eyes were now just as black as my own, as James'. A moment later I heard Kael and Nevaeh running for the others too.

I made it to the man just in time before he brought his razored knuckles down on James' back. He was almost as large as Kael, but unfortunately, he was quicker. I sensed someone behind me a second before I felt the blow. I tried to turn my body from the hit, to lessen its effect, but he was too quick. I stumbled back from the force, but kept my position between James and the men, my Shift snarled through my teeth as I turned to fully face my opponents, my back brushing James' for a moment.

The two men started to circle, trying to split my attention. Instead of waiting for their move, I ran, jumping over tombstones and dodging wilted potted plants. The men took the bait and gave chase, thinking I was trying to escape. I felt a glimmer of hope come to life in my chest at this small victory. At least I had gotten them away from the others.

Now, when they realized it wouldn't take two, one would have a long way to go to find another opponent to double-team, and hopefully in the time it would take him to get back to the main group, Nevaeh or Kael or James would see and not be taken by surprise.

The first man, the one with the metal knuckles, gained and swung at me but I dodged it easily, pulling my knife across his stomach as I ducked and spun away. I heard my blade hiss into him, but he merely gave a quiet grunt. Then the next was upon me, he pulled a sword from its sheath on his back and swung it at me. I had to duck so quickly I dropped to my knees for a moment, but the second I did I felt myself sink in, as if the ground was giving away beneath me, just slightly, but enough to throw off my timing. I tried to scramble back to my feet quickly, but the dirt disintegrated, running from me, like sand on a dune. The man with the sword brought his knee up into the side of my head and I flew back, seeing stars.

The first man with the brass knuckles chuckled and turned toward the rest of his quad, jogging back to where the larger fight was raging on. I couldn't get my eyes to look straight, but I felt my Sign begging to be released. I focused on the large man's shoulders as he made his way farther and farther from me, and then I sent out my command. Leave.

The man stopped his run and grabbed at his chest, he spun around to look back to his comrade, who I assumed must have been the Air of their group, just like I assumed the breathless one was the Earth, to have moved the ground beneath me like he had. But his partner was too busy looking down at me on the ground before him. I tried to take on a look of fear as he came closer, scrambling away on the ground until my back hit a gravestone. I looked up with feigned helplessness as I weakly tried to drag myself further away, waiting for him to get close enough, and praying he didn't look back to his friend who was now stumbling toward us, a look of panic on his face as his chest began to convulse from its lack of air.

I let my eyes attempt to poorly focus on the man with the sword until he stood over me, blinking only half-faked disorientation from my eyes. He grabbed me by the hair and pulled me into a half-seated position with a sneer on his face. He grabbed one wrist and pulled it behind my back roughly, apparently not expecting any more of a fight from me. Instead, I sprang up at him and brought the knife in my opposite hand down into his back as he leaned over me. I felt it glance off his spine and turned the angle away from the bone before pulling it back, slicing as much muscle and as close to the nerve as I could on its way out.

The man yelled but I lost hold on my Sign and a second later the larger man barreled into me and his pair, pushing us all to the ground in a heap. The man with the knife wound in his back was writhing on the ground, trying to regain his footing and muttering Angel words for strength and blood. I rolled onto him and sliced down from the center of his neck to just above his stomach and then horizontally over his throat, making a crude cross in deep gashes on his front before I was pulled off by the man with the razored knuckles and flung away.

I felt his blow before I ever saw it, his sharpened knuckles cut into the side of my face as he hit me, knocking me further from his friend who was now sputtering on the blood filling his throat. I pulled the air from him just like I had to his pair a moment earlier. I saw his eyes bulge as he attempted to pull air into his burning lungs and I felt his Sign warring with mine. I used this to my advantage, just as Kael had taught me.

Always use your opponent's momentum and strengths to your own end.

Kael had lectured me over and over again that I wouldn't always be the fastest, or the strongest, but I could always be the smartest. I silently thanked him as I pushed air into the man as strongly as I could at the exact moment he tried to pull his Sign into himself as well. The result was deadly.

I felt my air fill him, following my command perfectly, and I felt even more rush into him under his control, and then more, and more. I felt the pressure building, and then there was nowhere for it to go. I felt his lungs burst, his heart torn from the impact, as he stilled on the ground, his chest distorted in a disgusting bulge before blood bubbled up and air leaked from his slit throat and opened mouth with a wet hiss.

An arrow whizzed through the air, landing harmlessly to the right of my shoulder. I glanced up just in time to see Nevaeh docking another, aiming for the razored man, my one still-living opponent. She had a dead woman at her feet, her head almost completely severed from her body, her hand still twitching in the grass. The man with the metal knuckles turned just in time to see another arrow coming for him, but he merely turned one shoulder to dodge it. I took the opportunity to grab the one sticking out of the ground near me and when he turned back I was already on my feet.

I faked an over-zealous punch with my knifed hand and waited for his counter. As soon as his right arm began to move toward me, I stabbed the arrow into his eye, shoving it as far into the socket as I could. Clear, thick liquid and blood streamed down my hand as I twisted the point, grinding it into his skull. He screamed and staggered back but I kept pace with him.

I saw a low tombstone a step behind him and shoved the center of his chest back. He lost his footing as I let go of the arrow and moved my hands to either side of his head, twisting with all my strength. I heard the snap as his body went slack.

I felt a moment of release, something like satisfaction as I saw the work I had done; two men, two Darklings dead at my feet, their blood slowly seeping into the cold ground. Then I ran back to the others, muttering any numbing or strengthening words that came to mind. I felt the pain slowly subside, but I knew it would be back with a vengeance soon.

Nevaeh and Kael were fighting the woman who originally had the gun, but it was nowhere to be found by the time I approached, probably ditched for closer combat. Nevaeh flipped and spun, trying to distract the woman as much as possible, using her small throwing knives as daggers and leaving trails of shallow cuts whenever she had the chance, while Kael blocked and protected his pair, using his bulk and power to overwhelm the woman.

They were moving so fast, with flurries of hits and dodges, their black eyes flashing, their teeth glinting in the dim light of the moon. The woman was impressive and every movement of hers was timed perfectly to lessen each blow from her opponents. It was beautiful in a way, but I could already see the end, the woman knew it too; she was going to die. She fought well regardless of her fate. The only person I had ever seen take on two fighters at once with more grace and skill was James.

James.

His name struck my mind like a bolt of lightning as I turned to look for him, but he was nowhere to be seen, neither was the man he had been fighting.

I couldn't see him, but I could feel his rage and fear and hatred. I felt raw emotions that tore and dug at my humanity, and then it was all gone. My second Shift came over me like flames devouring oil. It came of its own accord, called by James' emotions in my mind instead of my own need. The world turned red and I needed blood to mirror it, to match it. I needed it like I had never needed anything before in my life. I felt what James did and it was the most terrifying, stunning, damning feeling the world could offer. I ran to the other side of the mausoleum to find my Pair and the man ensnared in a battle like I had never seen.

The woman fighting Kael and Nevaeh no longer seemed impressive compared to what was before me. James had his knives and the man had something like metal claws pointing past his fingers, but neither really seemed to be using their weapons, neither really seemed to be able to get a solid hit in. James would dodge a deadly blow and return his own in one fluid movement, but the man seemed to already be expecting it. Each was trying to figure the other out, and each was succeeding.

James didn't have any trace of a smile on his face, like he did when we were fighting the hunters or sparring, no amusement, no cocky smirk. He had a deadly coldness in his black eyes instead, a hate I couldn't fathom. A snarl pulled at his lips, revealing his pointed teeth, and I realized how rarely I saw them, how rarely he showed them, Shifted or not. But now they were bared like an animal's. They glistened dark with blood from one of the hits the man had landed. I felt my stomach quiver at the sight.

James spun away in perfect time, just out of the man's reach. I could tell he was expecting the man to follow, but at the exact same time the man turned from James too, toward me. James had too much distance to stop him and the man was before me in the blink of an eye, quicker than any creature from this world was supposed to move, but my Shift was ready. I was ready.

I faked a step back and the man followed me like I expected, but as soon as my heel tapped the ground I sprang forward. I heard James' yell, his warning, too late. I wasn't fast enough, or the man had only pretended to fall for my fake, but the moment my knife came up from my side his hand was around my wrist. I heard it snap as the pain hit, as my hand bent back unnaturally in his grasp. James flinched as if he had felt it, or maybe just the noise was enough to make him imagine the feeling. I gasped in a breath as the man squeezed, grinding my splintered bones until they broke the skin. I felt the hot bite of pain run up my arm, mingling with my other injuries and making my head swim.

It wasn't the most painful thing I had felt since the Clan, but along with everything else, it was enough to make me wince and with the blood I had already lost, I felt light-headed, nausea rolling in my stomach. That split second was all he needed along with his incredible speed. He spun me into him with my injured arm pulled behind my back and his clawed hand around my throat, using me like a shield as James approached.

"Let her go, Juda. I know you're bluffing. My father wants us both, he'll be angry if you kill her just to provoke me. She's too useful a tool for him to gain my obedience."

James' eyes were still dark pits, but it didn't matter, I could see his emotions regardless, or feel them. He had ugly gashes running across his chest from where I assumed he hadn't been able to dodge the entirety of one of Juda's attacks. It was then that I felt the warmth running down my back. Juda was bleeding too, I could smell it, and from the speed of the warmth's spread, he was losing more blood than James.

"Oh, he would be, certainly, if I killed her just to anger his precious little prince, but not if she dies in the process of capturing you. He doesn't want your obedience anymore - obedience implies choice - he wants to break you. And that will be so much easier without her around, though less fun."

I heard the man's voice right by my ear, but I couldn't move in his hold. I felt his grasp on my neck tighten and the points of his metal gloves dug into my skin. James' jaw flexed as I felt my blood begin to run.

Kael and Nevaeh appeared from around the edge of the mausoleum in perfect time to diffuse the situation, at least momentarily. Their eyes were still dark as they stopped in their tracks, seeing the hostage situation they had walked into.

"Oh good, everyone's here. Took you long enough to take out my little protégés, but they served as decent distractions, which was their only real purpose. That's the root of why I'm here actually, because of the weakening of our race. Weak blood is hardly worth anything, just our pawns, right Gabriel? Darklings are becoming too soft, their blood too diluted with all the Human water and filth. Most can't even imagine what a true Irin is capable of.

We were meant to be gods of the Earth! Yet we're nothing more than common criminals in most cases. Darklings are nothing compared to what we could be, what we should be. I'm a mere quarter, and still my humanity disgusts me...but Eighths, Sixteenths? Despicable! Pathetic! Anything less doesn't even count. I can smell the shit in your Clan members' veins from here. How dare you let such weak allies steal from you and your strength, sharing yourself with others so far beneath you. It weakens you, bridges the gap between them and you from the chasm it should be."

I heard the venom rise in his voice as Juda nodded to where Kael and Nevaeh stood.

"You understand this more than most though, don't you Gabriel? You've seen your father, his strength, his power. I was in awe of him the first time we met, and I thought I was powerful, but I'm nothing compared to him, compared to you. His little dark prince, though I heard you go by King now. The Darke King, I like the sound of that, it has a nice ring. You'll be a great addition to his army."

I heard the smile in the man's voice now as I felt his breath on my neck.

"You've grown up wonderfully, regardless, despite trying to stifle your nature, your potential. So sorry we couldn't have met under more amiable circumstances. I think of you as close to a nephew. I don't like the hair though, blonde doesn't suit you."

Sarcasm dripped from the man's voice, mocking familiarity and I saw James' hands ball at his side, shaking with fury.

"What has it been, fourteen years? And I must say, I'm mildly impressed by your skills. Your father won't be, of course, but I am. He'll say you should have been able to beat me without even trying. Being captured by someone half as potent as yourself, well, he'll find that shameful. Hopefully, he will be so pleased to have you back that he'll be lenient on your punishments. I suspect your training will be relentless, to bring you to where you should be, but you remember how it was...how it will be again."

I heard Nevaeh's sharp intake of breath as Juda made it clear what I had been suspecting but dreading ever since Juda's first mention of James' father, that James was the son of a Fallen, an Angel, a monster. The noise didn't escape Juda's detection and I almost heard the stretch of his skin as he smiled widely behind my ear.

"Oh, don't tell me you kept your heritage a secret? Are you ashamed of your power? Or were you just trying to play house with Humans? Trying to make believe that you were good, the mercy instead of the judgment. Pathetic. You should be ashamed, but not of your bloodline, of your twisted idea of what is desirable! Your father has his work cut out for him, but he always was good at making you see reason, wasn't he? This will be a happy homecoming indeed."

James' snarl grew on his face, but I was more captured by the look on Kael's. He looked as if he had been stabbed, as if James was still holding the knife to his brother's back, twisting it just to see what he could take. I felt his mind too, and Nevaeh's, both teeming with hurt and betrayal. I searched James' then, his pain and anger, and the underlying fear that he would have to return to his father. The fear that I would die, that Kael and Nevaeh would be left alone, discarded and betrayed. Then the dread that even if I lived, if we all did, that we would leave him. He knew that no matter the outcome of tonight, everything he had was already lost and broken. But above it all, I felt his fear that I would hate him like he already hated himself, like I should.

"If I come with you, if I leave willingly, you have to let them go. That's my deal. You're alone now, you need my compliance." James ground out the words through his daggered teeth, eyes flashing with rage.

I felt the man's grip tighten again, out of what I assumed was excitement as he quickly agreed to James' demand, but even without breaking into his mind, I knew he was lying.

"No, he wo-"

The man tore his hand across my neck, dragging his fingers down into my throat, but he didn't let me fall, still holding me against him as a shield. In a flash, I was ripped from his grasp and thrown to the ground as James appeared before us, using Juda's momentary distraction to his advantage. I caught myself before hitting the ground but couldn't find the strength to stand. I turned in time to see the fight raging behind me.

All James' anger seemed to erupt as he attacked, but unlike last time, Juda was no match for him now. The flash of metal came away red with each strike and soon the man stumbled back, one arm up in weak surrender. James stalked forward, standing before his defeated opponent, his shoulders heaving, his teeth bared, before kicking him back.

He advanced on him again, bringing his knife down on Juda's shoulder, leaving a deep split, then he pushed his other into his gut, piercing him and dragging it down and across his abdomen. The smell of blood in the air changed to the stink of guts as Juda stumbled back once more, barely keeping his feet beneath him.

I adjusted my arm beneath me, trying to push myself up but a bolt of pain ran down my body, making me drop back to the cold grass. A moment later Kael was by my side breathing out strength names and Spoken healing words. I felt the pain swell a moment before it began to slowly lessen, as it fought the heals.

James looked over, seeming to remember that we were still there, but his face was no longer his, or it was, but different. I stared into his soulless eyes and he into mine. I felt my Shift sink into me and my eyes slowly showed the world for how it really was again, but his eyes stayed black and cold and empty, devoid of whatever little shreds of humanity he used to have. The anger was still on his face, a hellish look like he was the devil himself. I realized his hair was black, his glamour faltered or forgotten as he fought. Even in the dark of the mausoleum's shadow I could see the change, even without my Shift's heightened senses I saw it and I knew the others would too. It was then that I realized what else looked wrong about him.

Something akin to blood streamed from his eyes, a dark red-black liquid stained his cheeks. It was difficult to tell where Juda or his own blood ended and the dark liquid began, but I knew it wasn't all from the fight.

For the first time, James looked evil to me, not dark and beautiful, not broken but magnificent...just evil. Evil and frightening and damned. His eyes slowly lightened to their dark blue, but it didn't matter, the evil stayed. I dropped my eyes from his, I didn't want to look at him, see him for how he really was. I looked back to Juda instead, who seemed to have collected himself.

His arm hung uselessly at his side, blood dripping from his fingertips rhythmically. His hair was matted with it and he held his intact arm wrapped around the gash in his middle, holding his organs inside his body. He had a bloody smirk on his face, lips split, teeth painted a deep red from his blood mixed with spit. His eyes flickered between his Shifted form and Human, darkening to black before lightening again to sky blue. He swayed slightly as he stood, as if he might fall to the ground at any moment.

As disturbing a sight as he was, it wasn't the damage to his bloody body that stuck with me, it was his demeanor. Even with his clearly mortal wounds he stood as if he had won. His smile wasn't that of one defeated, accepting of his fate, or even a fearful grimace of pain, it was the smile of triumph, like this had been his plan all along. James walked forward stiffly, not meeting any of our eyes, no longer looking at me, instead he kept his gaze locked on his prey. His lip twitched with rage before he spoke.

"I almost wish you could live, to tell your master what is coming. To tell him his time is short and I'm coming for him...that I'm coming home." James spoke in a rough voice, like dragging skin across sandpaper. He spit the word 'home', letting the mockery linger in the cold, still night air.

"You think this is a victory, Gabriel? This is just a small sacrifice for the Collector, I will still have my reward. His true followers don't burn for long. He'll bring me back, he promised. He has my soul, and not even Hell can keep him from me now. Much like you."

The man sounded sure, confident. I felt my Shift lurch, how pathetic and weak, relying on the promises of another, laying down your life as a pawn because you were naïve enough to believe you would rise again. I would never trust my life to another...never again. The bitterness began to set in as I realized I had been willing to lay down my life for James, for someone who had lied and deceived and betrayed his entire Clan, his entire family. I saw James' shoulders tense as my thoughts reached him, but I was glad, I hoped it hurt. I hoped he knew the hate I felt. I hoped he understood that his lies were finally too much for me. That I wouldn't blindly follow him, I wouldn't be his pawn anymore.

"You're a fool for believing him. Take it from me, my father's a liar."

James was glaring at the man, the dagger from his pocket in his fist, his knuckles white around it, his entire arm shaking with the force of his grasp. His signature weapons were retracted, just the dagger from my dream, from his childhood, in his hand.

The man's face almost imperceptibly changed, a look of doubt in the line between his eyes appeared just for a moment before it smoothed. James continued.

"You think you're important? That he'll use whatever means he needs to bring you back when you couldn't even beat his pathetic, runaway son? You said it yourself! You're a Fourth, he hates you, he hates your blood, he hates anything that isn't pure. Why would he waste his energy pulling your soul from Hell's depths when you couldn't even capture me? You're as good as damned."

I saw the man swallow back fear before his eyes shifted to me and then Nevaeh. He visibly calmed when they swept over Kael.

"I may have not brought you to him, but I've taken all your power. You're nothing without your Clan. I may not have dragged you back, yet, but I don't have to, your secrets will destroy you all on their own. I exposed you. The poison's already running rampant in your family. I was the first domino in your fall, boy. I don't have to see you on your knees to know we've won. It's just a matter of time. Join your father or not, live by his side or die by your family's hand. It doesn't matter. You'll lose, you've already lost. I beat you."

The man threw his head back and laughed at the midnight blue of the sky, guts leaking from his middle as he loosened his hold on himself.

"This is more the Collector's style anyway, isn't it? Letting you suffer and rot all on your own. Letting the ones you love destroy you. It's a sweeter victory for him that way. And then when you're weak and alone he'll come to you. He's patient, you see, he can wait. He's already waited years, given you your little hiatus, your freedom, he let you leave, but all these years you never truly escaped him, did you? You might still fight, but we've already won. I won't die defeated. I've done my part. I have my glory."

The man ended with a twisted smile, his skin had lost its color as his hands and clothing darkened with his blood.

"My Master doesn't lie, he warned you that love would be your demise. And now look at you. Was he so wrong? You're weak because you love them, they'll die because you love them, and ultimately you'll lose because you love them, because you refused to burn your heart. You searched for a soul you didn't possess and look where it got you, you pathetic, stupid boy."

His smile turned back into a dark, mocking laugh as the man looked up at the sky once more.

James slowly stalked closer, standing before Juda perfectly still, like a statue. He raised the dagger, his chest just barely rising and falling, his jaw clenched. I could feel his mind burning with hatred as the dark liquid, those burgundy tears, slid down his neck, staining his already filthy shirt. And then his eyes went black, whatever soul he had disappearing.

"Get on your knees."

Oh snap. Gabriel?
Oh snappity snap snap. Dad's a Fallen?
All the snaps are snapped.

And hey, isn't this the same song as Chapter 1?

T