Bullets and enemies. How is it you and me,
framed our future blaming our lost past?

Attack Attack - Criminal

I heard a quiet whizzing a second before one of Kael's Calls hit my shoulder. James was stalking ahead of me, probably brooding because the woman had seen through his glamour.

I didn't bother calling for him to stop as I picked up the message, expecting Kael to say he was going to spend a few hours at her place, letting off some steam and other states of matter. She seemed the type. I rolled my eyes as I spoke the dehiscent word and waited for his perverted explanation of why he wouldn't be home for a bit to flow out of the electrum orb.

Instead, two urgently breathed words of Spoken fell from the sphere.

Xiliumě. Däemicaus. Help me. Demon.

I froze for a second, weighing the possibility that Kael was playing an ill-chosen joke on me. There were never enemies in our woods, even the edges, it was suicide. If we didn't catch them, which was unlikely, our wards would make short work of them long before they reached our home. Kael had made sure of their totality when he created them and he was never sparing or neglectful when it came to his family's security.

I looked up to notify James, but he must have already heard the whispered words. He stood fifteen feet ahead of me, deathly still. He slowly bent his head to one side, as if listening to the forest, waiting for it to speak to him, to confirm the trespass. A second later he was gone like a bullet. I turned on my heel and ran too. Kael was in trouble, my partner, my blood.

"Rampel. Cassiel." I breathed out as I sprinted after James, calling on their swift feet.

I could just barely see him through the brush. I threw the Call in front of me and ordered it to lead. It glowed faintly as it shot through the trees toward its master. James heard it whine past and adjusted his path in front of me.

I felt my heart pounding at the thought of Kael fighting alone, no doubt trying to protect the useless woman as well as watch his own back. I knew he was capable, Kael was an excellent fighter with impeccable instincts and a ruthless nature from his early life, but I still chilled at the thought. I remembered the last time our group had been split and outnumbered and a cold fist closed around my heart, it had ended devastatingly. I chased the thought from my mind. Kael wasn't so cocky, he wouldn't put himself in the same situation. We would make it in time.

I heard them approaching before I saw them. Eighty yards off, the motion just barely visible through the trees. Kael had a firm grip on the human woman and they were hurtling our way. Not even ten paces behind them, a giant Gorshe broke through a line of bushes.

Its rotten grey-green skin hung, folding and twisting onto itself, forming grotesque knots and grooves that shook as it lumbered after Kael. Its disfigured small eyes looked even more hideous as they locked onto their prey. I saw Kael begin to Shift and I could tell he was drawing his power around him, preparing for a fight. The stupid woman glanced over just as Kael's features changed and even from my distance I saw the familiar horror creep onto her face like it always did when an unlucky mortal saw our deeper form.

Suddenly, Kael slammed into her shoulder, sending her stumbling and practically airborne into a large trunk they were passing. She hit with a satisfying sound that, under other circumstances, would have made me smile. Her attitude had grated me each time we'd encountered her. Knowing she would wake up with an agonizing headache at best made me feel slightly better. Her unconscious body crumpled into a heap at the foot of the tree like discarded wrapping paper.

Kael spun around to face the foe just as the Gorshe leaped to the side. The beast landed almost on top of the human and instead of turning towards the threat, it opened its gaping jaw to the seemingly lifeless body on the ground in front of it, leaving its side open to Kael. I had never seen a Gorshe act like that or leave its flank unprotected, regardless of their less-than-brilliant nature.

Luckily, before the monster could claim its charge James was upon it, one of his blades slicing down the back of the hellish creature as it let out a screech that would make lesser beings' ears bleed. A strip of dirt and debris from the forest cut through the Gorshe's opposite side as Kael gathered his energies. I unraveled my whip from around my ankle and sent the wire flying as Kael formed a ball of rock and sand.

My lash hit home as it wrapped around the putrid beast's neck, I pulled until I heard the thick skin rip with a sound like the earth itself was splitting. Black, thick liquid poured from its wounds and sizzled against the ground as James danced around the creature, keeping its attention while Kael continued to grow his power.

James sent licks of his Sign to Kael whenever possible, heating the now glowing orb. A moment later Kael released the molten globe on the abomination, channeling it directly into the gashes on its neck and back. The horrible creature shuddered a moment before steam rose from its wounds and it collapsed onto the forest floor. Its small eyes staring unseeing at the unconscious woman.

Quickly the carcass dissolved, melting into itself, rotting until only a mound of dust and inky blackness was left where it had fallen. Nothing would grow there for a very long time.

I was relieved that Kael wasn't injured and the unexpected battle was over so quickly, but I knew he'd never let me live it down if I expressed my sentiment. Instead, I took the low-blow I knew he wouldn't yet be prepared for; I played on his guilt, his strongest human trait, his biggest vulnerability.

"Trying to kill her, brother? What, did she not appreciate your advances? Bit of an overreaction if you ask me. You could have just asked me or James to mess with her head a little. We could have gotten her to give you a go."

I settled my eyes on Kael accusingly after glancing down to the motionless, limp body of the woman. I watched my words take effect as I recoiled my whip, standing on the end to wipe the black mire off.

Kael's face immediately took on a look of deep remorse as he studied her on the ground. Her chest rose and fell slowly, showing she was still breathing, but that was the only sign of life.

"We have to take her back with us, make sure she'll be okay. We can't just leave her in the woods, you saw how the Gorshe went for her, maybe she has someone after her. It would be a death sentence to leave her here to be found..."

Kael sounded earnest, his voice pleading and his words running into each other as if he wanted to get as many reasons to help her out before James could cut in, but I knew how he felt about others in our home, and I fully expected him to deny the request. Kael clearly thought the same because he continued before James could end the discussion, planting himself in front of where the woman lay, hoping that hiding her from James' view would make him more likely to allow her to recover inside our walls.

"Nev can wipe her mind after she wakes up and tells us where she lives or what shit she's in, or if she is, or if she even knows she is. Then we'll bring her back to her home and it will be like this never happened, but I need to make sure I haven't done any permanent damage." He said his last words with finality in his voice that I'm sure was meant to close the conversation for debate.

He looked over at James with determination etched into the lines of his face, clearly prepared for a battle of wills, but James merely walked towards the woman, circumventing Kael, and bent over her face, examining her forehead where she had made initial contact with the tree. After a moment to make sure nothing was broken, he hoisted her up into his arms.

Kael's face took on a look of brief triumph before it quickly fell into guilt again as she hung unresponsive in James' hold. Kael walked past, leading the way home, apparently not wanting to have to see her during the long trek we had ahead of us.

I wanted to ask him why the Gorshe was out in our woods in the first place, when and where he had heard it, why he thought it had gone after the woman and a whole list of other questions. But I decided to give him time to sulk, though he shouldn't care about some insignificant Human anyway, even if she wasn't completely unfortunate looking.

» ✦ «

The woman hung in my arms like a rag-doll, she felt oddly light too, which only added to the feeling of her being a doll, or maybe a bird, hollow-boned. I couldn't feel her either, it was like she didn't actually exist. I couldn't sense any presence or spark of life in her, though I knew she wasn't dead. It was rare that a human couldn't be sensed by someone like me, but I had heard of cases. Ghosts, they were called.

She looked peaceful, and apart from the blood trickling down across her temple and disappearing into her dark hair, she could have been merely sleeping. She was beautiful, too, not in the way Nevaeh was, where each angle was perfectly crafted, so perfect it almost wasn't even beauty anymore, but something artificial, something engineered to simulate beauty, a trap.

No, this woman was beautiful in a more natural way, a normal way. And without her big eyes glaring, without the anger burning in them, she almost looked regal, fine without the delicacy.

I couldn't quite figure why I had agreed to bring her back with us, I knew she would be fine, probably a concussion but nothing more. Kael always thought mortals were more fragile than they truly were. Maybe I was just curious, even from our first encounter in the little convenience store she had intrigued me.

I thought back to when I first saw her. She didn't fit the store, she didn't seem like she would fit any place so ordinary. But I had learned that fraternizing with humans, no matter how interesting they first appeared, was always a mistake. They became obsessed with our kind and it destroyed them, and it destroyed me to watch them wither. Our types were never meant to coexist. Humans were never truly fulfilling either, and it was cruel to destroy something just for entertainment. We were meant to protect those weaker than us, not play with them.

I backtracked my thoughts to my first interaction with the woman in my arms, trying to steer clear of any guilty thoughts I still had about any attempted diversions of my past. I didn't like to think of my younger years, before I knew how disastrous all my attempts at shallow connection would end. How destructive my company was.

Regardless of the woman's heritage, how she acted was still intriguing to me. She was a puzzle I wanted to figure out, or at least see if there was anything worth figuring. Most likely not, humans were rarely as complex as they tried to make themselves out to be. Maybe she was just overconfident or stupid, or both. We'd soon find out.

Part of me was suspicious of the unconscious weight in my arms, we had run into her three times in fewer days and that seemed too large a coincidence. But I was naturally suspicious, and my lifestyle only elevated that trait. I glanced down at the woman once more, trying to see if I could sense any other presences on her, but looking at her made it difficult to focus and I quickly gave up.

Kael was stalking ahead of our little convoy, guilt etched into the set of his wide shoulders. I understood how he felt, even though the woman would be fine, hurting humans, especially defenseless females, wasn't our calling. I had always had a problem with women being victimized. Whether for personal reasons or some subconscious attempt at chivalry, I could never accept the death of a human woman with a clear conscious. Abusing power and exploiting those weaker had never sat well with me.

There was hardly a difference between the depth of Gifts in the sexes of our kind or their offspring. Physical strength was usually greater for males, but skill, Gifts, and control easily offset this. Maybe that was another reason I had never been able to walk away from a human woman in need. I could never turn my back on their cries for help like I could on one of my own. Probably remnants from my childhood. Freud would have had a field day with me.

Nevaeh would no doubt torment her partner to no end. She loved to hurt him and a subject as tender as this was sure to draw her claws out. I almost felt bad for my brother...but he had brought it upon himself. He could have just had Nevaeh wipe the woman's mind after all, he didn't need to incapacitate her, but then again he normally took the physical route when faced with any difficult decision. Thinking things through and weighing options had never been a strong suit of his. I remembered our first argument, it had gotten pretty ugly.

I glanced down at the woman again. For some reason, my attention kept coming back to her, like a magnet. There was something strange about her. She wasn't normal, that was for certain, the fact that she could see through some of my weaker glamours made it obvious she had at least a fraction of overworld blood in her somewhere...or under.

Maybe a distant ancestor was a fey or a nymph. She had the looks for it. Or maybe a vampire owned one of her line before her, there was something cold about her beauty, how she held her features, something hard and animalistic. She was certainly interesting.

Wherever her blood came from, it was probably so far diluted she had no inkling that anything supernatural even existed in the world. Most lost their Gifts after only one or two generations, but maybe she was one of the unlucky ones who could still see the world for what it truly was. Poor thing.

I saw Nevaeh out of the corner of my eye, watching me watch the woman. I wondered what all she had seen, what my face had given away. She rarely acted on it, but I knew she was perceptive, it was one of her many annoying talents which she used to dig into others. To make those around her feel the pain I assumed she carried with her every day.

I dragged my eyes away from the weight in my arms as casually as I could and pretended to not notice Nevaeh as she continued to stare at me. I hated when she did that, watched me like I was some kind of present she was just waiting to be given. No matter how low this life got, no matter how far I tried to bury myself in whatever vices I pleased, I would never sink low enough to be with her. I found nothing about her appealing in any way beyond the loyalty I felt because she was a member of my Clan.

The thought disgusted me, like a sister wanting her brother. I realized my lip was pulled up in a disgusted snarl and relaxed my face as I walked. Hopefully, Nev had seen my sneer and would avert her obvious gaze.

The woman was still out cold when we made it back to the house. Kael wanted to put her in the infirmary, but I brought her to the library instead. Best to avoid panic, and waking up in a cozy nook surrounded by books and a crackling wood fire would probably seem less frightening than in a starched white bed with the smell of chemically cleaned stainless steel surrounding her.

It didn't matter really, Nevaeh would wipe her mind clean and tonight would never even happen, but it just seemed like the right thing to do regardless of what memory the woman would be left with.

Nev was anxious to get her out of the house and sat pouting in the library with Kael while she slept. She was already sharpening her claws and poking at Kael's guilt, trying to find his weakest point. I wasn't in the mood to play mediator again, so I went down to my room to grab a notebook. At least then I could write about this strange woman without Nevaeh or anyone else analyzing or judging me for it.

My books were the ones I was always truly honest with. I tried to be as honest as I could with Kael, but even our brotherhood had its limits. My journals were always there to soak up my raw feelings, my thoughts, my concerns. As the leader, I could never show indecision or weakness or worry to the Clan, but in my books, I could say whatever I wanted and with this woman's odd effect on me, I had a lot to write, a lot to figure out.

I walked back into the room to hear Nev and Kael bickering like the siblings I sometimes forgot they weren't, something about the unconscious human being light. I almost smiled to myself, I had made that very same observation.

My amusement was quickly replaced though, as the woman was awake and only pretending to sleep. I wondered how long she had been faking it. She certainly was sneaky, sneaky and stubborn. Maybe I would like her.

Ooh, Nevvie's got some claws (and you ain't seen nothing yet - cough cough - Chapter 11)

And how about those perspective switches, we all good with that? Cause it's a bit of a main theme throughout the series. I think it gives you a good look inside each character, and helps you to relate and connect. At least for me, it does. Plus I love getting into the different zones for each.

Interesting tidbit; 'Gorshe' was the last name of this guy I went to high school with, he was just fine (I didn't name an ugly demon-retriever after him cause he was a dick or anything) I just always thought his name sounded evil.

P.s. I had some trouble finding a lyric header for this one, suggestions are always welcome. Nothing is set in stone.