You play with the wolves, but you sleep with the bones of the rabbit.

Young Heretics - Bones of a Rabbit

The city smelled. I hated cities. Dirty streets filled with stupid Humans living their insignificant little lives. Crowded together like animals, mindlessly following each other towards death, marching closer and closer to the end of their pathetic, flimsy lives without ever opening their fogged, crusted eyes to the world. Humans were so useless.

Sometimes I wondered why we even bothered to waste our lives saving them when they meant so little in the grand scheme of things. Why did it matter if they died at the hands of a demon or the burgers they loved so much? Especially when they could just endlessly make more of themselves, which they did, even to their own detriment, often by accident. Sometimes I thought we should spend our time protecting our own, our families, and those with precious blood, not mundane Humans with nothing grander than their nine to fives and dinner plans on their puny, self-caged minds. But at least this trip gave me something to do.

Now that we had a newbie we would most likely spend the next few months sticking close to the house, training her, and making her as un-useless as possible for such a stupid girl. What a terrible fourth member, but no one ever listened to my opinion, and James and Kael's votes had outweighed mine. At least I was out of the house for now, and James would see what a lovely team-player I was by coming along on his stupid journey into town. Plus, I didn't want to be home with the baby-Darkling-bitch anyway.

James looked especially dull today, he'd laid his glamour on thicker than usual. Maybe it was because he was paranoid since the house-arrested girl had seen through it. Maybe he just really didn't want little Humans chasing him around today. It didn't matter to me, his glamour was still weak enough that I could see through it without much concentration. Like seeing a masterpiece through a cloudy pane of glass, some details were lost, but I could see the main points of the picture, and it was certainly a fine piece of work.

Kael was quiet for the entirety of our walk through the city. Probably still mulling over how the Gorsche had gotten into our woods without him noticing, without an alarm being triggered. I knew it had been eating away at him, he was the one charged with the responsibility of keeping us hidden and safe when we were in our woods or at one of our homes, and up until this past week, he had never failed.

He had spent every night since the attack searching for answers, walking the woods, checking each charm and spell individually, strengthening them and checking for any holes or tampering, replacing the old with new ones, adding more. He and James had both gone out last night, but they hadn't been able to find a thing different or wrong with our perimeter. Kael had been pissy all day because of it, but James acted like nothing was wrong, like it didn't concern him in the least bit. He acted just as calm as ever.

He was always so damn calm. It was insanely attractive. He was so steady, so completely in control of himself it came off as cold and I loved it. Cold, calm control with a love of violence, a hard shell on the outside, nothing inside, and a face like Lucifer himself. What more could a girl ask for? He was flawless.

He was exquisitely broken. I didn't know why, he had never confided that much in me, and to be honest I didn't really care to know how it had happened. I didn't need to know what from his past had scarred him so deeply, maimed him, I just got to enjoy the end result. He was beautiful in a terrible way, a way that gave him an emptiness I desired, even if I didn't understand it.

All I knew was that he was ruined, already so far gone when we had met, destroyed somehow, by something, and I loved it, I wanted it. He wasn't even a man, just our leader, just a Darkling, just the casing of a real person, a soulless hunter, a god of judgement trapped in a body this world could handle. He was everything I wished I could be; the person covered so deeply you'd hardly know they were there, emotions so stifled they almost didn't exist, anger only let out when blood was required.

He had an apathy for life like he truly didn't care if he lived or died. Sometimes it seemed like the only reason he fought to survive was because he was too cocky to lose to an opponent, too arrogant to let someone else get the best of him. Boys and their egos.

His darkness was beautiful to me too, though I knew that was a slick slope. The gleam he got in his eyes when he could truly play out his darkest fantasies, when he had a good enough excuse to kill or torture our enemies. It was like light glinting off a razor's sharpened edge, beautiful in a deadly way, the best kind of beauty for Darklings. And then he could hide it so quickly, cover it so completely, you would never know he needed it, craved it. He could go from calm indifference to deadly violence in the matter of a second, and then back again. His control was magnificent and his violence unparalleled. His Shifted form was the most striking I had ever seen, all rage and dark, hellish instincts.

In many ways, he was cured of his humanity, that's what made him so powerful. He had all the carnal power of a true Fallen, with the control of one with a majority Human blood, but none of their weaknesses. The very best of both creatures. Flawless. I wanted it, and if I couldn't house the individual elements in myself, I would just have to own the one who did. He would be mine, I just had to try.

I always got what I wanted.

We arrived at a small house with an old, peeling white-washed porch and ugly half-dead hanging pots scattered on it. The yard was more of a dirt lot with ambitious yellow-green weeds springing up on occasion. It smelled, a mixture of dirt and garbage and wet dog. I crinkled my nose and glanced at James, again, but he was staring at the front door with a slight smile on his face.

He was almost always smiling, though I doubted it was ever actually from enjoyment. His smile was more for the arrogant look it gave his face. I loved it when he smiled like that, like he knew something you didn't, like he knew everything, like he was a fucking god. Suddenly the door opened a crack and James strode up the sidewalk, which had strangled weeds sticking up through its cracks as well. I followed and Kael walked after me.

The house was dimly lit, and dirty, varied drug paraphernalia lay around on the counters and furniture, and there was filth piled in every corner. Several disgusting people were passed out on couches or sporadically on the floor between broken liquor bottles. They smelled. All of them were in dirty shreds of clothing, utterly repulsive. All clearly nearing their last few days or weeks of life due to their recreational activities.

I tried to make my breathing as shallow as possible, but it was no use, the stench of garbage had already permeated my nostrils, stuffed itself up my nose. There was one man, close to our age, who wasn't unconscious or deep in a drugged stupor, leaning on the kitchen's dirty counter. He had a white shirt on that had only a few burn holes at the bottom of it and ripped, dirty jeans. He was barefoot and I couldn't help but cringe at the thought of what his feet might be touching on the unsanitary floor.

James stood in front of Kael and me, his feet in a wide stance and his arms crossed over his chest, he had his head tilted up and back in a distinctly bored, superior way. He was putting on his big, bad leader show that always seemed to work on people, understandably. James certainly made for an imposing house-guest even without Kael's dark bulk looming behind him.

I watched as James released his glamour until he stood in all his brilliance, looking like a true Angel. The guy against the counter had a confident small smile on his face, but it looked more like a default than how he was actually feeling. His eyes looked scared, though he was attempting to shield it from our detection. I saw him swallow, a knot moving down his throat as he tried to push down his panic. A bead of sweat sat on his collar bone, the low light reflecting off of it. If I had been a dog I could have probably scented his fear, that is, if I could get my nose past the stench the room already held.

He had light skin and his hair was so blond it almost looked white. His gray eyes swept the room like he felt cornered but he didn't change his smile or his casual posture. Smart move, better to not show your anxiety, though I'm sure James could see it as clearly as I could. I wasn't the only observant member of our Clan. Kael...not so much.

"Hello King, to what do I owe this full-Clan visit?" The guy across the kitchen said slowly. He had an English accent I hadn't been expecting. It was almost cute.

"Ace, this is Nevaeh and Kael; my partners. Nevvie, brother, this is Ace. We go way back." The words sounded intimidating as James said them, as if by 'way back' James meant they had a colorful and not always pleasant past together. The fact that this cream-haired man had called him 'King' said as much.

James had many names he was known by, and often that was a way I could tell who certain people were, or at least who James was to them. He had different names for different eras of his past. King was one of the earliest ones I knew of. That meant this Ace character had known James as a young, possibly less-controlled version of himself.

Young Darklings, especially without supervision, like I assumed James had been, were often the most dangerous; impulsive, easily angered, and not yet sure which side of the fight they would adhere to. Interesting indeed. I didn't know much about this particular nickname's reputation, but I knew it meant that they had met years before my or even Kael's time and it meant that, most likely, they had met on violent terms. 'King' was a name James had been given during a fairly bloody time in his past...that I knew for a fact. He had dropped the title years ago, but some acquaintances still clung to it.

The way the man had said the title, without a sneer or any false grandeur meant he was either truly terrified that James could snap and kill him at any moment, or he respected James and allowed him the title. So he had either seen James in action or heard horror stories.

James and Ace locked eyes for a moment before James settled into a more comfortable stance, putting his weight back on his heels as if preparing to wait for something. Ace dropped his crossed arms and let out a breath before he spoke, clearly conceding.

"Pleasure to meet you both. So sorry I couldn't have cleaned up, I wasn't aware I would be having additional guests. My apologies."

Ace sounded irritated as he dipped his head with his welcome, but he was trying hard to cover it. His eyes nervously shifted around the room again, jumping from Kael to James to me. His eyes were actually more of a light blue than the white-gray I had originally thought. They were almost pretty.

"Glad you found your manners, I know how they can get away from you at times. I wasn't aware you had such lively friends, is there somewhere more private we could speak?" James sounded perfectly polite as he spoke, but his eyes had their deadly edge. I hoped we'd be able to kill this man tonight. He was cute, but I was bored, and he was irritating me. He had barely even looked at me, and I looked damn good today. Maybe he was gay.

"Um, yes...I mean, of course, Dar...King. I believe what you want to see is out back anyway, I had some of my guard dogs dig it up."

By now the poor thing was visibly scared, clearly he didn't want to be alone with us, even though I doubted his incapacitated comrades could be of much help to him if death was in his immediate future.

I felt my Shift itch under my skin just thinking of his bright, steaming blood painting the ugly walls. The smell of it as his life drained away would be glorious compared to the stench this little home had. As if he sensed my thoughts, James looked over at me for the first time all day and inched his head to the side slightly, mutely telling me to keep myself under control. I rolled my shoulders and looked away, annoyed. He took the fun out of everything. Kael let out a low chuckle next to me. Damn my boys.

Ace walked out a side door from the kitchen that lead to a dirty, dark garage and then out to the backyard, which was equally dirty, though not as dark. He kept looking over his shoulder at us and his stiff gait told me he was expecting a knife between his shoulder blades at any moment.

His back was tensed under his thin shirt and sweat made it stick to his shoulders even though the temperature had been low all day. It was adorable in a weak way. I licked my lips, maybe I had misjudged this snowy dog, maybe he could be fun. I'd heard his kind was full of heat and passion like the animals they were, maybe I'd test the rumor.

Kael hit me with the back of his hand and rolled his eyes, passing me to walk next to James. He always knew when I was thinking something dirty, it was so irritating, just like James could always tell when I was thinking something violent. My boys took all my fun away.

It's not like Kael didn't take every opportunity to roll around with random females of any bloodline. As long as they weren't Darklings, he had no qualms against giving in. But I knew that was only because Ambriel was gone. I absently wondered what it felt like to be in love, and then lose it. I imagined it felt similar to losing one's parents, or a sister. But somehow it seemed like it would be different, maybe not worse, just different.

The man walked to the back corner of the yard, bits of overgrown grass and prickly weeds occasionally sprinkling the dirt ground. Half of a hole was dug out near the base of a large skeletal tree, dead long ago. James walked over to the edge and looked in, while Ace tensely stood next to him, drumming his hands on his thighs and looking over at James every few seconds trying to gauge his reaction. James merely looked calm and collected, empty, apathetic, as always.

Kael was hanging back, so I did too, James would motion for us when the time was right. It was always best in these situations to act like his subordinates, especially around Ace's type. Pack hierarchy was important to them. Plus, I didn't want to walk around the dirty yard any more than was absolutely necessary.

Suddenly, James jumped down into the pit in a smooth motion. The hole was about upper-thigh height on him, making all but his back disappear when he bent down to brush at something by his feet. He tossed a grayish item up to Kael, who caught it deftly. It was a hand, a hand with a black Spoken rune burnt into the palm, clearly not postmortem.

I didn't know Spoken fluently, almost no one did anymore, but I knew the mark; revenge. Some of the fingers were broken and now stuck out stiffly at awkward angles, the bubble-gum pink of the nail polish standing out against the gray skin. Kael turned the cold hand over and looked back to James, I was sure they both knew the rune's meaning.

They locked eyes for a moment, no emotion on either man's face. They were good at this, at talking with their eyes. I wouldn't be surprised if they were having an entire fucking conversation while I stood there in the stupid, smelly yard, with the light-haired man who didn't seem to notice the gorgeous woman he had standing not even five yards away from him. Silly, fucking boys.

James moved a couple of other things around in the hole, presumably more body parts, though I couldn't see to be sure, before hoisting himself back out and sitting on the edge of the hole, his legs dangling down into the pit, his hands muddy.

"How many have you...discovered?" James asked, looking up at Ace for the last word.

"Here we have two, but at our other houses we have five total, uh well, c-combined."

Ace sounded more nervous than ever, which made sense, being the owner of dead Human pieces was never smart if you were trying to stay on James' good side. And James' casual manner as he sat in the wet dirt probably seemed like a ruse.

"Names? Ages? Gender? Any information on them at all? Any connections between them at all?" James sounded businesslike and this seemed to put Ace at ease, at least a bit.

"They range in age, from late fifties to...well young, maybe six, seven? But where they don't vary is gender. They're all female. And for connections, they're all Darklings, though some so diluted they couldn't have put up much of a fight."

Kael tensed next to me as Ace finished his answer and shifted his eyes to James, almost as if to reassure him. I saw Kael dip his head ever so slightly but it wasn't necessary, besides James' grip on the edge of the pit tightening, grinding the dirt against his palm, he gave nothing away. He answered with a short nod at Ace and stood, dropping the dirt he still held in his balled fists.

"We'll be in touch. We appreciate your clean-up services, keep up the discretion and speed and you'll continue to reap the benefits of having us as your allies." James sounded like he was ready to be done, and after the news of the all-female butchering, I could understand why.

James had always had a weak spot for women, usually Human, but a tortured and dismembered six-year-old Darkling was apparently vulnerable enough to get his blood boiling as well. And an angry James was dangerous.

The walk to the car was a quiet one, as expected. James was in a bad mood now, meaning he was quiet, quiet and still. He had an odd ability to be completely still like he wasn't even breathing, like he wasn't even alive. It reminded me of the Night Children. How they could stand so still they looked like statues, but in their case, they often really weren't breathing. James looked something like that, sitting next to Kael in the front seat, staring out the window, completely unmoving, completely self-contained, like anything could be going on inside of him, or nothing. Maybe he really was as empty as he seemed, hollowed out by his past.

I sat in the back, watching the world blur by while stealing glances at James. Wondering what it was like to be so completely in your own head, your own world. Somehow the boys read me well enough to almost know what I was thinking, and James and I both knew Kael that well...but James was as much a mystery to me today as he was the day he had shown up on my doorstep, trying to convince me and my sister to join him.

He had some outward signs that occasionally gave me clues, but when he sat completely still, only his eyes moving, it was impossible to even guess at the workings inside his head. I gave up trying as we approached our woods and the private, hidden drive that wound up to our manor.

The sun was low, just touching the top of our house, dipping below it slowly when we pulled into the garage off to the side. James was out of the car and halfway across the grass to the front door before Kael and I had even opened our doors. He was certainly troubled by today's little field trip, even if the only true sign of this was his lack of signs.

I sighed and followed him towards the house, hoping he would stop in the kitchen, or the media room, somewhere to have a Clan meeting, to explain our next step or discuss our options as a group. The fact that there were now two serial killers in the city was something I suspected he would want to talk with us about. But instead, he went straight for the basement. I could have let him go, let him mourn the women in peace, but his mood was boring me so I tried to pull a little fun before he was too far out of earshot.

"Running to your dungeon, little King?"

I placed mocking emphasis on the nickname, knowing he would still be able to hear me, even if he was nearly down the stairs. I heard his shoe scuff the ground and vainly hoped he had turned around to emerge again. Even his anger would be better than his silence, even his violence was preferable. But instead of reemerging, I felt a warmth and then a burn by my right ear.

My hand flew to my hair, where a small piece had spontaneously combusted. I may have made some unnecessarily rapid hand motions, and possibly a shrill noise or two escaped me, but this was my hair, my hair! Fucking Fire Signs. James had always used his elemental Gift to vex me.

Kael pinched the flame out casually as he walked by, the smell of burnt hair hung thick in the air. I ran up to my room to check the damage and fix my glossy black mane back into its usual smooth perfection. Fucking Fire Signs.

Writing Neveah's perspective is always a challenge, but an enjoyable one.

So much sass, but hey, she's had a rough go the last few years. And not everyone can be a ray of cinnamon-roll-like-sunshine like my lovely Kael...then again, maybe he isn't so pristine either?

Comment, vote, share, or just scream into your pillow, but whatever you do, do it well ><