A gilded world is all I see, but gold can't hide what's underneath.

Adestria - Blinders

I considered listening to the wise suggestion to go to bed early that had been James' parting gift, but I wasn't remotely tired. Just being near him gave me energy. He was like a live wire. Even without his electricity running through me, I still felt rejuvenated from our encounter, like he radiated life and vitality. Plus, I had been cooped up for too long, and now that I was out of my room, I felt adventurous.

By the time I reached the top of the stone-carved staircase, the fading light of the low sun trickling through the trees had made a pattern of stretched shadows on the floor, pointing towards the front of the house. I backtracked the dark streaks to the glass wall and looked out at the scene.

All the green seemed to be ablaze from the sunset's red and orange tones. The fence was shining like gold across the lawn, like Heaven's gates, and I was captured by the simple beauty of them for a moment. I lightly placed my fingertips against the window, it was cooler than I had expected, and it reminded me that I hadn't been outside in days. The claustrophobia from earlier returned, making my chest tighten and the air feel heavy around me, even in the large, open kitchen. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep if I tried, so instead, I grabbed my hoodie from the front closet and quietly opened the ornately carved door.

The nights had cooled since my last run. Autumn was slowly growing stronger, and I pulled my hood up against the chill as I walked down the worn steps of the porch. The evening was just beginning to wind down, day-birds starting to fall silent and instead be replaced by the rhythmic noises of crickets and owls. I felt a coil of tension unwind as I walked through the cool grass, the clean air welcome to my lungs. I tried to make a mental note to open the window later that night. Fresh air had always managed to calm me.

The house cast an enormous dark shadow on the ground of the front yard, slowly advancing towards the trees. I made my way around the side of the manor before pausing in front of the metal bars of the gate, seeing the age of them for the first time. There were grey stones speared intermittently by the bars, providing a solid anchor for the tall fence. From close-up, the gate looked an old bronze color, beautiful in a vintage sort of way. I reached out and touched one of the bars of the entrance. The shining gold color alluded to warmth, but it was as if the metal pulled the heat from me, cold like the frozen touch of death. I pushed lightly, and it swung open without a sound from obvious frequent use.

The view before me shifted from plain grass to a careful landscape, bushes and trimmed trees slowly grew denser and closer together, obscuring my view. The area was well kept, with a loose stone path weaving back into the shade of the woods. Maybe it was the resemblance to my woods back home or the relief of being outside of the house, but I felt inexplicably drawn into the dark blot of trees. The sun was quickly fading, and I didn't have much time until nightfall, so I hurried down the path, curious to see where it led.

The woods thickened, almost completely blocking the sun's waning rays, and slowly the ground gave way, sloping down into a small valley plunged in shadow. From my distance, I could see hazy white rocks materialize below, spread about haphazardly under trees or near the small pond in the center of the clearing. The pond's water was clear and still, and it reflected the early autumn branches above, some with green leaves still, some full of color.

I made my way closer to the pond, and a particular white rock placed directly before it, like a person sitting on a bench in a park or garden. I walked around the stone until my back was to the water. It was smooth and clean, despite obviously being a permanent outdoor fixture. Something about it seemed vaguely familiar.

As I stood in front of it, I combed my brain for where I might have seen the pale rock before...history channel or museum? Maybe this place was a kind of Darkling Zen garden. Whatever its purpose, the setting was beautiful, filled with serenity yet still strong and free.

I sat down by the rock, leaning my back against it, and watched the pond's mirrored surface, so still, it looked like glass. There was a pile of pebbles to my left, and I threw them in one by one, watching the ripples spread over the glass and enjoying the disruption they made, breaking up the plain surface.

Suddenly, the soft sound of the rocks plunging into the water was joined by the distant noise of a leaf crinkling as it was stepped on. The noise stopped as abruptly as it had started as if the cause had heard the mistake too and tried to silence it lest it give itself away. I swiveled my head to the right, expecting Kael or even James, but as far as I could see, nothing living was in the direction of the noise.

I slowly rose as I realized my calm was gone, replaced by the paranoid feeling of being secretly watched. I glanced around once more before retracing my steps out of the white rock garden, the sun just disappearing below the horizon.

» ✦ «

I was surprised to find her in my room. Not only was it rare for any Clan member to be there, it was still strange for me to not be able to feel someone's presence. I had to search for her, focus, strain my mind to try and find any spark from her, and sometimes she was still invisible to me. She was like a phantom, drifting through my defenses as if they were nothing. I had to keep my blocks up constantly to be sure she wasn't slipping past them without her or me knowing.

I had never met anyone like her before, and it left my stomach tight. For the first time since Ambriel, I didn't know what was best for the Clan, I didn't know if this new person was safe, if she could be trusted. I couldn't figure her out, and it didn't help that every time I tried, she'd pull me in, and I'd lose my focus. Just like I had never met someone whose spirit was so elusive, I had never met someone so drawing.

She was constantly on my mind, which wouldn't have been so bad, I could train my mind, but at times it was like she was actually inside my head, even when I knew her Gift wasn't acting against me. I either felt nothing from her as if she didn't exist at all, or the exact opposite, consumed by her as if she was the only thing that truly existed. Sometimes when she wasn't even near I would feel her, like I was tethered to her.

I often felt Kael in such a way, but he had been my brother for years, we had shared so many memories, healings, and strength in battle, it made sense. We had shared blood so many times, it would be expected that we were connected in some ways. We had a history that bound us, tied us close, but this woman, I didn't even know her; her past, her passions, percentage, purpose, nothing. Yet, I felt her even more so than my brother at times.

On some level, that scared me, the unknown of it all. How could I protect and lead my Clan, my family, when I didn't even know what was going on inside me, let alone around me. I refused to make the same mistakes I had with Ambriel. We had gotten lazy, too comfortable and confident in our power. Comfort lead to distractions, and distractions lead to mistakes, to destruction. Letting my guard down had been disastrous for my family last time, and I wouldn't let that happen again. I would stay sharp and focused. I just desperately wished it wasn't so difficult when Jordan was around.

She drew all my focus, and it was close to impossible to function normally. Luckily I had had years to perfect the art of hiding my thoughts from others. I doubted anyone knew the infuriating pull her big, storm-gray eyes had on me or the way her power made me feel like I was bathing in fire, or the fact that her sharp, stubborn defiance had already gained my approval. I admired it. I admired her, something exceedingly rare for me. And I didn't even know her yet.

Just seeing her for a few minutes had completely changed my mood, I no longer felt the heavy chains of guilt and sorrow that my visit to Ace had left on me. Just seeing her had wiped all of that from my mind, all I thought about when she was near was the moment, nothing else seemed relevant.

I shook my head in frustration, pushing my hair back as if I could shake her loose from my mind.

Halfway through my hands' normal route, I froze. The voided nothingness I had felt when she was in my room suddenly switched to a fiery string, connecting me directly to her.

She was in the cemetery.

I couldn't understand why, or even begin to explain, maybe just curiosity as to what on earth she was doing there, but I wanted to go to her. I was across the darkened gym's floor before I even made the conscious decision to join her in our sacred burial ground.

I saw her and stopped on the path before she would notice I was there, I made sure to put extra effort into blocking her Gift so she wouldn't feel me. I was behind her twenty paces or so as she stood by the small pond. I watched from the shade of my favorite tree as she ran her hand over my mother's memorial. She sat down beside it, leaning on it exactly as I had done a hundred times. She stayed still for a moment, her dark hair cascading down the white stone, the contrast was striking, just like she was.

I had pushed my first thoughts of her from my mind, in the shop, when I thought she was only Human. Kael and Nevaeh were the ones who wasted their time with that kind of diversion, not me. But something about her had interested me, even then, and her demeanor as we left...she had been something else, even then, even before I knew what she was, before she knew what she was. And now that I had been around her, she was still something else. I understood just as little now as I had then, maybe less.

I had to stifle a chuckle as she began throwing rocks into the pond, the one that represented peace and calm, constant balance. I had always thought that quiet, calm even-ness wasn't something to strive for, just an overly-flowered term for nothing-ness, and from Jordan's actions, it appeared she agreed.

I saw her stiffen before I noticed why, her head snapping to the right. I had been so focused on her, on watching her movements and trying to judge the reasons behind them, on reliving the memory of my first glimpse of her, I hadn't even felt the outsider's presence until a leaf crinkled.

A surge of emotions ran through me; disgust at myself for being so distracted that I hadn't noticed an intruder, surprise that something was so deep in our woods, anger, and embarrassment, a desire to protect my newest Clan member from whatever was out there. And then there was the logical part of me saying to wait, to see if the intruder was meeting her here, if she was expecting someone.

It was strange that she was out here, and nothing had dared trespass our forest until she came into it. First the Gorsche, and now this? It was the wise option to lay in wait and watch, and I knew it. So I bit down on my jaw and focused on altering how the world was seen by others, thickening my glamour until it hid me completely, bending the woods around me until I was invisible to the untrained eye. I felt my power lay itself over me, like a sheet that would hide me from curious eyes, making the spot I stood appear empty.

I watched as Jordan stood and glanced around once more, there was visible tension in her movements, and I quickly judged that she was just as surprised by the noise as I had been. I felt myself exhale, relieved she wasn't meeting someone here, relieved I wouldn't have to kill her, at least not tonight.

She quickly walked straight up the path towards me, her head bent but her eyes darting off from the path every few steps. Paranoid, I thought with a small curve pulling at my lips. It was interesting to see the mix of courage and fear in her. She seemed too stubborn to back down from any fight, even one she should, one she would lose, and yet she still showed more hesitant tendencies than would be expected of someone with her character.

I wondered how she would change the more time she spent with us, the stronger her blood became. A shiver ran up my spine, like a damp feather trailing the center of my back. She was about to pass me now, and though her eyes still nervously scanned the forest, she didn't glance to where I had cloaked myself, which was both a relief and a disappointment.

I had been worried that my glamours were weakening ever since Jordan had seen through the one in our woods upon our third encounter, and yet when this one worked, I felt oddly empty. I almost wanted her to be able to see me, really see me, but I shook the ridiculous thought. It was good that my powers weren't waning. I had a feeling I would be needing them.

Once she was gone, I spread my Sight as far as I could, searching for the presence.

Kael was on the roof, smoking and staring up at the darkening sky, burning little holes in his forearm before healing them with a muttered word. He had that look on his face, the sadness in his eyes, that meant he was thinking of Ambriel. He didn't even wince as he pressed the cigarette into his arm or when the blood began to bubble up from the blister.

I knew that kind of pain, the kind in your mind, your memories. The kind Angel names and healing words couldn't help, so strong that physical pain was actually a pleasant reprieve. My heart went out to my brother as the familiar gnaw of guilt settled back in.

I moved my Sight over the rest of the house, not being able to stomach watching him hurt himself anymore. Nevaeh was in her room, painting her toenails and playing with her throwing daggers. Nothing of note there, so I continued again. I could still feel Jordan as she was just about to the front door, her shoulders still tensed. I searched the rest of our woods quickly, as far as I could at least, but there was nothing, no one, no demonic stains, not even the shadow that one had been present, save for the waning tinge the Gorshe had left as it burned.

The thought that I was losing my mind flashed before me, but I ignored it. Jordan had heard the noise too. Something had been here. I made the executive decision not to tell Kael, he was already beating himself up about his alarms' malfunction in our woods. If he thought he had failed a second time, his confidence would suffer, and that would help no one. Whatever was going on at our front doorstep wasn't his fault anyway, it was something beyond what he could help, there was no other explanation.

Even if the presence wasn't a figment of my imagination, my mind still felt like it was slipping with everything that was going on. The city's Human-killer, now a second one going after Darklings, all the signs that something was coming, building, Jordan's appearance and all that would bring. I felt a step behind, at a disadvantage for the first time in years, and that strain alone was wearing down my mind.

Every Darkling feared nothing more than going insane, and there was a high rate in most bloodlines, but worrying that I was declining wouldn't help anything. I had heard far too many horror stories of men so terrified of going mad they actually caused it, their paranoia of going crazy driving them crazy. One thing was for certain though, the presence was now gone, simply vanished.

My head began to throb, either from the exertion of stretching my ability so far or the warring emotions of the evening.

How could something be in our woods? How could it have entered at all, let alone been able to disappear without tripping an alarm or being detected? Kael had close to doubled the security in the past few days, exhausting himself, yet it had made no difference. Nothing was making sense, and I felt myself getting frustrated, losing control. On the surface, I appeared calm, I was the leader, I had to be, but I could feel fear and anger welling up. I needed to find a solution, fast.

I went and sat by my mother, leaning my head back on her stone, thoughts of Jordan and what to do twisted in my mind, escalating my headache to sharp, jagged stabs. I thought of using an Angel name to numb it but found a small comfort in the pain, even when it became so great I cringed. I closed my eyes and breathed in the cold air, shivering against the early autumn breeze. I silently prayed for my mother's guidance, begging her to give me a sign. But just like every other time, I was met with silence, reminding me that I was alone.

Ooh, oh no, who's that? What was that? And what's really going on here?

I guess you just have to keep reading, don't you? But I promise, everything is answered in due time, I'm not like Lost, where I just ignore certain glaring holes and hope the audience doesn't notice, oh no, never.

And James! BB no!

I feel so bad for my characters sometimes. Stupid, sadistic writer...