The plan was hatched quickly, or maybe that's how every hunt with the Clan went. The only two I had ever been a part of, the wolves and the cemetery, came with little notice and a short timeline too.

Kael had a heavy hunch of where the Skia were gathered, or at least the general area, as he got close on his last solitary prowl, resulting in the group coming for them, tracking him to the hotel, and creating the need for their daring escape.

Within ten minutes we were packed, 'checked out' via Nevaeh's gift, and in another cab. I was getting really sick of taxis. Though the driver immediately forgetting about us was rather convenient, and finally being able to talk freely outside of our short minutes in our warded motel room was a bonus. Being able to talk openly turned out to be invaluable, as only two in the car had ever faced Skia, and I only knew what Spade had told me.

Kael explained that they gave up their souls for their powers, but that there was still a cost each time they used them, a debt they had to pay, some action or ritual. Apparently their souls weren't enough. He said that burning their 'mark' from their maker could strip them of their power, though nothing could return their souls to them. When they died they became Shafes, partially in our world, partially beyond, but controlled by the one who owned them.

The car was quiet as his words sunk in, as James bit down on his teeth, making that shelf stand out in his thin cheeks. I knew what we should do, what I should advocate for - incapacitate each of them, burn their sign off, let them live on as broken little Humans, soulless but also powerless, no more a threat than a common criminal. But I also knew that wasn't what I wanted to do, what James wanted, or Kael and Nevaeh for that matter. That wasn't what we would do.

The Skia weren't just Human anymore, and this hunt was personal. Even if they were only common criminals without their mark, setting an organized group of soulless Humans on the unsuspecting city, especially if they were linked to the Collector, wasn't a good option. And though giving him a whole new arsenal of Shafes wasn't desirable either, it was the lesser evil. Or that's what I told myself, how I justified what I was about to do. I already felt my nature smiling at the coming bloodshed, Human or not.

I wondered if I should feel guilty for killing them, if I would. But that same part of me that was grinning with pointed teeth had already answered that too. The giddy feeling in my chest, tightening in my core, prickle across my skin in anticipation told me this was the closest to releasing my true nature as I could get away with, without losing myself along the way.

Kael was still silent, almost like he was waiting to see which of us would say it. I expected James to, but he merely rolled his shoulders, releasing the tension and cracking his neck before looking to his brother.

"This is your fight, your decision. What do you want us to do with the Skia?"

Kael smiled, and I could have sworn his eyes flicked black before he answered, though his dark lashes and naturally dark irises could have played a trick in the light.

"Let's send your father a message."

Nevaeh directed the cabby to worn apartments that had taken up residence in an old warehouse, marking the end of the city's sprawl before the industrial sector took over along the outskirts. Kael told us to follow him, but I could have found my way the last half mile by instincts alone.

My Shift rolled in me, arching at the feeling in the air, the stench that didn't meet my nose, but instead slunk through my bones. It lead me as much as Kael did toward the source. More than a stench, it was a stain, one I could follow, find. I was drawn to it, but not for awe or because of its power like I had felt for the Collector, but because I was disgusted by it and wanted to destroy it. Something in that feeling, that stench or stain, begged me to end it, to stomp it out.

I glanced to James and was met by jet black eyes. There was no one out here to see us, so I let my Shift slip over me too, feeling the air sizzle around our power, feeling it's thrum. The look Nevaeh gave Kael wasn't lost on me, at the crossroads of wary and impressed, before his eyes darkened and he smirked at his pair, showing teeth like a demon. Nevaeh quickly followed suit.

Ailech looked calm as ever, despite being a Human amongst four Shifted Darklings, and one of the strongest Clans of its time. He had been suspiciously quiet for the ride, the walk, and I wondered if he was scared, deep down, though his pride would never allow him to admit it. This might be the first fight he had ever been in, at least since his family had been slaughtered.

I knew he wouldn't be a real part of the fighting, and I was glad. I finally agreed with Abby, at least in this case - he was only Human, just a man, he could practically die by tripping on the uneven sidewalk. This was my time to protect him, to pay him back for being my keeper at the Vault, and I knew I would. He was already as good as walking out of there, unscathed and overly-confident.

"They use guns with an electrum poison, something that makes your Shift die, your powers wither away. It makes your blood try to leave you any way it can."

Kael didn't look back at us as he lead the group. I wondered if he could feel the pull toward our destination like I could, or if he merely remembered the way.

"So, don't get shot. It took Kael days to recover from barely a nick. I don't want to know what would happen if that poison got into Halfling blood."

Nevaeh spoke without a hint of disdain in her voice as she mentioned our blood, and it made something pull in my chest, even through my Shift. She was warning us, wishing us luck in the same breath as she acknowledged what we were. It was the closest to acceptance I had heard from her.

"Electrum doesn't hurt me."

Ailech stated from somewhere behind me, breaking his silence and reminding the group that we weren't all Darklings.

"But bullets do. Stay behind me and don't make me heal you, mage."

Kael replied not unkindly, turning to look at Ailech, who looked so small next to Kael. Ailech apparently didn't like being babied by the Clan's newest leader, and stared Kael down. Though his glare lost most of its effect as he had to look up to meet Kael's black eyes.

"I can heal myself from a few bullets along with all of you before you'd get two Angel names out. I'm here for a reason, even if you haven't seen it yet."

Kael shrugged, glancing to me as if to say he was my responsibility, so I could deal with it, before turning back up an alley. Soon we emerged and saw it. Though it looked the same as the other large, brick buildings spanning an entire block, I knew it was theirs. I could feel the wrongness of whatever was inside, festering like an infection. I suddenly didn't doubt my decision to kill them. They weren't Human, they were abominations that had given up the only valuable and redeeming thing they owned for fleeting power.

Kael raised a hand to stop us, seeming all too natural at leading. James halted like a good soldier, his eyes still black, pinned to the building that he apparently could feel in his bones too.

"I don't know how many or all of their powers, but last time there were eight. I know there are more total, many more, though not all of them might be in right now. Regardless, don't dawdle, be efficient and fast. Check each room, move through methodically, I want no survivors. I want the only way for the Collector to learn about this massacre is to send some pet to check. And then I want them to have to report back that they're all dead, that we're back and that he couldn't break us apart. I want him to feel this loss."

Kael's voice sent a shiver up my spine, and my giddy need for violence made me feel lightheaded. I smiled as we walked, I couldn't help it.

» ✦ «

We walked in like we owned the place, right through the front door. They had no wards, no traps, they were only Human after all, and cocky. They thought no one would dare come for them. They thought they were little gods, but they were children to us. Their small tricks were nothing to creatures who had been born with real power, creatures who had been brought up in a world of power, not just gaining them a few weeks or months ago.

The Skia probably didn't even know that their shiny new powers still didn't put them anywhere near the top of the food chain. And so we waltzed in and showed them what real power was, and who was truly at the top of the Earth's pecking order. A handful were dead before the rest of them even knew we weren't friends or new recruits. Then chaos broke.

Kael smashed his way through them with his clubs, leaving disfigured broken bodies in his wake, going for debilitating instead of death to incapacitate as many as possible as quickly as possible, before they could begin using their powers. James sliced anyone within arms reach, lighting up anyone else who tried to run from him, and Jordan danced like I had never seen her move before, finally the equal of James, finally moving and killing like a Half, like his True Pair.

She had changed in her time away from us, from the Clan, and though she was now more a Half than she had ever been, she wasn't worse like a Half should be. In fact, she was better, worlds better than she had been. Calmer, more controlled, but also softer, at least to us, to James - not to the Human scum that she was now destroying. Those that tried to flee her had their knees broken by hammers of air, or their hamstrings sliced through by invisible razors, screaming on the ground until she made her methodical way to finish them. She and James were unstoppable, a wave of inescapable death, they probably could have taken on the Skia's best all on their own. Two versus an army and I still knew who I'd put my money on.

This many Skia should have been a challenge, and would have been if they were organized, prepared, if they hadn't been caught off guard, if they had been trained. But they were just Humans with stolen gifts they barely knew how to use. When one of the smarter ones finally got to their weapons and let off the first shot, their body was spread across the room before the bullet even landed harmlessly in the far wall. James used his Sign until the gun glowed a bright red on the floor, preventing any of the others from considering it - not that any of them would have, with the panic in their eyes and minds clouded with fear.

Ailech stayed back, wisely, though it didn't seem to be out of fear. Instead his eyes tracked every enemy, watching to see if any of them would get in a hit that needed healing, a wound he could fix. And though he glanced to Kael and myself a time or two, his focus was on his charge - Jordan. No, he was watching them both equally, diligently, both James and Jordan, like they were his treasures.

I had listened to the argument in the motel, heard the prophesy mentioned. And now I had confirmation of what I had already put together, both Jordan and James were needed to kill his father. And Ailech, he must play an integral role too. I pondered what else was in the prophesy as I wrapped my whip around a woman's throat who was attempting to curve a bullet into my pair's back. I pulled until she stopped twitching, her hands falling away from her bloody neck. I watched the floor until I saw dust marks from the invisible one from our ambush, wrapping my whip around her core and yanking back with a satisfying sound.

Then I felt it. A searing pain poured over me, for a moment I thought James had betrayed us, or made some mistake and was using his Sign on me, but then the heat changed to needles and I screamed as I fell to my knees.

» ✦ «

Nevaeh fell and my world slowed. I hadn't heard her scream like that, in pain and panic, since we dragged her from her sister's body years ago and something in me snapped as I heard that sound leave my pair's lips.

A woman strode toward her with a gun in her hand, aiming it at my pair as she stayed on her knees, her eyes squeezed shut. Then I saw the slight shake and I knew what the woman's gift was: pain. Before I could take a single step toward her, Jordan was there, as fast as I had ever seen her move, as fast as James could move, like space and distance meant nothing to her. She stood between the woman and Nevaeh and my pair instantly seemed to recover, her eyes opening and her ridged body relaxing.

The pain-giver settled her eyes on Jordan, and though I saw her shoulders tense, her hand jerk slightly at her side, showing she was the new recipient, she stayed standing between the woman and my pair. A cold smile touched the corners of Jordan's mouth as the woman looked shocked, and then she simple ceased to be, a fine mist of red in the air and a pile of guts strewn back three yards. Before Nevaeh even got to her feet again, Jordan had moved on, slicing through others, leaving a trail behind her that was somehow equal yet unique from James'.

I had forgotten in our time apart just how far beyond me James was, and now, how equaled he and Jordan were. In that moment I knew I would never have to be the leader of the Clan again, not really. I would be a more equal member, but not the leader. And with that thought in mind, I smiled and continued to fight my way further into the chaotic den.

I know I haven't updated in a few days. And I know these are a little shorter than Book II chapters, but I'm writing this directly into Wattpad from my phone - yes, essentially texting this whole novel. So I'll proof and edit and decide on true chapter breaks once I get all of Book III's storyline down and the whole thing out.

Comment and star to encourage me to not be lazy. Because we have big things coming for my dear Clan before they arrive at the Vault. You know me.

But it's 2AM here and I had 9 hours of class today, plus work, plus work tomorrow. So, good night & sleep well.

T