Inside, the sounds of video game explosions sound from the living room. Catia entered through the kitchen, which was empty. Around the corner, she could see flashing lights from the television.

Skye was playing one of his games on the big screen. Focused on his video game, he didn't hear Catia enter.

She slammed her sheath of throwing knives onto the dining room table, making Skye jump at the sound. Catia smirked at his glare. He rolled his eyes at her and continued playing his game, shouting as someone shot and killed his character.

"Would you turn that off?" Catia asked as she continued removing her weapons.

"Did your hunt go okay?" Skye was setting the controller on the coffee table as the game loaded into the main menu. Energetic music played quietly in the background, while Skye turned to look at her.

"Pretty standard hellhound on the loose. It's now a pile of dust." Catia finished setting her weapons neatly on the table. "Where's Connor? I should go make my report so I can shower the monster grime off."

Skye didn't reply at first. His blue eyes, sharp as ever, narrowed on the blood on her hand. "What happened to your hand?"

Catia looked down at the wound, which still oozed with fresh blood. Trying to be nonchalant, she shrugged her shoulders, "I cut myself."

"You used your blood as bait again, didn't you?"

Catia rolled her eyes. "Maybe."

Skye let out a sigh. "You need to stop doing that. One of these days, you're going to give Connor a heart attack."

She gave her brother a sympathetic look. "I'm an adult and I can handle myself. Connor knows that, too. Where is he?"

"He's in his office. But maybe you should shower first because I can smell you from here."

Catia snagged an apple off the table's centerpiece and chucked it at his head. Skye, with his lightning quick reflexes, caught it easily and snorted a laugh at her.

He tossed the apple into the air and caught it with his other hand. He gave her a smirk before taking a bite.

Catia moved past him, ruffling his untidy black hair as she did. He let out a grunt of protest, but she just laughed in response. She moved past Skye's room and her own before she made it to Connor's office door. She tapped lightly on the painted white wood.

Connor's soft reply came, and she made her way inside. It looked like it always did. Bookshelves filled top to bottom with old volumes and journals lined the walls around the room, besides the wall with Connor's desk. Papers, messily scattered, obscured most of the desk. One of the filing cabinet drawers was cracked open, revealing the files inside. A safe was nestled into a corner, it's little red light blinking brightly, a sign that it was locked.

The shadows under Connor's brown eyes stood out even against his dark skin. Wrinkles lined the edges of his eyes, showing his age. Though, for a man who was nearing his fifties, Connor still appeared young. His muscled skin, tanned from the sunshine, was flecked with white scars. The worst of them were across his knuckles, where the suit didn't protect the skin. But he was physically fit, just as Skye and herself were.

For their line of work, it was rare to retire. Most died in service to the Guardians.

Connor turned towards her, a half-smile turning up the corners of his lips, but it didn't meet his eyes. "Here to make your report?"

Catia told him of her hunt, the tracking, how she'd killed it, and if there had been any complications. Monsters like hellhounds were commonplace enough that the details weren't necessarily important, especially since there hadn't been issues. Catia left out the bit about her wounded hand, which she kept hidden behind her the entire time.

When she'd finished, Connor nodded his head. "I'm glad it went smoothly. That's one less thing for me to worry about."

She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? What are you worried about?"

Connor gave a small laugh and rubbed his tired eyes. "I always worry about you and your brother. Ever since the two of you were left in my care, I've always worried. What if one or both of you didn't come back from a mission? I always worry that I haven't taught you enough. And I'm worried you'll start acting like normal kids and run away."

They both chuckled, but there was a heavy silence between them. There was never a choice to run away. Not in this life.

"Well, we've never been normal kids," Catia responded while she played with her ring behind her back. "But we're a family. We always have been. And besides, Skye and I are adults now. We're not teenagers anymore."

"For the love of Hera don't remind me of that. I feel old enough already." He gave her a genuine smile this time. "Well, I have some stuff of my own to sort out, and you probably want some rest."

Catia nodded and made her way out of his office, shutting the door behind her. Something felt off about Connor, like he was hiding something from her. Not that surprising since there was a lot he didn't feel like they should know. She knew he only wanted to protect them, but she was right. They weren't kids anymore.

She tried to push the thoughts out of her mind as she stopped by the infirmary to clean and properly bandage her wound. Catia felt bad for hiding it from Connor, but Skye was right. One of these days, she would probably give Connor a heart attack if she weren't careful. He had enough on his mind as it was.

When she finished, she headed into her bedroom and the attached bathroom. She stripped off her grimy suit and turned on the shower to wash the day from her skin. The hot water burned her, but she welcomed the familiar pain. She had to take extra care to not get her hand wet, but she made it work, regardless.

After her shower, Catia felt rejuvenated. Even though she should feel tired, she was restless. For a moment, she thought about heading down to the training room, but she figured her muscles had done enough for one day. And her hand was aching. So instead, she headed towards the living room, where she hoped Skye was still playing his video games.

Sure enough, Skye was still blasting away at people on the internet, screaming when some unknown assailant killed him. Catia rolled her eyes as she plopped herself down on the couch next to him.

"To the left," she said, just as the enemy to Skye's left shot him in the chest. "Or not I guess."

Skye let out a string of curses as he respawned, then headed back into the fray of virtual battle. Catia watched him with mild interest, laughing when he died in a fiery explosion from a grenade.

"It's not funny," Skye snapped at her. "My KD ratio is gonna bite after this."

Catia gave a snort. "I'll pretend I know what that is."

Skye didn't respond, just leaned forward and focused harder on his video game.

They didn't even realize Connor was behind them until he spoke. "Would you turn the game off?"

Without hesitation, Skye turned off the game. Both Catia and Skye turned to look at Connor, his face shaded with emotion. The look on Connor's face was one Catia didn't see often. In their world, death and darkness were everyday things, so when his face was this upset, something truly awful must have happened.

"I have some news and it's not pleasant news," Connor stated. "The Council has just released this information from Senior Guardians only to all levels of Guardians."

Catia and Skye shared a glance, but neither said a word. Information that was only shared with Senior Guardians typically stayed classified. To be released to the lower tiers of Guardians was strange.

"Throughout the year, an unknown source has targeted Guardian bases all over Europe and Asia. Our superiors wanted to keep this quiet and avoid the concern by North and South American-based Guardians. But recent events have changed the classification of this information. These attacks are cause for concern, because these attacks have completely decimated the bases."

"There were no survivors?" Catia asked. Her training told her that this wasn't the time to ask questions, but she wasn't able to resist. This news shocked her to the core. Fellow Guardians, being killed by an unknown party? It was odd.

Connor shook his head. "No. Every base was devoid of life. Only carnage remained."

Catia and Skye were silent for a moment. There wasn't much to be said. That much loss of life was crazy to think about. Guardians didn't make up a large sum of the population to begin with. This news meant that they were more endangered now than before.

"Why are you telling us this now?" Skye asked.

"The main Guardian base finally released this information because last night, a base here in the United States was attacked. There were no survivors. At least, not that we can tell."

Catia shuddered. "Where was the base located?"

"Florence, Oregon."

Even though it was the entire length of the country away from their base in South Carolina, it felt too close for comfort. A whole base of Guardians just wiped out. It was unnerving to think about.

"With the release of this information, the Council of Guardians wants us to take extra precautions. No unnecessary trips from the base. Wards should be fully functional and checked multiple times daily. Monster hunts are to be limited to emergency cases only."

Catia went to protest. "We can't leave here? Not even for routine monster hunts? And what's considered an emergency?"

Connor let out a long sigh. "I know these rules seem daunting, but they're only for our safety. We don't know why the Guardians are being targeted or how the wards are being broken. We've lost a significant number of Guardians over the past few months and the Council is concerned."

"How can we call ourselves Guardians if we stand by and let the monsters kill innocent people?"

"I say we ignore the rules," Skye said. "I will not stop protecting people because the Council says I can't."

"Unfortunately, you won't have much of a choice," Connor replied. "Representatives from the Council will be here in the next few days to administer a microchip."

Catia felt her anger rise. "Microchips? We aren't show dogs."

"I know it isn't ideal," Connor said. "But this is what the Council has decreed."

Not wanting to hear any more of this, Catia stormed off into her bedroom. Who did the Council think they were, demanding they be micro-chipped like animals?

Her bedroom was just as she'd left it; her easel in the corner sat with a half-finished painting, papers scattered on her desk and some well-worn books arranged in alphabetical order on her small bookshelf. The sense of unease that churned in her gut hadn't eased, even surrounded by the comfort of her room. She anxiously ran a hand through her light caramel-colored hair before she started straightening the papers on her desk, placing them where they should be.

When she finished, she made her bed and threw her clothes from earlier into her hamper. There wasn't enough to run any laundry yet, so she sighed and turned to her easel. The colors of a sunset smeared together, trying to form a cohesive image.

Trying to calm her mind and nerves, she picked up a paintbrush and dipped it into the oil paint still on her palette. The top layer was stiff, but below that, the paint was still pliable. She held the brush in her hand, the tip a few centimeters away from the canvas. Painting always calmed her down.

The brush made a soft scratching sound as she drew it across the surface of the canvas. The bright line of red she'd used stood out like a scar against the other, softer colors. Her hand twitched as she placed the brush back on her palette. With an angry sweep of her hand, she smeared a glob of paint across the canvas.

Even painting could not quell the anger that coursed through her. It was bad enough to keep the fact that bases were being attacked and that her fellow Guardians were dying in droves. But they had kept it from her.

Feeling more frustrated than ever, Catia headed to the infirmary to grab some pain medication for her hand and maybe something to help her sleep.

GAIA dispensed both to her in a small white cup and she took them gratefully.

She headed back to her room, where she crawled into her bed and closed her eyes. Thanks to the medicine GAIA had provided her, she quickly slipped into a dreamless sleep.