Of all the people they could have gotten, they got Damian.

Arching an eyebrow, he crouched down on one knee. "Well aren't you a pretty picture."

Dizzy, I looked up and attempted a snarl. Blood was all over me, everywhere, and there were ropes cutting into my skin. The moment Jasper went through the back door I had dragged myself up to go after him. And when no amount of persuading could convince me to do otherwise, and after I'd managed to ungraciously punched one of the men in the cheek, the decision had been made to bound me up. Now there I was trussed up on the ground, like a chicken sold for the pot, legs and hands tied.

Damian reached out a hand to touch my cheek and my teeth snapped. Even getting up the effort to do it made me die inside; every muscle in me had lost coordination it seemed, and now all I could do with clarity was to focus on breathing.

"Boy, they should have muzzled you as well."

He stood up. With his denim jeans, rolled-up sleeves and brown Converses, he looked out of place among the black-clad men. Walking over to one of them, I watched as he and the man exchanged words. There was a curt clap on the back, and Damian came back jingling some keys.

"Let's go, tigress." He whistled.

"Don't call me that," I managed to spit. "And I'm not some dog."

"You'll be one when you're muzzled," he tossed back cheerily, as two men picked me up bodily by the arms.

|*|

I could barely see the black sedan waiting for me on the kerb. By this time my legs were dragging on the floor, and the only thing that kept me up was the two men holding my arms. Sounds from the world were tiny in my ear, and my vision rolled all over the place.

Dimly I sensed someone opening the back door of the car and the other proceeding to shove me in. And dimly I heard Damian saying, "I'm not some cab driver. She can sit up front."

"She's a flight risk. Highly unstable," someone said.

"I can hear you," I mumbled as loud as I could. The wound was burning like holy hell.

"She won't try anything. She's half dead." Leaning in close, he tapped a light finger on my nose. "See?"

I tried to give him a snarky response, but I couldn't even summon up the minimum amount of energy to do so. Somewhere, my father's voice whispered.

Are you going to faint again? Huh? The girl who said she could take on the outside world?

Vehemently, I shook my head. Breaths heaving, I forced my eyes to open wide. I would not succumb to this, I was strong, I had to be strong.

Damian made a noise of pity. Then he pinched my cheeks with two fingers and pulled.

"See? She's completely powerless - "

I drew my head back and slammed it against his nose. There was a distinct crack as he staggered backward. I let out a gargled chuckle, and choked.

"Bloody fu - "

Blood began to run from his nose even as the two men gripped my arms and slammed me against the car. I screamed, as the bullet grinded even deeper. I screamed my head off, and swore, letting loose a string of curse words.

"You bastards! You jerks! You vile monsters, you imbeciles, you piece of sh - "

"Shut the hell up!" Damian roared.

Someone ran up with tissue. Damian pressed several layers against his nose and shot me a look of pure venom, which I gladly reciprocated.

"Put her in front," he said tersely. "I don't need her pulling tricks where I can't see."

I was pushed unceremoniously into the side passenger seat. The door slammed even as the driver's side opened, and Damian slipped in. For a moment he merely looked at me, gaze unfathomable.

By this time I was dazed and my body had decided, simply, to shut down. So when he leaned in close the only thing I could do was make a growl of protest.

"Shut your trap," he snapped. "I'm buckling your goddamn seatbelt. Unless of course you prefer to fly out the windscreen?"

The lights from a nearby lamp caught specks of ocean in his eyes. Being this close, his eyes were the only thing I could see in mine, and despite everything that had happened, if he had told me once again in this moment, that he was Thomas, I would have found it hard to say "no." But there was a scent lingering around him that I clung on for dear life, for that was the smell of Jasper's cologne - sterilized mint, clinic air - that told me that this guy was not Thomas, that though he might looked the same he was not Thomas, because Thomas would never associate himself to something so vile.

Damian looked up. And still, those eyes -

I squeezed my eyes shut, and at that moment realized how easy it was to just fall asleep, right there. I was just so tired.

"Oi." A snapping sound of fingers. "Don't die on me."

Even his voice seemed to come from another world.

"Hayley? Tigress?"

I mumbled something along the lines of don't call me that.

"Don't die on me. Hey!"

I wasn't dying. I was just tired, I just needed sleep. That was it. Sleep. Good sleep. Because sleep is essential to the betterment and recuperation of the body, a natural process in living . . . I was sleeping to . . . to . . . live . . . to . . . wasn't fainting . . . no . . . I -

|*|

 - woke up in a bed that wasn't mine.

Again.

Wincing, my eyelids struggled to open properly under the soft lights. I was looking directly up at a ceiling, and to my right were velvet drapes pulled across windows. As I turned my head, I could feel the silkiness of both bedsheet and pillow beneath.

Damian was about two feet away from the bed, disposing the last of things into an over-flowing rubbish can. I glimpsed a bloody bandage and looked over at my arm. It was all wrapped up, and though it ached, it didn't quite hurt anymore.

I opened my mouth to speak, but at that moment his phone rang. He drew it out of his pocket, and from where I lay, I could just about see his side profile. His jaw clenched and something in his face changed. His head began to tilt my way and I quickly snapped my eyes shut.

A pause. And then, brusquely - "What do you want?"

I held my breath.

"How I can trust you? You do realize you're asking me for a lot."

Carefully I opened my eyes, just a little, to see that Damian's back was facing me. Who was he talking to? Jasper? But that tone - he wouldn't dare use that tone with Jasper.

"Shut the hell up - don't you dare - you think you can just show up after all this time and order me around? Screw you."

Silence.

Damian's voice turned nasty.

"I've got your pretty little ex-girlfriend in bed beside me, what do you reckon I'll do with her? You do know both you and I look extremely alike; maybe, if I get her drunk enough - "

My breathing stilled and my blood ran cold.

"Eff. Off." I watched him slide an angry finger across the phone screen. Running a hand tensely through his hair he kicked the wall.

Closing my eyes shut I let my thoughts run wild.

Thomas.

That had to have been Thomas.

But why did he look for Damian? What for? He was in league with Jasper, wasn't he? He hosted the party Jasper and I went to, he owned the house. And now he wanted something from Damian - but Damian worked for Jasper, so couldn't he just asked Jasper to get Damian to do it? Unless . . . it was something he didn't want Jasper to know, so was he double-crossing Jasper?

He does have a knack for betrayal, I thought bitterly.

Damian swore, sudden and loud, and I quelled the instinct to flinch. There was the sound of something being pushed violently off the table.

Well, at least I have a reason to wake up now.

Groaning loud, I opened my eyes. "Where - "

"Jasper's house," was the curt response. "My room."

I sat up, slow. It was a bland little space, with next to nothing that revealed the type of person who slept here. Grey bedsheets, plain walls and a single coffee stain on the bedside table. Damian walked over.

"Leila called."

Chocolate fudge.

"I told her you had a small accident, and was with me. I didn't say anything about Emrys and managed to convince her not to make a police report. Lucky for us she trusts me."

"A horrible judgment on her part."

I eyed Damian. A single vein was pulsing on his temple, and though he tried not to show it it was clear he was still aggravated from the phone call. I pretended not to notice and got up.

"And where are you going?"

"Home. Can't stay among the trash now, can we?"

Damian stared. "Oh I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being trash. I do apologize for helping you, treating you, and getting the bullet out of your shoulder. I do apologize for carrying you all the way up the staircase to here because you goddamn fainted, and nearly dislocating a shoulder in the process because of your weight."

"I am not heavy - "

"Shut up. You are not leaving. I'll cuff you if I have to."

I crossed my arms. "And you are speaking more and more like Jasper every day. Proud?"

"Very. Because it's people like him that'll survive, people like him who gets the job done, instead of fainting all over the place and getting shot, and being foolish enough to be betrayed - twice."

The barb struck. "Shut up," I snarled.

"Or what? You'll faint again? A real damsel in distress, aren't you?" he sneered.

Oh, so that's how he wants to play? Fine. I'll play.

"It's better than being a lowlife creep that can never compare to his brother."

The sea-green eyes turned into hard stone. "Careful where you're going, tigress."

I inhaled through my teeth. "You want to know something? I've always wandered why you called me that. Tigress, I mean. Because we both know only Thomas does it, and we both know you aren't fooling anybody. But you still do it? Why? Because you want to be like him. Deep down inside, you know that Damian isn't as good as Thomas, and now that Thomas is gone, this is your chance to be him - "

With two strides Damian was bunching up the collar of my shirt. His eyes blazed, and his words were almost unintelligible in the harsh tone of his voice.

"I said, shut up."

I lifted my chin. "Why? Did I hit the nail on the head?"

"No, but you just hammered one into your coffin."

I made a sound of scorn. "You're going to kill me? You were asking me not to die an hour ago. Ah, how people change."

Damian scoffed. Letting go of me, he stepped back.

"A smart mouth. That's all you've got, don't you? You can't do anything, so all you can do is run your mouth. Since you told me a little something about myself, let me tell you a little something about you. I'd never understood why Jasper keeps you around. A fiancee? What? Dude's got a dozen other girls begging for his hand in marriage. And he chooses you. Why?"

Damian leaned against the dressing table. "Because you're powerless. You can't do jack. There is absolutely nothing you can do right. Give you a mission, and what do you do? Screw up. Failed your father. Failed your brother. I mean, seriously - are you even doing anything now? Jasper's holding the reins of this entire finding-the-will thing. You've been relegated to the sidelines. He knows you can't fight back, ever, and that's why he keeps you. He's using you to keep your father in line, you know that? Your old man's a bastard that ain't gives a damn about you, but you're still blood. Plus he knows if the rest of Blackcroft finds out about the will missing he's dead. He needs this whole thing to be quiet, so he needs to do what Jasper says.

"And let's not even get to the topic of your friends." Damian actually burst out laughing. "Who makes freaking friends? What right do you have to make friends? You don't belong with them. We are the people that they have nightmares about! We are the people that break into their homes, corrupt their lives, threaten their safety, and pretty much ruin whatever happiness they have! It's bad enough you messed up your own life, now you're gonna mess up theirs too? Because Jasper's gonna use them, you know. He's gonna use them to keep you in line. Kaylan's got a nice fancy scar now. Emrys is probably dead. And all because of you."

He didn't move but leaned forward, sneering. "And the best part? You asked for it. You took the mission. You wanted this. And now - this is what you have done."

In the mirror behind Damian, I could see my face turn white. For a long, long moment, I didn't move. For a long, long moment all I did was just stand there, watching the hands of my reflection shake.

People get pissed when they hear something they can't deny. And I? I was livid.

A strangled noise roared in the base of my throat as I swung my hand back and went for the punch. But of course I didn't made it. With my fist gripped in the palm of his left hand Damian said, mockingly,

"Why? Did I hit the nail on the head?"

Just like that, he twisted my wrist and jerked my hand down. I was furious, he was incensed, and the air in the room trembled.

Stepping even closer he said, "Make up your mind, Hayley. You've got a foot each in two worlds now. And that kind of balance will never last.

"It's either one or the other. Which side do you choose?"

|*|*|*|*|*|*|

No gifs in this chapter? GASPS!

This is for swetalinbw ! Thanks for all the love!