CW: drinking blood

Adriel and Julias are still soaked hours later, cold iron cuffs biting their wrists.

"So if you're not going to kill us-" Adriel lashes his foot out, just narrowly missing the guard's leg- "what are you gonna do with us?"

"That's not for me to tell," the Petal replies. "Shut up and behave or you'll be gagged like your friend."

Julias looks at Adriel and rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, can you ungag him?" Adriel asks. "If you want me to shut up you're gonna need to let him talk."

"I cah hak."

"No you can't. Shush."

"I'm going to gag you if you don't shut up."

"Then gag me." Adriel sticks his tongue out at the Petal's back. "I will still find ways to irritate you."

"Okay." The Petal turns and thrusts a piece of fabric into Adriel's mouth, tying the ends together behind his head.

Julias starts humming a song severely offkey. Adriel recognizes it as Rare American's Brittle Bones Nicky 2 and immediately joins in with the backing vocals.

"Stop it," the Petal hisses. The duo continues, grinning at each other when the Petal growls. "If I take the gags off, will you stop?"

Adriel and Julias cut off their humming in the middle of the chorus. The Petal sighs and turns, pulling their gags off of their mouths roughly.

"Well that was rude," Julias remarks.

"Do you have a plan to get out of here?" Adriel whispers, keeping his eyes trained on the Petal. Julias shakes his head.

"I don't. I figured we wait until they bring us to wherever to do what they want and try to escape then."

"How long until they come for us?" Adriel spits at the Petal, smirking when the glob lands on the back of his thigh.

"Disgusting," he mutters, wiping the back of his thigh off with a gloved hand. "They'll come for you as soon as they're ready."

"Hello, Urbyie." A woman and a man step through the doorway, nodding to the Petal. He bows, hand against his sternum and the other on his stomach. "Have our guests been behaving?"

"You in charge?" Adriel calls. "Mind letting us out of the cuffs?"

"You don't speak to council members like that!" Urbyie whirls around and slaps Adriel who just chuckles in response.

"We're not from here, so your authority means nothing to me," he says. He spits at Urbyie again, this time hitting his cheek.

"That's enough." The man steps forward and grabs Urbyie's wrist before he can hit Adriel again. "You can go."

"What's your name?" Julias looks at the man as Urbyie stomps out of the room.

"Bikfed." He reaches down and unlocks Julias's cuffs, then Adriel's. "My colleague is Wukber. We serve on the council."

"Again, not from here." Adriel stands and rubs his red wrists. "That means nothing to us."

"The council is a group of representatives from each race." Bikfed smiles as Julias stands.

"We apologize for the rough accommodations." Wukber steps forward, offering her hand out to Julias to shake. Julias eyes it warily as Adriel's muscles tense, prepared to jump into a fight.

"Relax, Marol." Bikfed nods at Adriel.

"That's not my name." Adriel tilts his head. "Zayn Alexander Smith, pleasure to meet you."

"A jokester," Wukber remarks, smiling. "You're just like they said."

"I have no clue who or what you're talking about," Adriel states.

"Stop trying to antagonize them," Julias hisses, smacking Adriel's arm. He looks at him and shrugs.

"If you'll follow me, gentlemen, we can get started." Wukber turns and walks out of the room. Bikfed waits until the duo's walked out to follow.

"Where are we going?" Julias jogs forward, falling in line with Wukber. Adriel quickly moves to walk next to him.

"It's a surprise," Wukber says, winking. "I think you'll like it though."

"Somehow I don't think so." Adriel grabs Julias's arm, pulling him closer.

"What?" Julias whispers, looking over at Adriel. He shrugs, turning his head to look forward.

"I don't want to be separated," he whispers back. "And holding you seems like the best way to do that."

"You're the last person I want touching me, but you're right." Julias pulls his arm from Adriel's grasp and slips his hand into Adriel's.

"Holding hands?" Adriel looks at Julias with a deadpan expression. "Really?"

"Well, you holding my arm was bound to get uncomfortable."

"So you decided to hold my hand."

"Yes."

"You're insufferable."

"Oh, big word!"

"It's just down here." Bikfed pushes open a door, revealing a staircase. Julias squeezes Adriel's hand before pulling him down the stairs.

"Hey!" Adriel whirls around as the door closes, locking eyes with Wukber. "You're still here. Okay."

"Where'd Bikfed go?"

"He'll be along in a moment." Wukber tilts her head and smiles. Julias's stomach twists as a wave of wrong rolls over his body.

"There's something off about her," he murmurs. Adriel nods in agreement, studying the woman.

"I don't know what it is." Adriel looks at Julias. "Let's just go alone with this for now. I've still got my knife so if she attacks I can at least fight back a little bit."

"We don't want to keep our friends waiting, do we?" Wukber steps past Adriel and Julias, eliciting a growl from Adriel when her shoulder brushes Julias's. "Let's keep moving."

"You still haven't told us where we're going." Adriel pulls Julias down the rest of the stairs and through a black doorway.

"We're here." Wukber gestures to some chairs set up at a table filled with plates and platters. "Take a seat anywhere you want."

Julias tugs Adriel over to the table, sitting in a chair on the left side of the table and releasing Adriel's hand. Adriel takes a seat next to Julias, eyeing Wukber warily.

"Where's everyone else?"

"Why, they're right there."

Adriel turns his head as silver cuffs trap his arms to his chair.

"Hey!" he yelps, his ankles cuffed too. "Son of a fuck."

"You're not surprised like your companion." Wukber crosses the room and traces a finger down Julias's chin. "Why not?"

"I expected to be double-crossed by someone." Julias shrugs. "Figured it'd be Sifsh or Vauer."

"So if you knew this was going to happen, do you know what's going to come next?" Wukber straightens and walks to the other side of the table, resting her hands on the back of two chairs.

"No clue."

"Good." She smiles again and it finally clicks what's wrong with her. "Attack."

"Her smile doesn't reach her- hey!" Adriel thrashes in his chair as someone tilts his head back and forces open his mouth. He comes face to face with an smirking Illusionist.

"Let go!" Julias tries to pull his head out of the grasp of an Ember, her fingers burning his cheeks.

"Do it," Wukber orders. Adriel coughs as drops of something cold lands in his mouth.

"Stop it!" Julias jerks his head up, trying to escape the Ember's grasp. "Let me go!"

"Stop struggling." The Illusionist digs his fingers into Adriel's cheeks, keeping his mouth open. Adriel's eyes move to look at his bleeding hand and then he's spluttering, trying to get the blood out of his mouth.

A stream of water hits his tongue, forcing the liquid mix down his throat. His face is released and he jerks his head up, coughing.

"And this one I'll take pleasure in doing myself." Wukber strides over to Julias and holds her hand above his mouth, cutting her palm with a fingernail.

Julias coughs as the blood hits his tongue, trying to get it out. Wukber lifts a glass of water and pours it into Julias's mouth as Adriel lets out a blood curdling scream.

"Have fun." Wukber opens both of their cuffs and leaves the room. Julias stands and then collapses, screaming in pain. Fins sprout from his wrist and scales tear their way through his skin under his eyes.

Adriel writhes on the ground as wings grow from his back, horns ripping through his forehead.

He gasps and hits the ground as an eye begins to burn. He looks over at Julias with one good eye, watching scales pop up along his skin.

Question of the chapter: how many of you thought Adriel and Julias were going to become hybrids? I honestly didn't think about doing that until I was writing the previous chapter.