"She has obviously not come back to life. Clearly, she was not worthy of the ancient soul. A waste if you ask me."

It was black all around her. Darkness consumed her thoughts and left her immobilized while she heard the voice that was talking. Black flames held her down, ran over her body, but no light was emitted from their dancing figures. How was she seeing them if she couldn't even see herself? She could feel her body, but her mind didn't seem to be connected to it as none of it did what she wanted it to. She wanted to scream as a flash of panic touched her mind but her mouth didn't respond. What was going on?!

Stop moving. Keep still and wait. Soon you may open your eyes. You're not alone in this.

The voice... It was so comforting and familiar but she had trouble placing it. She had trouble placing anything really.

"Marric has gone mad and you know it. Killing her was the stupidest thing he could do. Now we have to wait for the ancient soul to bind itself again to a newborn and watch it grow. It will take forever! Besides, he had promised me I could have her for myself if she refused to cooperate."

That was the third voice she counted. The strange thing was only one of them seemed to come from somewhere else. From inside herself?

"Oh please, she would've killed you the moment she was alone with you. I'm sure Marric has a plan. You've seen how the drug finally works. He might not even need her damned soul after all. He has that filthy fake leopard now. If he can control that one, why not control the rest?"

It was the first female voice again. How come she only now registered it as female? At the mention of the drug, she started working against her flaming restraints again. Was she drugged? She wanted to break free, open her eyes to prove she wasn't drugged. The flames coiled stronger against her, pushing her down harder as she suddenly did feel something of her own body. It was small but felt like a victory. One eyelid was trembling, she could feel the tiny muscle pulsating against her eyeball. Could she maybe break free out of this black prison?

Keep still! You have to trust me so I can guide us through this!

Again that voice in her head. She wanted to trust it, it felt like the right thing to do, but on the other hand, she wanted to break free. With an internal sigh, she stopped trying to move. Stopped trying to connect her brain with her body and decided it would be best if she listened to the voice. Breaking free was something she could always attempt if this didn't work out.

"Excuse me? She wouldn't have dared to kill me. You saw it for yourself; she did nothing when she was being strangled! She was weak yet Marric still believes her to be his savior. The guy has gone mad. You should have seen him rage when she didn't come back to life. He believes all ancient souls possess nine lives. I expected nothing else than this. She has a human for a father for crying out loud! I don't believe she even had an ancient soul. The freak probably just shifted as a mistake."

It became silent once more. She tried to connect the dots in her head, tried to figure out what was happening. The name 'Marric' the voices mentioned did feel familiar but she couldn't place it. And just as she was thinking of where she knew it from, the name slipped her mind again leaving only a black hole in its place. As if she knew nothing. But she did know something. Just not what actually seemed important.

"Let's throw her body down here. It's far enough. The scavengers will do the rest."

Wait, what? Was that why she couldn't move? Why black flames seemed to eat her alive? Was she actually dead? Then why could she hear the two people talking to each other? She felt more confused than ever but tried to remain calm as the voice in her head had told her to. It was probably her voice trying to calm her. She felt like a maniac with that voice in her head.

Something cold seeped through her consciousness, pulling her away from just her mind to a state where she could feel something. She could feel the chill going through her body. She could actually feel her own body.

It's time to wake up now. Try not to cause a scene, will you?

She felt her eyelid starting to twitch again as the flames died down leaving her alone in the darkness. She started to feel heavy as if she had just re-entered her own skin. Nothing made sense but she could wake up.

'Open your damn eyes woman... ' This time it was her own voice resounding in her head and it was different than the other one.

The cold feeling started to creep through her fingers making her fingertips go numb as she spoke to herself. As she became aware of her fingers she forced all her willpower on her eyes and managed to slowly open them. Rays of light blinded her; drove the darkness away and soon the black was replaced by the most brilliant blue sky she had ever seen.

She gasped once. All of her muscles seemed to wake up. Her heart was beating loudly, her lungs filled themselves with air and she could feel the blood starting to move around. She gasped a second time and her whole body seemed to twitch and shake violently. A million needle pricks crawled across her skin, pinched her muscles as if her body had been asleep for an eternity. She could feel everything and she had no idea what had just happened. Slowly she pushed herself up and stared in amazement at the snowy field in front of her. When did she get outside? The last thing she remembered was her being inside, talking with Marric, or rather...shouting at him.

She gasped again as she moved her hand to her throat and examined it. She flinched as the slightest touch seemed to hurt as if she had just been... Everything rushed back into her mind like a tidal wave. New bits and pieces of information crashed against her brain, flooded her mind, and was immediately soaked up. Within a matter of seconds, she knew exactly what had transpired, and slowly she got to her feet. Her body worked remarkably well. She didn't feel dizzy, unsteady, or anything like that. If anything at all, she was more determined than ever.

Fire burned in her belly, she could feel the heat drive away the cold, dead feeling and she felt the anger rise from the depths of her mind. They had taken him, turned him against her, and had tried to use her for their own power. She clenched her teeth and balled her fists as she turned around to face the two people that had brought her here.

It was him, the man she had seen when they had first talked to Marric, the one that had kissed her in the bar, the one she had wanted to kill ever since that day. He was gaping at her as was his female companion who she didn't recognize. Both were standing there, stunned as she brushed her black hair out of her face.

Azura grinned at both of them and glanced at the knife the man had pulled. Her smile grew wider at the sight of it and slowly she looked back up until her eyes met his.

"You know, I once told my friends to never piss off a blue-eyed snow leopard." Azura took one step towards the two, snapping them out of their catatonic states as she kept on talking. "You guys apparently didn't get that message."

The power that started to run through her veins grew stronger and the hunger she had always felt during her nightmares started to rear its head. She craved it and for once she welcomed it.

She lunged towards the man with a speed that was unfamiliar to herself. Her hand wrapped around his throat and before he could even act, she kicked his legs out from underneath him and threw him down onto his back, pressing her knee onto the base of his throat. The woman shrieked loudly and hopped backward, tripping and falling herself. Azura punched the man in the face, breaking his nose in the process, and wedged the knife loose from his hand. From the corner of her eye, she saw the woman getting up again and without hesitation, Azura threw the knife in her direction with deadly accuracy.

Crimson blood spattered on the crystal white snow as the woman retracted the knife that was lodged in her chest. She fell to the ground, her hands clutched on the wound. Azura quickly turned back to the man who tried to attack her while on the ground. She pressed her weight down on her knee and felt one of his collarbones snap under her weight. He gurgled in pain as red spewed from his nose and he started blowing bubbles of blood from his mouth. Some burst, scattering tiny blood spatters all around.

Azura got up, releasing the pressure she held on his throat as he gasped for air, and calmly made her way to the woman. She was paralyzed in fear with her hands covering the wound, blood seeping through her fingers. Her blue eyes grew huge as Azura calmly knelt next to her and softly caressed the ash blonde hair out of the woman's face.

"Please... Please don't kill me..." The woman's plea came rushed as she swallowed trying to bite back the pain. Azura stared at her and gently cupped her face in her hand as if they were lovers.

"Don't worry. Death isn't as terrible as it sounds. The thing you should be afraid of is how long it'll take you to reach it." A devilish smile grew on Azura's face as she took the blade that lay beside the opposing shifter and dug it into her ribs a second time. The woman's eyes widened in anguish as Azura let the blade lodge in there for a moment. She didn't even struggle anymore, didn't even try to fight back. The lack of survival instinct was actually quite remarkable. With a sigh, Azura grasped the hilt firmly and pulled the knife out of her body again, watching as the blood made yet another red line on the snow. The wound was already seeping but now that the blade was out, the bleeding only got worse.

Azura trailed the sharp edge of the red-coated blade along the neck of her scared, and whimpering victim, leaving a fading trail of blood on her skin. Eventually, she moved it down her body in almost an erotic way, past her breasts and stomach to the inner thigh of the woman. This seemed to trigger something in the woman and she started whimpering louder and tried to crawl away while clutching her chest where the knife had been lodged in her body before. Both wounds would not be fatal, Azura knew, but the one she was about to make would be. Her pupils dilated as she felt her arousal rise.

With one slice, she opened the pants the woman was wearing. The woman tried pushing her away, pressing her bloodied hand in Azura's face and on her shoulder as the motions seemed uncontrolled and lacking any real power. It was quite fascinating to see how people reacted to an imminent death threat. The woman tried to struggle and fight but her body was paralyzed and the fight she put up was next to nothing. Both the man and woman had clearly not been trained as fighters. Azura shook the thought away as she sunk the blade deep within the inner thigh of the woman and twisted it around. The woman screamed out in agony as Azura withdrew the blade and watched the blood spurt out in bursts. A quick death as she had done before in her nightmares but as bloody as they could get.

Watching the red flow had always given her a form of satisfaction before in her nightmares, but now it did so much more for her. It was almost as if she was building up to a climax. A warm craving spread in her body as her heart rate increased at the sight of the snow turning crimson. She had to resist the temptation to reach out and push her finger into the wound and lick of the fresh warm blood that spurted out from it.

Azura got up and watched the woman gasp for air as her body quickly became deprived of all the life-giving fluid needed to keep her alive. It wasn't long before the light faded from her eyes and her body remained still on the once white carpet of snow. During the whole process, Azura's breathing had become more shallow and faster. She couldn't help but admire the contrast between the dark red and white snow before she turned back to where she had left the man. She wasn't done yet and the best part was yet to come.

He wasn't in the same place she had left him but it wasn't long before she found him on hands and knees trying to crawl to safety. She only had to follow the trail through the snow that he'd left behind.

She was surprised to find him partially healed already. He could breathe much easier and that was probably why he'd been able to move in the first place. Azura calmly knelt next to him, his terrified eyes finding her deadly calm ones. She gently wiped some of the blood away from his mouth, feeling him tremble under her touch as she did so.

"You know," Her voice was a soothing whisper as if nothing murderous was going on. "I really never did catch your name. It's no longer important though. I'm surprised and a little bit intrigued by you though. I now know why you were able to come to Pleyvale unnoticed. You can't shift so your scent is a lot different than those who can. You fooled everyone there just to get to me. Tell me, did you come out of your own accord or was it Marric who sent you?"

She waited for a response but the man had started shaking and trembling so bad he could no longer respond. Paralyzed by fear.

"Blink once if it was you, twice if Marric. Same goes for other questions. Once for yes, twice for no." Azura had grasped his hand as if he was a close friend she was soothing.

He blinked twice.

She could smell him. He had peed his pants just now. It made her blood run faster and she licked her lips in pleasure.

"Was it your idea to try to seduce me in the bar? Did you want to fuck me? Did you want to show your dominance over me so you could show to Marric that I was nothing but an unworthy piece of shit?"

The man looked away, not wanting to answer. His breathing hitched a couple of times as he tried to scramble away but his body would not cooperate. Azura grabbed his chin hard and jerked his face back so he had no choice but to watch her.

"Answer me!"

As the tears welled up in his eyes, he blinked once. Defeat was written over his face.

To hold this kind of power over one man almost had her moaning in pleasure. Every time she forced him to look at her; when his terrified eyes found hers, a buzzing sensation exploded in her lower stomach.

"Good. At least you're man enough to admit it. Last question. Are you scared of me?"

Azura tightened her hold on his chin as she felt him trying to pull away. A sobbing sound came from his lips together with some spit mixed with blood. It slowly trickled down his chin on her hand before gravity pulled it down to the ground.

He blinked once.

"Perfect. You should be."

Azura let go of his face and with one swift movement took the knife and slammed it down, pinning his hand to the snow-covered ground. The snow underneath slowly colored red as he stared in disbelief at the knife protruding from his hand. There was a short moment where she could see how his brain connected the knife in his hand to the blood that showed underneath and that it should hurt. His eyes widened, his pupils dilated to the max, his mouth opened but no sound emerged. He seemed to have lost his voice completely and Azura's lips curled up in a wicked sick grin.

Seeing him realize what had just happened made her feel like she was flying. Her heartbeat sped up and she was licking her lips and sometimes softly bit on her lower lip. The crazed look in her eyes could easily be mistaken for lust if it were any other situation.

Just as quick as she had planted the knife there, she withdrew it and pushed the man over onto his back to the ground. She swiftly moved on top of him and straddled his hips, placing the point of the knife underneath his chin. It wasn't piercing the skin just yet but if he were to move his head, it would. The panic in his eyes as she lowered her head to be mere centimeters away from his made her heart skip a few beats. She loved this thrill, loved the power she had over him and his pain only made her become more ecstatic.

"This is what you once wanted, is it not? Me, on top of you or are you more dominant and prefer to be on top? I'm just guessing this way is not the way you had imagined it to be."

He whimpered softly as Azura caressed his face with her free hand until she reached lower and her fingers wrapped around his throat. He was one pathetic heap of what used to be a man by now. There was a part of her that wanted to make this last as long as possible, to keep torturing him until she would reach her peak point, her point of release, but she didn't have the time to do so. It was a shame really but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy this moment for as long as it would last.

She squeezed her fingers tightly around his throat, making him feel exactly what she did in her last moments. He gasped, tried to hit her away with his hands, smearing blood over her clothes and snow. He lacked the power to do so though. She lowered her knife while strangling him. Moved it just like she had done with the woman, past his chest and in a waving pattern across his stomach until she stopped right above the seam of his pants.

Her breathing became as heavy as his was, almost non-existent. As he gasped for air she let out a small moan, not able to resist it any longer. He was turning blue and she knew the fun time was over.

Right as she let go of his throat, she buried the knife into his lower stomach and twisted it around. She couldn't tell if he was gasping for air after being deprived of it or because it was the pain that she caused. Either way, it was absolutely intriguing to watch. Azura scooted a little backward so she was straddling his upper legs now and moved his coat and clothes underneath upwards, exposing his stomach. Like she was cutting into wood, she carved open his stomach earning her a lot of blood and a pathetic screaming man underneath. The screams didn't last long. He passed out as she ripped the skin apart with the knife until she reached the underside of his ribcage.

It was a bit disappointing to have him pass out on her but nonetheless, she enjoyed the sight of her amateur surgical handiwork. It was amazing to see how much blood a human body could hold and she loved to see the white snow turn dark red. His body started convulsing and Azura got up, covered in his blood. She walked around and knelt next to his head. Slowly she opened one of his eyelids but the only thing she saw was the white eyeball with red veins running through them like lightning strikes.

He was gone.

An almost loving, sweet smile painted her face as she got up. She wiped the knife clean on a piece of her clothing that hadn't been stained yet and turned away from the body. At the same time, an overwhelming feeling of warmth and flames reared up inside her. It was so strong and so powerful, she stumbled a little as the heat spread across her limbs and seemed to set her on fire. The power scratched at her from the inside, tickled her nerves and every living cell in her body. She took another couple of unsteady steps before dropping down to her hands and knees as the full power of the Phoenix surged through her entire body.

I believe you are more than ready now, Azura. Welcome to your third life.