S A M

I led her back to the main room. Jax was sitting on the chair, looking deep in thought. Chrissy was pacing around, chewing on the joint of her right index finger. She had something that seemed like a letter in her other hand. I could immediately sense something wasn't right.

"There you are," Chrissy stopped and turned towards me. She held out the letter and I took it. It was sealed inside the envelope with a wax seal. And on the wax seal...

"Why now?" I hissed under my breath for the second time that day.

"We were waiting for you to open and read it, see what they wrote," Jax stood up from his seat.

I sighed and took the letter from her hands. Cherry peeked over my shoulder curiously as I opened the envelope and took the letter out.

Chrissy and Jax immediately came up beside me to read it.

"Dear Samuel,

I'm sure this letter will reach you in perfect condition. No off topic things, I'll be straight to the point.

As you know, lately Cerberus Eye has been increasing in their vile activities, and we just had to do something about it. So, we decided to do something about it. But we know we couldn't hold up against their large numbers. Yes, we're going to propose exactly what you're thinking we'll propose.

So, Twilight Raven, will you like to ally with us against Cerberus Eye? I know it's not an easy decision. With their cruel nature, you think twice before putting your members, family, whatever you'd like to call it, up to fight them.

So, with your answer, come to Sakura Park on Saturday at 4:00 pm, and we'll discuss it if you'd like.

Sincerely,
Tyler Kennedy/Heaven's Shadow"

C A D Y

I saw Sam take deep breaths, trying to calm himself. I gently placed a hand on his bicep, my thumb stroking his skin. His amber eyes snapped towards me and a shadow cast over them. It seemed kind of... sad.

"What does this all mean, Sam?" I asked him quietly.

"I'm sorry, Cherry," He mumbled, before turning around to face me. He placed firm hands on my shoulders, and brought his head down to be at my eye level.

"I, Chrissy, Jax, and the twins, together we're all a gang called Twilight Raven,"

I was glad his hands on my shoulders were holding me up, because I felt my knees go weak. Twilight Raven? But...

"What is it?" He asked, gently tucking a lock of hair behind my ear, "You look scared."

"I am," I admitted, "a bit. I mean, all of the stories about you guys. You're just three people, and you manage to raid a warehouse full of goons to save a kidnapped child. It makes you seem really scary to be honest."

"Well you've seen us," Chrissy smiled, "Do we look scary to you?"

"The thing is, when we want to be scary, we're going to be damn scary," Jax explained, "But it's only towards people who aren't our friends, or dare to hurt our friends. You're one of our best friends now, Cady, you don't need to be afraid of us."

I breathed in, and out. In, and out, Cady.

"I understand," I looked up to meet his eyes again and gave him a small smile.

"Cherry, would you like to join us too?" Sam asked, once again throwing me off, "Tyler is going to interrogate us if we bring you along with us, and you're not a member."

"Yes," I said without thinking. His eyebrows furrowed.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep."

"Okay then," Sam looked at Chrissy, "Chrissy?"

"On it!" She said a tad bit happily and immediately went to one of the drawers. She took out a little stamp and an ink pad and brought it to us.

"Where would you like your mark to be?"

Hmm, somewhere not too revealing, so...

"I'll have it on my shoulder." I grabbed the neckline of my shirt and slowly tugged it off so half of my shoulder was bare, except for a thin white strap. Sam looked a bit displeased as I did this, and I noticed he slowly shifted a bit more in front of me.

He held out his hand towards Chrissy who handed him the inked stamp. He spun me around so my back was facing him. I just hope he doesn't notice the long scar that ran across my back.

I let out a gasp as I felt his finger lightly trace the part of the scar tissue that he could see. He didn't question it thankfully.

I felt the wet, sticky surface of the stamp on my shoulder and then it was away.

"Just give it a few seconds, it dries quickly," Sam said from behind me, an edge to his voice.

I nodded and could feel it dry on my skin.

"Is it dried yet?" I asked.

"Yeah, you can pull your shirt back up now."

I did, and his tense shoulders relaxed. 

Jax looked at the clock on the wall, "we have half an hour before four."

"Good, that's quite enough." Sam nodded, and I froze as he took a hold of my wrist.

"Come on," He started going to his room, pulling me along. I let him, my mind racing with thoughts.

Shit, what was I going to tell him?

He closed the door behind himself and turned to me, the same shadow over his eyes. Though it seemed more angry than sad.

"Cady," He started, and I wrapped my arms around myself tightly. He had never called me Cady before. Just Cherry. He had called me Cady, meaning he was obviously very serious. That fact alone scared me.

"Cady, explain."

I shook my head. I didn't know if I was more afraid of my family or him right now.

"Are you frightened of someone?" He asked, his voice a bit more soft then before.

I nodded, not knowing what the hell inside made me do that.

"Do you have more of those?"

When I was quiet, he got his answer.

"Is that why you wear basically full coverage clothes?"

I nodded again, my mind blank.

He pursued his lips tightly, going quiet for a moment.

I then felt his hand cupping the side of my head. I shut my eyes tightly.

"If there's anything, Cady," He said gently, "I'm here."

"Okay," I whispered, my throat very dry suddenly.

He removed his hand and gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze before opening the door.

"Relax, I'm not mad at you," He gave me a warm smile, which for some reason, made me feel fuzzy, "I'm only mad at the people who did this."

"Sam?" I quickly said as he turned around towards the door, his fingers lacing with my own.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Anytime, Cherry, anytime."

-----

We had arrived at Sakura Park and were now looking for Heaven's Shadow.

My eyes landed on something. There was a young man, just Sam's age. He was walking around and looked very mad, his fists clenched. Beside him, a head with aubur-Faye? She had her hand on his shoulder, and was softly saying something to him, presumably trying to calm. Behind him, three more young men walked, talking to each other.

The young man's green eyes landed on us and he turned the direction of his paces towards us. The others followed him.

"There you are," He snarled, and Sam growled back. He had shiny red-gold hair, and was honestly, very handsome.

"Tyler..." Faye said to him, her hand on his arm, a not so happy expression on her face.

"Faye?" Jax's eyes widened.

"Shit, they're hot," I heard Chrissy, who was standing beside me mutter. And I agreed with her, a small smile forming on my face. But not as hot as someone else...

Another one of the young men, came between Sam and the man Faye had called Tyler, his hands on their shoulders. He had striking red hair and hazel eyes. 

"Now, now, gentlemen," He said, sounding much more calm, "Don't start a fight."

"There are ladies present," another one of them said, "You could possibly hurt them." He had brown hair and beautiful gold eyes.

"That doesn't mean we should fight when they're not present," the last one, the one with black hair and blue eyes, and looked very emo, muttered.

"Just don't start a fight." Chrissy suggested, "The others would very much appreciate it if you two brutes not brawl it out."

Tyler's eyes narrowed at her.

"Christine," He said simply, "Your tongue is as sharp as ever, I see."

He then trained his eyes on me, and I felt like hiding behind Sam's muscular body.

"And who is this new lady?" He asked.

"Let's get to our headquarters, then we'll talk all we want." Jax said and the others quickly agreed.

So we all went back to the warehouse in the SUV we had came here in.

-----

Now we sat in a room, on couches and armchairs.

The twins, I had learned from Chrissy, were thankfully asleep.

Tyler and Sam still glared at each other. I sighed mentally.

"Now why don't we introduce ourselves, and where our marks are?" The red-haired one from Heaven's Shadow said.

"We'll go first." Jax stood up.

"I'm Jackson Black, a member of Twilight Raven, and my mark is on my lower back."

After that, Chrissy stood up confidently, "Christine Hudson, a member of Twilight Raven, and my mark is on my arm."

Sam stood up as she sat down, "Sam Carter, leader of Twilight Raven, and my mark is on my abdomen."

As he sat down, he nudged my in the elbow, and I stood up, swallowing down a lump in my throat.

"Cady... Carter," I decided on my surname, "a member of Twilight Raven, and my mark is on my shoulder."

"So you're new?" Tyler looked at me, his eyes observing me closely.

"Yes."

"And you're related to Sam?"

"His wife."

A smirk took over his neutral features as he turned his gaze to Sam.

"You didn't tell us you got married, Sam," He said teasingly, "But then again, we aren't good friends." Sam nodded in agreement

The black haired one from their group stood up, "Amos Smith, a member of Heaven's Shadow, and my mark is on my neck."

Amos sat back down on the couch.

The brown haired one stood up next, "My name, is Lord Earl Meenerburg! Bow before me, peasants!" The red-haired one and Faye huffed small laughs, while Amos and Tyler facepalmed, sighing.

"Mason, please, snap back to reality for once," Tyler shook his head, a barely there smile on his face.

"And my emblem is on my chest." He said hurriedly and sat down, "It is sacred, and only those who prove themselves worthy will-ow!" Amos smacked him in the back of his head. I already liked these guys.

Mason sat back down, his arms crossed, grumbling to himself.

"Tyler Kennedy, leader of Heaven's Shadow, and my mark is on my arm."

Faye stood up after he had introduced himself without even standing up. Well, he's stubborn.

"Faye Stone, member of Heaven's Shadow, and..." She trailed off, and nudged Tyler sharply in the shoulder, whining, "Ty..."

"Her mark is on her right upper thigh," He said, rolling his eyes, then pinched the bridge of his nose, mumbling to himself, "Honestly, when will you people grow up?"

"No wonder we never spotted the mark," Chrissy said, sitting with her legs crossed. That girl was wearing denim shorts that revealed her gorgeous legs. Didn't she feel uncomfortable showing that much skin?

From the way Sam kept glancing at her, I'm sure he'll be having a good talk with her about it.

"Yeah..." Faye laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck.

She sat down, throwing her legs over Tyler's lap rather harshly. Tyler flinched visibly but didn't push her off. That's sweet.

"I'm Ryder Stone, and my mark is on my..." The hazel eyed boy hesitated, then said, "It's on my thigh as well."

"Quick question-" Jax started but was cut off by two loud cries.

"Saaaaaaaammmmm!"

"Jaaaaax, we're hungry!"

"Is-is that Bella and Severus?" Faye asked, her eyes lightening up.

"It seems that they've woken up," Chrissy nodded, getting up.

"Severus, do make sure Bella doesn't try to make it to the cabinet on her own," Chrissy called, "I'll be there in a minute."

"Chriiiiiiiiisssssssssyyyyyy!" Bella came running into the room, Severus running after her. She clutched a jar of cookies in her small hands, hugging it to her chest.

"Severus is trying to take it from me!" She wailed, and jumped up in Sam's lap, burying herself in his chest. Severus climbed up in Jax's lap, and scooted over to her.

"Risty said not to!" He objected. I looked over at Chrissy who cracked a small smile, shaking her head. She met my eyes and mouthed, "What?"

"Risty?"

"Yeah, he calls me that instead of Chrissy."

I chuckled quietly.

"This is the Bella and Severus you keep talking about?" Tyler raised a thin eyebrow as Mason and Ryder got up from their seats and ran over to them.

"Can we hold them?" Mason whispered excitedly.

"They're adorable," Ryder whispered at the same time, making me giggle. Sam shot me a look.

Bella immediately looked up at that, her black plaits bouncing, and narrowed her eyes at them. She opened the lid of the jar easily- she had probably done this many times before- and held it out to them.

That's it. These two are gonna make me melt someday.

"No, no, you can have them," Ryder waved it off.

"Not all of them," Jax warned, "Remember, no more cookies than three."

Severus reached over and stuck his hand inside, pulling out a cookie. Bella did the same, but she shoved it in my hands. Jax opened his mouth to say something but Severus place the cookie he had in his mouth. The two then jumped off the couch and started handing out a cookie to everyone.

"See, I told you they're the cutest," Faye whispered to Tyler as he accepted a cookie. Even Amos smiled!

Sam leaned back, draping his arm behind me.

"They're just pure little angels," He sighed, smiling. I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, they are."

Yay!

How are you all doing today?

I'm great!

How was the chapter?

How did you like the other new characters? I love them so much!

Also, can any any of you make a teensy connection between this and TOGWRH? It's really vague, but I promise it's gonna make sense later on.

I don't really have much to say besides I'm sorry for the delay. I have a long message on my wall about all that I've been up to.

Welp, that's it! 

Bye guys!

I love you so much!