I held Jay's hand as we hurried through the dark street only lit by the scarcest of human tree-lights. Realistically, I think Jack expected us to return a lot sooner than we did, because he didn't look very happy when we walked back through the door.

"Do you know what time it is?" He demanded, there was a definite edge to his voice.

"No, I actually don't." I replied, human time measurement were beyond me, it was a lot more complicated then just sunrise, noon, and sunset.

"It's too late." He huffed.

"Well whatever than." Jay puffed protectively. "We're back now, we did what we needed to do, why are you so worried?"

"Because it seemed very shifty to me. You never answered my question about where Zach is."

"It's a very long story." Jay insisted.

"Well I took care of him for thirteen years, I fell entitled to a little bit of that story."

"Well forgive me but last time we met sir, I remember you trying to kill him." Jay spat, slowly loosing his cool. "He's my best friend, and her brother, so I think we have some right to withhold that information."

Jack blinked slowly. "Okay fine."

He grew very sober all of a sudden and I could see the bag's under his eyes, and the glaze over his spirit. "I just... I just want to know what happened to my son."

Jay relaxed slightly. "I'm sorry but I just don't think..."

"He's dead." I interrupted him.

Jay turned towards me in concern, but I was focused on the look on Jack's face. His weary eyes widened in surprise and horror, and even in the dim light I could see his face turn a few shades paler.

"Wh-what?" He stammered. "No... he, he can't be. He... he's only sixteen.'

"He was only fourteen. It was two years ago." I said quietly.

Something about the look of pure agony on his face made it easier then ever to get the words out. A familiar feeling came back into me and I realized I wanted to see him suffer.

    "He sacrificed himself to save me, so I could live instead of him."

    My hands shook violently and tears starred to stream down my face.

    "Sometimes I still hear the blood gurgling at the back of his throat in my dreams."

    Jack leaned against the kitchen counter, his own tears flowing down his face and into his scruffy beard. He clasped a hand over his mouth and sobbed loudly.

    "Zara?" Jay's hand grabbed my shoulders, I think I was swaying. "Zara? Are. You okay?"

    I was definitely swaying. The ground came towards me faster ten it normally should. I think I blacked out. My last memory was an intense red sky and a blinding pain in the back of my skull.

    Then all of a sudden there he was. My brother. It wasn't him, it was the human version of him, far younger and far, far more innocent. His big green and blue eyes stared at everything with a sense of wonder and delight that I had missed for so long. I felt myself tear up all over again.

    "Hey what's this?" A slightly older teen picked up the paper that tiny Zach had left alone for one moment.

    "My cat drawing!" His grubby little hands pulled down the arms of the older boy, I recognized him as Andrew now.

    "What's going on?" The older boy inquired.

    "Everything's on fire. A bad lady set the fire and there's me, I'm putting it out. I'm a hero, I want to be a firefighter when I grow up." Zach insisted.

    Andrew smirked, and ruffled Zach's golden curls. "So we're back to firefighter now, are we? What happened to vet? Or world famous artist?"

    "I'll do that on the weekends." He grinned, he was missing one of his front teeth.

    The scene changed and it was Zach, slightly bigger and a lot lankier leaning over a birthday cake. I learned much, much later that the weird stature on top were the symbols for the human numbers thirteen. There was no sound to this time, but I could see the obvious joy on his face as Jack snapped a few pictures. I recognized this scheme, Jack had these pictures up on his mantle. This must have been the last birthday they celebrated together.

    It changed again, and all of a sudden I was looking down on myself, as a cat, looking mildly terrified but mostly pissed off. This was the day he found me. I reached toward me but found something separated me from delving too deep into this image. Some sort of wall. I wanted to go back to these days.

    The image fizzled out and I was left alone in this darkness.

    "What do you want from me?" I sobbed out gently, not really expecting an answer.

    There was a soft, damp breath on my neck. "I want your soul."

    I wiped and eyes and glanced around. "Wh-what?"

    "I want you to die, I want to feed, I want to thrive, I want your demise Zarathustra."

    Then I woke up.

    "Come on! Zara!" Jay was shaking me.

    I glanced around, and noticed just how crystal clear the darkness was all of a sudden. The spell was wearing off, we were changing back. Jay had a small bag around one arm, our ingredients. I stood up shakily, and spotted Jack with wide red eyes staring at me expectantly.

    "Go." He said bitterly. "I don't want to see your face anymore."

    I bit my lip. "We're gonna get him back, I promise."

    He scowled. "I should have moved on from him years ago, leave me."

    The cold air hit my lungs like a refreshing ice bath of shock. My eyes were still wet from bawling and passing out so they stung from the cool breeze. Jay grabbed onto my shoulder and we were off. Our borrowed shoes slapped against the ground, slowly getting too big for our feet.

    By the time we were in the forest again, our paws dug into the earth once more.