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Xanthos
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Xanthos felt cold again. It had been better when Ostend was still alive. The little bundle of fur had brought so much life to their dim and miserable conditions. He fleeting smile. His bright twinkling brown eyes.

    Only, now he was dead.

    Xanthos still feeded off the happiness of others. It was difficult for him to be in unhappy atmospheres. He felt suffocated, but now all he felt was icy cold. It threatened to tear apart at his insides and grow ever colder until his couldn't move. Then it would beg him to close his eyes, just one more time...

    "Xanthos." Arroyo said, making him jump.

    His eyes snapped open and he was yanked back out of a light slumber.

    "Thanks." He mumbled weakly, saving his breath. It was too much to ask Arroyo to try to be happy, not after what had just happened.

    Arroyo had been distraught. He had screamed, panicked, and tore countless little scratch in the guards that had been holding him. He kept yelling Ostend's name begging for him to come back. Xanthos had actually blacked out, there was a cut across his nose and several bite marks up and down his skinny arms. With those injuries and the fact that everybody in this Heimsmire-forsaken camp was either emotionless, in pain, or arrogant, it had been too much for Xanthos to fight against. He had scared Arroyo to near-death when he didn't wake up. Now he was watching Xanthos like a Mouse-bird on a cricket and making sure he never fell to deep into sleep. because if he did, Xanthos wasn't sure he would wake up again.

    Avangeline was back in the control of Tenebris, her brisk, sharp vioce scared Arroyo everyone she snapped at her son. She had already told him how she felt about him being a failure of an heir. A claw who couldn't even fly just because he missed his mommy. Arroyo knew she didn't mean it but Xanthos could see it was tearing him up in shreds on the inside.

    Now they were stuck in a tunnel underground, the only light source a small hole in the roof. It was more like a narrow mouthed pit than a home. Tenebris had shoved them down here by turning intangible. Xanthos hated the feeling, he hated it with all his being because it always reminded him of his mother. His dead mother.

    "Wakey wakey." Tenebris cackled, drifting through the ceiling in a parade of black smoke. She spread her wings and flapped them dramatically over them.

    "Let's see, the girl ran away, the boy is dead, and that just leaves you two." She licked her lips.

    "You, are useless." Tenebris spat at Arroyo, who cringed. "And I just kidnapped you to make a show of force, but seeing now, how you are the only one who can actually do something for me. I have no chioce."

    Xanthos winced as her talons sank into his arm and dragged him upward. Ghosts are a lot smaller than humans. Ghosts to a claw, are like humans to a large dog. So this was easy for her to accomplish.

    Xanthos shuddered as he passed through solid earth and his molecules rearranged themselves around the dirt roots and small bugs. He hated this feeling. He hung limply from Tenebris jaws as she dropped him right through the ground again for the fun of it.

    Xanthos didn't hit the ground very hard. He was just a bit shaken, and it was worse when all of a sudden he felt the fickleness of possession. Tenebris was inside him, looking at all his memories. He could tell.

    "Tah, dead mother, neglected father, how dramatic. You are quite lonely are you?" She voiced from inside him. He shut his eyes and didn't answer. All he would have to do is stay awake for a few hours.

    "Oh, what do we have here? My my, I'm so glad I decided to add you to my collection."

    Xanthos felt a pain rush up through his skull before his entire world turned black.

    Then he was watching the world through eyes clouded with red.

    Arroyo watched in horror as Xanthos stood and smiled coldly at him. His bright green eyes had turned the telltale red color of possession.

    Now Arroyo was truly alone.