**Quote: "Pretty words are not always true, and true words are not always pretty." ~~Unknown **

Chapter 19

It's never a good idea to fall asleep when you are being flown through the air with nothing to really secure you. Or maybe it's just me that this happens to.

As Nate used his powerful wings to cover the distance in which the van had carried me in half the time, my mind just simply shut down. Any smile that had been on my lips moments before was now dead. I hadn't even realized that I had fallen asleep until I descended into a nightmare.

I stand with my hands tied above me to a wooden post. Smoke and flames dance around me, making me choke and squirm away from the heat. The rope wrapped around my wrists cuts into my flesh and I look up desperately wanting them to snap so I can get away from this excruciating heat.

Suddenly the flames leap aside slightly like an invisible wall had forced them into submission. A dark figure steps forward. The light of the flames seems to be absorbed by the dark figure and I can't make out any facial features.

When the figure finally speaks it's with the voice of a woman. "You have no idea what is in store for you. I'm sure you've noticed by now that the Fallen like to play with fire. Well little bird, wouldn't it be so ironic if they killed a Phoenix with fire? Can you be so sure that you will simply rise from the ashes again?"

The soft melodious voice drifts around me and although I know I should be comforted by the tone I instead feel panicked and claustrophobic. Suddenly the women's voice is harder to breathe through than the smoke.

"You won't be able to save the ones you love from the flames little bird. They will die a slow and painful death while you fly away, newly risen from your grave." The dark figure seems to tilt it's head. "Then again, I don't see your wings. Where are your wings little bird?"

I try to struggle against the tight restraints but every time I move the ropes seem to tighten. The dark figure just stands there watching my failed attempts and that sparks a sickening fury deep inside me. I open my mouth to scream at her, just wishing that she would burn and die just like I am about to.

Before I can utter a word the walled flames seemed to break free of their restraints and they shoot forward. Through amazed and terrified eyes I watch as the fire bounces away from me and wraps itself around the dark figure. Within seconds the darkness seems to fade away from the stranger and a very familiar face appears.

She screams and cry's as the fire slowly burns at her skin and clothes. I gasp and cry out to her. "Kerri! Stop, stop...STOP!" With my final scream I jerk awake in Nate's arms so quickly I almost dislodge myself from his grasp.

He falters in his steady flight as he readjusts his hold on me. "Are you okay?"

Letting my head fall to his shoulder I shake my head. "I'm fine. Just tired."

Nate nods his head slowly as if deciding whether to call me out on my lie or not. "We'll give her a proper burial. But we can't tell anyone who truly killed her. As far as the world needs to know, Kerri Lane was an innocent victim to a crime committed by a ruthless gang."

My eyes widen slightly and I feel tears spike in my eyes at the mention of her name. "How do you..."

"I make it a priority of mine to know everyone in your life. As for what transpired tonight...Eliza informed me." Nate's face is shadowed in the darkness of the night but I can tell he's looking at me like he's always done. Like I'm a china doll balancing on the edge of a table. The slightest vibration and I could be shattered to pieces on the floor.

"I'm sorry Marie. I know you cared for her, but it seems Richard is just playing one of his games. I will find him as soon as I can and when I do he will die." Nate pushes on and in seconds he drops us down into his yard. When I feel solid ground underneath of my feet I shove away from him.

"Some game? You've got to be kidding me!" I can't help but scream at him. Fury like I've never felt before races through me and it's getting harder to breathe. I'm literally shaking from the desire to run a sword through Richard's heart. "He burned her alive! Right in front of me and then he branded my neck so I wouldn't forget what he did. After Eliza freed me he sent multiple demons after us just so he could have his sick little fun! You're going to what? Pass this off as some little game of war and then tuck me off like a child?"

I take a step forward and Nate folds his wings into his back. His dark eyes stay trained on me and he folds his arms so his intimidating stature increases. I can tell he's just letting me ride out my anger but I don't care.

"No, I'm going to help you find Richard, and when I do I'm going to kill him. I'm going to send him back to the hell he pledged his allegiance to!" To add to our little dramatic scene the chilly wind whips around us and I can feel the electric pull deep inside my gut. My gift of energy wanting to be release.

For once I can control this energy because it's not Nate I want to hurt. It's that fat faced toad that thought he could kill someone I cared about and get away with it.

Nate steps towards me and takes a deep breath. I tense, expecting him to make a move to touch me, but he's completely in soldier mode.

"Marie, you aren't going to kill Richard. He will die for his crimes but it will not be you who ends his life." Nate's calm voice just seems to tick me off even more.

"I made a vow to that toad in my last life! I told him I'd be the one to end his life and I'd like to be known as someone who follows through with her threats." One last step and I'm so close I can feel that familiar wave of raw power rolling off Nate. "You aren't going to tell me what I'm going to do, Nathaniel. You aren't the one he keeps screwing with."

"Aren't I though? You said he wanted to break me. Well Marie, he knows that there is only one thing in this whole universe that would completely shatter me if I lost it." He grabs a hold of my shoulders and shakes me slightly. "You. You don't even comprehend how much you mean to me. Before you, I was a thief, a liar, and a criminal. I had no life and no future. I would have gone to hell if God hadn't have foreseen the future I would have with you.

"You are my life, my existence, and my future. Without you I'd have nothing to protect, no purpose and no hope. I won't lose you. And death isn't the only way to lose someone." Nate's voice has turned gravelly and I feel as if my throat is suddenly thick with the emotion that is overwhelming me at what Nate is saying. There's no drama emphasizing his words. He's telling me these statements matter of factly.

"What do you mean, death isn't the only way to lose someone?" I ask quietly. Seeing the pain and desperation on his face I feel the sudden impulse to reach out and comfort him. Giving into the desire I gently place my hand on his face. I can still feel the anger coursing through me but it's gotten milder as Nate speaks to me.

"If you've regained some of the humanity that most lose after living many lives then killing someone so soon would hurt you more than you-"

"You think I can't do it? I killed those demons-" I interrupt him, but before I can finish he returns the favor by stopping me when he takes my hand and presses it hard to his chest. His warmth slowly travels up my arm and I slowly feel my self relax as it's comforting feeling wraps around me.

"Demons look like their true nature. They act like beasts, wanting only to eat and kill whatever enters their path. When they die their bodies disintegrate into dust as they were dead to begin with. Killing a Fallen is so much different. The body stays for you to see, they bleed just as any other living being does, and you'll be able to feel the last beat of their heart when they slip off to carry on in Hell. Killing a living being takes something from you. It take something from you that you can never get back and I won't let you lose that sense of hummanity again. Not if I can help it." In the dim light I can see the dark shadow that has descended upon his face since he started to talk. Taking a deep breath I think about what he is saying.

I'm not taking killing someone as something so easy to do. I know that being born into a new life, being blissfully unaware of the centuries I have lived through, means that taking someone's life will be just as hard as the first time I had to go through with it.

But, I've been preparing for a situation like this for weeks now. I built my guard up to protect me from the harsh reality, but now it's time to take a sledge hammer to those walls. This is war, and if I show any of them mercy they will take everything I love away from me. Including the angel standing in front of me, trying desperately to protect me.

"Nathaniel," my use of his full name seems to catch his attention. "I love you, but I won't let you decide this for me." Silence follows my words and only then do I realize what I just said to him. It was surprisingly easy to say.

The L-word that has scared me for many, many years. And just like that it's slipped out. Maybe I should feel free and uplifted by this admission, but right now all I can feel are the invisible bonds tying me down to this one man. I don't fear being only with Nate and no one else, but what I fear is the pain this love is going to cause me.

Love will always be the most powerful and painful emotion ever to exist. The very thing you love the most can be torn away from you, leaving you exposed and shattered.

But I also believe that love can be a strength too. That's why I need to find Eliza. She is the only one who will understand my need to do something other than sit still while hundreds of angels and humans are being slaughtered in the name of war.

I love every angel that sacrifices their entire existence just to protect the humans. I love every human that walks on this earth with a smile on their faces and faith in their hearts. I even love this whole planet that houses so many broken and lost beings.

But most of all I love the family I have created. They have always been the one thing to keep me fighting, and right now I know that sitting at home with a ball of yarn and needles is not an option for me.

Resolve fills the empty chasm that Kerri's death had so viscously chiseled into my chest. I am going to hunt down every known Fallen in the region, and when I find them I will get whatever information I need to take down Richard's entire gang. Once the toad has been squashed I can help with the take down of the Fallen's army.

This isn't the movies. Richard doesn't get to talk like some insane baddie and think no one will go after him. I will end this damn game before he can even nudge one of his pawns.

I stand up straighter and stare Nate straight in the eye. I'm not going to be a coward. I love this stubborn soldier and I'm sure as hell not going to let fear keep me from telling him that.

He finally seems to regain his former self as a rakish grin slides onto his face. I can still see the worry and anger on his face, but for the moment he thankfully decides to be distracted. He wraps his arms back around me and kisses me. It's far too fast for my liking, but filled with enough passion so that I still lose my breath.

"I've waited a long time to hear those words again." He rests his forehead against mine and we simultaneously take a breath together, trying desperately to breath each other in before we let go. We both know that just one minute could change our lives all together.

"Marie." His voice seems to carry a weight with that one word.

"Yeah?"

"I love you too."

Releasing my breath I hug him even tighter. As much as I want to, I can't conjure up a smile. Instead, I let my eyes reflect my feelings as I look into his dark iris's.

"You better, otherwise this would have been a really awkward conversation." He chuckles at that and his laughter seems to send soft vibrations through me. It comforts me and relaxes my taunt muscles.

The sound of landing feet breaks us apart and I turn to see Eliza, Royce, and half a dozen of Nate's men. They all land silently with set grim faces.

One man, maybe in his late thirties, looking to have Asian heritage in his geneology, steps forward with straight backed authority and nods at Nate and then bows to me. That was weird. I'm not the queen of England.

"Sir, the Fallen seem to have fallen back to set up camp at least twenty miles from town. They set up in the woods." If the atmosphere around me wasn't so filled with grief and anger, Mr. Authority's double meaning of the word "fallen" would have made me laugh.

"Your orders, sir?" The other five men step up and keep their eyes straight ahead as Mr. Authority speaks to Nate.

"We're going to wait until my informant comes back with information on the exact set up of the Fallen's Army. Once he has given me the information we will move. I don't want a full scale battle on our hands with so many human civilians nearby. Gather Thom's team and prep them for infiltration. We're going to make this as clean and under the radar as we can." Watching Nate talk like this makes my chest swell with pride at seeing how far a common thief of the Middle Ages has come to right now.

Nate's lips twitch as if he's about to smile and I remember that he can tell exactly how I'm feeling at any moment. He was probably just bombarded with my pride and love for him.

I seriously need to reign in my emotions before I cause Nate to make a fool of himself in front of his men.

"I'm going with Royce to contact some of my men, I'll be back as soon as I can." Nate's voice snaps me out of my daze and I realize he's talking directly to me now.

Raising my eyes I can see a question in his gaze. 'If I leave you here are you going to be okay?' It's a useless question. After all our lives we both know that he has no choice but to leave.

I nod at him, still feeling the anger and grief swirl inside me. "Go, I'll be fine."

Nate nods and a ghost of his smile flickers across his face before he and his men take off into the sky again. Eliza and Royce are left standing in front of me.

As I take in my best friends I feel a sharp pang cut through my chest and only then do I feel the ache of how much I've missed them. I don't know what's happened to my whole I-don't-like-hugging personality, but I can't help myself from running to the couple and throwing my arms around them.

"It's good to see you too, Cat." I almost cry at Royce's use of my old nickname. Imagine that, a little bird trying to act like a cat.

"I've missed you, nerd." I step back and smile. These were the two people that I first befriended in this life. They kept me from falling into the dark hole I had been threatening to collapse into years ago. They kept me from running away from home and basically screwing up my future. And now they were back.

Eliza's sharp gaze reminds me she is still a little pissed about how I handled our last fight. But as I continue to look at her, her glare softens and she inspects the brand on my neck.

"Let's get inside and get you cleaned up. I'll call Pepper and have her come and fix you up. We need you well rested if we plan on an all day training tomorrow." Eliza bounds into Nate's house, and after Royce throws an arm around me, he follows.

It takes forty minutes for Pepper to get to Nate's house, rant over my state of appearance and then heal what she could of the brand. They were all slightly confused when I asked her to leave enough of the scar there so I can clearly see it whenever I look down.

I remembered my very own words that I spoke to Jem just weeks ago, "Some battles, some demons, they have to be remembered. I left those scars so you can realize how strong you had to be to survive that." I want to remember the scar that Richard gave me. I want to remember the promise I made to him to kill him myself.

Now, Pepper is chewing Eliza out for leaving and not even telling her goodbye. I sulk silently on the leather couch and Royce has his arm around me in a very brotherly manner.

I focus on the steady beat of his heart and his slow breathing. Almost as soon as he sat down next to me, he fell asleep. His blonde hair sticks out on all places and his tan face is slack. It's obvious that he and Eliza haven't had much time for sleep.

"Pepper I don't have the patience for this. Go sit in the corner and fume for all I care." Eliza trudges into the living room and sits in an arm chair across from Royce and I. As soon as she breathes out an almost pained sigh Royce is awake.

His gaze snaps over to his soul mate and worry creases his brow. "Eliza, why don't you go get some sleep. I can watch over Marie. Besides, Nate has men patrolling the parameters all night so I think she's safe for now."

Eliza's stormy eyes snap to him and her ninja glare softens for a moment. "I won't leave Marie's side until Nate is back." She states bluntly.

I smile softly at my friend's persistence in protecting me. Gently shrugging off Royce's arm I get up and stretch. "Well if that's the case then I'm going to make coffee. This is going to be a long night."

Before I can even reach the kitchen, the front door slam opens and my least favorite red head steps through the door.
The reactions through the room are very similar. Eliza and Royce both jump up and have their weapons drawn. Eliza with her two battle axes, and Royce with a wicked looking ninja sword. A katana I think. Eliza steps protectively in front of Pepper who snatches a small knife from her boot and holds it in front of her chest.

I, on the other hand, just lean against the door frame, too exhausted mentally and physically to find a weapon.

"What do you want Jazmine?" Eliza's powerful voice booms around the room.

"Nate sent me. Don't worry your thick scull, I wouldn't be here unless I had to." Jazmine smirks at my friends and plops in a leather armchair with her combat boots propped on the table in front of her.

She eyes Royce slightly with something like admiration before her red lips curl into a seductive smirk. "Well hello to you too lover. It's been a while. I like your hair like that."

The air is suddenly thick with tension and Eliza has murder written across her face. Royce looks like someone just served him mouse droppings for dinner. Pepper glares at Jazmine's shirt.

Before anyone can say something Pepper buts in first. "Seriously Jazmine? No bra with a tight white shirt? That only looked good on Laura Croft. On you it just screams 'Hey, look at my boobs while I do a bunch of jumping jacks!'"

Jazmine's jaw clenches as she stares bitterly at Pepper. Eliza's eyes are still a stormy grey but her cruel expression has disappeared as she stares at Pepper with a look between pride and annoyance.

"What did Nate send you here for?" I ask. Please let him and his men be okay.

Jazmine's electric blue eyes sear through me and I feel as if they are actually shocking me. The amount of hatred I see glaring my way is astonishing.

"He sent me here to get Royce, Eliza and Pepper. He needs you guys right now. He wants you to meet him at Lily's and I'll watch Marie until you're back." Jazmine's statement is hardly finished before many voices sprout into the air around her.

"Like hell are we going to leaver you alone with her." Pepper spits out, once again raising her knife.

"What does he need now?" Royce asks, ever the faithful Messenger.

"Why would he need all of us? He wanted us to stay here with Marie, and now he suddenly wants us to leave." Eliza demands, and I can see the two sides of her at war with each other. On one hand, she wants to be a good friend to me, by not leaving me in the care of a ginger psychopath. On the other, she's Nate's right hand woman, and she has to help lead their army.

Jazmine smirks and shrugs. "He needs to talk to Eliza and he needs mail boy over there," she points to Royce and winks at him, "to do some little errands. He wants Pepper at Lily's house to be ready for any wounded soldiers that may need her help. He doesn't want to risk too much foot traffic leading the Fallen to this house, AKA leading them to Marie."

Everyone is silent for a moment, and I can tell they don't want to leave me alone with the crazy Fallen that has it out for me. But they also don't have a choice. Taking a deep breath I nod at my friends.

"Go, Nate needs you."

Pepper hugs me briefly before turning to Jazmine. "You touch her and I will rip that carrot top head of yours off your overly skinny neck."

Jazmine sneers at Pepper and Eliza seems torn between leaving or sinking her axe into the red head.

Exhaustion and sadness overwhelms me and I don't feel like watching a throw down between my best friend and my fiancé's ex. Even though I'd bet a two pound bag of gummy bears that Eliza could kick Jazmine's ass.

"Look if it's what Nate wants then go. Call me if you need another Healer okay? I'll be safe with all of Nate's men watching over the house." I leave out Jazmine on purpose. Right now I could care less if she tried to kill me or kidnap me.

After a moment of charged silence the trio walk out the door. Leaving me with the psycho of the year.

Her crystal eyes glare at me and I can't help the pang of jealousy at her perfectly high cheekbones, and pointed chin. She could easily be on a Victoria Secret commercial, whereas I would have to wear six inch heels just so I don't look like a midget standing next to her.

One good thing of being short, we can wear heels as tall as we want to.

"So what happened tonight? You let that woman die." Jazmine asks casually.

Her words make me freeze on the spot and I feel something dangerous simmer beneath my skin. "Excuse me?"

"No, you're not excused. I want an answer. Why'd you let that woman die? I thought you were suppose to be this almighty Healer that can do anything. Was I wrong?" She leans forward and stares at me with malice and curiosity.

"I didn't let her die, you freak! Richard burned her alive, while I was chained to a fricking tree!" I scream as my hands ball up into fists and I turn my body to her.

"Come on Marie. You could have saved her with your gift. You could've used the energy crackling around you to kill them all. Instead, you let her die...actually you almost killed her yourself." Jazmine stands up and raises her eyebrow.

All common sense leaves me as the rage and grief that I had been witholding before, boils through me. I run at her and raise my fist. But Jazmine isn't like any of my friends that I've been sparring with. She doesn't care about me.

So when I rush at her with my slow-human speed she grabs my arm and snaps it like a twig. My scream rattles the widows as I crumple to the ground and stare at my arm as it dangles at a strange angle. Pain laces through my arm like its caught fire, and I can feel tears spike my eyes as I try and breathe deeply.

I yell again when I feel her razor sharp fingers snatch me by my hair and drag me to the fireplace. She quickly opens the hatch and shoves me in before closing it.

Through the haze of pain I can vaguely hear the door open and boots thudding across the floor. "Is everything okay? Where's the Phoenix?" A vaguely familiar voice floats through the house and I think I recognize it as one of Nate's men.

Jazmine's voice comes out calm and strong. Like she didn't just break my arm. "Yes boys, everything is fine. The Phoenix and I were just sparring and she got hurt. She's healed herself now. We will be sparring for a few more hours so don't worry about it."

That lying little bitch! Through my pained breathing I try to cry out. "She's lying! She broke my arm and she's going to kill me if you leave! And if she kills me I'm going to be so pissed at Nate for not believing she's a psycho!" My rant stops when I realize something. It's like a two way mirror. I can hear them but they can't hear me.

Stupid angel precautions.

There's more mumbling before I hear the door open and close again. They're gone. Leaving me at the mercy of a Fallen.

Not accepting defeat I try, and then fail to get to my feet. From the events of tonight I'm left drained and weak. When my legs refuse to hold me I start to drag myself down the tunnel with my left arm. I get about five feet before the fireplace opens again and closes.

"You look as pathetic as I've always thought you've been. If only Nate could see this." Jazmine says and laughs mockingly.

Suddenly I remember something and I stop crawling. "You're insane! Nate can feel my emotions, he'll know you're hurting me. He's probably already on his way here."

My smile of victory is short lived though because Jazmine laughs. "Oh honey, he can't feel any of your emotions right now because I don't want him to."

"What the hell are you talking about?" She is seriously not stable.

"My gift. I can block the connection between two sould mates. It makes it so that they can no longer feel each other's emotions. I've been doing it to you for years." She grabs my left arm and begins to roughly drag me down the tunnel. I'm not proud of the weak way I squirm in her iron grip, but I'm too drained and exhausted to fight back or even heal myself.

"Why would you do that? Nate has to know your doing this! He'd feel his loss of connection to me." Confusion sets in as I think about why Nate would keep this from me.

"Oh, Nate asked me to do it." We finally reach the large cavern and she tosses me farther into the room. I bite my tongue to keep from screaming out. "Well, I should say he asked me to block his emotions from you. He didn't want a young human girl to freak out if she suddenly felt a connection to some unknown angel. Your adolescent mind wouldn't have been able to handle it."

Jazmine stalks to me with a cruel smile. "Sadly," sarcasm drips from that single word, "my gift has yet to wear off of the two of you. So you still can't feel Nate, and the best part of this is that sometimes my gift blocks your feelings from him. By now he's used to the sudden and random loss of connection. He won't be here to save you."

I scoot back from her and let my mouth gape open. If I survive this I am soooooo going to kick his ass. The jerk knew all along why I couldn't feel the connection to him.

"Why are you doing this?" It's the only thing I can think of to ask before she kills me.

"Because your fat ass has been a pain in mine for many lifetimes. You're so useless you couldn't even save one woman, and you had all that power at your hands."

When she grabs a knife from the waistband of her black, skin tight pants I push onto my back and use the fury coursing through me to block out the pain and exhaustion. With one swift kick to her knee she goes down and I roll away.

Before I'm even three feet away she's on me, throwing all her might into one punch directly aimed for my face. As she's not holding back, I feel the impact practically rattle my jaw and richochet down my neck. When I think I'm about to black out she moves away. "Come on, Phoenix. That's the best you got? The Fallen aren't going to give you breathers. They will keep coming and hitting until you're dead! Nate keeps surrounding you with bubble wrap, and even Jem can't help but put a brake on her lessons. I'm sick and tired of them never truly showing you the ugly reality of the Fallen."

Suddenly she swings back around and her gaze holds more that malice within them. There's a hint of sadness within them. "They think they're protecting you, but they're just crippling you. And when you go into battle, completely unprepared, Nate will die protecting you, my brother will die protecting him, and I will be all alone like always. The damn cycle never ends, and it all starts with you!"

And then I suddenly understand why she's doing this. Well, it's more like I realize why she's doing this, but I'm far from understanding. She's angry at me, because she thinks I'm the reason why the love of her life always dies. With my constant inability to protect myself, Nate always has to step in and risk getting injured himself. She's also far from letting Nate go, and I know she also blaims me for "stealing" him from her.

Spitting the blood out from my mouth I grimace. "Jem has been training me."

Jazmine laughs right before she kicks me in the side hard enough to bruise my ribs. "That useless angel doesn't know what she's talking about half the time."

She attempts to kick me again, but this time I catch her foot. Quickly twisting it at the ankle, I use my leg to sweep her other foot out from underneath her, bringing her tumbling down. Quickly scooting away from her, I try and ignore the searing pain racing through my arm. My chest still feels cold, and empty, and I know I still don't have to energy to heal myself.

I look into Jazmine's deadly face and I think I finally know the whole reason behind why she hates me so. Other than the fact that I became the soul mate of the love of her life, I'm also an angel. Well, I'm an angel on break as a human with angelic abilities. But still, I represent everything that she can no longer have. I realize with a sudden pang of pity that when she dies she won't have any choice but to belong in Hell.

My realization seems to be reflected across my face, because she's up and pacing in seconds. Faster than my mind can process she's suddenly holding a blade. Thankfully I don't see any red stones encrusted into the blade.

"You're going to kill me because I can't fight as well as you? Because I'm not a ruthless killer? You know, most of the time people tend to find that as a good thing!" I spit out bitterly.

Jazmine shakes her head, as if frustrated that I still don't understand her crazy mind. "I'm teaching how to survive in a real fight! Those clueless angels don't understand what their kindness has done to you over the centuries. You're supposed to be this all-powerful angel, and yet you can hardly use your gift. I used to be one of the best, most powerful angel's before-" Jazmine breaks off as if she realizes that she's said too much. Taking a deep breath, she seems to calm down slightly, and her scowl is replaced with a tight-lipped glare.

"I'm going to force you to use that wasted potential of yours, and put it to good use. Either use your gift to stop me, or I'll kill you know and you'll come back as an angel, probably saving us all a headache." She stalks forward, with the knife gripped in her right hand.

Taking a deep breath I connect to the energy circling around us. I try and make at least a crackle of energy spark in front of me, but its too weak of a source. I search frantically around the room until my eyes finally find the flickering torches all around the room.

With three seconds left I feel the energy crackling off the flames, and I scream as my connection sends the energy between Jazmine and myself. Within the last second she allowed me, I've sent her crashing into the wall across from me. A crack forms in the wall and I know that if she were human all the bones in her body would be shattered.

Sparks ignite all around me and the temperature of the room rises. Finding it hard to breath I force the energy to retreat back to leave my control. Slowly the room cools down, the torches flare back to life, and before the energy leaves my system I use its power to help me heal myself.

My bones pop back into place one by one until I don't feel an ounce of discomfort.

Standing up I walk over to the wall that holds the Twins, and I arm myself quickly.

Turning around, I watch as Jazmine struggles to her feet. Blood leaks from her nose, the side of her head, and on several lacerations from her arm. But the demonic smile on her face makes me feel like she doesn't even notice the blood. "If being your teacher means I get to knock some sense into you while getting a few bruises myself, I think I'm gonna like this job."

"First of all, there was no job opening to begin with, and second of all, you're too crazy and emotional to trust my life with. Instead of taking your personal problems out of me, you could have just said that I need to practice using my gift more, in order to fight the Fallen."

Her smile grows as she wipes the blood dripping from her nose off. All her pervious anger and resentment seems to have receeded back within her. The knock into the wall seems to have woken her up from her fury-fused dream-state. "I thought I did. With my use of the word 'crackling'? I practically spelled it out for you, honey. Fallen love using fire. Fire is an amazing source of energy. Use it. Besides if I just told you, then what fun would that be?" Her lame excuse hardly diffuses the bitter animosity between the two of us. She points to the tunnel leading back to Nate's house. "Shall we?"

I stare at her in complete and utter confusion. She truly is mental if she thinks I'm just going to completely forget what just happened down here. I've been waiting since the time I met her, for her to finally snap and attack me, but I never expected her to lose her sanity in the process.

Rolling my sore shoulders, I think about the pros and cons of finishing this fight once and for all.

Pros: she won't be around to try and kill me anymore, that's one less crazy, jealous Fallen to deal with.

Cons: Nate and Jasper would most likely be pissed at me, I may not win against her angelic powers, and where would I even hide the body?

Before she can make it all the way through the tunnel, I make my decision. Tucking the Twins into the back of my pants, I hurry after her. In the act of trying to distract both of us, I ask about something that she said before she went all psycho. "Why the hell did you call Royce your lover?"

**Quote: "The doors will be opened to those who are bold enough to knock." ~~Unknown **