The sun shone high in the sky, the clouds vacant to the blue that was the worlds art canvas, only the wild wind that swayed the trees and filled my sight with variously colored green leaves, like flecks of green paint against blue, told me that the day would not be as it seemed.

To and from we had traveled to find Harper, from and to we had gone to return to a safe space that would hide us from curious eyes. It was odd having everyone under the same roof, but promising in a way no other day could attempt to duplicate. There was something intoxicating about beginnings. Perhaps, the hope that they represented? Proof that a start could be and lead to anything.

They were in the back yard of the house, surrounded by an immaculately planted and put together yard. It could have come from a painting, the sight before me.

The yard went on for miles all around, rich grass cut to the perfect height spanning all around, darkening in some spots where small hills began to rise. On the outer edges, like a fence, rows of willow trees swayed in the wind, stopping short of a rectangle pool with water the perfect shade of sapphire until it began to darken where the deepest part was, it expanded until reaching across the other side. There were a couple of marble benches with plush white cushions, a wing, and a table farther away. Around the base of a few willow trees, flowers of summer shades had been planted but others had the plant wisteria wrapped around the tree and blended beautifully.

They sat beneath the shade of willow on my right, at the edge of its shadow close enough that they could probably feel the chill of the pools cold temperatures. Mykela had come out in a simple golden shirt with short sleeves, white baggy pants that held many pockets but retained nothing within them. She had left her ashy brown sandals, with a strap that tied around the ankle, on. When she had come down her hair had been braided back as usual, but I had watched her converse with Harper, something she said had made Myekla unravel those strands until they fell around her with wild patterns of waves and curls, some pieces longer while others scrunched up. In the shadows the weight of her hair against her back, the color looking almost black, but when the wind picked up and those strands went free, their tips escaping the shadows and touching the sun...

It was like a work of art, a halo of vibrant shades of brown and tints of red, her dark skin unbothered and brighter than the colors around her.

If it hadn't been for the fact that Harper's expressions and words were all that I could see, all that would clue me into as to what they were discussing I would have looked on without time. But there were times when those bold shoulders would push out, back straight and others when just as it looked as if she had started to relax, she would seem smaller as if trying to bring herself to protect her core.

Through the window I saw her shadow slink from around the pillar, arms crossed over her chest as she stared at me with a blank look in her black eyes, but I could tell by the tightened around her mouth, stillness, that she was unhappy with something.

Viper was always unhappy, but distracted, so a carefree unhappy. Now I just had to figure out what had her so unhappy she couldn't focus on her distraction.

"I'm sure they know you're watching, but to most people that would still count as stalking." She pointed out dryly.

Ah, me.

"If I look out and they happen to be in that direction it is more of a coincidence then stalking."

"I didn't know coincidences lasted for twenty-three minutes and counting."

"Rarity and coincidences often go hand and hand, I hear." I turned around, taking my hands from out of my pockets. She huffed and walked over to stand closer to me.

At home, she wore a black silk robe that dragged to the ground, a feat for someone her height. Something that she rarely took off, however, was her jewelry, heavy silver rings and a necklace with spikes and rough ridges wrapped around her slender throat. Her braids were pushed away from her face with a headband of black leather, competing with the length of her own hair.

"So do 'bull' and 'shit'." She lifted a perfect brow at me, a challenge in her gaze. I lifted my hands and shrugged.

"Very well, I am stalking." Frowning she looked over my shoulder.

"If you want to know what the sad witches club is talking about so badly then why don't you just tune in or register?" Ignoring my disapproving look she continued, eyes narrowing. " I still haven't made up my mind on if having more Debrouh witches is a good or bad thing. One has been trouble enough."

"She hasn't meant to be just as we hadn't meant to-"

"Yes, yes I know. Wrong place, wrong time." Barking out the words her gaze swung back my way. "Some humans are unlucky that way it seems."

"From your words, you sound as if you still believe we were tragically unlucky as well."

"We did what we did because we are what we are." Her head tilted to the side as she slowly studied me. The sound of some her beads, woven into her hair, bumping together echoed. "Sometimes when I look at you I can't tell if you're awake or simply being. There's something different about you when she's around. Don't get me wrong, do as you wish brother, I will always be there for you. But do not forget that her connection to you is what has kept us trapped in one earth and what has kept you from truly living."

I said nothing for a moment as I stared down at her fierce face, taking in the light coating of what was no doubt some shimmer on her cheeks. I knew better than to remind her that she was not affected by the curse, that she was free to roam as she pleased to any world of her choosing. She was loyal in every scale and had a fierceness in her that few survived.

But she was still young in the eyes of our people, old in the eyes of others. She was correct in certain places, wrong on others, but that was alright

"Get that soft look out of your eyes." She grumbled, causing a laugh to find it's way from me. When it was over I answered seriously.

"You dance to the tune that makes your life happier Viper, you are unrestrained and open to what touches you, unlike me. That much is true, I will admit to that, but be you who not forget sister that you abused that freedom once and we both had to leave our home. I do not blame you for being yourself, so do not blame her for reacting to something that has been done to her. I do not think myself unlucky, quiet the opposite. Just like you, I abused my own freedom and liberty, sometimes you have to lose something you took for granted, not to realize it's worth, but to look beyond the surface of what you thought made you who you were."

"I'm gonna leave if you keep up with your philosophical shit. Your fascination with human nature is beyond annoying, I hope you know that." Pursing her lips she shook her head."You can label it however you want, I'm not resting until you're free of what binds you. Afterward, if you still want to tap that, I won't stop you." With a silent twist, she turned, silk robe trailing behind her

Shaking my head I sighed. Sisters were odd no matter the species. Turning, I shouldn't have been surprised at the brown eyes that locked on mine.

I didn't move, allowing her to make whatever move she would. For a moment I wanted her to motion me over, but I knew she wouldn't. Whatever they would discuss was the foundation between a start and rocky take off. It needed to be just them, of that much I was sure of.

I was proven correct when after another second pause she turned back around, but by now the one who stared at me was Harper. She made the same expression as always when she stared at me, a mixture of amusement and curiosity. Her purple hair was tied in two buns, her usual two strands at the front tucked behind her ears. Unlike Myekla she wore navy blue shorts and a long sleeve black shirt, beside her green flip flops, were positioned together.

Something Myekla said snapped her attention back, but not before looking me over once more.

I could have tuned in just as Viper had said, but I didn't want to. Not really. Of course, Mykela wouldn't know that, so with a reluctant step back I turned and walked away from the glass wall and went deeper into the posh house.

Homes of this size were designed more like works of art to be put on display, something that I took great pleasure of walking through. This house had more bridge halls and turning stairways than most people would find comfort in, some walls were made of glass while others of two-way mirrors. From the ceiling, depending on what room you were in, different crystals and lighting structures hung, painting the room in white light or vibrant rainbows that would bounce off of the mirrors and splatter the white floor in an odd sight to mess with those with good vision. Reaching the library I skimmed my fingers over the various book covers, feeling their textures and bumps until I found the one book I could never ignore.

Taking it with me I made myself comfortable on the lounge chair by a window and let myself connect with the words of a woman who knew the difference between man and monster.

Very few people could say they knew it. Even less lived long with that knowledge.

* * *

Mykela P.O.V

Anxiousness was not something I liked feeling.

I could deal with weariness, doubt, and suspicion, but anxiety made me...angry.

Harper made me anxious.

Not because she was stronger than me or because she posed a physical threat. No, she made me anxious because of what she seemed to be able to see. Some people looked, other people saw. Harper was the later.

Whatever defenses, barriers, closed doors or even buried secrets I had, she seemed to stare right through them and directly at my core. I didn't know what exactly it was made of, that I was made of anymore, but the look on her face made me anxious.

Which in turn, angered me. I didn't like feeling bare, uncomfortable and open. Not because I was distrusting of her, but because vulnerability wasn't something I entertained. I knew my secrets and flaws, I saw no need for anyone to get to know them as well.

Although the open yard and cool grass was a calming space, I just couldn't relax. Not since Harper told me we were going to have a nice 'Open soul' session. It sounded like a whole lot of hippy-dippy to me, but the look of her face made me stay guarded. Harper sat closer to the pool, her toes inching closer until they dipped in. Her hair was in two buns as usual, but one was higher than the other, her glasses perched on top of her head. Her piercings caught the sun's rays, shining with her movements. It was a moment before she spoke, her voice cheery and light.

"I've always loved pools, they have so much depth to them."

I said nothing. She let out a breath and then a short laugh.

"Terrible joke, sorry." Turning to face me more she set those brown eyes on me. At once I felt that comfort, warmth, make its way through me. But I now knew it was her going through me. What exactly it was that she did or that she saw was still unclear to me. "Can I ask you something?"

"Isn't this why we're here? You ask I answer." She didn't miss a moment to launch her first question my way.

"How honest are you going to be with me? Without using the Hypno thing I do. I'm just asking because if I ask something or point something out that might make you uncomfortable I rather not have you slice my neck open with your nails. You seem like the type of chick who can actually do that, hands down." She paused, tilted her head to the side as her eyes wandered away from min with a confused furrow of her brows. "Or would it be up? Hhm."

"I'm always honest."

Her eyes wandered back to mine, her head remaining in its tilted position as she looked into my eyes and beyond. Warmth skimmed the inner being of my mind somewhere to the left. It was like fog, but nothing unpleasant, more like a sensation of positivity lingering over the skin, buzzing around my being and sparking something. Something that I knew my dulled memories would have called the taste of happiness, hope, and joy on the tongue. The buzz that made you want to smile for no apparent reason when you did no more than walk down a hall, or sigh in content. It was all this positivity that gave away her touch to me. It was a foreign emotion, feeling within this Mykela. 

"Honest...honest, but not very forthcoming. Evasive and silent." She whispered almost absentmindedly, staring without blinking, her back slowly straightened up until her head straightened. Anyone could have put two and two together and guessed that she was seeing something of me, but I wasn't sure what. Or how.

"What do you see?" I questioned after her silent staring continued. My question seemed to break her from her trance as she blinked at me and then gave a rueful smile. Shaking her head she gave a sudden sharp nod and her glasses came down, held my her nose and in place.

"I'm not entirely sure how my gift works, but I understand enough to know how to make it stop working." She tapped the frame of her glasses with her index finger. "I have bad eye vision naturally, but these don't just clear up what my eyes can't see correctly. I spelled them to keep out the other things."

I said nothing. but motioned for her to continue. Most people had a bad habit of asking questions when new information came up. I could have asked her why she spelled the frame instead of finding a spell for her bad eyesight, asked why she wanted to have what I'm assuming is her second eyesight blocked when she would have simply learned to control it. Most people need to have those trivial questions answered. I was not most. 

"As a kid, I was always confused as to how other kids could find the smallest of things and declare an all-out war between one another and then come together the next day as if nothing had happened. I was never one to get in trouble, no one ever picked fights with me or arguments. It took me a while to realize that even the people who weren't my friends treated me nicer than they did to people they didn't know. Turns out my gift had been growing with me. And just like in its nature-"

Ah. I see. 

"It was spilling out of you without you knowing and influencing those around you." I finished for her. She got the same look that she had back in her apartment, eyes older than her age, lips coming together in a firm line, but a softening in her brows. It was a sad but resigned look.

"I wasn't just influencing them, I was reading them like books. Knowing exactly how far I could push and take, and with my other gift, it was practically cheating. I knew what decisions they would take before they did, so I knew how to play the outcome to my advantage." She looked vaguely ashamed and guilty, but with a shake of her head, she sighed. "Power corrupts people who don't know weakness. Thankfully, I'm someone who learns from other people's mistakes. My grandmother felt all the links I had created but refused to release within me and took me to visit an old family friend who was good at 'reading people' just like me, she said. Pulled up into a cemetery. I got the message real quick." She shuddered.

I couldn't help but smile a little at her expression of distaste. Maybe it was the openness she had at confessing her stupor on power, even if she hadn't been fully aware of what she had been doing, she claimed it as her own. I didn't have to go through my memories to know that at one point in some life of mine, I had been in that same stupor, but the outcome? It always differed. 

"That's the thing about gifted witches," I leaned back, putting my hands behind me to brace my weight. The cold grass chilled my fingertips. " there is no wall between power and personality. You are either your power or your power is you. Those who try to put a wall between the two tend to fear one and hide behind the other." 

"Spoken like someone who's smashed the wall." She smiled brightly at me, but the smile did not reach her eyes. There was weariness and something else.

" 'The eyes are the windows to the soul and all that shit', as I recall you stating." This time her eyes darkened before gleaming and lightening at the edges as she threw her head back and laughed, filling the vast space with sound. 

"Wanna know a secret?" She asked when she was done laughing. She made the dramatic motion of looking around us before leaning in and whispering. "Souls are much bigger than people think. Some think they are like shadows or large flickering flames when in reality souls are like stars."

"Really?" I asked, for once taken by surprise. I suppose I belonged in the category of people who saw souls as shadows in the owner's figure. She nodded excitedly, her hands began motioning and moving around as she continued.

"I've never really been able to tell anyone, including my grandmother because she's a firm believer in 'I'm leaving with the shit I came with' and she said that if I fuck with her belief before she dies, she would haunt me for life and she's petty enough to go through with it. I mean think about it, everyone lives their own life, and their life is the only life that they ever get to experience," She paused to eye me. "of course there are the very rare occasions. But for the normal folk who live their life, they are their universe, their eyes see the world, so why should their wold be the size of the human body when we feel more than we can carry in our own hands." 

Cupping her hands together she peered down at it with a smile and simply stare down for a moment before looking back up at me. 

"It's always a bit disarming jumping into someone's soul because for a moment it's like falling down the rabbit hole. The journey down is the easiest because it has all of their baser emotions, wants, desires and most important memories just there. But once you fall down the rabbit hole it becomes a bit like Dantes Inferno." 

"Not Dantes Paradise?" I asked leaning forward, finding myself, for once, curious to know about something which I had no knowledge of. I was captivated. Rarely did one have the power to look into another person, even more so to do it at the depth she explained. She snorted and rolled her eyes.

"In this day and age? I've never seen a clue as to whether or not the devil is real but by the size of one soul alone I came to realize that the phrase ' A deal with the Devil' and ' It's free real estate' might just go hand and hand. Must be the slickest mofo in the book, because it's outright thievery." She shoved a finger at me with narrowed eyes as she shook her head. " It's not an exact Dantes Inferno, but most people build their world by levels of friends, family, dreams, fears and all the bad things they've done or wanted to do. Kids tend to have one solid ground floor, which would be great if everything wasn't so intertwined."

"So then how do you pull certain personality traits? Like you did earlier."

"When I touch a soul, there's a moment where I get the essence, I guess you could say, of a person. I don't become them or anything like that, but their strongest traits come to the forefront of my mind as if they were my own. A happy person with a short temper would feel like bubbles tickling me with a taste of spice on my tongue."

"What do I feel like to you?"

"You're a hundred times more complicated than any normal-"

"But if you had to say, in simple terms."

"You made me feel like I was being watched, and I don't mean, just by your awareness of what I was doing but like there were....multiple eyes on me. I've never felt like that, not even when standing on a stage. It was like knowing you were in a cave filled with things watching you, moving around, but waiting for you to do something. I felt like I was being studied. To be honest with you, ya kinda freak me out, but not as much as Venom and Viper do and since that check is fat and I am apparently very dumb for multiple zeros, here I am." 

I didn't know what to make of her words so I said nothing. It was something to think upon later. 

"What do you wish to tell me that as you worried about your neck?"

"So you're just going to skip past the fact that I told you how high key freaky your soul is?"

"I'll think it over once I've progressed more of this conversation later on." It's best not to worry about things like that just because they come up unexpectedly. I counted her blinks.

"Are you always this calm?"

"Of course not." I answered honestly. She pursed her lips and squinted at me before shrugging.

"Right." 

I didn't know why her disbelieving tone, contradicting her words, her smile made me feel...ah, the warmth was subtle. I found myself laughing at, her best, attempt at getting me to open up to her with a lot less force. Instead of the direct warmth, her eyes had given me before, now the feeling was similar to standing next to a low powered heater. Comfortable, subtle and relaxing.

"I thought you needed eye contact?"

"What I need is an opening. God damn woman, how do you do it?" Leaning forward her hands fisted the grass in front of her, lines appearing on her forehead as she looked at me with frustration.

Something about her question made me pause, somewhere in my mind, what felt like fog, lessening. Without thinking about it I reached up and began to undo my braids, the rhythm of taking them apart from a relaxing task. I knew why I could tell when she tried to worm her way into what felt like the core of my being, that the feeling of warmth and belonging that was her signature, which perhaps felt comforting to others was a long-forgotten and foreign thing to me now. Comfort alarmed me more than it provided relief. But it wasn't that which made something in me stir, pause.  What did her question remind me of? When I felt the weight of my hair on my back I focused back on her.

"When you've been out in the cold, how would the sun feel to you?"

"Like a defrosting."

"What if you've become accustomed to the cold and don't need the sun, how would it feel then?" The strangest expression crossed her face, a mixture of concern and the slightest narrowing of only her right eye.

"Like a bother?" Her words were covered in more doubt than confidence. She leaned back, brow furrowed.

"When in the cold, heat would stand out like blood in the snow." Her head flinched back, one of her loosely tied buns flopped forward and then corrected itself.

"Why does the example have to be blood? Why couldn't you say banana in a bowl of oranges?" Muttered under her breath, she looked off towards the pool.

"A banana in a-"

"You already said blood on snow, can't take it back now." My shoulders dropped in confusion, relaxing from the rigged pose they had naturally been in.

"So why correct the example?"

". . ." Taking in a deep breath she remained silent for a moment before speaking again. "I'm not following your examples, but I am getting the sense that you can sense me because we're like polar opposites."

Close enough.

"I'm like a rhino trampling on your hard-working flower field."

What-

"You know I think I'm starting to understand this a bit more now." Hand cupping her lower jaw, she grinned at me. "Three quick clarifying questions." I remained silent which is something she must have been expecting.

"First, my job here is to find whether or not you still have your gift, right?"

"This body is the same as all the others I've been reborn into, but if I carry my memories than its only logical to assume the soul should be as well. In all my previous lives I've never been able to to...use my gift. I wish to know if I lost it along with my first life." The words came out easily, but the reaction to voicing them was something only I could feel. There was a sting and then nothing, as it had always been. "There are other things that could be blocking my gift but I just wanted to clear that obstacle first."

"I'll take that as a yes."  

"Your second question?" I prompted.

"If you think you have your gift, why wait too find me and not just start from zero and relearn it?"

I looked off to the side for a moment, pondering over my answer.

"I've simply done too much to restart from the beginning." There were things I feared from myself that had nothing to do with anyone else influence. Weakness was not one, but a loss of control was were bad habits began. "As to why you, a Debrouhs can always help another Debrouhs. I just had to wait a little longer than I expected for your gift to establish itself in our family tree."

"That clears up nothing, but thanks for trying. Alright, onto the third question." I was surprised to see her crawl over to the edge of the pool and motion me over.

" In order to ask what I need from you I need you to come over here for a bit." Curios, I did as she asked and sat beside her and faced the pool as she did. She sat with her palms flat in front of her, bracing her from falling forward as she stared down at her watery reflection.

"Look into the water and tell me what you see."

"I'll see my reflection."

"You have to look into the water in order to see your reflection."

"Why do I have to look if I already know the answer."

"Why resist doing the action if you know the answer already? What's going to change by looking?"

I found myself glaring at someone other than the two slippery preditors who had been with us. She peeked over at me and snorted. I was surprised myself by my opposition, where exactly did this reluctance come from? With an extremely long sigh, I did as she asked and looked down.

As expected my own reflection greeted me. Dark hair flowed around me in waves, a serious woman stared back with piercing eyes. The longer I stared at myself the darker I felt my mood grow. There was no sudden shift, all there was, was me. I knew every angle, shape, and mark in this face. This face that had seen and heard it all. But this face...this person. 

Mykela Debrouhs.

Me.

All of me.

Mine but not mine.

"Interesting." I wish her voice had snapped me out of this darkened path, but they went in through one ear and out of the other. "The stares are gone."

She stared back at me, expressionless and yet all jagged edges cut into me. Bubbling, something wanting to burst into flames of ice and disappear. I reached out with one hand, slowly, my fingers inched forward and sank into the water around her throat. I froze.

A slim warm hand wrapped around my wrist and slowly pulled my hand out until I was forced to lean back and look away from my reflection. I couldn't seem to look at Harper, my eyes stayed glued to the leaves ruffling behind her, the branches creaking softly.

"What was your question?"

She remained silent for so long that after a long inhale I looked over at her, but her eyes were elsewhere. Or rather, on the pool. There was no expression, no twitch or strain on what I could see. 

"You've already answered it." Her voice was hushed, as soft as the wind but sadder than rain.

The walk back into the house was a quiet one.

*                       *                       *

I wasn't one to wander around at night unless it was to keep watch or a stakeout. Only people asking for trouble or asking for company wonder around. I was neither and yet I still made my way out and to that damn pool. Further away, hiding within the safety of the night, small animals made their presence known.

The night was cold and the sky barren of any stars or color, an endless night of ink. As I walked, my bare feet chilled by the damp grass, I took in a large breath until I felt the tip of my nose tingle. The beautiful scenery of the morning was gone in the darkness of night, the trees so full of color and lifecast shadows that crawled and swayed on the grass. The pools night lights were on, making look almost magical as it glowed brightly. Standing before it, I didn't bother crouching, I simply stared down and waited.

I wasn't sure what it was that I waited for. Maybe for the dark mood that had taken over me the day prior. Peering down I found my image to be distorted, too bright, the night too dark. The me in this reflection was curious, her eyes intrigued but distrusting. I had left my hair down, for once feeling no need to keep it away from my face. I wore black leggings and a brown sweater. Harper was a curious case, she knew when to push and when to ask questions. Her questions lingered, especially the ones she hadn't asked. 

It was the silence that gave him away, just before he appeared by my side.

I could feel his gaze on me, but through the reflection of the water I could not read the expression on his face as the hair he so carefully kept out of his face, hung freely now. Whiter than snow, it shined as if charged with energy. As always, he stood out, always in white. He wore a long form-fitting vest that ended at his knees, underneath he wore what looked like silk white bottoms. The vest was high collared, skimming my eyes down his sharp jaw I noted that the vest was held closed by three golden buttons going down vertically by his heart. Although the vest had no sleeves, we must have been wearing a long sleeve shirt underneath,  this material pulled tight. He loomed over me with both hands behind his back. He tilted his head, leaning in slightly closer, I caught a flicker of gold in the water, his expression- a sudden gust caused ripples to distort the image. I glanced away.

For a moment the expression on his face had been...I shoved it to the back of my mind. I wish I could say there was a box where I could put all of the curiosities that made Venom, but there wouldn't be a big enough box. 

"What is it you want?" With no one around he let his voice carry with the night, like air it traveled and like its owner, it surrounded me. The shiver that passed through me had nothing to do with the night air. 

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" 

"I go where you go. If you are up wandering than there must be something that needs finding." He said it with such conviction that I felt a pang of irritation.

"I did not know I was so useless that I could not find something without aid." I commented tightly.

"I am merely your teeth and claws until you can reclaim your own."  I scoffed and turned to him, eyes narrowed. The corners of his lips were turned upward, a teasing smile. He had gotten me to face him. "And then even after." 

"Venom."

"Mykela."

I glared up at him but all he did was smile down at me, the tips of his fangs poking out, golden eyes gleaming. The tips of his white hair, almost transparent, brushed over his cheek. There was an almost silver hue to his pale skin, a faint glimmer of silver underneath the surface in the shape of scales. 

"Harper is interesting," I stated, turning away from him, I crossed my arms over my chest and looked back at the house. I could see light reflecting through the glass walls where the moon shone down on it, making the house of all angles and transparency glow from the outside.

"Oh." His tone was frigid. My next breath fanned out in front of me. Had it just gotten colder?

"She's young but very aware," Wiggling my toes I looked down at the grass. "She can see into a person's soul and what their entity truly is. I wonder what she see's when she looks at you two?" Taking a glance up I watched his expression morphe. I never was fast enough to catch whatever expressions he did no want me seeing. 

His face was chilled, composed, but completely unamused. His pupils dilated, body frozen, but I knew that if I moved he would catch it. There were moments when the level of attention Venom paid me became almost manic. It was in those moments that the line between him and I became the most apparent to me because I could imagine some of the reasons behind his interest in me, but the parts that I didn't...the parts that were a mystery to me, those I left alone.

"You know what I am." 

"I know what you aren't." I clarified. He let out a warning hiss. 

"There are monsters born in human shape that commit crimes for reasons they see as correct or that of passion and yet I am the one that unsettles you?" Each word was coated in venom, anger making his words blend together. Had I not been used to listening to him I might have missed the words. 

"Better the monsters you can understand than those you can't." My words ended on a whisper as he took three steps closer to me, he kept his arms behind him as he leaned down enough so that we were intimately close. His hair came around him, a halo in contrast to the darkened night. His eye sparkle in various shades of gold and annoyance, he scoffed, a bitter smile forming on his lips.

"How easily you lie to yourself." I lifted my foot to take a step back, but something flashed on his face. A warning? A dare? It was idiotic to run from a preditor, but safer to keep a distance. "Out of everyone, you should be the first to understand me. Human or otherwise."

He was back in my mind, pushing against the door. I knew he wasn't doing it to be let in, it was a reminder. That we were connected. The irony of the situation was inraging in different ways. Our connection was so deep that it was the main problem, the center point in me not being able to use my gift. I was too attuned to him. 

"A connection does not mean an understanding," I waved my hand between the space between both of us. "as far as I'm concerned I was cursed the moment you bit me."

Instead of angering him with my words, it was as if he found them fascinating. His brows furrowed as he stared down. With a nod, he pulled back and took a couple of steps back.

" Never has anyone survived my bite and yet-"

"I still died." I said through clenched teeth.

"Not by any  fault of mine." He shrugged. "Even in death, you pulled at me to follow you to another dimension of time. As far as I am concerned, we were meant to meet."

There were words lodged in my throat like rocks, but instead of hurtling them at him, I pushed them down, scraping the inside of my throat with their jagged and sharp edges. Lashing out in hurtful words because I was unhappy was a waste of time and an unacceptable momentary lapse of control. Seeing as I had little control over what I called life, I would not lose control over myself, at the very least.

"Believe what you wish. Good night Venom." I turned and left.

When I went to close the glass door I found him already gone. 

*                   *               *

Whatever Harper seemed to have found on the first day, I made sure to handle my part of our agreement and teach her as much as I could recall being a Debrouhs witch. It wasn't going to be much, but it would certainly be more than she would ever learn from anyone else. 

"What do you know about being a witch?" 

"You lose some to gain some, nothing in life is free, resurrections spells are not real, you don't need weird ingredients to make a potion and not every witch actually has magic."

"This world is much more different than my own but I've lived here long enough to figure a few things out. In general, the overall image of a witch is that we are conducts of earth, the voices of the earth if you will. What we can and can not do is decided by what the earth has to offer and even then if you take more than you give back, your price will double." Picking up a handful of flower petals I had picked up from the ground I held them up. "Do you know why resurrection spells don't work?"

"Not that I've tried it, but I imagine its something along the line of 'a life for a life' or some rule of having to do it within a certain amount of time or certain conditions and a huge amount of power?"

"Not at all, but as far as guesses go, those would all be counted as logical. The real reason no amount of power or sacrifices work is simple. Just as life blooms and flourishes in some conditions, it withers and returns to the ground in others. Every cycle does not bring sun and life, it brings hunger and frost, darkness and rain. When the sun returns, however, the traces of that which perished remain, the root of the flower, the defrosting of a seed. When life can go no further, it does not always mean an end, it simply means a new beginning. A rebirth." I pointed to myself for the last bit, watching as comprehension washed over her face.

"That makes sense." Pursing her lips she frowned. "Then why do I hear more about resurrections then about being reborn. Even humans spend more time on the topic than most. If it's not immortality then it's about being resurrected."

To answer her question I let some of the petals fall from my hand and onto the grass below us.

"If you can not escape from death, then finding a way to cheat it is the next best step until you find the next stepping stone. As for why the resurrection is coveted more? The flower that blooms from the seed will never be the same as the flower that birthed it. Most tend to want immortality so that they can take the past with them into their future because memories are what make us, but without memory of who you were, who will you then be?" I dropped the remaining petals and lifted my palm to the level of her eyes. "A new flower. Someone without pain or happiness or sorrow. A clean slat."

"What about ingredients mixed in with magic?" She opened her mouth to continue but I was already shaking my head so she snapped it shut.

 "In my world magic and ingredients would be something common, frightful even, but in this world, that's just not possible. I'm not sure why, but this world has little magic in it. Maybe this is the shadowed version of another place or what used to be here has been drained but for whatever reason, the plants that grow here are without spirit or essence. Delicious of course but lacking their own magic."

"What about the freaky ingredients? Vampires nails, werewolf fur, sirens tears, mummy bandages, bigfoots freaking autograph!" She exclaimed with wild hand gestures and motions. I raised a brow.

"I've yet to run into magical creatures on this earth which either means they don't exist anymore or their skills of hiding in with the humans is so good you'll never get close enough to greet them, much less take a pound of flesh off of them."

"No one said anything about flesh." She grumbled.

"And cryptids have probably died out in this world. Perhaps they walked the earth with the dinosaurs of this time. That seems to be the only time anything remotely interesting happened."

"Well damn, if I wasn't sure I was born on the wrong planet, I am now. Thanks for that." She mugged me, top lip curling up as she eyed me up and down. In the same second her expression dropped and morphed into wonder. "What's your world like?"

Her question was innocent and it made my heart pound once, twice, harder in my chest. If I had been in her shoes I would have naturally asked the same thing, but her question hurt. It hurt the way recalling the last words you said to someone who you would soon lose ached, it hurt like catching the same scent of a childhood memory that you could not see bothered you. It hurt worse than waking up in a strange new place and realizing you were nowhere near home. I could have told her of the streets crowded with people of all colors of the rainbow, the sound of the rain once it returned to the clouds and filled the sky like an ocean in some places, how the trees were prone to tripping anyone walking out after sundown because they liked to hear the fairies laugh, how there was an exotic blue flower that would let you fly for three hours with the side effect being that you would smell like dirt for three days and so much more. But I was afraid that if I voiced any of my memories out if I painted the world into a picture for her eyes to see, that I would want to touch that canvas only to have it dissolve like mist at the tips of my fingers. 

And once more I would be reminded of everything I had lost. Or perhaps I would go insane in questioning if it had ever been real. It wouldn't have been the first time. So instead I gave her a small smile and shook my head.

"I can't answer that." My answer disappointed her, that much was obvious with the way her face fell.

"Oh." I didn't give her the chance to ask so I continued. If she was as smart as she let on to be, it wouldn't take much time to come up with reasons behind my silence.

"What I can tell you is what being a Debrouh witch means." On my left lay the notebook she had been using as a grimoire. Calling it that felt insulting.

"Well lay down your wisdom great ancestor." She said with attentiveness, her disappointment momentarily forgotten.

Picking up the book I began to flip through it, holding in a grimace at how she tried the human way of rhyming her words. I couldn't fault her too much as her situation was quite pitiful. A Debrouhs witch who didn't know the family secret.  

"You're not even looking at me and I can feel the second had embarrassment coming off of you." 

I let out a grunt at one page that read 'Love' and completely ignored what lay underneath. She should be a poet. Towards the back of the book, it seemed to get better, her focus being less about wordplay and more about describing events and emotion of a moment. Bingo. I talked as I read.

"Have any of your...spells ever worked?"

"Not that I've noticed, despite my prayer." I paused to glance over at her. She shrugged with a sheepish expression and pushed her glasses up by the corners frame. "A witch that spells and prays, ironic, I know. Doesn't hurt to ask for a little, extra, extra help."

"Huh." I went back to reading. "Had you not been a Debrouhs or a gifted witch, these might have worked. Possibly." On a rare occasion, but she didn't need to know the level of plight had we been in my world.

"What do you mean?"

"There are some witches born with gifts, as you are well aware of, but for everything that you get, you must give. When you have a gift, the more depth it is, the less free-spirited magic you possess. Meaning spells like the ones you've attempted here." I lifted the book up. "It's considered fair trade, you possess a unique gift, anything more throws you out of balance."

"So I can't do magic- free spirit magic I mean?" By her tone of voice, she was both shocked and disgruntled. Yeah, I've been in her shoes before. It feels like you've won the short stick. It was worse in my case, at least there were no council members here as far as I knew of.

"You mentioned before being able to sense in which direction the future may take someone based on a choice, although wild and unpredictable. I wouldn't be surprised if that was a second gift, although much smaller. You probably can't do spirit free magic."

Her horrified gasp sounded more like a choking sound, my eyes snapped up in alarm to see her wide-eyed, slack-jawed expression. I was starting to get the sensation that she wanted to be a real broom wielding witch. And I had just snapped that broom in two.

"What the fuck! I've been duped, I can't even call my self a witch then can I? I'm more like a second rate, herbal tea smelling psychic who occasionally gets your future right and just seems to be really good at guessing what a fuck up you are so you short change her because your sure your friends already told her all the drama before you got there!" She jumped up from the ground and waved her arms around, pacing back and forth in front of me. Her voice echoed in the vast outdoors, breaking and becoming high pitch in others.

"That was oddly specific." I tilted my head in question, waiting for her to explain. She froze and dropped ungracefully back to where she had been, in front of me, but this time she laid flat on the ground.

"I tried opening a shop once, didn't go well." She said dully, staring up at the bright sky. 

"Humans are too greedy to trust good results and too paranoid to trust them." I surmised. There was a moment of silence before she spoke in a whisper like voice, suspicion thick.

"You throw the word 'human' around a lot you know. Last time I checked, two legs, two arms, a spine and standing upright was the requirement to belong. And girl, do you belong."

"Habit. Ignore it." It was always important to differentiate who you spoke of. Misunderstandings caused by mistakes were costly. And sometimes it was best to remind yourself who and what you were dealing with, emotions tend to have a funny way of wrapping themselves around others like a shield when you leave your guard down.

"Not freaky at all." Was all she said on that matter.

"So I'm not a witchy-witch?" She asked almost sadly, I didn't have to look down ar her to know she would probably have a pout on her face. I wouldn't even ask her to clarify what a witchy-witch was.

"You're a Debrouhs witch."

"What's the dif-"

"The difference being that any other nongifted witch is able to cast a spell with their free spirit magic, their lack of gifts enabling them more possibilities. A Debrouhs witch usually doesn't have that luxury, but what we can do, is trade."

Putting the book down I motioned for her to sit. When she was upright once more I collected the flower petals and pushed them together in a tight circle in front of her. Eyeing me she froze when I pulled out a small blade from my back pocket.

"How opposed are you to blood?"

"That depends," Nervous laughed bubbled from out of her throat. "my blood or yours?"

"Yours."

"Why not yours?"

Explaining to her how I had little to no blood in my body at the moment would take longer to explain then it would for her to bleed. But family members don't go around making each other bleed without consent because it's the respectful thing to do, even if it is to explain a lesson.

"It's best to experience it first hand."

"Fine, but I'm not going to lose a finger for this right, because if you need a finger then I'm going to have o decline and call it a day. Don't need to be a witch when I can keep my fingers. I'm quite fond of all of them you know. We grew up together." She rambled, clenching her hands tight into fists by her sides, her eyes steady on the blade.

"I don't need a finger. I won't even have to cut across your palm." My words gave her little reassurance, but she still held out her right hand.

"Is this going to hurt-SON OF A BITCH!" Before she could finish the sentence I pricked the tip of her palm, not too deep, but enough to cause blood to swell to the surface. While she grimaced in the discomfort I flipped her hand quickly, letting it drip onto the petals.

"Pick them up," I instructed, releasing her hand. "No, only that hand." 

"Infection she said she did as she was told to do." She said in a hush, her sense of humor amused me. As soon as her hand closed into a fist around as many petals as she could hold, a dim peach-colored glow surrounded her fist.

"What emotion would you say you're feeling at the moment?" Eyeing me she didn't take long to answer.

"Weariness. Caution." Her words made me chuckle, but I noded.

"Focus on that emotion, feel it throughout your body. Keep the pain of your wound within your mind, but don't let it overshadow your feeling." As soon as her eyes closed a look of concentration took over. "Now, pick any flower in the world and imagine it in your mind, it doesn't have to be perfect or even exact." 

"My hand is getting warm." She said confused, I knew that she would want to open her eyes, but she kept them closed for another moment. Instead, I watched as the peach-colored glow that surrounded her first morphed to a darker color before disappearing completely.

"You can open your eyes now."

Opening her hand, both of her brows shot up when instead of the lavender-colored flower petals, in her palm were a few blue colored poppy heads.

"How? What does this even mean?" She questioned in wonder, picking and poking at them with her free hand. I reached over and plucked them from her and put them into my own palm. The petals that fell to the ground were the only ones, that her blood had not touched.

"There are five in my hand," I said. "How many are in my hand?"

"Five." She answered. She was an excellent student, always answered and rarely interrupted. 

"Hold out your hand," I asked reaching behind me to retrieve the blade, her eyes widened.

"Oh shit." 

This time her reluctance to hold out her hand won out over her good student record as she leaned back, a straining smile taking over her face, eyes flickering around. For a moment I felt her warmth start to trickle from out of her and into me. An attempt at peace I suppose.

As soon as I took the blade out, she froze, but this time for a completely different reason. Frowning, she looked down at her right hand as a blue poppy flower bloomed from out of her hand as if she had a tattoo there all along, right before it simply popped out and became tangible. I pushed my closed hand in her direction and opened my hand, where only four blue poppies remained. Repeatedly did she scan my hand and her own, counting and double counting, blinking as if the sight would change the number.

"The color blue represents the emotion you recognize as weariness or caution, the petals come from the earth, so its only fair to maintain their origin as close to home as you can even if the flowers are of a different family. Pain and blood are a strong source of magic, but they're also the main points this interaction of giving and take. This is a 'Warning signs' spell. Whenever you are in danger, these will show up if ever someone intends you bodily harm without you knowing."

"Oh shit." This time her words came out as an excited whisper, eyes gleaming as she stared at her blue poppy flower with an almost crazed look, a wide grin taking over her face.

"You were able to make five, so unless you have one hell of a day and get attacked six times, you should be fine. Your worlds somewhat safer than mine." I whispered that last part to myself as I handed her the poppies, but even if I hadn't I don't think she would have heard me wit how focused she was on her flowers.

"Will these disappear once they're warning is done? Is there an expiration date for these? Will they only warn me about the danger connected to nonhuman situations or will it be there to-"

"Any danger is still danger, if they walk the same earth like you, they should work. As for the expiration date, Dracula wasn't off when he said blood was life. As long as you live so do these warning flowers. Know that these will only warn of danger to you alone and your advantage will be seconds at least and minutes at most. So be quick on your feet."

"Alright this is all awesome and I understand the trading a bit more but does that mean that Debrouhs have to trade blood in order to complete a spell or ?" She trailed off, finally looking away from her flowers. 

"Yes and no. As a Debrouhs you'll never really be able to do free spirit magic, but what you can do is take what the earth has to offer and use your imagination to reach a similar spell to that of which a nongifted witch can cast, the main differences aside, you would be offering blood instead of magic you don't have to spare. If a nongifted conjures up a storm, shes using up her own energy and magic, so after it's gone she'll be on zero for a while. You would have to collect the elements of whatever storm was in mind and bleed, but even then it wouldn't have the same effect because as Debrouhs our gifts are always something related to people and influences rather than the earth itself."

"Oh!" She exclaimed excitedly. "So if a nongifted witch were to cast a flying spell-" 

"She would fly only as far as the amount of magic she put into it would take her," I answered honestly, a bit worried as to where she was taking this. "It wouldn't get her very far unless she had a large source of power besides her own."

"Hypothetically speaking if I gathered a lot of bird feathers and bleed on them-"

Oh hell.

"You would die of blood loss before the spell was anywhere near completion, not to mention it wouldn't work."

"Why not?" Her lack of disappointment relaxed me, if she had been seriously considering it I would have expected her to pout again. Instead, she looked on in complete engrossment.

"These petals come directly from the earth, they fell on their own and complete their life's goal, so there was already storied energy that would have been used to transition them back into that ground, we simply tapped into that. An animal is like a human, they live on the earth, no doubt better acquainted with the world than most, but still no closer to coming from the earth than a human. Do you understand?" 

Her expression became serious concentration and contemplativeness, she looked down, nodding to herself and mumbling under her breath. 

"This is a lot more complicated and interesting then I thought. What happens if a witch is both gifted and has free-spirited magic?" I nodded at her question.

"That's a good question. It's a rare occurrence, but a rather unlucky one. Most of them die young, too much power imbalance in a young body. The few who age tend to run into tragedies. It's belives to be the cost of getting to live with both gifts and free-spirited magic." She made an 'o' shaped expression.

"That's messed  up."

"Life is full of tragedies." I agreed.

After a quick explanation about how the flowers would always find their way to her even if she misplaced them, I sent Harper inside to take care of her hand. It was easy to forget that not everyone's wounds would close on their own and even then, what was nothing to some was everything to one. I remained on the ground for a few more minutes before sighing. 

Both of these siblings were far more alike than they thought. It would have been amusing if I hadn't been the focal point of their interest. Venom was one problem I liked to keep at a distance, Viper on the other hand... 

"Best get on with it." I murmured, turning to look to my left behind me. 

Crossed legged, she sat on the railing that the flowers wrapped themselves around, bopping her barefoot, slumped over with a hand under her jaw. I had always appreciated the view Viper provided, I wasn't an idiot. Long braids, intertwined with colorful strings were pushed to one side, her black complexion emphasized by the charcoal-colored clothes he wore. From here I could tell the long sleeve low V neck she wore was silk, the outline of her baggy loose pants was sheer but tight at the bottom with the same material of her shirt wrapped around her ankles in a messy bow that left the ribbon hanging in the wind. There was smoothing wrapped around her waist, leather I presumed, but I couldn't make out the details. She was the opposite of a shadow surrounded by flowers, she stood out far more, her presence hard to ignore once your eyes had caught sight. 

"What gave me away Hunter?" She asked coyly, I caught sight of gleaming teeth.

"The same thing that always does, nothing." I confessed vaguely.

"Hmm." Her smile dropped as she stared at me. Without another word she straightened up and jumped, landing silently, her braids not even jostling around. One moment she had been sitting and the next she was already making her way over to me. 

Now that she was standing I could see that my guess about her wearing something made of leather had been accurate. She wore a leather corset belt, its length expanding into something of a skirt before ending well above her knees, but covering what the transparent pants would fail to cover. 

"I take it Venom it far away from hearing distance?" I asked casually, standing swiftly and facing her direction. 

"Enough to give me time." Her words came out edged, but her smile was far too pleasant. Narrowing her eyes she paused her stride my way for a moment. "Aren't you going to ask me?"

I've been around both of the siblings long enough to tell the difference in their looks when they looked at me. Viper didn't outright hate me, I don't think she had it in heer to outright hate someone. I was, however, very close to whatever word she replaced it with. As Venom had said the previous night, wherever I went, he followed and attached to his shadow was Viper. There was always a tension to her, a coiled and readiness to her that made me uncomfortable in a way Venom never did. He was bound to me, intrigued by me for some reason, so he would never hurt me in an irreparable way. But her? A hunter knew when it was outsmarted and with Viper it was the same sensation of being watched, but never toyed with because it had no permission to do as it pleased. 

"Time for what?" I asked wearily, watching as the corners of her mouth shifted, breaking the human facade as her grin split skin and crawled closer to her eyes. As her mouth shifted her own fangs sprung out. 

"I've come to warn you, little Hunter." Her hiss traveled across my skin and down my back, moisture made my eyes blink as a chill overtook my body, but I made my feet move back. 

"What a caring sister he has," I muttered dryly as she walked closer, her long legs ate up at the distance in seconds, I took steps to the side where I would see from my side vision. To take a step back could mean tripping on the unexpected. Crawling might just be my best chance with her, but it would also be the worst. "Message received." 

She stood before me in the next heartbeat, reaching out towards me with clawed hands. Danger never really slowed downtime for me, quite the opposite. Experience and overthinking always clashed with fear and expectation. Steeping back as she advanced I twisted my upper body away from her grasp, in the same second sucking in my stomach and pushing my torso away as her hands turned to grab as whatever she could latch onto as she shifted her arm. My biggest concern were my arms, Viper wasn't someone to fight and for someone who is accustomed to doing so, placing my arms behind me was my best move.

"I don't think you do," I ducked under the hand that went to wrap around my throat and rolled forward away from her left arm as it came across for me. "whenever it comes to my brother, you seem to become blind, deaf and dumb."

"So you aren't here to warn me about not doing anything stupid that could cause him distress as I have in the past as well as making sure this is the last life we ever have to cross paths?" Jerking hard to the right I avoided what would have been a cracked rib.

"No, that's correct-" Her movements became faster punishment for cutting her off, I felt sweat trickle down the nape of my neck. A strange sense of urgency made my muscles tighten as it became harder to keep up with her speed without tapping into a backup source. 

"Then your previous statement is incorrect." I wasn't keeping track of her expression but at the two gleaming eyes that suddenly appeared in front of me as she put herself at face level with me, I could see her excitement.

She chuckled and lifted her knee, catching my left thigh in a bruising manner that made me leap backward, ignoring the burning sensation it caused me. Viper wasn't one to use her lower body when it came to fighting, it wasn't instinctual for her, but when she applied herself, it was disarming. She was beyond fast, but the strength she put behind her movement made her shifts of position jerky. At the moment she was just trying to grab onto me and really, it was all she needed to win.

Once Viper had something in her grasp, only death or mercy could rip it out of her hands.

She was playing with me and we both knew it, even if I had my gift working in a useful state, I truthfully could not dictate which way a fight between the two of us would end if I tapped into her. She was a natural-born predator and I was the imitator. It would always be that way unless I gave in to the worst of what lay dormant within me.

"You already know what I expect of you, whether you heed that warning isn't even completely up to you. I'm here to warn you about something more important." Her words made me frown, confusion blossoming.  What else did she care about than making sure I was as separated from her brother as oil and water? "Judging from the look on your face you have no idea what I'm going to say. Of what could be more important to me other than keeping you away from Venom." The anger in her voice was the only warning. I didn't have time to brace.

She stuck both of her hands out suddenly, the realization of having both of her hands on either side of my head made my body react before I could correct the instinct to jerk back and away from a potential broken neck, using my own force of motion she kicked out. Soft enough to not kill me, but enough to wind me. It wasn't the sudden lack of air that brought the panic, the throbbing that spread from my abdominal onward or even the uncomfortable notion of falling backward and reaching behind me to brace for impact.

It was the prolonged fall, seeing her stand before me before I sank into the cold water and then the rippling that followed as her dark shadowed form followed after me.

Fuck. 

Acting fast I dove myself back up and forced air back into my lungs. I caught enough before long fingers wrapped around my ankle and I found myself being dragged down to the deepest parts of the pool. I had enough air to not strain my lungs, but my stomach burned from the strain of holding it in, my heated body chilled at the sudden drop of temperature and my heart raced at the realization that I was in Vipers best hunting environment. The longer she swam down with her hand around my ankle, the more that leg began to grow numb as the water chilled, even more, the sides of the pool beginning to frost over.

Once at the bottom she released me and swam away in a dark blur. I knew better than to try and swim-up so I swam to the wall and pressed myself as close to it as much as possible. The inside of my head throbbed as the water pushed against my ears, the water rougher than humanly possible. My hair moved around me, casting their own shadows both in the water and in my imagination. 

From my left, there was movement, long dark limbs seemingly flying through the water, swirling and twirling in the water in a way that humans envied but that was an unnatural sight altogether. She kept her arms together at her side, her legs barely moving at all as she moved around me in a dark blur, sometimes swimming close at a startling pace only to jerk away and disappear. Her darkened clothes aided her, almost erasing the hardline that should have showed where her body was. I turned my head every which way, looking for her when I felt fingers wiggling against my neck. Nails putting just enough pressure on my flesh to make it bend and not break.

I pushed off the wall, air leaving me, my chest screaming for what it now lacked. Now an open target I swam up, my limbs heavy, rage and fear making them even more so. I could vaguely see her swim around me in a circle, but I could feel her. Light touches, taunting tugs downward to slow me down even further. When I finally broke the surface the inhaled air was a cruel relief, the shock of temperature, the air felt almost humid as it went down into my lungs. I felt her emerge from behind me, felt her chilling breath ontop of my head fan out onto my shoulders. 

Suddenly air born, my right shoulder hit the ground hard as I rolled far away from the wretched pool until I came to a sudden stop. Dizzy I blinked and wondered for a moment if it had been night when I had first come outside, but after clearing my mind and eyes of water I realized Viper stood above me. She lowered her self to a crouch and slowly reached out her hand, all the while keeping her dark eyes locked on mine as she wrapped that same hand around my throat.

"Let me make something very clear to you Hunter," She leaned down as her words formed their own bond around my neck. "I can understand that you did not mean to imprison my brother in whatever curse was inflicted on you, I can. Just as I can forgive any actions you have done or will do to protect yourself from the plight you find yourself in. That is only logical, survival is instinctive as is any comfort you seek in your position." She hissed the last part, her words also caringly sweet as she smiled down at me, her tongue snaking out.

I didn't move, didn't blink. I laid there. Because that was all I could do. She wouldn't kill me, but as she was doing now, she would make sure her point was heard.

"What I warn you about Hunter, is to tread very carefully on how you drag my brother with you in this mess. Unlike him, I am not blinded by interest by you like he is. I have been watching you for a very long time and I know what dark path you seek." I couldn't help the jolt in my hand, her fingers tightened the slightest bit at the motion even when her eyes did not leave mine. It was an unspoken confirmation. We both knew it. "What you decide to do with your life is up to you, but you will not torture my brother while you do so."

"We both know it's a one-sided interest."

"Yes, because no matter the human, you all fear the unknown." Her words were sneered out, but at once the expression turned friendly. "I'm not so unreasonable that I don't get the biggest issue for you, I get it. Your human, we're not, but I mean really, love is out there for everyone and underneath all those scales and claws and destruction filled blood lust he's a really an awesome guy!" 

Her eyes narrowed when I stared unmovingly at her, more a moment I think her hand tightened.

"Anyway," She rolled her eyes at me and tilted her head a bit, an eerie look crept its way across her face, that excited eye reaching grin, but the coldness in her eyes was tainted by the wild glint as she glared at me. "I'm sick of seeing you step on him like a fucking rug. He's the one who was dragged along with you, he's the one that looks for you when you start nearing your true self and he's the one left holding you're fucked up corpse when you die. You've been cursed and keep dying, it's twisted and you probably have a lot of issues to deal with because of that, I get it. What I don't see, is why my brother, who has been the only willing participant has to put up with your shit when he's done nothing but try to help you. The only time he's ever tried to kill you were those two times and afterward, it was nothing but kindness. I'm not telling you to let him in, to love him or even become his friend, all I'm telling you is to treat him with some fucking respect. I've seen killers get better treatment than what you've put my brother through. 

He's never had to help you, find a way for you to return home. Besides your shit attitude towards him, he also has to deal with the side effects of being tied to you. I mean really, he can't taste anything, can bearly feel physical touch that isn't violence, emotions bearly last and all because you have to be around because little miss Hunter has him locked down within her. And not once has he complained to you. Not. Once. The man can't even fucking smile normally because he can't control-"

Somehow while she went on, all I could really focus on, was the hand wrapped around my throat. Perhaps if I had been anyone else, it would have made sense, my focus, but I was focused on it for another reason entirely. 

Viper had to hold me down to make me listen to her. 

My first instinct when I saw her approach me had been to step away and avoid her. I had assumed I knew what her warning would be about and had tried to cut this conversation short. As she continued her rant, some of her words reached me while others evaded me. The worst time to tune out, undoubtedly, but I couldn't help it. I was having an epiphany.

When had I begun to treat everyone and everything around me as a potential enemy? When had the walls around me gotten so high that they had turned into halls? What had happened to me? Even when I had hunted criminals, masterminds and evaders, I had a warmth I protected and held close to my heart. At what moment in time had I released that? Lost it? I felt a shift, something within me crack. I wasn't sure if something had broken off or simply broken. The very realization startled me. What had happened to me? I felt like screaming. I opened my mouth.

"You're right."

"-doesn't feed to keep you-huh?" She broke off from whatever she was talking about and blinked.

"You're right," I repeated refocusing on her. "I will take into consideration what you've said and adjust myself accordingly." 

"Just so you know, I will eat you if you mess with my brother. I don't care how long I have to wait, I'll make it last days before putting you out of your misery." She threatened.

"I've been warned."

 There was a moment where the two of us simply stared at one another. Her in suspicion and I in acceptance of the new information. Slowly she retracted her hand from around my throat and leaned away from me.

"I suppose this is what I wanted, but..." She trailed off, seemingly disturbed by something. "Why are you grinning?"

"Hmm?" Reaching up with a hand my fingers trailed up to my face and felt along my lips. True to her words, there seemed to be a strange expression on my face. Dropping the grin I peered back up at her now that I had fixed the problem.

"Ah shit, I broke her." She whispered. Standing abruptly she walked away, yelling Harper's name as she made her way into the house.

Laying on the ground and ignoring my screaming body I looked up at the evening sky and stared blankly at the world. Lifting my hands in front of me I stared at them for a moment before bringing them close to my chest.

Warmth.

Warmth.

I had never truly had warmth.

What I had known was better. Something I had lost the moment I came to this world, not when I meet Venom, not even death had taken it from me.

I had lost it all on my own.

And then I had learned something in its place. Avoidance. 

I had learned to avoid, not because I had needed to, but because he had needed too. 

The bond. I was always avoiding it because it was a burden, which it was, and so I missed the most obvious thing. I was so attuned to Venom, I had done what he had needed to do when he first came. Avoid. Adapt. He was not human, he would never be. It was ironic that what I always reminded him about was the biggest clue to my dilemma. The only difference between Venom and I being that I was human and he was not, so my avoidance had adapted to what I was or rather, the new person I had become.

She had nothing. No one. She did not belong. I was pitiful, really. The thought brought forth a chuckle, that grew to something more, something with jagged edges and release.

Harper found me crouched down, humorless laughs bubbling from out of me. At the sound of my name, concern in her tone I became silent and looked her way. When our eyes meet she shivered and took a step back as her eyes widened.

"M-Mykela?" 

"Hmm?"

"There are more eye now." She whispered, her arms wrapping themselves around her shaking frame. She looked almost sick. Viper stood at her bedroom balcony, arms crossed over her chest as she observed us with keen eyes.

The thought came from nowhere really, but at once, it felt right.

Of course there are, they're all watching now.

I didn't know what it meant, but I knew it felt right.

He could never stay far away for too long, so I wasn't at all surprised to see Venom walk out of the back door, his pace a bit faster than normal. He, however, seemed surprised to catch sight of my soaked state because he halted. In the same minute that it took for him to scan me from head to toe in that manic way of his that missed nothing, thought the bond instead of asking for me to let him in, he skimmed and scanned the wall between us. Whatever he found made his eyes widen and his pupils shrink in a way I hadn't seen in a while, his jaw clenched tightly before his whole body stilled. He shut his eyes, his face clearing of any expression it had previously held.

He could have been a statue representing tranquility. 

And then pitch-black eyes rimmed in gold blazed open as rage morphed that tranquil statue into an animalistic one. 

"VIPER!!" He roared, his jaw mouth opening more than humanly possible as his jaw adjusted to his movement, fangs lengthening and bottom ones popping out. It was the loudest his voice had ever projected and yet there was no actual volume to his voice if anything it felt as if the very vibrations were pulsing through the air and pounding his voice into my mind. 

I looed over to see what her expression would be to find her already gone and when I looked back over to her brother, he too had left the spot he had stood just seconds ago. 

"What the fuck did I sign up-" Harper began, a hysterical tone.

"A check with a lot of zero's." I reminded her. She froze and groaned.

"...right, right." She nodded, looking frazzled. 

"Now, I think I've had a breakthrough for our next lesson." Ignoring what I said she scanned me with a pointed look.

"You need a hot shower and a nap. Anything else can wait another ten hours or more. Have you had lunch yet?"

I wanted to tell her that I didn't have time for all of those things, but then I remembered that I would need as much energy and concentration possible if my inkling was right. 

"You're probably right."

"Probably? The pool has chunks of ice floating on top, Venom's jaw just did some freaky shit that's going to land me in therapy and your soul just spooked the fuck out of me. I am beyond probably right." 

I had nothing to say to that.

////// AN/////

Ayyeee...hi.  I know what some of yall are thinking:

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the bitch who said it was time to get back to writing and fucking dipped."

"Yes, it is I. Disappeara."

Lol, well, all this lockdown stuff is a good time to see if I still got it in me.

Dont forget to;

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AND WASH YOUR HANDS TO YOUR ELBOWS CUZ WHY NOT.