Indomitable

s.i.x.t.e.e.n

Remi ducked her head, allowing her strawberry blonde hair to fall across her face, obscuring her features and mostly covering her small horns, and instantly, sweet peace washed over her.

Now, there were far less people looking her way. Now, she was just another person who didn't matter.

Still, she was walking beside her strawberry blonde haired cousins who got a lot of looks—their horns giving them away, but at least the attention had left her. All she got were a couple curious glances, but without her face out there for everyone to see, Remi no longer felt the overwhelming irritation that normally clung tightly to her whenever she was in a crowd.

Now if only she could rid her poor ears of the incessant chattering of the crowd, perhaps they would stop throbbing.

Killure walked beside her, his hands shoved into his pockets and his eyes half open. He'd been annoyed with her ever since he woke up this morning, and had barely spoken more than two words to her. Whenever she'd tried to get more out of him, he'd curl his lips into a icy grin that chilled her to the bone. It was anything but friendly, and there was no warmth behind it, only bitterness.

Remi couldn't figure out what he was so irritated about. He didn't seem that way last night.

Blue glanced back at her. "Cousin, you really are quite antisocial."

Remi shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't like crowds. They bother me.

He eyed Remi coolly. Bliss shook her head at him, but didn't try to intervene. "You don't like crowds, because they're full of people. That's called being antisocial, and it's a character flaw. You need to work on that."

Bliss mouthed something, and Remi scowled in return, though they couldn't see it. "I don't need to see a shrink, Bliss."

"Oh, good idea," Blue commented, nodding in approval to his sister, who only giggled in reply.

A strong gust of wind blew past them, bringing welcome relief to their sweating bodies.

Unfortunately, it also blew off Remi's hood. She stopped walking, pausing to try get it back on her head.

A hand grabbed Remi's wrist, spinning her around and yanking her backwards. She had to do a lot of fancy footwork in order to keep herself from losing her balance and falling on her knees.

She found herself only a couple inches away from a bald man with rank breath and yellow teeth. He hissed at her like a snake when her hair fell back to reveal her horns. "Designer. Gonna take ya and make ya my whore, and I gon' live forever."

He tried to pull her into the chaos of the crowd, but Blue stepped in and grabbed the man's chubby arm.

With a hard look in his eyes, he instantly disintegrated the arm the man was using to latch onto Remi, then pulled skin over the bleeding stub left behind near his shoulder so that he wouldn't bleed out.

Remi fell stumbling back, trying to get away from the man as quickly as possible.

She watched with wide, terrified eyes as the man screamed and wailed in pain, staring in horror at where his arm used to be, and then glancing at the small pile of sparkling dust on the ground beneath him.

"My arm, ya snoot!" he bellowed, trying to grab Blue by the neck, but Blue sidestepped him. "I'll kill ya! Skin ya alive and hang yer guts out on a close-line to rot!"