The Arwain Chronicles Book I

Chapter Four.

The Arwain Chronicles: A Broken Mind...

She sat silently at the bar lost in thought. She by all indications of appearance, looked no older than eighteen years of age. The index finger to her right hand moved idly round the rim of the glass with her drink.

Once again she found herself drowning in the feeling of an empty existence. Trapped in the feeling that she wasn't really living just simply existing. The irony of this feeling wasn't lost on her, considering she had been dead for the past six thousand years.

Her head turned upwards as her eyes focused on her reflection in one of the bottles behind the bar. She studied the young girl looking back at her. Long thick curly locks of golden blonde hair that fell gracefully down her shoulders and over her ample bust. Like curtains that were pulled back to reveal the bottomless chasm that was her cleavage.

A pair of startlingly Deep ocean blue eyes that were forever keen of all that was around her. A nose that was only a bit longer than she liked but had received more compliments than she actually believed. A pair of naturally pouty rose pink lips that she could at choice, transform into one of the most breathtaking of smiles most had ever seen. She'd however had very little reason to smile for the past two thousand years.

Everything about her, she once again noted for what was probably the thousandth time, hid the monster that lurked beneath the beautifully calm surface, but was never too far from it.

Her mind once again began crawling back down the dark murky hole that was the memory of her past. Reviewing all the events in her life that had brought her to the present she now found herself in. Her teeth gritted hard in self-disgust, no matter how many times she'd promised herself she wouldn't come back to this part of her mind, she always found herself back here.

Her mother had died from a complicated child birth as she brought forth her younger sister. Her father didn't last long after that as he tried to drown his sorrows with every alcoholic drink he could find. Less than a month later he poisoned himself as the pain of existence finally became too unbearable. The death of her father left both she and her younger sister in the care of their swine of an uncle. He couldn't have cared any less for them if his life had depended on it. To this day, she still wondered whether they would have been better off living in the streets.

Being the only one who actually cared for the life of her younger sister, she'd been forced to find a mother who was nursing at the time and beg her to feed her sister too. She would then work herself to the bone to pay her for this service, short of which, her sister would starve to death. All the while their tyrant of an uncle expected all chores in the house done without fail. To him, they should have been kissing the very ground he walked upon for letting them share a roof with him.

She couldn't, neither had she ever bothered to try to count how many sleepless nights she had spent trying to keep both she and her sister from starving to death. To her each and every last one of them had been worth it if only she got to look down at the smiling face of her younger sister as she laughed at the faces she made at her.

Life had been pretty much the same for years to come, that is, until she turned fourteen and hit puberty. Then, a miserable life turned to hell. She'd been a late bloomer, not that she had even noticed or cared about this. Despite what men, most especially her uncle, believed about women at the time, she did have a sharp mind. It did not take her long to notice that the way men looked at her had changed, it made her skin crawl.

Despite the fact that she'd had no one to explain to her what was going on, the subject being taboo to be spoken openly at the time. It didn't take her long to figure out what was happening to her. She'd have to have been dumber than a rock not to figure it out after cleaning the town's brothels more times than she could count.

She had refrained from accepting any jobs from the men no matter how well they had promised to pay her. However restricting herself to accepting jobs from the women had proved to be an option that in some ways was just as bad. Despite the fact that she was a bit gaunt from the kind of life she led, her transformation into womanhood had made her the object of envy from all women regardless of age.

Her body had filled out perfectly as it grew all the right curves in all the right places. Her breasts started pushing hard against her small blouses which resulted in an unintended display of her ample cleavage. Despite the fact that her waist maintained its slim form, her hips flared out in a most dramatic way as all of the few calories she managed to get into herself seemed to settle in her ass.

Being naturally tall and graceful, she achieved a level of femininity that the women around her knew they would never match. She had tried to save a bit of money from what she earned to buy larger clothes to cover herself up better with. However, this proved to be an effort in futility as far as reducing the amount of attention she attracted to herself. Her face wasn't left far behind in the transformation as that too turned into something that made men bump into others and walk into walls, as their gazes remained the hopeless captives of her beauty.

All her feminine beauty however worked against her as she found herself now doing twice the amount of work she usually did for half the amount of pay she usually received. The jealousy that was ubiquitous among all the women around her pushed them to make her life as hard and as miserable as they possibly could. For her sister however, she was willing to endure this and much more, to give her the kind of life that would only ever be a fairy tale to her.

The bit of her newly gained femininity that she most loathed however, was the looks it drew from her own uncle. The very gleam in his eyes betrayed the thoughts that were running through his mind. For the next three years, she silently endured his lecherous stares that he didn't even have the decency to try and hide.

About three months after her seventeenth birthday he made his first open pass at her. She had however in no uncertain terms turned him down and made it clear she would never allow anything of the kind ever to happen between them; this didn't stop him from making more attempts in future. However with successive failures he became more forceful and violent. The beatings didn't take long after that. Every small mistake she made earned her a beating that far exceeded the transgression.

Some nights she couldn't sleep no matter how tired she was from all the painful wounds, bruises and welts that had been inflicted upon her. At these times she would sit beside the sleeping form of her sister stroking her hair and single mindedly focusing on nothing else but her. Drawing strength from the fact that all the pain she was in meant that her sister wouldn't have to endure the same.

She could still remember the day she saw her. Only a week from her eighteenth birthday. She had been coming back from cleaning the brothels again, when she saw her. She had never in any way been vain about her beauty, but this was the only woman she'd ever seen whose beauty she was envious of.

It wasn't her beauty alone that had her enamoured, it was also the pure power and confidence with which the woman carried herself. Unlike the women around her who walked heads bowed shoulders drooped lest they attract the wrath of men around. The woman walked shoulders straight and head held high with absolutely no regard or fear of what men around her would think.

Despite the fact that she had never concerned herself with the business of others. When she saw the man walking beside the woman, she hadn't been able to stop herself from doing what she set out to do afterwards. It was Sir Rothwade, a man who was well known for forcing himself on all the women that were unlucky enough to come into contact with him. But had too much money for anyone to do anything to him. The thought of someone as strong and as beautiful as her being defiled by anyone was simply unacceptable to her.

She followed the two of them around for a while waiting for the right moment. The lady parted ways with Sir Rothwade after hours of walking around from shop to shop with him. This was the moment she'd been waiting for. She'd hurried up after her, but soon as the lady made one corner ahead of her, she vanished. She had felt both like an idiot and a failure as she ran around the streets trying to find her.

With a miserable defeated sigh, she'd finally gave up the futile hour long search for her. Turning down a lone alley she’d decided to head back home. She'd barely made it half way through the alley when she felt two strong hands grab hold of her and quicker than she could even react pin her against one of the walls in the alley.

"You've been following me, why?" a dangerously low voice questioned her. It was only after her eyes regained focus that she realized it was the woman she'd been following. She couldn't have kept off the smile that crossed her face at the sight of her, if she had tried.

"I wanted to warn you," she said breathlessly. "Sir Rothwade is not a good man. You are not safe with him, he will hurt you. You need to get as far away from him as you can, as fast as you can," the deadly expression on the woman's face as she regarded her slowly leeched down to one of suspicion before it fully turned into a smile.

"What's your name?" she finally asked after a moment of silence.
"Ailin" she'd answered.

"You don't know me Ailin. Why would you be concerned for my safety?" the lady asked. At this point she'd gone pink as she realized that she couldn't give her a truthful answer lest the woman's smiling expression turn into one of disgust. "I, I... Uuh... Well... I," she'd stammered trying to find the right answer to offer for her question.

She'd watched confused, as a smile slowly crossed the woman's expression. "You are infatuated by me," she said. She was taken aback by the woman's straight-forwardness even as she turned a deeper shade of pink at the truth of her words. Curiously, she saw no disgust on the woman's face, only an amused smile that made her look all the more beautiful.

It was only when the woman let her go that she realized that her feet hadn't been touching the ground while she'd been in the woman's grip. "Don't be ashamed Ailin, your attraction to me is nothing to be afraid of," the woman said straightening out where Ailin's blouse had folded up from the woman's grip.

She'd been unable to say anything in reply to this amazing woman, so she smiled nervously at her. "And don't worry about Sir Rothwade, I haven't lived this long without knowing how to take care of myself," the woman had said enigmatically, when it became clear that Ailin wasn't about to say anything.

Despite the fact that she'd hated to do it, she'd finally turned away from the lady ready to go home. What she had set out to do was done, she had no more business with the woman. After taking a few steps she turned back "What's your..." the word 'name' had faded from her lips as she found herself on her own in the alley. Once again the woman had vanished.

It was at this moment when she was once again alone, that she realized how much time she'd spent in her pursuit of the woman. The sun had already been setting in the west. Cold and unrelenting fear coiled a hard grip around her heart at the thought of what kind of wrath she would face when her uncle came home to find that none of the chores had been done.

She’d moved as fast as her feet could carry her. Hoping against all hope that her uncle had not yet come home and that she could get a few things done before he finally did. Part of her however, wasn't at all surprised when she walked into the house to find her uncle seated in the living room of the house. Life had for as long as she could remember, repeatedly proven to her that it was against her. This was just another of its many reminders, that nothing had changed. Her uncle’s expression had been livid his eyes fixed on the door probably waiting for her.

"Would you care to explain why the house looks like a pig sty? Why no food has been prepared and most of all where you have been the whole fucking day?" the rage in his voice was clear as his voice rose with each question. Ailin had looked around at the house, it wasn't at all dirty or messy in any way. He was just creating reasons and excuses, she knew what was coming next.

Her face had solidified into the plain emotionless mask that it always morphed into when she knew he was about to strike her. She might have been weak yes, but she would sooner die than give him the pleasure of seeing her cower before him.

"At the brothels..." she started up.

"I knew it, you whore," he bellowed, spit flying through his lips. She fell to the ground, one hand reaching out to break her fall as the other held the smarting cheek that was quickly turning red and swelling where her uncle's fist had just connected with her face.

"I was cleaning," She shouted at him despite the fact that she knew she would have easier gotten a boulder to dance than him to listen to a word she said once he got in this state.

"Lies!" he shouted. All she could do was curl herself into a ball in an attempt to make herself as small as she possibly could. Her teeth had gritted hard as she tried to separate her conscious mind from the onslaught of blows that were landing on her body. Hate and loathing of the purest nature once again filled her as bursts of pain registered in her brain from different points on her body. She hated the man standing above her then. But even more than he, she hated her own weakness. She’d hated that she was shouting and writhing in pain begging him to stop. That she couldn't stand up to him or stop him from putting her through it all. Her mind retreated to the dark place it always did as she finally went silent and let the brute above her go on till he tired out. In her mind, she pictured all the ways she could kill the man above her, if she had had the power.

As she lay on the ground shaking, her mind only vaguely registered the crash that resounded in the living room. It was a few more minutes before her mind registered that she was no longer being assaulted. Teeth gritted hard as she tried to ignore the pain as she'd slowly picked herself off the floor.

"Stand there and do not move." She heard a familiar voice say.

She slowly turned towards the source of the voice just in time to find her uncle being held against the wall by... a woman. In any other frame of mind, she was sure she would have reacted very differently. But at that moment, even as she looked into the crimson red eyes that had then been holding her uncle's gaze helplessly captive, she felt nothing. It was only as the woman turned to her that she noticed that at the center of her eyes were black circles where her irises and pupils should have been.

In the state she was in, fear was something beyond the scope of her mind's ability to comprehend. She watched as the woman turned to her, the red fading from her eyes as the black circle at the center once again differentiating into a hazel iris with the pupil at the center. It was only now that she recognized her, it was the woman she'd followed earlier on. "Are you okay?" the woman had asked.

"H... how did you get here?" she'd feebly countered not answering the first question directed at her.
"I heard you scream," the woman had answered her eyes slowly assessing her. "And you just came to help me? Why?" later on looking back at the incident, she'd realized the question had been a rude one. But then she'd never been helped by anyone in her whole life, she had come to learn that in life, only you cared about yourself, everyone else just simply couldn't be bothered. Could she really have been blamed for being suspicious?

"You saw me with sir Rothwade and simply decided to follow a total stranger around to warn them of her company, why?" the lady had returned calmly regarding her.
"What have you done to him?" she'd shifted the topic without preamble.
The woman turned to look at her uncle for a moment before turning back to Ailin. She could already tell from her expression that a decision had been made in her mind. "I am controlling him," She answered simply.

"How?" she asked. There was no doubt in her mind that the woman before her was telling the truth as she looked on at her uncle who'd not moved an inch since he'd been commanded not to. His both panicked and confused expression showing that he was still trying to wrap his mind around why he could not move.

"Are you really sure you want to know that?" the woman before her asked eyeing her critically.

"Yes," there was no hesitation whatsoever in her voice, her unwavering gaze fixed on the woman before her.

The woman held her gaze for a moment longer as if trying to find a reason not to answer her. She after a moment let out a sigh, she'd found none. "I am a vampire," she answered studying her closely.

She might not have known much at the time but she wasn't totally ignorant about mythical beasts. She only knew a small bit about vampires. She too studied the vampire before her for a while, an equal intensity in her gaze as that of the vampire. After a while, she'd made up her mind and spoke up, "Make me into one."

She noted the slight surprise on the vampire's face as a smile slowly crossed her face. "No," she answered.

It had not been the answer she'd expected. "Why not?" the vehemence and strength in her voice was one that had never previously been there. For the first time in her life, she'd actually wanted something for herself and not even this vampire would stop her from getting it.

"Simple," the vampire before her answered simply, the smile still on her face. "You don't know what you are asking for. To ask to be like me is to ask to be a killer. For you to live, others around you must die, especially in the first years. Ooh, those are the roughest," she'd said the haunted tone of her voice betraying that she was remembering her own first years as a vampire. The vampire then fixed her an intense gaze, "Are you a killer Ailin? Can you take a life without caring for those who will be hurt and affected by the loss of the life you've taken to sustain yours? Can you take hundreds upon hundreds of lives without being torn to shreds by the guilt?" the vampire asked.

From the look on the vampire's face, she knew she'd expected her to have balked at the prospect of having to live out her words. Her gaze slowly shifted to her uncle who still stood unmoving like a statue. “Can he move?" she chose to ask instead.

The vampire's gaze shifted to her uncle before turning back to her a new curiosity sparked in her eyes. "Not unless I allow it," She'd answered.

In retrospect, this was the first time the monster that had lay dormant in her for so long, reared its ugly head and barred out its fangs and claws for all to see. The memory was clear in her head, of how she had slowly turned and moved towards the kitchen. Her pace had not arisen from the intense pain her whole body was in, but the unwavering resolve that had formed within her.

With the same pace, she'd walked back into the living room a knife in her firm grip. Despite the fact that he could not move, she could see the fear in her uncle's eyes. He'd known exactly what was coming. His eyes were practically begging for mercy... begging HER, for mercy, she'd felt none.

Moving to stand before him, she paused. First letting all the hate she felt for him rise to the surface making sure that he would see the absolute distaste, loathing, pure abhorrence and hatred she felt for him in her eyes. Her left hand rose to the back of his head gripping hard at the locks of hair there. She wanted to be the last thing he ever saw in his last moments of life. Her right hand had slowly risen firmly gripping the knife and slowly with no rush in the motion brought the tip of the knife to his navel. She'd watched her uncle's eyes grow wide as he felt the tip of the knife slowly push forward. In all her life, she'd never heard so beautiful music as his screams of agony.

She'd been tempted to close her eyes in pleasure and luxuriate in the glorious sound. It was only the fact that she did not want to miss his last moments that she kept her eyes open. She did however give in to the pleasure of it all and let a cold pitiless smile creep onto her expression as she looked at him. Once the knife was buried to the hilt, she'd pulled it out then pushed it back in again at a different point, and repeated this again, then again, and again and again...

He was probably dead by the thirtieth stab but this was lost on her as she held his blank gaze and continued to gut him. It was only at the one hundred and twelfth stab, when she felt the hand of the vampire on her shoulder urging her to stop, that she did. Letting go of her, now late, uncle's head, she'd let his gutted corpse fall to the floor, all his intestines were spread out on the floor, and splashed on the front of her dress. She turned to the vampire, her face an emotionless mask. She’d felt absolutely nothing for what she had just done. "Does that answer you?" she asked in a cold voice.

The smile on the vampire's face tilted morphing into a smirk. "That was easy," she'd said. "This man," she pointed at the corpse. "You hated. You could easily do what you've just done because you felt nothing but pure hatred for him. But what of when the time comes when you have to take the life of someone who's done absolutely nothing to you? One with whom you have absolutely no quarrel?" she once again posed.

With absolutely no fear, she'd walked up to the vampire locking gazes with her, "Either you do this, or you don't, stop searching for excuses not to," she'd spoken in a low voice that still held no doubts about what she wanted.

She watched the smirk on the vampire's face slowly turned back into a smile. "Fine then, I'll do it," she relented.

A smile crossed her own face at the answer as she regarded the vampire. Anticipation had already began building up within her. "What now?" she’d asked ready as ever.
"Now," the vampire had said her smile widening. "I kill you," she’d answered. The vampire's form became a blur as she moved with superhuman speed. She'd felt it as the vampire's fangs sank into the side of her neck. Despite the pain her body had been in from the beating she'd just received, she'd felt a sweet and indescribable molten pleasure spark and spread throughout her whole body, its center in her loins.

She'd felt it slowly and unrelentingly spread out throughout her every fiber. Pushing her to a new heights that she had never before ever experienced before finally pushing her over the precipice. Her body had trembled and shaken in spasms as she shook with the very first orgasm she'd ever had in her life, at the hands of the vampire.

She felt it as her body slowly weakened from the large amount of blood she was losing. In her mind it felt as if she was floating as reality slowly faded away from her. At the last moment before she completely lost consciousness, the indescribable pleasure turned into the worst kind of pain she'd ever felt. Her uncle's beatings included in this comparison. She’d felt a new fluid flow into her body at the point where she'd been bitten at. But before she'd had the chance to scream out her agony however, she'd mercifully passed out.

She wasn't sure for how long she'd been out, but her eyes had slowly drifted opened as she woke up to find herself lying on the floor. The first thing she'd noted was the burning, all consuming thirst she felt. It felt as if her throat was full of sand as she felt more parched than she'd ever felt in her whole life.

"It's the bloodlust, thirst for human blood," she'd heard the vampire's voice. She turned towards the vampire. She noted that the living room had been cleaned, no trace of her uncle's corpse was to be found anywhere in the room. Even her own clothes were gone she’d discovered as she looked down to find herself in a different dress. One more expensive than anything she could have ever afforded, no doubt the work of the vampire before her.

She looked up at her wanting to say something about all this. Her throat however, had very vehemently protested as the effort. Making it feel as if sand paper was being rubbed hard against her vocal cords. "I cleaned it up," the vampire spoke up answering her unspoken question as she noted where her gaze had just been. "One of the first lessons you should learn as a vampire," she spoke in an explanatory tone. "While you may be an almost indestructible killing machine, it is simply idiotic to leave a trail of corpses leading to your doorstep. There are those who... Wouldn't approve," the vampire had said enigmatically.

Who, she'd wanted to ask but her throat had been quick to remind her that talking wasn't on the list of things she could currently do. "Don't worry about that right now," the vampire had spoken up answering her unspoken question almost as if she could read her mind. The vampire moved forward and picked her up off the floor and set her up on the seat her uncle had been in when she'd come home.

"From now, you have three days to drink human blood, failure to which you will die. And this time, it will be permanent," the vampire explained. "If you want my advice, do it on the third day, take the first two days to enjoy sun, you won't be seeing that in a very long time after that," the vampire said then turned to leave.

"Wait," she'd forced herself to say. Her words however had come out more as a croak than actual words. The vampire had paused at the doorway turning to look back at her. "Wh... What's your name?" it had taken all her effort to ask.

The vampire regarded her for a while a smile on her face. "Viera," she'd answered. Her form had once again become a blur as she zipped off at a superhuman speed, leaving her
in the empty house. It had been grave silent except for the beating heart of her younger sister who was at the time probably still hiding under her bed. This was where she always hid when their uncle got violent.

Ailin had always instructed her never to come out till she herself, had come to her to tell her that it was safe to come out. She would be there waiting for her to come and tell her it was okay to come out. With legs that felt like those of a newborn and a throat that felt like it had never seen water in its whole existence, she'd pushed herself off the chair and walked towards her younger sister's room...

"Hallo beautiful," she jerked up hard, her mind being pulled back to the present at the sound of the male voice. Her teeth gritted hard in self-disgust. She had been so lost in her memories, that she'd lost all awareness of her surroundings. A very careless, stupid and dangerous thing to do. It was a mistake only younglings were supposed to make, not six thousand year old vampires she internally berated herself.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," she could hear the smug pleasure in the man's voice as he relished the fact that he had gotten her off guard. By the scent coming off him, she knew he was a vampire too. In spite of the fact that nothing about her outwardly showed it, her rage flared.

"What?" she asked, her voice icy as she turned away from her reflection in the bottle to the twenty five year old looking vampire. She could tell he was much older than his appearance portrayed him to be, but not older than her. In the vampire world, age counted for a lot, and in that respect, she had him soundly beat.

"I simply seek the company of one as beautiful as you, can I join you?" he asked with what he must have thought to be a winning smile.

"No," she answered, flatly turning him down before turning back to her drink. Her eyes looked down at the crimson liquid within the glass. At six thousand years the bloodlust had greatly diminished, this single glass of blood was enough to carry her through another six months without another taste. She downed it in three gulps and asked for another. She smiled at the convenience of it, Vampire bars were a luxury that hadn't existed back when she'd become one, in fact until about fifty years ago they simply weren't there.
"Forgive me, but I simply wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I just let you go without insisting," the male vampire said taking the empty chair beside her. His voice had changed, subtly becoming more challenging in its tone. She could see right through what he was trying to do. To seduce a female vampire, especially one older than the male trying to seduce her, he would need to prove he was no push over and that he was worth her time. She smiled at the irony. Despite the enmity between the two races, over the years of her existence she had come to find that vampires and weres had a lot in common. This however didn't stop them from trying to tear each other to shreds, every chance they got.

Had it been under any other circumstances, the male beside her would have been doing pretty good. Except that in this particular situation, she wasn't playing hard to get in an attempt to test him. She really didn't want his company. "How old are you?" she watched as the smile on his face straightened a bit. Asking for one's age in the vampire world was a big red flag. The question was usually asked by one who already knew they were older than the other. It was a not so subtle way of reminding the other that if things went sour the result would be them ending up a mess on the floor.

"Four and a half millennia," he replied. She admired the daring of the vampire before her. Most didn't answer the question, taking it as a cue to end the conversation and leave. He either believed her not to be much older than him or he was simply just really cocky... cocky and stupid.

"I am more than a millennium older than you," She said tired of the charade, a threatening tone coming now onto her voice. "Now, if you wish to return to wherever it is you came from with your head and limbs still attached to you, I strongly suggest you start walking," she spoke up her voice dangerously low.

To human eyes the scenario would have looked hilariously ridiculous. An eighteen year old girl threatening a twenty five year old hulk of a man that was close to twice her size. However, every vampire in the bar watching them, which was every last vampire in the bar, knew that unless the male vampire before her had a death-wish he would be most wise to walk away from this one while he still had the legs to do so.

The two of them eyed each other, for a while and for a moment she thought he might actually be stupid enough to test her. But at the last moment, the male rose from the seat he'd occupied and walked away.

She turned back to the bar reaching for the refilled glass set before her. Her hand paused half way towards it as she felt it. After six thousand years of existence, she could, unlike most, recognize vibrations immediately. Her face contorted in confusion, there were many powerful magicians in the area around.

The bar being full of vampires created the magic attract magic phenomenon, so she wasn't really surprised by the presence of so many different vibrations around her, she generally chose to ignore them. So why was it then that this one new vibration called out to her so much? Despite all her efforts to ignore it and remain seated, she simply couldn't. She turned and looked out through the front bar window as she felt it come back to her, a feeling she had lacked for the past two thousand years... a sense of purpose.

Leaving the sum total of what both the drink she had taken and the one she'd left untouched on the bar was worth and a good tip on top, she got up and walked out of the bar. Standing at the door, her head turned left and right as she tried to gauge from which direction the vibrations were coming from.

Soon as she had it, she zipped off her form becoming a blur as she moved at a superhuman speed through the streets of London towards the source of the vibration.
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Despite the hate that filled his eyes as he watched Ailin's blurred form vanish through the streets of London through the front window of the bar, a smile played on his lips. The bitch hadn't recognized him, he thought relishing the extreme satisfaction he felt from knowing that the first and most important phase of his plan had succeeded.

He'd even gone as far as giving her his age, a very daring move on his part, maybe even stupid some would say, but she still hadn't recognized him. "See you soon Ailin," he whispered coldly.

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She stood still, blades still in hand. Her whole body had gone rigid the second she'd crossed the threshold of the, now doorless, room. She knew it already as her eyes scanned the occupants of the room, she'd just walked herself to her own death.

Her eyes moved from one to the next of the four occupants in the room. The wizard, looking as confused as ever, sat on the bed between the two weretigers that lay on either side of him in full-fledged animal forms. Despite the fact that they were laid back calmly on the bed, she wasn't fooled, she knew perfectly well that the two weretigers were ready to reduce her to ribbons at a moment's notice, if the wizard gave the order or if she proved to be a threat to him. She already knew that she couldn't be the latter, she had met her match, she would die.

Her eyes turned to the last occupant in the room, the succu... Where was the succubus?! Her eyes locked gazes with the other pair that so much reminded her of fire. In them she saw slight confusion, but largely present in them was simple curiosity, a keen desire to understand something she didn't. Being under her gaze made her understand what it felt like to be a specimen under a scientist's scrutinizing gaze.

The wizard couldn't have been that strong, even now she couldn't feel his power from across the room. The one with flaming eyes however, was a whole different story. She was possibly stronger than every other beast and wizard she had ever fought and killed before, put together. And that, was no small number. Her mind kept running through every beast she knew and had ever read about from the beastiaries or encountered in her life. Her
mind kept coming up with only one answer as to what she could possibly be.

But that was impossible, all of the phoenixes were killed by lord Arwain before the end of the war, all except for one. The only way the one standing before her could be a phoenix was if she was... The colour drained from her face as the realization hit her like a sledge hammer just who she was looking at. There was now no doubt about it now, she was looking at her own death.

She now understood why the fact that the potions she had taken and the spells she had put on her clothes, to throw off and ward against spells had proved useless.

"Claire?!" the confusion on the wizard's expression perfectly clear in his voice. So he does know my name, she found herself thinking almost ruefully.
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Dan had jerked back in shock in a not so manly way, when the door flew off its hinges and crashed hard into the opposite wall. He'd known that something was happening when he'd gotten the feeling that had caused the others around him to perk up. Kirra had mentally asked him to move to the center of the bed while she and Karra morphed into their tiger forms and moved to position themselves on either side of him. Ember had simply turned to face the door.

He felt like he'd just stepped out of reality and into a fiction movie when Claire walked into his room. Two broad swords on her back, two knives in her firm grip and a number of blades at different points in her outfit. He couldn't shake the feeling that there were more hidden out of sight.

"Claire?!" He called out after a moment of silence. He was unable to keep the confusion from his voice as his mind finally caught up with how bizarre the scene before him was. It was only after she'd remained still surveying them for a while without moving a single muscle that he realized that she must have been under the hold of a spell.

"So nice of you to join us," All occupants of the room except Claire turned to Athena. She'd appeared at the doorless entrance to the room. She'd left through the window when they'd become aware of the intruder. It was only now that Dan realized she'd been moving to circle around the intruder and come from behind her.

They all watched as Athena moved to a corner of the room and retrieved the chair from there and walked back to Claire placing it behind her and pushed her stiff form onto it, she then crouched before her so that they were at eye level with each other. "You my friend, are about to become my teaching aid in teaching, killing your enemy 101," Athena said the chilling smile still pasted on her face, then turned to face them.

"Ember, could you please allow her head motion and speech when I indicate it," she asked. Ember nodded once. "Now," she began seemingly unable to keep the smile off her face. "What you see before you Dan, is what we call a hunter. Hunters are a group of self righteous pricks, that believe all magic is evil, and believe it their job to rid the world of it..."

"Wait," Dan interjected confused. "But she just used magic to break in the door. I mean, how else did she manage to throw the door across the room like that?" he posed.

"A very good question," Athena replied turning to Ember. She nodded once at her signaling that she let go off of the spell she'd cast to the extent she'd just indicated to her. Claire's head suddenly was no longer stiffly forward as she turned to fix Athena a gaze that spoke of pure unbridled hate. "The last time I was out of the box, about two thousand five hundred years or so ago," Athena spoke in a falsely cheery voice. "You guys loathed magic and everything about it, what has changed," she asked. Claire remained silent fixing Athena a defiant glare. "I was hoping you'd say that," Athena said her smile widening. "Ember could you please sound-proof the room. We wouldn't wanna bother the neighbours with all the fun we'll be having, would we now?"

"Already have," Ember replied calmly.

Athena brought up her right hand so that it was in front of Claire's face. Dan watched as she ran the clawed tip of her index finger down Claire's forehead and brought it to a stop at the bridge of her nose right between her eyes. "Now, which eye will we be losing first, any preferences?" Athena posed.

Despite the fact that Claire maintained her silence, Dan could clearly see the fear that was now infusing her every fiber.

"Wait, stop," Dan called out pushing himself off the bed over Karra and onto the floor. "What do you want to do?" Dan asked unable to keep the apprehension from his voice, despite the fact that he could very clearly see what Athena was about to do.

"I am about to relieve her of one eye. Don't worry, she'll still have the other," Athena answered the pleasure in her voice very evident. "Well, until I relieve her of that one too," she added with a wicked smile almost as an afterthought as she turned back to Claire whose breathing had noticeably increased in speed even as it became shallow.

"Wait," Dan called out once again stopping Athena. "You can't," he said.

"And exactly why can't I?" Athena asked her expression plainly showing that she was confused at his words.

Having no logical answer to offer her, Dan crouched before Claire instead, bringing himself to eye-level with her. "Look Claire, I am not really sure what is going on here, but please answer the question," he implored her. He wasn’t sure why he didn't want to see her hurt despite the fact that, he was sure she hadn't carried all the blades into his room simply because she thought they looked cool and shiny. Claire's expression remained a hard mask only her eyes and breathing betraying the absolute terror she was feeling.

"What are you doing," Athena's cold and harsh voice resounded from behind him. "You don't need to beg her to do anything, she will spill all her guts eventually, figuratively and literarily," she bit out clearly displeased by Dan's attempt to keep her from getting the information out of Claire the more brutal way.

"Come on Claire," Dan urged. "Do you really want to lose your eyes and other body parts over a few words?" he asked hoping she would be logical about this.

Dan watched as some of the hardness left her expression her eyes reluctantly turning to him. "Our fore-fathers, the very first hunters," Claire spoke up her eyes fixed solely on him. "Were almost completely wiped out by your kind. They were thought by most to already have been, about two thousand five hundred years or so ago. But luckily a few of them had survived.

Back then they would have sooner slit their own throats rather than use any form of magic. But then, without magic they were so badly disadvantaged. They came to see this almost too late. When almost every last one of them had been killed. It became starkly clear that if they hoped to succeed in wiping out the disease that is magic from the world they would have to fight fire with fire. However so few of them had remained so they had to lay low.

For the next five hundred years, they laid low slowly baiting their time as they increased their numbers while also learning magic. They passed on the code of hunters from one generation to the next. So that it was never at any point forgotten that magic was only a means they would require to meet their ends, not something they themselves practiced as a way of life. Over the period of their dormancy they grew increasingly stronger and more skilled in fighting against those who had magic. When they once again resurrected five hundred years later, they were a force to be reckoned with. We are the ones who've kept the world from reverting back to the darkness and vileness that had filled it back when magic was a free force in the world," She answered then went silent. Dan could see that she hated that she'd done so.

"There you go," he said turning back to Athena. "There is your answer," he said. From the look of pure distaste on Athena's face, Dan could tell she hated his inability to allow Claire's torture.

"And so now hunters practice magic?" the pure curiosity in Ember's voice was in complete contrast with the tense air that was in the room as she sought whatever knowledge she could garner from the hunter. Claire remained silent.

"Here is how this is going to work," Athena spoke up walking around Dan to Claire. "Every question you fail to answer is an organ that goes missing, whether your eye, your finger or your spleen, I really couldn't give a fuck which." All amusement had left Athena's voice as she spoke in an icy tone.

Despite the fact that he knew and hated the fact that Athena wouldn't approve Dan turned around to face her. "No, we are not maiming or killing her," he spoke up no doubt in his mind about that decision.

When Athena turned to him, he could see the pure fury in her eyes as she regarded him. For a few minutes they stood there silently regarding each other, neither backing down from their stand. Finally, Dan, with a lot of trepidation watched a smile slowly form on Athena's lips. "Fine then," she said walking around him to the bed. "Let go of the spell Ember," she said as she lay back on the bed.

"What?!" Ember's voice was heard the shock in it clear at the request.

"You heard our master," Athena said in a deceptively sweet voice her eyes never once parting from Dan's gaze. "He doesn't want the little princess touched in any way, so let her go," she repeated her request.

"You are angry right now Athena..." Ember began to say but was cut short as Athena turned her sharp gaze to her.

"I may be angry," she spoke through gritted teeth, her jaws tightly clenched. "But he is naive," she accused pointing a taloned finger at Dan. "And like it or not, we both know that will be his death," she said in a low voice despite the clearly evident fact that she was barely containing her anger.

Dan watched as Ember went silent, the conflict in her mind clear on her face. He already didn't like what she was about to say as Ember finally turned to him with a sigh. "She is right," Ember said turning to him. "I am going to let go of the spell that is holding her in three, two..."

It happened so fast that he'd barely had any time to react in any way. He stood petrified not by any spell, but by shock as he felt the tip of the dagger in Claire's grip at the side of his neck at the exact point where his jugular was.

In the exact same instant as when Ember had uttered the word, one. Claire's form, now released from the spell holding her, had moved faster than lightning as she rose to her feet. Drawing a dagger from only she knew where, she’d brought it down in a hard swing towards the side of his neck.

They both now stood stock still regarding each other. His shock filled eyes gazing unbelievingly at her hate filled ones. Dan knew perfectly well that the only reason he wasn't drawing his last breaths was that Ember had somehow been quicker than Claire's attack in restoring the spell that held her captive. Dan could feel the tip of the knife grazing the skin on the side of his neck as he took a step back away from Claire. "Wh... Why?" Dan questioned the petrified form of Claire.
"Because," Dan heard the sound of Ember's voice from behind him. "She is a hunter, her whole life has been dedicated to hunting down and killing those of our kind. To her, whether you show mercy or not, you are the enemy and her number one objective right now is killing you. And believe me, it is something she is very well capable of. She has been trained from birth on how to. She probably learned how to carve out a heart, before she even knew how to ride a bike," Ember explained in a calm voice.

"And I was damn good at it too," came the Claire's defiant voice as once again Ember allowed her head movement and speech.

"To her," Ember went on as if Claire hadn't spoken. "There is no turning back. She's been trained to accept even death as a price she might have to pay for her cause. For her there can only be one outcome to this. One of you two lives and one dies, there is no middle ground." Ember explained then turned to him. "So now, what will you do Dan?" She posed. "Let her go and she will do everything in her power to ensure you are dead. Keep her here as a captive then probably the tracking spell that has been put on her will lead other hunters to your doorstep," Ember went silent not verbalizing the last and seemingly only option.

Dan's jaws clenched hard as he turned to look hard at Claire who returned the gaze with equal intensity and an equal amount of hatred. Despite what all his guardians, even Kirra, and Karra who had remained silent through it all, seemed to be expecting of him, of one thing he was sure, he wasn't a killer. At least not yet, he wasn't past that point. There was no illusion in his mind that the time wouldn't come when he would have to kill. But everything within him knew it without a shadow of a doubt, now was not that time. "You don't have to do it yourself you know," Dan turned to find Karra standing beside him her expression neutral as she regarded Claire in her frozen stance. "Say the word and I'll take this off your hands," despite the fact that her face showed barely any emotion, Dan had the feeling that she knew the turmoil going on within him.

"Thank you," Dan said. "But no thank you, giving the order is no different from taking a blade and slitting her throat myself. Either way, I am responsible for her death." Dan replied his gaze never leaving Claire who seemed to be trying to bore holes in skull with her gaze.

Dan's resolve hardened just as his expression did. If there was one thing all his IQ had ever made clear to him throughout his life, it was that there was never just one way of solving a problem. He was the one they were all looking to, it was time he started acting like the leader they all expected him to be.

"Ember, you masked my powers to keep others from being able to track me, can you mask, or even better yet kill the tracking spell on her?" he asked turning to the phoenix.

"I could, but that would set off all kinds of alarms with the hunters. Hunters did always keep close tabs on all their members, I can't be totally sure but, I do believe that the only way the tracking spell on her can go off is by her death," she replied. "If I were to kill it, then other hunters would swarm this place trying to figure out what it was that killed her," Ember explained.

"But," Dan began turning a confused expression to Athena, "If I had actually killed her, the same thing would have happened," he said.

"It would," Athena answered coldly but volunteered no further information holding his gaze defiantly.

"If you had killed her," Ember began already seeing the tense situation that was brewing in the room. "It would have meant that you have finally fully accepted made peace with your new life as a wizard. We'd have killed her here, then wiped away every single trace of it then moved to the fort I am sure Athena has found by now. Even if the hunters came to try and find out what happened they would have found nothing. Hunters don't hurt humans they believe themselves their protector. So your family would have been safe once they ascertained they knew nothing."

"So this was a test?" Dan asked feeling his rage rise sharply. "You wanted me to take a life simply as a test to see whether I was ready to embrace becoming a wizard?" he spoke through gritted teeth, barely noticing the fact that he was shaking.

Athena rose from the bed, and walked up to him so that they were standing with their faces barely an inch from each other. Her gleaming yellow eyes returned the glare his own blue eyes were sending with equal intensity. "Yes, it was a test, one I might add you failed at miserably. You've seen it for yourself that she is ready to kill you even if you show her mercy and yet you still debate on what to do. Initially, I thought that you were simply just afraid to take a life but now I see it for what it is, weakness!" she hissed the word as if it had a sour taste on her tongue. "You are weak Dan, even with all the power you possess you are still w..." the word never fully left Athena's lips as her whole form froze up, her eyes going wide.

Dan barely noticed the fact that his eyes were glowing as he regarded his guardian or the fact that things around the room were rising off the floor. All that consumed his mind at the moment was the pure and utter liquid rage that was burning like a wild fire within him.

Despite the chain Ember gave him still being around his neck absolute raw power was coming off him in waves. "You want me to take a life, A LIFE, simply as a test?" though he'd let out the statement in a whisper they filled the whole room as if he'd shouted them. That single thought was what had stayed with him as he now regarded his guardian who was on the floor.

Athena's cry of pure agony barely registered in Dan's mind as the rage clouded all his faculties. He barely noticed that she was writhing in pain. Or the fact that her skin was peeling off as that of one caught in the middle of an inferno. Or the acrid scent that was coming off her flesh. Or that she was begging for mercy. All the rage allowed him to see was that she was getting what she deserved for her actions.

"MASTER, PLEASE STOP!" It was Kirra's shout that finally got through all the rage to Dan. Dan's eyes widened as he snapped out of it and all the rage suddenly vanished. His head turned to find Ember, Kirra, and Karra with their eyes fixed on the floor. Kirra seemed to almost be in tears, Karra's whole form betrayed the fear that Dan could feel coming off her in torrents through their bond. And with Ember, there was only an emotionless mask as she fixed her eyes on the floor. Through their bond Dan could feel nothing it was as if she'd locked the bond off to keep any of her emotions from showing.

He finally turned his gaze to Athena, Dan's heart clenched hard in both shock and horror at what he'd done. Self-disgust filled him as he looked down at the blackened form of Athena as she lay shaking on the ground from the residual pain. "Athena," he called out weakly as he knelt on the floor reaching for her.

Dan's heart clenched even harder in more pain than he ever thought he could possibly feel as he watched Athena drag herself across the floor away from him despite her wounds and the excruciating pain he knew she was in. The frantic urgency in her motions showing just how bad he'd hurt her, there was a wild look of pure fear in her eyes. Dan looked on horror struck as even as Athena's back touched the wall, her limbs kept moving trying to push her further away from him. Despite the fact that he could already see her flesh and skin slowly healing themselves, Dan knew that he'd caused her a wound that would never fully heal.

"Athena, I am so sorry," Dan said weakly at her. But the words seemed to barely register as the succubus kept pushing herself into the wall.

"Kirra, take this to the edge of town, then crush it," he heard Ember's voice from behind him. "Karra, take both Dan and Claire to the fort, I will be with you shortly," Dan felt Ember's hand on his shoulder. "Let me take care of this," he heard her voice soft. "Go with Karra, please," she asked.

Dan slowly rose from the floor, turning to follow Ember's request. For the first time since his outburst Dan looked on at the expression on Claire's face. She too had felt it. She had a look of absolute and unbelieving terror at what she had just seen and felt as it dawned on her just how powerful the one guiltily looking at her was. Dan silently walked out of the room Karra walking behind him with Claire in tow, as Karra maintained a clawed grip around her throat lest she tried anything. Dan got into one of the Lamborghinis and pulled out of the drive-way and floored the gas pedal.

How could he have done that to Athena? His jaw clenched hard, his knuckles turning white on the steering wheel as his grip tightened around it. The look of both fear and pain that Athena had on her face, haunted him as the run down house appeared ahead all too soon. Dan drove straight for it soon as the front of the car crossed onto the front lawn of the house, the illusion broke and the gate to the castle appeared.

Dan's foot didn't rise off the pedal as the car moved right through the solid gate. Athena, Kirra, and Karra had spelled the castle and the compound so that they recognized him as the sole owner, the gate even if still closed would not deny him entry. The car came to a screeching stop right before the castle entrance. Dan got out just as Karra pulled up in the other Lamborghini.

Dan wordlessly walked into the castle and sank down onto one of the sofa's, in one of the castle's living rooms. Karra walked in after him and pushed Claire into one of the seats and sat herself silently in the empty chair across from her.

"W...Who are you?" all pretense of bravery and defiance had long left Claire's voice as she regarded him a new.

"I am the person who almost killed one I consider a friend, because I couldn't kill one who tried to kill me," Dan answered the self loathing in his voice clear. All three of them remained silent, for how long, Dan didn't know but the next sounds he heard was that of Ember as he walked into the castle with Kirra and Athena beside her.

Athena was now fully healed and in a fully black outfit. Her expression was an emotionless mask as she silently moved to stand in one of the corners of the room. Dan rose from where he sat turning to her "Athena, I don't know what came over me. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you in any way, I swear." he once again apologized. Athena, however, did not reply.

"If you are not going to kill her, then there is only one other thing you can do," Ember's voice was heard.

Seeing that the succubus wouldn't answer him Dan reluctantly turned away from Athena. "How," he asked looking at Ember who was regarding him with a neutral expression.

"When I put the petrifying spell on her, I could feel another kind of magic already in operation within her. Foreign magic, not her own,” Ember made known. "I think she is a blue blade," she informed the rest of them.

"A blue blade?" Dan repeated not sure what that meant.

"Being a hunter as she has told you is a way of life, one that one learns from birth and lives throughout till death. Well for some, killing didn't come to them as easily or as readily as the rest. For some of those born to the hunter clans, being a hunter was simply not in their blood," Ember explained. "Of course, blue blades were killed in the olden times but I think the hunter's have found a better way of making them see things their way."

Dan watched as Ember moved to stand before Claire. Unlike with the rest who'd crouched before her to get to eye level with Claire, with Ember, Claire's stiff form rose off the chair she was in. As if being lifted by invisible hands, into the air till they found themselves looking into each other's eyes. For a moment nothing happened as they looked into each other's eyes. However, Dan could see the struggle in Claire's eyes.

It was only after a while that Dan understood that Ember was trying to get into her mind. Whatever mental blocks Claire had on seemed to be struggling to hold up as the struggle on her face seemed to intensify. Ember's calm exterior however, did not change as she continued her mental assault on her. Dan knew that Ember had gotten in as soon as Claire's eyes went wide and her body limp. "What do you see," Dan couldn't help but ask.

Ember was silent for a while, as she went scouring through Claire's mental contents. "I can't help her," Ember said at last, turning away from Claire breaking eye contact.
"What, what do you mean? What did you see?" Dan asked.
"I was right, she is a blue blade. However the spells put on her are ones that torture and figuratively speaking, cut up her mind if she fights against being a hunter. Most with the spell would have stopped fighting long ago from the excruciating pain the spell causes," at this point Ember turned to look at Claire. "She is still fighting… and losing," she informed the rest of them. "Her mind is so badly broken up by the spell, I am not sure I can help her," Ember reported.

"So when she tried to kill me, was that..." Dan posed hoping that he'd been right in choosing not to take Claire's life.

"The spell, yes." Ember answered. "It works almost like a compulsion. She is a slave to the will of the one who cast it. Whoever that was, it seems they had a really strong desire to see her become a hunter. The spell has created a pseudo-personality within her. A false version of her that dehumanizes everything with magic, and sees it only as an enemy. Take you for example, soon after she realized you had magic, she stopped seeing you as Dan, in her mind you are now, simply a wizard and nothing more," Ember explained.

"The spell must have been cast on her when she was still pretty young. Had she stopped fighting the spell long ago, then maybe I would have been able to break in and set her free. But now, her mind is so broken up by the spell from all the time she has spent resisting it. I fear that if I break the spell, her mind may not be able to independently reform itself on its own. In a twisted way, the spell is the only thing that is holding her mind intact," Ember explained.

"Wait, so just because she never stopped fighting against a compulsion that was put on her while she was still a child we can't help her. But had she given in and accepted to become a killer we would have been able to help her?" Dan asked his voice clearly showing that the thought didn't sit well with him.

"As unfair as that sounds," Ember answered. "That is exactly the situation we find ourselves in. I don't have the amount of power piecing back together and restoring the already destroyed parts of her mind would require. She's too far gone, even for my abilities," Ember explained.

Dan stared at Ember for a long moment before he finally turned to look at Claire. "But not for mine," he said knowing perfectly well how stubbornly naive he sounded.

"True," Dan turned in surprise at Ember's words. He'd expected her to laugh off his words, but she wasn't, instead she was fixing him a critically contemplative gaze. "But do you have even the faintest idea how to go about invading her mind?" Ember went on, "Do you have even have a clue what amount is the limit you need to watch out for lest you completely burn-out her mind, and turn her into a vegetable?" Ember questioned him.

"You can teach me," Dan said now grabbing at straws.

"And what, you will learn in a few minutes what others take all the years lives trying to learn and even then some still don't fully master?" There was no ridicule in Ember's voice, she was simply directing a genuine question at him.

"Look Ember," Dan said turning a pleading look to her. "I do get that at some point or the other, I will have to take a life whether to kill an enemy or out of mercy," he said glancing at Claire. "But this is not it, not yet. I am not at that point. I can't kill her, whether by doing it myself or asking one of you to do it so please," Dan implored the pleading note in his voice showing just how much he meant what he was saying. "Don't ask me to do it," he asked.

Ember regarded him for a while, the debate going through her mind showing on her face. For a moment Dan thought she would tell him it was impossible but then, Ember sighed just as she had when Athena had said Dan's nativity would be his death. "You do realize that if we do this, there is a high chance of you totally frying her mind and killing her," she warned.

"I have to take the chance," Dan replied showing that even he didn't fully believe in his ability to do this.

"Then come here, you will require eye contact for this," Ember instructed taking a step away from Claire to allow Dan to take the position she'd been in.

Moving to stand where Ember had just been standing, Dan took a deep breath to calm himself. He then turned an intense gaze to Claire. "Now try to get into her head, push your consciousness into hers," Ember explained.

Dan stared hard at Claire who returned it in a glare. His jaw clenched in concentration as he tried to follow Ember's directions. Frustratedly, Dan turned away from Claire to Ember after a while. "I am getting nowhere," he reported.

"That's because all you are picturing in your mind when you are trying to get in her mind, is her brain. That is not her mind, the two are very different things," Ember explained patiently. "The brain is simply nothing more than an organ of flesh and blood, made up of cells, that controls your physical body. You have absolutely zero chance of hacking into that," Ember explained. "The mind is a whole different entity in itself. The mind is her consciousness. It is her being. When you call out to Claire, it is her mind, not her brain, that responds. Her mind is Claire. The mind is more of a force than an object, it is more of energy than it is an organ," Ember said trying to get Dan to conceptualize what had taken her years to understand.

Dan turned back to look at Claire, not immediately trying to make a second attempt at getting into her mind as he tried to understand and conceptualize what Ember had just explained to him. Taking another deep breath, Dan readied himself to make a second try. However, this time, in spite of Ember's instructions Dan let his eyes drift closed a look of concentration crossing his features.

"What are you..." Dan held up his hand cutting Ember off mid-question. He was operating on pure instinct as he emptied his mind and let it go blank. Dan wasn't sure what sense it was, but as he cleared his mind, he found a new sense that he wasn't previously aware of. Taking a hold of it, Dan spread it out in the area immediately around him, he wasn't exactly sure what he was looking for but he somehow knew that he was on the right track.

For a while, there was nothing, then suddenly they were all there, Ember, Athena, Karra, Kirra, and Claire. Dan could feel all five of them but it wasn't exactly them per se. It was like he was seeing projections of them, they were no longer in the living room within the castle but in a totally different place. They were five forms in vast emptiness, beyond five feet from each of them was total and utter darkness. Dan turned to the projection of Ember, he could see the shock on her features. "Did I get it right?" Dan asked apprehensively.

"Th... This is... This," Ember stammered, looking around in shock, seemingly unable to fully the words. Dan's face contorted in confusion as he looked on at Ember.

Except for sight, owing to his closed eyes, Dan was as aware of his surroundings in the real world just as he was on this plane. Looking at Ember on the plane they now found themselves in, Dan could see her lips moving and could hear everything she was saying. And yet in the real world his ears picked no sound. "How come I can't hear you?" Dan posed his mind trying to wrap itself around the phenomenon.

"Because I am not talking," Ember answered finally turning to look at Dan a new respect for him in her eyes. "At least not physically" she clarified.

"What are you talking about, I can see you talking," Dan questioned further his confusion still present.

"No you are not," Ember answered. "What you are seeing right now, is a projection of my mind. So while in the real world I am talking to you mentally on this plane you actually see my mind doing the talking. Do you realize how many, or better yet, just how few people have ever seen this plane Dan," Ember posed.

"Exactly which plane is this anyway?" Dan posed looking around at the rest. Kirra and Karra stood looking around curiously. It was clear even they didn't know exactly where they were. Athena on the other hand seemed to have momentarily forgotten her rage and was looking around in shock at where they were.

"This is the only other plane I know of. Just like many other things in the magical world it comes under different names for different people, but the one I find most appropriate to describe it is the cerebral plane. As I explained earlier what you see are projections of our minds. Normally one is only able to access one mind at a time and affect that one mind before moving on to the next. On this plane you have the power to access and control any number of minds at the same time depending on how powerful you are," Ember explained.

"Normally we shouldn't have been aware of what was happening on this plane. But then taking into consideration that Claire seems to be none the wiser as to what is going on, I believe the explanation lies in the bond we share," Ember pointed out.

At Ember's words Dan turned to look in Claire's direction. She was standing glaring unseeingly ahead just as she had been in the real world when Dan had tried to get into her mind. He had the feeling she was still glaring at him in the real world just as the version of her he was right now seeing, was. "She doesn't look broken up to me," Dan pointed out looking confusedly at Claire's whole form.

"That's because what you see is the pseudo-personality, the version of her that was born out of the compulsion she is under. This isn't the real her but a reflection of what the one who put the compulsion on her wanted her to be like," Ember answered.

Dan looked at the form of Claire that stood before her for a while before he walked over to her. Once again being led by pure instinct. "Dan don't...", but the warning didn't fully come out of Ember's lips before Dan did exactly as Ember had been trying to warn him against doing. Dan's hand had reached out taken hold of Claire's shoulder. Soon as he did, Dan felt himself pulled forward into Claire's form. It was as if he was sinking into her, a feeling he could only most closely relate to being in free fall. Dan came to a sudden stop, finding himself in a white room. "D... Dan," Dan turned around to find the source of the weak voice. Dan's jaws clenched as it finally dawned on him what Ember had meant by saying Claire's mind was really broken up.

Claire was standing between, or more accurately hanging in between two poles. From the two poles were razor sharp strands of what looked like barbed but was not exactly barbed wire, they wrapped themselves around her body in such a way that if she moved too much they cut into her skin. Dan's eyes roamed over the bloody form of Claire, in some parts of her body the wire had totally cut and disappeared into her body. In other parts of her like both her right leg from the knee downwards and her left arm from the shoulders onto her fingertips, had gone completely black.

Dan's eyes rose to study her face. There was a wire running from her left ear, passing just below her left eye across her nose to her right cheek and disappearing into the flesh of the right-side of her neck. The wire was slowly cutting into her. Their gazes finally met and even without her saying it, Dan could see the fatigue in them. It was the fatigue of fighting an endless battle. The white of her left eye had gone completely red from internal bleeding giving her gaze a mismatched quality.

"I'd welcome you with a cup of tea but, I'm a bit tied up at the moment," Dan heard Claire's mind say then laugh weakly at her own attempt at humor. Dan didn't see anything worth laughing about as he regarded the pitiable condition Claire's mind was in.

"Dan, Dan, where are you? Can you hear me?" Dan's head rose as the sound the filled the room but seemingly only he could hear. It was Ember's voice, his ears informed him that she was talking to him verbally from the living room in the castle.

"Yes, I can hear you, I'm with Claire's mind right now," Dan replied verbally. "Parts of her have gone black Ember, what's happening to her?" he posed the worry in his voice evident.

"Those parts are dead Dan, her mind's dying," Ember replied. "The spell has too tight of a strangle hold on her. She's fought it for just too long," she explained.

"Come on Dan," he heard Claire once again her voice weak. "I'm the one trapped in this crap," Claire said, her body suddenly jerking hard as she pulled hard at the other hand that hadn't yet gone black. The resulting effect was the wires holding up the arm disappeared into her flesh along with some others in other areas of her body. "Stop looking like someone just died," she finished off smiling weakly.

"If you don't stop fighting the spell, somebody will," Dan replied his mind racing at a thousand miles per second trying to figure out how to get her free of the spell.

Claire's mind produced a weak mirthless laugh. "That kind of is the idea," she said weakly.
Dan's face contorted in confusion at her words. "What are you talking about?" he posed.
“I have been fighting this spell for the past fifteen years of my life, ever since I was three. I am tired," she replied in a voice that very clearly portrayed the truth of her words.
"However," she said suddenly a new strength and fire that hadn't been there only a moment ago blazing in her eyes. "I'll be damned before that monster sees me bend to his will," she let out the vehemence in her words relaying that whoever the monster she was referring to was, she felt absolute and incomparable hate for him.

"Who are you talking about?" Dan asked.

"My father," she answered simply, catching Dan by surprise.

"Your father did this to you?" he asked the shock and incredulity in his voice barely hidden. "How could anyone do this to their own daughter?" he asked unbelievingly.

"You'd need to know who my father is to understand," Claire replied." I am the lucky first and only child of Arthur Ravencloft, the leader of all hunters in this state and fast rising towards being the head of the council of all hunters in the U.S." she explained. "You can't even begin to imagine the kind of horror, shame and disappointment he felt when he found out his daughter was a blue blade," she said with a weak smile as if it was a memory she enjoyed reliving.

"He did everything within his power to make me into the kind of hunter he wished me to become. And believe me when I say, for my father, that is no short list. Nothing he did worked, to me killing was simply killing. My father tried to explain that we were the balance that kept magic from taking over and wiping out humanity. But I would ask him how he could justify our having magic at while at the same time claiming that this very same thing was the evil they were trying to eradicate? No, he would say, we don't use it for our own purposes. We use it against those who have magic, to kill them and ensure magic stays in check. But in return I would ask, isn't that the whole purpose of the hunters?" She explained then went silent for a while as she laboured to breath.

"He cast the spell on me when I was three,” she finally continued. “As the earlier the spell is cast, the stronger of a hold it has on the victim. However my father only fully activated it when I was ten, after seven years of failed attempts at making me into his own image. Being the important person he was and still is in the world of hunters, he couldn't afford to have a blue blade as a child. The spell makes me in the eyes of everyone else in the hunter world, a model child." The disgust in her voice was palpable as it shone in her eyes too.

"I've lost count of how many wizards, witches, and magical creatures that have died by my hand. Some of whom by all indications of it were good. No more…” she said weakly. “I will have no more blood on my hands. As you can see, I've been fighting the spell for a while now. Unfortunately for me, my father is really strong as far as magic goes. The compulsion has so far proven unbreakable. Death therefore is the only option left for me. And that, I will gladly accept over the alternative." she said once again pulling hard at her hand, Dan could already see the finger tips of it turning black.

"No Claire, you are not dying, not today." Dan found himself saying as he moved closer to her. "I'll figure out a way to get you out of here," he said with truthful conviction. In Dan's mind it was already decided, he would do everything in his power to see Claire free. Whatever that took.

"I appreciate the sentiment Dan, but, I've already had a fifteen year head start, and look what I have achieved," Claire replied in a resigned voice.

"Yeah well, not to brag or anything but, neither you nor your father possess the kind of power I possess," Dan replied. "Ember," Dan called out verbally.
"Yes Dan," he heard her reply.
"If I pass on some of my energy to her will that be enough to break her loose?" he asked. "No Dan, feeding her your energy will only serve to restore her own energy, but it won't
be enough to break the spell holding her. However, Dan I must warn you, parts of her mind are dead, the kind of energy that will drain from you as it tries to regenerate itself is epic, you might not fully recover from that kind of drain for days even weeks." Ember relayed.

Dan turned to look at Claire, "And what about the spell itself, can't I directly attack that?" he posed trying to find a better approach.

"Not without killing her," Ember replied. "I told you Dan, she's too far gone. The spell is now the only thing that is holding her mind together," she explained.

Dan paused his mind looking over every variable trying to fit them together in a way that would both restore Claire's mind to full form and free her. Not just restore her and leave her captive to the spell as she had been for so long. Dan highly doubted he'd be able to break the spell after the energy drain restoring her mind would cost him. Breaking the spell directly was also not an option, if he did that then he might as well have killed her back in his room. So what was he missing. Dan didn't believe in unsolvable problems. Every problem had a solution if you just approached it from the right angle. This problem was no different, he just had to find the bit that was missing, figure out what he was not seeing, that was the key to the whole puzzle.

"Ember, can't I do both things at the same time? Try to break the spell as I feed her my energy?" he posed though part of him already had a feeling as to what the answer would be.

"Both spells require a huge amount of energy, energy that even you can't produce all at once without harming yourself. And should either of the two processes suffer a deficiency in the amount of energy directed to them, the results could be disastrous. If you mess with the spell but don't fully break it, it will bounce back even more vigorously than it is already acting. If that happens not even you will be able to save her, in fact there is a very substantial risk that if the spell does that while you're still within her mind and drained of energy, you will end up its captive too," Ember warned. "And if you are to fully break the spell while her mind is still not fully restored, there is still a very real chance of her dying." She finished off.

Dan's teeth gritted hard as he paced the room he was now in, on the cerebral plane. "Come on Daniel, think," he murmured, his mind once again going through all of the variables trying to gain picture of the full scope of the situation. He was missing something. Something that he was sure, was right under his nose. He had the same feeling now, that he had whenever he knew, that he knew something but just couldn't remember what it was.

Dan came to a sudden halt his eyes growing wide as it suddenly clicked into place what he hadn't been seeing. He almost kicked himself, now that he saw the solution, it was pretty obvious that it left him wondering how he could not have seen it immediately. "Ember, are her eyes open," Dan asked verbally, his excitement palpable in his voice.

"Uuh, yeah," Dan heard her reply, her confusion at the question evident in her voice. "She's glaring at all of us," Ember further elaborated.

"Good," Dan said with a smile. "Get in here," he instructed. "What?" Ember asked still not following Dan's line of logic.
"I need you to get into her mind as you did earlier on," Dan said smiling. This had been the piece of the puzzle that he'd been missing.

"Okay then," Ember replied. "Give me some time, unlike you, I have to force my way in, her pseudo-personality is bound to try and deny me access," she added.

"Be as quick as you can, please," Dan directed as he turned to Claire's mind which had paused and was now eyeing him with wary curiosity as if it was afraid to hope that it would be finally free lest it be disappointed. "You ready to be free of this damn spell?" Dan asked with a smile.

"Don't make promises you can't keep Dan," she replied weakly.
"I never do," Dan replied just as Ember appeared at his side.

"You said that, had she stopped fighting the spell long ago, you might have been able to save her?" Dan began immediately.

"Yes, the damage done to her mind would not have been as much as it presently is. All I would have needed to do was break the spell, her mind would have restored itself fully. But she's too far gone for that now," Ember answered.

"True," Dan replied. "But if I were to give her mind the energy it would require to restore itself..."

"Then I could break the spells without her dying!" Ember finished Dan's statement as it finally dawned on her what line of logic he'd been following.

"Exactly," Dan replied smiling at the fact that Ember had not raised any objections to the idea that he may have missed.
"I believe it will work," Ember said with a smile as she regarded Dan.
"It has to," Dan said turning to Claire, who now had a new spark in her eyes, it was hope. Dan's eyes drifted closed on the cerebral plane too. Tapping into the well of energy he could feel with within himself, Dan drew on it all. Opening his eyes on the cerebral plane, he raised his hand towards Claire, and released it. A white beam of light shot forth from his open palm and met Claire right in her sternum between her breasts. Immediately the link between him and Claire was formed, he felt what Ember had been talking about. Instead of it being him who was pushing his power out into Claire, he could feel large amounts of his power being drawn out of him, as Claire's mind drew on what it needed to restore itself. Steeling his will, he gritted his teeth in determination not to break the link. Beside him, he could hear Ember casting the counter-spell that would break the spell holding Claire.
*******************************
"Dan... Dan," he groaned as he heard Ember's voice from a far. "Dan, wake up," her voice urged.

Dan slowly blinked open his eyes, to find Ember worried looking down at him. "Have I ever told you how beautiful your eyes are?” he posed dreamily looking up at her flame coloured eyes.

A smile crossed Ember's face as she asked him, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah sure, I mean my head feels like it's been run over by a monster truck, but I'm fine, why wouldn't I..." Dan shot up into a sitting position as it finally came back to him what they had been doing, "Claire, is she..."

"I'm okay Dan," Dan's head turned towards the source of the voice. Claire was seated in the chair she'd been pushed into by Karra. The difference was immediately notable. Unlike the other version of her that had been looking at them with utter disdain and loathing, on Claire's face was a smile. "Actually, I am more than okay, you gave me a lot more juice than I required," she said.

"Did I..."

"No you didn't burn my mind, if you had, I wouldn't be sitting here as I am right now," Claire answered him, alleviating the worry that had laced Dan's voice. "My mind channeled all that extra energy into the shields that protect it. Now only a select few, and by that I mean you, or someone at close to your power level if that person even exists, can get into my mind," she explained.

Dan finally let a smile cross his face, now that he knew they'd gotten it right and hadn't fried her brain. "So how do you feel?" he asked.

"I have been locked away in my own head for the past eight years, only a spectator of my life through the eyes of the other false me. Unable to fully feel or experience anything. Honestly, I am not even sure what to feel right now. As of this moment, there is only one thing I am sure of," Claire said.

Dan already had an idea what that was, taking from the shadow that had momentarily crossed over her features before it reverted into a smile. “Killing your father won't give you back all the years you've lost Claire," he said.

A humorless laugh issued forth from Claire as she turned to him and said, "My father has held me captive in a spell that left me in the kind of pain you can't even begin to imagine. I have absolutely no intention of killing him, that is simply just too merciful. Believe me, he has long years ahead of him, years he will wish he were dead," the ice in Claire's voice left no doubt that she meant every word.

Dan went silent, from the look he'd seen on Claire's face, he knew he'd have better luck trying to milk a rock than trying to change her mind. "So won't your father know that the spell's been broken?" Dan inquired.

"No he won't," Claire answered. "The spell was linked to his will not his mind. It made me what he wanted me to be, not what he thought I should be. Linking the spell to his mind would have meant devoting a lot more time to controlling me than he could afford. Linking it to his will was simply much more convenient. The spell never has been broken before so he really had no cause to worry about me ever being free of it. So as long as I continue acting as if I am still his puppet, he will be none the wiser," she explained. "You've given me something I never thought I would regain. So I really hate to say this but, I have inadvertently taken something more from you," Claire said her voice apologetic.

Dan's face contorted in confusion. "What are you talking about?" he posed.

"You'll have to find another fort," Claire replied. "The tracking spell on me will lead every hunter who cares to look, here," she explained.

"Not to worry," Ember's voice was heard at this point. "I took care of your tracking spell when we left the house. I masked your tracking spell and created a duplicate which is what Kirra destroyed at the edge of town. As far as all other hunters are concerned you disappeared at the edge of town. How you explain that is up to you, so long as it does not lead back here," Ember relayed.
Despite the fact that there was no overt threat in Ember's voice, Dan couldn't help but notice that Claire seemed to know that it wouldn't be the wisest thing to do to go against her words. "There are situations in which the spell can go offline, figuratively speaking. Explaining why it went off for a while won't be a problem, so long as it comes back on at the same place it went off at," Claire said. "Speaking of which, I need to get there quickly. While the other hunters won't check immediately, if I stay offline for too long, they will come looking. Which makes things a lot more complicated than they need to be." she said.

Dan turned to Ember. "On it," She replied before he even had to request it of her. Ember walked forward and placed her hand on Claire's shoulder, both of them burst into flames and vanished into thin air.
******************************
Claire eyed the orange sky, from the edge of the forest on the outskirts of town. The last rays of the sun were slowly fading from it. A sigh escaped her lips. "You never really appreciate the simple pleasures of life until they are taken away from you," She said with a soft smile on her face not turning to look at the phoenix standing beside her.

"Believe me when I say, I know what you mean," Ember replied, her eyes also fixed on the fading rays of the sun.

"I never thought I'd see the day when I could look at a magical being without experiencing the overwhelming urge to kill them," Claire said smiling.

Her words were met with a short span of silence before Ember finally spoke up, "You know who I am." It was a statement, not a question.

"I do," Claire replied calmly.

"Then I assume you have a fraction of an idea of what I can do," Ember went on, her voice still calm and level.

"I do," Claire repeated calmly. "I assume this is about me keeping it from Dan?" she went on to inquire.

Ember sighed after a bit of silence. "There is a lot that my master doesn't yet know about all of us," she said. "A lot that he still doesn't yet know about the world he now finds himself in. Some things, he will find out when the time is right and he is sufficiently prepared for it. Others..."

"Are simply not his business to know," Claire finished off just as Ember was about to say.

"Exactly," the phoenix replied. "Threats are not really my style, but I do believe you should know," Ember said turning to her. "Whatever devastation you have planned for your father, will seem like a joke compared to what I do to you if you ever tell Dan who I am," she warned in a tone that made it clear she meant every word.

Claire turned and calmly regarded her. "I have lived as a killer right under the noses of people who would swear on their lives that they knew me," she said. "I know how to keep a secret, and besides," she added once again turning back to the western sky. "That is your secret to tell, not mine," she said. "If you want some unsolicited advice though," Claire went on. "I wouldn't keep him in the dark too long. I haven't gotten the chance to know Dan that well over the past four years of our shared time in high school. But even I can tell that he is a lot smarter than most. One way or the other he will piece the clues together, clues that even you and I might not see. And he will figure it all out. who you are, and whatever other secrets you and his other guardians are keeping from him," she said. "The question you and the others need to ask yourselves is, would you rather he find out, on your terms or that he find out on his own?" Claire posed, taking a step away from the phoenix.

Ember stood watching as the hunter walked away. "Neither," she muttered with a sigh before bursting into flames and vanishing into thin air…