A True Soul
Rose Red

I didn’t wake up until after 10 am the next morning. Faux apparently decided not to wake me. My body ached. My muscles were sore and didn’t want to work properly. I had small bruises on my arms and legs, but they were in the process of fading.

I went to take a hot shower to relax me. The mark was still as dark and clear as ever, the skin around it still felt warm. It felt familiar, like it had been a part of me for a lot longer than it really had been. I was starting to feel more comfortable in my own skin, not enough to just strip in front of everyone and change forms. I definitely wasn’t there yet, and honesty never thought I would be.

After my shower I towel dried my hair. So much had changed. Was it for the better? I really hoped it was. I was now able to change almost at will. Yesterday proved some forms were easier than others. Faux was the closet person that I’ve ever had to having a best friend. This supernatural world had also brought me closer to my father together. He’d given so much of his life to protect me.

I ran my fingers through my hair. In this light it reminded me of blood slipping through my hands. My hair was thicker and softer. My whole body had changed. I felt sturdier, more whole. I was more aware of my surroundings.

Through the window I could see a gray morning. It looked foggy and cold. I walked passed my old room without looking at it, even though my father had replaced the door; I still hadn’t been back in there since the day after the accident.

I went to look for Faux and see if she was even at the house. I didn’t have to look very far. As soon I got to the kitchen she was already there, drinking a glass of milk. “Isn’t that a little cliché?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re a cat… drinking a glass of milk? Or is it accurate that cats really like milk?”

“Well I’m part human after all, so I suppose that has some effect. Besides, didn’t you ever give Greta any milk?” She responded.

“I… uh… wait how’d you know about Greta?”

“Dax told me. He said you were pretty upset about it. We have a connections with animals that goes far beyond what humans can comprehend. So when we lose one of our own, it is extremely difficult,” Faux explained to me. “No matter how our love ones die, it’s difficult, and I’m sorry for what you went through.”

She talked about Greta like she was a human, and it truly touched me. It finally felt like someone understood how I felt about the animals around me, even though Dax, Spencer, Sadie, and even my father probably felt the same, it was Faux who put my emotion into words.

I walked over to Faux and hugged her, she put her arms around me and it felt like home. Like someone you’ve missed for so long, had finally come back.

She put her hands on my shoulders and looked at me. Her odd blue eyes, with those orange circles around her pupils, were intense. “How about we go see your mom today?”

I nodded, “I’d like that. It’s been awhile, probably too long.”

I walked into the front room, sat in a chair and put on my shoes. I wrapped a scarf around my neck. Dax was still passed out on the couch. He still hadn’t left, but I didn’t know if I was entirely convinced that he would stay forever. But maybe, just maybe, I’d get lucky. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why it matter if he stayed or not. He was inconsiderate the majority of the time, and thought about no one but himself. My mom must of saw something in him though, that made his tough outer shell worth breaking. I don’t think I’d be lucky enough to find out.

“Should we wake him and tell him we’re leaving?” I turned to Faux who was getting her coat and bag.

“No, let him sleep. I told him last night that I was gonna see if you wanted to hang out today,” She paused, “But I’ll leave a note just in case. You know how men are.”

“Right. Sounds good,” I said.

It was freezing outside, and I noticed that Dax had put a plastic screen over the missing window of his truck. Faux’s car smelled good, and was the cleanest one I’d ever seen except for the new cars that just come off the lot. Everything was shinny and soft. She pulled out a CD similar to the one Spencer used the first day of training.

“Here you go, pick out whatever you want. Music’s good for the soul you know,” she said with a smile.

“You’ve been hanging out with Spencer too much.” I laughed.

“He’s right about that though.”

I looked though the CD case. The content was similar to Spencer’s again, with CD’s like the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Dashboard Confessionals, Three Days Grace, and 30 Seconds to Mars. But it also had some Beatles, Lady Gaga, The Fray, Queen, The Jackson five, Gloria Jones, and Johnny Cash, with a multitude of other bands.

I grabbed one of the alternative rock CDs and popped it into the stereo.

The sky was the same unforgiving gray color it had been earlier that morning. I sighed.

We had lunch in a small mom and pop café, where we both got cappuccinos and cinnamon rolls. I was picking apart my roll, and munching on some chicken strips that I’d ordered as well, and looked at Faux, “I was thinking about this royal supernatural family, you know the Queen? And you could tell me anything else about them?”

“Of course,” she paused and looked around. I assumed she didn’t want anyone to eavesdrop on the conversation, people might’ve thought we were crazy. I still felt a little insane sometimes.

“First off let me explain that the thrown doesn’t always transcend down by blood. The Queen or King can be challenged at any time by any species of animal. These challenges are physical, and a lot of times based on strength. The form that is challenged in has to be agreed on by both parties. However, if the challenger request to fight in one form or the other, the Queen or King normally respects their request. I know this may seem a little out dated, but it is how the animal kingdom works. They can be challenged anytime at all, but Alpha will remain in charge until they’re defeated, they die, or they can simply choose to abdicate.”

“So how long does the fight last?” I was afraid to right out ask if they actually fought to the death.

“Until one of them can no longer fight. They do not have to kill each other, if that was your next question. If one opponent becomes unconscious, or can no longer continue, then the fight is over. One of them could also choose to forfeit, in which case the other is the automatic winner. If the fight is in animal form, no weapons may be used. If it’s in human form, both opponents have the same weapon, no guns allowed. No one is allowed to interfere at all until the challenge is over.

“That’s one way a change is made in the royal family. Another is for the King or Queen to appoint someone, descendant or otherwise, to rule after they resign or pass on. I believe the old Queen abdicated her thrown and appointed a different family to rule. That’s when the change in Royalty happened not too long ago, only two years or so,” Faux explained.

“How’d you know that there was a change?” I asked still curious. My chicken had gotten cold, but I was still picking away at it.

“Once someone has made their first change, there is a pull that connects you to the Alpha King or Queen. They will feel it from the moment they take the position. I hear it’s overwhelming at first, but it gets easier over time. This connection is what allows the Queen to have control and maintain order. He or she has the power to influence other’s decisions. However, they cannot complete take over their subjects will power, nor should they wish to. So in the end the decision whether or not to follow a command is still the person own choice. But it’d be extremely painful to resist.

“We, Natural Borns and you lucky True Soul, will able about to feel this connection when a major decision has been made. And when there is change in the Alpha, or when you’re in direct presences of the ruling power. It shouldn’t be over powering unless you are immensely trying to resist an order. You would still able to resist, it would just be a lot harder, and you’d feel an enormous amount of pressure being placed on you. Except of course if you’re challenging for the crown, the Alpha has no control over you until the fight has reached an end.” This explanation was too much to mentally wrapped my head around. There was so much information Faux was pouring in me, I wouldn’t be able to remember it all. But then again, would I ever need to? I highly doubted it.

“Ok, so since there is a new royal family, how does everyone know that it’s a Queen and not a King?”

“There is a different type of pull or feeling of pressure for males and females, neither one is greater than the other, it’s just different. So by the pressure we feel when the new Queen took control we were able to tell that it was a female.” She said, matter-of-factly.

“That makes since I guess. And, I couldn’t I feel there was a new Queen because I hadn’t made my first change yet?” I asked.

“Correct.”

“How does this pull work? Is it just used to overpower people who disobey her, or can she feels what’s going on to the people she’s connected too?” I must be getting annoying with all the questions I’d asked. I belonged to this world I had no knowledge about, if I had any chance of surviving I had to learn everything I could.

“The more powerful the Natural Born , or in your case, True Soul, is the more powerful the pull is to the queen. Also the older a person is the more power the connection has as well. So to properly answer your question, no, it’s not just used to overpower those under her, but it lets her know what’s going on in her kingdom, makes sure that everything is still in balance. That’s why when wars happen, it’s extremely hard on the Alpha because they physical feel the pain that is inflicted on people when they get hurt, or if something goes terrible wrong. It’s not as intense, obviously, for the Queen as it is for the person actually in paint, otherwise they’d die, but they still can feel it, if it’s strong enough. But if the pull from the person is strong enough it can really hurt them. I guess that might be considered a downfall for having that connection, but it helps the leader do what’s best to keep the balance in this world.” Faux continued on. I nodded, trying to process all this information the best I could. “Anything else I can answer, Angie?” Faux didn’t seem annoyed or impatient; it was almost like she was enjoying answering my questions. Could the new queen feel it when Cain had attacked me?

“Just a few more, if that’s ok with you?”

“Absolutely. I told you I’d assist you in any way I could.”

“Did you ever meet the previous Queen, what Natural Born family did she belong too?” I shifted in my chair a little, the food and my drink were gone, as well as Faux’s.

“I knew her very well. The old Queen was a woman name Chloe Neferet Mubaka, her husband was Asim, and her sons were named Hasani and Naeem. 14 years ago both Asim and Hasani were killed in a small battle that erupted. It is my belief that Chloe did not want Naeem to take over as king because she was afraid that she would lose him as well. She waited for the right person to come along whom she believed would be a good successor to the throne, and stepped down.

“Queen Mubaka’s father was from America, her mother was from Egypt. Her father was an American crocodile, and her mother a Nile crocodile. Her mother, Bakari was the Queen before her, before that was her grandfather, and great-grandfather. Mubaka’s great-grandfather challenged the wolf who was the king at the time, which was the last challenge that ended in death.

“That also happened to be the great-great-grandfather of Sadie and Spencer, whose family decided to renounce their Natural Born heritage and tried to live only in the human world. The twins wanted to embrace it. Even though their family was still extremely wealthy living in the human world, they never craved power like the rest of their family did. They’re much more accepting than their parents.” She paused for a quick moment to make sure I was keeping up. “Between the ages of 18 and 20, if a person is chosen to rule that young, they must choose their mate. There is 12 candidates that are selected meeting both the requirement of the Queen or King themselves, and their advisors. The Alpha has to participate in a courtship with each of them for a month, and at the end of year they choose whoever they deem the best. There is a ceremony the day they choose their mate, afterwards they are allowed a few months to prepare for whatever type of wedding they wish to have. That’s how Chloe and Asim were married.

“That was probably more information than you wanted to know about the workings of the Queen.”

I was truly and utterly amazing. Faux laughed at the shocked looked on my face, “Too much for you?” Her eyes glitter, and her smile was huge.

“How-how do you know all this?” My voice rose with excitement I had felt.

She laughed again, pleased with herself, and tucked a blonde ringlet behind her ear. “My mother was the midwife of the Queen and her ladies in waiting. My family lived at the palace until I was 13 or 14 years old. She loved her job, but need a career change. Do you remember me mentioning that we went to an academy in the jungle? Well, that’s also were the palace is. It’s not the only Natural Born school there is, but it is a more precise and… specialized school.” Maybe special training meant learning how to kill. The memory of Dax tell them they taught children how to kill would always stick with me.

We got back in the car after Faux finished her cappuccino. She wanted to stop and get flowers before going to see my mother’s grave. “Are you sure you want to entertain more questions?” I asked with a smile.

She already had an eager look displayed on her face, as if she had still expected more, “Whatever you need. I’ll give you my best answer.”

“Do you know anything about Eve or Blair? I know my father told me my mom liked to go and visit her sister, and they stayed with her on several occasions. Once he said they stay with her in Africa…” I hoped she knew what I was trying to get at. All though there were other jungles and rain forests, I was hoping that the dots that had connected in my head were correct.

She smiled again. She knew I had figured things out on my own, “Eve was one of Mubaka’s ladies in waiting. So yes, I actually knew her fairly well. She was a really kind woman, much like your mother. However, you could definitely tell they weren’t identical twins. Yes they both had red hair, but Eve’s was much lighter than Ember’s, Eve also look more delicate and fragile. Her face was more like yours actually, more rounder and heart shaped. Your mother was tough, athletic and strong. She knew how to hold her own ground, while Eve was a shyer, gentle creature. She was more content to spend the day reading or doing something quiet. Don’t get me wrong, she wasn’t antisocial, or unkind in any way. Ember was just more of a people person. She enjoyed being around others.

“Mind you this was all before I was twelve. Shortly after I turned twelve they were killed. However, Blair lived. She was four when they died, and you were two, but you already know how old you were of course. So I don’t know a lot about Blair. I believe Dax saw her a few years ago, when he went back to see Queen Mubaka. Blair’s hair was curlier and more bushy than mine, bright red like her mothers. She was extremely bright for her age. She understood things in life that most four year olds would never comprehend. I wish I knew who adopted her. She stayed at the castle after her mom died, so someone who lived in the palace looked after her. We moved to New York before she was officially adopted.”

“Thank you. I don’t know if you realize how important all this information is to me. It’s like filling in the gaps that shouldn’t be there. I wouldn’t have these empty spaces if my mother hadn’t of died.” I paused, “I know it’s not your place to tell me how my mom actually died, but will my father ever be able to?”

“I’m sure in time he’ll be able to give you the answers you’ve been searching for. Reliving the memory of the night she died will haunt him for the rest of his life. Don’t worry though, Angie. This is between you and Julian, but I know one day, when you’re both ready, you’ll know the truth.”

Faux was so calm and collected, but I could see in her eyes the sorrow that she felt. “Were you there when she died?”

She continued to look straight ahead out the window, her facial expression never changed. A solitary tear streaked her face.

I looked out my passenger side window and stayed quiet until we got to the floral shop. There was a knot in the back of my throat from seeing Faux cry. I didn’t like seeing her in pain. Were my questions too tough on Faux to answer? It pained me to see her grief so openly displayed. But I was glad she didn’t hide her emotions in front of me.

It started to rain before we got to the floral shop. I unclicked my seat-belt and followed Faux inside. Even though it was now late October the shop still had an impressive array of flowers. At the moment we were the only two people in the store.

“Can I help you ladies with anything?” The clerk asked us. She was a plump lady with blonde hair. She smelled of hair spray and nail polish and had plastered her face with cakey makeup. Her name tag said Ethel.

“Um, no. We’re good thank you. I’ll know what I’m looking for when I see it,” I said and moved away from the hairspray fumes.

Faux’s cell phone rung, “I’ll be right back, ok Angie? Why don’t you pick something pretty?”

I was barely able to utter the word, “sure”, before she had pushed open the door and was out in the rain.

I walked around the shop with flowing ribbons and bows that had been wrapped around the flowers. All the bright colors of the flowers mixed together. There were tons of different types of bouquets. There was also way too many homemade pink doilies for my taste. I walked around the abundance of flowers; there were lilies, chrysanthemums, daisies, irises, hydrangeas, lilacs, peonies, tulips, orchids, roses, and many others.

I wanted something that was beautiful, but simple. I knew that they wouldn’t survive at all in this weather, but my mom deserved something pretty by her grave. There was a long shelf that covered almost the entire wall on the left side, except for a fridge by the register where some of the bouquets were kept. In the middle of all the colors was a cluster of white roses tied together with a red ribbon.

I opened the door and pulled out the roses. “I’ll take theses. Mom will like them,” I said, even though I really had no clue if roses were her favorite flower or not. They just reminded me of the garden she made at home, even though these were white and the ones she planted were orange, yellow, and red.

“That’s so sweet of you! I bet she’ll tell you what a great daughter you are!” Ethel said. Now that I was closer I could see the crow’s feet around the corners of her eyes, and the laugh lines around her mouth. She was probably trying to make herself look younger than she was.

“She can’t. My mom’s dead.” I said in a sullen tone. This immediately wiped the smile off her face. She took the roses from me to ring them up just as Faux walked in from outside. Her hair was a little damp, but she managed to stay mostly dry.

“Sorry about that… Oh! Those are really pretty!” She handed Ethel 20 dollars and took back the change. “I have an umbrella in the car we can use. Come on lets go.” She thanked Ethel and we made our way out of the hairspray smelling area and back to the car.

I was about to ask who called, but Faux interrupted, “So, it’s been awhile since I’ve been to see her. Mind giving me directions?”

I knew I could find the cemetery in my sleep. Autopilot took over as I told Faux which turns to take and streets to follow. Within ten minutes we were at the iron gates that had New Haven Cemetery across the top. They were already pushed open and unlocked. They would stay open until closing time at 10 pm. At which time the gates would be locked to keep out trespassers.

We walked through the opening of the cemetery where there was a large circular fountain, several benches, bushes, and rows of mud where the flowers would be in the spring and summer.

About thirty yards away from us, there was a funeral going on. The mourners were all dressed in dark colors. I could hear sniffling from where Faux and I were walking.

We walked until we were about in the middle of the graveyard, the sky was now an angry gray, and it was raining harder. I was really glad for Faux’s umbrella. I saw her grave before Faux did, but something was different from the last time I had been there. I placed my hand over Faux’s on top of the handle to speed our pace.

“What’s wrong, Angie?” Faux asked, surprised.

“There’s something already on her grave. My dad normally tells me when he’s coming, so I can go too.” I wasn’t mad, just puzzled. I didn’t know anyone else who came to visit my mom besides my father and me.

We reached her grave, and I knelt beside Faux as she did her best to keep us both covered.

They were dead, and looked like they probably had been for a while, but it meant someone else cared about her too. I gently touched the top petal of one of the dead roses. It broke away from the rest of the flower. These roses had originally been dark and were wrapped in a shimmery blue ribbon. Even on the grave it had managed to stay shinny and beautiful. I untied the ribbon and placed it in my pocket. I didn’t want someone to throw it away

“It was Dax, wasn’t it?” I turned, still on the ground, and looked at Faux. “The night he was gone, he went here didn’t he?”

“I-I don’t know.” She bent beside me. “But I believe so, yes. That would make sense. Ember meant a lot to Dax. Her death hit him really hard.”

I nodded; it was like earlier in the car. There was knot at the back of my throat making it hard to breath and impossible to talk. Maybe the rain would block out my tears. Dax wasn’t lying when he said how much my mother meant to him. Faux cried when I asked if she was there. As much pain as her death had caused everyone, it made me almost not want to know how she really died. Almost, but not quite, I still had to know someday. Eventually I’d get the courage to ask my father, and by that time I’d be brave enough to face the truth.

Faux moved closer to me and slipped her arm around mine. “Victor called.” Just by the tone of her voice I knew it wasn’t going to be good news. She looked away from me. “He found… and killed two of Cain’s men. They were hiding out by your school.”

I nodded, taking in every word, one by one.

“You can’t go back to school here. It’s too dangerous. Your father will help home school you. I’m going to sell my apartment in the city and move here. I’ll take care of it all this weekend. Dax will continue to stay at the house. We’ll make sure nothing happens to you.”

I was sure I was shaking at that point. Not only from the cold but also from the thought of the imminent danger I, and everyone around me, was in. More people that I cared about could die. “I can help now; I don’t need to be looked after like a child anymore. I can defend myself.”

“Cain will have too many people with him now. You can’t take on that many by yourself.” She looked back at me. Those blue eyes, with the orange glow could be fierce. For someone as tall and skinny in human form, but so small as a cat, how she would be able to kill? But, she could kill with that determine look; it was an expression that made hair stand straight on a body.

I remember the conversation my father and Faux had the first night she was here. “Will I be able to stay here? When you first came my father asked you if I would be able to stay home?”

“You want the truth?”

“Of course.” Even as she said this I knew it wouldn’t be too much longer before they took me into hiding some place they deemed safe. Some place scary and unfamiliar, and not my home.

“We’ll try to keep you here until after the holidays, so you can spend them with your father,” She said.

“Wait, will he not be going with us?” My heart raced, I couldn’t imagine my father not being with me. I had thought for sure he’d come with us wherever it was we had to go. It had always just been me and him.

“We’ll see. It’s something that we can talk about together. No more decision will be made without you I promise.”

By the time we got back home it had stopped raining. Everything was now muddy and soaked. The ivy that covered our house was had a slumped and depressed looked, and I knew there was a good possibility that we might lose some vines.

Dax had been standing, starring out at the back window when we came in the house. The aroma coming from the kitchen smelled delicious, hot, and intoxicating. The light inside the house made it warm, almost as if the whole house was a candle, the way it glowed. After an emotionally painful day, it felt amazing to come home to this place. All the people I cared about were here; my father, who was my rock, Faux, who was my best friend. And Dax, well, I wasn’t for sure what Dax was, but I was just glad he was here.

A smile spread across my face when I saw Freddie and Victor, and a round, plump boy who could only be Jorge, Victor’s son, in the living room. They were watching a football game. It was weird how something so normal could be happening at this very moment in time when my world was getting more and more abnormal. Something as simple as a football game was displayed in front of me.

I walked towards Dax to ask him about the roses, but my father came to me over to me before I made it to Dax, who walked away. “Hey, Ang, how was your day?”

“Good. Yeah, it was good. I got flowers for mom. I couldn’t remember what you said was her favorite flower was, but I got her roses.” I walked back into the kitchen with him and sat at the table. I hadn’t known how much longer I’d be able to spend with him, but I wanted to make sure every opportunity counted.

He smiled. In this light I notice that his hair had started to gray, but considerably less than the gray that had invaded the stubble a crossed his face. My father looked out the window towards the rose garden. “She planted them for me, they were my favorite, or still my favorite I should say. As far as I know, she didn’t have a favorite; she liked all plants and wild life. But I’m sure she would have loved what you’ve chosen.”

I smiled back at my father; he brushed my hair back out of my eyes. I looked around, “Where’s Spencer and Sadie?”

“They went to get pumpkin pie, sweat potatoes pie, and pecan pie for dessert. I thought everyone would like that.”

“You sure you got enough pies? What about rolls, or muffins, or pastries? Good thing you like to cook dad, you have a lot of mouths to feed tonight.”

My father laughed and Jorge came running in the room and starred at me, “Are you really a True Soul? My father says you are, but they’re like, really rare, and I’ve never seen one.

“You must be Jorge, uh?” I asked with a smile.

“Yep. But I’ve never met a True Soul before, so I can’t tell if you really are one or not.” He wiped his nose on his shirt shelve and starred at me.

I wasn’t really for sure how to respond to him. My father nudged me a little and I stood.

Victor came in the kitchen with us. “He isn’t bothering you is he?”

“No, not at all.” I shook arms out, what could I turn into that wouldn’t require taking my clothes off? Dax had poked his head in the kitchen. I smiled and closed my eyes. My clothes dropped to the ground as my tiny body zipped through them. My wings seemed like they were beating over a hundred times a minute. I zoomed around the room and Jorge followed me with amazement beaming through his eyes.

“You’re a humming bird!” Jorge cried out.

My father held out one of his fingers out and I landed gracefully on top of them.

“Ok, so you can turn into a humming bird, what else can you turn into?” He asked.

I tried to smile at him, but I didn’t know if he could tell. “Anything.” I leaped through the air and landed at his feet in full husky form. I jumped around him playfully like a puppy would. He loved it. I felt I owed him that much at least, his mother did died to protect the creature I was. Would he ever learn the truth behind his mother’s death either?

I looked around for Dax, but he was gone.

The next few weeks were uneventful, really. Sadie and Spencer both took turns teaching me a few new moves in the early mornings. Afterwards I worked on school work the best I could. Freddie, Victor, and my father decided it would seem more normal if he still went to work part time. Faux went to her apartment in the city about every other day to make sure it got sold, while she tried to find a place here in New Haven. I was felt claustrophobic, like after the surgery, when I was stuck in the house almost constantly.

One day after coming in from a cold day of training, I was getting ready to shower, when I smelled fresh paint. Which was puzzled me. The only time I noticed anyone go upstairs was to shower or my father when he went to bed. I looked from the bottom of the stairs, the door was slightly opened.

I had purposely avoided even looking in its general direction when I had to walk past that room.

Had my father stayed home to fix what was left of it? Why else would there be someone in my room? Cautiously, I made my way upstairs. It wasn’t that I was worried about being attack, or anything, I was just in shock that someone was in my room to being with. And if I was being honest with myself, I wasn’t sure if I was even ready to go back in there.

Through the slightly ajar door, I felt a breeze of cool air, the window must be open. I pulled the door open a little bit more. Dax turned around, startled, but he should have been able to hear me, unless he was completely dissolved in his work.

Immediately my eyes averted from Dax to my room. It had been remade. The night stand replace, the bed fixed, new bright blue sheets with a caramel design printed on them. The bookshelf was also brand new with all of its contents put back in their proper place. Plastic covered the now spotless, blood free carpet. There were three paint cans next to a roller pan. The roller was dripping wet pastel green paint on to the plastic, where Dax was still standing there looking at me. Three of my walls were a lighter color of green than they were originally, or almost three. Dax was working on the wall by the window when I interrupted him. The fourth, the wall by the bookshelf and the closet on my left, was a darker cream color. It looked like a green ivy design had been painted over the base coat. How had I not noticed this before?

Embarrassed, I had to close my mouth; it must of fell open as I was gawking at my renewed room. “Wow…”

Dax had regained his composure by this time, and looked half annoyed and half disappointed. “You weren’t supposed to be here yet, girly.”

I ignored this at first. “Did you do all of this yourself?”

He tossed the roller in the pan. “Well, no, Faux and your dad helped. We wanted it to be kinda like a surprise, but it doesn’t matter now.”

I instantly felt bad. “Sorry, guess I ruined that, huh?”

He sighed and tried to turn his face into a smile. “My fault. I got started late; I was supposed to have this done by the time you woke today. So your father could show you at lunch.”

“It’s really… just wow…” It’s all I could say. I was trying to look around again to capture everything.

“You like it the, girly?” He asked, finally pleased and no longer annoyed.

“Yes! It’s amazing! Did you draw the ivy yourself?” I ran to the wall about to touch it, before realizing it might still be wet.

“I can’t take any credit for that. That was all Faux.” sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ FɪndNøvel.ɴᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“She did wonderful.” I stared at it and decided that the wall was dry and genteelly touch one of the leaves.

“Be sure to let her know what you think, she’ll be thrilled,” Dax said, now staring at me with a smile.

I turned to him. “Was this your way of making up for the first day of training?”

He scratched the back of his head, like he did when he was put into an uncomfortable position. “No, sorry again. The credit goes to Faux and your dad there too. Although this would have been a whole lot better than my idea.”

“And what would that be?”

“Don’t change the subject, girly.” He said, trying not to give anything away. He was unable to completely hide a small smile. “You’ll probably find out here soon enough.” He looked at the small patch that still needed to be finished on the wall he was working on. “I should finish this.”

“Wait, Dax. I’ve been trying to talk to you, but I couldn’t help but feel like you’ve been avoiding me for the past couple of few weeks.”

“Maybe there wasn’t anything to talk about, girly.”

“Or maybe it’s because you didn’t want to talk about anything. Or because you’d know I’d find the roses you left by my mom’s grave?” I stood there with my arms lossely crossed. There was so much more to Dax than what he let people see.

“You don’t waste time with small talk, do you girly? You hit right at the heart of the matter.” He turned to the wall to put new paint over the small square area.

I walked across my room and sat on my bed. I bounced a little, glad to have my familiar bed back. “I don’t see the point. If you have something to say, you better say it while there’s still time.”

He chuckled a little. “Ok, girly.”

I had kept the ribbon on me since I had retrieved it from the roses. It was now clean and a beautiful navy blue. “Thank you.”

Dax now wore the same expression he had when I changed into a husky in front of him. He looked at me, but didn’t say anything. I don’t really know if he honestly could.

“That’s all I wanted to say.” He nodded and I walked out of the room to let him finish painting. I didn’t want him to feel anymore awkward than he had already, and it looked as if he needed a few minutes alone, even if was technically in my room.

It felt so strange, to have been around Dax for years and years and still not know who he was. This was all before I found out I was a True Soul, or what a Natural Born was. My father said some dogs were just not as social, but I never questioned any of his behavior, because at the time none of it seemed odd. Now that I think about it, everything about his behavior as a dog seemed off. He would disappear for hours; probably to that small room of his. Or how he would completely avoid some people. There were times where he followed me around, but always at a distance. Nothing ever interested him. I did not once see him eat dog food, or drink water from a dog bowl. Julian always told me that he fed him when he got to work in the mornings. Nothing was as it seemed, and I was content to not question any of it. And now I knew how wrong it was to blatantly believe what was in front of me.

After that night I stayed in my ‘old’ room. Even though I knew it was the same room that it had been for all these years, it felt completely different, not bad, it was just different. For the next week Dax was not as inconsiderate as he normally seemed to be. He was nowhere close to Mr. Sunshine, but I could tell he was making an honest effort not to be quick tempered, however much pain that seemed to cause him.

Faux’s apartment was sold, so she spent the week looking at different places to move into. She still managed to spend to majority of her time at the house with me though. Her reason was to make sure Dax and I didn’t kill each other, and destroy the house with us. Faux was pleased that we actually got along decently. Me, my father, Faux, and Dax actually crashed in front of the TV to escape from our own worlds for a few fleeting moments. This was as close to bounding time that I’d ever had with anyone besides my father, that I could remember anyways.

Sadie and Spencer had been gone most of the week, but called Faux to give her updates on whatever it was that they were actually doing. When I asked Faux about these phone calls she was extremely vague and wouldn’t give me much helpful information.

A few days before Thanksgiving, Faux had sealed a deal on an apartment in town not too far from where my father and I lived. Our house was a few miles outside of New Haven surround by woods.

Even though it was so close to the holidays, Faux had a moving van out to her apartment by ten in the morning, the day before Thanksgiving. I didn’t know how she’d done it, either she was very persuasive or the moving guys were into her looks as much as Victor. So that morning I accompanied her to her new apartment.

When we got there we walked up two flights of stairs and down a long hallway until we reached apartment number 21. She unlocked the door and held it open for me, “Well, what do you think?”

I jumped out of the door way to avoid being hit by the people carrying items in. The apartment was nearly all white and the surfaces were so clean they sparkled. To my right was a comfortable size living room, to my left was a dining room, and directly behind it was the kitchen. The kitchen and dining room were separated by the kitchen counters that were in front of the stove and refrigerator. In between the living room and the kitchen was a hallway that I assumed led to her bedroom and bathroom.

“It’s has two bedrooms and one bathroom, there’s also a storage closest next to the bathroom,” she’s beamed with excitement as she told me all this.

I had to admit it, was a cozy space, “It’s really nice, but it seems to have less color than I expected. You’re such a colorful person, and everything so white.”

“But isn’t that the beauty of it? I got permission to paint the whole thing! Whatever happens to spark my imagination! All of this is like a clean slate.” She twirled a little around the dining room.

I smirked a little, “Do they allow cats?” I was laughing before she even got a chance to respond. She glared at me with such intensity.

“You’re such a laugh, you know that?” She crossed her arms and I’m bent over with laughter. I had to put my hand on the wall to support myself. After a few more seconds of being glared at, I pulled myself together and she showed me around the rest of her apartment.

Over all it was an eventful, but pleasant day. The movers had finished putting things in their proper rooms and Faux and I had managed to get almost all of the rooms at least somewhat organized. After a few hours though, we had to order pizza because there’s no food in the house. Faux plugged in her flat screen television and popped in a movie.

When the pizza arrived, we slumped on the couch and consumed almost half of it right away.

“Faux?”

“Yes, Angie?”

“How do you afford all this? I mean I’m sure you had a job, but did you have to quiet it when you came to help me?”

She laughed, like this question didn’t bother her at all. “Would you believe that there was a terrible accident, and now I’m set for life?”

I looked at her quizzically because I wasn’t for sure if she was lying or not, but she giggled a little, so I was positive this was just a story.

“After I graduated from the academy, I went to school for interior design, so I choose when I work, who I work for, and how much I charge. I also took some… extra programs at the academy, so that gives me a paycheck every month. Fortunately for me, I’m fairly decent with money and have a budget not only for me, but I keep track of Dax’s too. Since he’s been living at Green Acers, there hasn’t been much to do. He does have a cushion to fall on, if he ever needs it.”

“That makes sense. I’ve spent these past couple months with you, and I feel like you know me way better than I know you or Dax.” I said as I finished the slice of pizza I was working on.

“Well, that’s not entirely true. You know Dax way better than most people. And me well, you know a lot more than you probably realize. You know my favorite color is a light powder blue, and that my favorite band’s The Fray, and that I have an older brother. I like pretty, colorful things, and I’m actually a cat.” She winked at me. “See, you do know a lot.”

“Maybe you’re right. It just feels like I’m always learning something new, something that I should have already known. Or that I should’ve been able to figure out myself.”

“You can spend that majority of your life with someone and still find something new that you hadn’t realized before. That’s the beauty about life.”

It was late and dark by the time we got back to my house. Faux said she still planned on staying the night here one last time, which, in a weird way made me feel better. I’d grown attached and wasn’t ready for her to leave.

There was a light bouncing off the side of the house. It seemed to be moving. I leaned forward and unbuckled my seatbelt. “Faux what’s going on…” It took me a second to realize what the light was. “Faux! It’s fire! Something’s on fire!” I saw the reflection of the fire on my house, but I couldn’t see where it was coming from. Please don’t let my nightmare come to fruition. I was out of the car and ran towards the flames in less than a second, as Faux yelled my name and ran after me.

I breathed a sigh of relief. The source of the fire was a man-made pit a good distance away from the house. There were five long, thick logs in an octagon shape around the bonfire. The side door from the garage opened, which caused both me and my father to jump, “Oh, hey Angie. You’re a little earlier than I expected,” my father said. He carried a large bag of hot dogs in his hand. I looked at the fire; Dax was adding wood to it. Victor, Jorge, and Freddie were sitting on the logs, and seemed to be laughing. Sadie and Spencer walked out of the woods with a bundle of fire wood in their arms. They took a seat on one of the adjacent logs next to Dax. No one had noticed that Faux and I had arrived, except for my father.

I turned back to look at him and opened my mouth, but Faux responded first, “Sorry, Julian. I ran out of options to keep her entertained, I tried to call Dax, but apparently he isn’t answering his phone now.”

“He’s been out here all afternoon trying to get it perfect,” my father informed Faux and me.

“So this is what Dax meant by making it up to me.” I smiled to myself. As much as Dax like to portray having a black heart, there was still some warmth inside. I powered walked towards the bonfire.

“Angie!” Jorge cried, excited to see me.

“How are things going Jorge? Looks like you’ve had a good day!” I ruffled his hair as I turned towards Dax.

I stared at him for a few moments. The way the fire light flickered around his body made me stare in awe. There was something to Dax that I hadn’t taken the time to notice before. The glow of the fire made his muscle stand out and his features look warm. A part of me want to reach out to him, but I stopped myself. Instead I stammered. “Dax, this is amazing. You to know you didn’t have to do this. You, Faux and my father have already done so much. And I’ve never blamed you for my stitches being ripped. It was an accident.”

But Dax wasn’t looking at me. He was standing there staring at the fire.

“Whether you blamed me, I still felt at fault, and I don’t like feeling as if I owe someone. Besides, is it too hard to simply say, thank you?” His voice was low, but kind.

“T-Thank you,” I stuttered. “I wasn’t trying to sound offensive. It’s probably one of the coolest things that anyone has ever done for me. The three of you already repainted my room for me. And it’s been freezing outside all day,” I paused. “It’s really… sweet.”

He nodded curtly and turned back to the fire, “You’re welcome.”

I forced my gaze away from him, towards the flames. “So what made you decide on a bonfire?”

“What? Do you not like it?” Dax grunted. I couldn’t see his face, but it didn’t sounds like he was actually mad, more like teasing.

“No. I didn’t say that.” I crossed my arms and glared at the flames. He sure knew how to ruin the mood.

Spencer’s eyes met mine. “It’s kind of a tradition of ours from back at the academy. When one of us had a rough day we’d sit around the fire to relax and talk. It seemed to make things a little easier.”

“You mean when you and Dax weren’t tearing each other apart,” Sadie spat at them humorously.

“They don’t get along any better now, but at least they act more civil when their around one another.” Faux walked towards us. She had a bag filled with marshmallows, Hersey chocolate bars, and graham crackers. “I thought we could make s’mores as a dessert after we finish the hotdogs.”

I took a seat next to Faux, as Freddie and Victor passed out the skewers, we got our own hot dogs and paper plates. My father sat next to Freddie, on the log next to theirs was Victor and Jorge. Dax sat by himself, the twins were next to him, and Faux and I shared a log.

“Well, thank you, Dax, for all of this. I’m sure you have found memories of when Ember did this for all of us, way back when. You thought of pretty much everything.” My father seemed really pleased. So my mother is the one who started this, at the academy? She was truly an amazing person. The world was darker without her.

I twirled my hotdog around on its skewer. Spencer had handed his to Sadie and he reached for a guitar that was lying next to him.

“It’s not a big deal Julian…” Dax’s voice trailed off but he mumbled some short of ‘you’re welcome’. “If you start signing camp songs, I’m going inside.” He growled at Spencer.

“You’re always the life of the party, aren’t you? I was just plucking, wasn’t planning on playing any camps songs, but if you have a request I will be more than happy to humor you.” Spencer strummed.

“Have you guys matured at all in the past 14 years? You still act like you’re twelve.” My dad reprimanded them.

“Where are you from anyway? You sound strange.” Jorge said towards Sadie and Spencer.

“Jorge!” Victor nudged him.

“It’s really all right, Vic. I guess we’re so used to being around each other that we don’t notice our accents anymore.” Spencer said.

Sadie took over. “We were born in Main, lived there about three years. Dear dad wanted to expand his business into Canada. He thought his banking company would make more money if he had a wider range to profit from. From the time we were six, till about eight we went to a boarding school. Our parents decided it was best if we were out of their way the majority of the time.”

Spencer continued, “You see, after we’d made out first change, he wanted to try and swayed us into thinking that being human was the better choice, a smarter choice. He didn’t want us changing whenever we felt like it. So he tried to put us in a situation where it wouldn’t be acceptable, if you will.” Spencer plucked the strings.

Sadie turned towards me. “But those plans didn’t pan out. Little kids can’t always control when or where they change. When a Natural Born child feels emotions powerful enough, rage, happiness, excitement, etcetera, their body phases. Sometimes they can control it, but most of the time they can’t. So…”

“So.” Spencer took control of the conversation. “There was a day when I felt overwhelming terrified, and I changed in front of about five students. That got us pulled out of the school. After a large discussion with our mother, our parents decided that they would send us to one of the bordering schools designed for Natural Born s, which happened to be in Great Brittan. Our father was planning on obtaining some business partners there anyway, so to him it made finical sense.”

“Back to Jorge’s question; the reason we sound different is because we learned to talk in Maine, moved to Canada, and then to England. We were told that we take on accents easily; our speech just reflects the countries we lived in.” Sadie clarified. “But of course, you knew this already Julian.”

“You might have mentioned it before, but it’s been roughly thirteen years since the last time I saw you,” Julian stated.

Something still felt off to me. “I thought you guys went to an academy together, and wasn’t the academy in Africa?”

“Correct. It is,” Spencer answered. Even though the twins were like night and day on the outside, they were like one person, split in half. Especially when they took turns talking like that.

“When we were ten or eleven we chose to go to the academy at the palace. We wanted to be more intoned with our animal side. We stayed there until we graduated at 18.” Sadie said.

“Are you always together? Doesn’t that get annoying?” Jorge asked.

The twins just laughed, Spencer spoke this time. “No, not at all. Yes we are almost always together. You see most Natural Born twins have a very close bond. But, we’ve always had each other backs. Even when we felt most alone, we knew we could always count on one another to be there.” After this Sadie had squeezed Spencer arm a little and they smiled at each other.

I was so happy for them. But I couldn’t help but wonder what having a sibling would have been like…

“Hey, Angie, you ok?” Faux turned me. Dax’s eyes were on me as well.

“Oh, yeah, I’m perfectly fine. I was just thinking what it would’ve been like if I had a sibling, but it’s an impossibility.”

“I’m an only child, and so is your father, and Dax. And I was perfectly happy about it. Never thought I’d missed out on anything. From what I heard siblings can be an annoyance of sorts,” Freddie told me, looking rather amused.

“Never believe it’s a bad thing to be a True Soul, Angie,” Spencer said with that crocked half smile on his face.

“I wasn’t, I promise.” I smiled back. Dax seemed to have a little scowl on his face, the flames didn’t help this time. His once warm glowed had darkened, but he wasn’t look at me. What was he thinking? There were so many sides to Dax, I didn’t know if I’d ever figure him out.

“Just embrace who you are, get to know your animal side,” Sadie advised.

“And how would you like me to do that?” I asked.

Sadie stood. “I think you just started a musical,” Faux whispered in my ear.

“Uh?” But I saw Spencer softly strumming his guitar and it took on a melody that sounded oddly familiar.

Dax literally did a face palm, which made Faux and I burst out laughing. And Sadie sang, “Just put your paws up, Cause baby you were born this way! My mama told me when I was young, we were all born superstars. She rolled my hair and put my lipstick on, in her glass of boudoir. I beautiful in my way, Cause God makes no Mistakes! I’m on the right track, baby, I was born this way!”

“Enough with the Lady Gaga already!” Dax made grab towards Spencer’s guitar as the music stopped. No one could doubt that Sadie had a brilliant sounding voice. She wasn’t Lady Gaga, but she still put on a magical performance. Faux and I roll almost off our logs, we had laughed so hard. Victor was even trying to mimic her hand signs, which immensely embarrassed Jorge.

“No touching my guitar!” Spencer sounded like a child and whisked it away.

“You can definitely tell that Sadie’s a little monster,” Faux said.

“I love Lady Gage! She is my favorite artist.” Sadie landed back on her log with a thud. “I’m surprised you even know who that is, Dax.”

“I’m not an idiot, even though you’d like to think so, girly.” He growled at her.

“What kinds of music do you prefer Dax?”

“I don’t listen to music much. There’s not a radio in my truck. And they mostly play that crappy new pop shit at the shelter.” He answered.

“I’m sure there something you like to listen to,” Victor said.

There was a long pause before Dax answered, he held a contemplative look on his face. “Green Day. 21 guns is actually a great song.”

Spencer stammered the introduction to American Idiot.

“Real cute, emo puppy.” Dax snorted at him, but I actually saw Dax’s hand tap the beat on his thigh.

“Knock it off you too, before a fight breaks out, and Dax gets another scar to add to his collection. Freddie’s done enough stitches,” My father teased.

“Is that how you got the majority of your scars? You kept picking on Spencer?” I asked Dax.

“Not even close.”

“How’d you end up so mangled?” I asked before I could stop myself. I covered my hand over my mouth. The fire light made the one across his face seem older and more prominent. But it was the scars on his hands feet that I had been the most curious about.

“You want to know about my scars?” Dax looked quizzical as if no one had ever had the guts to ask him about them before. He held an alarming smirk on his face.

“Sure.” I said trying to put on a confident face myself.

“This one,” he traced the one started under his right eye, across the bridged of his nose, his left cheek bone and ended at the corner of his mouth, “was given to me by Makeal when I was 17. He was also kind enough to give me the claw marks down my chest. Which I so kindly repaid by ripping his jaw off . Oh, but you were there for that one, weren’t you, girly?” He gave me a half smile and pulled his shirt off. The fire light flickered around his muscles and slightly tan skin. All I could do was stare at him. His body looked like it had been through so much pain.

“That’s more than enough detail Dax,” my father informed him.

“Right. Moving on to the next one. Cain ripped my left earlobe off. We were about twelve when that happened.” I was staring at his chest. I could still tell how fresh the claw marks were compared to the others. It was almost at the same angle as the one on his face. But, the had healed extremely well. Dax turned around, “These tiny little claw marks, were made by Miss Faux over there. You can hardly tell anymore, but they’re still there. Oh, and I guess the one where she bit me is still there too. Over here.” He pointed to his a closed gash on his left side. “Can be blamed on Spencer.”

“You started that one.” Spencer crossed his arms, but looked entertained.

“Believe what you want. I have more on my legs where you also took a decent chunk out of my thigh.”

“You’ve left a gash or two or three on me too, buddy.”

“Boys!” Faux yelled at them.

“And I have this one.” Dax pointed to a straight line below his collar bone on the left side. “A girl name Shawnda, gave me this one. She was aiming for my heart, I moved, so she completely missed. It didn’t go in very far, lucky for me. She’s a nasty one.” He glimpsed at his arms and proceeded to put his shirt back on. The process had been almost comical. “Well, that should about cover them, girly.” Dax had completely avoid his feet and hands.

“But what about the burn marks on your hands and feet?” I asked. Those were the ones I really wanted to know about.

He looked at me, the way only he could, with those piercing dark eyes of his. “These?” He held his hands directly towards me so I could clearly see them. I had a sudden urge to grab onto him. “These were worth it.”

Something about the tone of his voice, intenseness of it, that made those scars all the more mysterious. I also knew this was the most I’d get out of him. I turned back to Sadie, completely changing topics. “So, in order for me to get in touch with my animal side, I’m supposed to listen to Lady Gaga.”

“Well, she did wear meat dresses,” Freddie laughed.

Sadie glared at him. “No, I just find her inspiring and thought that might cheer you up.”

The rest of dinner went fairly smoothly. Faux told a story about how Dax lost a bet with her back at the academy and he had to eat a whole bottle of mustard, so now even thought of mustard upsets his stomach. He glared at the amount I used on my hotdogs.

My father talked about visiting China with my mother for one of the stops on their honeymoon. Freddie discussed in detail about one of the more gruesome accidents he’d seen. Victor talked about one of his cases as a private investigator where the wife hired him to see if her who murdered her husband, so her named would be cleared with the cops. When in reality, Vic discovered she was the one who committed the murder.

It had gotten dark by the time I saw a pair of glowing eyes looking in our direction from the trees. I thought I heard Angel crow and the eyes disappeared. I didn’t think anything of it, but looking back, I should have known something was coming.

When we finally got to bed, it was well past midnight. I staggered upstairs to my bedroom. I felt extremely hot; maybe it was the fact that I spent the better part of five hours outside. Whatever the reason was, I’d made a huge mistake when I opened the window that night. I had crawled back onto my bed and crashed, I barely even pulled the quilt over my body before I completely knocked out.

A searing pain pulled me through my slumber and my eyes popped opened. I jumped when I saw a pair of dark golden brown eyes glaring at me. The same ones that I’d spotted from the forest. Those eyes peered at me from 2 inches above my face. A female body pinned me to the bed. I tried to scream but she covered my mouth with her hand and pressed as hard I could barely breath.

“Shh… We wouldn’t want to wake the whole house now would we?” Her teeth were pearl white and looked sharp and dangerous. Her dark brown hair was cut almost to her scalp. The moonlight seemed to illuminate her brown skin.

I tried to change, but my body refused. She muffled my screams as pain shoot through my body. My body trembled and convulsed, it worsened every time I tried to change forms. WHAT HAS SHE DONE?

With her free hand she pulled out three syringes from her belt. There were two empty ones and one filled with something I couldn’t make out. “I wouldn’t try to change if I was you. You see, every time you try; you’ll cause yourself to be in more and more debilitating pain. So, I’d work on maintaining human form, because if you don’t, you’ll eventually die from excruciating agony.” She laughed, “Not that would be a problem, but Cain would like to finish you off himself.” She tossed one of the empty syringes from her hand. It contained whatever chemical she had stabbed me with. The chemical that caused my convulsions.

She let go of my face. The shaking was so bad, I lost control of my muscle movement. I was jerking and twitching like I was having one seizure after another. There was no way for me to escape. “Who… are… you?” I spat through the spams.

She laughed again. “Oh, you know, Shawnda, the nasty one.” So, she was the pair of eyes that had been watching us. She stood and turned my shaking face over with her foot, pressing my head into the floor. “Cain can finish you off, but I was told to get something from you first. Maybe afterwards we can have some fun.” She jammed the last empty syringe into the pulsing vein in my neck and pulled on the plunger back. My blood quickly filled the tube. “There, that should be enough.” She took the other full syringe and shoved it into the shoulder she’d put chemical in. I was utterly powerless to stop her.

Agonizing pain shot through my arms worse than the pain that was already there. I was ready to pass out when she slapped me a crossed the face. “Tsk, tsk. You can’t sleep now. I want you to remember every minute of this.” She walked to the window. “Hector, Rocky, get ready for the girl.” Unrecognizable voices called back to her. She picked my shaking, throbbing body and hurled it out of the window. My stomach lurched.

Panic over came me as my body tried to change again. My back arched in midair and my body twisted. My arms and legs jerked uncontrollably in every direction. I thought I was going to die as the ground got closer. But two dark figures caught my body. One was thick and muscular; the tall skinner one smelled awful. The smelly one dropped me when one of my legs kicked him. The muscular one let my body thud to the ground. The back of my head hit the cold ground last. I was already in so much pain that the freezing temperature made no difference. Tears soaked my face, and I was screaming.

The sound of cracking bones reached my ears and the muscular guy fell from Dax’s grip and dropped dead; his face was only inches from mine, his eyes wide open. “DAX!” I screamed.

“WHAT DID YOU TO HER?” He screamed as Faux jumped on the living one and pinned him to ground. Shawnda shot out from my bedroom window, just as Cain had weeks earlier.

Shawnda frowned at her fallen comrade. “What a waste, he was useful cleaning up the leftovers.” There was no real remorse in her voice.

“She stabbed me… with…” it was almost impossible to talk now. I was shaking and seizing so hard.

The guy Faux was restraining phased, turning into a hawk and flew off before Faux could stop him. The hawk flew over Dax’s head scrapping him with his talons. I could see blood running down Dax’s neck as he tried to fight the bird.

Faux moved to get me but Shawnda yanked me away with a forceful jerk. The spams were getting continually worse as my body kept trying to change on its own, blood seemed to be running from my pours. “You want her?” Shawnda asked. The hawk had disappeared into the black void. She tightly twisted her fingers in my tangled hair.

“Hand her over now, or I’ll snap you’re neck next,” Dax snarled. I tried to turn my head to look at Dax, but by my vision faded. I was losing consciousness. I could no longer make a noise. I barely heard their footsteps get closer. But I still registered the scream of agony from beside me.

“Faux!” Dax screamed. He fell to the ground as Shawnda threw my body at him. He scooped me in his arms and laid my body as gently as he could on the ground. It was all I could do to turn my face towards Faux.

There was a knife lodged in Faux's side, underneath her left rib-cage. Her hands were pressed against it, but blood was already seeping throw her fingers, forming a small puddle.

Dax pulled out his phone and called 911. “There’s been a stabbing.” He rambled off our location and other information. He looked from me to Faux and back again, not knowing which one to care for first. I could hear the sound of running feet in the distance.

The last thing I saw was Faux’s pale scarred face as the blood pooled around her side.

When I’d woken, there was a man in a white over coat sitting on my bed. No one else was in the room. “Hello, I’m Dr. Christian Joseph Eli.”

My body felt really numb. All the blood had been wiped away. “Did you know you have three first names?” After I said this I realized how stupid it sounded.

However, he just laughed. “I guess you’re right. I’d never thought of it like that.”

“Do you know what I am?” He must if they had taken me to him.

“Yes.” He shifted his legs on the bed. “In fact, your mother was the one who found me, shortly after you were born. She knew I was a Natural Born, so she asked me to make sure I was available if you ever needed a specialize doctor, if you will.”

“I was told she found someone. But, I don’t remember you from when I had the car accident,” I stated.

“Oh, I was there. Along with three nurses and an assistant, who you saw most of the time. They are also Natural Borns. I promise you are in good hands.”

“What kind of animal are you?” My muscles were a little stiff as I tried to sit upright.

“I’m an equine.” He said.

“You’re a horse?”

“Precisely, an Appaloosa to be exact.” He smiled, “My assistant’s a beaver, and you have a mouse, rabbit, and an owl as nurses. But what’s important right now is how you’re feeling.”

“A little stiff, and achy maybe, but I’m not in any more pain.” I told him.

“That’s good; we had to do blood transfusion to get the chemicals out. Whatever it was she gave you, I’ve never seen anything like it. But, Freddie had. He was the one who suggested the transfusion.”

I nodded less concerned about myself than I was about Faux. “What about Faux?”

“The knife pierced her spleen, and we had to remove it. But, she will make a full recovery.”

I leaned back, relieved that she was going to be ok. “Wait? Where is everyone?”

“A young man named Dax, has been back and forth between your room and Faux’s. He fell asleep in here last night. No matter what anyone tells him, he hasn’t left. Your father’s at the nurse’s station filling out your release forms. I told him as soon as you were awake, permitting you felt ok, you’d be free it leave. I had a feeling you’d be conscious soon so I had him fill out the paper work.”

“What about the twins, Sadie and Spencer?”

“I don’t know them, but a boy name Jorge brought you those.” Dr. Eli pointed to the stand by the bed. There was a teddy bear, a get well card, and a vase of pale colored lilies. That was one sweet little boy. Victor had raised him to be kind and empathic.

“How long have I been out?” I asked the doctor.

“A day and a half, not too long. I’ll go and get your father now.” He stood and walked to the door. “Happy late Thanksgiving, by the way.” So I had missed Thanksgiving….

Shortly after he left my father came in and Dax followed with a wheel chair. My dad helped me to the bathroom where I’d changed clothes. Dax held the wheel chair for me as I slowly sank onto it.

“Can we stop by Faux’s room before we leave?” I asked.

“Sure, girly.” We paused by the cafeteria so my dad could get us drinks.

Dax looked miserable. His brows were furrowed, and his olive skin looked pale. There were dark circles under his eyes. I wanted to comfort him, but I didn’t know how. “What’s wrong?” I asked him.

“What’s wrong” He repeated aggravated. “What’s wrong is we have so many people here to protect you. Faux and I were there. We were right there. Yet, you were attacked again. No matter what we do they keep getting passed us. No matter how many of Cain’s lackeys we kill, he’s still one step ahead. I can’t protect you like you need me to.”

“Dax… don’t do this to yourself.”

“Please, girly; don’t say it’s not my fault because it is… Because it is.” He looked defeated sitting there with his head hanging.

I placed my hand gently on his shoulder, he wrapped his hands around my fingers. “You know, you have your mother’s heart.” His eyes were red like he’d been crying or hadn’t gotten any sleep, which I knew he slept since Dr. Eli said he’d fallen asleep in my room last night.

He let go of my hand when he heard my father coming back. He handed Dax a sprit, me a strawberry soda. He carried two Pepsi’s for himself and Faux.

When we got to Faux’s room she was on her cell phone. “Did you get the tickets? Ok, that’s perfect,” she paused, “I’ll be fine. They’ll have to release me.” There was another pause, “We don’t have a choice. Good. Ok, see you two later. Thank you.” Faux ended the call and turned to us.

My father handed her the soda. “How’re you feeling Faux?”

She smiled at me, like she wasn’t in any pain. Even though she winced when she moved, “Well I definitely owe Shawnda for this one. I’ll be moving a little slower for the next few days or so, but I’ll be good. The important thing is we need to get you out of here and quickly. The twins just ordered our plane tickets.”

“When are we leaving? Where are you planning on taking me?” I asked.

My father put his hand on shoulder and turned to me with a soft expression.

Faux looked stern and orderly. “We leave tomorrow morning. We’re taking you to the Queen.”

End of Part One

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