Chapter 3

Chapter 3~With little action :/

   Jace stopped pushing through the horrified people the moment Colette toppled over the dead body. He thought he might have seen blood on her hands, but it could have come from the red-soaked floor below.
   The soldiers were merciless.
   As he watched, Colette seemed to lose herself, the fear dripping from her face to be replaced with a sadistic grin.
   Her eyes, he thought to himself. The eyes he'd looked into earlier that evening weren't there. In their place were what looked like emeralds, shining with a horrifying ferocity. If he'd ever had any doubt about the stories...
   The soldier near her jumped back and fell to the ground, holding a hand that was rotting right off as Jace watched. And did he watch.
   It wasn't entertaining like a television show, but it was fascinating. Not really in a good way.
   Colette moved too quickly; she was on top the guy within the time it took to suck in a shocked breath. As she stared down at the poor guy like she was looking for something in his face, her hand made an odd motion beside her.
   It clenched around something invisible until her knuckled turned white, and it moved back as thought pulling something-like a lever or...
   A sword from a sheath, Jace's thoughts whispered as a long, thin blade slowly materialized-from hilt until the point of it was visible.
   It didn't take long for her to indulge in stabbing the guy, and Jace knew when he actually died. It wasn't hard to tell, the way Colette's power flared suddenly and anything within a meter of her turned to black dust.
   She stood slowly, tossing red hair over her shoulder. It wasn't an orange-red, Jace noted, but rather closer to a true red, and it was beautiful.
   The soldiers near the opening they'd created (with a well-aimed spell, no less) began to slowly back away. They had good reason. Colette was probably the most frightening creature they'd ever laid eyes on.
   She turned to them and began forward, her steps leisurely and terrifyingly silent. As she walked, a second sword to match the first formed in her left hand. She pressed the twin blades together in an 'X' for just a moment-they flared with what looked like green fire-before she dove forward.
   Like before, her movements were too fast. She jumped at one man and sliced the blade into his gut, turning even as she did so to parry the blow of someone else behind her with her free sword. She yanked the weapon free of the first guy and swung it around to pull across her attacker's neck.
   The two of them dropped dead, and she used the new energy from their lifeless bodies to pull her fingers across another man's cheek as she danced by him. His eyes rolled back into his head under the pain as his skin turned black and slowly peeled away to reveal bone.
   Colette didn't give him a second glance as she threw a hand over her head so her sword could protect her against a blow. She stabbed the prone form of the soldier with blade number two, and he dropped like a sack of bricks. It continued on like this until those who hadn't taken advantage of her distraction with their fellows and escaped with their hostages and their lives were all dead. Some of them didn't even have bodies left over.
   When her power got out of hand, she just brushed against someone and they rotted through until they were nothing more than ashes. It was disturbing.
   With the room empty, Colette stood there, on blade over her shoulder (She seemed oblivious to the fact it was cutting her open) and the other sticking up from a corpse under her hand. Jace took that as his cue to bring her back to reality.
   He slowly stepped up to her, making sure his footsteps rang out over the noise of the sirens that were still blaring a warning of an attack that had passed. She turned halfway, looking unimpressed by him.
   He raised a hand, unsure what else to do, as if he was waving. Her lips turned up in a sneer, and she spun around the sword that was embedded in the soldier below it. She leaned on it, raising an eyebrow at him.
   "Did you need something, pretty?" she questioned, a curl falling over one of her eerie eyes. She has blood all over her face, but somehow Jace didn't think it was hers.
   Unable to do anything else, Jace shook his head and held both hands out in front of him. He hoped she would become bored with killing if he proved he wasn't a threat.
   She was know to be horribly unpredictable though.
   "Are you going to stay something or stand there like an idiot?" she purred, opening her hand and releasing the sword that rested across her shoulder. Before it clanged to the ground, it disappeared-ceasing to exist as quickly as it had come into existence.
   Jace decided to shrug. It was the best answer he could give her. Her eyes flashed as her anger flared, and she allowed her second blade to disintegrate like the first, leaving an open wound in the man at her feet.
   She stepped up to him and tilted her head back so she could glare at his face. He couldn't help but think she looked a little funny doing it.
   "You're lucky you're cute, pretty, because I'm usually done killing kids like you by now," she told him, and he gave her a brief smile. He knew it would annoy her, but he couldn't help himself.
   She scowled and poked a finger at his chest. A hole formed in his shirt at her touch and a horrible pain shot into him as her skin met his.
   Jace decided that now was better than later and wrapped both arms around her, pulling her to him. She didn't struggle-probably too surprised-and by the time she would've thought to, his embrace had pushed away the hold the power held on her. She slumped in his arms, and he breathed out a relieved breath.
   Still alive. He was still alive. Maybe Fate did like him a little.
   With a short puff of breath, Jace slid an arm under Colette's weak knees and swept her into his arms. Her head rolled loosely until it bumped against him, and he looked down at it. Without the green of her eyes revealed, she looked so small, like a pixie. Her cheeks were high and her nose tiny and upturned. It looked kind of like she was made of glass.
   Jace shook his head and began out through the diner's new back door. By this time, the cars and helicopters that had been out here during the attack were gone and replaced by emptiness.
   Jace strode through that emptiness with unease, knowing of only one place he could go. And he didn't like it one bit.

----

   Gabriel leaped over a boulder and landed gently on grass that looked almost blue. She wondered for a brief moment if Michael had been here but quickly banished that thought. She was the only one Death would see, and none of the others wanted to visit him anyway.
    Hell, half the time, she didn't want to visit him.
   But she had to. It was a sense of duty that she;d been created with, and she'd never thought to disobey it. She didn't really enjoy adhering to it, but something told her she'd feel worse if she didn't.
   Gabriel cast her gaze around the field she now stood in, pinpointing where Death was laying. It didn't take long. He wasn't trying to hide like some visits, not this time.
   Gabriel sighed. He wouldn't be pleasant for this talk.
   She approached him, her energy flaring as she moved by a spot that had recently felt Death's wrath. He was certainly in a bad mood.
   She hadn't made any noise, her footfalls silent, but Death greeted her as though she'd called out to him.
   "Hello, Gabriel," he said, not turning or making any movement to prove it was him who had spoken.
   Gabriel didn't respond and stopped walking when she could clearly see his form, stretched across the ground. His hood that he usually wore had fallen back to lay on the grass, revealing jet-black hair. He had his tongue flicked out to play with a lip ring he'd taken a fondness to some time ago.
   Gabriel thought the form he'd decided to take, even before she existed, was a little odd. She couldn't fathom why he wanted to look anything like the mortals whose lives he stole away, especially one so young.
   She preferred to pass herself off as the demon she was-horns peeking from hair so white it hurt to look at it and nails curved into little knife-like claws. Her eyes were amber with huge pupils... She had a soft spot for how cats' eyes appeared.
   Death sighed, and the grass he was laying on curled up and browned. "Why come to visit if you're not going to talk?" he muttered, expression remaining unchanged.
   Gabriel narrowed her eyes against the sudden influx of power Death threw at her. He was testing her-her strength, her temper, her certainty-and she would deal with it. She may not have been as strong as he was, but she wouldn't let it show.
   It was awhile before Death relented and pulled back, though he lay as still as he'd been before.
   "Why don't you sit, Gabriel, and we'll have a talk?" He moved a hand and patted the dead earth beside him expectantly. "Surely there's a reason you've come to see me? You're not one to enjoy personal excursions, so I'm going to take a guess and say you have news you think I don't know."
   Gabriel considered not sitting, just standing so she could go away as quickly as possible, but Death blinked open his eyes (as inky black as his hair) and she complied with plopping down next to him. Death raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to speak.
   "Jophiel-" she started.
   "-is not my concern," Death finished, closing his eyes again and resuming his stone-still laying.
   "-is in the mortal realm," Gabriel concluded after him, trying to keep the edge from her voice.
   "She often is. She enjoys being born into a mortal's fragile body. You've never bothered with it before."
   "Yes, but she awakened while still in the mortal realm," Gabriel pressed, trying to describe its importance with force on her words.
   "She always does so."
   "But the mortal body she's in was not destroyed. She didn't return to our realm this time; she remained there."
   "Perhaps she didn't fully awaken."
   "She did. Raguel doesn't lie, and he knows about this type of thing."
   "Her mortal body is strong this time."
   "Yes, but still... She would have been forced out of the body if it's really so strong. It would repel her existence the moment she woke. Something stopped her."
   Death hesitated, and Gabriel could tell he was thinking of the implications.
   "Perhaps she ordered her servants to interfere if she seemed to awaken," he murmured.
   "What servant would have such power?"
   "No mortal could, so who else?"
   Gabriel thought about it, considering Jophiel's usual actions and her emotions, considering what she did in previous lives and while in this realm.
   "She could be the one," she said after a pause, "She could have stopped herself."
   Death opened his eyes in a rare expression of surprise. "Is she that powerful, to be able to tame her curse and her gift even while living as a mortal?"
   Gabriel did not respond until she stood and turned her back to him. "I do not know. Raguel is the only one who might; I'm simply the messenger."
   Death frowned after her as she wandered off, hopping over the boulder a ways away with graceful ease. His mood was suddenly much better; nothing like a horrible threat to brighten the day.
   Gabriel jumped across the wide river, landing too quietly on her toes, and the world shifted. She'd crossed the barrier that separated Death's part of the realm from Michael's, and rather than a huge field in the middle of no where, she now stood amongst vehicles in a busy street. Empty cars honked at her, and she ignored them with disdain.
   It didn't take long for Michael to find her and drape an arm around her shoulders. Gabriel expected that he's been eavesdropping.
   "Sister dear," he greeted. Lately, he'd been appearing as an older man with a small, grubby beard and a mouth full of shark teeth. "I hear dear Jophiel is causing trouble. I've never liked her much."
   Gabriel began to walk out from the line of mortal vehicles, and her brother followed, still wrapped around her.
   "Won't you tell me more?" Michael pleaded into her ear. "I do so love secrets, you know..."
  
----

   I'm awake, but I don't open my eyes. My brain is kind of fuzzy, like I had something to drink, and I find it hard to focus on the sounds around me.
   Well, that's just great.
   I shift my weight a little and find that every part of my body feels like someone's stabbing me with needles. Repeatedly.
   Again, just great.
   I wonder for a moment if I'm hung over, and I concentrate in remembering the previous night. I don't think I had anything to drink... Just those pretzels... Is it possible to drug pretzels? I bet someone would find a way.
   Stupid Zane, taking me to a party with poison pretzels. He's such an idiot; he probably stuffed his face with them and got sick. The taxi person who drove us home probably thinks we're horrible people.
   Speaking of which, where am I? This can't be my bed. I would open my eyes to look around, but I can feel sunlight just waiting to get in and scorch them.
   I make due with rolling over-the needle stabbing increases-and find to my dismay that whatever I'm on isn't very large. I topple to the floor with a thud and force myself onto my back, groaning.
   Ow. Just... ow.
   "She fell," a low voice says, and I hear footsteps hurrying over to me.
   "She's not moving! What is she died?!" a higher-pitched voice cries and someone's suddenly shaking me around. I can feel a rug burn coming on as I rub against the carpet.
   Something that sounds oddly like a slap rings out, and I'm thankfully still again.
   "She's not dead, you idiot! Look, see? She's breathing. I think," comes another voice.
   If Zane invited these people here, I'm going to kill him. No mercy.
   "But why isn't she waking up?" the squeakier voice whimpers, sounding suspiciously on the brink of tears, "Wake up, miss!" And the shaking starts again.
   "If anything kills her, it will be you!" the last voice growls in response but the shaking doesn't stop.
   I let out a groan, hoping that will convince whoever that I'm alive and that they should leave me alone.
   "She's alive!" Along with the excited squeal, the throwing me around increases.
   "Yeah, yeah," the second voice sighs.
   I wait for them to let me lay still, but that's in vain. I finally just decide to open my eyes, and I was right. The sun is only too willing to try to gauge them out.
   "Tessa, Tessa! She's awake now!" It's a girl, maybe eight, with black hair that almost looks blue in the light. It falls down around her so perfectly straight that I want to punch her. I wish my hair would do that.
   Another girl, presumably Tessa, leans over me. "Oh," she says, seeming disinterested, "Yeah, she is. I told you she wasn't dead." She looks identical to the first girl. If her hair wasn't so short, there would be no way to tell them apart. It's really scary.
   "I'm so glad! Jace would've been so sad; I bet he would've cried. He doesn't even like Dem, but he came because he wanted her to be safe. It's so cute!" the first girl pretty much shouts and grabs my shoulders. I clench my teeth against the pain.
   "Hello!" she yells at me. Does she think I'm deaf or something? "I'm Terra! This is my sister, Tessa!" She jabs a finger against Tessa's nose as she says it and grins. She leans back and points to somewhere across the room I can't see. "That's my brother, Demitri! He's really old!"
   I grunt in response, proud I can do that.
   "Jace told us what happened. It's okay, though, because you're safe here! Dem can protect you from anything!" Terra announces, pride glinting in her silvery eyes.
   Well, I'm happy they know what happened because I don't. I struggle to sit up (Terra gasps in some kind of horror) and look around, pain coursing through me. Hey... This isn't the apartment. Where am I?
   "Where am I?" I say out loud and am pleased when my voice sounds normal. I was afraid I'd sound as drunk as I feel.
   "You're with Dem, at his house! Daddy got it for him with all his money, but Dem lives here all by himself! Isn't that cool?" Terra explains, admiration oozing from her voice.
   "Yeah, cool," I repeat, trying to make sense of my surroundings. There's a leather couch beside me; I bet that's what I was laying on. The wall across from me is a TV, but it's on mute, and to my right is a door with fancy glass.
   Definitely not the apartment.
   And last night's events come crashing down on me. Kind of like a semi-truck falling onto my head from the sky.
   The alarms, Zane, the army people, the nightmare, Zane.
   What am I doing here? Zane is gone. Zane's gone, taken by some terrorists, an I'm laying here.
   I move to stand, but when I do get to my feet, I waver. The room spins, my vision blurs, and my head feels like exploding. I think I might be falling, but up and down are suddenly hard to tell apart.
   I'm on the couch again, but I'm not sure how.
   I wait for my vision to settle before looking up. A guy's there, hair as dark as the twins' and an orange T-shirt on. He's watching me blankly, and when I meet his gaze...
   I think it must have been a person. Its eyes, as large as mine, have no colour to them...
   The similarity makes me shudder, but I feel no panic. I should. I usually do, but I don't.
   The guy sits beside me, and Terra climbs into his lap happily.
   "I'm Demitri," he says without any inflection, "Demitri Kaen."
   I'm relieved when I feel the shock. I was afraid I lost my ability to have emotion or something. It's not normal for me not to feel panic.
   "Kaen? As in Melinda Kaen?" I respond.
   "Melinda is my mother," he says, and Terra cries out, "Mommy!"
   "Your mother is the chairman for a gaming company!" I exclaim, feeling my eyes widen.
   "Yes."
   "I didn't know she had a son!" I try to imagine it but can't. I can't envision such an important person with children.
   "She has two daughters too," the short-haired girl, Tessa, adds in. She's standing now and hobbles over to the remote on a fancy, glass table beside me.
   "Weird," I murmur.
   "People have children all the time," Demitri informs me. He doesn't  seem to mind that Terra is climbing all over him. Using the back of the couch for support, she pulls herself onto his shoulders.
   "I know," I tell him, "It's just... Hey! What am I doing here? I need to go. I don't know you. I can't... I have to leave. My friend-I have to find him. How can I sit here?" I move to stand, but he puts an arm out in front of me.
   "You couldn't stand a moment ago. You can't now. You're too weak. Your body isn't used to what you put it through," he says, colourless eyes looking, waiting for me to do something stupid.
   I push his arm aside and lean forward. "I can't just sit here." Even as I mutter it, that light-headed feeling returns, and I let him pull me back.
   "You can't help him," he tells me as my head slowly clears.
   "But I need..." I trail off as he looks at me with so little pity it hurts.
   "You can't," he repeats, and Terra leans over from her perch on him to pat me on the head. "He'll be okay," she cries brightly and returns to holding his head.
   "Hey, let's watch the news," Tessa suggests blandly and flicks the television off mute.
   I stare at it, my stomach twisting in anger-at him, at those soldiers, at me.
   "-last night," a woman is saying. The words 'Breaking News' flash below her in all-caps. As I look, she's standing in front of the diner.
   I feel my anger and horror become more than just a lull, but within the next moment, it's gone. I feel nothing as I watch the news broadcast.
   "Authorities have sent out notifications to the families of those whose bodies have been identified," the lady says, "and a list of those who have gone missing after this event has been released. Marie, would you like to list off the names?"
   The scene cuts to another woman positioned next to a somber-looking man. She nods and the TV is filled with do zens of scrawled-out names. The woman begins reading,
   "Alissa Cally Bankes, Josh Peter Detson, Tannar Edward Dwayne, Zane Connar Eldritch..."
   I kind of stop listening after that one. If he's on the list of people missing, he could still be alive. He has to be.
   "...Jace Emmet Nalis..."
   "Hey," Terra says, poking Demitri's head repeatedly, "They're wrong! Jace isn't missing! He was just here!"
   "They don't know that," Demitri says.
   "...Colette Ellen Taywen..."
   I look back at my name, blinking in surprise.
   "Dem!" Terra cries again, yanking at a strand of his hair, "They're wrong! Co-"
   "They don't know that." Tessa sounds annoyed, and she gives her sister a harsh look from where she's standing.
   "They think I'm missing," I murmur, and the trio of siblings looks over at me, "Why don't I go tell them I'm not? Emily is probably worried-"
   "And your mommy and daddy!" Terra intervenes. I make a face.
   "If you do that," Demitri says, "They will find you. They will come back and kill everyone who gets in their way."
   "Why me? Why would I make them come back? What difference does one hostage make?" I argue, a hint of anger flaring up but disappearing just as quickly. Where does it keep going?
   "You wouldn't be a hostage. They'd kill you. After that, they'd have no use for the hostages they did take, and all those would die as well. Including your friend." He shows nothing as he says it all-no remorse, no horror, no pity or fear.
   I don't believe him, not even a little. I don't want to. "Why," I ask, "Why would they kill me?"
   He blinks at me, and I'm again disturbed by his eyes. And again, the panic doesn't come.
   He doesn't answer, but I fail to be annoyed too. Something's really wrong with me.
   "Why can't I feel anything?" I demand.
   He knows exactly what I'm talking about, and Terra beams at me, resting her cheek against his hair.
   "Dem can make sure you're not afraid. Jace asked him to!"
   "I'm not afraid," I mutter, "Or angry or sad or annoyed..."
   "Still bitter," Tessa remarks. She turns back to the TV as I make an attempt to glare at her, but the anger fueling that is gone as quickly as it came.
   "Most people would be..." Demitri searches for a word. "thankful... Is it thankful?" He tilts his head, and Terra pats it approvingly.
   "Yeah, thankful!" She smiles against his hair.
   "Thankful," he continues, "for not being overwhelmed by emotions. Most don't think clearly when that happens. It seems you don't think clearly anyway."
   I would be offended if I could.
   "How is that possible? I've never heard of a spell that takes emotions," I say, leaning back and avoiding his gaze whenever it comes my way. I don't like those eyes.
   Tessa is the one who answers after telling the TV to mute. "It's not a spell. Demitri isn't a mage."
   I still carefully look away from his face but wash my eyes over him. I should feel disturbed, frightened, and freaked out, I note.
   "What is he?" I'm not sure I want the answer.
   "Damn!" Terra yells, and I do feel the bewilderment this time. What did this little girl just yell?
   "Daemn," Demitri corrects.
   "Never heard of it," I say.
   "It's a creature that controls emotion," Tessa tells me, and I have a feeling she's quoting from being to this too many times. "A Daemn can read emotions but can't feel them. Not even their own emotions. They're not capable of it. Powerful Daemn can contort others' emotions, but they don't understand how others feel."
   "I only know how people have reacted to different emotions in the past. I don't know why they do," Demitri says.
   I hesitate, trying to understand. "You... can't feel? Like happiness or sorrow? Fear?"
   He shakes his head. "I'm not fully sure what those are. I know them when others feel them, but I don't understand how they work."
   "Pain?" As I ask, I'm abruptly aware of that pin-stabbing feeling again. I wince.
   "I feel pain," he replies, "It's not an emotion. It's a warning one experiences of danger to the body."
   "He doesn't feel what most people feel when they're in pain, though," Tessa murmurs, "He just feels the pain, plain and simple. Not the annoyance or fear caused by it."
   "Why?" I can't really comprehend it, not being able to feel. I'd be annoyed knowing I'm missing out on something so everyday, so common, and then I couldn't even be annoyed.
   "Some people say Daemn don't have souls." Demitri reaches up to balance Terra as he speaks.
   "...but," Tessa amends, "they probably just have something wrong in their brain. Like, something isn't connected like everyone else's."
   "How does that make them control emotion?" I pretty much whisper. This is bothering me.
   "Mages already know magic. Maybe Daemn have brains wired for a different magic? No one really knows," Tessa says. I start to wonder if she's really as young as she looks.
   I look up at Demitri, and he looks down at me. Something inside me goes cold.
    "Your eyes...?"
   "...are why many believe Daemn to be without souls." He's not offended by my asking, but I guess I shouldn't expect him to be. "You're...bothered by them?"
   I open my mouth to answer, but the front door swings open before I can. A very tall guy with simple, brown hair stand in the opening, blinking at me a moment before hurriedly closing the door behind him.
   Hey, that's that guy. He's from the party... His name's...
   "Jace!" Terra squeals and climbs down off of Demitri. She leaps off the sofa and into his arms, giggling when he picks her up and tosses her into the air like she weighs nothing.
   He smiles warmly at her as he sets her down and lets his eyes wander around the room warily.
   "There's nothing to be nervous about," Demitri tells him, and he nods with a suddenly solemn face.
   "It's a good thing you came now. I have to take Terra and Tessa back to Melinda's," Demitri continues. I find it odd that he addresses his mother by name. "You'll watch Colette?"
   Jace nods again, and I scowl, wishing I could feel annoyed. I don't need a babysitter.
   Demitri stands and holds out a hand for Terra. She grabs it without hesitation, and Tessa sighs, looking longingly at the television.  She follows the two out though, and the door closes on Terra's, "Bye!"
   I'm not bothered by the fact I'm alone in a stranger's house with a guy I barely know until I hear the car zoom away. Even then, the flood of emotions Demitri had been holding back dumps on me-horro, fear, fury, confusion, and something like a big hole in my middle-and I don't have time to be disturbed by the situation before I just let the emotions pull me into unconsciousness.

Author's Note

Yep