experiment: kj (rough draft 1)

8/14/2019 Experiment: KJ (rough draft 1)

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The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that KJ didn't exist.Alright, I'm totally playing you, but it's at least partially true. I never got caught for anyof it, but it always tore me up inside. Life is full of secrets, and all the fun in life isfiguring them out. I had a lot of secrets- at least five times my share. But then again, I'mnot what you would call your average little girl.

I didn't figure out how it really started until I met him , but we'll get to that. It's best tostart things at the beginning. It was like waking up- the only thing I knew was that I was just there. I looked around and saw death and destruction. I couldn't count the numberof victims. Machinery sparked from being abused in a manner that was foreign to me. Irealized that I could name some things that I saw- there were papers scattered, tools likewrenches and screwdrivers were bent and twisted out of shape, yet I could still identifythem. I knew these things, but I couldn't quite place how I knew them. I estimated that aminute or so passed before I started hearing the voices.

"Quite a beautiful job you did.

I knew who said it, I knew where she was, and I knew who she was talking to. I'd haveto say that out of all of them, Kacey had the smartest mouth.

"I'm sorry, butI justI lost my temper." I never learned the real reason why Amy killedall of those people. I guessed the reason why she never told me was because she guilty,or embarrassed, or something. Amy was motherlyshe was probably the nicest.

"HA. I heard spastic laughter. It was grating and made me cringe. "You could say thatagain." Carmen was very unstable. She was literally insane and knew neither fear norboundaries.

"You're all heartless- every last one of you." I always felt sympathetic towards Serena- she just had that air about her.

"Well killing them might've been a bit much"

All four of them laughed at me. My head buzzed. Yes, schizophrenia has taken its toll onme, and yet I knew that I'd feel empty without the four others living inside of me. Iknew my exact position- I knew who they were and I knew that we'd been this way forforever. I've always felt that I knew all four of them better than I know myself. It wasthat minute, after their laughter had ceased, that I had to ask something that shockedme.

"Who am I?"

"Look."

On the ground I saw a circle of characters that I could read . The language was familiar tome, so I knew what was written on the ground. I'm not going to repeat it, because thatkind of information is deadly, but I will tell you part of it.


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Kantrei JhantraThat's me. They wrote the characters 'Kantrei Jhantra' on the ground,and as soon as I saw them I knew that it was my name. Kantrei Jhantra.

"What am I?"

"You're an experiment." Kacey told me bluntly. Well, I already knew that. I guessed thatshe only said it to be a smartass. I knew why I was there and I knew how as well. I amthe Kantrei Jhantra experiment. The only problem was that they messed upit wasobvious to me that I was a mistake. I'm not going to even start with the religious aspectsof this- obviously God was trying to prevent this abomination, but it was alreadypredestined by the stars, or whatever- I'll let you think what you want and make yourown calls. It isn't my job to tell you what to believe and what not to believe.

So now we've established the fact that the people who created me- these alchemists-were dead. So what was I, the experiment, supposed to do? That's how this whole thingstarted; I needed to figure out what to do in life. So I wandered around. For the mostpart, the four kept quiet. I quickly found the alchemist's little base camp- it was aboutfive miles from where I had been, so I assumed that they lived in the camp and thenwalked there to work. It took me like half a day to get there, I estimated, which wasgood because I was very hungry. I ate and then slept. When I awoke the next day, I hadthe chance to actually look at myself. I'd found a girl's tent, and viola! All of thenecessary "beauty tools" were at my disposal.

I will definitely tell you that the mirror didn't lie- I looked bad . Thankfully, I was able towash up and brush my hair. I decided to put it up, but it was two different lengths, soeven though I didn't have bangs, hair still hung in my face. At first it was annoying, butafter figuring out that it didn't grow anymore, I left it like that and got used to it.

"Beautiful dahling." Carmen snorted. She always made me laugh.

I knew that I needed to get out of here- the only thing that I didn't know was where Iwas exactly. I didn't want to stray from the camp because I needed to eat, but at thesame time I needed to leave. I needed to get to some civilization.

"I have a solution." Of course Kacey had a solution- she's a genius, seriously. I felt myselfslipping into a sleeplike state, and I knew what was happening. Kacey was takingcontrol of my body. It felt like I had fallen asleep, and everything that Kacey was doingin my body I could see. I don't know what the alchemists did, but it was essentiallymagic. As soon as we all knew that I no longer had control, my appearance changed.Kacey had LONG black hair- it was thicker than mine, and when worn up it was heavyand it pulled. Her eyes were gray like mine, but when she made her move they instantlychanged into a deadly blood red. She stepped into the shadow of a tree and I felt ussinking; it's hard to describe exactly. We sank into the shadow and came out on the othersideof what, I never found out, but it wasn't Earth, or the living world, or whatever.There was one long road; the sky, the space around us, everything was static-like anddull. There were black holes everywhere- to the sides, on the ground, up above- and


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Kacey calmly walked along the road. She went at a slow pace, and it seemed to takeforever until the road ended. There was one more hole at the end of the road, and whenshe stepped on the black spot we vanished again- we sank in the same manner as wehad before. After all of the years spent doing that, I learned some things. The first wasthat your destination was always where the road stopped; you would never go through

a different hole. The second and most crucial thing was that time bent for us while wewere in that other world. You had to walk or else you would mess something up in thereal world. We came out and it was like time hadn't passed.

Kacey relinquished control to my body once we had re-emerged, and I found myselfable to use my own body again. She had taken us to a small rural village. I recognizedby the feel of the atmosphere and the people as being somewhere in Eastern Europe.

"But what am I supposed to do? It isn't like I have money. " I was truly helpless without them.

"You should probably find a job." Ah, Amy, the voice of reason and rational thought. Butshe was right, none the less. I wandered around the village and saw a woman strugglingwith three small children and two pails of water. Being my kind and thoughtful self, Ihurried over to her and offered to help. She accepted gratefully, so I carried the waterback to her home. When we got there, I nearly had a heart attack.

In addition to the three small children she had with her, there were at least ten othersrunning around- the oldest had to be eleven at the most.

"Thank you for your help." The woman told me.

"It's not a problem." I said to her. "You look like you have your hands full- do you wantanymore help?"

She shook her head. "Oh no, no, I couldn't impose. You should probably be getting backto your own family. I dont want your husband worrying about you."

That should give you all a clue as to what century it is. When I looked into that mirrorback at the alchemist's base camp, I saw a girl who looked like she was twenty three-twenty five at the most. According to this year's standards, my oldest child should beabout five years old if I'm twenty three.

"Oh, I don't have a husband" I said weakly. Both Carmen and Kacey laughed at me. "Idon't have a home."

The woman put her hands on her hips and looked at me. "No home and no husband?"She asked. "Oh dear Lord, you poor girlIn that case, I'd be happy for the extra help."

I helped her out a great deal, it seemed. She was more amused than amazed at myphysical strength- at least the alchemists did that right. I guessed that with theirknowledge of magic and science, the alchemists had managed to advance in the creationof their machines and the way they harnessed electricity. As I worked, I had time to


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think (and it surprised me that the others silently allowed me to do so), and so I thoughtabout my own abilities. I knew about the others- Kacey had the ability to controlshadows and darkness; Amy was able to harness pure energy and use it for her owndestructive purposes; Carmen could manipulate and create fire- pyrokinesis; and Serenahad the power of a magnet, to bend and use metals in ways that a normal human could

only dream of doing. Of course, there were other small things that they could do; lesssignificant abilities such as Amy's ability to fly and Kacey's metaphorical third eye, but Iwanted to know what I could do. Sure, I was the host to these four other people and Iwas a strong individual physically (and mentally too- might I add- since I tolerate theusual suspects every waking moment of my life), but what special thing could I do?

The sun was beginning to set by the time her won husband had arrived with (surprise)another son. This one looked to be in his late teens, and when they arrived, the husbandpolitely alleviated me of my duties.

"You've been helping my mother" The boy said. "Thank you."

I smiled; he was nice. "You're welcome." I turned to the mother to see if she wanted meto do anything else before I left (to go where, I had no clue) and she shook her head.

"You aren't going anywhere." She told me. "After all of your help today, I think that I canspare one meal and a place to sleep for the night." She smiled warmly at me.

"Are you sure? Is your husband alright with this? I don't want to be a problem" I feltalmost guilty now, and could practically see Kacey rolling her eyes at me.

Her husband shook his head. "Of course I don't mind. Thank you for your hard worktoday." He chuckled. "If it weren't for you, I'd be the one doing those chores right now."

That did make me feel a little better, and I must've shown them how grateful I wasbecause the both of them kept laughing and assuring me that I'd earned it. Duringdinner I learned that the husband and their eldest son were part of the army, andtraining in the next village over. I also learned that the older couple had come fromBrazil. They didn't explain the full story with all of the details, but I guessed that whentheir oldest son was small, they decided to migrate here to Eastern Europe. I wasntexactly sure why, but then again it was none of my business. About halfway through themeal, the woman realized that I hadn't even given her my name. I chuckled inwardly,and the girls chuckled with me.

"KJ." I replied with a smile. "Please, call me KJ."

They looked at each other first before turning to smile at me. I felt their uncertainty- weall did. After dinner they made a makeshift bed for me on the floor. They didn't actuallydo anything, since they were poor, but they did sweep the floor so that I could lie downin the corner. It was a cold night, and I was in a black shirt with no sleeves and a blackskirt. I'd have preferred a pair of pants, but the woman did give me a gray sweater with


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a hood, so for that I was grateful and couldnt complain. The night passed by slowlywith all of the voices in my head softly conversing.

Morning finally came, and I was woken up by the sound of the oldest son coming intothe kitchen, which was where I was sleeping.

"I apologize for waking you." He said to me quietly.

I winced while listening to the complaints of all four of the people in my head.

"It's alright." I softly replied, standing up and stretching. "Speak for yourself" Serenayawned. "Are you leaving for the next village now?"

He shook his head. "Not until later." He looked at me. "You're new around here."

I put my hands in the pockets of the sweater and sighed. "YeahSo?"

Smirking, he headed for the door to the back. "Come on." He exited and headed outtowards the mountains. I followed, and he took me up onto a hill that overlooked thevalley. "It's got a nice view of everything." He said.

He was right- the scenery was beautiful, but it made me uneasy. I couldn't be a maid forthese people forever; I already was feeling ambitious and wanted to travel and see more.

"I don't want to die for it."

I looked at him. "For the land?" I asked. "No, for the fish."

"Shut up, Carmen."

"Because I'm training for the army, it's expected that I'll die for my country, die toprotect this land" He told me. "I don't want to dieat all."

"He's really confiding in you." Kacey pointed out.

"Why would you tell me all of this?" I asked.

It took him awhile to answer me- he looked into my eyes and I felt intimidated. His eyeswere a light brown, and they reflected his innocence. He was only like seventeen, but hewas good looking in a boyish sort of way with those innocent brown eyes, his slim andmuscular build, and his messy brown hair.

"You have thatI don't know. You have an approachable nature, and you make mewant to just trust you with all that I have."

I blushed, and I knew it because both Kacey and Carmen laughed. "Thank you." Imumbled.


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"I'm Dane." He said. "I already know who you are, and you didn't know who I am until just now"

I laughed- I had to. At first I thought that I'd offended him because he just kind of

stared at me for a second, but then he laughed along with me and I knew that it wasalright.

We got up and walked back to his home before his parents woke up.

"I can't stay here." I told him. "So I'm going to leave and find some work around thevillage."

He nodded. "I understand. I'll explain things to my parents."

I took off the gray sweater and tried to hand it to him, but he shook his head. "Keep it.It'll be harder for you from here on out. You'll need it."

"Thank you." I put it back on and heard Carmen laugh. "He likes you" I ignored her. Iturned to leave, but he stopped me.

"Hey, KJ."

"Hey, Dane." I turned to him.

He grinned. "I'll see you around."

I smiled. "See you around." It wasn't a lie. I stayed in his village and found work withlots of different people and managed to keep myself alive. Thanks to their cooperation, Imanaged to keep the girls under control and my true identity a secret. At first I thoughtit odd that Dane wasn't married and didn't have a fiance, but then I learned that he wasthe oldest "child" (though he was hardly a little boy, let me tell you) in the village, or anyof the next three villages for that matter. I was an outcast at first, until the people learnedthat I had no home or family, and they accepted me warmly after that. Dane's motherpersuaded a widowed farmer to let me sleep in her home if I did her morning chores,and I definitely jumped on that offer. This meant that I would see more of our littlefriend Dane.

We grew closer in the half a year I spent with him in that village and I realizedsomething soon that scared me. I was in love with him. Kacey and her third eye told methat he felt the same way about me, but I was afraid to do anything about it.

"You can't involve yourself with a human- with a mortal." Serena told me. "Because you'redifferent- we're different. You're the Kantrei Jhantra experimentdon't forget that; you'rebetter than them. I didn't want to admit it, but she was rightso I kept both of ourfeelings a secret. The days passed and I got more and more restless. If it weren't forDane, I wouldve moved on long before the six month mark.


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But those times didn't last forever. I knew that I couldn't stay long in that place becausepeople would grow suspicious. A mysterious woman appears one day with no rootswho doesn't age? That screamed trouble to me. It was almost like a gift to me when thearmy drafted Dane. It was hard for me to say good bye to him, and his innocence will

always be stuck in my mind as what always amused me. I didn't want to let him go, butI had to. About a week after he left, I slipped off into the night and never went back.

Kacey took us all over the place and with her and the other three on my side, timepassed quickly. Before I had realized it, two hundred years had passed, and we wererunning out of places to go. It really was my own fault how all of the real troublestarted. The other four of us decided that we were sick of traveling by use of her magicalshadowy road, so I wandered around for a month or so without her help before comingto the forest.

I thought it was a bit odd, at the time, why I hadn't seen a village in awhile, but the fiveof us had gotten good at slaughtering poor defenseless animals for food, so I didn'tconsider it a big dealBut maybe I should've. The forest was dark and ominous, and itstarted exactly where the mountains stopped. All five of us remember stepping into theforestnone of us remember coming out of it.

The next thing I remember seeing after stepping into the darkness was the fiercest pairof dark green eyes that I had ever seen. I gasped loudly and quickly sat up. I was on abed in a room with very dungeon-like qualities. I spied my sweater on the back of achair that looked like someone had recently been sitting in it. A man who looked abouttwenty eight years old was standing at the foot of the bed- I could've sworn that he wascloser to me.

"Who are you?" I asked. "And where am I?"

He smirked, chuckled, and walked around the bed to stand beside me. "You are atFantmere; you are in my castle."

I recognized that word; fantmere was in my vocabulary, and he used it as a propernounthat scared me.

"Desolation." I said slowly.

His eyes narrowed. "And how, might I ask, did you come across that piece ofinformation?"

"Don't tell him." All four of them sensed trouble, and in truth, so did I. "Who are you?" Iasked again. "And how do you know what 'fantmere' means?"

He chuckled again, and it made me nervous. "I am Dane."


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My eyes widened- I couldn't help it. I sat back and looked at him, but I reached aconclusion that angered me. I saw a grown version of that innocent little Brazilian boywho I had known two hundred years ago- messy brown hair, a slim and muscled body,butthose eyeswhat happened to those brown eyes that I had known?

"DaneWhatWhat happened to you?"He kept that vicious gaze locked onto mine as he answered. "Do I know you?"

"KJ. I'm KJ."

His eyes flashed gold for a split second, and his hands quickly turned to fists.

"When I'd heard you'd left the village I never thought that I'd see you again."

I ignored his statement. "What happened to you?" He kept changing the subject."Although I do have a question for you now."

My first mistake was one that I made way more times than the first. I let him have hisway and I gave him control. "Oh?"

"How is it that a girl such as you has managed to remain so healthy, young andbeautiful over the course of these past two centuries?" His cockiness ticked me off, and Ifelt Amy's temper rising, threatening to overtake me.

I found myself really furious for the first time inmy life, I guess. A bit of Amy cameout when I answered his question. "Do you know who I am?"

None of us trusted Dane; at least not any more. It was a little too clear that he hadchanged for the worse, and my defenses were up.

"Surely an educated man such as you could manage to figure it out."

It seemed as though something had registered in his mind when I felt Amy's orangeeyes pierce thru my gray ones.

"KJ" He mused. "KayKantrei" His gaze sharpened and I sensed danger. "You.You're the Kantrei Jhantra experiment."

"This is bad." Serena said. She was right- just the fact that Dane knew my real name;knew who I was sent up a red flag. "Kacey, you need to get us out of here."

When Serena told Kacey to take us away from that castle- from Fantmere- I used everyounce of will power that I had to keep Kacey- to keep anyone- from taking control of mybody. I had to face the facts. I still loved him, and I needed to find out what happened tohim.


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"And if I am?" I asked. "What are you going to do about it?"

He laughed, but it was different than what I had grown used to. This laugh wasconfident and dare I say it? - powerful. "I'm going to make you an offer."

I tried desperately to relax, but I really just couldn't. "What kind of offer?" I had everyvoice in my head screaming at me to not accept no matter what it was, but I didn't listen.

"We'll fight. If you win, I will give up being evil."

"See? We need to get out of here." But I wouldn't let them do anything.

"And if you win?"

"If I winyou stay here, and serve me."

"KJ, say no. Please, just forget about him and let's get out of here." It seemed as though Amyhad calmed down. "I'm sorry, but I have to do this." I told them painfully.

"For how long?" I asked. "KJ, stop it right now or else I will stop you." I should've knownthat Kacey would figure out my plan, and in all honesty, I would've been disappointedif she didn't.

His green eyes gleamed. "'Till death do us part." He replied mockingly.

I had a feeling that unless I asked, I'd be missing a crucial part of his personality, and hisanswer confirmed it. Dane refused to be rejected.

"What if I don't take you up on your offer?"

Before I realized what was happening, his hand was at my throat, and I was on my back.He sat on his knees above me with the calmest expression on his face that I'd ever seensomeone make.

"I'll kill you."

"He can try." Amy snarled, but I had control still. He released me and my own hand flewto my throat. He smirked.

"Well?"

I took a few deep breaths before answering. "I'll fight you."

He offered me his hand and I cautiously took it. I didn't want to seem too careful, but atthe same time I didn't want to let my guard down. He led me thru the castle, and as Ilooked around I could hear the girls groaning at me.


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"KJ, you are so dumb"

"You're making a mistake."

"You really shouldn't be so reckless."

"There's something to be said for your thinking pattern."

I ignored them. We walked down many hall ways, and he finally stopped in front of astaircase. We walked up it, and the steps concluded at a circular door in the ceiling. Heopened the latch and pushed the door open before pulling himself through the opening.I placed my own hands on the edge and was about to lift myself up when I felt his handswrap around my wrists and pull me up. I have to say, for an evil villain who waspreparing to fight me, he certainly was a gentleman.

When I got up through the door, I was greeted by a room that I would soon become veryfamiliar with. It was a huge circular room with an open ceiling so that the darkening skywas visible. There seemed to be no way out but up or back the way we came.

"We fight until one of us gives up or one of us reaches a state of unconsciousness." Heexplained to me.

I nodded. My plan was simpleor at least it sounded so. It 'd be much harder to actuallypull it off. I pleaded with them to help me, and they gave in before we actually started tofight. I don't know why they eventually complied, but I was grateful.

He made the first move; he was quick and so agile that I was barely able to block ordodge his strikes.

"We need to be offensive."I was finally able to put enough distance between us to change.Kacey was eager to get out and fight, and I was more than happy to give her thatfreedom. When the change had completed, Dane stood his ground and chuckled.

"I'd been hoping to witness the power of the Kantrei Jhantra experiment first hand." Hesaid.

Kacey smirked. "Glad to be of service to you." In an instant, she stepped into a shadowand vanished. We calmly walked the road to our destination, and reappeared in Dane'sown shadow. He spun around quickly and caught the punch that Kacey had thrown.

Her left hand was held in his vice-like grip, and she grimaced. The pain was immense,and shot up all the way through to her shoulder. Dane punched with his left, but Kaceydeflected it and struck with a kick towards his head. His grip on her arm was loosened,and she forcefully yanked her hand away. His nails raked across her flesh, and shebegan to bleed.

Dane stopped and stared at her arm. It was then that he noticed what the others and Ihad already known. Kacey's left arm was a mass of scars and abused flesh. The bleeding


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seemed to be coming out of every scar- not just where Dane had scratched her. The painwas unbearable and we all felt Kacey loosing it.

Dane brought his hand to his mouth- tasting the blood that had been drawn. "You are"He drawled. "A hemophiliac."

"Oh, he's good."

"Shut up, Carmen."

Kacey couldn't take much more- all of us could feel it. "Switch out with me Kac." Amysaid. We decided that Carmen would be the one to finish it; she was the most convincingout of all of us. Kacey complied and allowed Amy to take over.

Needless to say, with Amy controlling my body, I feltold. Old, but powerful.

Dane seemed amused. He really must've been enjoying the show because it didn't seem(to me at least) like he was taking this fight seriously.

"I'm all too eager to see what this one can do." He said. "I am a tad disappointed thatKacey had to throw in the towel early, however."

It only momentarily fazed us that he knew her nameAlthough it wasn't too surprising.

"Brace yourselves." Amy told us. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and we couldfeel the energy building up. Dane remained where he was, mocking us. Amy quicklypushed her arms forward towards Dane, sending a huge wave of energy at him. Hetried to escape the blast, but failed to get away completely and his right arm was caughtin the blast. He grimaced in pain as he gently cradled his arm against his body.

"Not bad." He grunted.

Amy smirked.

"But I'm not done yet." He was in her face in a flash, pummeling her with kicks and hisgood arm. She barely started to levitate- not even a foot off the ground- when he caughther foot and spun her. She touched a hand to the ground to regain her balance andbounce back with full force. She came back with more ferocity than before, catchingDane off guard and bringing him to his knees.

"Don't over do it." I had to remind Amy. "Remember my plan."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah" She groaned in response.

But we had our work cut out for us, as we were about to find out. Amy took a deepbreath and slowly exhaled.


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"The moon."

We had expected to hear her speak-we all anticipated it- but to our dismay it was ouropponent.

"It will be full by this time tomorrow." He laughed, sending chills down my spine. "Yourtiming was impeccableI applaud you for it."

"What is he talking about?" I asked.

"I might have a hunch" Kacey answered. She never told me what it was, howeverBighelp she is.

"Carmen, I think this is your show now. " Amy said wearily. She ran on a very short fuse.She had a lot of power, but was incapable of making it last.

"Don't tell me that you're running away too, Amy" Dane sneered.

"Not running away" Amy growled.

"Don't let him get to you. " Serena advised. "Just stick to the plan, and switch out withCarmen."

Amy listened to her, and another transformation took place.

"If we weren't fighting for our lives, I would have to say that we've just released the spawn of Satan."

"Oh give it a rest, Kac." Carmen said aloud with a snort. She rolled her eyes and put herhands on her hips.

Dane seemed merely slightly amused at her antics, as he only stood there watching witha raised eyebrow.

"Let's go, lover boy." She said with a cackle.

"If our lives depended on her, I would consider us all doomed."Serena said. I wasn't one toobject.

"Patience." Dane replied. "Don't you feel it?"

As he spoke, Kacey noticed something. "If he draws his power from the moon"Shemused. "When the sun fully sets, it will be more difficult for us to fight him."

"You're a clever one." Carmen said. "Kudos to you for stalling until the moon comesout."


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Dane smirked. "Perhaps we have both underestimated each other. I did not expect foryou to figure out my plan."

The sun was dangerously low, but maybe Carmen could use this to her advantage.

"The plan!" I reminded her."Yes I know , thank you."

"But why should Kac and Amy get to have all of the fun?" Carmen asked.

Dane answered with a growl; low and dangerous. It freaked me out; I really didn't haveany idea of what I was getting myself into.

Carmen and Dane traded punches and other various blows a few more times beforethings got disastrous; he grabbed her arm.

Literally, sparks flew and soon enough, Dane was left wondering how his clothes hadignited.

"Don't touch me." Carmen snarled. "Don't you ever grab me like that again." It wasalmost laughable; her words really contradicted the situation that she was in.

"Carmen, you're in a fight for Christ's sake." Amy said. "Please at least try to retain somesensibility."

Dane smirked. "Oh, my dear, I'm terribly sorry." His venomous words dripped withsarcasm. "But, if you don't mind me asking, don't touch youor what?"

We knew that he was trying to provoke her, but we also knew that it wouldn't work.Carmen was extremely unstable mentally. It was impossible to read her mind, becauseshe didn't even know what she was going to do next half of the time.

Insteadof reacting violently or in a comedic way to Dane's question, she continued toglare at him with burning, crimson eyes. "Dont touch meor I'll light you on fire."

Though he had already witnessed her pyrokinetic abilities first hand, he rushed in againto viciously attack her. Their melee lasted just long enough for Dane to find an openingto grab her again. This time, he didn't let go, even as she counter grabbed and scorchedhim.

The smell of burning hair and flesh wafted through the night air. Hold on; night air?

"The moon." What was it with this damned moon?

Dane released Carmen to tend to his burnt arm. His right arm was- wait, right arm?


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"He's regenerating, somehow." Serena pointed out. "The moon."

Dane began to laugh; his arm no longer consumed by Carmen's flames. His eyes wereno longer the dark green that they were at the beginning of our encounter, but were nowa brilliant gold.

"He's changing." I silently said.

"Subtly, but yes. If the moon were completely full, he'd be transformed fully." Kacey said.

"Why don't you just come right out and tell us what's going on?" Amy asked, soundingfrustrated.

Kacey chuckled darkly. "Oh, but what fun would that be?" Not really one for helpingothers, Kacey left it at that.

"I think it's about time I finish this." Dane breathed.

"I agree." The irony in Carmen's statement was painful.

As the two exchanged blows once more in a surprisingly energetic frenzy, weanticipated her to make her final move; the one that would end the fight and seal ourfatesand she did come through for us. Before I realized it, an enormous pain shot upthrough my abdomen. I tried to drop to my knees- fall to the ground in order to lessenthe pain in my gut- but I was unable to. Something caught me, and then I realized it. Hishand was inside of me. With enough strength to pierce Carmen's torso, he held me upfrom the inside. I grabbed his forearm to steady myself and tried to breathe evenly.My breath caught in my throat; I choked and spit up blood. My vision blurred, anddarkness soon encompassed my world. I was out cold.

When I awoke, I was back in the bed where our greetings had taken place. My woundswere completely healed, and I noticed that there was nobody else in the room.

"What happened?" I asked the others.

"The plan worked. All of us were knocked unconscious and so Dane brought us in here."Kaceysaid.

"I awoke sooner than any of you." Serena added. "He was healing you- us. He told me that weshouldn't get too comfortable in this room, and that he'd keep checking up on us."

I took a few deep breaths. "And then what happened?"

"I fell back asleep, so I don't know."

"Carmen, Kacey and I stayed passive while you slept." Amy told me.


15/100

"So he knows all of us now, does he?"I asked.

"I have a feeling that he already knew." Serena said. "Somehow"

I lay there in silence, adjusting to all that had happened. My shirt was kind of ruined,

but I was relieved to spy my jacket where it had been when I was first brought there."Is it still night?" I asked.

"It's evening of the next day." Amy said. I didn't question how she knew; there were nowindows or openings to the outside in the room.

"The full moon. Kacey said.

The sound of a young man's voice pierced through the silence that I had been laying in.His pained yell made me jump in surprise.

"Was that" I started aloud.

"Dane." All four of them finished for me.

I got out of the bed and started towards where I had heard the noise.

"Alright Kac, if you know something then now would be a good time to tell us."I said.

She remained silent.

"But what fun would that be?" I murmured, mimicking her.

"Turn left here." I was rewarded for my attitude by directions. In my first real explorationof the castle called Fantmere, Kacey led me to where I wanted to go. How did she know?I'll explain more later, but it has to do with that third eye I had previously mentioned.

I kept walking for a good ten minutes until Kacey stopped me.

"Turn the corner here, and it's the door to your immediate right."

By that time, the castle was silent again. I had no clue what to expect (and Kacey wasn'tabout to start talking) so I prepared myself for anything. I turned the corner and sawnobody. Nobody, but far from nothing.

The door was badly splintered and nearly ripped off its hinges. Inside of the room wasno different. In the center of the small area, an overturned desk suffered from a brokenleg (the other three were just gone) and a small stool was protruding from the wall.Claw marks adorned the stone walls, as well as the marble floor. Papers and shards ofglass littered the floor, and I could faintly see what used to be a mirror sitting in acorner. The room didn't have much in it to begin with, it seemed, and I suspected that


16/100

might not have been a bad thing, considering the damage that the few objects there werehad sustained.

"What did he do? Why?" I asked, knowing very well that I wasn't about to get ananswer.

A howl was heard- and it wasn't in the distance, either.

Realization swept like fear over me; over us . Now it made sense: the change he hadmade from that innocent teenager into this , the bloodlust, the moonI felt like an idiotfor not even considering this as a possibility for what could've happened to him.

Dane was cursed. Dane was a werewolf.

I sat down on the cold marble floor just outside of the room and waited for him toreturn. "But if he's fully transformed, maybe I don't want him to return " I thought. Theothers made no comment; they simply agreed. Before long, I had slipped off into dreamland againAnd I'll tell you, it was not pleasant.

My dream was haunting and fast paced. I saw a whole pack of wolves advancing uponme- laughing- as I ran for my life in the opposite direction. They cornered me andmorphed into a group of people who jeered as the leader swooped in and stole mybreath with a kissbut it wasn't a kiss at all. A gunshot sounded and soon I was on theground- alone . I heard a single voice mumbling incoherently to me, and the second thatI felt physical contact, my eyes shot open.

I was back in that damned room again. Dane was sitting in a chair beside the bed,talking quietly to himself and gently stroking my cheek. His eyes were open, but itseemed to me as though his mind was somewhere else. His right hand began toabsentmindedly play with a strand of my hair as his left hand formed a tight fist at hisside.

"Dane" I said.

He snapped back to reality and quickly removed his hand from my face. "I apologize forthe sudden intimacy."

I felt my cheeks growing warmer, and I sat up. "Serena told me to not get comfortable inthis room"

He nodded and stood up; I followed suit. He handed me my jacket while looking overmy upper half. I snatched the item out of his hands and hastily yanked it over my head.With a smirk he took me throughout the castle.

"Don't get lost in here." He told me as we walked. "Chances are if you do, you'll neverfind your way out."


17/100

I nodded. "Nah, but Kacey can get us out." Carmen said.

He took me to a dead end hallway and pointed to the door at the end of the hall."There's your room. I'll let you figure out where everything else is on your own."

"And yet he tells us to not get lost." Carmen scoffed."He's not underestimating us, is what he's doing." Serena said.

I opened the door to the room and peered inside. It was a library. There was a cotwedged between two bookcases as if

"As if he had been waiting for us."

"Is something going on here that I should be aware of?" I asked, knowing very well thathe was still standing behind me. I refrained from turning around even as he laughed.

"Do you suspect something?" He asked.

I spun around to face him, ready to shoot a smart comment right back, but as he cameinto view he grabbed my arm and closed his mouth over mine. The initial contactmomentarily stunned me, but I soon regained my senses and pushed him off.

"What are you-"

He grabbed my chin with his other hand, still maintaining a strong grip on my arm. Heplaced another teasing kiss on my lips before laughing again.

"We will establish an understanding right now." He said slowly, staring directly into myeyes. "Because you lost our fight, you will stay here at Fantmere and serve under mysupervision."

"I know that." I struggled to say while attempting to yank my face back. My efforts wereto no avail.

"So you do, but can you comprehend what exactly that means?"

I stopped struggling and shifted my gaze. "Stew in your own idiocy." Carmen saidhatefully, forcing me to look up at him again. "No." I said quietly.

He smirked and walked me backwards until the backs of my knees hit the cot. At thispoint, I had an idea of what he was trying to do and knew that I really had no choice. Ifelt his grip already beginning to form a bruise as his hand effortlessly restrained myright arm.

"It means that I own you."


18/100

I'm not about to describe what happened after that in great detail- I'm just not that kindof person- but I did have some interesting (and painful) cuts and bruises after that. Afterhe patched me up, I locked myself in the library. I was eager to find out what exactlyhappened to him, and I figured that the library would be a good place to start.

All of the books and scrolls and sheets of paper were about magic; or at least a topicpertaining to the magical world. A thought struck me as I scanned the shelves: maybe Icould learn about myself.

Aside from personal experience, I really had no clue about my existence. How was Icreated? Why? What went wrong? Who were the alchemists that tried?

"Maybe somewhere in here is the key to my existence."

If the others knew anything, they certainly did a good job of keeping it hidden from me.I had a feeling that Kacey had all (or at least most) of the answers.

"You should learn to figure things out for yourself." She told me.

I didn't respond. She was right, but that wasn't the answer that I wanted to hear.

Food didn't occur to me until I found a book aboutfood. It was just an ordinarycookbook, and it made me laugh out loud. There was something about finding a bookasordinary as that amongst such obtuse subjects that made me realize the mortality inhim- in Dane. That, however, was for another time; I needed food now .

"Kac, where's the kitchen?" I asked. She briefly took control of my body so that we couldtravel in the shadows to the kitchen.

There was some sort of stone furnace with a sheet of metal over it that I guessed to bethe stove. An ice box stood against the opposite wall in between cupboards. A woodentable with two chairs stood across from where I stood in the doorway.

How many nights had he sat at that table alone? I hated to admit it, but the silencewould drive me crazy.

"You're welcome."

"Shut up, Carmen."

Cookbook in hand (see, I had enough sense to bring it with me), I gathered all of thenecessary ingredients to make a simple soup. It probably wouldn't fill me up, but itwould have to do. Once I had all of the correct amounts of ingredients, I swept them intoa large pot and added water. Removing the sheet of metal from the stove, I gainedaccess to an uncovered flame. I found myself able to hang the pot over where the flamewould soon be, and so I did.


19/100

"Now I need fire" I mumbled.

"FIRE???" Carmen suddenly shouted, making my ears ring.

"Oh good going, KJ, look what you've done now." Serena groaned. Amy sighed and Kacey

laughed."I like fire!! I'll make the pretty fire!"

I gripped the stone surrounding the sink as I tried to keep Carmen from taking controlof me. I knew that if I could just pump some water and get it flowing over my skin,Carmen would literally cool down and I'd be fine. My hand closed over the handle tothe pump, and I could've sworn that I was home freeand then Carmen suddenly uprose and I lost complete control.

She approached the stove and gleefully rubbed her hands together. "Fire" She saidwith a laugh.

"Carmen, don't!"

She placed her hands on the stone and ignited the few pieces of wood that I had placedinside. There was a large burst of flames and I found myself in control again, covered insoot, and in the middle of what used to be Dane's kitchen.

"What did you do???" I yelled out loud.

"UhToo much fire, maybe?" Carmen laughed nervously.

"Too much?? Look what you did!"

Everything stone was charred and full of soot. The wooden table and chairs werereduced to ash. The pot that my soup was inside of, however, managed to withstand theheat and was fully cooked.

Dane appeared in the doorway. As soon as he saw the wreck his eyes narrowed. "Whatthe bloody hell have you done?" He asked in a low, threatening tone.

He didn't scare me. "Well I was trying to make myself some food when Carmen decidedto have a spazz attack and light everything on fire."

"That's an exaggeration." Carmen protested. "I didn't light everything on fire."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."

He walked over to where I was standing and peered inside of the pot.

"Why did you choose to make that of all things?" He asked, looking at me.


20/100


21/100

Rummaging around, I found a loaf of bread and a block of cheese.

"KJ, rats eat bread and cheese." Amy pointed out.

"Sorry, mommy , but what else am I going to do?"No answer. Yeah, that's what I thought. I retreated to the library- pardon me, my room-and sat down on my cot.

"What I really want to know is how Dane became a werewolf." I told them while I ate. "And I seriously doubt that there's a book in here on that."

"Why don't you look?" Kacey asked. She'd kept quiet for awhile, and I'd been curious asto when I'd next hear from her. Of course, I always paid some sort of price when Kaceywillingly gave me her advice.

I crammed a piece of bread in my mouth and had problems swallowing it. "I need somewater." Carmen laughed at me.

When I arrived in the kitchen, Dane was at the stove cooking something.

"What, you didn't like my soup?" I asked with a smirk.

He turned and glared at me. "You are not allowed to cook anymore."

I laughed- hey, it was one less thing that I had to do. I waited around until he finishedcooking, and I offered a plate to him. Silently, he gave me my share of the meat that hehad prepared and beckoned to me.

"I need to tell you something." He said. He began to walk away, and I followed him. Hetook me up high into the castle and into a dining room. When the both of us had satdown, he spoke again.

"We're leaving tomorrow."

"Leaving?" He sounded serious enough, but what could he be talking about?

"There is a conference that I am to attend high in the mountains. You are going to comewith me."

I nodded. "Alright, but why am I going?"

"You are my second in command, so to speak. That is what they will know you as, and Iexpect you to behave yourself." His eyes narrowed. "All of you."


22/100

"So I'm basically just your henchman, aren't I? Are you going to make me do all of yourdirty work?"

"Eventually." It didn't surprise me, but I wasn't exactly thrilled by his response. "Buttomorrow you're just for show."

I stood up. "I'm not a trophy!!" I shouted. "I'm not your first prize medal that you canwear around and show off to your friends!!"

He stood as well, keeping a calm and powerful disposition. "We've been over thisbefore." He said slowly. "I own you. Forget about your independence- yourindividuality. You're nothing but a tool to me, and I will use you as I please."

It stung, but I couldn't let him know that. Because of our deal, I had to listen to him,though.

"Fine, I'll go to your damn conference tomorrow, I'll behave, and I'll do whatever elseyou ask of me." I said with a sigh.

He sighed heavily along with me. He seemedremorseful? No, he couldn't. That manwas so heartlessBut still

"This conference tomorrow is important." He said.

"What is it about? What's the purpose?" I tried to soften my tone. I couldn't be feelingsorry for him, could I?

"It's in regards to the pact that the lycans and the vampires had made not too long ago. Ihave a feeling that it's another excuse for them to celebrate something, but" He put hishands in his pockets.

"For who to celebrate? What?" Now that the atmosphere had grown less hostile, I choseto sit; he accompanied me.

"In my experience, the vampires have been a very wealthy class who enjoy lavish partiesand dances. As this conference was called by their leader, I feel as though it will have noreal significance." He shrugged.

"Then why do you have to be there?"

Dane smirked. "As much as I applaud your efforts for trying to get out of going, it willbe much easier on you if you don't fight it."

I scowled. Darn it, he saw through my ruse. Carmen laughed at me.


23/100

"I am the official in charge of the European lycans. If there are any complaints, arepresentative from their clan must come see me first, and from there I report to ourleader." Well at least he had enough sense to answer my question.

"That makes sense"

He chuckled. "As such, it is vital that I attend, and since you are my second incommand"

"Henchman." I corrected stubbornly.

He stood and offered me his hand. "Come. The hour for our departure grows near, andyou are covered in soot with nothing suitable to wear."

I groaned and ignored his polite gesture.

"Bathe and go to my quarters." He instructed.

"How-"

"Kacey will guide you." Smirking, he exited.

I sighed. "Alright Kac, take me to the baths."

Without speaking, she took control long enough to take us into a bathroomWhich iswhat it literally was. There was one large bath in the room, and nothing else. The tubhad already been filled with hot water, and two towels were sitting neatly by the door.

When I had finished washing up, the bath water was black. I made a face.

"Gross." Carmen stated. I rolled my eyes.

I used one towel for my hair, and the other to wrap around my body. I'm not exactly anAmazon, so it wasn't like there was a whole lot of me to cover up.

"You can just walk to his room from here." Kacey said. "Walk straight, go up the first set of stairs, and it's the tower room."

I followed her directions and soon arrived. Knocking softly on the closed door, I silentlycomplimented myself for not flinching when the door swung open. Dane stood in thedoorway with a smug look on his face as it became apparent that he sure wasn't lookingat my face as he spoke.

"I have selected a suitable outfit for you to wear tomorrow." He said.

"Are you going to let me in so that I can see it?' I asked while clinging to the towelwrapped around my form as though my life depended on it.


24/100

He stepped aside and let me enter the room. It looked oddly familiar to me

"This is the room you stuck me in when I was unconscious." I noticed.

"I'm surprised that you didn't remember the path that you took to get here." He said inan amused tone.

"Kacey says that there are different ways to get here." I blurted out; where had that comefrom?

He raised an eyebrow. "She is wise." He said simply. He handed me a dress; no, a gown.It was made of a thick, soft material that I didn't recognize, and it was a light browncolor with white trim and long sleeves.

"It will be cold in the mountains." He explained, as if I didn't already know. What I didwant to know was why he had a gown my size lying around, but I wasn't about to askhim that. I turned to leave when he grabbed my wrist.

"Here." He handed me another set of clothes.

"What are these for?"

An amused smile danced across his lips. "Wear them tonight."

"Pervert." Carmen accused.

"They're his clothes." Kacey droned. "And they're certainly better than the clothes you'vebeen wearing, KJ."

She was right. It was a pair of pants and a shirt with no sleeves.

"Well what about my-"

He presented my jacket to me. I slowly took it from him. "Thank you"

He left the room so that I could change and I stood there awkwardly while waiting forhim to come back.

"Do you still love him?" Amy suddenly asked. What shocked me was not her question,but rather how I had to think about it before answering her. I had a feeling that I did, butI just couldn't be sure.

"We'll see." I told her.

There was a knock on the door and I permitted him entrance.


25/100

"Well then I guess I'll leave now" I said, inching closer and closer to the exit.

"No, you won't." His voice stopped me dead in my tracks. "You'll be staying in here withme tonight so that it will be easier to leave tomorrow." He smirked and his green eyesgleamed.

"Oh he's good."

"Shut up, Carmen."

I groaned. "Do you really think thats necessary?"

"Yes."

"Well here's a predicament." Carmen snorted.

He pushed me back onto his bed (which I'd been in before, apparently, but didnt realizeit until now) and I sat up on my elbows.

"But why can't I just-"

"Don't argue with me." He said sharply, narrowing his eyes at me. "It wouldn't play toyour advantage, considering the situation that you're in."

He was right, and so I frowned but didn't say anything.

"Sleep." He told me. "You will thank me for it in the morning."

He blew out the candle that had been lighting the enclosed room, leaving the both of usin complete darkness. I resolved to sliding in underneath the covers and found comfortin this hostile environment. It was only when I felt the bed shift that I tried to close myeyes. I felt a hand brush my arm and I froze.

"This is ridiculous; at this rate, I won't sleep at all." I mentally sighed.

I got no reply. "Well at least you guys are comfortable"

The hand that brushed my arm closed around my wrist in a tight grip. The sound ofsteady, heavy breathing from beside me let me know that I was alone.

"Relax." He breathed sleepily.

I moved closer to him and his grip loosened into something almost affectionate.

Just before I entered deep sleep, I realized something.

His bed was much warmer than mine.


26/100

I awoke to a bucket of ice water being dumped on me.

"What in the name of God was that for???" I screamed. All of the others laughed at me.

"It woke you up, didn't it?" He asked smugly.I scowled. "Well can I have something to dry myself off with?"

He threw a towel at me and left the room. I dried myself off and quickly changed intothe gown he had given me. It was really warm and extremely comfortable.

"There are boots in the corner." Serena pointed out.

They were a bit big, but I stuffed a wash cloth from the night stand into each boot, andthey fit me fine.

"Now your feet will be extra warm, and if you have to kick anybody you'll be heavily armed."Carmen said. I didn't know how to respond to that, so I didn't.

Dane walked back into the room and looked at me. "Why are you wearing my shoes?"

"Because my shoes aren't warm enough, and you don't want me to get frost bite andneed foot amputations, do you?" I said, putting my hands on my hips.

He scowled. "I win." I thought.

"Well if you're ready, it would be a good idea to leave now." He said, heading out thedoor.

I followed him into the library- my room. He took a key from his pocket and opened acloset door that I hadn't noticed before. Inside of the closet was a circle on the grounddrawn in chalk.

"What is this?" I asked him.

"It's a transportation ring. There's one at our destination that will serve as an anchorwhile we're traveling." He explained. "It's extremely standard magic."

"Magic" I repeated. Surprisingly, it was a new concept to me.

"It shouldn't shock you." Kacey murmured. "Considering that you can perform it yourself."

"What??" I asked aloud.

Dane turned to stare at me; he was already in the circle. "Come here and stop yelling orelse we'll be late."


27/100

I nodded and joined him. He took a piece of chalk from his pocket and drew twosymbols on his palms.

"Give me your hands." He instructed. When I held them out, he did the same to me.

"Hold your hands up."I held them in front of my face with my palms towards Dane.

"Hold your breath." He said.

I held my breath and closed my eyes. I heard him chuckle and felt his hands pressagainst mine. There was a strong gust of air and I felt myself spinningthen everythingwas still.

"You can breathe now."

I opened my eyes and took a deep breath. We were in another closet. Dane opened thedoor and stepped out into a lighted room. I followed him and saw that the entire roomwas just closets.

"So this place is the headquarters for the vampires?" I asked Dane as he led me out of theroom of closets and into a hallway.

It was much grander than Fantmere, let me tell you. There were massive windows thatran from the raised ceiling to the floor. The sun was not shining; it was night where wewere, and lanterns lit the halls up quite nicely. Paintings and marble floors reminded meof the only place that I could call home.

"Yes. I suppose it isn't too difficult to tell the difference between a vampire's home and alycan's." He said.

Something occurred to me then. "You know I know?" I asked.

"I found you asleep outside of" He took an awkward pause. "That room. I'm notstupid; I can put the pieces together."

I was silent. "It took you forever to finally figure it out." Serena said. I ignored her.

We finally arrived in an enormous ballroom with chandeliers adorning the ceiling andfine tapestries and such along the walls. There were people from everywhere in theballroom- and I mean from everywhere.

"Keep your mouth shut and stay by me always." Dane said quietly, interrupting myobserving. I nodded slightly in reply.


28/100

He walked over to a fair skinned blonde gentleman who was speaking to two otherladies.

"Look! Whores!"

"Carmen" Kacey groaned. "Sometimes I don't know what to do with you"Dane cleared his throat and the blonde gentleman immediately turned away from thetwo ladies and towards Dane.

"Ah! So glad you could come." He grabbed another fair skinned gentleman- this onewith dark curly hair- and grinned. "Fabian, this is the European lycan coordinator, DaneWolfsbane."

"Wolfsbane? What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means 'one who kills wolves'." Kacey answered.

"Buthe is a wolf, technically." I said.

"Maybe he means to kill all of the other wolves."Serena suggested.

"Or maybe he doesn't like the wolf that he's become." Amy said quietly.

"And who is this young lady?"

I snapped my focus back to Dane and the two he was speaking with.

"Dane, I didn't know you were a one woman kind of man." The curly haired man-Fabian- said with a laugh.

Dane smirked. "This is my assistant."

The blonde haired man looked at me and held out his hand. I shook it.

"Edward." He said.

"KJ." I murmured.

"KJ?" He echoed. "What does that stand for? It is a tad unusual"

I shot Dane a panicked look. He provided me with no help.

"Kantrei Jhantra." I said. As soon as those words left my mouth, it seemed as though thewhole room stopped, and that all eyes were on me.

Edward and Fabian turned to Dane, who continued to smirk.


29/100

"Surely you can't meanthe Kantrei Jhantra experiment ?" Fabian asked Dane.

The man being questioned shrugged. "Why don't you ask her? She is a valued memberof this society, after all."

"He really knows how to manipulate." Serena pointed out.

Fabian turned to me now. "Are you?"

I took a deep breath. "Yes."

A very dead, awkward stillness hung throughout the ballroom. There was a smug lookon Dane's face that made me realize that he staged somethingbut I wasn't quite surewhat it was. Then, as soon as the silence had begun, it was broken. Everyone who wasn'tpart of our conversation returned to minding their own business, and Edward andFabian laughed.

"She's a gem, Wolfsbane- you know how to pick 'em." Fabian said, clapping Dane on theback.

Dane nodded to them, grabbed my arm and led me away. Once we were far enoughfrom them, he shook off his jacket and straightened the lapels.

"Edward is the European coordinator for the vampires and Fabian is the SouthAmerican." He explained to me.

I nodded. "I don't like them." I told him.

He smiled slightly and chuckled while smoothing his jacket. "Neither do I, my dear."

For about another hour or two we talked to many other people- some important, somenot, some vampires, and some lycans- until another silence fell over the ballroom. Ourattention was directed to the hallway that had led to the room of closets. The sound offootsteps had apparently captivated everyone's attention.

What eventually came into view was not one person, but a group of about seven oreight. The one in front was an old woman who walked with such superiority that itdidn't matter that she looked older than dirtI got that line from Carmen, by the way.

"Who are they?" I asked Dane as quietly as possible.

"Don't say a word." He replied fiercely.

The group slowly dissipated into the crowd, but the old woman walked right up toDane and I. She looked him over and gave a disapproved snort.


30/100

"Some things never change." She said in a powerful voice.

Dane knelt down on one knee and lowered his head. "I apologize." He murmured.

She frowned. "Stand."

He stood and she glared at him. "I expected more from you." She walked away, andDane followed her with his eyes until she completely vanished from sight.

"Who is that?" I asked him.

"She is the South American coordinator for the lycans." He said. "But she's also in chargeof all lycan affairs."

I nodded slowly. "So she's basically in control of every lycan in the world?"

Dane sighed heavily. "In a way. Each lycan belongs to his or her clan, and only has totake orders from their clan's leader. Each clan leader has to take orders from the countryrepresentative, and we take orders from her."

"So then do country representatives belong to clans?"

"Typically country representatives are their clan's leader, and they are appointed byher."

It kind of made sense to me, and in a way I didn't really want to understand. Although, Idid have one more question for him.

"Sowhere's your clan?"

He froze. I immediately regretted asking him that. But, he surprised me by quicklyregaining his relaxed composure.

"That" He said, lifting an eyebrow at me. "Is a story for another time."

A man who we had not yet spoken to said something to Dane before hastily pushing hisway through the crowd.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"I don't know." Dane said. "But he told me that the music would begin to play soon."

We stood there (I thought I looked pretty stupid) for about ten minutes before the soundof a piano rang throughout the room. Immediately, everyone broke up into pairs andbegan to dance.

Smirking, Dane extended his hand towards me.


31/100

"I can't dance." I told him.

"Have you ever tried?" He asked.

"Well, no, but-"My short answer was apparently good enough for him because he swept me up into hisarms and we began to glide across the floor in time with the music.

"What are you doing??" I hissed.

He wrapped his right arm tighter around my waist and lifted my right hand with hisleft. "We're dancing." He said.

"Well I know that ." I said, rolling my eyes. "But I don't want to dance!"

He smirked. "Why not? I've found it to be a rather enjoyable activity."

I groaned. "Dane, let go of me- I don't want to dance."

"Hush now." He shut me up by closing his mouth over mine. As tasteless as I thought itto be, it was an effective tactic.

"Oh you love it." Carmen accused.

I guess she was right. The physical affection was nice- I'll give her that- but it probablywould've been a lot nicer if there had been emotions to back up his actions.

As he orally assaulted me, Amy's question popped back into my head.

"Do you still love him?"

I realized that I did. I didn't want to, but I loved him.

We spun around- lips still attached- and I saw the old woman from before out of thecorner of my eye. She looked more displeased than earlier, and it sent chills down myspine.

The music stopped eventually, and that was when Dane finally released me.

"We're leaving now." He said, grasping my hand.

"I thought we'd never get out of here." Serena said with gratitude present in her voice.

Dane pulled me throughout the crowd and into the room of closets. He seemed rushedand a tad bit flustered. When we finally returned to Fantmere, he released a sigh.


32/100

"That was pointless." I said. "I have no idea why we went."

"No, there was a point to it." He said gravely.

I thought for a moment. "It has to do with the old lady, doesn't it?"He turned his back on me. "Expect to be seeing more of her." He said, walking away.

"Who is she, really?" I asked.

"C'mon Kac, we all know you know." Carmen said.

"I'm not your weapon." Kacey snapped. "Just because I do know doesn't mean I have to tellyou."

"It sounds to me like that third eye is more of a curse than a gift." Amy said softly.

Since it's been brought up before, I'll explain. Kacey has an immensely powerful psychicsense that we call her "third eye". It lets her see the supernatural, look into people'sminds and souls, and it boosts her own powers.

I guess that this leads into something else that I should clear upbefore things start toget too confusing. The others- Amy, Kacey, Carmen and Serena- were all living,breathing individuals before they became a part of me. Each of them existed in their ownparallel universe, and had their own separate life and story.

Amy is technically the oldest. Before she became part of my mind, she lived as an alienprincess trapped on a planet other than her own home world. She was sold as a slave ata young age, and developed a nasty temper because of the abuse she had to endure.When she was finally freed, she settled down, got married and lived peacefully with herhusband, her brother and their friends. Towards the end of her life, alien invadersthreatened to destroy the planet she currently lived on, claiming that they had originallysettled on that land. Her, her husband and her brother were the only aliens with power,so they had to fight off the invaders by themselves. They won, but she was badlypoisoned and died when she was about thirty two.

Kacey lived as a priestess on a demon inhabited island. When she was thirteen, a nearbylord ordered the destruction of her people. She was the only survivor- the last of herrace. She later grew to befriend the lord after learning that it had been amisunderstanding, and that she and the lord were a formidable team. She was adoptedby a doctor who performed a ritual that gave her the "third eye", but put her in a threeyear coma. When she awoke, she met a young man who had also received the "thirdeye", and they fell in love. They retired to a human life and had two children. When theiryoungest was two and their eldest twelve, he was drafted in a demonic war anddeclared missing in action. When her youngest was eight, demonic officials declared heran illegal immigrant to the human realm and took her away. However, when the


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youngest turned eighteen he discovered that it was a ruse so that she could beexperimented on (being the last of her kind). She died due to radiation poisoning justbefore her son rescued her.

Carmen was Kacey's sister-in-law; she was Kacey's husband's twin. Carmen was exiled

at birth for being a girl in a set of twins, which was considered taboo in her culture. Shewent to Kacey's foster father (the doctor) asking for the third eye as well. The operationfailed, almost killing her and leaving her mentally impaired. She too met a man and fellin love, but was later possessed and killed him. She attempted to tap into the energy sheshould've had from the third eye, but because the operation had failed, the powerconsumed and killed her.

Serena lived a seemingly normal life amongst humans. Her family had been cursed witha gene deficiency resulting in either a mutation of hormones or insanity. At a young age,her father (who had a hormone mutation) staged her mother's death to bring out hischildren's true potential through traumatizing them. Her eldest sister's power morphedinto something so powerful that it caused a brain aneurysm and killed her. Her secondoldest sister was mistaken for being insane and was admitted to a psychotic ward. Sheeventually committed suicide. Her twin brother, as he grew older, helped her father inhis quest to gain all of their relative's powers for himself (their father had the ability toduplicate DNA, thus giving himself anybody's mutated ability). Serena herself was putup for adoption at a young age, as her powers were locked away yet still posed a threat.When she was a teenager she discovered her powers, as well as other people withabilities like her (they could all be traced back to the same family tree). They helped herby adopting her and eventually aided her in the struggle against her father who learnedthat Serena had discovered how to use her powers. In order to save her friends-andpossibly all of humanity- Serena sacrificed her own life to end her father's.

Anyway, I tried not to think too much about what Dane had said about the old woman,and I wandered back to the library.

"He was distracted by her presence." Serena said to me.

"That's understandable- she controls how he will deal with European lycan affairs." I said.

"NoI think that this goes beyond political reasons." Amy said. "He actedalmost afraid of her. He hid it well, butwell; I could tell that something was amiss."

I lay down on my cot and stared at the walls of books.

"Why should I worry about him? He can take care of himself." I said out loud.

Nobody responded to my statement, and though it was still afternoon, I fell asleep.

I had a strange, insightful dream. I entered the library and saw Dane sitting down on mycot reading from a book. The dream then jumped to a different scene where I washolding a paintbrush that was at least five feet tall and drawing something on the


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ground. Then I was standing face to face with Dane, and as he leaned in to kiss me hepressed something small and cold into my hands.

I woke up with a start to the sound of a loud knock on the door.

"What?" I asked, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. He swung the door open and I tried tolook alert.

His cold expression softened. "Eat. There is food in the kitchen."

I stood up slowly and walked down to the kitchen still in a sleeplike daze. There was apot of something over a fire that smelled way more appetizing then what I had made. Igrabbed a bowl, poured myself some, and slowly ate.

"That dream" I thought. "It feltdifferent."

" Maybe it was a premonition." Serena suggested. "Or something symbolic"

I sighed loudly, hearing my voice echo throughout the castle.

"Now what?"

"Go back to sleep."

I was still tired. It was a good idea. I walked back up to the library, and when I reachedthe doorway, I froze.

Dane was sitting on my cot, reading a book. He looked up at me with a detached look."What?"

I forced myself to snap out of it and reply. "Nothing."

He narrowed his eyes at me and stood. "Fine then." He closed the book, handed it to me,and then walked away. I glanced at the cover of the book and almost tossed it awayfrom me when I read the title."

The Kantrei Jhantra Experiment

Instead of throwing it, I clenched it tighter and continued to just stare at the cover.

"It'sme." I said to the others.

"But how? I thought I"

Destroyed everything? I understood why Amy didn't want to finish her sentence. It'salright to be ashamed.


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"Their camp."

"Jeez, you always have all of the answers, dont you, Kac?"

"Carmen"

"STOP." Silence. "It doesn't matter. We left their camp unharmed, so we know that this had tohave come from there, okay?" More silence. Serena continued. "What we should be moreconcerned with is how Dane got it."

"I don't care." I whispered, sitting down on my cot. All I wanted to do was read it andfinally figure out why I was created- what my true purpose was.

"C'mon KJ, you've got to be curious." Carmen said.

"Not really." I flipped open to the first page, and the symbols nearly jumped off of thepage at me. "I understand." I breathed in awe.

For translation to be possible, follow this phonetics chart to read the symbols.

"It's poorly worded." Amy pointed out.

The first few pages of the book were about the language itself- things that I alreadyknew but I can't explain how. It's kind of like how you can't explain how you learnedyour first language- of course there's a logical explanation, but you don't know it. I liedown and read through the whole book that night.

For the most part, it was about procedures and scientific stuff that I either didn'tunderstand or didn't care about. I did find out that they killed one of their own so thatthere would be a body for this experiment. I learned that was why I already knewthings; in a way I was still her. It's hard for me to explain it, and my memory is still a bitfuzzy, but that isn't too important. The next significant thing was the magical aspect. Thescientists- the alchemists - had their own magic that they practiced called Brush Magic. Itcombined science with symbols that they painted with a special kind of oil. Thesymbols- their language, essentially- were what the book was written in. The easiest wayfor me to explain it would be to compare it to Chinese, only the symbols representedsounds as opposed to words.

Reading about their magic made me remember a remark that Kacey had made.

"It shouldn't shock you. Considering that you can perform it yourself."

"How?" I whispered. Even if I already knew the symbols, even if I obtained a paintbrush, I needed the special oil, and there were no directions on how to make or where toget some.

"Your blood."


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I thought about it. "The oilis my blood?"

"Well you were created by it."

"Technically."Kacey took a deep, calming breath. "KJtrust me. It's your blood."

I decided not to worry about it right at that moment and to instead continue on with thebook. It seemed to me as though all of the good information was at the end. However, Iread on and found that it was all about how important it was to spread the idea of magiccombining with science. The very last page was ripped out. The last sentence on thepage before it read:

As for the purpose of this experiment, it can be easily seen from the name of the experiment.

Something then dawned on me. I knew the alchemist's language- fantmere meant"desolation", thaelmond meant "tyrant" and et cetera- but I didn't know the meaning ofmy name: Kantrei Jhantra.

"It's on the last page." Serena said. "Along with why you were created and where we fit intothe entire picture."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I don't." She answered simply. "But I'll bet you anything that I'm right."

"So then why did he hand me this?"

"I was feeling generous."

I sat straight up and turned to where Dane was standing in the doorway. "Sorry; I was just-"

"Thinking out loud?" He asked smugly.

I frowned. "Yeah, that. What do you want, anyway?"

He strode over to me and sat down. "I'm expecting visitors." He said solemnly. I couldonly guess who. "So you are to stay in here for the rest of the night." He smirked at me."Do you think you could handle that?"

"Oh give it a rest you pompous fruit."

"Carmen!!"


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"I'll just go back to bed." I mumbled, turning away from him. He instead grabbed mychin and turned my head, forcing me to look at him. I had already learned that it wasuseless to resist him.

Those green eyes of his pierced into mine-not looking at me, but right through me and

into my soul . Without saying anything he placed a chaste kiss on my lips and his gazesoftened. "I promise that they'll be gone by morning."

He hadn't lied. I awoke the next day to find that not even Dane was inside of the castlewith me.

"Well what do I do now?" I asked an empty home.

"We practice Brush Magic." Kacey answered.

"Well I need a brush." I said, almost arguing but not quite.

"There's probably one in the library." Amy suggested.

I groaned, but trudged up there anyway. At the far end of the library (it was a largeroom- about the length of a football field) there was a desk with books and loose leafpapers strewn about on top of it. I checked the drawers and sure enough, I found a smallpaintbrush amongstwell, crap. "This willhave to do." I admitted reluctantly, hesitating.

"You're thinking of that dream." Amy said.

It was true. In the dream the paintbrush was taller than I was.

"Paint the symbols for 'paint brush' on your palms." Kacey instructed. "Then clap."

I did as she said- I traced the brush to say 'paint' on my left palm and 'brush' on myright. I set the brush down on my cot and clapped my hands together. As soon as mypalms touched, I felt a heat spread from my palms up my arms and through my entirebody. I slowly drew my hands back, and a large paintbrush- about five feet tall and justbig enough around so that I could wrap my hand around it- materialized between them.I grabbed it and stood there amazed.

"OhmyGod"

"I told you." Kacey sneered.

I looked down at my palms to find that the 'paint brush' symbols had appeared in blood.

"What now?" I asked. I was excited about my new found ability and eager to try it outsome more.


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"Try painting with the large brush to make other things appear." Serena suggested.

I thought for a second of something that I wanted, and then an idea came to me. I madesure that I had enough room, and then "painted" a symbol on the floor. The invisible

strokes suddenly lit up, then vanish- in the place of the symbol was a pair of pants."PANTS?? " Carmen exclaimed. "You have this amazing power and all you can think of is to poof yourself up a pair of PANTS??"

"I'm tired of this skirt, and my legs get cold." I reasoned, sitting down and pulling them on.They were extremely soft and warm, and had pockets. I put the smaller brush in one ofthe pockets.

It feltgood . Like, really good. Now I had something that was mine - my claim to fame.Sure Carmen could create and control fire, but I had my Brush Magic. I consideredkeeping it a secret from Dane, but I had a feeling that he planned this. Speaking of Dane,where was he?

"He's probably with the people who came here last night." Serena said.

Right after he had left my room, I lay down and went to sleep. Since I could sleepthrough anything, whatever he and his visitors were doing went completely unnoticedby me.

"Are you worried about him?" Kacey asked me smugly.

"He can take care of himself."I replied.

"That wasn't my question."

I ignored her, but I was worried, and everybody knew it. Oh well.

I kind of moped around bored for awhile and was sitting in the kitchen when he finallywalked in.

"I have a task for you." He said. "It's time for you to start being useful."

I frowned. "Oh? And what is this task that I must complete?"

"You'll need the help of the others for this." He continued. "Because you're going toassassinate the South American vampire coordinator."

I thought for a moment. "Fabian?" I asked him. "Why?"

"He has suggested to Edward that all lycans should identify themselves to theircountry's vampire coordinator." He said darkly, sitting down at the table with me.


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"So he wants it so that the vampires know who each and every werewolf is? Whatpurpose would that serve?"

"There have been some discrepancies on territory. Some vampires have complained

about seeing suspicious individuals whom they cannot identify as a harmless mortal ora lycan. Since the vampires can only be publicly involved during the night, identificationis more of a problem for them than it is for the lycans." He explained.

"Do you think that this is a genuine problem, or that they're doing this for otherpurposes?" I asked.

He smirked. "Of course they have hidden motives- that is why you're going to killFabian. If you dispose of him, then the vampires won't be able to pass the law that he'sproposing. Understand?"

I nodded. "I'm not an idiot, I just wanted to clarify."

"WellIf that's the case, I want you to do it tonight." He leaned back in his chair andcrossed his arms.

"How?" I asked, standing up.

"You said it yourself- you're not an idiot. Figure it out."

"God I want to punch his smug face in." Carmen muttered.

"I'll go now." I said to him. "I'll be back in time for dinner, so you better have somethinggood ready."

"Are you giving me orders now?" He asked, looking amused.

I smirked. "Figure it out."

"C'mon, Kac." She took over, and we vanished into the shadows. Kacey took us into asmall village in Peru- right outside of a nice lookingbrothel.

"I didn't know these existed in South America." Amy commented.

"Oh Amy, there are whores everywhere ." Carmen told her.

"So how are we going to kill Fabian?" I asked.

Kacey walked a couple of yards and sat behind a tree.

"Leave it all to me." Serena spoke up. "I have this theory that I've wanted to test."


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"What happens if your theory is incorrect?" Kacey asked.

"Then I'll kill him." Amy said. "But I have faith in Serena, so let's not worry."

We sat there (Kacey gave me control back) until we saw Fabian emerge from the whore

house (again, Carmen's words) and walk off towards the mountains. I ran around adifferent way and was able to appear in front of him.

At first he appeared to be caught off guard, but he quickly recomposed himself andsmiled.

"AhYou are Dane Wolfsbane'spartner. KJ, was it?" He chuckled. "I apologize- theKantrei Jhantra experiment."

That pissed me off, but I managed to control myself. "Yes, that's me. But just for yourinformation, I am the Kantrei Jhantra experiment."

I allowed Serena to take control, and as she did I saw the realization and fear in Fabian'seyes.

Serena extended her right hand, and her blue eyes glazed over a milky white. Shetightened all of the muscles in her hand and arm, and Fabian stiffened. Slowly, bloodbegan to trickle out of his pores, his mouth, his ears, his nose- even his eyes. Soon, theblood was gushing out of his body at an alarming rate. His legs eventually gave out, andhe crumpled to the ground. I could only imagine how his pale skin and lifeless eyeswould lookbut it was difficult to picture it, considering how he was coveredcompletely in his own blood.

Taking a deep breath, Serena blinked slowly, her eyes returned to normal, she loweredher arm, and she relaxed.

"Oh my GodRena, what did you do?" Carmen asked.

"WellI know that there's iron in blood, and iron's a metalSo I just kind of went with myinstincts" She admitted shyly.

"So you don't really know what you did." Amy concluded.

Serena tried to laugh, but it came out as a very soft, remorseful sound. "NoNo I don't."She sighed.

"Let's get back to Fantmere." Kacey suggested. I guessed that she sensed Serena'sdiscomfortI know that I did. Serena gave Kacey control, and we went home.

I was put back in charge when we got back, and I went directly to the kitchen wheresome kind of casserole thing was waiting for me. After watching Fabian's slow and


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painful death, I honestly wasn't that hungry. I decided to skip dinner, and I instead wentup to the library.

"I'm curious. Enlighten me."

Dane was lying down on my cot, waiting for me."Serena did some weird thing that made him bleed to death." Was all that I told him.

He seemed intrigued. "Serena, you said? I'm impressed."

"Well maybe you can't judge people off of first impressions alone." I said under mybreath, walking over to my cot. "Please move. I'm tired and would like to lie down."

He stood and I took off my jacket, tossing it aside as I sat and then lay down. Dane puthis hand next to my head and kissed me softly.

"What?" I asked.

"I suppose since it's your first real job I should reward you." He said suggestively.

I pushed him off of me. "Then you can just let me go to bed." I told him.

He closed his hands over my wrists and put one of his knees in between my legs so thathe was positioned over me. "Now how is that fun for me?"

When I woke up the next morning, there were bruises on my wrists and my throat, and Icouldn't stand up without pulling myself to my feet. I was able to glance at myself in amirror and saw that my eyes were puffy and red, and my face was splotchy as thoughI'd been crying.

"I can't believe how submissive you are." Carmen said.

"What else am I supposed to do?" I asked. "I have toI can't"

"I understand." Amy said, trying to calm me down. Of course she understood- she wasAmy; the mommy. But that was probably why she was so motherly- because she didunderstand, she had the experience, and she truly did care. "You aren't' in this alone."

I sighed. "Thanks." She was right. No matter what happened, I knew that I'd never bealone.

My story gets boring for another few hundred years. I was sent by Dane to kill moreimportant people, steal important artifacts, get important informationyou know;henchman things. As far as the Fabian matter goes, nobody even suspected me or Dane.He died in a manner that was so out of the ordinary that his comrades couldn't even


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begin to suspect people. They elected a new coordinator and soon the whole matter wasforgotten.

Dane and I seemed to grow more hostile towards one another. I kept my knowledge of

Brush Magic a secret from him, and practiced it only when I knew that he was away. Ibecame a regular at all of the social events that Dane had to go to, and I was soon knownas his partner . The nerve of those people.

I kind of sensed something, though. I kind of had a feeling- a hopeful one, but a feelingnonetheless- that it wasn't just reciprocated hate, but that we had a love/haterelationship. Call me foolish; call me a romantic, but still

The two of us also sparred a lot more. As the years passed us, I saw an improvement inmy physical and magical abilities. It felt goodI came to the conclusion that because ofDane, I had begun to build my own identity. I had always wanted to be able to make iton my own (even though I knew I wouldn't cope very well with loneliness) and now Ifelt like I could. It feltamazing. That would soon change.

Therelationship, I guess you could call it, between the vampires and the lycans wasconstantly fluctuating. One minute everything was fine, the next minute I had to killsomeone (lycan or vampire; it didn't seem to me as though Dane discriminated betweenthe two) because things were changing. People came in and out of power, but Fabianwas the only coordination that I killed. Edward was still the European coordinator, andwas eventually elected to be the lead vampire. When Dane had told me this news, Iknew that I was going to be needed soon.

"So do you want me to kill him?" I asked.

"NoNot yet, at least. If we kill him right away then it will only cause more problems.We should wait- allow him to rule for a few years to set things up." He explained. "Butspeaking of the vampi

experiment: kj (rough draft 1)

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