"Koray, Koray! Open your eyes dammit! Don't you dare try to leave me! Wake up!"
Chapter 1. The Beginning
I felt myself fall forwards out of the tall oak, but instead of opening my wings instantly like I should have I just kept falling. Before I fully realized it the ground was almost reaching me, the greedy night time darkness reaching up hungerly towards me. I laughed, shaking out my wings to their full extent, nearly 14 feet. The heavy winds of the storm yanked me up, the creatures that had been scuttling around in the dark completely frozen as they watched. I knew somewhere my brother waited for me, watching with that smirk on his pale lips as usual. I really hated him.
I pushed myself up on the strong currents, closing my eyes lightly, feeling the tiny tickling of my eyelashes on my cheeks. I heard him laugh. My eyes snapped open, instantly my pupils adjusting to the new darkness. I looked to my right and down, sure enough I saw him. We are literally Night and Day. He rules the day while I stalk the night. One thing I'm just starting to learn though, Day doesn't mean Light just as Night doesn't mean Darkness. As for looks, no one would guess we were twins until they looked into our eyes. Once you see the burning fire inside our eyes, saw the magestic switching of colors, you'd know we were different, you'd run away from us.
I've only seen our mother once, but when I did she told me we had witch eyes, eyes they told a story of the beginning. I was four then, not much really could reach me. Because, unlike my brother, I had no clue what we, what I was. Now, now I'm not so clueless. I smirked down at him, tucking my wings and falling straight down. My hair, long thick curls that looked black but were really various shades of dark purple and blue too, whipped around my face, falling softly down on my shoulders and spilling down my back as I landing gently on the tree branch beside him. He was lounging back on the branch, one long, lean, muscled leg falling carelessly over, one arm behind his head while the other plucked at the needles of a tree branch.
I growled softly at him and narrowed my eyes, grinning mischeviously. He looked unamused, his white-blond hair sticking up in a artisticly mused mess, the exact opposite of my dark curls. We were twins, yes, but our fathers....our fathers couldn't be more different. I, of coarse, lucky me, got the dark sides of that strain of DNA. He, like always, picked up on my thoughts and chuckled darkly. I shoved him over and layed beside him, looking up at the moon. He hissed in a breath, almost falling sideways out of the tree. I knew he was doing it for show, he could have stopped me from pushing him before I even moved. He was that powerful, but I knew no matter what I did, no matter what I said, he wouldn't hurt me. If only he loved me, maybe I'd hate him less. But no, he didn't love me. So therefore I loved him, but I hated him just the same.
I decided to be daring, I leaned over closer to Koray and layed my head lightly on his shoulder. He instantly stiffened, No One touched him. I bit down and swallowed my giggles, looking back up at the moon. To my utter astonishment, he lightly wrapped his arm around me, warning anything in the night not to touch me. He didn't need to, they knew who the night belonged to. It had been years since he touched me without extreme force causing him to. I smiled softly to myself and sighed quietly. It was times like this that I felt love towards him, almost always I confronted him with hate. Tonight would be the night things changed.
Forever, it had only been us. Our real parents, both sets of fathers and our mother, had been killed when we were little. Of coarse we knew that after the powers came but before we didn't. Well, I didn't. I can never decide if Koray is the same as myself when it comes to emotions and memories. He isn't the emotional type. Maybe I should tell you more about myself and let it run into our parents and him. As you already know, I have wings. I don't know many 17 year olds with wings. Most angels are older, A LOT older. Heres the biggest difference between Koray and I power wise, I am the only one that has Angel Blood.
When I say angel you think heavenly creature, wings, good feelings...all that. No, that is Not what angels are. Yes, they have wings. Yes, they are in heaven. No, they aren't all nice and pretty. No, they don't go around helping people. No. Thats bull. Angels are strong and crudely selfish, they are beautiful and lusting. They kill as much as they can heal. Never forget that. My father, well....he was the worst example for an angel. He was a Fallen, one of the four Princes of Hell. He gifted and cursed me with the deed to Night. Now I reach up and out of habit touch my neck, where a perfect cresent moon was "tattooed." It had been there since birth.
Koray noticed of course, and to my exended astonishment, touched his own neck in the exact same place where a sun was perfectly "tattooed." We had been bred for these powers, him owning the Day as I own the Night. I smiled and laughed, once again pushing it, and poked his neck. Instead of getting mad or possibly pushing me away he just poked me back, tracing the moon with the very tip of his finger. I shivered at how cold he was, leaning away from him slightly. He smirked and suddenly his skin was blazing, almost a burning hot. Thats when I realized I had been shivering, for quite some time now. Koray had known.
I bit my lip and leaned back against him, trembling softly as the extreme temperatures of our bodies mingled dangerously, his a burning fire, mine a deep, bone-chilling cold. I felt him smile against my hair as he rested his head in my curls. I snuggled into him and closed my eyes, pretending this was how things were. As long as I could pretend that he did love me nothing could touch me. Not the cold nor the past, Nothing. Koray traced his fingers down my arm and before I knew it I had fallen into a deep slumber, my head on his chest.
I awoke to the sounds of dawn, my hair easily falling into my eyes creating a curtain that let some of the pale morning haze wash over my face and sear my eyes. I yawned and then opened my eyes wider, feeling around me in alarm as I recalled how I fell asleep.
"Forget me eh, little sis?" Koray smirked, sarcasm heavily laddened in his tone. He sounded wide awake, as if he never slept. I gasped, jumping off the branch and flingling open my wings, hanging balanced in the air.
"You stayed? All night?" I sounded accusing and alarmed, all the better in his mind. He grinned, flashing perfectly straight white teeth that gleamed, and shrugged.
"I couldn't just dump you off my chest and hope you woke up before you hit the ground. I might have to carry you back home and, no offense, that's the last thing I want to do on my Saturday morning." He flownced off the branch, landing like a cat on his feet and disappearing between that second and the next.
I watched him disappear, glaring fiercely at where his back was. This is why I hated him. See, despite his white-gold looks, Koray was all demon. Shocking right? Me, the angel, intertwined with the darkness of night like two puzzle pieces, was the angel. Koray, my beautiful golden knight, was the demon. Our mother, well she knew what she was doing when she had us. She cursed us and gifted us with the best thing and the worst thing the universe has to give.
We are the last two keys to a world that could unlock two very difference outcomes for the world. You see, one of us will destroy the world with Pandora's Box... and one of us will bring humanity back to The Heavens. But we cannot do it without the other, and we cannot do one without causing th other. Koray doesn't know that I remembered that... he doesn't believe in me. I'll wipe that smirk off that beautiful face one day, he'll see me as his equal. Afterall, we are one and the same.
I just shook out my messy, tangled curls and bit my bottom lip, drawing in my anger. Soon enough I'm calm enough to land flat on the ground and begin walking towards town, some little bit of no where out in Nevada. Koray says it's important be stay here, keep a low profile. I think he's just mad that I love big cities and fit in. He always one to stick out like a black rose in the middle of a December snow storm. With that I shove him out of my head and stubbornly continue on, my keen senses expanded to monitor the area surrounding me.
Soon I realized I had miscalculated the distance, our little renderverous had in fact been a good two hours walk away from our house. Ugh. It's not like I could just fly home... A mischevious grin lights up my face as I crouch down and launch myself into the air, a good ten feet, waiting until I'm almost hitting the ground again to throw open my wings and let the wind carry me off. Up above the magnificant trees I can imagine things were like when we were little. See, growing up none of what we are, what I am, was ever discused. Of coarse we didn't have parents around but nothing was particularly 'magical' about us. Until we turned thirteen that is.
I reached the house and saw him laying across the bottom step, his head laying on his folded arms, his legs long legs dangled over the side and his eyes were half closed. "You're home." My voice was cold and disappointed. I hadn't wanted to see him here; I was planning to do something he wouldn't approve of.
"A little birdie told me to be here when you got here." Before I had taken a step forward he had stood and rushed me, grabbing my arms and pinning me against the side of the house. "Why. Were. You. Talking. To. That. Filthy. Half breed?" He was nose to nose with me, his lips skimmed back from his teeth in a snarl. I lashed out my foot and kicked him sharply in the knee, which allowed me enough time to get away from him while he looked at me in shock.
I look back at him and snorted, my anger boiling over. "Because he doesn't try to control me, he wants to help me. Unlike you." I was being truely nasty now but he deserved him. I felt guilty yet felt slightly satisfied when the color drained from his face, the blazing light in him beautiful eyes going out. "You don't own me Koray. You don't own me." I turned on my heel and stormed off back into the forest, unaware of shrill peels of laughter, clearly female laughter, that were left behind.
Chapter 2. Who the hell are you?
Koray dropped down on the steps and sighed heavily, running his hands backwards through his messy hair. He heard laughter, familiar laughter, but didn't think about it. He was worried about Danica, her thoughts had been angry and hurt when she left. Of coarse he felt the same things she did but he could compress it into the back of his mind and forget about it where she couldn't.
"What happened to you, Mozika, you look awful. Total cat died look."
His head snapped up, and his mouth fell open. Before him stood a girl, all legs and beautiful curves. She was tall, almost 5'10, and had pin straight blonde hair razor slashed around her face and spilling over her shoulders. Her eyes were covered by the darkest black sunglasses ever and what little bit of clothing she wore was a red leather dress, slit down low and barely covering her thighs. Her shoes were dark black motorcycle boots with chains dangling from the laces. Her scarlet lip-sticked lips curved up in a smile. "Long time no see, Rayhanne. " Koray stood up and hugged the girl, all too aware of how she curved around him like a snake. He pulled away. "What are you doing here?"
She smiled at him and shook out her hair, spiky bangs falling in her eyes. "Thought I'd come say hello. Is it a problem?" She smirked, a dangerous thing he knew. She perched herself on the edge of the step. He shook his head slightly and stood in front of her.
"Dancia wouldn't be pleased. You know she doesn't know about so much, she's still too young. I don't want her upset." A protective growl underlayed his words, a blaze returning to his glacier eyes. She smirked farther, a red lollipop appearing in her hand. She popped it into her mouth and began sucking at it.
"I don't care about that baby. I don't see why you bother, you're so different. Why don't you send her off with her daddy and let her grow up, then you could do what you're meant to." She removed her glasses, her eyes were pure gold. Slit cat-eyed pupils and barely any white. "Zaine and Kenzie miss you, ya know," She added in a small voice. He didn't fall for it.
"They could bother to show up at a meeting if that were so. Leave Danica alone, Rayhanne. I mean it." He half snarled the words, a bitterness settling in. she licks the lolli and waved her hand.
"I don't want the little witch. She's all yours." She snorted and looked deep into his eyes, trying to read him. "You love her so much. Wonder what your mother would say. Of coarse you dad's probably rolling around in his grave over it." She threw the stick over her shoulder, out into the grass. She watched him carefully, stalking his emotions. She stuck out her tongue out at him, streaked with dark red. He could just barely see her fangs wink out at him.
Sighing heavily Koray shook his head and growled softly at her. "Rayhanne get out. You know I don't want you around and Danica doesn't need to see you. Go." His voice was low and dangerous and his skin had taken a paler, some how more forbidding coloring. She just smirked and stood, knocking off invisible dirt from her short dress.
"Sure, sure. I'll go." And with that she turned on her heel and pranced away from him, only stopping when she got to the end of the drive way, and then and then only did she whisper something into her hand and giggle, another red lolli appearing in her other hand.
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Honestly I hated being mad at Koray. But when he tried to own me, posess me, I lost control. Of coarse less than twenty minutes later I regretted yelling at him. The look on his face constantly popped up, that pain so apparent I felt sick. With a angry sigh I turned around and began stalking back through the forest. I froze when I reached the edge of the forest where the trees thinned and gave way to our house. I heard a girl laugh. I stopped dead in my tracks and felt tears well up in my eyes.
Why.... I wiped at the hot blood-red tears that stained my cheeks and frowned. Why was I crying? So what, Koray had a girl over? What was my problem? I growled and made up my mind to just leave him alone with her. Right as I huffed and twirled around, crouching to jump into the air I heard him cry out. Koray never, ever cried out unless something was horribly wrong. I whipped back around and took off running.
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With a smirk Rayhanne put her hands on her hips and looked down at Koray. Ignorant wanker. She snorted and nudged his head with the toe of her boot. Blood trickled out of his mouth and made a puddle on the cement. Ouch. She was known for two things: Her adatious flirty behavior and the flimy past of her vampiric background. Little of the world knew she was a direct desendant of the First Witch. She was a catalyst for destruction. Carefully she bent over and poked his chest, a faint and flickering heartbeat still remained. Straightening back up she tossed her thick hair over her shoulder and discarded the lollipop stick from her hand and raised a booted foot over his face. Grinning at her acomplishment of a spell she just begun the deathly blow when a infuriated, powerful, scream rang out and paralized her mid-strike.
"Uzyskaj od niego możesz czarownica! Co ma zrobić z moim bratem!" Danica's cry came from the house, where she was perched on the tip of roof. Her thick hair streamed out behind her in long rivets and her icy eyes blazed with a unnatural glow. Rayhanne smirked and set her foot on the ground, looking up.
"Little girl, you do not scare me. Now run away like a good princess and let me finish what I came for, alright?" She smiled sweetly and cocked her head to the side, honestly meaning her words. Danica spat and rose into a standing position, holding her hand out in a come-get-it gesture. Both girls smiled and with a snarl lept for each other.
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I bunched up my muscles and jumped, doing a front hand spring that left me standing inches from the other girl. Before the blond could respond my leg lashed out and up, a round the house kick that struck her face and connected meatily with her face. Flipped backwards I skipped back and watched her, a preditory grin on my lips. She snarled and nodded slightly, her eyes turning a molten gold. Her fangs slid down and pierced her lip.
"Alright wench. You surprised me. Didn't think you had it in you." Her words died off as she lept for me, her hands going for my hair. I danced away and lashed out for her chest but instead of potentially dislocating her shoulder the blow barely scraped her stomach. She smirked and grabbed for my leg, claws sliding free also as they dragged down my leg and made ugly tears that welled with blood on my jeans. I sucked in a breath and cartwheeled away.
"Why did you hurt him? What do you want, psycho?"
"Time shall tell." She laughed and cupped her hands, blowing out once violently. Red smoke curled around her and filled the clearing, and with a bone-shattering crash the air around her colapsed and she disappeared. I gasped and rushed forward towards Koray. His skin was deathly pale and his breathing was just barely flickering in his chest and then with a violent rush completely stopped. I bent forward and colapsed at his side, my hands falling onto his chest. "Koray, Koray! Dammit open your eyes! Don't you dare try to leave me!" Tears washed down face, creating a small pool on his shirt where my face rested.
"Please wake up, I.. I need you. I love you Koray, open your eyes." I just barely managed to whisper as I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath. A few tortured seconds later I felt and head him cough, then when I leaned back to peer in his face his gorgeous blue eyes flickered and opened. "Dancia.. Danica you're bleeding. Call Razmonde. Fix... it." With that everything seemed to shut down as his lapsed in to unconsciousness.
A desperate phone call and what seemed to be hours, but was only minutes in truth, cars began to pull up. One was a red convertible with all black wheels and danger written all over it. The second was a black and sleek car, void of all symbols. It was the one that mattered. Doors flung open from the second and a boy stepped out, while a girl just neatly flipped over the door of the first, dancing out with grace. The boy had short cropped dark hair, just barely curling on his forehead. His eyes were pure gold, not unlike the girl she'd just faught. The girl on the other hand was like a piskie, dainty, pale limbs and glitter. Her hair was as dark as the boy's, but her eyes were a deep forest green. Both wore some type of hunter's gear.
"Razmonde! Help!" My voice had never sounded so pleading before. the boy nodded and dropped to his knees beside me, his hands instantly going for Koray's wrist and pulse. The girl watched respectfully at a distance.
"He's not doing so well. Kate, help me get him inside." His voice was strainingly calm, the voice of a doctor working on a patient with a horrid condition. The girl, Kate, was at his side instantly, both of them lifting Koray and carrying him towards the door I threw open. Inside they layed him on the couch, and that's when the real work began. Rasmonde's fingers worked fast as he clawed through a bag that seemed to miteralize from the air, pulling different bottles of liquid. He shook up something that looked almost sparlking in the light, but was a shockingly vivid shade of pink, and dumped it into Koray's mouth, making him swallow. He continued fiddling with things for several minutes and didn't look surprised when Koray began coughing and retching a moment later. I lept to my feet and charged him, hitting him bluntly as I slung my arms around his neck and buried my face in his shoulder.
" Moi Kenzikia, it's alright. I'm alright. Shhh." Koray's voice was surprised, yet calm even though I could hear a faint tremor that told the truth. Sobs built in my chest and tears continously spilt without my control. Koray didn't push me away or scold me, no, instead he wrapped one arm around my waist and put his other hand on my hair, gently stroking it's velvety mass. We sat like that for a God knows how long, only pulling away from each other when someone, Razmonde, cleared his throat. I blushed and untangled my legs from Koray's, stumbling off his lap and onto the table closer to Razmonde. I noticed the piskie girl had disappeared, after Razmonde refused to meet my eyes. "Danica... he's fine now. Or should be. I'm interested in how he managed to be put under a Siren's spell, but I don't have long. We don't have long." I blanched for a second at his tone; clearly the 'we' meant him and Kate, not me and him as it should've. I processed it quickly, unwilling to be spited.
"Alright." I flipped my hair out of my eyes and behind my ear, turning towards Koray. "You've got the story, which I'm interested in too, brother." I paused and shook off the last bits of pain from his jab and embarrassment from my emotional show, refusing to let my cover slip. Later I'd cry and mourn whatever had been lost in that moment somehow, but right now I'd be strong and fearless. "Who was that girl anyways, Koray? She was unlike anything I've ever seen."
Koray sat back on the couch and shook his hair out of his face, regaurding us coldly once again. He turned towards Razmonde. "Well halfbreed, I guess I owe you an explination in exchange for your sevices. " He paused and flicked his gaze towards me, then focused on him again. "Her name is Rayhanne. She is a Siren, but not anything like you'd think. She's sort of a legend, not unlike..us. " He looked at me again, this time with slight confusion. "You both know who the First Witch is right? Well Rayhanne is her great-great-great-great-great grand daughter." He smirked.
"You'd think that so many generations would dim the power but that's not very likely at all. Infact, I'd say Rayhanne has almost the exact same amount of power as her Grandmother, though in very different ways. You see, she's not just a Siren Witch but also a vampire. " He looked at the floor and sighed heavily. "A very, very old Incubus' only remaining heir." He looked at me, then towards Razmonde. "I seemed to have pissed her off when I refused to do something... I couldn't do." This time his eyes lingered on me, and I knew he'd lost something great for me.
Razmonde furrowed his brow and was the first to speak. "What did she want with you?" Koray smirked, rather unkindly, and opened his mouth to speak. I held up my hand to stop whatever haughty retort he had and asked my own question.
"What's a Siren?" I knew the question was at least borderline stupid because both boys sighed impatiently. Koray was first to answer.
"A Siren is a witch with strong compulsion that's nearly impossible to resist if you aren't stronger than her, or naturally resistant to mind control. In this case she's even stronger than a regular Siren, due to heritage." I processed that and asked another question, aware it probably wasn't the best question either.
"How do you know if a person is a Siren?" I thought over what he said carefully and picked something else out. "You said stronger than 'her' ... does that mean all Sirens are female?" Koray nodded in approval and even Razmonde seemed to acknoledge my questions approvingly.
"It's sometimes impossible to tell if anyone is a Siren, but a big hint is if you know something that is a tell-tale sign of a Siren who's using her powers. And yes, all Sirens are female. " He grinned darkly and seemed to be mentally scolding himself. "For Rayhanne she's addicted to candy. Especially suckers. If you see one in her hand you should be aware there's trouble to come." I thought everything he said over carefully, narrowly avoiding a building rage. But no matter how I lectured myself, one question remained.
"So, how do you kill her?"
Chapter 3. School? As in high school?
Koray laid on his bed, his door wide open making it easy for me to look from where I perched on my own bed, door open so both of out rooms alined. He had came in about an hour ago, ragged cuts slashed down his cheek. I had winced and instanty jumped to my feet, willing to heal him. But he had shook his head and gave me a slightly disgusted look before he went in his room and colapsed on his bed. Several minutes ago I had gotten curious and went to look, only to find him sound asleep.
His broad shoulders silently rose and fell with his chest, limp blond hair falling over his darkend eyelids, his long eyelashes making inky cresents on his cheeks. His profile was lit by moonlight spilling in through his open window, bathing the room in a milky darkness. He was beautiful. I sighed and curled my knees up to my chest, hugging them tightly. Koray shifted and groaned loudly, sitting up and clutching his stomach. I shot to my feet. within seconds I had crossed the space and dropped to my knees in front of him, peering up into his eyes with worry.
"Really, Danica, it's nothing." He grounded out through clenched teeth. "I just got hit earlier. It messed up what The filthy- your Raz did." I flinched at his name and in fear of the memory. I sighed and layed my hand on his shoulder lightly, willing my energies into him. Within seconds he was able to staighten up and look into my eyes.
"You didn't have to do that." He stopped and winced, rolling his shoulder. "Things got a bit tricky a few miles out. Some people following us." his jaw tightened and I sighed louder.
"Koray, what is it? What's going to happen now?" I softened my tone and looked into his beautiful dark blue eyes. "What are we going to do?"
He reach out his hand and grasped my arm, pulling me up out of the floor and seating me beside him. "Danica, we're going to have to leave here. Too many people know things and it isn't safe for you." He paused and his eyes darkened. "For us anymore."
I sat back and looked at the floor for a moment then back to him. "So, we're leaving? Again? What else is it?" I paused and took in his look. "I know there's more."
He swallowed and rolled his shoulder a few more times, then became so serious I couldn't help but silently gasp. He looked so amazing in the pale night: His eyes and hair flashing with an unrealistic gleam in the moonlight. He watched me then with an amazing gentleness took me once again in his arms, this time pulling me to his chest.
"You know I'd do anything to keep you safe, right Danica?" I stiffened but nodded. He exhaled and began making small circles in the center of my back where my wings ached from disappearing, especially when I had them tucked in tight like now. When he spoke it was muffled from where he had buried his face in my hair. "I'm going to ask you something, something I hardly want to ask." I was still so stunned by him phyiscally touching me that I just nodded.
"I want you to go to school."
I stopped breathing for a second, then let my breath out with a huff. "Like, a magic school?" I inquired in confusion. He buried his face further in my long dark hair and shook his head.
"I mean.. like a high school, Danica." I paused and took it in stride. I felt his cool and semi detached appreciation of my control. Any other time, such as when he wasn't holding me in his arms and nuzzling into my hair, I'd have flipped and demanded another option. Instead I stayed reasonable.
"Why do I need to go to school?" He shrugged and layed back on his dark bed, pulling me down with him until we layed side by side, my head on his chest and his arm kept circling my back, relieving stress as he did. Right then I was hyper aware of my surroundings, our skin touching one another. I realized my shoulder tucked under his perfectly, my knees curved against his so perfectly we fit like two puzzle pieces. He was far bigger than me, but it was as if he was made to craddle me, pretect me. I couldn't breathe for several seconds.
He eventully spoke, shattering my resolution and allowing me to draw in a shaky breath. "After.. what happened...and after I found the people watching us tonight.... I went to talk to an old friend. " He smirked and put a hand to were his perfect cheek was mared by the marks. "She told me that if I wished to keep you safe, I'd do this."
I gasped and shook my head in disbelieve. "But Koray, I don't see how putting me with mundanes are going to keep me safe. You've always kept me safe." He made a pained sound and my eyes snapped up to his. I was amazing at such brutal agony in them.
"I don't guess you would. But Danica... this time.. I can't... I am not going with you. " I gasped again and shoved against him, sitting bolt up. He covered his eyes with his arm.
"You.. aren't coming? With me." I made a sound and then slipped to feet.
His arm fell and his voice rose as he watched me. "Danica.." But I was already gone. I had reached the door and now was sprinting down the hall, barely stopping to throw my hands out and plow through the small screen door. Night time air rushed up around me, greeting me like an old friend as I threw my wings open and took flight, steadily pouring speed on as I raced as far away as I could get from Koray.
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Koray hated when she did that. Just like her father she had the tendancy to stomp out and fling the door open, racing a head to some insane destination. She never thought. Now he sat there on that damned bed, the feel of her still on his skin. He even smelled of her. Like lavender and danger. She had layed so still when he stroked her back, and he had wanted to do nothing but pretect her. Let nothing hurt her. But all he had done was hurt her, once again.
Maybe that was all he was good for, of course it was by all means possible. He had thought about it far more than once. One of them was meant to be so horrid no one could survive them but the other, right? Just because he didn't know which one of them was the worst, why should he expect it to be Danica? She was too innocent in so many ways. Never could he see her purposely hurting people. Koray liked causing other people pain. Just not Danica.
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The sun had just came up when I finally returned home. Any hope of a change was probably shattered, but at least my anger had dimmed slightly. I sprinted up the steps and unlocked the door.. and stepped directly into Razmonde. "Waa!" I exclaimed, jumping back. He looked grim.
"Koray told me to come pick you up. We need to go." I stared at him like he had grown a third eye.
"Us leave? Now?" I blanched. We hadn't spoken since Koray's accident. He refused to answer my calls. And eventually I'd stopped trying.
"Yes, we're leaving now. Go pack up your stuff, you have ten minutes and then I'll drag you out if I have to." Even as he teased me he was cold and too polite, like I was a friend's kid sister. Not his almost girlfriend or whatever we had been. I sighed and marched inside.
"Koray! Koray where are you!" I stomped into my room and froze. He laid on my bed, head tilted back on my red pillows. His golden hair flashed this way and that in the dawning light that filtered through the slanted windows. Under his gorgeous eyes were deep violet and black rings. His eyes snapped open and I took an unconcious step backwards.
"Are you alright?" He asked, studing me the way a cat studies a fly. But cats didn't panic when they saw a fly. They didn't panic for the fly. I humphed and the moment shattered.
"I'm fine, as if you actually care. " I winced internally but my anger pushed me on. Without another word I began stuffing clothes and other belongings into a bag I fished out from under the bed. I had just stuffed a year's worth of panties into it when he caught my arm and spun me around. We stood face-to-face not breathing.
"I do care, Dani. I care so so much. That's why I'm doing this." Without any warning he pressed his cool lips to my forehead and let me go, walking away. I crashed to my knees with a whimper. I couldn't move.
"Are you finished yet? Koray said he was leaving now..? " Raz stood in the door, paused to stare at me.
"I.. I can't move. I'm... I think I'm stuck. " My voice was so quiet yet it still seemed to fill the silent house. I didn't look up from the floor. From the door Raz sighed.
"Danica, he did this for your safety. I promise it'll be ok." Raz knelt before me and wrapped his long arms around me. I layed my head on his shoulder, savoring this small moment of contact.
"I missed you, ya know." My voice shook. He paused again and pulled away to stare at me in puzzlement.
"You did?"
I grinned suddenly and began to giggle slightly hysterically. "Of course I did! Raz, I always miss you. I missed you enough to sneak away from Koray all those times didn't I? He loathed you and loathed us hanging out yet I still found away around him. I missed you so much." He looked away but not before I saw the war waging in his dark eyes.
I reach my hand up and touched the side of his pale face. "Raz... what is it? What are you afriad of saying to me?" He looked back at me and seemed to see me for the very first time.
"Dani.. how you looked at him. I've never seen someone so broken... it was like your soul had shattered before you or something. You looked so... lost. And then when he was ok you looked like... you'd just saw the sun for the very first time. How can I compete with feelings like those?" I stumbled back away from him and stood, gawking.
"Compete? With feelings like that? He's my brother!" Raz looked at me in astonishment.
"He.. told you that?" He sounded like he couldn't belive such a thing.
"What the hell are you talking about? Of course he's my brother!" I was shouting now and didn't care. Razmonde stood and grabbed my arms, shaking me.
"Danica you aren't his sister! Not like you think! Not. At. All." He looked at me desperately, still giving me a shake every word or so. I felt like my head was full of cotton.
"What do you mean 'not like I think' ?" He took a deep breath and sat on the edge of my bed, throwing his head back to look up at the heavens.
"If he hasn't told you.. which I have no clue why he'd lie... then he will kill me for this... but you... you should know..." He took another deep breath and looked me dead in the eye.
"Danica, you and Koray are twins. Not as in human twins but twins forged of the Dark Fires. A mate from heaven and hell are selected and paired as twins. Your mother was your mother yes, but you aren't blood related. Your souls mirror one another." He stopped and looked at the floor, milling over if he should say his next words.
"Danica.. he's literally your soul mate. You belong together." I had already began shaking my head, my voice raising hysterically.
"You lie! He never would have lied to me like this! We aren't mean for each other, we hate each other!" I picked up my bags I had stuffed my belongings into. "I'm leaving, with or without you." I slammed the door and stalked out towards his car.
And that was how my departure of that life settled into this new one.
Chapter 4. St. Mikael's School of the Depressed
A week after being at St. Mikael's Academy in Jamestown, Georgia I decided I was running away. Forget Razmonde. Forget school. Forget being safe. And especially, forget Koray. He wouldn't come looking for me surely, not after putting me in hell. The teacher's looked at me like I was a parasite and students avoided me like I had the plague. Not like I cared. I just cared he'd put me in this place.
As night fell I thew my bag off the window seal of my dorm and shortly followed after it. Humans. Psh. I landed on my feet with a silent oof and began running. Once I got to the trees I knew I was safe. Not thinking twice about I threw myself forward and snapped my gorgeous wings out. So long.
Ten minutes later I was landing behind a building and pulling out a wrinkled piece of paper, wondering where I was going to go. On the slip of paper was squiggles of numbers, something Koray had thrown away months ago. At the top was a name, printed in the same femine swirls. Zaine. I took a deep breath and walked over to a tellaphone booth and picked up the lemon yellow phone.
Three rings later my breath caught in my throat. "Hello? Who is this?" The voice was a girl's thick and raspy in that sexy way you could resist. I mustered up missing courage and plowed on.
"Is.. is Zaine there?" I patted myself on the back. I sounded sure of myself, just curious as if I knew her and wondered if she was around.
"This is she. Who is this? " She sounded more relaxed then before but still on guard.
"This is Danica... I believe you know my brother Koray." I bit my lip and waited.
She laughed on the other end. "I sure do sweet pea. Tell me, you ran away tonight haven't you? Don't worry; I won't tell him. Let me know where you are kid and I'll come pick you up." I could hear the smile in her voice even if I didn't know her.
Damn. What had I done now? Well, too late anyways. I sighed and went over to sit on a bench in front of the building.
I was sitting on the same bench when I heard foot steps hours later. Quickly I shot to my feet and peered around. Right then someone tapped on my shoulder from behind. I spun around and came face-to-face with... Koray. "Dammit! Did she tell you where I was?" I sounded defeated. He looked confused.
"Did who tell me where you was?" He cocked his head to the side and took in my dark eyes and messy hair.
"Zaine. I called her. She said she'd come get me and wouldn't tell you. " He paled and looked at me like I'd just said I was dying of cancer.
"You called who?! How'd you even get that number? I threw it.. ahh! Danica you called her? She'll kill you! Right now if she had the chance!" He stepped closer to tower over me, snarling in my face. Anger boiled within.
"So what Koray, was I suppose to stay in that hell hole? Was I suppose to trust you? Play safe human freak? Yeah, don't think so." He huffed and laughed without humor.
"You were safe there, Danica! And now you let Zaine know where you are! How could you?" I shot right back with blows of my own.
"How could you lie about being my brother all these years? How could you hide the fact we were made for each other? Made twins?" My voice suddenly dropped from a shout to a whisper. "How could you hide that from me when you knew how I felt?"
He took my chin in his hand and tilted my face up to his, eyes unreadable. "How do you feel, Dani?" I looked into those eyes and suddenly the world fell apart. Wrong or not.. I...
Without saying a word I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips against his, giving him all the time in the world to pull away. He didn't. Instead his arms incircled my waist as he kissed me back, first slow and gentle but building up the heavy heat with each passing second. One of my hands dropped and snaked it's way under his shirt and pressed itself against his chest as he pushed me back against the wall of the building I had landed behind. His tongue caressed my bottom lip as my mouth parted under his demanding one, a small animalistic moan building low in my throat, his hands tangling in my long ink spill of hair.
Then his hand was at my waist, pulling me closer, tighter up against him. I shivered and leaned by head back as he broke away with a groan and began kissing down my neck, down my shoulder, to my chest... I had his shirt almost off and he had my skirt hiked up when the magic broke. His head jerked away from where he'd been kissing my neck again and my hands pulled away from his skin as if they burnt.
I shoved at him, catching him off guard, and even had the pleasure of seeing him stumble. My entire body trembled. You see, everything in me wanted to draw him back in, let him finish what we'd started right there on the street corner. But something else told me we couldn't. Told me we never could do that ever again. I gasped and tugged my skirt down, running a hand threw my long, corkscrew curls. "Never." I growled in his direction where I could hear his heavy breath just as thick as mine. "Never touch me again." I hissed at him and cracked my hand across his cheek, an angry red welp appearing instantly. "Never, Koray." With that I snapped my wings open and launched myself into the night sky.
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Hours later Danica found Zaine. She was leaning back in the branches of a tree, taking huge bites out of an apple, looking less like a human than anything Danica had ever seen. Her body was human shape, her skin looked human.. but her features.. weren't. She had hair just as long as Danica's but where Danica's was blacks and blues, dark shades, Zaine's was fire. It tumbled down her chest and back, hung on the tree branch and every other way. Her eyes were pupiless, and completely blue. A bright, electrical blue. Without any white. On the hand that held the apple Danica could see red claws, the same color as her hair. When she saw Danica she grinned, flashing razor-sharp teeth. "Hey there, kido. Never thought you'd get here."
Without any warning she dropped from the branch and landed on the ground, shaking her head like a wet dog. Danica saw why.
Once she shook her hair melted away into a deep alburn braid, bouncing against her shoulder blades. Her eyes retracted and emploded, shifting to a deep emerald green, with normal pupils. She giggled and looked up at Danica, her teeth human-blunt. "Human appearnaces. Ugh, such a pain. " Danica looked a little confused and Zaine shrugged. "Where we're going we gotta blend. We'll meet up with some friends of mine in the next town and then we'll get this show on the road." She rolled her shoulders and the black jeans and T-shirt she wore changed to a tight, short green dress and tall green heels. Danica silently wondered how they'd blend with such a beautiful girl.
"Oh, wow, thanks. Most people are used to how I look. They never say I'm beautiful anymore." Danica blushed, feeling self-conscience over how easily Zaine read her thoughts.
Zaine didn't seem to be paying attention. She was too busy frowning at Danica. "Your clothes. Were we are you gonna need something a little different. " Danica looked down at herself. She wore a plain black T-shirt lake she had minutes ago, over red jeans with a black leather jacket. It had been Koray's. She winced and hear Zaine giggle.
"Something happen with the little Tiger Man, eh? It's happened to everyone. You're brother is quite infamous with the ladies." She winked at Danica, and Danica growled. Zaine laughed again and held her hands up. "Oh fine. I won't talk about that stuff." With that Zaine reach her hand out and touched the sleeve of Danica's jacket. Danica's clothes melted away and in it's place was a royal blue dress that she thought was made of silk, dotted with little sparkles in the material. Her boots had melted into royal blue ankle boots, dangling with charms. The only thing remaining was the leather jacket.
"Aw, don't you look pretty? You're just so tall, and I could never pass that color off without your hair. Speaking of which, we need to do something with that." Her hand gently rested on the top of Danica's head and like that she felt it ripple. Her waist-length curls turned to a artistically mused bun, with little whisps of curls framing her face. Zaine grinned proudly. "I should so be in the fashion business."
Danica shifted around uncomfortably and then spoke for the first time. "Can I ask you something?"
Zaine looked shocked, then shrugged. "I'm amazed you actually speak, very pretty voice. Sure kid, I don't mind."
"Why doesn't Koray want me around you, why is he so afraid of that?" Zaine grinned, and the human facade she worked so hard for completely melted away. She grinned with those sharp teeth and lunged for Danica.
"So glad you asked."
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"Never in my life have I ever felt so stupid. " I sighed and didn't look up at Rasmonde. I could feel his disappointment in me for hurting Danica, and for letting her get away. Did he expect anything less? I wasn't the numb nuts that told her the truth.
"Yeah, stupid isn't the word. We have to find her. What if Zaine already has her? What if she's lost? Koray, why didn't you follow her!" His anger, I realized, wasn't just at the fact I'd let his potential girlfriend get hurt. It was jealousy too, jealousy in the fact she'd kissed me. And I'd kissed her. In that moment my anger broke.
"Don't. Think. This. Isn't. Your. Fault. Too." I had went from sitting on the bench to slamming him up against the side of the building Danica and I had been against not long ago. Now I was towering over him, snarling like a rabid animal. Everything in me wanted to slam his head into the wall and bury my teeth into his neck. But Alas I turned it off, and shut the door on the hunger that wasn't mine. Another thing to pretect Dani of course.
Razmonde barked a laugh. "Oh yes Koray, because I didn't tell her that I wasn't related to her our whole lives. I never told her I loved her, even though it was so clear it was painful to others. I never told her who she really was, I never told her the truth about us. I didn't even tell her what she really was. I am truly a horrible person, and this is all my fault." He spit at my shoes and I backed up in disgust.
"I did everything to pretect her and you knew that." He looked at me with those damned gold eyes and shook
"No koray, you did everything to keep her closer to you." He looked down, then up to the heavens. "Like keep her away from me."
I growled and turned my back on him, silently agreeing. "She doesn't need to deal with some filthy half breed. Look in the mirror, those eyes are pure gold these days, boy." And feeling like a child I vanished, pulling the night in around me to form a cloak, then disappeared.
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"Rayhanne are you here, Lovely." Koray purred the words, stepping out of the darkness.
"Of course Darling, I'll always be here." Rayhanne stepped out into the light also, wrapping her arms around his neck as her burried his face into her neck and took a deep breath, drawing her in.
"It's been too long my love."
