"I can’t believe that idiot. Reading un-translated text out loud. He could have just explained it to me later. He didn’t have to do that in front of Nicky. Tavores, are you trying to reveal our secret?" Lucian hissed, massaging his temples as he lay on his bed.

What was he supposed to do now? Dominic was furious. He had a mission now and once he had set his mind on something, there was very little anyone could do to deter him from it. Dominic was determined to find out how he understood an ancient language. How was he supposed to explain that? Even the honest answer didn’t make any sense. Aside from that, the real answer had a good chance of getting him killed. Whether he wanted to accept it or not, he knew Dominic would not allow a demon to associate with the Keys. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t let Dominic discover his secret now, when they finally were starting to work things out.

With his dreams gradually getting worse and worse, he needed his friend more than ever. It seemed that ever since his rescue, the only times that he hadn’t been assaulted by the horrible visions were whenever Dominic was around. The recent feelings of detachment and solitude would go away for a while. He wasn’t a demon then; he was just a crazy teenager just like his partner. When he was with the boy, he could ignore the reoccurring whispers in his head, the glimpses of sadistic black eyes, and the persistent yearning for something undetermined. He wanted to blame Tavores for his new torment, but something inside told him that they were not completely Tavores’ thoughts. They had something to do with him as well.

Now, he was trapped. He couldn’t avoid the inevitable confrontation with Dominic by running off for a while. Dominic had made that emphatically clear. Still, what was his threat? That he would never speak to him again? If Dominic actually did find out about Tavores, Lucian was sure that if he didn’t kill him for it, Dominic would probably never speak to him again in that case either. It was another win/lose situation. There were no options, no alternative moves, only a path to the checkmate.

He flipped onto his side, clutching at the unkempt sheets. His headache still hadn’t gone away. Why did Tavores continue to do this? He knew how he always caused problems whenever he took over this abruptly. Up until now, the migraines had been the worst of his problems. The rest he could handle. Not anymore. Lucian lowered his head to his chest and pressed softly against it with his left palm. How long would this last? Tashira wouldn’t be home for at least three hours.

Part of him was thankful for that much. The last thing he needed was for Dominic to confront him on his secret in front of his sister. He could only imagine what a shock it would be for her. While Dominic’s eyes would reveal that harsh hatred that he had known in his childhood, Tashira’s would display that disgusting pity. He couldn’t decide which he detested more. This was too much to handle; he had to talk to someone.

Lucian thought back to his earlier suggestion to go see Tyrell. He had wanted to talk to him about his frightening dreams. Perhaps, Tyrell could help him figure out why they no longer featured Tavores’ past, but rather featured vague visions of figures he guessed to be Evangel and Vincient. But it wasn’t their presence that worried Lucian as much as the way he was portrayed in them. He always looked very much like Tavores, winged and cowering in Vincient’s wake. The thought of him being so weak sickened him. He had allowed Lionelle to make a mockery of his fears; he would never allow Vincient to do the same. The dreams had to be wrong. Tavores and he were different. He was much stronger than the prince was. Vincient would never control him as he had the other. Never!

Shaking at the memory of his nightmares, Lucian reached across his night stand for his phone. It took a while for it to register in his mind that it was still broken from his temper tantrum not too long ago. He had been too busy to think about fixing it. Lucian whined in aggravation, pulled himself from the bed and clumsily made his way down the stairs, holding his head. Tashira’s phone was closer, but he knew how livid she got whenever he nosed around her room. It was mostly luck that had kept her from recognizing the chain he had taken during his fit of depression a month back. He grabbed the cordless as he passed it on his way to the den. The couch was more comfortable during a phone conversation than a chair and he really didn’t feel like taking on the stairs again. He was still tired and sleep always seemed to find him easily whenever he was on the couch.

Settling into the furniture, he tapped the number to Tyrell’s house. He wasn’t sure what he would say. Dominic had said that he couldn’t leave so that left a trip over to the Artemes out of the question. Yet, Dominic hadn’t made any stipulations about Tyrell seeing him. Besides, Dominic would be busy at school for a while that should allow him and Tyrell a proper amount of time to discuss things without Dominic knowing a thing. Having Tyrell around to reassure him about the whole demon thing couldn’t hurt either. Maybe they could even come up with some sort of plan for dissuading Dominic from his desire to learn "the truth."

The thought immediately resulted in a dull jab in his chest. God, he hated lying to Dominic like this. Going around him with another’s help. Plotting scheme after scheme to perpetuate this secrecy after he had already sworn to Dominic that he had told him everything. It was wrong. Dominic had stated it best. They were supposed to have absolute trust. That’s what a friendship was. How could he ever expect it to become anything more if he denied Dominic the most crucial truth about him? But how could he ever expect Dominic to understand if he told him?

"Hello," Tyrell’s voice on the phone reminded him of the ringing he had been letting fade into the background. "Look, I don’t really have time to talk. I’m really busy."

"Tye...."

"Oh Lucian, it’s you. Sorry for being so rude. Cyrus is ready to flip out because I’m on the phone during a rehearsal. We have a gig coming up real soon and he wants ‘optimum performance," explained the other in his best impersonation of his friend. Lucian could hear one of the boys ranting in back while another hit a discordant note on his guitar.

"Come on, Arteme. We don’t have time for you to flirt with Lucian. This is your day off, remember. No Ambroses or Dominic. Only STRYFE," Maren’s laugh echoed within the phone. "We’re more important anyway."

"Very cute, Ren. Just give me a moment to find out what’s going on. It may be very important."

"Arteme! You said you’d spend time with us. You don’t need to keep a tab on your watchdogs."

"Why must you keep calling them that? They’re not my watchdogs, Ren. They’re my friends."

"They’re a nuisance," grumbled Maren. "Always dragging you off to do things with them. Cye and I were your friends first. We should get top priority."

Lucian chuckled on his end. "Sounds like someone is feeling a bit jealous?"

"Yeah," snickered Tyrell.

"I heard that! You want to start something, Lucian, you say it to me!"

"Tell Maren ‘maybe later.’ I really need to speak with you," Lucian urged, hearing what sounded like a brief struggle for the phone on the other end.

"Let go! Five minutes, Ren. Five!"

"Tyrell!" Cyrus.

"I swear, Cyrus. I just need five minutes. Lucian sounds upset."

"He always sounds upset. That’s his way of getting attention." Another quip from the comedian Maren.

"Shove it, Ren! Please, Cyrus. I’ll shut off the cell after this."

"You’ve got five minutes," announced Cyrus through the din of his companions. "Maren, quit messing with him. You can help me decide what to do with this one note while Tyrell’s taking his emergency phone call."

"Should I even bother to thank him?" Tyrell whispered through the receiver.

"Is he always like that?" asked Lucian, growing anxious at how much time this call was taking.

"Cyrus is very devoted to the band. He doesn’t like things messing it up. That’s all and I did promise them I wouldn’t let you guys interfere today."

Guilt rose in Lucian. "You must miss spending time with them like you used to. I had never noticed how much we make you do things with us."

"I like spending time with you and...Dominic...sometimes. But the band is also important to me. I don’t want to let the group down. We need to practice. So you and I should make this quick. Why’d you call? What’s wrong?" the younger boy questioned, sounding relaxed for the moment.

Leaning back against the armrest, Lucian placed the phone closer to his ear and turned to speak into the receiver as low as he could manage. "I’ve been having these dreams, Tye. I know you’re the expert with that sort of thing. I was hoping you could give me some advice. I really want them to go away."

"Dreams?"

"Yeah. They’re worse than usual. If you could come over, it would be a big help," Lucian implored.

There was a pause on the other end. "Cyrus will kill me if I leave now. But maybe I can get Ren to give me a ride after we’re done."

"How long?"

"Half an hour at least. Maybe more."

Lucian groaned in his throat. "No longer than that, right?"

"I don’t know. It depends on how we sound after a while. Why is it so important that I come over so soon?"

"I’ll tell you when you get here. Just try not to be later than an hour."

"Lucian, you sound different. Are you getting sick?" Tyrell inquired softly.

"I’m just really tired. See you in an hour."

"Okay. I’ll try to speed this up a bit," replied the other, sounding worried and flustered. "Get some rest in the meantime. You sound pretty out of it."

"Maybe I am," Lucian murmured as he clicked off the tone and dropped the phone to the floor.

He had hoped that talking to Tyrell would improve his mood. Now, he just felt worse. Tyrell was enjoying himself with the band and he was forcing him to flock to his side just because he didn’t know what to do about anything. Of course, the ever-compassionate Tyrell would do his best to arrive as soon as possible. He would probably end up frustrating his friends along the way. The boy just wanted so much to please everybody. That was impossible and his attempts usually ended up getting someone angry or hurt. That was a common fact. Still, Lucian did not like knowing that he was the triggering factor this time.

His eyes kept drifting shut even as he tried to keep them open. Even though he was incredibly tired, he knew what sleep had in store for him. It seemed that he couldn’t even escape his nightmares during daytime naps. They always found him. Dominic had once accused him of being able to hide from bad things. It had been true then, but it wasn’t now. He had lost his immunity somehow and he had no idea how to get it back. His only option was to suffer until he could wake up and then convince himself that it was nothing more than a dream.

The only good thing about sleeping was that it meant an escape from his pounding head. It still harassed him as it had all through his discussion with Tyrell. Pills wouldn’t kill it. They didn’t work on unnatural pain such as this. Aside from Tashira, there had only been one another person to devise a cure for the after-effects of Tavores’ appearance and he didn’t want to think of him now.

Stupid professors! What they had insisted on being a two-hour long interview ended up lasting just over forty-five minutes. They had given him some praise about his commendable ability to finish most of the work they had assigned him in the time provided. Then, they had all delivered the question that he was sick of hearing from the school. Why he wanted to come back?

School just appeared to be the proper place for adolescents to be. He felt at peace in school. What more did they want? He went simply because it was something to do and he was good at it. They could analyze that all they wanted.

He had gathered from the discussion that Carthala saw him as an enigma just like everyone else. They saw that he was extremely intelligent, but that he lacked important social skills that would allow him to utilize his attribute. Apparently, they felt that he needed to do more group work in classes to broaden his social circle more. Why did all these morons have to treat him like some deviant? He wondered if they would bother as much if he were slower than most students or at least equal to their level. Because of his aptitude, the professors felt that he should be a type of leader or role model. Both positions he despised.

Why should people follow his example? He wasn’t a leader. That was too much responsibility, to worry about others. He had enough to worry about without being a leader. Just working with the other Guardians was challenging on its own. It was even more troubling when one of his teammates was keeping secrets from the rest. His interview with the staff hadn’t even managed to get his mind off that. The fury that built in him as the professors tried to mold him into the ideal student only added to the fury already present from his fight with Lucian. He was all too happy to receive his final make-up work at the end of the meeting. Once he completed this last project, he would be back on schedule with the rest of his class and he would be able to avoid this special recognition.

After parking the car in the driveway, he hopped out of the automobile and threw open the front door. He knew he wasn’t really in any mood to have a nice discussion with Lucian like he had planned, but he was tired of waiting. The world had just jerked him around one too many times today and he was pissed. He would not have his best friend spouting out such lies to him on top of it.

"Lucian," he summoned as he entered the hall. "Lucian, you had better be home." He added the last phrase in a more muffled timbre. Dominic truly believed that his final warning would have scared Lucian into staying inside. Lucian was terrified at the idea of him leaving again. He wouldn’t jeopardize anything by running away. Not unless his secret was something wicked. Then, he would just turn tail and flee.

Dominic pushed a handful of keys deep into his pocket and strode through the kitchen and adjoining rooms, checking each for his partner. He could feel the heat surrounding him every time he failed to spot the boy. There was no way Lucian would have left. He had come up with the ultimate threat. Lucian was very predictable when it came to this sort of thing. He had to be here.

"Lucian!"

Pained mewls answered his call. Dominic snapped around, eyes alert and body tense. He knew the sound well. Lucian was suffering and from the muffled tone, he could tell that it was probably due to a nightmare. But one didn’t have nightmares during the day. For that matter, what was Lucian doing sleeping at this hour? He had said something about a headache, but that had just been an excuse to get out of talking. Hadn’t it?

As with any other time Dominic encountered Lucian during a nightmare, the older boy kept his movements slow. He quietly crossed into the den and saw his partner stretched out on his back, one hand gripping at the back couch cushion with convulsing fingers. Lucian’s other hand, the injured one, had its fingers curled around Lucian’s ruby amulet, seeking its power for strength against whatever he was facing in his mind. Amongst his anger, Dominic felt that wave of sorrow that overtook him whenever he saw his friend in pain. He forced himself to keep his distance, knowing that waking up Lucian would just cause problems.

Closing his eyes, he turned from the other, the melancholy whimpers finding their way into his ears. He still wanted to have his discussion with Lucian, but not until after he had recovered from this diurnal episode. Dominic preferred a coherent Lucian. If he wanted that, he would have to wait for Lucian to wake up. Once he determined that he was back in the real world, they could begin their talk.

Seeing Lucian splayed across the couch reminded Dominic of the one time he had found him during one of his nightmares before. Lucian had complained about a headache then too. Maybe, the incidents were connected. Lucian had acted weird just before developing a headache in the both of them and Lucian had also been quite tired. What odd coincidences.

Carefully, Dominic crept over to Lucian and laid a hand on his damp forehead. It felt a bit hot. Strangely, Lucian didn’t even react to his touch as he continued to battle his nightmares. Assured that the headache was not something Lucian had just made up to avoid him; Dominic took away his hand and headed for the staircase. He had work to do and Lucian wouldn’t be capable of logically speaking with him for the time being. The topic about the parallels between today’s events and the ones of his first experience with Lucian’s nightmares could be explored further in his room. He had plenty of time to think before Lucian woke up.

Something shook Lucian’s arm as he swam into consciousness, pushing away both Tavores and the scenes in his mind. He blinked his eyes, clearing the brown haze that remained in them, and tried to see who was trying to wake him up. Dazed, he attempted to glance up at his watch to see what time it was. He was relieved to discover that his migraine had passed through his sleep. That would make it a lot easier to explain things to Tyrell if it was him who was next to him right now. It couldn’t have been Dominic since he knew of Dominic’s choice for avoiding him during his sleep. Dominic had told him before that it was probably safer for him to let the dream pass than to violently rouse him from it. Lucian had agreed. He didn’t like being babied about this stuff anyway.

"Lucian, am I late?" Tyrell. So he had guessed right.

Stifling a yawn, Lucian set his left hand upon the armrest and pushed himself upright, gazing up at Tyrell with drowsy garnet eyes. Tyrell’s look of worry melted as he saw that Lucian was awake. Lucian kicked his feet to the floor to allow the other a spot to sit as he situated himself so that he was leaning on the back of the couch. His friend watched him during this, catching every time that Lucian bumped himself on any part of the furniture.

"Rough day?" joked the younger boy as Lucian smoothed his messy hair away from his face.

"I’ve had worse, but this one does come close," Lucian admitted, smirking in the boy’s direction. "I didn’t hear you knock."

"I did several times. But you must have been out of it. You left the door unlocked so I didn’t think you would be too upset if I just came in and checked on you."

"Well, I had to wake up sometime."

Tyrell scooted closer and examined Lucian’s eyes carefully. "They seemed brown a moment ago."

"Yeah, they were. Tavores has more power when I’m sleeping."

"Is he the one you wanted to talk about? You said you’ve been having different dreams lately. Care to elaborate?"

The redhead turned away for a second, running things through his mind. He didn’t want to upset Tyrell too much by bringing up Evangel again, but he had to make sure that it was her that he had been seeing in his dreams. In them, Evangel had been happy to be with Vincient. They had been like a team, a family. And they wanted him as part of it. Why him? Why didn’t Vincient seek out Tavores? Tavores was the one who had originally belonged to him. What did he have to do with any of this? It should have been Tavores he was seeing in his dreams, but it wasn’t. It was him. According to Evangel, both he and the prince were exactly the same. That wasn’t true. He was better than Tavores, much better.

"Tye, do you think you could draw something for me? Like those pictures you showed me a long time ago. You know, the ones with young Nicky and Wolf," he inquired, getting up from the couch to find something to use as sketch paper.

"I’m not sure. I usually only draw things I see from my dreams. I’ve never tried drawing anything else."

"I want you to draw something from my dream. I need to get your opinion."

"I’ll give it a shot."

Searching through drawers of miscellaneous items and baskets full of old letters and notes soon earned Lucian a blank piece of notebook paper. The back was filled with some of Tashira’s old homework, but the front was clean enough. He picked a new pencil out of one of the baskets and sharpened it. Seconds later, the pencil was in Tyrell’s hand, the page braced against a textbook, as the boy listened to Lucian describe what he had seen during the past few nights. Tyrell looked scared as he brought out each of Lucian’s images through light lines on the paper. Lucian noticed the boy’s eyes scan his sketching now and then, the fear increasing on his visage. He leaned over the paper, watching Tyrell form three figures with his steady hand. It was surprising to see the professionalism Tyrell was able to display even with the obvious stress that the drawing was producing in him.

"Perfect," remarked Lucian, pulling the paper away as soon as his friend completed the last line of the sword by one of the figure’s sides. "Do any of these characters look familiar?"

His friend reached out to the drawing and pointed to two figures on the side. One was a woman with waves of hair to her ankles and a heavy dark cross coloring a patch on her upper chest. A pair of cruel leather wings were folded upon her back. She gripped a long slender sword in one hand; its point pressing into the ground as her other fingers were entwined in a bundle of shaded feathers, wrapped around a thin curve of bone. Another figure, this one male, stood on her left, holding the underside of her jaw in one hand and clutching the hand bracing the sword with the other. This figure’s body was resting against her back in a pre-embrace state but the eyes of the person were centered on the final figure. Tyrell hadn’t bothered to indicate an interest in this last one.

This one was clearly under the control of the first two. It was a young man who half-laid half-kneeled upon the ground, his head bowed so that his medium-length hair hid his face and covered the top of his spread set of arms. He looked like he was arching his back in pain as the enormous winged structures that reached from his shoulder blades were being yanked back by the female figure.

"Vincient and Evangel," Tyrell whispered, following the lines of the figures with his index finger. "I don’t get it. You’ve always seen Vincient, but since when have you been able to see her?"

"Oh, I’m more than just a spectator, Tye. Take a closer look at the youngest one," suggested the older boy, moving Tyrell’s finger to rest above the male winged-figure. He caught Tyrell’s gasp and nodded with a mournful smile. "I’m a participant."

"But Vincient doesn’t know who you are," the other youth argued, taking the picture from Lucian.

"I know." He lifted his eyes. "There’s something else."

"Huh?"

Lucian rubbed his arm slightly. "Evangel doesn’t always appear like that. Sometimes she’s younger. She doesn’t look entirely evil then. She looks like...."

"Angelique," Tyrell finished with a drop of his voice.

"Yes. Angelique."

"Her and Vincient just seem to pop up more often now. I don’t like it. I’m worried that he will make her do something awful. I don’t want to watch that happen. I just want things like they were."

"That’s not going to happen, Tye. Angelique is messed up in this as well. We have to treat this like we would anything else concerning the Keys. We have to confront Angelique and get her to explain herself to us."

Tyrell jerked up from the couch and shook his head in a frenzied motion. "No! You can’t do that! She doesn’t like being accused. She’ll think that I have joined you against her. Angie will hate me."

Grabbing his hand, Lucian pulled Tyrell back into the cushions. "You want us to think of her as an enemy? This is the only way. If she speaks with us, then we have a better chance of understanding all this."

"She won’t talk to you. She doesn’t like you, Lucian. She knows something’s wrong about you."

"I don’t care! I won’t allow her to ally against us with Vincient. My dreams have never lied."

"They have always been about the past so of course they would be the truth," countered Tyrell, moving his eyes away from Lucian.

"Tell me you’ve never seen something similar in your dreams then," Lucian challenged, trying to get Tyrell to look at him again.

"My dreams never make any sense. I don’t know how to feel about them. People shouldn’t rely on them for answers."

"Just answer the question! Have you ever seen Vincient with Evangel or Angelique in your visions?" demanded the redhead, holding Tyrell against the couch.

Gray-green eyes trembled as Tyrell hugged himself and nodded. Lucian stepped away from the boy and paced around the room. Having been given his answer, his mind was now occupied with thoughts about Angelique’s hatred of him. He had always been afraid that she knew what he was. His dreams were starting to prove it. If Angelique had a connection with Evangel, then it was highly possible that she could have discovered Tavores. Being the assassin of the angels, Evangel would no doubt despise a demon.

Rising from the couch, Tyrell folded the drawing and placed it in his pocket. "Lucian, do we have to confront Angie? What about Dominic’s idea of spying on her and Vincient? That sounds like it will be easier."

"And deadlier," Lucian snapped. "Vincient will hurt Nicky. I told you that before. We’re not arguing this notion further. Nicky already promised that he wouldn’t follow Angelique."

"Why did he promise that?"

"I asked him to."

The younger boy looked baffled by this answer. "I thought he was too busy catching up to have time for you."

"He makes time," Lucian laughed, forgetting his problems with the eldest youth for the moment. "And he’s almost done with the make-up stuff. He had some little meeting to go to today to learn what else he has to do." His mentioning of Dominic’s appointment brought back his early distress. He checked the time. Dominic would be back in half an hour. He had to think of something to get around the Tavores thing before then. Lucian turned to Tyrell as his expression turned increasingly serious. "Speaking of Nicky, there is one more thing I wanted to talk to you about, Tye."

Dominic kneeled at the top of the stairs, grasping at the one of the stairway rungs so hard that he was amazed that it hadn’t snapped yet. He had been led away from his studying by the sound of furious voices downstairs. It had taken a while for Lucian’s voice to reach a pitch high enough to alert him to his presence so Dominic had missed some of the conversation. He had wanted to interrupt the boys and see what they were making such a big deal out of. Then, he had heard Lucian mention his name and their promise. The way the conversation was heading seemed to indicate that Lucian was about to tell Tyrell about their new relationship. He couldn’t believe it. Lucian had said that he wouldn’t tell anybody since it was just supposed to be their game. His fear had grounded him and all he could do was listen numbly. Any other time, he would have just gone into the other room and beat the crap out of Lucian for bringing up his personal business. But now, he was just too stunned to think.

His partner’s voice continued from the den. He was thankful that his time spent as Wolf had lent the animal’s keen sense of hearing to his human form. Lucian was speaking so low, dejection pouring from each of his words. "Tavores showed up again today. He read something that was really old. Something I wouldn’t know how to read. Nicky heard him and now he’s suspicious."

"Dominic knows about Tavores?" Tyrell’s voice was louder, showing more surprise in the tone.

"Not yet. I haven’t told him. I can’t. He’d...he’d only see that creature...that demon."

"I understand, why shouldn’t Dominic?"

"You come from two different worlds, Tye. In his world, there is a clear distinction between dark and light, good and bad. There is no good in a demon. His blood is a sign of treachery and evil." Dominic could barely hear the disgust in Lucian’s speech as his head clouded in dark rage and disbelief. Who was Tavores? What the hell was Lucian talking about?

"Having tainted blood is not your fault, Lucian. It’s Vincient’s. He wanted Tavores to be hard to kill. I believe he was his most-powerful servant."

"More like his pet," snarled Lucian, spitting out the final word. "You haven’t seen everything that I have, Tyrell."

"I don’t think I want to."

"I don’t know what to do. If Nicky finds out what I am, he’ll go crazy. How can I make him forget about it?"

"Are you sure you want to make him forget? I mean, do you really think it’s right to continue keeping him in the dark? He is your partner."

"I want things to stay that way. If he finds out about...Tavores, he...it won’t be good. Don’t you understand, Tye? Nicky lives to protect you and Kathy. And he will. From anything. Even his partner. I know. I’ve seen the extent of his loyalty. You will always come first."

The boy listening from the stairway deliberated over Lucian’s previous question. What Lucian was? He was an orphan who had the ability to heal others with his blood. Dominic knew all that. There was no way that blood that possessed restorative powers could be tainted. What was Lucian worried about? If it was this Tavores, there were no problems. He didn’t appear to like Tavores, even though they sounded like they shared some link. Well, Dominic shared his feelings. He didn’t like the association between this Tavores character and Vincient very much either.

"I think that if you can believe in him so much about everything else, you should trust him about this. If he’s your friend, he won’t see you as a demon."

WHAT? Was Tyrell on drugs? Lucian was no demon. Demons were vicious creatures. Aiden had warned him about them when he had explained his task as a Guardian in the letter. They had been one of the many things Aiden had listed as a danger to the Keys. In the past, some of the Alistars had confronted one. Aiden hadn’t known much about it, but he had heard that they were devoid of pity and had the mentality of rabid beasts when it came to killing. There were also rumors that such beings were masters of manipulation. Manipulation? That did sound familiar.

"I wish I could believe that, but the facts don’t support it. Tavores is a demon. That’s all that will matter to him. Things are relatively simple to Nicky when it comes to you Keys. Demons endanger Keys. Demons bad. Tavores demon. Therefore, Tavores bad. Tavores Lucian. Well, you get the picture. It’s not his fault. It’s what he’s conditioned himself to think."

"He shouldn’t act that way. He should accept you for who you are," stated Tyrell firmly.

"Not everyone is as understanding as you," Lucian uttered in a shaky voice.

"Or as naive," growled Dominic from his position. He couldn’t get Lucian’s statement out of his head. Lucian didn’t trust him. He wouldn’t tell him the truth because he was sure that Dominic would freak out. Instead, he turned to Tyrell. Always Tyrell. Tyrell knew the one thing that Lucian was keeping from him. Dominic understood that now. What he was still confused about was as to what Lucian was lying about.

Him and this Tavores seemed to have a connection. He also called Tavores a demon, whether he meant it figuratively or literally. Dominic didn’t like the sound of any of this. Not only was Lucian keeping a major secret from him, but also he was going behind his back with Tyrell’s help to do it. Tyrell was too trusting. He would allow Lucian to use him if that was what he was doing. Things were pointing toward that conclusion. If Tavores had something to do with Vincient, then Lucian’s association with him made him an accomplice.

There was a tiny crack and he felt a piece of wood stab into his thumb. The rung that he had been clutching had finally snapped due to his anger. How could he have let Lucian do this to him? He had allowed himself to become so complacent that hadn’t even noticed the possibility of a threat within the Guardians’ midst. Erik had been the only one he had ever suspected of betrayal, not Lucian. It couldn’t be true. There was another explanation. There had to be. He would find out more about this Tavores and make some conclusions of his own.

Dominic didn’t want to believe anything he had heard. He wanted all these realities and speculations to vanish. Lucian was his best friend. The boy was not a traitor. He had already proved that back with the Chimera. Lucian had been willing to let him shoot him to prove that. Why doubt him now?

But Dominic could not make the feeling disappear. Why would Lucian share his secret with Tyrell and nobody else? Everyone knew how easy Tyrell was to trick. All it took was a kind smile and a few sincere words and the boy was sold for life.

Maybe, it wouldn’t have been that much of a shock if he believed that Lucian had at least told Tashira. Yet, the way the redhead spoke of the subject, Dominic was quick to doubt that such a talk had ever occurred. It fit into the unpleasant scenario. If Lucian was working with the enemy, then he wouldn’t let a fellow Guardian know about it, even if she was his own kin. The most crushing evidence though was the maddened way Lucian fought to keep his secret from being known. Why would he react so savagely if his secret didn’t involve such sort of treachery?

It made Dominic’s stomach turn. He didn’t want to hear the rest of the conversation. The mixture of grief and ire was drowning out his senses, making all the dialogue jumbled in his mind. He couldn’t even summon the energy to charge in there and force his answers from the pair. Dominic was too sick to fight. As close as he had let Lucian get to him, how could he do this?

Lucian and Tyrell’s conversation floated amongst his ears as he returned to his room in a zombie-like walk and crashed against the mattress. He held his amulet in both hands, rubbing stiff fingers across the precious gem. Words of the conversation repeated themselves in his head like a sadistic litany.

What was Lucian implying? What was he to Tavores? Why couldn’t he just tell him? Why would he only share this with Tyrell? Tyrell wasn’t as close to him as he was. He could never understand him the way that they had always understood each other. Why did Lucian fear his reaction especially? And what was with all this demon talk? Could it be possible that his friend was a demon after all? How? Lucian didn’t seem special in that sense. How could he be some unholy creature? It didn’t make sense. Nothing did anymore.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he never even noticed it when he finally dozed off.

By then, the boys’ discussion was coming to a close. Tyrell had been unable to think of any recommendations to help Lucian hide his secret from Dominic and Lucian was more despondent than ever. He hated seeing Lucian so defeated. Why couldn’t Dominic just have faith in Lucian despite his affliction? Lucian’s demonic lineage had never prevented him from serving as an efficient Guardian before now. Dominic had to see that. Lucian was just getting worried because he didn’t want to lose one of his friends.

Though, he knew that Lucian would find his suggestions stupid and cruel, Tyrell had no other ideas. He simply told Lucian to tell his partner what he was. It would probably be better if Dominic found it out from him rather than discovering it on his own and learning that Lucian had chosen to lie to him. Lucian was annoyed at the suggestion but also knew that he wasn’t really left with any better options. He agreed to tell Dominic the truth when he returned from his conference.

Having decided on a course of action, Tyrell was eager to get back to Angelique. He wanted to see if she had recovered from her latest slump and he also needed to find a way to ask her about having a talk with the Guardians. Since Lucian refused to let Dominic attempt his plan, the group session was the only other way of getting information from Angelique. Once she told them what she knew, they could throw away this false sense of deception and mistrust that they all held toward each other. Perhaps, Angelique could even help out with the Keys as she had claimed to want when she had first revealed herself as wielding the Amethyst.

"Do you plan on waiting while me and Nicky have our little heart-to-heart or are you planning on heading home before then?" Lucian asked the other boy.

His emphasis on the latter question told Tyrell of his preference. Naturally, Lucian would not enjoy having a spectator while he pleaded his case with Dominic. Lucian didn’t want back up. Tyrell felt a pinch of regret at the notion that his friend didn’t want his help in the execution of his plan.

"I told Ren that you could give me a ride since you’re supposed to have the car this evening," noted the younger boy, trying not to appear bothered at the idea of leaving.

Lucian lowered his right arm from behind his head and stared down at the healing knuckles. "I sort of messed up my right hand the other day so I’m not very good at coordination, Tye. I don’t think it would be very safe to let me drive you home."

"How did you hurt your hand?" Tyrell yelped, snatching at Lucian’s wrist and examining the damage near the joints of his fingers.

"I kind of...hit...a mirror," stuttered the other, a small smile flitting across his face.

"Why?"

"Nightmare." When Tyrell shut his mouth and turned away, Lucian laughed again in his comforting purr. "Don’t worry about it. I’m dealing." Tyrell began to perk up and Lucian flicked a piece of hair away from the boy’s eyes with his fingers. "I’ll ask Shira to drive you when she gets back from work."

The genial beam left Tyrell as he cocked his head a little to the side. "I thought she was already home. The car’s in the driveway."

"It is?" gasped Lucian, leaping up from the furniture and running to one of the living room windows to check. "This isn’t good."

Tyrell came up behind him and glanced at the car. He turned to Lucian and gave him a pointed look. "Guess Dominic is home then."

"He said we were going to talk when he got back. Why didn’t he come and see me?" the redhead posed in a bothered tenor. Lucian shook his head and stared back into the hall, an expression of angry confusion on his face.

"I’m sure he’s upstairs. We could ask him."

"Yeah."

As soon as he spoke, Lucian stormed up the staircase with Tyrell right behind him. Tyrell noticed that Lucian didn’t even bother to knock as he twisted the handle and flung the door into the wall. Dominic rolled onto all fours upon his bed, shock radiating in his bleary eyes. Lucian backed into one of the walls and studied his partner as Tyrell held up his hands to show Dominic that they meant no harm.

"Were you sleeping?" he questioned the eldest youth, who was easing the tension that had automatically gathered in his muscles at the sound of an intruder. Dominic’s fingers released the folds of sheet that they had been curling around.

"Somewhat. When did you come over?" Tyrell picked up on something off about Dominic’s tone. It was too edgy. Why was Dominic so impatient over a trivial matter such as his presence?

"Little less than an hour ago."

"So Lucian’s been entertaining you?"

Moving from his wall, Lucian dropped his standoffish attitude and tried to pull off the cheerful act once more. "Meeting ended early?" he asked in a syrupy voice.

Dominic chose to keep his eyes on Tyrell as he answered his partner. "Yes," mumbled the boy. He sat on the edge of the bed and regarded Tyrell with his dark eyes. "Why are you here, Tyrell?"

"Tye came over because I wanted to talk to him about Angelique. He had some more information about her behavior. I’m thinking we should get a hold of Erik so we can have a talk when Shira gets home," Lucian rambled quickly, nudging Tyrell to the side as he stood a few feet in front of Dominic. Tyrell blinked his eyes and took his place behind his friend.

Was Lucian still trying to get out of telling Dominic about Tavores? Sure, some of what he had said had been the truth. They had spoken about Angelique, but he hadn’t brought up anything about her behavior. Now that he thought about it, he realized that he should have mentioned something about Ciara’s disappearance and Angelique’s dour mood. A talk with the Guardians could be useful for bouncing ideas off each other. It had relaxed him immensely when he had learned that he could share things with them without being afraid they would do something rash. With his initial fear gone, he looked forward to talking with his friends now. They could help him.

Speaking with the group sounded like a marvelous idea. Only, he could tell that Lucian had no intention to do that. He was merely looking for an excuse to deter Dominic from his suspicions. Lucian had just picked the first thing that came into his head. Tyrell felt a little angry. Lucian had to know that perpetuating this lie was just going to make things worse in the long run. He didn’t know precisely how Dominic would react to the information, but he knew that whatever the reaction was, it would be significantly better if Lucian delivered the information in person. Dominic did like to be lied to.

The dark-haired youth looked like he was picking up on Tyrell’s agitated vibes as he slid off the bed and bent down to collect his books. He threw them onto the bed in a sloppy motion and turned his back to the boys as he arranged his work into a pile for each subject. Wordlessly, he returned to the bed and laid on his side, facing the wall, and flipped through a few pages. His fingers seemed unsteady and Tyrell caught the thin line of blood that formed on one of them as a page was turned too quickly. Dominic shook the hand.

"I have a lot of studying to do. I can’t fuss over Tyrell’s girlfriend tonight."

"But, Nicky, this is top priority," whined Lucian, scrambling over to the side that Dominic was facing. Dominic tilted his book to ignore the youth, but Lucian pulled it back down, gaping at him. "This is the Keys!"

"Maybe I want to make school top priority," Dominic barked in a scathing tone as he jerked his text away from Lucian and pushed him back. "Maybe I don’t want to flunk out. Maybe I want to graduate! Did you ever think of that?"

"Don’t get angry with him, Dominic," pleaded Tyrell, rushing in between his Guardians and keeping Lucian from making another attempt to steal Dominic’s book. He held Lucian away from the other boy and gave him a desperate look. Lucian faked a grin and clasped his wrist with his other hand in an unthreatening gesture. Tyrell decided to accept Lucian’s action and gave Dominic his attention once more. "He didn’t mean to insult you. We’re just used to you seeing the Keys as the most important thing in your life."

Dominic glared at the youngest boy. "I don’t like being judged."

"Sorry."

Lucian increased the pressure on his wrist and looked to the side. "Well, what about our...talk?"

"You were asleep when I got back, so I took a quick nap. I plan on studying late tonight. But since you woke me up...."

"So you’re postponing our talk," the redhead concluded, sounding both relieved and disappointed.

"I don’t want to talk right now," responded Dominic, his voice strained and full of anguish.

"You sure seemed a lot more emphatic about this before you went to Carthala."

Tyrell was impressed by the insistence in Lucian’s voice. He wasn’t going to drop the subject this time. Lucian really did plan on telling Dominic the truth. Maybe it was the reverse psychology that Dominic was subconsciously using. The number one way to get Lucian to do something was to deny him the right to do it of his free will. Dominic’s choice not to talk was spurring Lucian to desire a conversation.

But Dominic did not appear to be aware of his progress as he tossed a book at the wall, purposely missing his partner by less than an inch. He stood up and yanked Tyrell to the side so that he could no longer block Lucian. Tyrell stumbled and fell on his leg as Dominic loomed over Lucian. "I said I’m busy! What’s so hard to understand about that? I can’t deal with you every second of the day!"

"I didn’t ask you to! It’s just that with the way you acted earlier, I can’t believe that you would just blow this off," the other contested, lifting his head to yell in Dominic’s face.

"Maybe I have more important things on my mind than YOU."

His companion shot him a confused grimace and shoved at his chest. "What are you so angry about?"

"I’m not angry!" denied Dominic; fisting Lucian’s necklace in his hand and dragging him over to the door before Lucian knew what was happening. "I just want you and Tyrell to go away so I can concentrate."

As he prepared to force Lucian out, the redhead snatched at his hand and freed the chain. Holding Dominic’s wrist at an angle that threatened to break it, he gazed up at him with an injured look. Dominic cursed at him and used his trapped wrist to slam Lucian’s arm into the doorway. Tyrell scurried close to the pair, positive that they would be too involved to pay attention to him. He made an attempt to snatch at Dominic as the older boy drove Lucian’s arm harder against the edge. Lucian winced and his eyes turned murderous.

He pushed Dominic’s wrist further back, knowing it would probably result in bruise at the very least, and roared at him, "Quit screaming at me! I was just trying to do what you wanted. You said you wanted to talk so...."

A harsh moan from Dominic made him stop as the other boy ripped his hurt hand from Lucian. "Well, now I don’t," Dominic snarled as he reared back his other hand to strike his partner. Lucian saw the motion and prepared to grab Dominic’s throat.

Terror gripped Tyrell as he saw his friends about to engage in heavy combat. Whatever was wrong with Dominic was making him more violent than usual and he could tell that Lucian wasn’t going to put up with it. They were really going to hurt each other. Thinking fast, he changed his target to Lucian and caught him by his waist. Dominic’s fist swung by the redhead as Tyrell forced him down. Lucian gave a startled shout as he hurled the both of them to the floor and into the hall. Furious, Lucian tried to get Tyrell off him but the younger teenager kept him firmly pinned.

Dominic observed the pair by his doorway and glowered at the struggling Lucian. "Go away! Go study with Tyrell so you don’t fail that exam tomorrow." Lucian yanked against Tyrell’s hold as Dominic turned from them and slammed the door, locking it a second later.

"Tyrell, get your hands off me!" ordered Lucian as his friend obeyed, satisfied that he had prevented the fight. The fierce look in Lucian’s eyes faded as he stared at Tyrell, who was scrutinizing his arm. Lowering his eyes, Lucian covered the bruised area with his hand and glanced back at the closed door in misery.

"What’s his problem?" the other boy asked, helping Lucian to his feet.

"I wish I knew."

"He was here for a while. Do you think he heard anything?"

"He was sleeping when we came in," explained Lucian, leading Tyrell into his room and turning on the small television.

Tyrell paused by the door for a moment, looking back at Dominic’s door. "He could have faked that. It’s easy."

"I don’t think he heard anything. He would have said something about it," the redhead sighed, picking a new shirt from his bureau, tossing it on, and heading into the bathroom.

"He was really violent back there. I’ve seen you two fight before, but he’s usually not that brutal."

"You haven’t seen us really fight. That was a bit more vicious than what’s customary for us, but we’ve had some pretty heated battles before," informed Lucian from the other room. Tyrell could hear water running from within.

"If you say so. It’s just that Dominic seemed like he wanted to start something with you," Tyrell pointed out, walking away from the door and switching the television channels by hand.

Lucian stepped back into the room, wearing a white T-shirt with some brand name logo on the back. He was holding a wet wash cloth to the section of lightly bruised skin on his arm. Tyrell tried to hide the look of fury on his face. He knew he wasn’t being fair. Lucian had probably hurt Dominic’s wrist just as much. But in Lucian’s defense, he had only done that after Dominic had smashed him against the doorway. He deserved more sympathy.

Peering at the new bruise, Lucian tried to keep his expression placid. "He’s probably still pissed about our other fight. Nicky doesn’t like it when he doesn’t get his way," he added with a hint of playfulness in his timbre.

"Maybe," replied the boy by the television. Closing his eyes, he turned the volume down and sighed to himself. "Lucian, I think you shouldn’t bother him for a while. You should hold off on telling him about Tavores until he’s done his work. He doesn’t seem to be acting like himself tonight."

"Heh, nobody is anymore," Lucian mocked, acquiring the remote from one of his desk drawers.

"I’d be careful, Lucian."

This time, Lucian’s eyes turned cold as he gripped the remote in his hand and crushed his fingers against the black plastic. He spoke in a rough tone, his icy glare stopping Tyrell from interrupting him. "Nicky’s my friend, Tye. I wish you and the others would just get that through your heads. He’s my best friend. I’m not afraid of him."

There was no way for Tyrell to respond to that. Lucian didn’t want to believe that his friend would intentionally hurt him for no reason. He wanted to think that there was also some logic behind Dominic’s actions, even if most wouldn’t be able to understand the type of logic that he applied. Tyrell decided that nothing he said could get Lucian to change his mind about his partner. He nodded his understanding and remained silent.

Easing his hold on the remote, Lucian moved over to Tyrell and placed it in his palm. He held the boy’s arm softly for a minute and met his eyes, begging. "Tye, don’t tell Shira about this, okay? Her and Nicky have never seen eye to eye. It would just cause problems."

Even with his misgivings, Tyrell could not turn down such an urgent request from his friend. Slowly, he closed his fingers around the remote. "Okay."

"Wait up, Shira! I’m coming with you. Me and Tye could play with the puppy for a bit, after studying of course," Lucian’s shout rang through the house as the roar of an engine resounded in Dominic’s ears, yanking him from his slump. Tashira was probably giving Tyrell a ride home. She hadn’t inquired anything about Lucian studying with him. It was no secret that Tashira preferred her brother to spend time with Tyrell. She wouldn’t bring him up if she didn’t feel she had to.

Lucian’s leaving meant that he wanted to get away from him for a while. It was common practice. They had lashed out at each other and now Lucian felt that they needed time apart to repent for their actions. Dominic wasn’t in the mood to repent. In his opinion, Lucian had deserved everything he had got. Lying to him and then making a big deal about wanting to talk. What was the boy’s problem?

The only thing he did regret was trying to slug the other. That had been an act of blind rage. Lucian had hurt his hand and he had felt the need to show Lucian who was really in control. He hadn’t expected his partner to retaliate so aggressively. Most likely, Lucian was embarrassed of being overpowered in front of Tyrell. They both had some superior image that they wanted to show to their charge. Neither liked being seen as weak in his eyes. There was that, but there was also the notion that Lucian was just sick of being bullied into things. Dominic had tried to force him out the door and that action had annoyed him.

Knowing that his swipe had been reckless, Dominic was glad that Tyrell had interfered and pushed Lucian out of harm’s way. The boy’s determination to save everybody was good for something. Shutting Lucian out had been the best option for him following that incident. It had stopped any further confrontation and had given him time to collect his thoughts. His work had gotten done in the meantime, but he hadn’t put as much effort into it as he should have. He was preoccupied with solving the mystery behind his friend’s lies.

Being away from Lucian had helped temporarily, but the image of Lucian leaving with Tyrell fit too well into Dominic’s scenario of Lucian hiding from him. This was just another way for Lucian to keep his secret. It was just convenient that he had been too depressed to talk with him a few hours ago. Lucian hadn’t really wanted to talk; he just wanted it to appear that way so that Dominic would think that he actually wanted to open up to him. Dominic assured himself that if he hadn’t told Lucian he didn’t want to talk that Lucian would have never been so adamant about the subject. Lucian was a master manipulator. He was adept with his mind games and could practically make people believe anything he wanted them to. These were traits that could be shared by one working against the Guardians and the Keys.

He waited until he heard the car depart from the driveway and then stalked out of the room. Compelled by some unknown desire, he rushed into Lucian’s room. With a frantic speed, he tore open night stand drawers and chest bureaus, searching for any information on this Tavores he had heard the boys speak of. A journal entry, a picture, a letter, a page printed off the Internet. Anything. He found keys, food wrappers, sunglasses, letter openers shaped like daggers, CDs, clothes, telephone numbers, old letters from lovers or admirers, writing utensils, passwords, miniature screwdrivers, floppy disks, hair bands, miscellaneous articles of jewelry, comic books, faded pictures of Lucian and Tashira, empty bottles of sleeping pills, an ancient carton of cigarettes that had never been opened, and the picture that Lucian had drawn of him as a wolf taped along the center. Dominic refused to let the sketch get to him and slammed the final drawer shut. There was nothing. He searched under Lucian’s bed, aside from some wrinkled clothing and dog-eared books, it also yielded nothing. Frustrated, he chucked one of the books into the wall behind him and crawled up from the floor. He already knew there was no point to checking Lucian’s closet. All it contained were Lucian’s more exotic pieces of clothing and the files Lucian had collected from the computer. He had seen them last time he had been in here. They had nothing important.

"Damn it," he fumed, exiting Lucian’s room in a huff and kicking the door shut with an audible bang.

Dominic couldn’t understand it. Why did he want to find evidence so much? What was he looking for? Proof that Lucian was innocent or that he had allied with the enemy? Really, he just wanted to know who this Tavores was. Tavores could give him his answers. He had to believe that. Tavores had been the one that Lucian had spoken so hesitantly about. Lucian had hated mentioning his name. He had called him a demon. Tavores had to mean something to the other boy and the reason for that connection would let him know without a doubt who Lucian sided with.

Determined to get his answers, Dominic thought of other possible places to check. There were the papers by the computer, the cabinets in the kitchen, and the den of course. That was one of Lucian’s favorite haunts since he did spend most nights there. All those places happened to be downstairs so snooping around up here wasn’t doing a damn bit of good. He descended the stairs and headed through the hallway toward the computer room first.

Failing to pay attention to his path in his furor, Dominic never spied the rickety pearl white writing desk that stood on the side of the entrance. He brushed past it, slicing his upper thigh on a broken piece of wood that protruded from the edge of the furniture. It was a large splinter-like piece that had split along one of the desk’s drawer. That had been the reason that it had been placed in such an odd spot. It had originally rested against the back wall of Tashira’s room and she had brought it down in hopes that one of the boys would find a way to repair the busted drawer. She had been burdened down with too much work to get around to it. The boys, on the other hand, had been more concerned with each other to remember Tashira’s request to fix her furniture.

It had been Lucian who had suggested moving the desk close to the computer room so that he would have a better reminder. Unfortunately, having Dominic around just seemed to blind Lucian to everything else lately and he had forgotten it yet again. His anger peaked at the thought of Lucian having a hand in his further discomfort and Dominic clutched at his leg with his right hand as he furiously ripped the offending drawer out by its metal handle with his left. The weak grip he had on the drawer faltered and the bottom end smashed against the floor, cracking the painted wood and spilling out the drawer’s contents. A fancy calligraphy pen rolled across a copy of some teen magazine, probably Tashira’s.

Enraged at the way his day was going, Dominic swore and kicked at the magazine. The publication flipped over as its pages splayed around its supple spine. In the midst of the crumpled pages, Dominic could see a battered sheet of paper. This piece was stiffer than the ones connected to the magazine and looked like it had been folded into sections. His interest evoked, he separated the page away from the teen magazine and examined it.

There was a dark sketch of a woman that looked much like the one that Tyrell had described when he had told the group about Evangel. The hair matched as did the wings and the cross. Even the sword fit the account perfectly. So this was the Evangel that threatened both Tyrell and Angelique. So far, only Tyrell had ever seen her and that had been in his dreams. Given the information, Dominic was willing to believe that the drawing was Tyrell’s work. He had never seen any of his work before. Tyrell was good. The young artist had even gone so far as to label his sketch along the side. Evangel? Placing a question mark after the name seemed strange, but that could have been because this was Tyrell’s first time drawing the figure. He might have just written down something that he had heard in his dream.

Well, the drawing had apparently been in Tashira’s possession. She must have placed it in her magazine and forgotten about it. But why? Why did a picture of some unknown deity interest Tashira? She had to have thought that it was just some fantasy drawing. Anybody else would have. Tyrell hadn’t told them about Evangel before the other day and this drawing didn’t look recent.

"What sort of odd fetish do you have, Tashira?" he chuckled, turning the paper over. His fingers curled around the edges, driving them against his flesh. "Lu...cian?"

The hair was longer and the eyes were haunting, but the physical build and stance were all too familiar. If one looked past the dominating sense of defeat in the soft eyes, he could see the fires of rage and vengeance that still flared within. He had seen that fire many times. He knew it by heart. The hulking wings on the figure’s back and the sharp slash across his right eye did little to disguise him from the one who thought he had known him best. Even the deadly fangs that pressed against the lips in an animalistic snarl were not too different from the usual fangless snarl that had graced those lips whenever properly provoked.

"Lucian?" repeated Dominic in choked disbelief as his eyes traveled down to the appellate scrawled at the bottom. Tavores Destin.

Tavores Destin. The demon Tavores. It was just as Lucian had said. Gazing at the picture, Dominic found it impossible to see the figure as anything else. Those wings even with their dark feathers, those claws, and those fangs. All marks of a creature spurned by the earth itself. Of course, such a fiend was evil. How could Lucian think otherwise?

Then again, there was one reason he could. A very good reason indeed. Lucian wanted Tyrell to believe it. He wanted Tyrell to trust him. Tyrell was a fool. A hopeless, softhearted fool. And he was no better. He had fallen for the tricks, the deception, the lies. Despite everything, he had just wanted to believe in someone. Lucian had been that someone. He should have known better. Life had taught him to never depend on anyone, that everyone had a secret. He had ignored his lessons and now he would have to suffer.

So this was it. Lucian and Tavores were the same. Lucian was a demon. But not just any demon, he was a demon who bent a knee to Vincient. He was, as Lucian had denounced, his "pet." Servant to his master and nothing more. And he had unrestricted access to the one thing that Vincient desired more than anything. The Cruce and the Keys along with it. Why Lucian hadn’t bothered to tell Vincient of the relic never registered in his maddened mind. All he knew was that Lucian had betrayed him.

Lucian had used him. This whole time, he had just been working with him to distract the one person who possibly could have challenged his power and his strength. Erik was not an obstacle to Lucian. What would a demon fear a gun for or the power to manipulate the earth when he could simply fly above it? Tashira was no problem. She trusted in her brother, if Lucian was even her real sibling. The Keys themselves weren’t strong enough to stand up against him. Even if they could, Lucian had already won them over and could make them do whatever he wished. Dominic knew that he was the toughest of Lucian’s challenges and Lucian had finally found a way of eliminating his status as a threat.

Everything had been a lie. A wicked game played by a skilled villain. He had fallen for it completely. Lucian had taken advantage of his inner desire for companionship, his hope that he could prove Loren wrong, his yearning for Aiden. He had used everything to emotionally incapacitate him. Lucian had won his prize.

But his finishing touch had been to twist Tyrell’s naive mind by telling him what he was, knowing that Tyrell would eagerly forgive and accept him. Tyrell could never believe that his friends would ever want to hurt him no matter what was in their blood. It had been the ultimate fail-safe. Should anyone ever find out, Tyrell would convince them that Lucian was safe. Almost everyone found it hard to argue with the gentle youth when he was set on a cause. Still, Lucian had not anticipated one thing. Dominic had no compunctions to fighting with Tyrell. The Keys' safety came first, even if it meant having to ward off their childish stupidity. If he had to, he would put Tyrell in his place. Before that, he had another member of the group to deal with. He would show him the penalty for such artifice.

"How could you do this to me, you bastard?" gasped the boy, crumpling the drawing into a tattered ball in his fist. "I wanted so much to trust you. I needed to trust you. How could you lie to me?"

This time, the words left him in a thunderous scream. He slammed the fisted sketch against the desk, cracking the wood right down the center. Blood soaked the paper and he hit the furniture again, making the wood groan at the action. Tired of this, he grabbed the desk with both hands and hurled it further into the hallway, watching it bust into more pieces as it crashed against the floor. He tossed the balled-up drawing into the trashcan in the other room. Then, Dominic glared at the ruined desk and struck the wall where it had been.

Dark red spattered the paint job, but Dominic knew nothing of the pain. It couldn’t compare to the sinking agony inside him. Nothing was true. His partner, his friend had been playing him all along. Lucian cared nothing for him. He just wanted to insure his safety while he prepared to make his final move. Dominic felt his fist dip into the plaster and he slumped to his knees, leaving his bleeding hand in the hole. He let out a feral howl as his other fingers clawed at the surface.

Unconsciously, the fingers fell to the amulet on his throat. He yanked his hand from the wall, snatching at a chunk of plaster with his nails. As his hand slipped down the slick surface, he could feel the fragile fingers shrinking and the nails hardening into thick bestial claws. Lost in his rage, he let the beast take over, tearing at the wall in jagged slashes. He dropped to the floor and raced toward the nearest door to the outside, turning it with his claws and lunging out into the yard before disappearing in the garden, blood on his mind.

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