2 Kiromir-

There she went, my little girl, like every year, helping me with 'the machine.' I knew that these coming summers would be the most important in our lives. She would start searching for her bondmate sooner or later. If I could keep the boys in the flock away from her, it'd be hopefully later.

Gaffriel.

I remembered when I had met her almost twelve years ago. The memory lingered fresh in my mind—in my pained moments of realization that she was growing up.

It was February 7th, 2004. Thanus had watched some stupid music video by Hoobastank on MTV and shaved his rich brown locks into a fauxhawk because he thought it looked cool. I couldn't get used to how different he looked with it, and part of me felt he had done it and kept it that way just to irritate me, but I'd gotten used to it.

Avril Lavigne had come out with 'My Happy Ending,' and Dimal listened to it on his Walkman nonstop for a week after Letti had dumped him again. They'd been so close to becoming bondmates and completing their ritual so many times. So Thanus and I jumped at the chance for a mission when one came up just to get his mind off of it. Our client sent us to Siberia, but I welcomed anything that got me away from Dimal's weeping. My father approved the mission and put me in charge. Ice burned in my fires—my magic. It blossomed over my skin with blue flickering flames that froze all they touched. I could no more be uncomfortable in the cold than a snowman.

Ice crystals hung from my lashes as I batted away the clumping snow. Crystallized motes of my breath clung in my balaclava, and my entire body crunched as I moved deftly through the powder. I saw nothing for thirty yards in any direction. This was a good thing, as it meant my target could likely not see me. I had better vision than most humans.

I had my target, and my team had their orders.

I signaled them, left and right of me—Thanus and Dimal. They were brothers, born only ten months apart, and had the countenance of twins. Brown-haired and golden-eyed, they were shrewd as hawks from our native land in the Americas, not the Siberian landscape that surrounded us. They were pure brawn but smart as whips, even if Dimal tended to be lazy.

Ahead of us lay a chain-link fence, burgeoned with signage that had been there since the seventies through at least two political regimes. I had limited knowledge of Cyrillic. On the other hand, I knew enough of the Russian language to pass through relatively without a second glance in the war-torn nation. If anyone were to ask, I'd tell them all a different story of my heritage; a long-lost son of the communist nation come home from the Americas to see my land once more, a passing tradesman, or a consultant for hire in the darkest of business. Consulting usually required less death, but hey, ‘the customer is always right.’

Beyond the fence, a few hundred yards out were the pacing forms of midnight guards. We monitored their routes for hours and knew their pacing tracks well. If we kept our steps light and walked in their tracks, they'd likely not see our traces in the snow until it was too late.

Deep in the building's recesses existed a project that a wealthy investment firm had declared to be 'devastating' to US interests. A seven-figure price tag on the mission made it worthwhile to accept, but I hated having to deal with the lingering remnants of the Soviet military. They were, if anything, more trained than the thugs and cutthroats I accustomed myself to.

My aura would help me, just as Thanus and Dimal's auras would help them.

My aura emitted 'fear.' Like all of my kind, we developed the power over time, a seepage of our magic that held an emotion that defined our being. I merely needed to concentrate, and I could inflict my aura on others. It worked better on the weak-minded.

I bound upwards and cleared the razor wire fence in a single leap. I had to time it right, close range, to keep from being shot. A bullet wouldn't kill me, but it didn't feel good, either. Two guards passed wordless in the night, and as their backs faced one another, I fell between them with a heavy thud. Powdered snow dashed about me in a glittering sheet.

I left no time to sound an alarm, no time to scream or fire, just two startled soldiers with guns drawn between them, daring not to shoot for fear of hitting the other.

"GET DOWN GET DOWN," One commanded.

I put my arms up above my head, sank to my knees, and closed my eyes as the two came upon me. I had to be smooth and calm.

I was woefully underdressed for what I did. I wore light-colored jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and a white woolen cap pulled down over my head to cover the pointed tips of my ears. I hated having to thaw them out after. I wouldn't get frostbite, but they'd still be stiff. Cold didn't bother me like it did humans.

"Ya ne govorju po-Russki," I said just loud enough to be heard as a perfect calm enveloped me. I said I didn't speak Russian, but I let my accent mar the words.

"[What is this fool doing?]" one asked.

"[This is some dumb American?]" the other guessed. They were too distracted to call back to base just yet.

Their focus dropped, and that's what I needed. I opened my eyes wide, and they were the color of fire, I knew. My mana glowed in my eyes. I had held myself back for too long. Golden light flicked from my eyes over my lashes for just a moment. Mine rarely glowed with my own blue mana.

One grabbed me and hauled me to my feet. He reached for his radio. I had named the radio reacher 'Boris 1,’ and the stammering counterpart ‘Boris 2.’

I willed him to forget it as I let a pulse of my power free, my aura. It traveled in ripples through the air, interrupting his gesture. The pang of fear seemed to supersede the intention.

"[Get him inside to a cell]" Boris 1 one said.

"[We can put a bullet in him later]" Boris 2 threatened as they dragged me into the doors of the base. They were starting to gauge my sheer size. I could stand a foot taller than either of them.

I was in.

That's all I needed. My hands were graceful things, and my persuasive power of fear had them glancing around in paranoid gestures. A keycard passed to my hands in nearly an instant as my fingers grazed one of their sides. I tucked it into my sleeve.

Jackpot

Fear. I pushed it through my mind. I let ripples of it ride on the edges of my senses as naturally as one might speak. It screamed from part of my brain, a threat that spoke of monsters, sharp teeth, boiling fires, and disease. Human brains couldn't process it; they went to some strange and archaic parts of their mind. This resulted in everything in their minds triggering a 'fight or flight’ response.

Boris 1 and Boris 2 had different minds for fear. But, as I'd imagined, Boris 1 was a fighter. He drew his gun, whipped it in an arc, and fired, narrowly missing me. I heaved a sigh of relief. Short of shooting me in the eye, it wouldn't do anything that one of my healers couldn't fix in twenty seconds.

Boris 2 bolted down the hall with a clear goal of moving to the outside world. It didn't take much for me to neutralize him.

Boris 1 shouted as he fought for his radio. "[Crazy fucker just came in out of the snow]!" He jumped back from me with a stumble.

"RUN," I said in his native tongue, forcing my will over him, feeling the fear drill outwards. He should have been pissing his pants, but he aimed to fire once more. I bolted one second too late; the wind knocked out of me, and I went to my knees.

"Oh, you really messed up," I croaked as I clutched to my gut. Blood pooled around my fingers in a slow drool, not much, but enough. I gritted my teeth and parted my fingers to let the bullets trickle to the ground with an audible clink. In response, there empty clip of his gun gave a satisfying clack. He fought for a clip from his belt, forgetting his radio once more.

Good, his fear is holding him back.

I lurched forward, my bloody hands scrambling for purchase as I got his ankles and tugged him free of his upright nature.

Hands clawed over one another as we struggled. I was far stronger than him, but I didn't want to kill him if I didn't have to. I liked his spirit.

Holes showed through my shirt as I managed to pin him, bare bruised and broken flesh beneath. It hurt like a motherlover; I'd be the first to admit it. Boris 1 had barely registered what happened. I wasn't superhuman by any means; I just wasn't human.

"Monster!" He exclaimed as I wrestled his belt free of him and locked hand to wrist, struggling to take his gun. I steeled my jaw, locked my arms, and had him pinned to the ground. He shouted angrily, bleating out his cries for help. Footsteps came down the hall, and Thanus appeared before me in a similar state of disarray. His dark brown hair lay plastered over his forehead, limp from melted snow and sweat. His shirt tore, and the sculpted mass of his frame heaved with his quick breaths.

"Got a fighter?" Thanus laughed. I gave him a dirty look that should have stung. I didn't want to kill him. The man had a job to do. Boris 1 seized the opportunity to wrench in my arms. Instinct took over, and I drove my elbow right into the base of his skull. A sickening crunch rang out. His body shook and convulsed with spasmodic rhythm.

"Chata, ryel nah!" Thanus exclaimed as I drew my body away from Boris 1's convulsing form. I really didn't want to kill him, but sometimes it was hard to control. Humans were frail. I took a moment of reserved silence for him before moving on. "May your soul go back into the cycle and your next life be better."

Thanus glanced around, brow furrowed. "Dimal is taking the command center. You've secured the exit. The others are bringing in the charges. You know where we're going?"

A folded piece of paper with a crude diagram on it sat folded in my pocket. I pulled it out and opened it in a blink. I tapped on the labyrinth image of a basement somewhere that could only be accessed from—“South wing . I need an elevator, looks like a service one."

"Follow me," Thanus said as I stood and shook the stars from my vision. A phone hung on the wall nearby, and I knocked the receiver off—just in case. A busy line appeared less suspicious than a disconnected one. We only had a few minutes before the place needed to go sky-high.

I choked down my pain and bolted down the hall after him, making rights and lefts as we stepped over bodies. The site, for being as big as it was, had relatively few people. Truth told, they were better off dead. Those left to tell the tale would suffer worse fates. I knew this. Humans were wicked things. I still wished them all a better life in their next cycle.

The service elevator rattled up. Thanus called ahead. "Are the charges set?"

"Placed and ready. Countdown begins once we account for all the men," someone shouted back. Shrewd eyes showed bedraggled men and wide grins. The power of a fight ran in their veins. They loved it.

The door to it slung open, and we bolted inside. Thanus hit the buttons rapidly, telling the doors to close as we packed in and adjusted with me in front. I hated elevators—could never tell who waited for me on the other side.

"When the doors open, scatter. Our target is down the hall," I shouted. I knew where we were looking, but they said I'd know it when I found it.

They said it was a weapon, biological warfare of a powerful kind. The company we contracted through frothed at the mouth for us to gather intel and destroy it. If we could bring it back, they'd double our pay.

We crowded in when they found the bolted doors, trying to get our pilfered cards to work. Out of over a dozen, only one registered, a solemn beep sounded. The doors shuddered open in response. A set of second doors yielded with only a little force from one of us. The cheap steel buckled under Thanus's shoulder. That man was glorious at destroying a door.

We walked in, ease and confidence in our steps. I kept looking for something, but my mind kept drifting. I refocused. It felt almost like a drug, telling my eyes to avert, to look away and forget. It was an aura!

"Whoever’s got their aura up needs to put it out now!” There were confused murmurs and whispers before I forced myself to focus on the cinderblock walls. Metal rungs spaced at ten-foot intervals bracketed from wall to wall. The ceiling had bare rafters. The lights above were caged and hummed with strange, webbed shadows over the textured plate-metal floor. I felt disoriented as focus returned, and I made myself shrug the aura off. I had no idea whose it was, but someone would get their share cut when I found out.

I strolled into the room, turning around to try to focus. “Alsooth,” I swore beneath my breath. My steps echoed as I did, and a tiny breath caught my ear. The aura dipped for a moment, and suddenly there was a large cage before me as if it’d always been there. It was so close I could have kicked it, and I seized the moment to stare at it and the inhabitant. My mind tore straight through the aura’s effects, and my heart cramped at what lay within.

“It’s a child,” Thanus said. They were all silent.

“Tie tille ik Dyana.” A tiny voice wavered. You could have heard a pin drop.

“She’s one of us?” someone asked in a hushed breath. My feet carried me forward, entranced as a sharp ringing clouded my ears, and the pit of my stomach fell through to my feet.

Long ropes of silken-fine black hair, greasy and tangled, spilled out over bunched up skeletally thin shoulders. Sunken eyes of such a steely and passionless blue gazed up at me from a face that hinted of Asian origin. Yet, hope shone in those sad eyes. Pristine trails in the dirt on her cheeks snaked from where tears had trickled.