the sofa, Robyn at my side, and stare out with my eyes huge. Nikolai gets on his hands and knees almost as soon as we dive under the sofa, and I see his eyes flash crimson. I whimper in fear, my ears flat against my head, as I look into his eyes, and almost inch forward from how intensely he is looking at me... Like he wants me to come out.

" Come on you two... This serum will change you back into human so we can see if you have any injuries." Nikolai soothes, his words making me share a worried look with Robyn, as I think of myself in human form, and whimper in disagreement. I feel much safer in Fox form, because I can hide a lot easier when I'm so small... I haven't shifted in so long, that I don't even remember what I look like! Let alone if I have any injuries!

" It's okay... It won't hurt." Nikolai continues to coax me out, his eyes full of sincerity, as I slowly inch my way out from under the sofa, Robyn on my heels, and look shyly up at Nikolai. With my belly and chest pressed against the floor, my large ears flat, I look up at the Fae and the Vampire, and give a small whimper.

Nikolai picks me and Robyn up, securing us on his lap, before he turns to Calder, and gives him a nod. Calder gently takes my left hind leg in his gloved hand, and sticks the needle into my flesh. A yelp of pain escapes my lips, the feeling of a needle going into me not feeling the best, but the pain quickly disappears, as Calder pulls the needle out of me, grabs a new one from his bag, and does the same to Robyn.

" Now... Let's see what my Beloved looks like." Nikolai says with a smile, gently placing the two of us back on the floor side-by-side, before he crosses his long legs, and sits back as he awaits the shift.

It feels like decades before I feel my entire body give a sudden shudder, erupt in pain, and then go completely numb. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to stop the crazy shudders that rack my body, and then... My bones begin to crack and shift around in my body, and, about ten minutes later, my eyes fly open. Calder's eyes are huge with shock, and Nikolai has a smug smile on his face.

I look down, and my eyes widen in utter shock. My paws are gone, and I now have hands! I slowly close my hands, clenching them tight into fists, before releasing them, and turning then over a few times to make sure they're actually real.

" Beautiful... You are absolutely beautiful." Nikolai muses softly, his eyes glowing with pride and another emotion that I can't quite think of, as I look down at myself, and notice I'm completely bare. My cheeks heat up, and I instantly wrap my fluffy tail around my nether regions to keep them hidden from view.

I look over at Robyn, and my eyes get even wider... If possible. He is so... Pretty. He has stark white hair, barely visible because it's so dirty, beautiful porcelain skin, also caked in filth from our years of not having a bath, captivating blue eyes, dark red lips naturally in a pout, a little button nose, high cheekbones, a small, feminine frame, and his large ears pressed flat against his curls.

" Can you tell me your name?" Nikolai asks gently, pulling me away from my beautiful twin, as I look up at the Vampire, and slowly nod my head. I take a deep breath, before opening my mouth.

" R-Ra..." I attempt, getting increasingly frustrated when I can't get the word out that I'm attempting, as I twitch my head to the side a few times while my eyebrows are crinkled in frustration and concentration, and begin to absently scratch at my forearm with quick speed.

" It's okay... Try again." Nikolai encourages, his eyes full of pride and hope, as I nod my head again, take a deep breath, and try again.

" R-Rav... Rav... Ra..." I attempt it again, but I end up getting even more frustrated, and give a small snarl. Nikolai instantly swoops down, grabs my wildly scratching hand, and places it between both of his. I heave a frustrated sigh, before I begin once more.

" Rav... Rav---yn... Ravyn." I finally get my name out, feeling a jolt of glee, as Nikolai smiles with pride, swoops down, and pulls me into his arms. He nuzzles his nose into my neck, taking deep sniffs of my skin, as his arms tighten around my waist, and he hums against my skin.

" A beautiful name for my beautiful boy." He purrs, his mumbled words making my cheeks burn with embarrassment, as I push at his chest with a distressed whimper, not accustomed to all of the physical contact that I'm receiving, and struggle in his grasp.

He gently puts me back down, his eyes full of fondness and love, and I instantly huddle behind Robyn with fear. I grab his bony shoulders tightly in my hands, tiny whines and pathetic little whimpers leaving my lips, as I hide my face halfway behind his head, and tremble against him.

" Get... Away." Robyn says slowly, his words croaky and teeth gritted, as he growls lowly at Nikolai, and bares his teeth. I slide my hands down his shoulders, not liking how Nikolai is looking at my brother, wrap them around his waist, and press myself against him like a second skin.

Robyn growls in warning, his eyes narrowed and gleaming with rage, as Calder slowly gets to his feet, and inches towards the gate. He quickly leaves, a small yelp leaving his lips on the way, as Robyn gives an enraged, Protective growl, and swipes his elongated claws at the terrified Fae.

" Hey Nik?" Suddenly, Alec appears outside the gate, his black hair a dishevelled mess, and his eyes wide with worry. The boy's worry pulls Nikolai to his feet, and he instantly rushes over to the gate. They begin to murmur together in quiet, rushed voices, the words too hushed for me to hear, even as I cock my ears towards them, and then, moments later, Nikolai reappears with his shirt off, and Alec's shirt in his other hand.

I try to avoid looking directly at his chiseled, sculpted body, as he kneels down, tugs his shirt over my tiny frame, tugs Alec's shirt over Robyn, and lifts us both into his arms... Putting us on each hip like toddlers held by their Mothers.

" You know what that Bastard did to Jazz... If Jemm and Jaxx learn he is on his way for Goddess knows what, they won't hesitate to kill him! I'd keep him with you... I don't trust that Dragon." I catch the words Nikolai snarls to Alec, as the angry Pureblood hands Robyn to the baby blue-eyed male, and the two carry us down the Corridor, past a huge Kitchen with half a dozen Maids and Chefs bustling about, through a beautiful, marble-floored Foyer, up the left staircase, down ANOTHER Corridor, up a smaller flight of steps at the very end, down ANOTHER fudging Corridor, this one shorter than the other two, and through a set of double oak doors engraved with Ivy, Vines, and Roses.

As I look closer at the doors, I see names also engraved along the pretty wood... Nikolai, Kyson, Castiel, Jaxx, Jemm, Jazz, Ollie, and Alexander... I'm familiar with all but three of those names... They are all brothers I'm pretty sure, but... What has these two so on edge and bedraggled all of a sudden? And what happened to Jazz?

" Nik---olai?" I muse softly, my eyes clouded with confusion and in-depth thought, as I look up at him with my eyebrows crinkled together, and chew absently on my bottom lip... My left hand playing with my ear, my ACTUAL ear, as I wriggle in slight distress and discomfort from my crotch being pressed against the Vampire's bony hip.

" Yes Angel?" He responds, not really paying me much attention, as he paces in front of his polished mahogany desk, and mutters incoherently under his breath.

" What... Happ---ened to... Ja-Jaz---z?" I force out, the actual concept of talking, outside of mind-link that is, still strange and foreign to me, as I tighten my grasp around his broad shoulders, fearing I will slip and fall, and look at him with curiosity.

He meets my overly curious gaze, sighs deeply, and takes a seat in his desk chair. He pulls me off his hip, thank the Goddess, and puts me on his desk with his hands on my hips. I cock my head to the side in curiosity, my eyebrows still knitted tightly together, and look at the distraught Vampire.

" Three decades ago, when the triplets were just getting out of Fledgling status, Osiris Kraine, a well-known Dragon-Shifter prowling about in the local Village, happened to spot Jazz when I took him and the older two out for their first official Hunt..."

" I had seen him looking at Jazz with interest, but I just meekly brushed it off, and we carried on... And then it happened... He Kidnapped Jazz in the middle of the Night six weeks later, and did... Goddess I can't even THINK of the things he was doing to my Baby Brother!"

" We got Jazz back, thankfully, after a week... But he was on the brink of death. We got Calder to heal him first... Thinking he could do it, but he hadn't the experience to fix him, and so, we called up Allistar Cromwell... The high Warlock of Britain."

" It took sixteen WEEKS to get Jazz back to normal... But he still wakes up in the middle of the Night with these terrible screams of utter terror that have kept me awake multiple times just to wait for it to happen so I could get to him and stop it... He has finally gotten over the worst of his trauma, but the Night-Terrors are still frequent." Nikolai finishes with a small sigh, and I can't help the sympathy I feel for the broken boy.

" And now, with that sick, twisted Bastard on his way here for Goddess knows what, the trauma is sure to return." Alec speaks up, gently rocking and shushing Robyn in his arms, who is slowly falling asleep on his shoulder, as I nod in silent understanding, and give a yawn.

I hold my arms out for Nikolai to take me, and, once he pulls me into his lap, I snuggle against him, and begin to nod off as well. Right as I'm slipping away, the Study doors swing open, slamming against the wall so loud, I jerk upright with sudden fear, and a potent stench flares in my sensitive nose... I slowly raise my head towards the door, and lock eyes with a pair of fiery orange-red orbs that strike fear to my very core.

" Well, well... Look what the cat dragged in." Nikolai seethes from behind me, not even giving me a choice, as he snakes his hand around to the back of my neck, and pulls me into him... Shielding my face in his warm neck. This won't end well... I can already tell...