It was 4 am.

The roof of the gym downtown where I told Avery to meet in cases of emergencies.

I called her using the coded words we promised we'd remember in times of splitting off.

"Turtle's in hiding. Shrapnel through the heart." I said as soon as she answered and I hung up immediately afterwards, smashing the pre-paid phone quickly. I had ditched my phone when I left Avery a few months ago.

"Why would you smash that phone? What if she doesn't know where we are or we get split up again?" Cassie questioned softly as she sat on the air vent, looking up at the starry sky.

"I can buy a new one, and she would never forget the code words," I said, as we waited on the roof.

"Why here out of all places?" She questioned and I rolled my eyes as I kept my back to her.

"I used to go to the gym here. And our old meeting place has been destroyed by the explosives we planted after it was discovered by others wanting to harm our kinds." I said and looked to see if I could spot Avery coming from any direction. I knelt on the roof, making sure I wasn't completely visible if we were being watched.

"Why would you have to destroy the building?" She questioned and I glanced back at her.

"All the bodies in the building needed to be destroyed. If any normal human walked into that building and found all those vampires, dragons and fairy bodies on the floor, I think humanity would go into a panicked state. And we were too lazy to go bury every single body. It was just easier." I said, cold filling the air.

I caught sight of a lone car pull into the parking lot, and I looked back at Cassie.

"Do you still have your cell phone?" I questioned and she nodded, when I ran towards her, grabbing the phone from her pocket and crushing it in my hands.

"What the hell?" She exclaimed and I hushed her, covering her mouth with my hand, pulling her to the ground.

"Someone tracked your phone," I said, and she cursed quietly as I let go of her face. A thump on the roof told us that it was already too late, but when I brought out my knife I saw Claudius and Cornelius standing there casually looking at me.

"Why are you guys here?" I questioned and Claudius smiled.

"John wants us to look after his daughter. In other words..." He said, looking for the right words to put forwards when Cornelius shrugged.

"He doesn't trust you with his daughter." He said and I laughed.

"What am I going to do to her? Eat her? Bury the remains out at an old cemetery? Call an evil demon to take over her body?" I questioned laughing as their faces changed from normal to stoic. Did they actually take me seriously? I laughed even harder.

"I was joking. Gosh." I said when a shot of ice came close to Cornelius who unthawed it before it hit his face.

"Avery, it's me. They're with us as well." I called out, not exactly sure where to look.

"Amanda?" She called out, landing on the edge of the roof in a kneeling stance. She looked more built then normal, she looked stronger than I had last seen her. She must have spent the past few months training with Riley.

"Shrapnel to the heart," I said and she came over to us cautiously.

"Sorry about the ice, didn't expect others. Who are they? Can they be trusted?" She questioned me. I looked her over again as I slowly neared her. I pulled her into a tight hug; it had been too long since I had seen her last, and I was just happy to see her in one piece.

"Yes. Met them a few days ago, they know about the people coming after me." I said, and she looked at Cassie, holding out her hand.

"Hello. I'm Avery. I can sense your power." She said, shaking Cassie's hand.

"Cassie. Electricity. And you're water?" She questioned and Avery nodded, letting go of her hand.

Avery looked over at Claudius and Cornelius, when her eyes shifted slightly, her head tilting to the side as Cornelius hissed something softly. He held out his hand, waving her to him.

Avery went over to him quickly, grabbing his extended hand. She stared into his eyes, which turned green and slitted. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. My face contorted in confusion as I stared at their weird interactions. Had they met before..?

Cassie clapped her hands and I still didn't really understand it. Claudius laughed and I looked over at him. He looked at my confusion and tapped his wrist.

Ahhh. I finally got it.

They were mates.

It was something pretty much of fairy tails nowadays, and something that didn't really happen that often between two different species anymore. It was normally stuck between one race unless it came to shapeshifters, or Avery and Cassie's cases.

I sniffed the air, and smelt something disgusting.

"Where's Riley?" I questioned and Avery shook her head.

"Too close to dawn for him to leave." She said and I shook my head, smiling.

"What a cat," I said and Claudius hissed at me, causing me to laugh at his reaction.

I looked down at the parking lot and growled lowly.

Ethan hopped onto the roof, signalling us that it was probably a good idea to leave now. Five black vans pulled into the parking lot and I grabbed Cassie when Avery shook her head, letting go of Cornelius who protested with a puff of smoke. She grabbed Cassie and pulled her into the air.

I shifted into a chameleon dragon, laying flat on the edge of the roof. The men in the parking lot were coming towards us fast with heavy artillery. I hopped down from the roof, landing on the ground without a sound. Ethan stood at the edge and waved at the men, drawing their attention away from me. I looped around the vehicles and slashed their tires quietly, letting them give out air without a sound. They shot a few warning shots into the air and Ethan dove back onto the roof to protect himself.

The men went up to the building's ladders and started to climb, and I blew their cars up as soon as most of them left the ground. Cornelius came down, slashing at the men with his tail and his claws until they fell off the building. I looked to my left, hearing a small sound.

It was a little human girl, her hands sliced open and dripping blood. That's when my intuition kicked in, realizing what was going on.

They weren't here for us, but Claudius. They were specifically targeting him.

Claudius stood at the edge of the roof looking down at the little girl tied to a pole nearby, the blood dripping from her tiny hands and down her little fingers onto the ground. Any vampire in the area would not be able to resist the smell of her blood. It was, after everything, a good thing Riley didn't come tonight.

I went over to the little human girl, shifting in front of her, her eyes streaming with tears.

"It'll be okay, just be really, really quiet," I whispered to her, touching her hands softly. I was masking her blood scent with mine, which calmed Claudius on the roof. Afterwards, I would get Avery to heal her, one of her other gifts when being able to control water in general.

She screamed all of a sudden when a man stood directly behind me, holding up a knife.

I dodged it, but he hadn't been aiming for me.

He slit the little girl's neck and I screamed, completely enraged. My vision blackened and my hand went straight into his chest. I ripped out his heart with my bare hand, watching his body crumple to the ground as I held his stopped heart in my hand.

Claudius was at my side in an instant, and I tossed him the still heart which he eagerly bit in to.

"Gross," Avery said who was now at my side with Cassie.

"They weren't even here for us Avery." I said, pointing to the little girl. She went over to her as Cassie's eyes filled with water and tears started to fall from her eyes. Cornelius was at Avery's side in an instant, Ethan at Cassie's as well. I assumed Ethan was her chosen guardian by her father. Only wealthy creatures like her had these kinds of privileges. The weird thing was that her father was a human, and I was curious as to how he was involved in all of this.

Claudius threw the empty heart on the ground and hissed.

"That heart was just gross. No flavour at all to that monster's blood." He said and I shuddered slightly.

"We need to get out of here," Ethan said, looking back at the flaming vans. Sirens started to weir in the distance, and I grabbed Claudius and Ethan's arm, pulling him into the sky with me as Avery and Cassie got onto Cornelius' back, flying higher up into the air.

"Where to?" Cornelius said through Avery.

"I don't know. You lead." I said through Claudius, and Cornelius took off higher into the sky when Claudius hissed, not liking the closeness of dawn.

"Don't worry, we'll be there in no time. Keep up." He said, then dropped from the sky and went at a quick pace, gliding through the air.