Zeke was speeding through the wintry forest, using his veins to latch onto a spruce tree one by one, and launched himself forward like a comic book superhero. It made him feel a bit embarrassed by the intense childish enjoyment he was experiencing, zipping through the area.

The best part was that he wasn’t exhausted due to his Healer’s Garb, even with the mask on and the frigid winds thrusting into his face like a thousand tiny fists.

Under all the puerile joy was the usual gnawing pain extending from his gut to his chest. He hoped with everything he had that Aida was still alive, even considering for a moment to make a silent prayer.

He whizzed past a figure in black. Making the world’s flashiest U-turn, Zeke maneuvered around the trees to return to the spot where he caught a glimpse of the figure.

Zeke landed on the snow and pulled down his mask. He studied the pallid complexion of the Infectiologist, trying to remember his name. “Kian!” he spluttered as the name popped into his brain.

“Rosario, are you okay?” he asked in his small voice. He didn’t have his Healer’s Garb equipped anymore, just his black snowboarding gear and mouth mask that made him look just as ominous.

“I’m fine,” Zeke answered. “It’s just there has been a fight—”

“Don’t you mean ‘fights’? Don’t you sense all the different hostile magical energy in the air coming from various places?”

Giving his overwhelming anxiety about who would turn up dead a rest. Zeke was able to sense the sources of colliding energy. It was a strange feeling deep within his soul, like detergent powder brushing under his fingernails.

“Wade, Ashlin, and I were the only ones who made it back to the mansion,” Kian said. “Looks like the reason why is clear. Some are taking the opportunity to attack each other.”

“You don’t think anybody would go as far as to try to kill another, right?” Zeke then scoffed at his stupid question. He just witnessed Aida being hellbent on ending Violet’s life. Her animalistic murderous intent was undeniable. “Look, I have to get to Aida. She went flying in that direction. I need to make sure she is okay. Come with me.”

“No, you get to Aida and return to the mansion. Just focus on the biggest source of Black Magic energy,” Kian said. “I will try to find the others and hopefully stop them from killing each other.”

Zeke’s thoughts began to tune off the world around him as he fixated on Kian’s one pitch-black eye that wasn’t covered by his hairdo. The longer Zeke focused on the eye, the more shades of black and gray he saw mixed in it, like a wet acrylic painting.

An ocean of black sludge, Zeke thought to himself. A cold jolt struck him in the chest and raced down to the bottom of his feet, leaving an awful sensation on his soul. As he looked at the eye, an overwhelming wave of pain, malice, and hatred washed over him as if submerged in a sea of damned souls.

“I notice how you look at me, Rosario,” Kian said, disrupting Zeke’s trance. “It’s how everybody looks at me.”

Snapping back to reality, Zeke blurted, “What??”

“If it looks evil, then it probably is evil, right, Rosario?”

Zeke thought about his next couple of words carefully, feeling that he was being tested as he stared back into Kian’s eye. “Of course not!” he answered.

Kian scratched the bottom of his chin, observing Zeke, and then asked another question out of nowhere. “So, are you in love with Violet?”

Zeke stepped back as the symptoms of extreme embarrassment kicked in. “Is it really that noticeable?”

“It’s because she is beautiful, correct?”

Of course, it was much more than that. But Zeke knew he would be lying to himself if he said it wasn’t part of why he was so infatuated with her. There was no need for Kian to know anyway. He didn’t owe him an explanation.

As Zeke’s mind was about to spiral into its usual cycle of overthinking, there was a beastly roar that shook all the trees around them.

“That’s our cue to split up. Good luck, Rosario. Let’s see each other back at the mansion, okay?” Kian wheeled back and ran off.

Zeke headed in search of Aida, once again considering the idea of praying for her survival.

###

Zeke didn’t pray.

But there were no regrets as he found Aida breathing and in human form. Although the position she was in was rather unfortunate. She was barely conscious, clutched in the arms of his brother, who had a perverse smile on his mug.

Zeke stared at Ugo as he and Aida were slumped on the snowy ground propped up to a tree.

The staring made Ugo’s smile go away. “Hold on, Mano. I know what you are thinking, but I caught her,” he said defensively. “Dude, she fell out of the sky. Just like Naomi… I think this may be my hidden power.”

The plea didn’t have an effect on Zeke’s judgmental expression.

“She literally flew right into me. I had no other choice! I am little hurt by the impact, by the way—“

“No, you’re not.”

“No, I am not.”

Zeke noticed the sizable drag mark stretched in front of Ugo and Aida. He concluded that he may be telling the truth.

Aida started to twitch and whimper. It was like watching a dog run in its sleep.

“Whoa, what’s happening?”

“Aida... is a werewolf,” Zeke said as if that would explain the occurrence.

Ugo paused and looked down at Aida in his arms. “How awesome is that?” He blurted with a dumb smile on his face. “Hey, do you think I have a shot with her?”

“Really?” Zeke said as his expression grew ever more judgmental. “Really? Mora, you can’t even handle spicy food!”

“I’ll manage!” Ugo shook his head. “I don’t care if she is a werewolf. I’ll manage!”

“What?” Aida popped her head up and screwed up her face. “I’m not a werewolf!”

“Huh?” Zeke said.

“I’m a kitsune. Completely different thing,” she explained and then let out a sigh. “I bet you two couldn’t tell the difference between a Lycan and a Werewolf.”

Zeke and Ugo turned to her, and both yelled, “There’s a difference?”

The innocent question had Aida roll her eyes and sigh in disappointment. “So, you think that all we dog-like creatures are the same, huh?” She pulled herself up to her feet. “That’s pretty racist.”

“What, no!” Zeke blurted. “This is odd. I’ve never been on this side of the argument before,” he admitted. “Look, I go through the same thing, okay? Everybody just assumes that I’m Mexican.”

“You’re not?”

“I’m from Colombia!” Zeke corrected.

As Zeke tried to calm himself down with measured breaths, Aida began to totter and then was caught by Ugo as she lost her footing.

“Damn it,” she hissed. “I’m all out of Mana.”

Zeke eyed downward as she shot a feral look at him.

“If you didn’t get in the way… What’s wrong with you? Defending a murderer like that!”

Ugo’s eyes shifted between the two like a ping pong match spectator. “Violet,” he said with certainty and then turned to Aida. “We care deeply for Violet and—”

“I don’t care!” Aida interrupted and pushed herself away from Ugo again.

“Look, I just don’t want anyone killing each other, okay?” Zeke said.

Aida squinted. “Mhm.” She stepped towards Zeke and stumbled forward, falling onto the snow.

With his altruistic instincts kicking in, Zeke crouched and reached out a hand. “We should get back to the mansion. Let me help you walk—”

Ugo shoved Zeke out of the way and squatted with his back to Aida. “Come on, I’ll give you a piggyback ride.”

In a breath-holding moment, Zeke watched the kitsune girl contemplate her choice, and then her exhaustion made her relent. She climbed onto his back.

Even if Ugo learned their home at Blackmarsh Grove was burned down, he’d still consider this one of the best days of his life, Zeke thought to himself, eyeing the two.

Zeke stopped to focus on his otherworldly senses and detected the powerfully concentrated source of Black Magic energy; it hit him like a terrible itch. He turned south. “We go this way.”

With Zeke leading the way, they marched through the snow. The number of spruce trees populating the area dwindled, and the terrain began to tilt as they continued down their path.

Zeke’s curiosity had him looking over at Aida, searching for vulpine features. He found none. She had her arms around the base of Ugo’s neck and rested her cheek against his back. “So, even non-humans can become members of the Tainted Generation?” Zeke said incredulously.

Aida curled her lip to the side. “Well…” she scrunched her nose and lifted her head. “I’m only part kitsune….”

Ugo turned his head back for a moment. “The other part being human?” he asked.

Aida nodded and smirked.

“Kitsunes are so much cooler than werewolves! They’re super smart and can shapeshift into human form, and they gain even more abilities as they get older, gaining a new tail every one hundred years.”

“Oh, so you know a lot about them,” Aida said, impressed.

“Everything he knows is simply from playing video games,” Zeke added coldly.

“Oh, it’s the same with you!” Ugo barked at Zeke. “So, Aida, there is something I really need to know….”

“Yes?”

“Your mother was the kitsune, right?”

“Right.”

“So, when she and your dad… you know… got it on… was she in dog, human, or some hybrid form?”

“Dude!”

“Hybrid form,” Aida answered nonchalantly.

“Why do you know that?” Zeke asked.

Abruptly, Ugo stopped before a tree and said, “Hold on, I have an idea.” He made his signature hand sign and summoned the surgical knife. He hacked and slashed the tree into a chopped wood pile, leaving blue lightning lines in the cold air, and then he conjured his needle holder. With the magic needle and single blue thread, he fashioned the chopped wood into a makeshift sled, complete with a backrest.

“The Surgeon’s restructure magic,” Aida said with wide eyes. “Amazing.”

Zeke caught Ugo blushing and held back from telling him that she was only complementing his magic. He let his delusions run wild.

Ugo turned back to the sled and squatted, letting Aida hop off and rest on it.

Reading Ugo’s mind as he looked over at him, Zeke shot a long blue and red thread from his Garb’s sleeves and tied it around the front of the sled. He gave the red one to Ugo, and the two pulled her along as they continued down the path.

Their journey had them return to the piste, halfway down. It wasn’t so well-groomed anymore, with detritus littered all over and holes in the snow. It looked less like a winter wonderland and more like a winter wasteland.

Zeke could spot the rustic mansion in the distance from where they stood. He didn’t want to risk trying out summoning magic and end up with a murderous abomination. He thought the same for Ugo. The brothers haven’t trained too much with summons, and Aida was drained, so it left them with only one option.

Ugo got behind the sled and pushed. “Hop on!” he shouted at Zeke.

His brother knew him too well, not giving him a chance to think and eventually talk himself out of it. Zeke joined Aida on the makeshift sled, and Ugo managed to just before they started to zoom down the rest of the slope.

Snow blasted upwards all around them as they sped down the piste. Zeke screamed the entire ride down, swallowing some chips of snow that were flung into his throat, while Ugo’s and Aida’s screams were much different from his.

Ugo grabbed onto the backrest and banked their ride as they reached the end of the slope, forcing them to a stylish stop sending puffs of snow into the air.

After Zeke recovered from his scheduled mini-panic attack, the brothers hopped off, grabbed the vein threads, and continued to pull Aida across the path.

###

A plethora of demonic servants awaited them at the entrance of the rustic mansion.

“Oh, more of the Tainted members have returned!” a sharp-toothed, red-eyed demon said.

Aida leaped off her sled, ran up the steps, and then past the front doors.

The brothers followed her inside the house. They chased her to the living room with the movie theater-sized TV.

Aida halted and hunched over, scanning the area as she wheezed. The rest of the Tainted members luxuriated in the room, except for Kian and Isaac.

Her object of hate was settled in an armchair, sipping hot chocolate with her legs crossed.

A husky growl came out of Aida as she stomped toward Violet. Her path was then barricaded by Gill with his massive body.

He looked down at her sternly. “Aida, luv, what are you doing?”

“She almost killed me!” Aida shouted.

“After you tried to kill me,” Violet said nonchalantly without looking back at her. “It was simply self-defense. And then you attacked Zeke.” She took a sip from her mug.

“Is this true?” Gill asked with a brow raised.

Aida stammered for an answer, and then Violet raised her hand as it radiated its magic glow. “See for yourselves,” she said as she waved her glowing hand, and everyone’s eyes flashed the same bright pink glow that emanated from her hand.

All Zeke could see was a pink light, and then when things cleared, he was back in the forest, witnessing moments before the start of Violet and Aida’s showdown.

Aida was in her quick draw position while Violet just stood, not taking on a fighting stance of any kind. Their expressions were utterly different from each other. By the looks of it, murder was all on Aida’s mind, while Violet’s was… blank.

Aida had definitely started it.

Violet called off the spell, and shortly after, all eyes moved over at Aida. She shrank away and lowered her face.

Then, Zeke could see the moment a lightbulb switched on in her head as she pulled her chin up and had a new determined look. “That was just an illusion. That is literally her specialty!”

Ashlin, who stood by the fireplace, inserted herself into the case with: “If there was an illusion, then the Demonologist would be able to tell.” The inhumanly sensuous redhead looked over at Gill. “Was it an illusion?”

Gill closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them. He gave an answer that made Aida shrink back once again.

“But wait—”

“Aida,” Wade called, interrupting her. The two shared a long, quiet look. “That’s enough.”

She continued staring for a moment and then admitted defeat, storming off.

Violet waved her goodbye.

“Dang…” Ugo said, watching Aida leave.

Gill heaved a sigh. “We need some R&R.” He put a finger on his chin. “Let’s head to the thermal baths.”

“Yes!” Ugo screamed with his nostrils flaring.

Yaalon slowly stood up from the couch. “I could use a nice bath.”

“The beanstalk is the only one who hasn’t shown up yet,” Akachi, sitting on the couch, pointed out. “Probably up to no good.”

“Isaac left,” Yaalon said.

As stares went in his direction, Yaalon explained the vague details. “I found him back in the mountains. He didn’t specify why. He just said that he is leaving.”

Alongside the others, Zeke studied Yaalon carefully. Even though it was unlikely for someone as powerful and insanely ambitious as Isaac to be killed by a single Healer, the presentiment of unease coming from Yaalon was intense. He seemed exhausted as well.

It wasn’t just with Yaalon. Zeke began to pay attention to his fellow Tainted Generation members’ expressions, and a severe animus exuded off them that swirled across the room.

Like falling into a venomous snake pit, the killing intent was palpable.