So this is one of the chapters I enjoyed writing most and I hope you'll all enjoy reading it too.

I also wanted to thank clarinet120, JollyLass and katiehorse6 for responding so quickly to my request for help in the last chapter. And JollyLass in particular for replying so quickly to my questions. Your answers were very helpful!

Love,

Robin

-

When the first bang resounded through the house I scrambled to my feet and hurried to the door. There was a small crack to one side and I tried to peer through it to see what was going on. The guard was cursing but he still remained in front of the door.

What was that noise? It almost sounded like something very heavy slamming into a wall...

As I focused on the noises coming from above me I realized it sounded like fighting, real fighting going on up there. Was that Nathaniel and his people up there fighting the wolves?

My heartbeat sped up at the thought that they were trying to get me out of here. Worry making my stomach clench painfully, what if someone got hurt? Or worse! Got killed?

It didn't matter that I knew that it wasn't my fault for ending up here. Well not entirely at least, I should have fought harder. I felt horribly violated that Devon had managed to do so, that he'd gotten in to my head somehow and made me get in that bloody car against my own will.

Plaster rained down from the ceiling as another quake shook the building, grinding noises were heard from upstairs. It made my guard on the other side of the door curse loudly and then hurry up the stairs to investigate.

As far as I knew there were no fault lines nearby so a natural earthquake seemed very unlikely. What could have caused the quakes then? The thought of that gave me chills and I sincerely hoped it was Lysander in his dragon form.

More plaster fell from the ceiling and cracks appeared along the walls, hairline fractures near the door. The single light bulb above me flickered and then fell down with a crash, bathing the room in semi darkness.

If I didn't find a way to get out of here soon the ceiling might collapse on top of me, burying me alive. To emphasize that a really heavy bang rumbled through the building.

The shocks were coming harder and faster now and still shaking from the pain the Demon, my birthfather, had inflicted on me I had to struggle to remain standing. My breathing still came in short painful gasps because every movement inflicted another short burst of pain at the center of my throat.

Right at the word loyalty that the Demon had pierced with his sharp claw-like nail.

Just as I'd reached the door and started pushing and pulling in the hope the door had been weakened, I heard footsteps. It sounded like the muffled clicking of heels.

That could only mean one person and I climbed to my feet quickly, swaying in the process when it seemed like the entire building was shaking. If Jessica was coming back to either get me and hurt me or simply hurt me... I wouldn't go without a fight.

Spotting a jagged piece of concrete on the floor I picked it up and held it like a dagger, if need be I'd either stab her or knock her out. Either way I was going to try to get away from her if she was alone.

The bars in front of the door slid away noisily at the same time a tearing noise echoed through the room. A crack appeared like a thin line right along the middle of the tiny basement chamber and I hurriedly stepped over it towards the door. If that crack widened I'd be better off near Jessica instead of trapped on the other side.

When the door swung open it was slowly and I could hear heavy breathing as if it was a struggle to get that heavy thing open. It was obvious that it didn't entirely fit into the frame any longer as it grated along the floor.

I couldn't see who it was in the limited light but when the door was fully opened a female form was silhouetted against the light. She was clearly alone, my fingers tensed around the rock in my hand.

'Amelia? Are you okay?' a tentative voice drifted into the room softly, barely heard over the loud noises of fighting and settling stone. 'I'm not here to hurt you, I'm going to help you escape,' the voice added and she sounded unsure and even a little scared.

It took a moment for me to realize who it was but when I did my eyes widened in shock.

'Eliza?'

I couldn't believe it, was the stuck up girl really going to help me or was this some kind of ploy? It couldn't be, could it? I had no reason to trust her whatsoever but I also knew that staying down here would probably get me killed.

'Oh thank god! You're alive... I wasn't... Oh I really thought the Demon had gotten to you!' Eliza exclaimed as she stepped into the room, shining light in my direction with a black flashlight. The thing almost as thick as her wrist and clearly made of metal, one of those heavy emergency ones.

I could see that she had dust covering nearly every inch of her, obviously the plaster elsewhere in the house had followed the same fate as that of the plaster in the small basement room. She was wearing snug fitting jeans and a long sleeved shirt but there were still heels on her feet. How could she walk in them when the building shook so much?

Stumbling I made my way towards her and the door, to freedom. 'No I'm okay, just a little dizzy...' I added the last as my head spun and my vision swam in and out of focus for a moment.

A loud rumble shook through the building and then I heard the noise of falling stone. 'Watch out!' Eliza was screaming, my body automatically jumping forward and my arms coming up to cover my head.

Not fast enough... The thought crossed my mind the moment a sharp pain shot through my left leg, the appendage crumbling and sending me sprawling to the hard floor. I managed to catch myself on my hands but I didn't even have to look to know that a rock from the ceiling had hit me.

The pain eerily similar to how my wrist had felt when it had been broken told me that my leg had followed the same fate. I had to focus on my breathing to get my vision to clear and the ringing in my ears to subside.

Eliza was cursing a blue streak I didn't expect from her as she scrambled towards me, hands running over my back and then a sharp jolt of pain through my leg again. I nearly blacked out from it but then it eased and I realized she'd lifted the debris off of me.

'Can you walk?' a soft voice, soothing tones and it told me my leg was a mess. She just didn't want to scare me with the reality of it.

'I doubt it,' I gritted out as I pushed myself up on my hands and twisted so my weight was on my other leg.

'I'll have to help you then,' the hands from before returned, one slipping around my waist the other slinging my arm across her shoulders. Surprisingly Eliza pulled me up with little effort, she was clearly stronger than she looked.

Gasping because breathing was still painful and because my left leg was a searing agony. 'We can't stay here, need to get out of this building before it falls down. I don't know what's going on outside Amy but there's a Dragon there and a whole horde of Demons and wolves...'

I really hoped that Dragon was Lysander because that would mean Nathaniel was here too.

Eliza seemed to sense what I wanted to hear and ask, or maybe she simply knew, because she added: 'I didn't see Nathaniel, but I know he's out there. With loads of his own people.'

'Thank you,' I told her as we made our way slowly to the door. I couldn't put any weight on my broken leg, Eliza was practically carrying me.

With Nathaniel nearby and Devon probably out there fighting too, I might have a chance to reach someone, anyone, telepathically. Closing my eyes for a moment to focus I reached out towards my Mate only to be bounced back by the same wall as before.

My head was already spinning and pounding painfully in time with my leg and throat so I hardly even noticed the pain from that backslash. Missy and Hayden were out of reach too... Only that golden line towards my grandfather was in reach, taunting me.

Sending thoughts along it I knew even before trying that he wouldn't respond, he'd lied when he said all I had to do was think of him and he'd come to help. 'Eya? Please? We need help!'

We were nearly at the door when a voice cut through the air with a snap, reminding me of a whiplash.

'What are you doing?' It was of course Jessica and her question was directed at Eliza. The girl struggled to step closer to the door and maintain balance for the both of us while everything around us was shaking and crumbling. Yet she stiffened at hearing her mother's voice.

Now she'd tell her mother she was just getting me out because I wasn't worth anything dead... Or something similar that would sound plausible to her mother. That or it turned out she was here on orders after all.

'I'm helping her,' Eliza said, her voice clear and loud as she spoke in a short lull in the shocks and quakes that drowned out most of the sounds of fighting.

'Helping her? Why would you do that? You should be helping me!' Jessica sounded utterly surprised, in shock almost.

'Helping you!' Eliza scoffed as she stepped forward with me, closing in on her mother. 'You're working with not one but two filthy rapists, using an innocent as a bargaining chip and willing to kill a little boy! I'm not helping you with that!'

So that's how it is?

Seemed like Eliza had standards and morals after all and her limit had been reached. Right in time to help me... Was this why she'd been dressing more demurely off late and had cut down the flirting with all the boys in school?

Rage was filtering across Jessica's face along with confusion, clearly she didn't understand what was going on. Why Eliza was doing this...

My thought process was rudely interrupted when the building shook, so heavily this time that we were all tossed around like we were nothing. The sounds in the small room all overruled by the grating and grinding as if the whole house was coming apart.

When things steadied I felt something hot slowly drip into my eye but the pain that should accompany it was strangely absent. The room was still spinning however even though the actual shaking had stopped.

Jessica was no longer in the doorway but Eliza and I were close by and the girl was already pulling me up on my good leg. Trying to get me out that door and up the stairs.

A look over my shoulder showed me a gaping hole in the floor, a black abyss below, just a few feet from where we were standing. The floor had simply cracked open along the line I'd already spotted earlier.

Somehow, Jessica was on the other side, balanced on a slab of concrete that was only connected to the wall by the steel wires laced through it. It really was a good thing reinforced concrete had been used, otherwise Jessica definitely would have fallen down that gaping hole.

The woman, a Siren I knew now, didn't seem overly concerned as she crouched there. Instead she seemed mostly angry as she yelled: 'You are picking HER over me? She's nothing but a demon's spawn! How can you pick that thing over your very own mother?'

Eliza didn't reply as she pulled me slowly up the first step of the stairs, the building shaking again and more rocks and ceiling fell down, tumbling into the gaping hole. They echoed loudly as they bounced.

My head was starting to feel so heavy that I knew I was losing a lot of blood, whatever had gashed my face had hit me hard enough to make me dizzy. Even the pain in my leg was gone and I barely noticed the burning of my throat any longer.

It was in fact a struggle to remain awake and conscious.

'I'm your mother!' I heard Jessica scream but it was vague and barely came over the ringing in my ears. 'You can't leave me here!'

I was sure the woman said more but it didn't register as words any longer, instead I focused on helping Eliza. Putting my legs forward and leaning on the wall instead of her as we slowly ascended the stone steps.

The last thing I heard clearly was Eliza's voice, loud and almost crystalline she spoke: 'I can and I will leave you. I'm doing the RIGHT thing for once in my life instead of listening to your lies.'

Was there hope for Eliza after all?

Anything else that might have been said I missed, a roaring in my ears that heralded that moment just before passing out. My vision field becoming smaller and smaller until all I saw was gray and then an all-consuming black.

*

The soft pitter patter of flakes hitting my skin felt oddly strange and that combined with the tilting motion that reminded me of waves. I felt dizzy and my eyelids wouldn't open no matter how hard I tried. Something wet and sticky clung to the side of my face, pulling on the skin.

*

White, there was white everywhere around me and it was a comforting color. White was good, white was safe. I liked white, especially this warm cottony kind of white that enveloped me and comforted me.

It seemed like I could hear a voice but I felt too comfortable and safe to really respond to it. I'd rather stay in the nice white, white couldn't hurt me.

When black started seeping in along the edges I frowned, 'No! Don't do that!' But it was beyond my ability to stop it and all to soon black enveloped me whole again.

*

I felt the roughness of wood against my palms, a sharp prick in my finger but I couldn't move my arms to take out the splinter. I couldn't even lift my palms to prevent it from happening again.

My throat was burning, it felt parched as if I'd run a marathon in a desert and breathing in air alone was painful. My head was spinning and still I was unable to open my eyes.

There were arms wrapped tightly around my torso and I had the feeling of motion, heavy breathing in my ear as someone struggled to lift me. What was happening?

I tried to help, kicking out my legs to push, anything to move and get away from danger. Danger? What danger?

A searing pain shot through my left leg as I hit something with it, even when I moved it pain blossomed in my body. Why was the world tilted? What was going on?

Who was with me?

*

'Amelia! Come down here now!' my mommies voice carried across the large open space and I waved at her enthusiastically.

'Look at how high up I am mom!' I told her as I spread out my arms for better balance. I was perched on top of a wooden beam about 7 inches wide and on the second floor of a derelict building.

Well it wasn't that derelict, just abandoned and old. Very old... And a little in disrepair! But it had all these really cool hidey holes and exciting little nooks and crannies that no adult could crawl into. They were too big for them but tiny as I was I could still hide there from the boogeyman and the demons.

But most importantly! You could climb all the way to the top and see the most amazing view ever. Which was what I was currently doing now, but mommy didn't like it and she couldn't follow me with the baby.

'Amelia!' she yelled and I ignored the fear seeping through her voice. I was safe, she didn't have to worry! It wasn't like before, where I knew she was right to be scared. Nothing could happen to me even if I did fall!

I waved again and grinned down at her, 'Look I can stand on one leg!' Leaning forward like a ballerina I lifted my left leg up in the air, my arms still spread out. For a moment I stood like that on the slim beam that stuck out like a crooked tooth from a gaping hole on the side of the building.

'Woohoo!' I yelled as the wind shook the beam and made it sway from left to right.

A second later I was tumbling through the open space between me and the ground. The earth rushing up to meet me at breakneck speed. I spread my arms even wider and yelled, not in fear, but in excitement.

I was flying!

Mom was screaming but she couldn't see me now, shrubbery and trees concealing me from her.

A short moment was all it took and then I was back on the earth, no longer soaring. My feet gently touching the ground as a man plucked me right out of the air.

No words were spoken as I took in his golden red skin and black hair, he looked like an Native Amarican. Like grandma's tribe but different too and I smiled hesitantly. 'Hey! I'm Amy who are you?'

The man frowned and then smiled back, 'Chimali little one. Now... don't ever do that again! Forget.' A touch on my forehead with a slightly calloused finger and then the world turned black again.

*

There was a loud groaning noise and then my skin tingled everywhere it was exposed, dust hitting it like a fine rain. I heard someone cough and I was glad I didn't have to do that, my throat hurt too much for that to be very pleasant.

I heard something like wind, movement, the sliding of feathers against each other? Almost like wings rustling and I struggled to open my heavy eyes. One wouldn't work at all, something sticky gluing the lashes together, the other I managed to open a crack.

The light was sharp and painful for a moment but then things jumped into focus. The jagged teeth of a broken building around me, was that the second floor of the house? What had happened?

Around it the garden had turned into a warzone, no plant or tree left upright and gaping holes in the ground here and there. I could see wolves but most of them appeared to be retreating now and there were Demons as well, in all kinds of shapes and appearances.

They were all fighting with human looking people, presumably witches and vampires under Nathaniel's command.

What filled my vision mostly was a set of huge wings, radiant and so white that they were almost blinding. The man they belonged to tall and beautiful and toweringly intimidating, black hair unbraided this time but decorated still with red ribbons and golden beads and rings.

I tried to open my mouth to speak to him, my grandfather had come for me after all! But my throat was burning so much that I couldn't form words.

Eliza holding me stepped back, pushing me behind her as if she meant to protect me. It jarred my leg and reminded me painfully that it was broken. Finally my vocal cords seemed to work and I croaked out: 'That's my grandfather Eliza...'

'Oh...' she replied and then allowed Tlanextic to take me from her arms. He was warm and safe and instantly the pain washed away, blackness threatening to take me away again. I was sure that Tlanextic wouldn't worry about Eliza and leave her stranded here if I didn't intervene.

I grasped his black shirt tightly and struggled to speak again: 'Don't leave her.'

A moment later I felt Eliza's warm breath filter over my face as she squeaked, obviously startled. Then darkness again.

*

Something hot and warm washed over me, the feeling rejuvenating and restoring. It made me feel whole and complete and finally it seemed like I could properly breath again. I still couldn't open one eye but it didn't hurt to open the other.

It did feel like swimming through very murky water to reach the surface but what I saw showed me the steel gray eyes of my Mate.