There are no bridges across the Division to link Numa to Seola or vice versa. The banks along both ends were fairly protected so that no one could cross from one land into the other in secret. There were multiple ports where ships could travel across the river, but the port in which Royalty traveled was very exclusive.

The river itself was so wide you couldn't see Seola from Numa's bank. I never knew how long it truly took to cross it, but I assumed it wouldn't be a short trip. The ship waiting for us was large and luxurious, manned by both Daemons and Humans. I supposed the Humans were useful in the case that the sun would come up.

Daemons didn't like the sun very much. If subjected to prolong exposure, it could hurt them and ultimately kill them, like an extreme sunburn. I didn't know much about Seraphim, despite being one, but I'd heard they held their own weaknesses when it came to the night as well. So traveling to the land of darkness only increased my anxiety further when knowing I wouldn't see as much of the sun as I was used to anymore.

Kol led me onto the ship and paused in front of what appeared to be the crew in charge of running the ship. "Straight shot to Seola, no stopping or turning around. If I demand us to turn around in the future, just ignore me. You know how confused I can get sometimes." I stared at the crew as they bowed in response, and a thought came to me.

As Kol led me further onto the ship and then down steps away from the others, I finally spoke. "They don't know about you? About Kol and Niko?" I dared to ask him. It was the first words I'd spoken to him since leaving the mansion. He threw me a side glance and then made a noise of annoyance.

"They don't know about you, either. Some things are better left unsaid," He responded simply.

I frowned. "Is that why they call you the Mad Prince? Because you and Niko may sometimes disagree on things... like which direction the ship should go?"

Kol suddenly stopped and turned to me. I tensed, but didn't back away. Instead, I stared at him openly. I had become accustomed to this Kol in front of me wearing the same face as Niko that I'd nearly forgotten about Niko himself. Would he come back at some point? Would he want us to turn around? Would he help free me?

"Don't get your hopes up, angel," Kol said with a low voice, "Even if Niko somehow sets you free, I'll come back for you. And when I do, I'll leave a bloody mess behind me next time." Kol turned to lead us further down more steps, going deeper and deeper into the ship until he stopped in front of a set of doors.

"This will be your room for the trip," Kol's tone became that familiar devious tone, telling me that something about this room held a catch I would not like. He opened a door and gestured for me to enter. I hesitated, but took a deep breath and stepped into the room. It was dark, void of even candlelight. There were barrels scattered around corners, no bed to be seen, and the only fixture was a wooden pole situated almost center in the room.

I paused in clear discomfort and then turned as though to escape. Kol stood towering in my path, a smile gracing his lips handsomely. He shut the door behind him, throwing us into a more solid darkness so that all I could see were the glow of his blood red eyes in the night. I clung to my handbag tightly, staring into his eyes with growing fear.

I yelped when he snatched the bag away, jumping when I heard the thud of it tossed to the side. And I jumped again when I stepped back into the wooden pole nervously.

"Do you know a lot about your kind, Rin?" Kol asked me curiously. I didn't want to answer, but I shook my head before I could decide not to. "Have you ever heard of nightburn?"

I felt the word was familiar, like it had been spoken to me before, but so long ago that I couldn't possibly remember.

"I don't know..." I answered truthfully, afraid to even blink.

I inhaled sharply when I felt fingertips brushing over my cheek carefully.

"Seraphim feed on sunlight like Daemons feed on blood. You can't live without it. Too long in the dark and you'll start to get nightburn. Your skin blackens and burns. It's very painful. I wonder how long you can survive," Kol said curiously as he traced my skin. I widened my eyes, wondering if he was telling me the truth or just trying to frighten me.

Suddenly, he grasped my wrists and began to bind them.

"Wait, don't!" I pleaded in panic, the darkness only adding to the confusion as I couldn't see what he planned to do. My wrists were lifted above my head and bound to the wooden pole behind me. I looked up, but I couldn't even see my hands in the dark. I gasped for air in fear, pulling on my hands roughly for a moment as though I could free them.

"Are you comfortable?" Kol teased me. I looked into his glowing eyes, the only comfort in the dark room, and felt a moment of dread as I realized what he intended to do.

"Kol," I breathed with fear, "Please don't leave me."

I couldn't see his features, but he didn't respond immediately with some snarky comment as I feared he would. Instead, after a moment's pause, he stepped closer to me.

"You're not afraid of the nightburn, are you?" He asked me curiously.

I shook my head honestly. "I'm afraid of the dark," I whimpered, tears burning my eyes. "Please, stay with me. Please don't leave me alone." I began to tremble, but when he leaned closer to me, the feel of someone solid pressed against me was a comfort in the darkness. I felt myself calm as I stared into his eyes.

"You're very tempting. Very sweet," He said carefully, watching my form in deep thought. "You make me feel... sorry." Kol abruptly pushed himself away and suddenly not even his eyes were there to give me hope in the darkness.

My breath came quick. Then quicker. I tried to focus, to see anything around me, but there was nothing in the black. I looked up towards where my hands would be, tightening them into fists and pulling as hard as I could stand the pain. The panic was rising, fear with it.

"Kol!" I cried out and then again louder when he didn't respond, "Kol!!"

He was gone. I was alone.

"Let me out!" I screamed in terror. "Please! Please!! Don't leave me here! Kol!"

I couldn't breathe. And still I inhaled deeply before screaming loudly.

~...~

I was stuck in two places at once. In one place, I was in the garden. The sun was high in the sky, warm and soothing, and the laughter of three small children echoed in the air as they chased each other around the fountain. Things moved slowly, time was warped, and I could see the bounce of their golden curls as they pranced so freely around me.

In the other place, there was no light. My world swayed occasionally and the only sound was water beating against the walls above me. My skin was damp with sweat and blood. Fear made me panic to an extent that I hadn't felt the pain of the bindings around my wrists tearing into my skin when trying to escape. I had long given up on that hope. Instead, I briefly opened my eyes to the darkness and closed them again to the sunny day in the garden with the babies.

"Rin," Lupa called to me, stopping mid-stride to hold a small hand out for me.

"I'm coming," I whispered, my throat sore from hopeless screams, but when I tried to reach for her, my hands were held back. My eyes fluttered open again to the dark and I lifted my face towards the sky with a whimper. When I closed my eyes, the sun was in the sky, shining down on my lifted face easily.

"Father says you have to go outside every day," Liza said from beside me, causing me to look down at her, "But sometimes when we get in trouble, we're not allowed outside."

"She's sick and the sun makes her not sick, stupid," Rory scolded his sister, deciding this reasonable answer to be the absolute truth.

"I just never get in trouble," I whispered aloud, a laugh escaping my lips at the absurdity of such a statement. I felt my foot tingling and shifted, whimpering at the responding ache from my hands to my feet. I couldn't sit except against the wooden pole behind me. The discomfort alone was more than I'd ever been force to bear in my entire life.

"Rin, tell Rory not to call me stupid," Liza pouted before beginning a high squeal of what would probably be a very dramatic meltdown.

"Rory, don't call Liza stupid," I said to the silence around me. I suddenly was in only one world, my world, in the dark I so feared alone. "Lupa?" I paused, but the dream didn't come back to me. I tried not to panic, but the emptiness felt so heavy around me, so suffocating. I didn't know how long I'd been left alone and I didn't know how long it would continue. I was certain the sun had already been up for hours and hours by now, but still we were crossing the Division and still I remained in the dark below.

I tried to keep myself calm, whispering soothing things to remind me that I hadn't passed on to the underworld. My voice shook with every word, damning my own intentions until I was left quietly crying instead.

A sound at the door halted my cries into silence. I immediately stood straight, pressing against the wooden post behind me with fear. I had long forgotten to concentrate on hiding what I was and my eyes were sharpened brightly into gold, but not even my Seraph eyes could see through the dark. I didn't know what monsters came for me. I tried to tighten my hands into fists, but they were numb and my fingers didn't move.

What if it were a stranger? Some random Daemon looking for someone to feast on? The door opened and I closed my eyes firmly, inhaling sharply in fear.

"Who's there?" I demanded, my voice high and breathless. I wanted to see. I've wanted to be able to see for the longest time, but my father's warning was loud in my mind. I had to hide what I was from everyone as much as possible. I tried to focus on calming down, controlling my emotion so that I could conceal my eyes again.

"It's me," Kol's voice rang out dangerously low. My eyes fluttered open in relief, even more so when I found I could see him entirely. A candle had been lit and placed carefully on a barrel nearby. Kol stood before me, looking at my form with an expression of distaste and anger.

"Thank you," I said with relief, looking from him to the candle as though I could absorb the light of the flame entirely and it would keep me safe forever. He reached forward, gently touching just under my chin and lifted my face to look into his crimson eyes.

"When you're afraid, you can't hide them?" Kol asked me carefully. I looked at him, actually looked at him, and realized I wasn't speaking to Kol. This man was uncertain, uncomfortable, and angry but not at anyone other than himself.

"I can hide them fairly easily, but I have to be in control. If there's an imbalance, I have to concentrate more to hide them, and if the imbalance is too extreme I can't concentrate anymore," I told him honestly before hesitating, "You're Niko now?"

He released his touch from my face, stepping back in surprise.

"You can tell in just moments?" He asked, confusion on his features.

"You're ... different," I hesitated, looking up briefly to see lines of red streaking my arms from under my bloodied wrists. I whimpered, looking away fearfully as a newfound ache began throbbing through my arms.

Niko made a noise of frustration and stepped forward. "This isn't going to feel good," He warned me before he abruptly reached up and cut away the binding holding me to the wooden post. I yelped at the sharp pain in response, stumbling forward as my legs had grown useless over the hours. Niko caught me easily then slowly eased me to the ground until I was cradled against him in whimpers.

"Bear it just for a moment, Rin," Niko asked of me before beginning to cut through the bindings embedded into my wrists with his claws. I tried to bear it, clenching my jaw tightly as the bindings pulled at the meat of my wrists, but as he peeled it away the pain was too much. I cried out in pain, such agony so new to me that it blinded me. I didn't even notice when the bindings were gone, leaving me weeping morosely in Niko's arms.

Niko inspected my wrists carefully, turning my hands over and massaging my fingers slowly until I began to move them in his grasp in response. He brushed his fingers just under where cuts had been left on my arm when I had pulled myself from Kol's grip in the mansion.

"I'm sorry," Niko finally said, looking at me with sincerity, "I shouldn't have followed you. Kol likes to destroy anything I take interest in. If you hadn't been Seraphim, you would be a horribly mutilated corpse by now." I watched him openly, a new fear with me now that he mentioned what I was. He may not be Kol, but he still was the Daemon Prince and he knew what I was...

"Are are you going to turn me in?" I asked fearfully, my eyes wide as I waited for what would be my fate in Seola.

Niko hesitated, but shook his head. "No one else knows. I'll take you back home and we can just pretend none of this ever happened," He decided darkly, looking towards the door as though he were about to do just as Kol expected; tell the crew to turn around and head back to Numa.

"It won't work," I told him knowingly, "Kol said he'd come back for me-"

"And leave a bloody mess, I know," Niko interrupted with a growl of frustration, "I know better than anyone. We share memories so I know every thought and plan he had for you... I can tell your father to run and hide. It might work."

I imagined my family packing up what they could carry and making a run for it; Sylvia and the three babies not even know why they were on the run. I imagined their sunny, happy life turning into one of fear, hiding from the Daemons and bound to eventually be caught. I shook my head.

"It won't work," I whispered in despair.

"Then what? Make you mine? You won't survive in Seola as you are and even if I claim you, you won't survive Kol," His words began to sound more of an argument with himself as he tried to come up with an idea of what he could possibly do in this situation. I didn't understand the meaning behind his words.

"What do you mean 'as I am'?" I asked uncertainly.

"Unmarked," Niko said darkly. "Kol left that part for me. He'll let you die if I don't."

My thoughts raced as I tried to follow his train of thoughts.

"Don't what?" I inquired with confusion.

Niko was peering at me with frustration, but a decision had already been made. His features set into one of acceptance, albeit reluctant. I looked into his face with wide eyes, golden still in all the confusion.

"Are you sure you don't want to try running away?" He asked me, dancing around that idea once more.

"It won't work," I told him again, my heart racing as I feared what it meant.

"Then we'll have to make sure you'll be safe among the other Daemons. Kol gets his wish for now," Niko responded, his voice low with anger. He seemed to be uncertain on how to proceed, "I don't know if I should explain it to you or not. You won't like it regardless."

"You're going to bite me," I told him breathlessly, my fear rising as I remembered Kol's previous statement. I thought Daemons only bit humans to feed on them, but something in the way Kol decided to wait for Niko to do it told me this would be something different; something that would both doom me further and keep me safe.

"Yes. If I don't, you will remain unmarked. Unmarked humans are unclaimed territory. In Seola, that would make you free to any Daemon that had the desire to have you. It's why Kol kept you close to him, kept you hidden down here, so he could save you for me. I hate ... I didn't want to hurt you," Niko explained, a pain expression crossing his face as he spoke. "But I can't risk your fate in someone else's hands when we arrive in Seola."

I understood what he meant, but the thought was clear in my terror-addled mind. I had already experience enough pain to last me a lifetime. I did not want to be bitten, fed on, or claimed no matter how logical or safe it might be.

I immediately pushed myself from Niko's grasp and unlike the possessive nature of Kol, Niko released me rather easily. I whimpered from the ache of my body, but pushed myself to my feet cautiously before raising my hand to halt Niko from continuing. He stood slowly before me, his face set carefully as he watched me.

"I don't want to be bitten," I said firmly.

"I don't want to bite you," He answered in kind, "But I'm going to."

"Don't," I pleaded, shaking my head.

Niko took a silent step towards me and I turned to run for the door. Before I could make it, an arm snaked around my waist and I was lifted from the floor, yanked away from the exit forcefully. I screamed loudly, kicking my feet and trying to free myself. Then I was pushed against the nearby wall firmly, my body pinned by Niko's with no room to move.

"Niko! Don't, please, don't," I begged him, looking into his face pleadingly. A flash of pain crossed his features, but then he grasped my face to turn me away. My breath came heavy and I whimpered as he bared the same shoulder Kol's lips had traced in the garden over and over like a warning or an omen of what would come.

Niko held still, his breath warm over my bared flesh as his grip held me frozen before him. Then I yelped as sharp fangs pierced painfully into my shoulder in two parts, higher as his upper teeth pierced me and lower as his jaw clamped against my flesh, drawing blood from the wound easily. I cried out in pain, tightening my hands into fists as I clung onto whatever fabric of Niko's I could grasp.

The pain was short-lived. Daemons were known for having chemicals in their bites that subdued their victims further. I felt a wave of lightness, as though a weight was lifting from within me. My grip loosened and my lips parted into a surprised gasp rather than a pained cry.

Niko released his bite carefully, watching my wet flesh for a moment before drawing his eyes over me and pausing altogether.

"That's not good," He muttered more to himself. I tried to focus on him, but I felt entirely out of focus, lightheaded, but pleasantly so. Niko grasped my face in his hand and pulled me to peer into his glowing red eyes before frowning. "Your eyes are extremely bright right now. You couldn't hide them if you wanted to..."

I couldn't quite comprehend his statement and frowned at him to copy his own features. Then I reached up to run my fingers over his cheek curiously. "You're frightening... and beautiful."

"Okay, enough of that," Niko immediately grasped my hand and pulled it away from him. With a dip, he grasped my legs over one arm and lifted me from the ground easily. The world moved around me, but I couldn't quite see it. I tried to lift my head, but it was too heavy so I laid uselessly in Niko's grip as he took me from the frightening dark room at last.