207: Sanity -Saba-

"You won't survive this. Let me out . . . I can protect you."

I shook my head as I ran down the hall away from the horrible, young child that Will had left for me to keep an eye on. The girl claimed that she was Crystal's sister, but it was an obvious lie. When we were alone I called her on the lie and she just flipped out.

I heard the teeny explosions as people looked out to find what the noise was, only to have their heads removed from their bodies. Whoever this girl was, she had immense power and was a danger to everyone. I glanced back to see her slowly walking down the hall behind me.

Behind her, the hallway was a mess of blood and brain matter. As the girl stepped on the rug little splashes of blood splattered on her and the walls. Her face was in a state of ecstasy as though she was getting her fix off every head that explodes in her presence.

"I can't let you out. I'll never get you back under control. You could hurt the people I care about."

More explosions. A family of four becomes a family of none.

"I thought we came to an agreement?! You're going to die unless you let me take over."

The other me was right, and I was running out of hallway. I pushed open the door to the stairs and quickly made my way down.

"The only agreement we came to was keeping Ben safe. This isn't affecting Ben at all."

I was halfway down the second set of stairs when the door above flew off its hinges. I could hear steps down the stairs as I finished the second set.

"Wow." Her voice was childish and malicious, "Being around you makes it easier for me to get the pieces I need. I wonder what it'd be like if I could just get inside your head."

My foot caught on a step and I tumbled down the stairs. An attempt to stand was met with extreme pain through out my entire leg.

"If you're dead, then you can't protect Ben. If she reaches us before you stop being stupid then we're dead . . . you have to know that. Just . . . give me control."

No choice. No choice but to let her be in control. She could help.

I looked at the top of the stairs and my breath caught. There she was staring down at me like a hungry beast at their next meal. She was terrifying, powerful, small, fragile . . . dead.

"It's about time you caught up to me." I smiled my signature dark smile, "I've always wanted to know what it'd feel like to wear a child's skin."

She paused, "Well, this is different."

Her face was what I concentrated on. It was an expression that was the best part of being a monster. The only emotion I felt was the right one to be expressed toward me. This girl was scared.

"Mmmmm." I pulled myself up ignoring the pain in my leg, something the other me could never do, "All this violence is making me tingly in places children your age shouldn't know about."

"What are you? Why aren't you terrified of me anymore?", she pulled herself together and the fear disappeared.

"I eat your type for breakfast . . . " I winked, "Literally."

I stepped up the stairs toward her, and she took a step back. I could see that she was weighing her options. I had completely surprised her.

"When they sent you up here to me, did you expect someone fragile and weak? Ben's much smarter than that. He didn't send you to me because of my weaker, more humane," I spit, "self. I'm the reason he left you here. So let's start with what you are."

As I made my way up the stairs I could tell she wasn't sure what to do, but I knew she understood the trouble she was in.

"I'm very old and much stronger than you." She obviously believed that, "I've been around for as long as humans have existed, maybe even longer."

"You aren't telling me anything of importance." I took a deep breath of the blood scented air, "These are your last moments, the least you could do is be more open with me."

Red flooded the front of the girl's dress, but she didn't scream. Instead she looked at me and smiled, "You want me to be more open? Well, how's this for being open?"

With that the girl's body burst open and fell to the floor. Standing in her place was a tall red-headed young woman completely nude and covered with blood. It was my turn to be put off guard by this unusual transformation.

"Ahh, so I've collected enough pieces to manifest my true form." She looked at me with eyes that I'd seen many times. She was an unsigned Goddess. One of Patrick's kind. I suddenly felt completely outranked.

"I'm not unsigned. I passed with flying colors and was signed." She smiled and bowed, "I'm the Goddess of Memory, or at least I was until they locked me away."

In a second she had me against the wall with her hand at my throat. Her strength was amazing, more so than even Bob had exhibited. I could feel her fingers biting into my neck.

"Sex-y." I smiled at her, "Why don't you and me find a room somewhere? I'll teach you how to scream with out making a sound."

Her grip tightened, "All I need from you is the piece I'm missing." She put her other hand on my forehead and after a few moments her face became quizzical, "You- don't have it. Why don't you have the piece I need?" She slammed me against the wall, "What are you?!"

I had trouble talking, "Let's play . . .", I coughed the words out slowly, "some show and tell."

My weaker self was screaming at me to stop making her mad. I took her advice in to consideration long enough to spit in the Goddess' face. She tossed me down the stairs in response. I hit the floor and slid in to the wall.

"You are not important to me if you are not in possession of what I seek. You can leave with your life.", she turned to walk away, but I wasn't having that. I called upon the dead, urging them to wrap themselves around the door she'd kicked down earlier.

"STOP!" She did, and slowly turned around.

"You are just asking for me to kill you." She tilted her head, "Or could you be trying to save the people of this hotel?"

That question made me very confused. I could just let her go, she wasn't a threat to me or anyone I cared about right now. Why was I stopping her? That's when it hit me, I was losing control. I took a deep breath of the disgusting air and all I wanted was Ben to hold me.

A loud clang was heard behind the Goddess as the door fell to the ground. My powers had faded because the evil me was deep within. I fearfully looked at the red haired Goddess and gave my best fearless face.

"You're a big meany-head."

She started laughing. She laughed for about 2 minutes and then her laughter turned to screams, "NO! . . . agh . . . urgh . . . I need more pieces . . . I need a body to hold me."

Her eyes fell on me and I felt a cold chill.

Flashback 206: Humanitarian -Kelly-

"You are hereby banished from these lands for the crime of loving a human. You are to never return and your powers will be stripped away from you until I judge you worthy."

I stared at my brother's angry face and saw no change, "But . . . I'm your kin. You can't do this to me!"

"In addition, for the murder of the high priest and priestess, from this moment on no living being will be able to return you any affections. Until your punishment is complete you will spend your days alone."

Pain tore through my body as my powers were ripped away. It was like five thousand needles were inserted in to my body and then shot with massive amounts of electricity. I fell to my knees gasping for air. I grasped at air with my hands toward where my brother stood, "It was an accident. I had no idea. Please, don't."

"Kelly," His voice was cold and heartless, "it was our parents; you killed our parents. So let me tell you this plainly. I don't care if your punishment ends. If I ever see you again, then I'll kill you dead. You will NEVER have your powers back."

He stood and motioned to his guards who grabbed me by the shoulders and dragged me to the portal's opening. Jason was the high priest now, having taken the spot upon the death of our Father. His wife would be the priest and I would be discarded and forgotten, a painful memory that he would force in to hiding until it became relevant. That was the way of the Succubi and Incubi. The way of my people.

They tossed me through the portal as if I were a child.

I felt the car smash in to my side and the air whooshing past as I flew in to a ditch at the side of the road. I felt the pain and knew I was injured, but being inhuman granted me a certain amount of endurance that was much higher than that of normal mortals. I would live, if I didn't move.

"Oh my . . . call 9-1-1! I hit someone!" The voice was male.

"Will . . . is she going to be okay?" Female. Probably a mate.

"Not if you don't make that call." I heard scuffles as the male made his way down the slope to me.

"It's going to be alright." He breathed, "We're getting help."

Humans were so different from my people. My people have stayed the same for thousands of years, unchanging in their habits, abilities and beliefs, but humans are constantly changing. Long ago they were too weak to battle against us, so all the prominent families had their own human settlements to feed from when needed, but now humans had grown stronger and broken away from our control. My people are heartless and cold toward a person of another species while humans had the ability to escape the confines of their raising, and show affection for someone or something different than them.

The cold of the night air was replaced by the warmth of the ambulance and then the cool of the hospital A/C. The sensations were too much and the pain was making my vision blurry, so I closed my eyes and slept.

When I awoke I was looking up at the face of the man that saved me. Beside him stood a young woman and a small child, both of them looking very concerned. The child had tears in her eyes but started smiling once I started moving.

"You shouldn't move much. The doctors say that even though you were very lucky, you shouldn't move much. You did quite a bit of damage to yourself."

"Where am I?", I glanced at the window but it was closed and the blinds drawn.

"You're at the hospital. You ran in front of my car. I thought that I'd killed you."

"What's your name?"

"Will. William Melahn."

"William." My love's name had been William as well. I expected worse to have become of him, seeing as he's the one that dealt the killing blow to both of my parents. "You saved my life. I think I owe you."

"I was the one that hit you with my car. I'd call us even."

I sat there powerless and injured, staring at the face of a man who had the name of my parents' murderer. Yet for some reason I felt calm, peaceful and safe. I felt . . . human.

I never expected to have anything to do with the Other Lands again.

205: Hartman Tribe -Alice-

I stood there frozen in place as I heard movement all around me getting closer. The Black Baggers were hunting me and I didn't know what direction they were coming from.

I was still in the garden, but my back was against a stone wall with pathways leading to my left and right. On the other side of the plants in front of me, I could hear the Bagger that I had escaped from trying to pull at the plants. For the moment they were holding, but I couldn't be too sure how long they'd stay that way.

From both directions I could hear movement now. I was trapped with out any way to defend myself.

Why had I agreed to this? Had Ben known it would be dangerous? If so, he didn't say anything. I shook my head. No. Ben wouldn't have done that, he wouldn't have put me in danger intentionally unless he had no choice.

The screaming started up again as they got closer. Any second now they'd be visible in the pathway, and soon after they'd get to me. I sat staring to the right, waiting for them to appear.

"Hey!", I felt something hit the top of my head, it was a rope made of sheets. Glancing up I saw a guy's head looking out a window.

"Are you going to stay down there and let them get you, or climb up?" There was sarcasm in his voice, but I ignored it as I grabbed the sheet-rope.

Just as they started pulling me up The Black Baggers appeared in my pathway racing toward me.

"Pull faster!"

"We're pulling as fast as we can!"

I swung my foot out and caught a Bagger in the face as it got close. It fell back, causing the ones behind it to trip into a mess of black bags, arms and legs. When the next group of Baggers got to me, I was too high for them to reach. I grabbed the windowsill and pulled myself inside.

Inside the room stood the guy that helped me and four people. There was a young woman with a young child, a tall, fat guy who was lying on the bed looking at the ceiling, and another tall guy that wasn't as fat as the last, but had some weight on him.

The one who helped pointed to the young woman and child, "This is Stephanie Berthiaume and her daughter, Emily.", he gestured to the one that was lying down, "That's Alex Kayser, and finally this is Vincent Smith. He joined us just right before you did." He held out his hand.

"And I'm Jason Hartman."

204: Her Scent -Sara-

"Nick, did you see her face? I've never seen her like that." The shorter one pulled himself from the floor.

"What do you expect? That bastard Patrick killed her father. When I get my hands on him . . . " The tall one was already standing. I could feel energy flowing off him, massive amounts not normal for a human.

"We can't worry about that right now. We have to find Crystal before she does something that will get her killed. We don't know how long we've been out, so she could be any-", he stopped talking as he stared at the television behind the counter.

"We interrupt our scheduled programming for an important announcement," The television blared, "Millionaire Patrick Bernauw was killed about an hour ago in a horrible terrorist attack that left 2 guards injured and 7 in a coma. A small explosive was detonated in the bathroom while Patrick was showering, and as of right now the police have no leads."

"Ben, why do I get the feeling this has something to do with Crystal?" The tall one was very pale.

"Shit. We have to get to her now." Ben thought for a second and then pointed up, "You go get Will and Kelly. We'll need the Taxi. I'm going to keep watching to see if they turn up anything. Once you get back down, we'll find her."

The tall one ran for the stairs and I stepped forward. The closer I got to these people, the stronger her scent. It was the smell of completion and I wanted it more than anything. I stepped up to the short one called Ben.

"Uh, Sir?" I tugged at his shirt, "Sir, do you know a Crystal Ferguson?"

He looked down at me surprised, "Yes, have you seen her?"

I smiled my sweetest smile, "No sir, but I want to really bad. I miss her so much."

He watched me cautiously. What had this person been through that made it difficult for him to trust a child? It didn't matter. If he got in the way then he'd die like the others.

"How do you know her?"

I grasped the corners of my dress and curtsied, "I'm her sister. Nice to meet you." I had said it just as several people, including the tall one, came down the stairs. All of the people around wore shocked faces as I looked into Ben's face.

"She . . . uhm . . . " Ben glanced at the tall one as if asking for help, "She never told us about you. She's . . . not here right now, but we're going to get her. Would you mind waiting for us in our hotel room? Where're your parents?"

"My parents went to get me lunch. They told me to find her room and wait there."

Ben turned toward one of the other people; the one with the beard, "Will, take her up to the room. We'll be waiting for you in the car."

"Ben her story doesn't add u-"

"Leave her with Saba to keep an eye on her. We don't have a lot of time." I couldn't help but notice the way he emphasized Saba. I hadn't fooled them, but I would see Crystal eventually and if this Saba person was any trouble, then I'd have no trouble killing her.

"Hey, there. My name is Will, please come with me." I took his hand and we headed up the stairs together. I could tell he was tense. He didn't trust me at all. In fact, by the way he kept glancing at me, I could tell he was trying to figure out what was going on.

We passed a soda machine as we traveled down the hallway and he looked at me, "Would you like a drink?"

"No thank you, mister. I just want to be complete again."

203: Guilt -Andrew-

The streets of the city were torture to walk through. Everything reminded me of my wife and child, the victims of my warped mind. Every noise brought back a memory that I wish I could forget. but knew that I didn't want to.

The others had been very clear about where they wanted me. They wanted me anywhere but near them, and Carl had been the one to make it the clearest. I winced as I lightly touched my bruised face. I deserved their scorn; I deserved more than I'd gotten.

"Sir, are you alright?" It was a young nun that had just walked from a nearby church.

"I'll never be okay, Sister. Better you just leave me alone.", I continued walking.

"God can help." She caught up to me and grabbed my sleeve, "Come inside and talk to me."

"God . . . ", my mind settled back on the memories of Hell. I could almost feel the amounts of pain I had endured again as I remembered the whips and brands, "God has no place for me. I've done so much. I've ruined so many lives. I destroyed people I care about just to feel better."

"They'll forgive you, and so will God." She put her hand on my shoulder, halting me.

"What if some of them can't forgive me?" I fell to the steps of the church and put my face in my hands, "Not long ago, this didn't bother me. I used to be able to forget about the guilt. I could ignore the pain."

She sat down next to me.

"But I can't anymore. Now the guilt and pain floods my soul, it reminds me of their faces and compares them to better times. A constant reminder that I did it to them and that I can never go back. I can never undo what I did. Forever I'll be haunted by this pain."

"That's part of the glory of being human. God gave us guilt so we could learn how to treat others." She turned my face toward hers, "Maybe God gave you back your guilt so you can return to him; so you can stop treating others the way you have."

"Sister, I don't mean to be rude, but if there was a God than he'd have done something already. The only person that gave me back my guilt was myself. Don't talk as though you understand! You've never killed anyone."

She paused as though not sure what to say. She smiled and grasped my hand while standing, "Come inside with me. Maybe I can show you God's forgiveness and help you move on."

I was pulled to my feet and directed to the front doors. I hesitated before stepping over the threshold, because I was scared of being smote for entering God's house.

The doors closed behind me and the young nun turned to me, "I am Sister Victoria, and I'd like to welcome you to The Hicks Church of Christ."

Something told me this was a bad idea, but I was desperate. I needed to get rid of this pain that filled me. I pushed the feeling aside and followed Sister Victoria deeper in to the church.