A/N: So, I know I have been horribly neglecting both my stories and have decided to try to kick-start my inspiration again by going back and editing the chapters. I haven't really changed anything major in most chapters – mostly just cleaned it up a bit and fixed some minor details. Hope most of my readers are still with me and enjoy the story still.

Edited: 12/20/2012

Prologue

Fuzzy light, muffled voices, blurred sight and numbness. It was all that she knew. That and the plush mattress under her. It hadn't always been a mattress, it was a smooth cushion before and hard, freezing arms before that. Now, though, all was quiet – still. Only half of it penetrated Aniela's drugged brain.

It had been a long trip, Aniela knew. She remembered most of it. Remembered the harsh wind as it whipped over her face while the cold body holding her sprinted through the forest. Remembered the voices when they stopped. They were pleased - one or two of them sounded gleeful as a commanding presence took charge. Then she remembered they ran again. They ran for such a long time, the icy wind clawing at her bare, exposed skin. Then the sound of rotating air from a propeller replaced the sound of rushing air.

Aniela had drifted in and out of consciousness during the hours the plane was air born. Cool leather seats caressed Aniela's prone body. And, on one occasion when Aniela drifted to awareness, a frozen hand stroked her hair, sending shivers down to her toes. She hadn't been awake as the plane landed and when she had awoken again a plush mattress was cradling her.

Now Aniela was only vaguely aware of the happenings around her - graceful, silky movements. No sound except for the voices, muffled by her hazy mind, sounded at first. Then a soft steady beep jumped to the front as something cool and smooth touched her chest.

Something crinkled as plastic moved and a sudden sharpness pricked the inside of her left wrist. The sensation felt magnified in her half conscious state. Aniela cried out, but settled as a warm numbness spread, first at her wrist and hand, then through her arm and body. An urge to sleep swept over her like the numbness as a blanket was pulled around her. She hardly registered the second prick to the inside of her arm right below her elbow and the feeling of her blood rushing from her.

Darkness came again to comfort her. The last thing Aniela was aware of was the soft beep coming from her right.

The empyrean eyes watched curiously as the Masters' moved about the room across the corridor. They were excited, pleased about something going right. But something wasn't right. Something was very, very wrong. The Masters' had a physician; a greedy man who sold his discretion for the right price. It appeared the masters had found a new addition to their mythical collection.

As the Masters' led the doctor from the room and down the corridor the curious eyes followed their movement, waiting until the figures were a great deal away. Slowly, cautiously, a quick, slender body went to the door and stole inside.

It was dark, only the glow of the few lit candles danced across the walls. The light revealed a queen sized, ornate wood bed, upon which laid a still form. The eyes darted around the room again, taking in the fact there was a clear bag of fluid on a metal rod with a tube leading to the lump in the bed. A beep sounded from a box to the right side, a steady green light traveled from one side to the other, mountains appearing with each beep.

Moving to the side of the bed the eyes looked down at the form lying there. It was a girl, a young woman, with midnight hair and skin like caramel. She looked thin and almost peaceful beneath the white satin sheet. Long lashes brushed her cheeks; closed lids hiding the color of the irises behind. She almost looked peaceful, but anyone who was carried into the castle by the Masters' henchmen wouldn't experience peace for a long time.

The lithe body left the room as quietly as it had entered and hurried back to the room across the one that the girl lay. She had looked peaceful, but no one brought to the castle to be hooked up to an IV and heart monitor was peaceful.

They were, thought the owner of the ethereal eyes, a prisoner.

A prisoner like she was. Captured like a lightning bug in a child's jar, to be held for the joy of the capturer for as long as they wished. She couldn't stand the thought of it. Couldn't let it happen again. It wasn't right.

As she paced her room, her willowy dress flowing around her slim body, she made a promise to herself, a promise to the girl lying in the other room, a promise not to let another person suffer as she had. As she was.