Thank you for taking a look at this fanfiction.

Updates may be slow. I am a college student and I also have other things I'm working on as to trying to get my degrees. You can definitely ask when the next update will be, but my answer most times will be 'I don't know', and that's because I really don't. I want these chapters to have both quality AND quantity, and are edited to find grammar and tense errors.

What I want most of all is for everyone to enjoy. Feel free to review, follow the story (or me), etc.

Things in bold will ALWAYS be notes from me, the author. Regular italicized is most always in the story.


"Again!" The college graduates screeched with delight and laughter as I found myself balancing at the top of the fraternity's main sculpture in their front yard. My left hand pressed against the nine square inch tip and I swung my legs up and toes pointed like an arrowhead to the sky. Their roaring glee was exhilarating and I stared down at them as they gathered like ants. Granted, really, I was only two stories up. Amongst the crowd were a few of my buddies, one of them being my best friend, and adopted sister, for the past ten years of our lives – Kat. Her arms were crossed against her chest, my beer in her hands. She disapproved of my crazy antics. Right now she was frowning, and I only grinned back at her.

I only need to think I could do something like a hand-stand on a sculpture tip and I could. I was a magnificent freak in a school full of boozed players and pot-heads. Did I enjoy it? Actually yes. Not many people could manipulate reality like me. It was beautiful secret, something I had only shared with Kat. She knew about everything I could do.

After another moment of the crowd's exuberance, I swung my legs and slid down the length of the statue until my feet were safely on the ground. The crowd let out a disappointed murmur, and I merely shrugged.

"Sorry guys, that's it," I said as I reached out for the beer that Kat held for me.

"We need to get ready, Ivory," Kat urged, whispering to me amongst the screams of the party. I waved her off good-heartedly and started for the fraternity house with her close to my side.

"Soon, soon," I sighed after I consumed the rest of my beer. "We have a few hours."

"No, we only have five," Kat argued, pushing herself forward to press against my side. "It's already midnight. The plane leaves at six and we have to be at the gate by five. We already don't have any time to sleep, Ivy."

I spun around to face my adoptive sister. "Okay I get it," I said as I chucked the empty beer bottle in the nearest trash, outside the frat door.

"You know how long I've wanted to go to Italy, Ivy," Kat said. I did, she knew that. She knew I wanted to visit too. Her parents – my adopted parents – gave us a graduation gift to visit whatever place we wanted to and we chose Italy. Some of our fellow graduates were going as well with their own money so we decided to plan as a group. We got a double room at the Ca' Sagredo in Venice.

"Yeah, okay," I finally sighed and nodded. I fixed my short pitch black hair with a tussle of my fingers and urged her to start for her car with a gesture of my free hand. I swerved in and out of the drunken crowd until we reached Kat's car. Luckily no one had damaged it with broken beer bottle glass, vomit, or streamers. Since I already drank at least seven beers during the party and Kat had none, it was clear who was driving home.

In the car I had leaned back against the Jeep's gray leather seats and just continued to stare forward. This was never where I pictured myself to be over ten years ago. Now I was twenty-two, I just graduated college with my adopted sister and now we were heading to Italy for a month and a half. If my biological parents saw me now, I think they would be proud.

But they were dead. Killed by the pale men of my nightmares.

I could remember flames – bright blue, white, and amber – licking and enveloping my home like greedy flies. I was still in the house, watching as my parents were dragged out by their hair by two men. They screamed and fought against the demon angels, but lost. The leader, black cloak curling behind him like tendrils, questioned my parents but his words were mumbled, spoken through a level of thick glass. His face warped with a Cheshire grin, bright crimson eyes glued to my parents.

And the two guards, the titan one and the slender one, had helped themselves to killing them. I was merely twelve. I squeezed my eyes shut. I wanted to be safe. Needed to be safe. The cloaked pale men started for my burning house.

I didn't want to see the little girl who's eyes were a bloody red, or the guards who had picked themselves up from my parents' mutilated bodies. I wanted to be away – somewhere else. They couldn't have me. They could never have me.

When I opened my eyes, I was in my seat on the plane. Kat was at my side, her brown eyes on me. "The nightmare again?" she asked, voice low but coaxing.

I merely straightened up in the seat and nodded. "I'm fine," I mumbled.

"I know you are," her voice soothed me. "But you mind letting go of my hand?"

I looked down, never realizing I had gripped her hand tight. I was holding hers so tightly I was shaking. "S-sorry," I released my grip and fixed my hands on my lap.

Kat leaned in closer, a hand on my shoulder rubbing lightly. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.

I turned to her. "About my... parents? Or the demon angels?"

Kat shrugged. "Either."

My eyes focused on the back of the seat in front of mine. "I... don't know." I felt Kat's hand rub down my arm.

"Don't worry about it then, Ivory," Kat whispered.

I took a solid deep breath and smiled. I loved Kat. She was my sister, though people would be able to tell we really weren't. Kat was tiny, sickly thin, standing an inch or so over five feet. Her skin was olive, eyes a beautiful chocolate brown, and hair the color of fresh caramel which draped past her shoulders to the middle of her back. I on the other hand... I stood only a few inches under six feet, my figure a slender hourglass, hair an oil-black and fashioned in a fro-hawk. My eyes were a pale blue, almost hypnotic icy white. My skin was like porcelain, so white it almost shined in the sun, and my eyes always seemed so hollow in my skull, casting a red-purple shadow around my lids. Kat was warm – the fire – while I was cold – the ice.

Venice was gorgeous. Ca' Sagredo was gorgeous. The huge hotel was home to pieces of Tiepolo and Bambini, and had suites with views of the Grand Canal. Our double room suite had a balcony that looked out at the Canal, adorned with boats and crystalline water. I looked out at the beauty as the sun set in the distance. Kat had finished unpacking and walked over to join me. "Beautiful, isn't it?" I asked.

Kat inhaled the Italian air. "Very."

"I remember coming here when I was younger," I told Kat, memories coming back to me. She turned to me. "Before my parents died. I was maybe, nine or ten, but yeah I remember the Grand Canal. We were only here for a week before my parents rushed us home for a reason I don't remember."

"You think they'd be happy you're back?" Kat asked.

"Maybe," I whispered. "Yes." A long pause. "I don't know." I leaned into Kat's side and she stumbled slightly.

"Stop it, you're too tall to do that to me," Kat squeaked as she tried to push me away but to no avail.

I merely chuckled. "So, what are the plans for tomorrow?" I asked.

"Maggie and the others texted me about a tour of a town in Tuscany three and a half hours away," Kat said.

I groaned.

"Give me a break, Ivy." Kat pushed me. "Maggie said that from what she heard it's worth the wait. We'll be visiting a town fortified from sienna stone."

"What's it called?" I asked.

"Volterra."

Huh. The name sounded oddly familiar.