Alright Guys, todays story pic of the day is Will Chamberson.

Note: These are the final updates on the new characters amd the old ones. Every leader should see because theres gonna be new teammates.

Chapter 11

Abby's POV

"Wait what?" I ask nervously.

Interrupting the conversation, a phone beeps as Miles takes out his phone and answers it.

"Hello?…..Yeah….They just found us…..Ok, one sec."

He puts the phone in the middle of the group and puts it on loud speaker. It's a male voice.

"Ashley, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, what's up?" says the platinum haired girl.

"Chelsea and the other fledglings are nearby your location. Just wait where you are until they found you."

"The other fledglings?"

"Yeah, Kylie thought it would be a good idea if all the fledglings with affinities would be present in the mission. She wants them to experience what it would be like in a tough situation, plus, she thinks they could all help in a way."

"Dominic, this is Will," Will joins in, "listen, we got a little problem."

I can tell Dominic, the guy on the phone, hesitated before answering, "What's the problem?"

"Dulce never arrived here with Melanie when we sent them to find Abby and Britney. Dawn went into her sacred ghost phase and her ancestors had told her that they were captured by Gaby and Shelly."

"Find them. All they need is Melanie and Matt's blood. Knowing them, they'll use Dulce as the sacrifice. If they get Melanie's blood, then don't let them get Matt. He'll be the last portion of their pla-" Dominic ends as the call drops.

We all stand there silently until I broke the silence.

"What do we do now?"

In a rough, cold voice, Will says, "You heard what Dominic said. We find them."

He turns and starts jogging toward south, leaving us behind, until we hear a female scream and see Will on his ass. We all run towards him only to find a very pretty brunette haired girl lying in front of him, rubbing her forehead.

"Owchie! Dammit Will" She says as she punches him in the gut and stands up.

"Who are you?" Matts says.

"I'm Chelsea, Chelsea Volts. And I'm guessing you must be Matt?" she says as she brushes off her white hoodie and grey skinny jeans. Matt smiles a cute smile and nods.

"Great, well, it's nice to meet you guys, and you too Abby. Anyways, Miles, we're all waiting in the school bus. So hurry your slow ass up and let's go."

"School bus? Where are we going?" I ask before Britney interrupts.

"EWWW! A school bus?! Fuck that shit! I ain't getting on any bus unless it's a limousine. Too much shit is going on today that it's hard for me to handle. Just, when you guys get to town, just call my father and tell him to send his helicopter to come and pick me up. Plus, I really need a mani-pedi and a couple of hours to shop, last time I went shopping with Miley Cyrus and Vanessa Hudgens, this really crazy thing happened when-"

"Britney!" I scream at her.

"What?"

"Shut up!"

"Anyways," Chelsea says awkwardly, "Asteria thinks she might know where they are now. FYI, you guys should probably cover your ears like, right now."

She covers her ears and shuts her eyes. I hesitated a little, but I was lucky enough to cover my ears before a loud, winy noise overlaps us. I can tell that it was coming from the heart of the forest. Matt flinches and covers his ears. The sound was still ringing in my ears when the noise fades. I look at Chelsea wide eyed and ask, "What the hell was that?"

"They have started the ritual. They've already have sacrificed someone's blood. We have to move fast."

We all start running towards the bus as I continue to question the situation.

"What do you mean sacrificed blood?"

"They are going to perform a bad ritual. They're going to call one of the most evil demons known to vampyres. They have to sacrifice 10 different blood samples. Each blood sample has to have a trait that they want in their ritual. When they call upon the demon, she will gain knowledge of what they ask before they actually tell her."

"Her? Is the demon a girl?" Matt says.

"Yeah. Her name is Lamashtu. She is known around the world for a lot of things, but mostly, she's the demoness of infection and diseases. But she's really hard to please. That's why she won't take just any sacrifice. It has to be blood from special people. So, I guess you guys are pretty special if you guys got cut by them."

By now, we reach the bus. I nearly jump into the open doors, only to embarrass myself by tripping on the first step. Everyone in it stopped what they were doing and stared. I could hear a few giggles until Derek comes in and everybody gets calm. He looks around the bus with a serious face as he helps me up and says, 'OK guys, listen up. I'm only going to say this once. This here is Abby. She's been gifted by Nyx already and she has only been marked for a few hours. So I don't want you guys to be isolating her like the other one. Do I make myself clear?"

Everyone nods and wave their hello's until someone in the back says, "What about them?"

I turn around and see Matt and Britney popping their heads in uncomfortably. I motion them to come in until Ashley grabs them and shoves them inside saying, "Oh don't be worry. We won't bite."

Derek sees them and says to everybody else, "This is Matt and Britney. They have also been marked as well but they aren't as you would say," he pauses, choosing his words carefully before saying, "unique." He turns to us and motions us to sit down. I walk down the isle until I find an empty seat and sit by the window with Matt beside me. I look out the window and watch the trees pass by. They almost remind me of the tall buildings in New York. I remember when I was small, I would always assume that the buildings were like green stocks from that one fairy tale, Jack & the Bean stock. I remember how my parents reacted when I told them that I wanted to sing for a living. They would bring me down, telling me that that wasn't a real job and that I was only fooling myself if I ever thought I would become famous. In a way, I guess they were right. I couldn't catch up with the other kids who would be singing like Adele or Ariana Grande. That's why I worked 2 jobs and until I had enough money saved up, I moved to Hollywood by myself so I can get inspired to find another dream. A dream that I'm capable of doing. I sigh as my past is starting to get the best of me. I look at my reflection in the mirror and stare at the sapphire crescent outline on my forehead. A lot of things are happening in just one day. I don't know if I can take any more surprises. How could I have gotten marked? I know Shelly and Miles had explained it to me already but…I don't know….maybe I'm just in denial..

"It's because your special to her. You have something that makes you stand out from everybody else. Maybe she even thought you needed some guidance in your life." says a brunette tan girl sitting behind me.

I jump from surprise and give her a weirded out look, "How the hell did you know what I was thinking?"

She simply just shakes her head, "I didn't. But I know what your feeling; frustration, confused, and denial."

"Woah…Abby is that true?" Matt says, who was eavesdropping.

"Yeah. I mean no. I mean, how did you know?"

"I have an affinity of empathy. I know what other people are feeling." she says nonchalantly, like as if she has been telling everybody her entire life.

Two other girls sitting next to us join in the conversation, "I know. Bridgette is weird and annoying when she does that." says a straight brown haired girl with pretty grayish green eyes and wearing a leather black jacket which neatly fits her skinny body as her grey skinny jeans with leather pockets and brown leather boots bring the entire outfit together. Bridgette, the girl behind me, frowns and says to her, "Says the girl who can't even handle her powers without going emo and cutting herself."

The other girl sighs and joins in, "Bridgette, just stop right there. Unless you know how to stop your seizures in the middle of the night, then you shouldn't be talking."

Bridgette's mouth just drops and she stares speechless as if the girls words had hurt her. She silently looks down, sits, and doesn't say anything. The two girls just smirk and continue doing what they were doing before joining into the conversation. I look at Matt and whisper, "That was really mean. I feel bad for her. Should we say something?"

"I don't know. Maybe we shouldn't say anything for right now. We don't want to get a bad impression now do we?"

I think about it for a minute and without thinking, I turn around to Bridgette and say, "Are you ok? I'm really sorry about what they said."

She looks out the window but says, "Thanks, but you really don't have to apologize. A lot of people think I'm weird because of the fact that I know what they're feeling about. I'm use to it by now, but I'm starting to doubt my affinity. Maybe I am just weird and don't know what I'm talking about."

I look at her with sorrow. I don't really know what to say, so all I can think of was, "Oh…well, for what it's worth, you were right about how I feel."

I turn back around and to my surprise, Matt stares at me with a cute smile on his face. His dimples frame his mouth as he says, "You know something?"

"What?"

To my surprise, he leans into my ear and whispers, "I'm really glad I found you. And that was really cool what you said to her."

Before he leans back, he gently nibbles my earlobe for a second. I feel my cheeks go tingling as I feel like I have butterflies in my stomach. I can see Britney, who was a few seats in front of us, watching wide-eyed.

I quickly stick my tongue out at her as another set of eyes watch me. Driving the bus, Will looks at me in the rear view mirror. His eyes sparkle with lust and greed. But then he turns his attention to Matt and the sparkle changes to a glare with wrath and envy in his eyes. Matt puts his hand over mine and squeezes lightly. "What are you looking at?"

I stop looking at Will's reflection and turn to Matt, "Huh?"

"I said what are you looking at?"

I quickly glance back at Will before my mouth spits out, "Uhh….it's nothing babe.."

I quickly clasp my hands over my mouth as Matt smiles a really cute smile, and as if in satisfaction of what he had just heard, he says, "Did you just call me babe?"

"No!"

"Are you sure? 'Cuz I'm pretty sure I heard the word babe come out of your mouth."

"Positive. I would never call you that. Ever." I lie through my teeth.

The bus luckily stops to a halt and the doors fly open. Will speaks through the loud speaker and says, "Alright guys, we're going to have to walk the rest of the way there. Lets go."

Everyone gets out slowly. When it's our turn to get into the isle, Matt says, "Well, that's to bad, 'cuz if you did, I would have asked you out for a cup of coffee."

I walk speechlessly outside. Snapping me out of my state of mind, there are at least 60 or 70 people standing in a crowd around Miles, Will and Ashley. Ashley motions everyone to calm down while Will stands on a rock and says, "Ok guys, listen up. All the newbies are going to have to stay out of the situation. Kylie says you guys aren't ready to get in the battle. So leave it to the sons of erobus to handle it."

I hear a few people boo and question him. I look to my left and spot a faint glow in the distant.

"That's where they're at…" Will says from behind me.

In a clear voice, all I can say was, "Then let's get going."

Melanie's POV

I choke back my tears as I look up at the sky expecting some angel would rescue me. Gaby roughly grabs my face and punches me in the gut, causing me to cough up blood on her face. Dulce struggles to free herself, but the more she struggles, the tighter the barb wire pulls her. I can hear Shelly's footsteps getting closer. Once the drug wore off, Gaby had tied me up in barb wire against an old willow tree. Shelly comes into view and the large bumps on her arms had gone into a more pus like green color. Shelly unexpectedly gets in front of me and studies me while Gaby takes a vial and fills it up with my blood. I try to see past Shelly but the vines from the tree drapes over me. Gaby turns to Shelly and nods. They both turn back to Dulce and set candles and other vials around her. I look down at myself and see all the blood around me. I can feel the barbwire has settled into my skin and forces me to bleed. The warmth of the blood caresses down me lower back and turns into an icy feeling. I lower my head and feel my tears rolling down my cheeks. I space out for a while and when I realize it, I start to feel light headed. I look back up and see Shelly writing something on Dulce while Gaby carves something into the ground. I give up struggling and do the only thing I can do: just wait and see what's going to happen. For a second, I feel someone's presence until I hear a familiar voice.

"Melanie, are you awake"

Its Dawn. I frantically look around and whisper, "Yeah. Where are you?"

A second later, she responds, "Follow the firefly."

"What firefly-" my voice trails off as a small but bright firefly floats pass me flickering its luminous light. It buzzes to my left and flies in front of a tree. From there, I can see the shapes of what looked like a hundred heads.

I see a person's shadow point to something behind me. I stiffen as I slowly turn to what I assumed was something horrible. To my surprise, Abby puts her hand on my cheek and like a worried sister, she kisses my head. She whispers, "Are you OK?"

I nod, wishing I could hug her as tight as I could. Abby's eyes drop down and see the barbwire and was about to squeal when all of a sudden, Will pops out of the shadows and covers her mouth. He looks into her eyes before he looks at me and nods with calmness. Also coming out of the shadows, Matt, Danny, Miles, and 8 new people that I don't know reveal themselves. Miles looks at Will as he watches him let go of Abby and points to the barbwire. His fingers flicker and as it makes contact with the metal, sparks explode everywhere followed by a loud whiny noise. I quickly turn to look at Shelly and Gaby to see if they've heard the noise. Sadly, they have. Furious, Gaby starts stomping towards us as her arms begin to transform in what looked like multiple whips with razor blades attached to the tips. My heart starts to pound harder than it already was. I turn to face the small heroes beside me. They froze up with pure fear., except one girl. Her black, straight hair shining in the moonlight; her pale skin making her stand out of the darkness as her brown leather vest and light purple tank top hugs her body. Her dark blue denim skinny jeans and combat boots glide swiftly towards Gaby as the girl takes a few steps forward. She almost reminds me of Michonne from the Walking Dead. I watch as the girl grabs a hold of a sword attached from a pouch wrapped around her waist and brings it into view. She simply looks at Gaby and shakes her head. Even though she was kinda small, her voice projected the entire area with such determination and confident as she says,

"You're not getting the boy without going past me. And we both know that ain't gonna happen."

Gaby smirks and was about to raise her bionic arm and lash it at her until Miles stepped in front of the girl with big brass knuckles knotted around her fingers.

Gaby's smirk disappears and is replaced by a cold scowl.

"What the hell?! Justin, this isn't part of the plan. God Damn It! I knew you couldn't do the most simplest task we ask you to do." Her voice gets more cruel as she keeps talking, "Just move aside Justin and just stand there, like you always do, and let the ladies do all the hard work."

She takes a few steps closer, closing in until Miles responds, "You know what Gaby, Fuck You."

All of a sudden, one of the girls who came with them starts to glow light green and her brown hair starts to lift as she bends down and slams the ground with her fists. Something moves underneath us and goes towards Gaby. The floor beneath Gaby cracks open and like hands, it rises to her ankles and locks her in. In the meantime, Miles quickly runs towards her and was about to punch her until simultaneously, Shelly stands in front of Gaby, pushes Mile's arm aside, and jabs him in the ribs, followed by a kick which sent he crashing a few feet away. By now, Will's electrical finger has zapped through the wire and sets me free.

I take a few steps forward before I stumble to the ground. I start to shiver and my body starts to go cold and numb. I could see my own breath so clearly, it's like smoke from cigarettes. I feel a hand touch my lower back and slowly but surely, the coldness fades away and warmness takes its place.

"Don't worry. Everything's going to be alright." Abby says as Matt walks up to her and hands her the beautiful bow that was in the bag Grim showed us. Abby doesn't say anything as she takes the bow and grabs the bag of shiny sharp arrows that Matt was holding in his other hand and wraps it over her shoulder, leaving the tips of the arrows popping out. Abby leans down and helps me up as Will takes everyone that came with him and heads toward Dulce, leaving us three plus the determined girl, Miles, and one guy with dirty blonde hair wearing a long black sleeved shirt and khakis. I turn my attention back to Shelly and as lucky as I was, I was quick enough to spot her charging towards me with the soul blade. I dodge the attack and pull out the pistol nervously.

"If you don't stop…I'll shoot."

Abby stands by my side and readys her arrow. In the corner of my eye, I see the dirty blonde guy's hand begin to produce a light blue as he waits, watching.

Shelly looks hard into my eyes, studying me, as her face contorts itself. Getting me off guard, she smiles innocently and giggles. I look at Abby to confirm that this girl isn't really doing this when all of a sudden, Shelly zips past me, cutting my cheek. I can feel the stinging as I shoot the air, completely missing her. Miles starts running past us and punches her in the gut. She gasp so loudly, it sounded like he broke one of her ribs. She stumbles to the ground as she coughs up this weird gooey dark red liquid that sizzles as it touches the ground.

I look back at Dulce and see her free from the trap. The dirty blonde haired guy puts her hand over his shoulder and leads her to the rest of the people watching from a distant.

Gaby, who has been quickly setting vials full of blood everywhere, was now charging at Abby. I raise my pistol and fire as I yell at Will, "Stop her!"

Will tackles Gaby just before she was going to hit Abby. They roll around in the ground before Gaby kicks him off and gets back on her feet. Her bionic arm starts to come alive and move by itself. Her voice becomes toneless and wicked as she says,

"With this sacrifice I command

Darkness controlled by my hand

By this blood that's forever cold

Lamashtu, do my bidding and infect this world."

She swings her arm, and instead of lazily dropping down, it shoots into his chest and drills its way in. He gasps in pain before dropping on his knees and trembling. Everybody stops what they're doing and watch in pure horror.

I can hear Abby starting to hyperventilate. I look at her and see that she's sweating like crazy.

"Abby, are you ok?"

She starts to glow a bright red tinge and her hands begin to form red and orange orbs. My eyes widen. She looks past me and stares blankly at the gruesome event. Her hair begins to rise, just like the other girl's hair did. Her eyes twitch before it starts to glow red. I can feel the heat coming from her body; it's almost like a heat wave. I know everybody else felt it too because they started to stare. I look down at her feet and see that little flames are circling her feet, but it wasn't consuming the grass.

"I…I don't know…. but…Chelsea was right. Nyx has given me the affinity of fire."

A crazy loud strike demands my attention as I look back at the scene. Everyone now is struggling to help Will, who was still being tortured with the whips. The whips raise him upward and blood pours down onto Gaby's smiling face. I can see that his face was going very pale and he looked like he was being drained. I then realize that if we don't do anything fast, he'll die. I look around and realize that Shelly wasn't there. I frantically scan the area until I see her creeping up behind Matt, who was in some state of shock.

My body begins to grow cold and numb while vapor releases from my skin. I grab Abby's wrist as it sizzles like crazy but doesn't hurt me, and start to run. Panicking, I yell, "Matt! Turn around!"

Matt's POV

I hear Melanie say something, but I'm too distracted by the situation and whether or not I should join in or not.

I reach for my rod and was about to get ready to make my decision until I feel a hand overlap mine and spins me around. Shelly stabs me with the soul blade and then tackles me to the ground. She pins me down and yells at Gaby.

"Gaby! Get a sacrifice, we've waited long enough."

Shelly pulls out a vial and digs it into the wound. I yell as I feel the vial swallow my blood until it's full. She pulls it out and rushes over to the crowd. I lay there for a minute. I touch the wound and see blood on my fingers before I notice the clear sky is now being engulfed in clouds. I turn to my side until I lie on my stomach and see that Gaby rips her fingers into the ground and metal poles rise up into the sky. I see Miles bolting towards them as her yells, "They're barricading themselves."

As he reaches them, he swings his arm back and punches the poles. Gaby grunts loudly before we all see the huge dent that was made. I try to get up but then I feel my treasure spill from the container. I reach into my pocket and feel the pills. My fingers twitch and next thing I know, all the pills are back in the container, except one. I pull the pill out followed by the orange see through container. I examine it until I see it.

Take one a day - Xanax

I battle with myself in my mind. I know I told everyone that I stopped, but, I just can't. I've been feeling so out of it lately, so misplaced, so demoralized since the night my mother died. I remember when Aunt Lola called me and how she pleaded me to come visit so Melanie and I can rekindle our love and start all over. But I honestly thought she'd just forget, just like the other times she told me that she'd come visit me. Maybe I should've just stayed back in Seattle and not even bother. Then, none of this would've happened and I wouldn't be in this mess. I start to feel my heartbeat rapidly pound against my chest. I start to think again and then realized that why bother. I take 5 more pills before putting the container back into my pocket and take a deep breath before I swallow them. Maybe then I wouldn't have to deal with the emptiness and the blame. I close my eyes and wait. I feel myself being pull forward, like as if I'm at the top of a roller coaster and I'm about to go down the edge. I think the drug is kicking in, but when I open my eyes again, I stare blankly into the eyes of a creature; the head of a lioness, the teeth and ears of a donkey, and the feet of a bird with sharp talons, as well as a women's body, and long, sharp fingers and fingernails. I look down and see that she's holding me by the collar of my shirt. I look around and see that everyone is on the ground with wounds everywhere. Did they lose the fight? I then see a pit of fire with the stake in the middle. I can smell the odor of flesh being burned as the charcoal-like smell slivers its way into my nostrils. I start to tremble for a second until I feel the pill taking over and I just smirk at the creature. She just stares and when she speaks, every single hair moves from my body. Everything becomes slow motion and all the colors become so vividly bright.

"Why do you smile at Lamashtu? Does this amuse you?" her voice petrifies every bird that's around us and sends them flying into the cloudy, dark sky. She smiles her razor teeth and says, "I suck blood for a living. Trust me, you're not going to smiling any longer."

She nearly pulls my head apart as she tilts my head, opens her mouth, and was centimeters away from my neck until Shelly grabs her attention.

"Lamashtu! I demand that you obey me and do my bidding. Infect this world with the my blood and in exchange, I offer you the blood of the innocents and the pure mortals flesh." Shelly smiles corruptly before she stabs her stomach with the soul blade. The demoness turns her attention back to me and laughs a deep, horrible laugh. Her eyes start to twitch before she grabs my mouth and forces it open. At the same time she puts her mouth next to mine and opens it. I tremble until I see something slimy and prickly looking crawl up the demoness's throat. It opens its puny mouth and instantly, it shoots itself into mine.

I struggle as I gag on the monster. It's thorny skin scraping my insides. It seems like forever until I start to choke and feel my stomach churning. Finally. it stops.

She lets me go and I drop to my knees and gasp for air. I look back at her and for the first time since we got here, I'm scared.

"Wh-Wh-What did you do to me?" I ask panicking.

The demoness swiftly just glides over to Shelly, who is now sucking in air as she's grasping the fresh wound she has done to herself, and says, "Normally, no human dares talk to me like that; commanding me like as if I'm they're servant," She grabs Shelly by the cheeks and digs her sharp fingernails into her skin and continues, "But you…I see something dark in you. So, I will accept your sacrifice and grant you your wish. But there's a catch."

She turns back to me and extends her hand out to me. I stare blankly, watching. As if she's holding something in her hand, she crushes it and instantly, my insides start to move and I panic with pain. I lift my shirt up and see the wormlike creature squirming like crazy inside my body. I then feel it's thorns prickling my lungs and I start to scream in pain. Lamashtu looks back at Shelly and says, "I will be your ears in this mission. Every movement and decision they make, I'll catch it." She watches Shelly, studying her, until she lets go of Shelly and glides towards the vials of blood. "As of now, I am under your service. But I must rest." She grabs the vials and at once, pulls off all the corks and drinks the vials. She turns to Shelly and like a wave; she bolts towards Shelly, pulls out the soul blade from Shelly's stomach, and cuts deep inside her neck. Shelly stands paralyze with a face of fear. A moment past until I start to see little ripples move across Shelly's face and arms. The ripples move towards the cut on her neck and as it reaches it, little creatures burst out and swarm the air. It's loud; never ending buzzing circles our surrounding. I cover my ears as Lamashtu just laughs and fades into the air. Gaby, who was standing quietly beside Shelly, is on her side comforting Shelly, whose eyes are wide and sucking in air. Gaby puts her arms around Shelly while her feet reveal metal. Like rockets, she flies high in the air, carrying Shelly while the creatures follow. I stumble to stand while everyone else is gaining consciousness and the rest of the students come towards us looking confused and zoned out.

Chelsea quietly walks over to me and hesitates before asking, "What happened? Right when Lamashtu arrived, everyone watching fell into their thoughts. We couldn't see, but I heard your voice. Is everything alright?"

My eyes twitch as I simply just nod and walk over to a bush to puke. Chelsea then walks over to the burning pit of fire. Her eyes start to water as everyone else surrounds the pit. She turns to the determined girl and says, "Kate, do you feel him around?"

Kate nods and says, "Yeah, he's around."

Kate pokes into the air and twirl her fingers as she draw in the sky. She chants something in a foreign language before a faint glow appears in the middle of the fire and floats up into the sky.

"You will be missed Will Chamberson."

While everyone is morning their friend's lost, I walk away towards the bus. I lift up my shirt and see the imprint of the creature hibernating inside me. What the fuck is going on?