Chapter 1

My boots hit the pavement with a squelch as the thin layer of water covering the ground from yesterday's rain radiated away from the point of contact. I chanced a glance up at my parabatai still standing on the roof of the abandoned gravel mill to see if he was okay making the jump. A brief flick of his hand was all I needed to refocus my attention on the assignment in front of me and start sprinting. The Shax demon careened across the empty parking lot towards the inner city. The giant pinchers scrapped against the ground every so often. Suddenly bored with my chase, I snagged a Seraph blade from my weapons belt.

"Gavreel."

The blue hue descended upon the blade, lighting up my hand as well as the ground in front of me. Reaching back, I planted my feet, one in front of the other. I whipped my right arm forward, pitching the blade with precision directly into the soft spot on its armored skin, right above its 'armpit.'

The demon collapsed, unmoving on the pavement. It laid there for a few moments giving the appearance of a weirdly-shaped rock in the shadows of the night. One quick blink and the demon had disintegrated into black inchor, pooling on the pavement. Footsteps behind me told me my parabatai had caught up to me.

"Remind me, please, what was the point of my coming?"

I turned around to face him. "Because hunting with me is always a pleasure and you're my parabatai. As my parabatai you have a duty to assist me in battle. Plus, Theo threatened that if I went hunting at night alone again, he would 'confiscate' my sword, and we can't have that now, can we?"

Raphael stared at me through his sapphire eyes as he ran his hands through his thick, raven hair. "So, you're trying to get your brother off of your back, yet you came out wearing a tank top, jeans and boots. Not Gear. If I remember correctly, that was something that Theodore as well as the rest of our family despises."

I shrugged. "Well," I tapped the toe of my boot against the asphalt, "My dear brother will learn the true meaning of 'win some, lose some.'"

"You mean you'll make him learn it."

"Precisely." I grinned wildly at him.

With an unamused look, Raphael reached down and grabbed my left wrist, pulling it towards his abdomen. He then proceeded to twist my arm to inspect it. I winced as the two large gashes made by the Shax demon's pincher strained. "This! This is why we wear Gear, Celine! It protects us, not from everything, but it protects us. That's the only reason we wish you would wear it."

I yanked my arm back with a hiss. "Don't preach to me, Raph! I know why we're supposed to wear it. It's just constricting."

Raphael's face turned to one of incredulousness as he struggled to find words. "IT'S DESIGNED TO NOT BE CONSTICTING! We are Heaven's warriors on Earth after all."

"How poetic."

"Celine-"

I held up my hand to him, palm facing me. "I'm assuming, because you're here, that we got to the mundane too late?" Raph only nodded. "Dammit. Did you kill the offspring?"

"As it crawled out of her dead corpse." His voice held bitterness. I chose to ignore it.

"That was redundant, my friend. The word corpse implies a body without life." I began to saunter away back to the Institute, and I could practically hear his frustration.

The metal cage in the elevator scraped against itself and the floor as it opened into the entryway of the Institute. Not far down the hallway stood a very pissed-looking, older brother of mine. I started to smirk as I began walking in a business-like manner. Raphael followed close behind me, letting a slow breath out almost silently. This was definitely going to be interesting.

"Hey, Theo!" I said cheerily. I gave him my best sweet-sister, toothy smile. Briefly, Raph swore under his breath at what he saw coming.

Let's just say Theo wasn't amused.

Stepping into my path, Theo narrowed his eyebrows as his 5'11" hulking form cast a shadow over my 5'2" small frame. I stopped abruptly, my nose bumping into his chest.

"Yes?" I inquired politely. He didn't answer but leaned farther over me. I sighed. "This isn't going to work. I'm not going to suddenly start talking because you're not." His eyebrows raised in question.

We stood there for all of ten seconds before-

"Fine! She didn't go out alone this time, but she wouldn't wear her gear. Now, if you don't move I can't patch up her arm. And I'm sorry, but I like my parabatai alive. Please yell at her as we go to the infirmary so I can rid her body of the venom and stop the bleeding." To emphasize his point blood splatted against the ground beneath my hand.

I whipped around. "RAPH!"

"NO! No, we are not playing this game! Theo, move!"

Theo stepped to the side, and Raph pushed me forward. Theo fell into step behind us. I contemplated my options. Dig in my heels and say nothing or-

"FINE! Theo, just… just-" I groaned and threw up my hands. I winced as the movement pulled at my wound again. Raph stepped around me and took the lead.

I felt a hand brush at my hair. It landed at the top of my head and stroked down, the fingers catching in my hair. Theo sighed. "What the hell were you thinking? Just because you have to take Raph or someone with you doesn't mean you can break the rules some other way! I don't understand why you just can't follow the rules! Mom and Dad are in Idris! I'm here. You're my responsibility! If you think I'm going to stand back and let you do what you want, you're wrong! If you keep on like this, I'll be calling Mom and Dad to tell them that they're precious, insolent, brat of a daughter is dead, and I'm not making that call, Celine! I'm not!"

I snuck a glance back at him, wondering if he was done with his rant. "I'm not your responsibility. I'm eighteen."

He scoffed. "Like hell you aren't." I groaned inwardly.

Raph opened up the doors to the infirmary and moved to stand by a counter covered in various liquids and ingredients. There was a mortar and pestle with green powder which Raph moved to make a clear space. He then turned around to face me. Grasping my hips, he lifted me onto the counter. He proceeded to poke, prod and insert weird pastes and liquids into my arm.

I watched Raphael do his thing for a minute before turning back to my brother. He, too, analyzed Raphael's movements. Feeling my eyes on him, he met my eyes. Immediately they softened. Sighing, he stepped forward and hair fell into his face. Blowing it away from his eyes, he looked into my eyes intensely.

"What?" I spoke softer and without conviction. It wasn't my intention, but I adored my brother, no matter how much he made my life difficult.

"Are you okay?" He stroked the back of his fingers down the side of my face in his traditional brotherly gesture.

I nodded silently, and he stepped closer again. I rested my forehead on his shoulder. "Sorry."

He shook with a barely audible chuckle. "I appreciate that, but no, you're not."

"No, I'm not." He laughed harder.

Raphael poked hard at a particularly deep part of the gash, and I flinched. Theo took my head in his hands and said, "Hey, I love you, you know that right? Even when I yell."

"Is this what Max being gone for a week does to you? Makes you sappy?"

"Hey! I'm sappy even when he's here! And he's coming back tomorrow, so, by the Angel, I certainly hope so." He pushed my head away as I laughed.

"I'm glad you two have finally made up, but, Theodore, you need to leave, so I can fix her."

"Okay, okay." Theo planted a kiss on the side of my head and stalked away in a very Theo manner.

"Theo!" I don't know what came over me, probably some drug Raph had introduced to my system, but I had to stop him. He turned. "I love you, too."

Theo smiled the smile that makes girls fall to their knees around him and replied, "I know," before exiting the room.

"I've cleaned what I can. I put a salve in to clean out the rest of the poison. I'm going to leave it overnight, and, in the morning, I'll give you an Iratze to seal up the wounds."

I looked down at my arm. There was now two of them… and of Raph. "Oookaaayy." My words slurred. "Yooou druuuuged me."

"Yupp. How else am I going to get you to slow down?" He gave me a superior look.

I felt his arms lifting me, presumably to bring me to a bed, before I lost consciousness.

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