Okay, this is for Storyteller221's contest. Some things you should know: I do not own The 39 Clues and that, in this story, Amy isn't a Madrigal. I'm not really sure what branch she's in; you can pick for yourselves. Enjoy! :-D

Chapter 1

Memories are tricky things. Whatever you want to remember, you forget and vice versa. Ian Kabra was no exception.

He was strutting down the crowded London street when he saw a couple strolling the across the way. The girl stumbled and the boy helped her up. And then the memories hit Ian with the force of a monster truck.

Three years ago

Ian and Natalie watched from the bushes as the Amy, Dan, and Nellie, argued over who would have to climb into the forlorn, crumbling well. It was obvious the boy wanted to go, but the others didn't think he should. In the end, Amy was sent down.

After she was out of sight, the Kabras made their move. In less than a minute, Dan and Nellie were lashed to a nearby tree and Ian was on his way down. The girl wasn't hard to find. Underneath the well, was a plethora of passages, with Amy's footprints prominently displayed in one of them.

It also wasn't difficult to get the clue from her. They struggled, but Ian easily overpowered her. He ran, but she was able to keep up with him until they reached the entrance to the well.

Natalie lowered a rope and her brother grabbed on. "Ian! Don't leave me! Please!" Ian had reached out to her, but his sister's words pierced him more than the girl's. "Ian! Leave her! We NEED this clue!"

In the end, Ian and Natalie escaped with the clue leaving Dan and Nellie tied to a tree and Amy trapped in the well.

Four months later

"We've won, Ian! We've won!" Natalie had screamed. They had hugged in exultation. "We did it!" It was then that other teams began to arrive one by one to the scene of the Kabra's victory.

The Cahills were one of the last to arrive. Ian was shocked; he hadn't seen Amy since the well incident and she looked terrible. She seemed to be hiding behind her hair, afraid to look at anybody. And she appeared so tired. As did the rest of her party. All tired, edgy, and disappointed.

Suddenly a scream cut through the air, making everyone jump and Natalie shriek. It was Amy. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she began to cry unintelligible words. It was horrifying and interesting at the same time.

Time seemed to stand still for a second, but then Nellie dragged Amy, still screeching, out of the room.

"What's wrong with her?" In reply to his question, Ian got a punch in the face from Dan. "You know perfectly well what you jerk! You knew it was down there! And you left her! My sister!" Dan socked the "cobra" one more time for good measure before sprinting after Nellie and Amy.

That was the last Ian ever saw of them.

Ian often wondered what had happened to the Cahills and their au pair. He searched everywhere for them. But no dice. It seemed the siblings had vanished off the face of the earth.

It pained him; even after all these years he still felt something for Amy. That's why he'd tried to shove those memories to the back of his mind. Obviously, he hadn't succeeded.

Ian ducked into a tiny bookstore wound his way through the cramped, musty alleys in between the dusty shelves. Amy would love it hear! If only he could find even one of them! Even the annoying brother!

Suddenly Ian heard a very familiar voice. "Can you just direct me to the back room?" Ian rushed around the corner of a bookcase, preparing to run straight to Amy, but a thought stopped him. What if she didn't want to see him? Shaking his head forcefully, Ian pushed the thought away but decided to proceed with more caution.

Instead he crept forward with the grace of a cat and peered around the edge of a bookcase. There she was, her reddish hair cascading down her back. It almost took his breath away. Almost.

"Now why would I do that?" Amy seemed startled at the clerk's surly response. "Because Dr. Clarke asked me to come."

"Oh really?" Amy looked lost, as if she unsure whether to push the argument further. "Didn't think so," the assistant replied smirking. I decided to intervene. "It's okay," I said, stepping forward. "She's with me." Then winking at the assistant, I pulled out a wad of cash, slapped it on the counter, and turned my attention to Amy. She was staring at me with a mixture of surprise, fear, and hate? "Amy, love…" I wasn't expecting a gushing response but I sure didn't think she was going to slap me. My head snapped back, and I instinctively locked her arm in my fist.

"Let go!" She kneed me in the stomach hard. "Ow!" I released her hand and she stepped back, surveying her handiwork. From her smirk, I knew I was going to have some bruises. Suddenly there was the sound of a poorly muffled chortle.

We both spun around to see that the clerk looked like she was about to die laughing. "It's-it's not every day you get to see-see a girl…" she trailed off, doubled over laughing. Amy just scowled and did something totally unexpected. She jerked the sleeve of her shirt up and slammed her forearm onto the counter. Instantly, the clerk stopped laughing. Her face was pale. I could see why; covering Amy's arms were a mass of swirling black tattoos. Hypnotic and beautiful, I found myself getting lost in there enchantment. But the clerk's voice shattered the spell "I-I'm so so-sorry. It's do-down that aisle on t-the left." She pointed a trembling finger down one of the paths between bookcases.

Nodding, Amy shoved her sleeve back down and sped away in the direction of the back room.

Chapter 2

"Here. Take it and go." Ian jumped and turned his attention back on the clerk, she slid his money across the table and ducked away, pretending to be hard at work counting the money in the cash register. But instead he leaned across the table and whispered, "How about you keep the money in exchange for a little information about," he jerked my thumb in the direction Amy had headed. "what's going on in the back room."

The girl continued to count but Ian could see that his words had gotten to her. "Not going to talk, eh? Well, that's okay; I understand." As he said this, the Lucian plopped another wad of bills on the counter. He saw the girl's eyes widen but other than that, Ian got no reaction. So he slid some more money onto the counter and some more and some more….

"Okay, I'll tell you!" the girl squealed gleefully. She scooped up her reward and, as she was counting it, she began to speak. "I don't really know much, that was on the contract I had to sign when I started workin': I wouldn't ask questions. Weird right? Really all that happens is Dr. Clarke an' a couple other people meet here every Tuesday."

"And who is this Dr. Clarke?"

"Dunno. He's just your average doc. Except," she crinkled her nose. "except those creepy tattoos of his. Just like the one on your friend."

Hmmm, Ian thought to himself. Interesting. "I see. And do most of his…visitors have tattoos like his?"

The clerk immediately perked up. "Oh yeah! You should see 'em! All black and swirly just like that girl's! Every Tuesday, they have to show 'em to me in order to get into the meeting!"

"Meeting?"

"Oh yeah! I snuck-wait a second! You wanna know this real bad dontcha! Well if you want my info, it's gunna cost ya!" She grinned a gleeful grin and he sighed. Why did she have to wise up? But Ian passed her the money anyway.

"So," she started again, "like I was sayin' before, I snuck down there once, ya know? I was reeeeeal curious. So, I went down there and peered through a crack in the door." The girl shivered and leaned in closer as if she was about to disclose the fate of the world. Ian instinctively repeated her action.

"And ya know what they were doing?"

"What?" he breathed out.

"Magic!" she grinned and waved her hands. "Ya shoulda seen 'em! Waving their hands and chantin'!" She through her head back and laughed. "Ya shoulda seen your face! I really had ya goin' there! Magic! As if! There just a bunch a loons, includin' your friend if she's a part of this. Although hopefly she'll get scared off; this is 'er first time."
However, the clerk stopped when she saw that Ian was not laughing. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I tend to get carried away sometimes." When the Lucian still didn't reply she offered, "For a special price I can let ya go take a peek if ya want?"

So that's how two minutes later Ian Kabra ended up peeking through a tiny hole in an old wooden door at the back of the room. Little did he know that a few hours later nothing would ever be the same.

Chapter 3

After three minutes of uneventful spying (It appeared to be some sort of discussion group. The only thing remotely exciting that happened was an old woman started beating a teenage boy with her umbrella.) things finally got interesting.

The man who appeared to be in charge, he was wearing a doctor's coat so Ian knew he was Dr. Clarke, stood up and began to speak. "Brothers and sisters, I hate to pull you out of your discussion, but I must give you a dire warning. Our new member," he gestured to Amy. "has just informed her that someone from her past, Ian…" Dr. Clarke glanced at the girl for confirmation. "Kabra witnessed her entering the meeting."

A collective gasp shot around the room. "What do you mean?" "Did he see her marks?" "What's going to happen to us?!"

"Calm down, everybody! Calm down!" Immediately, the room fell silent. "I do not think that Mr. Kabra poses much of a threat, but as Amy informed me, he is very persistent. So therefore, you should all avoid him at any cost."

"But what if we can't!?" a young girl cried. "What if he…you know…sees us?"

"Then he sees us! What's the big deal?" The old woman demanded.

"I think Clara's talking about what if he sees us in our true form?" The teenage boy's response quieted the woman. All was silent at the thought, but than Dr. Clarke said, "We would have no choice. He would have to be converted."

For a moment no one said a word. Suddenly there was a loud creaking sound from right outside the door. In no time at all, Dr. Clarke had rushed forward and yanked it open, revealing Ian Kabra on the other side.

"Look, Amy, I didn't mean to!" But Amy just ignored him and strode briskly away. Ian followed, but had to run to catch up. "Amy, just tell me what's going on! What was that meeting about!? What did they mean by 'converting me'?!" But instead of obliging, she turned around, and glowering at him replied, "Listen Ian, I had to give up an arm and a leg just to get you outta there alive. Those people are NOT happy about you eavesdropping and since you my 'friend' they're mad at me. Get my drift?"

She took off again, but Ian was not to be deterred. "Look, I'm sorry about that but can you just-"

"Did you just say you're 'sorry'?"

"I guess so, but ca-"

"Wow. Ian Kabra just said he was sorry. I wish I'd had a video camera."

"Ha ha." She started walking again, but slow enough that Ian could keep up. "So," he began tentatively again. "What was going on in there?"

"Just because you apologized doesn't mean I'm going to tell you."

"Well, it does concern me."

Amy laughed. "Only because you followed me there and caused a scene."

"I didn't follow you there!"

"Oh yeah? What were you doing there then? 'Cause we all know how much you love old bookstores."

At this he blushed. "Well…um…you see…I was going into there to escape….something."

Amy turned to face him and arched one eyebrow. "And what was that 'something'?" Ian took a deep breath, stopped walking and looked his old enemy straight in the eyes. "It was you, Amy."

Silence. She just stared at him for a full minute before answering. "Me? Why were you running away from me?"

"It wasn't exactly you….more like your memory."

"Oh and that clears it up."

Ian sighed, before replying. "Every once in a while I…remember things I'd rather not remember."

"And I'm one of them?"

"No, well partly, but it's more complicated than just you." Amy didn't say anything, but Ian got the feeling that she had a thousand questions on the tip of her tongue. "It's more…what happened between us…and…what I did to you."

She froze and Ian knew she was remembering both South Korea and the incident at the well. For a while, neither of them said anything; they were both lost in their memories. Finally, after a few, minutes Ian whispered, "I'm so sorry, Amy."

For a second, Ian thought she might hug him, but in a flash her soft expression was replaced by one of anger. "Well, sorry's not going to change me back! It's not going to undo what happened to me!"

"What do you mean?"

"Look." She jerked up both of her sleeves to reveal the black whorls.

"What do your tattoos have to do with anything?"

"They're not tattoos! They're markings! And they're a part of me now- part of what I look like. What I am."

"I don't understand…?"

"When you left me in the well, my main concern was getting out. Until I realized I wasn't alone. One of them was done there."

"You mean Madrigals?"

"No, I mean…" She pursed her lips. "I'm not really supposed to say; Dr. Clarke'll skin me alive if he finds out I told you. But you know what? I think I want you to know. I want you to know how much pain you've caused me." Ian shuddered but his companion didn't abate.

"When you left me in that well, I thought I was all alone, but I was wrong. Something else was with me; something else as down there." Amy paused but whether it was because she was thinking or for dramatic affect, Ian would never know.

Suddenly, she switched tactics. "You know how your parents always used to say that the boogieman would get you if you didn't go to bed, or eat your vegetables, or something like that?"

"No." That threw her off, but only for a second. "Well, mine did and in a way they were right; the boogieman did get me. Only he wasn't the boogieman like you think of; it was a demon."

No one spoke. "You mean like Hellboy?" Amy just laughed. "Puh-leeze, that cheesy movie? (A/N: Sorry all you HB fans; I like it too.) No way! I'm talking real life, horror movie demons!"

"Oh. So…you're a…."

"A demon. Yep. I saw him in his true form and he had no choice but to convert me." The two made their way over to a wooden bench and sat down. After a few seconds, Ian began to talk. "So…your markings mark you as a demon."

"Yup. Well actually, the politically correct term is 'Creature of the Night'."

"Real creative." Amy chortled. "I know!"

"Amy…what exactly is a… 'Creature of the Night'?"

"Good question. Well, we have really good night vision…ummm….some of us can fly…others can, you know, see things before they happen, some can-"

"Wait. You mean your clairvoyant?"

"It comes and goes."

"That day when Natalie and I one the Hunt…"

"Yup, I was seeing into the future. I saw that earthquake that just hit Haiti. Only I didn't know it was Haiti or when it was going to happen, so I couldn't really do anything about it."

"Do you only see destruction? Or do you see good things too? Like England taking gold in the Olympics?" Ian succeeded in making her laugh. "No, I see the occasional happy thing too. But don't be so sure about England winning! My money's on America!"

"Well, I'll just have to take your word for it, Miss Psychic!" By now, both were clutching there sides, and laughing so loud that anyone passing by would turn to goggle at them.

"Okay," Ian said, calming down. "Back to the serious stuff. "What's going to happen to me? Dr. Clarke said if I saw any of you in your true form, I'd have to be converted."

Amy turned to look at him, suddenly serious as well. "You didn't actually see us, so I think that maybe he might just let you go."

"But, what do you mean I didn't 'see' you? I saw everybody there! There was that crazy, old lady, the teenager, the little girl Clara or something like that, Dr. Clarke, an old man, and…" He trailed off so Amy intervened.

"You only saw what we wanted you to see; none of us really look like that."

"Well, then what do you look like?" When Amy didn't respond, Ian said, "If I see you, I'll have to be converted won't I? That's the rule isn't it? If a human sees a de-Creature of the Night, they have be turned into one." She nodded sadly.

"It's funny. I started out only wanting to tell you this story, to get revenge; you know, make you feel guilty. But now, I want to show you what I look like. Not for revenge, but because I want to."

There was silence for a moment before Ian broke it by whispering, "Amy, how do you become a demon?" Equally serious, she responded, "You kiss one."

"You mean like this?" And in one fell swoop, Ian kissed Amy full on the mouth. At first she didn't know how to respond, but then she jerked away from Ian. "You…you just…just…" Amy sputtered.

"I know," he answered back calmly. Finally, she was able to reclaim her articulacy. "YOU JUST KISSED ME! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!?"

"Yes."

"THEN WHY'D YOU DO IT!? WHY?! YOU'RE GOING. TO BECOME. A DEMON!"

"I know."

"THEN WHY?!"

"I wanted to be with you, really be with you. Not some fake Amy, someone who has to hid her identity all the time. I wanted to be with the real Amy. Because…because I love her."

Ian never saw it coming; he had been expecting Amy's kiss as much as she had his. But he loved it all the same. Who knew? He thought to himself, that the closest thing to perfect was being kissed by a demon.