Chapter Four

When I woke up, everything was silent. I laid still. The steady rise and fall of my chest made everything that had happen fall back into place with grace rather than panic. I was relaxed. I slowly sat up, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed. It was dark, and I was in my room back in the compound. I was alone.

A water bottle was resting on my night stand along with an Advil. I rolled my eyes as I took a sip of the water and left the Advil sitting there. It was dark inside my room, but that wasn't anything new. It always seemed to be dark in that compound. I got to my feet and immediately put my combat boots on. I combed a brush through my hair. I tried to make myself look a little presentable.

"We are to accompany you, Ms. Blair," a man said as soon as I stepped outside of my room. His big hands were clasped in front of him. He was wearing fighting gear, and a wire ran up the side of his face attached to a speaker which went into his ear. His black hair was cropped short, and there was no sign of emotion on his face. I glanced on my other side, another guard. I let out an annoyed huff.

"Oh, yeah? Well, you can leave me and tell Zane that he can go and…" As soon as I said the word "go", I froze a little. He was not going. "You can just tell him that he doesn't need to protect me while I'm here. No one is going to be attacking me," I said as I stepped past them. I heard them shift to follow me.

"He requires us to watch you not for your safety, but to ensure that you are of right mind," the guard corrected me. A loud laugh escaped my mouth. I shook my head with disbelief.

"Of right mind? How in the world can I ever be of right mind again after all that man has put me through? If he is so worried that I'll escape again you can ensure him that I won't be. Go get me one of commanders of the Watch," I demanded. The Watch was a name for the assassins. Ash claimed that it made them seem more civil, and it was a name that made people less afraid of them. Dax thought that was hilarious. I turned into the main area called the dome. The dome was a big room that was lined with torches on the walls. The electricity was just being wired in, and it was almost complete. People stood around talking. A few humans were sitting at a table eating together. The main hallways all branched out of the dome.

"The commanders of the Watch are not to be trusted with this task due to their earlier failure," the guard replied. It was as if Zane wired the guard's brain to answer everything in the most annoying way. It made everything seem like it was my fault. I groaned in annoyance. How were Torture, War, and Dax not to be trusted? They've known me since the beginning, but maybe that's exactly why. They all trusted me too much.

Eyes watched me as I walked quickly through the dome. I knew where I was going, and I didn't feel like stopping to chat with anyone. There were eight main hallways that branched out of the dome. I took the one that lead to the infirmary. I paused at the opening of the hallway.

"Honestly, I don't want you to follow me in here," I told them with a deep sigh. All of the annoyance was gone from my voice. But there was desperation. They just stared at me, a silent no.

My feet moved slower as I entered the hall, a little unsure. I stared at my feet as I walked down the hall, and when I got to the door it was hard to look up. My palms were clammy with nervous sweat. I sighed as I turned to one of the guards.

"You're not coming in here with me," I demanded as I stared right into his silver eyes. He gave me a slight nod.

"Zane has given you clearance into this room alone, but do not take this as something you can do all of the time. We will be just outside the door," he announced. His face showed no emotion. I stood there silently for a few minutes in the darkness of the hall. A torch was lit on the wall a few feet away and left just a little bit of light. Then I got the courage to finally open the door. Before I looked over at him, I shut the door quietly.

The first thing I saw was tubes. They all came out of Revenge's pale arms and ran up into a machine. A very recent and high tech generator sat a few feet away from all of the cords to keep his machines going. A little lamp was turned on by my rocking chair. The first few seconds were always the hardest. It was a slap in the face from reality. I wasn't stuck in some terrible nightmare.

Someone had sat in my rocking chair over the past two weeks that I was gone. I could tell because it was further back. I pulled it forward. I sat down for a bit with closed eyes and just rocked. When I opened them, I grabbed his hand.

"Hi, I did something really stupid," I said quietly. The situation wasn't really funny, but I laughed. I looked at his pale face. My hand came up to brush some of his dark hair off of his forehead and away from his closed eyes. I wanted him to open those eyes so badly. I dreamed about the silver and blue of them at night.

"It was all for the right reasons. I was just trying to do something to help. I've been sitting in these tunnels for so long, and it gets frustrating, you know." I rubbed his cold hand with mine. It felt so fragile.

"Revenge, what am I doing?" I bent my head down and rested my forehead against the back of his hand. Everything was crumbling around me. I thought I could leave and then come back and fix everything. Instead, I just made everything worse.

"I thought I'd find you here, beautiful," Dax's voice was quiet, and I jumped as it startled me. Why did the sound of Dax's voice make me want to cry?

"I missed you," I said as I met his silver eyes. He was silent as he stood beside me and gazed down at Revenge.

"I almost went crazy when you were missing. We all did," he whispered.

"I know. I just… I needed to see Zane," I said. "I asked you a few times to bring him to me." We both let silence fill the room for a few minutes.

"Zane had a younger brother. Did you know that?" Revenge asked suddenly. My eyes left Revenge's face, and I finally concentrated on Dax. His blond hair was a bit darker than it normally was, most likely to the lack of sun in the tunnels. He was wearing a black shirt that fit him tightly and black pants. It made him blend in with the shadows that played on the walls.

"No," I answered with shock. I had no idea about Zane's past. It just seemed like he was born in this life and stayed. I couldn't see him any other way.

"They were orphans, street beggars. Zane did everything for his little brother. He even killed for money."

"When he was human?" I asked quickly.

"No, it started when he went through the transition and turned. It was the only thing he was good at." I sat back in the rocking chair. "He just wanted to give his brother everything they didn't have."

"That's terrible," I sighed as shock of Zane's past seemed to pull me into silence. Where was his brother now? Was he still alive? Did Zane end up giving him everything they needed?

"I'm telling you this for a reason, beautiful," he said as his silver eyes gave me a saddened look. "Zane has done a lot for Revenge. More than you know in the past years. Revenge pleaded with Zane to stop and focus on things that were more important after Revenge was given a so called cure that almost killed him. Revenge recognized that he was lucky to live as long as he already has. You understand that, don't you? Revenge is pleased with his life," Dax finished as his hand landed comfortably on my shoulder. But he didn't know what I knew.

"He can't die yet," I said as anger built up in me. I stood up quickly and brushed past Dax's shoulder. His hand reached out and grabbed my wrist, stopping me.

"I know it's hard. It's not going to get easier. Blair, you have to prepare yourself," Dax whispered. And that's when I lost it. Dax sighed, pulled my wrist toward him, and when I came stumbling forward, he pressed me against his chest as tears made their way past my eyes and onto my cheeks. We sat there in comfort for a few moments as the emotions in me settled.

"Thank you," I said to him as I pulled away.

"Hey," he said with a smile as he pushed my chin up with his finger, "no more escaping, okay?" I nodded my head slowly. I turned to walk out of the room.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I need to talk to Zane." Dax laughed.

"Be careful. Dean and I filled his shoes with glue today. He might be in a cranky mood." I smirked and rolled my eyes.

:::

I ditched the guards back at the girl's bathroom. I knew every nook and cranny of these tunnels. The guards couldn't expect to keep track of my whereabouts all of the time. I simply had an upper hand. I was walking down branch one, which belonged to most of the people who ran the tunnels.

"-to speak with Prince Adrian again. He clearly does not know about all of Princess Kalia's extracurricular activities." I could tell it was Ash by his deep resonating voice. Instead of waltzing in and halting their conversation with my presence, I slowly stopped and leaned closer to the door to listen.

"That puts Blair at serious risk," Torture said quietly, but I could hear the faint taint of anger in his voice.

"If we all-"

"Wait," Zane requested. Silence. I stood by the door waiting to know why Zane had stopped the meeting so abruptly. I held my breath and tried to stay as quiet as possible.

"What is it that you're doing?" Zane's voice so close to me made me jump a bit backwards in shock. I held a hand to my chest as I caught my breath and slowed my fast beating heart.

"You could've warned me that you were coming around the corner! That was rude," I said as I tucked a strand of my brown hair behind my ear.

"Eavesdropping is considered rude," he said seriously as his blue eyes stared down at me in a very formal way. I almost wanted to laugh as he stood beside me in the hall acting as if he didn't know me. His arms were crossed, he stood tall, a few feet away from me and his face lacked all emotion, except for the agitated beginning of a frown. I kicked a small rock at my feet so I could concentrate on something other than his face.

"Not inviting me to a meeting that happens to be about me has got to be at the top of the 'rudest things you can do' list," I replied, feeling a bit like a child. I let out an annoyed huff, and when I didn't receive a quick response, I shifted my eyes toward Zane. He pushed the door closed on the side of him and lowered his voice.

"This is an insignificant conversation. What is it that you would like to speak about?" he asked.

"Where you've been," I answered quickly.

A slow whistling started in the hallway. My eyes lost contact with Zane as the squinted at the empty space in the hallway. The sound was high pitched, and the torch light flames flickered on the walls empty of any shadows. I slowly turned my eyes toward Zane, who gazed into the hall with the same sort of confusion.

"What are you looking for?" a voice spoke up next to me. I jumped back toward Zane, and I felt his hands catch the back of my arms and pull me toward him. I turned to my right, and I stared at the man leaning against the wall. He was checking his nails, and then he gazed up at us with a wide smile.

"How did you get in here?" I asked, recognizing his bright blond hair and sharp smile. He had visited me once back when we were back at the cabins. He came to me seeking Ash and asked me what my favorite candy bar was. A person of the fae folk.

"Blake, how did you get in here?" I said quickly, giving into my abrupt panic.

"Well, I think talking about how I infiltrated your prestigious security is a bit of a downer, don't you think? What I really would like to talk about is Sydney," he said as he pushed his back off of the wall and took a small step toward us. Zane pulled a gun out quickly, and it clicked as he pointed it in Blake's direction. Surprisingly, Blake let out a warm laugh.

"Whoa, whoa, we both know that you would quickly beat me if it came to a fight. I only came to converse," he said as he held out his empty hands.

"So speak," Zane said as he calmly slipped his gun back inside his jacket. His guard was up, and he stood straight.

"Adrian grows restless of your games. We need to all sit down together to talk about the future regarding Blair and Sydney. Pick your date, contact us," Blake said, and then he started to turn around.

"Oh," he said quietly as he glanced over his shoulder back at us. "You should hire a witch to put up some guards against my kind, Zane. It really is irresponsible, this much risk." And then he disappeared.

"Zane, who is Sydney?" All I got was his blue eyes sinking into mine with an anger that seemed to make him calm.

"We need to get The Watch together."

Hello! I know it has been two months since the last update. It is truly painful for me to leave you all hanging, but I just have a busy life lately. I'm thinking of maybe changing the point of view for just about five chapters and then switching back and forth between Blair and the other character. This is only because Blair isn't really going to have anything super exciting happen to her for a while, and the other character is really going to become someone prominent. However, I am still debating with doing that because I don't really like when writers change the point of view. I know this was a shorter chapter, and I was going to add more to it, but I figured you would all at least want a little something now! I have big decisions to think about now! Let me know if you think switching point of view would be annoying or anything! Haha thank you all for reading! Have a lovely week! :)

Lovesfairytale- Aww! I'm glad I could spice up your day! Haha I'm glad he's back too! Thank you for reviewing!

CassowaryQueen- Hello there! My Christmas was great this year :) always is with the family! Haha I just like Zane more and more too! He's an interesting character. Thank you for reading and reviewing!

Vampirefreakk- Hello :) I am not sure who Pete Wentz is lol I'll have to do some research! There wasn't anything about Caleb really in this chapter, but I think in the next one I'll have a section just on Caleb. I'm so sad about Revenge too :( It's so sad to write about him in his current state. You got another Zane moment in this chapter! Also, Dax and Torture moments will happen at some time! It's just hard to squeeze them in now because of the drama that has happened in the beginning! Haha thank you for your review!

Guest- Hello there! I'm so happy that you've enjoyed both stories so far! If Blair were to transition, she would do so herself and not need to be bitten. Since Zane has kidnapped her it has been around nine/ ten months. I have to develop a better time line when I revise and I plan on being more consistent with that! Blair is now 18 – she had her birthday between books. In the next chapter, I should explain the timeline. Thank you for that question! You got me thinking, and it will help me improve my story by sorting this all out! Thank you for reading! I'm so glad you're enjoying it!

DJShayShayxx– Hey there! It always puts a smile on my face to see a review from you! I love you commenting on each character! It brings me joy to see you do this because it adds to their characterization and development that I can literally see happening from your comments. It's very interesting! Like for instance, you suggest that Torture made you laugh but he really isn't a funny character- but he comes off as sort of funny in his very serious demeanor. That's what I was going for with her personality, and you confirmed I got the development right when you commented to Torture! Anyway, thank you for your reviews! :)

Guest- … maybe, maybe not! Haha those clues may confirm your suspicion or be for something else ;) Thank you for your lovely compliments and review! I really appreciate it!

Guest- Hello there! You're right, Zane does not take any B.S. haha thank you for your review!

Littledevil23 – Hello there! Ah, I am so happy that you do! Thank you for reviewing!

mum2shane- Right? Zane was a little ridiculous for leaving for so long! There will be more on where he went in maybe the next chapter or the one after that. I'm not quite sure how long my chapters are/ how fast the plot is going to develop sometimes until I start writing. Thank you for reviewing!

vero7- hello! It's weird because I didn't know I was going to add Jason into the story so dramatically and having a relationship with Zane, but it just happened as I was writing and I went with it! Haha and I am glad I did because I think it spices things up!Thank you for reviewing!

Zaire- Ahaaha I love your name! haha I see what you did there XD There was a bit on Zane's past in this chapter, and there will continue to be little sprinkles of it every few chapters to reveal a bit of his mysteriousness. As for Jason knowing completely about Zane, he doesn't know that Zane and Blair have a relationship of any sorts yet. Jason thought Zane was just helping him find his sister, he doesn't really know yet how deep Blair's relationship is to any of the other characters. I know, it is so sad to write Revenge in such a bad state! Thank you for reviewing!

Guest- Hello! Many people tend to have that love/hate relationship with Zane. I think most of the time it is because he is so annoying when it comes to what Blair wants. He doesn't attend to her wants so much as her needs. There will definitely be more on where Zane went off to in the upcoming chapters! I missed him too even though it was only a few chapters haha thank you for reviewing!

fairytale mistress42- Hello there! I am so happy that you enjoyed Ice Cream Cravings and that you've continued on with Darkness Craves Me! As for my late updates on chapters… Well, I really suck at updating XD haha thank you for reviewing!

Guest- Hi, I know I am a terrible updater! It rely annoys me that it takes me so long! Haha but I'm glad you like the story! Thank you for reviewing!

!THANK YOU ALL FOR THE LOVE!

P.S. A lot of people use the name Guest and it would be nice if you all just used a consistent name so that way I can keep track of who you are through each chapter because… I guess I just like forming a connection with my readers! But if not, that's fine! You do as you wish! :)