CAL POV.

When I stumbled in late to work, Ishiah gave me a look that could have flattened a charging lion. It was two hours past opening time, and the bar didn't have many customers.

I immediately recognized one of them as Donovan. He was sitting at a table with a fair-haired girl, who couldn't have been more than 18 at the most. He nodded at me in acknowledgement, and the girl turned to follow his gaze. Her eyes were the color of greenish-purple swirled paint, much like Donovan's. She had a delicately curving nose and features usually found on fashion magazines. Even though her mouth was small, her lips were full and juicy red. When she saw me, her eyes narrowed and she said, "How fowl."

Donovan gently gripped her chin and turned her head back to face him. "Now, now, that isn't very polite young miss."

"Who's the kid with the rotten manners," I asked without bothering to hide the snarl in my voice.

Donovan didn't even bat an eyelash at my snappy mood. "My newest ward. She needed a sitter."

"I thought you only did kids? Isn't she a little old to need a babysitter?" The last question was directed at the rude little self-important bitch.

"I usually don't babysit children Caliban."

It took me a second to recover from my confusion. "You're a babysitter who doesn't babysit? That doesn't make any sense." My anger seemed to deflate as I became more curious.

"There are some creatures who come into their power later in life. Milagro is something called a changeling. Only recently is she coming to understand who and what she is. I'm simply around to make sure she doesn't hurt anyone or herself in the process." He paused, "Perhaps you will need one soon as well."

I glowered. My bad mood was back. "And what exactly is that suppose to mean?" I retorted. The words came out of clenched teeth and sounded more like a hiss than a conversation.

I didn't have to ask. I knew what he was talking about. Six months ago I had gone on a road trip with Niko, and on it I had learned more about myself than I cared to know. I was doomed to become incrementally more Auphe as time passed. The thought of inevitably becoming a merciless insane monster was not something I cared to dwell on much.

Donovan just looked at me. "Sorry," he said finally, "My last comment was out of line."

"Yeah," I said, trying to keep my anger in check, "Yeah, it really was." I didn't even bother to wait for a reply, I stomped past him and into the break room to wash my hands before starting my shift.

I shrugged my jacket off and threw it over a chair and strapped on a clean apron. Ishiah was making me wear one. The official reason was to protect my cloths, but I had a sneaking suspicion that fewer customers were scared away when they saw big-bad-Cal dressed as a housewife. Whatever the reason, I brutally tied the straps behind my back before snagging a plastic cup and filling it with water.

Ishiah had a rule about eating on the job, but apparently a little bit of water was okay every now and then. I kept my cup constantly filled and within an arms reach.

I waltzed out of the break room and scrambled behind the bar, placing my cup of water on the back counter. During my preparation, a few more customers had come in, mostly a group of werewolves I didn't recognize.

I spent the next eight hours taking orders, mixing drinks, and avoiding dirty stares from the customers. I had to shake the money off of one smelly monster when he refused to chalk up cash or credit. It was a rather rambunctious night. There were two fights. Sort of.

The first occurred when a petty little human thief wandered in, trying to rob the place, and bit off a little more than he could chew. Well, the hungry customers did more chewing than the little man. He was made a meal of in seconds.

The second occurred when Donovan's ward's curiosity got the better of her. I had watched her glamour one customer's wallet to look like his beer. When he had tried to drink a bunch of leather-coated cash, he had turned to her and tried to smack her. Donovan had stepped in to stop him. They ended up brawling for a while. The wolves had cheered them on and I had sipped my water from afar watching. I was a bit surprised when Ishiah didn't kick them out. With all the odd things happening lately, it didn't really stand out to me.

Niko arrived some time after 12:30 and nodded in my direction to catch my attention. I caught his gaze and held up a finger to tell him to wait a moment. I called out to Ishiah and told him I'd be leaving. Niko followed me into the break room, snagging my water cup from the back counter on the way. He muttered, "Sloppy Cal," more to himself than to me, and dumped out the remaining water down the drain. I undid the apron and grabbed my jacket.

"So," I said nonchalantly, "Do you think maybe I could drive your car home?"

"No," he said, and my face dropped noticeably, "We're walking home tonight."

I felt a frown sketch itself into my features.

"Exercise is good for you Cal."

"Niko-" I growled.

He cocked an eyebrow at my reaction, turned to open the break room door, and held it open for me. I followed him out and we hit the street.

It was a perfect ending to a less than perfect day. I'd saved the girl, gone to work, made money to pay the bills, and was heading home for a warm shower and a nap. However, as it turned out, the universe takes great pleasure in torturing me beyond the limits of coincidence.

As I stretched my arms out over my head, something akin to a vine shackled round my wrists and pulled me up in a matter of seconds.

I screamed. A manly scream.

My brother had already noticed the creature's presence though. He had grabbed one of my thrashing legs and vaulted himself within arms reach of the tendrils that held me prisoner.

Niko gripped the tendril firmly with one hand, and with the other, reached into his coat and pulled out a relatively small battle-axe. That's Nik in a nutshell, connoisseur of all types of bladed weapons. And he manages to keep the majority of them in the pockets of his long coat –without anyone being the wiser.

Axe-hand waving, after a few strikes he managed to cut through the bark-like vine holding me hostage. I dropped to the ground in an undignified manner, recovered, and reached for my guns.

I spotted the leafy-mother-fucker on the top of a low-rise building. It was humanoid, but definitely not human. Its skin looked more like tree bark, covered in parts by thick green moss. From a distance I could see its vine-appendages had more in common with twisted branches than jungle vines. Where its eyes should have been were black holes. What I presumed to be its mouth opened up into a cavern filled with thousands of outward pointing splinters.

Oh my god. I got my ass kicked by a tree.

"Dryad," Niko stuttered while fending off the plant monster. The sound of his voice brought me back to the present. I pointed my guns at the homicidal tree, took aim, and pulled the trigger repeatedly. The humanoid figure rocked back a few steps, but other than that, seemed completely unfazed.

"Nik!" I cried, "It isn't doing anything!" Not knowing what to do, I reloaded and shot at it again. It seemed to take the last slugs a bit harder, but still it didn't fall.

Niko whipped out a lighter. I don't know where he got it. He doesn't smoke. But he took it out and tried to light it while fending off the Dryad. On the fourth flick, I smelt the odor of burning flame. He quickly crouched to pick up one of the tree's fallen branch-arms and quickly lit it on fire. Once the flame had spread, he leapt forward into the Dryad's attacking appendages.

My brother promptly jumped out of the creature's clutches and back towards me. "Cal, " he said, "Run. Follow me."

I obeyed, but checked over my shoulder at the Dryad. Niko's flames had spread up its appendages, and were getting close to its main body. Unable to detach them, the creature flailed.

"Nik, come on. Can't we call a cab? I'm tired," I complained.

"Please grow up Cal, it isn't that far of a walk. Just be grateful that the Dryad didn't kill you."

I scoffed.

"What did you do to it anyways to make it that angry?" he asked.

"What makes you think I made it angry?" I half yelled. "You always think I did something wrong!"

His expression became unreadable, "I do not. Cal," he paused, "When have I ever thought that?" He reached for my shoulder, a familiar gesture.

My hand intercepted and slapped his down. "Maybe for once I didn't piss it off! Maybe it just attacked me because it wanted to eat me or something?" I yelled. It was late, and no one was around to hear or see us.

"Cal," he spoke slowly and softly, the way you do to crazed animals, "Let me bring you home, and then we can talk. Whatever's got you on edge, we can ta-"

I cut him off, my body taking a defensive position. "Talk, talk, talk. All you ever want to do is talk," I hissed. "Have you ever thought, that maybe I don't want to talk! Can't you mind your own business? Piss off."

Niko's face hardened. "Cal, you're not feeling like yourself. You're in a bad mood. You just need to calm down-"

"I'm not in a bad mood! I'm feeling fine! Fine-fucking-tastic! Better than I've felt in a long time."

He reached for me, and tried to pin my arm in a lock, but I anticipated it and moved out of the way fast. Faster than ever before. I slugged him across the face and he hit the pavement. Wow. I hadn't ever hit my brother out of anger. I hadn't ever been that strong.

Emotions were welling up inside of me, mostly anger. So much anger that all I could see was red. My brother put his hand over his cheek and stood up. He glared at me, but there was a glimpse of something scared in his eyes. Scared for him, scared for me, I didn't care. All that mattered was getting this anger out. Scratching out of existence the one who caused it. The only thing that would satisfy me was knowing he was hurt beyond repair. It was no longer for revenge, or for anger, I simply wanted to see him hurt, bleeding, and broken on the cement pavement.

Then anger turned into thrill. The melody of the hunt thundered in my ears and my fingers twitched, wanting to be covered in thick red liquid.

"Something is wrong with you. I'm sorry about this, but I'm going to bring you home." Or, that's what I thought he said. I was too far-gone, lost in the intoxicating madness that surrounded me like the crashing waves of the ocean. Something inhuman came rattling out of my throat, and I saw my opponent's arm reach for a katana I knew was in his clothing.

I attacked on instinct before he could fully draw it. My nails swiped at his face. He ducked low, drew his blade quickly from the sheath, and rammed the back end into my gut. My nails grazed his cheek, leaving long dark beautiful indentations in their wake.

I gripped my stomach and leapt backwards a bit to put distance between us, resisting the urge to double over from the blow. Before I could land, the blond one was already upon me, swooping from one side, and maneuvering around my back. The blond locked my arms behind my back and pulled them upwards. My mind went white with pain.

I snarled, and tried to whip my head backwards to bite the blond one. If I could only sink my teeth into him, and rip a large chunk out, he would be weak. Weak enough that I could play with him. Cut him up. Inflict pain –maybe for weeks.

"Fun, fun, fun, " I cackled as I tried to bite the blonde's arm to no avail. He held on tighter, but I was beyond the searing white pain now. I felt strength fill my body and I thrashed to my right forcefully. The blond went fling into the empty street.

I was about to go after him. To hurt him, torture him, consume him; when my hand holding my stomach felt strangely warm. I looked down at the thick dark color coating my hands.

I hissed at my opponent, and drew my arms protectively around my belly. I decided it was better to retreat and lick my wounds. There would always be later. I would find the blond and finally have some fun. I smiled at the thought, before seeing him stand up.

He came after me again, but I'd had enough. I'd challenge his strength later, but now I needed rest.

I turned quickly and ran quickly down the street. I ducked into an old alley, pausing only to hiss at a bluish-black cat with lake-water-blue eyes.

I outran the sheep easily, and didn't stop till I could smell him no longer. I found a cold dark place where the sound of water lulled me into silent slumber.

Word Count: 2,365

Ok kids! One more chapter down. And I've reviewed it like 3 times so errors should be close to zilch. The easy part is over, now for the hard part.

BTW, writers out there, in the Cal Leandros section, you can now specify up to two characters for your story. So click SignIn/Username(topRightCorner)Click'Publish'TabClick'MyStories'Click'Edit'optionSelectCharacters.

If you're having trouble with this, I made a picture guide version here:(Remove spaces)

http : / robthurmanbooks . / index . cgi ? board = fanfiction &action = display&thread =478

And as always, Review PLEASE!