Chapter 4: A Demon's Dilemma

Four years ago, Africa.

A fourteen-year-old Chloe Daniels gracefully navigated her way through the thick forestry, her senses on high alert for anything out of the ordinary, her crystal blue eyes struggling in vain to see the sun through the canopy of leaves above her. With a small towel, she whipped the sweat from her forehead, true the heat NEVER bothered her, but the humidity was another thing, and it was torture on her hair, hence why she kept it short. She placed the towel away in one of the pouches on the harness her father had given her and continued on. As she clambered over the extensive undergrowth of the Congo Rainforest, but even with the sound of her feet crunching leaves and the surrounding sounds of the forest, her sensitive ears could distinguish a shuffling of bushes a couple of feet behind her.

Chloe spun around, drawing the angel blade from a pouch on the harness, and readied for an attack. The yellowish-green bushes rustled some more, and the pink-haired warrior tensed. Dark violet hair appeared out of the bushes, quickly followed by pale skin, purple-green eyes, and an emerald cloak that blended perfectly in the forest backdrop. Before Chloe could register who it was, she lunged forward with her knife pointed right for the stranger's chest.

"WHOA CHLO! IT'S ME!" Arella threw up her hands, a dark green magic shield appearing between her and the knife.

Chloe sighed with relief placing the blade away, "Damn it, Arella, I told you not to come."

"Hey, your dad said you had to do this . . . whatever alone, but didn't say anything about me tagging along from a safe distance . . . yes I'm aware of the irony."

Chloe scowled, "This isn't 'whatever', this is an ancient Dragon Knight tradition that I have to keep going." Chloe turned away and continued her trek through the muggy forest, Arella following from a few steps behind by floating a few feet in the air. "You know it wouldn't kill you too walk once in a while."

"True, but why take the chance," Arella floated with her hands behind her back, as if she was roller skating in mid-air, "So what's the point of this anyways? Your supposed to get your dragon jewel thingy, but you can just make your own?"

"It's about the journey, Ar. All 'rites of passage's' are like this."

"Well how long is it supposed to take?" Arella sighed, but sounded more like a whine.

"No one asked you to come, you can zap home at any time."

Arella sighed again, this time getting a bit more serious, "Well you've been with me through some tough times-"

"SHH!" Chloe throw up her hand silencing her companion, her senses opened and on high alert. She took a deep breath of the air, her ears twitching ever so slightly. Her fingers slowly began to create to encase themselves in crystal creating blade-like claws. Arella stiffened, her own animal-like instincts warning her of the appending danger. Arella opened her mouth, not to talk, but to scent the air around her. Hundreds of different smells filled her senses, but years of practice taught her how to zoom in on particular ones. Chloe must have picked up the scent at the same time as her, because the female dragon knight suddenly launched her crystal claws into the clump of bushes to her left. A loud yelp came from the bushes, followed by a thud. Arella narrowed her eyes at the spot and with the flick of her out stretched hand, used her magic to float the now dead body out in the open. She laid the furry and bloodied body on the ground and stared curiously at it.

"What the hell is that?" Arella floated over to the red and tan furred canine.

"Adjule. It's a wolf-fox," More rustling came from the bushes, "And they don't hunt alone. RUN!" The teenage friends took off, Arella gliding through the air, while Chloe went on foot. Making her elbow crystal, she threw it into a nearby tree knocking it over in front of the attacking animals, but did little to detour them. "Arella, get outta here this isn't your fight." Chloe yelled over the Adjule's snarling.

"Hey, I can handle these things-"

"-No, I have to do this myself."

"Are you sure, because your running out of land."

Chloe's eyes widened. A cliff in front of her, and the pack of fox-wolves behind them, not a good combination. Once again, her fingers became crystalized and she leapt for a nearby tree, digging her claws into the bark. She pulled herself up as fast as she was able, but still had to kick off a few of the Adjule's as they bit into her legs. She moved onto a large branch, checking the bite marks on her legs.

"Oh Azar!" Arella joined Chloe on the branch.

"I've had worse," she groaned. Slowly her wounds began to seal themselves. Arella looked down at the barking creatures.

"So now what? Just wait till they leave?"

"Nope," Chloe got to her feet, and grabbed onto a nearby vine, "Time to put into practice was Uncle Gnark taught me." The young girl formed her left arm into a solid crystal battering ram, and with a high-pitched battle cry, jumped from the branch and swung on the vine. She used the vine to swing her into the group of yapping and biting canine hybrids. Her crystal arm slammed into the Adjules that had the great misfortune to be in her path.

Arella watched the scene unfold from the safety of her branch. Furred bodies were sent flying each way, some landed on others, while others hit nearby trees. The forest echoed with the whines and whimpers of the frightened pack. Arella watched as Chloe used the last of her energy to land on another tree branch. Before the canine cryptids could regather, Chloe developed more crystal claws and threw them like daggers at the remaining Adjules.

Once the last creature fell, Chloe took a seat on the branch and caught her breath. Arella kept her gaze on the lifeless bodies that now littered the forest floor. A small part of her twisted with nausea at the sight, but that was a very minute part of her. Excitement at the intoxicating metallic smell of blood began to bubble inside of her.

"Arella!" Chloe called. Arella's mixed amethyst eyes snapped up from the carnage to her friend. "Stop looking at those things like that. It's weird."

The young sorceress shook her head clear before retorting. "I'm weird? You just took out a pack of mythological fox-wolves like freaking Tarzan with a crystal bat, and you have the audacity to call me weird?"

The pinkette rolled her deep blue eyes. "Always so dramatic." Standing up again, Chloe looked down from where she stood, judging the distance.

"Don't! I can take us down there." Arella offered, having read her mind. Figuratively, not literally.

Chloe shook her head. "No way! It's not that far for me, and it beats your weird magic."

"Again, with that adjective."

Instead of coming up with a witty reply in return, Chloe bent her knees, and extended her arms and with the elegance of a gymnast, leapt from her branch, kicking off the trees around her to land firmly on the ground. Her bones shook, but only for a moment. Her abnormal strength, and the dance and gymnastics she had learned from her mother, allowed her to land unscathed. As she straightened herself and brushed off any leaves or dirt that may have stuck to her body, she felt the familiar change in air pressure that lasted only seconds. Once she was satisfied, she turned to the person who had decided to join her.

"Look Ari, I know you just want to help, and believe me I wish you could stay."

"But…"

"But I need to do this alone."

The violet girl huffed in annoyance and crossed her arms in a pout. "Why? Because some tradition says so? Screw tradition!"

Chloe sighed and her shoulders fell. "I don't expect you to understand, but I do expect you to respect my wishes." Her blue gaze met Arella's purple-green's. "Please Ari. You know I wouldn't be asking you this unless I truly meant it."

Arella gave her friend's solemn words some thought. "Alright." She let out her own sigh of defeat. "I'll go, but I don't like it."

"I didn't say you had to like it, just accept it." Chloe smiled at the other girl.

"Yeah, yeah. Just promise me, that if you need me you'll call me?"

Chloe nodded, her pink strands falling slightly in her face.

"I'm serious now. I don't care what tradition says, if you even think you could use some help, you call me, okay?"

"Yes Mom!" Chloe teased, but Arella could feel her friend's affection toward her. "Really though. I can take care of myself. I've been taught by the best." With one last glance, Arella wished her good luck, before disappearing in a dark green portal.

Present Day

The teens compromised and claimed a couple of lanes in the back corner farthest away from the civilians. They dressed in civilian attire as well, in hopes to blend in as much as possible. They didn't come all this way for photo-ops, that's for sure, but the only ones who were ever asked were Bart, Cassie, Reed on occasion, and Chloe. When Chloe was asked, Arella found it quite entertaining especially when the guys would try to get fresh with her. The last time that happened they were faced with fangs and fire. It was wonderful to listen their screams of fear . . . and pain.

While Arella waited for her turn, she sat in the bulging red booth, whispering her mantra repeatedly in order to calm her constant headache. While this place was not the worst place they could be, it certainly was far from the best. The sorceress glanced over at her best friend, who was currently in a heated game with Bart. Those two were always the most competitive. It was somewhat amusing to watch Chloe easily antagonize the red-head by using her super strength to hurl the ball in the direction of the pins, earning her a strike every time. The boy cried cheat every time, especially when they said no powers, but he was just sore, because his powers would send him flying into the pins alongside the ball (and yes, he had to learn that lesson the hard way).

It wasn't like Chloe was cheating on purpose though. Cass had the same problem. One cannot simply stop being strong. Only, unlike Cass, Chloe had to make a major production out of her so called "skills", thanks to her mother's dancing lessons. It never took long for those two to start arguing over who was the better bowler. It was a very similar agreement they would have over video games.

Yes, Chloe played video games. When she told her father, he damn near disowned her.

While listening to those two bicker was not the most pleasurable thing to do, they certainly had their moments. However, what really rubs Arella the wrong way was how easily Chloe could distract herself from all these stimuli. The dragon knight had just as good of hearing and sense of smell as Arella, maybe even better. So how she could avoid these splitting headaches, Arella may never know.

Over in her lane, was Cass, Reed, and herself of course. While Cass was a natural due in large part to her super strength, Reed held his own. He was the only one in the group to have actually had professional bowling lessons (something Arella didn't even know existed until she met him). Cass and Reed shared in friendly competition, unlike those other two crazy people next to them. Although, Arella couldn't help, but feel bad for the fire-bender whenever he'd make an unavoidable human error, and especially when his little fire ball would start flashing at him, apparently teasing him. Either he just didn't have enough power behind his swing or his foot would slide causing him to spin harder than he wanted.

Cass was friendly, but Arella would be lying if she did not say she had a sweet spot for the lanky boy. Arella knew the charming lad had a crush on her, he's carried those feelings around for a while now, but Arella never did find herself returning those feelings. There was just something about him that kept her from feeling attracted to him.

That's because he's weak.

Arella's violet-green eyes widened when she heard that unmistakable voice that raked through her brain. Usually the voice wouldn't bother her for weeks after a kill, but the time between was getting less and less.

"He's not weak." She thought back, looking toward her friends to be sure they could not hear her secret conversation.

He's a pathetic weakling. A worthless mortal, just like your father.

"Stop it!" She shouted angrily, only this time, it wasn't in her head.

"Arella are you alright?"

The young empath looked up at the freckled face of Reed Williams, who was staring intently at the young beauty.

"Huh?" Was the only word she could utter.

"Are you alright?" The young man repeated. "You sort had a random outburst."

Arella blinked at him registering what had just occurred. "Oh, um, I um…." She blushed in embarrassment as her eyes darted around the bowling alley in hopes of an opportunity. Her eyes landed on Chloe and Bart arguing a few feet away.

"I just meant I wished those two would stop arguing with each other." She shrugged.

Reed, who was sitting next to Arella in the booth, followed her gaze over to the bickering teens.

"Yeah I don't blame you. Wish they'd just get a room, you know." He joked as he turned back to the girl beside him, flashing her a boyish smile. Arella, not understanding the joke, knitted her eye brows together in confusion.

"Why would you say that? I do not detect any feelings of affection from either of them."

Reed's eyes widened comically, completely ignoring Arella's literal interpretation. "You can feel their emotions?" He asked in amazement.

Arella rose an eyebrow at him suspiciously. "You've known me for four years, and you are just now realizing this?"

"Oh, no!" The boy shook his head. "I meant, can you like, feel their emotions right this second?"

Arella nodded her head. "Yes, I can feel everyone's emotions at all times. I just don't always pay attention to them."

Suddenly, the young man's face heated up and Arella could feel his nervousness and worry rolling of him in waves.

"You…you mean…you feel everyone's emotions? Like, all the time?"

Arella stared at him, matching blushes appearing on their faces. She could feel his anxiety build like the pull of the ocean before a large wave came crashing down on the shore. Once again, she found herself putting her foot in her mouth.

"Uh…yes?" She answered weakly and watched as the young man paled in front of her. "I…I mean not all the time. Just most of the time, and only when I my terms. I have to let my mental barriers down to feel what others are feeling."

"Oh, so you don't, say, feel my emotions, do you?" The fire ball twitched, "Shut up." he snapped at it.

Arella quickly shook her head. "Nope. Not at all."

Reed let out a sigh of relief and turned away from her, focusing back on the game. "Okay, well that's cool, I guess." Flash flash. "I said shut up!"

Arella felt relieved. She was so not ready to confront him about his feelings yet, and honestly, she prayed to Azar he would forget about them sooner rather than later. She was not like normal girls her age, falling head-over-heels for a guy, longing for a romantic future. Dating just wasn't her style. Sure, she had her fair share of lustful urges, but nothing a make-out session with a random guy at the club couldn't fix. Chloe has always pushed her to pursue a long-term relationship with someone, mainly Reed, but she just couldn't picture herself as someone's girlfriend. Knowing this, the last thing Arella wanted was for Reed to confess his feelings to her, and then making her the bad guy when she, inevitably, turns him down.

"Arella, it's your turn!" Cassie snapped Arella out of her thoughts as the blonde demigoddess strolled on over to the booth, the screen above her changing from her name to Arella's. The young enchantress reluctantly stood up and floated over to the ball return, where she pointed a pale finger at the ball of her choice (a plain red 10-pounder), then floated with the ball over to the starting line at the edge of the lane. Before she could flick her wrist and send the ball rolling down the lane with her magic, Cassie called from behind her.

"No powers, Arella!" Her leader reminded her. Arella rolled her violet-green eyes and grabbed the ball floating beside her.

Ignorant slut.

Arella shook the thought away. As soon as her magic wore off, the ball's weight made the girl stumble a bit. Though she wasn't completely useless when it came to physical activity, she was certainly the laziest on the team. Everyone chastises her for her excessive use of magic, even her magic-loving mother. With a slight grunt, the female conjurer stepped back up to the line. Sliding her fingers into the proper sockets, she lined herself with the center pin, and with a deep breath, she slung her arm back and pushed it forward. The ball released from her hand and rolled down the slick lane until it began to curve toward the end. The ball ended up knocking over only a few pins on the left.

Behind her, Reed was quietly applauding her, while Cassie gave her a supportive smile.

"See, Arella, wasn't that much more fun without your powers?" The team leader probed.

Imagine how much better it would be with powers. Images of the bowling ball wrapped in dark green magic being sent flying at your pretty face!

"Not by a long shot." Arella mumbled grumpily as she floated back over to the booth.

"Where are you going, Ari? You still have one more frame." Reed reminded her with a sickenly sweet smile.

"No thanks." Arella waved him off as she took her place at the booth beside the boy.

"Oh, come on Arella, you at least have to finish this game." Cassie reasoned with her, but Arella only shook her head some more.

"Someone else can play for me, or you can delete me from the game, but I'm done being social for the day." The introverted girl declared as she lifted her arms over her head, and pulled back the hood of her sweat jacket.

While Reed looked genuinely concerned, Cassie seemed rather annoyed with the irritable sorceress.

"Fine. Don't play." The blonde bit back as she slid out of the booth to let Reed out. "We'll just have fun without you." She goaded, but Arella did not take the bait.

"Perfect." She deadpanned as she slumped further into her seat, leaning her head against the hard cushion.

While the others played their game, Arella did her best to nurse her ever-growing headache. That damn voice was becoming more and more intrusive with each passing day, forcing her to push down her demonic urges just as frequently. This, on top of the hundred or so emotions she had to block, resulting in a painful migraine and zero patience.

Let. Me. Out! The voice came again.

"No, not right now." She thought back, as she began to massage her temples.

You'll feel so much better, look. Arella looked over a few lane's down to a group of obnoxious, loud, drunken idiots. Wouldn't it feel so much better to silence them once and for all?

There was a tiny twitch at the side of her lip. "Maybe so, but that is irrelevant."

The demoness's head pounded harder, causing her to suppress a painful groan. That was the final straw.

"I need . . I need to go home." She announced, and without another word or hesitation, a portal opened under her, swallowing her up in the darkness. She heard Reed call after her, but his words faded into oblivion.

The portal reopened in the mysterious room of the dark enchantress, and the bright light shining from her ceiling stung her eyes as she left the puddle of darkness.

Wait, bright light?

Arella spun around as quick as a top, and stared wide-eyed at the older women standing by her window sill. "Maria?" Arella asked hesitantly. Maria stood as still as a statue, looking outside the window. On Arella's bed, was an open laptop, with a video paused on the screen. The young demoness looked back to her sister, her fear rising within her, and mouth running dry and hot. "Wha…what are you doing in my room?"

"This was my room first you know." Maria's attempt at humor fell short. The tension in the room refusing to be broken. Maria turned away from the window, but her emerald eyes wouldn't meet Arella's. Arella noticed they were red from tears, and her cheeks were still wet.

Something was definitely wrong.

"You're aware of my investigation of that 'mystery guy' that keeps interfering with our missions, right?"

Arella slowly nodded her head.

Maria went on. "Then it should come as no surprise to you, that I took the liberty to go to Cassidy Lodge and investigate the crime scene."

That came as a huge surprise to the youngest Logan member. No one knew about that place. NO ONE!

"And…and did you find what you were looking for?" She forced herself to find her voice.

"Well, no, not exactly."

Arella's shoulders fell, heaving out a mental sigh of relief.

"But I did find something I wasn't looking for."

Arella's head snapped back up, her body becoming rigid once more. All she could do was watch as Maria walked up to the laptop, and clicked the space-bar. Arella took a couple of steps closer, staring down at the screen as it played a video feed of the murder of Cassidy and his goons. The night those men died. The night she killed them. Viciously and without remorse.

"Arella," Maria's voice broke with sadness as the video of the heinous act played before their eyes. "What am I looking at?"

She couldn't breathe, couldn't think. All she could do was stare at the video of herself ripping apart Marcus Cassidy and his thugs, all while she wore a smile of pure demonic ecstasy.

Maria attempted to school her emotions, but the panic was already setting in, "Arella, please, tell me this isn't you." The shapeshifter begged. "Or tell me you were possessed, that you don't remember anything, that you just woke up in the midst of these corpses. That's all you must tell me, and all of this can be fixed."

Arella didn't say a word. Instead she stood there, staring at the video, her face void of any emotion. Her sister was right. It would be easy. To simply say she were possessed, that say she didn't remember. It could buy her time to find a way out of this and continue on with her life. Maybe even place the blame on someone who deserved it. Psimon, Phobia, any of them. She was clever, she could figure it out.

"Arella," Maria was practically begging at this point, "please . . . tell me-tell me you don't remember any of this . . ."

Arella pried her violet gaze away from the monitor and stared into her sister's eyes. Eyes that were filled with confusion and panic, but also torn between her love for her baby sister and her duty as a hero.

"Arella," she whispered, "Tell me. . . "

"I. . . . can't . . . " Her words were so hushed that even Maria had to strain to hear them. Arella's muddled eyes filled with fresh tears as she tore her gaze away from the screen and over to her sister. Amethyst met emerald, both broken and afraid. The air around them picked up and began to swirl around with great force. Arella's solid green cloak blew in the wind, while both the girls' hair lifted at its ends. "I can't." Arella repeated, this time louder, but muffled by the wind and the sound of objects breaking or crashing into one another.

Maria's deep green eyes painted crimson and her nails turned into claws. The women shook with fury as her rage filled eyes bore into Arella. "How could you?" She growled. With the force of both their powers, the tower walls vibrated and parts of the roof above their heads began to crumble. Arella's belongs began to soar around the room.

Arella fed off her sister's rage, and her own demon emerging from its suppression. Eyes like fire, teeth like daggers, and claws like swords. Her voice dripping with rage. "I did what had to be done!"

"What had to be done?" Her sister spat back. "You murdered people. Your duty as a hero is to protect the innocent. Your job is to force criminal to answer to justice. What you did was not justice!"

"Maybe not to you, but to the women who lost their own lives to those men, I did! All you ever do is tell me how wrong I am! Pointing out every mistake, every misjudgment, every misstep. Not once have you ever considered my point of view! Not once have to ever praised me for a job well done!"

"You are a hero, Arella. Hero's don't need praise, and they certainly have no room for error. What you did was way out of line!"

"Well I didn't ask to be a hero! I didn't ask to join this team or to follow in my family's footsteps!"

"Then why are you here?" Maria shouted.

"I don't know!"

The flying objects flung themselves one final time as the young girl fell to her knees. She had her hands out in front of her, supporting her as she hunched over with her head bowed. Her long violet hair falling over the sides of her rounded face. Tears fell freely with her eyes and landed onto the hard floor. Maria's own eyes reverted to normal as she held her head and stumbled over to the wall, pressing her body into it for support. The two remained silent for some time, with only the sound of their heavy breathing being heard. Arella was the first to break the silence.

"I'm sorry, Maria."

Maira lifted her head in the direction of her sister.

"I'm sorry, for everything. For killing those people, for disobeying you, for ruining the family name, all of it. I'm sorry."

Maria stared intently at the younger girl, her face unreadable, but shook her head. "No . . no you're not. You aren't sorry. You're only sorry you were caught."

Arella met her gaze for a brief moment, before looking away, "Yeah, maybe you're right."

Maria took in a few deeper breaths before she stood back on her feet. "You know what I have to do." She spoke as if she was trying to convince herself.

Arella nodded her head solemnly.

"If you come quietly, I can take you to Mom and Dad. They can help you, Arella, we all can."

This time Arella did something she rarely ever does, she laughed. "Help me? They've been trying to help me for eighteen years! No, I don't need their help and I don't WANT IT!"

Maria's emotionless expression turned to one of sympathy. "You aren't a demon, Arella." She offered thoughtfully.

Arella looked up at the women who now towered before her. Her eyes flashed red as she gave her a wicked smile.

"Come here and find out."

Maria's eyes glowed white as she extended her hand out to launch an entrapment on the girl, "Don't make me do this Arella!" but before she could utter her spell, a large crystal knocked into the back of her head. Arella's eyes went bug-eyed when she saw her elder sister collapse onto the floor unconscious and standing behind her, was the familiar pink-haired face of Chloe Daniels.

Chloe slammed the laptop down and took it under her arm, and said only two words. "Let's go."

Author's Notes: So I apologize for the delay. That's my fault. Took me some time to retain my momentum. Things are starting to heat up, and this story should be in full drive very soon. So stick with us! A big thank you to all who reviewed so far! Y'all are awesome! If you haven't reviewed yet, please do so. Your feedback is very appreciated and useful! Reviews add fuel to the fire, so if you want to help bearhow and I update regularly, we need to hear from y'all!

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Thank so all!

Until Next Time,

L.B.

Disclaimer: Arella Logan and Maria Logan are owned by Lou Buggins. Chloe Daniels and Marcus Cassidy are owned by bearhow. Reed is owned by the both of us. DC owns everyone else.