"Où sont vos amis? Tu es tout seul..." AJ taunted Micheal, a hint of flirt buried in her tone.

He laughed, "Now you really think I'd need them when I've got this under control? You two aren't going anywhere anytime soon."

"Quel dommage...Je voudrais rendre facilement ... si vous n'étiez pas seul." AJ continued, causing Amelia to elbow her, "Are you trying to give yourself up?"

AJ nodded.

"He's hot. If I can keep him occupied, then you can-"

"Keep me occupied? Little lycan, I admire your courage, but a girl such as yourself stands no match, even if I am alone."

"If I go willingly...well...can we bargain? I will go...only if you promise not to hurt my friend." AJ said smiling, but from the corner of her eye she caught Amelia's horrified head shake.

"AJ, don't!" Amelia said, but AJ had already extended her hand out close to the fire, surprised its heat wasn't as warm as she had expected.

"I suppose that would do. Having both of you would be better, but if I bring a lycan in? Mike will have fun with you, he harbors quite a dislike for your kind. And I'm sure Brendon won't mind the first taste, although most of us are partial to human blood," Micheal mused, thinking over her offer.

Stepping forward he grabbed AJ's hand, and with one soft pull she stood on the other side of the ring of fire, the flickering flames reflecting in her eyes.

"Voir? Je ne suis pas une mauvaise fille. Je l'écoute. " AJ said, still trying to occupy his mind while thinking of a way to get Rae free.

"If you keep your word, I'll keep mine. Drop your weapons." he said, and AJ obeyed, placing her six shot, her knife, the extra round of bullets, and eight shuriken at his feet.

When she looked up, she looked at Micheal with a look she knew would make him rethink even freeing her from the circle.

Before he had time to react, she phased.

Still inside the ring, Amelia smiled. That had been her plan all along.

"Oh, look...an overgrown dingo. You're not going to do much damage." Micheal chastised as AJ snapped at his wrist, before realizing his other hand was free.

Amelia covered her eyes, cringing at the whimper she heard as Micheal's free hand came down hard across AJ's muzzle. She heard AJ growl, but then stop suddenly. Amelia turned around.

It wasn't just Micheal anymore.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"My...she's a pretty one. I've never seen a she-wolf with a coloring such as her's," a man with shoulder length black hair and green eyes observed as AJ turned to look at him, glaring.

"Easy, Carden...that's because every wolf you run into, you don't admire them long enough! If you'd relax a bit and maybe get to know one, maybe they'll be hybrids one day!" another man chimed in, this one having short somewhat curly light brown hair, a certain eagerness in his tone, before he added, "But no...You kill them because of what they are, all because one of them took Tom away."

"Sisky, if I were thinking about the possibility of fathering a hybrid, don't you think I'd have pinned this one down already? And besides, who wants to taint a perfect vampire's DNA with lycan filth?"

At those words, AJ growled, causing the black haired man the others had referred to as Carden to walk towards her, and set a hand in her fur, almost as if to reassure her.

"Don't worry girl, I didn't mean that. My friend just likes to joke around, perhaps too much for his own good."

AJ immediately tried to shake the vampire away, and surprisingly, he backed away.

"Seems she's a little skittish. What'd you do to her, Chizzy?"

The Australian vampire shrugged, "Nothing. Her friend, on other hand-" here he motioned to Amelia, who had been watching the entire thing wide eyed, "Is confident we are not a threat."

The one named Sisky laughed.

"That's great! Best thing I've heard all day! Thinks we're not a threat...Who is she, to think we're not a threat?"

"See for yourself."

Amelia blinked, and then standing in front of her was another member of the Dandies. Instantly she felt unnerved, as though she should get as far away from there as possible.

But she found herself lost in brown eyes, and then the accompanying smile from the lips below wiped her thoughts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It felt like Amelia was in a fog. She had no sense of time, and everything felt like it was slowed to a snail's pace. She could see the man in front of her. His lips were moving, but she couldn't understand a thing. The only thing she could hear was a voice. It was saying, "There's no need to fear me. I am your friend. Drop your weapons." It calmed her, and Amelia began to lower her weapons.

Suddenly, she heard another voice, this one much clearer and much louder. It was Illshya, and she was screaming at Amelia.

"MY CHILD! WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT LOWER YOUR WEAPONS! IF YOU DO, HE WILL KILL YOU! YOU HAVE TO BREAK FREE!" she pleaded, and it was enough to break Amelia out of the trance.

Amelia looked at the man, and smiled.

"Get out of my head," she said quietly.

"What's that?" asked the vampire.

"I said, GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Amelia yelled, allowing the demon's voice to seep into her own.

She stared up at the vampire defiantly, her eyes blazing.

The vampire was startled, to say the least. What was this new air of confidence? The girl had just been under his control, and then it had just shattered. Brendon furrowed his eyebrows in frustration. He tried to peer into her mind, so that he would have something to latch on to so that he could begin to manipulate her once again. He was able to get in easily enough, but then he heard a voice.

"If you don't get out of her head right now, you are going to be in trouble," a voice said, and it was the same voice that the girl had spoken in before.

Brendon ignored it and kept probing.

"I said, GET OUT!" the voice said and the link immediately shattered.

Brendon jumped back, clearly scared. His mind control had failed twice? Impossible!

"What the hell are you?" he asked, not sure he would like the answer.

"Oh honey, you have no idea," the girl said with a smile, a slight New Orleans type accent seeping through.

"My lady, I hereby cede control of my body to you. Fight until they are dead," Amelia said.

"As you wish, my child," the demon replied gravely.

What happened next, Brendon wasn't entirely sure. One moment, the girl was standing in front of him, and the next, she was laying on the ground, convulsing and screaming. Her limbs twisted back at unnatural angles and she sounded like she was being possessed by the devil.

The next thing he knew, the fire that was around the two of them dissipated, and the girl on the ground was silent. Brendon looked at his comrades with his eyebrows raised, as if to say, "I don't know what the hell just happened."

Brendon walked over to the girl and knelt down to pick her up. AJ let out a warning growl. She knew what would happen the minute that he got close to Amelia.

"Shut it, mutt," said the one named Carden.

The moment that Brendon reached his hand out toward Amelia, her hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. Her eyes opened and she sat up. She threw him backwards as if he were nothing and stood up. She brushed herself off and stared Brendon down.