Blanche was not at all new to the Seattle Institute, having moved in nearly four years ago. Back, of course, when it was only Neil and Stephanie that he had the option of being associated with. Over time, more wards had moved in, but Blanche hadn't truly "befriended" anyone in the truest sense of the word. He didn't trust any of them; didn't feel comfortable enough to be his true self around them.

So, he put up a facade - a sort of projected self that he could use around the others inside the Institute. The less the others knew about him, the better. He'd do everything he could to keep the conversation away from him and his personal life, and instead just amuse and entertain the others before he would leave the Institute and hang out with some of Seattle's Downworlders instead. He wasn't that a big fan of Shadowhunters, anyway.

But all of that started to change when she arrived at the Institute late last Fall.

Four months ago...

October 7th, 2015
11:27 am

They'd been getting a lot of new Shadowhunters recently, Blanche lamented as he lounged in a little living area across from the main entrance of the Institute. He'd been asked by Gertrude specifically to wait for the new ward to get there. She would've done it herself, or asked someone else to do it, but the other members of the Institute were either busy (for example, Martin had gone to Idris for family reasons) or simply too standoffish to welcome someone inside and actually make them comfortable (such as Cole and Jude, who were both rather new to the Institute themselves.)

Apparently, Blanche was the best one for the job.

He'd been told to be careful with this new ward - apparently, they had just been through a traumatic experience (like most of the Institute's current residents) and had been required to be sent here after their father had passed away. They hadn't elaborated any more than that.

It didn't really matter, though. Blanche didn't mind welcoming the new person - having been through a traumatic experience or two himself, he understood that he or she might need a little extra care.

Blanche didn't have to wait too long before a small, timid knock came from the two large, mahogany doors across the hall.

The blond hopped to his feet and put on his best, most welcoming smile before he trotted over and opened the door in a grand, sweeping gesture. "Welcome to the Seattle Institu-"

He cut off abruptly. The sight of who was standing at the door momentarily swept him back to his childhood - of Idris; of a tiny, brunette girl with bright green-gold eyes; of hot chocolate and riding through the forest on horseback; of the previously mentioned tiny, brunette girl clocking some jerk in the face for saying the wrong thing to Blanche or his twin; of laughter and tears; of simultaneously some of the best and some of the worst memories of his life.

That girl was no longer quite so tiny, though she still only came up to about Blanche's chest. Her hair was damp and curling slightly at the ends from the humidity - it was cold and drizzly at the moment; not downpouring, thank the Angel. Her eyes - that same green-gold - shot up from where they were staring at her feet as soon as she heard Blanche's voice, and they flashed with recognition. The right one was swollen and a bit purplish green - the tail end of a black eye - and they were both wet with something more than just the rain.

The two spent a moment in shock, just staring at each other.

Shiloh regained her senses first, wiping her wrist over her eyes and sniffing a bit before offering him a tiny smile that seemed genuinely relieved, albeit laced with sorrow and misery - Blanche was reminded from somewhere in the back of his mind that her father had just died - and spoke: "If someone had told me you'd be the one to answer the door, I probably would've called them a liar." It was little more than a whisper. Her voice sounded horrible - scratchy, weighed down, and hoarse.

Blanche swallowed and returned the smile. "If someone had told me you'd be the one knocking, I would've called them crazy," he replied, stepping back in order to allow her room to walk inside. "You look like you're going to freeze to death out there," he commented, feeling his eyebrows knit together in concern despite the fact that he was still smiling. He was happy to see her, regardless of the circumstances.

Shiloh wrinkled her nose and let out a tiny sound that sounded like it could've been a chuckle, if there was more effort put into it. She truly just didn't seem like she had the energy. She accepted his invitation and crossed the threshold, placing the small bag that she held in her left hand on the floor and rubbing her damp hands together.

Both stood in silence for a few moments; neither knew what to say. Blanche took a moment to scan her over for any injuries aside from the black eye - Shiloh was always particularly good at getting into fights - and found that she was dressed in a simple long-sleeved T-shirt, jeans, and slip-on shoes, no coat, and her hair was oily, as though she hadn't had a shower in a few days. There was a fleck or two of blood a behind her ear, but it looked long-since dried - nothing fresh. He took it to mean that she wasn't actually hurt, and he was relieved for that much, at least.

After a few moments of silence, Blanche decided to (stupidly) ask, "Are you okay?" He'd been referring to her emotional state rather than her physical health, but judging from the reason she was here at all, she was the furthest thing from 'okay' one could get.

Shiloh did that weird chuckle thing again and sighed heavily, but didn't respond to the question. Instead, she cleared her throat and raised her eyes to meet his. "Can you show me where I'm supposed to stay? I'm really tired."

"Of course," he replied and almost offered to carry her stuff, but was reminded of the many times a tiny Shiloh had practically screeched that she could "do it herself!" and decided to let her lift the single bag while he started off down the hallway, in the direction of the room they had set aside for her.

The walk to her room was silent, but just before she walked into the room, Shiloh brushed her shoulder against his arm and gave him a tiny, but genuine, smile.

"I'm glad you're here, Blanche."

Blanche reciprocated the smile and bumped his arm against hers as she passed in response.

"Yeah... me, too."

February 3rd, 2016
12:30 am
Present Day

Shiloh and Blanche had gradually become closer after that day. They'd spent six or seven years together when they were children in Idris, after all, so in spite of the circumstances, it was very nice to be together again. Shiloh was the one person in the entire Institute that Blanche would even consider a friend, and she'd told him that much about him, too.

She'd changed a lot from when they were kids, but she was still the same in many ways. Perhaps not around everyone else, but with him, she didn't feel that she needed to hide who she was quite as much.

But the truth was that he'd changed quite a bit, as well.

Blanche had learned to cope with this new Shiloh. He knew to avoid talking about her father, and he had learned not to sneak up on her or raise his voice or make too many sudden movements - each of the latter three would cause her to flinch as though she expected to be hit (and Blanche expected that she did) while the first would just make her clam up entirely.

Shiloh had also learned to deal with the new Blanche: don't ask too many questions, don't push him for information, don't judge - just take him as he was.

And they were both grateful for one another.

"You don't have to go with me, you know. I go out at night by myself all the time," Shiloh was saying as the two of them slipped out into the courtyard in front of the Institute. It wasn't raining at all, but it was rather cold out. They were both wearing jackets to fend off the chill.

Blanche scoffed in response, looking up at the overcast sky and the crescent moon peeking out behind the clouds. "As an adult, I can't allow you, a mere child, to leave the Institute by yourself in such troubling times as these," he stated dramatically, and smiled when Shiloh rolled her eyes in an equally-dramatic fashion.

Shiloh often snuck out at night - though Blanche was pretty sure that only he and Neil knew about it. Neil because his room was right beside Shy's, and because he was a worrywart who couldn't leave well enough alone, and Blanche because Shiloh sometimes came to his room at night and asked him to go with her.

Blanche also didn't really like the thought of her alone out here anyway - mostly because she had a knack for getting herself injured when he didn't go with her.

He didn't know who it was she was picking a fight with. Probably demons, but you never really knew with her.

The blond frowned as his eyes were drawn to the backpack that Shiloh toted on her back. He almost questioned her as to what was in it, but thought better of it.

The two walked in silence for a while, up until they reached a bunch of cars parked on the side of the road and Shiloh hopped on top of one of them, her black combat boots making little-to-no sound on the slippery metal. She walked like a cat from one car to the next, leaving bootprints in the frost that laid over the vehicles. Some poor mundanes would be very confused in the morning when they saw the conditions of their cars, Blanche thought in amusement.

"Where are we going?" Blanche called up ahead, raising one eyebrow as Shiloh spun on her heel on the hood of one of the poor cars underneath her. She'd lost a lot of weight since she'd arrived at the Institute, Blanche noted. Maybe they could go get something substantial for her to eat later.

"To the library," she replied simply, then turned back around to hop off of the hood and onto the pavement in one swift, graceful movement. "Then maybe just a walk."

Once again, Blanche decided not to question her about why the heck anyone would want to go to a library at nearly one in the morning. Instead, he just trotted a bit to catch up with her, and the two of them headed downtown.

They reached the library rather quickly, and Shiloh pulled her backpack off and extracted four sizeable books from within it. Each one was titled:

Causes and Treatment of Common Mental Illnesses.

List of Uncommon Mental Illness.

How to Know if your Loved One is Mentally Ill.

Recognizing the Signs of Schizophrenia.

"What's all that?" Blanche asked. He wasn't normally one to pry, but the titles of the books were unsettling, at the least.

Shiloh didn't respond. Instead, she slid each book into the 24-hour-drop-box outside the library and flung the backpack over her shoulder once again. "Ready to go?" she asked tightly, meeting his eyes with a small glare as though she were challenging him to ask again.

Blanche sighed and shrugged. "Whenever you are, I suppose," he replied, waiting for her to move so that he could follow.

Regret flashed in Shiloh's eyes and she cast her gaze to the ground before walking over to him and brushing the back of her hand against his own fingers. Blanche decided to take it for what it was - an apology. Shiloh had never been particularly good with words, so instead of expressing affection verbally, she'd been more prone to hugging, holding hands, and sitting extra close as a child with all of her loved ones. Now, though, it was simple things, like brushing against people or even allowing herself to be touched, since that was not a common occurrence anymore.

Blanche knocked his knuckles against hers in return, and started off after her down the sidewalk.

They'd only gone about half a block before Shiloh froze and Blanche bumped into her from behind. "Oof! What the heck, Shy?" he demanded, and she turned to glance at him.

"Do you smell something? Like a fire?"

As soon as she asked, Blanche became aware of the scent - it was strong, smoky; like brimstone. It was a horrible smell.

A heartbeat afterward, a chilling howl split the air. It was unlike any howl Blanche had ever heard - unlike the werewolves that sometimes ran around Seattle at night, unlike the housedogs that howled in France, and unlike the coyotes in the forest in Alicante near the Bellefleur manor that he'd often heard as a child. It was also impossible to tell where it had come from, considering the fact that it sounded like it was all around them at once.

Shiloh already had her Seraph blade in her hand, and Blanche was more than grateful that he'd remembered to bring his bow and arrow with him. He pulled it off his back and put an arrow in place. He then twisted around, pressing his back against Shiloh's so that he could keep an eye in the opposite direction.

The streetlights around them fizzled out, and the clouds above them split apart to reveal the crescent moon in the sky. It had changed color from earlier - before it had been a soft, pale white, and now it was as red as blood, casting its offensive light down upon the city.

Then, in the next moment, everything went dark. It was as though every ounce of light in the world had somehow vanished. Blanche felt Shiloh press harder against him, a slight tremor in her shoulders.

Out of nowhere, a low, doglike growl started up, and this time it was easier to tell where it was coming from. Blanche could hear it walking, its claws sharp against the concrete and its footsteps slow and deliberate as it approached them. It started circling them in a wide arc, but from time to time, Blanche could see red eyes flash in the darkness.

It soon became obvious that there was not only one creature to contend with, because suddenly two pairs of vivid, glowing red eyes shone at Blanche from up ahead.

Apparently, whatever this creature was, it did not travel alone.

The two Nephilim stood like that for a few seconds that felt like eternity, both barely able to breathe as the demonic beasts circled them, before Shiloh suddenly cried out in pain and her weight disappeared from his back, as though she'd been ripped away from him.

Blanche spun around, and his eyes widened when he spotted Shiloh on her knees on the pavement before a massive, Mastiff-looking creature with glowing red eyes and fire sparking from underneath its paws. Her forearm was clamped in between its jaws; it had already torn through her jacket and shirt, and her skin was bubbling up from where the beast's teeth were burning her. Her Seraph blade lay on the ground a few feet away.

Without thinking, he pulled back his bow and let his arrow fly. It, of course, met its mark - right into the doglike thing's shoulder - but instead of embedding itself in muscle and flesh, it just passed through as though the dog were made of smoke. The creature's body drifted apart like mist, allowing the arrow to pass through, and closed back up.

The dog snarled around Shiloh's arm and twisted to the side to toss the smaller Shadowhunter to the side. She went tumbling into the empty street, momentarily too dazed to move.

Blanche cursed as the dog barked sharply and he felt something overwhelmingly hot and wet lap at his left hand, where he'd let it fall after he'd let the arrow fly. It was akin to the feeling of pouring boiling water on one's skin, and Blanche was positive his hand blistered immediately. He sucked in a sharp breath and twisted to try and see what had touched him.

There were at least three other doglike beasts behind him, and all looked different - there was one that looked like an Irish Wolfhound, one that looked like an Akita, and the one closest to him - the one that must have burned him - that looked like a German Shepherd. They were all blacker than he'd ever thought black could be, and each was absolutely massive.

The German-Shepherd-esque one snarled and moved to snap at Blanche's leg.

Metal glinted in the firelight as Shiloh leaped to intercept the creature. She had what appeared to be a silver dagger in her hand, and though she hit the dog across the face with it, it simply passed through, as though the dog were made of liquid.

Apparently surprised at the attack, the dog jumped back, its ears perked and its head tilted to the side.

"Move!" Shiloh demanded, shoving Blanche toward the alley on their left.

He certainly didn't need to be told twice; he bolted immediately, with Shy hot on his heels, and the dogs just behind her.

The alley was, fortunately, narrow, so the Nephilim had an advantage there. The dogs were well-coordinated, but they were large enough to have a problem keeping up with the two Shadowhunters, because one would try to break ahead from the others, and they'd end up stuck for a moment or two.

Blanche and Shiloh finally reached the end of the alley, and though it was dark, Blanche's eyes had adjusted well enough to the lack of light in order to spot the tiny small gap in the wall between two of the buildings that very well might be their only hope of survival.

He grabbed Shiloh's wrist and pulled her quickly after him. It was hard to fit both of them into the nook, but they managed, with Blanche pressed up against the wall in the back and Shiloh pressed against him. The dogs were right behind them - they slammed into the wall, and Shy all but yelped when one of them managed to get its muzzle into the nook and snap at her feet. She took the opportunity to kick at its nose, shouting a few explicit words that would have made a sailor blush, before pulling her feet back as close as they could get to her.

The demonic beasts growled and snarled right outside their hiding place, occasionally trying to shove their massive heads in.

Blanche recoiled at a sudden pale blue light, cursing softly, and blinked a few times to realize that Shiloh had pulled a small witchlight out of her pocket to illuminate the tiny space.

"I forgot I had this," she commented shakily, her face pale and lips cracked and dry. There was a smear of blood across her cheek, and Blanche suddenly remembered the doglike creature biting and burning her arm.

"Hey, I need to take a look at you," he stated firmly, shifting around so that the two of them were situated and he could look at her arm in the dim light. He took her wrist and winced a little at the sight of the mangled skin around her forearm, bloody and black around the edges where it was burned. Some of it was already peeling off, but since Blanche wasn't sure what these creatures were, he didn't know if an iratze would cut it. He also wasn't sure if he could twist around enough to reach his stele and draw one on her.

"It's fine," Shy whispered, her eyes half-lidded. She looked exhausted. "We can take care of it later, okay? Are you hurt?"

Blanche shook his head and scoffed, ignoring the burning pain in his hand. "I'm not hurt. You're the one who's hurt."

"Am not," she argued petulantly, and closed her eyes fully. "I think I want to go to sleep, though," she mumbled, slurring her words a bit toward the end of her sentence.

The older Nephilim had to admit that he wasn't feeling all that awake himself, which was strange, considering that they'd been in a heated fight not three minutes ago and there were still massive doglike beasts pacing outside their hiding place. He felt as though he should have adrenaline coursing through him, but all he felt was sleepy.

"We should stay awake," he murmured, but it was no use. He could already feel Shiloh's head resting on his chest and hear her breath, even and steady, to signal that she was fully asleep.

The last thing Blanche remembered seeing before sleep overtook him was the dimming glow of the witchlight in Shiloh's slack hand.

An - The longest chapter to date! I am not sure how I feel about this one. It went differently than I had it planned out. But over 3.5k words! And it's darker than the last couple; I wanted to get this story back into the genre it's supposed to be.

Also, I'm sorry that the intense scene with the dog-things was horrible. I'm bad at fighting scenes.

Let me know what you guys think! Reviews are the best thing ever for a writer. Oh, and tell me what you think those creatures were! It's probably obvious.

I love you guys, and God bless!

Snowy