*It's short, I know, but I've got the bug again and will definitely be updating with more frequency. I have a firm idea of where I want this to go and how it's going to get there, so this story should be moving right along...

Chapter Nine: A New Target

~ Ginny's POV

"So tell me Griffin, why are they after you?"

He looks at me intensely. My eyes are burning but I fight the urge to blink. For some stubborn reason I feel like it's a contest. Finally he breaks contact, looks down at the table. His hands tremble slightly as he pulls the open book towards him, turning it around so that he can read from the tome. I watch his eyes move as he rapidly skims the page, then jump slightly as he slams the book shut.

"Get your things, love, and I'll show you why they're after me."

I slide the book back into my bag and stand, adjusting my shirt. Griffin shoulders my bag and moves close to me, his arm around my waist. I can feel my face turning red at his close proximity. I lean back a bit, but his arm doesn't fall.

"Um, my friend Hermione should be mee-"

I feel a slight force, as though someone has bumped into me, and my vision blurs. I blink, clearing my eyes, then gasp, stumbling backwards. I imagine that my expression must be the exact opposite of Griffin's, who is leaning against a table, smirking at me.

"Where are we?" My voice echoes slightly in the room, and my eyes dart about, searching for familiarity. There are pictures and maps all over the walls. I recognize two of the people in them from the mall. "These are all Paladins?" I ask him, and he nods.

"They hunt me, I hunt them." I raise my eyebrow a bit at his choice of words, then turn in a slow circle. "And is this the hunting lodge?" His smirk returns, but he doesn't respond. I watch Griffin slowly walk towards the source of natural light illuminating the room, then follow him towards what looks like an opening of a cave. I'm almost blinded by the sun when we get outside, but once my eyes adjust I realize where we are. I let my fingertips trace the stone slab next to me and take a deep breath.

"So…"

"I'm a teleporter. A jumper." He shrugs sinks down on his haunches, tracing some unseen markings in the sand. "And you can go anywhere?" I watch Griffin reach in his pocket. He pulls out a pair of sunglasses and slides them on, shielding his eyes from the sun. And my gaze.

"If I can see there, I can be there. No jumping blind. But yeah, there's no place I can't go." His head turns towards me slightly. "That I know of." His arm extends towards me and I take his hand in mine. I brace to pull him up but then we're back inside. I stumble a bit and he braces me against him briefly before moving away. I gesture towards a picture of the woman from the mall, the one that I attacked.

"So, they force us underground, and for hundreds of years we've lived in secret. And they had to find themselves a new target.

They've found you."

Griffin leans against a pillar, his sunglasses pushed back on his head, making his already messy hair go even more askew.

"So, now what?"

I reach up, outlining the profile of the woman in the picture with my thumb.

"Now, we stop them. Together."