The new playlist is amazing, but I'm attempting to work out the kinks.

In the meantime, if you're curious about the music, just Google it.

And writer's block being killed. :)

ShoutOuts ~

Nyx's Pinky Girl: Of course you can! I do it all the time! And yes, writer's block is currently kicking my ass, so we aren't on speaking terms.

Unique Rose: Thank you! And I agree. Maybe I should give Madi a break… but… How lame would that be?

Crazy4MadHatter: Heck yes!

BloodRaven: Lol, of course. Madi has a way with words. And thank you!

BookNinja15: Your comment just made me laugh, Fluffy. But thank you lots. I'm glad you liked it!

~ THEMESONGS ~

New Perspective ~ Panic! At the Disco

Hard Row ~ The Black Keys (I'm such a junkie for these guys)

.M.I.W.

14. Down but Out

"I think the saddest part of this was that I knew it was going to happen." I said as I felt the tingling of Lissa's element working on my stab wound.

We were in the hospital-area-type-place. Moroi and Dhamphirs alike lay on beds or sat in them, all in different degrees of injury. I think some were even in a life or death situation. Lissa had said it was only an hour and a half since I had fainted (ugh, fail). The doctors or nurses had explained that they were just keeping me until I'd regained from my heavy blood loss. Which meant juice and crackers being shoved down my throat. There were still five unopened bags of an assortment of crackers and cookies and three unused cartons of juice on the tray next to me.

This saying, there were about four huge bottles of Gatorade downed (since the juice boxes had been a last resort when they saw how fast I was going through the Gatorade), and six empty cracker and cookie bags.

She smiled slightly, and I focused on her again. "It was mistaken identity. You just caught her off guard."

"Yes, and once again I'm left as the defenseless victim. She should just be lucky that I was… out of it."

I watched as the stab wound – which yes, was disgusting, thank you for caring – heal before my eyes, only leaving behind a perfectly round, purple scar.

When I looked up, I saw Lissa frown. She looked tired. "I can do that for now. Is that all right?"

I nodded. "If it's all right, I'll just keep it like this."

I kind of wanted to keep it as a reminder. A reminder of Rhonda's fortune. A reminder that I was probably going to die at any moment, and that it was probably going to come sooner or later. This being said, I was going to be pretty pissed off if I died.

Because, really, dying of a mistaken identity? Who wanted that?

If I were to die in some sort of battle (they're coming up a lot), I would want to die with blazing glory, fighting against incredible odds, and bringing a lot of them down with me. I wanted my enemies to be scared of me.

Yes, I know, I'm a sadistic loser, but come on. Who wants to die (in battle) being mistaken for the enemy? Am I that pale?

Rolling my eyes at the thought, I straightened up and swung my feet off of the bed. My blood rushed up to my head, making me lightheaded. I rocked slightly, but quickly shook it off, and jumped up. I straightened out the tough, Shadowhunter gear top, and stepped towards the chair next to my cot.

"What are you doing?" Lissa demanded as I grabbed my jacket. "You've got to be kidding me. You just got stabbed!"

"I think I would know if I just got stabbed or not." I reminded her. "In fact, I remember quite clearly yelling about how the woman had stabbed me with some… colorful language to mix it up. Besides, you just healed me. What's your point?"

She didn't say anything at that. I smirked, straightening my jacket on my shoulders. I then pulled on my swords over my shoulders, and tightened the straps.

"That's what I thought." I informed her as I walked past her, my riding boots clicking on the ground. "Now, I've got to go. We aren't done just yet."

.M.I.W.

I had reached the church probably five minutes ago, but I was a bit on the fence about going in.

I mean, even though I'm atheist, I didn't have a problem with going into churches on any moral grounds. But, of course, I usually stayed clear of them for those moral grounds. If I had to, then I would.

But that was before I learned that a greater demon had given (is 'given' too positive a word?) me strange powers to travel through dimensions. And I didn't exactly hate him for it. In fact, I was kind of glad he did. So that must mean if there were some cosmic grounds of good and evil, I would be on the literal highway to hell.

You can laugh at that.

And then I willingly allow myself to be cursed with some kind of apathy spell. That can't entirely be good either.

So, finally, I guessed those issues wouldn't exactly bother me… unless Victor hadn't said that whole 'OMG you're not holy' spiel. I tightened the straps on my seraphs and swallowed nervously.

Whatever, this was stupid. There was nothing wrong. I wasn't cursed by some thing from hell, and I wasn't going to scare myself into thinking that I would get 'smited' or something equally retarded.

And apparently, you can't put the word 'smite' into a past tense. Because 'smout' isn't a word either.

I pushed open the heavy oak doors of the church.

There weren't many people in here, I soon noticed first. They were scattered about the pews, their heads either bowed, or whispering quietly amongst themselves. I found Rose sitting near the back, staring blankly ahead.

I quickly joined her side, frowning at the vacant look in her eyes. "Hi." I greeted so intelligently.

Finally recognizing my presence, she glanced at me, and then back ahead. "You're awake."

"Yeah," I smirked, but quickly furrowed my eyebrows while waving dismissively. "Stab wounds, though. Really take your breath away."

"I heard something about that."

I shrugged. "All part of the job description. Besides, I'm not done yet. We've got that raid to fight in."

"Already gunning to get back out there?" She smiled. It was hollow, though, not reaching her eyes. "After killing, like, twenty Strigoi?"

"I don't think it was twenty." I mused. "Maybe around that number."

She laughed without mirth. "You're insane. If you fight like this all the time, you're going to kill yourself."

I shrugged. "Well, seeing as I'm going to die anyway, I kind of figure there's no point in not doing it right."

Rose paused, darkness flickering in her eyes. An awkward silence descended on us. I tightened the strings on my hand and wrist guards.

"I'm sorry," She admitted, "I forgot."

I smiled slightly. "Well, you know. There are a lot more important things to deal with at the moment. I'm sorry about Dimitri, by the way."

She frowned, slumping back into the pew a little more. "You didn't see him?"

"I ran out there for him." I said, "But… there was a wave of Strigoi coming at me. I couldn't make it past them."

She nodded, fiddling with a bracelet. I looked around the church, slouching in the pew more before finally deciding to put my feet up on the top of the back of the pew in front of me.

"This must be business as usual for you, huh?" Rose suddenly asked.

I shrugged, examining my riding boots from afar. "A new usual."

"How new?"

"Almost a year now."

"And how many times have you done this in almost-a-year-now?"

I leaned my head back against the pew. "Including this one?"

"Yes."

"Five."

"How do you know how to fight?" Rose demanded incredulously.

I raised an eyebrow and lolled my head to the side to look at her. "What is this? Twenty questions?"

She continued to look at me earnestly.

I sighed and looked ahead at the alter. "Mainly extreme circumstances. Thinking before acting. Just hitting with everything I had, and getting the crap kicked out of me if I did it wrong."

She continued looking at me with what seemed like a 'you just gave me B.S.' kind of look. She sighed and began to mess with that bracelet on her wrist. "Sorry," she muttered, "Just trying to forget."

I shrugged.

"I guess my 'teacher' was my cousin-of-sorts. Jace. Now, this guy is like, a head taller than me. And he's one of the most kickass people you would ever meet. Sometimes he's more die hard than I am. He taught me how to fight with swords, because I was horrible when I first started out. And when I mean horrible, I mean horrible."

I smirked at the memory. Jace had asked me to show him what I could do with a sword, and when I tried to flip it, it had flown out of my hand and across the room. It had been night after night of drill work and practice from then on.

"Was he one of those people?" She murmured. "The ones that kill – killed vampires for fun?"

"They don't do that." I laughed. "I was just trying to scare Dashkov. But they can do everything else."

"Oh."

"Yup."

Again, another silence.

"What did Rhonda mean?" She asked, and I internally rolled my eyes. Since when was everyone so interested in my life all of a sudden?

"About what?" I asked in response anyway.

"She said that you did something in your past. Twice. Something that anyone else would do too."

A sickening dread was beginning to grow at the pit of my stomach, making me feel hollow. I quickly shook my head. "It's nothing."

"Come on," Rose said, attempting to joke. "You know everything about me."

I nodded experimentally at that. "True." I consented.

She waited. I didn't say anything. Her hopeful smile dropped to a scowl. She turned and faced the front of the church as I was. "Fine." She grumbled.

"Thank you."

.M.I.W.

"There you are." Christian sighed in relief as soon as he saw Rose and I walk through the doors of the front entrance of the Academy. I raised an eyebrow at the assembled students – Moroi and Dhamphir – talking in hurried voices, looking nervous.

Rose furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What –"

"What's going on?" Alberta demanded in her usual 'I'm the queen of the universe' tone.

Everyone fell silent as they turned to look at Alberta and a few other of her Dhamphir friends, looking like they were ready for a showdown of epic proportions. Alberta's gaze landed on me, and I managed a slight wave. Something flickered in them, but she quickly turned her attention on Christian.

"We want to fight." Christian informed her, stepping forward. "All of us. We think we can be of use."

"So you think you can fight?" I mused in a telecaster's voice so it sounded like the latest installment of So You Think You Can Dance?

Alberta sent me another wary look, and I shrugged helplessly in response. I wasn't even that loud. "Still no sense of humor," I muttered under my breath, making Rose smile slightly.

After some more bickering and arguing amongst the adults and students (which I paid no attention to, because I knew I was going no matter what), the adults caved. I simply smiled and nodded in fake excitement to all of the kiddies who got their way.

"Get yourselves ready," Alberta informed them, "We leave in one hour."

.M.I.W.

I think it's safe to say that I have been a horrible reader when it comes to this series. How sad.

Bet you didn't think I was going to tell the secret of Madi's awesomeness, now did you? Jace is our king! I might consider a one-shot of that.

I think Madi's next appearance should be in a Progressive commercial. Flo is so funny. xD

And I just wrote a major portion of this chapter in a Borders bookstore. They should sponsor me now, or something.