Lynster was furious, Angel didn't need to look at him to see it, she could hear it in his voice and she could see it in the way he threw his hands every which way. Kelso, much taller than the Claydo, stood motionless, he had one eye on her as she slid from the branch and down the tree trunk. From inside the stables she heard a muffled snort followed by neighs of horses that were either yelling out for them to quiet up so that they could get some rest or just to hush up so that they could have some peace of mind. Angel almost wanted to do the same, and she would have had the memory of Lynster whapping her with his small belt not been still new in her mind. For some reason her eyes kept swinging up the the second floor windows, she was wondering deep inside the recesses of her brain if her father could hear the bellowing Lynster out in the back of his palace. It was during this thought that she took a few steps away from the tree, towards the fence that it stood near. She had her hand on the first post when she heard a roar call out.

"What is all the ruckus about?" her father roared, he walked out of the door that led into his palace and took a few steps in the direction of Lynster and Kelso, Kelso had suddenly froze in place. "I need sleep and cannot get it when you two are bellowing like wolves on a full moon out here! Sound carries easily here and you two know darn well it!"

Master Vile was dressed in his light white robe, the robe that he wore under his black one that had the breast plate and shoulder guards with the snakeheads that nipped at his chin. His feet were clothed in delicate light tan slippers, his arms were not covered except for a small bit of the robe that fell down near to his elbows, he had the bandage still on his right arm from where Angel had bitten him with her Tyrannosaur jaws. From this distance she couldn't tell if he had on his blue-tinted glasses or the adornments that usually hung behind his ear-like appendages, she could see that the bandage was over his right ear-like appendage though. Her father hadn't noticed her yet so she climbed up the fence, first one post then the other until she sat with one leg over each of the top posts.

"I apologise sir," Kelso said quickly. "won't happen..."

"We wouldn't be bellowing so loud if he wouldn't have brought your daughter out here!" Lynster yelled.

Angel contemplated swinging the other leg over the fence, it would be that easy, so easy in fact, to just disappear and they not notice it until it was too late. But, by the time she had made up her mind she heard a loud grunt, almost like the kind a pig made when he was discovered in his hiding place. She looked up sharply and saw her father shove his two servants away and come towards her, he never limped or showed any sort of weakness. His walk was sure, powerful and even though he was surely walking fastly towards her he did so quirtly, not a sound rising from his footfalls. Seeing her father coming towards her made her mind frantic, she found herself slippig her leg to the side of the paddock, towards her father, and running to the tree once her feet touched the ground before her mind had a chance to put together a plan. Still not thinking she grabbed the tree trunk and started to climb. She was about two feet off of the ground when suddenly she felt her father's hands wrap around her body and pull her down. She landed at the foot of the tree trunk, right in front of her father's slippered feet. Her father was leaning down at her, she could see the dark blue circles around his golden-yellow eyes and the little red veins that ran through the golden-yellow irises, he looked tired in them eyes, as if he had not slept well in a few nights.

"Trying to escape again I see..." her father said to her hoarsely, even his voice sounded dreadfully tired. "I'll fix that here soon my dear."

"N...n...no poppa," Angel sputtered, she couldn't believe the word poppa had come from her lips. "I wasn't trying to escape. Just sitting on the fence post is all."

"Don't try to pull the wool over my eyes child!" her father said in her face coldly. "You are in big trouble."

"No dad," Angel said in a near whisper. "I'm not pulling anything over your eyes. Think if I did you'd be asleep by now."

Master Vile looked at her for a second longer after she spoke then he shot his hand forward and clasped it around her wrist, pulling her up harshly from the ground. If he would have pulled with any more force he would have either broken her arm or torn it from her small body. Angel's emerald-green eyes with the yellow-gold around the black pupils stared into her father's eyes, yes indeed she had inherited the yellow-gold that was around her pupils from her father, the color around her pupils was almost the same color as her father's eyes, just a bit more feminine and lighter, but only slightly.

"How dare you talk back to your father!" Master Vile said, his nose now only an inch from hers. "Seems you need another lesson."

Angel didn't need to be told that her pupils had shrunk at his words, the yellow-gold around them growing to almost the same size as her emerald-green irises. Suddenly she lunged forward, she felt great pain in her wrist as it swept back, near snapping. She wrapped her one arm that wasn't being held around her father's waist and buried her head into the soft fabric of his under robe. She didn't hold onto him for long as he pulled back and turned around, he pulled her along by her almost broken wrist which was now swelling and stinging her. He stopped when he got near Lynster and Kelso.

"Let this be a lesson to both of you!" he bellowed. "This child cannot be trusted, she is not allowed to go anywhere unless I give say. Is that understood?"

"Yes Ole Vile One." Kelso said, he bowed deeply.

"Crystal Master." Lynster said, he didn't bow.

Master Vile led her harshly up the paddock yard to the door which he flung open, he dragged her inside and didn't bother closing the door behind him. She fell a few times, he was walking really really fast and she couldn't keep up as her legs were short, if she had been in her real age form, the real form of being a gorgeous red-headed woman, she would have kept up without a problem. Whenever she fell he would yank her up, cursing under his breath, then continue on. When he reached the stairs he released her wrist and stood above her, in front of her barring her way of escaping. She looked down at her wrist, it was swelled now badly, hadn't changed color but she was sure it would in an hour or so. A throaty sound from her father made her look up sharply. He had his left arm at an angle, his hand was half closed except for two of his fingers, the nails on these fingers were long and light gold, almost yellow, in color. Without a word he pushed his hand forward and with these two fingers he poked her in the shoulder.

"Get up them stairs now!" he said sternly, his mouth was closed and he said this through clinched teeth.

"I really wasn't trying to escape." Angel said, she turned slightly. "Just trying to have a little fun outside."

"Children like you do not deserve to have fun." her father said to her. "And children like you do not deserve trust enough to go outside."

"I was going stir crazy!" Angel said, now she was fighting hard to not fight with him.

"And that is real good," her father said, he leaned his face in close to her. "you will learn through boredom and lonesomeness that I mean business."

Angel went up the stairs, her back fully turned to her father. She could hear him behind her, taking step for step with her, his breathing was not hurried but calm. When she reached the top of the stairs she stopped and turned, her father must have been rather impatient as he suddenly and abruptly jabbed her with the two fingers of his right hand again, the nails on the fingers dug into her the back of her shoulder and pushed her forward, she was sure that if she hadn't had anything covering her shoulders she surely would have had two nail holes in her shoulder where the blades fit nicely under her skin.

"It always like this with you evil ones?" Angel asked her father. "You always this harsh and cruel towards your children?"

A question she wished she hadn't of asked a few hours later, as she stood again chained up to the headboard of her bed but this time with only four feet of chain instead of seven. She would occassionally reached her one good hand back and rub her behind tenderly, her father had really given her a whipping after she had asked that one question, and it had begun in the hallway and ended in her bedroom while over his knee. She was growing very sick of this form, this weak form that her father had changed her into just so he could force her into respecting him. Even through Bathilda's, her mother's, beatings she had been respectful towards her and there was reason. Bathilda was her mother's daughter, the woman who had carried the egg that she had been encased in for some time. She had respected Bathilda because she had taken care of her for so long, had fed and clothed and taken care of her wounds and illnesses. Bathilda was her caregiver. Sure, Bathilda had gotten very tired of her after they had been thrown out of the last village and had to be rogues, living off of the land and living in a cave through the seasons. But Bathilda had never beaten her like the way her father was. Sighing, Angel sat down on her bed and crossed her legs, she started remembering what Bathilda had said to her when she was about to head off to the Academy.

"You know, I never did tell you that I'm not really truly your mother." Bathilda had said to her. "If my mother had not done what she did you would not exist."

"You act like a mother." Angel had said.

"In truth, I'm not your mother." Bathilda sighed. "More like an older sister. Your half sister, that is."

"You did raise me from birth." Angel had said back, she had walked up to Bathilda and had placed her hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, and if for that you would probably not be here again." Bathilda had sighed again. "I raised a child of an affair that my mother had, a child whose father is nothing but a good big crooked evil mind!"

"Do you know anything about my father?" Angel had asked, at that time she had only heard him referenced by Bathilda.

"Nope," Bathilda had said with a snort. "just that he had a evil mind and was a big fat joke and a crook. Now get ready, the bus is on its way and I'll see be free from your burden."

She smiled slightly when she thought of still calling her half sister her mother, it had been a force of habit, never had she called Helen of Earth her mother it had always been Bathilda who had been referenced as her mother. She had even signed the sheet on her first hour at the Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic with Bathilda as her mother. She smiled even more at that and thought back, the image clearly of her sitting on the stool in front of her creepy desk with the contract in front of her and her home room teacher telling the class to write their information on it. She had written in as much as she could.

Name: Angel Irene

Age: 11

YOB: 1795

Gender: F

She remembered writing that easily, she had been born in Greece, a lovely area. Most humans saw Greece as a desert place, all desert and rocks with big mountains but really it wasn't. Greece was a beautiful place, a lovely place. Good, clean water to drink, the mountains in the area that she had been raised for twenty-two years had shielded her and her half sister, who she called her mother, from the tormenting winds, snow fell quite a bit and it had been fun to run through it and play, the villages were small and neat and the sun had made a show each dawn and dusk worth staying up to watch. Angel remembered the next few lines of the contract had been easy, she had just listed what all she could then gone on to the next few lines which was for her family, physical appearance and heritage. That she had problems with, she remembered well.

Species: Human

Talents: None

Horns/Tails/Extra Appendages: None

Physical Description: Red hair, emerald-green eyes with golden-yellow around the pupils. Five foot two inches tall. Student has no horns or tail or any extra appendages.

Parentage:

Mother: Bathilda of Greece

Father: ?

Grandmother (mother's side): Helen of Earth

Grandfather (mother's side): Atlas of Sclera

Grandmother (father's side): ?

Grandfather (father's side): ?

There had been other lines asking for further pedigree; great grandparents, great-great grandparents, great-great-great grandparents and so on. She had left each blank except for a question mark. This had gotten the Dean's attention and she was asked to go to his office after the first day. She had been requested to show off her skills and she had. She had lifted the ground, shot fire from her hands, made air whoosh their the office nearly making the hanging plants and books on the shelves fall and she had even made water from the fountain outside shoot up into the sky. That hadn't much impressed the Dean, he had asked he to show him more. She remembered that the Dean was a short Goblin-guy with blue skin with warts and large hairy ears, his nails were long and cracked and he had a forked tongue. She had shone him one more move; had shot a bolt of lightning at the ceiling which had exploded sending some of the concrete down in the office which had near infuriated the Dean. He had bellowed saying that she was not cut out for the Academy and was not going to be allowed to attend if she had nothing to show her worthy of such a fine school. She had gotten very angry and had shot an energy blast from the tip of her finger. That had impressed the Dean, although he had been angry about the hole in the wall, a nice big hole not a small one but a big one big enough for a tractor trailer wheel to fit into with no problem. She had been allowed to attend the school, assigned her teachers then had been left alone.

"And if not for that school I would have not lasted a lick on Earth against that cretin who calls himself my father." Angel said a loud.

The door to her bedroom chamber suddenly swung open, it didn't bang against the side of the wall making a fresh hole in the stone as it wasn't her father that had opened it. It was Kelso, he walked in quickly and bowed low. Angel wished that the servants in her father's palace would stop with the bowing, it was really embarrassing and annoying. Kelso had in his cloven hoof a large book with a brown spine, the pages between the covers were yellowed and swayed, it seemed to her that they were made that way.

"Will ya quit bowing like that ya wart!" she said to the goat-man.

"I apologise Princess..." Kelso said lightly, he stood up straight. "Something I have to do out of..."

"Yeah yeah, respect." Angel said, she made a circular motion with her good hand and rolled her eyes. "What do you want?"

Angel's wrist had been tended to, it had been thankfully sprained, not broken like she had thought. The heavy bandaging ran around her hand, her wrist and up almost to her elbow before it stopped. It was itchy and she had a hard time forcing herself not to tear the bandages off and scratch it. Kelso stood for a second in silence then he shoved the book onto her lap. The book was big, and very heavy. The front flap was dark brown, almost dark walnut in coloring, and on the cover in dull gold letters was the name Vile.

"Thanks but no thanks," she said, she slid the book from her lap to the bed. "I have no interest in this family of his."

"Your father insists that you read it." Kelso said sharply, his breath came out fast. "He insis..."

"Look here buster brown I have no intention of complying with whatever he says!" Angel growled at him. "You just take this book back and say I said to you to tell him to take a hike and shove some poison laced brownies in his maw."

Kelso was deathly quiet for a while, his furry brown face grew lighter and his breathing got very shallow. He took the book with one trembling cloven hoof and turned, he was out of the door when suddenly he came back in. Lynster followed right after, his face was like stone and his blue eyes had a glimmer that she did not like at all. He, now, held the book in his hands. Kelso looked at Lynster for a short second before turning around, facing the door with his shoulders hung low.

"Now see here you little brat your father has ordered that you read this book and if I have to be looking over your shoulder the entire time you will do just that." Lynster said sternly. "Your choice, read on your own or with me over your shoulder forcing you to read it."

"You little rat!" Angel roared. "I wouldn't read anything he gave me to even if it was the last book in existence!"

"You'll read it or..." Lynster began to say, Kelso wheeled around and tapped his shoulder with the tip of his cloven hoof.

"If she doesn't want to read she doesn't want to..." Kelso started to say.

"Our good Master has ordered that you give her a book to read and she tosses it back," Lynster roared at him. "you have to be firm with this one not slow and gentle! Force her, she'll learn and if not she'll keep being the same. I'm tired of being the nice Claydo to her!"

"Then why don't you get your play dough ass out of here and out of my face before I rearrange it!" Angel screamed at him.

Lynster turned around and before Kelso could stop him he slapped Angel across the face with the book. Angel fell to the ground in a thud, her hand flew up to the side of her face that had the slash marks on it then took it down, the slashes had been opened and were now bleeding. Kelso stood with his cloven hooves up against his face, his mouth was in the shape of an O and his eyes were large in size. Angel got up from the floor and faced Lynster, her eyes were not full of tears but of a deep rage. When Lynster saw it he raised the book again and struck her hard, instead of falling down to the floor and looking up in shock Angel stood back up. At this Lynster tossed the book to her bed and with his hand cupped he slapped her. His claws dug into the three slashes on the side of her face and made the blood run fast. Angel let out of a scream of pain then lunged at him, he jumped out of the way and she fell when the chain grew tight. The blood from her now re-opened wounds flowed freely down her face, down her neck and down her chest. She couldn't see from her right eye, the eye that split one of the slash marks in half, the eyelid hung loosely now, was just a chunk of meat.

"Lynster! Stop!" Kelso shouted. "The Master..."

Lynster didn't listen, the defiance was still in her eyes and he wanted it out. He had been living under the roof of Master Vile's palace since Master Vile's first two children were born, had acted as a nanny to Rita and Rito and had assisted in making potions for Master Vile when he had needed them which wasn't too often as Master Vile was excellent in Potion making, the same as conjuring up charms and spells. After Rita and Rito had gone off to the Academy he had found himself fearing that he was out of a job but had found that Master Vile had already made plans for him to next tend to the horses in the stables and tend the library which he was glad for. The defiance, if he would have seen it in one of his own kids eyes he would have reprimanded and disciplined them, although in a more gentle fashion, but the red-head in front of him that was really an adult in a child's body he saw needed more than just a gentle way of discipline, she needed the harsh treatment. So, with that thought in mind he bunched his hand up into a tight fist and swung, it struck Angel right on the lip where it, again, split the stitches that held her top lip together.

"Now, if I come back in here in twenty minutes to find you are not reading that book," Lynster said to her through clinched teeth, he was knelt down beside her now. "you will get the same treatment."

As soon as Lynster had left Angel's bedroom chamber, slamming the door closed behind him, Kelso ran forward. He looked at the child in front of him and felt great dread and great anger rise up within himself. Angel wasn't crying, far from it actually. Her face was a bloody mess, a trail of blood ran down her neck and her shirt was bloody, she still wasn't crying though. The chunk of meat that hung in front of her eyes flopped whenever she moved her head, Kelso wondered if she would ever seen from that eye again, and if so how much would she be able to see after it was fixed up. He had a bottle of potion in his pocket that he had kept for such a occassion, it was a Healing Potion, was meant to heal wounds, but he wasn't sure if the potion would heal a wound like the one on the Master's face. He slowly took it out and unscrewed the top, he next placed his hand behind Angel's neck and tilted her head back, surprisingly she did not fight him. He poured the potion, the whole bottle, into her mouth which she promptly swallowed.

"I'll be back with a rag in just a minute." he said to her gently. "Hold on."

Seemed he was gone only a second, when Kelso walked back into Master Vile's daughter's bedroom chamber he saw that the potion had indeed taken effect on the wounds. The slash marks were now closed up, the blood was still there but the slash wounds were closed like they had been before Lynster's beating and the split lip had been healed as well. He finally let the air that had trapped itself in his chest out. When he knelt down beside Angel and she opened her eyes, he saw to his amazement that the defiance was still there, he had been so worried about Lynster breaking Master Vile's spirit and now the worry just escaped him. While he rubbed the blood from Angel's face and neck he thought to himself how tough the woman inside the child's body must be, she had not uttered a cry or allowed any tears to fall. She was just very surprised and tired.

"I'll have a bath drawn up for you." he said to Master Vile's youngest daughter. "That way you can clean yourself up."