Thank you for your reviews. :) Three!

Tamashii, here's the next one for your parole.

Airlia: I love Tivon. That's why he's bio... ;)

littlemissgiggles : Evil is a point of view…

C a R t E r

Rude Awakenings

In between the end of darkness and the beginning of waking, Carter stirred. Eyes fluttering open briefly to a painful, blinding spider web of light. She forced the impending headache away, and opened her eyes for a second time. The light blinded her once more but this time her eyes stayed open.

Uh, what happened? She thought pulling herself up off of the cold stone floor and into a sitting position. Carter could almost hear her body groan with the effort. What happened? She repeated to herself.

Clear images of past events played over her mind like a production in a movie theatre. Mom, Perdi, Rudolph, Tivon, Callum...Brennan. Each glimpse of the person was followed by a number of jumbled sequences.

Carter roused herself from the fit of recollection, to stumble to her feet. It doesn't matter what people say, waking up hurts a hell of a lot more than being knocked unconscious. Her head spun dizzyingly and her body felt like a weight that was too heavy for her to lift. She lent against a wall to try and ease her buckling knees. What the hell? One blow to the head and your a quivering wreck.

Carter took a moment to scan her surroundings. It was dark. Really dark, the black mist of the small cell coiling around her body possessively, pulling tight, dragging her away from the small flicker of light that seeped through the humid air from the overhanging bulb. She shifted hr gaze around the room, it was almost empty - a lone bed leaning against the wall in the corner, steel bolted to the floor to prevent any...Her eyes moved again, scanning the walls, looking for any possible means of escape. Nothing, Shit.

Anything and everything that could have been used as a possible weapon was secured by chains, or bolts, or anything to keep it in place. Even the light bulb was covered in a sheet of thin metal barbing. Gee, these guys must have been deprived. Carter thought to herself, breathing in the overpowering stench of death that lingered in the midnight air. She said to herself as she walked over to the wall, tracing her fingers over the rough stone, it felt like daggers on her skin. She traced the sides of the room when suddenly her fingers came into contact with something cool and smooth. Metal. That's the first thought that came to mind - breathing deeply, she pressed her fingers against it. Locks. More important, open locks - and a handle. Moving quickly, she took it in her hand, a loud churning noise echoing through the air as she attempted to turn the handle. What the fu - She whispered to herself, the door wouldn't open and as the noise grew louder, she became aware of the locks sliding into place. Locking her in. "OK, now someone's gonna pay." She told the sealed exit, backing away from the door, the sound of chains flowed through the room, lingering sensations of anticipation filling her clouded mind

Swiftly she turned to face the opposite wall - loud, incessant grinding noises echoing from that direction, the sound of metal on metal. It struck her as odd. "What the fuck is going on here? If somebody doesn't-"The flicker of motion she vaguely noticed cut her off. The door, sliding open slowly, revealing a figure with a mop of snow shock hair.

Eyes of fractured ice blue met ones of misted umber gold. Seconds past and then minutes, neither girl nor man were willing to back down.

Finally. The eyes of umber turned to survey the cell. Carter felt a glimmer of triumph. You're getting excited because you won a staring competition with some strange guy? Hello... this is the voice of reason Carter! You are locked up! So get some perspective.

"Where the hell am I?" Carter asked, voice surprisingly neutral. "And who are you?"

The man swept his gaze back to the raven-haired girl. "My name is Saben Wing, Miss Blake, and you location at this point in time is unimportant."

A flash of anger. "Like hell it is! I think -"Carter began.

The guy Saben interrupted abruptly. "Your mother and sister have been taken care of."

A sinking fear balled up through her mind. "Taken care of?" She asked, her voice verging close to hysterics. Carter looked at the man dressed in white slacks and Chinese tunic, dumbly.

He seemed to understand her expression. "Oh, there's no need for alarm. Not yet anyway." He confided.

Warm relief and then..."What do you mean not yet?" Carter said, sizing him up. He had about five inches on her five foot seven stature and judging from his increased size and pumped biceps sixty pounds on her weight. Not exactly a fair match. But then again they never were.

Saben tried to circle her but Carter refused to give him her back and turned with him. He halted in the exact same spot he had started in. And Carter could tell by the fluid movements that he was definitely a fighter. "They're safe and sound in their bed right now. But unless you accept what my Lord offers, I may not be able to ensure their safety."

Carter listened to the words and the meaning was very clear. Accept the offer or my family dies.

"You son of a -"

Saben held up a hand. "Let's see if we can skip the little melodramatic fit and go straight to - 'this wasn't my idea!"

"Then who - "

"None of your concern."

"The fuck it is!"

"What have I told you about hysterics?"

"I'm not hysterical! I'm pissed off!" Carter spat out through clenched teeth.

Saben ignored the outburst and proceeded to explain the 'offer'. "Train with The Order of Insignia, give your allegiance, loyalty and absolute fealty to our Lord, and not only will you have a secure residence, enhanced abilities and three square meals a day, we won't have to kill your family." He paused to gauge her reaction.

"Some offer!" Carter quipped, then something dawned on her, quite a few things actually. "Why me?"

He gave her a measured look. "We heard of your defeat of one of our Initiates. You were then observed, and it was decided that instead of just killing a troublesome half-breed, you would be much more valuable to our Lord Insignit as a resource."

"So those guys outside the warehouse..."She said, thinking allowed.

"They were there to judge whether you would be useful to us." Saben finished for her.

Carter remembered his mention of half-breed. "What do you mean half-breed?"

Saben looked at her sharply. "Yes, they said you didn't know of your true heritage." He said, more to himself than the confused girl. Carter guessed he meant Tivon, Callum and Brennan. She snapped her attention back to Saben as he continued to talk. "You're half witch, half vampire, Miss Blake"

"WHAT!" The involuntary word escaped her lips in a shout. Then she remembered Rudolphs jibes about her not being human. "But I don't drink blood." She added in a more meek tone.

"We know not what your parentage is. Nor do we know how your biological make up sustains haemoglobin. But it can be found out if you choose to accept." Saben informed her, looking at her once again with a sharp stare.

Carter suddenly found the flickering light very interesting. What choice did she have. These guys meant business. And they certainly weren't human. She couldn't pretend that werewolves weren't real and she was just hallucinating, not when she had seen such obvious evidence in the last few days.

"Well Miss Blake, Yes or No? Saben asked, voice expectant.

She looked at him once and nodded. Yes.

He came forward clasped her arm up to the elbow with his hand in a greeting gesture. "Welcome to the Night World."

Carter thought to ask what this Night World was, but she figured she'd have enough time to ask questions later. Right now, she just wanted to crawl into a nice warm bed and forget.

After all, It had been a rude awakening.