A bright light, much brighter than she could stand, flashed in front of Mina's, forcing her grimace in pain… both the light and the hole she felt in her back made her feel a pain she had never thought she could stand without completely blacking out. She managed to open her eyes, feeling extremely vulnerable, like she had never felt before, and noticed above her one of the divices from the hide-out's infirmary room, the same where Rei had been treated earlier that week… only this time, she was on the surgeory table and not the black-haired girl.

She started moving her eyes and saw the blurry face of Amy, their sweet and genius doctor. Fear and kindness were filling her childish features, making Mina understand that something was not right with her. She could see Amy's lips moving frantically, both she couldn't hear anything. She knew that she was probably laid on a large and comfortable table, but she felt as if she was flying in mid-air. For the first time, she could feel a sharp pain in her ribs, much stronger than the previous ones and she tried to shout out for help. She soon found that impossible, because her throat was filled with something and because using her vocal strings seemed highly unlikely at the moment… the pain was too powerful.

Feeling her breath cutting itself from her lungs and literally slipping away, she managed to move her head, wanting to shake that feeling a million miles away. Managing to move, her eyes suddenly cut the glimpse of a scene that was taking place few metres away, behind a glass wall: on another similar table, a Lita with her clothes ripped out and filled with blood was standing unmoved on the surface, with some kind of tube inside her mouth, appearing to not even breath. For the first time, Mina remembered what had happened to her and tears filled her blue eyes, just at the thought that her strong Amazonian friend was in danger of dieing… or, even worse, already dead.

She felt like ripping herself away from all the machines she was connected to, getting up from the bed and going to the unconscious young woman, shake her and force her to come back. But, as much as she wished for all of those to happen, she couldn't… the pain was far too much to bare.

The last thing she saw before falling back into unconsciousness was the picture of a tall man with dark brown, almost reddish hair and blue eyes leaning over Lita and trying to pull her away from deaths' claws… after that… nothingness.

Rei stood at the tall window of one of the apartments she had managed to buy without her brother knowing at all and looked outside, making sure one last time that she hadn't been followed of found. She felt sorry for those she had just left behind, but she couldn't just let them enter the battle Darien led against her. It was far too dangerous and she didn't want something bad to happen to them. They had showed her too much kindness and she thanked them with all her heart… but she couldn't let them interfere.

Pulling completely the curtains and making it impossible for anyone outside to glance in her apartment, Rei sat on a large couch with a beautiful and expensive blanket thrown over it. She occupied almost the entire surface of it by laying down it's full length and allowed her thoughts to drift away for the first time in that day. Everything had started normally, down at the temple… until she ran away and made sure to lose her track in the woods and make it impossible even for that fast guy in Kane's team to find her… Jade. Slowly, her mind replayed pictures of him inside her head: the evil blue eyes, his playful smirk and the angelic blonde hair. Every feature of his indicated him to be either a playboy or a thief… and he was both. Still, Rei couldn't help but smile at the memory of his wanna' be flirts. Sure, she hadn't pass through the whole "boyfriend" thing during high school because she was too busy trying to keep herself alive, but she didn't mind. Boys weren't exactly an element from daily life she would miss. Still, Jade was kinds' cute and Rei had to notice and admit that.

Then there was Amy, with her shy and generous smile. She really was an angel and the miko was sure that she had earned her place in heaven a long time, now. She had managed to impress her with her kindness and skills from the first moment… that and the big glasses and pijamas with mice pictures on them. Further away, she thought at Lita, the amazon woman who baked incredible cookies and pretty much did all the house-work around there, and the incredible gorgeous former assassin, Nick, who happened to have more than a mere interest in astronomy. Indeed, the two would form a weird and deadly couple, but a beautiful one, nevertheless. And, last but not least, was Kane, the leader, and his two beautiful blonde girls: the chipper and wise wife, Mina, and the hyper and still unexperienced young woman, Serena. At first, Rei had considered both of them a pair of ditzes with a huge luck for men. But then, she found out that Mina was truly the boss' and knew how to earn respect from the others even without her status. She was strong enough to fit a queen and not the mistress of a group of bad-writtens necessarily. Still, she was good at her job and extremely possessive over her hubby. And she had all reasons to be! He was a living god, with a stunning body, face and attitude. He could be pretty much every girl's dream… but he always came back to his woman, after every mission, in every evening, knowing that their place was together… forever. Still, there was his sister, who had probably been a huge problem for the two lovebirds… until she grew up and, tired of seeing them together all the time, left Kane on Mina's more than capable hands entirely. In addition, she was strong enough to exit a fight in one piece and get to safety…

"They are an outstanding team…" Rei mumbled while chopping down some chicken wings and the salad that came with it. She looked up from her plate and stared at the fireplace in front of her couch, finding herself fast enough trapped in the burning flames and opening her mind for one more vision… But what she saw was something she would have never conceived… until now…

After a long black-out, Serena finally managed to pull her very scrumbled self together and open her blue eyes, glancing around her and trying to understand what had happened to her, how she ended from the fire temple along with Lita and Mina, in the middle of a large bedroom, laid on a bed, alone. Getting up she realized to her surprise that she wasn't tied up. Stretching as if after a long sleep, she got up and started investigating.

Without much noise or at all, she paced around the room, noticing the adjacent large bathroom, the huge closet filled with clothes that she had never seen before in her life and the large windows which showed her a rather large and beautiful garden with carefully cut bushes and trees. Still, beyond that, pretty much nothing could be seen: it was almost as if the house had been built in the middle of nowhere.

Ripping herself away from the view outside, the blonde turned around fastly and met the silhouette and eyes of Darien Shields, right in front of her, with their bodies almost touching and staring down at her with disgust in his dark blue orbs. She could feel his breath touching her skin and, at the contact, she shivered and then almost froze herself in that position, staring up at him with widened and scared eyes. She knew who he was and what he was capable of.

"If it's not Miss Serena, Kane's little sister…" he said and his voice dozed off, making the girl tremble. She tried to back away, but his eyes locked in hers seemed to somehow order her body stop and force it to obey.

"Darien Shields…" she managed to mumble. He leaned more to her and gave her both frozen and burning look, that she couldn't fully understand. "Where am I?" she asked, feeling herself returning to her boldness.

"That is of no importance. You're here until your dear brother returns me my sister."

"Hmph, that's the plan?" she rose an eyebrow almost in mockery. "Then I'm of no use to you!"

"Explain your words!" he commanded sharply, leaving her no space for questioning.

"Rei was at the temple, but took off before we got there! If she would have still been there, then you'd have found her… but she wasn't anymore…"

"How do I know this is not some cheap trick?"

"You hypnotized me somehow… that must have given you a partial ability or reading my thoughts…" Rena's voice drifted off, as if she was embarrassed with something. She did not know how to react around a stranger who was perfectly aware of her abilities. She was afraid of him now more than ever, having met his true powers. Next to him, she was a mere human… Staring up at him, she noticed that he was silent and gazing at the landscape outside the windows, as if she was never even there, in the first place. As the silence continued, her gaze became more and more annoying. After a while, his eyes shot down at her. He was lgaring but she wasn't afraid anymore, and that shook him entirely. She was staring up at him, just like a child captivated with some new toy or object that she really wanted to touch, to feel, to understand.

"What are you doing?" he asked on the same tone, frowning at her sight.

"You are just like her, aren't you?" she simply asked, her eyes never leaving the detail she was so fascinated by in his dark orbs.

"What are you talking about?"

"All that talk about Rei being the weird one and you your father's perfect heir was a lie, wasn't it? You are just like your sister. You are just like Rei. You have the strange power over the fire, maybe even the same visions… you are truly your sister's twin bother." She ended in a whisper, never noticing the first moment when his strong hand took hold of her slender and fragile neck, not letting go of it anymore.

"Mina, Mina can you hear me?" a voice broke away the last remainings of dreams as she opened barely her eyes, in order to see who the disturbing person was, and her mouth, in order to send him to hell.

"Jade?" she asked on the faintest voice possible, barely then noticing how sore her throat was and how weakened her body felt. She tried to get up or even move, but stopped when she found it both painful and useless.

"Thank God! Do you have any idea through what you and Lita put us through? And still do?" he sounded as if he was about to freak out any moment now. She managed to open her eyes wider and even to swallow in dryness.

"Lita… Where is she?" she asked suddenly scared, remembering what had happened in forest. "She was injured badly… and she was far from me!"

"We know, we know!" Jade said, a little softer than before and stopped her gently when she tried to get up, by pushing her shoulders back on the bed. "I'm not sure what's going on inside, but both Ames and Nick are there… Don't worry, Ames is the best at her job and Nick will make sure that nothing will happen to his sweetheart!" Jade assured her. In normal circumstances, Mina would have burst into laughter, but now she almost burst in tears.

"Is it bad? What happened?" she almost begged for an answer.

"I told you I don't know!"

"Where's Kane?" she asked the third time.

"He found and brought you here along with Nick. Then, after settling you two in here, he left like a mad man. I think it might have to do with Serena…"

"Darien took her!" Mina announced and the blonde man's eyes widened incredibly, almost ready to pop out of his scull. "And Rei wasn't there… I think that's why he burnt down the temple and took Rena…"

"Yeah… that plus the fact that he hurt Lita and you! You know how possessive the boss is!"

"I just hope that he doesn't do something stupid…" Mina said as her mind started drifting away.

"Well, I just know that right now I wouldn't want to be Shields! When boss is gonna' find him, that will be his last day on Earth!" Jade said with a sadistic smug on his face, trying to cheer Mina up, but managing only to stop her from crying… momentarily.

Driving crazily through the empty streets of the city, in the middle of the night, with the rough wind playing with his silvery strands exiting a black helmet, Kane was trying to take his mind away from Mina and Lita and actually manage to put a plan solid enough to bring Shields down below the ground.

When he had heard the about the fire, he had prayed for the girls to have already left the temple, but when he had seen his wife laying unconsciously on the cold ground, badly injured, he felt like having a dagger stabbed directly into his heart. He ran to her and only caught a glimpse of Nick doing the same thing, but with Lita, who was appearing to be even worse. When they noticed their weak pulses they thanked God for that and simply took off in their cars, carefully not to hurt even more their precious cargos.

One hour later Mina seemed to be doing just fine, while Lita was approaching death with secure steps. That was another blown for him, but expecially Nicholas, who had found more than just a friend and an excellent cook in the amazon-like young woman. Unable to stand much more of her or Lita's blood, he ran away and left Jade in charge, for the assassin-astronomer was already to deep in his grief and concerne over his auburn-haired love. He threw himself on his motorbike, put his usual helmet on and drove off, as fast and far as he could, trying to get his head clear and plan Darien Shields', his once very good friend and now enemy, destruction.

Yes, that was going to be a hard plan to put in practice and a painful experience… but not as painful as having the love of his life almost killed and his baby-sister kidnapped by Rei's twin brother. And there was Rei, whose appearance had been as misterious and unexpected as her departure. Kane felt somewhat betrayed by her disappearance and very confused about it as well. He was sure that she wasn't in Darien's custody, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered to take Serena with him. She had simply fled, maybe thinking that she was a problem to their group or just because she was too scared of her brother to remain for a longer time in one place. Still, she now represented a problem too.

Suddenly, Kane stopped in front of a large building, appearing to be formed only of glass walls. It was a modern kind of building which brought insecurity to almost anyone entering it, but could easily catch everyone's eyes. And then he perfectly understood what he had to do: Darien had taken his sister and now he had to play the exact same game back at him. Next on the list was finding Rei… and trade her for Serena.

So, I guess I'm finally back… after a while, true! I'm thinking of introducing the twins' father, but I'm not very sure about his character. So, if I have any faithful readers out there, please give me some suggestions. I already have a basic image of Darien and Rei's father, but I'm not very sure about his appearance or even behaviour. So, don't forget to click the submit box below and give me a hand with it.