(still James' POV)

Despite the pain, James forced his eyes to stay open, taking in everything around him. He seemed to be in a cell that looked like the ones they used in jails. Just outside, there were three human forms all leaning against the brick walls that made up this room. A cold sensation pushed through the pain, instantly making James's vision sharper. His senses were coming back. James realized now that he was lying sideways on a cold, stone floor, and now, he could hear snatches of the conversation that was taking place in front of him.

"All I'm asking is, where did you get the Chloroform Emmett?" A voice asked. It sounded like he was trying to resist from yelling.

"I… I don't know." A slightly higher voice answered.

"You do know!" The first voice accused. "Why did you use it on the Ruth?"

James felt a little offended; he was sure they were talking about him, and he didn't really like to be referred as 'the Ruth'.

"Because he was beating us up?" Emmett said, slightly laughing.

The first voice rose in anger. "You could have damaged the magic inside of him!"

Emmett took a step forward and pointed towards the cell, at James. "Jared, I don't think we damaged him at all. He's awake."

At this, James's heart skipped a beat, and Jared snapped his head to look at him. How did Emmett know that?

"Good," Jared's voice was like a puff of smoke. "Lee… go help our guest out of their handcuffs."

A third male stepped from the darkness. James was momentarily taken aback. This was a kid, no more than fifteen. Lee reached down and unlocked James's handcuffs. He stepped back, and helped James to his feet. James wasn't sure why he felt this way, but he liked Lee. James didn't think Lee was evil, or anywhere close to that. He couldn't say the same for Emmett and Jared.

The room seemed to open up as James stood up, but not by much. It was definitely a jail cell. They started up a pair of stairs that seemed like they would collapse any second. James hoped it would collapse right as Jared stepped on them. Sadly, it didn't. He was right in the middle of Jared and Emmett. Lee brought up the back, clinging to a big set of keys. James stopped inches from Jared, just as the door opened.

Stars surrounded James's eyes. The light in this room couldn't have been more different from the cellar. This was a much bigger room, filled with more people. Jared sat James in a chair and quickly handcuffed him again, like he was some dangerous criminal that might escape. The rest of the room opened up, as James's eyes got adjusted to the light, but there wasn't much to look at. It was a big empty white room with a window instead of a ceiling. Right in front of James, sat nine chairs that formed a semi circle around him. Six of the seats were already occupied by, what looked like, four of the same guys, a scary-looking blonde, and a pretty brunette. The three center seats had not been filled yet… and James had a sinking feeling….

Jared sat down gracefully in his chair, while Emmett and Lee sat on either side of him. James sat back, or as far as he could, since his hands were bound behind the chair. Jared cleared his throat and leaned forward.

"Why were you at that neighborhood?"

James inwardly frowned. It actually sounded like Jared was worried about James.

"Why did you attack my friends?" As soon as he said it, James knew it was true. He wasn't sure how, but it was like the answer was hanging in front of him the whole time. Jared said nothing, but looked at James with a deep, penetrating gaze. Lee shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"Do you even know why you're here, or who we are?" Emmett had leaned forward, his face the very definition of serious.

James shook his head. Emmett laughed and clapped Jared on the back.

"There ya go, Jared."

James knew what they were, but he didn't want to point it out to Emmett. They were freaks. They were freaks that kidnapped and drugged random people, and attacked their best friends—

But, an inner voice said. Could it have anything to do with the light… your light?

Jared leaned forward even more, now endangering himself of falling out of his chair.

"You don't know what we— what you — are?" He looked thoughtful, but you could see the doubt in his face.

Emmett butted in. "We're wizards, well, some of us are—."

James laughed aloud at this, something he had forgotten he could do.

"You're crazy! That's what you are!" He shouted, still laughing.

Jared suddenly got up, like he had just sat on a tack.

"Let him believe what he wants… let him believe that he's an Innocent, a mere human. He's joining us soon."

James saw that Lee and a sandy-haired, tan kid gulped at the same time, sympathy clear in their eyes. Jared roughly unlocked the handcuffs, pushing James toward the cellar again. James started to back up, but an invisible force, and Jared's long, lean body, stopped him from doing so. The dark shell-shocked James, and if Jared had not been pushing him in the right direction, he probably would have fallen all the way down the steps. A curse it was, to be clumsy like a Ruth. Jared silently opened the door to the cell, and pushed James in. Jared seemed to have lost most of the anger that had bubbled up, and now, he looked more aggravated than anything else. James turned his back on Jared, to avoid his soul-searching eyes, but turned around again when a flood of light came from the stairs. A figure stood at the top of the stairs; James could see the shadow.

"The Meeting will start early tonight, Elizabeth. Go tell the others." Jared said, not even bothering to turn his head in her direction.

The figure, Elizabeth, walked away, leaving the door open. Jared turned on his heels and left, the door closing seconds later.

James was alone in the dark….

"Don't worry, the Meetings never last that long." A female voice said.

James jumped, his heart flying from his chest.

"Sorry, did I scare you?"

A figure James could scarcely make out came to a set of bars, the bars that separated his cell from the next. James stepped closer, leaving his corner. There in the other cell, stood a girl maybe sixteen or seventeen. She was very attractive, with short, spiky dark hair that fell a little past her cheek. She was shorter than him too, maybe by three or four inches, and had a very slim figure.

"I'm Taylor," she said, reaching out her hand and grabbing James's. James was still freaked out, but grateful that he wasn't actually alone.

He smiled. "I'm James."

Taylor smiled too. James noticed how her smile lit up her eyes, which were the color of the sea. He found that strange, that he could make out the color in her eyes, but not her hair—

But he could see her hair color now; it was the purest shade of mahogany. James looked around, it was happening again…. His cell was slowly lighting up. The light bled into Taylor's cell, and she stood, wide-eyed in amazement. The cells kept getting brighter until James could see every little thing in his cell and in Taylor's. Taylor looked at him, still amazed.

"How did you do that?" she exclaimed.

I…I didn't—."

"Yes you did! I've been trying to do that for ages and it never worked!"

James opened his mouth to answer, to call her crazy too, for believing that he was capable of doing that, but something stopped him. Ages? How long has Taylor been here? What did she do? … And what did she mean she tried to do it too? She wasn't a—

The door banged open, and immediately all the light, that James had created vaporized. Jared came down the stairs, looking even more aggravated than before. Taylor's cell door crashed open, even though Jared was only at the foot of the stairs. He crossed the cellar, grabbed Taylor's wrist, and flicked his fingers at James. Instantly, they had disappeared.

Again, James was alone, in the complete darkness. Why had Jared –? A huge wave of drowsiness engulfed James, even though he was wide-awake seconds ago. James crumpled to the ground, asleep. Upstairs, Jared's coven ran their meeting and Taylor, finally was getting her full powers back.

Alex sat on the balcony, letting his legs swing freely above the beach. He was sitting on his favorite thinking spot, but no thoughts were coming to him. He had hit a dead end in his quest for the Ruths. He had no idea where they were, or what they were planning to do. His father, who had been staying in his lair most of the time these days, probably had an idea of where they were. For now, Alex was out of the loop; his hope that he could save the Ruths was dying rapidly. He eased his mind once more, making it a big, blank canvas. The tendrils of his mind sat dormant, waiting. He pushed them on, on and on, to places he had never gone before.

An image!

It appeared fast in his head, but returned seconds later. He was outside, in a forest clearing. It wasn't really him though… it was his mind… not his body. He was… Jared. He was in Jared's mind. Alex had found a way into Jared's mind, but wasn't actually controlling it. He was just sitting in the background, watching. Jared was in the forest, surrounded by ten other people, all sitting, heads down and hands held together. Alex had interrupted one of Jared's coven Meetings. Alex turned, Jared with him, trying to get a better look at the forest. Suddenly Alex's –Jared's— eyes fell on something. Something that made Alex's heart jump into his throat, and caused a wave of giddiness to sweep through him.

A male of seventeen, no older than Alex himself, was sitting on the ground, handcuffed. He had dark shaggy hair,as dark as midnight, a strong, defined face, and startling green eyes that looked at Jared with pure hate. Alex was looking at James Ruth. He tore out of Jared's mind, not bothering to see if he had left any damage. Opening his eyes, Alex smiled, the happiness inside of him only getting stronger. Finally, just as he was about to give up, he found what he had been looking for. Alex jumped off the balcony, finding no need to disturb his father to tell him where he was going.

It had been almost three days since Emmett and Lee had 'picked up' James. It felt like a lifetime to Lee. He was in charge of taking care of James, or as Jared referred to him as, 'The prisoner' or 'The Ruth'. Lee had also been ordered to take better care of Taylor. He had pretty much forgotten she was down there, in the cellar, since she was so quiet all the time. Ever since James had come though, things had changed in her. She rarely stopped talking, or, when she was brought upstairs, she always had a smile on her face.

That's where Lee was heading now, down to the cellar, to feed James and Taylor. As he walked, he was already bracing himself for the familiar wave of darkness. A darkness that had absoulutly no light; something that could only be accomplished by magic. Lee thought that the darkness alone would be enough to drive the prisoners crazy. That was what Jared's whole plan was about; capturing dangerous wizards, Immortals, and witches and driving them crazy so they couldn't do any harm. The other part of the darkness was that it slowly stripped someone of his or her magical abilities. But now, Taylor had her full powers back again, and James's hadn't waned at all. At least, not what Jared could tell. Lee put his hand on the doorknob, closed his eyes, and swung the door open…

The light that hit Lee's eyes wasn't bright, but it washed around him and made him feel warm, almost happy. He quickly opened his eyes, knowing something was wrong, but not necessarily in a bad way. As he walked carefully down the steps, he heard voices. A boy and a girl's. James and Taylor were talking very fast. Lee made it to the bottom of the steps, and his mind and body reeled.

James and Taylor were sitting very close to each other, heads together. That's not what scared Lee, he often found them like that, except the cell bars had kept them apart. Now, there was only one cell. The bars that separated James and Taylor's cell had disappeared. Jared would kill Lee when he found out. But, for now, Lee cleared his throat, causing James and Taylor to snap their heads toward him. Lee waved his hand, and food appeared next to the prisoners. Taylor smiled genuinely. Yes, she had defiantly had the life brought back into her. James smiled too; obviously, Jared hadn't taken the life from him yet. James and Taylor went back to talking, head together, not even bothering to touch their dinner. Lee sighed, and turned to walk up the stairs. That hadn't become uncommon either.

Lee wondered vaguely why he wasn't scared of them. He knew he should be; Justin never came down here with him. When he was down here though, he felt… better. Better than he did when he was upstairs, with Jared's tighter reign on everything. As soon as Lee's feet hit the top of the stairs, the whole cellar plunged into the darkness. Lee's heart immediately sped up. He had always been afraid of the dark, especially this kind of darkness that always suffocated him. He heard James and Taylor's voices now, louder, since his hearing had gotten more acute. They weren't talking fast anymore, but very low, and intimate. Strangely, that gave Lee comfort. Nothing could hurt him with them here. Lee put his hands out in front of him, and immediately reached the door, and pulled. A blinding white light hit Lee, and he quickly walked into it. It wasn't nearly as comforting, or warm, as the light in the cellar, but still, Lee sank down with relief. It was then, that he saw the golden light come from under the door.