Katie: Chapter three up!

Disclaimer: Slayers and all its characters do not belong to me. They belong to Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Arazumi.

I ignored the stares the James and I were getting. We were walking through Atlas City holding the teenage boy. James got his legs and I got the boy's arms. I looked around the city trying to find an inn.

"Shape-shifters," James said breaking the silence that was between us. "I thought they all died."

"I thought so too," I admitted.

"So why was he mad at you? What did you do?" James asked staring at me straight in the eye. For some reason, I don't know why, I shifted my gaze away from his.

Might as well tell him.

I cleared my throat and began the story. "Way before I was even born, shape-shifters lived in Zefilia. Everything was peaceful and the shape-shifters were very helpful to the people of Zefilia."

I turned my gaze over to the boy. I tried to imagine the shape-shifters back then. Back before I was even born. "Things went bad when Zefilia got a new ruler, a king who hated the shape-shifters. He had banished all of them and tricked people into believing that they were the enemies. The shape-shifters, with no food, had no choice but to use their powers to steal.

"They transformed into humans from Zefilia and stole food in that form. The people got blamed for it and were sent to jail and sometimes death. It took awhile for the king to figure out that it was all the shape-shifter's doing and sent out an order to have them all killed. Of course no one could kill them because they could never find them since they could change their appearance. That is until I was born."

I finally looked at James. His eyebrows furrowed and he stared at me accusingly. He probably guessed the rest of the story but I decided to continue. It felt good to finally get it off my chest.

"I'm the Knight of Ceiphied. I was the only one who actually had a chance to kill the shape-shifters so I did. I was to believe that it was the right thing to do." I winced as I remembered all the blood that was spilt that one day. All the bodies around me and all the blood on my hands. I shook my head to remove the images.

"But that was when I was young and naïve. I'm sort of glad this kid survived. Now I know that I didn't kill entire species."

"Yeah but now you have to live with the fact that some kid is out on the street with no family at all," James pointed out. He just had to make things worse didn't he? I gave him a glare then spoke.

"What about you, huh? Don't you have some skeleton in your closet? How about telling me why your looking for your brother," James looked like he didn't hear me. He was looking around the city for an inn. A moment passed and I was about to ask the question again but James spoke.

"I don't really feel like telling you about my personal life," he said turning his head back to me. I growled in frustration. I should have figured he would be like that but still he could have said something so I wouldn't feel like the only bad guy here. James stopped walking. I stopped to and looked to what James was staring at. There I saw an inn that looked pretty good and cheap. We walked in, ignoring the stares we got from inside.

"You should go to your room, you look tired," James said as I sat in a chair next to the bed where the teenage shape-shifter rested. James leaned against the wall on the other side of the bed.

After we entered the inn I rented two rooms. James agreed to not only share a room with the shape-shifter but also give the teenager the bed while he slept on the ground. We took the boy to his room and placed him on the bed. After that James and I went to the dinning room for a snack and ended up back in the shape-shifter's room. I really wish I knew this kid's name.

"I'm alright," I lied. In truth I felt very tired and weak. I hadn't got much sleep the night before and was busy all day. I actually wanted to sleep but I wanted to be up when the teenager woke up. James shrugged.

"Whatever," I went back to just staring at the ground probably thing deeply about something. I turned my attention to the boy. How hard did I hit him to keep him out this long? I wanted to just splash water on him to get him up but then he would think we were attacking and not give us a chance to talk.

As time went by my eyelids began to get heavier. I tried to ignore it at first but it was no use. They just kept getting heavier and heavier. Soon they were completely closed and I fell into a deep sleep.

I was awake. I was conscience but my eyes were closed. I didn't want to get up. I just wanted to stay where I was and not worry about my sister, James, or the shape-shifter. I just want to stay right here in my nice, soft….wait, soft?

My eyes opened instantly and I looked below me. I was sitting up on a bed of my room. But how did I…? My thoughts suddenly turned to James and I began to wonder if he had something to do with this. As if on cue I heard a knock at the door.

"Hey Luna, you awake?" It was James.

"Uh, yeah. Come in." James opened the door and came in. I noticed a tray of food in his hands as he came closer to the bed. He set it down on the desk beside the bed.

"Got you dinner,"

"Dinner?" I asked puzzled. I looked to the window. The sun was showing its last bits of orange in the sky and night was making its way across the entire sky.

"Was I asleep that long?" I asked James. He nodded. "And did you move me to my bed?" James nodded again.

"You looked really uncomfortable in the chair so I moved you," Well that was really sweet of him. Then at that moment I thought of the shape-shifter.

"What about that kid?"

"Lucas," James said suddenly.

"What?"

"Lucas is his name. Don't worry he's downstairs eating dinner. He promised to talk things through with us." James smiled and I just stared at him. How could he so easily believe that teenager? The one that tried to kill me. Then James began walking to the bedroom door.

"Eat up," he said. "We'll meet you down stairs." He opened, stepped out, and then closed the door. I stayed in my bed for a moment then reached for my food. I began to chow down.

After the meal I headed down to the dinning room like James had said. To my surprise Lucas and James were sitting at a table talking and laughing. To try and stop my curiosity of what they were laughing about I began to observe Lucas. He looked cleaner, not as much dirt on his body; he must have taken a shower. His hair was clean as well and combed neat. Though he wore the same poor clothes Lucas looked better than before. At that moment James spotted me.

"Luna!" He called out. Lucas turned too looked at me. He didn't look angry but I kept my guard up just in case. I walked over to their table and sat down next to James and across from Lucas.

"Okay so what is it you want to talk about?" Lucas asked us.

"I just wanted to say I am sorry for what I did to your clan," I told him. When he didn't say anything I continued talking. "I know now that what I did was wrong and you have every right to hold a grudge against me."

When I finished Lucas had his head down and was staring at the table. There was a long silence and it was beginning to get uncomfortable. At last Lucas looked up and smiled a huge smile at me.

"I'm not mad at you," When he said that I couldn't help but show my shock. "I mean, I was at first but then your friend told me your parents kicked you and your sister out of the house and forced you to live on your own. And then your sister became ill and now you're on your search for a cure. If you ask me that's a horrible life already. You don't need some kid following you around trying to kill you."

I glared at James. He shrugged and whispered in my ear. "I thought it would get him off your back, looks like it worked, huh?" I pushed him away and then sighed. At least the kid wasn't trying to kill me now. I looked toward Lucas who was smiling at me.

"So we're even now?" I asked. He nodded. I was about to get up and head to my room to wash up but then I sensed something. Two people. Two people with amazing power. Then…

"Get down!" I yelled to the boys. Suddenly a wall of the inn blew into a thousand pieces of wood. Before I could even move I felt something wrap around me. I opened my eyes, which were closed to protect them from all the wood, to find not only me but James and Lucas tied up in rope. We all struggled to get free when I noticed my sword was missing and James's as well.

"Looking for these?" I looked above me, since I was sitting on the ground, to find two people about the same age as me. A boy and a girl who looked almost completely identical, twins probably. The boy held my sword in his hands and the girl had James's.

"Who are you?" James shouted out.

"Aaron and Ami," They answered in unison. "And we're that boy's owners." They pointed to Lucas who was still struggling with the ropes. I looked back up to the twins.

"What do you want with us?" I asked through my teeth. They smiled at the exact same time.

"Questions can wait till later," With that they began dragging all three of us out of the inn. The rope must have been enchanted somehow. Lucas surely would have changed into something by now unless he was part of the plan. Could he have been? I looked up at the twins again and wondered what exactly did they mean by being Lucas's owners.