"Hey, Sis! I'm home!"

Joshua tossed his backpack onto the freshly unwrapped couch, the smell of 'Brand New' and wrapping plastic was ever present around Dess. Oh yeah, they definitely just moved here. Boxes were still scattered about, some empty, others mostly or destined to forever be in storage. There was a large flat screen mounted on the wall, 60 inch screen. Nice.

Lautner-boy lead her to the dining room, offering her a drink. She turned him down and just looked about. So far this place is safe, one of the newer houses they built. Tons of alloys strewn about like veins in a body. She glanced at the silverware. Stainless steel, definitely good. Place was pretty Darkling proof, so it wouldn't be too mu-

"Josh! I told you to watch where you throw your shit!"

Dess turned around. There she was, the sister. Beauty must run in the family, because she was as pretty as Josh was handsome. Cherry wood red hair, tickling the tops of her shoulders. A little freckling along the bridge of her nose and tops of her shoulders, like she was the outdoor sporty type that wore a tank top to run in. How did she decide that last part? Because she was wearing one right now. She couldn't be any older than sixteen, but her face and eyes gave her a look as if she was just a couple years older.

She felt a heat rise up to her cheeks. Wait, what? Bad Dess, stop it.

"What? There wasn't anything there." She glared at him and lifted his backpack, a slightly crushed stuffed animal underneath it. The poor toy was that of a black cat, though it has probably seen better days. Patches were sewn onto it to keep its fluffy guts from spilling, limbs sutured back into place, and it was missing an eye. The only thing to make this the littlest bit comical was if it was named Lucky. Or Patches.

"Geeze, sorry. I didn't see your stupid toy there, Vee."

"Because you don't look, you idiotic piece of- Who's that?"

Suddenly, Dess was pulled into the conversation. And not a moment too late. She gave a half-hearted smile and a curt salute. "Dess, your brother's tutor. Dragged here against my whim, really." Vee gave a small laugh, and for some reason it sent a cool shiver down her spine. Not like the Darkling juju does, this was…..pleasant.

"Well, thank god he finally got one. I'm tired of working for free. I'm Victoria, but call me Vee. I hate the name Victoria." She gave Joshua another glare before taking her cat and heading to where Dess assumed was her room. "If he gives you any problems, just call me. I'll kick his ass."

"Love you too, Vee." He was answered by a door slam, making him shake his head. "Well, you met her. What do you think?"

'I think I just met an angel and am in love.' Dess shook her head to get rid of the thought and shrugged. "She's cool, cooler than you at least." He laughed, god damn this guy is resilient. For the next half an hour, they did homework. Or, he did homework, she explained it to him. It was like teaching Latin to a cow.

"How the hell can you do all this? It's like rocket science."

"Actually that's more along the lines of physics, but I guess you could say it is." He just shook his head, putting the pencil down. "I'm gonna take a break, drinks are in the fridge if you want one." Josh stood up and headed out of the room, leaving Dess at the table amongst the papers.

She waited a few minutes before slipping away, counting her steps from the couch. Okay yes, she counted the steps Vee took before slamming the door just so she could find her room. This is not being a stalker, this is to confirm suspicions.

"Twenty-one….twenty-two…and twenty-three." Dess gulped, standing in front of the door. Her heart was beating at an alarming rate. The only time she felt it go this fast was when she was hauling ass from some nasty darklings. Or when she wrote her first binary coded dirty novel. Man, good thing she got out of that phase.

Taking a breath, she knocked on the door.