Cliffhangers are evil muahahahaha! And I am no stranger to leaving one :) buuuuut here is the next chapter! You are welcome. Now I would like to thank the reviewers that have been so helpful as to point out a few things:

Cats are my World - thank you for giving me the heads up on that mistake. How embarrassing that was but I am glad you caught that!

Great I dea - I took what you said and changed a few things around. You are right on the money, bad stuff happening in Gotham City is almost a definite.

I love the fact that I have some awesome readers that have taken the time to give me a helping hand in this. It motivates me to write better and pay more attention to the little details. I am still working on it though so don't beat me up too badly hahaha. Anyway, enjoy this next chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.

Chapter VIII (Part II)

Quick recap…

When her eyes opened she gasped, all the men lay motionless on the dirt covered floor. "What?" Her voice was just above a whisper.

"Hello, Aaliyah. So nice to see you again." A raspy masculine voice sounded to her left and she jumped. She could see no figure, only bright piercing blue eyes.

"Wh-who are you?" Her voice was slightly shaky but not as bad as she predicted it would be considering the circumstances.

"Answers." The raspy voice stated.

..***…..

"Answers?" Aaliyah tilted her head to the left. The strange being was completely hidden in the shadows with only the bright blue color of its eyes visible. Is that really even possible? She thought.

"If you are implying that to be my name then you are mistaken. Answers are what you seek, no?" The raspy voice echoed.

"Then, what is your name exactly?" She turned more to face the direction in which the eyes and voice were.

"My name is of no importance at this moment." The voice said. "However, I could be considered so."

The bird that was perched on her shoulder ruffled its wings and stared forward.

"I am afraid this child can be a little dense master, perhaps being a bit more straight forward would help this process move along more fluidly?" The bird's raspy feminine voice spoke.

"Um, excuse me? I am not dense!" Aaliyah bellowed, ignoring the fact that her voice carried easily inside the abandoned building and could alert threats to her presence. "How can you call me dense with the cryptic information you fed me?"

"The information was clear to me." The bird responded turning its head in the opposite direction so as not to face her.

"Why you-" She growled raising a fist but was cut off by the sound of the raspy masculine voice.

"That is enough." He spoke calmly; or rather she figured it was a he from the sound of its voice. "Now, what questions do you have, my child?"

Aaliyah glared at the bird that still sat on her shoulder and then turned her focus ahead. "Well, first things first, how am I able to speak with this freakishly large crow." She nudged her head into the bird's side.

"Well, that would be due to your physical connection." The entity answered.

"Okay, can you explain that?" These so called answers were creating more questions.

"Would you like the simple answer, or would you like me to fine tune it to meet reality's definition?" It asked.

"Um," She thought for a moment unsure of what exactly that was supposed to mean. "If you could explain it in some detail that would suffice but I want the truth."

"Very well," She could hear shuffling of what sounded like feet on the floor and noticed that the eyes were getting closer yet she still could not make out a figure. The level of the eyes did give her a slight indication of height as she had to crane her head to meet them. "You are not who you think, or rather what you think. You are of this world, yet at the same time not. The shadows are naturally inviting and comforting to you while the light will hold deception and lies."

Aaliyah gawked at the answer she had been given, "And what exactly am I supposed to take from that? That didn't really explain anything."

"I told you the child was dense."

Aaliyah turned to yell at the bird once more but was halted by the other voice, "Silence." The bird bowed its head and continued to stare at the ground. "I can understand that I may have left some loop holes in my explanation but I assure you that it will all make sense. I am afraid that you may not be ready for the full truth at this time."

"What? How could I not be? I risked my neck coming here and this is the explanation I get?" She flung her arms over her head knocking the bird off balance sending it falling to the floor. With a flap of its wings, it was perched on her right shoulder again and staring coldly at her. Aaliyah ignored the bird's gaze and continued, "What am I supposed to be ready for here? Last time I checked I was nothing special, well, other than this weird connection with this bird. Otherwise, nothing!" Her rant ended when she looked up again into the cold blue eyes of the person she was speaking with.

The figure had stepped forward again causing her to take a large unbalanced step back. She stumbled for a moment but her eyes never left the captivating blues. As the figure stepped forward, light coming through the cracks in the boarded up windows landed on a shape. It was tall and seemed of sharp masculine features still encased in the shadows. The figure continued forward slowly until the shadows seemed to recede back and the form of a tall dark haired man stood before her. He was clad in dark clothing, a long dark trench coat hiding most of his body swayed as he moved. His pale face was handsome, framed by the dark hair that fell just passed his ears and possibly longer in the back and further more by the dark goatee. With all the dark on him it was hard to tell where one thing ended and another began. His face was solemn, calm and at the same time alive, it was a strange combination.

Aaliyah narrowed her eyes as she studied him and something seemed to click in her mind. "You, look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Yes." He answered simply.

"Are you going to tell me?" She crossed her arms and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Would it benefit you to know? I am afraid that you will not like the truth considering the life you have lived." He stated.

"Huh? What does my life have to do with this?" She uncrossed her arms and they fell to her side limply.

"Everything." He turned his attention towards the bird. "You have not informed her I take it?"

"I have not." The bird answered. "It was not asked of me."

"What is there to tell me?" Aaliyah asked with a hint of desperation and frustration.

The man turned his attention back to Aaliyah and took a small step forward, his head held high as he looked down to her. "You are of me."

"Meaning?" She gestured for him to go on hoping there was more to it than just that. She also noted that this bird and this man spoke strangely and that she would have a long talk with the bird later about the issue.

"Offspring, child." The bird butted in.

Aaliyah looked at the bird with narrowed, calculating eyes. The word had no specific meaning to her at that moment and she found herself staring off into nothing as she thought. Offspring? Okay I am not stupid I know what the word means, but what does that have to do with anything? Jeez am I really as dense as the bird says? She rolled her eyes as she continued to think. 'you are of me'…'offspring' she repeated in her head over and over until it hit her. She paled, eyes widening as she figured out the connection.

"Tha-that can't be right!" She shrieked. Her eyes darted to the tall man who still stood silently in front of her. "You mean?"

The man nodded his head, "It would seem that you have figured it out."

"But my, my father, he-" She began.

"Not." The man interrupted.

"Who are you?" Aaliyah thought back to the beginning of the conversation. "And what does all this have to do with this?" She pointed towards the bird. "You said that I could hear this bird because of a 'physical connection', what is that?"

"The bird is simply my servant and the physical connection is myself due to you being my offspring. As for who I am," he paused, "I am afraid you will not believe me."

"Other than claiming to be my biological father? How much more could you throw at me?" Aaliyah said with a bit of anger as her whole body tensed.

His eyes narrowed the slightest bit, almost unnoticeably as he spoke. "I am a president of Hell, a demon if you will, specializing in war and magic. I assist those worthy of it in defense and provide needed information regarding ones enemies. I do not have time for those who value materialistic things."

Aaliyah gulped as she took everything in and stared at the man, the demon that stood before her. In all her life she had heard tales of such things as demons and creatures that lived in the shadows. Creatures that waited for their victims to get close enough for them to snatch them from the world. All seemed like just that, tales, yet here she stood with a supposed demon who claimed to be her biological father. Not only this but also claimed to be the president of hell? Yep, he was right. Totally hard to believe. She thought.

She was lost in her thoughts when the voice rang through her ears again. "It would seem that I was correct to assume that this information would be troubling." Her father said.

"Your name." She spoke softly as she raised her eyes to meet his.

The man looked at her with curiosity, probably the only emotion that he had shown the entire time. "I am known as Malphas."

"Malphas." She repeated in a whisper. "You were right. This really is a lot to take in and I am not really sure just how much of it I really believe." She spoke slowly.

"In this short amount of time you have been given information that would cripple most individual's minds. Yet you still stand and have the ability to respond." He stated calmly.

Aaliyah felt somewhat proud to hear that, she knew that he spoke the complete truth regarding that bit. Most people would have probably passed out, ran away screaming, or possibly even mentally shut down. Having control in a situation like this was hard but she found it and held on to it tightly.

She looked up to meet his eyes once more, "I do have more questions. It would be surprising after all of this if I didn't but…I really just need to process all of this right now."

He nodded his head in understanding, "I agree. You are wise to take this information and analyze it."

Aaliyah nodded her head and looked towards the door, it was still light out so not much time had passed. When she turned back to where the man had been standing the space was empty. She stepped forward and then shrieked when a large crow flew from the shadows and out the broken door. The space was now quiet and empty once more, until she remembered the thugs that lay on the floor. She turned towards the larger one that had lunged at her first and walked slowly towards him. Are they dead? She thought as she studied the man's body.

"They live child." The crow spoke.

Aaliyah looked at the bird and then back to the man on the floor. She noticed something by the collar of his shirt and reached a shaky hand out to move it aside. When she had view of the strange looking thing she narrowed her eyes, "What is this?"

"Haven't you ever seen a feather, child?" The crow laughed.

"Don't laugh at me it's creepy!" Aaliyah shot out. "And yes I have, just never seen one used to do something like this."

The man began to stir a bit and Aaliyah retracted her hand quickly and jumped up. She ran out of the building before the men had a chance to recover and find her still standing there.

A few hours later….

Aaliyah was able to make it back to the hotel with no more problems. The information that she had received was running through her head a million miles an hour and she just couldn't wrap her mind around how any of it was supposed to make sense. Malphas said he was her father, so who was her current father, the man that she had known all her life? At the same time something was oddly familiar about Malphas, something that triggered a place in her mind pointing to recognition. It was all so strange and even more so when she figured her mother into all this. Had she any idea of it? Had she been hiding something all these years? Had this demon possibly tricked her mother at some point resulting in her carrying his offspring?

Aaliyah slapped herself in the forehead as she thought through everything.

"I have told you before, child, you are going to give yourself a headache doing that."

"I had a headache before it thanks to my father." Aaliyah hissed. She returned to looking at the program that was playing on the television set, her parents still had not returned from their meeting and she was stuck in a room alone with an annoying bird and confusing thoughts.

"Hey," She spoke suddenly, "um, if my supposed real father is a demon, does that make me half demon?"

The crow eyed her carefully, "Are you just now figuring that out?"

"Hey cut me some slack here will ya!" Aaliyah yelled raising her fist at the bird, "I just got a butt load of information dumped on me and I didn't think about it at the time."

"If you say so, but to answer your question, yes."

Aaliyah lowered her fist and calmed herself before she strangled the smart mouthed bird. The two sat in silence for a moment longer until Aaliyah turned to ask another question. She wasn't even able to get the first word of the question out of her mouth before her phone started ringing. She looked at the name and number displayed across her screen and hit the accept button.

"Hey Wally, what's up?" She tried to sound somewhat happier and less frazzled than she was.

"Hey there beautiful, not much just sitting here thinking about all the awesome food I'm gonna eat this Thanksgiving. You?" Wally replied with his usual amount of excitement.

"Wally," Aaliyah dragged out his name in a warning tone. She let out a loud sigh before responding again. "Nothing on my end. Parents are in a big business meeting here in Gotham so I'm stuck in the hotel until they are done. We probably won't be celebrating Thanksgiving this year."

"Well that's not cool. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays!" Wally cheered.

"Yeah cause of all the food." Aaliyah deadpanned.

"Awe, you know me so well babe." He replied without missing a beat.

"Seriously, the next time I see you it's going to hurt." Aaliyah shook her head as her lips formed a small smile.

"It'll be worth it. Especially since you still owe me that birthday kiss." Wally sang out.

Aaliyah could feel her face heating up as she thought about the conversation they had on his birthday. He really doesn't forget anything does he, especially if it involves food or flirting.

"Oh! Hey gotta go! Talk to you later Aaliyah!" Wally says suddenly and almost too quickly for Aaliyah to comprehend. She didn't even get the chance to say goodbye when the dial tone reached her ears. The phone was silent and she moved it in front of her face looking at it like it was going to do something else.

"Huh," Aaliyah huffed he word, "well that was strange." She shrugged her shoulders and placed the phone next to her on the bed.

"Many things about you are strange child; the fact that you have equally strange friends is no surprise to me."

One of the small throw pillows went flying towards the bird knocking it off of its perch. The bird jumped back up after ruffling its feathers back into place and gave its best bird glare. Aaliyah of course ignored it and went back to watching the television program.

November 24th 12:24

Aaliyah threw her small luggage bag onto her bed and breathed a sigh of relief. She was back in her own bedroom and glad to be there. The hotel was awesome and all but there is just nothing like being on familiar grounds. The meetings her father was to attend were cut short due to most of the material being covered by that last night when they attended dinner together. Her father's company had made some promising clients and he was already working on the paperwork before they got on the plane that morning.

The message alert tone sounded throughout her room and Aaliyah dug the phone out of her jacket pocket.

You're still coming right? – Megan

Aaliyah had let it slip to Megan during a text that she would be home sooner and it was insisted that they meet up for a "pre-Thanksgiving get-together". Megan had mentioned doing this so that they could hang out before everyone scattered to be with their families. She responded with her agreement on the matter and got the approval to join them from her parents.

Yeah I just need to change. Literally just put my bag down. See you in a few. – Aaliyah

Awesome! – Megan

A quick rummage through her clothes drawers and closet produced a nice set of jeans, light blue sweater and black ankle high boots. She took a quick glance at herself in the mirror applying the bare minimum of make-up and running a brush through her short hair. The waves it kept naturally made the style she chose look great without even trying and she was good with that. She pulled her boots on and tucked the excess fabric of the jeans into them before running downstairs.

Her mother was already waiting by the front door, probably after hearing her daughter barreling down the hallway, with keys in hand. "You ready?" She smiled at Aaliyah.

"Yeah." Aaliyah responded with a quick nod.

.

The diner of course was pretty bare. Not many people eating or hanging out there, probably already with family or just staying in keeping warm from the cold. Aaliyah noticed that she did not see Megan or any of the others seated anywhere inside. Figuring that maybe they were running late she walked across the deserted diner and sat down in the usual booth that she and Megan would occupy. She pulled out her iPod and put her earbuds in blasting some music to fill the time and her mind. Thoughts of what happened in Gotham were still plaguing her and she has not been able to concentrate since. The fact that the man she had known all her life was not her biological father did come as a surprise but the biggest surprise was who claimed to be her real father.

The music drowned everything out including her focus on the surroundings. She didn't even notice that someone had taken the open seat next to her as she put all of her focus into listening to the music. The feeling of one of her earbuds being pulled from her ear startled her and she jumped. Her head jerked towards the person who had removed it and her eyes widened, "Hey beautiful." His usual smirk present as he looked at her startled expression.

She didn't respond as she relaxed, she simply reached over and pinched his side as hard as she could earning a loud yelp from him.

"Ah! What was that for?" Wally looked at her with wide eyes as he rubbed the spot she had pinched.

"I warned you about calling me that, lover boy." Aaliyah stated calmly turning to look across the table where Megan was now sitting with a playful smile on her face. Aaliyah smiled at Megan, "Hi Megan."

Megan giggle, "Hi Aaliyah, how was the trip?"

A loud groan escaped her as she placed her hands on her head and elbows on the table. Wally and Megan gave her a strange look and shared a quick glance with one another. "Peachy." She finally growled out.

"Did something happen?" Wally questioned.

"Yeah, a lot happened." Aaliyah scoffed, "And before you ask, I can't tell you what it was. I am still trying to figure that out myself." She looked at the two who were now giving her worried looks.

Before anything else could be said the girl that Aaliyah had met before she left sat down next to Megan. Zee smiled at Megan and looked at Aaliyah, her eyes widened for a split second and her body tensed. Aaliyah gave her a questioning look, "Zee? Are you okay?"

"Huh," Zee shook her head, "um, yeah I'm fine." She looked back towards the door and shifted uncomfortably.

Aaliyah gave Zee one last look and turned back towards Megan, "Conner coming?"

Megan smiled at Aaliyah and nodded, "Yeah, he should be here shortly."

The four of them fell into a brief conversation before Wally noticed Conner walking in the door followed by the blond haired girl Aaliyah had seen the night the adults disappeared. The two walked over to the booth and each grabbed a chair from a nearby table pulling it up to the outside of the booth's table.

"I know this is our usual spot but since our little group isn't so little anymore what do you say we move over to a table?" Aaliyah pointed out. "We could-"

"The tables aren't much bigger." Conner interjected.

Aaliyah cleared her throat, "Well I was going to say that we could pull two tables together so we would have enough room." She eyed Conner for a moment before turning to look at the others. "Well?"

"Sure, sounds like a great idea." Wally gave her a thumbs up. The rest agreed to move to the tables after making sure that moving the tables would be okay with the owner.

They started up conversation again with the help of Megan who always seemed to know what to say to break the silence. Everything was fine until Aaliyah observed the exchange between the girl, whose name she found out was Artemis, and Wally. Aaliyah found herself observing the two in detail and made the assumption that maybe there was something more than empty threats being thrown across the table. Much like hers and Wally's exchange when he calls her certain names, it made Aaliyah's chest tighten watching the two.

"Jealous?"

Aaliyah's breath hitched in her throat hearing the familiar sound of the bird's voice in her head. She didn't move her head to look at where she knew the bird would be sitting. With a long sigh she excused herself from the table and walked to the door of the diner. She did not notice the suspicious eyes set on her as she walked towards the door. Once she stepped outside she turned towards the bench that she had sat on a number of times. There on the armrest sat the large bird, looking at her with its beady eyes.

"What do you want?" Aaliyah groaned.

"Just keeping a close eye on my master's daughter. It would seem that you are among a magician, were you aware?"

Aaliyah jerked her head back raising an eyebrow, "Huh? A magician? No I wasn't aware but how would you know?"

"I can sense the magic, it is strong but adolescent. No doubt if they possess the art of magic then they have sensed the difference in you by now."

"What difference?" Aaliyah questioned sitting down next to the bird. Times like this, when the streets were practically deserted, were when Aaliyah was okay with openly speaking with the bird in a public setting.

"The meeting with your father has opened the door in your mind that hid your other side."

"What side?" She was a little alarmed at the thought that something could be happening to her without her even noticing.

"Your demonic side child but do not fear there is no chance of you losing control and becoming a monster. I am sure that was going to be your next question, yes?"

Aaliyah nodded her head letting out the breath she had been holding, "Well what do I do now? What is going to happen to me?"

"I am unsure, your true nature could be quite powerful once you learn how to hone it, however others may find it troubling. There is the possibility of encountering rivals that will no doubt try to prevent you from ever fully transforming."

"Great." She grumbled leaning back against the cold bench. "As if I didn't have enough to sort out right now."

"Everyone has problems in life; you would be smart to remember that."

It took everything that she had at the moment to not smack the bird in the head or strangle it half to death. She settled for glaring at it in silence before it decided to speak again.

"It would seem that my time here is up, I will see you again." The bird abruptly flew away and left Aaliyah sitting on the bench alone staring at the concrete sidewalk deep in thought.

So someone in that little group in there can sense magic and uses it? If only I knew then I could maybe ask them how to go along with all this madness. How in the heck do you approach a group of people and ask "Hey does anyone by chance know magic? I could really use some help with mine." She thought shaking her head at the stupid thought.

The door to the diner opened and Aaliyah looked to see who had decided to step out.

"Hey, mind if I sit?" Wally asked as he put his hands in his pockets and walked towards the bench.

"Sure." Aaliyah answered then turned to stare off across the street.

"I know you said that you couldn't tell us what happened to you while you were in Gotham City, but if you ever decide to I'm available." Wally smiled; his words were sincere and had the butterflies in Aaliyah's stomach going crazy. She smiled at him and nodded her head.

"Thank you. I wish I could talk to someone about it but it's hard for me believe…and I was there." She laughed dryly. A cold breeze penetrated the thin sweater and reminded her that she didn't have her jacket on. An involuntary shiver wracked her body for a second as it fought to maintain the heat it had. An arm wrapped around her shoulders and Aaliyah looked to her left to see that Wally had moved closer and was now close enough to feel the heat from his warm body. His arm was wrapped around her shoulder and since she did not protest the contact he pulled her closer sharing his warmth.

Aaliyah could feel her face heating up and she moved her eyes away from him hoping that he didn't notice. The bitter cold wind attacked her exposed skin and the heat from the contact was helping to stave off another shiver attack. She felt Wally shift beside her but she still refused to look in his direction, especially when she felt his breath on her neck. Her eyes widened and her breathing ceased for a millisecond.

"Ya know you still owe me that kiss." Wally spoke in a hushed tone.

"So I've been told." She squeaked and mentally slapped herself for it. Wally chuckled and she chanced a glance in his direction. He had moved his head away from her and was now looking straight ahead. Aaliyah gulped as she took the opportunity to plant a quick kiss on his right cheek. Wally's eyes shot wide open, the kiss had surprised him for sure but he was a little disappointed.

He turned to her and pouted a bit, "Well, um that wasn't exactly what I was hoping for."

Aaliyah knew her face was as red as it could possibly get and she stuck with looking at the sidewalk which suddenly became very interesting to her. "Sorry." She chuckled nervously. Without warning a hand was placed gently on her chin and started to turn her head. Before she knew it she was staring into those emerald eyes. Her breath hitched again, her mind running on the thought of how it was possible with all this lack of oxygen in such a short time span. The pout now replaced with his signature smirk and a small gleam in his eyes as he stared back into her equally green eyes. She didn't move her head or say anything as he began closing the short distance between them. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she was almost certain if it could it would have burst out.

She sucked in breath as his lips brushed lightly over hers, a soft feathery touch made her want more. On instinct she closed her eyes and tilted her head moving forward to apply a little more pressure.

"Hey!" A voice called out. "You two going to come back in sometime soon?"

Wally and Aaliyah jerked apart and looked in the direction of the voice with surprise written all over their flushed faces. It was Artemis standing in the doorway of the diner with her hands on her hips and a slight scowl on her face. Wally turned to look back at Aaliyah then back to the impatient blond standing a few feet away from them.

"Yeah sure, be there in a sec." He answered and it earned him a scoff from the girl as she turned and walked back into the diner.

Aaliyah looked around Wally as she watched the girl go back inside with an attitude. "Is she going to b-" her words were muffled by Wally as he claimed her lips softly, a hand cupped her face carefully as he moved his lips over hers slowly. With a bit of hesitation she kissed back, not really knowing what to do. Her head was spinning as she lost herself in the kiss, both from euphoria and the surprise that it happened so fast yet so carefully. This was her first kiss; her first kiss that happened to be with the loud mouth, energetic redhead that she had met only a few months back in the place that had become her favorite hangout with her new friends.

He pulled away slowly and Aaliyah opened her eyes, she looked at him in a daze and smiled. "I was right." He said.

Aaliyah looked at him with confusion written all over her face, "About what?" She placed a hand over the one that still rested on her face.

"That you were the perfect girl to give me my birthday kiss." He smiled. Aaliyah rolled her eyes but smiled at his cheesy choice of words. "However, now we have a problem."

She raised an eyebrow, "And what is that?"

"Well, it was great for a birthday kiss but," he paused and Aaliyah stared at him with narrowing eyes.

"But?" She questioned.

"Having to wait for a kiss like that till my next birthday would be torture." He smirked playfully wriggling his eyebrows.

Aaliyah shook her head as she leaned away from him and he dropped his hand from her face. "You can be really corny sometimes ya know?" She laughed.

A wide grin broke out on his face as they stood from the bench and walked towards the door, "Yeah but you wouldn't have me any other way babe."

Aaliyah held up her pointer finger and stated, "Ya know there is nothing official here so I can still inflict pain."

Wally's eyes widened, "You wouldn't."

She gave him a sadistic grin and walked back inside the diner to join the others for their pre-Thanksgiving dinner.

It was now around 19:47 and Aaliyah had finally made it to her comfy bed. The radio that sat on her desk turned to her favorite station with one good song after another playing. She let out a long sigh and covered her eyes with her right arm as she lay back onto the fluffy pillows. Her mind was on overload but now for more positive reasons. She couldn't stop thinking about the kiss, it had been on her mind ever since it happened and had pushed all of her previous thoughts to the back of her mind. If she thought that she was in trouble after Wally had bought her the iPod then she must be in deep trouble now. He had asked to see her again and see if maybe she would accept being in a relationship but she wanted to think on it. There was so much going on in her life that she didn't want it to get in the way of a possible relationship with him. It was becoming frustrating and she was conflicted.

A loud pecking on her bedroom window startled her and she sat up. It tapped again with more force and urgency. She tilted her head to the side at the bird's strange behavior, it would tap once or twice but it almost sounded panicked. She jumped up and walked over to the window opening the curtain and undoing the latch. The bird flew in quickly and landed on her bed.

"Close the window quickly child!" The bird yelled in her head. Aaliyah hesitated for a moment but turned and closed the window. The bird lifted its head to look at Aaliyah, "It seems that our problems didn't end in Gotham City."

"What do you mean?" Aaliyah sat on the bed next to the bird.

"It would seem that the one that was waiting for you, the one you were warned of has followed."

Aaliyah's heart started to race, she knew what the bird was talking about but it never actually told her what or rather who to expect. "Wait! Did they follow you here?!" She pointed to the floor meaning the house.

"I believe that I was able to lose them."

"You believe? Great." Aaliyah stood up from her bed and walked over to her night stand grabbing her cell phone.

"What are you doing?"

"Calling the police." She started to dial the numbers.

"And tell them what? That a bird that your demon father commands has come to warn you that a dangerous and potentially life-threatening person is looking for you?"

She paused, the bird was right, and what was she supposed to tell them exactly? They would surely put her in the nuthouse if she explained it like that. A loud groan left her throat and she looked at the bird.

"What do you suggest then? Wait here until this person figures out where I am and end up putting my family in danger too?" Her tone slowly turned angrier as she flung her arms over her head.

The room grew quiet as she waited for the bird to speak which it didn't seem like it was going to any time soon. As she was about to say something else her phone came to life and she nearly dropped it. She took a few deep breaths and hit accept.

"Hi Wally." She breathed.

"Hey, um, you okay?" He asked slowly.

"I'll tell you in the morning." She mumbled and glared at the bird that still sat on her bed.

"Huh?" He obviously didn't hear or didn't understand.

"I-" the window burst open and Aaliyah gasped.

"It's him!" The bird squawked.

"I thought you said you lost 'em!" Aaliyah yelled forgetting that Wally was still on the phone.

"Aaliyah? Aaliyah what's going on?!" His voice grew louder.

Aaliyah was silence when a slim figure slipped into her bedroom stepping soundlessly down from the open window. With the head held down she could not see any facial features that might identify this person. A low cackled bellowed from the figure as it slowly raised its head and Aaliyah screamed. She could not see the face due to it being covered with what looked to be a piece of a burlap sack, the slanted eye holes and slit for a mouth gave it a dark and dangerous appearance.

Turning its head slowly to face her it spoke with a male's voice, "There you are." The voice was low and penetrated her very core. She couldn't speak, not even as Wally's voice rang through her ears, all she could do was stand frozen to the spot. Well, my life is about to suck!

AHHHHH! Not another cliffhanger! Sorry folks but I guess I am just an evil one but I promise I do it with a smile :) Please R&R. Let me know what you are thinking besides the bodily harm for leaving you with another cliffhanger.