Jupiter's Magic: Thanks yous for the reviews! :D To answer one of my reviewers questions, yes, Lola is an Alister love interest (but he doesn't know)

Alister: I'm a what?"

Jupiter's Magic: (sweatdrop) Nothing. You're an amazing guy. An amazing guy who will do the disclaimer?

Alister: Fine. Magical_Musician_Halefox does not own any songs used in this story, me, Raphael or Valon. . . although I wish she owned Valon-

Valon: Oye!

Alister: -but she owns Skye, Lola, Ember and the animals

Raphael: Don't forget the plot

Alister: That too

Valon: Review fer 'er mates. I will remove mi shirt if ya do-"

Alister: Valon! This isn't a porno-

Valon: W'at? 'Ts only mi shirt. I wanna show off my abs

Raphael: Review before this gets out of hand.


"You having fun, girl?" Lola said, screaming over the loud music while dancing with Skye. Raphael and Alister both had declined to dance, and somewhere in the shadows they were keeping an eye on both of the girls.

Skye merely laughed in reply; the dancing was helping her clear her head and she had almost forgotten about what had happened on Christmas day.

The two girls said nothing after that, instead continuing to dance to the music. When the song ended and the next one began, Skye reached over and tapped Lola on the shoulder. "I'm going to get a drink!" she shouted over the music. Lola nodded absently, already lost in the song.

Skye maneuvered her way through the crowd, waving when she caught a brief glimpse of Alister and Raphael. She turned and kept going for the drink counter; she was about halfway there when a hand on her shoulder halted her progress.

The owner of the hand (and, incidentally, the club they were at) stood at a height of six-three, had russet colored hair, and pale blue eyes. "Hey Skye," he said over the music. "Just passed my sister," he continued, gesturing to where Lola was still dancing."What brings you two to my club? I haven't seen you both in ages."

Lola came up behind them, leaning against her brother. "Hi, Mitch! Skye's having some guy probs. I'm here to straighten things out!"

"Lola! Who gave you permission to tell everyone what my problem is?"

Mitchell just laughed. "That's cool. Sorry that whatever it is didn't work out. I better go and check the bars; Clay isn't doing his job," he sighed, pointing at the shaggy blond leaning against the counter.

"I'm going to get a drink before I get interrupted again," Skye said as she headed towards the bar, allowing Lola to start dancing again. She didn't get very far, though—the moment she reached the dimly lit bar area a rough hand grabbed her upper arm and wheeled her around to face its owner.

"Well, look who's here?" an unfriendly voice asked, identifying the speaker as a man.

Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened in horror when her eyes landed on the man who had her in his grasp. His brown hair was slicked back with gel and he was wearing jeans and a ripped up muscle shirt.

"My my, it's my little Skye," he almost purred, a sick smile sliding onto his face. "Been a while since I seen you. What have you been up to?"

"Last I checked I don't belong to you or to anyone else," she growled, trying to yank her arm out of his grip. "Let go of me."

"Aw, don't be like that. Is that any way to treat an old friend?" he cooed, and this time Skye managed to yank her arm free. "Why don't we catch up?"

"The only thing I want you to catch is the plague, you bastard," she snarled, backing away furiously.

An ugly look crossed his face then. "Don't you walk away from me, Skyler," he said sharply, grabbing her arm again and yanking her toward him.

Without thinking she reached for the nearest drink on the table and splashed it in his face, twisting out of his grip. "Touch me again and I'll break your hand off," she spat venomously.

He stared at her mutely for one second and then he punched her in the face. Skye didn't have enough time to make a sound, but the force of the punch knocked her backward and she lost her balance. She toppled into a nearby glass table, alerting the surrounding people that something was not right; as she fell the back of her head contacted the corner of the table and she let out a pained cry as she crumpled to the floor.

Skye's entire face throbbed painfully and blood trickled down her cheek as she rose shakily to her feet; her vision spun and dipped crazily, and she had no idea how badly she had been hurt. She glanced at her arm and noticed that a large shard of glass was embedded it.

She found this oddly funny. Definitely a sign that she wasn't doing so hot.

The man advanced on her again threateningly, but then something moved in between them and blocked her view of him; a pair of arms steadied her and held her gently, and she looked up and caught a pair of familiar blue eyes looking down at her worriedly.

"Hey Raphael. Did you know you have four eyes?" she mumbled.

Alister, meanwhile, stood his ground between the offender and Skye, his gray eyes narrowed menacingly. "Mind explaining what could possibly make you want to hit a lady?" he asked coldly.

Lola shoved her way through the crowd and without preamble went straight for the man who had punched Skye. "Hijo de puta!" she snarled, lunging towards the man with murderous intent in her eyes. Alister reached for her and yanked her back behind him.

"Hey, she started it!" said the unnamed man. "She dumped her drink on me!"

"That's never an excuse to hit a woman," retorted Alister stiffly, looking distinctly displeased.

"Besides, she didn't start anything, Caden," Lola spat. "What do you want with her? In all the years you dated her you didn't do anything but break her heart. She wants nothing to do with you and you can't get anything more out of her."

While the dispute was going on, Raphael directed his attention to the semi-conscious girl he was holding up; Skye's eyes were going in and out of focus as she stared up at him and blood was trickling down her arms and face in slow rivers. "My head hurts," she said in a tiny voice.

Raphael felt something akin to anger beginning to burn in his blood.

"Don't be silly, Lolly," said Caden nastily. "She still has one thing to offer me, you know. After all, she's still pure—if you catch my drift."

The white-hot emotion that seared through Raphael's veins then could be best described as a roar of rage.

Alister, who had turned when a strangled snarl escaped the blond's throat, took a couple steps over to Raphael and draped one of Skye's limp arms over his shoulder. "I've got her," he said softly.

The moment the words left Alister's throat Raphael strode to Caden and towered over him. The slick-haired man took a cautionary step backward when he saw the stormy and furious expression on Raphael's face.

"I don't care who you are or how you are associated with her. You so much as breathe in Skye's general direction and I. Will. End you," Raphael vowed in a tone that could melt steel.

Caden blinked, staring up at the menacing and imposing figure of the oldest biker before letting out a snort. "Who do you think you are?" he growled, lunging forward to try and punch Raphael.

The burly man eyed Caden with a look of utter contempt and then sidestepped the punch, grabbing the other man's arm and twisting it violently behind his opponent's back. Caden howled in pain, struggling to get loose.

Right about that time was when the club's bouncer stormed out of the backroom, Mitch right behind him. "Who the hell is the asshole that is making all this noise?" boomed the bouncer.

Lola and Alister simultaneously pointed to Caden.

The man squinted in the darkness and then growled. "You again, punk? Thought I told you not to come in this place again. Yo, Blondie. Let 'im go," he said irritably. "I got it from here."

Raphael gave him a rough shove in the direction of the bouncer, turning his back on the man and returning to Skye's side. The anger slid off his face and was replaced by open concern; Skye had slipped into unconsciousness while he had been dealing with Caden.

Mitch glanced in the direction of Skye and his sister and turned to Caden with a darkened expression. "Right, heads up. You are officially banned from this club, and I'm going to be dropping a call to every club in Domino to let them know all 'bout you. Now get the hell out."

He waited until the bouncer began bodily dragging him out of the building before looking over at the small group. His eyes softened and a genuinely concerned expression appeared on his face. "Is Skye all right?" he asked, directing his question to Lola.

"I don't know," said his sister shakily, watching as Raphael gently scooped the now unconscious girl into his arms.

Mitch sighed. "There's a clinic nearby here. You should take her there and let a doctor examine her. I'll drop them a call and let them know you're on the way."

"Okay…I can get them there," said Lola, biting her lip as she hurried away. A few minutes the three of them were heading out the door, carrying the unconscious Skye with them.


So sad. KOK YOU'RE THE BEST!