My memory faded out. The thought left me in a sour mood, as it always did. I sulked around Indy. People walked by and sent sideways glances at the depressing 15-year-old walking around the dangerous neighborhoods.

Something caught my attention. I froze, mid-step, and put my senses on alert. I could feel myself being watched. Of course, I felt like that the majority of the time, but this was different. I scanned my surroundings.

I was on a quiet street, one of those where you didn’t leave your house. A light breeze rustled the trees, and every flicker of a bush was mistaken for somebody fleeing from me. The feeling of observation didn’t leave, and I slowly began moving again.

“Nice to see you again, Griffin.” Said the seductive voice.

I reeled around, hate burning inside of me. She had gotten taller, her body curving even more enticingly. Her shining honey blonde hair caught the sun’s light and threw it into a shimmering veil. She stood with her hand on her hip, the other holding a pistol aimed at my chest.

I glowered into her pale blue eyes.

I was looking at the girl who killed my mother.

“What? Not happy to see me?” She said, widening her eyes in mock hurt.

A horrible bloodlust tore through me, and I wanted nothing more than to end her where she stood. But she had the gun, so I had to be careful.

I shot my eyes in every direction, and caught the sight of several people, anywhere from twelve to twenty in age. They surrounded me, daring me to run.

I went into hyper survival mode, processing everything that I could use to escape. I came up dry.
The girl giggled, “We came more prepared this time. And you don’t have another mother for me to stab, do you?”

I lashed out, “SHUT UP!”

It was then I sensed the vast array of sensations. Pressures, smells, tastes; all coming from every direction. These kids, I thought.

The girl walked towards me, with her eyes glistening with triumph. “You are going to come with us.” She demanded, and when I opened my mouth to retort, she stressed. “Quietly.”

They guards began to advance on me, filling me with dread. I knew I was immune to whatever “Powers” these people possessed, but they had numbers on me. I couldn’t take them all.

I hung my head low, trying to look defeated. I had made myself a promise. They would take me wherever, but I was going to throw that girl into hell before they did. She advanced on me, dropping the gun in her known victory. Foolish move, I thought to myself.

As I prepared to lunge, I heard somebody cry out. It wasn’t words, but more like a battle cry.

I looked up, and the girl was firing a string of curses into every direction. When I looked up to observe for myself, I witnessed a war.

People were locked in combat. Kicking, punching, clawing and screaming. Guys fought girls, Girls fought girls, guys fought guys. Age didn’t matter. It was an all out brawl. Thirty or so new people had joined, falling upon my captors with vicious force. The weirdest thing was, the people who weren’t fighting with there hands.

One girl was standing still, focusing upon a young boy laying on the ground. He seemed to be staring at the sky in complete and total confusion. Another man was standing with his hands on the shoulders of two women, who both giggled and glanced back at him with a strange admiration.

Suddenly, a cold circle was forced into my back. The handgun. The girl hissed into my ear, “If you move, I swear to god, It will be the last thing you do.”

She pushed me away from the fighting, which had migrated into one huge clump. Flanked by several of the original guard, she lead me away.

As I feared my sudden saviors would fail to help me, the girl made a noise somewhere between a gasp and a cough.

In front of us stood a teenage girl who made my gun wielding beauty seem like a haggard old maid. Blood-red hair framed a heart-shaped face, and piercing green eyes drew every ounce of attention.

“I think it would be in your best interest to leave, and take your gang with you.” Her voice was a song.

“Shut up, Succub. I have more important things to do.” She spat back, driving her gun hard into my back.

Succub? What is that? “Don’t insult your own kind, Emma. And I think you know we’ve already one this. We have a tier 4, so you should count your losses and leave.”

Emma cast here eyes around, as did I. I realized what she meant. Every member of the original guard stood there, eyes glazed. The newcomers all smiled victoriously. Nobody began to look away from the redhead.

“Well Charlotte.” Hissed Emma, “You’ve wasted your time. As you know, I’ll kill him before he falls into your hands.”

The redhead, apparently Charlotte, shook her head. She chuckled. Casting her emerald eyes upon a nearby man, she spoke, “Get Emma here off of our new recruit.”

In a flash, the man she had spoken to threw his wait into Emma. As soon as she disconnected from me, the Emma’s eyes became as disconnected as everyone else’s. The man looked up at Charlotte, as if asking for approval.

Her eyes were trained on me. They were suddenly wary. She watched me as if I was going to lash out at her.

When she stepped towards me, I instinctively leaped back. She stepped backwards again, and cleared her throat. “I know you’re probably freaking out.”

“You think.” I spat out.

Though I was grateful for the saving of me and possibly my life, I feared these people as well. They called me their recruit. Were they going to forced me into some gang or crime circle? I had no idea. But something about Charlotte’s eyes, and the way the rest of them acted, made me feel safe.

Charlotte spoke again. “Listen. We need your help. We aren’t going to hurt you. If we wanted to, we would have already.” She informed me.

Normally, if somebody had said this to me, I would have freaked. But she said it in a way that made me certain of what she said.

Charlotte began to walk towards me again, this time slower. I let her approach this time, but my body remained coiled tight, ready to defend myself if necessary.

She stopped in front of me. “We are going to take you to a nearby town. Frankfort. You’ll be safe there.”

I wasn’t necessarily open to the idea of leaving with some gang who just rescued me from another gang, but I, against my nature, put my trust in Charlotte.

She lead me to a row of vans, lead by a cherry red convertible. Gesturing for me to climb into the passenger seat, Charlotte jumped into the driver’s side. The entire gang filled the vans, with the exception of one boy. Whoever he was jumped into the backseat. He was a handsome guy, with broad shoulders and blonde hair. Thick eyebrows curled over pale blue irises.

“Oh. By the way. This is my brother, Ryan.” Charlotte explained.

He nodded in greeting, which I returned. Starting the car, Charlotte lead the procession out of the bleak neighborhood. I was on my way to wherever they decided to take me. As far as I knew, we could be going straight to salvation, or directly to my deathbed.

And I had no idea which one it could be.