A Random Story Beginning....

Pain, loneliness, and darkness. A world he had lived in most of his life, and he was totally sick of it. Sick of it all. How could humans treat other beings the way his people were being treated?

Like the Black Americans of old times, Demons were workhorses for the humans. And the elves, dwarves, dryads, nymphs, druids, and angels. Demons were at the bottom of this, and he was unfortunate to be one of them.

He was a wander, in search of others like himself, others who had escaped the wrath of the Doctrin. Doctrin were demons who had turned evil and worked for their Holders, often humans that have obtained power through dark sources. Once in awhile, they would try to find camps or capture lone renegades. Then they would send them to concentration camps to breed, or simply to die there. He and his two other brothers, Falcon and Evin, escaped from a demonic concentration camp ten years ago, when they were only fifteen.

He didn’t know why he was drawn to this particular place, but he knew for certain that it was something that was close, so very close.

Then, suddenly, he stopped. The momentum that had drawn him so very far was there, right there, in that Demon House. An auction was being held at this very moment, so he entered, blending in with the surroundings of the other humans.

He slowly pushed his way up to the stage, keeping a low profile and his shades up so that no one would see the glare of his eyes. He watched two different work demons be auctioned off to different bidders, and then a breaker demon. He frowned. Usually breakers and breeders were sold at different auctions than the common work demon. Why were they selling a breaker here?

Then he saw her. The curtains parted, revealing a female demon strapped down to a bed in a very provocative pose. Her hair was a bright hot pink and black, the same color as her eyes. The wings; witch were the only other unusual thing about her; were about a 15 foot wingspan of black leather, with sheens of pink and almost silver running through the veins. The only thing covering her was a sheet that was a little too small for her, so that you could mostly see through it.

The announcer took the mic, and smiled at the waiting crowd.

“Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on a truly…magnificent sight. This lovely specimen is brand new to our fine establishment, just caught last night as a matter of fact, snooping around the cages of some of our worker drones.”

The crowd’s laughter was almost mocking, and Aaron had to hold back a growl of anger. She was a rebel, then. Her eyes glanced around coolly, but he could tell the almost urgency in her gaze. Was this the reason he was brought here, then?

“AAAlright! Let’s start the bidding at $20,000.”

Immediately hands and numbers started rising, mostly from the males in the room. Aaron felt sick to his stomach. This girl looked to be maybe 15 or 16 years old, not even broken. He knew the glint in these men’s eyes. He knew what they wanted her for, and he felt powerless to stop it.

"Can I get $22,000? $425,000? $1,000,000! Going once, no, $2,000,000? $2,500,000! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a competition!” The crowd laughed as five of the wealthier men began to raise the bidding.

"Damn." Aaron muttered. Falcon, Evin. Can you hear me? Aaron asked, using the mental link he had with his brothers.

Yes, Aaron, what troubles you? Falcon. The oldest of the triplets, and the undeclared leader of the rebel movement.

Falcon, I am in need of help. Female rebel-only 15 or 16 years old- is being auctioned off at the Beowulf Demon House. She is too innocent, I cannot leave her. Will you help me? There was a pause, as always when speaking with Falcon. He always weighed in all possibilities, and weighed all chances of failure.

Fine. Bring her home, but do not be seen. He said after awhile. Aaron sighed relief.

Are there any Doctrin in the vicinity? Evin, Aaron's other, brother asked. Aaron shivered at the even mention. Doctrin were demons turned bad, and sometimes tried to capture rebels. Aaron scanned, but came up empty. Time was running out.

Okay, I'm close by, so I'll be there soon. Evin said. Falcon stayed silent, but Aaron knew what he was thinking. Evin cannot fight. He could get killed, or worse. But they could not argue, because the need was so great.

Be careful, and I await for your return. Said Falcon, before retreating. Aaron kept ties with Evin, showing him where everyone was, showing him the target. They devised a plan, and that could not fail.

"$12 million." Said a voice over the crowd. Everyone gasped and parted, making an isle for the high bidder.

"Sold! To the man in the black." said the auctioneer, and everyone clapped.

Now what do we do? Evin asked. Aaron shrugged. They could only hope for an opening to get the girl.

As the mysterious person walked forward to claim his prize, the girl started shaking. Aaron saw her eyes. They were pleading, staring straight into his. He thought he could feel her trying to press into his mind, but the feeling passed before he could react to it.

I have a plan. Evian said, and then disconnected ties. Aaron wondered what he meant, about having a plan, but did not persist. Evin usually knew what he was doing. Usually.

"Let go of me, pig!" Crystal screamed, trying to jerk her arm away from the hooded figure that held her chains. He just got a better grip and kept walking, faster this time towards a back room.

"I said let go!!" she said again, this time receiving a good push into the room. Crystal fell, scratching her sensitive wing on the rough pavement. She winced, but stood up quickly to see the figure lock the door behind him.

Oh, great. Now what? She thought.

"Look, buddy, I don't care what that guy said. I'll work for you, just don't hurt me. Please." The guy turned slowly, his hood still up. Why won't he take his hood off? Crystal thought as he approached her. She gasped and scurried to the corner, wishing that the potion would wear off soon. Two red glowing eyes stared at her. Her back met wall, and she winced again, mentally, wishing her brothers would rescue her soon. The man grabbed her chin, put his lips to her ear, and whispered:

"Boo."

"Joey! Thank Goddess!!" she said, recognizing the voice and wrapping her arms around him in a gigantic hug.

“It’s not Joey. It's Jadus. Get your brothers right." he replied, giving her a noogy. She laughed.

"Sorry, Jadus. You and Joey just sound so much a like." He chuckled, pulling back his hood.

"Speaking of which, where is Joey and Selence anyway?" she asked. Jadus shrugged.

"Probably scouting. Hold up your chains." Crystal obeyed, and Jadus glanced at his finger. It immediately started on fire, and he concentrated until it was hot enough to cut through metal. Crystal inwardly laughed. She knew he had the key, but she also knew that he loved to show off.

"Did Akii get away?" Crystal asked suddenly. Jadus nodded, finishing the cuts on the thick metal chains.

"She came and warned us that you had been captured." he said bitterly, tossing the chains to one side. Crystal sat up, and glanced at him. She knew what he was thinking, even though their bond was blocked at the moment. Jadus hated the fact that he did not have his life mate yet.

"Come on, Crystal. We should be leaving now." Jadus said, shaking her arm to snap her out of her thoughts.

"How?" she asked, glancing up. Jadus examined her wings.

"Well, looks like we can't fly. We will just have to...improvise." He said, looking around. She looked around, too, and found nothing. The walls were solid rock, and the only exit was the door. There was a sky roof, but, like he had said, flying was out of the question.

"We can't just walk out of here, can we?" she said casually, flexing her left wing. Pain consumed it, and she stopped, breathing deeply. Still broken.

"Uhhh.....no. We can't. The money is fake, of course, and will be turning back into water in about....ten minutes." Crystal scoffed.

"Gives us a lot of time. But you have the key. You can say that....uh...you want to take me to your Breaker back home."

"No, I can't. Actually, I only have an hour with you. The dude said that you were going to be shipped to a pro breaker's house if I liked you." Crystal shivered, visualizing what she would be doing if Jadus wasn't there.

"Well, we need Selence to break through solid rock. Can you at least transform back into human form?" Jadus asked, scaling the wall with his eyes. Crystal tried, but all she got was a terrible headache and back pain for her efforts.

"Thought not. Good try, though. I'm talking to Selence right now. He said that that potion they gave you is a strong one. He can't even manage a bridge to your mind! But they should be here any minute. Meantime, we can focus on your wounds." as Jadus worked, Crystal let her mind wonder. That boy who was staring at her. Who was he? Certainly not part of the Clan. Could there be other escapees? Maybe. But why was he staring at her so intently? Sure, she had been sending a signal, but like Selence had told Jadus, there was a blocker on her mind. But, he had been staring at her. Right?

"Oww!"

"There. All done." Jadus said with satisfaction, examining his work. He had re-set her wing, and healed all of her minor cuts with his healing saliva. He had also stopped the bleeding on her back, and healed all of the bruises surrounding her wings.

"Thanks, Jadus. It may take a few hours for it to heal fully, though." she said, testing it gingerly. It still hurt, but not as much.

"Yo, guys! Up here!" said a familiar voice. Crystal and Jadus grinned at each other, and looked up.

"Akii! Thank Goddess you're alright." Crystal said as a blue-haired Water demon joined them. Crystal and Akii embraced, laughing.

"Where are Selence and Joey?" Jadus said after awhile, breaking the giggling two up.

"Well...see...they're kind of busy right now." Crystal frowned.

"A fight?" Akii nodded, also frowning.

"Some Doctrin, we think. But they don't fight like Doctrin. They fight like we do; only they have the element of Light." A blast sounded above them, and they watched as a streak of black flew over them.

"Selence." they all said in union, and Akii leapt up back through the roof.

"Crystal, I know it'll hurt like a bitch, but we are going to have to fly." Jadus said hurriedly, already transforming beneath the cloak. She could tell that he would rather be helping with the fight, instead of baby-sitting her. She took a deep breath, and nodded.

"I can do it myself. You help them." She said, flexing her bat-like wings in preparation. Her left wing hurt like hell, but she could fly out of there. Jadus nodded, and shot straight up, his robe flying off in take-off. Flame wings burst from his back, and he let out his guttural cry. Crystal heard first Selence, then Joey, answer in their code. Akii, too, answered, but weakly, showing Crystal that she was hurt already.

She took a deep breath, and jumped straight up, flapping with all her strength. Immediately, her wing refused to move. Crystal cursed under her breath, and focused. She had to get up there to help her friends. She just had to. Letting out her guttural cry of triumph, she formed a ball of pure dark energy and flung it in the middle of the battle. She herd Selence respond, then Joey, then Jadus.

"Crystal!!" Joey yelled, and she took it as a warning, spinning out of the way just as one of the intruders threw a plasma ball his way. Selence responded with one of his signature attacks (he liked to call it Crows of Furry) and Crystal landed on the roof, exhausted. She had broken the splint that Jadus had put on her wing in her flight up here, and now she could see metallic blood pouring from the wound. I have to help my family, she thought, and ran over to Selence, who was in a fist fight with one of the intruders. The man had his back to her, and he seemed to be wearing common clothing, as if to hide himself. Selence jumped over one of his plasma balls, and threw back two of his own dark energy balls. Crystal saw an opening. She jumped, and landed on the intruder’s back, wrapping her legs and arms around him to make him fall off balanced onto the ground. He automatically rolled, plasma ball at the ready from the unexpected surprise attack from behind. She looked at his face with surprise. It was the man from the auction!

“STOP!!” Selence yelled. Immediately the fighting halted, and everyone stared at the two on the ground.

“It’s you…..” Crystal whispered, shocked. The man’s silver eyes glistened in response. He vanquished the plasma ball in his hand, but remained on top of her.

“We came to rescue you.” He whispered, brushing her hair from her face. She shivered, moving slightly to make him get off her. He took no notice.

“Um, sorry to interrupt. But WE came to rescue her. She’s our sister. Who the fuck are you?” Joey said, holding his right arm, it was badly wounded, and the muscles in it couldn’t move. Jadus was in a stare down with the other boy, who was kneeling because of the wound he received on his leg.

The man looked, over at Joey, turning his head so that Crystal could still see his profile.

“I am called Aaron. And this is my brother, Evin. We are two of the Triplets from Heaven, and I saw the girl at the auction. She didn’t look to be a normal Breeder, so I decided to take her with me. We thought you were Doctrin.”

“Ha-ha! That’s funny, cos we thought you guys were Doctrin.” Akii said, emerging from a pile of rubble off to Crystal’s left. Selence didn’t look too happy at the explanation.

“I am Selencejecken, and these are my two brothers, Joseph and Jadus. We are the Demon Brothers. The female that you are sitting on is none other than Crystalina Korina Acara, our younger sister. This is my lifemate, Akiious Leeana Rainsoul, a former princess of Water. We came to rescue Crystalina, and to release my brother’s lifemate, Arora. Have you seen her?” Crystal inwardly sighed. She hated when Selence got all proper and used her full name, and especially when he had to go and use HIS full name. The demon on top of her did not look impressed.

“What type of entity is she?” He asked calmly, absentmindedly stroking Crystal’s hair. Joey piped in.

“She’s a Poison demoness, cross-bread with a Forest. We’ve been tracking her for some time. Our pitfalls have led us here, to this demon house. Crystal was just looking for her when she was captured. Have you seen her?” Joey’s voice held a type of urgency that was matched by the fire in his eyes. Arora was his light in the fires of hell that he lived in. he had been without her for more than three weeks now. Everyone knew that if they didn’t find her soon…

“I sensed that type of ara coming from one of the cells in the lower chambers. It was wounded, but still strong. Maybe it was her.” Evin said, glancing in Aaron’s direction. Aaron nodded, and in one motion picked Crystal up and stood, holding her in his arms.

“I propose a truce. Evin, you lead them to the other girl. I will take this one back to Falcon. You follow with the rest of them as soon as the girl is rescued.”

“Just a minute, there, buster. Crystal’s my best friend. I’m going with you.” Akii said, brushing the last bits of debris off of her wings and clothes. Selence grabbed her arm.

“No you’re not. I don’t trust these people. I’ll go with them.”

“Oh, Seth, stop being Mr. Big-Shot. I’m going and that’s final. You can come with if you want to, but that’s your choice. Besides, I’m the only one other than Arora that knows how to counter the Holder’s poison.”

Okay, okay, okay. People, how about this: Joey, you and I go with Evin to get Arora. Selence, you and Akii go with Aaron and Crystal to wherever the Hell Aaron wants to take her. Our main goal is to get Crystal back to working condition so that we can all get healed. Okay?” Jadus said, putting up his hands. The brothers looked at each other, and nodded. Akii and Selence took flight and followed Aaron, who remained on foot until he reached the edge of the building. Then he unfurled his beautiful white demon wings, and took off. Joey, Jadus, and Evin healed their wounds to the best of their capabilities, and then dived back down into the shoot, moving silently through the passageways.

About an hour later, they arrived at the camp. Everyone turned and looked up at the new arrivals, some shouting, and some shrinking back to hide. Crystal wished she could hide in the arms of her brother instead of this man whom she did not know. He carried her gracefully, like she did not weigh anything. Though when she made protest about the turbulence because of her wing, he adjusted and made sure she was comfortable the entire flight.

Falcon. I have arrived with the girl. Aaron said, sending out a mental beckon for his brother to receive. Immediately, he saw one of the flaps of one of the larger tents open, revealing a tall male demon with large white glistening wings. Aaron smiled comfortably, and angled down to the tent.

“Greetings, brother. I hope your flight was well.” Said Falcon, grasping Aaron’s shoulders in the old ways of warriors. Aaron felt the other two land silently behind him, folding their wings comfortably into their backs.

“Flight was very well indeed, my dear brother.” He said, nodding. Falcon glanced behind him, noticing Akii and Selence for the first time.

“Ah, and I bring another surprise. This is Selence, one of the Demon Brothers, our opposites. And this is his lifemate, Akii. Selence is brother to the girl I hold in my arms.” Finally being addressed, Crystal made a move to be released. Aaron instead held her tighter, daring his brother to try and take her from his arms.

Falcon looked at her with interest, looking over her small body and holding his gaze on every cut, bruise, and deformity that he came across. Finally, he bent down and looked into her eyes.

“So, you are what my brothers have risked their lives for this past day. Interesting.” He murmured, reaching to touch her cheek. Aaron growled a stunning sound even to his own ears. Falcon glanced up, and pulled his hand back from the girl, glancing at his new guests.

“Welcome to you all. I am called Falcon, the leader of this rebel movement. Tonight we feast in celebration of your safe return to us.” He said crisply, then turned and disappeared back into the tent.

“Wow…someone needs to take a chill pill.” Akii mumbled, but Aaron took no notice. Falcon had tried to touch Crystal. No one was allowed to touch Crystal. Except him.

Crystal sighed in relief as she sunk into her hot bath. It had taken Akii, Aaron, Selence and herself two hours to heat up enough water to fill the hole filled with concrete in the ground. But it was all worth it, she realized as she dizzily started to heal herself from the inside out. Soon she would be back in working condition, and she would be able to fully heal Akii and Selence, and then they could go home. A tinge tugged on her heartstrings. Home. If she had one. She shook her head, refusing to think about it. Of course she still had a home. Wherever her brothers were, that was her home. As it has always been.

A splash at the other end of the pool startled her for a moment, but all she could see was bubbles. But she could feel someone, or something, in the tub with her. She swallowed, pulling her legs into herself and spreading her wings to their full width. Maybe it was a cat, or a dog who wants to play. Just then she saw a streak of silver. Maybe not.

Aaron’s head popped out of the water next to her. She gasped, started to scream, but his touch on her lips quieted her.

“Shhh…It’s all right. Nothing to fear, it’s just me.” He whispered, running his hand along her cheek. She found herself leaning into his touch, the warmth of another being overriding her fears for a moment. But then she gained back her self preservation.

“What are you doing here? Get out! I don’t even know you.” She said, backing away. She saw his wings emerge, similar to hers only faint veins of pink…

“Would you rather me wash outside the tub?” he asked, making a move to get up. She gasped and shook her head.

“No no no…but take your bath elsewhere, or at least wait until I am finished. “

He smiled, a slow seductive curve of his lips that made her want to taste their texture, and shook his head.

“The water would be cold by the time you finished. I figured, I took so much time filling this tub, I might as well bathe in it too. And besides, this is my home, and I have first rights. You are merely a guest.” She swallowed, and swam over to the other side of the tub.

“Well then I’ll just…I’m finished now. I think I want to go to bed.” She said, reaching for her towel. She watched as he swam closer, that smile still on his face.

“No you will not, little one. You are injured, and you need water and moonlight to heal your wounds. Yes, your brothers told me. You are their healer, are you not? Your first priority should be yourself. I will stay on this side of the pool, and help out when seen fit. Do not worry, I will not try anything on you…yet.”