Amy Blankenship - Dark Flames

Zachary shrugged, “Okay, have it your way. But you know the alternative.”

Jason stumbled backwards, bumping into the young man with purplish hair as Zachary approached him with his hand raised toward Jason’s forehead.

“All right, all right,” Jason said while holding up both hands to ward off Zachary. “I’ll go. Put… the hand… down.”

Zachary smirked and clamped his hand firmly down on Jason’s shoulder, acting like that’s what he was going to do all along. “I knew you wouldn’t let us down.”

“Go to hell,” Jason grumbled making Kamui snort in amusement.

Chapter 3

“We need to wait until dusk,” Tiara said, as she looked out the window unable to face Guy’s angry disappointment or Zachary’s authority over her. She was nervous enough as it was.

“Why wait?” Jason asked, not liking the idea of going out in the dark after demons or ghosts or whatever it was this girl wanted to go after.

“Good question,” Trevor said. “I’m all for going out after these things but going when it starts to get dark is like walking around carrying a big neon sign that says ‘Free Dinner’.”

“Because that is when the dead begin to wake,” Tiara answered. “They are at their weakest because of the sunlight counteracting their darkness. That weakness has not faded… much like how weak you feel when you first awaken for the day. It is the same for them except they are nocturnal.”

Trevor smirked, thinking of his mornings with Envy. “I’m not weak in the mornings. Whoever told you that has their information backwards.”

“What’s wrong, are your x-girlfriends spreading rumors again?” Zachary asked with an arched eyebrow causing a few people in the room to grin and Trevor to glare at him.

It was good to hear that most of the PIT members still had their sense of humor. “As for the other teams,” Storm continued while glancing up at the huge map. “I’m sure you can find something to do.”

Everyone looked from one to the other, knowing what his or her individual jobs were. The door opened and Kamui was the first to leave the meeting not bothering to shut the door behind him.

It was the sign some of the more curious PIT members were looking for and they rushed out to see if they could find out how the newcomer got up to the third floor. It was quickly becoming a betting match on what powers Kamui really had.

Storm chuckled when he heard someone growl about the new guy vanishing into thin air and money started exchanging hands. That growl was immediately followed by a loud, muffled crash upstairs and voices shouting, leaving the PIT teams looking up at the ceiling when the chandelier in the main room started to rock back and forth.

“KAMUI, YOU LITTLE BASTARD!” The angry voice echoed loudly within the castle.

Everyone’s attention was grabbed when light suddenly shone in through the front window rivaling the sunlight that was already streaming through. The PIT members ran outside just in time to see two streaks of light flying erratically above them and out toward the ocean before slowing down enough for the onlookers to really see them.

They’d been going so fast that it caused thunder to vibrate loudly in their wake as they broke the sound barrier. The young man from the meeting was actually flying backwards, his eyes wide with what looked like fright as he stared at the wet, angry silver-winged man chasing him.

“I swear Toya, I didn’t mean to pop into the shower with you in it!” Kamui tried to defuse his brother’s hot temper.

Toya’s long black, silver-streaked hair swayed around him as he followed Kamui’s movements and Kamui was doing his best to stay just out of reach.

“Yeah, right, you didn’t mean to!” Toya shouted when he noticed his brother’s lip twitch in mirth.

Trevor watched the two fly dizzying paths above them and spotted a third person out of the corner of his eye. Looking up toward the third floor terrace, he saw a man with long silver hair glaring at the other two with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Who’s that?” Trevor asked curiously.

“The current family patriarch… his name is Kyou.” Storm answered having come out to watch the amusing spectacle. “And the two putting on the show are Toya, the second oldest, and Kamui, the youngest.” He’d thought the brothers would stay to themselves but… the guardians had never been very predictable.

“They’re family?” Ren asked sensing the calming effect on his ability that he’d been siphoning was coming from Kyou. His right eyebrow rose noting that calm feeling was faltering at the moment but luckily, still kept a good measure of stability.

“They’re brothers, five of them to be accurate,” Storm answered.

The silver-haired man Storm had said was the older brother named Kyou looked down at the humans below him with a deep frown, as though the people milling around the grass were the ones responsible for this event.

“WOAH!” someone shouted as Toya punched Kamui in the stomach, sending his younger brother flying backwards… straight toward Kyou.

There were a few snickers, as Kamui slammed right into Kyou, knocking them both back inside and out of sight.

“YES!” Toya shouted and pumped his fist in the air as he hovered in front of the balcony. “I got a twofer.” With a smirk, he flew back inside the balcony doors and everything got extremely quiet.

“I guess it’s over,” Zachary said shrugging.

Storm smirked, “Wait for it…” Suddenly two windows on the third floor exploded on each side of the castle, Toya going in one direction and Kamui in the other. Storm couldn’t help but laugh knowing they were now fleeing Kyou’s wrath.

“Okay,” Jason said after a moment. “Remind me again how the hell I got mixed up with you guys.”

Trevor slapped his hand on Jason’s shoulder, “You would still be demon bait with a lovely tattoo on your ankle.”

“If I go out in a graveyard tonight, doesn’t that mean I’m still demon bait?” Jason demanded in more of a statement than a question.

“Yeah, I guess it does,” Trevor smiled as if he’d just been granted a wish. “And just think… I’ll be one of the people protecting you.”

“Oh goody!” Jason deadpanned then frowned, “You’re not still sore about losing Envy are you?”

Trevor’s smile faded and he took a step toward Jason but Storm to step between them. He flinched when he was suddenly standing in the parking lot of the police station.

“Chad needs some help getting this place under control,” Storm instructed. “Play nice with the other children.”

Storm left him there and reappeared back at the castle where Jason was still in the process of taking a step backwards.

Jason blinked when Trevor just snapped out of existence and Storm grinned at him.

“Where’d Trevor go?” Jason asked looking around.

“He’s under restriction,” Storm answered with a smirk.

Zachary looked back up at the terrace then down at the window below it. He could see Angelica standing at her window holding the curtain open. She had a grin on her face and Zachary knew she’d seen what transpired. She looked down at him and waved before closing the curtain.

Everyone began to filter back inside now that the show was over. Tiara paused and followed Zachary’s gaze to the pretty girl in the window. Feeling a strange disappointment, she tried to shake it off by being thankful he wasn’t as mean as she’d feared… he couldn’t be if he had such a sweet-looking girlfriend. Not wanting to go back inside yet, she looked out toward the ocean and wandered off toward the long path that led to the shoreline.

Guy narrowed his eyes on Tiara wanting to talk to her. She hadn't even given him a chance to tell her his idea. Seeing her separate from the others, he saw his chance and followed at a discreet distance.