The cold night, or perhaps day, crawled on at a glacial pace. Lisa couldn’t even tell the time of day due to the lack of windows in the room she was kept in along with people she really didn’t want to be in the general vicinity of. She lay on the mattress on the bottom bunk, looking up at the frame holding the upper bed above her, lamenting her situation. Every now and then, she glanced over at the bats, and every time, she grew more and more frustrated with them. While she herself couldn’t hope to sleep in such a place, she saw and heard their rhythmic breathing clear as day. “They ain’t even takin’ me seriously… After everything, they don’t see me as a big enough threat?” Her eyes were fixated on Haemon specifically. Even in his sleep, he seemed to have a slight frown. His chest rose and fell, so unbothered by Lisa’s presence that she found it downright insulting. “Just what the hell can you do?”

  Lisa watched the bats sleep, thinking that maybe, just maybe, this was the perfect opportunity to get rid of them. The time for action, the time to take her revenge…

  However, her gut feeling told her to leave them well alone for the time being. She decided to heed Alexander’s warnings, to see them as more than the trivial enemies she thought them to be. Then again, just a little shock… It would be so easy, too! “But then how am I getting out? Can’t do that with just Alexei, if he’s willing to help me after.”

  Lisa exhaled deeply and turned her head away from them, back up at the bed frame. She then bit her tongue as she felt a rush of adrenaline, for there was a spider hanging above just a few centimetres away from her face. She slowly crawled away from the needlessly creepy creature and went to sit up to look for something to get rid of it with.

  Clang.

  “Ow…!” She yelped, louder than she had intended, when she hit her head hard on the upper bed frame. She bent forward and held her head, rubbing the aching spot.

  “Keep it down.” Haemon’s sleepy voice said. Lisa really wanted to flip that entire bed, but decided that it just might not be worth it. For now.

  She then had to force her eyes closed for just a second when Alexei shined his light on her as if it was a torch. “You okay?” He asked, leaning over the bed.

  “Been better.” Lisa replied and saw Rufina curiously looking in their direction. The wolf then stood up and powered up her magic in her hand. That got the Sanguine Bat’s attention.

  “What are you doing?” Haemon asked with uncharacteristically little malice.

  “Pest control.” Lisa answered and prepared to vaporise the arachnid.

  “Wait!” Rufina cried and practically shot up from bed, causing Lisa to take a step back. Much to her surprise, and slight distress, Rufina then simply took the spider and held it in her hands. “What did it ever do to you?”

  “That’s rich.” Lisa powered down. “Oh, pardon me mate, I’d like to see how you’d react to a creepy bug in your bed!”

  Rufina raised an eyebrow, more befuddled than upset. “It’s just a common house spider. It can’t hurt you, you know that?”

  “So what?” Lisa retorted. “They’re so fucking creepy, mate! With their little legs crawlin’ up the walls and all that, disappearing the moment you ain’t lookin’… And don’t even get me started on centipedes. Good rule of thumb, if it’s got more than four legs, kill it!”

  Haemon may have been agitated about being woken up at first, but now he was chuckling. “You’re afraid of bugs? Really?”

  “Shut up. The li’l bastards manage to be creepier than you, and that’s a proper accomplishment.” Lisa sat back down on the bed and glanced at Rufina. “I don’t care what you do with it, but keep it far away from me.”

  The bat shrugged her shoulders and took the spider to the door opposite to the entrance. That had Lisa curious.

  “I don’t like spiders.” Alexei said, likely in an attempt at sympathy. “Too many legs.”

  “Don’t I feel that.” Lisa said with a slight smile. “What’s behind that door anyway?”

  “Bathroom.” The hyena replied.

  “Right.” The wolf said, then frowned deeply. “She took it to the goddamn bathroom?”

  Rufina returned and went straight back to the bed, shooting a mildly entertained glance at Lisa. The wolf frankly felt a good bit embarrassed, but chose to just leave that incident behind. Her gaze then went up at Haemon, who briefly smirked back at her before closing his eyes again.

  After having a thorough look-around above her for more spiders, Lisa could finally lie down again. “Could it be… No. They’ll just kill me when it’s convenient for them.”

  “Hey, wolf girl.” Alexei said not a minute after.

  “I have a name, y’know?” Lisa complained.

  “That’s the thing. I think we didn’t get to meet the right way.” He leaned over again. “We’re stuck here together, maybe we can get to know each other? All four of us? Why we’re all here?”

  “I don’t exactly see how that helps.” Rufina yawned.

  “You know what, why not? I’ll humour ya.” Lisa began to say with a slight chuckle and Alexei listened, looking at her with that one uncovered eye of his. Being a Bright One, Lisa wasn’t even sure he could see her without light.

  “Guess I’m not getting more sleep.” Haemon remarked and turned to his side, one arm supporting his head.

  “Name’s Lisa.” The wolf began to say. “To be perfectly honest, I didn’t come here for ya originally, Alex. I came here for a trip with a friend, then a total bitch called me and begged me to take you to her so that these two don’t sacrifice you to their fox god or whatever.”

  “We don’t sacrifice people!” Haemon interrupted.

  “Shh! Shhhhh!” Alexei hushed him. “She’s talking! You get your turn later.”

  Much to Lisa’s surprise, the bat relented.

  “So… I was offered a reward for all that. I thought why not? Couldn't be that hard.” Lisa scoffed. “Evidently. And now I’m here, stuck in this bloody room with the three of ya and who knows where my two partners are.”

  Alexei nodded along to her story.

  “So Shaqie did send you here?” Rufina questioned.

  “If you want to look at it that way.” Lisa shrugged.

  “Okay, who wants to go next?” The hyena looked from one person to the other with way too much excitement in his voice.

  “Ah, sure.” Rufina got into a more comfortable position on her stomach. “My brother and I are here for you, and nothing else.” She shot a passive-aggressive look at Alexei. “All to keep an unstable madman at bay.”

  Lisa snapped her gaze at the bat with eyes wide open. Meanwhile Haemon leaned back with his arms crossed and let his sister talk.

  “He’s volatile and a narcissist, but… I owe my life to him.” Rufina went on. “I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for his healing.”

  “Is it better than mine?” Alexei asked innocently, almost as if jealous, bobbing his head rhythmically.

  “So much better.” The bat replied. “And you can help it become even better.”

  “Just when I thought you were-” Lisa began.

  “Shh! Same goes for you!” Alexei scolded, briefly looking down to face the wolf.

  “As long as he’s happy, we’re happy, and he’s a little more predictable.” Rufina resumed. “He’s no god, but he sure thinks of himself as one. And unfortunately, that’s more than enough for some people. And then, his powers…”

  “Sister, enough.” Haemon finally spoke up, which Alexei didn’t quite like.

  “Point is, he needs your light, Alex.” Rufina said after a short pause. “It keeps him from doing anything… Drastic. Usually.”

  “But I don’t want to give him my light.” Said Alexei, causing… No reaction from either bat.

  “No one would.” Rufina sighed. “But if we don’t take you to him, we don’t know what he’ll do. I… I never know what’s going on inside his head. What he actually thinks of people, or himself. Maybe it’s all light too.”

  Lisa was speechless. She did have a lot to say, just not to the people around her. If what Rufina said was true and they weren’t the blind followers of Luxor, then maybe… “Or she could be lyin’. She knows I ain’t workin’ with them. Is she trying to make herself look better to me?”

  “Creepy story.” Alexei remarked and looked up at Haemon, who was seemingly paying his situation very little mind. “What about you?”

  “Same as her.” He grumbled. “Nothing more.”

  “Oh, but…” Said the hyena.

  “Nothing. More.” Haemon insisted with a deathly glare.

  “Okay, don’t want to talk. Okay.” Alexei put up his arms in defence.

  “What about you, then?” Rufina shot a glance at him.

  “I wanted to say that.” The hyena cleared his throat and tapped the wall with his claws. “I… Made mistakes. I worked a job I didn’t like, but the money was good. Very good.”

  “Where’d ya work?” Lisa asked.

  “Marketing.” He said with a shudder. The reactions were that of disgust and sympathy alike. “I didn’t like lying to people every time I said something. So I moved here with my girl… But no house. But I had a friend in… Low places, as you say? I needed more money for the house, so they gave me what I needed. The birds. I got the house for me and my girl, life was good!” He then once more grabbed the side of his head and shook it vigorously, whimpering lowly before his voice burst. “One week! I needed one week to pay! But no, they couldn’t wait! They needed it that day, that hour, that minute, and I didn’t have it!” His voice rose to more of shouting by the end, earning a worried look from Lisa and Rufina. He pressed his hands against his head, looking on at nothing, heaving.

  “You… Alright, mate?” Lisa asked, concerned for herself as well.

  Alexei released his head and took a couple more deep breaths to calm down. After a good half a minute of silence and quiet regret, he went on. “I thought I would die. But then they saw my magic light, and I think that kept me alive. Then I saw that they had magic too, so we… Don’t work together, but I heal people who get shot? And some other things?”

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Sorry to butt in your story, but why not go to a bank?” Lisa asked, finding his decision to be baffling.

  “Banks are a scam and you know it.” He answered with complete confidence.

  “Well…” Lisa chose not to expand upon that topic, exchanging shrugs with Rufina. “What are their powers, exactly? Like that owl?”

  “Northern hawk owl.” Haemon said calmly. Lisa questioned why he was so specific with the species. “It’s pretty obvious with his.”

  “Oh, then enlighten us, maybe?” The wolf said and was met with the bat’s less than pleased look.

  “Metal plus electric.” Rufina replied, which seemed to take Haemon by surprise. “You know what that makes? Why he surrounds himself with metal?”

  “Oh, don’t you tell me…” Lisa shook her head.

  “An electromagnet.” The bat explained. “Unfortunately for me, it also works on Metal Ones.”

  “We got beat by fuckin’ magnets?!” The wolf sat up and complained. “Alex, before I start bangin’ my head against that door, what else do they have?”

  “One is just all grey on the hands?” Said the hyena, looking at his own hands. “With a sharp beak?”

  “The buzzard.” Rufina nodded.

  “Oriental honey-buzzard.” Said Haemon, raising Lisa’s suspicions about him. “Who is he to know that so precisely?”

  “Finally!” The wolf exclaimed. “Something I can beat. I think.”

  “So two that can die very easily if I can catch them off-guard.” Rufina said with a smirk. ”Anything else?”

  “There’s the one with the long beak.” Alexei answered after a moment of thinking. “He has… Orange and blue?”

  “Siberian crane.” Haemon said in a bored tone. “That one’s pretty straight-forward.”

  “Blue like this?” Lisa rolled up her sleeve to show Alexei her markings.

  He shined his light on her to see. “Yes! Just like that!”

  Rufina inhaled through her teeth sharply in annoyance. “That’s a problem.”

  “What’s that make?” Lisa inquired.

  “So you’d think that if you combined the two most destructive types of magic, you’d get something even more destructive?” Rufina waggled her legs, looking at Lisa like an instructor. “And you’d be correct. Fire and electricity can cause explosions. Thing is… They’re not necessarily outside the user. You may be immune to the types, but you’re not immune to getting blown up.”

  “So there’s a chance he just blows himself up?” Lisa guessed, amused by the mental image.

  “That’s what worries me.” Rufina glanced at the hyena. “Alex, have you seen him use his power?”

  “Over the months here, no.” He replied, shaking his head and tail.

  “Then it's fifty-fifty.” The bat stopped moving her legs. “There are two kinds of people who take up on using this combination. Masters of their magic, and morons. Let’s just hope that he’s the latter.”

  “Fuckin’ brilliant.” Lisa remarked. “Metal, magnets, and explosions. Just splendid.”

  “How do you know so much about magic?” The hyena asked, visibly entertained by the conversation.

  “Like you, we have a past we’re not proud of.” Rufina said solemnly. “Anyway, maybe…”

  Just then, someone knocked on the metal door, startling everyone in the room except Haemon.

  Crackle-crack.

  The sound sent a chill down Lisa’s spine as the door opened, and behind it, stood the owl and two armed guards. One pointed straight at Haemon, and the owl nodded. He reached out his left arm, and with a crackle, the purple arcs shot out to grab him by the iron bracelets. That took him by surprise, but he didn’t seem to want to go without a fight, he thrashed around with his legs until two more arcs subdued them too. His visage resembled more a vicious, wild animal’s than a person’s as the owl dragged him out.

  “Haemon!” Rufina cried, and the guards already had their weapons aimed at her. With a resigned look of anger, she backed down.

  Solomon had told Lisa of Rufina’s wind that can rust metal, but even if she tried, she would be full of lead before she could waft the birds, and their weapons, with it. And she hated that, Lisa could tell that from one glance

  Alexei had his arms up, Lisa didn’t dare to move, as much as she wanted to see how birds in particular reacted to a couple thousand volts. One of the armed birds eyed Lisa curiously, likely wondering how she had gotten a bowler hat.

  The owl took Haemon, and there was nothing anyone could realistically do to prevent that.

  When the door was magnetically closed again, Rufina stood up and slammed the wall with a fist. “Brother…”

  Lisa took a moment to breathe. “Oi, Alex, where’d they take Vlad?” She leaned over and asked.

  “They want info from him? Maybe?” He shrugged, albeit distressed.

  “Would it hurt you…” Rufina said softly, slowly turning around. “Would it kill you to stop referring to my brother like that?”

  “Lucky for you, I just ran out of vampire names.” Lisa said in defence.

  “Do you think he chose any of this?” Rufina grabbed a leg of the upper bunk. “Do you think he would have turned out this way if he wasn’t born so different?” That we’d be here if he wasn’t trying to protect me?”

  Lisa couldn’t quite find the words to express how she felt at first, but in a way, she grew a little fearful of Rufina, as for the first time, she saw the resemblance between the two siblings: eyes filled with anger.

  “Now let me ask ya this…” Lisa stalled. “For one, why does he keep saying the exact species of bird these guys are?”

  Rufina scoffed. “He probably knows your body better than you do.”

  “Pardon?” Lisa looked, and felt, quite offended. “What’s that mean?”

  “You want to know what he’s actually like behind those creepy, red eyes? What he is despite everything?” Rufina asked with a deep frown, tightening her grasp on the metal pole before releasing it. Her touch left a shade of reddish brown rust.

  “I’m listening.” Alexei said with a curious smile, much too inappropriate for the situation.

  “I mean, go ahead.” Lisa sat back against the wall on the bed. She never would have imagined anyone feeling anything for the Sanguine Bat other than some form of fear or unease, but here she was, his sister. “You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family, I guess.”

  “I was there to see it all happen.” Rufina sat down and began her story, or rather, her brother’s. “Biology class. We got to an especially detailed diagram on the body, as presented on a canine and a feline. And Haemon… For the first time, he was interested. Everything else left him bored. He couldn’t care less about maths and all that other stuff, but that diagram… From that day onward, I always saw him with a book when he wasn’t at the library.” She chuckled with a little grin. “I’d never even seen him read before that. All of a sudden, he liked books more than he liked people! And what do you know, they were books on anatomy. For some reason, he really wanted to know how the body works. Not just canines and felines, or bats, all species.”

  “That’s when his markings showed up?” Lisa asked, hearing the soft taps of Alexei’s fingers above her.

  “Around that time, yes.” Rufina replied, a little more relaxed. “And he learned so much, all by himself… He couldn’t tell an oak from a willow, but he could pinpoint exactly where every one of your organs were at 16. Just a year later, he knew the names of every bone in bats. Another year and he knew just about everything about how a normal body should be like with most species.” Her grin turned into a smile, immensely bright and happy just remembering. “As his big sister, I was so proud of him! He was terrible at every other subject, yes, but when it came to the body, he knew it through and through, male or female, canine, lupine, vulpine, avian, bovine, chiroptera, anything you could think of. He knew what he wanted to be even then, and it required just the knowledge he had, as well a little disregard for the sight of blood and guts. A surgeon.”

  “Him?” Lisa said in disbelief. “He’s like…” She paused. “No offence, but he’s more of a butcher if ya ask me.”

  “Right?” Rufina agreed, which surprised Lisa. “Doctors and surgeons are often friendly and approachable. Looks included.” Her smile faded. “And friendly, he doesn’t look. When he heard that someone with results worse than his got into the medical school he applied for… That did it. He felt like the world, and his body, betrayed him. Think about it, have you ever seen an albino doctor, let alone surgeon?”

  “So he couldn’t get in ‘cause he got fucked over on the gene lottery?” Lisa asked, in more of a casual tone.

  “Basically.” Rufina went on. “But I think that’s when his magic really awakened. To say that he has great control over his power doesn’t even begin to tell you what he can do. If there’s something wrong with you, he can tell quite easily, even without it. And there was someone who wanted a person just like that… Ludwig.”

  “It only got worse from that, huh?” Lisa guessed.

  “Who’s that?” Alexei asked, but was ignored.

  “Actually, it was great at first.” Rufina retorted. “He could legally use his knowledge somewhere. Well, legal is a stretch, but it worked well enough for him. But then…” She stopped herself from saying whatever she had wanted to. “How do you think he felt when I came down with a condition he couldn’t help with? When Ludwig said that I couldn’t be treated? When we visited countless hospitals and were refused treatment every time?”

  “Despair.” Alexei said in an overly dramatic voice.

  “On-point there, Alex.” Said Rufina. “That’s when we met Luxor, and the rest is history.”

  Lisa found herself questioning her opinion of the bats. That feeling didn’t last long, however. “That’s exactly what you want, dontcha?”

  “Yeah, well…” Lisa furrowed her brows, believing to see right through the bat. “That’s a nice sob story, but I still ain’t gonna work with ya.”

  Rufina then lifted her head and looked right at the wolf.

  She then laughed. “God!” She said through her slow, almost bereaved laughter. “You are such a shallow person.”

  “Oi! I see-”

  “See what? You really think it was a plan to get you on our side?” She glanced up at Alexei, wiping a tear from her eyes. “If anything, he had a plan for that.”

  “Hey, hey, hey!” The hyena exclaimed, slightly rocking the top bunk. “Don’t rope me in!”

  “Come on, you worked in marketing. I know a manipulation tactic when I see one.” Rufina accused.

  “What?!” Alexei cried. “No, no, no, I left because I was tired of lying, and…”

  “You tried to get us closer to one another, just so we could maybe cooperate.” The bat briefly buried her face in her palms. “But you didn’t account for someone so headstrong, did you?”

  “I just want to leave!” Alexei claimed.

  “What’s gotten into you, girl?” Lisa asked, increasingly concerned.

  “I can tell you hate The System. The way you talk about Shaquia, one of the few people there who wanted to help back then…” She stood up and with fully opened wing membranes, pointed at Lisa. “But you wouldn't know that. You don’t know her. You don’t know me, you don’t know Haemon, or anything about what we went through!” She sniffled, then made a soft giggle. “But I know one thing for sure. As much as I hate The System in general, and as wrong as it is to serve Luxor, I can at least admit that all of those people, us included, have ideals. But you?” She scoffed. “You’re only in it for the money. We don’t need you. Just the three of us could escape and leave you here, alone. And no one would bother enough to come and save you, right?”

  Lisa didn’t want to listen to her scathing words. “She’s trying to get a reaction from me. That won’t work.”

  “Girl!” The wolf pressed herself up against the wall. “You’re cultists, that’s the only reason why I don’t want to work with you!”

  Silence. No one said anything for a few uncomfortably long seconds. “If anything… She’s just as mad as her brother. She’s just like him, only better at pretending! I… I know it. I see how it is.”

  Rufina then spoke again. “Do you really have so little back home that you can’t put aside your hatred?”

  “I have so much to live for back there, Rufina!” The wolf stood up, having made up her mind, not influenced by the bat. “I want to leave this dump as much as you do!”

  “Then why don’t you just work with us?” Rufina asked with a saddened look, letting her arms hang loosely, folding her wings. “I’ve been willing to do that from the very beginning. And that’s despite you shocking my brother, and an associate throwing acid at him!”

  “And you think I’ll just let ya have Alex?” Lisa argued, more just curious to see how she’ll try to convince her.

  “What does he say?” Rufina shot a look at the utterly terrified Alexei. “Who would you like to go with?”

  “I don’t care, anywhere that isn’t here!” He pulled his beanie down over his face, softly sobbing. “I don’t have anything left! No house, no money, no girl…”

  “What?” Lisa raised an eyebrow. “Mate, your girl is waitin’ for ya at that house you got with the dirty money.”

  “She is?” He pulled up his hat, then leaned over to look at Lisa. His hat slid back down to cover his right eye.

  “Yeah.” The wolf smiled. “Spoke to her. She ain’t forgotten ya, quite the opposite.”

  Alexei turned his attention towards Rufina.

  “I’m going with them.” He said confidently. “That was easy.”

  “Whatever.” Rufina shrugged, but definitely didn’t seem like she was happy with his decision. “So, you in?” She asked Lisa one more time.

  To help these two bats leave… She never thought she’d do such a thing. But as long as she didn’t know what had happened to Yaroslav and Alexander, she didn’t have much of a choice. Not to mention… There were too many people she wanted to return home to.

  “Once.” Lisa replied with a stern glare. “No more. I ain’t doing this ‘cause of your sob story though. More because I… Had the time to think. I see that we’re all in deep shit if we don’t work together.”

  “Yes!!” Alexei’s excited voice came from the top bunk, followed by his body hitting the bed.

  Rufina made a delighted smile. “Then now we just wait for my brother.”