I realized I liked girls during volleyball practice in middle school while staring at my best friend's long red hair. She was beautiful, with freckled skin and cool aqua eyes, and acted like a jaded adult who'd already done anything that could possibly be done. I have a bad habit of finding the people who I'm close to very attractive. It tends to complicate matters, especially since not one of them has ever returned my emotions. Two of them were guys. Two of them were female. Four times being shot down. I'm seventeen and resigned to being the cat lady.

God created the heaven and the earth, and all was good, but then His creations realized they had free will and shit hit the fan. God didn't like how angels and humans started copulating, and producing little half-angel babies that generally went and made a nuisance of themselves on His earth. So He told the angels that'd procreated that they and their progeny were banned from heaven, now and forever. About ten thousand years later, perching on the top of a building, I'm wondering why the hell I'm bothering to do this if hell's the only place I'm gonna go.

The girl's about fourteen, fifteen tops. She isn't one of us- she's got the voice but lacks the eyes, as pretty a shade of brown as they are. They're not idiots; they aren't chasing after her for her bloodline. It's for business or pleasure. Either way, she's going to wind up on the back of a milk carton unless I or one of the others decides to interfere. She wouldn't be the first- so far, there've been eight gone missing. All in this area, all female, all without a trace. If their plan was to flush me out, it's working.

I sound conceited, don't I. Eight almost nine girls go missing and all I can think's that it's some sort of trap to get me. Really makes you think about the kind of life I lead that I'm so damn paranoid. You know what they say, though; you're not paranoid if they really are out to get you. And trust me, they are.

Or she is.

At the moment, I'm watching them watching the girl, perched up on the damn roof. Wishing like hell they'd've chosen to chase after her in the summer or at least late spring. Fucking winter.

I hate the cold- always have- and love the heat. Least hell won't be too bad for me. Right now I'm still alive on earth and feeling fucking frozen. The off-grey stone crumbles as I tighten my hands. They never do this sort of shit in deserts or high summer- no, it's always in the middle of fucking winter and I'm the only damn one paying attention to it. I'd complain if I thought anyone gave a flying fuck. Instead, I just question what little sanity I have left and wait for the girl and company to exit the building.

The door opens. The girl's carrying three hardback books- narrowing my eyes, I make out the title and author. Dean Koontz. Someone else who has jack-shit faith in humanity. Count of three, the door opens again. Two guys push out, apparently engaged in an intense conversation about Star Trek. I focus my eyes again, a frown on my face. One has dark grey eyes, the other light. No mistake- they're Greater. I don't recognize them, but that doesn't mean they won't know me. Gonna have to do this clean and quick- can't risk them escaping. Can't risk her finding out.

Mentally cursing, I pull myself up over the stone ledge that separates this roof from the next and land, crouching on my feet. The fire escape's the least obvious way down. They're almost ready to start playing; can't observe any longer. It'd be faster to go the normal way, but it'd be relying on luck too much to assume they wouldn't sense the power flare. And luck has about the same regard for me as the omnipotent fuck head who created this damn problem to begin with. I grab the fire escape, grimace as my hand tightens around rust. Ugh.

The rust flakes off as I climb down, the sharp, metallic scent invading my nose. I hate that smell. Reminds me too much of blood. Three, two, bottom floor. I leap from the balcony and land in an alley, biting back curses as I narrowly avoid a puddle of dried vomit. The trash can's three feet to the left. It's called aim. Wiping the rust off my hands, I slide them into the pockets of my off-black coat and stroll out of the alley. Street's semi-crowded. They're ahead of me, ten yards behind her. Five minutes ago, they were twelve.

The girl turns the corner. Trying to catch up without standing out, I start listening from that hidden place to see when they make their move. The girl: human note, soft and faint. Human soft, human soft, sleeper muted, human soft, and harsh brass of two Greater. Their music ever so slowly begins to ripple; they're gathering their power. I speed up my walk, eyes straying to a newstand we pass. Apocalypse imminent, proclaims the World Weekly. Always wondered why they advertise those. Armageddon ain't good for paper sales. Alley coming up. They're six yards behind. Five. Music's getting louder.

Blink your eyes. Surprise surprise, girl and two Greater have vanished. I hurry- don't run in a city, it alarms people, or makes them think you've stolen something- and turn into the alley. Brick walls covered with graffiti and grime, antiquated metallic dumpsters and discarded trash bags, girl struggling to get away from two menacing guys, and a rusting fire escape strategically placed to hit anyone over five foot three in the head. Your typical alley, really. I don't bother to step quietly. The Greaters' heads snap towards me, predator grey eyes flashing. I grin at them. "Hi. Wanna fight?-

Now, the two Greater had been pining her down with the usual method: one goes behind, puts her in a chokehold, and holds down her hands. The other amuses himself with her from the front. This method is typically foolproof, unless the girl in question has had martial arts training, or watched that pageant movie with Sandra Bullock.
This girl had.
She takes advantage of their distraction to slam her leg up in a front kick, nailing the front guy in the face. My opinion of her shoots up a notch as he stumbles back, cradling a broken nose. Nice.

Now she's struggling to get out of the other guy's- the guy with the dark grey eyes- hold. However, he paid attention in Basic Defense class and is correctly guarding his instep and Little Dark-Greys. Pity. He raises his knee as she struggles, and drives it right to that point on the small of the back where it hurts like hell. Okay, she's down for the moment. The other guy- light-grey eyes- turns to face me along with his partner, hands clenched around bleeding nose. Bet it's out of alignment. "Who the hell-" growls Dark-Grey. I grin, my eyes glowing.

He pauses. Glowing eyes, especially mine, tend to make that happen. "Nobody really,"I say cheerfully, hands still in pockets, walking down the alley toward them. My boots make a fun little crunchy-clicky sound each time I step- combat boots kick ass. Gotta remember to thank Adara for them. "Just your average little do-gooder who's wondering why two Greater such as yourselves are giving a human girl such a hard time."
And I thought the two of them were tense earlier. After I drop the word "Greater,"I could play a drum solo on them. Not that I've tried that.

I stop walking about a yard or two away from them, casual. Light-Grey narrows his eyes at me and with a sudden deliberate gesture, snaps his nose into alignment- knew she broke it- with a stomach-twitching bony crunch. So glad I passed on the tuna salad at lunch. "Well, well, well,"he growls, lowering his hands from the mess on his face. It's stopped bleeding. "We have us a fucking little Lesser."He and the other listen for that inner sound, hear mine, and exchange a ‘someone's-supposed-to-be-on-the-special-bus' look. "You new at this?"he demands.
I shrug noncommittally. "Kinda.-

Okay, I admit that maybe I'm not telling the truth here.

Fine. I'm pulling shit out of my ass. I lied to make them overly confident, which'll result in me killing them with minimum effort on my part. But hey, who says I can't mind-fuck the guilty? It isn't covered under the Geneva Convention. I checked.
Besides, they're Greater, so they work for her. She mind-fucks me on a regular basis. Since I can't reciprocate to her, might as well to her underlings.

Okay: I'm petty. Let's just move on.
Anyway, back in the alley, Light-Grey's smirking at me.

"Little Lesser, you have no idea what you just got yourself into,"he says, eyes almost glowing.
I raise an eyebrow. "Okay, you got me. I don't. Wanna fill me in?"
"And why should we?"drawls Dark-Grey. The girl's starting to pay attention again. Distracting them on my part would be good. I shrug, casual. "Eh, call it a last request. You do them, right?"
"When we're in the mood,"snarls Light-Grey. "Now isn't-"
"Why her?"I ask, jerking my head toward her. "I mean, nice voice and her boobs ain't all that bad, but she's human through and through.-

Her eyebrow twitches at the boobs comment, but other than that she keeps more or less still. Good girl. "There are some things only humans are good for,"explains Dark-Grey in a tired tone that tells me he's told this to someone many, many, times. Possibly Light- Grey, though I'm not sure just how much that theory holds water.
"Like what?"I persist. Take it from me; bug someone enough and you get answers. Though you need to stop before they get homicidal on you. Tricky balance.
Light-Grey's eyes glint. "Virgin sacrifices."
There's the necessary pause. I blink. "Um... say what?"

"Are you deaf as well as stupid, little Lesser?"demands Light-Grey. "You heard me."
I just stare at them. "Virgin sacrifices,"I repeat flatly. Okay, screw this. I move faster than they think I should be able to and appear behind Light-Grey, forcing him into a chokehold. "First off, our kind don't use the blood of innocents to gain power,"I inform him, sliding the magic inside the words like a knife into butter. "Our magic comes from music, bloodright, and age. Second-"
"I'm not a virgin,"says the girl flatly as she slams her leg into Dark-Grey's testicles.

He wasn't on guard this time. And it was a real sucker punch of a kick, the type where any guy in a three-mile radius finds himself wincing in sympathy. Someone's going to need a testicle retrieval operation if he lives through this. The girl kicks him again, this time in the ribs, just as hard. Then again, and again, tears rolling down from her dark brown eyes as she lets herself lose it. I don't stop her. She starts making sounds- not quite sobs, not quite shrieks, not quite words. I watch her out of inhuman eyes, thinking.

I know that reaction. He hurt her. He made her feel fear. So she'll make him hurt, make him feel fear. But you need three things to be able to do that. You need to have been hurt before, hurt bad. You need to have escaped. And you need strength. Real strength that isn't measured by how many pounds you can bench press or pushups you can do. The type of strength that life and society crush because those with it can bring change. She's one who can bring change; someone who can inspire others and introduce thoughts or ideas.

And these morons were going to slice her throat and play pick-up sticks with her viscera. A low hum comes out of my throat- our equivalent of a growl- and I tighten the chokehold. Light-Grey's still drained from my attack so I don't have to worry about elbows in my gut or shoes on my feet. Not that I could feel any foot-based attack with my combat boots on. Did I mention how cool they are?
"Why virgin sacrifices?"I ask/command. He squirms, trying to fight the magic. I narrow my eyes and increase the amount. "Answer the question.-

"We were told there was power,"he gasps, beads of sweat on his forehead. "We were told it could increase bloodright in those born with little."
"Who told you?"I snarl, pushing more power into the words. "Who?"
His hands claw helplessly at my unyielding arm. I can feel him struggling to stay conscious as he starts to hyperventilate. I lower my arm one quarter of an inch. "Who?"I demand again.
He stares up at me out of pain-crazed eyes. Recognition suddenly flashes as he stares at my eyes, and a slow smirk slides its way across his face.

"I know you,"he rasps, smirk cold and cruel. "Not just a little Lesser."
"Answer the question,"I order. Not even my best intentions can prevent my will from faltering, and thus my power flow. The phrase doesn't have enough power. He knows it and keeps talking.
"You're the one with tainted eyes,"he taunts, the smirk reaching to his light-grey orbs. "You're the one she's marked."
"Shut up and answer,"I snap. My arm's trembling. I can't hold it steady. He coughs suddenly, splattering red blood all over his face but he keeps on smirking. "You're the ill-fated one."

His light-grey eyes are mocking. Familiar. In the light they could almost be silver. My arm suddenly tightens. "SHUT UP,"I speak/ command, my power exploding in an electric spike through the phrase. His body jerks against my arm at the sudden force, hard. At the arm very tightly around his windpipe. His spinal cord.
I hear it snap. His eyes are light-grey again as they roll up slightly. I let him drop and stand there, staring emotionlessly at the limp bundle of cloth and limbs littering the concrete alley ground.
He's dead.

... Not that that wasn't my end goal.

I had to kill him. Four of us walked into this alley. Only two were going to come out alive. If either of them had lived, they might have told her where I am. Or gone after the girl.
I'm forgetting something.
I'll remember it later. That's not the issue right now. The issue is that I just went fucking ape-shit over some moron's attempt at mind fucking when I needed him alive. You can't get information from a corpse- well, you can but only if you're insane- and now I'm left without any fucking information source.
I'm forgetting something.

"He's dead."It's a simple statement of fact, no wavering or real question. A female voice. I turn suddenly, feeling a little panicked. Who the hell-
Oh. The girl.
Girl I was trying to save. Girl who was beating the shit out of the Greater with dark-grey eyes. Girl who-
"Did you kill him?"I demand. The girl stares at me, blinking her dark-brown eyes. "No, you did,"she informs me flatly. She edges away slightly. "You aren't some fucked up serial rapi-"
" Oh, please,"I snap, "I just saved your life. Not this guy- the other guy!"

Despite her wariness, she still gives me a Look. "No, I dislike being sent to jail for manslaughter. Look, would you like to tell me what the fuck is-"
I ignore her and rush over to Dark-Grey's side. I scan his injuries with both my eyes and the hidden place. Ah shit. Broken ribs, fractured tibias, and an almost demolished voice box. I could heal him, but wasting all that magic just to torture and then kill him seems fairly fucked up. Not to mention I already sent a flare out when I killed Light-Grey. Low profile, Mallory.

I can spare enough power for this, at least. I put my hand on his swollen face and sing/say the word, my eyes glowing. His body jerks, spasms. It's still. I squat on the concrete for a moment before standing up. Clean-up time.
"What the hell?"screams the girl. Oh yeah. Her. I keep forgetting her for some reason. I sigh, offering her a shrug. "Um, it's kind of a long story."
Her eye twitches. "You just killed two guys that fucking grabbed me out of nowhere and were talking about virgin sacrifices. I think I can fucking make time!"