• Luna
    A circular room. Bronze covers the walls as if they were ghostly mirrors. The floor is paneled in wood, like a dancing floor. Chains welded to the bronze. A person…in those chains. Blood……blood everywhere. It pools around the person…a girl. Her head is slumped. She kneels, unable to sit or stand. Her arms hang above her in the chains. Her hair, dark as night, hangs to the floor over her face, matted and bloody. She is sixteen. Pain…..so much……blood drips from her onto the floor, adding to the pool.

    She stares at the pool. Such a pretty red.....too bad she couldn't touch it, smother it on her fingers.......lick it. No. She mustn't think that way, the way they taught her to. She wasn't one of them, and yet.......no. No, she won't think that way. Laughter resounds throughout the room, startling the girl out of her reverie. With extreme effort, she painfully lifts her head to see who it is. Its him. He walks over to her, grabs her face as if he owns her. She tries to flinch, but its too much. He smiles. "I'd like you to meet someone." He whispers in her ear, his voice like silk.
    She bares her teeth at him. A frown. He pulls up her face. She resists, fails miserably. She is grateful for the loaned strength, even as she hates it. "Luna." He calls her. She looks in his molten yellow eyes, set in a face carved of stone, framed by white hair pulled back in a ponytail. Fangs. His fangs are bared back at her. "I'd like you to meet your new brother, Bartimaeus." His lips touch her ear. His hand is at her throat. "I adopted him, as I adopted you." His hand tightens. She gasps for air. "Be nice." Sudden rush of air. He moved out of the way, to reveal......spiky blue hair? Is it.....real? Such pretty electric blue hair. The little boy is so.....beautiful. But...why are there tears in his sky blue eyes? Didn't he come here with him? Isn't he here to "teach" her too?

    Bartimaeus
    Without realising it, tears begin to slide slowly down his face. He can see her pain. It forms a red cloud around her, chasing away any chance of rational thought. He doesn't know her, and yet......he can't bear to see it. What did Vrael do to her?

    Luna
    The hand drops from her face. Her head slumps, obscuring her vision. Footsteps. A gentle touch, lifting her face, clearing her hair out of her eyes. Why is this boy's hand crawling with blue sparks? Slowly, so slowly, she realizes.......he was healing her. Those sparks were a manifestation of the energy he was releasing. She looks, startled, into his tear-filled eyes. At that moment, their destiny is forever intertwined.

    Vrael
    "INSOLENT BOY!" Vrael picks up Bartimaeus and throws him across the room as if he were nothing but a doll. He lands against a bronze-covered wall, shattering it like glass. How dare that stupid boy touch his property, his prize?

    Luna
    Rage, filling her mind and tainting her soul. She slumps her head down purposely, making herself the image of defeat.

    Bartimaeus
    Painfully, Bartimaeus lifts up his head off the cold hardwood floor. Yellow molten eyes are boring into his own. He gasps for air as electric blue sparks course through his body, repairing torn sinew and melding broken bones back together. All the while, Vrael is sneering at him. "Vrael......what did you ...do...to her?" Bartimaeus whispers. He looks away from Vrael to stare at Luna, apologising soundlessly.

    Vrael
    "Who do you think you are, little demon?" Vrael whispers back. Too bad he couldn't mark him as his slave. The stupid demon child knows that his blood has healing qualities, but is oblivious to the fact that the very same blood is pure acid to vampires. Whats this? Why is he looking at her? He grabs Bartimaeus's face, careful not to pierce the skin. "You need to remember who the master is here. You are my slave....and nothing more." Vrael leans in close. "So if you so much as think of disobeying again, I'll make you kill her." As Bartimaeus glares at him, Vrael rises to his feet.

    Luna
    Soon. Soon she will have her revenge. Just a little longer.....and they will die. It doesn't matter who they are anymore, or what they've done. They will die. Luna nearly chuckles, even as she subconsciously realizes that she is going insane.

    Bartimaeus
    Vrael leans down low to the demons face. "Remember who your master is, boy. You are here for me, and me only."
    He resisted the urge to growl at him. "What do you plan to do with her?" He asked, gritting his teeth. Vrael only smiled.
    "Time to prove your worth to me, boy. What is the thing most tabooed by both vampires and demons alike?"
    Bartimaeus’s very instinct told him to rend him to pieces; to take revenge for the great wrong done to him. He quelled his instinct before it could take hold. He could not afford to transform here. "Vrael...."
    "Master Vrael to you, boy."
    Bartimaeus clenched his teeth tightly. "Master Vrael....isn't the thing demons and vampires hate most....isn't it each other?"
    Vrael shook Bartimaeus's hair, causing him pain. "Think, boy! If vampire hate demons and demons hate vampires, then what would be the most tabooed thing of all?"
    Bartimaeus's eyes widened as realized the impossible. "A half-demon/half-vampire hybrid?!?!"

    Vrael smiled widely. He turned Bartimaeus's head to look at Luna. "See that over there? Right now its only half vampire and half human. Its missing the demon half."

    Luna
    Meanwhile, Luna was cleverly testing out her chains, seeing how strong they are and if she could break them. If she pulled just a little more......yes. That'll do. She lifted her head, her eyes flashing red within the purple. She smiled, showing fangs.
    Bartimaeus started to back away. Vrael followed him, taking slow steps, taking his time. "You're insane! Its impossible to create such a thing!" Bartimaeus yelled. Vrael cocked his head, still smiling all the while. "Again, my boy, you show your utter stupidity. Anything can be done, as long as you have the determination and the perseverance."

    Crack. Crack. Crash! Luna stood to her full height, hands by her side with the chains dangling to the floor. Her head was bowed as if in prayer. Then, slowly, she lifted her head. "Indeed, Father, I agree with you. Anything-" She swung around the chain on her right wrist as if it were a whip, wrapping it unexpectedly around Vrael's throat. "-can be done-" With a snap, she pulled him to her without mercy. "-as long as you have-" She wrapped the chain on her left wrist around his body, tying them together. "-the determination and perseverance to do so." She leaned in close to him and licked where the vein in his neck would be. Then, she whispered delicately into his ear, "And I assure you, Master," she whispered sarcastically, "that I have the determination to kill you, and the perseverance to do so no matter how long it takes!"

    Vrael
    Blood trickles down his collarbone where the chains cut into his flesh. It begins to heal immediately after. Vrael smiles, slowly, as if he enjoys Luna's breath upon his neck.