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Nathan stared at Alec in the eyes for a long moment.
"It's very odd, I think. But I have seen lots of odd things. My family, and institutions like these, for example." He kept his voice low, so that it did not travel across the classroom. However, he know Luna was a werewolf, and could probably hear them quite well. He had no idea how well Aurora could hear, though.
"There are lives on the line here. One of them is my child. We cannot afford not to trust Aurora, and we are wasting precious minutes by having this conversation!" Anger didn't suit Nathan, but he wielded it well.
"Now, I need your help. He needs our help, and helping him helps us." He did not elaborate how.
"I have already enlisted Ophiuchus, and I doubt Ms. Luna would miss this for the world. What do you think now?"

Alec simply gave Nathan an even stare and nodded at him. He could understand the pressure he was under, especially since Ialo was his son. Alec clapped Nathan on the shoulder a few times before he spoke in his previous low tone. "Alright, I understand. But I'll be keeping an eye on him, just to make sure nothing screwy happens." Alec gave Nathan a discreet wink to let him know he was on his side.

Alec lead them both back to the front of the room and addressed Aurora with a slight hint of apology in his voice. "Sorry about that. ...Well, we've decided to trust you for the time being. I'd guess that your 'lead' that your bosses told you about is us, seeing as we're planning on infiltrating Enlil Corp. to retrieve a friend of ours. Mr. Enlil here knows more than I do, he can fill in the gaps real quick for you." Alec patted Nathan on the shoulder as a small gesture of encouragement. Not that Nathan needed it of course, that's just how Alec rolled.

Meanwhile, Danni had finished her job, and had taken a total of 27 souls that day. Not bad for a night's work. But now she was sitting in the shack, listening upstairs to where Cook was snoring, since it was past 3am on that Saturday morning. The dogs were all sleeping either up in Cook's room or at her feet next to the fire, and she had an old picture album in her lap. It's cover was worn, but the name Rinaldi etched in gold ink was still quite clear.

Taking a deep, weary breath, she opened to the first page, and was met with a familiar family portrait. There were her parents, her mother sitting in a chair while her father stood behind her. Then there was Ambrose at his father's side, and a little Lia on her mother's lap. And there she was, a little under two years old, smiling in pigtails and a blue dress with white tights and shoes, sitting in a posed position at her father's and brother's feet.

There had been a time, she thought, when she'd been her father's pride and joy, though her mother had always favored Lia. She could vaguely remember times when her father would come up behind her and lift her high in the air before settling her on his shoulders. Remembered picnics by the shore of the island, her father holding one of her little hands in his large, smooth ones as they splashed together in the surf.

She'd been Izzy then, sweet little Izzy, the promising little Rinaldi who had just enough spunk to make her more liked than her fussy older sister. All Rinaldi's had received their magic marks, much like tattoos, at the exact moment that they turned four years old. White magic users, such as Lia and their mother, had tattoos of angel wings on their back shoulder blades. Shield specialists, such as her father and brother, had tattoos of, what else, shields at the center of their backs. Everyone had excitedly awaited Danni's birthday, wondering if she'd be a white magic user, or a shield specialist, or perhaps some other white magic form.

As Danni flipped through pages of old pictures, her mind drifted back in time. Here, she thought, here was the picture of her second birthday, with two fat candles atop a six tier cake that was as tall as she was. Birthdays and holidays had always meant relatives. There were so many Rinaldi's it wasn't even funny, and they were impossible to keep track of without use of the family tree. So there she was in the picture, her father holding her up so she could reach the candles while heaps of relatives crowded around, smiles on their faces.

She flipped through pictures of the second year of her life, laughed when she found a picture of her and Ambrose at a piano, pounding away on the keys and making a racket. And here, she thought, running a hand over a picture that showed her, Lia, and Ambrose, sound asleep on the nursery floor, using each other as pillows. She continued on to her thrid birthday, then the pictures that recorded her third year of life. Then she reached the final few pictures of the book. The last one where she was smiling, she saw, was the morning of her fourth birthday. A momentous day in the life of a Rinaldi, she thought with a chuckle that came out more like a half sob. She'd been born at exactly noon, so that's when her mark was to appear. Every Rinaldi was going to be there that day. Some were flying half way around the world or more just to be there for the occasion.

And then, when the clock had struck noon, Danni remembered how she'd felt a burning at the small of her back, as well as her shoulder blades. Excited, her mother had unzipped the back of her dress...And screamed, jumping away in horror. For there were devil wings on her shoulder blades, and along the small of her back was a bloody red sword, with black, thorny vines wrapping around the hilt and twisting along her waist and stopping right at her sides.

With a painful expression on her face, Danni remembered how the shouts had gone up, and how she'd seen her father staring at her, shaking his head in denial while she'd just stood there, confused and scared. Then she'd heard her mother shout out "MONSTER!!" Then she'd felt hands wrap around her throat, and her screech, along with her air, was cut off as her own mother tried to kill her on the spot. It had taken Ambrose, Sly, and several of her uncles and cousins to drag her mother off.

Then people had started backing away slowly, giving a coughing and sobbing Danni a wide berth, looking at her as though she were the scum of the earth. At that moment, all fond memories of 'cute little Izzy' were wiped from people's mind and replaced with revulsion and disgust. However, a Rinaldi was a Rinaldi, and the 'generous' family hadn't had it in them to kill her off. So she'd been dragged to her feet by her father, who seemed intent on avoiding looking at her, dragged off past the nursery, to the old guest room down in the basement, where no one ever went.

For ten years, that basement had become her refuge. At least five or six seats seperated her from the rest of the family at the dinner table, and no one but Ambrose could seem to bear to make eye contact with her. As she flipped through the few photos that had been taken of her since that fateful day, she recognized the changes she'd undergone. There went the natural hair color, in came the blue hair and the rebellious clothes. Gone went the carefree smile, in came the permanent scowl. And then, as she realized her true duties as a soldier of the Ancients, there went the wounded dog eyes, replaced by the carefully blank mirrors that she'd mastered over time. Anything to keep them from knowing how they hurt her...Anything to keep them from seeing how much they affected her...

Unknown to Danni, hundreds of miles away, Sylvester Rinaldi tossed and turned in bed beside his wife, muttering under his breath. Whether she'd meant to or not, Danni had sent her powerful memories straight at him, and it was he now who remembered how all had turned on her, how she'd gone from beloved daughter to intolerable reject. Remembered, in his own mind, how he'd longed for her those first few months. And, as Danni drifted to sleep in memories, Sly sent his right back at her through a bond no prejudice could break.

So unwanted thoughts filled her head, unwanted yearnings. Her father's voice filled her head, his tone a desperation that had her cringing in unconsciousness. 'She never smiles anymore.' 'How am I supposed to stand back and watch her struggle?' 'When was it that I stopped thinking of her as daddy's girl?' 'Doesn't she know I'd give anything to take that look from her eyes?' 'I don't know how to save her anymore.' 'If I could tell her anything, it'd be that I long for the day when I can lift my head with pride once more as I call her my daughter.' 'Why can't I understand what's in her head anymore?' 'Is she trying to break our hearts, or does she just not notice anymore?' 'Why did it have to be her?' 'She's killing herself, and I'm letting her...why?' '...If I let you go, will you smile once more?'

These thoughts and more were forced into her mind, while her own went into his, and both woke up in a cold sweat at the same time. Danni bolted up straight in her chair, running her hands through her hair as a tear fell down her cheek. "Why...Why couldn't you love me, old man? Why couldn't I be good enough?" She demanded, not noticing when Cook's head slowly disappeared from around the stairs, didn't notice the slight creak as he made his way back to his room.

Sly let out a gasp of breath, wiping sweat from his brow and sitting up in bed, looking over at his peacefully sleeping wife. He squeezed his eyes shut, rubbing his temple. "Why...Why couldn't we just love her? Why...why couldn't we take her as she was?" He shook his head, then stuffed his head under his pillow and tried to get back to sleep.

[[She's a star. And she's going to friggin' law school.]]

((Ah, thank you...U know, I just realized how long that was after I actually bothered to come back and read it...And it's not a death wish, it's the desire to keep my baby brothers out of jail in the future xd ))

Briar smiled brightly at Lia and quickly wrapped her hand around his small arm. He was beaming at not only the fact that he got to escort such a beautiful young lady to the party but also because his father and mother were smiling proudly at him.

And, when Lin saw Ambrose bow in front of her and ask to escort her to the party, she almost choked on the remaining tea she had been drinking. He was asking her? She thought for sure that he'd ask Kember. Maybe he was too nervous to ask her and he thought he'd go with the safe choice.

So, Lin put her empty glass into the sink, placed her hand into his, and smiled sweetly at Ambrose. "Of course I will go with you, Ambrose. It will be my pleasure."

Kember tried not to look disappointed. She usually could bounce back quite quickly from disappointment, seeing as how she was usually just a happy person in general. Besides, she was excited to sing soon!

Samiel, however, held out his hand to Kember and smiled at her. "Miss Yin, may I have the pleasure of also escorting you to the party?"

It was completely alright for the father of a family to escort his wife and any of his single daughters to a party. In fact, it was almost expected. It was better to have that happen than for a girl to have to go to a party completely alone.

Kember laughed softly and nodded to her father. "Of course, Father." Kember wrapped her arm around her father's free arm.

Samiel then looked at everyone. "Alright. Is everyone ready? Let's go."

With that, Samiel began to lead everyone out of the house and down toward the large lake of spring water in the middle of the city.

Ambrose almost had a freaking heart attack when he actually got to...HOLD HER HAND!!!!!! YES!!!!!! HUZZAH!!!!! PRAISE GOD, BUDDAH, CONFUSCIOUS, AND EVERYONE IN BETWEEN!!!!!!!! After several mental fist pumps and a few heart stutters after seeing her smile at him, he smiled back, and led her behind her father and brothers and their escorts, following Samiel's lead.

((oh shiz, my bad Mitsuki. I thought Lizz said you were in Law school, not thinking about going into it.))