It took Damon no time to make his way to the small town-flashing was one of many powers he"d inherited from his mother"s bloodline. He was a warlock, but he saw himself as more of a shield for the good left in the magical community-or possibly even a hit man. He hunted those who abused the dark craft and helped White Witches protect their own.

Damon ducked into a local bar on the one-way main street that was the center of this little town. Ariel"s aunt told him this was where he would find Ariel. She"d taken a job as a bartender/server. She moved far from her roots, leaving her coven to hide in a small-town biker bar.

Damon took a seat on a cracked leather stool and tapped the lacquer-finished oak bar. Jade eyes lifted from the beer tap to settle on him, a sultry smile stretched across her pretty face.

"I"ll be right with you, handsome."

Damon smirked.

"What can I get you?" Ariel asked, grabbing a bar towel and mopping up the area in front of him.

"Your best whiskey."

"Ah, a top-shelf kind of man." She smiled again. "I"ll be right back."

Damon watched her glide around the other people behind the bar, her mahogany ponytail swaying as she moved. It didn"t miss his observation that her hips and a.s.s were swaying with the same rhythm.

Damon waited for Ariel to finish her shift and watched as she untied her ap.r.o.n and headed towards the back exit. Damon finished off his drink and followed quickly behind her into the dark parking lot.

"Should I be nervous that a hit man is following me?" Ariel asked, twirling to face him.

Damon arched a brow. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean that I know who you are, Damon Payne, and while I"ve always been told that you protect White Witches, I learned a while back that you can"t really trust anyone."

"Your aunt sent me to protect you-said Serna is after you."

"Was," Ariel corrected. "I don"t need protecting. I haven"t caught wind of Serna or her h.e.l.lhounds in over six months. She either can"t find me or has given up now that I renounced my cove-"

Ariel and Damon"s heads both whipped towards an alley that ran alongside the bar, her words cut off by the pounding steps of the aforementioned h.e.l.lhounds. Serna"s hounds were nasty-looking demons that she"d resurrected as her own personal hunting party.

With a flourish of blue mist, Damon pulled a sword out of thin air. There was only one way to send a h.e.l.lhound back to its dimension and that was beheading it with a blessed sword.

With the grace of a true swordsman, Damon glided the sword toward the closest h.e.l.lhound. Its head separated from its body with an ear-piercing howl and the scent of rotting flesh. The hound disappeared into a puff of dark smoke.

"Well, she found you now," Damon took the time to remark before facing off with the next hound.

Each hound that Damon disposed of another seemed to appear in its place, materializing from the alley. Damon focused on disposing of the h.e.l.lhounds, only briefly noticing the night had gone deathly silent aside from the howls and the fighting.

"Are you doing this?" he called out to Ariel as a splatter of h.e.l.lhound blood splashed across his black shirt.

"I"m not a fighter," Ariel yelled. "I"m a caster, so I figured the best help I can offer is to hide us."

"Good plan, but they keep coming."

"Yeah, I noticed," Ariel said, sarcasm bleeding from her tone.

Damon"s sword disappeared as he wrapped his arms around Ariel"s waist and flashed them back to his hotel a few towns over.

"You want protection now?" Damon asked sardonically.

"If not for you, they wouldn"t have found me," Ariel said, pushing a long, loose lock of hair from her face.

Damon scoffed-was she serious? He just saved her life; she would have been a tasty morsel for those hounds.

"How do you figure?" he questioned her.

"I"ve been safe here for the past six months. Suddenly you show up and so do the hounds. I can only figure you brought them with you. What do you want from me?" Ariel asked, taking an obvious step back from him.

"I want to protect you. It was dumb luck that I showed up today and was able to protect you. If I hadn"t, you"d be hound food."

Ariel studied him, and then took in the room they were now in.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"We"re in my room at the Doubletree in Rohnert Park."

"So we"re in a pretty public place?"

Damon raised a brow at her. "I suppose."

"Can they follow your flash?"

"No, you"re safe here, Ariel, but the question I have for you is-what do you want to do now?"

Ariel narrowed her eyes at him before looking down at herself. She had dark stains covering her jeans and white shirt.

"What I want is a shower; you got h.e.l.lhound blood on me."

Damon smirked and couldn"t help but poke at Ariel a little. "I got h.e.l.lhound blood on me too-care for some company?"

Ariel"s eyes drifted up and down Damon"s body. The man was built and had helped her and well...he was gorgeous: close-cut black hair, grey eyes, and a full mouth that looked oh-so kissable.

"No," Ariel said with a smile as she walked into the bathroom and locked the door.

Three days had pa.s.sed with no signs of Serna or her hounds. Damon had been spending Ariel"s work shifts at the bar with her. He"d admittedly spent most of that time in a corner booth watching her.

They"d fallen into a simple, flirty repertoire and Damon found his body wanting more than to just protect Ariel. He wanted her-he wanted to run his fingers through her silky hair, run his tongue along her soft, jasmine-scented skin, he wanted to hold her close, and he wanted her to straddle him in his bed. He was losing himself to the beautiful Witch he was sent to protect.

Ariel carried an air of mystery around her. He"d caught her studying him from time to time with a very observant eye, but she held back any thoughts she had. He knew she hadn"t fully opened up to him, but he intended to change that tonight. He planned to-at the very least-taste her sweet, pink lips.

"You ready to go?" Ariel asked as she approached his booth.

Damon smiled... Yes, he was most definitely ready to go.

He nodded as he rose from his booth. "Come on, let"s get out of here."

Damon placed his hand on the small of Ariel"s back and led her through the parking lot to the alley, where he flashed them back to his house this time instead of the hotel.

"Where are we?" Ariel asked, as she did a small circle, taking in her surroundings. The secluded house was large. From where she stood on the front lawn she could see nothing but trees surrounding them and the two-story log home.

"This is my home," Damon said as he led her forward.

Ariel smirked. "I was wondering if you would ever take me somewhere other than that cheap hotel."

Damon scoffed. "That hotel wasn"t cheap."

Ariel looked up at him through hooded eyes. This was precisely what she"d been waiting for.

With a sultry move, Ariel ran her fingers down Damon"s hard, broad chest and locked them behind his back, lifting up on her tiptoes. She pressed her lips firmly against his. With little coaxing, Damon"s lips parted and Ariel drove her tongue deep into his mouth. Damon melted into the kiss, their tongues twisting in a sultry dance.

He never saw it coming.

Ariel"s head dropped as she pulled back from Damon, her fingers slipping off the hilt of the knife she"d just plunged into his back. Damon"s grey eyes were wide as they met hers. The beautiful, pale jade of her eyes swirled, taking on a deep emerald shade, her mahogany hair lightening to a pale gold as her features morphed into a face he had spent so many wasted hours searching for.

"Serna," Damon muttered as he fell to his knees in front of the Witch Queen.

"That"s right-you finally got your wish." Serna bent down in front of him, yanking the dagger from his back. "You found me."

"How?" Damon asked.

"I sent the Caldwell Witch to find you-she wants her niece back." Serna smiled. "At that point I cast a cloaking spell to hide my power level and a glamour spell to look like the precious Ariel."

"Is she still alive?" Damon asked through pain-clenched teeth.

Serna laughed. "Of course not; she"s been dead for weeks now. You know Damon, it"s a shame you"ve wanted to kill me all these years. We could have been good together."

With a brief kiss to his lips, Serna plunged the dagger deep into Damon"s chest.

Bloodlines.

S. L. Dearing.

Author Dedication.

I dedicate this story to my BFF, Janeen, and my Soul Sister, Nat. Your encouragement, support and love is never ending. You are my muses, constantly inspiring me to do better and work harder. And to Cynthia, once again, for putting the contest out there and making me think outside the box.

"I didn"t ask you to find just any children, Lieutenant Henke! I want those children! Idiot!"

The SS officer bowed his head, clicking the heels of his black boots together.

"My apologies, General. I was led to believe these children would be taken to Birkenau at Doctor Mengele"s request...for the Twins project."

The SS General looked at the young lieutenant with disdain. The fair-haired Aryan youth was rising in the ranks of the SS due only to his fanatical obsession with the Fuhrer and the influence of his father. The lines around General Heinrich Muller"s mouth deepened. Idiots...everywhere.

"It is not your concern why I want these children... just find them! These specific children! And when you do, you will come and tell me and I will retrieve them! Do you remember the names I gave you?"

"Yes, General! Sascha and Eduard Engel!"

"Good...locate them immediately and then report to me and me only. Now Go!"

The lieutenant nodded and raised his arm.

"Sieg Heil!"

Muller raised his arm and clicked his heels together.

"Sieg Heil!"

Lt. Fritz Henke lowered his arm and turned, promptly walking towards the giant, black oak doors. He opened them and exited, then spun around and closed them behind him.

Muller pushed his chair away from his desk and stood up. He walked over to the window and looked out at the dark streets of Berlin, watching the rain fall hard and fast on the unhappy pa.s.sersby. The Master"s plan was almost complete. The Chosen were being eradicated from the planet and the sheep were following the puppet. The only thing left to do was to find the children. His face twisted into a grimace, his blood pumping furiously to his brain as he clenched his hand into a fist. He had been so close before, but that b.i.t.c.h wouldn"t tell him anything. They had somehow gotten the children to a new location. He began to sneer. He would find them... and when he did, no one would be able to save them.

The bright light of the moon shone through the little window above the bed of Sascha and Eduard Engel, illuminating the tiny room where they slept. Eduard breathed deeply, lost in the world of sleep as his sister lay quietly next to him. She stared at the sky through the gla.s.s, the tiny flakes of snow gently falling from heaven. She twirled an oval, bronze pendant in her fingers and smiled. She remembered her mother. Her mama had always told her that snow was G.o.d"s way of sending little pieces of heaven to his people on earth so they would remember Him. Sascha missed her.

Her mother had been gone for almost six weeks. The soldiers in the black and silver uniforms had taken her away. Mama had made them hide under the floors and told them to not make a sound. The soldiers broke through the door and Sascha remembered hearing the gla.s.s as it smashed against the wooden planks above her head. She closed her eyes, the tiny shards slipping through the s.p.a.ces of the floorboards as they fell against her face. She heard her mother yelling at the soldiers and felt Eduard grasp her hand. Then she heard his voice. Sascha opened her eyes when she heard that voice. It was different from the others. She remembered how it cut into her soul like a knife through a potato. It hurt her. She had felt Eduard"s hand tighten. It must have hurt him too. The soldier argued with her mother and they began to yell. Suddenly, Sascha heard the smack and a great thud above her head. She saw her mother"s eye looking down at her for only a moment before it was yanked away. One of the soldiers had her mother by her hair and she was crying. He was hurting her. Sascha wanted to scream, but then she felt the grip of her brother"s hand grow tighter. She moved her other hand over her mouth so that she wouldn"t betray her promise to her mother. She would be quiet, no matter what. The fresh heat of her tears burned as they rolled down the sides of her face and into her ears. The one with the horrible voice spoke again, but she couldn"t see him. One of them hit her mama. Sascha saw the fresh blood run from her mother"s nostril into her mouth, but her mama said nothing. They hit her again and again and again. Sascha closed her eyes and prayed to G.o.d to save her mama, but then she heard the horrible one tell them to take her away. Her mama was yelling as they dragged her out of the apartment and Sascha opened her eyes again. The soldiers stayed as Sascha and Eduard listened to them smash everything they could find. They grabbed bookcases and threw them to the floor, smashed furniture, and ripped paintings from the wall. It seemed to Sascha that the a.s.sault went on for hours, but eventually they all left. It was silent-except for an item left dangling that finally gave way and fell to the floor with a gentle c.h.i.n.k. The twins stayed hidden until daylight flooded through the crevices in the floorboards. They left their hiding place and stood quietly in the center of what had been their home-debris and broken dreams lay scattered around their feet. They held on to one another"s hands and said nothing.

Mr. Levine, the butcher from downstairs, found them not long after and took them to his home. From there, they were ushered to the train station and handed off to a man they didn"t know. Mr. Levine said the man would take them to safety. When Eduard had asked about his mother, Mr. Levine smiled a sad smile, patted Eduard"s head, and then left. Subsequently, they found themselves in the French countryside near Aix-En-Provence. They were taken deep into the woods, dense with tall, lush trees. There, in a clearing, stood a small wooden shack. Sascha stared at the little home. There was gray smoke rising from the small chimney and soft violet flowers surrounding the tiny abode. She smiled-despite her sadness and confusion. It was then that they had come to stay with Patrice Ambroise.

He was a small man with kind eyes, the color of the sky after a big rain-bright and blue. Whenever he smiled, his eyes danced, his great mouth turned upward, creating ma.s.sive lines in his face, and his laugh was loud and deep. He was teaching them to speak French and to work in the woods. The twins loved their new home, despite the fact that they missed their mother and rarely saw many other people.

"You think too much."

"Sorry, Eduard. I couldn"t sleep. I didn"t mean to wake you."

"If I didn"t have to hear you think, I would sleep much better."

Eduard rolled over onto his back and stared out the same window as his sister.

"She"s gone, you know," he said.

"I know," she whispered.

Eduard slipped his hand around his sister"s and squeezed it lightly. Sascha felt her hand instinctively squeeze back. She let go of the pendant and let it fall against her chest. Together they watched the snow flurries gather against the windowpane and then blow away in the winter wind. It wasn"t long before they both drifted off to sleep.

"Rise and shine, you two."

Patrice Ambroise knocked on the door to their room and slowly opened the door.