Staring at the target, Keshiema pulled her bow taught. At the height of her breath, the world slowed. She could hear the smallest sounds as they played out around her: A bird dropping from its perch; A leaf hitting the ground; Gaap releasing a small metal marble. She could see the target and envisioned the path her arrow would take. She released her bowstring and quickly reloaded, firing two more in succession before the first arrow reached the target. As the arrows pelted the wooden target, the marble clinked against the ground. Gaap smiled. "Your speed has improved. And your grouping is decent.

  "So, does that mean I get to take the horses out now? You haven't let me train on them in three days." She sat cross-legged and looked up at him like a child asking for a cookie.

  "Horses? That's child's play. I have something better for you."

  The look in her eyes was a mix of confusion and curiosity. She had barely begun to gain confidence in her horseback archery lessons. A loud roar cracked through her thoughts. A high-toned zipping rumble filled the air. She turned to see an odd two-wheeled contraption speeding passed the targets behind her. The rider of the pale machine wore a full-faced helmet, blocking his identity. He turned the wheeled beast around and barreled towards them. Just as she readied herself to leap away, the rider slowed to a stop.

  "What in all holy hellfire is that?" Keshiema pointed at the machine.

  "That's a motorcycle. A horse of the Apocalypse to be exact." Gaap looked slightly uneasy. "I thought Merihim would be her driver for this." He looked to the rider.

  "He's a bit preoccupied at the moment." Eurynome's voice came through muffled by the helmet. He removed it and parked the sports bike. "So I'll be taking his place."

  "And could Asmoday not be bothered?"

  "Not sure, I didn't ask."

  "Keshiema, I must speak with my brother. Keep practicing, we'll be back in a moment."

  The princes walked to the opposite end of the range before continuing the conversation. "Eury is this wise? What if you fall and your suit tears?" he whispered.

  "I've never wrecked before, what makes you think I will now?" He scoffed at Gaap's poor excuse.

  "Do you even ride anymore I'm sure you're rusty." Gaap was doing little more than grasping at straws.

  "I take it out at least a few times a month."

  "We've all seen the way you look at her, Eury. You get too close and you're hunger kicks in full force." Sometimes bluntness was the only option left.

  "I'll be fine. Merihim is busy and you want her trained to shoot while riding. We don't have time to waste."

  "And if I say no? This is my time to train her."

  "well, in about 2 hours its my turn to train her. So guess what the lesson will be?"

  "You're supposed to be helping her in defensive sword tactics. She's never faced anyone nea Adramelech's level before. She needs practice defending against a much stronger opponent."

  "Guess you'd better let me do this then." Eurynome's smug, triumphant grin irked Gaap and he growled in anger as his brother sauntered away.

  Eurynome gave Keshiema a basic tour of the motorcycle before handing her a helmet. "Leave your bow here. You need to get comfortable on the bike before you can shoot from it. First you'll learn to be a good passenger. Then you'll learn how to shoot as a passenger. If you're good at that we'll let you drive. The last step is to shoot a wrist bow while driving. You're fast enough to do it, but you need to build up to the coordination process."

  Keshiema frowned, her brow creased with confusion, still holding the helmet in her hands. "Um, Eury, how am I supposed to wear this?"

  "You slip it over your head. You saw me take mine off. What's so challenging about that?" For the first time, he found himself questioning her intelligence.

  "Eell, I don't suppose you have invisible ones," she reached up and grabbed one of her horns, "but I can't exactly get this past these."

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  He felt like an idiot. Never in his life had he been so embarrassed. "Ah, well, there aren't any helmets that will fit over your horns. I guess you'll just have to go without." He took the helmet from her and threw it to Gaap, who looked to be having a hard time not laughing. A glare from the Reaper-Daemon made him sober up. Slightly.

  Keshiema hopped on the bike behind Eurynome and was immediately unsure where to place her hands. Reaching behind himself, he took her hands and wrapped them around his waist.

  'Did her hair just turn pink for a second?' Gaap frowned. With his power to strengthen feelings of affection and aversion came another useful skill: he could sense those emotions in anyone. Hers were so quick to vanish that he almost felt unsure of them.

  He watched nervously as Eurynome started the bike. It roared to life in an instant. As he sped off, Keshiema yelped, tightening her grip around Eurynome's waist. 'This is why he wanted this. I wonder what Merihim is so busy with that he'd let Eury take over.'

  ***

  "What the hell do you mean! My men don't become hostages!" Merihim's voice echoed through the hall. As his anger rose, the white aura around him grew denser. Even Samael was uneasy around Merihim in his current state.

  "I apologize, my prince. However, the message was very clear. The rebellion leader, Tobias, insists that your men are still alive – save for Grendal who was working as a spy. Tobias demands a meeting with Keshiema, and he'll release one hostage. The rest will burn." Samael thanked and dismissed the messenger before he could become a victim of Merihim's misplaced wrath.

  "Like hell. Knowing that piece of shit, he'd shoot the released hostage after three steps. I'm not letting Keshiema anywhere near that monster." The Prince of Pestilence growled after the messenger left.

  "Merihim, Keshiema has the goal of allying with the rebellion. A meeting will at some point be necessary."

  "You don't understand, Samael. One of these demons is her friend. When she found out he'd been sent to Asail she fell apart."

  "What kind of mess have you put us in? I told you to leave Asail to me. Tobias is by far the most volatile of the leaders. We may need to send a team to get the hostages back. We might even have to eliminate Tobias."

  "My princes." Hiro spoke up from the doorway. "If I may be so bold as to ask permission to weigh in."

  "You may." Samael answered before Merihim could refuse.

  "This is Tobias Davis you speak of?"

  "It is." Merihim growled through clenched teeth.

  "If you kill him, the humans may not be the only ones who will not trust you. You see, Tobias was one of Keshiema's companions during her time in the orphanage. She took it upon herself to keep those children safe. She was especially close to Tobias and his younger sister Mia."

  "So you're saying we're damned either way. I'd rather take the chance of killing someone she knew twelve years ago than let him murder someone she fell apart over a week ago."

  "Or we could just let him have this meeting. Perhaps she can convince him to release all of the hostages. It would not be the first time she has surprised us." Samael hoped Merihim would listen.

  "How long did he say we have?"Merihim asked the messenger.

  "Three weeks, or everyone will be killed."

  ***

  Eurynome pulled the bike to a stop and killed the engine. He removed his helmet after helping Keshiema off the bike. Gaap was furious. She was thankful to be back on her feet. "How fast is that thing, exactly?" she asked as she combed her hands through her tangled hair.

  "It tops out at about 300. We got to 150." Eurynome patted the bike with pride shining in his eyes.

  "I thought all of the mechanical transporters went defunct after the apocalypse." She knelt down to examine what she could see of the engine through the pale green plastics.

  "Runes are used to enable us to power them with our aura."

  "This isn't the only one?" she asked excitedly.

  "No, each of the horsemen have one," Gaap answered her.

  Her thoughts went straight to having her own. She was fast on foot, but only for short distances and she needed to expend a lot of aura to even accomplish that. "So could another be built?"

  Gaap and Eurynome shared a concerned glance as Keshiema looked over the motorcycle in awe, golden highlights streaking through her blue hair.

  "Perhaps we should get you comfortable shooting as a passenger before you try to ride on your own. If you become skilled enough at that, we can talk about getting you your own."

  "Challenge accepted." She grinned.

  ***

  Ipos frowned at the sunstone-covered walls of his cell. The soft ring they emitted sliced through his thoughts and kept him awake. His claws had started to grow back, but the short chains made them useless. 'How long has it been?' He asked himself, turning his gaze to the floor. 'Two weeks...'

  "Damien..." Keshiema's soft, flowery voice came from the doorway.

  "Keshiema!" he snapped his head up. She took a step forward into a beam of light leaking from the sunstone ceiling. "how did you get here? It's not safe, you need to leave!"

  "Damien...I came to help you." She came closer, stopping just out of reach."

  "After all I've done, I don't deserve your help."

  "You have hurt me, Damien," she closed the distance, "but you've saved me too."

  "Kesh...I never should have invaded your dreams." A solitary tear ran down his cheek. It had been a long while since he let himself feel enough to cry.

  Keshiema reached out and brushed his cheek. Her touch was like ice. As the cold shock cleared the fog in his thoughts, he realized her aura was absent. "Who are you?" he tried to launch at her, but his chains kept him bound. Suddenly, he was alone.

  The guard slammed his fist against the outer door of the cell. "Keep it down in there!" he shouted in a gruff voice.

  Damien stared at the empty space in front of him as the hum of the sunstones chipped away at his sanity.