Chapter Two

Sitting still, Kathryn wondered what got her to this place. She always knew something was different, off, about somethings and even people. However, she kept quiet about it, constantly living her life on autopilot while she waited for the other shoe to drop.

"Where are you? You stupid bitch! This would be easier if you had just fallen for my charms, but no! Now we have to go through all this damn trouble!"

Kathryn flinched in her head. She remembered all the times he tried to talk to her. The sound of his voice was the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard and his presence gave her the creeps. It wasn't the same as with Denmon, when she saw his face distorted, but she had a feeling that there was something off about the both of them, and she was right.

"Aye yo boss, I'm checking the kitchen!"

"Whatever," Denmon yells back down. "Just don't do anything without me if you find her!"

He smirks as he enters the kitchen. He's enjoying the idea of hunting his pray, the negative energy filling his very being.

Before he can make a move towards the cupboards, however, a mysterious woman enters the kitchen.

"Haven't I already kicked your ass before kid?"

Jasper turns and grunts his response, irritated by the familiar face.

"Why are you people here?! You'll ruin everything."

"As if you'll actually be able to turn her. She doesn't even want to be near you."

Kathryn peeps through the cupboard, making no noise.

"Ms. Basel Johnson, and here I thought Denmon took care of you."

"Illusions are my specialty after all. Still, it's close to the girls eighteenth birthday. Be as desperate as you want, but it's a little too late to turn her."

"It's never too late. All it takes is one thing to go wrong. For me to do one horrible thing to turn her kindness into rage, and she's all ours. After all, I'm sure Angel is worth all that rage."

At the sound of her best friend's name, Kathryn ears perked up.

"Be quiet you filth!" Ms. Johnson shouted. "That girl...you're a sick bastard you hear me. How twisted were you? To be so swayed by the call in the opposite direction..."

"You tend to do that when your mother is beaten into a coma. I guess it doesn't matter anymore, because I no longer care. Still when it happened, it was some pretty fucked up shit."

Kathryn thought back and remembered the end of last year, and how rumors went around the school about Jasper's mother being hospitalized. No one knew what happened, nor did they know why, but she remembers being on edge around him ever since.

Still she wondered, what did any of this have to do with a call, and why would it make Jasper, who was once one of the sweetest guys in the school, turn into whatever he is right now.

"To give into the darkness so easily. Who knew you could be so weak," Ms. Johnson hissed.

"She will be just as weak too. Once I tell her all about how I butchered her best friend. Like tenderizing a steak." Jasper responded, his face contorting in pure amusement. He watched as Basel's countenance eyed him, horrified at what he had become.

Shadows were particularly horrid human beings, giving themselves over to their darker natures, but not one had ever slaughtered so many students with their bare hands before. He and Denmon were truly the worst shadows she had encountered.

"What do you mean butchered?!"

Kathryn had finally emerged from her spot in the cabinet, her body trembling in fear. Jasper looked at her with a crooked grin, he himself reliving the horrors he had put Angel through. It was her punishment for not helping Jasper get to Kathryn sooner. It was almost her eighteenth birthday, and if he failed to twist her heart before midnight, she would become a defender. Even in his darkness he still liked her, and he needed her to enter the with him.

"Oh, you missed the party, I wish you were there to see it. Volleyball isn't the same when the star player goes missing, so we had to have fun without you."

Jasper licked his lips at the thought, as if he had enjoyed only the memory of his deeds. Kathryn could feel the bile rising in her throat.

"What did you do?!"

Anger swelled in her. She hated feeling like he was toying with her.

"Hey, I thought we said you wouldn't start without me," Denmon says coyly as he enters the kitchen. "Well, it's not like we can do anything to her until she picks a side. And Basel, I thought I killed you. Shame. I might have to wait for the girl, but you on the other hand, I can kill you now."

Kathryn was confused now. All of these words, but none of them explained why three people were in her home that she didn't know. It didn't answer her questions about what happened to Angel.

"Enough! I want to know why the hell you all are in my house, what does any of this have to do with a damn call, and why the hell does it involve me and Angel?!"

She had finally snapped. Too many things have happened, but none of them had provided her answers.

"It's simple. She was looking forward to getting that athletic scholarship with her best friend. That way she could get a full ride to college. Too bad I cut off bother her legs, her arm, and broke her spine," Jasper chuckled.

Rage.

Like lava boiling at the pit of her stomach, a rage so vile began to rise within her, images of ripping Jasper's head from his shoulders nearly consuming her consciousness.

"Do it! Tear his head from his limbs! Make him suffer!"

The voice. The one that warned her to stay away was now back. Only, it was more distorted, angry. It called to her, begging her to give in, to commit something she would usually consider an atrocity.

As darkness swirled around her, she began to lose her mind to the fog. It felt good, she felt free.

She wanted to give in.