The Outsiders

I could sense their auras before I saw them. Aristocrats all have a distinctive aura, but Nobles’ aura is like a giant glaring shark.

It almost intimidated me, actually.

In Their world, there was a chain of titles.

There were commoners, who generally chose to mingle in human society. Then there were the higher-ups, like high society, who were called Èo. They kept the larger number of commoners in check, and were in the control of the Aristocrats. Those very same Aristocrats were known by family name, and served the Nobles. The Nobles had signifigant power in Their community, and were easily able to influence governmental disputes. The Royal family kept everything in check, though. They stood at the top of Their world, and were responsible for their whole race.

Their social standing wasn’t passed down through generations, they were determined by warfare. The strongest families became the leaders, and the commoners were at their mercy. Government was almost democratal, though.

From the aura, the Noble had brought one low-class Aristocrat, and three commoners. The commoners wouldn’t be much of a problem, but those other two would be a major issue.

I heard an ear-splitting screech, knowing Jay was probably clawing someone right about now. She’s like a panther when it comes to fighting…just stay out of her way.

“Jess…ambush from the other side.” I murmured, so quietly I might as well’ve not been speaking. I knew he heard.

I took a quick look at those six through the underbrush. The three commoners were down for the count, one burificated.

Nice touch. But that was my move….don’t copy me. Ha.

There was a grizzly bear mauling--or, trying to maul--one of the Ur (that’s the Outsider name for the Aristocrats. They’re all idiots), with Tavia controlling it. Jay’s movements were being restricted by her arm, which was hangling limply at her side. Every now and then, she’d force it to move, not so much as flinching.

Actually, they were almost down.

To control animals like she does, Tavia has to use her own energy to take over their muscles. She can maintain it for about an hour to two days, depending on what and how many animals she’s controlling. A small animal like her usual owls or bats were easy, but a grizzly bear?

Still…damn ‘aristocrats’ are hard to defeat on their own. The Noble? I doubt we’d be able to touch them.

Tavia’s eyes narrowed, and I could almost feel the throbbing headache she had. Our generation of the Oursiders had never dealt with anything other than Èo and lower; never with Aristocrats.

Damn. I could really use my fourth wing right about now.

There is only one group of Outsiders. There’s a whole world. Right now, we’re probably at our strongest—and most veunerable. I mean, sure we’re strong, but point still stands that we’re still just kids, and can’t go wherever. Plus, our parents could force us into friendship with one of Them without even knowing. Believe me, not being legal has caused us a lot of trouble before. Actually, Jess is the oldest out of us all.

She was biting through her tongue now, the movements of the bear becoming more robotic and jerky. It managed to twist its head around to glare at her. Three more seconds, and she’d be bear food.

Jess jumped out of the bushes, and onto the bear’s back, jabbing his fingers through its thick fur. Between the spines, I knew the spinal cord had been severed.

One of his and Jay’s specialties; short and silent.

“Tavia!” he shook her, franticality showing on his face, “You okay?”

Her hands were on the sides of her head, and her eyes were shut tight. She managed a slight nod, and leaned on Jess for support. I was proud of her; not that many people can go through that kind of rigor and still be standing.

“I don’t like kicking ladies around like that.” The Ur said. Oh, boy. That set Jess off big time.

See, even without Jess being the leader, he has a set of rules. Just to name off a few…Number six: Never, ever lie to him. Number eighteen: Food fights are okay, but if you hit him, he’ll kill you. Number one: Hurt Tavia, and you’d be on the road to hell.

“Yeah, but what if it’s you that’s getting kicked around?” he growled.

“The Outsiders have caused us enough trouble…Rann herself wasn’t able to bring you back.”

“Exactly how signifigant is Rann to you?” I asked, stepping in front of Jess and Tavia.

“She is the ambassador of the Sixth family.” The Noble said. My attention was immediately directed towards him.

You know that feeling when you’ve got so much anger and hatred for one specific thing bottled up inside of you, that you feel like you just want to kill yourself? Yeah. Imagine that one thing, standing in front of you like they own the world, like they’re better than you, like they think they can top you. I was just barely managing not to go on a death spree.

“So? Exactly what do you want with us?” I took a step forward. The Ur had his grimy hands around my neck in an instant.

“She’s fine.” The guy waved the other away, “And you should know. The Outsiders are the bane to the existance of the vampires.” I made a small hissing noise, and he blinked, “Pardon me. Us, then. We have made do with the Outsiders before, and will do so again.”

“Made do?”

“I thought you knew your history…” the calm voice was beginning to get to the lethal side of my brain, “As obvious, the history of the Outsiders has been stained red. I’m not surprised Shiro kept it from you. Since the Outsiders were first formed by Yura in Pyce, they’ve become quite a nusiance for us. I suppose Shiro ‘forgot’ to tell you that the Outsider lineage was destroyed three hundred years ago.”

The Outsider lineage was destroyed three hundred years ago?

I could sense the guy looking at my face.

“By your expression, he didn’t. But yes. You four are the first group of Outsiders in a while.”

Of course, ‘a while’ didn’t have meaning to this guy…he’d probably been living for about maybe six hundred years, going on forever. Time really doesn’t have any essence when you’re gonna live forever.

“Define ‘a while’.”

“Well, you seem to be catching on. But yes. The last Outsider was exterminated three hundred years ago. By human standards. Now that they are back, our whole world is turning their attention to the Outsiders again. I wouldn’t expect you to live much longer. Ter.”

The last word I recognized as ‘we’re done here’.

Both the Noble and Ur turned to leave.

“Wait a second.” I said, “Why’d you come here?”

A familiar look crept over the Noble’s face. The aura emanating from him became stronger.

Okay. This guy is not a Noble.

More like…a Silver Blood.

“Life is a constant war. A struggle between humans and us, which neither can afford to lose. Our kind has become silent, quietly bowing to humanity, while some are still coninuing in the old ways. Either way is fine with me; I honestly don’t care. I’m just playing…stirring up the embers. Let’s see if you can survive the dance of death.”

He’d already disappeared.