Stay With Me, Forever and Always

With that, Topaz turned and exited the room, her heels clicking down the hallway.

Ember sent out a telepathic message in response, alerting those she had chosen to track down Ember's and her Mistress' archenemy and rival. She felt them stir and awaken in the early morning hour, and made her way to the dungeons. As she walked, she worked out her tense and sore muscles, wincing every now and again.

Topaz sure dooesn't mess around, especially when it comes down to punishments.

Ember remembered the last time she had disappointed her Mistress and shuddered, instantly pushing the painful memory away.

Some things are best forgotten.

Ember approached a four-way intersection. To her left was a unsturdy-looking hallway, filled with rubble and workers attempting to reconstruct it. Across from her was the medical hallway. She smiled softly, remembering almost -- dare she think it? -- fun times with Michael. With him gone, it was now a place of sorrow and pain. Moans echoed throughout the place, and she quickly turned to her right to escape them. This was a hallway that had been magically unscathed from the fight weeks earlier.

It's not the fastest way, but it will have to do.

She lifted a piece of rubble with her mind. It shook unsteadily under her control, and she cursed and quickly dropped it back down. Her own two feet were the safest and best choice. She sighed and walked down the hallway to the right. Within minutes, she was descending the staircase that led to the dungeons. Another long walk down a stone hallway filled with empty rooms, and she was at the entrance. A large man was guarding an even bigger door with a padlock.

"Here to see the new girl?" He grinned and exhaled, displaying a mouth that was missing too many teeth. Ember smothered the urge to gag upon inhaling his savage breath, and managed a small nod. She didn't bother visiting down here often, where the rules of society were cast away and only a chosen few held power. She was surprised that this guard was even going to let her through.

He unlocked and opened the door for her, relying on his huge muscles to do so. "Here you go, Miss Ember." He grinned and waved as she walked through and headed down yet another hallway, this one made of brick.

Lady Topazmust have been through here already, otherwise he wouldn't have known my name or let me through. I better get a move on or else she'll --

And with that, Ember considerably picked up her pace. Through another guarded doorway and down another flight of stairs and she had arrived. Iron bars from the floor to the ceiling for the first couple of cells, and then the ones after that were smaller stone rooms with chains. Burly men with flashing eyes followed her every move -- but that was what they were supposed to do.

Right now I need to focus on finding.... ah, there it is.

Not too far down the hallway was an impatient Lady Topaz, tapping her foot against the cold cobbled stone floor. "There you are -- what took you so long? And where's the rest of your group?" Topaz's harsh tone demanded immediate answers.

"Not to worry, my Lady, they should be here soon." Ember attempted to soothe her.

"They better be almost here or your ass is going to be on the line." Topaz grumbled and looked away. "You've never even told me who you picked." Ember could hear the pout in her Lady's voice.

Ember said nothing, simply waiting for her chosen crew.

The first to arrive was Flynn, probably the most noted of the group. His blonde hair stuck up in all different directions paired with his pale grey -- so much so that they were almost white -- eyes, not to mention his clothing that clung to him in all the right places made him the center of attention whenever women were around. And to add to that, he was Fae, which gave an attraction to him a whisper of magic.

Ember heard Topaz suck in a breath, and the corners of her mouth went up involuntarily. The rumors circulating around the compound were that Lady Topaz had taken Flynn as her lover, but only Ember knew that to be true due to an unplanned eavesdrop. If everyone knew that they really were together, the Lady's stone cold reputation would be ruined and there would be an uprising against Topaz. But, since Topaz knew that Ember knew, if Ember ever told anyone, the cost would be her life. At the present moment, Ember saw no reason to disclose this information to someone and die, so she remained silent.

But she secretly took joy in the fact that her Lady had inadverdently disclosed this information to her and kept her alive.

"If it had been anyone else at that door," Topaz seethed, "they would have died."

"Well, hello Flynn. I didn't know that you would be joining Ember on this little quest." If Topaz had said that with any emotion at all, it could have been deemed as flirting. But with all these guards around, there was no way she would risk it. For castle staff as low as the guards are, to even think that something might be going on between them would allow them to be buried in the garden. Alive.

Flynn gave her an enigmatic smile and turned to Ember. "The others?"

"On their way." She replied, grateful that he was here so that Lady Topaz's feelings could be directed toward someone else for a change. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she saw another making their way towards them. "Rafael." She acknolwdged. Choosing him had been a tough decision to make, considering their previous encounter, but in the end Ember had decided that his strength and dedication to Lady Topaz would be to her advantage. His white hair and black orbs gleamed despite the sparse torch lighting the dungeon offered. He wore a pair of simple black slacks, putting his grotesque scars on his chest and the dark and shady history behind them on display. Lady Topaz had hinted that he was of a different kind before, but Ember had only narrowed it down between Rafael being a Lycan, a Fallen, a Fauna, or quite possibly a Fae.

Finally, not too far behind him was the dark brown locks and forest green eyes that only belonged to Adam. He was another one that Ember was on the fence about taking with her, but she also decided that since Lady Topaz trusted him so much to the point where she would appoint him as her personal bodyguard and sent him to locate the Telepath, Ember ought to respect and trust him a little more. That, and a little personal incentive.

Even though he's a Vampire and wanted to drink me dry, he looks so much like --

"All right, is this it?" Lady Topaz directed the question at Ember, scattering her thoughts.

Ember cleared her throat hastily and nodded.

"Well then, it's time to meet the final member to your group." The guys gave the Lady a questioning look as she grinned with ferocity, pulled out a ring filled with numerous keys, and unlocked the door. "Wake up, you insolent brat!"

This is it. After meeting this girl, I will finally seek out and destroy Peridot with my own two hands!