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"Justin...why are you clinging to me like this?" He asked. "We can find them quicker if we split up...."

"NO! Taryn, you've got to stay here with ME! Ok?" I said, the desperation creeping into my voice. "Please?"

"It's ok. Alright? I'll be FINE." He said. "I'm gonna find Rain and we'll get out of here as soon as we can. It won't take long."

"Taryn, PLEASE!!!" I shouted, and had to quiet myself down. "Listen to me...I don't want you to be away from me, right now. Ok? Do you understand? I want you right here where I can see you at all times."

"Why?" He said, taking a few steps back.

"Please, Taryn, don't start with the questions right now! Just...stay with me. Please?" He could see the heartbreaking terror in my eyes, and he melted. He walked back over to me, and gave me a hug. "I'll....I'll explain it all to you later, I PROMISE. Just...please don't leave me." I sniffled. "Please don't leave me here alone." I was holding him tight, when I noticed two vampires staring at us from not far away. When our eyes connected, they both slowly bowed their heads, and began to bow down on one knee before me. Shit, here we go again! "Come on...let's keep looking." I said, and took a hold of Taryn's hand once again to leave the area before the kneeling vamps brought any unwanted attention my way.

"The boy is touched by Death. It is strong with him..."

"A sacrifice so great...so immaculate. Our time has come.."

I wish they would stop! I wish I could MAKE them stop!!! FUCK their prophecy! It WON'T happen!!! "Hey, Justin..." I felt a hand on my shoulder and jerked away, raising my fist in the other person's face. It was Max, "WHOAH! Slow down, there, babycakes! You anna switch to decaf, or what?"

I lowered my hand, feeling my body unwind from the tension building up inside. "Jesus, Max...I thought you were searching for Gyro and Rain."

"I was. I didn't see him. Besides, how big do you think the VIP area IS?" Max looked around at the partying club hoppers, and said, "You know, Justin...maybe you tagged this place wrong? I mean, things seem pretty 'party normal' here. Maybe you're just being paranoid."

Taryn looked at me as well, his expression mirroring the same sentiment. "You have been really jumpy, lately, Justin. Maybe you made a mistake?"

I would have loved to come to the same conclusion. Nothing would have made me happier than dropping this feeling in my stomach and breathing easier knowing that it was just my mixed up mind that was making this seem so real. But the truth is, I sensed danger here. SERIOUS danger! And I couldn't just ignor it or let it go. My body and mind would not be at ease. The sooner we got our friends and left, the sooner I could get back to feeling better.

"I'm telling you, the little brat probably walked off with some braindead bimbo for a little game of 'hide the middle finger'. He plays the supposed virgin card very well in places like this. You'd be surprised how older ladies go from saying he's adorable to giving him nookie. I swear, everybody's half pedophile at heart." Max said. "And for all we know, Rain could have thrown herself in front of a moving truck on her way over here just to clear her head."

I heard him speaking, but my eyes were focused on the crowd, hoping to catch sight of one of them. "I think they're still here." I said. "I think they're close."

"Sure. Great. Whatever. You know, I wish you had turned psychic before I ended up getting MY ass kicked tonight!" Max grunted, turning to Taryn. "Your boyfriend is turning all kinds of crazy on us, you know that?"

"Why couldn't you just keep him still, Max?" Taryn asked.

"Keep him still? Are you kidding me? Once him and Rain got into it all heavy, all I could do was stand out of the line of fire."

"What the hell were they fighting about?"

"What they ALWAYS fight about! Gyro crossing over and coming to find her. Have you ever tried to stand between those two when they're arguing? It's like being in a head on collision with two runaway trains. Those fuckers are more alike than they want to admit."

Taryn and Max kept talking, but I let my feelings guide my eyes over the darkened balcony. And finally...in the background...I saw a flash of something. A little multi colored mop of blond hair, jumping up and down in time with the music. And then, a glimpse of a highly familiar, slightly intoxicated, smile. "THERE! I see him!" I shouted. It was hard to keep track of Gyro's bouncing through the massive crowd of bodies dancing between us, but at least I had some idea of a fixed location. "Come on!"

I took a hold of Taryn's hand again, assuring that he was within arm's reach at all times. I'm not letting that hand go, not for ANY reason. Not until we're back home again. I pushed and pushed and pushed some more, hoping to divide the crowd long enough for us to pass through. They knocked us back and forth a bit, but we were still making progress. Finally, I got close enough to see Gyro laughing and playing with two twin young ladies, human, who looked like they had used a fake ID just to get in there. And just as Max said, he had been selling himself off as being an actual 13 year old boy....which they found...adorable. I approached him quickly, and had to literally put my hand on his shoulder to keep him from bouncing around. He was surprised to see us, and gave us an excited grin. "HEYYYYYY!!! Omigod, it's about TIME you guys got here! Isn't this place even MORE awesome than it was last time??? We picked a good night!"

"Gyro! Dude, listen to me, ok?" I started, but he went right back to bouncing the second I tookmy hand off of him.

"Hey, Justin...this is Brandy, and this is Candy!"

The girls frowned up and pouted. One said, "No, I'M Brandy!"

And the other said, "And I'M Candy!"

Gyro giggled, "They're twins!"

Max jumped in sarcastically, "Hehehe, ya THINK? DUDE! STOP dancing! This is serious!"

"What's he talking about?" Gyro asked, still grinning.

"Gyro...we've got to go! We've got to get out of here right NOW! I mean it!" I told him.

Gyro looked at Max's head, "Dude...what happened to your noggin man?"

"Gyro, dammit! Listen to me!" I shouted, but he was just coasting on pure adrenaline at this point.

"I know you ladies are only human, but trust me....this guy over here? You're gonna be seeing a LOT of big things from this guy in the future! Hehehe, he's gonna turn this whole fucking PLANET on its ear! You just wait..."

"GYRO!" I snatched him up by the arm and got him to sober up long enough to realize that we weren't joking around. "You and Rain are both in danger! Do you understand? We have to find your sister and go!"

Gyro wrinkled up his brow for a moment. He looked over at Taryn, "What's he talking about?"

Taryn told him, "Dude, I don't know what's going on, but Max was attacked tonight. And Bernie's club...it's gone."

"Gone? What do you mean it's gone? Who attacked Max?" Gyro asked, still confused.

"We don't have time for details. Justin thinks the same vampire might be on his way here." Taryn asked him, "Where is your sister?"

Gyro looked back and forth at all of us, and he managed to stutter out, "She...she didn't want me following her tonight. So when she saw me, she told me to stay up here and she'd stay downstairs." He looked back at me. "Dude, is this for real?"

"We'll worry about that after we get out of her. Come on, let's see if we can find her on the dancefloor somewhere." I walked to the edge of the balcony with the others and peered over the side into a crowd of what looked like three or four hundred people, easy. Maybe Dion and Dylan had found her already, or maybe Jenna had found a way to lock onto her position, but we couldn't tell. Trevor was probably more interested in finding Gyro than finding Rain. But as we looked out mong the partying vampires and humans, I caught a glimpse of Jenna's golden hair in the midst of all the dyed black styles beneath us. She was talking to Rain on the lower level, so I guess that all we had to do was meet up and regroup by the front door so we could go. Taryn caught sight of her too, and happily sent her a mental message to get her and Jenna to look up at the balcony where we were standing. Message received. Taryn smiled with relief as he waved to them in the crowd, and Rain actually waved back. All that was left to do was to get Trevor, Michael, Dion, and Dylan, back towards the entrnce.

And then.......

The 'darkness' came.

I don't know if he others could feel it they way that I could, or if they even noticed it for that matter. But to me it was like a shower of ice and broken glass being poured over me in a high wind. It was as if I could actually see the spiritual 'light' being sucked out of the room. And as it darkened all around us, I made a blind attempt to reach for Taryn's hand once again, holding it tight, and taking a step or two back from the balcony railing.

I could feel his presence, his affect on the souls around him, long before he became visible. A silhouette appeared at the entrance, shrouded in darkness, with only a bright green glow in his eyes to use as a distinguishable feature. He walked forward with such ease, such arrogance. It was almost as if his every measured step was floated above the surface he was standing on. Taryn felt the pull on his hand as I gently guided him to stand behind me, and that was when he looked away from Rain and Jenna to see my worries increasing tenfold with the appearance of this dark stranger.

As he stepped into the light, the intensity of his stare began to sweep across the room. Never in my life had I felt anything so cold. It must have taken such an incredible effort to contain so much fury deep enough inside to give off the appearance of normality among others. It burned my senses, stinging my heart with its agonizing hatred. And I started to tremble as I felt him begin to 'analyze' the room once again. His calculations sizing up everyone around him as quickly and efficiently as he possibly could. Readying himself to begin his dark work in this place, like so many others before it.

He was so young! He was supposedly my age, but looked almost a full two or three years younger. A late bloomer, I suppose. His original blood cells were gone, his feeding had already been completed, I assume, without conflict. He was beginning to reach his peak in terms of crossing over, much like I was, and he had embraced the extreme power of it without much regret at all. He was small in his build, even smaller than Gyro, and not all that tall. He had a smooth and unblemished face, with hair that hung down just low enough to cover about half of his ears. Light brown, with a rich reddish tint to it. There was a certain beauty to his deep seeded wickedness. A beauty that remained evident, even as the black void of emotion circled around him in a turbulent storm of anger and despair. He did NOT look like the type of villain that could handle Max in a one on one fight! He didn't seem the type to be able to destroy Bernie's club, or cripple Soren's fighters in a local training gym. He wasn't even 'threatening' enough to take on the bullies I once faced in high school. If anything, they probably would have picked on him even more than they did on me. But...despite that boyish, almost angelic, physical appearance...his soul harnessed an evil that could not be described. I had to use Dion's extra just to keep from being infected by its plague of fury. There was no doubt about it...this was 'Rage'...and at long last...

He was here!

I didn't know whether to tell Taryn to take the others and run, or if I should keep him right by my side and take him outside safely myself. If I keep him near me, I may alert Rage to his presence, and he may get hurt! But how can I trust anyone else but me to protect the love of my life against something so merciless? I didn't have long to think about it at all...because when I looked down over the balcony again, I saw Rage's eyes quickly shift towards the bar. As though he had suddenly found his first prime target. But...instead of the sickening 'joy' that he felt at Bernie's club when he began to tear it down from the inside...Rage had a completely different emotion surging through him this time. Something entirely separate from any of the signatures that I had ever gotten from him before. It was this...moment of confusion...then the fires of anger began to burn hot as the recognition became more concrete in his mind. His stare became more intense, and the tension inside of him built to unfathomable levels. I looked towards the bar, and saw Michael and Trevor heading towards the entrance, no doubt to meet up with Dion and Dylan as we agreed on. It was as if Rage had locked onto them with a vengence, and nearly chuckled to himself over his good fortune.

"Justin....?" Taryn said softly. It broke my concentration for a moment, and when I took a sudden breath, Rage was suddenly alerted to my presence. He swiftly fixed his gaze on me from across the club, connecting with my eyes from down below.

I froze! He could see me. He could sense the power in me. He could recognize my signature. My essence. My spiritual 'fingeprint'. And once we connected, it was almost impossible to pull away. Our very existence seemed to suddenly get 'hooked', and my limitless light and his limitless darkness began to seek each other out from a distance. As though he were trying to involuntarily pull me in to the abyss, and I was trying to involuntarily pull him out of it. There would be no easy escape from this. Not at all.

But THAT....is when things changed.

"Justin, we found them. We can go." Taryn said, but I kept him behind me. Kept my hand in his. "Justin....come on...let's go." He said softly, and that's when he stepped from behind me to look over the railing again...and Rage's focus shifted to him instead.

Suddenly, his connection with me was completely broken. It was like a bolt of lightning had cut the chord on us both. And I saw Rage's eyes widen...just moments before the fury inside of him bubbled up to the point where it hurt to even look in his direction. The anger, the pain, the misery, were all simultaneously released, and his face changed to a look of hatred that almost unrecognizable to what I had seen in him before. The sensation of it was so strong that other vampires in the club near him began to feel it too. Ice cold on the surface of the skin, burning hot underneath. All of that rage had suddenly been focused upon Taryn in a way that I had never seen before. And without further delay...he began to make his move!

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