“Raphael!” I shouted, sprinting after the black van. I couldn’t catch up. It sped away, leaving me in the dust.I woke up panting. I sat up at the edge of my bed, looking at the packed suitcase on the floor in the corner. Today I was leaving. Alex had set everything up, a house, ID, and plane ticket to Los Angeles, California. According to some of my sources, that’s where the girl was. I needed to get her and kill her. This was just one of many assignments I had gotten from Alek, but this one was the most important because it was the girl from the infamous legend, but nobody to me. Or so I thought. About ten thousand years ago some of my ancestors were chosen to be the guardians of the girls' ancestors, her ancestors ruled the worlds. But two thousand years ago one chosen pair fell in love with other people, and the bloodlines were severed and everything collapsed, Alek and his family had made sure to slaughter every last known royal. But now there were rumors going around that the girl from the legend, who’s part of the ancient royal bloodline, was in Los Angeles, California. If that’s true she’s supposed to marry my brother and produce an heir to continue the bloodline, it’s said that she would be the second most powerful being in all the worlds other than the guardian, that’s why Alek wanted her dead and kept my brother locked away, so no one could ever challenge him, and it was my job to kill the poor soul, but nothing I hadn’t done before. I was used to it by now. Scratch that, I was not used to it, I hated it, there was nothing I wanted more than to escape this life. It all went downhill about ten years ago, a month or two after my parents died, my brother Raphael and I were taken by Aleksandr Vasilievich, Alek, he was a powerful demon from a very strong head family in the underworld, who had taken charge after the remaining ancient bloodlines were killed off, by his family. He was a psycho and wanted to rule the worlds. From then he trained me and sent me on missions but kept my brother locked away and me as a different type of prisoner, making me do all his dirty work. I have a certain reputation now and it’s not the good kind, the kind where almost everyone is terrified by you. I sighed, then stepped out of bed and walked over to the bathroom and took a quick shower, then got dressed. Throwing on a simple white tee and blue jeans. I grabbed my suitcase and stepped out the front door. There was a red SUV waiting in the driveway, Alex, a fellow assassin of Alek, was sitting in the driver's seat waiting impatiently, he was one of the few begins in the worlds I could trust, he didn’t agree with Alek’s methods either and was as much a prisoner as me. I threw my suitcase in the trunk then got into the passenger side. “Hey Ashy.” Alex greeted me with a grin. I frowned at him no matter how hard I tried he wouldn’t stop calling me that and since demons and angels, lived forever I was going to be called that for most likely my whole life, however long that may be, aemon’s were very rare because angels and demons didn’t get along very well, and most of the time their offspring was killed off, so no one really knew how long our lifespans were. Alex, who was a demon, had been alive for over a century but looked only a few years older than me, I’m seventeen. I sat quietly the whole way to the airport. We pulled up at the entrance. “Good luck Ash, I’ll be there as soon as possible.” Alex said with a wink, as I stepped out. “Bye.” I said shutting the door. I only had a month to get this done and then Alek would expect me back at his residence in Elysium, or there would be major consequences. There was a private jet waiting. I sat down in one of the reclining chairs and put headphones on, listening to classical Mozart. It was a long flight. Sixteen hours later we landed. I looked out the window. It was sunny and bright out, the ocean was in the distance. I took a taxi to the house Alex bought. It was large and had a dark wood exterior with a wide front porch. I unlocked the door and went in. It was nice and modern but with a cabiney feel. I went up to the master bedroom dragging my suitcases up. I threw my stuff in the closet and collapsed on the bed. The next day I started school. I had never been to school, I had always wondered what it was like. Also, it was most likely that the girl went there so Alex enrolled me. Slowly I dozed off. It was nice to relax, I couldn't remember the last time I got to.

Beep, beep beep. I slapped the alarm clock off. I turned over peering at the clock. It was seven. I’d better hurry up or I was going to be late. I took a quick shower, threw on some clothes, grabbed my backpack, and ran out the door. I cut through the sand dunes to get to the school. By the time I found my first class, I was a little late. I opened the door and it cracked really loud. So much for not making a scene. I stepped in. The class erupted into chatter talking in hushed whispers. The lady at the front of the classroom welcomed me. “Hello there.” She said. “You must be the new student.” I nodded. My eyes were instantly drawn to a girl sitting in the very back. She had long golden brown hair pulled up, a light tan, and huge beautiful violet eyes. I realized a slight lilac purple aurora hanging lightly around her. She was the one in the legend. She had to be, only the royal line had purple auroras. Well, that’s what was said, there hadn’t been a royal in a really long time. There was an empty seat next to her, perfect. She noticed me staring at her and her eyes locked on mine a small pink blush tinting her cheeks. I walked over keeping her gaze and pulled the chair out. “Mind if I sit here.” I asked. The girl shook her head and I sat down. The girl looked a little familiar. I gasped. It was Sofyalisia, every few months about ten years ago she came to Melbourne with her parents before my parents had died. I had met her by accident though, I saved her life the last time she came. How had I or my parents not noticed she was the one. My eyes caught something shining on her neck, it was a small red gem hanging on a gold chain. She had kept it. A slight pang flitted through my chest. How could I kill her? I had to though, I didn’t have any other option “I’m Ash.” I said introducing myself. “Sofya.” She said looking at me strangely, did she remember me? I wanted to smack myself, Of course she doesn’t stupid, you erased her memories. Then she faced back to the front of the room. I wished I hadn’t taken away those memories of that day. Ugh, what was wrong with me, this was just another task, and I had to complete it. No matter who it was or what I felt unless I wanted me and my brother to die. If it was just me I would have probably chosen the option of dying, it seemed better than killing innocent people, I usually killed awful people, so it wasn’t so bad, Sofya was the first innocent person I would have to kill, I wasn’t sure if I could though. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts, I couldn’t think about those times, she had to be a nobody, and I had to kill her. I had no choice. I noticed one of the girls sitting in front of us was glaring at Sofya. The teacher who I learned was Mrs. Gretchen started going over the itinerary. It was long and boring. After she let us talk for the rest of the hour. For a few minutes, we sat in silence. I wasn’t really sure what to say to her. “So you’re from Australia?” Sofya asked eventually. “Yeah moved here just a few days ago.” I said. Probably shouldn’t say I moved here just yesterday, that would be weird. Not that it mattered, but. Then suddenly the bell rang. I rushed out of the classroom, I needed to find my locker and a way to get Sofya over to my house without seeming too weird. I walked quickly through the hallway. As I was pondering my thoughts someone ran right into me and we fell to the ground. A familiar sensation washed over me. The person peered up at me with a horrified expression, it was Sofya, of course it was. I bit my lip hard to keep from laughing, her expression had been hilarious. She quickly peeled herself off of me and stood up, then I got up. “Oh My Gosh! I’m so sorry.” She said, a deep red blush spread across her cheeks. “I’m fine.” I said. “Are you all right?” I asked, looking over her for any sign of injury. “Yeah.” She said pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “Do you think you could help me find my next class.” I asked. “Sure let me see your schedule.” She said taking the green slip from my hands. Her eyes widened. “Actually I can show you to all your classes, you have the same schedule as me.” Sofya said. I squinted, trying to read her expression, she didn’t look too happy about having the same schedule. “Great.” I said, it worked out well for me. We walked down the hall together. I noticed lots of people were staring at me. Weird, I hadn’t been to school before but geez humans were strange. Sofya sat in the back again, so I sat next to her. After about three hours and a few classes, it was time for lunch. “Is it ok sit with you and your friends?” I asked Sofya, I needed to get her to trust me. “Sure, follow me.” Sofya replied, she looked a little irritated. She led the way to a large open area with a bunch of blue tables scattered everywhere. We walked over to a table with a bunch of girls, one of them was the girl that had been glaring at Sofya. “Hey Sara.” Sofya said as we approached. One of the girls ran over and embraced Sofya. I guess that was Sara. “Sofya, oh I’ve missed you so.” Sara exclaimed. Then Sara turned and look at me with a grin. “Who’s this?” She asked. “This is Ash, he’s new he is going to sit with us.” Sofya said. Sara nodded slowly. Sofya sat down. I sat beside her and Sara sat across. I noticed a guy with blonde hair and blue eyes creep up behind Sofya, and rest his hands on her shoulders. He glanced at us. “Hello ladies, new guy.” He said settling next to Sofya. Sofya casually shrugged the guy’s arms off her shoulders and cleared her throat. “Ash this is Enzo, Enzo this is Ash.” She said. I glowered at the guy, I didn’t like him. Sara turned to face me, with an excited grin on her face. “So Ash where you from?” Sara asked. “Melbourne, Australia” I replied. Then Sara asked why I moved here. I obviously couldn’t tell the truth. Think of an excuse, I said. “My parents died.” Then I realized how bad that sounded. It wasn’t necessarily a lie, it just wasn’t why I moved here. “I’m so sorry.” Sofya said softly then touched my arm. Tingles shot down my arm at the contact. “Sofya’s an orphan too.” Sara said suddenly. I turned to Sofya, she was glaring at Sara. I guess her parents had died from the last time I had seen her. I wanted to comfort her. I scowled at my thoughts, no I didn’t, I couldn’t. Then Sara asked. “Do you have a girlfriend?” I smirked at the thought, I hadn’t ever had a girlfriend I was cooped up in my house for most of my life, not even allowed to go to school and then I got captured by Alek. I noticed all the girls surrounding turned, waiting for an answer. I saw Sara wink at Sofya, who was blushing. I tilted my head and looked at Sofya. “No, I don’t.” Then I remembered she belonged to my brother and I had to kill her. Sofya’s mouth fell open, staring at me with her beautiful violet eyes. The Enzo guy was glaring at me, good, I thought, and then the bell rang, Sofya sprung to her feet. “Uh, I got to go.” Sofya stammered. Then she dashed off, Sara ran after her. Sofya had left her backpack so I grabbed it and went into the hall and looked around, leaving Enzo by himself. Where’d she go? Then I got my answer as she ran out of the bathroom and right into me. At least this time we hadn’t fallen to the ground. Well, she almost fell but I caught her. Wrapping my arm around her waist. “Oh come on!” She said as I read her thoughts. I chuckled and looked down at her. He face was tinged pink, she was so close her face only inches away, she stared up at me. She bit her lip. “Sorry.” She mumbled. “No problem, you forgot your backpack in the cafeteria.” I said holding her backpack. “Oh, thanks.” She said reaching over to grab it. I held it higher. “I’ll carry it, you look injured.” I said as I saw her wince as she reached to grab the bag, too bad I didn’t have healing magic. I released her then started walking forward to our next class. I heard a sigh then Sofya caught up.

At the end of the day, I waited by Sofya’s locker. I had decided to ask her out to not seem weird, but I needed to remember it was not a real date and I needed to kill her, that’s all. I casually leaned against the lockers near hers. She slammed her locker shut then saw me. I approached. “Want to come over to my place after school?” I asked. Sofya’s cheeks reddened. “Sure” she replied looking a little shocked. Wasn’t this how you normally asked people out. “Great I’ll text you the address, come at around four.” I said then I took her phone and put my number in then put her number in my phone. “Bye, see you later.” I said walking away. I walked along the beach back to the house letting my feet touch the water, it was nice and warm. I couldn’t help but think if I told her the truth, would she help me? Could she? I sighed, it was just wishful thinking. I changed into swim shorts then sat down on the couch in the living room. I texted Sofya the address, then waited for her to come.