Amira woke up in a pitch black room. Noticing that she couldn’t see anything, she tried to move her feet, but they felt as if they were tied. She could wiggle her toes and her fingers; that was a good sign. She tried to look around in the dark to see if she could see anything. She couldn’t. Then, she heard a door slam.

“Hello? Who’s there?” she asked softly. Out of nowhere, fluorescent lights came on above her and she blinked, trying to focus her eyes. She saw the familiar dark figured men.

“Good, you’re awake,” one of them said in his same low, gravelly voice. He seemed to be the only one that spoke. The others merely stood there and didn’t move.

“What do you want with me?” she asked softly. Her heart was pounding and the floor was clouded with the black fog that seemed to follow them everywhere.

“We know what you are,” He paused for dramatic effect. “ We need your powers, Amira .” The way he said her name sent shivers down her spine. She could almost throw up. She looked at him as though he was crazy.

“What? What are you talking about? Let me go!” She screamed, struggling against the tough, brown rope. The man laughed at her insolence towards the situation. His laugh was like nails on a chalkboard that somehow signaled the others to laugh, almost mocking her.

“You don’t know who we are, little girl? How shocking. I thought we were better known than that.” He faked a hint of sadness in his voice. “We need the blood of a natural born Luciole Rouge.” It was that unfamiliar name again. Amira had never heard those words before, but they seemed to flow right off of the mystery man’s tongue.He was right. She didn’t want the power, but what she wanted even less was to allow him to have it.

“You’ll never get it,” she said and he sneered at her.

“I thought we’d do this the easy way, but I guess not.” The man approached Amira and moved to place his hand on her head, when they were interrupted by a loud bang.

The loud bang happened to be the basement door being kicked down as two teenagers dressed in all black whom Amira didn’t recognize darted after the old man. The woman Amira thought she recognized as a very turquoise Rebekah rushed to Amira and began to untie her. Once the warriors got the man under control, Rebekah assisted Amira upstairs and tried to get her outside the sketchy building.

“Are you okay?” she asked with concern evident in her azure eyes as she stared at Amira. Shaken up, Amira looked at Rebekah with gorgeous, green eyes full of confusion.

“Rebekah?” she asked in a shaky voice.

Rebekah gave Amira a bewildered look for a moment, wondering why the hell she was looking at her as if she were naked. She was almost positive she wasn’t naked. She looked down at herself to make sure she was wearing clothes. Then, she widened her eyes in realization.

“Oh,” she paused. “Yeah. It’s me, darling.” She gave her a small smile. When Amira almost fell again, Rebekah grabbed Amira’s pale hand with her own blue one and put her arm around Amira to help her up the squeaky stairs and to a chair.

Amira looked at her with interest and what Rebekah interpreted as shock in her bright green eyes. “What are you?” she asked softly.

“You just got kidnapped by some guy who apparently wants to experiment on you and you want to know what I am? You must be really into me.” Rebekah smirked. “I’m a warlock. And you, mademoiselle, are an experiment.” She kneeled down next to Amira. “I usually wear an alter out in public, so I look normal to others, but this place has a powerful anti-magic spell cast upon it and my magic is no match for his. I had no choice but to drop my alter.” Amira, intrigued, looked at Rebekah. She laughed a little and looked down.

“No. I’m not an experiment, I’m a freak,” she said quietly.

“I look like this and you are calling yourself a freak? You sure you didn’t hit your head or something?” She grinned at Amira with affection.

“I am. I can’t control these-” she paused, searching for the right words, “these powers or whatever you call them. They come and go whenever they please.” Amira continued to look down.

“Hey, I’m sure someone can teach you to use them. Most powers like that calm down with time and become normal to us. Eventually, you’ll be able to control them,” Rebekah tried to be reassuring. “If it helps, I had to go through this when I was a kid. You see, warlocks have different maturing powers and mine just hated me. I was always shooting people with fire, and trust me, honey, that never ends well, but it gets better. In fact, if you wish, I’m sure I could help you learn to use them properly.” Looking up at Rebekah, Amira had many emotions rushing through her head.

“You’d do that?” she asked.

“Of course.” She paused and looked slightly pained for a moment. “Are you saying no other warlock has ever offered to train you?” Amira looked confused.

“I’ve never met any warlocks.” she paused, “Well, until you. I mean, I don’t even know what those guys were that saved me from that old man.”

“Oh, those are the warriors. I had to call them to come help. There is only so much I can do anymore, legally, at least. Normally, experiments are watched by warlocks, and then trained to make them less dangerous, shall we say,” she said the last words slower and cautiously.

“Oh. How did they know about me?” she asked questioningly and then it hit her. “Do you think I’m dangerous?” Amira asked softly. Just as the question slipped off of her lips, the warriors came up the stairs, dragging the bound man behind them. Amira flinched at the sight of the old man. Rebekah looked at Amira and held her hand.

“I honestly haven’t seen your powers in action, Amira, but even if they are dangerous, they won’t be for long.” She looked at the warriors and stated. “I never caught your guys’ names.”

The boy looked up and saw them all staring at him. Puffing out his chest, he said with pride, “I am Cole Hathaway of the New York Warriors and this is my sister, Maryssa.” Maryssa glared at him.

“Thank you, brother ,” she said rudely, “but I am perfectly capable of introducing myself.”

“Excuse me. Not that I wish to interrupt any sibling drama; I do, however, wish to get rid of this old hag in desperate need of some deodorant.” She paused and glared at the old man. “Seriously, do you ever shower?” Rebekah sniffed the muggy air as a dramatic flair and continued. “Anyway, are you guys going to take care of him? I can take Amira home.” She glanced at the warriors. Amira looked around the room.

“Thank you guys for saving me and thank you, too, Rebekah,” she said. Rebekah smiled. She kind of liked the way her real name rolled off Amira’s lips. She told herself now was not the time to think about that.

“You’re welcome,” she said.

“Anytime, gorgeous.” Cole smiled charmingly. “If you ever need me again, you know where to find me,” he said with a wink. His sister made a gagging noise and dragged the old man out of the house. Cole stood there, looking at Amira. Raising her eyebrows, Rebekah stood there, taking in the current situation.

“Don’t even try it,” she mumbled under her breath. Cole looked at her as if she had a rotten fish on her face.

“What are you mumbling about over there, warlock ?” he said snarkily.

“Okay, first off: Stop calling me warlock; I have a name. Second: I don’t care if you think you’re better than everyone, that does not give you the right to be a total asscrown. Third: just stop talking. Every single time you open your big mouth, you remind me of a dying cow. Thanks.” She smiled at him. Rebekah was getting increasingly more irritated with the stupid, too-good warrior. She was reminded of why she tried her hardest not to associate with them. They were all stuck up and over-confident assholes. Amira laughed and looked from Rebekah to Cole.

“Uh.” She paused awkwardly. “Thanks, Cole, but, uh, I don’t play for your team.” Rebekah could not hold back her burst of laughter as she gave Amira a look, succeeding to get her consent to put her arm around Amira to help get her home. She did not even look back as she spoke coolly.

“Goodbye, little Warriors,” she said. Amira turned around and waved goodbye to the siblings who saved her life.

“Thanks again,” Amira said, leaning heavily against an oddly strong Rebekah. Maryssa turned to her brother with a devilish grin on her face.

“Wow, I do not think I have ever seen you get get rejected like that before!” She started laughing. He looked at her with a sarcastic scoff, and turned to walk down the dark, dingy alley towards their home.