<span style="font-family:Philosopher"><span style="font-size: 18px"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#b30000">Everything was going great...</span></span></span><br/><br/>The Queen's guard had held back the rebel squad attempting to break into the palace. If any of them had known Momo at all, they would have realized that the fact she wasn't fighting alongside the men and women who guarded the palace meant she wasn't in the building. Those closest to the matriarch knew exactly where to find her: on the front line. Those closest to Adriel knew the front line was the last place he wanted to be.<br/><br/>"Damn it, Adriel! That is your brother's family out there! Fighting -<i>dying</i>- to protect all of us!" Nikolaus yelled over the din of panic that had settled over the city. In more civilized times, battles took place on open fields, but today it was the heart of the metropolis that witnessed bloodshed. People had begun fleeing the moment they heard Levi, god-like leader of a growing movement to raise supernaturals above humans, had entered the city. Cars sat abandoned on the clogged streets, everyone healthy enough to run on their own two feet finding that the better option. Nobody was looking to take clothing or food; they simply wanted to make it out of the city alive.<br/><br/>The wind whipped Adriel's long coat around his legs, a portrait of black-on-black as he stood at the corner of the roof with nothing but the starless night sky behind him. Half of the lights in the city had gone dark with the last explosion, fighters on both sides taking up flashlights when they could find them and torches when they couldn't. One little pryokinetic ran beneath them on the sidewalk, a ball of flame flickering above her open hand and illuminating the splatter of blood on the side of her face.<br/><br/>"<i>I</i>am my brother's family! Not them!" Adriel growled as he spun around to face his friend.<br/><br/>Friend. Were they even that anymore? There had been a time when Nik had been his entire world, but that had changed the minute they set foot in Nightshade. More accurately, the minute they had set foot in Kain Knight's house and Nik had seen Aiden. Fucking Aiden! The man was nothing but a whore who had struck out lucky twice: first by marrying a rich CEO and again by becoming that rich CEO's widow.<br/><br/>Nik could hear every thought, but beneath that he could feel all of the pain and fear feeding into Adriel's anger. "Adriel, I love you. I know you... and letting them die is not who you are," he insisted, sweeping an arms towards the one part of the city where all the light - and therefore people - seemed to be congregating. "Help us," the vampire pleaded.<br/><br/>Adriel grit his teeth, determined to hold his ground, but Nik was giving him The Look. For most, The Look would have been a warning, but whenever Nik did it, his eyes conveyed nothing but his sincerest belief that Adriel was a better person than he let on. "Fine," he huffed.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: right"><span style="font-family:Philosopher"><span style="font-size: 18px"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#b30000">... until it wasn't.</span></span></span>​</div><br/>It was chaos. There were supernaturals on both sides, magic on both sides, humans on both sides. With the bodies painted red and black as they fell, nobody knew if they had taken down a comrade or an enemy. The telepaths - like Nik - tried to keep order, but it was futile. In a way, Adriel was lucky because the confusion meant nobody knew exactly what had happened.<br/><br/>Nobody knew he was responsible for Momo, Queen of Nightshade, being struck by a blast from Levi. The collision of power hitting the raw energy the Queen embodied created a blast that knocked everyone in the area back several feet, Adriel included. Until that moment, he had worked his blood magic from the shadows, felling enemies as Nik pointed them out. In the heartbeat before everything went dark, however, he was thrown into the light as he worked one last spell, hand outstretched towards the one person not hit by the wave...<br/><hr class="bbc-hr"/>"Nik!" Angel called out, running to the vampire's side and looking frantically around. "Where is Ri? He was supposed to be with you!"<br/><br/>Nik helped Aiden to his feet, blood dripping from the ends of his hair onto the jacket he was already taking off to settle around his partner's shoulders. "He is..." he started to say Adriel was right there - behind the delivery truck - but the vehicle was tipped on its side several feet from it had been. "I am sure he is fine, Angelus. Adriel, as we know, has a knack for getting out of any situation."<br/><br/>It was rare that Angel was angry, but with his mother-in-law dead and his spouse already having been dragged off to speak with the council, he was hardly in the mood to be understanding. "If<i>anyone</i>saw him using magic," he hissed, "it could be the end of our chances for coexistence."<br/><br/>In all of his six-hundred years, Nik had only met two individuals with blood magic: Adriel and Kain. Either the rest remained hidden or their family lines had died out. Adriel knew the importance of avoiding detection with the rebel forces growing stronger every day; he would have been the perfect weapon for them. The only reason Momo hadn't utilized him in that way was because she had the integrity of a saint... as did her son, Kain, who had rejected his own magic so long it was likely lost to him forever.<br/><br/>"I know," Nik murmured. "I'll... search for him," he promised, already mentally reaching out to his friend. As drained as he was - as they all were - it wasn't a surprise that he was met with so much static. At his side, Aiden wrapped an arm around his waist and started guiding them home. The young man was no stranger to his partner's trance-like states, knowing Nik would spend hours in the labyrinths of the mind.<br/><br/>All Nik found for his efforts was darkness, yet he refused to believe Adriel was dead...