<div class="floatright">(http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrowkpPJgd1qe8p5xo1_500.jpg)</div>Flame colored hair tossed in the wind as a young woman went hurtling through the air, a fierce joy lighting up the midnight black blue eyes. Eyes that often unsettled those that found themselves the focus of them, eyes that seemed out of place with the pale golden red hair that whipped around her delicate features. Certainly the other women on the ground shook their heads but went on their way rather then linger to lecture the girl.<br/><br/><em>Witchling!</em><br/><br/>A voice cracked through her mind and drew Aaralyn Daemarion up short just before she would have gone over the wall. Of course stopping her flight through the air meant that she dropped back to the ground, and the force of the mental connection meant that she did so by finding her ass thumping the poor flora of the garden along the wall. Muttering savagely under her breath she picked herself up again, cursing the energy she had wasted for nothing thanks to Eaerik figuring out her plan before she had even made it off the grounds. Shit.<br/><br/>At least she hadn’t wasted too much energy, and it had been deliberately stored in a crystal rather then using what was held by her own body. The fact that she had made several such storage units, of course, was a secret. That was a scolding she didn’t want to get, either from the Empress or her wonderful guardian. On her feet she sighed and dug a hair tie out of the pocket of her worn low riding jeans and threw up the mass  of her hair into a messy bun, pulling it away from the features that perhaps were a touch too angular, though that had more to do with her lack of care for her body then anything.<br/><br/>Carefully she got out of the flower bed that had suffered through her fall, mindful of where her booted feet stepped before getting to the grass and stomping on it back toward the main house of the Coven Compound. Empress Bitch was going to be in a snit, no doubt, but Aara was so sick of people telling her what she could and couldn’t do, where she could go and who she could talk to. She was twenty three now for heaven’s sake, well past any age restrictions that should be put on her, at least in her mind.<br/><br/><em>Witchling, you really didn’t think we wouldn’t notice did you?</em><br/><br/>The voice came softly, trying to be soothing as if the damn male knew he was tiptoeing on the edge of her anger. As well he should sooth her, she was after all the most powerful witch in the Coven, thanks to the fact that her divine ‘ancestor’ was in fact her mother. The blood running through her veins packed one hell of a punch.  The redhead’s eyes rolled even as two sister witches moved out of her way on the path, clearly wanting to avoid the infamous ‘hell’s angel’. Such a wonderful nickname too that.<br/><br/><em>No, I just figured you would realize how ridiculous stopping me was. After all I will get out sooner or later Eaerik, you can’t keep me in here forever. I am an adult…</em><br/><br/><em>Not by your mother’s people’s standards.</em>Came the sharp retort that cut her off. Her mother, of course, it all led back to that, to the woman that Aaralyn could hardly remember who had left her to the custody of the Coven at the age of eight. Memories from the time before were spotty at best.<br/><br/>The same old frustration welled inside her even as her high heeled leather boots smacked smartly against the marble stairs of the entrance to the Coven; born of a angel and left here, more powerful then most but not powerful enough, too young, all those words, the pitying and fearing eyes, it was too much and she just wanted out. She wanted to be nameless, faceless, just another person in a crowd. In her mood she lashed out with what was left of the crystal she had been intending to use to escape, they would take it anyway, and threw open the doors without touching them, cold winds surrounding her.<br/><br/>And waiting for her, directly in the center of the bottom stair of the grand staircase waited the sleek golden form of the feline who knew her far too well.<br/><br/>If cats could smirk she would have bet Eaerik was, certainly the glint in his eyes was amused and not at all fearful like it should have been considering her mood. Which just made the midnight of her eyes snap all the more. He got to all fours and inclined his head before turning to start up the stairs, a clear sign she should follow. There was no point of being anything other then obedient for the moment, at least not till after Empress had had her chance to lecture her and then sent her off with the damn feline to do some boring make work practice spells. Mentally she was cursing with each step that she took up those stairs but she did follow her companion up to the formal study of the leader and eldest witch of the Coven and her once legal guardian even as Eaerik was her eternal pain in the ass guardian.<br/><br/>The study door opened easily at her touch and she slipped in, eyes setting on the black haired, blue eyed witch waiting for her. Unless one knew Tiana’s age it was impressive to think of her as fifty two, she didn’t look a day over thirty eight at most. Her hair, always groomed and neatly pulled back from her even features. For those pictured old hags with stringy gray hair, warts and crooked noses they would have been shocked to know that Tiana was in fact the ‘head’ witch as it was. She didn’t seem like anything other then a well dressed matron, harmless really with her pearls and day suit. Until, of course, one saw the woman lobbing lighting bolts.<br/><br/>The memory made her shudder slightly even as the girl dropped herself into a chair, crossing her legs with a heavy sigh and looking at the older woman with resignation in her eyes. “So Empress, what’s it to be?”<br/><br/>Tiana had been reading some papers which she then put away, a slight smile on her lush lips. With her dark, cool beauty Aara had always thought the woman had demonic bloodlines in her; the glint of warmth in the Coven leader’s eyes was all too human as she regarded the ‘hell’s angel’.<br/><br/>“I really wish you wouldn’t call me that Aaralyn.”<br/><br/>“And I really wish you would let me go out and have some fun.”<br/><br/>Eaerik jumped up into her lap then, curling himself up and the feline got a glare from the redhaired witch as she mentally thought traitor at him. But it really was impossible to stay angry when the damn male started to purr. With a sigh she reached to scratch just behind his ears like he loved. The purring increased until the vibrations moving through the cat could have rivaled those of her favorite sex toy.<br/><br/>“You know very well why I don’t…”<br/><br/>“Oh, yes, the whole needing to protect me for the good of the Coven.” Aaralyn couldn’t help the words that burst from her like impatient flames against being confined. Tiana’s lips compressed slightly but she did not show any other sign of annoyance in her dark beauty. Instead she collected a pile of papers from her desk and tapped them lightly against the wood to even them out before offering the stack to the girl who sat, glowering, opposite of her.<br/><br/>“Your next assignment.”<br/><br/>With a heated look in her dark eyes the redhead accepted the papers, turning them to read over the request submitted by a Mr. Lyons from Vegas. To kill his sister in law, who was apparently a harpy bent on the destruction of his family, reading that the girl flicked her gaze back to the Eldest with a slight furrow in her brow.<br/><br/>“You are sending me to Vegas? To take down a harpy? Dangerous much, and not just because of my wild tendencies.”<br/><br/>Tiana shrugged one elegant shoulder, a slight smile on her lips. “Yes well you aren’t going alone but you are the one best able to handle something like this. I trust you to listen to the older sister’s that go with you though Aaralyn.”<br/><br/>A sigh parted her lips as she slumped in the chair again, frowning at the golden feline that purred in her lap. “Fine, I’ll play the part of a good little angel on this field trip.”<br/><br/><em>And I’ll be along to make sure you do.</em>came the slightly smug rebuke from her cat.<br/><br/>Felines.<br/><br/><br/><div align="center">~*~*~*~*~*~</div><br/><br/>“Vegas baby!” She screamed out of the limo, head tossed back to enjoy the wind rustling through her sunset hair and her night dark eyes sparkling with the reflections of the millions of lights on the strip.<br/><br/>“Sit down Aaralyn!” came a hissed order before two sets of hands tugged her down from the sun roof’s opening to connect her rear back to the leather seat of the back seat of the limo. The redhead rolled her eyes but didn’t move to get up again even as four sets of eyes glared at her. They thought much of a witch’s dignity apparently, old prudes.<br/><br/>“Spoilsports.”<br/><br/>“Child.” Came the answer, not from one or two of them, but all four in chorus. It made her want to burn something, badly.<br/><br/>“Please, I’m so not an adult, I’m old enough to drink, gamble, have sex and do whatever the fuck else I want to.” Came the sassy reply from her red lips.<br/><br/>“Language! Oh what in the world did we do to get stuck babysitting you…” These women seriously needed to liven up. And babysitting? She was freaking twenty three not three; but for once she held her tongue, contenting herself with glowering at the four older witches even as Eaerik appeared from no where and settled on her lap.<br/><br/>Mary, who was thirty six, Annalise at forty one, Donna just barely thirty and then Raven, who was only twenty seven but so full of self importance and reserve at that ‘mighty’ age; those were the ones who were suppose to handle her with kid gloves and make sure the job got done. Well and fine, she still planned to give them the slip after the deed was finished and before they got to the hotel. If she was in Las Vegas she wanted to actually enjoy some of it.<br/><br/>The car pulled to a stop then, outside a posh little club that was suppose to be the favored playing ground of their job. Mary and Donna slid out first, followed by the redhead with her cat held in her arms as she stared around her, they had turned off the strip’s direct lane but couldn’t be far. It was so full of life and normal people, doing crazy, wild, wonderful things. Aaralyn could smell cigerette smoke and alcohol like a physical presence all its own all around them in the night, and beneath that was the faintness of car oil and garbage.<br/><br/>Eaerik seemed more focused on the club’s door and she sensed he was uneasy, though he didn’t say anything as the last two witches slid out of the limo and together all five headed for the door.<br/><br/>Thanks to the passes, provided by the obliging Mr. Lyons, they got in without issues, taking the stairs up into the club and then another flight up to the private level. Coming out on the top of it her cat leaped from her arms down to the ground and the redhead reached inward for her powers, knowing she would have a one shot blast at really doing this, power might be a lot inside her but it got used up just as quickly as it came when she did high powered things. Like killing.<br/><br/>So was the life.<br/><br/>To be careful she drew out the two traditional daggers that most used for things like this as a last defense, though she knew they would be near useless to her, after all using power used up her physical energy as well.<br/><br/>Donna shoved open the door and there was no time for thought then. A power blast came out of the room, wild and reeking of death and the damn ghostly thing hit Donna squarely, her body flashing and then vanishing and leaving behind the reek of burning flesh. Aaralyn nearly gagged, stumbling back as the others exchanged worried looks. But she was their best bet to getting out alive. She reached forward, grabbing Raven and Mary and shoving them both behind her, for the stairs. They took them, and Annalise, the next closest to the door started for them as well without needing to be told when the harpy burst out of the room and hit Annalise with another one of those horrible power blasts. Aaralyn tried to shield, throwing it up but it only gave Annalise a moment or two, the other woman with her dark beauty, so similar to Tiana screamed “Run” at her and when she felt her shield break the redhead did.<br/><br/>But not quickly enough.<br/><br/>Claw like hands hauled her by her hair back toward the harpy’s face and she cursed, reaching for one of her crystals with stored power even as claws raked down her skull and then bit into her shoulder, making her scream in agony. But she threw the power at the bitch, wild and reckless and earned a shriek from the undead witch.<br/><br/>“I’ve died once girl, I have no plan to do so again!”<br/><br/>The creature, for she couldn’t bring herself to call the corpse a woman, had a voice like deep velvet and it made Aaralyn shiver, understanding how Mr. Lyon’s brother had fallen victim to the voice even when the aura of hatred poured off the thing.<br/><br/>“Yes, well all the same to you hag lady, I’ve never died and haven’t really had a chance to live just yet.” She spat back, trying for her normal sass even with the pounding pain in her head, the drip of blood from the wounds and the light headness that came from blood loss. The coppery scent rode the air and nearly made her want to vomit.<br/><br/>She reached for another crystal, sensing the harpy was preparing for another attack, and she took so ruthlessly and thoroughly from her stored power source that she made the actual physical thing crack even as a strange violet lightning danced along her hands. She shoved her power at the other female at the same time the harpy tried to strike. Which resulted with her going flying out the window, glass shattering around her from the raw force of the magic.<br/><br/>The witch found herself hovering then, only the remnant of her power keeping from hurtling toward the ground but her body ached, her back cut up from the glass, and the injuries from the harpy meant that her physical strength was waning along with metaphysical. At least, as she looked at the street rushing toward her too fast, the limo had gotten away, with the other two safe.<br/><br/>She blacked out then, just before she connected with the ground, not noticing the blanket of power that wrapped around her and cushioned her fall, that pushed her under a large truck to hide her body. The golden form of her cat appeared then, panting from the strain. His tail twitched with worry and rage before he set a ward around her and loped off on quick paws to find someone or thing of the ‘Other’ to help.