I spring to my feet and turn in a slow circle, a white-knuckled grip on the knife. The blurry, stumbling figure appears several feet away, their stride quick and anxious. A feral growl escapes my lips as our eyes lock, his widening ever so slightly.

"Bella." He murmurs softly, the chilling, fierce wind threatening to drown his quiet voice within its dark and haunting depths. He appraises my bloodied condition and locks his jaw, face brimming with unchartered emotion. A strange strangled noise tumbles free from my parted lips and I tilt my head to the side, mimicking the dead girl and grinning.

"Jordan." I reply, watching him cringe at the sound of his name. He sucks in a tight breath and zips the winter coat up a little higher, approaching cautiously.

"Don't run." He warns, grasping ahold of a tree trunk with one hand and holding the other out as if to coax me closer. A lifetime of moments pass as he crunches through the snow, his breath fogging in the chilly air.

But I couldn't feel the cold.

Only warmth; sweet and intoxicating warmth swirling around me like a tornado tinted with a dash of madness.

He steps gingerly into the small clearing, his sharp eyes flashing between me and the dead girl at my feet. Jordan falters, his face slackening and a deep unquenchable sadness erupting from him in a burst of unfiltered emotion.

"No! Nevaeh!" He cries, rocking himself forward and curling the dead girl in his arms, disrupting my perfect painting. "No, no, no. Come on, wake up baby." Jordan urges, grasping her head in his hands as violent sobs threaten his sanity.

"Don't touch!" I shriek, red rage tinging my vision. I surge toward him, raising the weapon above my head as if to drive it through his skull. But Jordan turns, his eyes like dark green ice, and catches my arm in his hold.

"What have you done?" He screams, face blossoming with fury. Jordan rises like a wave crashing into the shore and sweeps me into his arms, driving us back against the trunk of a tree and pinning me there. I whimper, head spinning with shock.

"What have you done? What have you done! I told you no more killing! I told you, I told you!" He rages, the vice-like grip on my arms tightening like a noose I can't escape.

My heart beat surges, thumping faster and faster until I can hardly breathe. A blood curdling scream rips free of my throat, so powerful I hear it in my own head like a spear stabbing through my skull. Jordan jerks and backs away, the scream dying in the throat the moment he lets me go.

Several moments of tense silence pass between us in which Jordan takes on a defensive stance, wiping madly at the tears trailing down his cheeks. I step away from the tree and reclaim my knife from the snowy ground, passing a glance over at the dead girl no longer poised so elegantly.

"Don't touch her please." I warn calmly and pad through the snow to readjust her cold body. But Jordan stops me dead in my tracks.

"What did you do Astrid." He accuses, the question coming out as a statement heavy with raw emotion. My name rolls off his lips like a bitter aftertaste that he can't shake. I tilt my head, lips parting in a bloody grin that causes him to recoil in disgust. Carelessly, I glance at the girl and shrug.

"I killed her. I killed heaven and made her an angel." I answer calmly and pry my arm from his fingers. "You're next." Jordan flinches but makes no move to stop me as I reposition Nevaeh's lifeless form.

"You see? She's an angel, beautiful in death. I created her and now I'm going to make the monster. You." I explain into the silent night.

Ring-a-round the rosie,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down.

Ring-a-round the rosie,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down.

          I tilt her head, gathering the luscious brown curls in my hands and spreading them out around her head like a halo. She was getting stiff now, harder to play with. With a satisfied huff, I rise to my feet and spin around to face the boy whose daughter lay dead.

          Jordan watches me with narrowed eyes that seem to stare into my soul. A pillar of darkness clings to him like a dirty sweater that doesn't fit right. He's troubled and torn two ways; fighting desperately to find the answer in a bottomless ocean. My vision blurs and a strikingly familiar face appears just past his left shoulder, glimmering in the night like a lighthouse drawing me home.

Sweet brown eyes and long black curls.

"Kill him." Nevaeh prompts, "You know you want to. Kill him like you killed me." I nod, suddenly acutely aware of the knife clenched between my fingers. Jordan takes a step forward, completely oblivious to the girl hovering behind him signing his death certificate. The girl with an evil grin contorting her lips, once so pink and plush in life.

          "Astrid, come home. We'll deal with this like we always do." Jordan beckons, having come to some internal conclusion and slumping under the weight of it.

"Astrid –" A snarl slithers free from my throat, silencing him instantly as my lips curl back from my teeth.

"I'm going to kill you now." I respond, lunging forward and slashing out violently with the knife. Jordan jerks and raises his arm to block the blow while using the other to nail me in the stomach. I gasp as the air is knocked from my lungs.

"Astrid stop!" Jordan barks, the order smoother than ice.

"Kill him Astrid, kill him now!" Nevaeh screams, her head right beside mine so close I feel her breath on my cheek.

"Yes!" I cry, again driving the knife forward. Jordan growls as it slices through his jacket sleeve and warm, sticky blood trickles down the handle. He steels me with a dark look and wrenches the knife from my slippery hold, tossing it far, far away.

A lethal scream crawls up my throat, filling the empty air with heart wrenching noise. I throw the full weight of my body into him, sending us both flying back into the trunk of a tree. Jordan grunts, taking the brunt of the blow, and locks his jaw as he grips my wrists tightly in his hands.

Just one fluid motion that I don't see coming and he traps my back against his body. His arm locks around my chest while the other constricts my arms behind my back.

"Stop!" He shouts, anger vibrating through his voice as he presses his lips to my cheek, warm breath fanning my neck. A fresh, minty scent flutters through the air, swirling up my nose and tinting my vision for just a second.