The thing facing me had the head of a rhinoceros accompanied by the slit-like eyes of a cat. The lower half of its body was the hind legs of a zebra and the chest was that of a lion. It's thick, muscular arms were what you'd expect to find attached to a professional wrestler but they ended in razor sharp claws rather than finger nails. As if the repulsive combination wasn't grotesque enough to make me want to hurl, the creature snarled at me revealing thick, scarlet blood oozing off its blackened teeth and breath that reminded me of the time a rat had begun to decompose in the school locker-room. With a reeking bellow it made its charge; aiming for my chest.

I was gripped by primitive fear and my muscles seized up. I stood, frozen like a stone, as my heart hammered and my mind whirled. Suddenly, movement returned and like a spring a dodged out of the way at the last possible second. It flew past me so close I could feel the heat of its body and was quick to come again. After dodging the fifth charge, feeling the adrenaline beginning to fade, I realised that it wasn't going to tire as easily as I was. Desperately, I threw my eyes around, searching for some kind of weapon. Something I could attempt to defend myself with or attack the animal hybrid. In my hand the red ball, utterly forgotten, pulsed and grew warmer. Gradually, it became softer and began to drip out onto the white that was beneath my feet, pooling like waxy blood. I dodged a few more charges of the beast knowing it was only a matter of time before it realised it had to change tactics. Then I came up with the greatest idea in the history of the world; I would throw the melting gloop into the monster's eyes. Yeah I was that desperate. I attempted to rationalise my stupid plan. I could use it as a distraction so I could get into a position where I could trip up the mutant. With all its randomly selected parts surely it would have a hard time getting back up. Then I could run until I found a way out of this place. Like I said; I was that desperate.

The beast charged once again and I ducked down to gather up the soft remains of the ball, some in each hand. At the last moment the thing swerved. Damn! It had finally gotten wise. I threw my arms out to protect myself letting loose the red mess causing it to fly out of my hand and through the air. 'I wish I had a dagger' I thought helplessly, 'Like a Grigori blade.' The animal had learned from my previous evasion tactics. I could almost feel the wicked horn imbedding itself in my stomach. It was the end. I braced for the impact of the natural weapon running through my chest. I waited for the pain to start. And I waited. But there was nothing. Slowly I raised my head. The creature's horn was inches from piercing me. With a start I jumped back. As if in slow motion the beast keeled over and fell to the ground. Imbedded in its head were a pair of scarlet daggers.

    "Very well done," came the voice of the messenger angel, "Very well done indeed." To my disbelief he began to clap. He was clapping like it had been some theatre show! I shook my head, too spent to vent my rage.

    "What was that?" I asked wearily, waving a floppy hand in a sweeping gesture, "What was all this about?" He smiled at me, but it didn't reach his eyes. The pacifying smile of a school teacher.

    "It was a test," he explained, "You have passed. Now you may leave." With that he began to fade away.

    "Wait!" I demanded with a scowl, "Is this my embracing? Am I Grigori? And how do I get out of here? Who are you anyway?" But he was already gone.

    "Great," I mumbled searching for a way out, "Just great." The reason why I was here smacked me in the face. I was now stuck in some angel testing sight while my dad was dying! The beast was still lying on the ground. On a whim I pulled on the daggers out of the thing's skull. It slid out easily. The weapon was covered in a crust of wax which flaked off upon contact with my skin. As the red covering fell away it revealed a very attractive patterning to the knife. The handle was wood, so white and smooth I almost thought for a second it was pearl. The blade was like any other Grigori weapon but was inlaid with an intricate design of red swirls that seemed to be moving. It was perfectly balanced in my hand and utterly breathtaking. Respectfully, I retrieved the second of the pair.

    "Thank-you," I whispered to the angel messenger even though I knew he wasn't there, "It's beautiful." Then my ears were filled with a sound like a hurricane and I was enveloped in swirling white. 'Lilies' I thought to myself 'The whole place was made of lilies.'

Alec POV

    "Oh crap!" I swore, something I had recently 'picked up', as I realised Rosaline was not breathing. I raced to her side and lay two fingers in her throat to check her pulse. Her eyes fluttered and I heaved a sigh of relief upon feeling the regular beat of her heart.

    "Dad!" she gasped sitting suddenly up straight, a great burst of power emanated from her and hit me like a brick wall. It had worked, Rosaline had embraced. I pushed her back down gently being careful to avoid skin contact.

    "Wait a moment," I soothed, "Give yourself a moment to reconnect. Everything else can wait for you." She smiled slightly feeling her new power establishing itself but the expression was crushed by a worried frown.

    "How long have I been?" she asked, "It looks like its late afternoon." I sighed and offered a hand to help her up which she accepted. Thankfully she grasped my forearm to rise though my fingers tingled after she let go.

    "You have been gone four hours, seven minutes and twenty-eight seconds exactly," I informed quietly, "From the time you touched the tree to the moment you regained consciousness again." She blew out a nervous breath.

    "We need to go," she stated, "Now, Alec. I don't have time to rest. My dad needs me." I nodded and offered her my arm again. Immediately she took it and I let my power encase us both.

Rose POV

The second my feet hit solid ground again I was off. I pushed the door open with ease and bounded up the staircase four at a time.

    "Rose!" my mother exclaimed, looking dangerously close to tears, "Where have you been?" She kept talking saying things about Cameron telling her and Doctor Phillip saying that but I ignored all that. It would take too much time so I only told her what I had to.

    "I can heal Dad," I stated to the room. Silence. Confused, disbelieving silence, the kind that was also tinged with a vain hope. Griffin gave a small, stiff nod and everyone receded like a wave away from the bed. I knelt down next to my father and placed one hand on his chest and the other on his forehead. I took a deep breath and willed my new found power to bleed into him. And bit by bit I began to heal him.

Trauma, the doctor had described it. So much internal bleeding and hormone imbalance it seemed as though my father had been involved in a serious car accident. It was a miracle he had survived this long. The severity of his wounds and the amount of energy required to heal them would have taken more power than even my mother could give. Knowing this unconsciously, Dad's body had placed some kind of shield around himself that meant that Mum wouldn't be able to use her abilities to try healing him. It was a bit like Dad was a museum with a seriously over the top security system and Mum was a thief using only conventional methods. I, however, was a different case. I was a new breed of burglar.

It took a lot of effort and I had to fight through my father's defences to gain entry to start my task but I kept pushing and, like my parents had always assured me, I was met with success. Carefully, systematically, I worked my power through his body, healing as I went. I stopped the bleeding in his liver, stomach, oesophagus and so forth and knitted the torn muscles and fibres back together. For not the first time that day, time held no meaning to me. I could have been working for years or it might have only been seconds. Time was irrelevant. Last of all I reached his brain.

I had seen exiles who had murdered thousands and jumped out of planes with my parents with a broken parachute but never before in my life had I been so scared as I was then. My father's mind was in chaos. The neural passage ways to most of his body had been shut off bar the few that kept him alive, barely. Electronic pulses from his brain with nowhere to go bounced about in pandemonium desperately trying to find something to give their commands to. I searched for the perpetrator that was blocking the mental paths. There had to be something causing this devastation.

I combed his brain, desperately examining every centimetre for the origin of the anarchy. After fighting through the frenzied race of messages it was clear where the problem lay. Clinging to the base of his brain was a small lump of black. Extending from the black were thousands of spider-like webs which were slowly but surely creeping their way further into my father's mind. This was not natural. A devastating thought rushed me and I pushed it aside. I had to keep calm. It was hard enough breaking in here in the first place and I had no doubts that coming a second time would not be any easier. I couldn't afford to lose focus. Dad couldn't afford it. Cautiously I pushed forth my power in an attempt to remove the black. It fought against me and I felt a strangely familiar presence but in the end I won. Tendrils of my own power enveloped the dark smudge, latching on firmly and gently I gave a small tug, testing my strength. I could do this. With an invisible breath, I yanked.

My mind re-entered my body with the force of a freight train. My lungs burned as I gasped for air and I could feel my heart commence its customary pattern. Stumbling away I fell onto my back and blurry faces swarmed me from all sides; asking questions and demanding answers from me, pushing and shoving and yelling. Too loud. It was just too loud. Suddenly, I realised they hadn't been shouting and I began to focus on their voices but didn't bother to actually listen. I sorted through them; Griffin, Spence, Zoe, Salvatore, Stephanie, Chloe and Nyla. My mother . . . but she wasn't talking to me.

Alec POV

Rosaline's eyes lit up at the sound of her mother's voice. Her spine straightened and she became fully alert. Slowly she got to her feet.

    "Griff," Violet whispered relief drenching her every word, "I can feel him again." The older Grigori raced to her side.

    "You're sure Violet," he questioned resting a hand on her shoulder. Violet confirmed it with a nod. I was amazed at how quiet the room had suddenly become.

    "Can you heal him now?" Griffin queried cautiously. Violet looked him right in the eye.

    "I think so," she whispered before her tone became more confident, "Yes. Yes I can."

Rose POV

I watched as my mother placed her hand on my father's chest and the other on his right arm. I held my breath as she poured her healing power into her partner. And I gasped. The room was suddenly filled with sparkling amethyst glitter which fluttered around my mother before being absorbed into my father's body.

    "It's beautiful," I murmured. And it was; I was totally transfixed by its magnificence and I swear I could hear the slight fragments of a distant melody, pure and sweet, filling me with bright hope and peace. I closed my eyes and lowered my head. And as soon as it had begun it was over.

    "There was hardly anything left to fix, Griff," marvelled my mother, "Rosie's healing must have done the trick." I felt everyone's eyes trained on the top of my bowed head; the weight of it all was so oppressive I wanted to scream. A firm, familiar hand rested on my shoulder.

    "Good work, Rose," complemented Griffin his tone very clearly implying that I couldn't avoid talking to him later. And he left. Nyla followed close behind with a slight smile of encouragement towards me. Slowly and quietly the rest of the room was vacated bar my mother, still unconscious father and me.

Mum knelt calmly at Dad's side stroking his hand. Carefully I made my way across the room to stand beside her, so many contained emotions raging inside me.

    "Wanna talk about it?" Mum questioned not looking away from her soulmate. It was a moment before I could actually get my throat to co-operate.

    "It wasn't like I thought it would be," I explained quietly, "The healing, I mean." My mother's fingers continued to stroke my father's.

    "I felt like I was walking through him," I sighed, "Like I was a tiny person walking his veins." Mum's hands didn't pause in their soothing ritual.

    "There was a . . . thing," I plunged on, "Stuck onto his brain. I pulled it off but it had its tendrils buried in his head. Then I think he pushed me out. Mum . . ." I paused uncertainly, "He's not . . . I haven't destroyed his brain, right?" Finally my mother looked up from her husband. Our eyes locked and I barrelled straight into her chest. Firm arms wrapped around me as I sobbed uncontrollably into her shirt.

    "Baby," she soothed softly stroking my hair, "Baby. You did amazing. He's okay, Baby. I don't know how you did it but you fixed him. He's just sleeping now, Baby. I promise he's just sleeping."

. . .

Four days later, Dad was still sleeping. Mum and I never left his side except to go to the bathroom or for the briefest of showers. We sat up all through the night barely sleeping a wink. Once again, time was irrelevant.

    "Mum," I whispered, "Is he gonna wake up soon?" My mother didn't look at me as she replied.

    "He's sleeping, Rosie," she whispered back. Her mantra. "His body is trying to recover. It'll take a few more days, Baby."

My head hurt, and my eyes and neck and back. Actually everything hurt. My brain was having trouble processing anything and I felt like I was floating on the edge of an abyss. So close to falling. My eyes like led weights, drooping lower...lower...lower...

    "Rosaline," a familiar voice stirred me from my mind, "I am taking you to bed now." I couldn't protest as strong arms picked me up and cradle carried me to a bed. Once under the thick covers sleep swiftly overtook my mind and body.

...

So Rose didn't embrace like a normal Grigori. The differences just keep mounting up. Hope you're really enjoying this. The action should begin to heat up soon so please keep reading and telling me what you think. 

~SpanishFox