The new day was just dawning when they came knocking on the door; Mum was dressed in a very nice navy suit and Josephine in slate grey.

    "Hey, Honey," Mum greeted as I opened the door, "I need to talk to you both." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Cam was already alert and eying off Josephine.

    "Sure, Mum," I replied, "What's up?" I stepped aside and the pair walked into our room. Thank Goodness I wasn't wearing anything embarrassing. Standard issue Academy pyjamas were a Godsend. My mother beamed me a little smile and snuck a look over at my friend.

    "The Assembly believe Cameron, Phoenix and Griffin were all attacked by the same person or thing," she explained, all business now, "And it has been decided that Cameron will be asked to describe her attacker and, if necessary, be read by one of the Assembly members." Cam let out an involuntary muffled sob.

    "Cam has to appear before the Assembly?" I repeated slowly, "And have her brain examined for information?" My mother nodded, fully understanding how huge an ask this was of my friend.

    "Only if necessary," she declared. Stupidly, my eyes wandered to Josephine who was barely concealing a smirk. Anger boiled in my veins.

    "And what if she doesn't turn up?" I challenged returning my attention back to my mother. She barely had time to open her mouth before she was cut off.

    "In that scenario," Josephine interjected, "Ms D'Arcy will be personally escorted to the Assembly Chamber. By force if required." I ground my teeth. I didn't have to look at Cam to know she didn't want to get with ten feet of the Chamber.

    "Shall we?" Josephine smiled gesturing with one hand to the door. My arms crossed over my chest and I planted my feet.

    "No," I stated firmly, "We shall not. Cameron does not want to be examined. We're not going." A muscle twitched in the Grigori's face. I didn't dare look at my mother.

    "Did you not understand what I said before?" Josephine questioned, incredulous. "We have with us four other Grigori outside this room. Ms D'Arcy will be coming before the Assembly whether you will it or not. The odds are six against one. You will be simply overpowered."

    "I'm willing to fight." Josephine laughed. The sound was cutting with a whip or knife. There was no joy in it.

    "You cannot win," came the sharp response. I took a deep breath to quell my anger.

    "Yes I can," I said coolly, "I want her more."

Cam POV

    "I want her more." Rose's voice was detached and icy. A tremor of fear, more resonant that the others raced down my spine. In that moment my best friend sounded like a killer. The look on Josephine's face was deadly. Her hand twitched as if to strike Rose and her weight came forward. Things were going to get ugly.

    "No!" The voice caught me off guard. It was mine! All three women's eyes locked onto me. A drew a breath in through my nose. "It's okay, Rose. I'll go with them."

    "But – " I silenced my friend with a shake of my head.

    "I've got nothing to hide," I tried to keep the terror from my voice, "Nothing to tell them. It's not worth the trouble." All the tension drained from Rose's body.

    "Okay, Mrs Wood," I stated standing up and picking out a set of clothes from the simple wardrobe, "Let's go rack my brains."

Rose POV

The Assembly Chamber was very open; a semi-circle of raised chairs with benches behind and an open area in the front perfect for sparing. The Assembly sat on the raised seats and any extra spectators or back-ups sat on the benches. It was the Assembly that made the choices for all Grigori and enforced them along with testing of Grigori members or hearings. The stage was set; Cam was standing on the flat space in front of the Assembly chairs, the Assembly was seated and Dean and I were sitting on the benches. A non-descript man sat at the other end on the benches.

    "Today," my mother announced, assuming her role as Head of the Assembly, "we are following a lead into the investigation of the attacking of Grigori, Griffin Moore."

    "State your name and rank," demanded Josephine from her seat on the raised dais. Cam cleared her throat.

    "Cameron Alexa D'Arcy," my friend replied, voice carrying in the beautiful acoustics of the room, "I am Human."

    "Ms D'Arcy," my mother took over, "On Saturday the twelfth of November of this year you have been said to have been visited by the once exile Phoenix. Is that true?"

    "That is correct," replied Cameron. For a second I was curious as to how my mother knew that and then I remembered she was one of the head Grigori of our city; she knew how many times someone connected to Grigori has sneezed. Why not this?

    "Am I correct to believe that he was bleeding?" my mother continued.

    "Yes," my friend confirmed nodding her head not meeting my mother's eyes.

    "In what condition was he?" Josephine piped up earning a reprimanding glare from my mother. Cam's head popped up startled by Josephine's voice and flinched slightly as she met the eyes of one of the Assembly. I thought they needed physical contact to probe.

    "He was obviously injured," explained Cam looking down once more, "The scratches were quite deep and he was losing a lot of blood. I'm not really an expert on these things. Rose was there; she'd probably know more."

    "In due course," my mother answered, "Rosaline Wood will be questioned. For the moment, let us continue." She looked down at a sheet of paper in her lap. More questions about Phoenix turning up at her doorstep and her relationship with him were asked and Cam answered them all as best she could. Every so often she would flinch again as she met the eyes of another Assembly Grigori. It was weird.

    "Several days after Phoenix's attack," my mother stated, "On the nineteenth of the same month you turned up at the doorstep of Griffin Moore. What can you tell us of the events of your attacking?" My friend was silent. I held my breath in anticipation as did the rest of the room.

    "I can't tell you," she choked quietly.

    "What was that, Ms D'Arcy?" my mother inquired, "I didn't quite catch that."

    "I," Cam struggled to say, "can't . . . tell . . . you." A ripple of protest ran through the room.

    "Can't," demanded Josephine, "Or won't?" My mother sent her a sharp look that made her wilt slightly. My friend didn't answer.

    "Ms D'Arcy," my mother declared, "As you are apparently unable to tell us of the event we will now ask if we may retrieve the information from you." A deep, oppressive silence. She knew she had no choice. Cam nodded.

    "Okay."

The man sitting on the other side of the benches stood up and headed towards Cameron. With a slight bow to my mother he reached out to take my friend's hand and closed his eyes gently.

Cam POV

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be; facing the Assembly, I mean. The questions were relatively straight forward; mostly what, who and how. The worst part would have had to have been looking the Grigori in the eye. Every time I did I got a nice headache of information crushing through my mind. Ouch! It seemed my powers were growing. The interrogation was going smoothly until they asked me about that night. I couldn't tell them. I couldn't say the words. They burned my throat when I tried and my eyes smarted. The pain was excruciating and it was made even worse as I felt I had to conceal it in front of these people like it were some shameful action on my behalf.

    "Ms D'Arcy," Mrs Wood stated, "As you are apparently unable to tell us of the event we will now ask if we may retrieve the information from you." I nodded realising it was the only way they might be able to get the information from me. I was frightened as hell that it would give me brain-damage but I had to do it. Rose needed Griffin; I had to do this for Rose.

    "Okay," I tried for false bravado saying the word loud and clear. A plain man stood up from his place on the benches and proceeded towards me. His face was so blank, so neutral, it made shivers run up and down my spine. A canvas waiting for me to paint out the scene. When he reached the centre of the stage, and me, he paused for a second to bow to Rose's mother before taking a gentle hold of my hand and closing his eyes. His skin was soft against my own, pleasant and cool. A look of absolute peace settled over his face and I too closed my eyes.

For a moment all I saw was the blotchy blueness of my eyelids and then, slowly, an image began to form. It began as a mix of faded colours squishing together in a dull frenzy and gradually the colours became brighter but still just a random mess. I felt the man's hand squeezing a little tighter in concentration and the colours shifted slightly. Again, as the man re-doubled his efforts, he tightened his grip. This continued slowly adding more and more pressure to my hand and forcing the backs of my eyelids to dance. The pain became dreadful. A thousand tiny pins were being jammed into me all at once. I wanted to cry out but my body and mind were no longer under my control. The pain was almost like . . . Suddenly the scene cleared. I was taking out the bins. Mum and Dad had taken the boys to Judo and I was home alone with permission to go to Rose's so long as I left a note and called one of my parent's mobiles once I got there. It was cold out with a chilly little wind playing gently with my curls. I shivered and pulled the bins the last stretch out onto the curb. As I turned around to head back inside I got the feeling that I was being watched. Thinking I was safer inside I headed through the door.

It was only a little while later that a rattling from outside drew my attention; one of the shutters had come loose. I rolled my eyes and headed out there to take it off thinking that I would fix it in the morning. The wind had picked up and was bitterly cold. The first drops of icy rain were just beginning to fall as I wrenched off the offending shutter. Tucking it under my arm I marched over to the shed and placed the rectangle of wood just inside the door and snapping the lock shut. Suddenly I shivered violently and a rush of pain shot through my hand. In the fading light I brought it up to eye height; my fingers were drenched in blood and three holes bore right through the flesh in perfect clean cylinders. I heard a growl from behind me and I slowly turned knowing that whoever or whatever had done that to my hand was right there.

The rest happened in what seemed like a matter of seconds. I finished turning and a shadowy silhouette standing on two legs lunged at me. There was blood and screaming and pain and more blood and then silence. I was being carried moving so fast everything around me was a blur once we stopped I was laid down on the cold, wet cement of someone's doorstep.

    "Say hello to Rosaline for me." I caught a glimpse of glowing scarlet eyes before I was overcome by the darkness. My eyes flashed open; the man was stumbling away from me as it I'd just smacked him cross the face. In my head I replayed the last part. When had it said that? I'd never heard it speak before. And why did it sound so familiar?

Rose POV

It had been ten minutes. The mind-reader man was pale and sweating like all get out, his hand clamped so tightly onto Cam's I was sure he'd cut off all the circulation in her fingers. Cam, on the other hand, was cool and composed, eyes gently shut as if she'd been snap-frozen half-way through blinking. But there was something unnerving about it all. She was so still like a wax figurine. I was just about to get up and leave when the man wrenched his arm off my friend's hand reeling backwards. Cam's eyes shot open revealing bloodshot whites and all the colour drained out of her face as she started to shake. The man made his way to my mother's side as I flew towards my friend. I bundled her into a rough embrace and squeezed her. She didn't respond.

    "Miss Wood," my mother's commanding voice caught my attention, "Miss D'Arcy, Mr Nisson and yourself are required to leave the room for the time being."

As a trio we marched out of the Assembly room and settled ourselves into the chairs in the waiting room outside. The whole time I gently stroked Cam's shaking hand with my thumb in a soothing gesture. We sat in silence, neither Dean or I daring to talk in case Cam broke down or something. Gradually the colour returned to her face and the shaking subsided. After some time a rather muscly Grigori came out to catch our attention.

    "You may return to your rooms," he informed us, unsmiling, "The Assembly requires no more of your services today." The man disappeared back into the Assembly Chamber and the three of us stood up and left.

. . .

So what did you think? Enough drama for you? Sorry if you've thought it has taken a while for something to actually happen. Things should get moving now. And Cam is getting more powerful! What is going on there? What did you think about Rose standing up to Josephine? Badass? Or just typical teenager stuff? This chapter was longer. Be proud!!! Also don't forget to tell me who Rose should end up with. Don't be shy. Updates should come soon.

~SpanishFox