"Bold move, Ms. Lewis." Dorian said, standing up and dusting himself off. "I must say that short hair rather suits you."

I scowled in return.

Dorian snapped his fingers and instantly all the guards in the room turned their attention to us and it was then that I realized how many of them there were. "But, for every bold movie, one exists that is ten times bolder."

Dorian punched the wall beside him and suddenly the building began to shake. People began to lose their balance and fall over. Rubble fell down behind us, blocking our escape. Dorian cracked his knuckles and smirked. "There." He said cheekily. "Now no one can chicken out and run away."

Hailey pushed her way through the crowd so that she was right next to me. Alex and Skye were right behind her. "Circe, what are we going to do? They obviously outnumber us, not only in size but power too. We can't take them!"

"We have to, Hailey! We have no choice!" I said.

"Yes we do! I could easily blast through that rubble blocking the way and then we can just make a tactical retreat-"

"No. You don't understand Hailey!" I said, looking at her directly in the eyes. "Dorian has hurt too many people and taken too many lives! He's not going to stop! We can keep running and we can keep hiding, but it's not going to change anything. He's always going to be out there waiting for us to resurface. He's always going to be waiting for us. But while he's waiting, he's going to be doing the same thing! We can't keep letting this happen. We have to end this, here and now!"

Hailey looked at me with wide eyes. "But, Circe-"

"I'm for it." Skye said before Hailey could finish.

"Me too." Evanora chimed in. "I'm tired of running."

"We either end this now, or we don't end this at all." Victor added.

"Dorian's an ass. I'm sick of being pushed around by him." Alex stated coldly.

Murmurs of agreement rose up among our group. I turned to Hailey. "So are you with us?" I asked.

Hailey's eyes were wide with fear. I could tell she didn't want this. She wasn't ready. But she nodded nonetheless. "I'm with you." She said softly. I nodded and turned back around to glare at Dorian. Hira was at his side now, her fingers twitching at the aspect of a fight. I narrowed my eyes at them. "This ends NOW Dorian!" I yelled.

Dorian smirked. "I expected as much." He pointed a finger and his men charged.

The battle ensured in a flurry of attacks. As I fought with various guards I'd see an occasional burst of energy or a cry of pain. I didn't know which side it would come from though, so I simply hoped for the best.

Suddenly, I went flying into a wall as I was shoved by an invisible force. I heard Alex call out to be, but his voice sounded muddled and distant. I stood u quickly and met Hira's eyes across the room. I narrowed my eyes at her and wiped the blood that had begun to trickle from my nose.

"Look who's still calling the shots around here?" Hira chirped as she made her way towards me. "What? Have you not gotten tired of being a controlling bitch yet?"

"Have you not gotten tired of being Dorian's lap dog, yet?" I retorted. Hira scowled at me and threw a punch that hit me directly in the jaw.

"Oh! I think I pushed a button." I seethed, summoning my claws. I swiped at Hira repeatedly, but she managed to dodge all of my attacks. I went to kick her, but she grabbed my leg and shoved me down.

"I'm stronger than you, Circe. That's something that you've neglected to realize!" I tried to get up, but Hira held up a hand and I felt myself being weighed down. I couldn't move.

"It's fitting that you'd die on your back. Live like a maggot, die like a maggot." She leaned down close to my ear and whispered. "Oh, and don't worry. I'll take good care of your friends for you."

Something snapped within me at the mention of those words. There was no way in hell I was dying here. Especially not at Hira's hand!

I felt something shoot through my veins and I shot upwards, tackling Hira. She shrieked as I broke through the invisible force holding me down and slammed her to the ground. I hissed in her face. Literally hissed. I could see the glow that my eyes cast off onto Hira's black shirt.

"Your...your teeth!" She gasped. I rubbed my tongue across my teeth to see what she meant and I felt two long fangs where my canines had once been. It would have been a lot cooler if I wasn't in the middle of a fight.

I ignored my teeth and scowled at Hira. "Don't EVER threaten my friends every again! Threaten me all you want, but don't you bring them into the mix, do you UNDERSTAND me?" I demanded.

Hira was practically shaking with fear. I raised my arm up, my claws materializing and ready to rip out Hira's throat. But as I looked into her eyes, I saw fear. Legit fear that I had never seen Hira display before. I felt terrible.

I was becoming Dorian.

I narrowed my eyes. "I'll deal with you later." I huffed. I slammed her head onto the ground and knocked her unconscious.

By the time I stood up, all the guards had been taken out and Dorian was gone.

I made my way over to Evanora, Alex, and Victor. "He went down this hall." Evanora said pointing. "It's the only way he could have gone."

"So I assume we're going that way?" Victor asked.

"Well we can't just let him get away. He's scared. It's obvious. He sees what we're capable of and now he trying to run." Alex said crossing his arms.

"But he's not getting away." I said. I blew a strand of my hair out of my face and cracked my knuckles. "Let's go."