DAMIAN

It happened so fast that I almost didn't see it but the sound of the shot fire isn't hard to miss and the way Camille flies off, slamming against the glass sheltering the bus station and the collision is heavy enough to break it. Camille's body drops on the ground and I hear her groan. She's alive.

My eyes moves from where she's laying to the people getting down from the bus with weapons. "Her head is mine."

Oh shit.

Jessica makes a move to drop to the ground but one of them catches the gesture and kick her stomach before punching her nose, she goes down instantly.

I rush to where Camille is laying, her eyes are shut and her mouth is in a 'O' shape as she struggles to breathe. "Fuck. Fuck, it's hurt," she mutters and opens her eyes to look at the wound, which is healing already.

"They're here for you, stay down and heal. I'll grab Jessica and come back to open a portal," I tell her, not reminding her of how I offered to open one earlier this morning in which she declined. None of this would have happened if she'd let me open the damn portal like I planned to.

She doesn't answer, she raises her head and grab the grass as she support her weight on her elbow, watching the skin the pellet tore heal.

I look ahead and see them going for Jessica, who looks like she's unconscious. They came here for Camille but I don't think any of them actually recognize her because I hear one of them order the rest to, "check if she has the weird tattoos the poster said."

I leave Camille and run towards Jessica but I hear something behind me. Heavy footsteps. I look back briefly to see Camille on her feet, running behind me.

"I told you to stand down, what are you doing?!" I growl at her but she doesn't answer as she runs past me, getting the attention of the men after her.

"What the hell?"

"The bitch's alive."

"That's her."

"Take her out!"

"Let see how you heal from a gunshot to the brain."

I tense at those words and the sound of him cocking his rifle. I look from the man to the direction she's running. No matter how fast she runs, she won't escape that bullet. So I run after her and wrap my arms around her waist and bring her down as the bullet release from the barrel.

She thrashes in my arms, oblivious to what I just did. "Camille, wait! Stop! They're going to–" her elbow hit my nose as she pulls herself free but I don't let her go, I hold on to her waist but it's obvious that she doesn't want it and her frustration is clear and can be heard. I don't understand why she can't stay put. There are more than twenty men with different weapons waiting to kill her.

"Let me go. Let me go, NOW!" Her lips moves with the words but emphasizing on now cause something to happen as her mouth opens wide, the strangest thing happen.

Fire comes out of her mouth, directing them at the men and she doesn't stop screaming and releasing the fire until every last one of them is burn to ashes and the bus goes boom. Already taken my hands off her. Camille closes her mouth and gasp as she gets on all four. She begins to breathe heavily as she tries to regulate her breathing but that's not what I find surprising. It's the black blood trailing down her lips.

She doesn't know until she wipes the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. She freezes and tense up when her eyes connects with the black stain blood on his skin. She raises her head and sees the damages she's done. Her eyes looks around the empty road before settling on me, I know she's freaking out. I can see it in her eyes.

"What just... What just happened?" She asks.

If I tell her I have an idea, then I'll be the liar she deem me to be.

Something is going on with her and we need to find it out before it goes too far.

****

We made it back to school in one piece. I drop Jessica off with Nurse Grady to check her out while I take Camille to the mansion for father to look at her. I don't tell him what happened right away because I don't want to answer any of Camille's questions and I know she has many because I know her but she doesn't seem eager, she is still in shock and hasn't said anything since.

"Can you take off your clothes?" My father asks Camille who's standing beside me. She narrows her eyes in response. "You need to shed all your clothing and rub your body with it"–he shows her a jar–"for me to be able to do a full body scan on you."

I expect a sassy response from her or a savage comeback but she doesn't say anything. She nods and stretch her hand out to collect the jar.

"Damian and I will step out of the room to give you privacy and we won't come back until after the scan is completed," Father explains but he doesn't get anything from her. He looks at me before looking at her again. "Are you okay, Cami? You don't look okay." He notices.

I haven't told father anything, not even about Roman and how Camille hates us now for keeping secrets from her. He doesn't even know about the fire, he's doing this at my request.

"Silent treatment, wow. I should be the one giving you the silent treatment, you left without informing anyone and made everyone worried, I–"

"The substance in the jar is Dihipian tar. We are making you use this because you're part Dihipian and most of the powers you've been exhibiting is Dihipian. We want to know what's really going on inside you and this will make us see everything. Father can access the tar from anywhere, so don't worry about us seeing you. We'll let you know when we're through and once we're done, and one more thing. Once you're done rubbing the tar all over your body, find a flat surface to lay on and don't move. Father and I will step out now."

I hook my hand with father's and pull him out. I close the door and take him to the living room.

"What's going on with her? What's going on with you? Why did you interrupt me?" He asks once we are out of range.

"Start the scan and I'll tell you." I say.

Father huffs and goes to stand in front of an empty wall. He taps his index finger which is covered in tar five times before drawing the symbol of the royal. He smears the tar on the wall with his hands until the tar is gone but the remainant stains the wall. He steps back and looks at me. "The reading will begin once she's done putting it on her body. Now tell me what's wrong."

"We found out that someone's after Camille." I give him the shortest version because I don't know where to start and I think talking about it will make me think about it and I don't want to remember the look on Camille's face when she found out that I've withhold the truth from her.

"Sebastian?" He asks.

I shake my head. "He was my first thought but no. This person is unknown but put a bounty on her head. Seven hundred million dollars."

Father eyes widens before blinking thrice. "Wow, that's..." He chuckles, wiping his thumb against the corner of his mouth, "that's a lot of money on her. Do you have any idea of who it might be?"

"Well we ran into Raymond Dark."

His eyes goes wide before repeating his name. "Raymond Dark? What the hell has he got to do with this?"

I shrug. "I don't know but he was the one that told Camille about the bounty. Do you think they're all connected? The person that broke into Di Hipsodat and almost killed her with the poisonous plants and spelling her friends to murder her?"

Father sniffs as he folds his arms across his chest. "Might be. I don't know."

El, I hate it when he says that. He is the all knower for a reason.

"Do you at least find who it?"

He nods. "I did but I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because I need to let El knows before anyone else and the person and El have history, a bloody history. I need to find them before I say anything and I'm working on finding them now." He says and move to stand in front of the wall. "She's done, it's reading now."

"Good."

"What brought this on? The scan?"

"We were attacked at the bus station and she got shot. She killed them father, every last one of them."

"That's good. It's her or them."

"She killed them with fire. Fire that came from her mouth just like–"

"El-Laura-El." Father freeze for a while before shaking his head to pull himself out of his thoughts. "How did she do that?" He demands.

"No idea."

He doesn't say anything else and focus his attention of her scan. He later speaks when it finishes. "The scan shows that she's normal." He says, spread his palms against the tar stained wall before curling his fingers inward, his nails scratching the paint in the process. He pulls back and the wall is clean of all tars. "It might not be conclusive, so I'll go do a full body analysis with the results." He tells me, showing me his palms where the scan transferred.

"Are you positive you didn't hear her say a spell?"

I shake my head. "I was behind her when it happened and no she didn't. I would have heard if she did, even if it was a whisper."

Father sighs, obvious exhausted from everything. The life and role of the gatekeeper has never been more demanding and stressing.

"So how was she able to summon Azra's fire?"

I don't think he actually expect me to answer but I have to. I wasn't going to say anything because I don't trust my father when it comes to Camille but now I have no choice.

"She's been dreamingfather."

He raises his eyebrows at me like I've lost of my mind. "So what? She has nightmares all the time. Tell me something I don't already know, Dam-El."

"She's been dreaming about Azra." That should thrill him.

His head shoot back to look at me. "What?"

"She has and it's not just an ordinary dream. They were bonding."

"Wow, that's new and a lot." He takes a deep breath. "She need to be watched Damian."

"I know."

"You all right, son?" Father knows me too well.

I nod. "I'm good."

"Good, let's go see her." He suggests.

I don't move but I tell him, "Might not be a good thing for us to see her."

He frowns. "Why?"

I close my eyes and look down. Father would be so disappointed. "She found Roman and I told her everything."

"What? Damian, why did you?"

I shake my head and give the best answer I can. "I couldn't lie to her anymore."

He runs his hand through his head in clear frustration. "Crap! You just told her. You know what this means right?"

I nod. "I do."

"Let's go."

I follow father back to the room. We knock on the door and wait a moment before going in. She's all dressed up now. The fun thing about the scan tar is once the scan is done the tar disappears from the body. No need to shower or anything.

"We didn't find anything abnormal in your body. But I'll keep walking on it, I have the results and I check it all again to see if we've missed anything." Father tells her but she doesn't say anything or move from where she's sitting on the bed. "I know you're angry but please say something."

Instead of doing as she's told, Camille raises her middle finger to us and shakes her head.

That's moment I know I've lost her for good. And I have no one to blame but myself.