My eyes blink open suddenly, a bright light obscuring my vision. The white eventually dies down, the circular light on the ceiling coming into view. Confusion sweeps through me. Where... am I?

I move to stand, my limbs numb and shaking, barely holding my weight as I force myself to stand slowly. My gaze catches on the mirror in my dazed state, and at first the only thing I notice is my own reflection. Dirty blonde hair was unkempt and falling out of it's simple braid that Remington had done for me, strands sticking to my sweaty forehead. Shirt rumpled, mismatched eyes were blown wide with fear and uncertainty and-

A gasp tears itself from my throat, echoing around the bathroom. I stumble back, my eyes widening as I slam against the bathroom wall, back burning with the pain of the impact.

I can't look away.

Does this mean... they've found me? No, please. Please tell me I'm wrong. Not here. They can't know I'm here. They'll take me back. They'll hurt them. Kill them. Kill me.

Carved into the broken shards of the bathroom mirror are crudely etched words- blood oh gosh thats blood leaking from the cracks- and my number. Please, no, please.

NUMBER THIRTEEN, WE FOUND YOU

The words echo in my head, over and over and over and over. My brain stumbles over every single one, tears gathered in clumps on my eyelashes, threatening to spill over at any moment. Everything shrinks down to those words, that number. Its all I can see, all I can hear echoing in my head in my own terrified voice. I go silent, body trembling, gasping quietly for air as terror fills every inch of me. They can't know I'm here. Not here, not here with my vampires. They've never done anything here at the house, how did they know I was here? How did they know?!

"Elizabeth?!"

I hear the door to our room slam open, Remington suddenly appearing next to me. I didn't even feel him coming closer. Sebastian and Emerson arrive mere milliseconds later, both immediately noticing the walls.

I didn't see the walls before. There's blood on the mirror, the walls, the floor. It's everywhere. Looking down to my hands, only now noticing their wetness, a shaky exhale falls from my parted lips. Crimson coats my fingers, too, but there is no pain. It's... It's not mine, is it? Whose blood is that? Did I do that? I had to've. I don't feel anything but the adrenaline tearing through my system could be numbing out the pain. Turning my hands over reveals blood seeping from sliced wounds that fester with my shadows. Did my shadows do this? Did I do this?

Remington wraps his arms around me in concerned confusion as I break down in quiet, near silent sobs, hands held firmly to my ears as if to block out the world around me and eyes clenched shut so tightly it hurts. The room darkens, shadows swelling in the corners as the dark tendrils race up my body, writhing anxiously in tune to my emotions. "Hey, hey, calm down, my love! Sebastian, help her!" Remington's voice grows pained, and I can feel his heartrate beginning to speed up as well.

The world dulls, sounds becoming fainter and more wobbly. The noises fade in and out as I gasp in breath after breath, the tears leaking down my face at a rapid pace. My ankle burns with a fierce fire as the comforting tingles from Remington disappear entirely and another sob forces me to curl up into a tighter ball. No, come back, come back. Please. Panic swells within me as someone grabs my face. There's no comfort. Safe... not safe- not safe. Its not Remington, I'm not safe.

'Honey, it's okay. We're here, nothings gonna hurt you.-' Andy begins, but I don't hear him, the static of the repeating words of no safety blocking anything else out, 'Remington, she's having a severe panic attack. She's hyperventilating!'

"Open your eyes." That's Sebastian's voice, and though I trust him, it's not him I want.

Remington is safesasafesafesafe- I want to be safe. I want Remington. I want Andy. I want my lovers.

'Do as he says my love. It's okay.'

I trust Andy, I think as his words manage to filter in through the haze of my mind. I trust Andy, he's here with me. He's safe, they can't hurt him.

I force my eyes to open, seeing the forced-calm face of Sebastian through bleary eyes. "Everything is okay. Nothing is wrong. Calm down." He murmurs, a soft gold glow to his lips and eyes as he strokes my cheeks with gentle hands.

Sebastian stares directly into my eyes, repeating those words like a mantra. Subconsciously, I begin to repeat his words in my head and some semblance of calm settles over me. This isn't right. I shouldn't be calm, I wasn't calm at all just a moment ago. It's a mere millisecond later that my panicked brain realizes he used his magic on me.

I stop crying, struggling to gain my breath. Calmness forces it's way into my veins, shoving the panic out at a snail's pace, eyes blinking vacantly. "Emerson get her out of here. I'm releasing the magic."

Tears still fall from my eyes as Emerson helps me up, leading me out of the room. I don't notice that he leaves me for merely a second before my bear is placed firmly into my tight grip, Emerson practically having to wrap my hands around the stuffie himself. I lean on him heavily as we move to the living room. "Birdie, what does number thirteen mean?" His voice is quiet, unsure, as he brushes strands of hair from my face.

"My... patient number." I mutter, leaning into him as he strokes my hair, my gaze locked onto the lifeless one of my newfound comfort item.

I thought that if I didn't think about how they treated me, I could convince myself that it was different. I was lying to myself for so long, lying to myself that they never hurt me, that it eventually became what I thought was truth. Some part of my mind blocked out what they did to me, to keep me strong. To help me survive. They were nice at first, but as I got older and didn't want to cooperate... When I realized what they were using me for, they got... harsher. I suppressed everything, I didn't want to remember every hurt that led to a permanent mark upon my body. They were never truly kind to me, like my child self had so wanted to believe. That day I first took a soul was the moment my life got infinitely worse. Before, they just wanted to see what I could do with my shadows, study how they moved and reacted to my own emotions. How they ate me up when I overused my magic. But when they found out I could take souls, it was all they wanted me to do. They wanted to study the souls I took, I think, but I didn't want to. Taking a soul from a body is wrong. That part of my magic is wrong.

Lieseil Incorporated Insane Asylum, the research facility that experimented on me, disguised as an institution meant to help people like me. People with magic. Supernaturals.

Memories flash through my mind. The white hot pain in my ankle as the branding iron seared the number into my skin. The water pouring over my face and the feeling of drowning, the fear of dying. Shoving my face further into Emerson's shoulder and clutching my bear to my chest tightly, I try my hardest to forget. I just want to forget. Forget everything.

The painful ache on my ankle will never let me forget. The shake in my crooked fingers, the memory of how I got those branching scars. I can never forget. Never.

::

I hold my head, eyes clenched shut, soul burning with the sheer force of her anguish. I will never understand why it hurts me physically when she is feeling a particularly strong negative emotion. The books never mentioned anything like this.

'She's remembering.'

In my minds eye a scene flashes before my eyes.

There's a girl, she's crying. Her hair is short, a light blonde that's darkening at the roots. She's sobbing, fat tears falling down thin cheeks that only have substance from baby fat. When she pauses thrashing momentarily, eyes opening in hope at the people in labcoats around her, I see her eyes..

They're silver and gold. Her young face is unmarred by scars, wet with tears. Its Elizabeth.

She starts writhing again, trying to get away as the doctor beside her continues strapping her down to a table with broad leather bindings sewn together with purple thread. The doctor falls, eyes lifeless, like his strings were cut, only to be replaced by someone else to hold her down as she let's out louder sobs, yelling, screaming how sorry she was, how she didn't mean to. A woman in a lab coat donning thick gloves holds a glowing metal rod in hand, smoke wafting from the shaped end. I watch with horror, reaching out futilely in attempts to stop him as the person brings the branding iron to the inside of her ankle, searing the flesh. Her screams echo in my ears as Sebastian shakes my shoulder to get my attention. I've never heard her scream like that before. She has never allowed herself. There's the briefest flash of her being slapped, head jerking harshly to the side, cutting off the scream with a whimper before its gone, the echoes of a man yelling at her to be silent or she'll get worse than a tap.

I think I might puke.

"What is it?" I force out, the scene of her tied to a chair, head tilted back as a rag covers her face, water being poured continuously the only thing I can see.

Her screams- coughs, sobs, gasps- nearly drown out his words, the gut wrenching sounds clouding my senses. "Come on, sit down before you fall over." He beckons, leading me over to lean against the now clean bathroom wall, close to the toilet.

"She is Patient 13." We gasp out, nothing more than a breathless release of air, holding my head as my brother side hugs me.

I jump up, throwing myself to rest over the toilet as I throw up that mornings blood. 'I'm going to kill whoever did that. I swear it on my immortal soul.' Andy exudes fury, scales shuttering over my cheekbones and a fully formed horn easily being felt on my head.

How does Elizabeth still want to live after all that's happened to her? A normal person would've... killed themselves by now. To escape that kind of pain. That kind of torture. She couldn't have been older than eleven or twelve. Why would they hurt a child like that? I've never understood the baseless cruelty of the human race. Us supernaturals can be terrible people, as all living things can be, but we protect our precious young.

'Elizabeth is strong, stronger than we give her credit for. But she should never have been forced to go through that.'

'I don't understand why. Why would they- to a child- to our- why...'

"Remington, I know your soul is conflicted but you need to calm down. What matters is that she's here with us now. She's alive, she survived whatever it is you're seeing right now, but she's hurting. You need to get to her, Emerson can only do so much. He's not her soulmate." Sebastian is always the voice of reason in our times of darkness, even if he can be frustrating sometimes.

I nod numbly, using the wall and the support of my brother to stand up. I wipe my mouth, rinsing it out with water from the sink. Shaking my head briefly to get rid of the dizziness clouding my mind, we make our way downstairs. My half-dead heart swells as I see Eliza cuddled into Emerson as he strokes her hair, arms wrapped around his middle. I sit down beside her, lightly placing a hand on her lower back. She probably already knew I was here but this action was more to comfort her.

Anger was fizzling through Andy's part of the bond, nearly drowned out by the sheer exhaustion, and I'd be lying if I didn't say some malice wasn't tainting my heart at the moment too. Staying in this plain for as long as he had, had taken a toll on him. He... sounds so tired lately. Andy has told me how he wishes he was here with us, all the time, like any other being would be able. I wish for that too. I want him here with us more than ever.

"Sweetness? We cleaned up the mess but... can I see your ankle?" I try, my voice low and unsure.

"Why?" Her voice is muffled as she buries herself further into Emerson's embrace.

Sighing, I speak to her through our bond. 'Your memories were strong and I could see them. I didn't have a say in the matter, I'm sorry.'

I listen as she takes in a harsh breath. Elizabeth moves away from Emerson, shuffling into a sitting position as all three of us watch her. Placing her stuffed bear beside her, she begins taking off her boots. Dirt and twigs from outside come off as fhedrop to the floor, remnants from her walk outside earlier, though she stayed within the barrier. Her socks folloe, moving up her left pajama pant leg so it uncovers the inner part of her ankle.

The brand was small, maybe four inches all around, right above the medial malleolus bone, the number thirteen easily identified. No wonder I didn't see it before, it's small and was healed relatively soon after the original injury.

"There's magic embedded into it." Sebastian states, reaching over to brush his finger against the angry red number, the marking seemingly recently agitated.

"Its a tracking spell." He rushes out after coming to a sudden realization, wincing in regret as she does the same in pain, immediately saying a spell in hopes to counteract the magic.

After trying to remove the tracking spell, Sebastian grits his teeth in frustration. "I can't remove it. Whoever placed it was powerful and used a spell I've never seen before. I can check mothers spell books but I believe we'll need a full blooded witch or warlock to get rid of it."

"Do we... know anyone that's still alive who would be willing to help us?" I question, pulling Eliza to me as she puts her socks back on, tucking her feet under her bottom and holding her bear in between us, scarily silent.

"I- I might know a man who could help." Sebastian remarks unsurely, a hesitant look in his eyes.

"Is he trustworthy?" My eyes narrow in doubt, chin resting gently on the crown of Eliza's head as she buries her face in the crook of my neck.

Elizabeth doesn't trust anyone but us, and I'm not sure if this stranger is as trustworthy as Sebastian says.

"Probably."

"Well alright then. Who is he?" Emerson asks, hand being gripped firmly by my sweetness.

I glare at my youngest brother in question.

"We don't know anyone else Remington!" He growls, "And she needs that thing removed. That's how they've been hunting her!"

"I want it off, Remington. I don't want to be afraid to leave the house anymore." Elizabeth says, the final opinion on the matter.

Relenting unhappily, I tighten my hold around Eliza, kissing the top of her head.

'She needs this.' Andy speaks up, 'But I am worried. They know she's in this house. The moment she steps outside, they'll know where she is. We'll have to be vigilant.'

'I know, dear. I'm worried too.'

Seeing that there will be no further protests, Sebastian continues, "His name is Andrew Martin, the last living warlock of the Martin family."

"Sebastian?" Elizabeth speaks up, quiet.

"Yes, Eliza? What is it?"

"I'm sorry."

My immediate thought is to assure her that she's done nothing wrong but she continues speaking before I can say anything.

"This whole time, they've been following us around. I've put all of you in danger, just like you thought I would. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to I swear." Her stutter makes an appearance again, after she had been working so hard to get rid of it.

I make to say something, but Andy holds me back, and I reluctantly bite my tongue. 'No, let her say this. I don't agree with her blaming herself, but this is between her and Sebastian.'

I watch as Sebastians eyes sadden, softening his gaze as he takes in how she's curled up against me as much as possible, as though to hide. "Elizabeth, look at me." His voice is gentle as he makes a request.

She hesitantly moves to look at him, tears welled up in her pretty eyes. "I know you wouldn't have done this on purpose. I'm sorry for how I treated you when you came here, I was just worried for my brothers safety, but this isn't your fault. This was done to you out of your control. Never apologize for something like this." Sebastian stands, coming to crouch before her and taking her free hand.

Pained, I continue watching as those tear slip down her cheeks. They glisten as they glide over her scars, scars that have never once made me think she was anything less than beautiful. She let's out a sob, one she didn't even try to repress, and throws herself at him. He catches her easily as I let go of her hand, holding her to him as she cries against his shoulder. Elizabeth doesn't say anything, but she doesn't have to. I'll let Sebastian know myself how grateful she was, the emotion thrumming over our bond heavily.

I make eye contact with Emerson, and the smile we share is sad. I'll have to tell them what I'd seen, as long as Eliza was okay with it. I don't think any of us truly realized how young she was, being put through whatever gave her those scars. As old as we are, nearly everyone we know has passed, and those that haven't are all far younger. It's easy to forget how much older we are, and how young others are in comparison. She was too young even now, to be going through any of this. I'll kill everyone who ever hurt her, and my soft heart will revel in it.

::

Elizabeth was drowning. She could feel the oxygen slowly dwindling in her body. The sting as her lungs burned for precious, precious air. This feeling was familiar. Far too familiar.

The panic overtaking her heart and mind worsened. Desperate flailing of skinny arms and legs turned into terrified thrashing. Slender fingers clench and release repeatedly in hopes of catching on some sort of ledge to pull the girl out of the water. Water swarmed around her, a scream becoming lost in the depths as her lungs constricted painfully. Black was all she could see, it surrounded her, rushed into her mouth when she opened it to scream. The last bit of air left her lungs, tears diluting into the blackness she was encased in. Everything hurt. Her entire body felt as though it were on fire, every cell screaming for oxygen.

She stopped fighting.

When Elizabeth felt the life leaving her, she was almost relieved. She just wanted the pain to stop. But then she thought of Remington, her soulmate and love, and then of Emerson and Sebastian, boys she both thought of as brothers. Of Andy holding her in his arms contentedly in those rare moments he could stay on this plain. The people dearest to her. The thought of leaving them, of no longer being able to hold Remington to her as he slept or laughed, to listen to Andy's soothing voice as he sung her back to sleep after a nightmare that she made sure Remington didn't hear, to joke around with Sebastian and Emerson and listen to them all make their music together...

As her lungs burned and constricted, pain ricocheting off her ribcage, a fire burned in Eliza's soul, different to the one choking her lungs. Once again starting to struggle against whatever held her underwater, the fond memories of time spent with those closest to her heart were fuel for the inferno rising in her soul. The invisible hands holding Elizabeth down suddenly disappeared as her determination solidified once more.

The water was gone, being sucked out of her lungs and replaced with air. Gasping in a breath, her eyes flew open, hacking coughs falling from blue tinted lips as oxygen once again fills her lungs. A void of darkness spanned out in every direction, as far as Eliza could see with stinging eyes. This void is empty.

Well, it was.

A pure white, faceless mass rose from the ground like a ghost, it's ten foot form towering over the five foot two girl. Etched in blood on the space where its nose should be was the number thirteen. Wispy white tendrils reached for Elizabeth and everything in her screamed for her to run. If she was caught, she'd never see the light of day again, never breathe in the fresh air as the nature around her flourished. She'd never love or feel loved again.

She'd never be free.

As she ran, the white mass chased after her. With each step she took, the unknown entity grew two steps closer. Just as her fears were about to become reality, just as the tendrils began to wrap around her shaking form, her body began to tingle familiarly. First, her cheek, then her arm, and finally both of her shoulders.

Elizabeth woke with a cut off wail, terror etched into every inch of her being as it consumed her mind and body.

Immediately, cold, gentle arms wrapped around her, moving from her shoulders and down to her back, whispered words of comfort reaching ringing ears. Clinging to him as though her life depended on it, Elizabeth tried to focus on Remington and the safety his presence brings her. Tears streamed down soft, flushed cheeks like rain, hiccups leaving petal lips as heavy sobs she let escape wracked still burning lungs.

"My sweetness, it's okay, you're fine..." he repeats these words, fingers running through her long hair and trailing down her back on occasion.

"W-water, so- so much water. I- I couldn't- couldn't breathe and then- then there was this thing. C-chasing me. Chasing- It almost had- had me Rem..." She could hardly speak through her tears, sobs choking her up and making it hard to speak.

'Honey, honey, you're alright now. You're here with us, nothings gonna hurt you. I wish I could be with you.' Eliza can tell Andy is trying his hardest to comfort her but there is such despair behind his words.

Panic and fear coursed through her, the lit lamp on the nightstand doing nothing to stave off the writhing shadows clawing at the floor in its attempts to move further towards the distressed girl. Tan arms wrapped themselves tighter around Remington's torso, seeking the comfort only a soulmate could bring.

Elizabeth's voice comes out the quietest it's been so far, occasional hiccups interrupting her as for a moment she focuses solely on what she's saying and not the fear squeezing her heart. Her next words made Remingtons slow-beating heart stop completely, for only a moment.

"I- I wanted to give up. In the water, I mean. E-everything hurt, I just w-wanted it to stop. I was o-okay with- with dying..."

His heart ached, thoughts jumbled in his mind. He doesn't want her to leave him. She can't. He loves her. Remington can't, no, won't live without her... not when he finally had her after centuries of wishing for a soulmate when the universe itself told him it would never be so. Her and Andy have brought a light to hisnlifr he didn't know he was missing. If she were to die, he'd follow sooner than the bond could tear him from this world. In his soul, Remington knows Andy feels the same. They've all come to love each other with a fierceness not even death could stop.

"B-but then I thought of y-you, and Andy... And- and Sebastian and E-Emerson... I wanted to live for you g-guys. You're my f-family."

A lone tear streaks down Remington's pale cheek, followed closely by another from his other eye until many fall freely. Now crying himself, the vampire tries his best not to let his distraught expression show to his love.

"I-I'm sorry f-for making you c-cry."

Startled only slightly, cold fingers continue their delicate tracing of circles into the small of his lovers back, his tears lessening only a little.

"It's not your fault my sweetness." He replies, curling over her further.

Andy tries his best to comfort them through words, wanting nothing more than to hold them both in his arms. Its not fair. Not fair that he can't love them the way he wants, the way they deserve. He cannot manifest and touch them, hug them, kiss them. He's afraid if he tries, then hell will suck him back into its depths no matter if his soul is anchored to theirs. He would rather die than leave them here while he is stuck in that cold place, cut off from any emotions he'd managed to scrounge up from his time on Earth.

There is no small amout of fear that if he leaves, he will not be theirs any longer, as they will not be his. But they're not truly his, are they? Eachothers, absolutely, but his? No. They would have to all have been destined as soulmates for that, and Andy was an intruder upon their promised bond, only let in on that magic because he happened to possess what is likely the only vampire in existence with a soulmate

There's a moment, or rather five, where no words are uttered. Eventually, Elizabeth's sobs turned entirely into hiccups with the occasional sniffle before dying down completely. Remington, too, had stopped crying though tears still left tracks on his cheeks. Pulling away from her lover just enough to wipe the salty remnants from her cheeks, she does the same to the vampires. "C-can... can Andy come out for the r-rest of the n-night?"

'I- I'm afraid if I-' Andy sighs in their heads, speaking through the bond unsurely.

Elizabeth regrets asking immediately, knowing that Andy always looks sickly when he's with them and not in Remington's head.

"I'm s-sorry. I shouldn't h-have asked." Andy makes his decision at her meek, unnecessary apology.

A red glow forms beside the bed before a tall figure appears, Andy no doubt, with bits of ember still floating to the ground around him. He was pale, gaunt almost, looking to be in pain. "I can only stay for the night." He murmurs, swiping a hand across his brow to remove some accumulated sweat.

"That's fine." Elizabeth says quietly, guilt heavily lacing her words.

Remington let's go of Eliza briefly, in order to move back to his position before he'd been awoken by his distraught promised, so Andy could lay on her other side. The lanky demon lays atop the covers while his beautiful human and vampire shuffle under the sheets. Both boys lay up against Eliza, one of Remington's legs tangled with one of her own, as Remington wraps his arms around her again. The two face each other on their sides, Elizabeth burying her head in the crook of Remingtons slender neck, and Andy slings an arm over the both of them. Remingtons leans into the touch as much as he's able, eager to feel the faint buzzing of

There, cuddled together, the three soulmates felt a sense of peace only brought upon by each other.