Malic woke to find Kandra gone, she would not have gone far as her clothes were still on the floor nearby. No one had disturbed them all evening, no dou t Yanko would have had the others training and reading up on Harsprite. None the less his night had been wild, the passion he had felt was heavenly in a single word. The door opened and Malic watched as the beautiful woman he loved strolled in with a skip in her step. She leaned in and kissed him. "Want another round." She asked winking and without the need to be asked twice Malic jumped at the chance.

In the secret library Yanko was discussing options with the others. He had marked out some places that could be used to hide people and monsters alike. However one place kept everyone focused, the old prison. "Look I know we didn't do well the last time but we can take our time with this one." He said looking at Uthar mainly. "If we recon the area then that should give us some insight if it is being used for anything." Tapping his marker on the map to highlight its position he was rather fixated on the prison being the first place to check. "Couple of days, check it out, if I'm wrong then I'm wrong." He said.

Megan lifted her arm to interrupt him. "So who would be going?" She asked.

"Good question, Malic and Kandra are out of the question." Everyone nodded to agree. "So I was thinking of sending Thea and Uthar unless they want to disagree or someone else wants to volunteer." He added.

"I'll go too." Added Rathrock as he lifted his arm. "Some muscle would be good. No offence Uthar." He said looking at the other.

"Sure why not." Replied Yanko as he looked about the room. So this is what we will do. Uthar, Thea and Rathrock scout the prison. Kalab, Megan and Dianasis you go to scout out the old hotel on the mountain road. Meanwhile myself, Malic and Kandra will try amd hold things down here." He looked at each of them as he scanned the room. "Is that ok with you Kandra?" He asked her as she sat in a towel after having a shower.

"No problem I'll just tell Malic the plan." She got up and headed back to the night room where she was hoping Malic was still asleep.

Malic was laying on the bed panting. He couldn't believe how much rougher Kandra had wanted to be, he looked at himself in the tall mirror and as Kandra walked in he spun to look at her. "That was quick." He said looking at her in the towel.

"I've been gone almost an hour, I sat in with Yanko and the others talking plans." She looked at him and noticed the bite on his shoulder and the nail marks on his chest. "When did you get those marks?" She asked.

"Come on stop messing around, it was you, not kore than twenty minutes ago." He said with a beaming smile on his face.

"Malic that wasn't me." Panic flashed across her face realising someone had managed to get into the library while it had been locked. Malic looked at her then at the marks again in the mirror.

"If it wasn't you then who was it?" He stared at the bite mark as he remembered the last forty minutes second by second and feeling both delight and disgust at what happened.

They both rushed to get dressed then headed to find Yanko. There was a sudden light as they entered the room and everyone turned to see Alexicus standing there with his wings out wide and his sword in his hand.

"Well you lot sure know how to kick a hornet's nest don't you." He said as he turned to Yanko. "Siren, where the hell has she been hiding, I mean the blood bath in the city, that was rough, but having to deal with Siren as well, that is a whole new level of 'people you pissed off getting even with you.'" He stood looking around. "I see you have a few new members here. Good. Get it sorted Yanko, Tyther is growing very tired of sitting on his hands. We may not be able to stop him much longer." Then with a flash the Messanger God was gone again.

"This just keeps gettimg better." Snapped Yanko as he threw the marker across the room. He looked up at Malic amd Kandra who were looking white as ghosts. "Out with it, best get all the bad news in one go." He added.

Kandra stepped forward amd everyone turmed to look at her. "I think Siren got into the Library."

The silence was deafening as everyone stared at her. She pointed to Malic who tried to shrug it off. "She tricked him into thinking she was me. She managed to bite him." She sobbed. "She scratched him and she defiled him." She collapsed to the floor in a flood of tears. Dianasis was the first to her, she pulled her close to comfort her.

"I didn't know." Malic replied as he looked at the others, here was no judgement from them, no looks of shame. They simply looked bewildered.

"Uthar, Kalab take Malic out for a while, we'll deal with Kandra here." Said the Librarian to the two men, they got up and grabbed Malic walking him out into the city.

"Don't worry about it." Kalab said, he looked about to make sure they were alone. "Harsprite don't do it often, change form, infact I've never seen or known anyone who has seen it. She'll come round." He put his hand on his shoulder and walked at his side under a series of street lights.

"Wait up fellas." Called Rathrock from behind them. "Yanko has asked us to check out the prison. Here are your weapons." He handed out the wooden forms which began to grow in the hands of their owners. They all quickly placed them away safely and carried on walking.

As they headed through town they were unaware that they were being watched. As they reached the edge of the city several winged creatures leaped into the air and disappeared into the clouds.

At the library Kandra had managed to calm down, the others had done a good job talking her round, he wasn't to know they kept telling her and she understood that, so she couldn't stay mad at him. Yet deep down she felt the sting of it, as though it was payback for Kilmer. Dispite everything Malic wasn't Honsi, and while they were still two different people, she could treat them differently. Although it was hard, she really loved Malic for being himself, the fact he looked like Honsi was both a blessing amd a curse. Yet deep down she knew Malic would not be around forever and one day soon Honsi would take over.

Megan sat across the room with her head in a book, it wasn't unusual but it was the only time you would see her with glasses on her face. No one understood why out of the hundred one was created with poor sight, yet here she was, Megan, the Mistress of Volkan, the master of the deadly punch, reading with her glasses on. "I think I found some thing." She said aloud to everyone. "Nefi blessed her children all one hundred of them with ever lasting life. To be bound to the life they have been given until the world is no more. Death will greet them like a friend and offer them a chance to be themselves again or forge their path anew." She looked at Yanko. "Have you ever read that?" She asked him.

"No." He replied "Which book was it in?" He rushed over to her and noticed writing where there once was none. "I have never seen this writing before, it's all new. The empty pages are no longer empty." He said cheerfully then he looked at Megan again.

"However." She began. "If life anew is chosen then the protection provided by the Heart Harvest is void, so death may visot them more than once a year." She closed the book.

"So if we choose to live as our original selves then we can only die on one day a year, if we choose to shed that life and be someone new then we can be killed at anytime." Yanko sat down, he instantly thought of Malic, he then turned to look at Kandra but she was gone.

Scouting out the prison wasn't going to be as easy as they first expected. The area around the prison was flat with no where to hide. The nearest raised ground was too far away to be useful so they looked at it from the gated entrance.

"What do we do now?" Asked Rathrock as he looked around seeing no one about.

"I say we go in." Replied Malic. Everyone looked at him with caution.

"You sure?" Questioned Uthar as he grabbed his sword. Malic nodded so they foumd their nerve and walked toward the prison. The air was torn apart by piercing cries as several Harsprite dropped from the sky. Siren was not among them however they all knew these three would be hard enough to deal with.

One by one the horrific creatures lunged forward the children of Nefi dodged the attacks, with Kalab lucky enough to catch ones wing. Jumping and diving the Harsprite kept the men on their toes. Kalab was knocked from his feet away from the others. The Harsprite responsible leaned over him then shed its demonic form to reveal the image of a red headed goddess, her eyes were like the sun while her lips were plump and a rosy red he simply wanted to kiss her. He paid no attention to her naked form, he was besotted by her eyes, over come with a desire to kiss her. The next thing he felt was his heart being squeezed, he felt blood in his mouth and as he looked up at the image of perfection above him he saw blood on her lips. The creature leaned in to kiss him and as it did it tightened it's grip on his heart.

Rathrock drove his hammer into the ground right next to Kalab's head. Beneath the hammer the Harsprite wriggled a moment before it died, its head exploded from the impact of being smashed against the floor. Rathrock lifted Kalab onto his shoulder and headed back toward the city. Malic and Uthar were quickly behind him.

Meanwhile Kandra was weaving through the city until she was cornered by a pair of thugs trying to hustle down women for their own pleasure. Thinking they had her trapped in the alley the men tried to grab her. Twisting one way she dislodged one of the men's shoulder before sending him crashing into a trash can. The other man pulled out a knife and lunged at her. Spending the few moments to pass Kandra grabbed the mans elbow amd wrist then quickly amd forcefully she turmed the knife back on himself. The blade ended up wedged between his ribs, slicing through his head and lung. He would be dead in minutes. Grabbing the necklace she placed it on his chest and it absorbed his heart.

The other man was a problem, she could not let him go and killing him had no benefit. She done the only reasonable option, she broke his 

Legs and then she carried him back to the Library. She managed to make it back in good time, but it was getting dark quickly. Megan took the man to a store room and locked him up while Kandra and Thea went looking for the guys.

Despite all the recent activity there was no sign of the Sons of Oris within the town. They all hoped that they were long gone. Rathrock spotted Kandra and waved her down. She rushed over and when she saw it was Kalab that was hurt she grabbed hold of him by the legs while Rathrock grabbed the other end and they rushed to the safety of the library.

Dianasis was pacing the main hall when the doors flew open, the weather had changed and it was now raining heavily. Yanko rushed in to the hall after hearing the doors slam and quickly helped to grab Kalab and get him to the night room. Once there Kandra and Megan done all they could for him, they had to stop the bleeding otherwise his body would be unable to heal itself. He would literally live to die over and over again, bleeding out until he had no more blood.

Malic, Uthar and Yanko sat round the table, nothing seemed right. "We can't scout out the prison without getting close." Said Uthar as the silence and tension broke him. "When we got there we were attacked by three Harsprite, Rathrock managed to kill one but Kalab is now paying the price" He added looking at the other two in turn.

"Siren must have struck some kind of bargain with Woki to allow her to recruit others." The idea terrified Yanko as he looked behind him toward the door. "While you were out, we found some text, old text that suddenly appeared on the empty pages of one of the books." He began. "It mentions alot but you will have to read it yourselves. Listen to me closely." He added making sure they would not forget his words. "Whoever is behind all this knows more about what is going on than we can imagine. We are going to have to be more careful in the future. Not only do we not know who our mastermind is, we also don't know the resources they have available. We are fighting this war blind and I think its time we started trying to clear things up.

For the remaining few hours of the day those not involved in the care of Kalab were set to work rummaging through the sacred books looking for clues or even answers. As the night wore on nothing changed excepet for the change in the sound of traffic outside.

Looking out over the city the old man felt confident that his plans were goig well. Siren had played her part but still was useful, Honsi had yet to take control of the one they called Malic. This was an advantage he could use, Malic the man would have his own weaknesses, Honsi was more than a man, he had already shown he would die to protect the world, there was little left he wouldn't do to protect it again.

Suddenly there was a blinding light in the old mans room and as he turned his unexpected visitor was all too familiar. "My God." He said with reverence bowing slightly as he stepped forward. "What do I owe this visit?" He asked unafraid of who he was talking to.

"Our plans are nearing completion and the Harvest remains on track. So far the Nefilites have no idea and they are clawing at their books in their library for answers, when the answer is right in front of them. The time is coming, Honsi is stirring I can feel him. We must sway him to our cause before he would stand against us. This must be your main objective now." The God stepped forward and placed his hand on the old mans face. As he did some of his age faded from his face. "A promise is a promise, I shall not break my word. End this and I will restore that what you seek the most. Life." Then in a burst of light the God was gone.

The woman who worked as the old man's live in assistant walked in and looked at him with astonishment as he looked almost forty years younger. Then as he looked in the mirror the youthful look he had been given faded and the old man stared back at him. He slammed his walking aid to the floor and the woman rushed to pick it up. She held it with the handle toward him. He pulled the weapon free and with fear in her eyes the assistant watched as the blade was thrust straight through her chest. "Con-yam-ha-merif-arg-fi-maw!" He grunted with sheer frustration in his voice. She womans body turned to dust. "Fi-cos!" He snapped sliding the blade back into the sheath. "Damn the games of Gods and Men." He muttered as he slowly walked toward his bedroom to rest.