TARGET FOR DEMISE

55

55

"I finally did it," He said staring at the sun set from the window. Crystal walked in a little while later to offer him another drink which he turned down politely smiling to himself as she still placed the tray on the the table where he could grab the class of juice if he felt like it.

He watched her for a few moments before settling down in the couch right by the tray that she was busy setting right.

"Crystal?"

"Yes," She answered softly pausing in her movements.

He stopped to look at her eyes. Examining them, waiting for the familiar spark he had gotten used to seeing these past time they have spent together that reminded him that she was not completely destroyed under all that power. This time it took a whole to show up. And it had faded. Greatly.

"Crystal." He called again and she nodded saying she was listening.

"Look at me." And she did.

And again the spark had faded just like that. It was just a little while ago when he last checked.

"Crystal?"

And there was no reaction to her own name. She just stared at him.

"Do you have anything you want to do? Check out the town, maybe?"

She looked out the window and then back at him.

"The sun has set." She said and stood up to walk away.

He stared after her for a few seconds.

"She is broken."

His head turned to find one of the witches he had under his wing coming out of the shadows.

"That is the fate of vessels. Once filled, there is no space for the conscience to reside and eventually it disappears," He said.

"I am quiet surprised though."

"About what?" Michael asked .

"From what I heard, it is not supposed to take this long. She should have been gone the second after her heart stopped beating." He answered taking his leave back into the shadows of the night.

He was right. It didn't really have to take this long.

There was ruffle going on down stairs that he picked up with his hearing abilities. He could hear the cell bars rattling and the guards busy panicking on what to do.

The chains will hold, Michael thought to himself. He took a glance at the ight sky and hummed.

The full moon would be rising soon. The best time for a forced shift.

It was a good thing he had specially ordered for the silver chains in advance and had some good strong witches on hand.

It might have been around midnight when the bone cracking began and Michael was still awake waiting. He casually strolled down the stairs to the grounds where he had the cells. People who needed some refelction were often sent here. At the very end of the hall he watched as the witches he had assigned were containing the eight foot monster that was fighting its way out of their magic shield.

The canines were thick and long and from the shine of the tip, anyone could tell that they could cut through bone. The face had morphed into something between a human, an animal. His nose had stretched across his face so that his nostrils were on either side of his face.

"What a sight." He noted getting a full picture of what happens when a vampire and a witch procreate, "Who are your parents, handsome one? I would love to meet them."

The beast growled as if offended. Had he never shifted into his true form before?

Interesting.

"You are a monster."

He turned to the next cell where Jordan was crouched in a corner. His voice was hoarse maybe it was all the screaming. Seeing his friend tear his body apart to give birth to this large anomaly of nature must not have been a pretty sight.

"I don't think he would appreciate hearing such insults in his current state," Michael mocked.

"I wasn't talking about him." Jordan growled, "You are the monster."

Michael grinned.

Crystal was peeking from the top of the stairs. She used the door to shield her from view but not so much that she couldn't see what was going on. Her hands were shaking as she did her best to hold on to the door knob to keep her face hidden. She closed her eyes tightly and got to her feet turning away from what she had seen. She bit back a gasp when she saw the man from the shadows staring at her and what was behind her. He hummed looking at her from head to toe.

"You are...interesting," He whispered. Like a switch had been turned on inside her head, her body stopped shaking, her hands went stiff and Michael appeared behind her facing the witch of the shadows with a smirk on his face.

"Anything on you mind, Eric?" Michael asked.

Eric smiled and gave Crystal one last look.

"She is very interesting." Eric replied, "Very interesting." He circled her slowly. He stopped right in front of her and stares into her eyes like Michael had done earlier before and a few times before that. And he saw it. The spark. It flickered as if to alert him of its presence. He looked at Michael and looked at her.

"You might have been wrong about this one." He noted. Michael smirked and shook his head.

"I was right from the very start." He countered and Eric shook his head having no ide what was goung through Michael's.

"What are you doing here, Crystal? The sun had set," He told her and she nodded seeming far away.

"The sun had set," she repeated, "I should head to bed."

Then she walked down the hall to her room without another word.

"She was watching you," Eric informed.

"I know."

"She could be spying on you." he stressed.

"I know."

"she is not all gone. Something could go wrong." Eric panicked.

"That won't happen," Michael said confidently, "The mind of a vessel is too fragile to be called its own. Whether she is in there or not doesn't let her have control of her power if even she tries. She is like beauty and I the beholder."

"That is what he had said too," Eric muttered.

"I have my home back and alliances more valuable than gold. If this isn't power, I don't know what is. Stop with the conspiracy theories and help me out with the hybrid."