YO! I got an Easter present for you all that I set up last month. ^.^ For today up until the 18th (so the next five days), both my published books are FREE! :D I love you guys so much! I'm so honored to have your time to read my stories, so please enjoy the best gift I can give with this extra update of Boon and my free books.

You can find them on Amazon under the author name T.S. Lowe. Their titles are "Out of Duat" and "Erase Me."

...What kind of fucked up nightmare was this?

Somewhere atop its mass of fabric destruction, Kai sensed Dranzer slow and stop. It was just too much too quick.

But Ayah had shaken off the sleepy daze of before and had brought her wrists around, still tied by what could only be thick, rough hemp. He could see blood where the rope had rubbed through her skin and instantly got to work undoing the knots.

She leveled her face with his as he worked, urgent, and yet somehow...distant. He couldn't help but see Tala in her haunted gaze. Something had been broken soundly within her as well, never to recover.

"Listen, Kai, our kind make life bonds with our mates that kill us when our mates are unfaithful. If you have sex with me, Cain will die. Yes, we're not human, yes it's weird, but you need to do it before he returns."

Sex. Life bonds. Inhuman. And the walls behind the cloth was just as cement as the rest of the place. What a lame attempt at interior decoration.

"L-l-look," he managed—damn it, he didn't stutter, the world really was about to end. "I can't just—"

She gave him no room to think. Breaking free from the loosened rope, she shot her fingers into his hair and kissed him hard. Her taste alone blew through him, forget the mind-numbing zap of his hair tugged in her knotted fingers. Before he knew it she had dragged him down atop of her, earnest, urgent, pulling on him with a desperate need that his rebellious body couldn't help but respond to. It was too much—he had never been this close to a woman, let alone a woman who meant so...who made him feel...

The bruises. The rope. Cain will die...

He snapped back with a gasp.

"Stop!"

"Cain's going to kill your friends!" she said, her lips more red than ever, but oh God, her eyes! Swollen to the point from beyond tears and reflecting nothing but broken. "My race is done, we're dead, but he will kill them all if you don't—"

"Stop telling me what to do!" He shoved her back to find his arms almost shaking too much to do that. "You can't just—what will happen to you?"

She took hold of his shirt. She was shaking too. He began to see a pattern to the bruises. They didn't splotch her like a cheetah. He could see them on her upper arms and all about what skin was left unbroken about her wrists and on her neck.

She tried to catch his lips again, but he pulled further away. Her injured grip broke easily.

"What will happen to you?" he asked again.

She didn't answer. But, then, she didn't have to. He already knew, even as she stared up at him blankly, dressed in nothing but that damn silk toga.

How did this get so bad so fast?

"Why haven't you sung him to death yourself?" he asked even as he snatched up his blade and unhooked his launcher once more from his belt.

"He controls air. Sound needs matter to travel. If he creates a vacuum—"

"Whatever, we're leaving."

"You can't beat him—"

Kai whirled on her, kicking aside a pillow in the process. "Watch me!"

"This will all be over if you just—"

"I'm not going to have sex with you so get your ass up! NOW!"

His yell startled her to her feet, but then she wobbled. Kai stuck an arm out for her to catch herself on, but withdrew it the moment she appeared steady. He opened up the heavy door that had closed behind him—

To come face to face with Emily, who narrowed her eyes at them through her lenses.

"I should have known that out of all the people who could melt through iron plates, it'd be one of the Bladebreakers." She gave a heavy sigh, then refocused her gaze at him, all seriousness. "The moment he comes back and sees someone has broken in, we're all dead, forget it if Ayah is missing. You know that, don't you?"

"Then we'll all run," said Kai, not giving himself a moment to think on what she presented to him. In two strides he was to the third door, the one that ended the hallway, and opened it.

A normal, tiled bathroom greeted him.

"Don't bother with this one." Emily shoved a finger over her shoulder at the door she must have come out of. "It's just the lab. If you're looking for his second exit, it's the skylight. With how much you've really fucked this up, you might as well go through the front door."

"But the shock—" he started, just to be cut off by a thick, black instrument being thrown into his hand. It was like a short, heavy flashlight, except with a pair of tongs at the end instead of a light.

"Put it to you collar and click. Will come right off." She turned to leave.

Kai hesitated. "Why are you doing this?"

She gave him a droll stare. "You really think I want to let him kill everyone? Honestly, the only thing he has going for him is raw power—and my brains. You're just providing an opening." Since Kai didn't' seem to be doing anything with the collar disarmer anytime soon, she snatched it back and put it to his neck, to which he flinched back. "Hold still. I'm just a scientist, not a murderer."

"Didn't you create these collars?"

She snorted and pulled back with his collar in hand. "Who told you that? I bought these and just adjusted them to how the monster wanted them."

"How'd he even know of you—know of the Abbey?"

Emily gave him an odd look. "Do you really have the time to be asking these questions?"

"Yeah. Come with us."

"And die? Ha ha, no."

"You said he was going to kill you anyway once he sees that Ayah is gone. Your best chance is with me."

"My best chance is if all those beybladers in that room decide to go at him with you, but will that happen? Not likely. He's scared them all into submission by now, even if their blades can cut through wind."

"So they did?"

"Of course they did! He was just able to push hard enough on the air to dodge them—and he's wearing black! Would you even notice if he started to bleed?"

Kai inwardly cheered. He knew it. He knew something was fishy.

He grabbed Emily's arm. "If you tell them that, they'll come with us."

She frowned at him. "Uh, I'm not stupid. They all think I'm Cain's whore."

"Then tell them you're not! Tell him we all have to strike now!"

"Ugh! Fine!" She yanked her arm from his grip, but her voice had tightened with fear. "It's going to happen eventually."

With that, she turned on her heel and marched towards the doorway. Kai exchanged looks with Ayah, who clutched to the silk at her chest, shivering.

"It can't be that easy. He's been doing this for months now," said Ayah softly.

He said nothing, afraid of what would come out if he did. He may have just royally screwed everything up for everyone, throwing himself at something no one knew how to fight. When had he become so much like Tyson? Wasn't the dragon supposed to be the one who stupidly threw himself at a fight without thinking?

Kai took hold of Ayah's hand and followed Emily.

Despite the threat, a crowd had gathered in the cafeteria. Kai quickly counted twenty or so people. The rest must still be away on missions. He quickly spotted Tala against the wall besides the kitchen door and moved to pull Ayah towards him, but Ayah beat him to it by running out of Kai's grip and to Tala's side before Emily had even started speaking. He had to withhold a laugh at the startled look on Tala's face as a half-naked Ayah dropped down between his feet. Poor man probably thought he had died. The rest of the boys around Ayah weren't fairing much better, and they had to be nudged hard by their female co-workers before realizing that Emily was speaking.

Her speech wasn't eloquent or lecturish. "So, because of Kai we're probably all going to die unless you choose to let me remove your collars and go outside for battle, because we all know he'll kill you before you can even get off the island. Lucky you, however, Kai also told me you seem to think your killing blades can't get to Cain. This is a lie. He just diverts them a bit. That's all he can do. Yay you, blah blah blah, who wants their collar off? Oh, and you might save the world."

Someone snorted. "Is this a joke? Because it's not funny?"

"I'm so not in the mood for jokes," said Emily. "And if you don't hurry I'll just leave without you. Not like I can care anymore. Or do you like the way you're living now?"

It was a rhetorical question.

Within seconds the black clothed bladers had lined up to Emily, who disarmed and removed collars one click at a time.

Kai didn't stick around to see how it went. He quickly limped over to Tala, who had the strangest look on his face while Ayah dipped her head over his shoulder. The closer he got, the better he could hear the vibration of her lips.

"She might not be able to fix you completely," he said, crouching down onto his good knee with some difficulty. "But at least you won't die."

Tala blinked at him several times. Then back to the white mane where his eyes trailed down her bare, ivory back. The silk covered just across her hips. Tala let out a quick, whistling breath and forced his gaze back to Kai, who had had to restrain the urge to slap him. "So I'm...not dead?"

"Her name's Ayah. She's the girl I asked you about."

"You mean..." Tala suddenly stiffened. "This is—Cain's—"

"She's not like him. She does sound, not wind. I wonder if they all had elements like that."

The short haired blond blader, who had remained by Tala the entire time and had been listening to their conversation, gave a little hmmph. "Kind of sounds like bit beasts."

That gave Kai pause. But only for a moment before he remembered why he was there.

"Ayah, don't use up too much of your energy. I need you to be ready to run."

The humming stopped with a little sigh and she pulled back, frowning. "I'm not the best runner."

"Why don't you have wings?" asked Tala. To his credit, he didn't sound dazed, which made Kai's respect for him grow.

She pulled the bandages that she had peeled off him back up. Tala's wound had sealed up some, but still bled lightly. "I guess you could say I haven't finished growing up yet. I did my best to mend the arteries, but I can never get the rhythm right for muscle. I'm sorry."

Tala had to crane his neck to get a good look at his shoulder, but cringed at the movement and gave up on it.

"Kai, what did she just do to me?"

"What she said." Kai tugged the bandages from Ayah's too-gentle hands and set to wrapping Tala's shoulder up like a thread around a spool. "You better be up to running too. I definitely can't carry your cyborg ass."

"You're in a good mood."

"Hn." Another thought had occurred to him as he watched Ayah out of the corner of his eye. Her white hair and the amount of bare skin she wore made her stand out like a sore thumb among them, forget the burgundy toga. He only took a second to wonder whether or not he wanted Cain to know she was with them before looking to the blond girl besides them. "Could you get her into some blacks?"

"Too late," she said, nudging her chin to Emily, who had finished with the collars and was now looking at her. As she walked away, Kai pushed himself to his unwilling feet and, with the help of Ayah, tugged Tala to his feet. The red-head wavered, pupils expanding as the blood rushed down from his head, but he somehow stayed upright.

"Get Wolfborg out."

It was credit to Tala's training and experiences that he didn't question that order, but slipped out his launcher and blade with practiced hands. The black attack blade had already been equipped to his wolf. Kai had already gotten to work slipping on his own stainless steel attack blade, which, while lacking the speed and inconspicuousness of the obsidian blade, had more durability and plenty of cutting potential. As he did so, he noticed the attention of each blader turning inevitably to him. An old mask of bravado fell in place as his fear once more rose. This lot weren't the Bladebreakers. He didn't know if he could trust them with his life. He didn't know them.

"Alright," said Kai, holding his loaded launcher over his shoulder like a cocked gun. "Let's end the idiot who thought to control us."