I should perhaps have been sad no one tried to stop me from leaving. Not one mind reached for mine, despite the fact I did nothing to hide my departure. No, I refused to make a big deal out of my choice to finally leave the Daeva and go it alone, but neither did I mask my intentions.

Instead, a wall of silence greeted my escape, skimming over barely hidden relief I was going.

Fine then, let them breathe a sigh in their miserable and pathetic closed minded lives. Be as petty and small as I always believed them to be. I wasn't long for this place and damn them all for their lack of anything resembling compassion for one who had been their daughter, companion, tool.

The evening glow of the rising moons washed over me as my boots hit the surface yet again and I let the door to the caverns swing shut behind me for the last time. No remorse, no sorrow, despite the fact I left my whole life behind me. My clothing, my slim selection of personal items, the journals I'd kept, none of them seemed important or necessary when I'd stood in my quarters, considering what to take with me. Leaving with a small bag over my shoulder containing only my mother's image on parchment and my most recent log felt like an honest break, the very break I needed. The excitement of new and shiny, though scary in a way, lured me into the streets of Ostrogotho like nothing else ever had.

I'd never been a worst case scenario kind of person and had utter faith in myself and my abilities. While it was true I had zero prospects and nowhere to go, the delight of the weight of expectation lifted from my shoulders sent zinging energy through my body and drove my feet faster, if lighter, my heavy boots nearly silent as I stalked deeper into the capitol of Demonicon.

There was always the Guard. While I lacked the stature of the hulking demons who stood watch over Ruler and the Family, I was certain I could make my talents known and impress whoever I needed to if a job with that outfit appealed. And there was always private security. A whisper about who I was and where I'd been raised in the private sector would almost certainly guarantee me a cushy job watching over some overblown business demon or another.

As I thought each through, I discarded them all with faint snorts of amused disgust. I'd just left the pressure of owing my existence to others and I was looking for a job? I had enough resources thanks to my work with the Daeva. We weren't just the private and self-appointed guardians of Ruler and her family, but hired out for personal protection of the more powerful of Ostrogotho's elite. I'd worked often enough I had funds stashed with sufficiently trustworthy banking demons I didn't have to rush out in desperate need and take the first thing that I fell over. Not to mention Mother's private fortune managed for me by none other than Raethnn herself until I reached my majority last year. I had options.

And besides, who said I needed to stay here in Ostrogotho? That stumbled my feet to a halt with the truth and reality of my situation. I'd never thought past getting out to where I might go. There were plenty of cities here on Demonicon open to an adventurous and industrious young demon like myself. Not to mention the fact my human parentage allowed me certain liberties on another plane.

That really made me stop and think, paused next to a stone wall, heavy blossoms bursting with deep orange fragrance and a hint of sunshine bobbing softly on the vines holding them up. The last of the light from Demonicon's multitude of suns faded over the city while I drew a deep, citrusy breath and bit my lower lip to keep the hysterical giggle that tightened my chest from emerging and making me look like a deranged psychopath.

The human realm. I could go find my father's people, my father himself. Investigate at last my mother's death, something that had been forbidden to me thus far. By Raethnn herself, no less. But now she had no hold over me, could not keep me in check and under her control. I'd chosen my own path. And that path, well. If it led me to my father, so be it.

She always had perfect timing, the kind of syncopated interruption that made me believe from an early age she spied on my thoughts just to give her the edge she needed to make herself seem supernaturally omniscient. I knew better. I had built enough walls around my mind to keep even one of the drach out if I really wanted to. And when my grandmother's touch came, I knew it was merely expected contact, something I'd been secretly anticipating since I walked out on her.

Nothing paranormal or magical about the fact Raethnn reached out for me at exactly the moment I thought of my mother. Nothing.

Where do you think you're going? She didn't sound angry. She sounded amused. Her attitude triggered my temper.

Why, Grandmother, I sent, sweetly and with cheek, surely you don't expect me to just stand there and take it when you side with those who mean me ill.

Her stony silence made me quail slightly before I bolstered my own nerves with a reassuring pinch. She had no power over me. And it was about time we both understood it.

I wish you well, Reena, she sent then, quiet, surprising me with the depth of emotion she shared deep beneath the heavy layers of her own mind's protections. She cared about me, I knew that much, but the river of pain and longing tied to my lost mother shocked me and held me entranced while Raethnn spoke again. Find them, she sent. And do that which I have never been able.

Fierce joy burst in my chest and I embraced her with my power an impulsive instant before I pulled free again. She wanted me to go. Had she driven me away herself? It didn't matter, not now. I knew at last this was the path she intended for me all along.

I will make sure they understand the mistake they made taking my mother from us, I sent. I'll send you a souvenir when it's done.

Be well, Granddaughter, she sent. And be free.

She left me then, shaking with relief and a renewed sense of purpose. The human plane, then.

And those misguided souls who murdered my mother. How they would pay for their ignorance and their hate. I couldn't wait.

Except, of course, fate had other plans for me, at least for the time being. As did Raethnn. As I purposely unclenched my fists and stilled the tight, furious smile on my face, I spotted them, their staggering gait, the same instant I felt him fall through the veil.

And heard her speak in my mind one last time. Another young fool with a fate that leads elsewhere. Was she talking about me? Take care of him. He's alone, too, far more than you.

She did not just saddle me with the broken young drach hybrid...? This time my teeth ground together as I stalked forward, following the pack of nectar addled demons who staggered into a nearby alley, their power bubbling with amber fire, their intent to harm the one they found within emanating from them like a pulsing beacon of admission of guilt before the fact.

He was there, crouched but slowly standing, his gray eyes sparkling with faint diamond facets in the rising moonlight and the glow of streetlights coming to life at the end of the alley.

Rainbow power sparked over his hands, enough I paused and considered my grandmother's request. Not an order, not exactly, but close enough I hesitated to do anything. He was drach, which meant he could take care of himself.

Couldn't he?

When the first demon's power hit the young man with a blow that staggered him back to his knees, I sighed and accepted Raethnn was right. For whatever reason, this drach was a lost soul and could use a friend. And while I wasn't about to adopt him or anything, I felt enough affinity for his predicament-wondering for the second time how he'd ended up here instead of with his people-I stepped up and interrupted before these young idiot demon boys could get themselves in over their heads.

Because lost and alone or not, damaged or not, he was still drach. And I'd hate to see what he'd do to them if he was hurt enough to open up his power on instinct alone.

Best to save us all the explosion that could conceivably take out the lower third of Ostrogotho.

They didn't notice me at first, the four bullies with their power leeching nectar riddled lack of control. Instead, they focused on their target, prodding him with flames and laughing over his fearful reaction. Didn't they see the growing fury on his face, feel the building rainbow power? They had no clue the dragon-quiet literally-they had by the tail and wouldn't until he bit their heads off.

While perhaps it would have been worth it to leave him be to teach this punks a lesson, I had my home city's safety, and that of Ruler and her family, to think of. While the drach's explosion might not reach the Seat, I had no doubt the aftershocks would be felt as far as the shining black mountain towering over us.

I'd already suffered one humiliation today. I wasn't about to let a few arrogant, stoned young demons ruin my chance at a clean getaway.

"Hello, boys." That reached them, paired with a red hot poke to each of their posteriors from my amber power. They turned with cries of shock and anger, fixing their attention on me. That part accomplished, I flickered my fingers at them, sending them staggering back, unprepared and perhaps underestimating my commitment to our conversation. "If you're done being dicks, you can move along."

The tallest parted his lips, probably to mouth off. I slammed his teeth together so hard sparks flew from his jaws and his eyes rolled up into his head as he tumbled sideways, passing out from the pressure.

"I said," I smiled at them, flames flickering over me as I let them feel how much stronger I was than they were, "beat it."

While they felt like fairly high ranking demons, they held no candle to the power of the Daeva. I grudgingly thanked my people for the strength being one of them afforded me while the other three took in my show of might, glanced down at their now groaning friend, and hightailed it out of the alley without a word or a fight.

I did love a good row, but as things stood, it was probably best I got in the first and only blow. I had a young drach to think about.

He had regained his feet yet again and by the time I came to his side he seemed to have pulled himself together somewhat. But the up and down examination he made of me-without conscious decision from the stunned look on his handsome face-told me he was still adjusting to this reality in which he'd found himself.

He could join the club in that regard.

"Reena." His voice was deep, deeper than I expected for one so young. I wasn't good at guessing human or drach ages, but if his youthful feeling was any indication, he couldn't have been much older than me. Wait, how did he know my name? I hadn't told him and as far as I knew no one used it around him.

I nodded instead of prodding him for an answer to that question, asking one of my own instead. "What are you doing out here on your own?" Come to think of it, despite my grandmother's request, it shocked me to find the Daeva council discarded the young drach in such a crass fashion. Especially considering he was clearly in great distress.

He swallowed hard, looked past me down the alley at the what? The sky overhead? The multiple moons rising? Or the towering, shining Seat looming in the distance? Didn't matter, I supposed.

"She told me to run," he said. "So I did." He shivered then, hands rubbing over his bare arms, faint scales showing a moment turning his skin to a soft gray before he took on his usual pink tone once more.

Raethnn. "What happened?" Not that it mattered. He was here rather than with the Daeva, or on his way to the Seat to the drach ancient who sometimes lingered there in the company of Ruler. Why didn't seem relevant and I was never one to waste time on things that didn't mean anything to me.

He shrugged then, his gray eyes sparking with anger. That I could understand. If he was mad at the Daeva, well. He could take a number.

"I don't know what to do." So much longing and yet frustration and fear in that single sentence, in the way his power seemed mournful and as lost as he was. Triggering my empathy, damn it, though I knew better than to let anyone have that kind of power over me.

"So they booted you out, did they?" I snorted, shrugged, arms crossing over my chest while my dreads rustled around me. He really was a handsome thing, all tall and broad shouldered like that. Much more so than any of the demons I normally had dealings with and in spite of-or perhaps thanks to-his heritage. His exotic human appearance appealed, as did his thick, black hair and the way he felt powerful and yet vulnerable at the same time.

"Mathias." He hesitated, held out one big hand. The fingers trembled faintly.

I accepted it in my own, felt the tingle of rainbow magic, caught myself grinning. "I guess it's just you and me then. Come on." I spun and marched for the far end of the alley and the direction I hadn't really planned on going. Turning my back on the Daeva included turning my back on Ruler, right? The Seat came into clear, gargantuan view as I entered the street and set my sights on it.

"Where are we going?" So hesitant and yet he followed me without complaint, staying close, his height advantage not doing much to disguise the fact he wasn't a demon. While we garnered a few stares and a couple of outright double takes, I ignored the attention and continued on, debating a frontal assault or a more clandestine approach as I considered my response.

"To see the one person who might be able to help you," I said. Surely Theridialis, the mad scientist of Ruler's elite and a close friend of Raethnn, would be able to get in touch with the drach for me. "That is, if they let us inside." And if the old demon was at home.

Or if the secret entry to the top of the Seat was guarded. Either way, if I was going to finally get on with my own life I had to make sure he was safe in his.

***