Inside though, she felt the pieces fall away one by one as the days turned into weeks, then into months.

She was sad and very much alone. She had friends, but not the kind of friends who could be counted on in a situation like this. They couldn't be her support. They couldn't understand how she felt. In the end, she just started faking it, faking everything. With a cold demeanor and a rather expressionless face, she started going through the days like a programmed robot.

And no one saw the difference in her.

Then one day, she developed a strange power. It wasn't something that had been there before, but after a day or two of illness, she suddenly felt this new energy inside of her, filling her body with a type of healing she had never known. She thought it was something special, then she heard the reports on the news. Reports of people like her going crazy and killing others. People who transformed into weird things and were forced to be put down like animals. Although she was worried for herself, she felt that if she just let it stay inside and never once used it, it would be alright.

But then her brother and his girlfriend got it too. In fact, they could feel it in each other making it impossible to hide. On top of that, there was the fact that the government was looking for them and had a way of finding out. Their only hope became the announcement of people who had similar symptoms, but no blood infections. After hearing these stories start to come out, Leona started to pray that it was the case for them, but the bad feeling never left her.

She didn't want to bet on chance.

She knew that one day, they might have to run with no place to go and no way to survive. And knowing this was eating away at her already fragile mental state.

Then he just magically showed up out of no where.

Laz came into their lives when she needed someone to lean on the most. At first, she didn't trust him. In fact, she felt it was far better to stay away from a drifter like him who came into town like a knight on a white horse. You couldn't trust that they wouldn't ride away some day, disappearing just as fast as they came.

But he didn't. At least not yet.

And on top of that, he was keeping his promise. He showed all of them how to use and develop their abilities. And when he asked her to trust him, she couldn't find a reason to say no. Even when he asked her to do something unthinkable, she went along with it. It's not accurate to say that she wasn't nervous about it, or scared. More like, she wanted to trust him because she needed to. So despite her misgivings, she did it.

'What a wild night that was,' was the thought that always appeared in her head when she looked back. Laz was toned in every way possible and even though she tried to avoid looking, she couldn't help but be amazed at how large he was. Not that she was instantly turned on just by seeing his manhood. As a whole, women, unlike men, don't just get all hot and bothered by a guy's junk. Women are much more mental creatures. A gentle touch, a warm whisper, a breathtaking poem or even a romantic dinner have a much better chance of turning a woman on than just seeing a guy's privates. Of course there are other women who are aroused by whips, chains, choking and rough play, but even then, it's more about the mood and the method than the man himself.

And yet something happened that changed that. She ended up being the one that wanted nothing more than to jump his bones and devour him. Yet he had resisted. Although she was grateful that nothing happened, she was also a little depressed, thinking that there was something wrong with her. She soon discovered that it wasn't that at all. It was just because Laz had understood what had happened and was able to see past it.

He saw the real her.

And things had been building ever since.

But now, out here at a random, rundown warehouse in the transportation district, the man that she was starting to have feelings for was covered in blood with his clothing looking like it had been blown off him in places.

Only something like that could make her loose her inhibition. As her iris changed shape and appeared almost feline like, the claws on her hands grew out as though knives had extended from her finger tips. She turned her head towards the two remaining gang members. Seeing the change in this otherwise non threatening girl caused both of them to freeze up as though they had seen the face of their natural predator. Before either of them could react, Leona sped into action. She came upon the first one and sunk her claws into his chest, jamming all five of them though his heart and out of the back of his body. Ripping them free caused a spray of blood to gush up into the air as his lifeless body fell back onto the asphalt. She then turned and immediately pounced towards the other one. Having only a moment to react, he turned and tried to run towards where Laz and Ruby had started walking over, but only made it a few steps before he felt the stabbing sensation of Leona's claws rip through his heart. His limp body hit the floor a moment later.

Ruby was speechless as she watched Leona explode in rage and reap the thug's lives. She had killed them in the fastest and most efficient way possible, something which Ruby didn't think Leona would have known how to do. Of course it was Laz who had taught her that, she just put it into practice right then.

Leona quickly moved away from the dead men and appeared before Laz in a heartbeat, instantly retracting her claws. She wanted to support him and see if he needed help, but he waved her back. He quickly thought of something and ran, leaving both girls alone and wondering what the h.e.l.l he was doing.

"Is he ok?" Leona asked Ruby seeing as how they had walked over together.

"I don't know. I just ran into him a moment before we turned down the alley," Ruby replied, looking at where Laz had run off too.

As Leona was about to take off after Laz, Ruby held her back.

"Hang on. Before that, let's move these bodies inside and then you can come help me move mine," Ruby asked while walking over to the first corpse.

"Why?" Leona asked back, not knowing what she was up to.

"Because right now these bodies are evidence and we don't want it being left sitting around," as Ruby said this, she looked around the surrounding area to get a quick view of things before smiling.

"As I thought..."

"What now?" Leona asked while dragging the other body. There was nothing they could do about the blood trail.

"These types of buildings would normally have surveillance cameras. But since they are involved with questionable activities, it looks like neither side would allow cameras to go up. I love it when paranoia makes them stupid," Ruby laughed as she lead the way.

"I hope he's ok..." Leona commented as she followed.

"Me too... But you've got to admit, he looks d.a.m.n s.e.xy like that. MMM... I would just love to know what he has underneath those remaining layers..." Ruby commented back, a weird light flickering in her eyes.

"A lot... I'm not sure a girl can handle it... but I would love to try...." Leona mentioned, the same strange light appearing in her eyes.

"I feel... weird..." Ruby said, trying to focus on the task at hand.

"Me too... the last time I felt this way, I just wanted to eat him up...."

"That's how I feel..."

"Wait, you too?"

Both girls stared at each other in confusion. There was a time and place for everything and even though their emotions were running high, they needed to finished cleaning up before they thought about other things. Ruby was a pro at just this but even her mind wandered.

As Laz had jumped back into the warehouse, he quickly looked around at some of the stolen goods and found some clothes that seemed to fit. Using his black flame to cover his body, he burned off the old clothes and leftover blood covering his skin before changing into the new clothes he had picked out.

"That was almost too close..." Laz said to himself while thinking what an idiot he was. Although he was in better control of his energy now than he was before, the fact that his heart was pumping so hard after that battle showed that his blood was in a very agitated state. That meant that is was very intoxicating for women to be around him. It would have been impossible for them to resist had Leona and Ruby actually touched his blood stained clothes and body.

Cras.h.!.+

Laz looked over to see that the several women from earlier had gather together in a cl.u.s.ter near the wall, hiding behind some of the stolen crates. They had thought that things were over and that they had survived, but then this reaper of lives had shown back up was doing something. Laz had knocked over some crates while looking through them for clothes which had startled the women, making them think he might be looking for them. As they tried to hide themselves more, one of them had knocked over something causing Laz to figure out that they were still here. He now had to decide what to do with them.

He didn't want to kill them, but he knew that each one of them could point investigators to him. And that wasn't a chance he was willing to take.

'If only I could erase their memories...' Laz was suddenly lost in thought as a light bulb turned on in his head.

While he was lost in thought, Leona and Ruby, after calming down though the actions of dragging the dead bodies, made their way over to him before dumping the bodies. Looking at Laz lost in thought and having changed clothes, they couldn't help but wonder what he was doing. Just before Leona voiced the question, Ruby noticed the abandoned prost.i.tutes and understood. It wasn't going to be easy to kill people who could be considered innocent. But they couldn't risk blowing their cover either.

"What are you going to do?" she asked Laz, knowing what the problem was.

"What is he going to do about what?" Leona piped in, not understanding. She then noticed the group of women as well and frowned. Although each of them had masks on, that didn't mean that they were safe. She finally figured out what they were talking about and couldn't help but grow a bit cold. Not because they might have to kill these women, but because they presented a risk to someone she cared about. It was obvious her emotions hadn't settled down just yet.

"I'm going to try something," Laz said as he walked over to them. Leona and Ruby immediately followed.

"Please don't. We won't say nothing to n.o.body... Honest..."

"Please... We have families..."

"I have a daughter and a son..."

The girls started begging, thinking that they were about to be silenced.

"Do any of you know where they keep money in here?" Laz asked, ignoring the pleaing.

"In a safe in Jimmy's room," one of the more attractive ones spoke up, hoping to be spared by answering.

"Does the safe need a key, or a code or something?" Laz asked.

"A code... Only Jimmy knows it," the girl answered truthfully. Laz just turned to look at Ruby.

"You think I'm an all purpose criminal or something?" She responded to his stare. He just raised his eyebrow at her remark.

"Fine... Show me." Ruby had the girl lead the way to the safe while Leona and Laz just watched the others and waited. When they returned, Ruby was carrying a duffel bag full of stacks of cash.

"This guy did not trust the banking system," she commented while handing the bag to Laz. Laz looked inside and saw that each stack contained ten thousand dollars. And there were many stacks worth in the bag. He then started handing out one stack to each girl's shaking hands. They tried to refuse at first, but he insisted. Once they all had one stack each, he closed the bag and handed it back to Ruby.

"And the rest is ours to split," Laz said with a grin. Ruby and Leona looked at him wide eyed and laughed. There was still over two hundred thousand left in the bag.

"Now then, in a moment, you all will be free to go. But sadly, you won't remember this night or anything that happened here."

"What?"

"What do you mean?"

The girls were confused. In fact, even Ruby and Leona were confused.

"Just look at me and think about what happened here tonight. Ok? No looking away, got it?" Laz said. Once all the girls nodded, Laz raised his right hand and ignited the black flame. With a smooth yet slow motion, Laz wrote in the air as though writing on paper.

The first thing he did was create a blank square of energy. It looked both real and imaginary at the same time. It made one question if he had actually drew anything at all. After that, he used his finger to write on top of it an S shape composed of three straight lines. Although it had happened in a moment, he had put a lot of energy into the empty rune and the S, causing beads of sweat to appear on his forehead.

"The Rune of Odin and the Ruin of Sowelu, emptiness and wholeness, MERGE!"

Although the words weren't needed, they helped him to focus his thoughts. In turn, the runes responded as asked and merged together into a single rune before turning into beams of light that struck every girl at the same time.

No one even had a chance to be scared before they were all hit, their eyes turning blank.

"Nothing happened here tonight. After performing your services, you got a special bonus before going home. Since you made a little windfall, you're going to stay home for a couple weeks and spend time with your loved ones. After you walk out that door, you will forget everything that happened here and go home before waking up."

And just like a voice activated program, each girl got up and walked off in a single file after hearing the orders that Laz just gave.

Finally, only Leona and Ruby were left in the now empty building with both girls staring at Laz, wondering what the h.e.l.l just happened.