Matilda was sitting in an abandoned neighborhood, on a playground swing, softly singing to her child. Persephone's deep brown eyes scanned every feature of her mother's face, taking in every little detail. Matilda sang softly, even as her ears picked up the subtle squeal of a large truck's brakes in the distance.
"Give me a reason, to believe that you're gone..." She sang, even while she listened to the soldier's boots climbing the steps of the houses surrounding her. She heard another truck in the distance, and heard more footsteps fill the buildings surrounding her. She felt hundreds of eyes upon her from behind her, and heard the subtle squeaking of the floorboards near the windows as the soldiers trained their rifles on the back of her head. She swang back and forth on the rusty swing set, keeping her tone even, so as not to disturb her child who, for once, was calm.
"Some say I'm crazy, for my love..." Matilda sang sweetly, smiling down at her child. She felt nothing when Persephone smiled back at her, her light brown eyes sparkling. It disturbed and frightened her, but Persephone cried whenever Matilda wasn't smiling or singing. It seemed, no matter what she did, Persephone screamed, unless Matilda held her. Matilda kissed her forehead softly, and Persephone reached out and touched her face softly. Matilda felt a single tear slide down her cheek, and the world seemed to fade out around her. Why did she feel nothing? She carried countless souls within her, using their combined power for her own. But where was hers?

Nathan walked up behind her slowly as she continued to sing her haunting melody, totally transfixed on her child. If it even was her child.
"I will stay forever here with you, My Love..." She continued to sing, rocking her child back and forth gently as the swingset creaked rhythmicly. Nathan didn't want to startle her, so he kept his distance as he circled around her. He saw one of her ears turn towards him as he walked ever so slowly. Her song ended softly, and Nathan saw the child looking right at him from Matilda's arms.
"You've got a lovely singing voice." Nathan said softly. Matilda didn't take her eyes off the child, but smiled slightly.
"I haven't sang to anyone in millennia. But it's nice to know I'm good at something... else." She said softly, slowly looking up at him.
"Where did you learn that song?" He asked.
"I don't even remember." She said, smiling back at her child.
"But it seems that music soothes the savage beast." She said, brushing the baby's hair away from her eyes."What can I do for you, mister Spencer?" She asked softly.
"We've got a proposition." Nathan said.
"Do tell." Matilda said.
"Ever since the storm a few years ago, we've had... visitors. All of them look like you." Nathan said. Matilda looked up at him, one eyebrow raised.
"And some of them are scared, and thus, hostile. Some of them have... abilities. Dangerous abilities, sometimes. We're trying to get them all together, and find a way to help them, but, as previously stated, they're hostile. And on top of that, they have been scattered to the winds, it would seem. We've had reports of them from all over the globe, not just here in America." Nathan said.
"And you want me to go find them, and what? Kill them?" Matilda asked.
"No, not at all. We want you to save them. They're in a foreign land, probably in hostile enviroments, and scared witless. We want you to save them, as many as we can. In return, we will provide you and your... daughter with a place to stay, far from potential harm, or potential discomfort. We can help you." Nathan said.
"You think I'm incapable of raising my daughter?" Matilda asked, standing slowly.
"Yeah." Nathan said, shrugging.

Matilda was taken aback. She had never seen someone so nonchalant about telling her she was inadequate. Maybe he was right.
"You can't do it out here. What have you even eaten since you got here? Have you checked her for ticks, or bug bites, or mites, or fleas?" Nathan asked. Matilda glared at him, and Nathan knew he had gone too far.
"I am not a Dog, mister Spencer. I am an ancient, immortal vampire Wilderfolk. I am the bane of the powerful, the Usurper of the Vampire throne, murderer of the king, assassin of the tyrant, and Queen of the Ak-Dovurak Horde. I am the element of Darkness and the single most powerful sorceress to ever exist. I am Matilda, and if I hear anyone doubt my capabilities again, I will devour them whole." Matilda said, as the sky darkened and a cold wind kicked up, sucking the heat out of Nathan's bones. The baby squirmed in Matilda's arms, and the winds died as the sun came back out.
"She doesn't like it when you do that." Nathan pointed out.
"So it would seem." Matilda said, glaring at him still.
"I will consider your offer, mister Spencer. In the meantime, I suggest you maintain your distance from me, lest you become my daughter's next meal." Matilda said, walking away. Nathan was taken aback. His next words caught in his throat at first, but he managed after a few seconds.
"Have you been feeding that baby human flesh!?" Nathan yelled at her, appalled. Matilda grinned at him over her shoulder, her brilliant white teeth reflecting the sunlight into his eyes. He winced, and when he opened his eyes, she was gone. Nathan heard chatter over the radio, and realised she had somehow evaded every single sniper he had positioned in case she said no.

Days later, Matilda appeared inside the Federal Berau of Extraterrestrial Investigation's small headquarters, and announced to all of the terrified staff that she had accepted Nathan's offer. They had a small facility right now, but they were doing all they could.
"Why do the rooms have bars on the windows?" Matilda asked.
"This used to be a prison." Nathan said.
"You will be keeping them in those cells?" Matilda asked.
"Until we have a better facility, yes, I'm afraid." Nathan said.

"I trust my quarters will be significantly better furnished." Matilda said.
"We did what we could." Nathan said, opening the door. It was a twenty foot cube cell, with padded walls, with a large, soft matress laying on the floor in the corner, with several blankets, bottles, a breast milk pump, and a bag of diapers.
"And what are those?" Matilda asked, nodding to the diapers.
"It's like disposable panties for the baby." Nathan said.
"You still do not believe she is my daughter?" Matilda asked him softly.
"Honestly, no." Nathan said.
"It was not my intention to ever have a child, I assure you. It was... surprising." Matilda said, looking down at her child.
"Her father was... a human, I think. I don't remember it well." Matilda said.
"A human father?" Nathan asked. How did their biology function exactly? Were these wilderfolk the missing link?
"He was human once, I believe." Matilda said, walking in as tentacles of dense black smoke emerged from the folds of her long dress and began to rearrange the room, forming furniture, drapes, a frame for the bed, and dressers that she placed the diapers in. She sat down as a rocking chair materialised underneath her, and rocked her baby back and forth.
"So. If I am to save these stray wilderfolk, who will care for my child in my absence?" Matilda said softly.
"We found a volunteer." Nathan said, stepping back as Janet walked in.
"Janet, darling." Matilda said, smiling sweetly at her.
"Hello." Janet said quietly as she walked over.

Janet cared for Persephone that night, as Matilda talked with Nathan in what used to be the warden's office.
"So these are...?" She asked, looking through the pictures laid all across the desk. She seemed distant, distracted, her eyes glancing over the pictures with no discernable interest. Nathan didn't know if that was normal or not. He wondered what she had meant when she said she was a vampire. These wilderfolk had a wide array of abilities that he had seen, but he had never seen anything close to vampirism.
"These are the wilderfolk we know of. Their locations are printed on their pictures." Nathan said, watching Matilda shuffle through the pictures, like she was looking for someone.
"These locations are useless to me. What is a Prague? Where is Cambodia? Give me something I can work with mister Spencer." She said, opening another file and looking through it's pictures.
"Will longitude and latitude work?" Nathan said.
"I don't know what that... means." She said, her voice trailing off as she dropped the file and held one photo in an unsteady hand. Nathan opened his mouth to say something, but he saw how she looked at the photo, and thought better of it.

"I know you." Matilda said, staring intensely at the photo. It was a grainy picture of a short, grey-furred wolf wilderfolk.
"Who is it?" Nathan asked.
"His name was Nikolai. He was an honor guard for Zavoyevatel." Matilda said.
"A what for who now?" Nathan asked.
"The progenitor of my race, the Dragon Tyrant Zavoyevatel. My father." Matilda said softly.
"It's been twelve thousand years, father." She whispered to herself.
"When will I be done?" She asked no one in particular.
"Matilda." Nathan said softly. Her right ear rotated towards him, but she stayed stationary.
"Is this someone we should know about?" He asked. She didn't react for a few minutes, and Nathan was unsure how to respond to that. The air flowing through the room became cold, and the papers rustled quietly on the floor.

"I have to go." Matilda whispered.
"Go?" Nathan parroted.
"You wouldn't understand. You can't." Matilda whispered.
"I'm sorry." She whispered.
"For what?" Nathan asked, walking towards her. He realised just then that she wasn't talking to him.

Matilda barely moved, but in a violent gust of wind and dense black smoke, she shot out of the room and was gone before Nathan hit the ground. The wind hurled him to the opposite side of the room and slammed him into the wall, he tasted blood and his vision flashed, and he was out cold. When he came to, he was laying in the infirmary, with a tight bandage around his head, and Janet was sitting in the chair next to him. He groaned and tried to sit up, but realised with a sudden burst of agony that something was terribly wrong.
"Oh my God." Janet sobbed, bursting into tears as she saw his eyes move.
"He's awake!!" She screamed down the hall, and rushed back to his side.
"Don't move honey, I'm here now." She said, kissing him tenderly.
"What happened?" Was what Nathan tried to say, but nothing happened.
"What the hell?" He tried to say, but nothing came out. He looked up to Janet with panic in his eyes, as hot tears ran down his cheeks.
"It'll be okay baby, just stay awake for me, okay?" She said, wiping away his tears. The doctor ran in the door, pulling his coat on fervently as his assistants scampered in behind him.
"Nathan, can you hear me?" Janet sobbed. Nathan tried to nod, but nothing happened.
"Nathan, look at me!" Janet screamed, holding his face gently.

Tears poured down Nathan's face as the doctors scrambled around him, but all he could see was his wife's face, stricken with terror.
"Get her out of here! Gently!" The doctor shouted, shining a light in Nathan's eyes as two nurses guided his hysterical wife out of the room.
"Can you hear me?" The doctor said. Nathan managed to move his eyes up and down.
"He's conscious!" The doctor shouted.
"Listen to me, when that... thing left, she threw you into a wall, and shattered your spine in three places. You're paralyzed, Nate. As far as I can tell, it's full body paralysis. Can you understand me?" The doctor asked. Nathan moved his eyes up and down.
"Okay." The doctor said, sitting down next to him.
"Look at me." The doctor said. Nathan locked eyes with him, and realised that the news was going to get worse. Even more tears flowed freely down his face.

"It's been eight years, Nathan." The doctor said. Nathan felt his heart plummet as he saw a small shadow near the door to his room. He looked and saw a short girl, with ragged brown hair and deep black eyes looking at him quizzicaly. No one moved as she walked in the room slowly. Nathan saw scars covering her arms and neck, and his heart sank further, as he realised who it was. Persephone had grown up. Where was her mother? What had happened in those eight years? She reached out and gently touched his hand.
"They tell me you knew my mother." She said softly, looking deep into his eyes. Her ears were slightly pointed, almost like elve's ears, but subtly. Her iris was completely black, with no discernable border between it and her pupil. She had rounded cheekbones, and light freckles, nearly invisible. She wasn't thin, like he had expected. At least she was eating. She wasn't sinewy and lithe like her mother, but she wasn't chubby. She was somewhere in between. He saw scars on her arms leading up to her elbows. Her tiny hands were covered in cuts and bruises, and she had a long cut going up her neck towards her ear. Her hair was ragged and uneven, as if she had stuck it into a paper shredder. He felt a deep sense of pity for her as a tear ran down his cheek.
"Did you?" She asked. Nathan tried to nod.
"I see." She said, holding his hand in hers. He couldn't feel his hands, but he could feel her in his mind as she looked deep into his eyes.
"Where is she?" Perspehone asked inaudibly.

Kane fell through the endless abyss, feeling the fire surge through him, furious and violent as he screamed in agony, the brilliant light from all around him blinding him as he hurtled through hell. He slammed into something violently and was knocked out cold. He awoke face down on solid stone, soaked in cold rain as a chilling wind swept over him lightly. He coughed and forced himself up to his hands and knees, falling and realising he was missing one arm. He gasped and choked as he stared at the charred stump of his arm. He began to sob and look around for anything familiar.
"Where am I?" He whispered, sitting down on the cold stone. There was a man sitting opposite him, under a dark green tent, smoking something fowl-smelling out of a glass pipe, staring at him.
"Where am I?" He asked him.
"Greenville." The man said quietly, coughing as he exhaled foul smelling smoke.
"Where is that?" Kane asked, looking around. There were tall buildings all around him, their walls seemingly made of glass and stone.

"S.C." The man coughed.
"I don't know what that means." Kane said, looking up as the rain intensified, heavy, cold drops smacking into his face. He felt the fire inside of him die out, and he felt a chill crawl through his body as he remembered what he had done. He began sobbing violently, burying his face in his hand as the rain soaked through his charred clothing. He heard something like a wyvern's cry and saw flashing blue lights through his tears. He looked up to see a tall man in an odd suit walking over towards them. The man with the pipe scrambled to his feet and ran away, but Kane sat there, paralyzed by greif and guilt. The man in the suit said something, but Kane didn't process it. He threw a dense blanket over Kane's shoulders, and helped him to his feet.

"Hey." Someone said. Kane snapped out of his trance, and looked up to see a man with dark skin and kind eyes looking at him. He was tall, and round, and was holding a plate of steaming food in front of him. Kane looked around to see he was in a large building with glowing tubes on the ceiling for lights, with a few other people sitting in chairs, eating from the plates in front of them.
"Where am I?" Kane asked softly as the large man sat in front of him, on the other side of the table.
"Well, this is a soup kitchen, son." The man said, smiling at him kindly, his grey moustache curling at the ends of his mouth.
"A what?" Kane asked, looking down at the tray. That was a steak of some sort. Not soup.
"We give you a hot meal, and some hope." The man said softly.
"H-... hope?" Kane asked, a tear running down his cheek.
"Yes. What happened to you, son?" The man asked, a tear welling in his own eyes as he looked at Kane. Kane broke down into sobs at the word 'son', the large man sat next to him as Kane choked on his words, telling him what had happened.

"He lit a fire, or something. Lost his whole family." Jedikiah said, standing at the edge of the room, watching Kane sleep on the bench.
"Poor kid." Dave said, stroking his goatee.
"He's only like sixteen, Dave." Jed said.
"He blames himself for it, y'know?" He added quietly.
"I don't know, Jed. I found him under the bridge, covered in burnt clothes, but he was untouched. He really disassociated hard, for like a day." Dave said, covering his radio as dispatch said something about a rogue hotdog stand.
"I feel for him Dave. I've only ever seen one kid that broken." Jed said, sipping his coffee.
"How's she doing, anyway?" Dave asked softly, watching Kane roll over in his sleep.
"She's eating finally. It's a miracle she survived, really." Jed whispered.
"Impaled by rebar, right?" Dave asked, covering his radio again.
"Right through her stomach. Should've killed her, honestly." Jed said, looking at the time on his watch.
"What was she thinking?" Dave said, turning away to answer his radio.
"She said she hated everything, y'know? I think she hated herself more than anything else. She had dozens of old scars. All over her." Jed said.
"Keep an eye on 'em for me, Jed." Dave said, patting Jed's shoulder lightly as he left.
"Will do." Jed said, sipping his coffee silently.

Kane awoke to the soft smell of smoke filling his room. But it wasn't the acrid, stinging scent of a raging fire, it was a pleasant odor, warm and comforting. He sat up in bed and felt a soft tug on his right shoulder. He saw it was wrapped carefully and lovingly in a white bandage. He heard the rain pattering against the window of the strange room, and felt the distant thunder subtly shake the building. He heard someone take a deep breath on the other side of his bed, and he turned to see a man sitting there. He was unassuming, wearing simple clothes, with short brown hair, kind eyes, and taking a long drag on a cigarette. Kane had never seen one before, but somehow he knew that's what it was called.
"Hey kid." The man said, grinning as a sheet of smoke curled out of his mouth, obscuring his face. From behind the sheet of smoke, Kane briefly saw two glowing red eyes.
"Who are you?" Kane demanded.
"Call me Charlie." The man said.
"What do you want?" Kane asked.
"I'm here to solve a problem, Kane. See, for decades now, there's been a fire raging out of control, and I want to get it back in line. Not so much put it out as refine it, make it more useful and less destructive." Charlie said, taking another long drag.
"What are you talking about?" Kane asked.
"There's a fire inside you, Kane, and not a figurative one either. A literal one. The element of fire is tied to you. You two kinda... collided in the void. I'm here to cement that bond. Now listen, and listen carefully." Charlie said, leaning forward.
"This element of fire, he's losing his mind, slowly but surely. But he's got these moments of sanity. If he stayed in the void, those moments would become shorter and shorter, until his mind was gone permanently. You've got a unique connection, due to your... impromptu field trip." Charlie said, grinning. Kane wasn't sure he knew what he was saying.
"I can see you're having trouble grasping this, so I'm just gonna go ahead and link you two. Get ready for a rush, boy-o." Charlie said, raising one hand and clicking his fingers.

Persephone was sitting in her room, reading and listening to music when she heard screaming. She pulled her headphones off and