Gabriel Luce pushed herself against me, letting her knife hover just around my neck. I glanced at it, and noticed that there was dried blood clinging to the bladed edge. I swallowed hard. “What do you want to know?” I asked in a strained voice. She smiled, and lowered the blade. “Do you know where that ‘Odin’ man is, currently?” I shook my head. “I can’t really be sure.” I explained, “He just came to this house once, and I don’t really know him all that well.” She frowned, and began to snap the buttons off of my polo with her silver knife. One by one, the plastic circles fell to the floor. She pressed the blade to my now-bare chest, and dragged it slowly down to my bellybutton, not applying enough pressure to actually cut me. “Please-” I pleaded. “I really don’t know where he is.” I felt tears pooling in my eyes, and tried my best to hold them back. “Fine.” She spat, “But do you at least know who the girl was?” I thought for a moment, heavily distracted by the blade resting on my stomach. “I- I- I remember the Count saying her name was Juliet. Odin also said that she was Damien’s maid.” Of course, I hadn’t actually been in the room when he had said that. I was at the top of the staircase, eavesdropping at the time. She put a finger to her lips, not withdrawing the knife quite yet. “Damien…” She whispered, “Doesn’t he live just across the forest? In that large mansion?” I nodded, reluctantly. She smiled, and pulled a looped strip of fabric from her pants pocket along with a small silver key. She held the fabric out in front of me, so I could get a better look at it. It was formed of crossed strands of thick black chord. In the center of the collar was a large silver cross with a miniscule keyhole in the center. Silver spikes expanded from the cross, all around the collar. She bent over, and snapped the choker around my neck, sealing it with the key she held. “A collar for my favorite kitten.” She said, smiling. I glowered at her, and she pulled her knife away from me. I rattled the chains holding me to the wall. “L- let me out, please.” I begged. She just turned around, and headed for the staircase, dropping the key to the shackles just inches from my reach. I bent over, and tried to grab it, but my efforts were to no avail. When I did manage to snag the key, it slipped from between my fingers. After a few failed attempts, I leaned back on the far wall, sliding onto my knees. Juliet Jem seemed frozen in place. “What do you mean?” He asked. Odin scoffed, “Your father shared your name, didn’t he?” The boy nodded. “But how could you possibly know him?” He questioned. Odin rolled his eyes, and walked closer to Jem. He looked closely into the boy’s eyes, and sighed. “We should probably find you some glasses.” He explained. Jem put his hands in front of his face, as if to touch the lenses that were no longer there. “I suppose I lost them…” He mumbled. Odin scowled, “If you had your glasses on, you would probably be able to tell that I’m not human just by seeing my face.” He put his hand to the boy’s cheek. Jem shivered, and jolted back, stammering, “You- you- you’re- a- one of- those things!” It was at that moment that Damien entered the room. “Oh,” He said breathily, “Jem’s awake.” He had changed clothing yet again. Now Damien was wearing a long flowing cloak of pure scarlet. He glided over to the boy on the couch, and put his hand out in greeting. Jem grasped it, and shook weakly. Damien introduced himself, and then floated over to an armchair. I looked over at the boy. He seemed even paler than before. Odin continued the conversation that Damien had so rudely interrupted moments before. “Yes, I am one of ‘those things’.” He said, sighing. Jem brushed his blonde hair out of his eyes, and fidgeted where he sat. “When did you know my father?” He asked, touching the scars on his chest absentmindedly. Odin glared at him. “I met him when he was your age, I believe.” He growled. “And from what I’ve heard, you are following in his footsteps.” Jem shook his head. “I was, for a time, but I’ve decided to reform.” Odin raised an eyebrow, and brushed his fingers along the boy’s shoulder. Jem instinctively shrank backward, and put a hand protectively to his neck. He winced as his healing cuts split open once again. Odin laughed, and removed his hand. “If you’re going to ‘reform’, you should at least get used to being around non-humans.” Jem nodded slowly. “Y- yes sir.” He agreed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yes, I did two different POV’s in one chapter. So sue me. I think I have an odd obsession with collars… now three of my characters have them. Well, okay. Juliet’s is basically a tattoo, but it CAN be a collar. I think watching endless hours of Drake and Josh has driven me to the brink of insanity… The hotel I’m staying in doesn’t have Cartoon Network or Disney, so I‘ve only been watching Nick and Comedy central. D: Don’t you love it when characters stammer? I do! For some reason I think it’s cute. ‘Th- th- tha- that’s all folks!’