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The baseball bat caught Nox's attention and he yanked it up from the wall. Positioning himself as a barrier between the closet and door, he squeezed the wood until his knuckles drained of color. What good would this piece of rubbish do against those sounds? But he had to shield Elisa and the kids. Their safety mattered more than his own life. The door crashed open with brutal force and this enormous shadow beast slithered through. Nothing but teeth, black void and impossible geometry that hurt to process. His bat cut through the air but a fiery feeling erupted in his belly before contact. Actual flames burst from his palms and rocketed straight at the beast. The fire tore through its body like it was tissue paper. What the bloody hell was going on? No time to think because the creature leaped forward and he hurled more fire at it. This blast was stronger, hotter, fed by raw fear and fury. The creature shrieked and jerked back, chunks of its shadow form turning to smoke. His fire abilities were defying all logic, but the adrenaline rush was changing everything inside him. "Stay in there!" he shouted toward the closet, hurling another fireball that sent the creature stumbling backward.

His skin rippled with scales and her mouth dropped. This couldn't be happening, yet his hand still held hers tight and those claws looked sharp enough to slice metal. She backed away as his body changed into something from ancient myths. Dragons belonged in her grandmother's bedtime stories, not transforming in front of her in some ice-cold corridor. "What the hell are you?" She wanted to bolt, her whole body was telling her to run. But her legs felt like concrete. Then out of nowhere, shadow appeared from the dark. Ice shot through her veins, so cold it felt like fire, and she could feel something yanking at her insides. Her energy was pouring out of her like a broken faucet. Breathing became impossible, thinking even harder, and all she could do was feel herself fading with every heartbeat.

while dilara was scared, she didn't forget that he'd taken care of her and protected her moments before - and when he didn't have to. after all, he didn't know her. he could have left her behind and saved himself. her fingers ran over his scales, surprised by the warmth that radiated from them. despite how scary he looked like this, there was some sort of calm energy pouring from him as he looked at her. "okay," she breathed out, her eyes on his. "i trust you." after all, she didn't want to face this alone. slowly, she pulled her hand away. "what next? am i jumping on your back while we ride off into the distance?" she attempted to joke to get rid of some of her nerves.

Her fingers touched his scales and Duke felt this weird calm wash over him. She wasn't running. Even after watching him turn into a monster, she stayed put. Trust like that hit differently than he expected. Her joke made him smile. She nailed it perfectly. "Yeah, pretty much." His body temperature spiked as he crouched down lower. "Just grab on tight cause this won't be smooth." Another blast shook the walls and he knew their window was closing fast. She climbed on and he headed for the broken glass where the store used to be. His wings stretched out full span. "Whatever goes down, don't let go."

he didn't like the unknown. ace should have known that she was going to fight him on this. he shouldn't be surprised by her words. after all, why would he be? she was just as stubborn as she'd always been, even in a life or death situation. "of course. you never fucking listen to me." he huffed but it was expected. as he stacked things at the door to help trap them inside and protect them from whatever was going on outside, he glanced over at her. "i am not going to leave you but i need you to let me protect you." he spoke as she tugged him behind the desk. "i'm here. i'm not going anywhere and i'm not going to let anything happen to you."

She couldn't even bring herself to care about his remark. He should already know how stubborn she could be. It was in her DNA. Did he really think she was going to leave him to deal with that monstrosity alone? Not likely. "Why are you surprised?" She rolled her eyes, and helped him with the chairs. As soon as they were done, they hunkered down behind the desk, backs pressed against the wall. The air was fridgid. Far colder than it should be this time of the year, but she focused on Ace instead. "I don't need you to protect me. Why won't you understand that I'm capable of protecting myself." What frustrated her was his inability to see that they needed each other. She didn't have to protect him and vice versa. Realizing how rude that sounded, she added, "I'm sorry. All this," she nodded to the chaos surrounding them, "is freaking me out. We're better off together, babe. I'll have your back, just like I know you'll always have mine."

worry consumed her. giovanna wasn't only worried about the two of them right here but she was worried about her brother, her club, her friends. what was everyone going through right now? they had to be just as scared as they were. taking in a deep breath, she watched her girlfriend move the dial of the radio and hoped that someone would tell them something. as the emergency broadcast sounded through the basement, her heart thumbed in her chest. "what the hell…" she mumbled to herself, "i don't really think they know what's going on or what these things are. do you think we're safe here?"

Nia felt sick hearing about those shadow creatures on the radio. They apparently could walk through walls. Didn’t ghosts do that? The thought of those things roaming around, watching people made goosebumps appear. This was insane. The mayor sounded like he was truly freaked out and those sirens outside were definitely real. She held Giovanna's hand tighter. "God, I hope so. The radio said everyone needs to stay inside and turn off their lights." She was trying not to panic. Yara looked absolutely terrified sitting in that corner. Nia knew she had to keep everyone together. "I'm switching off this overhead light. We can just use the emergency lantern instead." She reached for the switch. "And we need to stay quiet. No unnecessary talking or movement."

he wished he knew what to say. it wasn't as though he hated what happened or that he was afraid of hae-rin but he was certainly surprised by the powers that his wife had shown. "we can dig more into all of that after we find a safe place." his hand rubbed against the outside of her now covered arms, his eyes scanning over her face. "has your family ever said anything though? your brother? none of this has ever happened?" he paused, "as for those creatures, i have no idea but i know that i want them to get the hell out of here so devil's junction can go back to normal. as normal as it can be."

She almost told Ford that everything would start making sense. What a joke that would be, given she was just as clueless too. "Nope, not once," she replied, head moving side to side. "My family talks about everything. If they knew something like this could happen, I would've heard about it. They share way too much information about everything." Her mom and dad had managed every detail of her childhood. Why start hiding things now, especially something this huge? Maybe they were just as clueless, though that felt pretty unlikely. Her brother would've said something by now if he knew. They shared everything with each other. The tingling in her hands hadn't stopped yet. It felt like the water was still there, hiding just under the surface, ready to come rushing out. "We need to work out what we're dealing with here and how to make them go away. Something tells me they're not going anywhere. You saw how many of them there were, right?"

he felt bad that he had ruined their plans, especially since he was friends with aarti before he even started seeing kaia. either way, he didn't want to ruin their friendship. before he could even fully talk about the pottery class, everything started shaking and suddenly, he wasn't worried about their plans but instead what was going on in front of them. he ducked down with aarti by his side and looked over at her, eyes widening. "i don't know but i think we need to get the hell out of here." he spoke, hand grasping hers and tugging her toward the exit.

All thoughts of being a third wheel, Jesse's budding relationship with Kaia, and hurt feelings completely disappeared. Right now, she was actually pretty worried about her survival. "Yeah, let's do that." She barely had the time to say more when he tugged her out of the restaurant. Out the door, the environment was a picture of chaos. People were running for their lives, fires had broken out and—holy shit, was that a monster? "We need to find safety, Jesse," she told him as the duo ducked, narily missing a pillar crumbling down ahead of them. Spotting a park, she yanked at his arm and led the way towards it. Right now, they needed to stay away from building because whatever that creature was, there were more them and they seemed to be attracted to the bright lights of the buildings.

millie wouldn't be surprised if the other could hear his heart beating out of his chest and that was mostly due to the fact that she was absolutely terrified about what was going on outside and whether they were going to make it out alive. she tried to hold back the tears threatening to spill, especially since she absolutely hated feeling weak. she followed him to the corner and held onto him, "what are we going to do?" she whispered, "titus, i'm scared."

A million different things ran into his mind. And he knew if he didn't pull himself together, he'd end up spiraling. He couldn't do that when Millie's safety depended on him. Hearing that she was scared made him feel helpless. Titus was the type of a man who needed to have all the answers, and not being in the know—it killed him. He drew her to her, arms wrapped around her shoulders and he pressed a kiss to her forehead, "I know you are, but I promise that things will be okay. I'll take care of you." There was no way he could know that things would be alright, but he couldn't let her go on thinking that they would all die from whatever was happening either.

He tried to make her feel better but her mind wouldn't stop racing. Yeah they made it out alive but so what when they could turn into dragons out of nowhere? Her entire life had been normal and now she was expected to deal with growing wings and shooting ice when things got scary. "I get that we're fine, but that doesn't tell me what just went down." She couldn't make herself move her hand away from him. What he said about their bodies responding to threats made some weird sense but how was she supposed to deal with the fact that this power had been inside her forever? Did her mom and dad know about this? Had they hidden it from her or were they just as lost as she was right now? "You think we're the only ones who can do this?" She blurted it out without thinking. No way they were the only two people on earth who could turn into dragons. That would be completely nuts. "We better leave before this whole structure gives out. The rest we can handle after we're clear because I have zero idea what our next step should be." She secured the covering around her frame and studied the staircase.

Tough. Sahana wanted to snort at that. She'd thrown some creature across their place then nearly lost it in a closet, but Sterling thought she was handling this well. She wasn't about to correct him when he seemed impressed instead of terrified. She'd take any compliment right now since she honestly felt like she'd gone crazy. Their baby moved and she put her hand on her belly without thinking. What kind of world was their kid walking into if monsters were real and mom could mess with weather? The whole thing made her head spin. She watched her husband move toward the equipment and forced herself to follow him. Making jokes seemed like a good idea. Too bad she sounded like garbage when she tried. "More like a mom who throws things around with her brain." She tried to sound light but failed completely. His escape route was narrow and black as pitch, great for staying hidden. That tugging in her chest wouldn't quit though, like the wind expected her to do something with it. She might accidentally collapse the building on them. Or worse, she might hurt Sterling and the baby if she couldn't get a handle on this. She swallowed hard and pointed toward the exit. "You go first before I accidentally wreck this whole place."

to hear him say that out loud made it real, but if the casino isn't what lucien saw in his future then he didn't see any point in him fighting his brother over it. "when you think about your future, what do you see? if you want to try something new, i could always use someone else to run the front desk. damon ain't worth a shit. he shows up when he wants to."

Creating games was all he lived for before. He wanted to build things that would change everything. Instead, he ended up trailing behind his brother like always. Nothing made sense to him now. He hated feeling so lost about everything. "Truth is, I do not know what I'm seeing. Might be why I'm so messed up." His eyes found Ulysses across the room. Owning tattoo parlor seemed pretty good compared to this casino mess. "You're not messing with me about the job, right? I might just do it."

hearing the other say her name out loud made him smile. ulysses wasn't going to make it a big deal. that wasn't the kind of guy he was and he knew it was huge for nox to have said anything in the first place. "that's cool, man." he replied, nodding his head for a couple of beats. "who's to say i won't meet someone while i'm working? the possibilities are endless. i get plenty of new clients."

His mate had some strange ideas about why women walked into his shop. Nox wasn't going to be the one to break the news. "Those women aren't there to find love, mate." He felt like he was talking to a brick wall. The drama alone would probably kill his business. Ulysses barely left his shop long enough to grab lunch these days. "You'll be sixty with purple fingers and zero friends at this rate. Stop waiting for perfect customers to magically appear and start living."