KIRADA yelped as her body his the mirror wall; shattering the mirrors and cutting her open in several places. Staggering up, she whimpered and wobbled, only to be knocked back into the glass upon the floor by her assasin.  With the larger animal's weight throwing into her, Kirada was knocked unconscience....

   ...QUINTIN was just beginning to walk, and he was falling a lot. Kirada smiled in her place on the wooden proch swing as she watched her pups through the window. Erika had been walking for a couple weeks now, and had fun knocking her brother over. As long as he didn't get hurt, she wouldn't gripe about it. He would gain balance from this, and learn what he can lean on and stay stable when he put his weight unto it. If not, he fell. And hopefully learned his lesson. But if not, he would someday. 
   Looking out over the horizon, Kirada smiled at the sunset. It was always perfect colors and cloud shapes when UnderSiege was around her, always. It never failed. And she loved him...

   KIRADA growled up at the human, she knew who he was. Her fur was matted with blood, her ankles and neck chained to the floor so she wouldn't attack him. He was using cruelty as a weapon and she wasn't sure how she could fight him and use it with her. She could use none of her powers to escape the binds, he'd coated it with a magic that would stunt her tricks.

   ...Bruce pulled himself stiffly off the floor. His only daughter was only four, just four, and his "friends" ravaged her. They ravaged her! She was now huddled, naked, in the corner opposite from him. His body was sore, more than usual. They had beaten him to the floor and made him watch as they raped his little girl. Walking to her with a limp, he picked her tiny, crying, body and carried her to her room. Putting her under her blankets, he sat on the edge of her bed and brushed her thick, black hair away from her large Topaz eyes.
   "Cielo, do not fret. I am here for you, and I will not allow them to touch you in such ways again. I promise." Now, he would run his index finger over her tiny chin. "Promise not to tell your mother. I will vouge that they will be put to death by my own hand."
   "I promise, poppa." She said. She looked like her mother, only so much like he. "Poppa, I want to watch you. Will you do them in, just like you did Mr. Davis's brother?"
   "Nae, my daughter. I will make them suffer, as they have made you. Young Grayson has followed in his older brother's path, and he will suffer more. I will not allow you to watch this, young one. T'will be too fierce for your small eyes. I shall not taint you." ...

   Kirada shoved and heaved on the chains. They were unbreakable. Stepping on a stone, she got an idea. She swatted it across the cold, stone floor. It could be heard thumping until it hit something wooden. A door, maybe?

   ...She hated hearing those worhtless, empty promises about forever, never letting go. But lately, from him, she wanted more and accepted them. Her heart would lurch at the thought of his name, and flame when someone downed him. His promises of eternal love, actually meant something to her. For once, she loved feeling an intoxication bliss at his every touch, and hung upon his every word as if it were her life.
Kirada, of course, looked forward to their every meeting. For once, she felt as though what she were feeling were real and has lesser of a reason to pretend every day.
   For once, she was in eternal bliss. But, she could not tell anyone; instead, she sat with her pen and notebook and wrote down her darkest secrets to their happenings and her thoughts to the male.
Being young, she belived. She trusted his every word as though she were an elder, knowing love at the first sight of it...

   Kirada snarled again, the chain digging into the flesh of her neck. She could hear her own blood dripping onto the floor and feel it around her paws.
She was going to die. Before she knew it, she was lying on the floor, sharp, tiny pains and cold metal wrapped around her body. She yelped and bit at a part of it, only to cut the inside of her mouth with the strangely gained barbed wire...

   If it had not been for Ephit Thatcher, Kirada would most likely have would up "dead." A teenager was threatening to rape her when the 6'4'' man who introduced himself solumly as Ephit Thatcher appeared in the light of the alleyway and almost literally tore the teenager apart. Being sure to grap Kirada quickly and run, she noticed how he was light on his feet and had quick reflexes.  
   His hand was warm against hers, which was cold as always. Her hair was sweeping around her face and his long, black hair was doing the same. She noticed how it covered those blank, black eyes. Almost as if by reading her mind, he swept her into the door of an apartment complex, up the stairs, and into a large apartment.
   She could only assume he lived here. But alone? No, it was clean. A couch; recliner, TV and TV stand, coffee table, spick-and-span well-stocked kitchen, a large bed, nightstand, and so on. Even from glancing through doors from the middle of the living room, Kirada could tell that he was alone. No women, no roommate?
   "If you will please, sit down. You're making me nervous."
    His smooth, sexy voice tore Kirada out of her trans. "Oh, sorry," she said perching shyly on the couch. "Uhm, you're Ephit, right? I'm Kirada MacNiall."
   "Pleasure. Would you like something to drink, Ms. MacNiall?"
   "How did you know I'm unmarried?"
   "No ring, no spark of anger when I brought you here. And plus, you're shy around me and don't dress like a whore. Now, would you like something to drink?"
    "Uhm, sure. Water's fine..."
   He returned but moments later with a glass of water and a can of 'Monster', an energy drink. They sat and talked for hours, and Ephit offered his new lifetime friend a perminant place to stay.
   Gladly, Kirada accepted. This city, she knew, was no place to be alone...

    Kirada snarled as some meat was thrown before her. First, she sniffed it cautiously and then tore into it, her hunger causing her to submit to the tempting smell of raw meat. The barbed wire was gone days ago, and she was now thinning terribly and losing that glaze she bore in her eyes before.

   ...Kirada smiled at Ephit with that shiney look, with life bursting from her now happy brown eyes as they ate their dinner together for the third year in a row. He gave her a small smile back. Just like the big guy, to be polite but still aloof.
   If it were not for them proving they were only friends, people would swear that they more  than friends. But they had kisses once, and deciding against for Kirada's James, they became lifelong partners. Ephit being like Kirada's security guard. They knew what the other was, each others' darkest secrets, all of it.   
   What they didn't know, was their true feelings for one another...