“He gave you your eighteen and a half years, Len Valen!” The croaky voice of the demon shouted from the shadows of Lennox Valen’s home.

　　He backed up against the wall of his home, face bloodied and body broken down as he crumbled to the floor. He was a powerful vampire but even he could not fight against the power of the Daemon general.

　　“Y-you can’t! You can’t take her!” He groveled as he crawled to the corpse of his wife.

　　“This is on you, Len Valen. You brought her death upon you,” He stepped heavily from the shadows, his large ax swung powerfully at Lennox’s chin, uppercutting him and forcing him into the wall, cratering it under his weight. “The only reason that you are still alive…” He knelt down, his grim and ghoulish face barely an inch from Lennox’s bloody form. “Is because expunging your wife’s life and taking your only connection to her away is far worse than any death that I can deliver upon you,” He cackled, and then turned his attention to the minions behind him, almost willing them to laugh with him.

　　“Gramus, please! Have mercy!” Lennox continued to beg. “Let me meet with the Daemon King! There, we can strike another deal-one far better and far more useful than-”

　　Before Lennox could finish his desperate attempt at reason, Gramus grabbed him by his bruised throat and snatched him towards him, roaring in anger, saliva evidence of his sudden outrage.

　　“You dare think that you are worthy to face the king more than once in your meager lifetime?! You who do not even possess the power to heal your own pathetic love of her infirmities!” He insulted through a laugh that was most demoniacal. “You say that you can strike a better deal,” He scoffed. “You have no idea,” He aggressively shoved Lennox back and walked away. “What the master is capable of or what plans he has for that beautiful daughter of yours.” His large head slid slightly to take a glance at Lennox Valen. “Ah yes, he has been watching the young beautiful Quenna Valen from birth...waiting for the right moment,” He licked his lips. “When she became ripe for the picking,” He sneered and as he did, on cue his minions egged their leader on with more heckling. “Then that disruptive wife of yours thought herself clever, using her power to camouflage her scent!” He growled. “And now she’s dead,” He pointed out the obvious with delight, looking down at Syra’s lifeless body. He walked to the door. “Now tell me where she is,” He demanded.

　　Weakly, Lennox Valen shook his head and sat up against the destroyed wall prepared for whatever punishment he’d face for disobeying Gramus’ command. “I will never tell you where she is!” He hissed. “I will die before I tell you her whereabouts!”

　　His feeble declaration only caused even more amusement for Gramus and his comrades. “Well you did say one thing of importance,” His voice lowered into a guttural growl as he bent down and looked at Lennox Valen. “You will die, Lennox Valen, but not before you see me snatch your meaning for existence away from you. He stood and while still looking at Lennox Valen, he made his orders known to the lower level daemons standing behind him in wait for his orders.

　　“Go find the girl and report back to me,” He said to his minions. He then looked at Lennox as he lifted his hand over the dead body of his wife. “Unfortunately, I am unable to see to Quenna Valen’s capture personally because I have a few more souls to collect,” He waved his hand over Syra Valen’s still body and it immediately disintegrated into dust so that Lennox Valen would not even be able to grieve over a physical body. As he did this, he smiled in delight at Lennox’s tortured being. “But once I find her, I will be back to collect yours as well,” He swore before taking his leave.

　　After the daemon left, Lennox collapsed to the floor of his home, sobbing inconsolably as he realized that his daughter’s life was suddenly hanging in the balance between life and death. With great misfortune, the scales were tipping in favor of the latter and there was nothing that he could do about it. Not by himself anyway.

　　“Wh-what am I going to do, Syra?” He cried. “What do I do?” He dropped his head to the floor as he realized the fatal mistake he made. “What have I done?” He whispered to himself, his voice trembling with distress.

　　He stayed there, his knees melded to the floor and his eyes staring blankly beneath him at the spot where his love once lay lifeless. Again and again, over and over, he asked himself what he could do to protect his daughter. “What, what, what, what?!” He exclaimed when a thought finally came to mind. “Fae!”

　　His wounds steadily began to heal. When Lennox was well enough to stand on his own, he got up from the ground and began to pace the floor.

　　“I have to get her to the Fae!” He muttered with adamant force. “She’ll be protected!” He thought aloud. Then he thought about the realization of a large downside. He could not go with her. “I will stay behind...hold off Gramus,” He shook his head, the tears rolling again, Lennox realizing that whether through Gramus and the daemon king or the fae, he’d lose Quenna. “Better the Fae than the Daemon King,” He made up in his mind. He shivered in disgust and terror at the potential torture that the Daemon King had in store for Quenna if he ever got the chance to get his hands on her. He could not risk that happening.

　　Distraught because of this plan that he was forced to put into action, Lennox knew that there was only one person that he could call to do the job.

　　He picked up the phone and immediately called the school, not having thought about the fact that his old friend wasn’t in. Cursing under his breath, Lennox slammed the phone down on the receiver, deciding that he would make the trip to the Dune instead of trying to reach someone.

　　Without another thought, Lennox headed for the front door. Gramus, in his ceaseless callousness, left the front door open. He took one last look at the spot where he’d lost the love of his life before quickly leaving to go find Quenna. Unfortunately, her night out with the friends would be cut short.

　　“Smile Quen!” Her friend said as they snapped a picture together outside of the restaurant before heading in.

　　As they headed into the restaurant, Quenna naturally received a lot of stares. Her ethereal looks made her unrivaled in her beauty. She was other worldly-even amongst the otherworldly, as they put it.

　　She never really took notice of the attention, however. She was just about having fun and being young, and since she was fresh out of the Dune Academy, she felt that her life was just beginning.

　　“So what are you planning to do now?” Her friend, Anjelica asked her.

　　She chuckled dryly as her eyes turned toward the ceiling in thought. “Well, I…”

　　“Quenna!” She heard someone call her name through mental telepathy. Right away she knew that it was her father, he and her mother being the only two that she was so freely connected to.

　　“Quen, is...is that your dad?”

　　Her name being called pulled Quenna out of her own mind. She looked at Anjelica curiously and when saw that her friend was facing the window, followed her gaze to see what she was looking at.

　　The sight that she was witnessing frightened her in a way that she had never experienced. Standing there, was her father, his clothes torn with cuts all over his face, bloodied and bruised he was. “Wha-dad?” She whispered. ‘Where’s mom?’ She thought to herself and immediately stood from where she sat. “Anjelica, I-I have to go! I-I’ll call you later, okay?” She quickly grabbed her coat and rushed out of the cafe. “Dad?!” The closer up she walked on him the worse he looked. His wounds seemed to be very slow healing. “Dad!”

　　“Quenna, sweetie, we have to go,” He calmly stated as he ushered her down the street.

　　“Wh-wait! Wait, what is going on? Where’s mom?” She frantically asked. “What happened?”

　　Lennox couldn’t handle the barrage of questions being asked. Not at that moment. “Not now, sweetheart, not now-” He teared up. “Right now we have to get you out of here, alright?”

　　“But dad, wha-”

　　Before she could exclaim further concern, Lennox shook her urgently, “Quenna! We have to go, now! I will answer everything, but we have to go! Please!” He cried.

　　She had never seen her father so upset...so afraid. Reluctantly, she nodded. “Okay...okay, okay!”

　　-WAIT-

　　-Interesting start, I hope. And while it will be told-this story that I am about to tell. And while Quenna Valen is the Heroine, this isn’t really about her...you ever wonder about the girl in the shadow? The one that is always the side-kick and yet the one that you know has a very interesting story to tell as well? That girl who never seems to get the guy...never knowing a happy ending? This is her story...We’ll get to see it unfold through her eyes...