I woke up from a dreamless sleep all sweaty; my hair was stuck to my face. I sat up and looked at the clock on my side table. It is 8:00 in the morning; I usually go out for my run at this time. I got up and brushed my teeth, and took a shower before going into my closet and putting on a fitted gray shirt, black sweat pants and some running shoes. I grabbed my I pod touch and I phone and put them in my pocket, I ran down stairs and as usual the boys were still sleeping in their rooms and our cook Martha is in the kitchen preparing breakfast.
“Morning Ms. Stone.” Martha said with a warm smile.
“Morning Martha.” I said with a smile before going into the fridge to take out the orange juice.
“Yo meat heads if you want some breakfast you better get down here in 10 seconds or I’ll eat it all!” I yelled so the boys could hear me.
As soon as I said that I heard a stampede coming from the stairs and Axel and Maxx came running into the kitchen at the same time pushing each other out of the way to get to the kitchen, Axel must have been tired because he was running at what humans would consider fast, but he also has the power of speed which means he can run faster than the fastest car or fastest motorcycle in the world and that would be way too slow for him, cool right?
“Okay where’s the breakfast, Oh gosh she didn’t eat it already did she?” Maxx rambled on.
“Shut up, she’s cooking right now.” I said with an amused smirk. They both sighed in relief.
“Okay I’m going for a run.” I said while putting my ear buds into my ears and setting my I Pod on shuffle, Roger That by Young Money was playing.
I pulled my hair up into a ponytail before walking out the door. I started running through the woods, I am a fast runner the only person that can catch me is Axel but he is 100 times faster than me, I was singing the lyrics to Nicki Minaj’s part. I heard a snap of a twig somewhere over the music so I sped up a little but then I stopped myself. Who the hell is crazy enough to follow me? And what am I doing running away from it? I’m never scared of anything or anyone. I looked around to see who is following me, I didn’t see anyone so I kept running but I felt a presence behind me, now I heard footsteps. I turned around to see Jessica, she is from our old school that we no longer attend, and to make it worst she is Axel’s ex girlfriend, we hate each other.
“Hello Laurie.” She said with her snooty voice and flipped her straight red hair.
“Jessica.” I said.
“I’m not here to talk to you, where’s Axel?” she asked.
“Not wrapped around your finger anymore.” I said before turning around getting ready to run again, when she grabbed me by the arm, out of a natural reflex I twisted her arm around and my hands heated up faster than she could even put a surprised and scared look on her face.
“Whoa whoa, there’s no need for that, all I asked is where Axel is.” She said while shaking and trying but failing to get out of my death grip.
“Don’t EVER grab me like that again, next time I’ll set you into flames.” I said before pulling my hand back and continuing my run to the mansion.


It took me about 30 minutes to run there. I was sweating so I opened the door and was going to go upstairs to my room when I saw Jessica and Axel making out on the couch, guess she found out where he was. Axel looked up at me and looked at me in shock.
“Hey Laurie, you know Jessica…” I put up a hand and just ran up the stairs; he calls me by my real name sometimes.
I was so mad, but I knew I had to put my personal life aside as usual and focus on the job I knew the elders would soon give us, I yanked my clothes off and took a shower when I stepped out my phone rang, and I picked it up.
“Hello?” I said.
“Alexa, we have an assignment for you.” I heard Aunt Lexis say.
“Okay I’ll get the guys.” I said before hanging up.
I put on our uniform that we wear when we have an assignment to execute someone, which is a fitted black shirt with the silver ‘X’ over the heart, a black Gucci coat that goes down mid thigh, I add to it with my black Aviators, black skinny jeans for the girls, black gloves, and black shoes, and last but not least our two black handguns, we also put a little ear piece in our ear to talk to each other when we get separated. I left my hair down and went to Maxx’s room to see him making out with a blonde girl. I cleared my throat and they both jumped and looked at me, the girls face turned bright red, Maxx had on a bored expression as he stared at me blankly, as if he wasn’t doing anything.
“What.” He said before getting up off of his bed.
“Work.” I said he looked at me; I gave him a look letting him know what was going on.
He turned to the girl with frown on his face, he’s never been in love with a girl, and there have always been one night stands or just a different girl he brings home every day. The only girl he’s ever really liked is my best friend Katy, they’ve been on and off, their relationship is more of a love hate relationship.
“You have to go.” He said to her, she sighed and got up from the bed.
“Okay talk to you later.” She said before heading for the door, he pulled her into a short kiss before she left.
I felt jealous, why can’t I have that, but instead I’m stuck with a guy I really like but still can’t get rid of his ex and he doesn’t even have those kind of feelings for me. He let her go and she smiled up at him, before walking to the door, she turned to me and smiled.
“I’m Kayla.” She said holding out a hand to me.
I smiled back at her, hey I can be a nice person, I took her petite hand in mine and shook it, and she made a little squeak when I gripped it.
“I’m Laurie.” I said.
“Nice to meet you, oh and nice grip, I think you broke my hand.” She said with a playful smile, what? I’m a natural born killer, I’ve got strong everything.
“Oh sorry.” I said while letting go.
“Thanks see you around.” She said while walking out. I turned to my brother who was tugging on his black shirt.
“She’s a nice girl.” I said as he ran a hand through his short dirty blonde hair, yeah my brothers a blonde and I’m a brunette.
“Yeah, we’ve been dating for a week now.” He said, believe it or not that’s the longest he’s ever dated a girl, back in school him and Axel where known as the hottest guys in school and the players.
“What?! You’ve been dating a girl for a week and you never told me? I’m hurt; I thought we were family here.” I said in a fake sad tone. He smiled and pulled me into a bear hug before kissing the top of my head.
“Love you sis, but I don’t want to talk about my love life with you.” He said before guiding me out of his room and closing the door.
I went to Axel’s room to see that Jessica was gone and Axel was sitting on his bed playing a video game on the X box 360 on his flat screen. I took a big huff, I was still mad about what happened. I stood in the doorway and watched him as his eyes were glued to the screen.
“Aunt Lexis called; we have an assignment, get ready.” I said in a cold voice, he paused the game and looked at me with his beautiful eyes.
“Laurie…” he said but I cut him off.
“Oh forget it would you!” I said as I started to walk out into the hallway, he caught my upper arm.
“Would you listen to me for a second?!” he said as his eyes darkened.
“Let go of me.” I said through clenched teeth.
He tightened his grip on my wrist, it didn’t hurt me but to any normal girl it would. I raised my fist faster than he could blink, I stopped an inch away from his face, and he didn’t even flinch.
“You going to hit me?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“If I have to.” I said through a clamped jaw.
I saw outside that it darkened, but not nearly as dark as his eyes, he raised a perfectly arched eyebrow, he was doing this to scare me.
“I don’t believe you will.” He said.
My fist started to tremble out of anger because I knew I could never hurt him if I tried, I cared about him too much. I dropped my fist with a huff and he softened up and the skies went back to their sunny blue.
“This is going to have to wait, get ready.” I said while pulling out of his grip.
He held on to my arm as I walked off letting his fingers glide down my arm sending tingles through my body, he watched me walk into my room before going to get ready. I put on some black eye liner and some clear lip gloss, hey, I’m a girl too, and I like to look good. I hustled downstairs to see them waiting for me, they get ready fast, they basically wore the same thing as me except they weren’t wearing skinny jeans, as always their designer jeans were kind of loose and hung low on their waist which is hot, they both wear a pair of Aviators, their blonde hair was styled the same, spiked in the front. We walked out the door and to our cars and as usual we raced to the mansion, we came in a tie. We walked into the mansion and went to Uncle’s study were he was sitting writing something on a piece of paper.
“Uncle.” We greeted all together.
He gestured for us to come into the study. We walked in and stood in front of his desk, he looked up at us.
“I have an assignment for you three specifically; the three people we want you to catch are pretty tough, they are drug dealers and have killed a lot of innocent people.” He said looking at me specifically.
“We’ll catch them uncle.” I said sounding confident.
He nodded and handed us one paper each, I looked at mine, and there was a picture of a pretty blonde girl that looked like a complete tramp. I looked at the guy’s papers and they both had two hot guys, one had red hair the other had ash blonde hair. Apparently they were partners in crime they also live together; we had the address and everything. We nodded and headed out the door; Axel looked at my paper and smirked.
“She’s pretty.” He pointed out. I felt a tang of jealousy.
“Well your guy is hot.” I said with a smirk.
This pissed him off, he clenched his jaw and squeezed his fists shut crumbling the paper slightly, soon after his fist burst into red flames and he burned the paper.
“He’ll be dead before you know it.” He said.
If I didn’t know any better I would think Axel liked me, but that’s impossible he would never like a girl like me, if anything he thought of me as a little sister. I mean he’s my brother’s best friend and he’s two years older than me. We drove to their house that was located in Queens, New York which was a pretty far drive from Brooklyn. When we got to their house it was a simple two story house, we parked a little far from it so they wouldn’t notice us, we sat in our cars and watched as all three of them got into their cars which were three Honda Civics.
They drove off and we followed close behind unnoticed. I noticed we were headed towards Manhattan, they found parking spots and so did we. They got out started walking through the city, we squeezed past lots of people to follow them, and the girl begged the boys to go into Tiffany & Co. They gave in and the three of them walked into the massive building, we followed them.
Now was time to make the move. I started walking towards the girl, when she saw me she was confused until she saw the ‘X’ on my shirt. She gasped and started running. I huffed in frustration. Typical, they always run and I always catch them. I started running after her quickly catching up, much to my dismay she sped up. Surprisingly she’s faster than I thought, but I’m faster. I pushed myself to the limit and pushed people out of the way as she pushed them in my way purposely. She ran outside of the building and started running through the city, I followed close behind not giving up. She ran into a dark alley and climbed up a ladder that led to the top of the building. I reached in my pocket and put on my super sticky gloves specially made for climbing and put them on. I hopped on the brick wall and started climbing the wall like a spider, she watched in shock as she climbed the ladder. She got to the top first, and I made it soon after her and put my regular gloves back on as she watched in shock.
“What are you?!” she yelled.
“Your worst nightmare.” I replied.
“That was so cheesy.” I heard Axel chuckle into my ear piece, I forgot that they could hear everything I say through the ear piece.
I chuckled and whispered a ‘Shut up’ into the ear piece. I looked at the girl who was looking around for a place to escape. I rolled my eyes and pushed her to the ground before taking out the knife from my shoe, a gun would make too much noise and I didn’t want to make a scene. I held the knife to her throat as she tried to wiggle out of my death grip, but failed miserably.
She was whimpering as a pigeon flew off of the building flapping its wings rather loudly. I looked up at it and watched it fly away for a second, but that’s all she needed. She snatched the knife from me and plunged it into my left arm, which was kind of a good thing since I am right handed. I yelled a bunch of profanity as I fell to the floor and held my arm where the blood dripped and the knife was stuck.
“WHAT HAPPENED?!” I heard Maxx and Vixen yell at the same time in the ear piece.
“She stabbed me in the arm!” I yelled as the girl laughed an evil laugh and stood over me, she smirked down at me.
“You are so dead.” I said as my hands burst into flames faster than she could even react, I grabbed her ankle and set her whole body on fire. She collapsed to the floor and screamed as her body burned.
“Cow.” I mumbled. Just then Axel and Maxx came climbing up the latter and ran to me. Axel put out the flame before he got on his knees next to me and pulled me up by my shoulders and sat me up. I winced as the movement hurt my arm. I leaned into Axel’s lap.
“You have to pull it out sis.” Maxx said, I looked at him as if he were stupid.
“No crap Sherlock.” I said as he smiled, I always amused him.
“Yeah she’s alright.” Axel said with a chuckle.
I wrapped my fingers around the handle of the knife, I started to slowly pull it out, the pain of the blade being pulled out was excruciating. I clamped my hands closed into hard fists causing my knuckles to turn white, I let out a loud scream but not one of those high pitched screams you let out when you see a huge spider in your room. It was a scream that came from my gut and hurt my throat,the kind of scream girls use when Michael Meyers stabs them in a horror film. When I fully pulled it out, I screamed all kinds of profanity in anger.
Maxx held me while Axel pulled off his coat, then his shirt and ripped a part of his shirt before wrapping it around my arm tightly to stop the bleeding. He put his coat back on and helped me down the ladder; Maxx used his gloves to climb down the wall. I enjoyed the way his warm smooth chest felt against my body as he carried me bridal style through the streets of New York, a lot of people stared at us mostly because Axel was shirtless showing off his perfect abs and tan skin. He walked to his car and slid me into the passenger side before shutting the butterfly door and getting into the driver’s side. He sped off onto the road and got a few honks from other drivers as he cut in and out of lanes like a maniac driver.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“I’m taking you to the hospital to get your arm treated.” He said.
“What about my car?” I asked.
“We’ll come back for it.” He said a little frustrated at my questions.
He pulled into the parking lot of the hospital and we walked inside. He sat me down in the waiting room and talked to the girl at the front desk that was checking him out. They started flirting, I could tell by the way he was leaning on the counter and smiling at her. I got up and walked up to the counter where they were flirting and snapped in her face to get her attention she looked at me slightly pissed that I interrupted them.
“Um, can you do your job and get me a glass of water please?” I asked in a snooty voice. She rolled her eyes and got up and walked away to get me a cup of water.
“What are you up to?” he whispered to me.
I held up a hand and he backed off. The girl came back with a cup of water and flipped her platinum blonde hair before handing me the water; she basically threw it at me so I snatched it, spit in it and tossed it in her face like I planned to. She gasped and stood there with her mouth hung open. I heard Axel chuckle next to me at the sight of her. I saw the security guards start to walk over to us, the guy grabbed me by my arm and was about to drag me out when I pulled my gun out and pointed it at him. Axel did the same but pointed it at the other security guard out of reflex. I saw him reach for his gun, my hands heated up and Axel’s eyes turned black.
“Dude…” I warned before pulling the collar of my coat aside to reveal the ‘X’ on my shirt.
When they saw it I saw fear flash across his face along with a bunch of gasps coming from all the people in the waiting room. The guy backed off but I kept my gun pointed at him.
“Get me a doctor now.” I said slowly out of frustration. He nodded and ran to get a doctor, my hands cooled off.
A few seconds later a doctor came and told me to come with him. I told him what happened and he bandaged up my arm before telling me not to do anything extreme for at least two weeks, I knew I wouldn’t listen, I’ve been in this situation before but it happened with my leg. Any broken bones just heal within an hour; I just wanted him to give me drugs to make the pain go away. We left and decided to go for my car tomorrow. We drove straight home and saw that Jessica was on the door step waiting. I got out of his car and slammed the door shut before making my way to the front door. She saw my bandaged arm and smiled.
“Looks like someone had a hard day huh?” She said smugly as I passed her and was about to open the door.
What she didn’t know was how fast we heal from injuries but her mocking voice still angered me to no end. I slowly turned my body to face her. When I saw the wide smirk on her face I couldn't hold myself back. I did a high kick to her face and made her head jerk to the side while a load of blood spurted out of her mouth. She collapsed to the floor in a heap, completely unconscious.

Axel ran to her side and used the end of his coat to wipe the blood from her mouth. He glared up at me, I flinched a little because I’ve never seen him so mad at me and frankly it scared me.
“Did you have to do that?” he said through a clenched jaw.
“Do you have to care about her?” I said before slamming the door open and running up to my room.
I was so upset at the way he talked to me. I took off my clothes and instead of a bath tub I took a hot bath. I sat in the hot water and let it relax my muscles without wetting the bandages. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, as soon as I closed my eyes I saw my mom with her warm smile plastered on her face, she looked exactly how I remember her.
I opened my eyes and found tears running down my cheeks and my fists were balled up into fists and were outlined with blue flames, I calmed myself down and washed myself up and pulled on a pair of dark wash Hollister skinny jeans, a purple long sleeve v-neck, a black and purple striped scarf that I tied loosely around my neck because it was cold today, glossy purple knee high five inch heel boots, I left my wavy hair down and put on some eyeliner and mascara before smothering my lips with clear lip gloss. I picked up my I Phone and called my best friend Katy who I knew since we were kids in preschool, she’s probably a senior now, like I would be if I were in school still but once you are part of the ‘X’s they don’t require that you go to school.
“Hey Laurie.” Katy said in her perky voice, oh did I mention she’s a cheerleader?
“Hey Katy, can we go out today?” I asked while looking at the clock, its 7:30 p.m. Time goes by fast.
“Sure! I’d love to! Hey you can sleep over too, it’d be like old times!” she gushed, I had to pull the phone away from my ear a little because she was so loud.
“Sure let me pack.” I said.
“Okay, I’ll be over to your house in 10 minutes.” I hung up and started packing some clothes into my purple duffle bag and grabbing my I Pod touch and anything I might need.
I quickly put on some diamond stud earrings and I heard the door bell ring. I headed down stairs and went to the door to see Axel leaning on the door frame flirting with Katy who was pulling her long wavy dark brown hair with natural highlights of a lighter shade of brown into a loose bun, which made her bright hazel eyes pop. I remember all the guys in school had major crushes on her. They always fell for her with her pretty face and light brown skin and her slim curvy figure. You see Katy is light skin African American but she mostly gets her looks from her mom with her long wavy hair which went down to her butt. Katy always looked like a model but aside from Katy’s good looks she was always a nice girl, never full of herself and she was always a good friend to me.
But both of us always had a crush on Axel. Of course she got over it when she got with my brother; she still likes him a lot but too bad for her that Maxx seems pretty serious about Kayla. Katy saw me and gestured for me to come over, I slung my bag over the shoulder and walked past Axel bumping my shoulder against his muscular one, he grabbed me by my wrist before I could walk off.
“Can you give us a second Katy?” He said without looking away from me. Katy smiled at me and walked off to her yellow BMW mini. I clenched my jaw and looked up into his beautiful green eyes; he looked me up and down.
“You look pretty.” He said. I just glared up at him.
“I’m sorry, I acted like a jerk and I’m wrong.” He said pulling me closer to him. I stood my ground but of course he was stronger than me so I ended up being crushed into his chest as he held me in a bear hug. I couldn’t help but soften up and wrap my arms around his neck. He smelled good too; he ran a hand though my hair before kissing the top of my head and letting me go too soon.
He looked me in my eyes and pulled out a little Tiffany & Co. box from his back pocket it had a white ribbon wrapped perfectly around it. I squealed and grabbed it from his hand like a little kid as he chuckled. I slipped off the ribbon and opened the box and revealed a silver necklace with a silver heart on it with my name incrusted in diamonds on one side and on the other was Axel’s name. I jumped up and down.
“Axel it’s so pretty! I love it!” I squealed. He smiled and took it from my hands before fastening it around my neck.
“Alright have fun.” He said before walking into the house. I ran into the front seat of Katy’s car that was on the screaming into her phone with hysterical tears in her eyes. I looked at her in confusion and shock as I watched her throw her phone in the back seat and watch her as she burry’s her face in her hands and sobs.
“What’s wrong Kat?” I asked her using the nickname that I used to call her when we were kids while rubbing her back. She looked up at me and quickly stopped her sobbing long enough to talk to me.
“I-I j-just got a-a p-phone call from my brother, h-he said that m-mom and d-dad got hit by a drunk driver just an hour ago!” she said then sobbed again.
“They both died!” she sobbed into her hands. I pulled her into my chest and let her sob into my shirt. I didn’t know what to say, her parents were like my second parents, they treated me like their own, they didn’t deserve to die like that.
“I’m so sorry Kat, don’t worry we’ll figure this out you can stay with me if you want.” I whispered as she looked up at me and quickly pulled me into a hug.
“Oh my gosh! Laurie I love you! What would I do without you?” she sobbed into my shirt.
“Okay I’ll drive to your house and grab your clothes, just go inside my room and stay there until I come back okay?” I said to her. She nodded before getting out of the car and going into the house. I got into the passenger seat and turned on the car engine, it roared to life, I caught myself when I noticed I was having a little moment with my hand clutched on the stick, I forgot the car is not automatic. I turned on the radio and smiled when my favorite song came on, ‘Like a G6’ by Far East Movement. I raced out of the driveway and sped on the road, after a while of driving it got really late and I was almost at her house when I noticed two shiny Escalades drive up behind me and then they separated so both were on the lanes on either side of me. I rolled my eyes and took a deep sigh and reached into the glove compartment for my hand gun when I realized that I wasn’t in my car…

I whispered profanity before banging my fist on the wheel. I looked at the car to my right to see that the driver had pulled out a gun and had it pointed at me. Just before he pulled the trigger, I stopped the car in the middle of the road so both cars sped past me. The cars behind me started to honk their horns and yell at me. I pulled over to the side of the road and leaned my head on the wheel of the car to calm my heavy breathing.
What the hell just happened? Was someone after me? I was calm now, and that’s when they decided to come back. One car parked in front of me and the other behind me. My fingers were clenched around the wheel as I watched a man wearing a long black coat, black slicked back hair and a pair of black shades walk toward the car alongside a blonde lady wearing a black coat as well with black shades covering her eyes.
They walked toward me and the guy snatched the door open while I didn’t flinch or move at all until the girl snatched a fistful of my hair and dragged me out of the car. I reacted quickly, as soon as I was out of the car I grabbed her arm and twisted it around causing her to kneel to the ground and scream, I was about to break it when the man put his gun to my head.
“Let her go…Alexa.” He said with his deep voice. I clenched my jaw as I pushed her to the ground and let her go, the man called another guy from his car, and the guy held my hands behind my back. The girl got up off the floor and stood in front of me; she pulled the sun glasses off of her face and glared into my eyes. With one swift movement she punched me in the face causing my head to snap to the side. The only way she could hit me is if some big dude is holding my hands and she knew it. I spit a glob of blood onto the ground and looked up at her with a devious smile.
“Bad move.” I whispered so only she could hear.
Little did she know that I have a great memory which means I would remember her face and once I get away from these people I would come after her. She looked scared as she put her glasses back on and ran to the man’s side. I watched her with a smirk on just to scare her. The dude that was holding my hands forced my head down with a hard shove of his hand.
“Look down.” He growled.
This pissed me off; no one tells me what to do. I let my hands burst into flames and before he knew it his hands were in flames, he screamed but still held my hands and I kicked him in the crotch causing him to let go of my hands, I elbowed him in the stomach and he dropped on his knees so I kneed him in the throat because he was too tall for me to hit his face and he dropped on his back with blood spurting out of his mouth while he was gasping for air.
When the rest of them were distracted I ran into the mini and sped off into the road. I looked into the mirror to see that I didn’t have any bruise from the punch, just a bloody mouth. That girl isn’t as good as she thinks she is. I kept clenching and unclenching my fists on the wheel. I was pissed because they made me look weak, I should have ripped that guy’s head off the minute he put his hands on me, and I should have knocked that girl out when she punched me.
I drove to Katy’s house before climbing up the side of her house where there was a ladder because she would always sneak guys into her room. I opened the window to her room on the second floor of her house. I climbed in and grabbed her whole black glossy Prada suitcase collection which came with two big suitcases, a small suitcase, and a duffel bag. I stuffed all of the bags with her huge closet full of clothes and I started throwing them out the window into the grass, good thing that they were good quality suitcases. I was about to climb out the window when I heard a crash from downstairs. I quickly looked around for a weapon when I remembered that Katy’s dad always kept a hand gun in his clothing drawer. I quickly but quietly made my way out into the hallway and into her parent’s room.
I scrambled through his clothes that were neatly folded and found the gun. It was definitely loaded, I could tell by the weight of it. I held it to my side and tip toed slowly to the staircase and peeked downstairs. I saw two figures, they were definitely female, and one had a pixie cut while the other had long wavy hair. I slowly made my way down the steps while holding the gun out in front of me ready to shoot. When I finally got down stairs the floor creaked and the two girls turned to look at me.
“Alexa!” They both gasped. They both wore the same clothes as the other people who tried to capture me. They both reached into their coats but before they could pull out anything, with one quick movement I shot both of them in the head. They collapsed to the floor and blood started to puddle on the glossy wooden floor. I quickly ran over to them and checked their coats and pockets; let’s see if I can find out what’s going on.
I found two ID’s, two guns, two folded up pieces of paper, and two big knives. I looked at the ID’s and with their names and pictures on it; at the top in big letters it said ‘KTX’. What does that mean? I stuffed them in my pocket and opened up the two folded up papers, on both papers at the top read ‘current assignment’ and they both had my name and pictures of me with all of my information. What is going on?! Who are these people? Why are they after me? And why do these papers look like the ones that Uncle gives us when we have an assignment? Okay this is weird, I want answers now. I heard police sirens outside the house so I took the weapons from the girls and stuffed the papers in my pocket along with the ID’s. I walked outside coolly to see five police cars outside; all of them were my cousins.
“What’s up Alexa?” My cousin Roxy said before giving me hug, while everyone else just said ‘Hi’.
“Why are you guys here?” I asked.
“Well some neighbors called and said they heard some gun shots, we noticed it was Katy’s address so we knew it had to be you.” Dixon said with a smirk.
“You didn’t kill her did you?” he added on jokingly with his famous boyish cute smirk, basically everyone in my massive family was good looking.
“Of course NOT.” I smiled and pointed to the house.
“There are two bodies inside, hurry up before people notice.” I said while turning away and walking to the side of the house to grab the bags. I grabbed the stuffed bags and threw them into the back seat of the car before hopping into the front seat and driving off onto the road. When I got home I parked her car and walked inside with the bags in my hands.
I ran up to my room to see no one there, I dropped her bags in the corner of my big room and walked to Maxx’s room. I opened the door and walked in to see him on the bed with Katy wrapped up in his arms sound asleep. He looked up at me and smiled a warm smile. I smiled at the way he held my best friend. He definitely still has feelings for her. I shook the bed to wake up Katy; we all really needed to talk.
“Wake up Kat, we all need to talk.” I said until she woke up and they both got up.
“Did you tell her?” I asked Maxx. He nodded.
“Yeah I told her everything.” I nodded.
“Maxx go get Vixen.” I said to him as me and Katy walked down stairs. He went to Axel’s room and Vixen came downstairs.
“What’s up?” they all asked at the same time.
I walked into the kitchen and went behind the kitchen counter and they stood in front of me on the other side. I pulled out the ID’s and the papers I found and smacked them onto the table. They opened up the papers and looked at the ID’s, I watched as Maxx’s fists clenched as he held the paper and stared at it. Vixen’s jaw clenched, nostrils flared and fists clenched.
“Axel…” I tried to soothe him. He put up a finger and marched upstairs into his room slamming the door, I heard slamming around and a big crash then he ran back down with his fists clenched at his sides and took his place in front of me again eyes beginning to darken. Katy looked confused as she looked at the papers and ID’s.
“Wait are they coming after you? And what the hell is ‘KTX’?” she asked.
“I don’t know but I plan on finding out.” I said while grabbing the papers, ID’s and Katy’s car keys.
“Where are you going?” Maxx asked.
“To get some answers.” I went outside and jumped into the front seat of my car, Katy got into the passenger seat and the guys got in their cars. I sped out of the driveway and they followed close behind.
“How long?” Katy asked in a low voice, not looking at me.
“How long what?” I said averting my attention to her. She looked at me with a hard stare.
“How long have you been killing people?” My grip tightened on the wheel, I hesitated but answered.
“Since I was 11 years old.” I said in a low tone.
“How come you never told me? We are best friends for life, and I mean you’re like a sister to me.” She ran on.
“I’m sorry but I couldn’t, and now that you know about us they might make you one of us.” I said looking at her for a split-second then putting my attention back on the road.
“I’d be up for that.” She said in an easy going tone. My mouth hung open in disbelief.
“You know you’re going to have to go through allot and kill people.” I said looking at her again.
“Yeah.” She said not changing her tone of voice.
“Okay.” I said looking at the road. ‘That was easy’ I thought to myself. When we got to the mansion I drove around and found a parking space. We walked into the mansion and found all three elders in Uncle’s study, just talking. I walked in like I own the place and knocked on the open door to get their attention.

“Alexa! How dare you just walk in like that without knocking! What has gotten into you young lady?!” My Aunt asked with an outraged expression.
“Save it! Start talking!” I yelled as I pulled out the papers and threw them across the room with my good arm, they slammed against the wall and slid to the floor revealing the pictures of me with all my information. They stared down the pictures with wide eyes; Uncle Xavier picked them up and took a good look at them.
“Where did you get these?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“That’s not important, but what is important is that you know something, and you’re keeping it from me! From all of us!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.
“Calm down babe.” Axel said while putting a hand on my shoulder, I instantly calmed down from my hostile behavior. Damn his power to control my temper.
“What is going on?” Axel asked more calmly than I would have.
“Who is she?” Aunt asked cautiously gesturing to Katy.
“She’s my friend, she knows everything.” I said more calm than I was before.
“I’m Katy.” Katy said with a smile and a small wave.
“You do know what we must do now, right Alexa?” Uncle said.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah she has to become one of us now.” I said with an eye roll.
“Can you tell us what’s going on now?” Maxx said a little annoyed.
“Sit you guys and I’ll explain everything.” Uncle Xavier said while gesturing to the chairs in front of them. I sat in between Axel and Katy.
“Okay, listen closely because what I’m telling you is highly top secret and not one of your cousins knows about this, and we are keeping it that way.” Uncle said and we nodded.
“Okay, well there has been this group formed called ‘KTX’, they are either people who hate us or people who are siblings of the people that we killed, which is allot of people. So they’ve been hunting us down, so far they haven’t killed any of us yet, it seems like you are their first target, Alexa.” I felt Axel squeeze my hand.
“And I think we might know why.” He said while looking at me.
“Well please enlighten me.” I said.
“You see, they want Axel, because of obvious reasons, and they believe that if they unleash him, they can manipulate him and put him on their side.” He said.
“Unleash him?” I asked.
“His wild side, we all have one, you unleash that you forget everything from your past life.” He explained.
“What does that have to do with me exactly?” I asked.
“They see that Axel cares for you and they want to use you to get to him.” He said looking at our hands again. I looked at Axel to see him looking down at his feet with his jaw clenched tight; there was an awkward silence between us.
“So that’s the story on the ‘KTX’, so from now on, none of you will go anywhere alone, it would also be nice to add a new member to the group.” Aunt said breaking the silence while looking at Katy.
“And as for Katy, we want her here for the injection tomorrow.” Uncle said.
“Whose blood will you be injecting into her?” I asked concerned.
“Mine.” Aunt said with a sly smile. I wonder what power Katy would get.
“What does this mean for me?” Katy asked.
“Aunt is a shape shifter; she can shift into anything she wants.” Maxx explained.
“Cool, so would I be a shape shifter too?” she asked.
“We don’t know, that’s the thing, we don’t know what powers you would get, we’ve only done this once, and that was with Axel and he turned out to be the Phoenix.” Uncle explained.
“Oh, so would I become a Phoenix too?” she asked.
“Heavens no! There is only one Phoenix in creation.” Aunt explained. Katy nodded.
“Okay, I need to get home and think... we’ll see you tomorrow.” Axel said while tugging me out the door by my hand.
I got into my car with Katy and sped off home. When we got home, I went straight to my room and lay in my bed and I just thought about everything. So the ‘KTX’ wanted me, to get to Axel so they could free his wild side. This is crazy. I can’t handle all of this; I’m only one person, or whatever I am.
I got up out of bed and walked into my closet. I pulled on some loose black sweatpants, a fitted black shirt that stopped just above my belly button ring. I slipped on some low cut socks and my fuzzy black bed slippers. I yanked my long hair into a loose messy bun and grabbed my phone. I headed to Axel’s room and knocked on the door. I heard some shuffling around; a girly giggle, and then a red headed girl opened the door with her hair all over the place.
“Who are you?” she said with a sudden snooty voice. I felt my hands burst into blue flames. The girl gasped and stumbled backwards, in the process she opened the door all the way. I saw Axel in the bed trying to cover himself with a blanket.
“A-Alexa...I can explain...” he whispered. I shook my head as the tears fell from my eyes. I backed up and ran down the hall. I heard Axel get up and ran after me.
“Alexa! Alexa! Laurie! Stop!” I heard him yell from behind me. He caught up to me without effort and stopped me.
“Alexa hear me out…” he started but I interrupted.
“No! Axel, I’m tired of listening to you! Now let me go!” I yelled.
“No! You listen to me! You think you’ve had it? Well so have I! I never wanted this! I never wanted to be the Phoenix! It just happened, and I’m stressed about it! Why do you care about who I hook up with anyway? We don’t have anything! We never did!” he yelled his eyes turning darker with every word he yelled. I was in shock at what he said and how harshly he said it. He let me go and walked back into his room and slammed the door closed.
“Go!” he yelled and the girl ran out the door and down stairs, I heard her slam the front door closed. I stood there in utter shock. I can’t believe he said that to me. I walked to my room and closed the door silently behind me. I collapsed on my bed and buried my face in the pillow, I sobbed loudly but it was muffled from the pillow. I heard the door open softly and close and someone walk over to my bed.
“Go away.” I said with my face buried it the pillow, so it probably sounded like
“Gggoooo awawayyayy.” I felt someone sit down next to me on the edge of my bed. I felt a light hand on my shoulder as I cried.
“I heard what he said, he didn’t mean it. He’s just stressed out about this whole situation.” I heard Katy whisper to me. I pulled my face out of the pillow and looked at her, her eyes were red and puffy and her nose was red and runny; she’d been crying.
“What happened?!” I asked while hugging her.
“Well me and Maxx got into a fight, he told me about his new girlfriend and I got mad and said things that I shouldn’t have, and he said even worst things to me, he also called her over right in front of me.” She said while hugging me. As if on cue the door bell rang.
“That’s the tramp.” She mumbled while pulling out of the hug. I heard Maxx stomp angrily down the stairs, muffled voices, footsteps up the stairs, a girly giggle, kissing sounds, and then a door closing. I looked at Katy to see her bottom lip trembling and tears flowing from her eyes. I pulled her into a hug and she sobbed into my chest.
“Its okay, you like him, don’t worry you’ll get over it.” I soothed her. She pulled back and shook her head.
“No, you don’t understand! I don’t like him, I’m in love with him!” she sobbed while burying her head in my chest again and sobbed. I rubbed her back soothingly. Looks like we both have guy problems, but the difference is that I know Maxx has feelings for Katy, he always has. Vixen just doesn’t have those feelings for me, he even said so.
In the morning I got up and went into the shower, I was still upset about the whole situation that happened last night, mine and Katy’s. I decided not to get dressed up today; I put on a yellow lose cropped top which was showing off my belly button ring, light wash skinny jeans with rips down the thighs and yellow flip flops. I left my long hair down and went back into my room and woke up Katy.
“Whaaaaaaat?” she whined.
“C’mon today you get your powers.” I said while pulling her off the bed. She moaned and got up off the bed and trudged into the bathroom. I heard her turn on the shower. I sighed and walked out of my room and into the hallway. When I walked past Maxx’s room and heard a girly giggle and his deep chuckle. I rolled my eyes and walked downstairs to see Axel on the couch in only his pajama pants. He was asleep, with lip stick all over his mouth, he was making out with some girl, and she must have left.
His chest gently rising and falling as he breathed. I felt like lying down next to him and burying my face in his chest. I fought the urge to do so and went to the kitchen and got out the orange juice and poured myself a glass and then greeted Martha who was cooking loads of French toast and bacon. I chugged my juice as I went upstairs to see Katy dressed in a red off the shoulder top, dark wash shorts with rips in the thighs, and red flip flops. Her brown hair was in a loose messy bun, overall she looked really pretty.
“Okay missy lets get going.” I said while slinging my arm around her shoulders and leading her out of my room. When we were out the door we got into her Mini and hit the road.
“What happened to your car?” she asked.
“Left it in Manhattan.” I said with a shrug.
“You’re Porsche? Are you crazy? Someone probably stole that!” she said in disbelief.
“Do you know how much my family gets paid? I can get a better car.” I said with a shrug.
“You lucky girl, wish I was apart of your family.” She said.
“You’re going to be, once you get injected.” I said.
“Cool, I can’t wait, I want to know what power I’m going to get.” She said as I pulled into the front of the mansion. We got out of the car and I went to the door step and knocked on the door. Aunt opened the door.
“Just in time girls, follow me.” She said while leading us into the mansion. She lead us to the back of the mansion were the big lab room was located. It was a large room that was all white and was all tiles with bright white lights, at the far wall was a glass were the other scientists watch and observe. One of the scientists that Uncle pays to do the injection came up to us with a smile.
“Hello, my name is Leslie Deane, and I will be assisting you today.” She said with a very friendly voice. Katy and I nodded.
“Okay, now what I need is for you to change into this and then lay down on that cot mattress over there.” She said while handing Katy a hospital gown.
After Katy put on the gown she lay down on the lab bed and Aunt lay down on the other bed. The scientist came over and strapped down Katy’s waist, arms, and legs. I watched as the scientist took out a needle and drew blood from Aunt’s arm. After she did this Aunt’s arm automatically healed were she stuck the needle.
The scientist flicked the needle to get out any air bubbles and stuck the needle into Katy’s arm. Katy winced as she did so, but her expression quickly changed as the blood went into her body. Her eyes turned black and she began jerking up from the bed but the straps kept her down. She opened her mouth and all of her teeth began to shift and her canine teeth grew so long that they touched her chin, they were very sharp too. She began to scream from her gut from the pain of her teeth moving. She kept fidgeting and jerking as her nails grew long black and sharp. After about a minute she stopped fidgeting and her eyes turned back to hazel, her teeth went back into place and she was breathing heavily.
“Wow.” I said.
“What just happened?” Katy said.
“I don’t know, I don’t even know what your power is…I’ve never seen anything like this.” The scientist said in utter shock.
“Did you see her teeth? Is she a vampire or something?” I asked partly joking.
“Of course not, she is a black leopard.” Aunt explained.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Because it makes the most sense, the black leopard is the only thing I can’t change into, and we can’t be able to do the same thing.” She explained. I nodded and unstrapped Katy. She got up off the bed and stared at us.
“Only one way to find out.” I said and grabbed the front of Katy’s hospital gown. I threw her across the room into the wall. She slid down the wall and looked up at me like I was crazy.
“Alexa! What are you doing?” Aunt gasped. I ignored her and walked over to Katy who was still on the floor. She looked up at me as I grabbed her again and threw her into the other wall. She seemed angry now. She got up off the floor and her hazel eyes turned black and her canines grew long all the way down to her chin. Her nails grew super long. But it didn’t stop there. The bone structures of her face reconstructed painfully, black fur replaced her brown skin and big black paws replaced her hands. Before I knew it she was a black Leopard growling dangerously at me. I stepped toward her; she growled at me and leaped on me. I fell onto the ground with her on top of me.
She tried to bite at my face but I clamped her mouth closed, it was a challenge I admit she was very strong. I punched the enormous cat in the face and knocked her out. She turned back to her normal body as she lay out cold on the cold lab tile. I threw a blanket on her naked body.
“Wow, she’s very powerful.” I heard aunt.
“Sure is.” I said with a huff. I carried Katy’s unconscious body to the living room couch.
“When will she wake up?” I asked.
“Judging from that punch probably in an hour, she needs to rest so just take her home.” Aunt said and I nodded. I walked out of the house and put Katy in the passenger seat. I got into the driver’s seat and drove onto the rode.
I was almost home when I heard Katy stir in the passenger seat. I glanced her way to see her with a hand on her forehead. She looked as if she just woke out of a coma with groggy eyes and a confused look.
“W-what happened? All I remember is getting injected and then…nothing…” she said while looking around confused.
“Well you had a…” I thought for a moment. “…breakdown and we found out what you were.” I said while keeping my eyes on the road.
“Well, what am I?” she asked anxiously.
"You're a black leopard."

When I pulled into the driveway I felt a sudden pain in my ‘X’ scar. I winced and it suddenly became even more painful. I screamed from the pain and Katy just kept asking what was wrong. I heard two loud male screams from inside the mansion. Then it suddenly stopped. What just happened? The only reason could be if… But it couldn’t be… Could it? Maxx and Axel ran out the door and stopped when they saw us. They ran over to the car and opened my door.
“Are you alright?! Someone was hurt!” Axel yelled. I looked down and thought for a second.
“We have to get to the mansion.” I whispered but they heard. They immediately ran to their cars. I slammed the door closed and sped onto the road.
“What’s going on?!” Katy asked exasperated.
“The only reason why something like that would happen is if one of us was killed. We’ve been warned about something like this happening and it has happened once, but it was never as strong as this. Someone important died or is dying.” I explained in a rush. I blazed through the road in a hurry. When I got to the mansion it was flooded with family, they must have felt it too. I jumped out of the car and ran inside, Katy followed. Everyone was in the large kitchen. I pushed through everyone and saw both my uncles knelt on the floor with Aunt lying on the floor with her head in uncle’s lap. Her entire body was shivering as blood drained from ten bullet wounds in her stomach. At first I was shocked but then Uncle yelled.
“Who here is a healer!” Maximus came forward fast and knelt down next to her. He put both of his hands on her head and we all put our hands on each other’s shoulder out of instinct, I put my hand on uncle’s shoulder and Katy put her hand on my shoulder. We all bowed our heads and closed our eyes. The reason why we do this is to give off some of our energy to Aunt.
Its an old ritual our ancestors used to perform a healing session, we all give off some power to save a life, but it only works if the host is strong enough to take it. We all waited for a few moments and just let the energy flow from our bodies and through the chain we created. Energy was flowing through each person’s body until it got to Aunt’s body. We waited for Maximus to finish healing. Maximus shook his head and got up off his knees; he turned toward us with a disappointed look.
“It was too late, she lost too much blood. She was too weak to take the energy.” He explained and I could feel the disappointment and devastation around the room. This was the first time that an elder has ever been killed. Uncle Xavier was boiling in anger; I could see it in his face. My second Uncle was neutral, neither angry nor happy which was strange. As if he sensed me staring at him in confusion he looked up at me and looked in my eyes and he gave me a sly smile for a second then looked back down at Aunt. I almost wasn’t sure if I really saw that or if my eyes were playing tricks on me. I just stared at him until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked to see that it was Maxx with Axel close behind him.
“What happened?!” Maxx asked with a bewildered expression as he saw Aunt’s dead body.
“I don’t know. I think Uncle Xavier knows though.” I said. We decided to speak with Uncle when he was finished with Aunt’s body. We watched as Uncle Xavier and Xander put a hand on each other’s shoulder and the other hand on either side of Aunt’s face. They closed their eyes and concentrated for a moment. A little while after a green energy raised out of Aunt’s mouth, leaving her body causing her skin to turn pail and her eyes blank and dead. The energy spread across the room and we could feel it flow into our system; making us all stronger.
When the energy was all soaked up by us Aunts body set itself into angry red flames and she burned until there was nothing left but her ashes. Uncle Xavier put her ashes into a silver urn and put it somewhere safe. Everyone apologized and said their goodbyes to Uncle Xavier and Xander before leaving. About an hour later it was just the four of us left. Both Uncles were in the study speechless, it was silent. We walked in and decided to speak to them about the situation.
“Uncles.” I greeted. They looked up at us. Anger and revenge clear in Uncle Xavier’s face, Uncle Xander looked at ease. This still confused me but I pushed it to the back of my mind for now.
“I know what you seek Uncle. Revenge is clearly necessary, but first we must know who did it.” I said sounding wiser beyond my age, I tend to get this way when something serious happens.
“They were so fast, so swift and quiet. I didn’t even have time to see them coming. Your Aunt was only getting a drink. They struck through the windows, shot her up brutally and then just left.” Uncle Xavier said.
“Like she said we don’t know exactly who did it, so” Vixen started but was interrupted.
“We already know.” Uncle Xander said; speaking for the first time since the incident.
“Who?” Katy asked from next to me.
“It was a small group from the ‘KTX’ led by Victor Wright the man who formed the organization. Their mission was clearly to eliminate your Aunt, it seems they have begun taking out members of the ‘X’s and they took a head start by taking out an elder.” Uncle Xavier said.
“Victor Wright? How will we know if we ever see him?” Maxx asked. Uncle went behind his desk and pulled out a photo. He walked to me and gave it to me. I looked at it and I could feel everyone else hovering over my shoulder to see it. It was a picture of the same man with the black slicked back hair and sunglasses and the same blonde woman who punched me. I felt myself crumbling the photo from how my fist was closing out of anger.
“You’ve seen him.” Uncle said, not asking but telling.
“Who is the woman?” Axel asked.
“His partner in crime. Fiona Wesley.” Uncle Xander answered.
“Why are they doing this?” Katy asked.
“Revenge. For all the family members we’ve killed. Mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, sons, and daughters. They all seek revenge.” Uncle Xavier explained.
“Who have we killed of importance to them?” I asked.
“His sister Willow was crazy, very sick but he still loved her. Willow killed both of their little twin sisters who were only 5 years old one night before Victor came home and their parents came home. Neighbors heard the children’s screams and cries so they called the police. When Victor came home the police already had Willow in hand cuffs. They explained the situation to Victor; he was upset but eventually forgave her for killing the children. So he begged his parents to bail her out early, so they did and took her home. This was around the time when I was first starting in a group when my aunts and uncles were in charge at the time. Willow Wright was my first assignment.
I snuck into the house late at night when they were both in bed sleeping. I killed Willow in her sleep but she unfortunately gasped before I stabbed her which woke up Victor out of his sleep. He stared at me in shock and I could tell he was memorizing my face. I quickly broke their bedroom window and jumped out and ran. So a few years later he formed a group when I became in charge and now he is back for revenge. At first I thought he wanted to kill us all, but he clearly is up to something else, something big.” Uncle Xavier said.
“Well he struck us were it hurts most. Now it’s our turn to strike back…but harder this time.” I said with determination which caused Uncle to smile with approval.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking. And what better group to take care of this than you guys?” Uncle said with a smile.
“But first, Katy must become one of us. Initiation ceremony.” Uncle Xander said.
“Ah yes. It will be different considering that Katy is much older than the age we usually recommend but it will have to do.” Uncle Xavier said while stroking his chin, deep in thought.
“When?” I asked.
“In an hour, it’s best to do this as early as possible. I have something planned and we must act on it now…before someone else gets killed.” Uncle Xavier said.
“Does it involve us?” Axel asked.
“Of course, I know I can rely on you guys more than all the others.” Uncle said.
“They won’t even know what hit them when we’re finished with them.” Uncle Xavier said with a mischievous grin that I haven’t seen in a long time.
“A war has begun.” Uncle Xander said with a smirk and I eyed him suspiciously.

“THEY’RE GONNA WHAT?!” Katy yelled as we drove back home to get prepared for the ceremony.
“Don’t think of it as ‘scarring’ you; just think of it as ‘marking’ you as one of us.” I said while averting my attention to the road.
“But why do they have to do THAT?! Why not just draw an ‘X’ mark on me or something? I don’t want to be CUT!” Katy exasperated.
“You don’t understand, it wouldn’t be the same that way! Getting the mark is a sign… proof that you can take the pain no matter what. It’s supposed to last until the day you die; you’ll be one of us… forever.” I said, my voice getting lower and deeper with every word.
“Well you can’t blame me for being nervous. I mean I’m sure you were scared when you had your ceremony thingy.” Katy said with a flick of her wrist.
“Terrified.” I corrected her.
“I was just getting over mom’s death when it happened.” I said while thinking back to the tragic accident.
“What I never told anyone was that… it was my fault.” I said in a low guilty voice. Katy’s head jerked to me, she stared at me confused.
“What are you talking about? It was an accident it was no one’s fault.” Katy soothed but I shook my head.
“No I’m not just saying that, it really was MY fault.” I said while glancing at Katy’s face.
“I don’t…” Katy started but I interrupted.
“It was dark out. She was driving me home from one of my friend’s house in her old black Honda. She was stressed out and tired, but I wasn’t being any help. I was whining and complaining about how she was a bad mom and I hated her because she wouldn’t let me go to a house party that Meagan was throwing at the time. I was a real brat. I eventually started throwing a tantrum, you know kicking and screaming. And she had her whole attention on me, not on the road. Trying to make me stop she kept her foot on the gas and came up on a red light but neither of us realized it.
We ran the red light and we both heard a loud honk. We both looked over on mom’s side and saw that a truck was speeding toward us. All we could see was the bright white headlights as it approached. My mom quickly turned to me and whispered. ‘I’m sorry.’ She quickly wrapped her arms around me and protected me from the impact. The car slammed into us; killing my mom, but I lived. Sometimes I wish I had died in her place.” I said and I could feel the tears coming from my eyes.
“Hey… its okay. I’m sure she wouldn’t want to see you like this. And she definitely wouldn’t want you to blame yourself.” Katy said.
“I know, it’s just that I feel like a monster. I just can’t imagine what it was like for her. To see your life flash before your eyes. To see those headlights and know that your life is about to be over, I can’t imagine it.” I said.
“No one can unless it happens. But you shouldn’t be worried about death, be worried about what’s happening now, and then worry about your future later.” Katy said and I nodded.
We all got dressed in our robes and Katy just wore her regular clothes and drove back to the mansion an hour later. We headed into the large room and everyone was already here. Katy looked around nervously. I put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be over soon.” I reassured her and she nodded nervously.
“Yeah Kat, all they’re gonna do is stab ya.” Maxx joked with a wicked smirk on his face and Katy gasped.
“Shut up! I just calmed her down too.” I said while playfully punching his bicep.
“Sssshhh guys its starting.” Axel said and on cue our Uncles came before us.
“Welcome my children. As you know one of our elders was murdered earlier today. This is the first time something like this has ever happened.” Uncle Xavier started and everyone nodded.
“But one rebellious little teenager has recommend that I share this with you and I think it is only fair considering that all of your lives are at stake.” Uncle Xavier continued while everyone gasped but Uncle looked at me and I nodded for him to tell them.
“There has been a group formed. The ‘KTX’ which stands for ‘Kill the X’s’. They are out to kill us. They plan on doing this by capturing The Phoenix and unleashing him on us…which could kill us all. But we are sending out our best to attack their home base, just as they did to us. Their home base is much larger than ours but I think we have a good advantage over them considering they are only human and only major in gun fights.” Uncle Xavier said.
“Now with all that said, we would like to perform an initiation tonight for a friend of ours. She is a little older in age but I feel she will do well.” Uncle Xander said while indicating for Katie to come forward. Katy came forward nervously.
“This is a friend of Alexa, Katy.” Uncle Xavier said. Katy gave a small wave and they began to tie her arms up to the poles and pulled off her shirt. Katy looked scared out of her mind. I gave her a reassuring look and she returned it with a shaky smile. Uncle took out the dagger and Katy stared at it wide eyed; looking petrified. Uncle pointed it to her chest. I closed my eyes and turned away as I heard the piercingly loud scream of my best friend.
“I can’t believe it healed so fast.” Katy gushed as she opened the black robe with the metallic ‘X’ on it that represented our group that Uncle gave her after the initiation and poking at the ‘X’ scar on her chest. Uncle also gave her battle gear, her sword and her guns.
“Stop poking it!” Vixen scolded.
“Sorry it’s just so cool! I feel so powerful!” she said. “You’re supposed to feel that way.” I said.
“I also like my new name; Maxi.” Katy went on. We were currently standing in Uncle Xavier’s study. Waiting for him as he said his goodbyes to everyone. When uncle came in he went directly to his desk.
“Okay guys, here’s the plan. I have the address and everything for their home base. We are going to head over there in exactly three days, which is going to give you exactly enough time to train. Which of you has the best skills with swords?” Uncle asked.
“Me.” I said and he nodded.
“Okay. We are going to major in sword skills for the next three days. They major in guns so we will use swords. Got it?” Uncle asked while eying us each one at a time. We all nodded and he told us the brilliant plan.

“Ow! Alexa! That hurt!” Maxi (Katy) yelled as I smacked her in the back of the head with the wooden sword.
“Don’t be a baby! You all need to get this right or else we won’t be ready.” I scolded. We were all in the workout area of our large house on the combat mat. We were all using wooden swords for obvious reasons.
“Again!” I yelled and Maxi gave a loud war cry and charged at me with her sword. She swung at me and I easily dodged her. Our swords clashed a few times as we fought but I eventually beat her.
“Vixen you’re next!” I said and he took the sword from Maxi.
“Start!” I yelled and he swung at me and I dodged. I had to admit, he was a lot better than Maxx and Maxi. He kept swinging at me and my arms started to hurt from how hard he was swinging at me. Every time our swords clashed, my arms ached even more. He eventually beat me and I was surprised. His sword was to my throat in a matter of seconds. We stared into each other’s eyes fro a moment but I snapped out of my trance and used my finger to remove his sword from my throat.
“Wow you beat me, good. We’re making progress.” I said.
“That’s it for today.” I said and Maxx and Maxi sighed in relief. I looked at Axel who was surprisingly staring at me. I stared at his perfect face for a while. I noticed that he looked upset and tired as if he hadn’t been sleeping well or at all, but he was still as beautiful as ever and that would never change. But I quickly looked away and started for the door as I felt tears fill up my eyes; remembering what he had said to me.
“Laurie…” I heard him say in a low voice. I closed my eyes and stopped abruptly in my tracks. I felt a brush of wind in my face as he walked around me and stood in front of me. He was close, I could sense it. His cologne was amazing and I could feel his soft breathing on the top of my head. I slowly opened my eyes and looked up into his eyes.
“I’m sorry about what happened the other night. I’m just so stressed that I haven’t been sleeping at all. There’s just so much that’s expected of me. Anyways I just don’t want us to end on a bad note…you know if anything happens to me. I just want you to know that…” he said and stared into my eyes.
“You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.” He said but I felt a hint of disappointment at the term “friend”. I wasn’t going to lie to myself I am very much in love with Axel. It was hard not to be. Axel is the closest thing to perfect that you can get.
“I’m glad we’re friends and I forgive you. Let’s just focus on sword fighting for now.” I said and he nodded.
“You should go get some sleep; you’re going to need your energy.” I said and he gave me a small smile before going upstairs. I cleaned up the mess we had made and went upstairs and took a long shower. I dried off and put on a t-shirt and shorts. I left my hair down and joined Maxi on my bed.
“I’m bored.” Maxi said.
“Me too.” And with that said the door bell rang.
“I’ll get it.” I said while getting up and Maxi followed. I ran downstairs with Maxi close behind. I opened the door to see Maxx’s girlfriend Kayla and a sluttish looking blonde next to her. Kayla wore a pink skin tight short dress with a plunging neckline and heels, her blonde hair fell in elegant curls. The slut next to her wore a black short skin tight dress with heels and her blonde hair was long and straight.
“Hi.” Maxx’s girlfriend said politely to me but gave Maxi “the look”. I could feel anger boiling in Maxi so I put a hand on her shoulder to calm her temper before she went off.
“Hey um…why are you here?” I asked and the blonde slut snorted.
“Um Maxx and I were going out to dinner tonight.” She said and I eyed the slut next to her.
“Who is she?” I asked.
“Oh this is my sister Kerstin. She’s going out to dinner with Axel. We’re double dating!” she said excitedly.
“Where’s Vixen?” Kerstin asked impatiently while eyeing me up and down.
“Why don’t we all go?! I mean we’re hungry too! Right Maxi?” I said out of jealousy and anger that Kerstin is on a date with Axel.
“Yeah!” Maxi said; playing along. I knew exactly what we would do; keep an eye on the blondes.
“Um sure. That could work.” She said with a smile but I could see the disapproval and disappointment in her eyes.
“Great! Come on in and we’ll get ready.” I said while inviting them in and they took a seat in the couch. I ran up to Maxx’s room and told him the girls were here and explained the whole situation to him.
“What?! I don’t want you guys coming along it’s a double date!” Maxx said.
“Too bad we’re coming!” I said and he let out a big sigh.
“Fine! But don’t ruin this!” he said and I smirked.
“No promises.” I said and ran to my room before he could answer. Maxi was already dressed in a red cocktail dress and my mouth was hanging open.
“You look hot!” I said and she smiled. Her long dark hair fell in soft ringlets, her light brown skin was nice and smooth, and the dress stopped mid thigh showing off her nice long legs. She was definitely getting Maxx’s attention tonight. I got dressed in a black cocktail dress similar to Maxi’s. It was strapless and stopped mid thigh. I put on some black stilettos and left my hair out.
We both did our makeup and smiled at each other. We looked way hotter than both girls downstairs. We both walked downstairs and saw that both guys were dressed and talking to the girls. When we walked down the stairs all attention was on us. The girls had wide envious eyes while the guys had their mouths hanging open. Axel’s eyes were glued to me and Maxx’s were glued to Maxi.
“Okay guys we should get going!” Kayla said while clapping her small hands together to get the guy’s attention. I walked down the stairs and Axel’s eyes followed, I smiled at him. His eyes were still wide open and he was speechless. I just followed Maxi out the door and everyone else trailed behind us. I was heading to Maxi’s mini but a firm hand grabbed my wrist. I turned to see Axel.
“Yes?” I said a little confused. “Let me drive you.” He said with a smirk.
“But what about…” I started but was interrupted by Vixen.
“She can ride with Maxi. It’ll be fine.” He said and I hesitated and looked at Maxi. She smiled and mouthed a ‘go!’ to me and I smiled at her and followed Axel to his car. Axel opened the door for me and I slid in the passenger side with a wide smile. He got into the driver’s side and started the engine with a roar. He sped out of the driveway and onto the road, following Maxx’s car, Katy following close behind.
“You look beautiful tonight.” Axel said while averting his eyes to me. I felt a blush creep up to my cheeks making them a deep crimson.
“Thank you.” I said while playing with my fingers.
“You’re even more beautiful when you blush.” He said with a chuckle. I blushed even more with a big smile on my face.
“I’m nothing special.” I said while looking down at my hands in my lap. I saw Axel reach out to my hands. He took my left hand and held it in his. He looked over at me.
“Alexa…you’re gorgeous and I didn’t realize how I really felt about you until I saw you tonight. But6 I want you to know that I will always love you... like a sister.” Axel said and I felt deep disappointment in my heart. What he said hit me like a punch to the face.
“I love you too.” I said while turning my face to my window so that he didn’t see the silent tears rolling down my cheeks; thank goodness my makeup was water proof. We heard a loud crash come from the front of us. We both jerked our heads to the front to see that Maxx’s car had been sandwiched between two black Escalades that came out of no where. Axel jerked the car to a stop and I heard Maxi screech to a stop behind us.
We stared at the horrid scene before us. The car began to smoke. A very tall bulky man in all black got out of one Escalade and a very tall thin red headed woman got out of the other. They began walking toward our car. Axel smoothly pulled out two handguns from his glove compartment. He handed me one as the red headed woman pointed a gun at me and the bulky man pointed his gun at Axel. She pulled the trigger and I watched stunned as the bullet came straight for my face but it bounced off out of thin air before it could even hit the glass.
I looked over at Axel confused to see that he had his eyes closed and both his hands up, palms facing the windshield. That’s when I realized that there was a barrier protecting the car. Axel was using his force field powers to protect us. She was about to pull the trigger again but I was faster than her. I pointed the gun at her and shot with perfect aim right through the barrier and the bullet went straight through her skull; all in the space of three seconds. When she hit the floor her partner panicked and shot at us like a mad man but every bullet bounced off the force field.
“Beat that.” I said to Vixen; with a competitive edge to my voice. Axel smirked and put his hands down but stayed concentrated on the barrier so it didn’t go away. Axel shot the guy twice, once in the chest and once in the head in the space of one second. Did I mention he’s faster than me?
“Show off.” I mumbled as the guy hit the floor. We quickly got out of the car and headed to Maxx’s car. The Escalades were blocking us from getting them out. Axel used his super strength powers and pushed them out of the way. I opened the dented passenger door and pulled Kayla out of the car. She was unconscious and very badly injured… but worst of all I couldn’t feel her breathing.
I laid her down on the ground gently and felt her neck for a pulse, I didn’t fell anything. She was as cold as ice and as pale as snow. I got up from the floor and stood over her dead body. Maxx was fine, not injured at all thank God but when he saw Kayla his eyes went wide. He ran over to her and pulled her into his arms.
“Is she alive?” he asked me. I shook my head. Maxx took a deep breath and stood up; he nodded in my direction giving me a silent order. I nodded and knelt down to her and put my hand on her cold chest, I watched as my hand burst into flames and it spread onto Kayla’s body. And as if on cue Maxi and Kerstin came running over. Kerstin gasped when she saw the dead bodies but began to sob when she saw her own sister dead on the ground burning in bright blue flames…
Maxx offered to drive Kerstin home as we drove back home. We got home and I went straight to the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the fridge. Axel sat on the couch with a loud sigh and Maxi grabbed a coke from the fridge and chugged it down.
“So let me get this straight… now they are after us?” Maxi asked.
“Looks that way. This is why we need to train hard and make sure we get it right. We have to be ready or we won’t survive.” I said before going back to nibbling nervously on my apple.
“They’re worst than we thought. They could have killed Maxx!” Maxi yelled and right on point Maxx walked through the front door. He said nothing; he just trudged upstairs to his room. I looked straight to Maxi.
“Maybe you should go talk to him?” I asked her and she immediately nodded and ran after him to his room. I sighed and walked over to the couch were Axel sat. He was sitting hunched over on the couch with his face in his hands. I put the half eaten apple down and stood behind the couch and put both of my hands on his tense muscular shoulders.
“Calm down, you’re stressing too much.” I whispered and I felt him relax his muscles a little bit as I massaged them.
“Better.” I commented and he sighed loudly before sitting up from his slouching position.
“How are you coping so well with all of this on your shoulders?” he asked while enjoying the massage he was getting.
“I don’t know, I guess because I’m not in your position. I’m not the Phoenix; therefore I don’t have the responsibilities you posses.” I explained.
“True, but this is still a lot for all of us. We only have about two more days to train before we have to start this mission.” Axel said.
“That’s why I’m going to push you guys hard until you get it right.” I said.
“We should probably get to bed now, it’s late and I’m exhausted.” Axel said and I nodded. We walked upstairs to our rooms silently and I changed out of my dress and heels. I put on a loose t-shirt and shorts. I washed of all the makeup and brushed my teeth. I decided to check on Maxi and Maxx. I walked out of my room and down the hall to Maxx’s room. I didn’t hear any yelling so I assumed it was okay for me to walk in. As soon as I opened the door I regretted it. Maxi was on top of Maxx on the bed making out like two hungry animals, as if they haven’t seen each other in a while. Maxx had his hand on Maxi’s thigh; hiking up her dress so it exposed her long legs.
Maxi had her hands tangled in Maxx’s hair and I could see that Maxx had Maxi’s lip stick all over his mouth. They didn’t seem to notice my presence so I silently closed the door with a huge grin. I knew they would end up together after all they make the cutest couple I’ve ever seen. I tip toed to Axel’s room to see him in his bed shirtless. He looked over at me and gave me a small smile. I silently walked over to his bed and snuggled up next to him. He put his warm arm around me and I felt like there was nothing that could ever break us apart. But boy was I wrong…

I woke up early out of a dreamless sleep. I looked over at Axel who was still sleeping like a baby. I smiled at him and got up out of bed slowly trying not to wake him up and walked over to my room and took a nice long shower before changing into my workout clothes. I ran downstairs to the training room and set up everything and took out the wooden swords.
I began to stretch and warm up and soon Maxx and Maxi came downstairs together with wide smiles plastered on their faces. Maxx’s hair was all messy and he had lip stick all over his mouth and he was shirtless showing off his eight pack. Maxi’s long hair was a little messy and she wore Maxx’s white t-shirt which hung loosely on her slim figure and a pair of Maxx’s boxers. I smiled at the two of them as they walked into the training room hand in hand.
“You two slept well.” I commented with a smirk.
“I don’t even think we slept at all last night.” Katy said with a flirtatious grin directed at Maxx. Maxx kissed her on the lips passionately and smiled down at her when he pulled away. Axel came down as well with his hair sticking up everywhere shirtless and his eyes looked well rested. I got up after I finished stretching and walked over to him.
“Did you sleep?” I asked him.
“Yeah I slept surprisingly well with you next to me. Better than I’ve ever slept in a while…” he said while staring at my face as if he was trying to figure something out. I nodded with a smile and still kept his gaze fixed on me. I walked over to the pads and picked up the wooden swords. I tossed one to Maxx and Maxi and Axel and kept one for myself.
“Alright no more slacking. We have less than two days before the big day. Now let’s get down to business.” I said in a firm tone.
Ten hours later we had finished training. Yes I said ten hours. I worked everyone hard and gave no mercy. Everyone worked their butts off and it was all worth it considering Maxx and Maxi actually beat me in a sword match. But of course Axel had already beaten me but he is surprisingly doing better. A lot better. Although Maxx and Maxi had beaten me they still needed some work but Axel was ready; I could tell. He was as ready as I was maybe even more ready than I. The good thing was we already had gun usage down pact, which was no problem at all. One more day of training for Maxx and Maxi would be no problem considering they were very fast learners by nature.
I was currently thinking about Axel. I wonder why he looked so thoughtful when he stared at me earlier today. I thought about going to his room to talk to him but decided to leave him alone. I probably can’t even imagine how much he has on his shoulders… on his conscience. To know how powerful you are and know that there is people after you who want to unleash you on the world… to kill the people close to you… the people you love. I wanted to comfort him but I had to face facts. There was nothing I could do to make him feel better. Axel was in a deep depression and it was best to leave him alone.
I just hope that after this mission all his stress will go away and he can be happy again. Even if that means him sleeping with a different girl every night and flirting with every chick he lays eyes on than so be it. I just want everything to go back to the way it used to be. I want to get back to the good old days when we had no worries of anyone trying to kill us. The days when my only problems were that Axel didn’t return my strong feelings for him. But now we had bigger problems to worry about. There was actually for the first time in decades that we had a big threat. But I’m pretty confident that we can end this whole thing. I just hope we can end it fast. I made myself stop thinking so much and fell into a deep sleep…


~I was running. From who or what I do not know. I tried to stop my feet from running but they had a mind of their own. I looked around at my surroundings and saw that I was in the forest in the darkness of the night. I looked up at the bright full moon in the sky with the stars twinkling around it.
The moon was beautiful and peaceful but the atmosphere of the forest felt evil and out of place. I kept running and soon I heard a mischievous chuckle, a sort of girly cackle that sent a chill down my spine. I pushed my legs to run faster and as my legs push on I began to hear the cackle everywhere. It got louder and closer than before and was beating against my eardrum. I kept running, my heart pumping so hard I wouldn’t be surprised if it burst out of my chest. I kept running and for some strange reason with every stride my foot took my forehead began to burn. Suddenly two figures stood before me causing me to come to an abrupt stop. There was a spot where the moonlight shone between us. We all stood separated by it in the darkness. They suddenly came forward in the moonlight; revealing themselves. It was Uncle Xander with a smirk on his face.
But that wasn’t what surprised me. Next to him was a girl that looked exactly like me. Except she was paler and had peculiarly bright blood red eyes. She had wavy black hair that was chopped so it went a little past the shoulders and she had a fringe that was side swept covering her forehead and made her look even more mysterious and surprisingly stylish. It was definitely my face she had but she wore an evil smirk as she eyed me up and down. Once I saw her my forehead was burning out of control causing me to moan in pain and kneel down on the ground. I put my head in my hands and screamed out in pain.
“She’s feeling the bond.” Uncle Xander said to the girl and I heard her giggle.
“I don’t think she knows.” I heard the girl say.
“Alexa, meet you’re second half. This is Alexia…your wild side.” Uncle Xander said while gesturing to the girl that looked exactly like me.
“What’s happening to me?!” I yelled as the burning on my forehead became even worst.
“Here.” Uncle Xavier said while tossing a mirror onto the floor in front of me.
I snatched it up and held it up to my face. I looked into the mirror at my forehead and gasped. I squeezed the mirror so tight that it broke in my hands. On my forehead was a symbol that was formed with a bunch of curved lines and designs. It looked like a symbol that could only be created by a professional artist. It was beautiful but painful. I looked up at the two people in front of me.
“How do I make it stop burning?!” I yelled.
“You can’t. It’s a symbol that resembles our bond. Whenever we meet it burns. I have one as well, but you see it doesn’t affect me… because well I am not human like you.” Alexia said while using her right hand to lift up her fringe revealing a symbol on her forehead that is identical to mine.
“Isn’t it nice to finally see what you’ve had locked up for years?” Alexia said while raising a perfectly arched black brow.
“Not really, and I plan on keeping you locked away until the day I die.” I said through clenched teeth and I could feel my hands heat up until they were covered in blue flames. I saw Alexia’s smirk change into a tight line. Her red eyes turned a deep crimson and her hands burst into angry red flames. I stared at her through angry blue eyes and she stared at me through angry red ones. By this point I was ignoring the burning sensation on my forehead.
“We’ll see about that.” Alexia said while taking a menacing step closer to me and I stepped forward as well. My forehead was on fire from how close we were but I sucked it up.
“Stop, this is not why we are here.” Uncle said to Alexia and she growled but put out her fire. I kept mine going out of pure stubbornness.
“Do it.” Uncle said and her frown turned back to an evil smirk. She began to come toward me and I attacked.
Before I could attack Alexa lifted her hand and with the flick of her wrist I saw blackness… ~

I jerked up from my laying position with a loud gasp. My breathing was jagged and uneven. I was all sweaty considering my clothes clung to my skin as if it were glued there. What was that dream all about? It didn’t make any sense to me. It is impossible for me to see my wild side right before my eyes. It just doesn’t happen that way. We never see our wild side because it’s not another person. Our wild side is us just a different version of us. Or is it? Another thing that made absolutely no sense was the fact that Uncle Xander was there as well…

“PUSH!” I yelled at Maxi. We were sword fighting, it was dark outside because we had been training all day. Maxi and I currently had both of our swords clashed together. We were both pushing with the same force.
“C’mon you want to beat me don’t you?!” I yelled as I pushed harder. She nodded as a drop of sweat trickled down her cheek.
“You’re frustrated aren’t you?!” I yelled at her. She bit her lip and nodded again with a great deal of anger, frustration and determination in her eyes.
“Then use it and knock me on my freaking back!” I yelled.
As soon as I said it I regretted it just a bit. Maxi closed her eyes and her usually hazel eyes were pitch black. With a loud yell from her gut she took my advice and pushed me with a great force that had me flying across the room. My back hit the wall with a loud bang. Eventually gravity pulled me down to the ground causing my bottom a great deal of pain. The force hurt me but I was too proud of Maxi (and my training skills) to care. I stared at her standing on the battle mats with wide eyes. She too had wide eyes (that were back to their hazel color) and held her sword in place as if she were too shocked at how powerful she was to move. “That was… AWESOME!” Maxi cheered while jumping up and down on the mat.
“You see? I knew you could do it! You just needed some tough love.” I explained while getting up from the floor.
“I finally beat you! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!” Maxi screamed while pulling me into a bear hug.
We both screamed in excitement while the guys (who were standing by the doors watching us practice) just looked at us like we where crazy. We eventually stopped screaming and turned to the guys. They both looked at us then looked at each other.
“Chicks.” They both mumbled while shaking their heads.
“Your turn Maxx.” I announced and he came forward to the mats with a sly smirk.
Maxi gave him a peck on the lips which he returned and stood in front of me. I handed him a wooden sword and we began attacking each other. Maxx was attacking me viciously and frankly this surprised me.
He began to move faster and more swiftly until he eventually had his sword to my throat. I looked into his eyes and he had a wicked smirk. I kept staring and out of no where his eyes turned a familiar bright red. Before I knew it, it wasn’t Maxx I was looking at. It was Alexia’s face I saw before me. Clear as day and as real as I stood before her right now. When she saw my shocked face her grin grew wider.
“Missed me?” she whispered and with that she lifted her sword with a loud war cry and bashed me in the head with it.
Everything went black…


~I felt a tickle in my ear, so I swatted at the annoyance. Then I felt the tickle again, so I got up from my laying down position and looked around. I was… nowhere. There was blackness…nothing around me just a big black never-ending space of nothing. There was no sky, no ground, no air, and no atmosphere… just nothingness. I heard a low giggle from behind me.
I quickly stood up to see that it was Alexia. She stood before me with a grin that seemed permanent with her. The burning on my forehead started up again but I ignored it.
“This is where you keep me. The coldest part of your heart, like it?” she said with a wide grin.
I just glared daggers at her with my jaw clenched.
“Well you had better like it because soon this is where you’re going to remain… forever.” Alexia hissed through her teeth.
“Why don’t you cut the crap and just tell me what you want.” I said through my teeth. She faked a hurt face but smiled.
“I just want to be free Alexa. I think I’ve been in here for a great deal of your life, I think its only fair that we switch.” She explained but I didn’t buy it; it was the glint in her eye that gave me doubt.
“That’s touching Alexia.” I said and I saw her smile. “Now why don’t you tell me the truth?” I continued and her smile widened.
“You don’t trust me?” she asked while faking a hurt face.
“Not one bit.” I said with narrowed eyes.
“Smart girl.” She commented with a thoughtful look on her pale face.
“Now tell me why you really want to be free.” I demanded.
“I’ll let you figure that out for yourself.” She said in an ‘I know something you don’t’ voice.
“Why don’t we just settle this? Right here right now.” I said as I felt my fists heat up.
“Don’t you get it? You can’t kill me. If I kill you I kill myself and vise versa. We can’t kill each other without killing ourselves. I can’t exist without you and you can’t exist without me. Face it we’re stuck with each other.” She said.
“Lies.” I hissed.
“Alexa! Alexa! Alexa wake up!” I heard Maxi yell. Her voice echoed on in the darkness. Alexia looked up as if she could see the source of the noise. Then she looked back at me.
“Time to go.” She said while coming toward me.
“Now you remember this. I’ve been waiting on the side lines long enough. I want out of this hell hole. I’m getting out of here come hell or high water.” She continued.
She put the palm of her hand to my forehead and I felt it burn like crazy, almost as if it were on fire. I was out cold before I could even answer back. ~


I woke up with a jerk forward. Maxx, Maxi and Axel were all knelt down around me. They all looked worried as they stared at me.
“Alexa! What happened?! You just fainted out of nowhere!” Maxx said.
“I don’t know what happened… I just… did any of you see her?” I asked them.
They all looked at me funny and exchanged glances as if I were crazy or something.
“Um… see who?” Axel asked.
“N-never mind. I just… I just need some rest is all. Big day tomorrow. I think I’m letting all this excitement get to my head.” I murmured; trying to cover up what I said before.
“Yeah we should all get some sleep.” Maxi said.
They all nodded but still didn’t look convinced at all. But what could they say? Axel pulled me up to my feet and I began putting away all the training instruments. I folded up the mats and cleaned up whatever mess we had made. Everyone went upstairs to their rooms including me. But unlike them, I wasn’t going to sleep. I wasn’t going to go to my horrid dreamland and see HER again. I decided to go downstairs and make myself a cup of coffee to keep me awake. I put loads of sugar and cream and then chugged it down. It was steaming hot but I didn’t care, I just couldn’t take my mind off Alexia and her evil words.
I went back up to my room and turned on the TV. As I lay in my soft bed I felt my eyelids begin to grow heavier and heavier as the hours passed and the moon light shown in my room through my window. I eventually drifted into a deep sleep. But unlike the last few nights… my dreams were Alexia free.

“Alexa! Alexa! Time to wake up!” I hear Maxi yell while shaking my body. I groaned as I sat up in my bed and looked at her with groggy eyes.
“What?” I mumbled with a gruff voice from sleep.
“Uncle Xavier just called he said get dressed in your battle gear and bring your weapons.” Maxi explained and I nodded.
She left my room and I got up from my bed and trudged into my bathroom with half open eyes. I walked to my sink and turned on the faucet. I bent down and splashed the cold water in my face and then I looked up into the mirror. I gasped loudly at what I saw. In the mirror replacing my face was Alexia’s face with her permanent smirk; her dark fringe covered her forehead and made her red eyes pop. I clutched the sink as I felt myself lose my balance. I closed my eyes and bit my lip desperately. When I opened my eyes again her face was gone and I saw myself this time with wide eyes. I took in a breath of relief.
“Calm down Alexa, you’re freaking yourself out. Your just letting what Alexia said get to your head.” I explained to myself before jumping into the shower.
I washed myself down really good and washed my face and my hair. I got out and brushed my teeth and dried my body and my hair so it was nice and silky and went down to my elbows in brown waves. I put on my bra and matching underwear before walking into my walk-in closet and going to the end of my large clothing rack. I grabbed my shiny black skin tight cat suit which makes it very easy for us to move around in. I also grabbed a long black trench coat, my black leather gloves, and some black five inch heel boots. I put on my outfit except for the coat and grabbed my gun holsters that go on both my hips. I grabbed my twin auto berretta 92f’s and put them in my gun holsters.
I grabbed my double sword sheath which crossed over each other forming an ‘X’ which holds two swords. I strapped the sheaths on my back and walked to the very back of my closet where there was a long black metal sword case that had a silver ‘X’ on it. I opened the case revealing my twin swords which were 41 ½ inches long each. They are triple edged and are sharp enough to cut anyone clean in half. The tips of both swords are square shaped and in both blades my name was engraved in metallic blue cursive. I spun both swords in my hands simultaneously; making the sound that a helicopter would make when it is in flight.
On the last spin I swiftly slid them into the sword sheaths on my back. I grabbed two black handled hunter knives and stuck them into the secret pocket compartments on the insides of my boots which are hidden. I pulled my long dark brown hair into a loose high pony tail and put on my long trench coat. I grabbed the ear piece and stuck it in my ear so we can speak to each other.
I grabbed my black Aviator sunglasses and put them on before going downstairs feeling a little heavier than usual considering I was heavily armed. When I got downstairs everyone was sitting around waiting for me. Maxi’s outfit was the same as mine and the guys had a different outfit.
“Well don’t you look dangerous?” Axel teased as I took long strides down the flight of stairs.
I just gave him a sheepish half smile. I had to admit I was a little excited about this new mission but at the same time I was a little nervous. I couldn’t explain the feeling I had; it was just a weird feeling I’ve never had before. I felt like something bad was going to happen… Of course I didn’t share this with the rest of them. After all it was me who had gotten them all pumped up for this. I had trained them well and I didn’t want to ruin that with a sour attitude.
“Alexa!” Maxi yelled, pulling me out of my train of thought.
“Yeah?” I said while looking over at her.
“I said I’m nervous! I’ve never killed anyone before.” She said with a sheepish expression.
“Trust me, it comes naturally. Just believe in yourself.” I encouraged, saying it more to myself than to her.
She nodded and gave me a wide smile which I returned with a fake one. I looked at Axel who was staring at me weirdly as if he knew how I felt. I looked away from him quickly and we headed out the door. We all got into our cars and I got into the driver’s seat of Maxi’s car and she went with Vixen.
We drove off to Uncle’s mansion and I would usually speed like crazy but something about today didn’t feel right. So I drove at a normal human speed.
When we finally got to the mansion I got out of the car and went inside followed by everyone else. I walked into the study were Uncle Xavier sat at his desk. When we walked in Uncle looked up at us and gave us a small smile.
“I see you are all prepared. I trust you’ve trained them well Alexa.” Uncle said.
“Of course, we are ready Uncle.” I said sounding more confident then I felt.
“Good, good. Now unfortunately Xander had some sort of other things to tend to so he couldn’t be here.” Uncle said.
“Any idea where he could be on such an important day?” I asked suspiciously, something fishy was going on with Uncle Xander and I wanted to find out what.
“I haven’t the slightest idea but he says it’s important. So I leave him to his own private matters. But enough about that. Do you all remember the plan?” Uncle asked and we all nodded.
“Good now follow me.” Uncle says while getting up from his seat behind the desk and leading us to the back of their large mansion and into the huge garage. When we got into the garage there was four black Mazerati’s. They were all sleek and shiny to the touch; you could tell they were brand new.
“Nice.” I whispered as I got into the drivers seat of the first car and started the engine.
“Now remember the plan! And good luck!” Uncle yelled to us as we pulled out the garage in our identical race cars.
I sped onto the road and everyone followed close behind. I memorized the location of their home base so that I knew it by heart. I was driving straight toward it as if I was a member of the ‘KTX’. They were almost making this too easy for us. Maybe that’s the reason why I felt so uneasy. I just can’t help but think it’s a trap… because it was all TOO easy. It is hard to believe that we would succeed in this battle. All these times that I’ve been out on missions, I’ve always felt lucky and have always done well. But this just… doesn’t feel right. I pushed my pessimistic thoughts to the back of my head as we finally came across the home base. It was a large 10 story building which looked more like a business building than a home base full of criminals.
It was surrounded by a tall black steel gate which looked very decorative. This place was in the middle of nowhere. There were no people around just lots of land and empty roads. It was eerily quiet here. We found a hidden piece of land to park behind the building. I got out of the car and made my way over to the tall gate which surrounded the whole enormous premises. I began to climb the tall gate and finally after about a minute or two of climbing I got over it. Everyone also climbed over behind me. We made our way to the large back doors of the building. I peeped through the windows of the back doors to see the inside. It was dark inside; I couldn’t see anything. I turned to everyone and looked at their faces. Maxi looked scared and nervous, Maxx looked confident as he had an arm around Maxi’s waist; Vixen looked as if he needed to get something off his chest.
“This is it guys. I just want to say something before we go in.” I said and they all nodded.
“If anything happens to me… I want you guys to save yourselves and leave me behind.” I continued in a low voice.
“WHAT?!” They yelled simultaneously.
“Alexa you know I can’t do that.” Axel said while coming closer to me but I put a hand on his chest to stop him.
“Don’t try to change my mind Axel, because it’s already set. Just try not to worry about me, focus on what I taught you guys and you have nothing to worry about.” I said.
“Alexa I have to talk to you.” Axel said while pulling me aside.
“Axel I don’t…” I started but he interrupted me.
“Just listen to what I have to say.” He said and I closed my mouth.
“For as long as I can remember… I’ve always thought of you as a sister and nothing more…” he started but I interrupted him.
“I don’t have time for this!” I snapped and turned around and began to walk away.
“But I was wrong; you mean more than that to me.” I heard him say from behind me which made me stop in my tracks. I turned around to face him dumbstruck with my eyes wide open.
“Please tell me this isn’t a dream…” I whispered to myself but he seemed to hear me. I heard my voice crack as my eyes watered and he smiled and pulled me into his arms.
“I REALLY love you, and not as a sister either.” He said and began to lean in and I closed my eyes. But we all heard a low beeping sound come from the door which caused us to stop. The beeping got louder and more frequent. It didn’t take long for me to realize what it was.
“Back.” I whispered at first until I found my voice again.
“Get back!” I yelled and we all ran away from the doors and as if on cue two bombs went off at the doors. The pressure from the blow caused us to go flying and I landed flat on my stomach. I coughed from the debris that was now flying around from the doors being blown up.
“Is everyone okay?” I yelled and I got a bunch of moans and groans.
I turned my attention away from them and to the doors which were completely wiped out and just let the large doorframes wide open for anyone to come in. The inside was dark, almost everything was black. The downstairs was unfurnished and empty but with A LOT of open space as if it was some sort of battle ground. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought no one was inside but then heard loud voices from upstairs. I got up from my laying down position and wiped the dirt off my clothes. I heard everyone else get up with an irritated huff.
“What just happened?” Maxi asked from behind me.
“They know we’re here, they planned to blow us up as if they were waiting for us.” I said mostly to myself but they heard.
“But that’s impossible! How could they know?!” Maxx exclaimed but I put up a hand to silence him.
“Quiet!” I hissed at him.
“Do you hear that?” Axel asked while listening hard. I closed my eyes and let my ears strain themselves to hear. Not long after I heard the sound of footsteps that sounded like a stampede. We made our way inside through the door frames and saw that there was a large spiral staircase far off toward the front of the house and there was also an elevator at the other side of the large room opposite the staircase. Not long after that we saw a large stampede of people dressed in all black coming down the stairs and after us with guns in hand.
“Are they serious?!” Maxi exclaimed.
“Get ready.” I said and pulled out my swords swiftly.
I stood there with both of my swords crossed over both my shoulders in a bored looking position with my legs slightly spread apart as they charged toward us.
They began shooting at us but I began swinging my swords in front of me. My swords were moving so fast that they formed a shield in front of me; causing the bullets to bounce back at them but with more force so that it went straight through them. I watched as their lifeless bodies dropped from the feedback they were getting. More and more of them came until it got to the point were the room was full and we were killing everyone who came at us. I was stabbing and slicing up anyone who came close to us. I was beginning to feel pain in my arms from the force I was using with my swords but I ignored the pain and kept going. We were killing a lot of people and so far none of us have even been touched.
That was what I thought then, but apparently someone had something different in mind. I was fighting a girl with my swords and she was fighting with a sword as well but she wasn’t very good. In fact she was doing so poorly I put one of my swords away to only fight with one to show how poorly she was doing. As I was blocking all her attempts to stab me she distracted me by throwing her fist to my face and I used one of my hands to stop the blow and she drove her blade through my stomach. I felt shock go through my body as I felt a sword go through my body.
I stopped abruptly and looked down at my stomach. The black handle of the sword was sticking out while the silver blade full of blood was sticking out from my back. I knelt down on my knees and dropped my swords at my sides. I put both of my hands on the handle of the sword and attempted to pull it out but I was loosing too much blood and I felt myself drift off…

Axel:
I was killing them all until I felt suddenly uneasy… as if something bad was about to happen. Just when I had that feeling I suddenly felt the familiar pain in my ‘X’ scar. I looked around for Alexa and just as I saw her I saw that she was on the ground with a sword driven through her stomach; it happened so fast that I couldn’t stop it. My ‘X’ scar burned uncontrollably and I knew she was very weak. The pain made me wince but that was nothing compared to the pain I felt when I saw Alexa on the ground passing out. Of course she wasn’t dying she was just loosing blood causing her to pass out. I ran to her just as she passed out and immediately killed the girl that stabbed Alexa. I went to Alexa and held her in my arms. I put both hands on the handle of the sword and swiftly pulled it out. Maxx and Maxi must have felt the pain in their scars because they came over frantically.
“Alexa! What happened?!” Maxx yelled as he saw his sister’s body limp and fragile looking.
“There’s no time! We have to save her! Axel can you multitask?” Maxi asked and I nodded.
“Good, use your force field to protect us and join hands.” Maxi yelled. “And hurry their coming!” she added as they charged toward us.
I laid Alexa on her back softly and put up one hand and concentrated and watched as a blue static force field protected us.
“Good! Now take my hand!” Maxi urged and I took her small hand in mine, and Maxx took her other hand and Maxx put a hand on Alexa’s chest.
We closed our eyes and concentrated. I let my strong energy flow to Maxi, to Maxx and into Alexa. After about five minutes of this we had given off as much energy as we could, but she didn’t wake up.
“She’s not waking up!” Maxx panicked and Maxi began to cry.
“Now isn’t the time to panic! Can you guys hold them off? There’s something I need to do.” I said and they both nodded in agreement. I stopped the force field and they killed off the ‘KTX’s. I took Alexa’s body in my arms and cradled her.
“Alexa please wake up. I need you and so does everyone else. Please don’t give up, please.” I whispered to her and looked at her beautiful face. She looked so much like… she looked familiar like someone I’ve known before I knew her but I couldn’t remember. I pushed it to the back of my head and focused on reviving her. I gently touched her soft lips with my fingers and rubbed them before opening them. When they were open I moved my head down to hers and pressed my open lips to hers. I let my energy flow from my body through my mouth and into hers.

Alexa
I was in a deep sleep. I was peaceful and happy until I heard a soft melodic voice that I haven’t heard in a long time.
“Laurie, Laurie sweetheart wake up.” I heard her say while gently shaking my shoulder.
I opened my eyes to see my mother. Her jet black hair was long and healthy. Her blue eyes stared down at me happily and her fair skin was glowing. She smiled down at me as I looked around. We were high up in the clouds, I looked down to see that we were just over the ‘KTX’s home base. I could see Maxi and Max holding off the criminals while Axel was on the ground holding my lifeless body in his arms. I looked back at my mom with wide eyes. I immediately sat up from my laying down position and hugged her tightly.
“MOM! I’ve missed you so much!” I cried as she wrapped her arms around me.
“I know honey, I know. I’ve missed you too.” She answered and I could hear the smile in her voice.
“Mom, I’m so sorry for everything! It was my fault and I’m so sorry!” I whispered as I felt tears flowing from my eyes.
“I know you’re sorry honey. I’ve watched you your whole life, miserable and guilty over my death. I want you to know that I forgive you and no matter what I will always love you.” She whispered to me while holding me tighter.
“Oh mom! I love you too! I’m just so happy to see you!” I sobbed into her hair.
“I know honey.” She said while pulling away and staring into my eyes while holding both my hands in her own.
“Mom I failed, I was supposed to protect Axel. But instead I let my guard down and now I’m dead.” I mumbled feeling ashamed of myself.
“Honey don’t you understand? You were never the guardian, you were the leader. Axel’s guardian will come soon enough but until then you just have to do what is expected of you and that is to lead Axel.” She explained.
“Mom I can’t, it’s too late. I’m too weak to wake up.” I said.
“Sweetheart, you’ll have your time to be with me… but now is not your time. You still have much of your life to live before we meet again. Katy, Maxx and Axel still very much need you.” My mom explained to me while gesturing down to where Axel was holding me. I looked down at how lovingly he held me and suddenly pressed his lips to my cold ones. I looked back at my mom.
“But when will I see you again?” I asked urgently and she smiled.
“In time, but for now…” she started while kissing my forehead. “… This is goodbye.” She said and I suddenly felt my body sink through the cloud and begin to fall.
I screamed as I fell from the sky and straight into my human body that was in Vixen’s arms. (For anyone who didn’t understand what just happened: when Alexa was stabbed she passed out from the pain and shock. Her mom came to her as a spirit, but she was revived by Axel and her soul went back to her body.)

I gasped as I opened my eyes and looked around to see I was back. I was in Axel’s arms and he looked down at me with wide eyes. I looked down at my stomach were the wound was supposed to be but it was gone and healed.
“W-what just happened? How am I…? I was dead.” I rambled on.
“I gave you some of my energy, we need you… I need you.” Axel explained and I stared up at him. Axel had a happy glow in his eyes to see me alive and this made me very happy.
I got up from his lap with so much force and speed that it surprised Axel. Axel’s energy is so powerful that it gave me sharper senses, more fluid movement, and unbelievable speed.
“Well let’s stop sitting around and end this.” I said and Axel nodded and got up from the floor.
“I don’t know about you but I’m pumped and ready for action.” Axel said with a smirk and I nodded.
“Lets get to work.” I said and we automatically began killing everyone.
I was stabbing and chopping through everyone so fats that they didn’t even have time to react. I eventually pulled out the guns and began shooting as much ‘KTX’s as I could which I was saw was much faster. We kept killing until we got to the last ‘KTX’ alive. He looked so scared that he was shaking violently. He dropped his weapon and ran back upstairs.
“Get him.” I said.
We all ran after the guy as he ran frantically up the large spiral staircase. He looked like he knew exactly were he was going as he cut corners and ran through hallways. He pressed a button on the wall next to a large metal door. A few minutes later the door slid up and he ran inside and it immediately closed behind him. I walked to the door and pressed the button and the door slid up revealing a large white lab.
I walked in slowly looking around making sure there were no threats around us. The floors were white tile, the walls were white, and the bright lights above us were white as well. The lab was so enormous that it basically took up the entire second floor. I had both my guns in my hands tightly as I walked around. The enormous wall at the back of the room stood out because it was silver. I walked over to it and knocked on it lightly and it suddenly began to lift up automatically. I stood there and watched as it revealed the rest of the lab which unfortunately was not empty.
There were lab beds and tables with knives and needles and all those things. I had my gun pointed straight ahead but unfortunately there was at least a hundred pointed back at us. But that wasn’t all. Uncle Xander was standing in the middle of them, looking like he owned them with a smirk. I heard a series of gasps behind me at Uncle’s appearance but I wasn’t surprised.
“Uncle?! What are you doing here?!” Axel yelled from next to me.
“Haven’t figured it out yet? Axel, I’m shocked at you. Surely you’re smarter than the average blonde; I would have expected you to realize by now that I’m not on your side.” Uncle said with an even wider smirk.
“Then what side ARE you on?” Maxx asked with a challenging voice.
“The side that puts me in charge…” he started while looking around at the men on both sides of him who had their guns pointed at us; they haven’t moved a muscle since we got here. “…which happens to be this side.” He finished with a smile.
“I don’t understand…” I said.
“Allow me to explain the situation.” He said while walking a little closer to us.
“We’re all ears.” Maxi said.
“You see, it is true that Victor Wright had a sister who was killed by my brother but the false part of that situation is that he is NOT the leader of the ‘KTX’… I am.” Uncle said with a smirk.
“WHAT?!” we all burst out.
“Yes that’s right the whole Victor situation was a decoy from the true situation. You see I started this organization so we could wipe out the entire ‘X’ population and I can be leader of a new group that takes over. We will be unstoppable and ever so powerful. This brings me to the next part of why we want Alexa.” Uncle said while averting his eyes to me.
“You see, we need Alexa because she is the Phoenix. But since we know she will never work for us willingly we must release Alexa’s wild side.” Uncle explained and my eyes widened in shock.
“What the hell are you going on about I’m not the Phoenix, Axel is.” I said with a snort but no one was backing me up. I turned to Maxx and Maxi but they avoided my eyes. I turned desperately to Axel to see him gazing at me looking pained.
“Axel… tell me he’s lying.” I said and he walked over to me and held my hands.
“We where trying to protect you.” He whispered and I felt my legs give out and I fell to my knees as I started breathing heavy and stared into space in pure shock.
“Oh my dear child, you were always the Phoenix. My brother so foolishly recruited Axel here to pretend to be the Phoenix in a foolish attempt to protect you. They’ve been lying to you your entire life, they’ve betrayed you.” Uncle said and I looked up at him.
“That doesn’t explain why Axel has more than one power if he isn’t the Phoenix.” I said.
“Oh you are so naïve, he has more than one power because he was unnaturally given power but his powers are weak compared to your own and his are limited whereas yours are unlimited.” He explained.
“Well if you know so much than how come I only have one power?” I asked.
“Easy, your mind has been set to believe that you only have one power, therefore you never thought of using all the others. Now all I have to do is unleash your wild side.” He said.
“And what if I just use my powers to stop you?” I challenged.
“Then we’ll kill your friends.” He said.
“No… you c-cant do that. You can’t! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU WILL UNLEASH!” I cried and Uncle laughed.
“Of course I know, allow me to elaborate further.” Uncle said.
“I know Alexia.” Uncle said and I felt my heart sink.
“What?!” I yelled and he smirked.
“Ironic huh? Well prepare to be further confused…” he said while walking toward me so he was directly in front of me.
“Believe it or not, Alexia was once a person way before you were born. She was very mischievous but she was my friend. She knew Axel… they were lovers.” He said while looking at Axel who was next to me and I turned to him with wide eyes; I felt betrayed in a way.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Axel said confused.
“I don’t expect you to. You’re the new Vixen but with a different name, you’re just Vixen reincarnated or reborn, and you remember nothing of your past. Vixen was a strong and powerful man just like you, you are exactly like him. You killed Alexia because you saw how evil she was but yet you loved her, you never stopped loving her. Even if you don’t remember, you still love that’s why you settle for Alexa.” he said while turning back to me.
“That’s not true, I love Alexa and no one else.” Axel said but was ignore by Uncle.
“You are that piece of kindness and compassion that Alexia was missing even though you have the same feistiness and temper that Alexia has, you are what she could never be. So now Alexia seeks revenge on her “lover” which is exactly what we need to rid ourselves of the great power that is called the ‘X’s. Once you are locked away, then we can truly wipe out the ‘X’s and take over.” Uncle said while clapping his hands together.
“I am not leaving without her.” Axel said while inching closer to me.
“Well I’m afraid you have no choice.” Uncle said while signaling his men to take me.
Five men walked up to me but Axel used his force field to protect me from them. But unfortunately it only covered me and Axel. Uncle grabbed Maxi by her hair and put a blade to her throat.
“If you don’t let us take Alexa, I’ll kill your friend.” Uncle said and Maxx looked pissed. He was about to attack Uncle but four men held him back as he yelled and kicked and threw punches.
I turned to Axel and frowned.
“Axel please stop. I can’t let him hurt Maxi! Please.” I cried as he just shook his head defiantly.
“I’m not letting them take you.” Axel said while fiercely shaking his head.
“Axel please, if you love me. You’ll let me go.” I said while putting both of my hands on his cheeks. I stared into his eyes and watched as his eyes turned red and watery.
“I can’t do that, I just can’t. You’ll never come back don’t you get it!” He said.
“Please.” I begged. And for the first time I leaned in and pressed my lips to his urgently.
We kissed roughly and hungrily. He had one arm around my waist and the other controlling the force field. After about two minutes I pulled away from his soft lips grudgingly and looked up into his green eyes.
“If you love me, you’ll do as I say. Please you guys are all I have and I can’t let him hurt any of you.” I begged. Axel stared into my eyes for one last time. He nodded and took my hand in his before he stopped the force field.
“I hope you know what you’re doing.” He whispered and I kissed him again as he gripped my hand in his own.
“So do I.” I said and turned to Uncle who let go of Maxi.
“I’ll go with you.” I said and Uncle smiled.
“Excellent.” He said.
“But you have to let them go.” I said and Uncle scanned all of us.
“Done.” He said and turned to his men.
“Gentlemen, please escort our “Guests” to the door.” Uncle Xander said and his men walked over to Maxi, Maxx and Vixen and dragged them out by their arms. I almost cried when the men pulled Axel away from me; causing him to let go of my hand. At that moment I felt as if a part of me was missing and I knew I would regret my decision but at the same time I would do anything to protect my friends… even if it cost me my own life. I gave them all one last forced smile and they returned it with a sad and concerned smile.
Two men took me by my arms and dragged me over to a lab bed and forced me down into it. I didn’t fight them because I knew there was no use. It was over… I had given up and there was no going back on my own decision. I know my mother would be disappointed in me right now… so willing to give up my free will without a fight. They strapped down my arms, my legs, my neck and my waist. Just then a scientist in a white lab coat walked in with a smug look on his face. He wore thick glasses, his red hair was neatly slicked back, and his hazel eyes scanned me as if he were trying to calculate whether I would attack him or not. I just lay in the bed staring up at the ceiling, waiting for the worst. When he approached the bed he looked down at me.
“Hello, my name is Dr. Strauss.” He greeted with a smile that was not returned.
“Just get on with it.” I mumbled in a ghostlike voice as if I was already far gone; and he nodded.
He went over to one of those metal lab tables and looked around at all the instruments; looking for the right one. He finally picked up a needle and flicked it to make sure there were no air bubbles. He walked back over to me with the needle in hand. One other man lifted up my jacket sleeve to expose my arm. They strapped a belt around my upper arm tightly which made me grit my teeth. I closed my eyes and breathed in and out heavily. I kept on doing this process for about a minute; ready for the worst. All of a sudden I felt the needle being forced through my thick skin. The first thing to hit me once the chemical was in my body was pain. I screamed out from my gut and attempted to unlatch myself. I was screaming so hard my throat hurt and I was sure that my face was red and there were veins popping out of my neck. When the pain faded I felt lifeless and then I was absorbed into unconsciousness… the last thing I thought was how I never even got to see Loraine one last time.



I was back in that place again. The dark place where there was nothing but blackness. But this time I was alone… at least I thought I was. I suddenly felt a presence behind me; I sharply turned around to come face to face with Alexia. The mark on my head burned like crazy from how close she was; I bit my lip and sucked it up. For once she didn’t have a smirk on her face instead her face was serious, cool, collected but she still had an evil look about her in a sort of beautiful way.
“Now that you know the truth, I bet you’re completely confused.” Alexia said.
“Of course I am. How in the world Axel could be you’re…” I shuddered before finishing. “…lover, I don’t understand?” I finished and she smiled.
“Axel is still as beautiful as ever. Just as I remember him.” She said while looking up into the air dreamily. Her interest in Axel had me boiling with anger.
“Axel would never love you.” I said and she looked back at me with a smirk.
“I’m actually counting on that. You see it’s not his love I seek.” She said and I just listened for her to elaborate. “It’s his death that I want most.” She said and I gasped.
“Why in the world would you want Axel dead?!” I exclaimed.
“He killed me! He might not have liked what I’ve become but I loved myself! And how dare he not remember what he did to me!” she spat through a clenched jaw. I could see that she was seething with anger as her bright red eyes turned a dark crimson.
“You wouldn’t!” I yelled back at her as I felt my hands heat up out of blind fury.
“Oh I would and I will!” she yelled back.
I ran toward her and leaped up into the air ready to attack her but before I could do anything she put the palm of her hand out toward me and caused me to freeze in mid air. My mouth automatically opened and I saw a blue energy leave my mouth and flow to her hand. As she did this I could feel my energy and power leaving my body, she was taking it from me. The more she sucked up my energy the more I felt my body go limp. She was locking me away as I did to her for years; she was taking over.
“You’re time is up… now it’s my turn.” I heard her say before my lifeless body hit the ground.
I felt my soul turn evil and dark and in that moment Alexa was gone. I Alexa Stone became Alexia… forever.

Alexia:
I awoke with a loud gasp and abruptly sat up from my sitting position with such speed that it would have been too fast for the human eyes to see. I am awake. I am human again. Now I can have my revenge. I noticed immediately that I was in a large lab room that was all white. I looked down to see that I was strapped down to a lab bed but I broke the strap around my waist when I sat up. I realized that my hands were still strapped down to the mattress at my sides. I yanked my hands up without effort and broke the thick black straps. I rubbed my wrists with my cold hands as I realized I had red irritation marks from the leather. I looked down at the ridiculous outfit I was wearing. It was very uncomfortable. It was obviously the outfit that Alexa had worn with the ‘X’ on it and the weapons. Just then I felt a presence in the room.
“Xander don’t you know it’s rude to sneak up on people.” I said while getting up from the lab bed and turned around to face Alexa’s backstabbing scumbag of an Uncle. I saw that he was eyeing me up and down as I stood with an attitude with my arms crossed over my chest.
“Hello Alexia, I thought you would have changed but obviously you are just as I remember you.” He said with a smirk and I scowled as a blonde girl who looked around 20 and a man who looked around 25 walked in with guns pointed at me; they both stood on either side of Xander. “I’m sure you understand why I must take precaution. It’s just that the last time I saw you, you tried to kill me.” He explained.
“If I remember correctly, it was you who came after me. I merely retaliated.” I answered and he frowned.
“That was only because you were becoming a handful, killing people for the fun of it when I told you to lay low. I had a plan and I still have one.” He said.
“All I care about is getting my revenge.” I said with a roll of my eyes.
“I’m not sure you’re strong enough for that, you’re probably not even in the right condition to complete that task.” He said with a smirk. I felt my insides boil with anger. I stood up straight and unwrapped my arms from my chest all the while glaring into Xander’s eyes.
Before anyone could blink I pulled out both swords from the sheaths on my back and took long lightning fast strides toward them. In a matter of seconds I was close enough so that I could strike. I spun both swords in my hands at the exact same time and plunged both swords into the guts of both people with the guns. I stabbed them at the same time but I was in front of Xander. I did it with perfect aim and without any effort. If any human had witnessed how flawless my movement and footwork was they would be staring me down with awe clear in their eyes.
I kept my eyes on him the entire time with anger clear in them. I snarled like an animal as I yanked the swords out of their bodies and they both fell to the ground with a loud thump. I swiftly slid one of the swords back in the sheath but pointed the other one out in front of me at Xander. I just stood in front of Xander who had a terrified look on his face as he took a few steps away from me.
“Now that we understand each other, you can clearly see that I am NOT Alexa. I am stronger, faster, and more vicious and I have nothing to lose.” I took a step closer to him and put a long thin finger in his face. “If you EVER underestimate me again, I’ll cut off you’re head faster than you can even open your good for nothing mouth to scream.” I threatened with a scowl and fury clear in my eyes. He just stared at me still in shock at what I had just done and how fast I’d done it. “Got it?” I asked menacingly.
“I understand, but YOU have to understand that if you want to kill him we have to work together. I can’t constantly be afraid for my life when you’re around. Could you possibly try to control you’re temper?” He said.
“Consider me temper free.” I said and he smiled.
“Good, now let’s get to work.” He said and I stopped him before he could leave.
“Just remember… You need me more than I need you.” I reminded him before walking out of the lab.
The only thing I kept thinking in my head is: Watch out Vixen or Axel, whatever you want to be called because I am coming for you with pure rage leading the way…

1 year later…
“Loraine! Get up! School starts in an hour!” Wendy my adoptive mom yelled while knocking on my door.
“Okay Wendy! Chill out! I’m up!” I yelled frustrated. I swung my legs over the edge of my bed grudgingly. I sat up and immediately felt a head rush. I groaned and put my hand on my head.
“Are you up yet?” Wendy asked through the door.
“Yeah just give me a second!” I yelled and heard her walk away.
I got up from my bed and walked into the bathroom. I took a hot shower before brushing my teeth and getting dressed in my High School uniform. The uniform was dreadful but it was required; what else could you expect from a rich kid Private School? When I was ready I grabbed my bag and ran downstairs to find everyone getting ready to leave. I grabbed a banana and ran out the door to my older brother William’s car since we go to the same school but he is a senior. I hopped in and began eating my banana.
“You know it isn’t good to scarf down food right?” William teased and I giggled but slapped him playfully on the shoulder.
“Sorry I wasn’t aware.” I answered back and turned up the radio and my favorite song was on. I guess it was too loud for William because he was about to reach for the volume knob and turn it down but I let myself enter his mind. When I was in his head his face turned blank; letting me control him.
“Leave it at the volume I put it on.” I commanded in my mind and he put his hand back in his lap. I smiled and left his mind; leaving him hopelessly confused but he didn’t change the volume. My powers confused me and excited me at the same time. I was confused because I had no idea that there was such thing as having super powers and because I didn’t know where they came from or why I even have them. I was excited about having them because they worked to my advantage; I mean who wouldn’t want powers that allow you to make people do what you want? I definitely felt bad about using my powers on Will because he is the best brother anyone could have but I knew if I asked him to leave the volume he wouldn’t listen. When we got to school I hopped out of Will’s car and went to the school yard in search of my friends but didn’t see them. So I stood by the building and waited for them. I waited for about 5 minutes until I felt like I was being drawn to the back of the building. At first I wasn’t going to go but then I decided I would go and see what was attracting me there. I walked around to the back of the building unnoticed and found that no one was there just the forest which is full of wild animals but I still stood next to the dumpster and looked around to see if anyone was there. All of a sudden the pull was becoming stronger until I felt a presence behind me. I turned around to see a tall man with strikingly bright blue eyes staring down at me with a wide smile on his face.
“Hello Loraine.” He said in a deep voice.
“Who are you, and how do you know my name?” I asked while taking a step away from him.
“I am Xavier… Your uncle.” He said and I felt my heart drop.
“What?” I asked making sure I heard him correctly.
“I am your uncle Xavier.” He repeated.
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” I asked suspiciously.
“Because I know what you are and what you can do.” He answered.