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  to Kal; he had assumed that he didn't deserve to ever meet

  his other half. He hoped that Charma and Leonardo would,

  they seemed so unhappy in their solitary existences, but his

  being alone had always seemed somehow right to him, after

  all, once a month at the full moon, it was possible that he

  might go off the deep end and hurt someone.

  He hadn't really done anything to deserve the

  woman who was sitting next to him but if he had been

  given her, he was not going to give her back. Maybe that

  made him selfish, but hell, selfishness was highly

  underrated.

  In fact, everything about Isabelle was shocking. He

  had expected her to cut and run after the bullets had started

  flying but instead she had steadied him and brought him

  back from the brink of madness the likes of which he had

  never experienced before and then he had promptly

  molested her on the side of the road. She hadn't truly

  seemed to mind that and had egged it on a little bit. She

  wouldn't have been making those little noises if she hadn't

  been enjoying it, right?

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  He watched as she bit her lower lip.

  "I did hear it. It's familiar to me, like I heard it in a

  dream or as a child, I'm just not sure." She shrugged her

  shoulders but her voice sounded wistful.

  "Marina said the same thing to me once when it was

  finally explained to her. It was like she had always heard

  those chants, even though she hadn't been aware of them,"

  Kal answered.

  If he had ever been unsure about her background, he

  no longer was. She was an Outsider. One of the missing

  children that they had all been searching for so they could

  destroy the Darkness, however they were supposed to do

  that.

  Somehow they would have to figure out from which

  family she had originated, although Marina's origins were

  still hidden from them. If they were lucky, Veli would

  recognize her as looking just like her mother or father,

  otherwise they were in trouble.

  "Who is Marina?"

  Did he hear jealousy in her tone? His eyes bore into

  her striking profile. She took a deep breath, averting her

  gaze.

  "She's kind of like my cousin." Kal laughed. He had

  heard the flustered note in her voice and had to admit, he

  kind of liked it. Kal had never been a playboy but he had

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  kissed his fair share of women and he had never heard that

  chanting before. Veli had told them that Outsiders only

  loved once, that each had their other half, someone whose

  powers would match their own and who they would spend

  their life loving.

  This surprisingly brave woman who had not run for

  the hills when she witnessed his powers was his other half,

  the one he would love for the rest of his life, if she would

  have him. It helped, he thought quietly, that she was

  absolutely gorgeous.

  Isabelle crossed her arms over her chest. "I think

  you'd better start explaining some things, Kal."

  There was nothing wistful about her now. Kal

  raised an eyebrow. He liked this version of Isabelle too.

  This one was holding back her temper by a thread, if her

  clenched fists and tight jaw were any indication.

  "I know." Kal took a deep breath. "It might be better

  if Veli explained."

  "Who's Veli?" Isabelle interrupted.

  "He's kind of the man in charge, our guardian really.

  We think of him as kind of a weird uncle from another era

  or time who can't quite catch up to things." Kal laughed at

  his description. In college when he had been pretending

  that he was as normal as his classmates, he hated when Veli

  visited or called. It had been a constant reminder that they

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  were different and would never be normal. Not that Veli

  had shown up to just be social or interested in Kal's studies.

  Usually it was to complain that Kal was neglecting his

  duties to the group or to yell at Kal for some perceived

  transgression from their responsibilities. It had been hard

  enough for Kal to try to fit it, to pretend every day that

  things were fine, and it always seemed to him that

  whenever he was getting a grip on things then, boom, Veli

  would show up and shake the whole thing to pieces.

  "I'm sure he's great but I don't know Veli, I know

  you, well sort of anyway, and I'd really like to hear these

  things from you. It seems important. That way I can decide

  if I'm making you pull over while I either vomit or run

  away."

  "Do you think you're going to throw up?" She had

  every right to be feeling sick; she had just watched three

  strangers gunned down on the side of the road by a

  uniformed police officer who had chased her into the

  woods only moments earlier, followed immediately by a

  display of strange powers she wasn't at all familiar with.

  She was one of them, that was for certain, but she hadn't

  been raised by Veli and hadn't grown up witnessing

  violence every time she turned around. Kal's only real

  experience with women in post-traumatic situations was

  with Charma and Marina, which didn't amount to much

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  experience at all. Did women regularly get sick in violent

  situations?

  "No." Isabelle laughed. "I'm a little concerned that

  I'm so calm. I think it must be something that you're doing

  to me. Stop stalling and tell me what I need to hear."

  Kal knew there was no way he was letting her out

  of the car to run away but he didn't need to tell her that and

  opted instead to start at the beginning. He started to open

  his mouth to begin the story when suddenly they both heard

  a thump. The tire that Kal had changed earlier was still

  holding but the back right tire had just gotten flat.

  "I checked that before we got going." He had, hadn't

  he? Could they get any more bad luck? "Does your car

  usually blow flats? Have you had the tires looked at

  recently?" He knew that the tone he was using sounded like

  she didn't know anything about anything but he was furious

  about this turn of events. They were on the highway and on

  a good day it wasn't a good idea to pull over on the busy

  road if you could avoid it. Today was not a good day. It

  would be just his luck to survive endless attacks from a

  supernatural Darkness only to get plowed down changing a

  tire on the side of the road by a tractor-trailer.

  "I take excellent care of this car," Isabelle yelled at

  him, her eyes narrowing to slits. "You probably just ran

  over a nail. Pull over; I'll drive after I fix the tire."

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  " You're not fixing the tire." Kal shook his head,

  dismissing
that thought out of hand. "I'll be damned if I'm

  going to let you get out of the car on the highway. Stay

  seated, and don't move." He pulled over, got out, and

  carefully went to the back of the car to inspect the tire.

  They had used Isabelle's only spare on the front left when it

  had blown earlier. He was going to have to call someone

  for help. He couldn't believe the bad luck they were having.

  Bad luck? The thought pounded in his temples.

  He knew better than to assume this was just bad

  luck and silently shook his head at his own negligence.

  Wishing he had Leonardo's attention to detail, so he

  wouldn't make mistakes like the one he had been making

  for the last hour, Kal let out a breath he hadn't known he

  held. There was nothing wrong with the tire that he

  changed earlier; it had just gone completely and randomly

  flat. There was nothing wrong with this one either.

  The damn car had been spell-cast.

  Shit. He was not a spell-caster. Who the hell was he

  going to ask for help? Leonardo could spell cast but it

  seemed to be distance and time related, better if he was

  actually in the room with whatever he needed to spell cast

  on. It was too bad, really, because if he had to ask anyone

  for help, it was best to ask Leonardo. They had gotten into

  too many messes together as children to judge each other

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  anymore. Veli couldn't spell cast either and Charma's had

  to be done actually in the presence of the person she was

  casting on and probably couldn't help with the tire anyway.

  That was going to leave Marina. She was powerful, but

  flighty at best and she didn't think highly of him. Only Veli

  held her respect. But when there was no choice, then there

  was no choice.

  He took a deep breath and called out for her.

  'Rina? He probed out towards her hoping she would

  hear and, if she heard, he hoped she would respond. She

  was the least easy person for him to talk to telepathically.

  Kal? She sounded confused, as if she had been

  distracted or sleeping. Or maybe just confused, Kal

  amended, smiling to himself.

  I've got a problem. I'm trying to bring Isabelle back

  home to all of you, Kal thought as he tried to conjure up a

  picture of Marina in his mind. His friends were always

  talking about how beautiful she was but he still saw her as

  the annoying kid who used to take his school notebooks

  and hide them when she got upset with him. She was by far

  the most untapped talent they had in their midst and he was

  going to need some major instruction at the moment that

  she might or might not be focused enough to give him.

  Trying? Marina sounded amused. Don't tell me that

  big, strong Kal is having trouble driving one little bitty

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  woman back home to Maine?

  It's not the driving that's the problem, Marina, I can

  drive just fine. He rolled his eyes. Isabelle must have

  noticed his discomfort because she had gotten out of the car

  and stood next to him. She obviously had a problem

  following orders. Veli was going to swallow his tongue the

  first time this little woman defied him. Correction, Kal

  thought, my little woman, and Veli was going to have to

  learn to live with it because Kal felt very possessive of her.

  Veli was never going to get away with yelling or

  controlling Isabelle in any way and all attempts he might

  have made in the past at seeing the big picture and

  maintaining calm for the greater good would go right out

  the window if the man even attempted to raise his hand to

  Isabelle.

  "What's the problem? I can change the tire or I can

  call the auto club and get them to change it, assuming that I

  now have cell service." Isabelle was looking at him like he

  was two years old and it was bringing on all sorts of

  dominance issues Kal hadn't even been aware that he had.

  He had been mauling the woman sexually not one hour

  before and he was going to be damned if she started

  looking at him like he was two years old now.

  "I can change the tire, that's not the problem, and

  we don't have time to sit here and wait for the auto club.

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  We'll just blow another tire anyway. The car has been spell-

  cast."

  "What?" Isabelle stared at him like he was crazy.

  Evidently seeing him spit lightning from his hands hadn't

  been enough earlier to convince her that just about anything

  was possible.

  "Spell-cast." He cleared his throat. "Kind of like a

  curse. Like you might see on television or in the movies

  about witches."

  "Somebody did that to my car? Why would

  somebody do that?" Isabelle petted the vehicle like it was a

  baby.

  "To make you break down so they could get to

  you." Kal took a deep breath. "And I'm trying to remove

  the spell, but I'm not a spell-caster, I'm a warrior. I don't

  have to focus energy or follow designs to manipulate my

  power, so I don't know how to fix your car or make the

  spell go back to where it came from. I can't very well just

  blow up your car. I need Marina to help me and she's too

  busy making fun of me to buckle down and pay attention to

  what I'm telling her." He groaned, not liking to show

  Isabelle that he was anything but all powerful. Would she

  think he was the kind of guy who couldn't take care of her

  if it didn't involve death and destruction? Isabelle took a

  moment and blinked.

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  "Okay." She paused, thinking again. "And you're

  talking to Marina telepathically, I assume?"

  "Right."

  "Okay." She swallowed. "Does Marina understand

  that we almost died an hour ago and that we need to get out

  of here?"

  "I was just going to explain it to her when you came

  out but now all I can think about is you getting your

  gorgeous little ass hit by a speeding car. Get back in the

  car." Kal didn't care that he sounded like a caveman.

  "Excuse me, Mister Macho, but this is my car and

  all remarks about my rear end aside, you don't order me to

  do or not to do anything. I don't have to put up with any of

  this insanity. I can leave right now. I'll call my parents or

  one of my friends and they'll come and pick me up and I

  can just forget about all of this nonsense and go back to my

  life."

  Kal watched in horror as tears slipped from her

  eyes. His heart pounded hard. Hell.

  "I don't believe in any of this. I'm a pragmatic,

  normal human being. It's all just nonsense! I never cry."

  Her last sentence was said through her sobs.

  "I knew the telepathy was going to be too much,"

  Kal muttered mostly to himself. "You can't leave, Isabelle,

  and this isn't g
oing to just go away if you leave me. I might

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  have these abilities but this started with you and we need to

  figure out why and how we can make it leave you alone.

  Until we do that then you aren't safe with anyone but me."

  Not to mention that she was his other half and they had to

  figure out what that meant too.

  "I can too leave." The desperation in her voice ate at

  his insides.

  He moved slowly towards her. "Please don't cry,

  darling girl." Kal was feeling slightly desperate. Violence

  he could handle, death and destruction fed his blood like

  candy, as long as they were justified, but the misery coming

  off this little woman in front of him was more than he

  would ever be able to handle. The truth was that all he

  really wanted to do was drag Isabelle away to the nearest

  hotel room and get to the business of making her his for life

  but all of that was going to have to wait until he at least got

  the car fixed.

  Wailing, she rubbed her nose. "I can cry if I feel

  like it. I'm not a little girl. Don't patronize me. We're

  probably the same age."

  "Sshh." Kal gently pulled her to him. She was

  literally breaking his heart into tiny pieces. She had

  survived multiple attacks today and he had opted to scream

  at her on the side of the road. He really was an

  inconsiderate asshole without a soul. He needed to be

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  locked up and he was going to let Veli do just that as soon

  as he got Isabelle to safety. "You're right, we're the same

  age. In fact we have the same birthday. We were born at

  exactly the same time."

  "How do you know that?" Isabelle raised her eyes

  to look at him. For a moment he was dumbstruck. He felt

  like he could swim in her blue eyes, like he could live in

  them if she would let him. Startling both of them, he