The boy, no that statement wasn't right anymore.... the man... no, that still didn't fit.... boy was better, walked through the forest, hands in his pockets, hair windswept by the sudden brush of air that filtered through the trees. No one was around, he would know if they were. At least, no one was close enough to be able to hit him. His mental map of the land showed him ever nook, ever cranny of the landscape in front of him. The forest animals didn't shy away from him as they used to, but he could sense their fear, fear towards him since otherwise he wouldn't be able to tell. Fallen was satisfied with the number of kills he had at the moment, being third wasn't bad. Second would have been better though.... but to do that he would have to either get a few more kills, or go track down the runner up. With seventy-seven kills under his belt, he had come across his share of powers but most of them had rejected him, or more like, he rejected them. The tossled mahognany haired male would take a taste of each power he got, but only a few would be compatible... and out of those, only two had been suitable for his style of work.

Maybe he would find more later, or perhaps he would absorb the second place guy and take one of his powers. Pausing for a moment, hands freeing themselves from their little resting home in his pockets, he bent down and placed them flat on the ground, eyes closing in concentration. Inside him, the monster, the killer, the one who screamed for blood to run red over his hands smiled. Yes.... someone... someone was coming. Who it was yet, he wasn't sure. They didn't suspect him, didn't understand that he was there... but he could feel them enter his range. Eyes bright with a dangerous destructive spark, Fallen slipped into the darkness, teleporting to the steady branches of a large leafy oak, watching... waiting....

 

-----

Rose, she was Rose at the moment, shook her head slowly, as she stared at the forest below her. A circle, about the width of a garbage can, floated underneath her, the edges twinkling with electricity that her hands had produced. Everything else was clear, blending in with the night sky. Even she blended in, her body and clothes turning the navy and flecks of white it needed too to match her surroundings. So much death here, yet she yearned for it, wished for it, hated it. Sixty-eight, the magical, deadly, and horrifyingly pleasing number. Why oh why did she have to be here?

You know you want this, Rose, a small voice inside her head where her conscience should be said.... not litterally, but it sometimes seemed like the Thorn she was to everyone else had a voice of its own when she wasn't in control of Rose's body. I do not want this, you want this. All I want to do is find my way home. The girl yelled at herself mentally, letting the electric disk stop, floating in mid-air as conflict raged inside herself again.

The girl wouldn't win, she never did. The moment some new prey fell into her site, they would be dead, and she would die inside again. Once for every fallen warrior who might be facing the same conflict she was feeling. Or maybe they enjoyed it. Maybe they didn't see the wrong in what they craved. Oh the humanity... psh.. that sounded corny. Grinning to herself, she twirled around once in the air, and forced the floating disk to rise higher in the sky, away from the forest. She didn't want to be seen, or heared, and the farther up she was, the better view of the lay of the land she had.

Holly heard someone pass beneath her tree. Luckily for her, she had created an illusion that she was a bird just before Tigress passed by. After a while, the illusion melted away, and she silently jumped down from her tree. She began quietly creeping towards the tiger, which didn't blend in very well with the forest. She got right behind her, and slid out her dagger. She needed an alliance, but if this girl decided to attack, her throat would be slit in an instance.

"Hello, Tigress," Holly whispered in the tiger's ear, getting ready to use her compulsion. Hopefully, she would succeed. She then remembered something that happened. Earlier in the week, Holly had made herself appear to be a young girl with her illusion powers. She had her answer to killing Anima now. Most people would approach a young girl without any defense, not being fearful of how powerful she is. She smirked. She wasn't going to waste her power now on Tigress, though.

Closing her eyes Tigress sighed heavily, as if bored with the person currently holding a knife to her throat. "Are you going to kill me then?" she asked carefully, the blade bobbing mere centimeters from the tawny skin of her neck. Despite the fear she felt Tigress could also feel adrenaline begin to pump through her veins. It was true, it had been a while since she'd had a trouble killing another.

Shifting her body weight slowly, so that the girl behind her didn't notice, Tigress blinked her green eyes once before her lips curved in a smile. "You can slit my throat dear," she began in a smooth voice. "But you'd best be quick about it. The moment I feel your muscles tense in any way that makes me feel in danger, poof!"

Sliding her hand into her lap Tigress slowly shifted her arm until silver claws jutted out of her hand in place of nails. Despite the gruesome look she knew that if that knife got too far from her neck she'd be out in a flash, hand swiping down for the kill. The thought of another's blood coursing down her arm, its red wetness seeping into the earth...it sent a thrill up Tigress' spine. 

Oh, now if only her assailant would just move. 

Holly put the dagger against Tigress's neck, ensuring that her prey didn't get away. "If you move, you'll kill yourself." She concentrated on Tigress. She looked for emotions. And slowly, she began to work her compulsion. "C'mon, don't you want to be friends," she said, her voice holding a hint of truth in it. Although, that truth was just part of her compulsion. She wanted Tigress's powers, but she would have to wait. She needed allies. "Let's be friends." Her voice was still just a whisper, because she didn't want Shadow Caster to come out and kill the two of them. She wanted to gain Tigress's help, and go down the line, killing the others. One by one.

Fallen grinned into the darkness, as he watched the scene unfold in his mind and with his eyes. Neither of them saw the bow and arrow pointed towards them, he would be able to tell if they did. Tigree and Holly. Not the badest of the bad, but not a horrible catch either. Of course, this Holly.... well she might make a decent ally for a while. Word of dying mouth had told him that Holly could influence people. Most didn't realize she was doing it until it was to late and there was a dagger in their back but with his gift, he couldn't be swayed. Never the less, it might be a good decision to push her onto his side for a little while.

This Tigress though, wasn't as impressive. She was simply a shifter and fire element, unless perhaps she was able to kill Holly and gain one of her powers. Not one worth of turning to his side but she would be easy enough to kill.

With a whicked gleam, the male closed his eyes, and willed his body to disappear into empty space, leaving nothing except a tell-tale rustle in the tree he was last in. About half a second later, he relaxed against a tree maybe 50 feet from the others, in plain view before speaking. "Tisk Tisk Girls, you should know better than to think you are the only ones around here."

Holly's eyes didn't shift from Tigress's head. She clenched her free hand, but didn't move the dagger from Tigress's throat. She pulled her hand up, and threw a ball of fire, about the size of a yoga ball, towards Fallen. However, she miscalculated, and it ended up missing him by a few inches. "Sh!t," she said, frowning. She didn't stray from Tigress, though. She knew that voice. That was Fallen. Third place in the Arena. She brushed some hair from her face and thought about just killing Tigress, and using her compulsion on Fallen.

Ooc; Yeah, that'll be good, Serenity. c:

Bic;

Dustin woke to frenzied murmurs from outside the mouth of the cave. Crap, I forgot about Tigress, he thought as he whacked his head on the low overhanging ceiling. He was about to get up when a harsh hand pushed him back down against the wall. Crimson eyes gleamed in the darkness and Dustin felt his breath begin to slow when he realized it was Riley. The shadows of the cave had turned menacing as Riley's anger set in.

"What have you done," she hissed, her black curls flicking around her head, seeming to become one with the shadows themselves. Dustin gulped and was about to speak when Riley cocked her head. "There are three. One male, two female. One of the females has been here a while, most likely waiting for you." Riley drank in the measly scents that got caught on the edge of the cave and were scant as they traveled in. She concentrated on the smells for a moment. "Tigress. What haven't you been telling me, Dust?" she hissed.

Riley pushed Dustin back against the wall for a moment before poking her head through the cave. She could easily see through the curtain of shadow, but she knew the others couldn't. Great, Fallen was right behind Tigress who seemed to be held captive by Holly. Her whole plan of staying low for now was backfiring and she and Dustin needed to get away. "Dust, go sparrow. If you have been meeting Tigress, she'll know what you mean by flying in front of her." To many and most, the sparrow meant freedom and could easily be interpreted as such. Dustin nodded once, his lip quivering with fear as he realized he was going to have to fly straight into the arms of ruthless murderers.

Riley cracked her knuckles and breathed in her shadows once again. They disappeared from the mouth of the cave and the black-haired girl stepped out. She spread her wings, the crude black feathers sliding through her clothes as if they didn't exist. "Honestly people, can't we take a break from killing each other?" she said lazily as she walked up to the group.

Her crimson eyes burned with bloodlust as she stared at the three. She felt a small fllutter of wings and a silver sparrow appeared on her shoulder. She caught a wink from the small thing and realized it was being aimed toward Tigress. Riley crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the others disapprovingly.

"And you've all gotten yourself into a tiff. Fallen, you of all people must know not to hunt in the shadows. Dark creatures lurk here and there," she said with a crude glare at the boy.

Ooc; EDIT:

Guys, please watch it on the speed-posting. This is a large group and you have to think of everyone. :/

 A fireball? Really.. people were so clueless weren't they. For once, he wasn't trying to kill the girl who was shooting at him, but neither did the fireball have any chance of hitting. He heared the girl sound a low oath as he stepped just a few inches to the side, letting the inferno pass by without touching him. So she intendsto try to sway me she now, the boy thought with a laugh, hand raised to brush through his hair. To bad it wouldn't work that well. As he pondered this, two other humans entered his range, and were approaching fast. Casually he slipped his bow and arrow back onto his back, and grabbed the dagger, though from what he managed to gather, they didn't plan on sticking around to long.

After another second, he recognized the mind that he had only got hints of this entire time in the arena. Riley. She appeared only a moment later, though her partner was now shifted and flying around somewhere.

"Aw but the thing is, Dark creatures are easily detected." Riley of all people, would have guessed his power by now. He had seen her a mile away. The moment someone had thought about the 'boy' or more specifically, his name, he was aware. Perfectly aware of their game and how he fit in it. "Not killing this time Riley dear, simply... watching the action."

Smiling, he disappeared again, appeared on a large pile of stone rocks fifty feet, perhaps a little farther from Riley, but still the same distance from the two girls.

Holly's eyes were still boring at the back of Tigress's head. And then her dagger got hot. Really hot. She held it for as long as she could, and then she let it go. She dropped the dagger, which fell onto a large rock with a loud clang. "Ow!" She said, waving her hand in the air, trying to cool it off. It was clearly burned, and would blister in a few minutes. While Holly's flame didn't affect her, others flames did. She debated on grabbing Tigress's hair, and holding her there, but she saw the spiked wood at the end. She sighed and let her hostage go.

She then did a few backflips in the direction of Fallen. She stopped about five feet to the left of him. She should've thought twice about throwing that fireball at him. She watched the sparrow fly off, and tried not to hit it with one of her fireballs. Her bloodlust was slowly growing, but she wanted to stop. Having powers was like a drug; once you killed one person and absorbed their power, you only wanted more. She clenched her fists, and let the sparrow pass by.

Her eyes went back to Riley, and she saw the black feathers. After spending years in the arena, Holly knew a few of Riley's powers, and she knew that Riley had more than she did. She wasn't quite ready to take on Shadow Caster yet. She would have to make alliances, and her first opportunity burned her. Literally.

[Ditto Det. xD In the mean time... *works on other reply for Det*]