I'm woken in the morning by pounding on my door. I groan and roll over, straight into a warm body. "Nngh," I groan in the general direction of the door. It's too early and Mario's too warm and my head hurts too much to deal with people, especially people who sound like they're in that much of a hurry.

I huddle under the covers and Mario moans and yells, "Fuck off!"

We both moan and clutch at our heads in unison.

The knocking continues and shouting begins to accompany it. "Open the door Sinjin! This is Brennan!"

Oh shit. RA. But wait, why the hell is he here? Unless Mario and I did something I don't remember yesterday. As far as I know, all we did was drink and stagger back here to fuck. And none of that was against the law. The various drinking and sex with and between minors laws of the different worlds didn't apply in Border Town. We kind of just slipped through the cracks, although legislation was up for stuff like that.

I stagger up and out of bed. Maybe something's wrong with Janie or something. Brennan wouldn't be bugging me this early if it was something stupid.

I grab my jeans off the ground and yank them on, nearly falling over. Grabbing ibuprofen from the counter, I open the door and begin dumping pills in my hand. "What's up?” I mutter before swallowing the pills dry.

He runs a hand through his short hair, sticking it up in every possible direction. "Your uncle's here."

I tilt my head to the side, limp black hair falling into my face, and stare at him. "The fuck are you talking about? Myda doesn't have any siblings. That acknowledge her anyway. And 'sides, they ain't my uncles anyway."

"No, like, your father's brother."

I blink, not comprehending. "Myda's fiancé’s brother? Jack? He doesn't like me, tell him to fuck off."

He glares at me. "Your blood dad. The faerie fu-- faerie guy who conceived you?"

"Faerie fuck" I correct automatically. And then... "Wait what?"

"Your biological father's brother is here and demanding the right to talk to you."

"Dude," I say slowly, not believing it. "My dad doesn't know I exist. Ergo, his family doesn't know. My mum was a one night stand. And she didn't keep me long enough to name me even; she certainly doesn't know where I am."

Mario yells from the bed, “Is this important?”

“Go back to sleep,” I shout back. I throw the bottle of ibuprofen at him just in case.

Brennan peeks around me to Mario and sniggers. “Fun night?”

“Oh fuck off,” I mutter, flushing a bit. I enjoy sleeping with people, but I do hate how it gets around the school. Everyone knows everyone’s business here. “Focus. How did he find me?”

Brennan throws his hands up towards the ceiling. "Fuck if I know, but he claims to be your uncle and the door accepted him."

The doors were the only entrance to and from the school that anyone besides students could use. They were charmed to allow only family members and pre-agreed upon guests.

"He must have like cursed them or something," I say blankly. "There's no way."

"He knew your name- your full name- and, well, he looks an awful lot like you," Brennan said cautiously. "Different eyes and black hair isn't that odd, but dude, his face is like identical to yours. It’s fucking creepy."

I blink at him. "Glamour. Has to be."

He sighs. "The doors break glamour and Headmaster Willis checked them and the guy like three times. No glamour or curses or anything."

"But-"

"Just come down and talk to him," Brennan says, pleading a little. "It seems legit and think about it: this could actually be your uncle."

"It's a mistake," I say stubbornly. I don't have parents. I have Myda. She's enough. More than enough. I actually like her. She raised me. No faerie fuck is taking me away from her. Suddenly pissed that some interloper is coming in and trying to talk to me, my eyes narrow to slits. "Fine," I growl voice gone raspy. There's an edge of a low growl in my voice and I know I should control it, but I don't want to have an uncle, much less meet him.

Brennan eyes me warily. "Lock the demon down bro. No need to rip the guy's throat out or curse him, just because he's an asshole without a clue."

The reminder of what I could potentially do embarrasses me out of the beginning of the blood rage. That could be pretty bad. All I had to do was prove this guy wrong and tell him to fuck off. "Can you get Lonnie- uh, Silanos," I correct. I give him the room number and Brennan nods.

"He can help?"

I nod and start heading slowly down the stairs towards the first floor as Brennan races upwards, turning into a blur too fast to see as he zips up. Then he’s back down again. “Horns, bro. Don’t freak out the faerie fucks.”

I blink as he disappears into a blur again and reach up to my head. Huh, my horns are out and that means… I flex my wings and sigh. Argh, I hate doing this. I concentrate hard, first forcing my wings to sink back into my back and then forcing the horns back down. It stings, but it doesn’t hurt anymore, not like it used to.

I head downstairs as soon as everything’s tucked away. Brennan and Lonnie beat me down. They're stepping out of the elevator as I descend the last flight of stairs.

Lonnie gives me an anxious look. He's already tying back his long blue and white braids, pulling them away from his face, obviously guessing what I want from him. I smile anxiously at him and he smiles back, half-heartedly. The black outline of an eye in his forehead begins filling with color as he falls into step besides me as I race towards the main hall.

We stride inside, ignoring the grandeur, heading straight towards the small knot of people by the doors.

Lonnie grabs my hand and squeezes it briefly as the group turns and looks at us, nearly as one.

“Sinjin,” Headmaster Willis calls. He looks more harassed than usual. But I barely notice. My eyes are on the three fae with him- full blooded fae, not the half breed teacher standing next to Willis. Brennan was right. One of them is creepily similar to me in appearance. Minus the eyes of course, and his hair is significantly neater, not my crazy layered haircut, but otherwise, it’s scary. We could be… father and son. Weird. But no way, it has to be glamour. He’s pretending to be my uncle, right? Way too young. He looks more like my older brother or something. Not that I think he is or anything. Nope. I don’t have a blood family, just Myda.

“Hi,” I mutter at the dude who glamoured himself to look like me. “Who the fuck are you?”

Okay, so I could have been more polite, but what the fuck? Some guy just showed up and claimed he was my long lost uncle? Sure, I had fantasies like that when I was a kid, but now the very idea just pisses me off. I’m seventeen, I shouldn’t have to deal with shit like this.

The man tenses and suddenly he looks a lot older, more the age he probably should be to be my uncle or whatever.

He glares at me. “I am Caiden and according to my eldest brother, you are our nephew.”

Oh fuck it. I turn to Lonnie. The iris of his third eye has filled with blue. “Lonnie.”

“Shut up and let me concentrate,” he mutters, closing his eyes. The eye mark on his forehead pulses gently with light once and then glows steadily softly.

Lonnie’s half human, half angel, of all things. We should not get a long, but we totally do. Anyways, he knows very little about his angel powers, but from his mom, he inherited the third eye. He can see the past, present, and eventually, with training, he’ll be able to see the future on command. Right now he gets random flashes.

A few moments pass, in which I utterly ignore Cayden. Finally, he opens his eyes and his third eye stops glowing. The color begins to fade, leaving it a simple black line art again.

Lonnie grabs my shoulder and leans in. “He’s your uncle, bro,” he hisses.

“What the fuck? How‘d he…”

Lonnie hesitated.

“Spit it out,” I snap, dreading the answer. Lonnie doesn’t hesitate.

“Your dad’s dead,” he said softly.

I blink and then shrug it off. I’ll think about that later, if at all. It’s not like my father was a big part of my life. “Okay, so?”

“They cast a spell when a family member dies to hunt down any , uh-”

“Bastard children. Why after they die?”

“Err… respect for them, I guess. I dunno. Family tradition.”

“That’s fucked up.”

“They’re your family.”

I wince. Shit.

He makes an apologetic face. “Sorry bro. But they want you to come with them and be raised as their own. They know about the demon blood, but it’s a matter of honor apparently. And pride or something”

I sigh and turn back to Cayden, who’s glaring at me rather murderously.

“So my dad’s dead and you want me to go back with you to faerieland so I can be raised like a perfect little faerie son?”

Cayden blinks and nods, looking a tiny bit surprised.

Heh, I can fill blanks in too, asshole. And Lonnie’s magic is really fucking awesome.

“No.”

Cayden narrows his eyes at me. Ooh scary. The two stoic pure bloods him are actually scarier. They’re just like blank. And big. Not as tall as me- but then no blooded faerie really is- and not that muscular, but they have this aura of power around them and they’re so damn blank. They’re bodyguards. They’ve got big bad muscle stamped on their foreheads.

"Cayden," Headmaster Willis says, turning to the angry faerie. "May I have a moment alone with your nephew?"

His words are polite but his voice is steely. It's not really a question. Go Headmaster Willis. Heh.

Cayden nods once sharply, his long black hair bobbing with the movement. Ick. Guys with long hair need a pair of scissors. Seriously. Well, with the exception of Lonnie, but he has braids that are almost dreads and short dreads are weird so it works out, right?

He leaves, his two blood bodyguards going with him. All the half-breeds stay. So its really not private, probably just something that would offend the fairy fuck clai- my faerie fuck uncle. Aw man. Ew.

Willis sighs and looks directly at me, his slit-pupiled eyes focusing on me. "He's your uncle for sure?"

I shake my head rebelliously, but Lonnie nods.

"There's no way he could fake that," he says, frowning. "I can tell; faeries have tried before."

There's still no way. I just can't believe it. I mean, how could that be true? I've lived without my blood family for seventeen years. How could they just show up now?

Willis sighs. "I decided the same thing." He turns all his attention back on me. "Sinjin, you have to go with them."

I bristle instantly and I can feel my demonic side spiking, rising rapidly onto the surface. I stubbornly hold my horns and wings in; making them sink back into my body is a bitch. "I do not! I don't give a fuck if he's blood, I don't want to have anything to do with him!"

"Sinjin," Willis says with a heavy sigh. "I mean that literally. You have to. It's the law."

I just glare at him. It is technically the law- eighteen is the legal age here, just like in the human world- in that our legislature succeeded- but its stupid. I don't care if he is family.

"Myda never officially adopted you."

Argh! That's a fucking stupid argument. She tried, but they wouldn't let her! Her bloodlines are too "unstable." Feh. They just don't want a naga raising a demon.

"So what?" I snap, forgetting about controlling my temper. I barely notice my nails grow into claws, or horns extend from my skull. I certainly don't notice my nebulous wings snapping out. "She raised me! She took care of me when I was sick! For fuck's sake, she's the only reason I'm sane! I'm not going to the fucking faerie realms to be with some fucking full-blooded faerie because he has some fucked up idea of what's honorable! Myda's my family! My ONLY family!" I'm yelling by the time I'm done.

Willis glares at me and for a moment his eyes turn the green gold of a cat. His voice is low growl when he speaks, but his words are measured and soft. "I can't change the law, Sinjin. You have to go with your uncle until you are eighteen. Then you can return here."

I snarl at him and he snarls back, fangs sprouting from his mouth. His ears- rounded and pink, human- sprout fur and grown pointed.

"Both of you need to relax!" Miss Kyelis hisses softly.

Headmaster Willis's newly formed wolf ears fold flat against his head for a moment as he growls. The growl seems to wake him and I can see him through a haze of red, come back to himself, the hold of his beast relinquishing itself. His mother was a wolf hound in the Wild hunt. How exactly she had mated with a human was beyond me, but Headmaster Willis was the result. He was usually human but had an animal side, "the beast." He was basically an old school werewolf, like in old fairytales. Pretty bad ass actually. But his beast was a bit reactive. Needless to say, it was a bad idea to put a student with their own bestial side and him together when arguing. Like now. My demonic side isn't that nice.

But seeing Willis take control of his beast, makes me struggle to push mine down. I seem to be having trouble with it right now though. My horns won't sink back and my hands are still tipped in claws rather than rounded nails. My wings are gone though, sunk back into the delicate wing ridges that adorn my back.

Kyelis grabs my shoulder, slapping away my swipe at her and hisses into my ear, "Calm down.” Her voice is melodic and sing-songy, the words perfectly in tune notes.

Instantly, my horns are shrinking and my claws are retracting. Hmph. I hate when she does that. She’s part Encantado and can charm people faster than I can snap. She has to be speaking to do it, or rather singing, but that’s really not difficult. But I can’t get angry anymore and all my extras are gone. Damn. I kinda want to be a little angry.

Her hand stays on my shoulder as Willis sighs.

“Sorry,” he mutters.

“S’Okay,” I mutter back.

There’s a moment of awkward silence.

“Is there any way to contest the claim?” I ask, subdued.

He sighs and shakes his head.

“So I get absolutely no choice?”

Willis sighs. “How long until you’re eighteen?”

“Seven months,” I mutter. Dammit, why couldn’t I have been a preemie baby? I’d be closer to freedom.

“That’s not that long,” Willis points out softly.

I wince. Maybe not for him, but it certainly is for me. Seven months is like, like, a thirtieth of my life! Okay, so that’s not that long, but still. What am I supposed to do for seven months in the faerie hills?

Fuck, I need helping my demonic powers, not the faerie ones! Those aren't dangerous, not really. My demonic side is. I've gotten in a couple fights before and a couple have nearly ended in decapitations or dismemberment. I have no control when I'm like that. I've never killed anyone on accident, thank God, but if I hadn’t gotten help all those years ago, I certainly would have. I have a bit of a temper and my demonic side responds to that. Shitty ass stuff happens when I'm not really carefully.

And if I don't get better control, it’s only a matter of time until something really really shitty happens, like I kill someone. And then what do I do? I can't kill anyone. I think the guilt would eat me alive.

And when I’m me, completely in control, blood kind of grosses me out. I’m a good person fundamentally, see?

I once managed to cut my thigh open when trying to climb over a fence. I had to get stitches and it didn’t hurt that bad, but I made the mistake of looking. It was gross. I threw up.

Actually, that complete distaste of blood is really helpful in my situation. I call the trances I get into when I’m under control of my demonic side blood-rages which is what they are for demons, but I’m not really out for blood. Well, I am, but once I succeed, it usually shocks me back into myself. In one of those fights, the other guy was pretty good at magic and it turned into an all out physical brawl. I scratched the hell out of him and it was pretty deep. I barely got off him and away before tossing my cookies into a bush. That ended the fight and I ran to get a healer. Blood rage totally gone.

But, I mean, what if I had sliced open his throat instead of his arm? It would have killed him and there would be no way to bring him back.

And well, bloods piss me off. They’re all uppity, no matter the breed. Pure bloods suck. And fae are so uptight and easily insulted. I have a big mouth. And I’m not particularly well behaved. Manners do not come naturally to me. Plus, I know nada about their culture. I mean, I don’t know what counts as an insult and what can be punished and how. I mean, here, sometimes I just can’t help myself and will shout ‘Hey, nice ass’ at a hot guy. One guy decked me for it, but usually all I get is a grin or the finger. Would that be a fight worth a duel to the death? I know the fae sometimes challenge each other to one of those over an insult, but how insulting does the insult have to be? And what’s insulting?

Plus they have a crazy hierarchy. I’m super into equality. I’ve punched people for treating me like a ‘dirty half-breed.’ I broke a blood’s jaw once. A fae man actually. This is not going to end well.

And what if Cayden is like high fae? I’m equally bad with subordinates or anyone like that. Doormen make me uncomfortable.

And then I think of something that makes me pale and leaves me cold. “Um,” I mutter softly. “Headmaster Willis? Can I talk to you alone for a moment?”

“That’s probably not the best idea,” Willis admits.

Ooh, hard truth.

“Er, please?” I mutter, shifting from foot to foot. I can feel blood rushing to my face and filling me cheeks with red.

He looks me over and sighs before drawing me aside, out of ear shot, but close enough to see and intervene in case of another blow-up. “What?”

“What happens-” I mutter before stopping. Gah! This is hard to say. I clear my throat. “What happen if I go through a heat?”

“Oh,” Willis says, suddenly sympathetic.

Damn straight. He should be sympathetic. Heats suck. I’ve only gone through one and it sucked balls. Demons- blooded demons- go through heats. And that’s what is sounds like that. They literally go into heat like a female cat, except it’s both genders.

They need sex immediately and they need it a lot until the heat ends. Think sex marathon. Demons go through it once a year for a week after they hit puberty. It’s the same time for them every year.

I’ve gone through one heat. Haven’t had one since and I have no idea if I’ll ever have another or if it was a onetime thing, but it would really suck to go through a heat while in the faerie hills. Fae are weird about sex. I swear, they all have sticks up their asses and that’s not a metaphor.

I’m pretty sure I’m unattractive by fae standards. I don’t want to have to strike some  crazy deal with a fae so I can satiate the lust. Ew. Plus they all have long hair. All of them. I hate long hair on guys. Anything beyond like chin length is grody. With the exception of Lonnie, but he has braids that are almost dreads and short dreads are equally grody.

Willis shrugs. “Talk to-”

“Oh hell no!” What the fuck would I say? Hey person claiming to be my uncle. I’m part demon and I might go through a heat in which I’ll act like a sex starved, desperate incubus. I need either several partners or one that’s willing to go all night and day long and can take a bit of damage. Oh, and I’m gay so it has to be a dude. And can I please cut of his long hair that is seen as a status symbol in your culture? I find it icky.

Heh. Yeah. That’ll fly.

"Well, look at your options," Willis says calmly.

Dammit, this is not a moment for calm! If he's going to tell me to 'explore my options' he should have gone in for counselling, or self help books, dammit! Aren't headmasters supposed to be decisive and offer solutions? I mean really. How is 'look at your options' helpful? I don't exactly have many. I suppose I could try and lock myself in a room for the week. Huh. Actually, that might work. Or lock myself in the demonic realm in one of those nice little alcoves of theirs. Those are actually pretty cool. And then I could just hang out there for the time and hope no negative effects take place. I'm sure one of the demons would be willing to lock me in. They're always willing to torture people. And then when the heats over I could just transport myself back out, which isn't an option during because my mind is like literally blow by the heat- my mental capacity drops significantly. Now that could work. But what if-

"You're better equipped to find a solution than I am," Willis states calmly. "I don't know much about demons or their cycles. You know much more than me on what's feasible."

Uh, no I don't, bud. But he actually sort of has a point. Last time, when I went to Lonnie for help, he told me to 'control the urges.' I nearly slapped him. Well, actually, I did slap him. And then convinced him to help me out. And by convince, I mean I pretty much raped him. Whoops. But he was definitely not saying no and I did manage to control myself in time. But then he told me to go for it. Apparently he dug the horns and wings. Weird little angel thing. We should not get along, not with our bloodlines, but we're sort of way epic like that I guess.

I sigh and nod. I'll just have to check out books on the subject.

Willis sighed. "I guess we have to invite your Uncle back in."

"Or we can just leave him there," I say hopefully, smiling widely.

He grins at me, fangs catching the light.

---

He does invite the bloods back in though. Well, technically, I guess I should call him my Uncle and his bodyguards, but they're bloods, not family. That's been pretty ingrained by every blooded faerie- and demon for that matter- that I've ever met.

I agree to go under duress (Cayden threatens to call down all the law enforcement agencies in the country down on my head, the asshole).

He tells me I have one week to pack and say goodbye to my friends (and he gives Lonnie a really nasty, nasty look at that, the asshole) and that he will be back for me then. It’s not nice. It’s really, really not nice. It’s downright mean, in fact. I'm gonna miss these people, even if I only do not get to see them for seven months. I mean, I love my buddies. And Myda. Oh, I'm really gonna miss Myda. Even now, when I go home almost every weekend- every other weekend at the very least- I miss her. She really was the only person I talked to for literally four years besides doctors and nurses. I was a really fucked up kid and I never really got to know anyone else until I started high school. We're close. She's my mother, my sister, not quite my best friends, she's too strict for that- but we're close.

I glare at Cayden's back as he leaves, followed by his two blood bodyguards. As soon as the heavy entrance doors click shut, I scream, "Faerie fucks!" before turning and storming back up, Lonnie trailing behind a good couple of feet. My horns have popped out again and my wings are catching odd drafts as I race up the stairs, throwing off my balance. I nearly twist an ankle going up the last flight.

I usually don't have this much problem with control, but today seems to be a day for it. Bloods suck. How the hell am I supposed to live with these people?

Lonnie finally gives up on me saying anything to him as I go through the door to my room. He full-out tackles me, sending me to the ground.

I growl and try to spin, but he has me pinned. I can't turn around, can't swipe at him, nothing.

“Chill out!” he growls at me.

I snarl at him, but I can't buck him off. Dammit. He's as strong as a normal angel, and I'm not as strong as a normal demon. I have closer to a fae's strength, which, while stronger than a human, doesn't compare to angels and demons.

I finally just give up and go limp.

Lonnie snickers.

Ornery little bastard.

He gets off me and I blink when he starts puling me upright, and then I realize all my extras have sunk away. Wowzers. Cool. Huh. That shouldn't have made me less angry though.

"Did you do that?" I murmur.

He grins widely at me, flashing his blindingly white teeth. "Yep," he says cheerfully. "Turns out that angels have some control over demonic auras. While you've been practicing dimension hopping and failing miserably, I've been learning that and not failing miserably. On top of control of my second sight."

"Asshole," I mutter again. "It probably works vice versa too."

He loses his smile. "Yeah, actually." And then his smile is back in full force. "But you haven't learned it so nya-nya."

I smack his head lightly and he laughs at me and links his arm through mine, leading me back to my room. I realize only belatedly that Mario is still in there, but by then, Lonnie has snatched my key and is throwing open my door.

Mario just grins and waves. He's completely naked and lying in a rather inviting position on my bed, but looks completely unembarrassed. But then , he has absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about. Nothing. He's fucking well-endowed.

Lonnie laughs. "'Sup Mario? Fun night?"

Mario just nods, still looking languid and sated.

Lonnie chuckles and I feel myself flush a little. We've slept together on a some what regular basis since my first heat and he teases me pretty incessantly about my endurance. I have it. In abundance. And I don't know if it’s a demon thing that angels don't share or a faerie thing or just something I inherited from the demon and he didn't from the angels. The last seems most likely. Fae are pretty weird about sex; they're all prudes except for the ainmhain faeries. But angels and demons are almost identical species. They inhabit separate worlds technically, but they've overlapped for way longer than any of the others have. Way longer. They've been at war just as long. They're too similar in strengths, but very different in ideologies. And looks, but that's sort of moot. I've only read histories and such, so I can't really say anything else about them.

But, my comparative religion class has them pretty similar sounding to human popular culture. Demons are these long, emaciated things, always gray, but all different shades. I inherited the body type to some extent, but not the skin. I got so lucky in that. Demons are really weird looking. They all have long hair and tails, wings, horns, and pointed ears. Odd looking, but its kind of cool. I'm actually a little depressed I don't have a tail. I think it would be wicked awesome. Oh well, Janie, the only other demonic half-breed in the school, has a tail, but she only got hers recently so there's hope for me yet! I'm crossing my fingers. I really want a tail.

Lonnie grins and drops down in the bed next to him, wrapping an arm around Mario's shoulders before beginning to ask embarrassing questions. Oh my God, they've totally slept together. Man. The teasing for this is going to be intense.