"The blood," Rikka shuddered. "I can't watch."

The others heard them and got nervous. They watched in anticipation of something to happen. Instead, Invictus just shrunk. He shrunk and shrunk until he was Ace's size, and his hair returned to its original red. His brown eyes turned blue and his skin became lighter. Ace stood, surrounded by a broken wall with a gaping hole, shattered glass, a dead man, and his team members. He was sweaty and exhausted, feeling like he was about to collapse.

   "I'm so hungry," Ace whispered. "I want some meat... Burger or something."

"Nothing happened," Rikka said in disbelief. "No blood?"

Amy gripped Mark's arm in fear and Mark glared at Ace with suspicion.

"How long have you been able to do that," Mark asked.

"I...must have a second ability I never knew about," Ace lied. He laughed nervously, and it was obvious no one believed him.

"Only like one in ten million have a second ability," Amy screamed. "You're lying!"

  "I don't think he's lying," Casey whispered.

Casey was a quiet man and rarely spoke. When he did, everyone seemed to listen. He was the few of them that rarely fought with the others, and they all respected him. He passed his verdict over Ace, and everyone started to believe his lie.

  Levi watched as Ace stumbled past them and into the ballroom. He walked over to find Candice, but her body was nowhere to be found. Levi didn't think there was anything different about Ace compared to everyone else in the group. All their abilities could evolve, but his didn't. Yet here he was, with a celestial, and Levi had no idea how Ace had got his hands on it. Levi understood why his father asked him to watch Ace, that all along he must have suspected.

"Where is she," Ace screamed. "What did they do to her!?"

   "She left," Fenton groaned. He was wheezing, sitting on the floor, still trying to keep the window from cracking. "Ace, I don't think I'm gonna make it," he wheezed.

  Ace was too preoccupied with wanting to find the dead body of the woman who simply wanted to consume his very soul, instead of the living and breathing person that almost died to save his life.

  "Fenton, there is no way she got up and left," Ace shouted.

"I'm not lying", he wailed. "Why don't you ever believe me about her? She went up the stage!"

  Ace climbed up onto the stage and searched the back. There he found Candice alive and breathing. She was grunting, moving all her bones back into place, shuddering with every placement.

 "Candice," Ace whispered.

 She looked up from the floor and smiled.

"Hey sweetie," she replied.

 Candice tried to come up with a good lie, but she couldn't. Before she could get up to kill them all, Ace sat next to her on the floor and took her in his arms. Candice was surprised by the sudden act of intimacy and blushed.

"I was so afraid," Ace said. "You never listen to me, Candice."

"I, I'm sorry," she stammered.

  Ace took his time, inspecting her and she shivered in disgust.

"What are you doing," she asked.

  "I'm making sure you're fine," he exclaimed. "I thought you died!"

Candice sat still as he checked every part of her, making sure that she was real, that it wasn't a trick. Once satisfied, he smiled and held her close once more. Candice was flustered, trying to remind himself that he was just temporary.

  He kissed her forehead and played with her hair, telling her that he wanted to always be with her, and many other things. Candice gripped his shirt and just sighed. She leaned into him and felt something strange. Something different.

"You've changed," she mumbled. "You're different now."

She looked up at him and draped her arms around his shoulders.

 "Don't ever leave me again," she said.

  They kissed, and Ace held her by the waist. They gave each other sloppy wet kisses and refused to stop, not caring if it was entirely inappropriate, or if there were more important things. They had both nearly died, and Ace wanted to spend every moment touching her as much as possible. She moaned as he kissed her neck and she relaxed, wanting more. She would not get more as Levi found them in the back, kissing and groping each other.

Levi stared at them like a dead fish and Ace turned red, but Candice glared at him, upset that she was denied her moment of pleasure. Ace quickly let go of her waist, pretending as if nothing had happened.

"Get lost," Candice said.

  "The… reinforcements are here," Levi said awkwardly. "The escaped passengers called for help."

They stared at each other, the sounds of the people crying and strange banging in the background the only noise, and they all knew that something was not quite right.

  "Why are you alive," Levi whispered. "We saw you die. You died."

"I control the dead," Candice explained in a mocking tone. "I can't die. That's impossible."

Ace nodded vigorously, believing whatever lies that came out of her mouth. Unlike everyone else, he didn't need to die first for her to control his body and mind.

  Levi wagged his finger, tapped his foot, and had a look of exasperation on his face, upset that they were both trying to play off that she had died and returned.

 "That, that does not sound right," he said. "There is something else going on here."

  "You're just jealous," Candice snarled.

"I do not want you," Levi said, stretching his words out as if she could not understand him. "I already told him this."

"Oh, I know that," she cooed. "I've seen the way you look at Ace."

Levi made a strange noise and closed his eyes. His ears burned and he promptly just walked away, no longer wanting to be harassed.

  "Stop it, Candice," Ace grumbled. "It's not like that."

"You're too nice," she said.

They got up from the ground and she took his hand, squeezing it gently, happy that her prized possession was still alive, and now ready for her to finally kill.

"If you leave me for him I'm killing both of you," she said.

She was serious.

She would do it and was planning the various ways to do so at that very moment.

  Ace thought she was joking and laughed, and she laughed along with him. Ace thought it was funny that she thought he would leave her for Levi, of all people. Candice thought it was funny that he thought he could leave her at all.

"I would rather eat my fist first," Ace snickered.

  They exited the stage and reinforcements were in the ballroom. Someone else had come to take Fenton's place, sealing the crack in the window and he was finally released from his torture. The paramedics clapped as he stumbled to stand, complimenting him for his bravery, saving everyone on board. The clapping just hurt his head, as it sounded like a drum. They helped him get medical attention, and everyone on Team 57 turned to look at Candice.

"She died," Ryle shouted. "We all saw it!"

"She can't die," Santos explained. "Roaches are stronger than they look."

Everyone snickered.

"I will kill you," Candice said coolly. "Not today but eventually."

She meant it and again started planning which one of them to kill first.

"No one is killing anyone for the rest of the day," Levi shouted. "That's enough! No more!"

Candice genuinely looked disappointed upon hearing the edict of King Levi, King of the Vapid, Rich Idiots.

  He stomped off to find Rikka. She was with David, and she watched them cart him away, in a black bag, like a piece of meat, just like all the other bodies.

"The other one got away, the religious idiot," Rikka told Levi. "We need to find him and make him pay."

"Don't worry. We can find someone for that."

They would.

Their strange family bonded over the worst of things that no normal family should, and Levi assured her that if they couldn't find someone to take care of it, he would take care of it himself, as another birthday present, don't worry about it. She nodded and started to cry again, and he held her, but his mind was preoccupied with what to do with the witch and her idiot that were going to eventually get his other idiots killed.

Levi's idiots were still congregating together, checking if they were okay, and most of them were avoiding Candice, because, of course, no one believed the lie except for Ace. A few of them were still distrustful of them, but Gabriel was more concerned about Santos.

  Gabriel looked at Santos quite differently. Santos noticed that ever since he sprouted wings, Gabriel was quiet.

"You need something," Santos grunted.

"Yes," Gabriel said. "How did you do this?"

He gestured at his entire body wildly, as if it was some kind of mess that needed to be cleaned. Santos rolled his eyes and replied, "I was born like this." It was not a lie, but again, no one believed a word he said, the truth stranger than fiction.

Gabriel didn't believe him. He didn't trust him. Just like Billy his faith gave him insight. He knew inside his bones and the core of his tiny little soul that two monsters were walking among them, and he wanted to know what he was.

"In all the time I've seen you around campus, I've never seen you do this," Gabriel said.

"Didn't need to."

"You're hiding something! No sinner like you can be a servant of the Lord."

"I'm not," he chuckled. His face suddenly went serious and his voice deadpan. "So, drop it."

Gabriel glared at him, considering what he should do to him. In his mind, killing Santos might be worth going to hell for, to save all their souls from damnation. Gabriel sighed and simply left with everyone else, happy to have the entire ordeal over with, and tried to stop letting his anger get to him. He didn't want to turn into a monster like Santos.

  Walking away from another useless altercation, he felt something weird, hot on the back of his neck and he looked back. Candice was glaring at him. Instead, what he saw was a grotesque monster, its All-Seeing Eye looking right into his warped little soul. He shuddered and suddenly she reappeared, back to her regular self.

  "What's wrong," Harmonia asked.

  "N-nothing," Gabriel stammered. "Nothing's wrong."

Gabriel kept his eyes in front, no matter how hard he felt someone was watching him.

Candice watched him, deciding he would be her next victim.