• “Raven?” He jolted slightly then glanced up at his twin,
    “Yeah?”
    “Are-are you okay?” Raven took a deep breath and then let his head fall back onto the pillow, gazing out the hospital window. Beneath the bandages his wound icthed insistently and he rubbed above the bandages, trying to ease the annoyance. Evean’s brow furrowed in sympathetic pain and he scrubbed at his own eye.
    “Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks Ev.” Raven kept his gaze on the street below and soon Evean, a cold satisfaction in his brother’s pain, left, leaving Raven alone in his hospital bed. Drifting in and out of sleep, he thought about Evean. He knew his brother blamed Raven’s fiancée, a marriage arranged at birth, for his injury but he also knew that Evean would use this injury to justify his long standing hatred of Raven. With a sigh Raven moved to lay on his side, squeezing his hands tightly together, trying to block out the numb pain behind the bandages. “Ev, it’s not her fault,” he murmured, “It’s yours.” And before he fell asleep, he ran his tongue along the tips of his canines and thought about how thirsty he was.

    Evean collapsed onto his bed, thinking about Raven and the hospital. He’d looked so calm but Ev knew he was fighting something inside him. ‘It’s the Hunger,’ he realized slowly ‘Rave has the Hunger now.’ His own Hunger had come earlier in the year, making him thirst constantly. But it had brought something else too and Evean shuddered with delight.
    “Ev?”
    He sat up sharply and stared at the little girl standing in his doorway
    “Is Raven o-”
    “Shut up, you little tramp!” he snarled, cutting her off and making her flinch.
    “This is all your fault anyways! Why do you even care?!”
    “It’s not my fault! You were the one playing with Uncle B’s knives!” Evean’s face went pale with rage and he leapt at her, hands reaching for her pale throat. She screamed and backed out the door just ahead of his fingers, slamming the door.
    “You did it to him! You-you made me do it! Its you fault!!” he howled slamming his fist against the door, “Your fault.” He slid down the door to sit on the floor, pressing his face to the door, “Not mine. It’s all your fault, Kat.”

    Kathrina flew down the stairs, bare feet silent on the marble, stopping only when she stood outside the door to her room. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest part in fear and she took a deep breath, trying to calm down. She glanced back up the stairs, tears forming and falling before she could wipe them away. Scrubbing at her eyes to stop the flow, she pushed open the door.
    “Kat?” her older brother Kite sat on her bed, reading an old book that their late mother had given them. Kat froze in the doorway, staring at him for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and bursting into tears. Kite sat, stunned for a second and Kat rushed him, throwing her arms around his chest, sobbing into his shirt.
    “What’s wrong, Kat?”
    “E-Evean! He-he said it was my fault Rave got-got hurt!” she sobbed clutching his shirt, “A-and its n-n-not! It’s his fault! He-he’s the one who threw the knife at Raven!” Kite stared down at her head “He what?! Why would he do that?”
    “Be-because Raven said he was going to marry me when we grew up!” she wailed, starting to sag to the floor. Kite scooped her up and tossed her onto the bed, before jumping up next to her. Burrowing her head in pillows, she pulled her legs to her chest. Kite frowned,
    “Did you tell Uncle Birchwood what happened?” shaking her head, she mumbled, “Ev said that if I told…he- he would kill Raven.” Kite gaped at her then went red with anger
    “What is wrong with that brat?! He’s been weird ever since last summer when that gardener was murdered!” they sat in silence for a while before Kite said “Well there was no reason for him to get so upset. Its obvious that I’M going to marry Raven.” Kat sat bolt up right sending pillows flying
    “No your not! I am!” she shouted, cheeks pink and no longer crying. Kite smiled at her “There. Now you feel better don’t you?” He wiped traces of tears from her cheeks and she smiled at him, nodding. “But I really am going to marry Raven.” He said matter-of-factly. And she smacked him with a pillow.