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Whoot! here's chapter 6! hope you guys like it =) thank Ruth of Pern for editing

Chapter 6- Taint.

Erin woke up feeling very cold... she shivered. Lucas must have opened a window or something so she stretched her body and opened her eyes. She wasn't in Lucas' bedroom anymore... "Where am I?" she asked herself.

She was lying on what seemed to be a stone dais. There were no walls and the room looked like it was floating above the clouds. She realized that she was still wearing her nightgown and the wind tore through it. Shivering she wrapped her arms around her waist trying to preserve her body-heat. Not even her fur insulated her well. She sat their shivering for a few more minutes before she heard a familiar voice.

"You didn't bring the Codex wind-shifter, I'm disappointed."

She quickly turned and gasped. The man in front of her was amazingly beautiful. His features were vaguely humanoid instead of the typical animal features of a Fur. His skin was pale to the point it was nearly transparent. His ears were placed on the side of his head instead of at the top and he had massive feathery white wings on his back.

"Who... who are you...? You're that voice from earlier..." she questioned him. When he bent to touch her she flinched away. Annoyed the mysterious creature slapped her across the face causing her to yelp in pain.

"My name is Ishmael, and yes wind-shifter, I am the voice from earlier... when I called you I thought for sure you would have brought me the Codex, but you did not and so you must be punished." He snapped his fingers and Erin started jerking in complete agony her screams only made the creature... the angel smile even more. He kept up the punishment for several more minutes before he was satisfied. He watched as the young girl curled up into a ball gasping for air. Her pretty white fur was stained with sweat.

"Please, no more..." she begged, hoping to appease the angel in front of her. The Angel only shook his white haired head and smirked.

"I will give you another chance wind-shifter... you will bring me that Codex... or else something terrible will happen to you and your family... your brother looks like he would be a good slave."

Erin growled at that, "Why do you want the Codex? And why do you keep on calling me 'Wind-Shifter'?"

Ishmael just chuckled at that, "What I want the Codex for, is my own secret... and you don't know what you are, do you child?"

"Of course I do... I'm Erin Mason, daughter of Evan and Marie Mason, I live in Bayfield British-Columbia in the Metro Vancouver area..."

Ishmael interrupted her with an icy laugh, "So foolish, you have no idea what you really are... how sad. But child I am here to help you realize you're potential."

Erin just glared at the angel, "Why do you want to help me? I don't want your help... you attacked us and even worse you threatened my brother! What do you want from me?" Erin yelled.

"Ah, so you're a defiant little thing... I plan on making you my servant... You have so much potential Wind-shifter... I can teach you many things..." Ishmael told her with a sadistic grin. "I can give you so much power child. All I ask is for you to give me that Codex."

"I don't want power! I want to go home!" Erin shouted again. "Please... let me go home..."

Ishmael scowled and slapped her again. He laughed at her yelp of pain and grabbed her muzzle forcing her to look into his cold grey eyes, "I'll tell you something child. You're beloved brother is dying... when my servant bit him he infused the boy with angelic essences... such energy is incompatible with your brothers body... it is literally eating him from the inside out... I give it about another day before it spreads to his heart. I've heard it is a quite a painful way to die," he smiled evilly at the horrified look on the girls' face, "But I can save him..." He told her.

"Please! I'll do anything!" she begged. "Please, do whatever you can to fix Luc." She said kneeling in front of him.

"Get my the Codex... and I will personally remove the taint from his blood... but if you fail he and all those you care about will die and you will have to live with the fact you let them die. Oh yes you will live I will make sure you survive the massacre."

Erin shivered... she had no choice... she had to save Luc. What was one book to the life of her brother? "I-I accept... I will bring you the Codex... only if you swear that you will keep your own end of the bargain..." An idea came into her head. She had no idea where it came from but it made so much sense. "Swear on the River Styx that you will."

Ishmael looked towards her in shock but sighed, "Very well child, I swear on the River Styx... and to aid you in your mission I will give you a sample of my power..."

"Very well..." Erin said letting the power surge through her. She gasped in pain as the angel smiled.

"Oh look, looks like your power has finally been awakened..." He said as Erin passed out blackness consuming her.

~~~~

Lucas woke up suddenly his arm was searing. The pain that was once localized towards the bite had spread through his entire arm from his shoulder all the way to his fingers. Any slight movement would cause him to cry out in agony. Getting dressed was going to be hard... He struggled taking his pants off he had slept without a shirt last night having never put his back on. He also took of his underwear exposing his sheath. He noticed he was dripping a bit his penis poking out of it. He sighed though he had no time to take care of it and quickly found a change of underwear and put it on.

He then reached for his uniform hanging on the wall. He put on the pants first. Putting them on was kinda tricky with one working arm but he managed it, he then grabbed his white dress-shirt and pulled it over his head. Putting his injured arm through the sleeve was extremely painful and took a while, but he finally got it in. He then stuffed it into his pants and zipped and buttoned them with a bit of trouble. He then fixed his tie which was pretty tricky with one arm. Last was his jacket, and it was definitely the hardest thing to fix. After about ten minutes of struggling he managed to get his hurting arm though the sleeve and managed to somehow get it buttoned. After he finished dressed he noticed Erin was no longer in the room and his heart started pumping fast. He quickly exited the room and found himself in the main room of the loft.

"Erin where are you?" he yelled. He was about to yell again before he heard Erin's voice come from her own room.

"I'm in here brother!" she called as she walked out. She had already gotten dressed in her own uniform and was straightening her ascot, "Geez brother calm down... I woke up early and got dressed," she said walking up to him, "How's your arm?" she asked.

"It's good..." he lied but she saw right through it and frowned.

"It is definitely not fine! Can you even move it?" she demanded.

He sighed and shook his head, "Not really no... it hurts when I try... getting dressed was hell..." He told her and she sighed something seemed to be bothering her and he couldn't figure out what. "Are you okay Erin?" he asked and she smiled and nodded her head.

"Yeah, why do you ask? I'm not the one with the useless arm... hey do you think I can take a peek at that Codex?" she asked him randomly.

He gave her an odd look at that she had never taken interest in the book before... why now?

"Why? You've never shown interest in it before! And besides if what Ian said was true that book is dangerous I don't want you around it... not until I can figure out how to make it work." He was curious about the runes... maybe he could get them to work for him... if they sourced magic outside the body theoretically he could use it...

"Aw, come on! Please?" she begged and he gave a long suffering sigh. Erin could never take no for an answer.

"No Erin, not until I can figure out if it's safe or not," he told her. "Do you think you can get breakfast done? I know today is supposed to be my turn but I can't cook with one arm..." He noticed the worried look on her face and shrugged it off, "Don't worry Erin. I'll go to the hospital afterschool I promise," he told her.

She just sighed and quietly agreed. Once he was sure she was on downstairs he quickly grabbed his bag and ran to the library after a few minutes of searching he found the Codex and stuffed it into his bag. He had a feeling it would be best to keep it near him. After he was finished he walked downstairs and into the kitchen and was shocked to see Ian and the others sitting down at the table.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked.

"Erin let us in, we were standing outside and she invited us in... how's the arm?" Ian said with a huge grin.

Lucas just blushed and looked away from the wolf's green eyes.

"My arm is hurting pretty bad... can't hardly move it... going to the hospital after school and see what they can do about it..." he muttered.

Ian looked concerned about his arm, "I could take you to a healer... I think a Mage could figure out what's wrong..." he offered but Lucas just shook his head.

"No offense but I'd rather go to a doctor... I don't know anything about Mage healers..." Lucas said letting Ian down kindly. "Beside... I'm a mundane right? How do I know they wouldn't mind-wipe me or something?"

"Because I wouldn't let them," Ian said standing up, "Anyone who would try to mind-wipe you will have to go through me!" he snarled looking Lucas right in the eye, "I'll keep you safe! You're my little buddy after all. Trust me Kit, no harm will come to you as long as I'm around."

The intensity in those words made Lucas flush bright pink. He was unable to look at the other boy for several minutes and didn't notice that he had moved up close and was surprised when Ian gave him a huge hug. He was almost completely enveloped by the Wolf's much larger body.

"Tha-thanks Ian... I appreciate it... but I don't want you to get into trouble over me..." Lucas stammered slightly.

He felt Ian chuckle a bit before speaking, "You're worth any trouble Kit..." he said before planting a good one on Lucas' muzzle.

The fox just stiffened somewhat and grabbed onto the wolf's stocky frame trying to keep himself from falling as his knee's went weak, 'Really, weak knees; what am I a school-girl?' Lucas thought sarcastically to himself. The kiss continued for several minutes until Lucas broke it off... he really needed to breathe.

"You're a pretty good kisser Lucas," Ian told him with a dopey smile causing Lucas to roll his eyes a bit.

"Um... thanks? You really should stop kissing me without giving me a warning though... this is what? The fourth time you done that in a span of less than two days..." he said trying to wiggle out of Ian's grasp but the tall wolf refused to let him go, "Come-on Ian let me go..." He told the stocky wolf.

"Okay, and sorry about that ... but you're just so kissable," Ian teased causing Lucas' blush to deepen. He then looked away from the Fox. "I like you a lot you know..." he said blushed causing Lucas to smile.

"I like you too... but let me go... the others are staring at us."

Ian looked away from Lucas' face and noticed that the others were looking at them with varying degrees of emotion. Erin was giggling a bit and Richard was snickering while Greg was just rolling his eyes. He blushed a bit and finally let Lucas go.

"Now that you guys are done let's eat!" Erin hollered as she put down several plates of pancakes on the table. The boys all dived into their plates quickly devouring it. Erin laughed a bit seeing them act like ferals. Lucas was the messiest eater only being able to use one arm.

After everyone was finished Erin quickly gathered all the plates off the table and into the sink. "So... I guess riding bikes are out... we are walking today huh?" Erin stated.

Ian nodded his head, "Yeah we didn't bring our bikes today... so were fine with walking right guys?" Ian asked and the two nodded.

"Right! Let's get to school!" Erin said as she grabbed her bag and walked out the door. Lucas also grabbed his own bag he winced realizing he picked it up with his injured arm. He managed to suppress a painful moan but Ian seemed to notice it.

"You okay man?" he asked and Lucas just shook his head.

"Yeah I'm good... just I picked up my bag with my bad arm... I'll be okay, don't worry," he replied blushing. He looked away before he asked something that he had been wondering about for a while, "Of all people you could've befriended, why me? I'm a nobody, a 'freak' I'm not that good looking, nor am I very fit... What would someone like you want with a nobody like me?"

He felt Ian angrily grab him forcing him to look into the wolf's eyes, "Don't ever sell yourself short like that ever again Lucas! I swear to the Gods! You're smart, you have a good heart underneath all that ice and I honestly think you are the cutest kid I've ever seen... I meant it when I said I cared about you," he stated.

Lucas just looked down unable to handle the emotion from Ian's green eyes and only uttered a small, "Thank you."

"Tis' no problem Kit... if I may ask did someone hurt you? Is that why you're so afraid to open up?" Ian asked him.

"I don't want to talk about it..." was all Lucas said. He was afraid Ian would leave him... He didn't want his baggage to drive away the only person who made an effort to be kind and friendly to him.

"That's alright mate, we just met I shouldn't be so forceful," Ian said looking down.

"No, it's me... You are probably the first person besides Erin and my mother who actually seems to like me... pathetic as it sounds I'm scared I'll scare you away with my baggage..." Lucas said shyly.

"I won't leave you Lucas, trust me on that... you won't drive me away anytime soon. I want you to open up though... but I understand it will take a while... come-on let's head to school!" he said as he walked out the door. Lucas followed him in silence.

After they all gathered they began a brisk jog towards school and Lucas found himself struggling to keep up, "Hey! Slow down!" Lucas managed he could hardly breathe.

Ian and the others slowed down after that. Greg seemed happy that for once he wasn't the first one to tire out. After about a minutes rest, they ran the rest of the way and by the time they made it to the school Lucas felt like he was about to throw up. He leaned up against a streetlamp trying to catch his breath. Ian just stood next to him and he didn't even seem short of breath. 'Bastard,' Lucas thought to himself annoyed.

"You okay bud?" he asked with an almost amused tone and Lucas just flipped him off still trying to regain his breath. Eventually when his lungs stopped feeling like they were going to explode he managed to let out an, "I'm okay."

They eventually split up, each of the going to their lockers. Once Lucas reached his own he looked around checking if anybody was going to sneak up on him. Once he was sure he was alone he turned around and opened his locker

"Hello Mason," he heard a voice causing him to yelp and jump a few inches off the ground turning around grabbing his heart he saw Allison was standing behind him.

"Don't do that!" he told her, "You nearly gave me a heart-attack! How did you sneak up on me anyway? I was for sure the hallway was empty." He had still not gotten used to Allison's habit of showing up in the strangest places...

"I apologize... how is your arm?" she asked looking pointedly at his limb right arm...

"It's fine... nothing is wrong..." Lucas tried lying... he wasn't sure what he was going to tell the doctors... telling the truth would probably wind up sending him to an asylum... Allison only glared at him causing him to gulp.

"You are a horrible liar Mason, now please explain why you were attacked by Angels..." she stated.

His mouth just dropped... 'How did she know that?'

"Are you a Mage like Ian?" he asked her confused. She just shook her head.

"No I'm not a mage... however I'm very good with sensing people's chi alignment... the angel taint is messing with your alignment..." she explained making Lucas even more confused.

"Chi alignment? What are you talking about?" he asked her.

"It doesn't matter, however what does is the fact that if you allow that taint to stay any longer in your body you will die..." Lucas visibly paled at that. He didn't want to die, he was only sixteen! "Doctors will not be able to help you and I'm afraid neither would any Mage Healers... I however can help get rid of it."

"No thank you... I'll try my luck with the doctors," he said trying to let her down gently but she grabbed his uninjured arm and forced him to look into her glaring eyes. When she spoke her voice was very low and it made the fur on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Listen to me Mason! That taint will continue to spread until it reaches your heart! Your death will be very slow and very agonizing... the taint is eating away at your body from the inside out... I am trying to save your life!"

Lucas just blinked. Allison was really starting to scare him somewhat. She eventually let him go before... "Hello Mansfield, Moore good to see you both." Lucas jumped he hadn't noticed that Ian and Greg had walked up towards them. Ian was glaring at Allison but she only looked back completely unfazed by the tall wolf's glare.

"What's going on? Why were you grabbing onto Lucas?" he asked.

"Mason has been tainted by angels... if I do not remove it he will surly die within the next few days when it reaches his heart... I can help him... but now we should all head to class... You will come with me afterschool Mason, best not let that taint spread any more... good bye Mansfield, Mason and Moore," she said before walking off leaving all three boys confused.

Well, THAT was interesting wasn't it?" Ian half-joked, that girl had gotten even stranger... "But I'd take her up on that offer... that angel taint sounds like nasty stuff..." Greg just nodded a bit and soon enough the trio began walking to class. "I just realized something... why are you carrying that Codex around?"

"How did you know I had the Codex?" Lucas inquired curious. Ian just shrugged.

"I just sensed the magic from it... its faint, so I doubt it's been activated yet..."

"Activated?"

"Means it's in a dormant state... the magic within it is sealed... Which is good I'd hate to see what havoc that thing would cause if it was active... but come-on let's go to class... you never answered me though... why did you bring the Codex to school?"

"I didn't want it out of my sight... knowing that those angels' wants it makes me unwilling to leave it home..." Lucas told the wolf, "So, do you think I should take Allison up on her offer?" he asked.

Ian thought about it for a second before he decided to answer, "I don't trust her, but if what she said was true, she's the only person able to help... and since I don't want you to die... yeah I think you should..."

Greg also spoke up, "I wonder how she knew about your attack though..."

"Said something about chi... she didn't really elaborate... but I guess I'll figure out after school..." He said as they began to walk through the halls to their homeroom.