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Ariel let her magic flood every single cell of her body. The magic warmed her body from the inside out. She could feel her fire. Glowing and burning within her. She had been reading her book. She knew so much more of her history than she had ever thought would be possible to know. After her mother had left Ariel had asked endlessly to know more about her mom. All she ever heard was the same few details that the social worker had provided in Ariel's file. 

She wasn't no one. She never had been, Ariel opened her eyes, sending a helix of fire up into the sky from her one good hand. A glorious smile on her face she watched her fire light up the night sky and the area around herself. A beautiful swirling spiral tower of fire and power and it was all hers.

Ariel felt nearly mad on the power coursing through her body. She might not be able to run, but she could burn any who dared to try and hurt her ever again. Ariel looked up into the sky, watching the ribbons of fire magic as they danced for her.

Changing the shape of the helix. Adding new ribbons of fire and making them perform for her pleasure to see the fire against the night sky. Ariel made first two, then four, then dozens of ribbons of flames rippled across the sky in a fire ballet of her own design.

Ariel watched her ribbons of flame dance against the dark starlit sky. Until they vanished. The dark closed in around Ariel. There was no natural light here and no light from anything electrical in the quarry. Only the reflected light from the moon was present.

Ariel let the dark creep in, Let the darkness hide Binh, and Alex and August and even Three Hours Past Midnight were hidden from her. When the dark was all she could see. She closed her eyes, feeling her magic, taking a deep breath in. Ariel let loose.

A fire ball the size of an RV burst forth, lighting the entire quarry as she launched it into the sky where it exploded into a million firefly sized sparkling embers like a firework, until they too burned themselves out. Binh ran at demon speed towards her the moment she had launched the behemoth fireball.

He had never seen one that size before in his life. That had been too much magic, she was going to burn herself out. Binh was worried he had been foolish thinking he could help her learn her magic. Then he had looked at her as she watched the fireworks she had morphed the fireball into. He had never once seen her smile like she was now.

She looked at Binh, eyes shiny with unshed tears and a joyous smile on her face, "Did you see that!?" She asked him excitedly. Her magic humming thick around her. She needed to learn to shield her magic from others. No wonder the witch had kept Ariel leashed and drained for years. There was more magic in her than he had estimated.

Of course, the pups started to run back towards them when they saw Binh next to their mate. Ariel's eyes darted to each side, Three Hours Past Midnight had let her know the moment they had left their respective posts. Bad dogs have such a hard time sticking to complaints.

Binh watched mischief grow in her eyes, she snapped her fingers on her good hand and a ring of fire eight feet high circled around them. Hiding them from prying eyes outside and preventing the twins from getting close to her. "They don't listen very well." Ariel whispered to Binh, Three Hours Past Midnight keeping watch outside. Binh only nodded his head. Not his place to coax her through whatever emotions she currently had regarding the twins who had the same intelligence level as a fence post shared between them.

Binh watched Ariel as she looked where she exactly knew where August was standing still, then the other side of her firewall ring where Alex was shifting from foot to foot impatiently. "They still make me anxious," she admitted, mumbling to herself that they were unnaturally tall. Ariel's stomach rumbled, causing her to lose focus and a bubble formed in her perfect firewall, circling round the perimeter once before she it returned to a solid wall. "I'm Hungry?" Ariel told Binh, she was more than hungry, she felt like her body would eat itself it was so starved for energy.

Binh smiled, she was finding her stamina limit, it was impressive how long she was holding her wall of fire. "A late snack? With or without the puppies?" The demon offered her. Watching her consider what she wanted, her firewall beginning to show signs of faltering.

"With? I feel bad about the hair. . ." She said, the lie sounding lame, well not exactly a lie. She did feel bad, but really, she was curious to talk to them in person. In a safe place on her terms.

Binh nodding his head as he spoke, "No jumping from the car this time?" He made her promise. She snapped her fingers and the wall dropped in an instant. The twins jumped over the hot ground and were beside her seconds later.

Both squawking at her, asking if she was ok, that she looked tired, or telling her how amazing her magic was. Ariel held up her hand. "We are going to grab something to eat, you can follow and join us if you want." Looking back at Binh, who instantly knew her subtle signal and began to push her wheelchair back towards the car.

The twins quickly fell in step behind. Switching to now squawking about how much they wanted to join her, thanking her for the invitation. Binh could only see the back of her head as he pushed her back towards the car, but he knew she was smiling.

Now that Binh had seen her very first time letting loose with her magic, he had deep reservations about keeping her in the city. She was far stronger than he had estimated. The oldest vampire in town had enjoyed a taste of her blood, and a dark witch who had evaded The Council possibly still hunting her; His odds of actually being able to keep her safe were diminishing as he reconsidered the added information.

A large, rural pack, on the other side of the country, with a robust perimeter ward, regular patrols and guards. Never mind the diverse population where there had to be at least one witch who could actually help Ariel master her power and the skills a modern witch needed to stay safe. Binh hated that he was smart enough to calculate the odds so thoroughly in his mind, and that the damn pups were coming out as assets now.

Binh manoeuvred Ariel into his car while August and Alex continued to talk over each other at her. Once Binh had closed her door, this time marking a lock rune to seal the door to the car body. He knew August saw the subtle gesture and knew. Alex was oblivious. Once the wheelchair was back in the trunk, Binh turned to look at both of them, letting the mask of his demon show as he taunted the twins, "Try and keep up." Teleporting himself into the driver's seat and taking off at a slightly risky speed without putting Ariel in any possible danger. This was just for fun. 

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