Hi, NorthernMage here with chapter 1 of Daughters of Darkness, the sequel to The Scythita Sisters! Before I begin, I will simply say: Sorry everyone! I just needed a break from constant writing and uploading, not to mention I wanted to make sure I did a good job on this story, and that means I have to make sure everything is perfect, and I wrote this chapter while listening to Snowfall by Approaching Nirvana, which got kinda annoying after a while, but I bought the song especially for this chapter ages ago, and I wasn't going to not use it. Anyway, lets get into the chapter!

Zirdrak: NorthernMage doesn't own Mortal Instruments or Soul Eater.

General POV

Like a shadow in the night, the woman's black scythe, with a thin blue line near the top going lengthwise, sliced the kishin, and it howled as it turned into a soul. She picked it up and placed it in her bag which she had dropped upon entering. Footsteps came up behind her.

'Is that all of them?' She turned to see her younger sister, Angel, who shouldered a black scythe with tens of twinkling blue dots, like stars, strewn throughout the blade. 'Thats all of them.' Daena confirmed. 'Have you picked up all the souls?' Angel nodded. 'Though I don't see why. We're not weapons, so we can't eat them.' 'Well, technically we could, but there'd be no telling what would happen to us. Most likely we'd become worse than Asura, the first kishin, and destroy the world. However, I already have a plan for these souls.' She tightened the string on her bag, sealing it shut. 'We have to head back to the town. Back there we can rest.' Angel nodded as she checked around for any stray kishin. 'You know, it's been two months since we left.' 'Left Death City?' Daena asked, mentioning the city they had both lived in for a time while at the DWMA. 'Yeah. Sometimes I hope that we never have to go back.' 'Why?' 'All the friends I made, including Spiara, would attack me on sight now. They're pretty powerful and even both of us together probably couldn't take them.' 'I highly doubt that.' 'Oh, so you take on a teenage grim reaper regularly?' 'No, but I have a feeling Lord Death wouldn't allow them to kill us. Let's go, we need to get back to the town before dark.' The two sprinted into the fading light, simply black silhouettes against a pink-orange sky.

Daena's POV

As we reentered the isolated town we had left in the early hours of the morning, I thought with bristling anger towards Death City. They were so quick to judge, and rarely forgave. Angel kept walking ahead of me even as I stopped. After a few moments, she realised. 'Daena, where are you going?' 'Just wait here for a moment.' I told her. 'I'll be back in a minute.' With that I darted deep into the dank alleys, looking for a certain group.

A few minutes later and I found Clary on guard duty just outside the dead end she and her friends called their home. 'Hi Clary.' I said, smiling at the young weapon.

'Hi Daena. Did you bring us more souls?' 'You bet I did.' I replied. As we walked to where they were, we talked. 'How's Jace?' 'Jace is fine, along with Simon, Isabelle and Alec. Isabelle's recently found out how to use both their wavelengths to battle.' I stared. Simon and Alec were twin swords. 'Really? Can I see their weapon forms?' Clary nodded. 'If Isabelle's awake of course.' We turned a corner and saw the whole group. Jace was lying against a wall, his knee bleeding. Alec was standing against the opposite wall, while Simon was helping Isabelle make something remotely edible out of what they had scrounged. Inside, I felt a pang of pity for them. Only Jace and Isabelle were meisters, while all the others were weapons. 'Hi everyone.' I said, kneeling down and undoing my bag as they all scrambled towards me.

'Did you bring any medical supplies? Jace hurt his knee in a gang fight recently and I'm worried its going to become infected.' I nodded. 'I'll fix him up. By the way Isabelle, Clary said that you can use both Simon and Alec at the same time now.' Isabelle smiled. 'Yeah, I finally worked it out. Want to see?' I nodded. Isabelle extended her arms. 'Boys?' The two rushed to her, glowing as they went. Their forms jumped into her hands and she spun around, and by the time she had completed a full turn, she was holding two thin blue-hilted silver swords. I nodded. 'Nice transformations. Are your forms exactly the same?' Their reflections appeared in the blades. 'Mine has a slightly thinner blade, which makes it better at slicing through kishin.' Alec explained. 'Mine's lighter!' Simon argued. I held up my hands, silencing them. 'I'm sure your weapon forms both have their unique uses.' I said, defusing the argument.

'What about souls?' I handed out three souls to each of the weapons, the meisters receiving human food. Suddenly, I felt a presence nearby and sighed. 'Angel, I know you're there. Come on out.' They all scrambled away as Angel revealed herself. 'Everyone, this is my little sister Angel. She can be trusted. Angel, this is Clary, Jace, Isabelle, Alec and Simon.' They all came back out.

'Are you a weapon too?' She shook her head. 'No. I trained at the DWMA as a meister.' After talking with her for a few minutes, they all petered back to their usual routines. 'Angel, can you come and help me bandage Jace's knee?' I asked and she nodded, coming over to me. As we fixed his knee up, Angel asked 'So, these are all weapons and meisters?' I nodded. 'There was an accident a few years ago involving about twenty humans getting killed. They were all framed.'

'Thats what everyone says, but there's a good chance they dropped dead from my blisteringly white-hot good looks.' Jace suggested. 'Jace?' I asked. 'Yeah?' 'Shut up.' I told him jokingly. 'Theres no way good looks killed all those humans. Not to mention there were men there, and not just women.' 'Jealousy. Seriously Daena, have you never heard of people simply dying of envy of highly attractive men?' 'No.' Noticing Angel, Jace quickly said 'Of course, I don't have a girlfriend. Completely single. Are you staying in town long?' 'Jace stop trying to pick up my sister.' I said automatically. Jace looked shocked. 'How...' 'I'm not an idiot, Jace.' Finishing up, we left them.

'Daena, if they were framed for killing humans, wouldn't the DWMA hunt them down?' 'They are. The DWMA has never really had much of a capacity for forgiveness. Killing though, is a different story.' 'But if the DWMA's hunting them down...' I turned to Angel. 'A few years ago in Death City a kishin got inside. A powerful one. Clary, Jace, Isabelle, Simon and Alec were new then. Because all the humans were killed near their apartment, they were brought before Lord Death, who decided it was them. By the time Lord Death had his death scythe in the room, since he had been out at the time, they were long gone. They had already run after working out they were going to be killed. The DWMA never has and probably never will discover it was a kishin.' Angel nodded sadly. 'So, they're doomed?' 'Not necessarily. There are many ways to hide from the Death Weapon Meister Academy, or LDA as I think it's acceptable to call them sometimes.' 'LDA?' 'Lord Death's Army. Think about it. They do exactly as he says. If he wanted to take down shadowhunters, they'd do it.' 'They'd never succeed though.' 'No, of course not.' We walked for a few more minutes before arriving at the building where we had been told of the lair we had just destroyed. I entered, pushing the door open and a bell rang, alerting the staff to a new customer. We sat down, sliding our scythes off our backs. One of the waiters came up to us.

'Ah, the Scythita sisters. What can we do for you young women?' There were a few interested looks. 'Nothing much. Any idea where Carlos is?' I asked, mentioning the man who had paid us to take out the lair. A normal man came up to us.

'You took out the lair? Are you sure?' I nodded. 'We checked the lair multiple times.' Angel assured him. His face broke into relief. 'Then they won't be preying on the town again, and not my family. Did you find any survivors?' Slowly Angel said 'We looked hard, but no. It's not usually how kishin act, either. They only capture humans to get human souls, and that means they have to be killed.' Carlos' face fell. He handed us the money, and I noticed he seemed miserable. Curious, I looked at his soul. This was all he had, these hundred dollars. I took the money, divided it into two, and gave half back. 'What are you-' 'Carlos,' I said quietly, 'I can see souls, and your soul is telling me that this is all you have. Believe me, Angel and I don't need money that bad.' Carlos' face turned to one of fear. 'Y-you can see my thoughts?' 'No. I don't think that would be very useful, even if I did want it.' Carlos hurried away, hands tightly clutching the money. I looked down for a moment and allowed my soul to shrink, stopping myself from seeing everyone's emotions. My black soul allowed me to see feelings, something which Angel, and any other born meister could do to a certain extent. However, they could never see it was his life savings, all they would see was nervousness. I heard muttering.

'Three taken this week, making the count up to thirteen taken.' 'How do they expect us to keep up?' 'That band of monsters will destroy us all.' As water which Angel had probably ordered was put on our table, I asked 'Excuse me for prying, but thirteen people were taken by whom?' Guilty glances were shared throughout the room. Finally one said 'A kid and some witches are commanding a lair outside town. They steal whoever they can get, and they're never seen again.' 'A kid?' They nodded shamefully. My eyes narrowed. 'Do you know his name?' 'All we know is that he steals our children! Why should we care what name he goes by! He's a servant of evil!' Rage boiled up inside me. 'How long has this been going on?' I demanded. When no one answered, I stood. 'How long?' Half the villagers looked terrified. They had probably never seen a black souled person so furious. There was a quiet 'Two months.' 'Where's this lair?' I demanded. 'Outside of town, around 4 hours away.' a man said quickly. My fingers curled into a fist. Some young witch and their friends were causing mischief by killing humans for fun. I felt someone cringe away from me. I turned to see Angel, her face slightly terrified. 'Daena,' she said with effort, 'calm your wavelength. It's scaring them.' I noticed they were all moving away from me, and my wavelength was bordering on being out of control. I took a few deep breaths, and it returned to normal. Instantly I felt calm radiate throughout the room. The music started up again, and I sat down. 'Angel?' I asked in-between sips of water. 'Yeah?' 'After this, we go and take down that lair.' Angel nodded. 'This'll be our 28th witch lair. I'll go in first this time. I'm sure I can handle myself.' 'You probably can. You've been performing well in training and taking down the lairs. I'll come in a few minutes after you. Maybe later on you can take on a weak one single-handedly.' We got up, and Angel tossed the payment on the table, which a waiter quickly snatched up. You had to be swift to get it before a broke customer took the payment and used it to pay for their next drink.

Angel's POV

I shivered slightly. The night air was frigid and I could see my breath a little, puffs of smoke coming out of my mouth. Daena had been silent the whole way to the lair entrance. There was only one time she was like this, and that was when her concentration was at its peak. Her black soul was resonating alone, resonating on a wavelength I assumed was the one Daena's partner and her had used. As we arrived at the entrance to the lair, I could feel something ominous about it, even though it looked the same as all the others. There was an added layer of...horror to this one, as if this was much worse than all the others we had faced. You're only nervous because its the first time you're going in first, I told myself. I looked to Daena. It was late, but no tiredness showed in my sister. 'Let's do this.' I said. Daena nodded. 'Remember, I'm five minutes behind you.' I nodded and slipped inside.

From the moment I stepped inside I knew something was unmistakably wrong. Ready for anything, I began to take out the scythe I had come to use since leaving Death City. As I looked down to make sure my grip was correct, there was a sharp pain in the back of my head and everything went dark.

Daena's POV

I waited silently until Angel had been gone five minutes, then crept inside. There was no sign of life. Rounding a corner, I found a passageway. I smiled. Thank you for not having a maze. I hurried along, listening intently for any sound. I looked inside a room and saw a human boy chained to a pole in the middle of the room. I hurried inside and started slicing away at the chains. 'Are you ok?' I whispered to him. He nodded, terrified. 'Don't worry, I'll-' There was a scream and as I turned to listen, I heard something fall and saw it was the boy. To my horror, he was dead and was becoming smaller by the second. My eyes narrowed. An Eidolon demon. But who would kill a demon in a place like this? And how? I just heard that scream, and then he was dead.

'Why hello Daena.' I looked away from the dead demon and saw a man. He had black hair, red eyes which showed his true identity as a powerful kishin, was twenty-four and was dressed in grey pants and a shirt the colour of the night, black. Zirdrak. My whole body went tense. He had killed my weapon Valoria. It was his fault everyone hated me because I had gone to seek revenge for Valoria. 'So you're the kid that's commanding this lair.' I said. Zirdrak nodded, looking pleased with himself. 'Nice operation I've got going here, isn't it?' He looked towards my scythe and chuckled. 'You've been holding your dead weapon in her weapon form for seven years. Impressive.' I wouldn't even have to if it weren't for you, you traitor! I screamed silently at him. People might call shadowhunters traitors, but the ex-students that were now kishin were the real traitors. 'I see your soul is now black as well. I've been thinking, does the soul turn black because you have destroyed so much, or because with each kishin or witch you kill, a little madness stains your soul? Maybe that's why black blood makes people awaken to the madness. The blood circulates around the soul and the soul is stained more effectively.' I had to fight to keep myself from lashing out. He wants you to react. Don't give him that satisfaction. 'Of course, perhaps it is a sign of things to come. A black soul seems ominous, almost warning. Perhaps it is a signal saying "I am prone to madness." Maybe it is to say that it is time for one to die.' Zirdrak grinned and a red light seemed to appear in his eyes as he reached into his pockets and drew out two long daggers. 'Personally, I prefer the last option.' My soul reacted violently, and started resonating in that now empty space, the space Valoria and I had shared. I let it resonate to its own tune until I felt the full power of my soul wavelength coursing through me. I grabbed my scythe and attacked.

It was like we were performing a deadly dance, my scythe and Zirdrak's daggers clashing, and our hatred of each other almost touchable. I had waited so long, seven years, for my revenge. I had held Valoria in my arms as the life seeped out of her, and she died. Even now the memory was like a scar, tearing me apart when I thought of it. I will get Zirdrak's soul, Valoria. He'll pay for killing you! We were only seventeen, so young. You had just become a death scythe, and we had almost graduated. I had always thought you'd be there with me on our last day. But neither of us made it. You died three months before, and I went and became a shadowhunter to get revenge. I heard Zirdrak laugh. 'Its been a while since a shadowhunter's given me this much fun! Too bad you won't embrace the madness, Daena. It's amazing! You never have to worry about anything...ever!' 'If that is madness,' I said as our weapons clashed together and we were centimetres away from each other. 'then thousands bring it. Every single weapon and meister, shadowhunter and being brings it. Madness is death.' And with that I plunged my scythe into his side. He just stared at me as he turned into an edible soul. 'The madness will take you sooner or later, Daena Scythita.' Zirdrak said softly. 'It takes everyone in the end.' He turned into a soul, which I put in my bag. Then I remembered Angel. If Zirdrak was here, then his witches would be powerful. Scared for the first time in years, I rushed off to find her.

I stood, panting, over a pile of pink souls. They floated in the air like little party balloons. I had found a group of witches, around twenty, eagerly surrounding a surgical table. The fight from earlier and killing Zirdrak had drained me, and it had been a struggle to defeat them all. I saw a bench, and on it was a box full of human souls, shining with a blue light. My eyes went from the souls, to the person on the table and back again. Whichever one of the townspeople this was, they couldn't be saved. It wasn't possible to live without a soul. As I began to walk away, I noticed what they were wearing. A long black cloak, over dark clothes. They had long brown hair. I saw a black scythe with blue dots throughout the blade leaning against a wall. Oh no...not her! Anyone but her... I hurried over to the person on the table, who I now realised was female. I pulled the hood on the cloak away from her face, trying to reassure myself this wasn't who I thought it was. When I saw Angel's face tears began pushing their way down mine. Her eyes were closed, but at my touch her eyes opened. To my horror, one was her usual colour, blue, and the other was red, as red as Zirdrak's. I couldn't stop crying. Whatever they had been doing to her, she now had multiple souls inside her, competing for control. I tried to look at her soul, but all I saw were many red, black and blue souls. There was only one place that could be able to help her. Death City.

Well, there you go. Angel is in danger of becoming a kishin, and Daena is having to return to Death City, back to the place where all her remaining enemies are. Chapter 2 is going to be interesting, so see you next time!