My trial run posting regularly was not working, so in efforts to rid my conscience of this story, I've decided to mass post the rest and be done. I'm not sure what happened with this or why it received the least amount of popularity of any of my stories, considering it's by far the best written- but that's life, and mine hasn't revolved about fanfiction in a long time, so I'm beyond ready to move past it forever.

I'll save the rest for the end.

Equinox

Chapter Thirty One

With dread pooling uncomfortably in the pit of my stomach, I twisted my neck so that I could glance behind me. I suspected that I might find a hoard of salivating Erasers, but it was much worse than that. It seemed that every row of entranced paranormals had marched to where we stood, and now crowded toe to toe just feet away.

I held a shiver at bay at the sight of their glassy eyes and sickening grins.

"The smiles are tricky," Marian interjected. "I can't seem to get rid of that particular side effect."

I allowed myself to turn my back to the hive of hornets in favor of facing the true snake in the nest. Marian's features crinkled in bliss. She thought she had me cornered and defeated before we had even begun. I felt my face settle into a scathing glare.

She was wrong.

Before she could react, I snatched her wrist from where it rested on her waist. Her eyes registered confusion first, then panic, then agony. I clenched my fingers tighter around her fragile bones, even as she writhed and flopped, struggling to remove herself from my grip. As tears welled in the corners of her eyes, I released her. She gagged at the smell of her own sizzling flesh. Welts erupted along her inflamed skin. I hadn't held on long enough to destroy the nerves that were flashing pain receptions to her brain.

She lifted her gaze and glared with absolute loathing. "Get her."

"Is that really the best you can come up with?" I posed with a smirk, before I rocketed to a stand and spun around to face the next threat.

Apparently the paranormals had been trained to respond to her voice. They moved in unison, clunking toward me as if heavily sedated. Their actions were slow and predictable. Even so, there was no way I would be able to take on so many of them at once. Even if I curled up into a white hot ball of fire, one of their blows would eventually hit home, even as they died themselves.

I had to think, to come up with some kind of diversion or tactic. The gears in my mind whirred. I pilfered through every strategy I had ever employed, but obviously nothing in my experience quite fit the bill. To buy myself some time, I took to the air. I had intended to hover and swoop around a bit until I figured out a course of action, but the paranormals didn't react the way I thought they would.

In eerie uniformity, they began climbing the shelves.

So that was out. The ceiling was high, but not high enough for me to keep out of their reach. With my luck, they'd probably just start throwing themselves off until someone finally pulled me down with them. I didn't much fancy going splat against the ground.

Whatever mind control they were under, it seemed to hinder their ability to not only think for themselves, but to problem solve as well. None of them made suggestions or tried alternate routes to trap me. They acted as one, revolving their collective movements around a basic set of instinctive actions.

I stopped trying to formulate a plan, then. A new development was evolving.

The heavy set of doors, which I had specifically ordered be kept locked, were being shoved open. A substantial stream of people flooded into the limited space available between the wall and the massive wave of paranormals still nipping at my toes. It seemed Iggy and Nudge had succeeded in their venture to free the hunters, and boy did they look pissed.

I spiraled to the ground, landing with a thump. That was a mistake.

Immediately, I felt hands on me. My blood boiled and the small embers coating the tips of my feathers reared to bright flames. Some paranormals had sense enough to retreat after searing contact with any part of my body. I could hear disoriented grunts, which told me that for many, the shock had snapped them from their trance. Others just kept pawing at my arms, trying to restrain me.

The hunters had, for the most part, completely frozen at the sight of so many supernatural creatures converging in one space. They had stormed in, weapons raised, only to be dumfounded into stillness. Their arms were still cocked as if prepared to strike, but all they did was scan the rippling crowd of paranormals with a mixture of surprise and confusion.

Marian, seeing this as an opportunity, staggered toward them. She held her injured wrist out pitifully to them, indicating that it was I that had wounded her thus. Her lower lip trembled and her eyes sparkled with fresh tears.

I had to hand it to her, she was a damn good actress.

The hunters, thankfully, didn't pay her any heed. Marian wasn't exactly popular. On a normal day (meaning when she wasn't making her bid for world domination known to anyone who would listen, ie, me- a sixteen year old girl) she was cold, calculating, and strict. She thought the actual business of hunting was filthy nonsense, and she made that clear to any hunter that crossed her path. Science was the only pure form of activity one should devote oneself to.

"Aren't you hunters?" she croaked furiously. A brazen light filled her eyes. "She's obviously a paranormal. Kill her."

They looked at me uncertainly as more and more paranormals pinned me to the ground. I struggled mightily, throwing my body every which way and grasping any limb I came in contact with. Every once in awhile, I managed to hold on long enough that ash rained down over my head. At one point, a bit got in my mouth. I spit vehemently. That better not have been troll.

Hoarse roars filled my ears. Through gaps and crevices of the creatures adding their weight to my chest, I saw fragmented images of hunters stampeding into the midst of the paranormals. Violent spurts of blood, ranging in color, splattered everything in the vicinity. Withering bellows replaced the hunters' battle call. They were slaughtering the paranormals, who had no will of their own in order to fight back. As the hunters cut them down, they continued to follow orders and come after me.

Panic surged through every nerve in my body. This wasn't fair. They didn't even have a chance to fight back. They had no control over their actions. Every last one of them was going to die because they weren't in the right state of my mind.

And then it hit me. Why didn't that same distinction apply any other day? Hadn't I thought myself that not every paranormal was bad? That in many cases, they only did bad things to survive? Conscious choice or not, they had no control over their body's needs. But we hunted them anyway, to protect precious man, who -just as Marian had claimed in order to defend her superior race- destroyed one another on a daily basis. An innocent life was an innocent life, regardless of what species took it. Why should we as an organization make a distinction between murderers solely based on whether they were natural or supernatural?

I squeezed my eyes shut tight. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Even as the mass of paranormals layered itself on top of me, I focused all my energy into my core. This had to stop. I felt the heat in my chest skyrocket in temperature.

Then, I felt only release.

A column of fire exploded from my chest and up to the ceiling. The pressure forcing my body to the ground lifted in an instant, and I watched dazedly as flames spread in a mushroom along the entire expanse of the warehouse. Fortunately, the blast managed to avoid coming in contact with anything but air, so the flames licked to their extent and died out in the atmosphere.

It was certainly an effective signal.

The hunters stopped in their tracks. The paranormals shook their heads and glanced about in bewilderment. I had broke every last one of their trances. Peppered throughout the crowd, I caught glimpses of the flock, Dylan, and Gazzy. They were safe. With that in mind, I flew to the top of a shelf and captured everyone's attention.

"That's enough," I shouted, so that no one present would mistake my words. My breath heaved with the effort it had taken to conjure such a powerful flare and sweat cast a sheen over my forehead. All eyes were craned on me. "That's enough fighting … and killing. What does it accomplish, to constantly be at arms, besides foster hate and contempt and unease? The war between races has been fought in secrecy for centuries, but it's time for change. I call for a total reformation of the Coalition to Stop the Madness …"

"… because the madness is not the paranormal plague. The madness is that we have limited our compassion to a single, sometimes undeserving, race. We hunt rather than help, but that is the way of the past. It's not working anymore. Instead of aiming to hunt a species into extinction, we should seek alternative ways of living so that we can integrate paranormals into society without fear of them harming innocent civilians. We should offer guidance and hope to a suppressed group of people who have known no kindness over something that they often can't control. Assist those that desire peace, so that we may focus on exterminating those that pose a true threat to society.

"The CSM won't be known as a formidable foe to all paranormals, but as a source of hope -or fear- depending on the character and motivations of the individual in question," I concluded … and then I collapsed.

-o-o-o-

I woke up a few hours later attached to all sorts of beeping and whirring machines. With a disgruntled crease between my brow, I ripped the sensory pads from my chest and tugged at the IV inserted on the inside of my wrist.

"Hey, whoah," Fang warned, gently pulling my fingers away. He didn't let them go as he stood at the side of my bed.

"You look like crap," I grunted, squinting at his bruises. The swelling in his eye had decreased considerably, though. I reflected on what my own appearance must be. "I look like crap."

He smirked. "You're beautiful."

"You look like crap and you're full of crap," I remarked with a shake of my head.

He smoothed the bedraggled strands of hair at the top of my head. His thumb brushed down the side of my face. I could feel every dip and curve in the uneven pad. He stopped at the corner of my mouth, hovering over my lips for a moment with a secretive smile. My heart skipped a beat or two, and I was glad that I had disengaged myself from that particular monitor in time.

"That was a nice speech you made," he complimented, his dark eyes locked on mine. I was tempted to reach up and run my fingers through the unruly black locks of hair curving around his chin, but the mention of my address triggered a flood of memories.

"Oh," I breathed, feeling every bit of air rush from my lungs. "Oh God, Jesus, and Mary. What happened? The hunters- all those paranormals- Marian. No, no, no. How could I just pass out when so much was happening? I-"

Fang gripped my face in both hands, forcing me to look at him and quit blathering. "Shh. It's fine. Everything is fine. You were amazing, Max. Everything you said, every bit of it, was the truth."

"But what happened?" I begged, prepared to throw back my covers and launch into motion. Fang seemed to sense this. He removed a hand from my chin in order to gently push my shoulder back onto the pillow beneath my head.

He shrugged. "They did what you said. The hunters helped the paranormals. They were pretty put out by whatever Marian had done. I think they were still reeling from the effects. The majority of them will probably worship the ground you walk on for what you've done."

"The majority?" I asked weakly.

"There were … a few differences in opinion. The hunters had to take down some creatures that preferred the old method of 'kill everything in sight', but they were disposed of rather quickly," he explained.

"And Marian?" I inquired, uncertain of whether I truly wanted to hear the response or not. What if she had gotten away? There would be even more trouble coming my way if that megalomaniac was on the loose.

The corner of Fang's mouth twitched. "She's been detained. Kicking and screaming, of course. She awaits your judgment."

"I'm sorry, my judgment?" I repeated.

He nodded. "Anne's gone. She ran off, probably to save her own skin. The way the rest of us see it, you're the girl with the vision. You're the only one who deserves to be heading the crusade for paranormal equality.

Huh. So I was the CSM's new leader. Well, this branch anyway.

I opened my mouth to issue my next question, but then snapped it shut again. Despite my hesitancy, Fang seemed to detect my string of thought. He tilted his head in the direction of the door in indication. "Jeb's waiting. He wants to talk to you."

I swallowed thickly and motioned that he should be permitted entrance.

Fang remained leaning in the corner, his stare hooded and reproachful, as Jeb wandered awkwardly to my side. I wondered what it must be like, seeing the man that had grafted bird genes into your DNA. Maybe a little something like witnessing your father returned from the dead.

"I wanted to be certain that you were okay," he simpered. His smile retained its sadness. He knew I wanted nothing to do with him. "From what I gather, that was some explosion you caused back there … and I don't just mean the fire."

I pressed my lips together and nodded stiffly. After a shuddering breath, I said quietly, "I need you to tell me if there's anything else I should know. About myself, about the flock, about anything."

He regarded me calmly. His placid nature may have fooled many a person during his lifetime, but I would never be one of them again. For as cool and collected as he was on the surface, I knew a madman roiled beneath the smooth exterior.

"Gazzy and Angel," he stated.

I stared blankly at him.

"They're biological siblings," he elaborated. "We didn't want to figure a brother/sister dynamic into the experiments, so Gazzy came to be raised at the CSM and Angel stayed with the School."

Fang and I exchanged a meaningful glance. I had always drawn parallels between the two. Their personalities were different blocks on the spectrum, but their blonde curls and blue eyes were identical. Not to mention that, sometimes, when they smiled, I saw mirror images of the same grin plastered on their faces. And it was because they were related.

"Anything else?" I posed the question loosely, but inside I craved to know more.

He seemed to hesitate a moment. With an almost undetectable wince, he said, "There is one more thing."

"Go on," I urged.

"It's about Dylan," he replied delicately.

I raised an eyebrow. Dylan?

"He …" Jeb trailed off, then began with a different approach. "You know how the story goes that Dylan's parents were killed by vampires? Well, that's not true. It couldn't be true. Dylan doesn't have parents. I mean to say, he's never had any parents."

I looked to Fang to check if this was making any sense with him. He shot me a puzzled glance, and I relaxed knowing that it was Jeb who was the crazy one.

"Dylan arrived at the CSM as an infant, around the same time you were born. An old colleague of mine, Dr. Hans Gunther-Hagen, created him in a lab. Dylan is … well, he's actually a clone of a boy who died in a car crash when he was about the age you are now," Jeb explained quickly.

I deadpanned. "A clone? You're trying to tell me that Dylan, the kid I grew up with, is a clone?"

Somehow, in a world of mystical and mythological creatures, science managed to come out on top as the greatest threat to humanity.

Also I passed out again. Apparently phoenixes were a lot more faint at heart than regular Max.

-o-o-o-

And so the story ends.

After contacting the nearest CSM branch, Marian Janssen was handed over in shackles to the proper authority. Everyone was pretty much appalled by her behavior. There was no way she was going to weasel her way out of this one.

Anne had fled, presumably to start her life anew. Jeb had been sent packing as well. I gave him a few weeks to shuffle his affairs into order before I cracked down on the School and used the entire might of the CSM to shut it down once and for all. The matter of the entire Itex company was a little out of my league for now, but it was definitely on the list.

Relations between the paranormal community and hunters was rocky, but improving. Dr. Martinez was in charge of setting up discrete clinics in urban environments, so that paranormals would have somewhere to go when their urges became undeniable. As the haze of numbers cleared, the really dangerous supernaturals were revealed. Instead of hunting on whims, our forces were concentrated on specific targets whose exterminations proved beneficial to all.

Slowly but surely, these new ideals were spreading to even the furthest-most branch of the Coalition.

As for personal matters, we all had a lot of things to get used to. Angel and Gazzy were learning to identify as siblings. Dylan was coping with a rightful existential crisis in which he tried to deal with the fact that he was a clone (which was maybe the biggest plot twist of all). Nudge, Iggy, and Fang were just glad no outstanding revelations had revolved around them (except for Iggy, who insisted he wished that he had turned out to be an amnesiac with a hot Brazilian model girlfriend waiting for him back home).

I was … living. There was a lot of weight on my shoulders, but I had good people around me to lighten the load. Fang was teaching me how to better control the bundle of feathers sprouting from my back. A couple supernatural acquaintances of mine offered counsel whenever I needed advice on more paranormal matters. The biggest transition of all, though (yes even greater than suddenly transforming into a phoenix), was acclimating to having a biological family.

Jeb was out of the picture for good, but Ari had taken on the "big brother" role with ease. Do you know how embarrassing it is to have him burst in on you while you're making out with your boyfriend (that would be Fang, yeah, I know, I squealed a bit too … but don't tell him)? Then there was the matter of my mother. I was adjusting on that front as well. It helped that Dr. M made killer chocolate chip cookies. She was going to end up bribing me to call her 'mom' with delicious baked goods, and she would succeed.

I also had a younger sister. Dr. M said her name was Ella and that she lived with her dad since Dr. M's line of work was a tad risky. She hadn't wanted to expose Ella to that … but she wanted me to meet her, and I think I was finally ready.

The final piece of the puzzle, which still didn't quite fit, was the Doomsday Group. Fang and I spent copious amounts of time discussing the matter … that is when we weren't wrapped up in one another doing lots of things that didn't involve talking. I had an itching feeling that they would find a way to promote their cause without Marian's assistance.

There was plenty of work still to be done with reformation of the relationship between paranormals and hunters. Not to mention the next nearing solstice. But with all my hectic thoughts and stress and the looming threat of the Doomsday Group, I had little time to spare but toward one comforting thought.

Tomorrow was a new day.

-o-o-o-

Surmising everything up like that isn't a typical ending for me, and I'm not sure that I'm comfortable with it as a conclusion. It's rather abrupt, I know. I had to wrap things up somehow, though. Hopefully any questions that the few people who read this story have were answered. If not, feel free to ask.

I made a choice to resign from fanfiction multiple years ago, but writers block and frustration led me back to this story, and though the reception among readers was not what I wanted, I'm happy with the result and more comfortable now that I've given this fic a proper conclusion. Equinox may not be popular, but I'm proud of it. I suppose that's what matters.

For the last time, I'll encourage whoever has read this from start to finish to review. Your comments are welcome, and I'd really love to hear what you have to say.

Perhaps the next time anyone reads the words I've written, they'll be in print rather than posted on a website. For now, review or PM me with any messages you wish to convey.

Now all I have to say is: thank you!