The music was loud and Honey hadn't been expecting it when she flung open the door to her cousin's apartment. There were so many people crammed into the small rooms that she didn't expect to find her cousin. Most were dancing but there were a few that were being rather. . .intimate with one another. Honey shook her head at them and closed her eyes as she eased her way into the apartment. It was her cousin that she was looking for and she hoped to find her before one of the drunk men came onto her. She wasn't in the mood for playing nice with the people that her cousin called friends. Finally, she found Ginger in the lounge sitting in a man's lap. Groaning, she squeezed past the people blocking the doorway and walked straight up to her cousin. Her hands on her hips and her foot tapping on the ground as she waited for Ginger to notice her standing there. It took longer than it should have but as soon as Ginger saw Honey she was up off the man's lap so quickly that he looked insulted.

"Honey?" Ginger questioned, frowning.

Her cousin looked different to her. Honey no longer had the honey brown hair that she was born with but now her hair was so dark that most would have considered it black but it wasn't. It had a brown sort of red tinge to it when she was in the sunlight. Her eyes were darker too and made her seem much older than nineteen. Honey's clothing style had changed along with the rest of her and she was wearing a dark coloured woman's suit with a pair of black high heeled boots. She looked like a business woman instead of a wayward teenager.

"We need to talk Ginger and we need to talk now," Honey told her cousin, grabbing her by the arm and leading her away from the party and out onto the balcony.

"Ouch, you're hurting me," Ginger snapped at her cousin, pulling her arm from the tight grasp of the other's girl hand.

"I'm here to give you a wake up call, Ginny. It's time to grow up and don't go acting all stupid. You know what I mean. You should have come with me two years ago but you refused. Now, you no longer have the choice. Either come now or be cut off from the rest of us forever," Honey said, laying down the law without the sugar coating that her cousin preferred to have.

"Honey. . .you didn't come here to see me for a visit did you?" Ginger asked, staring up into her cousin's dark green eyes. "You came to give me that do or die speech. Who sent you? Dad or Grandfather?"

"Neither. I heard them talking about you and they're planning something. If you don't come now. . .there'll be trouble. I didn't want it to happen to you like it happened to my mother. . ." she said, taking a deep breath and looking away.

"I was told that I had the choice until I was twenty-one. I'm still only nineteen. I didn't have to come with you two years ago. I decided to stay here and that should be respected," Ginger told her cousin and crossed her arms.

"It is respected but only tollerated for a short time. They thought you would come around and still you haven't. Ginny. . . don't make me lose you too," Honey said, looking down. "You're the closet thing to a sister that I have. Please. . ."

"Honey, I can't. It's impossible. I was never as good at training as you were. I'll only disappoint everyone and I couldn't handle that. Do you know what Grandfather would do if I ruined one of the. . .projects?" Ginger sighed and chewed on her bottom lip. "You were lucky to be raised by your parents. I was raised by Grandfather and I would die before I disappoint him."

"You're disappointing him now by not doing what our family is meant to do. You're not one of those drunks. Ginger. . . you're one of us and you know it," Honey replied, taking her cousin's hand in her own. "I have to go. I wasn't supposed to come here. I'll be here until tomorrow night."

Then Honey hugged her cousin quickly and started to weave her way back through the crowd. She shouldn't have come here but she couldn't let her cousin stand by and not know what's going on. The only thing that Honey could hope for was that they hadn't tracked her here. She opened the front door and stood in the dark for a few seconds before moving. They were close but not too close. She had a few minutes before they caught up to her and she would be long gone from her cousin's house before they reached it. Honey just wished that she had worn different shoes. She ran down the stairs from her cousin's apartment and out into the open. Quickly, she changed her appearance a little. Tying up her hair, taking off her jacket and slipping on her glasses. Hopefully, she looked at least a little different then she did at first glance. Her beeper went off as she slipped through the back streets and she found a pay phone.

"They're still on your trail and you don't have long. A car will be sent for you and I expect you to be in it. You're coming home early. They're too close for comfort. Good work though Honey."

"But Papa. . ."

"But what? I don't want any excuses. Lance will be there in twenty minutes. You better be too."

The phone went dead before she could say another word. Her father thought she couldn't do it and now she was heading home even though she'd told Ginger she would be there till tomorrow night. Now, her plans were foiled and Ginger would think that she'd given up on her. Honey groaned and walked down an alleyway quickly. She dashed behind a dumper bin and pulled out her bag from a secret compartment in the bin. Her Grandfather and father needed to find better hiding place. She changed into more casual clothes and slipped on a cap. Then she slipped a pair of headphones over her ears, turning on her discman she slipped on the backpack and headed back out onto the street. She sat at the bus stop tapping her feet to the music. Why did they have to send Lance? she thought as she waited. Her father knew better than anyone that they didn't get along. In fact, she hated him with a passion. Back when they were children they were the best of friends but as they grew up, they grew apart too. Honey didn't like the way that he handled things. The way he fought to kill when he should have been fighting only to wound got to her. He claimed that the less amount of them that are out there the better but Honey believes that they are people too but they made the wrong choice. Choices you can change, death you can't. She was still thinking about the past when a black sports car pulled up to the bus stop with Lance behind the wheel.

"Hey Honey," he said as she climbed into the passenger seat beside him.

"Why does my name always sound wrong coming from your lips?" she retorted, hugging her backpack to her chest as they sped down the road.

"Wrong? Don't you mean. . .sexy?" he asked her, winking in her direction as she rolled her eyes.

"Grow up Lance," Honey snapped, staring out the window. "If you weren't our best driver and computer technician I would. . ."

"You would what?" he said, grinning.

"Don't say another word for the rest of this journey Lance. You may be our best tech and driver but I've got moves that you'll wish you didn't have to be on the recieving end of," she said, glaring at him as he continued to grin.

"I wouldn't say that. I'd love to be on the recieving ends of any moves coming from you. . .Honey," he said but did as she asked and stopped speaking.