There was something cathartic about seeing Rami's limbless body.

A massive pole was erected in the courtyard, chained to it was Rami. He was almost unrecognizable. Both his arms and legs were gone, all that was left of him was a stump of a body. Bloodied, shredded, half dead and one eyed.

Arthur's doing, as I'd been told.

Except the eye. The eye was my doing.

It was difficult to make out the witch's expression from my window, especially since I, too, only had one eye left. Karma? I'd like to think not.

The arrow had taken my eye. The physician reassured me that it would grow back in a few years. Arthur said it would only take me a year, at most. I decided to believe Arthur. He had been alive more than the physician, and he knew me in ways the physician didn't.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Arthur asked, standing next to me, his side pressed to mine.

The clouded sky cast the world in dull shades of gray. Even then, Arthur's dark eyes shone when they landed on Rami. He still wasn't satisfied with the witch's fate. He would probably torture him some more before the High Council convened for an extraordinary session.

Oddly, I was fine with it. Rami deserved Arthur's wrath. Rami had used me as leverage to get Arthur to call his siblings, in order to create enough blood flow for the spell.

The loss of life had been catastrophic, from our side and theirs. Those who were left alive bore proof of the vicious fight. The infirmary of the castle was full, and more tents were erected outside as a makeshift field infirmary to treat less dangerous wounds.

I leaned into Arthur's side. His right arm was missing.

Arthur, my father, Burak and Venus had all lost their arms in their attempt to close the gate. Apparently, the flow of magic had been too strong, and their attempts to shove it back resulted in their arms being caught in the vicious current.

But he was still alive. My father was still alive. Irene, Charles were alive. Marianno- who'd stayed behind to guard the Seer and Madeleine Byrne, much to his chagrin- was still alive.

Noah was also alive, although he looked like a pale version of his former self. His body had lost more than half its weight, and he had sported more than a dozen deadly injuries.

I hadn't visited him yet. It was only one hour ago that I woke up from my long nap to find Arthur brooding beside my bed. Apparently, I'd been asleep for twenty four hours.

Seeing my reflection in the window, I wondered how I was even still alive. My right eye was gone, the skin around it was scarred when I checked beneath the bandage. Several lacerations crisscrossed my face. A burn scar covered my cheek and ear, the hair on that side of my head was gone.

All in all, I was burned, cut, half bald and half blind. Not to forget pale as a ghost and painfully thin. My bones stuck out against the skin.

"Just thinking how delightful I look right now," I told Arthur. "You should stash me away somewhere before the modeling agencies start fighting over me."

He moved behind me and wrapped his arm around me, pulling me to him. "You are delightful. You survived. You fought and you lived."

He meant every word. He buried his face in my hair and took a deep breath. He was still hanging by a thread. The silver had drained out of my system and our bond was sensitive to his every emotion, no matter how much he held back.

The darkness was also there. Hovering, threatening. It would uncoil and swallow everything in its path over the slightest provocation.

I put my hand on his and squeezed. We both survived. Everything else could be fixed.

I reached on instinct to twirl my ring. But it wasn't there. I sighed.

"I will get you another once we get back home," Arthur said.

"You better," I said. "Rami just had to get rid of it. Asshole."

"A smart move, I must admit," he growled. "He couldn't risk the ring having a tracking device or some such surprise."

I turned my face and raised my brows. "Did it have a tracking device?"

"No. But the next one will," Arthur said.

I rolled my eyes and turned in his arms. "I have to see Noah. He's still in the infirmary?"

Arthur raised his brow. "You have to see him?"

I patted his chest. "Yes. Don't worry, my lord. I have not fallen in love with the wolf during our time alone in captivity."

He was not amused. I guess his sense of humor has suffered a swift death during the fight, too. A muscle ticked in his jaw.

"Too soon?" I asked with a grin. Arthur looked up, exasperated. I chuckled.

"All jokes aside, Noah is...how do I say it? A brother! Yes, an older brother of sorts. You have nothing to worry about."

"Who said I'm worried? I know who your heart belongs to. And if someone decides to challenge that fact they would never see the light of the day."

"Great. Now that we cleared that up, let's go."

I got dressed in a hoodie and jeans. My body was clean and smelled of the vanilla shampoo that was in the bathroom. Someone had given me a bath while I was unconscious. I didn't want to know who and how, so I ignored that fact and strapped on my weapons.

Arthur waited for me by the door, in a white t-shirt and cargo pants, the sleeve of his missing right arm pinned to his top. I pulled on my hood, because while Arthur was not bothered by my sorry state, I was.

It was very easy to say that scars did not matter, or that they gave me character, but deep down they left their mark on my psyche. Fortunately, my hair and my eye would grow back in a year or so, and most of the scars would be gone in a few years.

Arthur and I walked through the castle hallways. It was very busy this early in the morning. Staff and soldiers ran back and forth, no one paid us any mind.

"Amelia?" I asked Arthur.

"Gone."

I stopped. "What do you mean, gone?"

"She was with your father when he was attacked. She was injured. I don't know what happened between them exactly, but your father ordered her confined to her room before he left with us. When we got back she was gone."

"She ran away."

"It seems that way," Arthur said, nodding to a vampire who'd stopped to give him a salute. "Your younger brother is still with his relatives in the south. She didn't go to him. Your father sent a small army of guards to keep an eye on him."

I sighed and kept walking. So she was involved in this mess. My father must be heartbroken. Even if he wasn't in love with her, he cared about her a great deal. Her betrayal must have cut him very deep.

We stopped by a door guarded by two vampires wearing Venus' blue and gray fatigues. Arthur pushed the door open without a knock.

"Rude." I poked his back.

He glanced over his shoulder at me, amusement lifting the darkness in his eyes just a little bit.

The room held four beds, two on either side of a large window. A seating arrangement occupied the left corner, where Marianno sat with Madeleine Byrne and Ryan, my cousin.

Charles, Noah and Irene occupied three beds, the fourth held the gaunt body of a pale haired woman. Her hair was almost as white as her skin. She looked colorless, dull. A mere shadow of a person. She laid on her back, her eyes closed and her breathing even. Raised scars covered every inch of her exposed skin. As if someone had taken a razor and made deliberately even cuts so as to scar the largest possible surface on her body. The scars extended all the way up to her jawline, leaving her face unblemished.

The cold, calculating nature of it made me sick.

"The Seer?" I asked in a whisper.

Arthur nodded. The woman was deep asleep, but if I didn't see the rise and fall of her chest I would've thought her dead.

She was also a vampire.

"I thought she was an old human woman," I asked.

"She'd been turned."

I looked at him with one wide eye. Rami had said something of the sort. They had somehow managed to turn her into a vampire. I remembered Arthur and the others telling me no one had ever succeeded in turning a Seer into a vampire. I shook my head and walked deeper into the room.

Irene was asleep in her bed. Charles and Noah spoke in low voices that didn't carry. Ryan lounged on one of the couches, snoring softly. Marianno sat next to Ms. Byrne on the other, his shoulders tense. He gave me a tight smile. Ms. Byrne looked as stiff as she'd been the last time I saw her. I looked between the two of them. There was something there...

Arthur's hand on my back urged me forward.

Leave it be, he whispered through the bond.

Oh.

"Sire." Charles tried to sit up. One look from Arthur had him laying back down.

"How do you feel?"

"Good enough to be walking around." He tugged on the I.V. plugged to his arm.

I grinned. "I think you still need to rest a little bit. Preferably indoors."

Charles glowered. "Why aren't you resting? You look like you need it the most."

I gasped, putting my hand on my heart. "Are you implying that I look bad? I'm heartbroken."

Charles grumbled a curse under his breath. I gave him a sweet smile and rubbed my forehead with my middle finger. He growled.

"Enough," Arthur said softly. He sat on Charles' bed. "Did you speak to Kat?"

I left them to their discussion and plopped down next to Noah, who'd been watching the exchange through glowing amber eyes. His wolf was back.

"You seem quite well," he said, puzzled.

I snorted. "Don't look so happy about it."

"I didn't mean it that way. You just recovered rather fast."

I pointed at my face. "Do I look like I recovered any? I look like hell. You look like hell, too."

His response was a grunt. Shadows darkened the skin under his eyes.

"Thank you," I told him. "For keeping me alive. If it wasn't for you and Irene, I wouldn't have made it."

"I doubt that," he said. "But you're welcome. I only repaid the favor, although I still think you shouldn't have let them use me as hostage to bend your arm."

Arthur rose and put his hand on my shoulder. "She shouldn't have."

I glared at Arthur. "Well, then maybe you shouldn't have let them use me as leverage to get you and Venus and Dad in one place."

His face closed off. "That was not up for discussion. I made the decision." I would not lose you.

"Well, I made a decision, too." And I would have to live with it. Should I have let them kill Noah instead of calling the phoenixes? If I had done that, Noah would be dead, but so many others would've survived.

But then again, they would've simply taken another innocent as hostage. And then I would have to watch them kill more innocent people until I caved in to their demands.

Whatever was the choice I made, innocents would've lost their lives. I shook my head. There was no right answer. Perhaps for someone else, the choice would have been clear. But not for me.

A groan turned our attention to Irene's bed. I looked over to find her sitting up, her head clutched in her hands.

"Good morning, sunshine," I said with a sweet voice.

Irene, her hair a waterfall of black around her face, cursed. "Screw you."

She opened her eyes, saw Arthur looming next to me, and almost choked on her breath. "Apologies."

I frowned at her. "Really?"

She cleared her throat and looked away. I glared at Arthur. He was frozen beside me. I realized he hadn't taken two steps away from me since we left our room.

Stop staring her down.

No one insults you.

She's my friend, I grumbled through the bond.

I do not care.

You're being unreasonable.

I am far from reasonable when it comes to you, especially right now.

With a sigh, I rose, kissed him on the cheek and went to sit by Irene. If Arthur was the one who got kidnapped, silvered and almost killed, I wouldn't be reasonable either.

You get a pass for being an asshole, I told him. Just this once.

Your leniency is commendable, my love.

I fought back a smile. Since he was already making jokes, we would be fine.

Arthur stayed between Charles and Noah, giving me space with Irene.

"How are you holding up?" I asked. Her cheek sported an angry gash, but other than that, she looked fine.

"Some asshole almost smashed my head with a hammer. It only grazed me, but it's been giving me headaches. The doctor said they'll go away in a few days." She glanced at Arthur and leaned towards me. I leaned closer. "Your mate lost his shit when you were taken. He almost leveled the entire castle on our heads."

I snorted. Irene didn't smile. "No seriously, Elle. He was livid." She glanced at him again. There was deep fear in her eyes. "I never knew someone could be that angry. Staying in the same room as him was like being sucked into a vortex of darkness. I could barely draw a breath."

"Very poetic."

"I have no idea how you do it. Sharing a bond with him..." She shuddered.

"Enough about my mate. How did you guys get the Seer?"

She looked at the sleeping woman beside us. The faint light that spilled through the window made the shadows on her gaunt face sharp and unforgiving.

"We found her in a cell, chained to the floor. We managed to sneak past the guards on our way in, but the way out wasn't so easy. I carried her while Charles cut our way through the guards." She shook her head. "She was filthy, hungry and skittish. She almost had a heart attack when Charles got close."

Poor woman. "Did the physician see her?"

"Yes. She'll be fine with enough nutrition and rest. At least, physically. The problem is, she doesn't want to drink blood. The doctor had to sedate her."

Anger twisted my insides. Against Santos. Against my uncle.

Irene froze, the men's conversation ceased, we all looked at the Seer. Her breathing changed.

Her eyes flickered open. The irises were the lightest shade of green, the pupils standing out sharply against the pale color. She blinked at the ceiling. A deep breath rattled her chest. Then her eyes swung my way and froze. A faraway look claimed them.

"You... are alive." Her voice was a whisper of a breath through her chapped lips. "It is done. Now the wolf must claim the unborn woman for the scales to balance."

What?

I glanced at Irene. She looked as confused as I was.

"What do you mean?" I asked the Seer softly. Arthur stirred behind me.

She opened her lips. Her gaze shifted behind me and lost the faraway look. She sucked in a sharp breath. Her pupils widened, almost taking over the pale green.

"No, no, no..."

She curled around herself, tucking her head under her arms, whispering gibberish in a language I didn't recognize. Her heart raced until I thought the organ would burst out of her chest.

We couldn't get her to calm down. We had to call in the physician to sedate her again.

"I think vampires freak her out," Irene said after the doctor left. "Or males. Maybe both."

The poor woman must have gone through hell. We moved the Seer to another room. Irene insisted on staying with her. Arthur and I left the room.

"What's going to happen to her?" I asked Arthur on our way through the med ward. Some doors were closed, most were open, and their insides were lined with beds occupied by injured people. Physicians and nurses tramped around, looking busy and haggard.

"The Seer?" he asked. "What do you want to happen to her?"

I sighed. "I don't trust any of these power hungry immortals with her. She's been through enough. Can't we take her with us? At least until she's lucid enough to decide what she wants to do with her life."

"That would be difficult," Arthur said. "Her powers are very appreciated, even among immortals. And now that she is a vampire, no one knows how her powers would be affected. The council will want to put her under surveillance."

The Seer's huddled, thin figure was etched to my eyes. The raised scars on her body told tales of horror and pain and survival. Who knew what she would go through again? Her fate would be decided by the High Council. They would do what was best for them, without any consideration for the woman. She had no one in her corner. She would be alone, her only companion the constant void in her heart. My chest constricted, remembering a time when I had had no one to lean on.

Arthur stopped in the middle of the hallway. Immortals weaved around us. His dark eyes speared me in place. "Would it make you happy if we took her with us?"

Hope unfurled. "Yes. Very happy. I'd really like to take her with us."

He gave a firm nod. "Very well. As you wish."

I smiled, relieved. "Thank you."

The bond pulsed under a flurry of emotions. Arthur hugged me to him, uncaring of the people around.

I closed my eyes. Safe. After being locked, silvered, injured and scared, the feeling of absolute security almost brought me to my knees. Arthur's arm tightened.

"Your father," he whispered, stepping away.

I turned in time to see Orion walking out of a room with a physician. His shoulders were tense, his green eyes smudged by darkness, and his lips a harsh slash across his worn face. The right sleeve of his green shirt was pinned to it, just like Arthur.

He spotted me, and his chest deflated. With one last word to the physician, he walked towards us.

His arm snaked around me and pulled me tight. "You are awake."

"Yes. Awake and well."

His body was immovable, but the strength in his eyes was brittle. "Good. Good."

"I'm sorry about Amelia," I whispered.

He pulled back and shook his head. No words slipped past his lips, but the heartbreak peeked through before he hid it. He looked at Arthur. "The High Council will assemble tomorrow. Here. I don't want to risk any more of those bastards escaping."

"Who escaped?" I asked.

"Some of the individuals involved managed to escape during the fight when Burak arrived with reinforcement," my father said.

"We have most of their names. They are known," Arthur said. "They will not be able to move as freely as they'd like from now on. They will be caught, sooner or later."

I just hoped they'd be caught before stirring out more trouble.

*** **** ***

A sea of orange and red and purple stretched across the courtyard.

Arthur and I had just walked out of the castle when the first phoenix landed like a shooting star. The second joined him, then the third, until the courtyard was filled with the flutter of fiery wings. A flock of about thirty birds.

People scurried out of their way. And Rami stood in the middle of it all, chained to his pole of shame and looking through the world through one half dead eye.

Pulled by my bond to the birds, my feet carried me to the middle where an injured phoenix sat, surrounded by three of his kind. He was the one who'd come, sacrificing himself to the spell. Arthur stayed one step behind me, his body a burning furnace at my back.

Guilt burned up my insides like acid. I should've found another way. The poor bird's flames were dim, the feathers a pale imitation of the glorious fire they had once been. Patches of missing feathers dotted his wings and body.

I put my hand on the bird's graceful neck. His eyes opened, a pretty violet swirling with orange. He twittered.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, my throat closing up. All I could do was give back some of what I'd received. I closed my eyes and pushed my magic through our bond, the energy going willingly. When I opened them, the phoenix's feathers had regained some of their original glow. I continued pushing my magic forward, caressing the bird's neck with my hands. He was soft and warm, getting warmer by the second.

Arthur was running his hand through one of the other phoenixes' wings, the bird regarded him through curious eyes.

"I wonder why the others took too long to arrive?" I asked.

"Perhaps he was the closest," Arthur replied. "Or the fastest."

"Perhaps."

Arthur lasted several minutes before he pulled me back from the bird. "That's enough for now. You're recovering."

"Well, you lasted longer than I thought," I told him, giving the bird one last burst of energy. He looked much better. I threw his earlier words back at him. "Your self-restraint is commendable."

Arthur chuckled, wrapping his arm around my waist. "You should rest."

"Once I'm tired enough." My body was getting close to its limits. I still hadn't recovered fully. "I want to have a chat with Rami."

Arthur growled, the deep sound one I expected from Noah rather than him. I took his hand and he let me pull him along.

Rami looked worse than I thought. He bled from several wounds on the visible parts of his body. His arms were severed from the shoulders, his legs from the upper thighs. His cheekbones pulled sharply at his colorless skin, giving him a haunted look.

I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

One gray eye opened and looked at me through a daze. Fear haunted them when they landed on Arthur.

"Was it worth it?" I asked him. "All your planning and scheming and this is how you end up."

Some of the fight returned to his eye. "We might not have succeeded in this plan, but change is set in stone. Greater things have been put into motion, all thanks to your mother. You know nothing," He spat out.

His words tied up my guts in knots. I ignored the fear and raised my brow at him. "For someone who knows stuff, you're in an awfully inconvenient predicament."

A sneer came over his features. "I see we match, my lady," he said, referring to my eye.

Arthur did not like that. Rami's remaining eye suddenly shot out of its socket, leaving a bloody trail, and dropped on the ground. It rolled until it touched the tip of my boot. Ew.

"Now you don't," Arthur said.

We walked away to the sound of Rami's miserable moans. Arthur wanted to go back there and finish torturing him. The urge was so strong it was almost a physical tug on the bond.

"I'm sorry you had to sully your sword with his blood," I told Arthur, petting the head of a young phoenix on our way.

"I didn't use a sword," Arthur replied coldly.

Damn. A sliver of fear ran down my spine. An uncontrolled reaction to the sort of power needed to amputate someone with one's bare hands.

I shuddered. "Remind me not to piss you off."

He stopped, gripped my chin and looked at me. "You have nothing to fear. I would cut off my own limbs before laying a hand on you."

I grinned. "I know."

He looked into my eyes. Whatever he saw made him nod, satisfied. "Good."

I slipped my hand in his and we continued with our stroll. We reached the edge of the courtyard where it met the woods, and I looked at the deep gash in the ground. It was over three feet wide and so deep I couldn't see its bottom. I stopped.

I looked left. Right. The fault in the ground stretched as far as the eye could see.

Pointing at the fracture, I looked at Arthur. "Did you do this?"

His face snapped into his vampire lord face. Arrogant and unapologetic. "Technically, no. The earthquakes caused it."

"Aha," I said. "Why earthquakes, anyway?"

"My magic manifests as telekinetic energy. When I lose control, my hold on the energy slips. I instinctively direct it downward to protect my surroundings, thus the earthquakes."

I looked pointedly at the deep gash. "I don't think this is considered protecting your surroundings."

"Better than the alternative."

I chuckled. "I don't know about that. I think you're compromising the earth's crust."

"The earth will be quite safe If you don't get kidnapped every so often."

"It was two times!" I threw my hands up. "It's not like I chose to get kidnapped."

"Three times," he said. "Paris."

I pointed my finger at him, narrowing my eyes. ""I was not kidnapped then! I walked right into that one with my own two feet." I paused. Arthur smiled, amused. "Okay, that sounds bad when I put it that way, but you know what I mean. I was kidnapped two times."

"Two times too many." He jumped over the fracture with ease and held his arm open for me. "It will be alright, once we go back home and you're safe again."

I almost snorted. We both knew safety would be a luxury in our lives, especially with so many unconcluded matters.

Uncle Robert's killer was captured, but Amelia was still out in the open, along with many escapees. The Seer's prophetic words rang a mysterious warning we didn't know how to decipher. My mother's past still harbored secrets I didn't know if I'd be able to handle. And my magic held many covert features I would have to learn.

All that unfinished business should have sparked panic in my heart. But I was no longer alone. Whatever life threw at us, we'd handle it together. So I jumped over the darkness and let him catch me.

--- ---- ---

The end!

Well, almost. There's still an epilogue. Should I publish it now or later?

Don't forget to vote and comment. I appreciate it!

Much love <3

M.B.