Daniel's eyes glowed yellow.

It was almost like electricity was coursing through his veins, a sweet pain. The more she fed on him, the more pleasure screamed through him and he was having a hard time concentrating on finding the bullets.

Lia's eyes flashed yellow briefly, switching to its usual magenta as she fed on him. The more the pain came, the more she drank from him and though the blood wasn't as satisfying as Asher's, it had its distinct taste that left her craving for more.

Daniel managed to take hold of the few lingering self-control and took out one of the bullets. She screamed into his neck, choking on his blood yet she refused to take a breather, greedily devouring the red liquid.

For a moment there, Daniel thought he connected with her wolf, Lolli, but the feeling was gone before he could grasp it.

He managed to remove the last bullet, ending her suffering as her body finally healed up properly. A normal wolf who survived this ordeal would need a shift to detoxify the rest of the poison - the vessel and the wolf were one and stronger in that form. However,

Daniel couldn't understand how her body worked, he surmised that his blood she took from him flushed out the rest of the toxic or so he thought because she ended up throwing up half of it.

"What's wrong with her?" Ryan asked when she wouldn't stop throwing up.

"She took too much," Ben said, " It's bad for her digestive tract; it takes the one she needs and expels the rest,"

"How do you know all that?" Daniel felt a twinge of jealousy, why did that boy know so much than him?

"Try being her best friend, and I, the mate, then you'd know the things you want to," Ben suggested. Hopefully?.

Daniel didn't give him as much as a look, focusing his attention on his mate done with throwing her guts up.

"How do you feel?" He carried her in his arms.

"Like I want to murder Eric," She slurred.

"Don't worry, I did you the favor already, mate"

"No, I want to squeeze his tiny life with my own hands," she insisted, attempting to get off his body.

"Seriously," Daniel's tone was firm, "He's dead. So unless you need his flesh for skins and hide, I'll advise you to have a short sleep,"

Lia laid against him, she didn't argue with him and shut her eyes to catch a short sleep.

"What about Eric? I would have suggested tossing and burying his body In a shallow grave somewhere in the woods. However, this case is beyond us all. Eric killed humans and people need to know he has been brought to justice," Ben added, "But then, how are we going to do that with his head dismembered from his body; the public would think he was murdered instead,"

"Don't worry, the council would take care of that" Daniel assigned the duty to Ryan.

"Get rid of that video camera," the alpha ordered, finally leaving with the girl while the tired Kanji nestled in Sam's cradle, trailed after them.

"And I'm always the one cleaning up the mess," Ryan complained, watching them as they departed till they weren't in sight anymore.

"Make that two," Ben reminded him that he wasn't alone- his precious pup had not even wished him goodbye.

"Very well, then. I'll get that cursed camera first," Ryan said and went into the ruined hut - thanks to Lia's scream.

Ben sighed, turning around that exact moment to see Eric's ghost. Normally, he would have screamed, creeped out by that scene but Ben was still angry to care this time. An evil grin curved his lips, gotcha.

"How does it feel to be a ghost?" He walked over to the shocked late Eric.

"How can you s-see me?" His eyes were wide. Eric had a hard time believing that he was dead, not to talk of Ben being able to see him.

"I guess not everybody has to be a night creature to have superpowers," Ben was smug.

"How does it feel to know that you failed in your so-called 'Vengeance' ?" he carried on with his mockery.

Unlike what Ben thought, Eric was not as frightening as anticipated: His head was not separated from his body, rather the laceration marks were prominent, dripping endless blood.

"It's disappointing," Eric was grieved, "But don't think that just because you ended me means it's over,"

Ben cocked a brow, "What do you mean?"

"As far as I existed, there have to be other people who would carry on with this great undertaking I never finished. Tell those taboos to rejoice now because a time is coming when they wouldn't be able to hide in the shadows anymore," cackled Eric.

"Yeah, sure," Ben nodded, " I'll be sure to tell them but before then, I want to send you on an errand too"

It was time for Eric to be confused, "What?"

"Say hi to the devil for me,"

At once a blackish portal materialized behind Eric and began to suck him into it.

"No!" Eric screamed and tried to grasp onto Ben but he was whisked into oblivion.

"I've just found-" Ryan, who emerged out of the hut stopped, sensing something beyond mundane comprehension just happened," Did -"

"Nothing," Ben smiled innocently.

Unknown to Ben, he started another commotion in the underworld. The grim reapers were throwing a tantrum; flipping tables in annoyance - that boy had just given them another assignment in Tartarus. No one wanted to go down there.

*************************

Asher felt it.

The bond shifted.

It heightened on the other side.

Daniel's.

"You're up," Dan went over to his bedside.

Asher sat up, wiping his lips with the back of his hand to spot blood, his brows furrowed," What is this?"

"You were almost dried up, we revived you with blood," his right-hand man explained.

"Is that why you all gathered in my room as if I was taking my last breath," Asher gestured to Gideon, Zukai, and Electra - surprisingly - occupying various sitting places in his room.

Ever since that war with the Raven Clan, his daughter barged into his house and occupied one of the rooms here, living with him ever since.

"I'm Nicolli and your daughter, I have to learn your ways if I'm to take your place when you die - which you would eventually," She had emphasized when he confronted her about moving in.

Asher hadn't said much, as far as she didn't cause trouble, no one was chasing her out. Moreover, Electra was his daughter, even if they started on the wrong foot - though she was simply here to take over his position.

"We were worried when you didn't wake last night," Gideon said.

"They're the worried ones, not me," Electra clarified, "I'm just here to confirm your death," she gave her own reason.

At least, she's a sincere one.

But Asher was not bothered about that, he had far more important things on his mind, "How's my mother?"

"She's okay, though hasn't stepped out of the room since yesterday," Dan answered.

Asher was curious about something else, Dan could see that and knew it was about his mate. Has something happened? However, it was none of his business. Moreover, there were more pressing issues at hand.

"Sabrina was summoned by the council today," He notified him.

Asher's head jerked up, " Why?"

"Apparently, they found out about her powers. Remember it had been taken away by Amala, or so they thought. Currently, she's been questioned,"

"And Devon? "

"She went ahead to validate her claims. Sabrina's pushing ahead with the excuse that Devon's mother gave those powers to her," Dan explained.

"That was expected. We always knew sooner or later, it would all come down to this - it wouldn't surprise me if I'm the next" Asher spoke out.

"Oh, you're the next,"

"What?"

Asher jinxed his luck.

"There's a hunter currently waiting for you downstairs," he was informed.

"The rest of you should leave my room save Dan," Was his imperial command.

"Of course, your favorite son stays back as usual," Electra said sarcastically and left alongside the others.

"You need to spend time with your daughter," Dan observed. There was no mistake the murderous glare Electra gave him. He was not occupying her position, just doing his work, Dan thought.

"There's no time for that at the moment, I have a lot on my hand with limited time. Electra would understand that," Asher said, dressing up.

Let's hope she does, Dan hoped. He does not need anyone murdering him in his sleep out of jealousy.

"How many hunters are out there?" he inquired.

"Just one and you should know him - you have quite a history," Dan was amused.

Asher's face was distorted as he went through centuries-old memory, " Chris Merde?"

"Bingo,"

Asher grimaced, if that hunter was here, that means he had something on him. After all, both of them weren't exactly friends. They had a lot of altercations in the past because of Gideon - that vampire had once been a handful. His control over blood wasn't much, leading to unfortunate messes he had to clean up, hence had run into Chris on three or four occasions and both didn't exactly see eye to eye.