Lia woke up with a startle.

She had a dream where she was engulfed in darkness so deep and lonely. Everywhere was deadly silent, her shouts echoing off without finding anyone to help her out; it felt like she was lost forever. The dream scared her so much that she awoke, trembling.

"Hey, it's okay. It's just a nightmare," She felt a warm body draw her into a hug, it was solacing.

"You're okay, sweetheart. You're with me," Daniel smoothed her back with his hand.

"D-daniel?" Lia glanced up at him in the hug.

"Yeah, it's me,"

"What happened…? " Lia was still asking when the memories came flooding in.

The girl became pale at once, "Oh my God," she pulled away and palmed her face, horrified.

"Lia?"

"I nearly hurt Sabrina…." it dawned on her as she glanced down at herself with disgust, "Gosh, I'm dangerous to everyone. This is why Asher should have let them take me," the guilt hit her.

"I'm not going to let you ridden yourself with grief," Daniel told her, pissed off, "It was not your fault, and look around, you didn't hurt her," He tried to appease her, however, it elicited the opposite result.

Lia burst into tears, "You should all just let me die,"

Daniel didn't stop Lia, rather he let her cry to her heart's content. It was better she let it all out rather than bottle up this emotion considering how frail her mental state was at the moment. Who knows? The next, she might split her personality and let that demon in her take over. Worst nightmare ever.

"You should take this," Daniel handed the letter to her.

She sniffed, giving it a questionable look, "What is this?"

"It's from Asher,"

At the mention of Asher, her heart raced and she snatched the letter from him.

"I'll give you some privacy," said Daniel, dusting off invisible dirt from his pants.

"Thank you," Lia wiped the tears from her eyes, giving him a thankful smile.

He smiled back at her, leaving her alone.

The moment Daniel left, Lia stared at the letter before taking a long, deep breath as if preparing herself mentally for what Asher wrote down.

She tore the envelope open and unfolded the paper. The first thing Lia noticed was his writing. He had written it in a haste.

"Dear Lia,

I know this is the point where you hate me for eternity but listen up first. You are not responsible for whatever happens to me, it was my choice and my cross to bear. This is the decision I had to make for my sake, your sake, and for the sake of our child.

You would make a better parent to Ashton - Damn Ben for calling him Arthur - than I would to him. I'm not as righteous as you think I am. I have lived long on this earth and done so many things, wronged so many people than I can remember. So our child would make a better man with you than me.

I'm not going to ask you not to cry but do not cry too much, it would hurt my heart. Live well with Daniel, he was your first mate and would always be. But then, never forget me nor how much I love you.

Yours sincerely,

Asher. "

Lia broke down in tears as soon as she finished the letter. Her heart was hurting so much, how could someone be so selflessly in love with her.

She wept till she could no longer produce tears from her tears duct. After a while, she made up her mind, she would not let Asher's labor be in vain.

Lia found her way to the bathroom, washed up, and changed out of her old clothes. When she opened the door to leave, Daniel was already standing outside waiting for her.

"How do you feel?" He asked.

"Never been better. Now, what's the plan?"

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

"Where is she?"

A vampire's tortured groan was heard once the witch placed her hand on his chest, causing his flesh to sizzle with a hiss.

"Where is she?!" Selena yelled furiously, removing her hands from his chest afraid that he would burst into flames and die if she goes any further.

"You do know that I have elemental powers and fire's one of them so I've grown inured to the heat. Hence, you better find another method of torturing me," Asher said mockingly to her, exposing blood-stained teeth.

The vampire was quite a sight. He was tied to a chair with his hands bound from behind. His clothes were torn at diverse places and there was a fading charred scar on his chest from the lightning hurled at him earlier. Still, yet, Asher had a smirk on his face.

Selena was frustrated, she had never seen a vampire this obstinate and vexing - his smug smirk was getting on her nerves.

"I already told you I don't know where the girl is, I sent her to a destination even I don't know about," Asher confessed playfully, "Even if I knew, I'd rather die than tell you,"

Selena run her hands through her hair, then turned to Asher, placing her hands on the chair arm saying, "You have no idea what you're disrupting, we're trying to free this world from its oppressors and this girl is the only one who can do it,"

Asher scoffed, "If you think I'll stand still and watch you kill my mate, then you're the worst joke of the century,"

"You're such an idiot, don't you know your mate is immortal," Selena sneered.

"What?" Asher was dumbfounded.

"Order must be restored," Selena laughed, "That is her curse for disrupting the flow of nature. While you die from a stake to the heart and the werewolf eventually, she'd live on and on and on - might even take another mate in the future when you're gone- till nature eventually balances, would she finally find peace, "

Asher was mystified by this revelation. "Till nature balances" probably means until there's more of her kind populating the earth, only then would nature find a way to rid of them. Just like vampires, they seemed immortal at first until nature came up with its own solution of stabilizing everything; their weaknesses emerged.

"This doesn't make any sense" Asher shook his head, "If she can't die, why do you still want her dead?"

"We don't want her fully dead but rather her demon side, only then would she fulfill the prophecy," She whispered into Asher's ears. She went ahead to tell him of their plans and Lia's history and connection to the prophecy.

"You're not the real Selena, are you?" Asher's eyes were wide. There was no way a fellow head would want the downfall of the council.

"It's a good thing you're smarter than the council," She simpered.

"No matter what you plan, I know Lia, she would never return for vengeance especially after knowing what it would cause," Asher told her.

"Of course we thought about that possibility hence prepared for that,"

"What did you do?" Asher had a bad premonition.

"We bound her to our purpose. The moment she dies, the only thought in her head as she returns would be finding justice for the dark witches, for the Burning Eaglet. The council and other witches who have thrived at the expense of our sacrifice, our blood! Would suffer her wrath! "

"So not only the council, you'd be destroying all witches?"

"Exactly," She said blandly as if it was a normal thing to do, "Now, tell me, where is the girl?"

"Like I would give it to you psychopaths," Asher sneered.

"You would regret this!" there was a dark glint in her eyes and was about to strike Asher when her phone rang.

"Hello," She picked up.

Troubled, Asher tuned his hearing to the call.

Oh crap, they caught them.

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

Devon stirred. The back of her head hurt like crazy, she had a splitting headache. Though her eyes were blurry, she managed to make out a pair of boots, then lifted her sight to see a woman on a call with her back turned to her.

"Yes, I have them. They're out…"

She heard her conversation. It was obvious the woman was a witch and worked for the council else she wouldn't have captured them easily.

Devon looked to her side, Dan and Trevor were leaning against the wall and unconscious. Well, to the rescue then.

She said a spell mentally so as not to attract attention. The binds used to tie her hands fell to the ground.

The woman must have sensed her movements because she turned at that exact moment but Devon was faster.

"Vitae!" Devon yelled before she could retaliate.

The woman was lifted off her feet and slammed to the wall, hovering there. She tried to say a spell but Devon made a gesture, her mouth was sealed.

"It's my turn now,"

Devon declared, then caused a tree branch from outside the window to grow and slip into the room, curling around the lady's throat and leg as it dragged her outside.

The lady released muffled screams, tears slipping down her face but Devon was unmoved- she didn't believe in giving second chances to her enemies. The first time she tried being merciful, she was used as a puppet by the Raven clan. Hence, no sympathy.

The woman was dragged outside where other branches stretched out towards her as if calling out to her to become one. The lady was pressed against the hard barks of the large tree, the branches covering her till she was sucked into the tree.

Done, the tree stilled instantly and became normal like nothing ever happened.