They had snuck into the council under the cover of Gideon's darkness while Dan teleported some of them in, other vampires with similar abilities helped the rest of them, and the already commenced battle began to reach its peak. 

Their enemy was clear to them - the council and the dark witches. They were not taking any sides here. The Dark witches wanted the witches' apocalypse while the council wanted Lia dead - unknowingly benefiting the dark witches with their plan.

That was the secret Vashti discovered, the Burning Eaglet had played them. They unknowingly helped the enemies with their agenda.

It was a tough battle, Daniel's pack with a whole lot of others had joined forces with the vampires on this one. The council had treated them as a minority race, choosing to concentrate power amongst their fellow member witches, leaving them with nothing. It wasn't surprising it resulted in this rebellion.

Since they were under one rulership, power was supposed to be spread out, but the witches monopolized it all. Though no governorship was perfect, the council had suppressed them long enough, it was time for a change.

Daniel was more concerned with finding his mate which is why he fought his way over to Zukai.

"I need to know where Lia is" He shouted so his voice wouldn't be drowned out by the clamorings. The vampire could trace her.

"Of course, follow me!"

And then, they fought till they successfully made it into the council. Everywhere was a battleground, it was either to kill or be killed.

"There she is?" Zukai pointed to the girl hunched over a corpse, stretching out her hand to collect something on the other side while Asher was fighting off their enemies.

"Thank God!" Daniel breathed and was on his way to her when he felt a piercing pain in his chest. He froze, unable to make a move.

The werewolf had thought someone had stabbed him from behind until he looked up and realized the pain was his but coming from his mate. He only felt it. 

"No!!!" Daniel roared. 

With great strength, he shoved everyone out of his way and ran to her. 

Upon getting there, Daniel plonked to his knees dejectedly. Her eyes were closed nor was she moving. Lia was dead - gone just like that. 

Daniel threw his head back and released an inhuman howl - the animal in him mourning for the loss of his mate. 

As if a spell was cast, everyone stopped fighting, enthralled by the scene of the girl grieved by the vampire and the werewolf.

All of Daniel's pack members felt the pain of their alpha through the link and all lifted their snout and howled in unison. They were languishing over the loss of their Luna, the alpha's mate. 

They were all immersed in their grief when something strange began to happen. 

From where Lia's bleed blood stopped, the ground began to crack open. Everyone froze and those who could breathe stopped. 

"Asher, step back," Daniel warned the vampire, doing the same too as the cracks in the ground increased in length and width. 

There was a gasp from the crowd when Lia's corpse rose from the ground and began to float in the air. 

"What is going on with her?" Daniel asked, unsettled. 

"What we feared so much," Asher answered. 

At the same time, Sabrina appeared by their side, saying, 

"I failed. We were too late," 

"What's with your eye?" Asher inquired. 

"Long story," 

"Is there not a way to stop this?" Daniel asked Sabrina, she was always the one with the answer they needed. 

"I'm afraid this time only Lia can stop this. She has to send the army back, they're in her command," Sabrina informed him. 

"If that's the case, then I don't think she's going to agree with that," Asher said, eyes fixed above. 

Daniel refused to give up, "Let's not say that, we can persuade... oh," He got the point too, looking up. 

"From what the dark witches did, I'm not really sure this version of her is open to persuasion," Sabrina gaped at the new Lia scrutinizing them. 

The entirety of her eyes was black, her fangs curved and blacker while she hovered in the air. 

"Nefi adi nedué!" She spoke in a strange tongue.

"Erm..." Asher was confused about what to do, " I don't think we have a demon translator around," 

"When did she even learn that?" 

"I can understand it," Sabrina said. She then stepped forward and began to converse with her. 

Everyone knew their fate laid in whatever the both of them discussed, hence none dared to make any noise nor move. 

Though none could understand demon language, all knew things were not looking fine when Sabrina started raising her voice at her. Both began to argue back and front till Sabrina was blasted to the ground. 

"What happened?" Daniel and Asher came to her side. 

"She didn't come for us but the witches but wouldn't hesitate to clear us all if we got in our way," 

"I guess that's a no," Daniel sighed, hands on his hips. 

"And it's begun," Asher dreaded. 

Suddenly, there was a great earthquake as the ground began to open up in diverse directions with demons crawling out of it. 

There was a tortured scream as a witch was suddenly stabbed by a demon from behind, he began to eat her alive. 

Pandemonium broke out. Shrieks and screams filled the hall as witches tried to escape outside but it was the same case; demons were everywhere. 

The courageous ones used their powers on the demons but to their horror, discovered it was not working the hard one.

"Devon.." Sabrina remembered the little girl was half-witch and went in search of her. She couldn't let anything happen to the girl, she had promised Nadia. 

"Devon!" She searched around frantically and finally found her. 

The girl was a brave fool.

Devon had struck a demon who was about to finish off a witch, now drawing his attention to her. 

The demon towering over her with at least ten inches stride over to her while she hit him with her magical powers, none of them worked. She didn't use her vampiric powers since it wasn't offensive but used her knowledge to conjure a sword that pierced into his heart - but then, she missed the heart. 

The demon pulled the sword out of his chest like it was nothing and swung it at her. She bent, he missed her but she tripped and fell. 

Frightened, Devon crawled back on all fours while the demon smirked, coming after her. 

"Adolebitque!" Sabrina said a spell just before the demon would strike her with the sword. He crumbled to ashes. 

Wait a minute, her power worked? Only dark magic could kill off the Demons? She now understood why Islinda told her she could be saved once she moved over to the dark side, only their dark magic could kill the demons. 

Sabrina looked around, there were about fifteen dark witches she could find and they were delighted to watch their suffering. 

"Asher!" She called, he vamped over. 

"Hypnotize the dark witches to help us out, only their magic can end the demons," she instructed. 

"Alright - wait a minute, how did you -".

"I knew about your secret power all along, now get moving!" 

Asher didn't need to be told twice as he went about hypnotizing any dark witch he could set his eyes on. He was almost on his thirty-ninth witch when he was tackled to the ground. 

"I warned you not to get in my way," Lia growled at his face. 

Asher flipped her over, "You can speak normally?" he was shocked, " I can't believe you were intentionally making things harder for us," 

He was pushed off, Lia got up and slammed him into the wall, choking him," I would kill you!" 

"Fine, do it if you can," He dared her. 

She trailed her claws down his face, tearing open his skin, and lowered her head to lick it off. 

What the.....

Asher was freaked out by that act but remained still, a new plan forming in his head. It seems even as a demon, his blood was still alluring to her. 

He hissed out in pain when she sank her large fangs into his neck, it was extremely painful. As a demon, all of her features were augmented. 

Asher let her feed on him gluttonously and roughly; the flesh on his shoulder was a mess. Just when he was sure she had let down her guard, he slammed the cuff on her wrist. 

"Surprise?" he laughed as she frowned down on the restraints, "Those are neutralizing cuffs hence would take away your powers till we know what to do with you," He was smug. 

"Fool," she growled, " These are made by the witches hence do not affect me," the handcuffs dropped to the ground as she spoke. 

Oh boy, Asher's jaw dropped. 

"Thanks for the rich supplement but I have a witch to fish," Demonic Lia announced and zoomed off before he could catch up to her. 

Asher stomped his feet in frustration but something clicked in his head, she didn't kill him. Could it be.....