"What the hell happened?" Lia asked her son with a furious expression, just as Asher came into the room she had ordered to be made clean earlier with the girl in his arms.

Sophia was a mess; her cloth was torn at some spots, scratch marks at her face and leg when she had tripped and fell; double fang marks on her neck where Asher and Issac had taken her blood; clothes soiled with earth and blood. She looked horrible.

"I'm sorry," Ashton was apologetic yet his eyes never left the sight of his father settling his mate on the bed. Though Ashton knew his father had no ill sentiments towards his mate, he still felt jealous causing a low rumble to leave his throat.

Lia growled back at him demanding his attention back on her which he obeyed, reluctantly.

"I asked you a damn question, Asher junior, and I deserve an answer,"

"Fine, I lost control, alright!" he snapped, losing his calm, "I wanted her but she didn't like the pace I was taking things. I tried to stop but Davi took over and things went downhill from there. My sisters rescued her on time but she went deeper into the woods and Isaac got her. The rest is history," he spilled the beans.

Lia was enraged. No matter how grown nor strong Davi was, the tribrid easily dragged him over by the shirt and pushed him up against the wall.

"This is specifically the reason I had you grounded the past days yet you attended the party behind my back "she spat at his face.

"Lia," Asher tried to interfere but the woman pinned at that spot with a single glance and he lifted his hand in surrender. He knew that Lia was better left at her own devices right now unless he was ready to have a taste of her wrath.

She continued, "Not to add to the fact you fed her your blood, do I need to remind you the kind of risk you took? Do you know the kind of change you brought on? You might as well have turned her!" the woman gave her son an earful while his father stood on the edge of the bed, with his arm folded across his chest and legs crossed over the other.

At first, he had been the one angry considering the lot of damage that was done to his property in the name of partying - he didn't even want to think about the puke he had found on the carpet - but his angry mate had taken over so his anger depleted by sixty percent. The remaining forty percent would be dealt with when the morning comes.

"I had no choice, I wasn't going to let her die!" Ashton retorted yet made no attempt to move from his mother's tight grasp. He knew the woman was furious as hell and confronting her authority would only aggravate the issue.

"If you had willingly obeyed the choice I made for you, you wouldn't have been in the position of having no choice at all," Lia took a deep breath, trying to reel in her anger. Lolli was beyond mad but she knew the wolf was only protective of him.

"Since you all think my position in the council and responsibility is a joke, then you should know that the girl is your burden - mate or not. Clean up the mess you created for once so you could understand the stress I go through every day," She let go of his shirt rumbled under her rough grasp.

"What about Issac? Raven Clan is not going to stand still once they hear of this," Asher reminded her.

Lia sighed, "Isaac is the one at fault here. He broke the rule of feeding on an unwilling human, they can't rule out that solid evidence no matter how they twist the truth," she pointed out, still glaring at her son.

Even though the Nicolli clan had cleared the Raven Clan that day years back, some survived the calamity while the others had been unavailable at the time of the attack. Besides, children were spared since vampires had a hard time reproducing, unlike humans.

No matter the grudges between two vampire clans, they had to leave some seeds behind so the clam could have a chance of re-establishing itself in the future. Although this move might backfire in the future when the defeated comes for vengeance, this was done to preserve the vampire race.

Since the pillars of Raven Clan had been uprooted, it would yeas for the clan to resume its former glory even with a capable leader, giving the Nicolli clan more than enough time to become impenetrable - so far an attack from an enemy or disaster doesn't befall them.

Thanks to that war, there has been great animosity between the Nicolli and Raven Clan. Even though both clans have always been at loggerheads with each other, this time, the tension was multiplied by two times.

As the mate of the former leader, Ezekiel, Helen was supposed to take over the position of authority, but the woman wanted nothing to do with that power. She didn't want to be cumbered with such responsibility, opting for a peaceful and quiet life instead. Thanks to that, another leader had to be chosen for the survival of the Raven Clan while Helen took over the position of elder and advisor.

But then, all her advice has fallen on the deaf ear of the current leader. The man refused her suggestion of peace and according to him, the Raven and Nicolli Clan would never be allies.

Not that Lia cared anyway, as far as the fool didn't cross his boundary, she had nothing against him. Besides, it was obvious that power was concentrated in the Nicolli Clan with her being the leader of the council and Asher being one of the council heads - overseeing all vampires - hence the fool couldn't react harshly.

"Alright, if you say so," Asher acquiesced. His wife knew what she was doing and even if it backfires, he'd be standing right behind for support.

"How's she?" Hailey, who had been hiding behind the door, finally summoned the courage to come in, followed closely by her sister Hazel.

"Narrowly escaped the danger the both of you recklessly drove her into," Lia's tone showed disappointment and the girls hung their heads in shame.

"We're sorry mom, we didn't mean to cause any trouble. Ashton looked really lonely, we just wanted to help him out," Hazel said her reasons for the party in the first place.

"Well, before you play good Samaritan the next time, think about the consequences,"

Hazel nodded, yet didn't meet Lia's eyes. Unlike the others, Hazel was mommy's girl hence was ashamed she brought trouble to her favorite person in the world today.

"You're back," Hailey shifted her attention to Asher, "Do you have good news?"

Everyone knew what Hailey meant by that since Asher had specifically left for that purpose and the children's gaze turned to him while Lia stiffened.

"No more questions for tonight, you all should go settle down in your rooms," Lia was quick to dismiss them.

"It's the same story, isn't it?" Ashton was quick to catch on to the subtle changes in his mother's expression, " You still have to sacrifice me, right?"

Lia ignored him and went to tuck the sheet up to Sophia's chin. She'd call in someone to clean the girl up later when Ashton isn't around to growl and disturb her ears with his unnecessary possessive tantrums.

"Mom, stop ignoring me," Ashton was relentless that he followed her.

"I said, the matter is closed for tonight. See you kids in the morning,"

"I'm getting my answers right now," he demanded.

"Ashton, Let's just obey mother," Hazel came and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him away.

"No, she should stop treating me like a kid!" Ashton was enraged and placed his hand on his mother's shoulder, trying to get her attention with Hazel holding onto him too when something spectacular happened.

All three gasped as visions of Daniel flushed through their head. Daniel was writhing in pain as some horrendous-looking creatures tortured him. Another vision was of him carving some names into his body and another of him just in a dark space with a hopeless glint in his eyes, like someone who gave up on life.

Suddenly all three of them returned to the present with a sharp gasp the moment Hailey and Asher separated all three of them from each other.

"What the heck was that?" Asher was freaked out. One moment they were arguing and the next, all three of them had frozen up with a trace-like look in their eyes.

But what creeped them out the most was Hailey had her usual glaze over eyes when in vision mode while Ashton and Lia adapted their signature demonic eyes - which hadn't happened in years.

"What the hell happened?" Hailey asked no one in particular. All of them were inhaling deep air into their lungs as if they were just rescued from drowning.

"We saw Daniel," Hazel and Ashton answered at the same time.

"He doesn't have time, we have to save him immediately," Lia was shaken up by the revelation.