As I climbed through the portal, I could feel a slight pain in my chest. It felt more like an uncomfortable pain than a severe one but it was there again.

"Ok, I think I can walk," Jake said, placing his feet on the ground. "Ok, don't let go. Are you still holding on?" He said to Henry as he stood up.

"Yes," he wasn't.

"Ok, I'm going to take a step. " Jake said proudly holding up his hands. "All right, I got this. Think you can break every bone in my body and stop me. Look at me, walking around as if nothing happened." Jake happily yelled as he took tiny steps; I wouldn't even call them baby steps towards me. "You're still holding on right?" He called to Henry behind him.

"Yes," he still wasn't.

"Ok, I think I'm good. I got this, OH SHIT," Jake cried out as he fell face-first to the ground. "You asshole, you said you had my back," he yelled at Henry as he threw some sticks at him. "Never trust a royal to have your back," he mumbled as he got off the floor.

"I said I was holding on; you never asked what I was holding onto," Henry smiled in Jake's face.

"Typical, spoilt brat attitude. Fed through silver fangs. Doesn't give a fuck about us little people," Jake mumbled, standing up.

"Stop it, Jake." I tried not to laugh. The pain in my chest started to get a little worse with every step I took, it was becoming stronger. "Ok, this is getting worse. I just need a minute here." I took deep breaths trying to calm the pain in my chest.

"Eb, you ok? You're nearly as pale as me," Jake said, staring at me.

"Ebony, he is right. You don't look well," Henry said, walking over to me.

"The pain is getting worse. It seems to be getting stronger the more I walk." I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. "What does this mean?"

"Carter is close and he must be somewhere in the forest. If you can still feel him, that means he hasn't completely turned yet." Henry said calmly. "We could still have a chance here."

"It does?" I smiled with a glimmer of hope again.

"We must get back to the others and tell them. I don't know how much time we have," Henry put his arm around me and helped me to walk forward.

"I'll just crawl behind you then on my knees then, shall I?" Jake called as we started walking away from him. "No need for help, I only have broken bones no big deal." He said sarcastically.

"Rightio then." Henry smiled back at him. "You are doing great."

"Damn royal bastard thinking he can talk shit to me like I'm a god damn animal. Who does he think he is anyway? Thinks he's in charge of the whole damn world or something...Wait. Damn it!" Jake mumbled behind us.

The deeper we walked into the dark forest the worse the pain got. It was pulsing through my body and taking over my every thought. "Stop, please. I need to stop," I cried out as my chest felt like it was about to explode. "It's getting worse, I need to stop."

"It's ok. We can rest for a minute. Just take big breaths," Henry held me in his arms and as I groaned out loudly in pain.

"Does that mean boss is here?" I heard Jake say.

"He must be close. I can feel her heart beating so fast." Henry said as I let out a scream, the pain was nearly unbearable now. It was consuming me and it was taking over.

"Make it stop, please tell him to stop. Why is he hurting me?" I yelled as tears ran down my face. "Please, make it stop," I begged him as I screamed out again.

"Jake, I need to get her somewhere safe. I'll take her to the castle, you go and tell the others to come immediately. I will talk with my father and we will find him. This ends tonight," Henry yelled.

"Ok, take care of her," Jake said close to me. "I'll be back Eb. This will all be over soon." he kissed my forehead gently.

"Jake," I said as I groaned again.

"Yes?"

"Please be careful," I said, touching his handsome face.

"You're stuck with me for life lady," Jake said in my ear.

"Hate you, Jake."

"Hate you more, Eb," Jake kissed my forehead again and ran towards the river. "Ouch, that really hurt." He groaned from the shadows. "It's cool though; I only fell over a little bit. All good." He called back to me.

"He's an idiot, but I kinda like him," Henry laughed. "Ok, let's get you to the castle. I'm going to run fast, so hold on ok."

"Thank you," I said, throwing my arms around his neck as he held me in his arms.

"You are welcome." he smiled and then took off towards the castle. I watched behind us as Henry ran towards the castle and every now and then I would see something behind us. It was in the corner of my eye and it was like a shadow, a big shadow following us. I couldn't make out what it was if it was but it was moving fast enough to keep up with us. I hunched over in Henry's arms as the pain in my chest become more intense the closer the shadow got.

Henry slowed down and stopped suddenly. "Are you ok? You were holding onto me so tightly just now, are you still in pain?"

"Something is following us, something big. I don't know what it is?" I said, looking into his blue eyes.

"Can you still see it?" He said helping me stand.

I looked around but I couldn't see it. The pain was disappearing as well, in fact, it was completely gone.

"No," I shook my head suddenly feeling like something was about to happen...

"You're shivering. Are you cold?"

"No, just absolutely terrified," I said as my eyes filled with tears. "I don't know how much more of this I can take," Tears fell down my cheeks, and I tried to hide them. "I want to be strong, but I'm not. Everybody's excepting me to stop a war but I can't even stop my tears." I closed my eyes and sobbed.

Henry took my hand in his and calmly smiled. "Listen to me. I don't believe in a lot of things, but I believe in you, Ebony Summers. Who would ever have thought that a vampire who fell in love with a human would start the biggest war of our worlds? You have changed so many lives, mine included and I know things seem bad right now but I need you to be strong. We can't stop this without you."

"What if I can't stop him?"

"If you can make this old vampire feel something then you can do anything," Henry said. "Whatever happens, I'll be right there by your side." Without hesitation, I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. I felt his arms around me. "I believe in you," he whispered in my ear.

I looked up into his big blue eyes. "I'm glad someone does," I smiled through my tears.

"I know this is hard and I understand that you are tired." Henry touched my shoulder gently. "You can do this ...." he didn't get to finish that sentence as I was suddenly thrown backwards by a dark shadow rushing at him. I landed on my back and gasped for air as the fall knocked the wind out of me.

"What the hell?" I sat up and looked around. Henry was gone. "HENRY!" I yelled frantically as I looked around. My heart was pounding in my chest as I searched around for him. "HENRY!" I screamed out. I stood up and yelled out again. He's gone?

What was that shadow? It pushed me out of the way to get to Henry. I covered my ears as I heard a loud howl coming from the forest around me. Whatever this thing was it was close, and I could feel it watching me from the shadows of the trees. Every fibre of my body was telling me to run as there was danger around.

"Please, leave me alone," I yelled, turning around and looking for a sign of someone, anyone. There was no one there, nothing but deafening silence responded to my voice. "What do you want from me?" I yelled throwing my arms up in the air.

"You don't look very dead," a deep voice behind me growled. My breath caught in my throat as my heart skipped a beat. I turned around slowly to the sound of the angry voice.

"Carter," I choked out as tears fell from my eyes. He looked different as he stood in front of me. His body was huge, with tensed-up muscles, and his eyes were bright yellow. He was glaring down at me with his sharp teeth showing as he growled in the back of his throat. He looked furious to see me standing there in front of him.

"Oh my god, Carter ....."

"I thought you were dead?" He growled at me, cutting me off completely.

"No, Leon told you that, but I'm fine." I took a step toward him with my arms out, but he quickly took a step back. "I got locked in here and I ...."

"You are dead. What is this magic? Are you a witch? I'll rip your fucken bones out while you watch for mocking me with her," he sneered at me.

"No, Carter. Please, it's me. They lied to you."

"You're not my girl; I know my girl. Do you think you can trick me? I know she is dead. I felt it. I felt her die. It's your turn sorceress." he said with a growl as he lunged toward me.