Hey hey! Sorry for the late update but I've been hella busy like you wouldn't believe!!

Anyway I'm dedicating this chapter to because it's her BIRTHDAY!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY YA OLDIE!!!!

Haha, I hope you had an awesome day, or still are, who knows with the time zones and whatnot >.

So here you are birthday girl!

~*~*~*~*

"What's wrong Aviva?" Beatrice asked, the only one willing to approaching her sister as she was.

"This." Lady Aviva seethed angrily while slamming the letter she held onto the table before starting to pace angrily.

I watched carefully as Beatrice picked up the letter and read through it, with each line her face darkened and I felt her anger and frustration through how bond. "What is it?" I asked softly.

"It's a summons." Beatrice bit out.

"From who?" Mercy wondered with a frown.

"Enrique." My blood ran cold and I felt anger and fear course through me. I knew he'd be coming sooner or later but to think he would try to summon us like nothing was wrong, really made me angry.

"How can he just send us a letter and expect us to go to him like loyal little puppies? That's ridiculous. Like hell we're going." I spat out through clenched teeth.

"We don't have a choice." Lady Aviva sighed stopping her pacing.

"What do you mean we don't have a choice?" I asked in disbelief.

"It's orders from the Master coming through Enrique. We can't deny the Master or every Nightwalker not loyal to me will be coming for our heads." Lady Aviva explained. "We have to go to Enrique's castle and then down to the under realm. I don't know why, but the Master wants to see us in person."

"We have to go back to his castle?" I asked completely distraught. I can still barely sleep from nightmares of what he's done to me and now I have to go to him?

"You'll be fine Vaden. He can't touch you." Beatrice tried to assure me by pulling me into a hug and sending her love down our bond.

I couldn't say anything. I was angry and upset, but, ashamedly, I was more scared than anything. What will happen when I see him again? Will I fall back under his thumb again? Am I still weak even after all these years? Will I once again become a monster I can't control?

"I'm so sorry Vaden, but you have no choice but to come. The portal to the under realm is in Enrique's castle." Lady Aviva sighed sadly.

I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat, trying to clear away my fear along with it. "It's fine... when do we have to leave?"

"A week from now. It allows me to get our affairs in order and to make sure nothing happens while we're gone." Lady Aviva answered. "When Athena wakes up, Galen will train her while she's staying here to look after the estate and business. Mercy, you and Ashwini will be in charge along with Galen, Lucas and Hawk in taking care of the territory. Eliza, Jonah, you two will look after the estate. I'll give more detailed orders over the week while we prepare to leave."

"Yes my lady." They all agreed.

"I suggest we get things sorted immediately." Lady Aviva nodded her head before heading out of the dining room but not before, surprising me, placing a comforting hand onto my arm for a second.

"Vaden?" Beatrice asked obviously worried.

"I'm fine... I'm.. I'm going to go check on Athena." I mumbled, quickly leaving her embrace and walking back to Athena's room.

Once I entered the room I checked the amount of mana in it and was glad to find everything was fine. I went over to Athena's prone body and sat down on the edge of her bed beside her. I placed a hand to her cheek and closed my eyes to concentrate on the mana running through her body. I was surprised with how fast the change was happening. Already a quarter of Athena's mana has accepted the Change and I could tell it won't be long till she wakes up. Which in glad about because that means I can make sure she's all right before I have to leave.

I sighed softly and took my hand from her cheek. I've done so much these last few years. I've become a lot stronger too, but... I can't help but think that I'm not strong enough to not fall again. I can't fall again. Just the thought is terrifying.

I shook my head while holding it in my hands. I can't see him again without wanting to either kill him or run away from him.

"What am I going to do?" I wondered out loud with a sigh.

"You are going to go to the under realm and see what the Master wants." I jumped in surprise before I glared softly at Sylvia who had just appeared beside me.

"But I will most likely have to see Enrique again and what if he tries to block my mind again and I can't stop him."

"Of course you'll be able to stop him. You're not alone Vaden. You have Beatrice constantly around you on the psychic plane and you also now know what it feels like before he can do anything with your mind."

I sighed. "Saying it is so much easier than doing it."

"Well, you have Beatrice, Aviva, me, Narga, Qoy, we're all in your head so if you ever need a mental beating to get you back on track, we'll give it to you." Sylvia grinned and nudged me with her shoulder.

I scowled at lightly before chuckling. "You're right, thank you."

"Of course." She grinned.

I looked at her thoughtfully, she is different from before. Still kind and friendly and really helpful... but there's something still different about her.

"I'm no longer in love with you." Sylvia suddenly stated making me frown in confusion. "I can read your mind remember. I could hear you wondering what was different between us. Well, I'm not in love with you anymore. Dying helped fade the emotion but seeing you with Beatrice made it completely disappear."

I felt bad for feeling relieved, but that's what I felt when she finished speaking. "Are you okay with that?"

"Of course, I'm dead and until I'm called to be reincarnated I'm going to be stuck in your hunting knife till then." She shrugged before turning to look at Athena with a soft smile. "Besides, I'm glad that I'm able to watch my little sister grow into an amazing woman."

I looked at the sleeping Athena as well and smiled as well. I felt proud of her and knowing that she was going to be safe here taking care of the Deveraux trading business while we had to go to the darkest and most dangerous realm, had me feeling relieved.

"She's going to go far in the future. She's incredibly smart and she's going to be able to do amazing work for all the years to come." I agreed.

"And you'll be able to be by her side all throughout it when you come back." Sylvia stated making my mood dim but realise that I am going to have to see Enrique again.

I sighed reluctantly. "I guess I'm going."

"You were going to end up going even if you wanted to or not." Sylvia scoffed with a roll of her eyes.

"True." I agreed half-heartedly. I stood up and stretched my limbs. "I better go and see if lady Aviva wishes my help with anything before we must go."

Sylvia nodded her head in understanding. "You know how to reach me if you need to talk."

"Of course." I agreed just as Sylvia disappeared.

*

It was three days before Athena woke up and during that time I helped lady Aviva and Beatrice get their affairs in order to make sure everything would run smoothly while we were away.

I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like something was different and decided to get up and check on Athena. Halfway there I felt it, she was awake. The realisation that she was awake had me flittering to her room within a second. I opened the door to find her sitting up looking around with a look of confused wonderment.

"Hey there sleepy head." I spoke softly know that her hearing was going to be exceptionally sensitive for a little while until she got use to it.

She looked at me and I nearly gasped in awe from the sight of her stunning eyes. They were still an amazing storm grey but they now looked like they had lightning flashing through them backlighting them and making them glow beautifully.

She smiled softly, almost dazed like, while she looked at me. "This is really weird."

I chuckled lowly as I walked further into the room and sat on the edge of the bed. "Trust me, I know." I bent down and opened a little cabinet on her bedside table and removed a goblet and a small corked bottle. Uncorking the bottle, I tipped the blood from within it into the goblet before offering the goblet to Athena. "Now take it slow, it's all you're getting until at least noon."

"It smells amazing. I was wondering what it must smell like to you when I was still human... but god do I know why you crave it so much now." Athena breathed with the usual lisp of a newly made Nightwalker, making me chuckle again because it was pretty cute hearing it.

"How are you feeling now?" I asked after she finished the blood.

"It's really strange... like I can hear and see and feel everything... it's amazing." She whispered out while looking down at her hands like she was expecting them to look different.

"Come on, I want to see how well you can deal with being around humans." I told her while standing up.

"Are you sure?" She asked worriedly. "I still remember when Mercy was just changed and how she would go into the blood haze."

I smirked at her. "But Mercy wasn't changed by me and it took her a bit longer than you to complete her shift. Trust me, I know you'll be fine. I can stop you easily enough if anything happens."

"Well, okay." She agreed nervously while getting up. I stayed beside her while monitoring her mana levels as we walked throughout the estate. I also told her that lady Aviva, Beatrice and I are going to have to leave in a few more days. But I didn't tell her where we were going, she doesn't deserve anymore stress right after her change than she must already have with having to take care of the business by herself.

I'm happy to say that she was incredibly controlled and her concentration never strayed from our conversation or from where we were walking. I took her to the mountain garden and I stopped when she did. She looked around the garden and gasped while placing a hand to her chest making me wonder what was wrong. Could she feel the power of the mana in the garden? I wonder.

I checked her mana level and was amazed to watch it rise and fall along with her breathing, much like it did to me when I first started feeling mana. "It feels like you're surrounded my pure energy, doesn't it? It's tingling against your skin, prickling at your fingertips feeling like you could just reach out and grab a hand full of it, doesn't it Athena?" I asked her wanting to confirm my suspicions.

"Yes... it's incredible." She agreed while raising her hands out in front of her and looking around.

"What you're feeling is pure mana." I told her making her look at me with shocked eyes.

"No way... seriously?" She asked breathlessly.

I smiled at her before walking around her so that I was behind her and placed my hands on her shoulders. "Here, close your eyes and just breath. Feel the energy around us. I want you to move that energy that is surrounding you and pull it inside yourself. Pull it inside you and move it to your hand. Keep pulling it in until it feels like your hand is becoming increasingly heavy, only stop when it feels like no more can fit in your hand."

I watched in amazement as Athena drew in the mana from around us and guided it into her right hand that was clenched into a fist now. I could see the slightest sparks, like static, flicker over her skin from the amount of mana inside her hand.

"What now?" She asked in barely a whisper obviously not wanting to break her concentration.

"Now I want you to open your eyes look at the tree in front of you, swing your arm back and punch your hand towards the tree while releasing the mana inside." I told her while stepping a ways away from her.

I watched as she went through the motion I told her to and laughed at her shocked face. When she had punched forward with her mana filled fist, the tree, easily two horse's length away from her shuddered while cracks dispersed from where a fist size indent appeared in the centre of the tree trunk.

"Oh my god! Did I do that?" She asked in utter shock while looking at me with wide eyes.

I smiled at her feeling incredibly proud. "Yeah, you did that." I laughed happily before I rushed forward and caught her before she fell. I moved mana into her slowly, replenishing the large amount of mana from inside her that she suddenly lost. "You're okay, it's okay. Come on, you need to rest for a little."

"That was incredible..." She mumbled, her body limp in my arms as I carried her back to her room.

"I know. There's so much to teach you." I sighed feeling unbelievably excited that I was going to be able to teach little Thena something finally. "Sleep for now though. I'll wake you up at noon."

For the four days before we left Beatrice and I taught her as much as we could about mana, fighting, weaponry and what she would need to do while Beatrice was gone for the business. It was hard, but Athena learnt incredibly fast. She was going to be perfectly fine while we were away.

Finally, it was time to leave.

No one would be coming with us, so it'll only be lady Aviva, Beatrice, myself and Qoy. Our horses were waiting for us at the front of the estate along with everyone else. I finished tying a supply bag onto Ruddy and turned to everyone else ready to say goodbye.

"See ya Purple." Mercy grinned before pulling me into a hug.

"Good bye Melisande." I replied with a laugh making her push me away with a playful huff.

"Here, it's a good luck charm." Ashwini handed me a little bag that held something I'm sure I wouldn't want to see inside it.

"Thank you Ash." I hugged the witch before placing the charm into a small pocket on my vest.

"Are you sure I can't come with you Alpha? Even just to the castle to make sure everything is safe for when you come back?" Anon asked with a slight, worried, frown.

"We'll be fine Anon. Just stay here and look after the estate for us." I assured him though he didn't look impressed. I hugged him before turning to Eliza and Athena. I smiled at them while stepping forward. "I know we didn't get off to a good start Eliza, but I'm glad you stuck around."

Eliza sighed but gave a soft smile to me anyway. "No, I didn't like you very much but I'm glad I stayed as well. I'm glad that I was given the opportunity to see that the supernatural aren't as monstrous as we're made to seem within the Hunter society. Plus, I would have never met Jonah and had Revrez and Jamal."

I chuckled at her last comment that she gave happily before I looked at Athena who was also smiling happily at her friend. "You will be all right with everything, won't you Athena?" I asked cautiously.

"Of course, Vaden, I have people I can rely on if I need any help. Just come back in one piece. Please be safe, the three of you." She said back first off sounding confident and then looking sad. I pulled her into a hug as Beatrice and Aviva walked out of the estate. "You'll look after each other right?" Athena asked pulling away from me to embrace Beatrice.

"With our lives." Beatrice assured the woman who has become much like a daughter to us over the years, though now she looks the same age as us.

"Come, we must go now." Aviva called and so with a final hug to Athena and farewells to the others, Beatrice and I straddled our mounts and headed off towards a place that is still within my nightmares. Qoy followed behind us as a sort of guard on his own horse.

"My lady." I called to Aviva as I nudged Ruddy forward so that I was partially beside her. "Would it be all right if I visit my family's cabin along the way?"

"We'll stop for the night in the same clearing, so yes, it'll be fine for you to go." She agreed making me breath out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you my lady." I bowed slightly to her before slowing Ruddy down so that I was once more riding beside Beatrice. "Will you come with me?" I asked her.

"Of course." Beatrice easily replied making me incredibly happy.

I sighed again this time happily though in the back of my mind I couldn't completely shake away my fear of what was going to happen when we arrived in the under realm.

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