Raven's P•O•V

I faced the door to my room, staring at it for a brief second while I tried to block out the memories of the last time I had been in there. With the guards at my door staring aimlessly ahead, I tried to feel secure but knew that only Alec could truly make me feel safe.

The thought of him made my stomach churn as the two men opened the doors to my room. I walked in with a heavy heart and didn't care to look around and recollect. I went straight to my bed and collapsed. I sat on the edge with my head in my hands, fingers lacing through my hair and tugging at it as I recalled everything they told me.

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"The blade carried some kind of dark magic. When used on Alec it released its power and now it seems to be poisoning him from the inside out..." Vega's friend, Nicolae, who had been called for his specialty in medicine and the study of witchcraft, told us. We all stood outside Alec's door, listening to Nicolae in dread. I felt my heart ache with a pain that settled deep inside of me as he kept talking.

"It's spreading from the wound out, seemingly replacing his blood. The only positive is that the wound didn't delve deep enough to get straight to his heart..." Nicolae explained. I perked my head up and looked at him with a small bit of hope.

"You're saying we can fix it?" I asked the question everyone was scared to ask. Nicolae looked down briefly and sighed.

"I'm saying it hasn't gotten directly to his heart yet. So he has more time..." He killed my hope and all of our faces fell.

I looked towards Alec's door and could hear him roaring in pain behind it. Irina and Piper cried as they held each other. I felt faint and dropped to my knees, only for Dimitri to catch me before I fell to the ground. I looked up to him and saw the pain in his eyes reflecting mine.

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More time, I thought. They expected Alec to die from this.

I held onto the bedpost, my body numb at the thought of losing Alec. I had just started to live happily with him. I just got back to him a little over a week ago... Now he was going to die.

Who knew, out of the two of us, the immortal one was going to die...

I got up and went into my bathroom. I shut the door behind me and pressed my back against it, shutting my eyes, tears streaming down my cheeks. I stripped off my clothes that felt like they were suffocating me and turned the dial to start the shower.

I tried not to look at myself in the mirror for too long. If I did, I would notice how sick I looked. I sure felt sick.

I stepped into the shower and tried to keep my composure. It felt like my heart had to force itself to beat through the pain. Soon enough I gave up trying to not cry and ended up at the bottom of the shower sobbing, hand cupped over my mouth so the guards outside couldn't hear me. Even though they probably could, I couldn't keep it suppressed.

Shaking at the bottom of the shower, sobbing my heart out for a good hour and a half, I ended up somewhat washing myself and got out. I wrapped the towel around my body and left the bathroom.

The rain outside streamed down the glass balcony doors, coating the glass as it stormed outside. I looked away, not wanting to remember how this all started.

I tore my eyes away from the balcony doors and went to my closet. The white lace gown was folded on the makeup chair from the night I was supposed to be turned. I shook my head and grabbed a nightgown to sleep in. I got dressed and left the closet.

I went straight over to my bed and lied down. I pulled the covers over me and sighed. It felt cold without Alec beside me, causing me to grip onto the duvet for warmth. To no avail, I tossed and turned, feeling uncomfortable in the big, empty bed.

"You need to stay away from him until we figure out how to sedate him." Piper had told me. I wanted to protest when she said that.

I knew that Alec would never hurt me. But for some reason they thought he would, and I couldn't get around Dimitri's orders,

"If anything happens to Alec, you're his Soulmate and we can't have anything happen to you as well..."

I tried to focus on the rain, hoping that'd soothe me into sleep. How was I supposed to sleep when Alec was across the castle, dying?

Against the glass doors, the sound of hail tapping the glass filled my ears. I groaned, sitting up on the edge of the bed, facing the balcony doors in irritation. But there was no hail.

A strike of lightning lit up the sky and caused a silhouette of a man to flicker outside the doors. I gasped as the face of DeMalo shone behind the doors. The light went away and DeMalo vanished, in his place, a crow, tapping the glass with its beak.

I slowly stood, my body numb as I stepped over to the doors. I pulled them open, the rain drenching me. The crow fluttered up onto the railing and around its ankle was a small piece of paper. The crow extended its wing so it shielded the fragile letter.

I watched as the bird pecked at the tie until it got the paper in its beak. I grabbed the paper from its black beak. The crow cawed and flew away into the pouring rain, vanishing.

The rain pelted down on me, my hair sticking to my face and my night gown clinging to me as the water soaked me.

I looked down at the envelope and watched as the edges started to wrinkle as the rain dropped onto it. I retreated into my room and shut the balcony doors.

"Are you okay Your Highness?" The guards knocked on my door, asking concernedly.

"Fine! The doors just weren't latched all the way." I hollered even though they could probably hear me just fine. They didn't bother to ask any further.

I sat on the edge of the bed and opened the letter with quivering fingers, reading the distinctive script of Alec's twin brother.

Alec won't survive past tomorrow if the black magic isn't cured from his system. If you want to save him, then come find me.

~DM

I read the note over and over until I crumpled it up and went to my closet. I peeled off my soaked nightgown and got dressed in some jeans, a black hoodie, and some heavy boots.

I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from the desk in my room and wearily wrote a note I knew that once they knew I was gone, they'd come and find this.

I knew what I had to do, and curing the man I love was it. And this was the only way to save Alec.

I picked up my silk, floor length robe and put it over my outfit. When I walked out of my room, both guards looked at me.

"Anything you need Your Highness?" The one blonde Vampire asked. I shook my head.

"I just need to walk around for a bit. I'm feeling restless." I made up an excuse quickly, making it believable. They looked at each other then looked at me.

"We're going to have to decline. King's orders." He told me. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Just five minutes." I countered. When he didn't say anything I huffed. "Please?"

They looked at each other then he finally nodded in approval. I smiled at him and thanked them.

Five minutes... that'd be pushing it, but I could make it work.

Once I turned the corner into a different hall, I shrugged off my robe and threw it, looking behind me. I started to speed up as I saw the grand staircase ahead and padded down the stairs, my heart racing. The main hall was to my left but I turned to the right, going for the back entrance.

I pressed my back against the wall and looked to the side to see if there was any guards at the door. To my luck, there wasn't. I hurried out of the door and ran through the courtyard, running through the storm towards the stables.

Once I got to the stables, I yanked open one of the huge stall doors and closed it behind me. Only the horses were in the stables thankfully. I rushed through the stables, checking one by one for the horse I was looking for. The last stable is where I found him.

"Diavol." I murmured gladly with a sigh of relief. He sniffed me and neighed contently. I grabbed his reins that hung on the post by his stall and opened one of the back stable doors, before entering his stall. There was no time to put his saddle on. My five minutes were growing thin.

Diavol leaned his head down, letting me put his bridle on. I tugged them on swiftly and made sure they were secure. I lead him out of his stall and over by the bales of hay. I stepped up on one of the hay bales and pulled myself onto Diavol's back. I cracked the reins and bumped his hip.

Diavol sped out of the stables and I lead him straight to the forest. I knew exactly where to find DeMalo. If his crow knew where to find Alec and I, he'd know as well.

The rain soaked Diavol and I, causing Diavol's mane to whip through the air viciously. We flew through the trees, weaving in and out. We both knew where we were going.

Once we got to the clearing, I slid off of Diavol and stood. Looking around, I saw no one.

"I know you're here DeMalo." I said lowly. He could hear me, I knew he could.

"So you found me." DeMalo emerged from the woods, coming into the clearing. Diavol grunted and stamped his foot once he saw DeMalo. I rubbed his neck and calmed him.

"Where's the cure?" I asked immediately as he walked over to me.

"You really do care about him, don't you?" DeMalo said cockily, seeing the pain within me that hid behind my courage. When I didn't respond, he continued.

"You know that the cure comes with a price." He informed me. I nodded. Anything from DeMalo had a twisted price to pay along with it.

"Do you really want to pay it, Love?" DeMalo cocked an eyebrow at me, knowing I had no other choice.

"I'll give anything, as long as you give me the cure in return." I answered him.

"Then we have a deal." DeMalo smirked at me with a sick expression. I knew exactly what the price was.

It was me.

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