Hi angels!!

I've been having lots of PM and comments saying 'when u next update?' and the answer is EVERY FRIDAY. So consider yourself informed :D

This week's dream cast is brought to you by @theaqueen- ! This cast is a really beautiful cast so be sure to check out the pintrest board I made for it (see pinned notice on my profile comment board for link).

- Francisco Lachowski

- Gigi Hadid

- Alex Pettyfer

- Paul Wesley

- Adelaide Kane

- Daniel Gilles

- Dylan O' Brien

**********

Please Vote

**********

I felt sick and not the physical kind of sick. I felt sick at heart and sick in my soul that anyone could hurt a child this way. I mean, it was a baby for crying out loud. It was a tiny innocent helpless baby who deserved love, protection, and kindness... and not this evil. 

I reached out and gently scooped the tiny remains out of Jacques' palm and into my own hands. The bones were so small and fragmented. My guess was that the baby was somewhere in its second trimester when the unthinkable happened to it, and Celia.

The loss of the a child is often described as the worst pain imaginable, and I think most people would agree. But I doubt few of us would really understand what it is like to loose a child. The closest glimpse I had come to that pain was experiencing the dream I had of Celia searching for her baby. In those few frantic moments, I had spied a tiny glimpse into the pain she had felt. And the only way I could describe it was like a tornado of unrelenting grief ripping me from the inside out.

It was clear that this tiny little baby was deeply loved by Celia. And even after death her spirit longed to be reunited with her child. I wanted to help her, and the baby by helping to put their souls at rest. I didn't know how I was going to do it but I had a good idea about how to make a good start.

Taking the baby I hugged it closed to my chest. "I'm so sorry. I don't know how you got here or who put you here, but I promise that I'll take you back to your mommy so you won't be out here by yourself anymore."

I gently folded the cloth around the baby fearing its tiny bones may in some way feel the bitter cold in the air. Then I placed the parcel in the warmth of Jacques' jacket pocket and stood up. 

Jacques was still crouched over the hole, staring at it in frozen silence as snowflakes danced around us.

"Jacques, we need to go," I said.

He stayed stock-still at the edge of the hole and whispered, "It was just a baby."

"I know," I replied softly. "I think this is what Celia has been trying to show me. And now we've found her baby, it is time to return it to the royal crypt."

"But how? How could someone hurt a child?"

"I don't have an answer for that question and I don't think I would want one. All we can do now focus on getting this little angel back to their mommy."

Jacques nodded mechanically and slowly rose up onto his feet. Together we back tracked through the snow and wilderness in silence.

When we got back to the gap in the wall Casper was anxiously waiting for us. He had a face of thunder and when he locked eyes on us I thought he was going to go ballistic at us for leaving our spot. But when he saw Jacques' expression, his anger immediately turned into concern. He rushed forward to meet us and asked what was wrong, and with a heavy heart I told him of our grim discovery.

"That is unbelievable," Casper said raking a hand through his hair. "I had no idea Celia was pregnant."

"The baby was very small. I don't think Celia had known about the pregnancy for very long," I said.

"Do you think Henrietta had something to do with it?"

"I can't be sure but I do think it is very strange that the baby was buried out here, in this forgotten area of the cemetery in an unmarked grave..."

Casper unleashed a string of volatile words calling Henrietta every terrible name under the sun. He cursed and he cursed until he could no more and then he fell to his knees. "Where does this evil end? How much more has she taken from us that we don't know about?"

I wish I had an answer give him or at least a few words of comfort to offer, but deep down I knew there were no words that could ease the pain he was feeling right now. I knew if I wanted to help him, I needed to bring Henrietta down and to do that I needed Luc.

"Did you call Nico?" I asked.

"Yes, I called him," Casper said.

"How long do you think it will take for him to come?"

"Nico said it would probably take fifteen minutes max."

"Then we need to get to the crypt now. Let's try and do right for those who were lost by putting an end to Henrietta."

My words struck a chord with him and he nodded his head slowly in reply. I could see it was hard for him as it was hard for all of us, but we needed to keep moving forward and see it out to the end. He got up onto his feet and started to lead the way to the royal crypt.

We headed in the general direction of the crypt battling against the worsening weather. The snow made it impossible to see much further than a few feet in front of us, but despite that Casper managed to navigate us to the crypt either through sheer blind luck or brilliant sense of direction. 

The crypt was located under a sepulchre that was built a decade ago when the old king died. It was a strange looking sepulchre that was crossed between a gothic mausoleum and Grecian temple. The sepulchre itself was open to the public but the royal crypt underneath could only be accessed by family members.

Jacques could go no further, so he left us to take shelter in a nearby mausoleum. Casper and I made our way up the steps of the sepulchre and went inside. The room inside was cavernous. It was lit by a few torches and only contained a few stone benches placed towards the sides of the walls which was surprisingly sparse for a royal burial chamber.

In the centre of the room was a square stone slab with a brass ring in the middle of it. Casper walked over to the slab and grabbed hold of the ring, and heaved it upwards revealing a staircase that descended into the crypt below.

He nodded downwards and said, "Follow the stairs down and it will take you straight into the crypt."

"Aren't you coming with me?"

"No. I will wait for you to talk to Luc before I join you for the happy family reunion."

"But what if Luc brings his guards with him into the sepulchre?"

"I can handle a few guards, little sister. Do not worry about me."

"Are you sure?"

"Go now."

I didn't want to leave Casper alone up here... but we had come so far. Honestly, I thought by now something would've gone wrong with our plan, but it hadn't. This gave me a tiny glimmer of hope to hang onto – maybe this was going to work out. So reluctantly I pushed past my own fears and descended down into the crypt below. Casper closed the stone slab behind me.

The light disappeared above me and all I could see was a faint amber glow from the bottom of the stairs. I headed towards it, hearing nothing but the sound of my own breathe. It was unnervingly quiet, only made worse by the realisation that I was the only living being in this crypt – or so I thought.

I reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped out into a dimly lit vaulted room. Four stone coffins stood before me. Three were sealed while one was open, still awaiting its occupant. I shivered and took a step deeper into the room and stopped.

Something suddenly felt terribly wrong.

I took a step back, intending to back track up the stairs when a voice came from the shadowy far side of the room.

"Modern technology is both a blessing and a curse at times," Henrietta said stepping out the shadows. "It makes contacting people amazingly simply, but it also makes spying on people amazingly easy. You see, I've had Luc's phone tapped for some time so imagine my surprise when Nico calls up to say you're hiding down here."

I should've have been scared of her – but I wasn't. Instead I felt the dark anger inside me swelling up and boiling over. Without even thinking I ran at her at full vampire speed. Her face turned into a horrified surprise as I grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her hard against the back wall. She cried out in pain as the wall behind her cracked and small pieces of debris were sent flying into the air.

"You killed them!" I screamed. "You're a murderer!"

Blood trickled down Henrietta's face and she croaked, "I had too. I didn't have a choice."

"Why? They were innocent, especially the children!"

To my surprise pain flickered across Henrietta's eyes and she said, "I didn't want to do this, Mia. I never wanted any of this but it had to be done."

"Why," I asked releasing her. "Why did it have to be done?"

She squeezed her eyes shut and said, "I did it because I didn't want history to repeat itself."

"Is this about the priestesses that were killed hundreds of years ago by the old king? Thelma Drabblestone said that you were an old one. Are you a surviving priestess trying to get revenge on the royal family that slew your temple?"

She laughed bitterly, "I'm far older than that, although I was there when the King killed my fellow priestess sisters... but even I could forgive superstitious King for his backward thinking. No, this is goes way back."

"And this mysterious reason justifies killing babies?!"

"Don't speak to me like I don't understand what it feels like to lose a child! I once had a mate who I loved deeply. I also had four children that were the centre of my universe. And in one single night all of that was taken from me because of him... because of Tuta. He killed my family, Mia! He took everything I held precious to me and destroyed it in a fit of rage and darkness! I didn't even have their bodies to bury. One minute they were there and the next they were gone..."

Stunned silence overcame me and I took a step backwards.

With tears running down her face she looked up at me and continued, "I never wanted this. I thought Tuta was a one off, but then I found out his youngest sister had survived the horror and produced a single child that possessed the darkness too. It was then I realised that it wasn't just Tuta that was poisoned but the whole bloodline as well. So yes, I did decide to end the royal bloodline but I did it so thousands of families would be saved! Don't you understand?"

"No," I cried. "I don't understand. Anyone is capable of great evil and great good with or without crazy supernatural powers. It's all down to the individual and not their powers. If Tuta killed your family in a rage then he did it because he was a bad person, not because his darkness made him."

She shook head and snapped, "You're only saying this because you're in love with Luc!"

"No, I'm saying it because I believe it."

"You fool! All this time I've been trying to save you. I thought once you knew the truth you would understand but it seems I've overestimated your capabilities."

I nearly laughed out loud, "You tried to save me?! Oh, I know you had something to do with my poison blood supplies, so don't pretend that you were ever my friend!"

"I was your friend, Mia. The poison I was feeding you was never meant to kill you. It was supposed to kill the abomination that was growing inside your womb. It was the exact same formula that I had the nurse feed to Celia when she fell pregnant -"

My fist suddenly connected with her jawline and she fell back against the wall again. I couldn't stop myself. She had tried to kill my baby and succeeded in killing Celia's baby. I wanted to rip out her throat like I had done to Nurse Poison.

Furiously she locked eyes on me and snapped, "I should've just killed you!"

"So why didn't you!"

She stopped and cruel smile crept across her face. "I chose not to kill you, because you and I are the same."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh Mia, you were right earlier about me being one of the priestesses in the temple. After my family were killed an order of priestesses devoted to the worship of death came saved me and gave me a new sense of purpose. I served at the temple for a nearly hundred years learning the sacred art of necromancy before the old King came and killed nearly everyone for practicing black magic. And during my time there I learnt that they were two types of necromancers, the ones who learn the dark arts and the ones who were simply born with the ability. Mia, you are one of the rare few who were born with the ability. Death himself has blessed you. You have powers that take decades for people like me to master."

"No, that can't be right. It's not true," I said.

"Oh, but it is. You are necromancer, Mia... just like me."

*****

VOTE :3

*****