The sweet smell of burning vampire flesh wakes me. I sit up fast, afraid for Calvin. Where is he? Why isn't he in bed with me? I climb out of the bed and walk swiftly to the living room but there isn't anyone there. The smell of the pyres is stronger now, and I see flickers of the blue flames from beneath the door. Shaking, I walk over and put my hand on the door. It burns me it is so warm, but I turn the knob and open it anyway. I have to find Calvin. The door swing open, but I'm not in the hallway outside of our suite, I'm standing at the top of the grand stairs in the ballroom, the smoke rising to meet me. My stomach twist at the sight in front of me. Bodies. Hundreds of thousands of bodies. Vampires line the floor, ripped apart, all covered in blue flames, but also awful pestering marks all over their skin. The eyes that I can see are all blood red, and the veins in their necks, faces, and arms are all black as coals. I'm scanning the room when I see faces I know amongst the dead. Octavia...Lexton...Cromley...Patrick...I scream as I see them, their red eyes staring blankly at nothing. The door to the back of the room opens and a man walks out with his hands behind his back. It's the man with the roses. He smiles at me, making me feel faint, then with a twisted grin, he brings his hands out from behind him and holds them out in front of him for me to see. A red rose in his left hand turns black, while Calvin's severed head hangs from his right, his smoky blue eyes red as hellfire.

"Calvin!" I screamed. "Calvin!" Louder still, tangling myself in the blankets as I tried to lurch myself from the bed, my heart in my throat and shaking violently. "Calvin where are you!"

The bedroom door swung open and to my relief Calvin rushed in, his eyes wide, but blue, not red like in the dream.

It was just a dream. It was just a dream.

"Rachel," Calvin said urgently. "What's the matter? Are you alright?" There was fear in his voice that matched the fear I was still feeling. I grabbed ahold of him, wrapping my arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. He held me and brushed my hair away from my face where it was sticking to my sweaty forehead. "It's ok." He whispered to me gently. "I'm here."

I leaned back and checked his eyes again, then a ran my hands down his neck and checked under the collar of his shirt to make sure there were no scares from where his head had been taken, and I sighed in relief when I didn't find anything. "I was so scared." I whispered in the dark. "I dreamt you were dead." I told him. "All of you."

Calvin held my face between his hands and kissed me gently. "I'm right here." He told me. "I'm ok."

I nodded my head. "I know." I whispered, my heart beat becoming less frantic. "It just felt so real." I admitted, trying not to picture it. "The smell of the burning...It was so real."

"Burning?" He asked.

I looked down at the bed. "Someone had killed all of you." I told him. "You were all dead and stacked in the ballroom with so many other dead vampires, all burning and the red eyes..."

Calvin pulled his brows together and wrinkled his nose. "Red eyes?" He asked. "I've never seen any vampire be killed and have red eyes." He told me. "It was just a strange dream." He assured me. "You're under a lot of stress."

"I know." I snapped, then sighed. "I'm sorry." I whispered and he kissed my forehead sweetly. "I know it's stupid, but my dreams just freak me out. I never have dreams like this when I'm at home." I told him. "In fact, I hardly dream at all, but when I'm here I get these awful nightmares."

"I'm sure that's because when you're at home you aren't under a mass of pressure and you don't have a metaphorical dagger hanging over your head at all times just threatening to drop at any moment." He rationalized. "The stress and danger here are more than enough to give you night terrors. Especially since you seem to be handling everything so well on the outside, I'm sure it is just the true stress manifesting itself into your dreams."

I tried to smile at him. "That kind of makes sense, Professor Calvin."

He shook his head as he smiled. "I wanted to talk to you about something." He said, more serious now. "I was going to wait until you woke, but since you're up now, and kitchen duty is about to begin, now would be a pretty good time."

"Ok." I shrugged, wondering what his new obsession with the kitchen and the people in it had to do with me.

"So, when I spoke with Lexton about her attackers, she said she didn't see them, but that there was one whose voice she may have recognized, so I figured that means it is at least someone who gets around Castrum a lot to have crossed paths with her, a human." He said. "She also said that she smelled something when she awoke with her heightened senses. She smelt vinegar and fish, which would have been used in the kitchens last night to prepare the fish and chips."

I nodded my head with him, finally seeing where he was going with all of this. "You think one of the rebels might work in the kitchens?" I asked and he nodded to me.

"Yes," He smiled, clearly pleased that I caught on quickly. "She said there were two attackers, so one is most likely the one that you've seen."

"So if you and I went to look in the kitchens, I might recognize him."

"Exactly."

I tossed off the rest of the blankets and got out of bed, rushing over to the closet to pull out some clothes. I dressed in a simple short sleeved blue dress and gold flats while Calvin leaned back on the bed admiring me while I got myself ready.

It felt like such a domestic thing for us to be doing. Me running the brush through my wavy hair and applying light makeup while my perfect husband sits back on the bed and watches me with a happy grin on his face, his dimples making me weak in the knees.

As I finished up I watched him in the mirror as he walked up behind me, putting his hands on my shoulders and he leaned in to kiss the side of my head. "You are so beautiful, Rachel." He whispered to me.

"You aren't too shabby yourself, Your Majesty."

He spun me around and left a trail of kisses up my neck to my mouth. "I love you."

"I love you too."

He took my hand and led me towards the door. "Let's go catch a rebel."

Octavia met us on level two, and I had to hug her the second I saw her. "Woah, good morning to you too." She giggled.

"I had a bad dream, and I'm just happy to see you alive, and without red eyes." I explained.

She looked at me strangely. "Red eyes?" She murmured. "That's a strange dream."

I shivered thinking of it. "Yeah, it was."

Octavia and Calvin filled each other in on things as we walked, and I just tried to remain focused on the task at hand, and the hand in mine. I squeezed it a little tighter and he looked over to give me a warm smile.

"I set up your meeting with the council tonight in a few hours." Octavia informed me.

"Thank you." I nodded, knowing already that it was going to be pointless.

"They think it's a meeting to go over what happens now with you and Calvin." She explained. "They'll want to go over your duties and the political side of things with you, and basically let you know what to expect from life here."

Calvin glanced over at me, but I kept on a brave face. I know now that soon I will be officially sworn in, again, as the queen. Option A was a pipe dream, and I couldn't even pretend anymore that that was going to be something that worked out for me. No matter what, I will be staying in Castrum de Petra for the rest of my life, only think left to figure out now is if it will be a fate that Rose will have to suffer as well.

"That's good." I told Octavia. "I'll need a rundown on all of those things anyway." I mused. "A lot has changed since the last time I was queen here, and I suppose I want to do my best."

She stole a glance at Calvin, then back over to me. "You aren't going to try for your option A?" She asked.

"Of course I am going to ask, but I know they'll say no, and I haven't even spoken to Lexton yet, but Calvin said he didn't think she'd agree either." I told her. "Last thing she said to him was that she wanted to leave, and if that's what she wants, then we will help her go, but I do plan to at least ask her and the council so that in my own mind I know that I tried everything I could first."

"I understand." She whispered. "Can I just say, even though I know it isn't what you wanted, and one way or the other, things are going to be really hard for you and Rose, I am still just a little happy that you'll be staying." She told me.

I smiled at her. "Of course I am happy to be getting to keep you in my life, and Calvin." I smiled up at him and he looked down at me solemnly. "I'm just not ready to think about that right now." I admitted. "I know it's coming, but..."

"I understand." She cut in. "I can't imagine how hard this all is on you, but you're handling everything with so much grace."

"Rachel always does." Calvin added.

"A true queen." Octavia grinned.

We rounded the corner and I saw a bunch of men unloading big white boxes with different blood types written on the side of them and taking them into a room a couple of doors down from the kitchen. I felt the stiffness in Calvin's hand and I looked up to see him staring at the boxes with shadowed eyes.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

He shook his head his eyes going back to normal. "I just haven't fed in a while." He said. "Our storage was drastically low, and I didn't want to take before my people had." He explained.

Octavia narrowed her eyes. "How long has it been?" She asked him pointedly.

He shrugged his shoulder and pulled us towards the kitchen. "I don't know." He admitted. "A few days."

"Calvin, are you insane?" Octavia snapped at him.

He rolled his eyes. "Oh stop fussing." He said dramatically. "I'll go have a large meal when we are done here." He told her. "The new blood supply is plentiful."

"You better." Octavia and I said together, then laughed.

Calvin shook his head as he held the door open for us. "I'm in trouble with the two of you here."

We walked into the busy kitchen together, and everyone stopped what they were doing to turn and bow to Calvin and me before they snapped back to business.

"Your Majesties, what a pleasant surprise." Patrick smiled as he came out of the side storage room.

"Hello," Calvin greeted him. "I have reason to believe that someone on the kitchen staff may have been involved in some illegal business." Calvin told him discreetly.

Patrick brought his gloved hand to his chest and widened his eyes. "Oh, my." He muttered. "Please, do whatever you need to do." He said.

"I'd like to see your kitchen team two." Calvin announced.

Patrick looked around the large kitchen. "You all heard the king, kitchen line two come here please." He called.

Within a half second, five men lined up in front of Calvin and Patrick. "Hello, gentleman." Calvin tilted his head to them, then he looked back at me, silently calling me forward. I stood at his side, Octavia close behind me and I looked at each of the men before me, but none of them were the little man with the rose jacket. I looked up at Calvin and shook my head, feeling a little defeated, and he nodded down at me. "Thank you, gentleman, that'll be all." Calvin dismissed them.

I had desperately hoped we'd be able to find the man, then we could get information from him to bring down the rebel force even faster, thus keeping Rose in the clear and safe to go and live with Logan.

I turned to walk to the door, but Patrick called back to us.

"One of the men wasn't here." He told Calvin, and I started to turn back to face them, but the kitchen door swung open and the man we had been looking for walked in, looking down at his phone.

"You." I whispered, and he shot his eyes up, looking shocked to see me and Calvin here.

He cursed, then threw his bag at me roughly with enough force to knock me off my feet and he bolted from the room, Calvin flying out right behind him.

"Are you alright?" Patrick asked as he and Octavia helped me from the floor.

"Go!" I shouted at them. "Go help catch him!"

Octavia made sure I was steady on my feet before they both disappeared as well. I looked around at the room full of vampire strangers, and I shook slightly when I noticed so many of them with darkening eyes. I felt something run down my arm and I glanced down to see one fat drop of blood roll from my elbow down my forearm and drip off of my hand, sailing down to splat loudly against the stone floor in the silence around me.

What Calvin had been saying about a severely low blood supply echoed around in my head as I stood very human in the middle of this room with a bloody sore on my arm. I swallowed hard as I backed slowly out of the room, the door swinging shut in front of me. I covered the spot and broke out into a run up the hall. I knew I needed to call for a guard, but I feared how hungry that guard might be when he found me, so I ran on alone.

I pulled my hand back to see if the bleeding had stopped, but instead I found my hand covered in the scarlet red of my warm blood. My stomach was cramping from running so fast and I doubled over trying to pull precious air into my lungs as I got onto the elevator.

"Majesty, you're hurt." Cromley gasped when the doors opened on level six.

Two other guards were by the doors and both of them dropped into a crouching position and snarled at me with black eyes. Cromley spun around with lightning speed and dropped the closest man to the ground. "Run, Rachel!" He yelled. "Get into the room and lock the door!" He shouted as he grappled with the second man. "Don't let anyone but Calvin in!"

I rushed by them, one of the men nearly grabbing my ankle before I hopped out of the way. I fumbled with the key at the door with my hands shaking and the snarls and gurgling noises coming from behind me. Finally I turned the lock and pushed into the room, fidgeting the key back out of the lock and seeing Cromley being overpowered by the other two as I got it free and slammed the door shut, sliding the lock back home again.

I ran into the living room and grabbed the pager from the table and called a 9-1-1 into Octavia and Calvin before I rushed into the bathroom and began washing off my hands and arm. I dripped blood all over the white sink and tub, but I tried to clean it up as I went.

I covered the wound with a towel when I heard banging on the door.

"Whose there?" I yelled shakily.

"It's me and Octavia!" Calvin shouted back.

I looked back at my arm for a moment with my hand on the lock. "I'm bleeding, Calvin."

"I'll stay out here." He said with a strained voice. "Octavia can come help you."

I unlocked the door and cracked it open, letting Octavia creep in. I peeked out and I could see Calvin doubled over, leaning against the other door, and a pair of men's legs stretched out in front of my door. "Go." Calvin muttered through gritted teeth. "Let her clean you up." He whispered.

I shut the door and followed Octavia into the bathroom again and she quickly got the bleeding to stop and ripped off a piece of her t-shirt to use as a bandage around it. "It's alright." She sighed. "It's just a deep scrape."

"I know." I muttered. "I just couldn't get the bleeding to stop." Octavia's usually easy going face looked strained. "What's wrong?" I asked. "Did you lose him?"

"No." She shook her head, pulling her hair up into a ponytail. "We caught him, but he's a sick bastard." She snarled. "I don't think we'll be able to get him to talk. He'd rather die."

"So he's a dead end?"

"Looks like it."

I huffed agitatedly. "Dammit." I said under my breath. "Can't we catch a freaking break?"

Octavia put her hand on my shoulder. "Finish cleaning up the blood." She sighed. "I'll go let Calvin in."

I followed her direction, making sure that every trace of it was gone, then going back over it with bleach before I met them both out in the living room.

Calvin came to me, wrapping me in a hug. "We shouldn't have all left you." He whispered.

"I'm fine." I promised. "It was just a cut, and I wanted you to catch that asshole anyway."

"Lot of good that did us." Calvin frowned.

I nodded. "We'll just have to keep trying to get him to talk." I said after a minute. "Is Cromley...?"

Calvin shook his head. "No, he's alright." He assured me. "Small injuries, and the other two are alright too." He said. "I've sent them all to feed." Calvin said, his own eyes darkening slightly even at the mention of it. "I shouldn't have let your guards go hungry for so long."

"Speaking of going hungry," I pointed out. "I'm fine, so you need to go eat." I told him.

"I'll stay with her." Octavia added and I smiled up at Calvin reassuringly.

He looked conflicted, but finally he gave in, leaning down to kiss me quickly. "I'll be right back." He told me, then walked to the door.

He pulled it open and came face to face with Cromley.

"Majesties." Cromley whispered in horror, his eyes wide, and his shoulders slumped forward, something very strange for him.

Octavia and I stepped closer behind Calvin, looking at the grave look on Cromley's face. My mind ran wild, and my heart thudded loudly as I held my breath.

"What's happened?" Calvin demanded, his voice higher than usual.

Cromley shook his head. "It's back." He muttered. "I don't know how, but it is."

"What?" I asked, but the looks on their faces told me it was something very bad.

"Please don't tell me...." Calvin whispered, putting his hands on both sides of the doorframe and leaning forward helplessly. "What's back?" He asked him.

"The Lamia Mortem." He whispered lowly, a shake in his voice. "It's already killed."

Calvin shook his head back and forth slowly, his eyes squeezed shut and his face crumpled. "How many?" He whispered. "How many have already been affected?"

Cromley looked down at the ground. "Fifty already dead." He said. "Dozens more falling ill by the minute."

I turned to look at Octavia and I saw the fat tears in her eyes and her mouth hanging open. She looked over to me desperately, then back to the men. "I don't understand." She whispered. "How is it spreading so quickly?"

Calvin pushed himself away from the doorway and turned around, yelling loudly as he yanked his hands through his hair. "Dammit!" He screamed. "God dammit!" He cursed, flipping the dining table to his right like it was a feather and sending it flying across the room where it splintered off against the wall. "The blood!" He snarled. "It was all connected! This was the plan!" He turned to Octavia.

"What are you talking about?" She asked him, putting her hands on her hips and breathing heavily while Cromley stayed frozen in the doorway.

"Our sudden loss in blood supply?" He said. "Someone was purposely getting rid of it, knowing we'd have to ask England to supply us!" He shouted. "The Lamia Mortem is in the blood! They sent us poisoned blood!"

Octavia's eyes searched Calvin's. "Oh my god." She whispered. "The people have been hungry...they've swarmed the new blood."

"They're all going to die." Calvin muttered plainly. "Probably everyone in Castrum de Petra."

Calvin turned to look at me, his eyes scanning my face, looking at me like he may never be able to do it again. 

"That metaphorical dagger over my head just dropped, didn't it?" I whispered.

"It's dropped on all of us, Rachel."