*This was supposed to be twice as long but some how six pages of text escaped on my computer and it's whereabouts is unknown. So this chapter is shorter than I intended!! Sorry peeps! Make sure you check out my new story Bite! Remember I'm a tart for messages good or bad so be sure to leave me some love in the comments below!! >.

*Sophie POV*

For the past four hours I had stood outside the hospital wing listening to Stephanie screaming in agony. The doctor said Stephanie hadn't been due for weeks and he was absolutely astounded when Nico carried Stephanie into the hospital wing. Stephanie then ordered me and Nico out of the room. Having a baby was not exactly an experience when one can maintain their dignity. So Nico and I had sat on the floor waiting for the odd nurse to run out and give us an update. At first the labour was progressing well but the last few times the nurse had popped out she seemed rattled and the very last time the nurse came out she was covered in blood. In fact as Nico and I sat there on the cold stone floor listening to Stephanie's cries of pain the scent of blood became stronger and stronger. Nico and I exchanged worried looks- Stephanie was losing a lot of blood. Luckily she was not a human but even immortals needed some blood in their system to survive.

All the commotion must have spread through the castle because Casper suddenly appeared walking down the corridor. Nico immediately shuffled a foot away from me just in case the green eyed monster that existed in Casper reared its ugly head. Getting up I walked towards him. Already I could see an expression of annoyance on his face. In low whisper he snapped,

"Why were you not in bed when I woke up?"

"Because you wake up five hours later than the normal vampire." I replied waspishly.

"I wanted a lazy evening in bed with you." He whined.

"Sorry baby but someone has to run Kingdom."

He groaned and then asked,

"How long has Stephanie been in labour for?"

"A few hours."

"Is she okay?"

"She's giving birth Casper! She is in a lot of pain."

"Shouldn't you be in there with her, holding her hand or something?"

"She won't have anybody in the room except the medical staff."

"Oh." Casper replied clearly out of his comfort zone with all the girly biological yucky stuff. Quickly he changed topic and looked down the corridor,

"Mia is down there. Luc hasn't left her side since incident a few days ago. I worry about my little niece and nephew. They keep asking where Mommy and Daddy are-"

Suddenly the door flew open and a nurse covered in blood stepped out, "Your majesties," she curtseyed, "The birth is extremely abnormal and the mother is in tremendous pain. We may be faced with the choice of saving either the baby or the mother."

We were walking together in the garden a few hours ago, everything was fine, Stephanie was fine. How did this happen? I felt Casper steady arm around my waist as I staggered back. The nurse looked very grave and asked,

"Who should we save if we come to that point?"

All of us fell silent. My eyes started to burn with tears I turned and buried my face into Casper's shoulder. I can't make this decision. I don't want to. I heard Casper say to the nurse,

"Can we have a few minutes alone first?"

The door banged shut a moment later and I felt Casper press a light kiss against the top of my head. It was like he was apologizing for the horrible choice I had to make. I knew I had to make it because Nico and Casper wouldn't make it. I didn't want to kill Stephanie but nor did I want to explain to Stephanie that it was me who killed her child. Most mothers would gladly sacrifice themselves for their babies. A horrible image of a pale face sunken eyed Stephanie sat by an empty cradle floated through my mind. Oh god. I had do something. I had to make a decision. There had to be another way and the only person I could think of asking was Mia.

I pulled myself out of Casper's grasp and without a word of explanation ran down the corridor to Mia's room. I did not even knock when I opened the small dark dingy room where Mia lay in a comatose state. Luc's head snapped around and I saw the hours of worry and sorrow etched upon his face. He saw sat at Mia's bedside holding her hand praying to the great unknown for her health.

"Sorry Luc," I said walking over to Mia's bedside and taking her freehand. Leaning to her ear I spoke loudly, "Mia, Stephanie is in trouble and I need your help."

Luc reacted badly to my question. Standing up he towered over me, "Are you out of your goddamn mind!" He yelled.

"Stephanie and her baby are dying Luc, I need Mia's help."

"She's a very sick woman," Luc grabbed my hand pried it off of Mia's hand. "Get out."

"Luc, Stephanie will die."

"I don't care. Nothing matters anymore. Not without her. Please get out Sophie."

"I'm not leaving." I said bluntly.

Luc lost his temper. He placed his hands on my shoulder to physically throw me out of the room. Big mistake. Whispering an apology I did what I had once done to Rudolph when he had kissed me for the first time. My hands splayed across Luc's chest and I gave him a shove that sent him flying into the opposite stone wall. The wall cracked as Luc's body impacted against it. Nico and Casper appeared in the door way looking bemused at Luc. Even Luc looked staggered. He rose to his feet and then lunged at me, but was knocked off side by Casper who had tackled him to the floor.

"Keep him busy!" I yelled at Casper as he began to fight with his brother.

I grabbed Mia's hand again and spoke slowly and clearly.

"Mia, I need your help. Stephanie and her baby are in danger and I don't know what to do." I said.

Mia lay completely unresponsive her eyes stared straight up at the ceiling.

"Mia," I tried again, "Please help me save Stephanie, tell me what to do. I don't know. Please Mia. Break through the surface, please."

Mia blinked once and for a second her eyes flickered.

"Mia come on, help me, help me, please Mia, please." I asked.

Mia lips parted and she whispered, "Mandrake root."

Everyone stopped. Luc and Casper stopped fighting and everyone turned to Mia.

"What do I do? Should she eat?" I asked

"Make her hold it." She whispered croakly.

"Thank you Mia." I said moving away from her but as I did so Mia hand snatched at my wrist.

"I am not Mia," she said. I stared at her in utter dumbfoundment, "I am Skyler's Grandmother. Mia is safe with me for the time being."

Mia's eyes rolled back in to her head and she was gone. Luc ran to Mia's bedside and grabbed her hand and began to speak softly and incoherently to her. Nico, Casper and I backed out the door and ran back up the corridor.

"Where the hell are we going to get a mandrake root from at such short notice?" Casper asked.

"The several hundreds of acres of garden that you own your majesty." Nico replied sarcastically.

"Well I don't know what the damn thing looks like it!" Casper snapped.

"Stay with Stephanie, I'll grab one from the gardens. I'll be a few minutes." Nico said.

*Skyler POV

Kai sat at a circle table with his tarot cards and crystal ball. Greg, Bea and I sat opposite him entranced by his little warm up routine where he grounded himself and opened up his psychic senses. Kai had already warned me, he was not an oracle. You see an oracle has vivid detailed clear visions while Kai's vision was a little more fuzzy. I didn't care. I needed advice. All of watched in anticipation as Kai said a little prayer and then turned out the main lights. A small dim glow from behind him darkly illuminated the room and Kai leaned forward and stared into the crystal ball. This was called scrying- the process of looking in to a reflective surface and seeing images unfolding.

"I can see Rayne running away from a terrible stench," Kai said deathly serious.

Bea and I looked at each other and our faces cracked up.

"One more laugh and I'm not doing this!" Kai snapped.

Face forward we tried not to laugh or even look at each other. Kai leaned over the ball and peered into the depths of the crystal ball. He waved his hands around in a mysteriously motion,

"What I am doing here today is the ancient art of scrying," he explained softly. "I am using this crystal ball as a vessel to see in to the future. First things first, lay my palm with twenty dollars."

"Are you kidding! I'm the flipping saviour of mankind!" I snapped.

"And his dad," Kai nodded at Greg, "Is the meanest tight fisted landlord in this town."

"Greg can take it out of my earnings today." I sighed.

"Perhaps paying for it might make you take it more seriously." Kai said and then continued gazing into the crystal ball.

For five minutes we all watched Kai staring into this ball, waiting in anticipation for him to say something- or anything. Occasionally he would make a slight noise 'ummm' noise and then go deathly silently again. Bea rolled her eyes and began to drum her fingers loudly on the table. Kai looked up from his ball gave her a look that could kill. Bea immediately stopped and sheepishly looked away. Kai brought his attention back to me.

"We need to keep Gwendolyn's army firmly in hell. If they are allowed to enter on to our earthly plane humans, vampire, elves, wolves and every creature are going to get slaughtered." He said.

"But's Rayne's plan is to wait until they attack." I said.

"Rayne's plan is to keep you safe. He couldn't care less about us or the rest of humanity. Fighting on this plane of existence would be a lot easier than fighting in Hell. Anybody who is killed in the cross fire is collateral damage as far as Rayne's concerned."

"This is not good news."

"Oh, it gets better. If you want to defeat Gwendolyn, you have to go into the belly of the beast- straight into hell and have a stand up fight."

"Are you serious- I can't go into Hell!"

"Demigod- daughter of Death, you can go and so can we."

"You would come with me?"

"I'd rather have the humans destroying the planet than the demons." Kai said.

"Rayne is never going to let me fight."

"Why not go into the Hell kick some demon ass and before Rayne get the opportunity to wrap you up in cotton and lock you in tower?"

"I guess we could give it a go. Matthias would know how to get us into Hell and I already have an alley in a vampire called Jacques. He would aid us."

"I can call on my fairy friends for help," Bea chipped in, "They're not mad on humans but they would definitely prefer humans trashing the planet then vampires."

"I wonder if Aidan would fight for us?" Greg said.

"No way- Aidan and his pack of mongrels can keep out of this."

"So how are we going to get Rayne out the way?"

"I'll think of something." I said.

*Sophie POV

Nico rushed back with a mandrake root. It was the weirdest looking root I'd ever seen in the world. It looked like one of those comedy vegetables that grows in a weird way so it looks like person. The mandrake root looked like a baby. We banged on the hospital door and told the nurse to place it next to Stephanie. The nurse scurried back in and we heard Stephanie yelling,

"Is that supposed to help me!?"

Nico, Casper and I all exchanged nervous looks. Now only time would tell. Sitting down on the floor I snuggled in Casper's side, he put his arm around me and lightly kissed my head. I wish I could give Stephanie and her baby the healing power that I possessed to save them. Casper gently stroked my hair and began to talk casually to take my mind off the grave situation,

"Blood and Sally came back from Lourdes yesterday night. Blood wanted to see you but I said you were busy." Casper said.

Blood was my foster dad and Sally is my aunt. It's a complicated story but real my real father was a vampire nobleman who was married to Gwendolyn. He did not love Gwendolyn and fell in love with my human mother and had me. When my father said he was going to divorce Gwendolyn, Gwendolyn killed him. She then tracked down my mother and then poisoned her mind. My mother became anorexic and died of starvation when I was just a kid. I never knew about my vampire heritage. My only living relative was my Aunt Sally who had sealed herself away inside a house after having an argument with her boyfriend- my future adoptive parent Blood. When Blood was a young man he was madly in love with Sally but consider her too lowly to marry her. His solution was to secretly date her in private then ignore her in public. Sally soon tired off this and one night decided to run away. Blood caught her and in a fit of passion decided to imprison her in a cottage in the court grounds. But his plan back fired when Sally used her magic to stop him from entering the house. They didn't speak to each other for well over a decade. Sally was locked in the cottage and Blood was locked out. Anyway I kinda of reunited them after all these years and they are a really sweet couple. Blood isn't such a jerk as he used to be.

"Oh god!" A voice yelled loudly. I looked up and saw Rayne putting his hand over his nose.

Casper automatically bristled, he hated Rayne. Giving Rayne a scathing look Casper snorted, "What's matter demon."

I jabbed Casper in the side with my elbow and gave him an evil glare. Rayne glanced Casper up and down and ignored him. I hated all this male posturing.

Rayne inhaled the air and then struggled to breathe, "I can smell mandrake." He said.

"Mandrake has no smell, moron." Casper snapped.

"It does to demons! The smell is like rancid fish and putrefying cabbage it wreaks," Rayne gasped and then suddenly turned on Casper, "Did you do this vampire? Did you think this might be a funny stunt to pull?"

Casper leapt up and strode towards Rayne looking for a fight. Immediately I stepped in between Rayne and Casper, "Cut it out both of you!" I snapped.

Casper stupidly said, "I could take him on."

Rayne laughed, "Come on then."

The sound of Stephanie screaming silenced both of them. Rayne looked anxiously at the door,

"What is going in there?" he asked.

"She's giving birth." I said bluntly.

"But she wasn't due yet." Rayne said turning pale.

"The pregnancy accelerated and no one knows why." I explained.

"Why did you put the mandrake root in her room?" Rayne asked.

"Stephanie and the baby were dying so I asked Mia what to do in desperation. I kept asking her until she eventually spoke. But when she spoke it turned out to be Skyler's grandmother communicating through Mia's body. She was the one who told us about the mandrake."

"Mandrake is used to ward off demons. I can't go into that room because the smell is so offensive. It sounds like a demon is to blame for Stephanie's advanced pregnancy. Gwendolyn is targeting Stephanie and her child but why? Neither of them is in the prophecies. So why would she attack them. It makes no sense."

"She must be important because Skyler's Grandma saved her."

"Death would have not allowed her to do that very easily." Rayne said.

Suddenly our conversation was override by the unexpected noise of a baby's cry. The nurse ran out smiling and said,

"It worked. Stephanie has a baby girl. Both are doing well."

Nico, Casper and I followed the nurse towards the door but heard Stephanie yell,

"Don't you dare come in here- I look a complete mess."

The nurse rolled her eyes and we all waited outside. A few moments later the nurse brought out a tiny baby wrapped up carefully in white blankets. The nurse handed the baby to me and nervously I looked down at this tiny beautiful creature. She looked up at me and blinked, her eyes were deep vivid blue just like her father's, Rudolph, but she had her mother's hair and pretty bow mouth. I melted and looked up at Casper and said,

"I want one."

Casper went pale and mumbled something incoherent.

I noticed Rayne leaning over me smiling at the baby. My heart melted that was the first time I had ever seen Rayne actually genuinely smile. The tiny baby yawned sleepily and Casper softly said,

"We'll make her a princess."

"Has Stephanie decided on a name?" I asked.

"Dahlia, after her mother's favourite flower."

"Princess Dahlia, very pretty." I smiled.