"I have everything we need to know about them," Win said, as he pointed towards the screens in the command centre. "We can ignore the personal information for now. What you guys need to know is the fact that the rogues are being made," he added. "Being made? What does that mean?" Dean asked. "What is a rogue?" Dean asked. "A vampire who kills the victim while feeding," Sky spoke up. "That's correct. They have a different stench to them, and their looks change. Rogues kill indiscriminately, making it a problem for them to stay vampires, so they stop looking young and healthy. However, the rogues we faced, none of them were like that. Except for the ones in the Uni bathroom, the rogues were impeccable, showed signs of intelligence. Except for that foul stench, we would have never pegged them as rogues if we had passed them in the streets, correct?" Dean said.

Everyone looked thoughtful. "So what are you trying to say?" Bun asked. "These are not your regular rogues. They are highly trained people being turned rogues," Dean said. "How do you turn rogue?" Vegas asked. "Well, drinking the blood of a rogue also makes you one. Because the composition of their blood starts changing once you start killing your victim while feeding. I am a 100 percent sure this is the reason you all never picked up on Ken and others turning," Dean said. "This all makes so much sense. That is why, yesterday, they were so organised," Pai said. "Precisely. The Council seems to have found a way to do this," Dean said. "Converting perfectly normal vampire into rogues. I understand the Council's greed and motivation for absolute power. But why did the vampires agree to it out of their own will?" Porche asked, his distaste clear.

"We don't know if it was of their own will yet. How do we know that the Council doesn't have something against them, some past transgression, something to do with their family?" Pai asked. "So, the question here is; when we fight against them, do we kill them?" Phayu asked, plunging the whole room into silence. "We might not have a choice," Dean said. "They may still be intelligent and all that, but the truth is; they are too far gone. We will be ending a torture." "It still feels like murder," White said. "I know. But we have creed that we live by as enforcers. Save the innocents. And these are hardly innocent. We cannot forget that Ken and the rest kidnapped our Draugs," Dean said. "Remember how they turned humans? If rogues turn humans, imagine how they must be surviving now," Win said. "You said you had found a girl, and that you hid her. Do you think she is safe enough?" Fiat asked. "Damn! I forgot! If she was turned by them, she must be in unbearable pain by now!" Pai said. "It must be too late. I really don't know if we can do anything to save her," Phayu said, looking guilty.

"Bring her to us Phi Mate. We can help," Rain said quietly. "No! I will not jeopardise you four in trying to stave off my guilt," Phayu said, shaking his head. "Phi Mate, please trust us. We will not do anything to hurt us either," Rain said. "P'Phayu, many innocents have already been hurt. We don't need the blood of more," Sky said. Phayu was stumped. "Please trust me Phi Mate," Rain said, his voice intimately curling around Phayu. "Okay. We will get her here somehow. She can't find out where we are though," Win said. "Put her to sleep," Pharm said. The others nodded. "Okay," Pai said, effectively closing off that conversation.

"On another note, I think I will go to the Council, with my parents, since I have the most information on them," Dean said. "You must go with complete protection," Tharn said. "I don't think it's going to be necessary," Pharm said. "What do you mean?" Dean asked. "The Council is likely to attack us as soon as you stand in front of them," Pharm said. "So what should we do?" Pai asked. "Why don't we send this information to our allies and see what they have to say?" Charn said. "That's good. Now that we have evidence, we can also ask the Lycan Council for aide," Tae said. "Yes. I am still in touch with them. I will send word out. I have a feeling that they are not aware of what has been happening," Min said. "How is that even possible Pa?" Team asked. "Because, the truth is that, in every species, there are always the ones with the greed for more, who hurt innocents for their own gain," Tinn said.

"Okay, give me a list of everyone you think you can trust. I will find a way to get them the info as soon as possible," Dean said. "How about Pakin and Chai?" Pete asked, sounding a bit sad. "Do we know if they are with the Council or not?" Leo asked. "Actually, we don't know that. And there seems to be no way to find out," Fiat said. "P'Pai, you can detect lies. Did you ever feel they were lying to you?" Rain asked. "Well, we haven't really met them for any reason in the past 50 years or so. So, no idea if they have turned to the dark side as well. When we met them to rescue you, that was uppermost in their minds, so it did not seem like lies," Pai said. "How do we find out? It's not going to be easy to subdue someone with their powers," Win said, looking around the room. "That girl might know? And also, P'Ken would talk to P'Pakin very often," Pharm said thoughtfully. "How do you know that?" Tan asked.

"Rain told us. He could hear them. There was no shield. But they never spoke anything about kidnapping us. Probably why we were caught unawares," Sky said. The room fell into silence, everyone trying to figure out the best solution to this rather humongous problem. "I have an question," Charn said, looking around the room. "What?" Bun asked, leaning forward. "We are waiting for them to attack us, right? Why don't we take the war to their doorstep? I mean, I know that we need something to substantiate our theories as to what they have been upto, but maybe it will be easier if we take them by surprise?" Charn said. Phayu looked at his brothers. "I am not completely against that idea, but honestly, even though we have proof, we need a lot more that this if we want to go openly to war," Win said.

"What more do we need?" Vegas asked. "First, we need information on Pakin and Chai; see if they are really too far gone to cull back. Second, we need a place that is safe enough to launch an attack from," Dean said. "While we know our house is safe, it is a place we need to come back to. A single straggler in this whole war could mean disaster," Pai said. "Moreover, no matter how much I want to bathe in their blood for all their transgressions, I had rather do it away from a place where our Draugs are not as exposed," Phayu said. "Huh! Right!" Rain said, pouting angrily. "Is there something you want to say young man?" Tharn asked, raising a brow. "If you think you are going to leave us here when you go off to the Western front, it's better you think again," Rain said, his nose in the air.

Everyone burst out laughing at Rain's cute pout. "I am serious," he said, scrunching his nose. "We know little one, and don't worry, no one is going to be left behind. We are stronger together, and everyone knows that," Phayu said, bopping Rain's nose. "So, now we need to talk to Pakin and Chai..," White trailed off when Team hesitantly raised his hand. "Yes lu?" Tae asked. Team looked at the other three he called his brothers and got their unified nod. "We need to move to the compound," he said. "No! That's not happening!" Win immediately said. "P'Win, maybe you should listen to our reasoning before you go Alpha male on Team," Rain said, quirking a brow, making everyone snicker as Win looked sheepish.

"The reason I say this is because here is a fortress. They will never get to us here. While that is good, and keeps us all safe, it will be hard for us to actually have a face-off with the Council. There, they may think we are sitting ducks, and will find it easier to attack, thinking we are vulnerable," Team said. "And we are not?" Pai asked. "We will not be Phi, I assure you," Sky said. "But they will know the charge in energies used the moment we step out. Leaving this location while the Council is at large may not be that easy," Dean said. "You worry Phi," Pharm said. "Moreover, they will know all your energy sources, and they will be looking for that, not for ours. We are fledgelings, and they have no idea what powers we have, if any." "We need to become more visible to them so that we can be more sneaky I the attack," Rain said. Phayu was the only one who remained silent.

"You are not saying much lu," Vegas said, looking lovingly at his son. Phayu started, but quickly regained his composure. "Because, while I don't have to like it, I think the plan of the Nongs is great. But I am going to have faith in my Draugs and trust his words. He has promised that he will not put himself or his friends in the line of fire, so I am going to be holding him to it," Phayu said, looking pointedly at Rain. Rain smiled and nodded. "Okay, so let's go there today itself. As in, right now," Vegas said, not wanting to delay the process any further.

"One important thing before we leave," Rain suddenly said. Everyone looked at him. "We can shield all of your thoughts as long as you stay close to us. However, when we are not around, we will try to put you in a protective circle. We request you to not cross that until we return." "How much power will you be needing for that little one?" Phayu asked, concerned. "None at all Phi Mate. We told you right? We are stronger together. And now we can use your powers and strengths as well," Rain said, smiling. It surprised Tharn and Type tremendously to see how different Rain looked and behaved. Phayu caught the look the two men exchanged and smiled to himself. His Draugs may have been the most powerful, but he was also the cutest one in the world.

A couple of hours later, everyone was settled in their respective homes. Phayu was already missing his little one, but he knew that his love would be safe. Win had already added enough and more security measures. Any and all existing devices had been destroyed and Win had meticulously replaced them with theirs. He would take no chance with the life of his Draugs or his brothers'. Moreover, now even their families were here, and Win knew that he had an added responsibility of ensuring their safety too. Phayu, Pai and Dean had stood guard while Win had worked his magic. Soon after, they were joined by their Draugs and all their families.

"Are you all ready little one?" Phayu asked, pleased as Rain nodded. Rain and his brothers stood in a loose circle, hands lifted in the air, as they sent their powers winging into the sky. The older vampires could see the visible burst of strength from the young ones and they were spellbound. The cloak settled visibly around the compound and then disappeared. "We are safe now," Team said, smiling. "Wow! I still find it hard to digest that the four of you hid this from us for 15 years!" Vegas said, as he looked around the compound. "I agree," Tharn said, still a little shellshocked that who he thought was a little gremlin, too bratty for his own good, turned out to be the most powerful vampire they knew.

"Today, we celebrate the return of our sons, them finding their Draugs, and just life in general. Tomorrow, we will meet Pakin and Chai," Kinn said, as he looked around. The older vampires were settled around, while Dean and Pharm grilled and the other younger couples did something or the other to keep busy. "It worries me," Tan said quietly, knowing the same thing was uppermost in everyone's mind; the protection of the fledgelings. "I know exactly what you mean. But we need to trust them. Those boys have powers beyond what we imagined," Porche said. "So what next?" Charn asked. "Pakin and Chai, if they are involved, are not going to let it go too easily. We will have war on our hands," Sean said, his eyes faintly red. All of them understood that Sean was angry, because he had trusted the two of them the most.

"We will figure out the truth Papii. Let's not get upset about things we don't know yet," White said, trying to soothe his mate. Tinn was about to speak up when Win called them to eat, They all decided to keep quiet for now and just enjoy these moments with family. As they were wrapping up and cleaning the area around, Rain came up to Vegas. "Uncle Vegas, can we talk?" he asked. Something in his tone warned the older man that the boy was upset. "What is the matter Rainy?" he asked. "Phi Mate planned to kill the Council members and then leave the world," Rain said, blunt as always. Vegas was shocked by the revelation, and a chill went up his spine to have lost his son even before he had a chance to know him. "Uncle, he will not do that anymore, since he has me, and all of you. But we must still be careful. Right?" Rain asked, the fear and love for his mate shining all around him. Vegas nodded. "Don't worry baby. I will keep an eye out as well," he said, smiling at the boy he had loved so long and who was his son's Draugs. If need be, he would be the one to calm the storm!