Olivia was comfortably positioned on my hip as I danced around the living room. Her squeals of joy filled the house, which was a welcome change to sounds of gunfire from the game Jordan had been playing. Dad chose then to come inside, his face lighting up at the sight of her.

"Oh wee one, come for cuddle?" He cooed, causing Jordan's head to pop up from the other side of the sofa.

"Dad, no."

"Shut up Jordan," I quickly snapped, struggling to hold Olivia as she wiggled with arms outstretched to Dad. "Jealous cause no one wants to cuddle you?"

He poked his tongue out and I returned it, making Dad shake his head before he swayed around as I had been with her.

"Whatever you do, don't grow into either of those. Stay like this, my little cutie pie." Jordan had a point; Dad doing baby talk was, weird. "Who is the cutest in all the land?"

"Dinner!" Mum called and we all headed to the dining table, where the feast had been laid out for at least twenty.

"Please tell me there are no mystery guests tonight?" I groaned, quickly counting the plates and highchair. "Who are you feeding? A small army?"

"I wanted leftovers to freeze. Besides, I had thought Zane would be back by now, but we haven't heard from him in a couple of days."

"Bad reception." Jordan mumbled, his mouth already full of roast potatoes."Speaking of, where have you been when not bringing in an underground rebellion group?"

"Underground rebellion?" Dad frowned as he strapped Olivia into the highchair.

"It was nothing," I assure him.

"It was. Apparently they were out to kill our very own resident God Killer." Jordan added.

"Elise!" Mum gasped.

"I was going to tell you tonight, relax. It's been a busy couple of weeks."

"I can tell. You look thinner, have you been eating properly?" She quizzed, piling a heap of roast chicken onto my plate as though as I was incapable of doing it myself. "It's one thing to be saving the world, but without the right diet you-"

"I'm eating fine."

Dad started making aeroplane noises making us all stop and watch as he started to feed Olivia the pumpkin mash. Then he was a train.

"How come you don't ask if I'm eating and looking after myself?" Jordan piped up.

"Because you live at home ninety per cent of the time. I know what and how much you eat and the rest." She scolded, clucking her tongue. "Now, tell us exactly what's been going on, Ellie."

So I did. Kind of and by the end, Mum was clearing away the dessert plates, Dad was onto his third glass of wine and Jordan had a sleeping Oliva cradled in his lap.

"Well, we did ask to hear everything," Dad said after a moment. "I'm glad and so very thankful you have the Valkyrie as allies."

"Me too," Mum agreed, rolling her eyes as I made the plates vanish and the kitchen clean. She smiled at the cup of tea waiting for her at the table, yet once she had a sip, the look of deep concentration made me nervous. "It's hard hearing all of that. Things have changed since we had to manage things. These last few years, well, we are thankful you have the ability to actually stand a chance against new threats and, the Powers."

"Shame we couldn't all have magic," Jordan mumbled.

"It's not as great as you'd think," I warned him.

"I know. Sorry. When this shit happened, what can we honestly do but try not to get in the way? I hate not being able to help you like the girl group can, and the other powers."

I was proud at how far my family had come in regards to, well, everything. I smiled at him, genuinely, which Dad noticed.

"Hell must have just frozen over, are you too having a moment?"

"Victor!" Mum slapped his arm, his red cheeks darkening and looking at him again, I was thinking he had already had more than a few glasses of wine. "There's just one thing I either missed, and don't quite understand, or you left out."

"What's that?" I ask, trying to act innocent.

"So the Dorian Grey took you back in time, revealed to you who he truly is, then the pair of you ran into a bit of trouble which had you stuck there. What trouble, Ellie? And doesn't that seem a little, extra, as the kids say? Time travel? Just because?"

"I was wondering that myself," Jordan unhelpfully added.

"Darling, what really happened?" Mum asked softly, reaching out to take my hand, she gave it a gentle squeeze. "Was it really that bad you don't think we can handle it?"

"It's not that." Kind of.

Mum frowned, holding her cup of tea as Dad stared awkwardly into his wine glass. Jordan gave the slightest nod.

"It's okay. Really. You told us about that fear God, and that was pretty bad so I don't get why you can't tell us," He was fishing, the mood turning glum as I could feel their disappointment.

I took the bait.

"Because Dorian was simply doing what he was told. Cain gave him the order to take me there."

"What?" Dad's head snapped up.

"I didn't think you'd seen any of them, for what, a year or so?" Mum did just as badly at hiding her shock. "How is he? What happened?"

"Clearly nothing good, Mum!" Jordan sighed. "Why get you back in time? Did he want to change something, like how you appeared at the Treaty signing?"

"Kind of. Mostly it was just my current status of alive."

This time everyone stilled. "We were left there, because despite his. Well, he attempted to ah, kill me. He couldn't. So his solution was to dump us there. Banish actually, it's this trend of his going around. I mean, Apollo and Artemis, Portia. Are you even his friend if he hasn't banished you yet?"

The fake laugh sound I make only makes me cringe as everyone's faces become blank and unreadable.

"He tried to kill you?" Jordan asked after a few minutes of silence. I had a feeling it was rhetorical.

"What do you mean by that?" Mum followed.

"Golden chains, blade to my throat. Blames me for all the problems in the world. He didn't make a lot of sense. He isn't himself." It sounds weak, and again silence overtakes everyone.

"I wasn't expecting that." Mum finally says.

Dad grunts and Jordan mumbles a bunch of words even I don't want to repeat.

"What now then?" Dad refills his glass. "You're here. Do you think he will try again?"

"If he wants to, I'll be ready this time," I assure him. "I'm training again. Properly. Dorian is good at creating illusions, so kind of how I had training with Hades before, these last couple of weeks I've been getting serious with my powers again. The Valkyrie too. The last couple of Powers they've come across haven't been as easy to handle as they remember. This world, our demons, like me, they let their guard down and their training has suffered for it too."

"Can we help?" Mum nods as I speak, taking it all in.

"Stay alert. It's no secret you're all I care about. If he was to do anything again, he may try and hurt me by using you. I've got some of the witches and fae at the Council working on stronger protection markers around the house, Penny and the others too." I tell them, unsure of what to say next. "The more the other Powers appear, refugees arrive and desperate leaders try to find me to help, the more I know I can't stay here. I've been keeping my head in the sand, this was my wake up call."

"We understand," Dad said slowly, his voice like gravel. "Yet we do not like it."

Mum breaks first.

She's got me trapped in a hug as her tears dampen the top of my head and her shoulder threatens to suffocate me.

"I wish we could make things better Elliphant. If only you had been born into another life, a better life. You never wanted this. Since you were a kid you never wanted any of it. You fought us like you knew what was coming. Like you had to get away from it all." She sobbed. "We wouldn't let you. Maybe if we had, if we didn't make you go to the Academy and-"

Untangling myself from her hold, I stood and hugged her properly.

"It wasn't your choice Mum, just like it wasn't mine. I only exist because of Portia. Alistair tried to stop it, but he was no match for them." The Buntings had only birthed sons until me for that very reason. My mother said it was a miracle, yet it was only the start of what I had once seen as a curse. "And, it's okay. I don't blame you, and you shouldn't either."

"I'm sorry. It's just, your my baby. Every time, we nearly lose you and- ''she sniffs and Jordan stands up, still managing to be ever so careful with the sleeping Olivia.

"Yes, she's a Bunting, but she's something else now too. They call her the God Killer. You don't just get a name like that without earning it, and yet here you are, acting like you don't think she will win this time. Of course, she will! Don't cry for Elise Mum, think of those sorry fuckwits on the other side who have to try and stop her."

I'm speechless.

Mum cries harder, waking up Olivia who also starts to cry as Mum smothers Jordan in kisses.

"Twice in one night. Next, you'll be telling me pigs fly." Dad muses, chuckling to himself.

Once I get Olivia settled, I take her home with the promise of as daily as I remember notices on what is happening. My brothers' little speech has filled me with warm and fuzzies, and once Olivia is in her own bed, I wait for Raya and Keiran to return feeling better than I had in days.

"How was dinner?" Raya asks as Keiran disappears to shower. "No surprise guests this time?"

"No, and after telling her about Heath, I don't think that will be on her mind for a while."

She laughs. "And was Liv good for you?"

"She always is. How was your night?" Guilt appears and is gone as quickly as it had been there. My throat tightens. "Good stakeout?"

The whole reason I was babysitting was so Raya could go check up on some wolf shifters with Keiran and another Hunter. It was her way of easing back into things, yet I didn't think that's where they went at all now.

"I lied, and I'm sorry." She quickly told me. "I've been lying for months. I haven't been helping on cases or shadowing Keiran. I can't do it. I just, I can't."

"Okay?" I had no idea where this was going.

"Being a Hunter, it was my world. My life. Then we had a baby, and I want more. The fear I deal with, every day, I just. I don't want this anymore. I want us to be civilians. Where our baby isn't going to be kidnapped because of some witches vendetta against her godmother!" Raya rambled.

Tonight I found a pretty good high, and a new low. I managed to take a breath as my eyes began to burn. Where was she going with this?

"I'm sorry. That came out wrong. It's not your fault. It's mine. Sort of. It's PTSD and a bit of postnatal depression and as a result, it's a whole lot of therapy, and steps for dealing with shit, and Keiran found me a support group with other mothers, like me, kind of. And even that's hard, because, for all their fears and issues, I just want to brag I have you, which makes me feel guiltier, and then I worry about their babies, and its this cycle of guilt and anger and fear and-" She took a big breath.

"You have been lying about where you go, where the pair of you go because you've been going to a support group?" I ask her slowly.

"Yes. Long story short," She laughs nervously. "Seems simple when you say it."

My heart starts beating again. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm embarrassed. When we first met, I had my life together. I was normal. I was fucking good at we do." She closes her eyes as tears begin to fall. "Look at me now. Tonight, we had to speak our truth. To ourselves. To our partners, well the ones of us who still had them. How can I, when I'm still lying to you?"

I hold her tighter than I've ever held anyone or anything.

"Thank you for telling me."

"I'm sorry for not doing it sooner."

Of course, my phone begins to ring. One call right after the other until she finally points it out and tells me to answer it.

"Whatever it is, can wait," I assure her, switching it off. Yet a second later, Ailin has appeared in the living room. "Ailin, you can't just-"

"You have to come with me now." She orders, giving a tense little smile to Raya as she seems to just see her beside me. "Elise, this is important."

"So is this," I argue.

"Go. We can talk later." Raya assures me. "Go!"

"I'm sorry, but I'm sure it can wait if-" I start.

"Elise. Now." Ailin urges and before I can argue some more, she grabs my arm and we're in her office.

"What is so-" I stop at the sight of the portal on her office wall, and the two very large, blue guards that stand either side of it. "What the fuck?"

Of all people to come stepping into my world, Gecko, stepped forward looking extremely serious, yet slightly amused. His all-white uniform and sparkling badges on his chest deserves some comment, I kept my mouth shut as movement behind him told us he was bringing a bit of an entourage. More surprisingly, he bowed to both of us and standing tall I gave a subtle nod in greeting as he met my gaze.

"God Killer," His eyes shot to Ailin, "President Ailin."

That was rather, polite and considering how we left things last time, a little unexpected. Much like his appearance.

"Welcome to you, Genzo of the Oni," Ailin offered a small bow of her own in his direction.

Not sure if welcome was the term I would have gone with, but then again, that's why she is the president. Then again, she just literally dragged me here.

"What are you doing? Didn't you get the message last time?"

Ailin groans and Genzo flinches slightly, yet keeps his cool. "Yes, that was quite a painful return to my lands. Thank you, God Killer."

The others behind him step through, a stretcher carrying - something, one between them. They set it down on the floor, yet with the sheet covering what or whoever it was, it was hard to tell.

"What is the purpose of your visit?" Ailin asks, her tone not wavering yet her eyes dart to the bed curiously. "I apologise for the God Killers, rash actions."

I'm about to make sure she was apologizing for nothing, only I can't as Genzo nods and the body is revealed.

"I come in peace, and this is a token of my sincerity. Let the past be the past. I hold no ill will to her, or to any in this world," He smugly declares, and as I take a step forward he blocks me. "What I have-"

With a flick of my hand is sent flying across the room and into the bookcase. Those that had been carrying the stretcher, went back through the portal and as the guards jumped into action, they met a similar fate as Genzo; unconscious against the wall where they had just stood.

"Hunter-" Ailin starts, yet her gasp says it all. "It can't be?"

I'd recognize him anywhere, or at least I thought I always would. A flicker of doubt bloomed in the pit of my stomach as I dropped to the floor and with a shaking hand reached out to smooth back a mane of blonde hair from his forehead.

"Apollo?" I whisper.

He didn't move.

I knew it was him, only this was not the man that left me last year. His glow was gone, there was nothing otherworldly or special about him at all. Skin that had been golden was practically grey and sunken making it seem like a shell of Apollo than the actual person. His hair was longer, dirty - more white than blonde. His muscles had gone, and the numerous wounds that covered his skin weren't healing. From the smears of dried blood and the way they'd closed, they had been there for a while. Worse of all, they had been done by a weapon of gold.

"Apollo, it's me. Elise," I say a little louder, though I don't think I could have screamed at him to look at me how I wanted to if I even tried. I was positive I saw a subtle rise and fall of his chest and dared to put a finger against his neck. "There's a pulse."

He was alive.

Just.

At hearing my voice his eyes fluttered opened slightly, red and tired. His lips dry and cracked parting yet no words came out. Apollo's hand twitched towards mine, before dropping down to his side.

"Hey, you're okay now. I've got you." I tell him softly, gently moving him into my lap as his face turned into my stomach.

His breathing was shallow, slow and the wheeze that followed made me feel cold. I wrapped my hand around him, holding him close. All that time spent thinking that he was with Artemis, happy to be home again or if not there, off in another realm, somewhere. Even after finding out it hadn't been like that at all, I never imagined this. I still couldn't believe it.

From where I had thrown him, Genzo rose up. He stood with a groan and rubbed the side of his head, daring to then approach. Ailin stood between us, shadows appearing on the walls were shadows shouldn't be; her backup.

"What is the meaning of this, Genzo!" Ailin demanded.

"We found him during a patrol, none of this was done by our hand." He calmly answered. "I bring him here as a sign of our ongoing allegiance. Not doing so, well I feel that would not be in the best interest of my people. Besides, he asked for the God Killer. Just as he became unconscious. You should be thanking me!"

Apollo started coughing and I couldn't listen to them anymore as I swallowed back my tears. He needed help, now, and I had no idea what to do or where to take him. The hospital downstairs would cause a scene. What if this brought more from the other world over? I wasn't ready for their attack. I couldn't defend Apollo, myself and all that was here.

Our doctors wouldn't know what to do anyway. He wasn't posing as a Tracker anymore; they'd work out pretty quick he wasn't something they were used to helping. Apollo was the healer. He wasn't supposed to be the one injured like this. No, that was more my area of expertise and as he coughed again, I panicked.

"Elise! What on earth?" Kara gasped, instantly dropped beside me. "Apollo?"

"I don't know what to do." I cried, holding onto his hand as if that would fix everything. "I needed somewhere safe."

"Eric. Get Eric, now! Everyone out." She ordered.

Whatever happened next was beyond me. I cried, I know I did that and felt the tightness of his hand in mine as I kept him close. There were blankets and water and then, I realised I must have fallen asleep or be hallucinating as Artemis was now opposite me.

"Oh, brother!" She sobbed.

"Art?" Artemis reached over and wiped my tears, then passed me a cup of mead. "What-?"

"It'll take the edge off. It's going to be okay, but I need you to let him go." She instructed, her face looked puffy like my eyes hadn't been able to focus properly only then I realised she had been crying too.

"I can't."

"Please, I need to help him." I looked up to see another familiar face. "Bee King?"

"At your service." He winked.

Kara and Eric slowly helped me stand. My legs were stiff and cramped, my back hunched and I drank the mead offered to me. I sat on the sofa between my friends as life came back to my body and I could feel my feet again as the pins and needles eased. The mead filled my stomach, the drunken edge a welcome relief as I watched Muz cover every inch of Apollo in some kind of honey-like mixture. Artemis helped, occasionally stopped to offer her brother more to drink or pieces of what I think were honeycomb to eat.

I don't know how much time had passed.

Artemis ended up falling asleep on the chair opposite us, with Kara and Eric had drifted off a while before that. Muz kept watch, constantly spreading more of the mixture over him.

"What are you doing?" I finally asked, leaving the chair to be back on the floor.

"This is as some may call it, the nectar of the gods. There are a few, rare queen bees who create a rather potent royal jelly that is priceless to our kind. If you ever mention its existence, I will deny it."

"And you're using it now, on Apollo. Why?" I wasn't quite sure about all of this; what would the price be for something priceless?

"We have history, you and I. I may also have a tiny debt to the Huntress, which I have been assured is now well and truly paid."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. This will only do so much, but his life is saved." Muz sighed. "Any idea what happened?"

"No. One of the Oni brought him to me, apparently, they found him during a patrol."

"Oni. Not familiar with that sort." He thinks it over.

"Lucky you."

"They could have left him, he hadn't much time left. Don't seem too bad?"

"Maybe if they hadn't used him as a pawn in this game of, get the god killer on your side. They asked me to stand with them in the war. Lead them to victory." I say making him frown. "I told them no the first time."

"And now?"

I look at Apollo, wondering how the hell we got to this point. Touching his face, he instantly presses into my palm, his eyes flicker open, find mine and ever so slightly the edge of his mouth slides upwards in a tiny smile. He relaxes, gone again. Instantly I'm taken back to when Logan was in the hospital and I had to wait for him to wake up. I prayed, I begged. I wanted him to be okay. I needed him to be okay. That was a lifetime ago, only I still cared as much now as I did back then. If I wasn't so sure in what treatment he was currently getting, I would still be begging and praying and making all kinds of impossible deals if he'd just wake up.

"I'm not sure what options I have now as you said, I owe them for saving his life. Actually that's your doing, so for preventing his death?" I sigh. "Gonzo played me well. Piss off an entire nation and still them no or stand with them in a war there is no avoiding. Not really a lot of choices now is there?"

"You always have a choice," Muz shrugged, and then he made Apollo drink more. "The girl I first met knew that. She wasn't even the God Killer."

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Phew! What a chapter... lots of old faces popping up in this one too!