"What on earth are we going to do now?" Rachel asked, curling up in the passenger's seat as Daniel braved Bucharest's smothering six p.m. traffic. Her eyes burned with exhaustion.

"How many darts do we have in those guns?" He tapped the wheel to the rhythm of the song on the radio.

She took the guns out of her rucksack and pulled out the cartridges. "Eight in one, six in the other."

"Good. You keep the fully-loaded one." He exhaled loudly as the line of cars moved a foot forward. "I say we rest tonight. We've been awake for over twenty-four hours. And tomorrow—" He swallowed. "We're going back to that Banshee. She might know something she hasn't told us yet."

"What about Vlad?" Her voice was barely louder than a whisper. They still hadn't thought of any half-decent plan.

Daniel ran his hand through his hair, ruffling it up even more. "I hate this stupid situation. I wanted that bastard dead because he made me kill Cheryl, and because killing him might make it easier for every Hunter out there. I still want to avenge Cheryl, but not at the cost of Vlad killing you. And the other Hunters...I don't really give a shit about them now, and they want us dead, too."

Rachel chewed her lip and stared past the sea of cars. He had a point. Screw the other Hunters if they were being so stupid about this. And she didn't want revenge to ruin their happiness, as much as she wanted Vlad to pay for what he did to Cheryl. For what he did to Daniel. But quitting is not in my vocabulary.

"Mine either. That's why—" He hit the brakes abruptly as another car cut into their lane. The whole line stood still again. He turned to her. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I won't give up on this. I want to see that asshole dead if it's the last thing I do. I won't be able to function if I run away."

"Babe, relax. I understand perfectly. I want to off that guy as much as you do." She smirked when she felt him relaxing.

"Didn't you use to call Chris 'babe'?"

She raised her eyebrows. She'd completely forgotten. "Sometimes. Didn't you use to call Cheryl sweetheart?"

"Touché!" He leaned over and gave her a quick, yet passionate kiss. "Sometimes. I love you when you're so feisty."

Rachel blushed. She loved him all the time.

🦇🦇🦇

Rachel leaned against the car and watched Daniel take the stairs of the hotel in Câmpulung two at a time. Her stomach felt like a knot of angry snakes. How come he hadn't felt anything? His senses were supposed to be sharper than hers.

She looked around, trying to detect the source of her nausea, but apart from humans and Daniel, she could sense nothing else. After trying for another few seconds and coming up with nothing, Rachel concentrated on her heavy, twisting stomach. There was no headache accompanying it. Weird. Maybe she'd eaten something that didn't agree with her and was just sick.

While she tried to retrace the sickness to a meal, the smell of cheese pâtés from the bakery across the street filled her nostrils. Her mouth instantly watered, the nausea forgotten. She wanted a pâté. No, a ton of pâtés.

I'm across the street, getting food, she thought randomly, not sure how much coverage their link had.

Rachel rushed to the bakery and bought a bag-full. God, the melted cheese flowing from the pastry was divine. She could eat those forever.

Her nausea disappeared, but her new and improved senses made her feel as if trapped inside a too small box. The Banshee's aura engulfed the city, making the air hard to breathe. She tugged at the neckline of her top.

She dreaded the feeling she'd get when they went back to the monastery. Only the return to the mausoleum brightened the perspective of a horrible evening. Whatever happened, she wanted to go back there after they interrogated the hag. She wasn't sure why, but that hill, that building were like a beacon to her.

Rachel took out another pâté and chewed on it, her eyes fixed on the swaying branches of the trees lining the boardwalk. This town was so peaceful, the thought of so much paranormal activity around felt silly. She expanded her senses beyond her body, trying to pick up on any vampire in the region. She only sensed Daniel heading for her.

"Hey, thanks." He took the pâté she had in her hand and wolfed it down. "I was kinda hungry."

"That was mine!" She frowned and thumped his shoulder. "You can get your own damn food." She pulled out another cheesy piece of heaven and bit on it.

"What kind of girlfriend are you? Letting me starve?" He grinned, but it faded once she gave him the evil eye. "What's up? Why are you pissed?"

"Because!" She turned her back on him. Why was she pissed? It didn't matter. It was his fault anyway.

"Did you eat that whole bag all by yourself?" He grabbed her shoulder gently, and turned her around to face him. "You'd better watch it, Rach. If you get fat, I won't love you anymore."

She yanked herself free. "I'm hungry. Lay off!"

"Obviously not in the mood for jokes. Rach, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." Rachel rolled her eyes. "God, did you give Cheryl this much crap?" A sharp pain came from Daniel and pierced her heart as soon as she finished the question. She'd really struck a nerve. As soon as she realized she'd hurt him, the anger vanished as if it had never been there. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"Don't worry about it." He gave her a one-armed hug, but didn't look at her. "Let's get this over with."

Rachel followed him to the car, her stomach churning. He was still upset, she could feel it. He wasn't even bothering to block it out. Or maybe he'd forgotten she could sense what was going on. What was wrong with her? Why the mood swings?

She froze, one foot in the air, her mind making calculations. No, it couldn't be. But it all added up: mood swings, nausea, cravings. It couldn't— she couldn't— I can't be pregnant!

Daniel spun in mid-step, his eyes wide. Oh, crap! He'd definitely heard that. He walked to her and stopped at arm's length. "Will you say that again?" His voice was calm, even though she could feel his inner panic.

"I-I didn't say anything." She glanced sideways, trying to make some sense out of this.

"You're right. This is impossible. We only had sex two days ago."

Rachel bit her lip. "We didn't use any protection, did we?"

"Ah, no." Daniel raked his hand through his messy hair. "But it's still too soon." He looked at her, and a small smile crept on his lips. "And what if you are? It wouldn't be that bad, would it?"

She squinted at him. "I thought kids didn't come into the picture."

"I know." He shrugged. "But I wouldn't mind tiny Rachels running around. They'd be adorable."

Rachel couldn't help but grin. It was one of the sweetest things he'd ever said. And the fact that he'd changed his mind about a family meant a lot. And a tiny part of her hoped she was pregnant.

🦇🦇🦇

They drove to the village next to Câmpulung. Once they entered it, the already familiar smothering feeling, now much stronger, made Rachel wish she were anywhere else. She could feel Daniel's discomfort and he'd been right. The aura affected him more than her, draining all the energy out of him.

He parked the car further up the hill this time and they jogged the rest of the distance. The plateau with the cave church and nuns' house was empty.

"There are a lot of wraiths around here," Daniel mumbled.

Rachel squinted. Smokey shadows came in and out of focus, seeming to drape around her. She shuddered and hugged herself. Are those the wraiths?

"Yeah. Won't show their faces, though."

"You're lucky they don't. It means they're neutral." The old, blind nun stood in the doorway of the house. Her knotty hands covered the end of her walking stick. "Why have you returned, Daniel Paxton?"

Yeah, that's right, lady. Act as if I'm invisible, Rachel thought savagely. At least she now understood the language. It had taken Daniel a couple of seconds to teach her all the languages he knew via their link.

"We need more information," Daniel answered. "About Vlad and about what Max knew and predicted."

"He didn't predict you'd return." The woman closed the door and stepped outside.

So much for tea this time. Not that Rachel minded. The sooner they got out of there, the better.

"There is something different about you." The Banshee shuffled over to them and took Daniel's hand.

Rachel's heart seemed to be on freefall. A sense of desperation and exhaustion engulfed her, and she swayed on her feet.

Daniel cringed and shut his eyes, pulling as far away from the nun as he could without breaking contact. She edged closer to him, her claw-like hand tight around his wrist.

"Yes, yes. You are—" She gasped and let him go. "No. Max hid so many things." Shaking her head, she turned to leave. "What you want, I cannot give you. I gave you all the help I can. The solution is within you." She pointed a gnarly finger at Daniel. "You're a Shield. And you." The nun nodded toward Rachel. "You're a Shade. I never thought I'd see the likes of you again."

"What do you mean?" Rachel looked from the woman to Daniel. What's she talking about?

"I am old. Older than you can imagine. I've dwelt on these plains for centuries. I've witnessed the great wars in our world. Not since Max foresaw the destruction of your race have any Hunters with special abilities arisen." She shook her head and waddled toward the doors.

"Wait, where are you going? What's a shield and shade?" Rachel called out after her, but the nun went inside and slammed the door. 

Rachel marched forward, but stopped once she realized Daniel wasn't coming. He leaned against the railing, one arm around his torso, his face white as a sheet, forehead covered in sweat. 

"Rach, can we go? I don't—I don't feel so—" He bent over the banister and threw up.

Rachel took a few steps toward him, then stopped. He'd blocked her out, which meant he didn't want to be touched. She wanted to go to him, help him. His knuckles had turned white on the railing and sweat dripped down the sides of his face.

She turned away to give him some privacy. Wind rustled through the pine trees on top of the mountain. For a moment, she thought she heard whispers, moans. It was either her imagination or the wraiths. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end and goosebumps flooded her skin. She wanted out of there and fast. Daniel seemed to be done retching.

She walked to him cautiously, just in case he wanted to ward her off, but he just hung over the banister, his knees bent as if he would fall if he let go. Rachel took his wrist, flung his arm over her shoulders, and hoisted him off the railing.

"Come on. You'll feel better once we're out of here." She hauled him down the cement path, toward the gates. It would be much easier to pick him up entirely.

Don't even think about it.

In normal circumstances, she would have giggled at his pride, but now, with all the creepy wraiths floating around them, she just wanted as far away as possible.

"Shield, my ass," he mumbled. "I can't even shield myself from her."

"What did she mean you're a Shield? And what's a Shade?" It sounded like a wraith to her.

She fumbled inside his pocket for the keys and unlocked the car. She put him in the passenger's seat and hurried to the driver's side. Daniel stayed quiet while she started the car, turned around, and drove off. They were half-way to the mausoleum when he spoke again.

"Technically, I don't know what she means. I've just glued two and two together and came up with a guess."

"Let me have it, then."

"My being a Shield might explain that weird energy thing I do. Leave it to me to use a shield as a weapon instead of protection." He fixed his gaze on the mausoleum's tower. "And you being a Shade...I suspect it means you hide your true nature. This crossed my mind when you mentioned vampires don't usually sense you. I also have a feeling you can hide me as well. That's why I had you holding my hand when we were hiding in the basement in the Vatican."

"That sounds like a pretty solid guess." Rachel veered right and entered the parking lot in front of the mausoleum. She cut off the engine, and turned to him, her elbows resting on the wheel. "Why didn't you mention anything about my supposed power before?"

"I didn't want you to be disappointed, in case I was wrong. And I could be." He rummaged in the glove compartment and pulled out a pack of chewing gum. He emptied half of it into his hand and chomped it.

"What are you doing?" Rachel asked, trying to hold a smile back.

"I just barfed, remember? " He got out of the car and stretched. Rachel followed. "Back to the superpowers thing, we need to be sure about this. Practice." He walked to the edge of the parking lot and sat on the fence.

"Your guess sounds pretty good to me." She joined him, her eyes on the flights of stairs leading up to the tower. About halfway up, there was the museum and two cannons. Two flights higher, a basso relief depicting battling soldiers overlooked the parking lot. Above it stood a small chapel and the tower. Something seemed to draw her to that chapel. She wanted inside.

"If there's one thing I learned since this whole mess started, it's that I don't know anything." Daniel's voice snapped her back to reality. "I'm a bit worried about Max not predicting this. What changed?"

"Seeing as we have no idea how Max's predictions ended, we don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing. Visiting the Banshee again was a waste of time. Not to mention that it made you feel like crap. Lot of good she did." She huffed.

"I don't think it was a waste. We found out what's up with us, and that neutral wraiths are invisible. And when she touched me..." He shuddered. "I could get inside her head and picked up more information about wraiths." He hesitated for a second. "And I saw you. I have this feeling you're somehow the key."

Rachel blinked. "The key to what?"

"I don't know." He waved his hand. "This whole ordeal."

"Yeah, right." She looked back at the mausoleum. "How can I be the key to anything if I can't even figure myself out, let alone some crazy—" The word was stuck in her throat, making it hard to breathe. Flashes of the prophecy rang in her ears, together with something else, something that sounded like a lullaby. "The innocent will lose their innocence," she whispered. She could remember the Banshee saying that in her screechy voice, but it now mixed with a much tenderer one, a voice that sung. 

We'll create innocence...we can still be innocent. She was once again lying at Vlad's feet, dripping blood, halfway through the vampire transformation and all she could hear were her mother's words, singing that song.

What did that mean? Were they the innocent? And what did losing their innocence mean? We can still be innocent. New lyrics came to mind. Seen the future, and we falter. But will it matter? Her head throbbed, ready to burst, and tears pooled in her eyes. She pressed her temples, begging the madness to stop. The tears snaked down her cheeks.

"Rach, what's that mess inside your head?" Daniel's voice was like a distant echo.

"Nothing's easy, and we falter," she whispered. "But does it matter?" She could hear him talking again, but the words didn't get through. It felt like she was stuck in a whirlpool.

Daniel cupped her face and kissed her. She snapped out of it, her eyes wide in surprise. He'd never kissed her like this before, like he would never get the chance to do it again. It scared her a little.

He pulled back. "Now that I have your attention, what's with that song? You sang it while you were transforming. Kept repeating it."

"All I know is that my mom used to sing it to me. Somehow, I feel like it's connected to Max's predictions." Negating everything it says.

Daniel stared at her then rubbed the back of his head. "I have a baaad feeling about this." He frowned and raised his head. "Do you sense that?"

"I don't think I can sense or feel anything right now." She did look around, however, just in case some vampire jumped out from behind bushes.

"That's nonsense. Of course you feel something – you love me." He smiled, though his eyes were unfocused as he spread his senses to make sure they were safe.

She giggled. "True. I want to go inside." She waved her hand in the direction of the chapel. "Can we?"

Daniel hesitated for a second, then nodded. "Sure, sweetheart. Whatever makes you happy." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and the two of them made their way up the stairs, toward the tower which dominated the hilltop.

🦇🦇🦇

Thanks for reading another chapter of Hunters. Hope you had fun! Leave a comment or vote in case you enjoyed it. And thank you for your support!