X • Ryan's POV • X

"Sit still." Nick told Ashley for the millionth time while he tried to heal her. She was so good at healing others, but taking help herself, she was a little stubborn at. "There. All done."

"Thanks." She softly replied, jumping down from the table she was on. Ashley looked around the cave, commenting, "It's kind of crazy to think Angelo lived her for five years."

Josh looked around with her. "Yeah, it is. I can't believe he did it, but on the plus side, it's a good hideout for us."

"What if Famine accesses Devin's memories? Then, won't he know to come looking for us here?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter." Josh responded. "We're only staying here until Kuza says it's okay to return to his place. I've been keeping in contact with Angelo telepathically all night. Ange said the place was attacked. They took the leader of the fairies, Bret, as Conquest. The Shadows left once they had him, but not before Chris went a few rounds with Conquest, so he's pretty fucked up."

"Again?" Ashley questioned, with a bit of annoyance.

He sighed. "Again. Not nearly as bad this time. Right before the attack, Bret gave birth to his son, Alston. One of the other fairies took the baby to the Guardians, then went to check on the Valley. While they wait on news back from there, Kuza is trying to clean up the tavern the best he can. Not just the physical building, but the force field around it. Once all that is done, they'll let us come."

X • Chris' POV • X

Angelo sat down next to my bed as one of Kuza's gargoyles treated my wounds. He was young, but he looked a lot like Ricky. Matt was his name, I believe. He was small but he knew how to fight. I saw that during the battle with the Shadows. It's subsided now, and the tavern has returned to being safe. However I was left pretty banged up after fighting Conquest.

It was hard to tell myself that I wasn't fighting Bret. An evil spirit had taken over his body. For the most part, it still looked like Bret though. It was a mind over matter type of thing. Eventually, he treated with the rest of the Shadows. I can't call that a victory, because I was actually losing when he decided to leave.

The door had been left open somewhat. A clawed hand slowly pushed it open some more, stepping inside. With long wings that almost touched the ground, I recognized this rougher looking gentleman as one of the gargoyles that Kuza forced out of a stone state to battle the Shadows. He had long black hair, with a drawn out face.

"Sorry to come, barging in and all." He spoke through a faded British accent. "The boys and I wanted to give our regards to you. You kicked ass tonight and really took a beating. That, uh... Takes a lot."

"Thank you, and if it weren't for you guys, I would have really gotten my ass beat. Come on in." I said warmly.

Matt finished gathering his things and left just as the other gargoyle stepped inside. One didn't seem too fond of the other. I'm sure it had to do with the fact that when I arrived, Matt was let free, whereas this other one was forced into his stone state.

"I'm Chris, by the way, and this is Angelo. We're both apart of the vampire Coven." I told him.

"Oh, that's quite the honor, isn't it?" He spoke lightheartedly. "I'm Cameron. The others you saw with me, are Ben, Sam, and Cassells."

"As much as I come to visit Mike, I've never seen you four." Angelo replied.

He nervously scratched the back of his neck. "We aren't aloud out of our stone state as much. Kuza says we, uh, cause too much trouble. We, um... We like to party a lot." He chuckled.

I laughed, then caught Tommy out in the hall. He's finally back, which means news on Ricky. Cameron glanced behind himself when he saw my eyes drawn there. Tommy walked in, past him. I'm sure he could tell this is serious, so he excused himself. There were so many people doing so many things outside that I barely noticed Kuza slip in the room behind Tommy. He shut the door, as he gave me a good look over.

"How are you feeling?" Kuza asked me.

I sighed. "I'm fine. I just want to know if Ricky is okay."

"Chris, worry about you first." He spoke as he came to the side of the bed. "Matt told me you were pretty fucked up."

"I'm fine." I repeated, this time more insistent.

Kuza went to touch my arm, but I flinched away. He growled under his breath and grabbed me more aggressively. He didn't always have the best of patience. I hated that he had so much power. I pretty much couldn't lie to him, because he had the ability to read vital signs. With practice, he's learned how they read when someone lies. Kuza is pretty much a living lie detector and it's annoying.

"You aren't healing as fast as you should be." He stated.

I glanced over at Ange, knowing that would worry him. The last thing I need is even more stress on him. When I looked back at Kuza, I know he was understood why I looked at Angelo the way I did. "Let's talk about this later."

"Fine," He muttered unhappily. "But we will talk about it."

Yeah, I know. He won't forget either so any hopes that I could get out of this are shot. It's true that my abilities have been slipping. I am one of the few original vampires in existence. To say I'm getting old is an understatement. I'm sure this loss is power is attributed to that. Right now, I don't care if I become mortal, as long as Ricky is okay.

"Tommy, please tell me you have good news from the Valley." Kuza asked.

He lowered his head, messing around with his hands. "I wish." Tommy murmured. He raised his head again, his eyes glossed over. "There's almost nothing left to it. Many of the homes are destroyed. The Home Tree is fine, but most of the leaders are missing. Ray was the only one left behind, and I believe the Shadows only left him as a way to... have someone to pass on what they accomplished."

"Did they take Ricky?" Angelo questioned, mostly on my behalf because I was at a loss of words.

A million concerns ran through my mind. So many things that could have happened to him, and the baby. Tommy looked over at Kuza. It was a look that begged for salvation. Something terrible happened, I know it. That's why he won't say anything, he doesn't want to have to be the one to tell me.

"Speak!" I finally demanded of him.

"I-I'm sorry, I just... I just don't want you to kill the messenger." He replied.

I actually was about to, because he was wearing down my patience. A knock at the door saved him. Tommy opened the door, and used it as an excuse to leave. He muttered something to whomever it was. Another fairy walked through the door, and I assume this was Ray. I didn't know many of the fairies at all. He was cute, but more teenage romance cute. Not, I want to fuck you against a wall cute.

He was pretty cut up. Bandages were wrapped around his bare chest. There was a cut that started at the corner of his eye and went over most his cheek, along with smaller scratches over his skin. Near the hem of his jeans, I could see the mark of an oracle across his hipbone. As Angelo tells me, it's a blessing and a curse.

"I'm sorry. Tommy isn't fully apart of the Fae Ring. He still in training and doesn't really know how to talk about this kind of stuff." He spoke softly. The fairy came to the end of the bed, resting his hands on the footboard. "I'm Ray, and I am one of the fairy leaders. The others... JC was taken, and well, you already know what happened to Bret."

"I'm so sorry about that, by the way. We tried to stop them." I responded.

"You couldn't have." Ray said. "We discovered that when they took two of our fighters as War and Death."

"So they did get all four." Ange sighed.

Kuza just shook his head. "I'm scared to ask, who?"

"The youngest of the Kindle, London, was taken as War. He's the son of our army's general." He replied.

"And Death?" Angelo asked.

Ray glanced to the ground. He took a deep breath as he returned his eyes to mine. "Death... They took Ricky. I... I'm sorry." He whispered.

My chest felt as if it was going to cave in. I never thought such a thing would even happen. I was a fool to think that though. To be honest, I'd rather hear he was killed in battle than this. At least if he was dead, I wouldn't have to fight him. Now, my own love has become the enemy. I don't know if I could ever attempt to hurt him...

Angelo gently grabbed my arm. I looked over at him, and he forced a smile. He was trying to make me feel better, but it wasn't going to work.

"They didn't take people at random." Kuza stated. "This was planned. Devin has the ability to affect people's age, to the point he could put them to death in minutes. He also is an expert in voodoo and used to be a mercenary. Of course they'd take him as Famine. Bret has won more wars and battles than any of the other creature leaders, so they made him Conquest. London was trained in the art of fighting and he comes from a military family. He made the perfect War."

"Well what's that say for Ricky?" I snapped.

He looked at me blankly, as if I was an idiot for not knowing. "It means, your angel is much more powerful than we ever knew."