Ezra and Althea had barely escaped from the scene and were lucky that they weren't discovered. They arrived at her dorm where Althea passed out.

Althea found herself yet again in the forest, only this time she was in the middle of the cabin. Inside, nothing was left of the furniture that remained in the small room. Most of it was demolished from the many parties held there. She stood still, afraid to move. Afraid not to. Her stomach turned, and she wanted to move and get out. Suddenly, ominous sounds played outside the cabin, followed by strange incantations. Althea forced herself to break away from her spot and run to the window. She looked outside and saw Peter and his friends chanting something around a flame. The flames flickered to life, growing bigger by the minute. Althea's eyes grew wide; they were summoning something, and she really didn't want to know what it was. Fear won out and as she backed away from the window, a figure emerged from the flames—a sickly skin-colored man with black horns. The thing stared over the body of a young girl, Melissa. Evilly it laughed and approached her. Fear radiated from Melissa's face as she tried to back away. The figure held it's hand toward her, like it wanted to grab her. It stopped and glanced toward the cabin. It approached the small building, and then everything rippled. She awoke with a start.

Althea screamed, thinking that the creature was going to attack her—but once she realized where she was, Althea relaxed. The room was empty save her and Ezra. Abigail had gone off to class, and the sun was poking out from behind the blinds.

"Althea?" Ezra worried and raced over to her bed. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"Ezra..." Althea's voice broke. I saw something, something horrible..."

Althea couldn't stop the tears from coming so she allowed them to fall. Ezra wrapped his arm around Althea, trying to keep her calm so she wouldn't freak out anymore. "This monster... It was sickly, and it's head had these things..." Althea tried everything to keep calm but found it was harder than she thought. She cried into Ezra's chest until she could calm herself down. "What was it?"

"You must have seen a demon, something that I didn't want you to know about."

"It was after a girl I knew—Melissa."

"That can mean one of two things, Althea," Ezra said. "Either they're trying to scare you, or the demon has found an intended host."

"But why would this thing go after Melissa?"

"It goes after the people who are weak or depressed," Ezra explained. "That was probably what it wanted from Melissa, and if the creature was sickly-looking, then it can't remain in the form or stay on this realm of existence for long. It needs a human host."

"You don't need to say anything else," Althea said. "I'll do it, I'll help you stop them."

*~*~*

Ezra didn't like the fact that something tried to scare his charge. First, the figure made an appearance and threatened him. Next, here he was having to explain to his charge that what she saw in the dream was nothing to laugh about. It meant the Servants of Evil were getting closer to their goal. If that goal was completed, it could mean the end of the world. Not just for Empyrean, but also the mortal realm. This wasn't the way he wanted Althea to agree to join them; he wanted her to join of her own free will, since angels couldn't force anyone to join them.

"I'll do it. I'll join. If my world is in danger, then I need to keep the people I love safe."

"If you agree to this, there's no way you can get out of it," Ezra warned. "Once you're in, there's no way out."

"It doesn't matter, but I will not do this alone."

"You won't be alone, you'll have me."

"Not just that, Ezra," Althea said as she looked into his eyes. "Abigail needs to be told. If she's not told, then she'll always be worried about me."

"Isn't there a way we could keep her out of it?"

"No, she hates not being able to do anything," Althea said. "Abigail needs to be told. I won't leave her in the dark."

Ezra sighed. He knew the risks, and he was more than willing to keep Althea safe. But bringing someone in with no prior knowledge of what they could do was a higher risk. Ezra admired the way Althea stuck with her best friend, and the way she wouldn't take no for an answer. Ezra said nothing, but he started thinking more about it and nodded his head.

"Okay, fine, we'll talk to her," Ezra said. "But first you need to eat breakfast."

Althea nodded and climbed out of bed.

Ezra watched as Althea grabbed a granola bar and a bottle of water. "Really? That's all you're going to eat?"

"What? I don't feel like going to the cafeteria. Give me a break," Althea responded.

"Well, I'm worried that you won't have much to eat."

"Ezra, I'm going to be fine. Don't worry. Now then, what are we waiting for? Shouldn't we get going?"

Althea and Ezra walked out of the dormitory and made their way to Althea's first class. Along the way, Althea saw the Servants of Evil coming out from the Coffee shop. She paused and pulled Ezra against. Peter met up with his friends and listened to the conversation.

*~*~*

When Peter arrived, he stood before his friends. Alex and Adam had gotten the girl and Jennifer was once again sitting on her ass, doing nothing. The girl that Alex and Adam brought had strawberry blonde hair. The last thing they needed was The Blood of a Nephilim. Where were they going to find that? They weren't sure. Instead of paying attention to Alex or Adam, he turned toward Jennifer.

"So let me get this straight," Peter said. "While we were going out and getting what we needed you sat on your ass and had some coffee?"

"Hey, I already did my part, I've warned her," Jennifer responded. Suddenly, Melissa spoke up.

"I'm sorry but I couldn't help but overhear," Melissa said. "But are you talking about Althea?"

"What's it to you?" Adam asked, narrowing his eyes. "You don't need to know what we're doing."

"But what if I told you I know about Ezra?"

Everyone fell silent. No one spoke; even Jennifer was intrigued.

"Oh, don't act like I don't know," Melissa said. "I know that you also help since I am a conduit, like you said."

"How do you even know this?" Alex asked.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Melissa said. "Now do you want my help or not?"

Peter hesitated, unsure about what he should do.

"Well in that case, how would you help us?" Jennifer questioned.

"It's simple really. You can't get to Althea without going through Ezra, correct?" Everyone nodded. "All you have to do is try to separate them, or better yet, if you want Althea to do what you want her to do, capture Ezra. I'm sure that might jolt her awake."