When I woke up, I was laying on silk sheets. They were the color of sun rays, gold and sparkly. At first my pulse quickened, my heart rose, my anxiety rolling because I had no idea where I was What happened, how did I get to wherever I was now? And then I remembered.

Konrad. Colin. My dad. Konrad taking me.

I looked through a tall window with sheer white curtains, the sky outside a shade of blue that made me confused whether it was dawn or dusk.

I looked down at my body, a deep red velvet sleep-gown was clinging to me like a second skin. I hated it, I felt disgusting and different. Especially knowing that someone else changed me.

I blinked my eyes rapidly, anger replacing my fear with a shot of adrenaline. "I never agreed to this!" I screamed. I tried to move off the bed but fell onto the hard wooden floors, my legs felt weak from laying down for so long. How long was I asleep? "I DON'T WANT THIS!"

"Honey you already sold your soul to the devil." Konrad smiled, standing over me. He said playfully with a southern accent, joking with me. "There's no taking that back."

He grabbed my hair and pulled me up, making me wince. But I've had worse. There was thing a Hunter was prepared for, and that was pain.

"But I don't—" I tried to argue my piece but there was no point. Not with him. There would be no winning. I'd only make things worse for myself.

He put a long finger to his red lips. "Shh Shh Shh... we mustn't bite the hand that feeds us."

"Oh I'll bite a lot more than your hand if you touch her one more God damn time." Konrad let go of me and dusted his hands off. The room got a shade lighter, like the sun and shadows were frightened and backed up to let the light breathe.

"COLIN!" I yelled and ran to him. He caught me in his arms easily, naturally, safely.

He kissed my head and Konrad laughed.

"Puppy love. What a concept." He strolled around the room until he reached the window. The sun drizzled onto his face, making him seem almost surreal. At this angle... he almost looked liked Colin. They had the same jaw line, same nose. But it was more than just that. If you looked carefully enough, they had the same look in their eyes.

Collective. Calculating. Careful. But Colin's eyes were soft and kind, Konrad's were cruel and hard.

"It isn't puppy love." Colin stated, so sure that it made me swoon. Even in a situation like this.

Konrad grabbed the sheer fabric and tore it from the window, revealing Becker's front yard to the mansion I visited a day ago? Two days? However many days ago.

Konrad picked up the curtains and threw them into the air. We watched two Ash Roses fell back into his hands. "Why? Because you got these to prove it?" He twisted them between his fingers. By the time I blinked, they were curtains once more. "When was the last time you saw your roses?"

I froze. The day I got mine.

"I burned mine." Colin said.

I shrugged, pursing my lips. "I think... umm... I don't know where I put it."

Konrad scoffed. He had an incredulous look on his face that made me embarrassed. "You're definitely a Dawn. Making dumb, reckless, decisions. And you... are definitely a Gold, or should I say... Reinheart?" He moved around the room and picked up a paperweight off a mahogany nightstand. "I ask because I figured you thought you lost them, it only makes sense. They were never real. Just a figment of my imagination. Well... actually Leslie's imagination." He snickered as he threw the paperweight at me, it stopped before it hit my face. Colin had gasped but I didn't even flinch. Konrad looked at me smugly. "Such a Strong Dawn. Such a weak Reinheart."

Leslie? "What does Leslie have to do with this!?" I shouted. She was close to us, to Uncle Kas. She helped my mom give birth to Fiona 161 years ago. There's no way she'd help him. "What did you do to her?"

Konrad frowned. "Nothing? I'm not a terrible person, Everly."

I wanted to attack him right there. But what would that do? It wouldn't kill him. And it'd barely hurt him.

"Leslie was helping. Is a necromancer helping you too?" Colin asked calmly. He seemed at ease and I guess... he didn't need to worry. He was Konrad's grandson.

Konrad looked proudly at Colin. "I have people from all species except that scum of humans and mermaids helping me. Very few vampires are helping also. So yes, I have a necromancer helping as well."

I almost shrunk back. Hunters hunted vampires because they were vile creatures. And now... my Species was basically going to help an evil man rise to power willingly while the "scum" of the planet revolted.

"Is that how you're back?" Colin was cute like this. Cracking down on something, ideas flowing through head quick like lightning. "A necromancer?"

I needed to focus. Not on Colin. But on Konrad. It was hard though, with the way Colin looked. It wasn't that he was the hottest person I had ever seen, but because the way he did things and his facial expressions. To me, they made him more attractive than any angel or demon.

"Honey ain't no one bringing back the dead." A thick Louisiana accent filled into the room. I looked over, and there stood the famous Leslie Towers.

She was beautiful with long dreads that fell to her waist, dark skin that reminded me of charcoal. Her teeth were pure white. Hung around her were different herbs, matching the green color of her eyes. A bone necklace sat on her chest. She wore a long white gown that trailed behind her, or at least it used to be white. Now it was stained with dirt and grass. She was exactly like how I remembered. "Not no Necromancer and not no Salem Of The Old Witch. Come 'ere girl, why aren't you givin' Auntie L a hug?" She was prettier than I remembered, livelier.

I shook my head. "You're with him." I gestured to Konrad with my chin defeatedly.

Colin ignored all of this, still on topic with his epiphany. "How is it that you're raised again? Becker killed you and sent you to Hell. If the dead can't come back—"

"He never killed me." Konrad cackled, popping his knuckles. "None of them did! They were missing something." He strutted around the room, the candles and lights on the chandelier popping out one by one. "Well... two of them were. Becker knew what he was doing."

I tilted my head and closed my eyes, shielding my face from the fallen glass. "What do you mean?"

"Sweet thing, Becker was young back then. Only 90 something years old." Leslie came to me and held out her hand, a flicker lit up in her palm. "He thought Konrad would be risen sooner. Becker sent him to Hell all right. But he ain't ever killed Konrad. You gotta understand, Hon. he's matured since then. Regretted his decisions. He has a family. He has you and his best friends."

My mind raced through possibilities. "Becker's a smart kid, I can't deny that." Konrad was next to us, his breath minty. The candle lit his features, making him sharper, terrifying. It was just the one in Leslie's palm illuminating us now. "But only because everyone else is so dumb. I whispered something to each of the three who sent me to Hell. I was losing, I thought I was going to die. My last defense was manipulation by truth. Something to plague them even if I died. I told Constance that she will lose a child fighting me, and she did. Such a shame, would've grown to be a cute girl. She fought me anyways, crying, because she realized at that moment that she was pregnant. I told Alpha Arlis that—"

"How could you!? She was PREGNANT!" I yelled, thinking about a little Constance running around. Sure she'd be way older than me by this time, and it would be terrifying to have two Constance's in my life. But these do not overweight what Konrad did to her.

"What? And let her kill me? A pregnant woman was kicking my ass. Do you know how weak that makes me sound? I'm glad I killed her infant." He was so happy, so full of joy.

I screamed and grabbed his head, smashing it against my knee and I went to kick him but I froze. Leslie's hand was on my back as she whispered something.

He held his bleeding nose, glaring at me. "There will be respectful obedience or there will be forceful obedience, I don't care who you are."

How could he? How could he say that? She was PREGNANT! And... a part of me was mad at her. She continued to fight? Why not leave the battle to Arlis and Becker?! Why not drop out?! For once in my life— I... I understand her. I understand why she's so cold. Why she hates Konrad so much. How come children make her angry and why she's never settled down with a guy, not that she needed too. I know why she blocked herself off from family. Same reason as Uncle Kas but reversed. He left so we wouldn't feel pain when he died. She left, so she'd never feel the pain when we die. And I guess it worked. Because she killed her own father.

There were no villains or heroes in this world. Every single one of us is neither good nor bad. Except Konrad. Konrad is all that is evil in this world plus more.

"Do you wanna know what I told Becker? I told Becker that half my power wasn't even contained inside me. That it's gone." He shot up his eyebrows. "Becker, pretending to kill me, sent me to Hell so I could later be risen and he could interrogate me as to where the rest of my power was. Becker is power hungry just like the rest of us." Konrad pointed to the door where a light emerged. "Isn't that right, Becker?"

Becker walked into the room and clapped his hands, all the lights and candles flickering on. Glass rose up from the ground and fixed themselves back into their places. He must have looked (in human years) eighty something. My chest ached for multiple reasons.

I was aching for him and how sad I was for him, and about him and how disappointed I was in him.

"He's not lying." Becker shut his wrinkled eyes, his voice like a piece of cracked china. "I was," He took a deep breath to continue speaking. "Very young."

"Unlike now. Wow you are stressed." Konrad walked to Becker and patted his cheeks. "We can fix that. Leslie."

"It would be my pleasure." Leslie releases her hold on me and puts them on Becker's shoulders.

Becker tried to back up with worry but there was a wall. "No. No please."

And then the screaming started.

***

It was ten minutes of torturous looks and screams from Becker. It was ten minutes of me crying, trying to help, and Colin holding me. Against my will. Very much. He was sporting a black eye now. But I'm fine so it's okay.

Constance came in five minutes into it, looked at us, and sat on the bed in shame.

Becker was Becker again. Young and... sad. Hurt. He was tired.

"There he is! What a handsome young man." Leslie punched his arm. "Not very muscular. That's okay! You'll get there." She locked arms with Konrad, and they walked out, leaving us to our own accords. I was surprised that they'd just let us be free. To roam around.

"What the fuck are you two doing here? I... I knew it. You two are a thing. I knew it." Constance pinched the bridge of her nose. "I can't possibly imagine why—"

"The Ash Rose and—"

"The fake Ash Rose you mean. That fulfilled the fake Prophesy?" She screamed as she stood up, kicking the bed. "It's just there for tension! Yeah there's going to be a War Of The Species, but not because of any couple. Nobody cares who dates who. It's the fact that the couple starts a war that starts— well the war. In preventing it, people will kill. And killing starts arguments. And arguments make tension. Tension makes rash decisions. It's just the spark that lights people up to hate each other for Konrad. With people killing each other already, it'll be easy for him to rise to power!" Constance took a deep breath. "You two need to go home."

"No shit, Sherlock!" I grumbled, pulling my hair.

"With no Ash Rose... that means one of us was supposed to die. One of us would've gone far enough to kill the other." Colin's gaze fell to the floor, melancholy building in his features. "We weren't meant to be." That's the catalyst that's driving him to this breaking point? The shaking fingers, unnerving erratic breaths. "He's just been messing with our heads the entire time!"

"Colin calm down." I noticed the signs. The Atrax signs. I placed my hands over his and forced him to look at me. "Colin please. Please calm down."

He must have noticed it too because he took deep breaths, steadying himself. "But the the the side affects are still there! The emotions the, uh, the hunger and—"

"Witches play it on their husbands all the time. It's like a menstruation spell. It makes them go all haywire with their emotions and such." Constance walked to Becker, a couple gray hairs spread through her dark hair. It was weird. Seeing her older.

Colin removed his hands from mine and covered his face. "I need to go home. We need to warn everyone."

"You can't. It's too late." Becker whimpered. "It's hopeless. We're hopeless." In all my 20 years of knowing Becker, I had never seen him this broken.

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Everly. Don't you get it? It's Christmas tomorrow. After that... Konrad is going for the leaders. He's going to kill all of the leaders, frame it on the other one. Right after he exposes Arlis for his mate not being a werewolf and you two for being in love. People are going to shred each other. We don't have long at all." Becker put his head between his knees. "This is all my fault."

Constance nodded, agreeing with him. "I still don't understand why you wanted his power."

"It wasn't so nobody else would get it. I did it because I wanted it. I wanted it so nobody else could hurt my family. So you and Arlis would never be broken down again. So people people could never hurt us. I wanted to be powerful back then, before I knew I already was. Back when I wanted people to fear me." Becker stood up and ran a hand through his long, brown, fluffy hair.

Constance wasn't so livid anymore, or confused. "Oh Becker." She breathed out, covering her mouth. She was gentle with him now. "But raising him again—"

"I thought I was the only one who could do it. I never knew mom had another kid. I never knew— I never knew there'd be another Salem Of The Old Witch." He popped his back and stretched up, yawning. "I don't even know how much pain she's going through. But my niece... I have to save her. Clay wants her saved and I think I can do it."

Constance looked us up and down. "Clay is a traitor." She confirmed.

"Aren't YOU a traitor!? Everyone is a traitor. Can you trust no one?" I yelled. "Is my dad working with Konrad too!?"

Constance shook her head. "No I'm not a traitor, yes practically everyone is a traitor, no you can't trust anyone, and no your dad is not working with Konrad."

Colin was stiff next to me, tensed up. He had a reason to be. He thought his father was far against Konrad. Now he's working with him? I already knew Constance had switched sides. Colin has to deal with this.

"I'm not a traitor because my dad told me to work for Konrad." She whispered. "Konrad can't hear us, right Beck?"

Becker shook his head. "He can't."

"I've been feeding him information from the moment I agreed to work with Konrad." She hissed in my direction. "I killed my dad because my dad told me to kill him."

My heart was wild with emotions and my head swam with thoughts. "Why?"

"Because Konrad hated my father with a burning passion. If it came too it, Konrad would've tortured my dad once again and worse than last time. My dad optioned to die rather than be taken by Konrad." Constance held out her dagger. It no longer looked normal. The silver blade was black and burned into it was a separate count next to her kills, the number 2.

A cursed dagger. I gasped out and covered my mouth.

"It's what you get for being a Hunted and killing your own kind." She sheathed it back behind her. "It marks you. I didn't make a light decision over killing my dad. It was cursed when I killed Stone, and the  I got it undone and now I'm cursed again. And Becker? Christmas Day, all the kids are being sent home. Konrad doesn't need them with Becker on his side. With Becker... people will flee to Konrad."

The Christmas Day surprise I was worried about... was a good thing? I thought he was going to launch an attack or something. Turns out, I had been right about Becker all along. "I knew you weren't evil, Beck." I whispered under my breath. I couldn't say the same for Constance. I did actually doubt her. But I had to admit, her and Uncle Kas were good actors.

"What does my dad get out of this?" Colin was ashamed.

Constance cleared her throat. "I never told anyone about your dad working for Konrad. He's doing it for you and your sister. Making sure she's safe here and nobody hurts you. I have threatened him though, about giving too much information to his dad."

And then it hit me. "Konrad is Clay's father. The second Salem Of The Old Witch is—"

"Don't. It's not! I won't allow it. It's not." Colin walked to the window. And threw it open, pushing the screen out. "I'm getting out of here and I'm dragging my sister out with me."

"Colin, your dad is watching her." Constance tried talking some sense into him, but he was already halfway out the window.

Clouds covered the sun at that moment, a cold breeze flowing into the room that I didn't feel. Becker did, though. He shivered. So when I woke up it was Dawn.

Colin thought over his next words carefully, almost scared to say anything at all. "He's not my father. Not if he's just protecting her and not getting her out of here." He jumped out the window, falling to the ground with a quiet thud.

I had no choice but to follow him. I had too. "Are all the kids here?" I asked.

Constance grabbed my arm. "I know what you're thinking, Everly. You can't save him."

"No, you can't save him." I had what I needed. Zachariah was here. My little brother was here and I swore it to Hell, I was getting him.

"He's coming home on Christmas anyways! They're not treated bad and—"

I didn't care. It didn't matter if he was coming home on Christmas anyways.

"Everly! Konrad will know and will kill him. Just wait until Christmas. Help your boy toy." She nodded to the window. "Becker, you ready to escape?" Constance rubbed her hands together, happy for the first time in a long time.

"I can't let you do that." The door opened and Konrad walked back in. "You made a mistake Constance. Telling them everything. Really? Double crossing me? That's a mistake you'll regret."

I didn't stay to see what happened, I yeeted my ass out the window and fell to the snowy ground, running down the trail that Colin's feet made. He was running through the front door.

Somebody fell behind me.

"Move it, Everly." Constance pushed me forward and I kicked up my step, continuing to a faster sprint than I had ever ran before, even in snow.

We caught up to Colin quickly because he stopped. Dead in his tracks. Leslie was in front of him, holding a dagger to a crying girl's throat. "She's useless now." Leslie yelled.

It was Sophia under that dagger, crying.

"Let her go!" Colin yelled, standing in place.

"She's mine." Konrad smirked. "She's mine mine mine." He set a hand on my shoulder and I jumped. "I kind of want you to be mine too. You're no Fiona but..." He grabbed my hands. "She's gone. Kasparov hid her too well."

Someone tackled Leslie. I wasn't completely sure who until I saw a flash of blonde hair. Clay.

Konrad ran towards Sophia at the same time as Colin, both of their determination unwavering.

Konrad reached out with his hands, a spell flying from his lips. Colin fell to the ground, choking on air.

"Don't touch him!" Sophia thrust her hand forward, a white light flaming up from it. She threw multiple at Konrad, magic exploding in the snow. One blasted him in the chest, throwing Konrad multiple feet back.

Leslie and Clay were wrestling in the snow. "Run, Colin!" Clay yelled, holding his hand over Leslie's mouth so she couldn't chant any spells.

Colin ran and I followed. Constance grabbed my hand. "I love you, Everly. I love all my family. I'm sorry I'm not the best cousin but—"

I grappled her in a hug. "It's okay Connie. I understand. I love you too." It sounded like a good bye but... if she was to stay then that was her decision.

I didn't have time to argue even if I wanted too.

"Go. I don't believe Becker. There's still time." She ran to join the fight against Konrad so we could take Sophia.

And Colin did. He grabbed Sophia and we ran.