As I rounded the house, I watched a man slit a witch's throat. The old woman fell to the ground in a heap, and the man looked at me.

"Are you Rose?" He asked gruffly

I slowly nodded, in shock of what I had seen.

"I'm Ezra." He stepped towards me, "The Witch Hunters are here. Don't worry." He glanced at my arm. My makeshift bandage had spots of red, as my wound continued to bleed. "One moment." He said, then tightened the knot.

I winced in pain and tightened my grip on the knife. In the town, the chaos continued.

Though the townspeople resembled the Witch Hunters in appearance, it was easy to differentiate the two. The Witch Hunters were the ones not running away.

Ezra guided me through the town, as if I didn't know it by heart, to the church. Reverend Brusco's corps still in front of it.

The Witch Hunter's had claimed the church as their base, and where the wounded would be taken.

A nurse was at my side almost the moment I stepped in the building. She took me to a small corner of the room where the nurses worked. She gently removed the bandage, and examined my stab wound.

She reached into the pocket of her apron and pulled out a needle and thread. "This will hurt." She warned, then started to stitch the hole together.

I clenched my teeth as the needle went in and out of my skin. My eyes remained squeezed shut until she informed me that she had finished.

Though the wound still stung, it no longer bled. Her job done, the nurse moved on to a man with several needles stuck in his leg. I stood up and walked to the other part of the building. There several members of the Witch Hunters argued about what to do.

"We shouldn't leave until they're all dead!" A man yelled

"And risk losing all of our members?" A girl, not much older than me, chided, "I didn't take you for a dalcop!"

The man opened his mouth to retort when another gave his opinion, "We should leave as soon as Mira is dead!" He said hastily, "If she's dead the others won't have a leader, they'll disperse!"

"Or find another leader!" Another added, "We know they take revenge very seriously."

The group continued to give options then point out why the option was a horrible idea.

"Mira needs to die!" I shouted. They all looked at me.

"Who are you?" The first man asked, narrowing his eyes.

"My name is Rose Winslow." I told him

"You're the reason we're here." The woman said examining me then turning to the rest of the group, "We came for her, now that we have her, we should leave! Before any more of our numbers die!"

"Now you're the dalcop!" The first man argued, "To risk the lives of so many, for one is foolish! We must take them all out!"

The group started to argue again. I clenched my teeth, realizing that they weren't going to listen to what I had to say. They had been members far longer than I had.

I stormed out of the building, into the chaos. I stepped over Brusco's corps, and swung the knife at one of the witches. The blade cut into her face. She screeched and put a hand to her face. A man behind her drove his own blade into her back.

I knew I had to find Mira. There was only one place I could think she would be. The last place her son stood.

________________

I stood at the front of the dock. None of the others witch's or warlocks went near the docks. Leaving Mira alone. She looked at the wood where, though faded, it was evident that blood has stained it.

I placed a foot on the old wood, she looked up at me as I did so.

She smiled at me like I was a good piece of meat, "I see that sister of yours couldn't keep you contained." She laughed

The knife felt cold in my hand. Cold and strangely heavy.

"You're here to try to kill me I assume." She mused, the corner of her mouth twitching upwards, "I really hate to upset you," She waved her hand, a rusty nail, not unlike the one I used on Thomas fell into it, "but your mission will be a failure."

My grip on the knife tightened as I took a shaky step towards her, "You're wrong." I informed her, "I will kill you. Your reign will come to an end tonight."

She cackled, "My reign will come to an end?" Her face turned stoic, "Oh please Rose,I know you're smarter than that."

I narrowed my eyes at her, "You don't know me as well as you think you do." I broke into a sprint at her.

Mira caught my arm and threw me to the ground. The wooden boards groaned under me.

"You'll have to be quicker than that." She teased. She brought the rusty nail down. I rolled out of the way just in time for wooden splinters to hit my face.

My wound screamed at me in response to being crushed under my weight. I ignored the pain and continued the fight. I jumped to my feet and lurched forward. Mira jumped out of the way, my knife missing her arm by less than a hair.

She hissed at me, and lept for my ankles, aiming to drag me to the ground. I sprung off the wooden dock, and landed on her back. I raised my knife, and buried it in her neck.

Mira let out a scream that ran chills up my spin. As I stepped off of her she rolled onto her back. Her blood poured out onto the wooden boards, and onto my boots. As she gasped for air she looked up at me. For a fleeting moment, our eyes met each other. My brown ones to her hollow black ones. "Et participes," She coughed out, "obitum meum," She stopped to cough up blood that splattered across her chest, "vobiscum." She gasped for the final syllables.

With a final breath, Mira's head fell onto the wooden boards. Her clenched hands relaxed. For a moment she seemed near peaceful.

"Rose!" I heard someone call.

I looked up from Mira's lifeless corpse and smiled at Michael. He ran to my side, jumping over Mira and enveloping me in a hug.

Shocking even myself, I wrapped my arms around his torso, hugging his back. He back away, and looked down at Mira. Blood still poured out of the hole in her neck, it leaked through the cracks in the wood, into the water.

"We need to tell the others that she's dead." He told me

I nodded, and followed him off of the dock. Before we entered the town, I took one last look at her.

A black mist had begun to rise out of her mouth. "Michael." I choked, pulling in his sleeve.

He turned to see what I was looking at, the grabbed my shoulder, "Run." He said, "Run as fast as you can."

I broke into to a sprint, back into the town where the witch's had stopped fighting. Many lay dead on the ground, others looking at the dock in shock. The mist chased after me, flying faster than I could run.

It wrapped around me outside of my family's house. Once I couldn't move the mist forced it's way into my mouth. It filled my lungs, and continued to pour in. When it stopped, I felt as if someone had placed several boulders on my chest. I gasped for air, but none would enter my lungs.

Michael came to my side with several nurses. They spoke in hushed voices as they tried to figure out what the mist had done to me. Michael stood on one side of me, my mother ran out of the house and clinged to my other arm. If I hadn't been choking on the air in my lungs I would have told her that my arm was injured.

The edges of my vision began to blur as my chest became tighter and tighter. The I laid without air, my head started to feel as if someone were pounding with a hammer. I looked wildly from my mother, to Michael to each of the nurses.

The tightness in my chest turned to burning as the second continued to tick by. No matter how deep a breath I tried, no air would go in.

My fingers began to feel cold, though my mother held them very tightly.

"You can do this." Michael encouraged, "You can live."

My mother begged me to, "Please." She wept, "I lost your father today." Her tears fell onto my face, "Please don't die." She begged.

My chest burned so much. For not the first time in my life, I wanted to die. I wanted the pain to end. Mt vision became blurrier and blurrier. Until it was dark.

I still couldn't breath. I couldn't see anything. I could still hear my mother crying, and Michael encouraging me to fight Mira's last act or revenge. I knew that's what it was. For just a moment, the pain ended. I had a moment of clarity. I knew my death had come, and in that moment, I didn't want it to.

And then, I felt nothing.