Dying wasn't exactly a concept that was lost on me. I had been here before, or at least, I had visited a version of death before. The change felt a little like this, it took a cold grip and devoured all traces of life from your body before feeding you a little back - not a lot, just enough to pull you back into the arms of the living.

This did feel... different.

It wasn't as cold.

Those hands that crept around your spine and over your rib cage, suffocating you of all air hadn't begun to trail up my skin; that feeling had been replaced by a subtle warmth that fluttered over me, offering me a careful embrace instead.

As the fingers of peace trailed over my skin, I was left to imagine the endless possibilities death could give me. I was left to imagine where I could possibly end up after all I had done.

It hadn't clicked until I heard a gentle hum. A sing-songy hum rang through the air with gentle ease, carrying a familiar tune I hadn't heard in a long time. It reminded me of the old days before we had ascended from the depths of our hiding place; I had gone on a small venture on my own and made my way to a family-run bistro that I used to like scoping out prey in. That night there had been a family gathering inside celebrating an 18th birthday and playing loudly over the speaker was this song, a sweet melody with words time had chased away.

As the hum gradually lost volume I found myself pleading for its nostalgic caress. I suppose that plea was enough for my body to gather some strength; allowing me to slowly open my eyes, greeting the sunshine with several heavy blinks. The soft white glow of a new day was encapsulating the room, every corner filled with a bright light; it was a wondrous contrast to the fast beat of my heart, waking from sleep in panic mode.

The time adjusting had given me time to view my surroundings - the first thing I saw was the curving white brick ceiling above me. It certainly didn't feel like the place I thought I would end up in. The ceiling had seamlessly flowed into the white brick walls, the whole room giving off an ethereal provocation. The only traces of colour in the room had been the straw hats that were clinging to the wall at my eye line and the brown chair in the corner of the room.

I had forced myself to slide up in the bed I found myself in; a king-sized white sheet bed that had been littered with emerald green throw pillows and one large throw blanket. The bed was surrounded by white linen sheets strung from the ceiling, separating me from the outside. As I cast my eyes down the bed, I was met with a rattling sight. Eva was sitting there on the edge, leisurely sipping from a brown spotted mug and reading a book that seemed to be about the properties of Mediterranean herbs.

The little black cat was sitting beside her, nudging its head into her hip and softly purring with every turn of the page; I imagined the cat was demanding she goes back because it hadn't finished reading.

As the bed shifted to accommodate me rising on the bed so suddenly, the girl had turned her head, greeting me with a fulfilled smile. She had risen from the edge and briskly placed the mug on the white side table in front of her.

"Hey stupid," She had said gingerly, tip-toeing back and forth beside me. The confusion that flashed over my face must have been enough to snap her out of this eggshell dance she was doing, as she had cleared her throat quickly and returned to her usual snappy tone, "It took you long enough to wake up. You've made Nora worry to the point of sickness, you know?"

The words I wanted to reply with seemed to lose themselves in the back of my throat, a slight croak escaping my mouth instead. She had offered a pained smile.

"Don't move too quickly, please. The spell did wonders but your body is still going to be sore and broken for at least a little longer. I didn't really expect you to be up yet."

I was frozen, staring at her. There was something unbelievable about this moment; perhaps it was where I was, unfamiliar territory mixed with the sight of a semi-unfriendly face. It was an odd swirl of occurrences that left me feeling confused and apprehensive. By all accounts, this could be my version of hell; trapped somewhere with the wrong sister.

She had cleared her throat again, gently closing the book she was still gripping with her left hand and placing it by the mug. She'd placed one knee on the bed and leant over, resting one hand on my forehead and wiping something away.

"You're alive. Just in case it had crossed your mind that you weren't," She said, a slight sadness tinting her reassurance, "We had considered telling you. That we had a plan and you'd be okay. The elders weren't thrilled about that side of it though; they were willing to allow Nora to help you live to ensure her happiness, but that was the end of it."

"Plan?" I had managed to squeeze out of my lips.

She smiled once again. A genuinely happy one this time; perhaps it was hearing my voice for the first time in a while. I had never seen her smile at me like that; even before everything had happened.

"There's a lot of things even I don't know, but what I do know is that Manon had told us both that you were bound to meet your end in the culmination of the revolution. But, you know Nora, she wasn't going to allow that to be the case," She'd spoken so clearly, but it had yet to ease my confusion. I felt trapped in this bed listening to her explanation, my legs failing to cooperate with my mind. It wasn't that I wasn't keen to hear the explanation - I just didn't want to feel forced to.

That didn't seem to faze Eva though, who continued to pace around the room in her long flowing gown like she owned the world, "I wasn't either, not after seeing how much time she'd spent making sure you were safe and happy in Eastern."

I blinked slightly, so many questions running through my head that it was difficult to land on one specifically to ask her. Eva had paused for a few moments, looking down at me wistfully, some regret clearly showing on her face, "I did offer some resistance though, at some point in the process when it all felt too much. Then Nora spilt some much-needed information about you saving my life-"

I had spluttered a little at the revelation she was finally aware of what I did, but I couldn't bring myself to be angry with Nora for telling her.

"I don't understand," I had uttered huskily, my face buckling as a solitary tear rolled down my cheek. Panic rushed over her quickly as she leaned over and wiped it away in a second. She'd taken up my hands in hers and squeezed tightly.

"We weren't going to allow it to happen, okay? We weren't going to allow you to walk into that city and get hurt without trying to protect you at least a little," She had split the words as fast as she could, a pang of misplaced guilt fuelling her to console me, "When we put you out the other day to do a spell we sort of lied a little, it wasn't just to remove the poison. Even at that point, we knew this was coming. You were only out so long so we could create a new spell. One that would protect you from Adrienne."

Before Eva can continue a slam of the door against the brick wall startles us both, our heads turning in unison to view the doorway. Just in time to hear Nora mutter, "Diabolus in stricta veste."

I didn't understand the words, but I figured they had to be bad because Eva's face had twisted into sisterly irritation, and she had berated her by muttering back, "Nora, behave."

I forced myself to give her the best smile I could force my facial muscles to give, the very sight of her making me want to well up. She was looking a little worse for wear, her soft features harbouring feelings of grief and joy. The seconds pass as she stands in front of me, allowing me to take her in, noting the mismatched pyjamas she'd decided to live in; her favourite strawberry print t-shirt and red plaid bottoms - as close as she could get without matching I guess.

A single blink was all it took to have the warmth of her skin against my cold face, her right hand stroking my cheek as her other rested on my shoulder. Her soft touches against me caused my body to react in flinches, each movement causing a new tear to run down her face. I had to imagine she'd tried to get me to awaken previously, and those attempts had been fruitless.

Despite the tears, her lips were painting a soft smile conveying all the emotion I needed to see today. Eventually, her arms wrapped around my neck, pulling me in for a long embrace that left me sinking into her, completely content to stay here for the rest of my days whether long or short.

"Nora," Eva had said sharply, "We were discussing what happened. You interrupted. We talked about this."

"He's not strong enough for that conversation yet. Leave me be."

"Nora,"

"I won't hear it, Eva."

Eva rolled her eyes with all her might before turning to leave the room. I was untroubled by the idea of her leaving when I saw the glee-filled smile Nora had given me, but I realised, of the two, only one was willing to provide the information I desperately needed at this moment.

So I had tilted myself on the bed, gripping as tightly onto the sheets as I could at that moment to hold my balance. I yelled, as loudly as I could manage, "Why did she do it?"

"What?" Nora had whispered.

I swallowed hard, preparing myself to speak more than I had done in the past few minutes. My throat was fighting against every syllable that left me, and it was ill-prepared for the next ones.

I gripped tighter on the sheets, enough to turn my skin completely white and found the strength to wheeze out, "Why did she stake me? Adrienne. Why did she do it? Why would my friend do that to me? We've been by each other's side since Eternity was formed, and even then, we knew of each other long before then. I need to know.''

The girls had looked at me with a terrified expressions. Or at least I had read it that way. I could tell they didn't want to explain that part to me. Why my long-time friend had wanted me dead? Why my long-time friend cared more for the revolution I was so opposed to, than our friendship? Why she cared so much, she'd decided to dispose of me?

The sister had shared a hollow look, evoking a sense of discomfort between them. I could tell they were a little apprehensive, as though they'd retreated into themselves. Nora was watching me intently, chewing on her bottom lip as she tried to piece together what she needed to tell me.

The tenseness in the air had been lifted when Eva had let out a less than joyful laugh and picked her book back up from the side table. With her free hand, she gestured towards me just as Nora had turned to look at her. I couldn't help but gain some frustration as Nora held a look of annoyance. She'd been given the task of explaining it to me and she wasn't enjoying it.

She'd taken a deep breath and taken hold of my right hand, stroking each finger with her thumb individually as she blew air from her lungs lightly, just enough not to whistle.

Her lips pursed before her head tilted back, "Rudhairi was planning on stepping down from his leadership position in order to spend more time with Marianna and rejoin his bloodline for good. According to him, he'd been doing it long enough," Nora had rounded off the last part with an eye roll, her eyes concentrating on the roughness of my skin.

"The only problem with that was it left a gap to fill that he had been considering for a while. Not that he had to consider it at all, he was always going to want to choose you." Eva had added, not looking up from the book.

Nora had nodded in agreement, "Adrienne had been informed of his decision for quite a while and expressed opposition and genuine hurt over it. She'd been an ample member of the vampire community for a great deal of time, had connections and had been vying for a position in high government for a while."

The explanation had fallen almost on deaf ears; I was vaguely aware that Rudhairi didn't enjoy the leadership role, but he was nowhere close to abandoning it, and at the very least, wasn't even considering handing it over to me.

But, if I considered it harder, I realised his worry and anxiety could certainly have been fuelled by his desperation to leave. He didn't want to leave me a position that was in peril when he handed it over.

I swallow hard, "Why me? There is a great deal of vampires that would make good leaders. I know so many that would make good candidates. So why me?"

I watch as Eva's face transforms, some warmth rushing to her features; eyes brightening and lips curling into a bright smile, "You know him, Nika. Ruddy was an odd man, an extremely odd man, enough so, that he certainly saw the spite lying deep in that woman's heart,"

"I think he knew of a soul that lurked in you. Not deep. Lying right on the surface," Nora had countered quickly, her left hand coming up to lay on my chest, right above my heart. She met my eyes and smiled that gorgeous smile of hers, full of love and genuine feeling. She believed what she said without a single doubt, "Rudhairi knew you better than anyone possibly could, even me, and he personally, wouldn't trust anyone with the position as he would you; the person people were naturally drawn to and followed behind."

"Plus if he didn't like what you did or said he could come to you and knock you silly for it," Eva had added with a Cheshire cat-level grin.

I couldn't find any more questions to ask after that response, a silence swallowing the room for a while. Eva had gone back to focusing on her Mediterranean herbs, and Nora had refocused on tracing lines on the back of my hand.

It wasn't until Nora had leaned over a little too far, and her hair had come loose from the back of her ear and fell enough to cover her face, that another question had come to mind. From here, she looked just like Kara, and it was enough of an image to create a lump in my throat. I pushed myself as hard as I could into the bed frame behind me.

"Kara," I whispered quietly, "What happened to Kara."

"You're not fit enough to have that conversation right now, Nika." Nora snapped, her hands releasing from me quicker than I had time to react to her response. Even Eva had flinched as a not often raised voice left Nora.

That added to my curiosity. This was something else she was going to keep from me, with the last thing being my own death. Could it possibly be any worse than that?

I furrowed my brows and shifted my weight slightly, a flood of pain rushing through me as my hips realised what I was doing and cried out, despite that, I ended up callously muttering, "Just tell me where she is, Nora."

Nora may have shaken her head in scorn, but she wasn't the only one in the room, and her sister didn't have the same level of care for my feelings. Which left her revealing the answer to me instead, "She was locked up. A lot of the conspirators were. We kept a list of everyone that Manon saw causing chaos in her visions and then verified involvement. They're all being housed in the depths of Central's underground and awaiting a trial,"

This had set a spark of worry off inside me, just enough to distract me from the fact this was the second time Manon had been mentioned, and I was yet to figure out if I recognised the name; a lightbulb failing to appear above my head.

But then a revelation hit me. Just as Nora began to play with the plant that hung from the ceiling above us, I realised what she had said meant for her.

"It hasn't happened yet?"

Kara was yet to be sentenced; she was fine for the moment. I had time to find her.

Eva cleared her throat, "As far as everyone is aware there isn't a leader left to decide a proper punishment. The ramifications are currently leaving a gaping hole in the city."

"What does that mean... as far as everyone is aware?"

"Get some rest," Nora had said, changing the topic quickly, her head had turned to her sister, and some silent words were shared between the two that I didn't have the wit to understand until Eva had put the book down and stared at me.

"Somnum," Eva speaks quickly, the spell leaving her mouth and leaving me weak; even if I wanted to stop it I was unable to, surrendering to the wave of darkness that had swallowed me up once again.