Ella's P.O.V.

When Zak said we would leave at first light, he meant it.

He woke me sometime in the very early morning and gave me little time to change into the clothes he brought me.

A distasteful pair of black pants and a baggy black sweatshirt were all I had to layer under my new heavy winter coat. The combat boots paired with the wool camping socks he brought would keep me warm, and that was all I cared about.

I was glad I had found my jacket when I did the night before because I was certain that I would never see it again. I could only hope that no one noticed the phone missing from its pockets.

I put my cellphone in between the cups of my bra, tucked securely under the band. I figured this was the best place to hide it where I would still be able sit down and stand up without hinderance, something I couldn't do if it was in my waistband. I had considered putting it in one of my boots, but those weren't guaranteed to stay on my feet.

The early morning sky was transitioning from its dark navy hues into purple as Zak pulled me outside into the freezing cold air. We walked onto a driveway where a large moving truck was parked.

Dr. Weber stood outside the truck, waiting for us. In his hands was paper bag which he threw at Zak as we approached.

"What is that?"

Ignoring me, Zak unlatched the back of the moving truck, the metal screeching as the door opened to reveal an empty cargo space.

Zak pushed me inside and threw the paper sack in behind me.

"It's the only thing you're getting for the day so I wouldn't eat it all at once."

With that, he closed the door and left me in the empty darkness.

"Jackass," I mumbled.

A few moments later, the truck jolted and the engine roared to life.

I was forced against the back of the truck in a corner as we started down the winding road.

It wasn't long before I began to feel nauseous. I couldn't discern whether it was because I was hungry or because I felt as though I was riding on a rollercoaster.

We hit a few potholes and took a sharp turn before I came to the conclusion that I was going to be car sick.

How long was I going to be stuck in this dark pukebox?

It had been all but confirmed that Zak and Dr. Weber were both Vampires and seeing as the sun was due to rise within a short period of time, I couldn't imagine that they would be driving the truck for very much longer.

Because of this, I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't be in the truck for very long before we reached our destination or before we reached an alternate method of transportation where Dr. Weber and Zak would be out of the daylight.

I took advantage of my time alone to pull out my phone. The battery was running dangerously low and I couldn't very well ask the two men for a quick charge so I turned the phone off to preserve what life it had left before stowing it away in my bra again.

Because of the jolting ride, I couldn't fathom eating even though the smell of whatever was in the paper bag made my mouth water.

A few minutes later, the truck came to a halt.

I took a deep breath to calm the thoughts that began to run rampant in my mind.

Where are they taking me? Am I going to die? Zak wouldn't let Weber kill me... would he?

The back of the truck opened with a loud metallic screech and I winced.

"Get out," Zak said.

It was weird hearing the sound of his voice. I didn't think I'd ever get used to it.

He grabbed my upper arm as I hopped out of the truck, nearly pulling me to the ground.

"Easy," I said, yanking my arm out of his rough grip.

I barely managed to grab the paper sack with my breakfast in it before Zak ushered me away from the truck and towards a long, silver train; much like the one I'd ridden in with Cain.

We were in the middle of nowhere as far as I could tell. Surrounded by towering trees, I couldn't see mountaintops or the village.

It looked as if the train had made a random stop along the track. There was no platform or station, just the train and the track.

A man stood on the train in between cars, waiting for the three of us to walk over to him.

Weber led the way with Zak and I walking closely behind.

Zak had his hand just below my neck on my upper back, guiding me towards the train. This was something he always did when we walked together and it used to make me feel protected and cared for. In that moment, I felt vulnerable and complacent. His hand might as well have been around my throat with the feeling of unease that it brought me.

Snow began to fall lightly as we stood beside the train, listening to Weber converse with the conductor in a language I couldn't identify.

The sun was coming up and I could tell that Zak was watching the daylight that began to spread across the sky anxiously.

Finally, after a few minutes of freezing in the snow, the conductor instructed us to join him aboard the train.

Weber and Zak hopped up onto the iron platform with ease but I didn't have such luck. My feet kept slipping off the ladder and my hands couldn't get a good grip on the railing.

Zak finally picked me up and lifted me onto the platform like a child.

As we made our way inside, I noticed the familiar interior.

Was this the same train?

Zak went around the car we were guided into and pulled all of the shades down, immersing the room into darkness.

A few moments later, the lights in the car flickered on allowing us to see. 

Weber pushed me into a chair at the back of the car next to a window as the train began to move.

I could barely see outside through a small crack where the shade didn't quite cover the entire window.

The train emerged from the trees and I could finally see the sunrise.

"Enjoy it," Zak said. "It will be the last one you see."

I turned to look at him as he walked away.

"What happened to you?"

He stopped and turned to face me.

"It's best you worry about yourself from here on out," he said.

I just shook my head.

"You used to be the most compassionate person I knew," I told him. "You joined the army because you wanted to help people. Now all you do is kill them? It doesn't make sense."

"I never joined the army, Ella. It was all a very well-constructed lie. When are you going to stop trying to see the best in people and start seeing them for who they are?"

As much as it hurt to hear, it wasn't the first time someone had told me that.

At school, my professors always got annoyed with me for the way I saw people and their problems. I wanted to fix people, to restore them. I wanted to work with them to solve their problems, not solve their problems for them.

Many people I worked with believed that if you fix the problem, you've fixed the person.

But what if the person is the problem?

"Do Mom and Dad know?" I asked him.

Zak scoffed.

"Those idiots? They're clueless."

"So you're going to let them stay in Frankfurt and investigate a death that never happened?"

"They're not in Frankfurt anymore," Zak said. "We paid the funeral home to refund them the expenses and pay damages for emotional distress so it would be dropped."

"You honestly think that Mom would settle without knowing what happened to Granddad's body?"

Zak smiled.

"The morgue told them he was accidentally cremated. They went back to Florida with a five-pound bag of sand and salt."

I grimaced. "You're sick."

"You know something, Ella? I really wish you had gone home when Dad told you to like you were supposed to. But that would have been too easy, wouldn't it? You always have had to learn the hard way."

"If all you have to accuse me of is being stubborn, I'll take that over being a murderer any day," I said pointedly.

I could see the anger flare up in his eyes.

"Me?" He asked incredulously. "I haven't killed one-fourth the people Cain has, but you were so willing to fall in love with him?"

Dr. Weber looked on, amused, as I stood from my chair.

"I never fell in love with Cain. I left him," I said.

"Maybe," Zak agreed. "But you still care enough for him to warn him against danger."

My eyebrows furrowed and he laughed.

"Yeah, we know about the phone call to Daniel."

I felt my heart stop.

"Unfortunately, your efforts have proven inadequate. We're on our way to meet them now."

I couldn't comprehend all of the emotion that rushed over me in that moment. I wanted to fall into a sobbing heap on the ground and knock a hole in the wall at the same time.

Instead, I did quite possibly the only idiotic thing I could have done in that moment:

I punched Zak across the face as hard as I could.

Blood spurted from his nose like a spring as he stumbled backwards.

The mixed reaction of anger and shock was present on his face and I knew it could be seen on mine as well.

I thought Vampires had quick reflexes? How did he not see that coming?

Despite the fact that decking him was probably the craziest thing I'd ever done, I wanted desperately to do it again.

Zak lunged at me but Weber interjected, standing between myself and Zak.

"We can't have that," he said. "She needs to be alive when Cain sees her."

Zak glared at me with eyes that burned with hatred.

"Who said I was going to kill her?"

Weber chuckled to himself for a moment before pushing Zak to take a few steps backwards.

"I don't think the boss would appreciate you maiming her either."

Wait... what?

"The boss?" I asked quickly. "You're not the boss?"

Weber turned to me and gave me a look that told me he was surprised I was speaking to him, like he was somehow above me.

"No, darling. I'm just a doctor."

My eyebrows furrowed.

"Then who is?"

"That's none of your concern," Zak said before Weber had the chance to reply.

"Sit down and shut the hell up," he added, "before you get yourself into real trouble."

I did as I was told, too stunned by Weber's revelation.

If he wasn't the one behind it all, who was?

- - -

Several hours went by before the train came to a halt.

The food in the paper sack I'd been given turned out to be a sugary scone which hadn't been good for me. Sure, it tasted divine. But it was the only thing I'd eaten in far too long and it wouldn't sustain me until I would eat again.

With a growling stomach, I was led off the train by Weber. Zak followed us, still glaring holes through me.

The stars were glittering in the night sky as we walked outside. The moon shone bright, a full moon casting down so much light that I could see shadows on the wooden platform we stepped onto.

We were at a small train station that seemed to have been abandoned several years prior to us being there. The rickety old platform we stood on creaked and groaned with every step that was taken towards the dilapidated station.

Weber pushed open a door that looked like it was about to fall off its hinges and walked into a large room with several ticket booths that were collecting dust.

Moonlight poured through the dirty windows, lighting up the room in an eerie way.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw headlights outside.

"They're here," Weber said.

He turned to Zak and then looked at me.

"You can do it now."

I barely had time to register what he said before pain exploded across my face.

Ears ringing and eyes watering, I fell to the ground. I lifted a hand to the right side of my face and felt my cheekbone as it began to swell.

"I think I hit you harder," I said spitting out the blood that was in pooling in my mouth.

Zak's foot nailed me in the side of the abdomen, knocking the wind out of me.

I coughed for a few seconds after I caught my breath, sending the blood in my mouth spraying across the floor in front of me.

"That's enough," Weber said. "Hopefully Cain will be more easily swayed seeing her like this."

Zak yanked me off the ground and I groaned as I held an arm against my waist and leaned against the wall for support.

I heard the sound of car doors opening and slamming shut before the creaking of the wooden boards of the platform echoed out into the night.

I wondered for a moment if whoever it was walking across the platform knew we were here.

The door swung open and I saw the outline of a tall, muscular figure.

"Where is Cain?" Weber growled as more shadowed figures filled the room.

"He's not here," an English-accented voice replied.

I know that voice.

"The deal was that Cain would be here personally," Zak said.

The lights in the room flickered on and I winced as my eyes adjusted to the florescent lighting.

Daniel and Jai stood behind Cain's father, along with four men I didn't recognize.

I winked at Daniel as I caught him staring at my bruised and busted cheek.

"The deal was also that a hand wasn't laid on her," Jai retorted. "I guess we both have problems holding up our ends of the bargain."

I saw the faintest smile brush across Daniel's lips when he looked at me again.

"Cain sends his apologies," Cain's father replied. "He's cleaning up a mess in Beijing at the moment, which I'm sure I have one of you to thank for."

I knew I should have leapt for joy hearing that Cain had done what I asked him to and stayed away, but I felt my heart sink as I realized he wasn't there.

That hurt more than the beating I took from Zak.

"Unbelievable," Weber said under his breath.

He looked at me and I shrugged.

"I told you Cain didn't care about me."

"Shut up!" Zak bellowed, hitting me across the back of my head.

I stumbled, dizzy from the blow and I saw both Daniel and Jai fight the urge to intervene.

"Did he not realize what we would do to her if he didn't show up?" Weber asked, grabbing me by my hair and yanking my head back.

Cain's father held up a finger and looked down at the watch on his wrist.

A few awkward moments went by as we watched him look at the watch.

"What are you doing?" Weber asked angrily.

Cain's father looked up from his watch.

"Being patient."

Zak's eyebrows furrowed.

"Patient for what?"

Daniel and Jai began to laugh and Cain's father smiled.

"You don't get it, do you?" Jai asked.

Weber's face morphed into an expression of confusion.

"We're just the distraction," Cain's father admitted, shrugging.

As soon as the words had left his lips, the window behind us shattered into a thousand shards of glass.

We all ducked and I looked up just in time to see the large black wolf leaping over me and latching its mouth onto Weber's jaw.

In one swift and bloody movement, Weber's head was detached from his body and hanging from Cain's mouth.

Zak grabbed me as I saw Cain begin to morph back into a human.

Before either of us could blink, Cain stood in front of Zak and head-butted him.

"Touch her again and you'll figure out exactly what is worse than death."

Zak fell to his knees, completely dazed by the blow.

I, too, felt somewhat unsteady, but not for the same reason.

Daniel reached forward and handed Cain a wad of clothing which Cain took and he began to put on the boxer briefs and a pair of pants. He disregarded the shirt, despite the below-freezing temperature.

It hadn't occurred to me until he started to dress that he had been completely naked.

He turned to look at me, those lavender eyes staring intently.

I backed myself against the wall, shaking my head.

"I told you not to come. I told you to stay-"

My sentence was cut short as Cain took a broad steps towards me and put his hands on the wall beside my shoulders.

"Your mistake was thinking I'd listen."

With that, he leaned in and kissed me so hard I thought I would pass out.

His arms wrapped around me, one cradling my head against his shoulder and the other pulling my body in closer to his.

I felt myself go weak, slowly sliding down the wall.

Cain broke the kiss and lifted me into his arms.

He carried me out of the room and into the freezing night air.

I saw a few of Cain's men talking to the conductor and the others were disposing of Weber's body.

"Cain, there's something you need to know..." I said. "Weber wasn't-"

"I don't want to talk about Weber," he said shortly. "He's dead. His name carries no weight with me anymore."

"But that's just it," I said. "He wasn't the one behind it all. There is someone else over him."

"We'll figure all of that out in time."

He opened up the car door and placed me inside. Grabbing a blanket and wrapped me up, Cain ran his hands along my arms and shoulders to speed up the process of warming me up.

He stopped when he saw me staring at Zak over his shoulder, who was being led to another SUV by Daniel and Jai.

"I can't say I'll be as gentle with him as I was last time," Cain said honestly, watch Zak too.

I shook my head.

"Kill him for all I care."

Cain turned to me, shocked that I would say that.

"He's a pathological liar," I said. "He killed my grandfather. He killed the Chinese Beta. Everything was planned so meticulously..."

Cain's eyebrows furrowed as I trailed off.

"What is it?"

I shook my head slowly, staring at Zak, who winked when he saw me looking at him.

"That was too easy."

"What?"

I looked at Cain who stared at me earnestly.

"It shouldn't have been that easy," I told him. "They went through so much trouble to plan everything else out. I can't believe they came empty-handed and alone with no backup plan."

Cain put a hand on my cheek and made me look at him.

"I think you need some sleep," he told me. "Everything's going to be fine."

I gulped as he leaned in and kissed me again.

I wasn't so sure.

- - -