GISELLE

Terrible silence fell over the Bran Castle. Screams of pain sounded soothing compared to the soft moans of loss that now lingered in the air. Giselle walked through the courtyard, tears falling from her eyes. She tried to avoid all the corpses scattered on the ground, but it was impossible.

She didn't feel anything, she used up all of her sorrow already. All the fear she felt ate up everything else that might exist in her heart.

The sky cleared, moon and starts illuminated the battlefield and blood shone through the night. There was terrible beauty in the sight, one only the person that lived through it could appreciate. It seemed strange, but she felt in her gut her entire being transformed during this battle. Something so unimaginable happened it must have changed her a person in the process.

And she was still alive. That must have meant something.

Giselle walked through the sea of corpses, desperate to find her friends. Wherever she passed, strange glances followed her. All those that witnessed her power now stared at her in awe, a dormant fear present in their eyes.

From this moment on, they would remember her name.

But in order for others to speak her name, she did the unspeakable things. Those things would haunt her until the end of days. She lost count of how many vampires she killed, how many necks she snapped with her magic. So she cried for all of them, but she cried for herself, too. The girl that ran from Carcassonne was gone.

Giselle saw Vlad in the distance and a wave of relief flooded her. She knew he was alive, but seeing him alive was a whole other thing. Right when she was about to run for him, she heard Ala's voice.

"Giselle!" Alacaris shouted and Giselle turned her head towards the voice.

Ala was on the ground, Octavia and Oton, too. First, tears streamed down her face with relief to see them alive. But then she choked on them when she noticed two dead bodies between them. Giselle ran to them and cried loudly when she saw Jelena and Micchalo. If their skin wasn't dried and pale, they would've looked like they were sleeping. Giselle blubbered like a child and sat on the ground. All the pain crashed into her at once and she let herself have her moment of weakness. Jelena, whom she told everything would be alright, whom she promised they would survive this. She was dead now.

"Shit!" Giselle said through her tears and noticed that both Octavia and Alacaris cried with her. They were alive, they were still here. And Giselle had the ability to save them, she could restore the Border. Maybe, she could fulfil her mother's prophesy after all, maybe she could stop the sky from opening again. Maybe it would be worth even dying if it meant she could save those she loved. She got up.

"I have to go restore the Border." Giselle said. Girls nodded and Giselle walked away, deciding that she needs to see Vlad first. He was surrounded by his counsellors and lots of other people, too. Giselle walked straight to him.

"Ah, there she is." An unfamiliar man said. "I was hoping to meet you." He was a handsome man, his facial lines were soft and he appeared younger than he most likely was. He stood confidently, like a leader.

"Giselle, meet Maks Adamov." Vlad said and Giselle stopped in place. The man looked at her with his blue eyes, a colour completely different than her late husband's. But then he smiled and Giselle saw the resemblance.

"I'm Giselle." She offered her hand, Maks Adamov took it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He said and smiled again. There was something trustworthy in his smile. So trustworthy Giselle didn't believe it.

"So, you saved us in the last moment. How did that happen?" She asked trying not to sound rude, the man did come here and save them, after all.

"Well, you can thank Lerra De Noves for that, she sent for help." Maks said. "She knew I desired to lead the Unknowns and wanted to dethrone Lucien... and, well, she pointed out I might want to be in Voivode Draculesti's good graces. So I came."

Giselle remembered what Lerra said when she was carrying her to the castle. She said she wasn't Lerra De Noves. Now, Giselle didn't trust anything anymore.

"That's our Lerra, saviour of days." Giselle said through her teeth and looked at Vlad meaningfully. She hoped he might realise she needed to tell him something.

"So, what are your plans for the Unknowns?" Vlad asked. He was probably wondering the same thing Giselle did. Now that Maks Adamov ruled the Unknowns, did that mean they would wage no wars anymore?

"We are going to go away for a while, think about what it means to randomly attack the only man in history that fought for us." Maks said it loudly so that everyone would hear him.

"I trust you didn't defend us just to attack us again." Vlad nodded, but a question lingered at the end of the sentence.

"Voivode, I know who you are, I know what you did for this world, how you fought for the banished ones, condemned ones. I am planning on changing the ways of the Monarchy and I can only do that if I have a man like you by my side." Maks's smile was sincere, but Giselle realised Vlad wasn't entirely on board.

"Vlad, I have to go try and rebuild the Border." She said and Vlad nodded.

"Alright, we will talk when you return." He said and Giselle walked away.

She wasn't sure whether she was going to succeed, but she had to try. With Luciana gone, she had no idea how to do any of it, which meant she had to trust her power. And she didn't trust her power, more importantly, she didn't trust herself when she used the power.

She walked past the grieving vampires in the courtyard and headed towards the woods. Suddenly, the night seemed unnaturally calm, maybe because all the screaming finally stopped.

"Giselle." Someone called for her and she turned to face Lerra. She looked weak and it was a strange state to see her in. Giselle knew she had to talk to her, ask her what she meant when she said what she said, but the Border needed to be rebuilt first.

"Thank you." Lerra whispered once she realised Giselle wouldn't say anything. Without a word, Giselle headed to the forest, leaving Bran Castle behind.

She needed to clear her head, because the recent events had her questioning her entire existence again. She was capable of taking a life, multiple lives, without even blinking. Of course, she was protecting her home, but she still killed someone. She found that same clearing Luciana took her to, only to find Jorge still sitting on the floor, humming some song.

"God, you're weird." She told him, but he looked at her and smiled widely. She couldn't decide what she thought about Jorge anymore, all the mystery surrounding him, all the stuff he knew but couldn't tell her. Something else to think about once the dust settles. No matter how many times she tried to convince herself this was over for now, she knew in her bones it was just the beginning.

Giselle stood next to Jorge and grabbed his hand, trying to channel whatever power that might have roamed beneath his skin. She pushed all of her magic in the idea of the Border, only t find it already halfway built.

"Interesting." She mumbled to herself. The Border must have kept all the magic that Luciana poured into it. Giselle only had to finish the job. So she did.

She was unbelievably tired, more than she's been since the day she's been made. But she didn't let it stop her. She pushed her magic towards the Border and felt the ground stirring as her magic collided with it. Unlike before, her magic disappeared now, it lessened with every hit she made. So, she didn't have the unlimited amount after all. But it was alright, because she could finally rest after she did this. It went smoothly, the magic sipped from Giselle and into the Border and it wasn't painful, it was soothing. It lulled her into a dreamlike state and finally, she felt the benefits of her power. For the first time in her life, she felt peace.

She was so calm, she barely felt how sticky and moist the air became, how hard it was suddenly to breathe in. Once she realised it, she opened her eyes abruptly. Her breath was stuck in her throat and she couldn't scream. Black, shadowy figured surrounded her completely. Giselle wanted to use her magic against them, but she stood frozen. Partly because she was terrified and partly because they did nothing, just hovered slightly above ground, everything around them decaying.

"Shadow, bad, bad shadows, lurking." Jorge sang and started jumping around Giselle. Her mind worked quickly as she tried to understand the situation she was in. Only a few step separated her from the renewed Border and the Shadows couldn't get here there. But it didn't seem like they were trying to hurt her, more like they... waited for her. She remembered her encounter with the strange beings and kneeled slowly. Jorge kept on singing and Giselle took it as a sign. If he was calm, maybe nothing bad would happen.

In her booth, she still had that coin. She took it out and looked at it. It was a silver coin with a rose on it.

"What's the deal with the roses?" She asked herself. Once she got up, the Shadows aligned in front of her. Giselle spread out the hand with the coin in it and the Shadows moved away, all in the same direction. She remembered Jack's message about that strange boy.

"Follow the roses..." She whispered and made a step forward, the Shadows immediately went ahead. So they were waiting for her. Gathering her courage, Giselle decided she might as well follow them, see where they take her.

That was when Jorge went wild.

"Bad, bad, bad lurking! Bad lurking, bad!" He shouted and Giselle panicked straight away. When she turned to look at him, Jorge was on the ground, hugging his knees and shaking. He shed bloody tears and stared into Giselle wide-eyed. Not knowing where to look, Giselle switched from the Shadows still at bay and horrified Jorge.

"What?!" She shouted. Then, when she turned around to look at the Shadows they were gone, but Jorge screamed through the night sky.

"BAD! Lurking, bad, Rose, bad, away, bad!" He began scratching on his skin like a complete madman. Giselle's heart raced so fast she couldn't even move. She didn't know what to do. She needed to run away, but she couldn't leave Jorge. So she cried out.

"Tell me what to do!" She yelled at Jorge, but he kept on pulling his skin, kneeling on the ground, streams of blood spilling on his cheeks. Suddenly, he stopped and looked at Giselle. For a moment, she could swear she saw something in him, something terrifying and unknown.

"FREE ME." His voice turned deep and rough and angry and Giselle collapsed on the ground from the impact of the mere change. Overwhelming headache took over her and she closed her eyes for a moment.

When she opened them, everything was dark.

No moon, no night sky, no woods around her. She was absolutely nothing. The fear that took over her was the realest thing she ever felt. No smell of the spring grass, no rustling of trees. No ground beneath her, she couldn't even see what she was sitting on. Just nothing. Pure, everlasting nothing.

The lack of sight made her nauseous and dizzy and she felt vomit building up from the pits of her stomach. The lack of everything made tears stream down her face, but she couldn't even let out a cry. That's how scared she was.

"There, there, you are mine now." A high male voice reached her ears and Giselle turned towards the sound, but there was nothing. Just her and darkness. She built up her courage and managed to open her mouth.

"Let me go!" She said, but it sounded weak and pathetic.

"There's no leaving now." The voice said, but it came from a different direction. Giselle turned but again, there was nothing. Then she screamed. She screamed like she had never screamed before. Her throat ached and her head pounded, but she screamed through it all. She begged for anyone to hear here, vampires, withes, werewolves. She didn't care, she just needed someone to hear her. But no one did.

"You are mine now." The voice said again, changing to soothing, but frightening nonetheless. She was going to die. This was it. There was no escaping now. She would never see her friends again, she would never see the sky again. With those last thoughts, she vomited on the floor. Her stomach twisted and turned, so she vomited again.

"Forever." The voice sang and Giselle's head exploded with pain, so agonizing she collapsed on the floor, falling into her own vomit.