Joseph had been pacing his sister's bedroom as he listened in on the 'private' meeting. Rina didn't ask him what was going on though she noticed that he grew even more tense with the passing of time.

She was also deep in her thoughts as she took the time to process everything that she had learned about herself, her family and even her relationship with Godric.

She stood out the window and watched as the vampire king and all his bodyguards left. She couldn't help wondering if he usually traveled with that many guards or if he just did it because he'd come to see Godric.

The boy Death they called him.

Rina didn't turn to face the door even when she heard knocking and them her brother open it. "Sheriff" she heard her twin brother say.

"Joseph, would you please give Marina and I some privacy?" Godric asks the younger vampire politely as Joe looked between his sister, who had her back turned to them, and the sheriff before nodding at this.

"What did he say?" she asks Godric as she turned to face him, worried that maybe she got him into deep trouble.

"The king and AVL have decided to seize a few of my properties as punishment for my...irresponsibility" Godric reveals to her as she frowns at this, biting her lower lip as she does.

"But they didn't fire you?" she asks hopefully.

"No" Godric shakes his head as Rina exhales a bit in relief at this.

"I've been doing some thinking" Rina says softly from her spot near the window, "maybe it would be best if I left–"

"No" Godric interjects immediately, refusing to hear anymore.

"Hear me out" Rina says to him as she offers him a sad half-smile at this, "I just need time away from the nest to get better control of my powers" she adds.

"Sam and Jade said that if we separate then we run the risk of harming ourselves and making each other sick" he reminds her.

"I know" Rina says with a solemn sigh, "but those bonds were between a phoenix and a human" she reminds him, "maybe things will be different for us" she adds.

"It's not a risk that I'm willing to take, grá mo chroí" Godric says.

"I'm a phoenix, Godric" she reminds him solemnly. "I'm made of fire and fire can kill you" she adds as in distress, "I-I could never forgive myself if I hurt you" she adds with a sorrowful shudder at the very thought of it as she averts her head at this.

"Sam and Jade could help you–"

"Not here" she adds with a bitter laugh as she turns to face him, "no one can know, remember?" she adds, referring to his words about keeping her true nature secret from the vampire king.

"The Fellowship–"

"Godric–" Rina cuts him off in a firm tone. "I have to go" she adds seriously, "I have to learn how to control my powers better or I could run the risk of hurting someone" she emphasizes, hoping he'll see from the look in her eyes that it's important that she leaves.

"I'll have Isabel find you a house–" he says immediately.

"No" Rina says with a tender smile as she shook her head at this despite the pain in her eyes. Grateful for the fact that he would still go through so much trouble for her despite the trouble she's already gotten him into. "I'll go with Jade and Sam–"

"Absolutely not!" Godric protests instantly, "those women killed you, Marina" he adds as he progressed toward her and closed the gap between them by grabbing ahold of her arms as if to shake her and emphasize his point, "I still don't trust them around you" he admits to her.

Their close proximity made the familiar hum under Rina's skin start all over again.

"They're the only ones who can help me right now so I'm going to have to trust them whether I like it or not" Rina says as she meets his grey eyes. "How did Eric take it when the AVL took your stuff?" she asks, diverting the topic of conversation away from herself.

"He is upset" Godric reveals to her, well-aware that she was diverting.

Eric was upset because he felt like Godric had been disrespected by the AVL but mostly because Godric refused to push Marina away despite what she is.

"Totally understandable" Rina says. "I-I have to pack my stuff" she adds as she slowly withdraws her arms from his hands as he releases her.

"You could leave tomorrow" Godric suggests to her, his eyes were begging her to stay even though his tone remained neutral.

"I can't" Rina shakes her head sadly at this. "But thank you for that" she adds as she offers him a sad smile at this.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

"Why do you look so worried, vampire?" Sam asks Eric, "I thought you of all people would be happy that she's leaving" she adds as she leaned against the SUV while Mac and Julian helped Rina with her bags upstairs.

Godric had made it abundantly clear to both of them that they had one last chance not to fail him again and they promised that they would do everything that they could to protect Rina.

"I'm not happy if this decision is going to bear negative results for my maker" he admits to the human(?). He still isn't sure what she is even though she, her sister and Marina all looked and even smelled like normal humans.

"There is just no pleasing you, is there?" she accuses. "First you say that you want her gone and now you're whining because she's actually leaving?" she asks sassily as she juts out her hip at this.

"If you do anything to hurt her–" he warns

"I thought you didn't care" Sam points out as she lifted her head in challenge.

"I don't" Eric admits, "but Godric does and he's my maker so anything that angers him, angers me" he points out to her.

"Well aren't you just the–"

"Alright, alright, enough flirting you two" Jade says to them as she made her way out of the house with Joe in tow.

"Flirting? With him? He wishes" Sam says with a scoff.

"Don't knock it 'til you try it" Eric says as he smirks at her, giving her a flirty grin as he does. Sam makes a gagging sound at this.

"I want 24/7 updates about her" Joe says to them, "I don't care if she's sleeping. I want to know that she's okay" he says to Sam and Jade.

"You do realize that she is an adult and not a child, right?" Sam asks him.

"You do realize that I don't give a damn about that, right?" Joe retorts in the same tone, "she's my sister and nothing matters more to me than her" he adds.

"Isabel will be hurt to hear that" Eric quips mockingly as Joe gives him an unimpressed look at this. "My, my, Joseph. You're awfully uptight for such a young vampire" he teases the younger man.

"Why are you still here?" Joe asks the tall viking with a scowl.

"Why to bother you of course" Eric says, "who else would do it if not me?" he asks amusedly.

"How the sheriff has put up with you for a thousand years is beyond me" Joe says as the Kingsley sisters laugh at this as Eric places a hand over where his unbeating heart is positioned as he makes a faux sad face of mock offense at this.

"I think I'm gonna cry, Joseph" he says in mock hurt.

Marina appeared in the doorway as she hugged Bel as Mac and Julian carried her bags to the car. Mac pops the trunk open as they placed the bags in the trunk as Joe helped them, which they had no protests about.

"Promise that you'll call" Isabel says to Rina, feeling very worried about how the distance would treat both Rina and Godric.

"I promise to call" Rina assures the Hispanic woman that's become like a mother figure to her in the past 2 and a half years. "Take care of them for me, Bel" she adds, "both of them" she adds as she looked between Joe and upstairs where Godric sat in his office.

"I promise" Bel promises as they embraced once more before Rina made her way toward where Sam and Jade awaited her with Joe and Eric. The Kingsley sisters climb into the car to give her some privacy as she said her goodbyes.

"If anything–"

"I'll be fine" Rina says to her brother as she embraced him. "I promise" she adds as he pulled her in for an embrace as Rina hugged him back.

"I'm here if you need me, sis" he says as he drew back from her to meet her eyes and emphasize how serious he is. "Whenever you need me just give me a call and I'll come running" he adds.

"I know" Rina says as she slaps his cheek playfully. "it's not like I'm going off to war, Joe, relax" she teases despite the crack in her voice. "Alright fine, I've gotta go now" she adds, "I love you" she says to him as she hugs him once more as he kissed her forehead when he drew back from their embrace.

"I love you too" he says as she offers him one last smile before heading toward the car that Eric stood near.

"I know that you blame me for Godric's recent misfortunes" Rina speaks up before Eric can say anything, "and I am at fault for them" she accepts the blame, "but I care for him very much and I wouldn't do something to intentionally hurt him" she adds.

"So you're leaving because you're curious to see how your bond will play out then?" Eric quips sarcastically, referring to the warning that Sam and Jade told them about with regards to the separation of bonded mates.

"I'm leaving because doing so will keep everyone that I love safe for the time being" she corrects him matter-of-factly. Neither of them misses that she includes Godric amongst those she loves though she doesn't say his name aloud. "But make no mistake, Eric. I will be back" she says firmly.

"Of that I have no doubt, your majesty" he says with a mock bow as he opened the door for her.

"You're so full of it, Viking" she says with a snort as she turned to look at Bel and Joe over her shoulder and offer them a parting smile before climbing into the SUV as Eric closed the door behind her.

The SUV takes off almost immediately as the three vampires watched it leave. Eric couldn't get a good enough grasp of Godric's feelings through their bond as his maker had closed it the minute Rina told him that she wanted to leave.

Eric had felt his maker's anguish at this but he knows that it's for the best that Rina stayed away from Godric until she got better control of her powers or she would run the risk of hurting Godric or potentially killing him.

Something Eric couldn't allow to happen.

He flashed upstairs and knocked on his maker's office door.

"Come in" Godric replies as Eric made his way into the office and kneeled behind his maker, who had his back turned to him and had his arms clasped behind his back.

The moonlight made him look far paler.

"Marina has left" Eric reports, even though he's sure that Godric saw her leave. "Godric–"

"I don't have anything to say on the matter, my son" Godric shuts Eric down immediately, his tone monotone and unemotional.

"Yes maker" Eric says as he averts his head at this, realizing that Godric would not repeat that again for a second time. His maker hasn't displayed coldness like this in a long time.

Mostly it was indifference to a lot of things but never coldness.

Eric rose from his kneeled position and walked out the room, but not before turning to face his maker in concern at this. He worries for his maker and that being separated from Marina might sink Godric back into the depressed state that he'd been in for the last 90 years.

"She left to protect you, maker" he says before flashing off before Godric can say or do anything else.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

"Joseph, I forgot to give you your birthday gift because of all of the last 2 night's craziness" Isabel says to her progeny as she held out a small black box to him.

"You do realize that I stopped aging, right Bel?" he asks him maker in a jesting tone, though he doesn't feel as light-hearted as he tried to pretend that he was.

He was too worried about his sister.

"Just take the gift, mijo" Isabel says to him as he accepts the gift from her and opened it. "What do you think?" she asks him.

"It's gorgeous" Joe admits with a smile as he lifted the signet ring out of the box and slipped it onto his middle finger. "Thank you, maker" he adds sincerely.

"I hate it when you refer to me as such" Isabel says to him as he chuckles at this, knowing that she hates it.

"I know" he says he gave her a kiss on the side of the head as thanks as she cupped his face with a smile.

He was like the son that she's never had.

When she came across him dying 2 and a half years ago she hadn't known that in turning him she wouldn't be gaining just one but 2 children and for a woman who never had the chance to have children of her own becoming mother to two teenagers in need of some mothering and nurturing was a welcome experience.

She's grateful that Samaat placed him in her line of sight as he makes her very proud. He was an honourable vampire and a wonderful progeny.

"She will be alright" Isabel reassures her progeny when she sees the concern for his sister in his eyes.

"I truly hope that they can help her" he says, worried for both his sister and Godric.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

"Welcome to the Kingsley household once again, Marina" Sam says to her as Rina made her way into the house, breathing everything in as if seeing it through different eyes for the very first time.

"Thanks, I guess" Rina comments as Mac and Julian followed with her bags. She offered to help them but just like they had done when she moved to Godric's nest all those months ago, they refused.

"You'll take the spare room" Jade says to her as Rina nods at this as she prepared to head there. "You hungry?" she asks Rina.

"No offense but I wouldn't trust either of you with anything for me to eat" Rina says to them, still distrusting them with anything related to food after they killed her.

"I guess we deserve that" Sam says. "How are you feeling?" she asks, referring to how Rina felt since she's separated from Godric.

"Perfectly fine" Rina lies, despite feeling an uncomfortable feeling that resembled period cramps at the moment.

The two sisters don't appear convinced at this but decide not to probe further as they showed her to the spare room as she followed, with Mac and Julian towing behind as they carried her bags to the room.

"Sorry for the mess" Sam says as she lit the room up.

The 'mess' as she calls it wasn't so much a mess as it was some books on the bed, one of which Rina lifts and reads the title of.

"The Great Gatsby?" she says as she lifts her eyes from reading the title to face the two sisters.

"An American classic" Sam replies, "one which I love reading because of its sheer ridiculousness" she adds with a smile as Rina nods at this.

When she first read the classic she had fallen in love with it but as she re-read it when she grew older she realized a lot of ridiculous things in the book's plot.

The whole idea of Jay confronting Tom Buchanan about Daisy loving him and only him and then them driving from the Buchanan household to an apartment in the city just to repeat that same conversation was dumb to her.

"That's all of it" Julian says as he and Mac returned with the last of Rina's bags.

"Thank you Julian, Mac" Rina says to them as Mac inclines his head at this.

"You need me to stand guard outside your room, Rina?" Julian asks her, distrusting Sam and Jade after what happened the last time.

Not to mention Godric warned him and Mac not to mess up again or there would be hellish and severe consequences.

"We won't hurt her, Julian, relax" Sam says with an eyeroll.

"I wish that I could believe that" Julian says coldly.

"Godric tasked Julian and I with staying with her at all times so where will we be sleeping?" Mac asks them, getting straight to the point, much to Rina and the Kingsley sisters' surprise at this.

Though they don't know why this comes as a surprise to them considering how obvious it was that Godric is in love with Marina and vice versa.

"You can both have the rooms closest to hers since you're both so eager to keep her safe" Jade says with an eyeroll at Mac and Julian's clear distrust of them.

"Wonderful" Mac says, purposely ignoring Jade's sarcastic remark and the jab that she throws in his and Julian's way, "lead the way, ladies" he adds, "I'm sure Rina would appreciate some rest after her trip" he adds as Rina shoots him a grateful smile at this as Sam and Jade showed him and Julian to the rooms that would be theirs as Rina sank onto the bed with a sigh.

She lays on the bed and curls into the fetal position, trying to ignore the pain of the 'cramps' caused by her distance from Godric. If it's already affecting her like this then she can't help but wonder what must be happening to Godric.

"I'm so sorry" she whispers softly, hoping the wind will carry her words to Godric for her. Her eyes glow bright orange at this as she bites on her lower lip to stifle a grunt of pain.

What she said to him and Eric is the truth. She doesn't want to intentionally hurt Godric but she needs better control of herself and her powers before surrounding herself with vampires, who are very much injured by fire.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

Godric wipes away a trickle of blood as it slid down his nose. There is no doubt in his mind that this is due to his separation from Marina.

"Tar ar ais chugam, a ghrá (Come back to me, my love)" he comments in a whisper.

A/N: What Godric speaks is Irish that I got from Google translate. He's originally from Gaul, who were a Celtic tribe that inhabited modern day France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. so I've made that he speaks in 'Celtic'. I hope that you enjoyed the chapter.