"Hello?" Mac's voice commented on the other end of the line.

Rina exhaled deeply at this before speaking up.

"Hi Mac" she says as he inhaled sharply at this.

"R-Rina?" he whispered in shock.

Of all voices hers was the last that he had expected to hear.

"Yeah, it's me."

"When did you...?"

"It's been a few days now" she reveals, "how have you and Jules been?" she asks in concern, recalling what Godric had shared with her about Jules' condition.

"It's been hard" he admitted to her. "But we're getting by. We've got no choice, right?"

"Can I talk to Jules?"

"I don't think that's such a good idea" Mac informs her, "he's...he's not in good shape" he shares with her.

"Sam and Jade are also back and maybe they could–"

"There is nothing that they could do to help him" Mac interjects solemnly, "according to the lore, nothing can be done" he added. "He is cursed forever" he concluded solemnly.

"I refuse to believe that, Mac. There is always something that can be done" Rina says.

"If you find a way then you tell me, Marina" he says in a somewhat pessimistic tone, "listen, I have to go now but...we'll talk more another time" he says with a solemn sigh.

"Okay" Rina says sadly, "thank you, Mac. For what you both did and tells Jules that I said I won't stop searching for a way to help him" she added.

"You're welcome, Rina. I'll tell him" he replied before ending their call as Rina sighed solemnly at how Jules was suffering because he tried to help her.

The guilt of it was just another weight to add to the burden that she carried on her shoulders.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

Sam made her way into a somewhat empty bar, which had a few people here and there including a group of men that were playing pool and sank into the seat at the bar as the bartender came to stop in front of her.

"Hey, what can I get you?" he asks her.

"Jack Daniels" she replies, "hold the ice" she says as he nodded at this as he poured the drink for her.

"Rough day?" he asks, placing the drink in front of her.

On the one end Sam is tempted to rudely point out that she isn't interested in sharing her life's story with a random stranger but on the other end she doesn't like being bitchy to people.

"Try rough life" she replies as she downed the drink all in one gulp as it burned the back of her throat.

"That bad, huh?" her bartender asks her when he sees her down the entire glass in one go.

"You have no idea" she retorts. "Top me up" she says as he poured her another glassful which she once again drained in one go.

"I'd like to offer you another glass on the house but I need this job so..." he trailed off as Sam snorts at this as she paid for her drinks, placing the bills on the counter between them.

"Keep the change" she says to him.

"Thanks" he says, "hopefully things will get better for you" he says.

"Thanks" she says as she headed for the door only for one of the men at the pool table to slap her ass as Sam froze in her steps at this.

"Who the fuck just touched my ass?" she asks calmly.

"What about it?" the guy who did it asks with a smug smirk as his friends snickered in amusement at this.

Sam turns to face him at this as he stared back at her in challenge as if he was saying 'what are you going to do about it?'

He held a cue stick in one hand while his other hand rested on the pool table as he leaned on it.

He was easily bigger than her by a few feet; along with his friends.

"I'm going to give you 1 shot to apologize for that" she warns as he and his friends snickered at this only for Sam to grab a cue stick and snap it in half before jamming it right in his hand as he screamed in pain at this, blood squirting everywhere.

"Holy shit!" his friends shouted as their cackles died down.

They watched the scene before them in horror before moving to attack her only for Sam to duck the swing one of them tried to make before smacking him in the gut with the cue stick she still held in her hands as the man groaned at this, falling to the ground and clutching at his sore stomach.

"Crazy bitch!" the last guy shouted as he swung angrily at her only for Sam to dodge his swings before twisting her body to the side when he ran at her.

He collides into the wall, knocking himself out as she turned to face the guy she'd stabbed while the entire bar fell deathly silent at what they'd just witnessed.

Sam takes a slow stop toward the one she'd stabbed as he tried to draw back from her in pain, still crying out about his hand, which had the cue stick protruding through it.

"I hope for your sake that you never do this shit again" she says, actively progressing toward the man, "because next time I won't be so nice" she warned.

"Stupid bitch!" he exclaims angrily as he pulled the cue stick out of his hand before trying to stab her with it only for Sam to knee him in the gut before slamming him head first into the pool table, knocking him out immediately.

Sam doesn't even bother to look behind her as she headed for the door, leaving the patrons of the bar utterly baffled at how a woman as small as her had managed to kick the asses of 3 men that were bigger than her, knocking out 2 of them.

Sam exhaled deeply when she stepped out of the bar as she took a deep breath before making her way toward her car.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

[Meanwhile]

Jade was up in the spell-casting room of hers and Sam's home as she sat on the ground in a meditative stance, holding Kim's wedding ring in her hand as the candles in all four corners of the room flickered as she inhaled and exhaled deeply.

The flames of the candles started to build as the air in the room started to change as Jade struggled to breathe for a split second before her breathing returned to normal once again when the ghost of Kim appeared within the circle of rock salt that Jade had drawn on the ground.

"J-Jade?" she commented in a confused tone as Jade tensed at hearing her voice before slowly opening her eyes to see Kim's form.

It worked.

The spell worked!

Kim was right in front of her. Dressed in the same clothes that she wore when she died, though they were not as bloodied as they had been when Liyana ripped her heart from her chest.

"Kim" Jade whispered breathlessly as she shakily rose to stand and reached out to touch her only for Kim's form to flicker for a moment or two before disappearing completely from sight. "Kim!" Jade exclaimed as she reached out to grab her only to grab nothing but air.

The flames of the four candles in the room die down as Jade staggered slightly, feeling weakened from the strain of the spell that she's just performed.

What she'd just done was dangerous and could have extreme consequences for her if The Council ever found out.

Jade collapsed onto her knees with a painful thud before breaking off into gut-wrenching sobs.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

When Sam returned to hers and Jade's home she found her sister seated on the porch. Jade lifts her head to face her when Sam stepped out of her car.

"What's wrong?" Sam asks her, sensing that something had happened when she was gone.

"We need to erase all memories of last night from Wendy's memory" Jade says instead. "I can't...I can't do it without you, Samaat" she begs her sister in a whisper.

"What good will erasing those memories do, Jadenna? She'll still hate your guts and want to kill you when she wakes up" Sam says. "I don't know about you but I don't want to live my life wondering when she'll strike" she says as she came to sit beside her sister.

"What do you suggest?"

"That we erase her vendetta against you too" Sam says as Jade's eyes widened in horror at this.

"Erasing her vendetta would mean..."

"Erasing her memories of Kim" Sam finished as Jade hopped out of her spot beside her sister in horror at this.

"N-No" she stammered out, "I-I couldn't do that to Kim" she added, shaking her head vehemently.

"The alternative is to let her crazy ass sister roam free again and I'm not doing that" Sam says.

"We can...We can try and remove only memories of me from her mind" Jade suggests.

"I guess" Sam says, "But how sure are we that she won't remember something small before it all comes rushing back? Rina was proof enough that the mind is a powerful tool and is capable of things beyond comprehension" she added, referring to how Rina remembered everything that Sam and Jade had thought they had concealed from her with the seal on her mind.

"I...I can't..."

"Fine" Sam says, "we'll erase her memories of you" she says as Jade nodded at this, calming a bit.

"We should do it quickly before her maker senses something off and comes looking for her later tonight" Jade says as she ascended the steps that led to the front door as Sam followed her into the house.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

Rina's eyes kept flickering across the screen of the laptop in front of her as she researched on werewolves and lycanthropes.

The differences may seem small to others but they were definitely monumental in Rina's eyes.

The type of werewolf that Jules had been before had been an evolved version of the werewolves of past, one that had seemingly come about because of a mutation.

Whereas the type of werewolf he is now is – according to Rina's research – a lycanthrope.

While it is possible to carry the werewolf gene and never become one it is impossible to be bitten by a lycanthrope and not become one since they carried the original lycanthropic gene and had venom in their teeth.

Being bitten by a lycanthrope as a werewolf meant that Jules didn't stand a chance when it came to transitioning from the one kind of werewolf to another and the unfortunate thing is that there is no cure for the "curse of lycanthropy".

Shifting was much harder with lycanthropes and they tended to be more aggressive than the werewolves she's come to know – according to what she's read from her mother's books.

Rina hadn't even realised just how much she had fallen down the rabbit hole of lycanthropes and werewolves until she heard the front door open as Sam and Jade walked in.

"Jeez, what the heck happened here?" Sam says when she sees Rina seated on the floor of the living room, with books sprawled all around her – on the table before her, on the floor around her and on the couches.

"Research" Rina replies.

"Enough said" Jade replies, "What are you researching?"

"Lycans vs werewolves" Rina admits as Sam and Jade share a look at this. "Mac is unconvinced that something can be done to help Jules."

"Because nothing can be done" Sam comments bluntly as Jade elbowed her at this. "What?" she hissed softly to her sister.

"I refuse to accept that" Rina says stubbornly when she lifted her head to face the two sisters. "There is always something that can be done" she argues.

"Rina, I want you to imagine for a second that you're a werewolf" Sam says, "and now imagine that on every full moon your bones break so that you can shift from woman to wolf" she adds as Jade tries to stop her only for Sam to resume as if Jade hadn't done a thing. "Everytime you shift your skin feels like it's being set on fire and you have little to no control over the beast within you" she added as Rina flinched at her description, "that's a lycan" she added. "The werewolves you know now are watered down versions of lycans" she added.

"If the werewolves I know are because of the result of a mutation then wouldn't it be possible to repress the lycan gene so that Jules can just be a werewolf again?" Rina asks them.

"The lycan gene completely alters DNA" Jade shares solemnly, "if Jules ever had kids they would probably be lycans and not just werewolves" she admitted as Rina exhaled sadly at this.

"This is why most Lycans try to avoid having children if they can" Sam says.

They didn't want to pass something as painful as the lycan gene onto their children.

"I'm sorry, Rina" Jade says when she covered her face with her hands in distress at what they just told her.

"I have to help him" Rina comments when she lowered her hands to face them, eyes glistening with unshed tears. "I have to do something" she added in desperation.

This happened to Jules because of her.

"We understand" Sam says in a sincere tone of understanding, "how long have you been at this?"

"What time is it now?"

"16:45pm" Jade replies.

"Then it's been 7 hours" Rina replies as Sam and Jade look at her in concern at this.

"Rina, did you have anything to eat today?"

"Breakfast" she replies.

"Okay, that's it!" Sam declared as she started to close her books as Rina protested at this. "You can research more when you've have something to eat" she added.

"I don't have an appetite" Rina replied.

"Doesn't matter" Jade says, "you have to eat something or Godric will have our heads" she added, gesturing between herself and Sam.

"I sincerely doubt he'll have your heads just because I haven't had anything to eat aside from breakfast" Rina retorts.

"You get to talk like that because he's your bonded mate" Sam teases, "But he can be terrifying when he wants to be."

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

(Later that night)

"Hi" Rina greets her lover with a smile when he flashed into her bedroom where he finds her reading something on her laptop, sitting atop her bed.

"Hi" he replies, returning her smile with his rarely seen smile. "I believe that you are researching a way to help Julian?" he asks her as she nodded at this. "I am sure that he will appreciate it" he comments, "But my true desire for coming here is to speak with you about what happened this morning" he says as Rina sighed at this.

She knew this was coming.

"It was a nightmare" she reveals in an offhand, dismissive manner but Godric closes her laptop and forces her to meet his eyes, which she sighs at.

"About?"

"Everything to do with Sumelion" Rina admits with a sigh.

She dreamt that she'd lost their fight.

She dreamt of what she went through when she was in his castle.

She dreamt of when she met Remus and he hurt her.

Godric caresses her face with a sad expression on his face at this.

He wishes that he could take the pain from her.

He would rather go through it than watch his beloved Rina suffer through the after effects of her encounters with Sumelion.

"Do you wish to speak of it?" he asks tenderly.

"Not really" Rina admits to him, "how are Eric and the others doing?" she asks, changing the topic of conversation.

Godric decides not to push her to open up, hopeful that she would tell him everything when the time came.

"He is...pissed off" Godric replies, making reference to the phone call that he shared with his progeny shortly before he came to see Rina.

"How so?"

"His monarch momentarily replaced him with William Compton when he was indisposed" Godric reveals.

"Sookie's ex?" Rina asks as Godric nodded at this. "I suppose that makes sense though" she says, "considering he is her spy and is probably easier to control than Eric" she adds.

"True" Godric says, knowing of his son's stubborn nature, "But in my son's eyes that does not erase the insult of being replaced with a witless worm like William Compton, no matter how temporary" he remarked.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

Godric and Rina walked the grounds of his nest since Rina cited wanting fresh air.

"What's on your mind, grá mo chroí?" Godric asks her.

"I'm just thinking about my studies" she admits to him, "I might not be able to finish my degree" she adds.

"Why not?"

"Well I've missed some tests for one" she says.

"I could always help with that..."

"No, grá mo shaol" she says, shaking her head, "I don't want you to glamor anyone on my behalf" she says, "I'll probably have to repeat this semester next year" she says with a sigh.

"You are too close to give up on your dream, mo grá" Godric says to her. "What's happened to the girl I met who stormed into the Fellowship of the Sun with little to no backup and was adamant to write an exposé on the church for their vile beliefs?" he asks as Rina offers him a faint smile at this.

"She's grown up" Rina retorts. "She's faced a heck of a lot of changes" she says.

"But she's overcome every single one of them" Godric comments as he stopped and caressed her face so that she meets his eyes, "and my Marina is anything but a quitter" he says as she beamed up at him.

A/N: I hope that you guys enjoyed the latest chapter. There's more exciting things to come💃