Aria

I took a deep breath in and then let it out as a sigh. Slamming the car door of my 1960 Corvette Stingray closed behind me, I allowed myself a moment to take in the small town of Hollowdale. It was strange seeing it again after being away for so long. It was smaller than I remembered it being and it didn't quite feel like home to me anymore. It was good to be back, though. I smiled as I sensed the presence of my boyfriend, Caspian, behind me. Although it had been two years since our Blood-Tie- and then, due to my death, our mental connection- had been broken, we still had a deep, unexplainable and unbreakable connection- almost like a tether- running between us. 

I thought back to the last time I had been in Hollowdale. It was two years ago, before I left for university. It was strange to think that the Guardian had wiped the memories of everyone in town except for Caspian and I, causing them to forget the events that had occurred here. Due to the memory swipe the Guardian had done, Will's parents believed that Christian was Will's uncle, and when they had gone fishing together, had gotten into a car crash; the Guardian had wiped my parents memory so that they forgot the story I had fed them about Caspian being an English exchange student and replaced with a memory of him being the nice boy who had just moved into town; and the rest of the town had had all memories of the Vampyre attack and the fact that Caspian and I were involved wiped as well. The Guardian had done so much for us, even more than we originally thought. A few days after our confrontation with Jon, we discovered that the Guardian had removed Caspian's lust for blood, his inability to walk in the sunlight. Caspian was basically completely human now, save for the beautiful black wings that still sprout from his back when he called upon them.

"It's kind of weird being back, isn't it?" Caspian asked, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist.

In all honesty, he and I had been avoiding visiting Hollowdale again after everything that had happened with Jon. For the past two years, whenever I visited with my parents or Leeda, they would come to me.

"Yeah, it is," I laughed.

Taking his hand in my own, I led him up the front steps of my house to my front door. I knocked a few times and then stepped back to wait. A few moments later, the door swung open.

"Caspian!" my dad exclaimed. "You're finally here!"

I frowned. My dad absolutely loved Caspian, possibly even more than I did.

"Wow, love you too, Dad," I muttered sarcastically.

He let out a loud chuckle. "Oh, Art, you know I'm glad to see you too! I've missed you, baby girl."

I smiled, stepping forward and wrapped my arms around him in a hug. "I missed you too, Daddy."

After hugging my dad, he stepped aside and ushered us through the door and into the main entrance. Caspian set down our bags, which he had carried in for us.

"Aria? Sweetie, is that you?" my mom called, coming into the room.

"Hey, mom," I grinned.

"And hello, Caspian. It's wonderful to see you as well," my mom greeted.

Caspian nodded. "You too."

"Come on in to the living room," my mom insisted. "Your father and I spent the morning baking cookies. Mine are the burnt ones."

I shook my head. My mom was a relatively good cook, but awful at baking. Caspian and I followed my mom into the living room, and sure enough, a large plate of cookies sat in the middle of the table.

"So, tell me about what you've been up to!" my mom said once we had all sat down. "I feel like I haven't talked to you in such a long time."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "We spoke on the phone last night."

She waved me off. "I mean, I feel like I haven't sat down and had a conversation with you in long time. I wish you would come visit more often."

I smiled apologetically. "Cas and I are going to try to come visit more often from now on."

"So, what have you been up to these past couple weeks?" my mom questioned.

Without even looking, I knew that Caspian was smirking from beside me. I had spent half of the past week perfecting the latest spell from my grandmother's books that I had been working on and the other half visiting with Will, who had come down from the Upstairs. Obviously, I couldn't tell my mom that.

"Not a whole lot, really," I lied.

"What about classes? How are you classes going?" my mom asked.

"Yeah, all of my classes are going pretty well. Honestly, things have been pretty quiet and boring and normal lately," I shrugged.

My mom smiled, and I waited for her to answer, but she didn't. I looked to my dad to find that he had a smile on his face as well, but a distant look in his eyes. I frowned.

"Dad? Mom?" I inquired slowly.

Neither one responded, though, and they both continued to stare blankly forward. Caspian's hand rubbed up and down my arm soothingly and I knew he could sense the panic rising within me.

"They're frozen. Don't worry, it's only temporary."

I jumped and turned to see Will standing in the door between the living room and kitchen.

"Will?" Caspian frowned.

Will nodded in greeting. "Hey, guys. Sorry to scare you, Aria, but it's important; urgent, actually."

I frowned, standing up. "What's wrong, Will?"

"Something's happened. The Guardian has been taken captive and there is a war brewing," Will explained.

"What?" I gasped, completely dumbfounded.

"Who took the Guardian?" Caspian demanded.

"Lycanthropes who are working together with a small group of Vampyres. Their goal is to overthrow the Upstairs, although I'm not completely sure why. Overthrowing the Upstairs is not going to reverse the conditions of being condemned. They will still be Vampyres. As for the Lycanthropes, they will have no power in the Upstairs," Will mumbled thoughtfully.

"I don't think they want to take over the Upstairs, I think they want to take it down. If they can eliminate it, that means no more death, but also no one who can come down and enforce rules," Caspian said gravely.

Will frowned and nodded. "I think you may be right."

"What do you want from us, though?" I interrupted.

"From an ex-Vampyre and an ex-Angel who practices Magyk on the side?" Will began, raising an eyebrow. "The only thing I could want: for the two of you to join the fight."