I silently watched him as he brushed sand of my top.

He wasn't meeting my eyes.

Not since.....

I blinked and swallowed hard looking to the side at Chloe waiting patiently for us beside the weeping willow tree.

"Don't trust me." Easton whispered as he wiped something off my neck.

"What?" I whispered back.

"Once we leave your paradise." He responded without meeting my eyes. I could feel the tension in his body and the tigthness in the way he clenched his jaws. "Don't trust me." He shook his head and gently caressed my cheek. "I won't let myself hurt you."

I grabbed his arm. "It's okay." I whispered back urgently. "It's fine. We're going to figure this out."

"It doesn't work like that." He whispered back, shaking his head. He stared down at me as if in pain. He dropped his head and kissed me hard, before pulling back abruptly.

"We'll talk to Headmistrss Silva." I continued encouragingly. "She'll figure something out, we'll find out how to get you away from----"

"I'm helping you." Easton cut me off. "You, just you...because you asked me...not for them." He spoke emotionally.

I shook my head at the sting behind his words. "Easton....."I squeezed his arms. "Easton...I don't think your father is a good guy."

Easton looked away. "You don't understand him. They destroyed----"

"I'm more upset that you're still overlooking the fact that he is killing hundreds of fairies!" I whispered back angrily.

"He is not killing hundreds of fairies!" Whispered back just as passionately.

"He tried to kill us!" I hit my chest.

"He wouldn't do that." Easton pleaded. "He just needs his strength back-----"

"He murdered Chloe!" I pointed behind me.

Easton did look back at Chloe and then looked away uncomfortably. "I know he has a reason---"

"Yes! He does!" I yelled. "To control death!" I exclaimed.

Easton took a deep breath and looked around from the beach to the forest anxiously. "I have to go." He shook his head and spun around. "I have to go."

I put my hands on his chest and pushed him back hard. "YOU DO NOT GET TO RUN FROM THIS!"

Easton stumbled back. "You wouldn't understand!"

"I refuse for you to be the villain!" I cried out. "Why aren't you seeing what's going on!"

Easton's bottom lip shook as he walked back to me. Eyes gold and flooded with emotions. "Why aren't you?" He whispered back. "They'll turn you against me...and then they'll turn against you." He grabbed my hand. "Come with me." He pleaded.

I stared at him in disbelief. "You really....can't see what's going on..." I whispered as I touched his face. He was blinded. I could feel it and I don't know how. There was a block. In my head I saw a door. What was behind that door, I would never know. It was impenetrable in obscurity. Not a single ray of light could beam through.

I gasped.

"Little one, why do you cry?" Long fingernails lifted up the blood stained chin.

"I---I'm a---I'm a monster...." The pale boy with the black hair tied back cried harder. He hugged himself at the foot of his bed. Hiding like his mother had instructed as she tried to gather all castle personnels. She'd told him to change out of his clothes and to bathe as she calmed everybody down. He couldn't move. He didn't know what happened. They killed him murderer. They screamed and ran. Hugo wouldn't wake up.

"Aah..." The stranger whispered as he slowly sat down next to him. "They fear what they do not understand." A pale slender arm moved in front of the little boy's face.

The handsome stranger smiled and used his fingernail to slice through his wrist, allowing his blood to flow slowly. "You're no monster." He whispered smoothly. "You're my son."

The little boy was too mesmerized by the blood spilling before him, overtaking his senses to listen to the stranger. He grabbed the wrist, feeling something inside him shift and he hungrily bite down.

The stranger grinned, sharp fangs pressed against his lips.

"NO!" I called out to the scene in front of me.

The stranger chuckled and cradled 6 year old Easton as he drank from him. "How did you get here?" He asked, his back to me.

I took a couple steps back and looked around in surprise at the darkness closing in around me. Where was I? How had I gotten here? Where was my paradise? Chloe? Easton?

"HOW!" He turned around with a bark, his face transforming into one of the scariest images I'd ever seen. I screamed and fell back.

"Saria! Saria!" Easton shook me desperately.

I gasped and looked around, heaving. My paradise...i looked at Easton, who was watching me in distraught. "What happened? Are you ok?" I nodded unsure of when I'd been placed on the ground.

"Are you okay?" Chloe whispered peering down at me?

I nodded and sat up with Easton's help. "What happened?"

Easton frowned as he examined me closely as if checking for cuts and bruises. "You said something about me not being able to see and then gasped and zoned out------are you okay?" He took another step forward. "What's wrong?" He whispered for me only.

I shook my head and shrugged. "I just----I uhm...I need you to trust me." What the fuck had just happened to me? Had It been Easton's memory? Had it been his father? How had I gotten there? And I might not know about my powers but something was very unsettling in my soul when I saw that door that would not allow a single ray of light to enter. WHat was that door?

Easton sighed and shifted a look to Chloe. I felt the moment his stance grew defensive. Like I felt it as if it were me.

"Easton...." I whispered.

"It's not you he doesn't trust." Chloe replied with a smile as she crossed her arms.

We both turned to look at her.

"I'm sorry Prince Easton for our fucked up society." Chloe spoke louder. "But I am not your enemy."

I watched as the two fairies locked eyes.

"And neither are our friends." She took a step closer to him. Her eyes turned completely black. Black veins stretching down her cheek as her eyes gave into the black hole it had created on her face. "Fear is control." Her voice spoke like a thousand voices around us. "And you are controlled by Fear."

I took a step back. I'm not going to pretend as if Chloe was not scaring the shit out of me right now because she was. It was a swirl of black and gray around her person. And the voices all speaking at once.

"Prince Easton we know you.

Yes we do.

You know death.

We kissed your brow when you had yet to take a breath."

It was no longer Chloe it seemed, but lots of different figures surrounding Easton.

"A life for a life.

One must die

For the other to rise"

And just like that the smoke disappeared along with Chloe.

Holy-----fucking------I was in some deep ass shit.

Easton shook his head as if to clear his thoughts and we caught each other's eye.

We didn't say anything.

He was the first to look away. Swallowing hard, he took a step back and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'm not going to hurt you." He whispered.

I smiled sadly. "I know." And I did. I truly did. My heart was aching for him. "Uhm....do you....do you know what the riddle means?" I asked.

He shook his head and lowered his gaze. Silence falling over us again.

I sighed and closed my eyes before opening them to him again. "We can still make this work." I whispered to him.

Easton lifted his eyes. He tried to smile but I saw the pain behind the gesture.

"I mean...I don't know why I want to make this work...I don't know maybe...maybe because you're my mate and..."I shrugged. "I don't know...I envision hell, if we don't....make this work....i don't want to...to be without you...."

In a flash, Easton was by me. His hand gently cradling the back of my neck as he kissed me passionately. I clung to him desperately. Kissing him back. Easton pulled back slowly and pressed his lips against my ear and whispered something to me.

"What's that?" I whispered back in confusion.

He kissed me softly before taking a step back. "A key." He responded.

"To what?"

He wrapped his arms around me. "I don't know." He whispered.

I lifted my head. "Hey...we're going to fix this okay." I whispered. "This whole fucking fairytale mess that's really killing our mating vibe. We're gonna fix this."

Easton smiled softly. "I told you, I wasn't the hero."

"I don't need a hero." I whispered back.

His smile faltered as if he wanted to say something but then thought against it. Instead he looked down at my nose instead of my eyes.

"What?"

"How do you think this plays out?" He asked with a soft chuckle.

"We go back to school. We talk to headmistress Silva. We tell her everything. She'll be mad but she'll get it. I mean she's the almighty elf right? Well then we save the day and then we can focus on...actually being mates..."

Easton chuckled. "That sounds nice."

"Right." I nudged him, trying to ignore the fact that his smile didn't reach his eyes. "Never too late to save the day."

He looked me over with so much warmth, my knees almost buckled below me. "What?"

He shook his head. "I just want to remember this." He smiled. But why was it so painful? It was seriously creating literal jolts of pain through my chest.

"Just trust me." I insisted. "They won't care if you're a vampire! You're Easton! Everybody loves you. Yes at first they'll be shocked but hey so what! You're the fucking prince."

Easton nodded.

"Yeah." I grinned.

"Yeah." he replied with a small smile.

I exhaled loudly. "Good." I shook off the tension and took his hand. "Okay...you ready?"

Easton looked down at our hands. I watched as he slowly brought my hand up to his lips and closed his eyes and kissed the back of my hand. I blinked in surprise at the unexpected intimate gesture. He lowered my hand and smiled.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"Hopefully I do this right." I grinned as we disappeared.

**

"Argyle can you please help us!" Queen Gayle called out as she stopped walking. "You know we cannot navigate this world on our own.

Monica hugged herself as she stood behind Queen Gayle.

The queen turned to the witch. "You try." she whispered exasperated.

Monica's mouth dropped open as she pointed at herself. "Me?" she choked.

"Yes..." Queen Gayle nodded. "You two have---a thing---a thing---"

Monica scoffed. "Oh, so you're forgetting the part where I hid his daughter from him, so he's forever going to hold this grudge against me."

Queen Gayle sighed. "Monica, please." She pleaded. "I don't think you understand how serious it is for me to find my son before his father does. I have to talk to him."

Monica shook her head. "And I can't believe you lied to me." She crossed her arms and paced around the forest. "Honestly it has got to be a running jokes among you guys when people say fairies can't tell lies."

Gayle sighed and leaned against the bark of a huge tree. "You would have killed him." she whispered sadly. "Just like everybody else. An innocent life." Queen Gayle turned to her. "Do you not how difficult it is for our kind to bring forth life?" she whispered.

"And the gods blessed me.....even if...it was from the....monsterous...from the vile being....Easton is not him....I held him in my arms...and....." warm tears rolled down her face as she imagined her baby son. "He was so precious...so beautiful and....he was my light."

Queen Gayle closed her eyes. "I just wanted to protect him." the queen shook her head and stood up. "I thought if I only showed him the light. He would not be pulled into darkness."

"Hey." Monica whispered putting a comforting hand on the queen's shoulder. "Hey, I get it."

Queen Gayle shook her head. "Who am I kidding?" She whispered, turning fully to Monica. "What a fool I am to assume he let me free." She took a couple steps deeper into the forest. "I do not know if it's because only a select few get to access these paradises that the air is so fresh." she touched another tree. "You truly take a moment to think." she looked over her shoulder at Monica. "I did everything he wanted me to do. And yet I thought I was being defiant. That I had tricked him."

She turned around in defeat.

Monica took a cautious step forward. Her arm out as if attempting to comfort. "Gayle...."

"I won't let him have him." Queen Gayle turned around, her chin up with determination in her gaze. "I won't."

Monica nodded. She sighed and turned around. She closed her eyes and guiltily rubbed the stone that she had in a small black pouch she always held on her at all times.

**

"Ahh, it seems my ruby was not the only thing you stole." Arglye responded, his back to her. He wore cut off jeans, hanging low on his waist. He was currently sewing a patch on his flannel shirt, which left him shirtless. Letting the sun bask in his muscled body, peppered with freckles on the shoulders and back.

Monica knew from memory that if she walked to face him, she would be able to see the heavily sprinkled soft red hair on his chest, that trailed down his stomach to disappear underneath his shorts.

Argyle whistled as he expertly kept sewing his clothes.

"I'm sorry."

Argyle stopped whistling and his fingers froze on the last stitch.

"I'm sorry." Monica whispered again as she spoke to his back. "I know that there is no reason for you to forgive me. I know I'm the biggest lying bitch you've ever met and why should you trust me? You shouldn't. You're right. And I'm....so sorry....that...that I didn't tell you about her."

Argyle didn't reply but resumed his sewing.

"I was scared." Monica whispered.

His sewing slowed down.

"I remember when I was here and the stories you told me...how they hurt you." she whispered warm tears rolling down her face. "And then....I went home...and my....my own family....they wanted...they'd already planned on how..." Monica shook her head, emotions overpowering her. "She was barely the size of a kiwi and they had plans for her and the vast amount of wealth a rare leprechaun child could bring on the coven."

"They threatened the life of me witch-child?" Argyle asked calmly.

Monica sighed and leaned against the pillar in his bedroom. She nodded even though his back was still to her.

"And yours?"

She smiled softly. "I can take care of myself."

A long silence fell between them.

Argyle continued his precise stitches. "Yar had one of me jewels, yet haven't seen you in 19 years."

Monica sighed. "That decision was harder than you think." she whispered. She watched his shoulders lower. "Argyle..." she took a step forward.

"I do not want to be bothered witch." he spoke up, stopping her from coming any closer. "The witch-child and the little blood sucker are gone. Go home."

Monica slowly dropped the hand that she was going to reach out to touch him. She reached instead into her pouch and touched the stone.

Argyle sighed and threw his shirt to the side.

"What happened?" Queen Gayle asked.

"They're not here." Monica replied. "Argyle said they left."

The queen groaned. "And he would have just left us roaming if you hadn't gone to him." She touched Monica's arm. "Thanks." She touched her bracelet and the queen shimmered away.

Monica looked up at the sky. "Okay Argyle can we talk----"

Monica looked around, finding herself back in her living room. She groaned loudly and closed her eyes in frustration. She had to get in touch with some old friends if she was ever going to find out how to get back into the fairy realm.

**

"What the-----" I held on tightly to Easton at the chaos around us. All the varied  bodies, going in different directions. We had landed right in the middle of a battlefield, it looked like. And it didn't help that it was raining like hell today. "----fuck."

Easton yanked me behind him. I gasped as a splatter of blood came across my face. I turned to Easton in shock.

In one hand he held the head of an unfamiliar guy, clearly a vampire from the transformation of his face, the fangs and wide golden eyes. The rest of the body fell to the ground.

Had he really just.....

"You need to get out of here." Easton panted heavily. He cocked his head and looked to the side as if listening to something.

I turned to the loud scream from a girl backing up against the wall. She seemed to have given up on trying to fight the creature descending on her. She just cried for help. I turned to Easton, who turned to me.

"Go back home and stay safe----"

"Help her!"

"Go!" He ordered.

"Help." I whispered pointing out around us.

"Go." He held my gaze.

He wasn't going to move until I did. I saw it in his eyes. And the more time I wasted. The more fairies died.

"Okay. Be safe." I touched my ring and disappeared.

"Help!"

Easton stood where Saria had been, his shoulders slumping, head dropping. He took a step towards the school.

"SOmebody please! Help me! Please!"

He stopped and turned around in frustration. Flying towards the voices.

I leaned against the building as I watched Easton pull the surprised vampire off the scared fairy. A blur of fast movements played out through the field before I saw Easton slam the defeated vampire against a tree trunk. I didn't have to hear the bones break, I saw the limpness of the body as it dropped to the ground like a rag doll.

"Saria! Hurry!"

I turned around in surprise to Isla who was running towards me.

"Isla!"

"Oh my God I was so worried!" she cried out grabbing my hand. "Let's go! You can't be here!"

"What's going on!" I asked as I ran with her.

"The Vampire King----"

"You're back."

I froze at the figure that appeared in front of me out of thin air. I swallowed hard. "He--headmi---headmistriss Silva--I can---I can explain!" I stammered.

"Quickly! Get her behind the shield!" Headmistress Silva ordered. "And Easton?" She asked sharpley.

I pointed behind me. "He's helping-----"

It was almost in slow motion as I watched everything unfold in front of me.

Her arm outstretched. A large beam of blue light seemed to propel from her body and shoot forth, aimed straight for Easton's back.

My mouth dropped open in horror as him and another vampire whom he was fighting were thrown back with extreme force.

"What are you----what are you doing!" I demanded in shock.

"We gotta go!" Isla cried out in panic as she pulled on my arm.

"It's the prince!" I yelled to Headmistress Silva, in case she hadn't realized. "It's prince Easton!"

"Stay back!" She ordered before clutching what I now saw as a long wooden stake in the other hand. She ran towards Easton, who was currently struggling to stand up. I could barely wrap my head around what was going on as a crowd of warriors followed her, almost blindsiding me.

Isla had somehow managed to drag me back inside the school amidst the confusion.

"Oh my God Saria!" Willow exclaimed engulfing me in a tight hard. "We were so worried." She pulled back. There was a cut across her usually flawless face. Her lips were bruised. "Are you okay?"

"When did..." I shook my head in confusion. "When did this happen?" I looked around frantically. "We weren't even gone 24 hours."

Isla and Willow looked at each other before looking at me.

I gasped and pointed behind me. "Headmistress Silva just hit Easton! Like hit him! With her magic!" I exclaimed turning and running back from where I'd came from.

To my surprise, Isla and Willow both grabbed me and turned me around. "No, no, no...wait!" Isla spoke quickly. She shook her head and stared at me painfully. "Saria....oh I'm so sorry, but....there's something you have to know about Prince....Prince Easton."

Willow stepped forth and put her hand on my shoulder. "He's not....who we all thought he was."

"Yes, he's a vampire, okay I know! But he's one of us!" I exclaimed.

"Wait...you know...? Isla whispered.

"Yes!" I cried out. "Why is it such a big deal that he's different? I'm different and honestly this is why there's this big fucking-----"

We turned at the extra loud scream coming from our right. We turned to Jolis staring at the huge window sill in horror. "Is that my Prince?" she cried out.

"He's a....."

"He's a....."

We watched at the crowd forming faster around the right. We rushed over to the big window. From there we could see what had gotten Jolis attention. Prince Easton was further off on the field, his black wings flying rapidly behind him. His eyes pooled with blood, shone a golden red, his fangs seems whiter and sharper than usual. He stood tall, arms down but long black fingernails ready to strike should anybody make a false move.

Headmistress Silva was a couple yards away from him. The warriors surrounding her and awaiting her command. We couldn't hear what she was saying, but it was clear she was talking to him. From where I stood, her expression did not look friendly what so ever. I saw the other warriors, sneaking around the other side of the forest.

I noticed Easton's side glance, his head cocking slightly. I shook my head at the stiffness in his body language. "No...no.no...." I whispered. "Stop....stop...." I pushed through the crowd and tried to run to the door.

A couple of fairies screamed as a body was thrown at the window. We could hear the cracking of the bones and saw the blood smear down the window as he dropped to the ground.

I looked out and realized what happened.

Easton had done that.

Easton right now, in the middle of the field. One against 50. Headmistress Silva, still where she stood. A couple warriors, weapons drawn waiting her orders.

My heart raced as I tried to make out Easton's blurred body. I just knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would kill them all. I knew it.

I couldn't let him become that.

"Stop!" I called out and ran to the door.

"Saria!"

I don't know how I had managed to push the guards out the way or even push open the door, but I did. I ran as fast as I could towards them.

"STOP!"

They didn't understand. They were going to make it worse. They were proving all his fears. Just listen! Why couldn't everybody just fucking listen!

"STOP!"

I yelled, but the voices was not just me. It echoed like thousands of voices behind me. I turned in surprise at the shimmer of light and there stood Chloe. Her mouth open wide as if she too had yelled my words. I could see the sound waves from her mouth, pass through the air.

I stared in shock as grayish black warriors ran before us, weapons drawn , slashing the vampires, causing them to burst into flames.

I looked around in surprise. What the fuck type of world was I living in? And just as fast, reality came rushing back as the screams and smell of blood and war filled my nostrils.

I cried out as a body crashed into me, sending me to the ground, hard, hitting my chin and biting into my lip.

I turned around frantically to see the deranged golden eyes descending ontop of me------and just like that it was gone.

I looked up to Easton grabbing the vampire by it's neck as if the being was not taller and heavier set than he was. Easton growled, his fangs glistening as he stared at the creature. Crushing his neck in his hand slowly until the body stopped moving.

He dropped his hand. The body falling to the ground as he turned his golden red eyes on me. "I thought I told you-----" Easton whirled around, elbow out, he caught the spear in the air, right before it pierced his chest. But that was only the distractor because a beam of blue light pierced his back and he cried out in pain, his wings retreating. I scrambled to him as he fell face first to the ground with a loud thud.

"Easton!" I cried out turning his body around.

"Move away!" Headmistress Silva demanded.

I looked up at her. "What are you doing?" I yelled.

"Get him in the cage before he wakes up." she ordered Cosmo.

"Headmistress Silva!"

"Have a rest Saria!" Headmistress Silva waved her hand in front of me and I immediately fell to the ground. Panting loudly she nodded at Talullah. "Get her to her room, let her rest." she stormed away.

Professor Tallulah looked painfully at Easton's body being hoisted up by Cosmo who shot her a guilty look as he followed his mother's orders. She turned and bent down to pick up the teenage girl, and somberly carried her to her room.

**

Easton slowly lifted his head to the brush of wind that passed through the otherwise pitch black room. His eyes focused on the figure That came into view and smirked at him.

"Did I not tell you they would find a reason to put you in a cage?"

Easton turned his head to the side and didn't answer.

"You're descendent of a god." King Luciano stood in front of the bars, his hands behind his back. "Yet this is how they treat you." he sneered.

"You're in my head." Easton whispered.

King Luciano grinned. "Of course I am, my boy." He walked around proudly. "You're tormented, you're upset. You think I've lied to you. That I've betrayed you."

Prince Easton clenched his jaws.

"But isn't that what I told you they would try and convince you to think?" King Luciano pointed out. "It's easy to label me as the villain my dear Easton. It's easy to label me as the blood thirsty monster. The deranged vampire king."

Prince Easton side-eyed his father.

King Luciano turnd and stared at him, his eyes whirling. "But I'm not the one who put you in the cage." He stated, slowly bringing his arms out. "Everybody always wants to lock you up."

Easton watched as the bars slowly bent and cracked, crumbling to pieces. "And I'm always here to set you free my boy." King Luciano walked into the cage and stared at the chain around his son's wrist. "Hummm....she's frightened of you.....interesting." He remarked casually. His gold cane appeared in his hand and brought it up and slammed it down forcefully on the chain. The chain vibrated releasing a frequency into the atmosphere, that caused both father and son to grimace in pain.

King Luciano bent down and picked up his son. "You're weak. You need to feed."

**

"I cannot believe we're doing this." Isla whispered as she lit the way for us to see.

"You have to trust me." I whispered.

"Hurry." Willow whispered as she parted the last of the tunnel.

"How do you know to do that?" I asked her as we all three jumped through and looked around satisfied at the underground lair.

Willow grinned. "Talking Tree was a really good mentor---"

"And where are you girls going."

I gasped, my hand over my heart.

"Bolt! Don't scare us like that." Isla hit his arm.

"Seriously you guys can't be down here." Bolt nodded.

"Wow, momma got her little baby to guard for her." Willow teased.

"She wanted to make sure, nobody got him out." Bolt looked at me.

I sighed. "You know that's wrong right?" I asked him. "I mean you know Easton's not a monster. You roomed with him. You guys are friends!"

Bolt sighed and looked away. "Look it doesn't matter what I think----"

"This is not going to help him feel as if he belongs!" I cried out to him. "And honestly." I shrugged. "I'm tired of all these fucking adults thinking they know all these fucking things." I heaved. "It's not my fault, I'm half witch. It's not his fault he's half vampire. It's not his fault his father is who he is. He could have killed us at any fucking time. Do you realize that?" I asked Bolt the same question I had asked my roommates before convincing them to help me break Easton out.

"He could have killed you at anytime, but he didn't...I mean I feel like that means something. He's our friend." I pleaded with him. "He's your friend."

"Look I don't think Easton's a monster okay." Bold said defensively. He sighed. "Look there's just protocols---"

"What he means is that he always does everything Mommy asks him to do." Willow grinned.

Bolt glared at her.

"Willow stop!" Isla demanded. "I broke up with him!"

Bolt looked away, blinking rapidly.

Willow smirked. "Yeah, to save him the discomfort of doing it."

"Look you have a problem with me!" Bolt demanded.

"Yes, I fucking do!" Willow pushed him back.

"Guys not right now!" Isla shouted pushing.

"Tell your friend to back the fuck off!"

"Tell that good for nothing elf, he can suck my dick!"

"Why are you guys always doing this!"

I stared gratefully at Willow for the distraction and snuck behind Bolt. I yanked the door but it did not budge.

"You need elf blood to open the door." Bolt said behind me.

I sighed and turned around. "Please." I whispered.

Bolt sighed and if I wasn't staring at him, I would have missed his quick glance to Isla, before he looked back at me relunctantly. "You have 2 minutes. Then get out." he whispered.

I nodded eagerly. "Thank you. Thank you."

Isla beamed at Bolt and blushed as she shifted her eyes down to her feet.

Bolt opened the door effortlessly and I rushed in.

"Easton------" I froze as I stared at the empty cage and bent bars. My heart raced as I turned around. "Uhm.....guys..." Fuck, fuck, fuck...this was not good.

"What's wrong?" Bolt, Isla and Willow hurried in.

I turned to them and pointed to the obvious empty cage. "Easton's gone."