3rd Person POV

Cassius was working with Catherine, trying to make a meal with the dismal amount of ingredients in Rafia's kitchen, when Azriel and Desmond wandered into the room. They took a seat at the counter while Cassius chopped a few tomatoes they'd found. Azriel was uncharacteristically somber and Cassius could tell that it had something to do with his conversation with Rafia from earlier, rather than the numerous other problems at hand.

"I've never seen her look so lost," Azriel muttered.

"You said it's happened to your dad before too right," Desmond asked.

There was something about the way Desmond's voice softened when he spoke to Azriel. It was something he seemed to reserve just for him. He exchanged a glance with Catherine, who'd caught onto the same thing.

"It has. It's just more intimidating seeing her defenses fall like that," Azriel explained.

"Intimidating," Desmond questioned.

"It'll be us a few centuries down the line," Azriel commented.

Desmond's eyes widened a bit in surprise and the air suddenly felt too heavy. Cassius turned away from them to step up next to Catherine. She seemed resolutely focused on her pasta but both their attentions remained on Azriel and Desmond.

"I'm sorry. I know immortality isn't something you're comfortable discussing," Azriel quickly said.

"Don't apologize. Just because the idea of immortality scares me at times, it doesn't mean you can't share your fears of it with me," Desmond said firmly.

Cassius couldn't help but smile at that, recalling his discussion with Azriel in the woods.

"Right," Azriel said shortly.

Desmond reached over and planted a light kiss against the warlock's lips. It wiped away a bit of Azriel's discomfort. Cassius also recalled how the warlock had asked for time to open up and he realized that the time hadn't come just yet. Someday, Azriel would share his fears and insecurities with them, and Cassius would wait.

"So what are we going to do about the Countess' demands," he interjected.

Azriel shot him a grateful look. Catherine turned to participate in the discussion as well, the tension returning to her small form. Her face scrunched up like it always did when she was thinking and Cassius realized he'd come to find that face quite endearing.

"We need to protect them," Desmond stated.

"How do we do that between six of us when there are over a hundred of them," Azriel asked grimly.

"Not to mention we would be up against one of the oldest vampires in existence and all of her lackeys," Desmond added.

There was a moment of silence and as hard as Cassius thought, he couldn't figure out a way out of this that didn't involve bloodshed, perhaps even mass slaughter.

"We have to do what she asked us to do," Catherine whispered.

"What," Desmond asked in shock.

"The entire point of this was to inspire retaliation, to find out who was behind the operation. It was never about finding a cure. We know she's behind this now," Catherine explained.

"The entire point of this was to ultimately bring down the operation. We can't do that if we back down now," Desmond responded.

"We can't risk anyone else getting hurt. We'll give this to her and trying thinking of something else," Catherine retaliated.

Cassius could sense the brewing tension and turned to Azriel. His brow was furrowed in worry but he quickly intervened.

"It's not our decision to make. We'll gather the 124 people who staged the riots and ask them if they're willing to risk their lives for this," Azriel said.

Neither Desmond nor Catherine looked particularly happy with that but before they could argue further, the front door opened and Rafia stepped through with Talia at her side. Catherine reached them first with evident worry. From the look on Talia's face, the trial hadn't gone as well as they'd hoped despite Rafia's presence.

"What's the verdict," Catherine asked urgently.

"Rafia managed to cut it down to a month long sentencing for them," Talia said.

Catherine had spent a month in jail. From her expression, Cassius could tell it didn't pass by as quickly within those cell walls. However, they could all tell there was more to the distraught expression on Talia's face.

"What more," Catherine pressed.

"They're putting a bigger sentence on your head if they find you," she started.

Talia looked pained as she turned away from Catherine, like she couldn't meet her eyes. Cassius felt his heart hammering in his throat. Talia didn't care much for Catherine and for her to get this upset on Catherine's behalf didn't bode well.

Catherine looked to Rafia for answers and even the older woman looked uncomfortable.

"I can take it," Catherine said firmly.

But you shouldn't have to, Cassius thought.

"They think you and Raphael escaped together. The Countess must have disabled the security system before she took you so they have no proof of the contrary. I couldn't defend you without looking guilty of hiding you," Rafia explained.

She was talking circles, avoiding the actual point.

"Spit it out," Catherine demanded.

"They're sentencing you with the same sentence Raphael has on his head," Rafia said.

"No," Raphael said.

Cassius hadn't even noted when his brother had entered the room. The man looked at Catherine with sympathy and near suffocating guilt. Catherine was maintaining her poker face but Cassius could tell she was afraid.

"What's your sentence," she asked slowly.

"Lifelong imprisonment with no visitation rights," Raphael replied glumly.

The careful mask Catherine wore dropped at his words, and she looked stricken. Azriel reached her first, although all three of them had subconsciously moved towards her, like they could form a physical barrier between her and Raphael's words. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back against him.

"It's going to be fine. We'll prove your innocence," he consoled.

He planted a kiss to the side of her head, holding onto her tightly, like he'd never let her go. Cassius wrapped his arms around both of them. He'd do everything in his power to keep her safe, laws be damned.

"This isn't fair. Surely there's some way we can fight this," Desmond cried out in frustration.

"That's not what's important right now. We'll figure this out once the operation is behind bars," Catherine said solemnly.

Cassius didn't know what force of will kept her standing tall as another weight settled on her shoulders and he couldn't do a goddamn thing about it.

1st Person POV

It took a week to gather everyone under Rafia's roof. In that time, I hadn't left the house once and I'd slowly felt myself going insane. I tried not to think about how powerful the Countess had seemed, how if people got hurt it would be on my head once again, or about how even if I got out of this unscathed, I'd still end up in jail.

It was beginning to feel like it was all too much and sometimes, I couldn't even breath as it all hit me.

Jail wasn't the worst thing that had happened and a part of me couldn't help but think that I deserved to end up in jail after all I'd done, regardless of whether it was the chemicals or not. The people I killed still haunted my nightmares. Maybe, if I got the punishment I deserved, they'd stop keeping me awake at night.

I kept those thoughts bottled up, knowing everyone had enough on their plates right now.

Rafia had used plenty of her magic to expand her house to fit everyone, and she'd strengthened her wards as well. Everyone was gathered in the extremely large room she'd made appear attached to the actual living room. They were already gathered when I got there, after I'd spent over an hour trying to disguise the fact that I'd gotten little over six hours of sleep in the last week combined.

I realized how much more relieved everyone looked when I entered the room, despite my haggard appearance, and it took a second for me to puzzle out why.

As humans that knew how powerful supernatural creatures could be, it was impossible not to feel afraid. For the first time, I understood on some level why the Countess wanted to even the playing field between the humans and the supernatural world. She'd gone about it the wrong way but the sentiment was understandable.

I remembered how it had felt when those two drunken vampires had stumbled out of Desmond's coven's house. Instant fear that had coursed through me, fear I couldn't have stopped. Even now, everyone kept a wide berth around Cassius, Desmond, Azriel, Talia and Rafia and they gravitated towards me almost instinctively.

"You don't need to be afraid of any of them. No one here will hurt you," I assured.

My words put few people at ease. Desmond looked surprised, like he hadn't even realized that these people had been afraid until now. I then began to explain the situation in a low voice, trying to keep from being too blunt so as to not scare them.

I finished and there was silence as they processed all I'd said. For a minute, I didn't think they believed me. I half expected some sarcastic laughter.

Telling people that I'd come across one of the oldest creatures in existence and had left unscathed wasn't exactly believable.

"I know it's hard to believe," I started hesitantly.

"But we believe you," a woman at the front of the crowd said firmly.

They all must have seen the surprise flash across my face because another man spoke up immediately, followed by several others.

"You're one of us."

"We trust you."

"You fought for us."

There were several other murmurs of agreement. Not one person seemed to question my story despite how farfetched it all seemed. I glanced at Azriel in utter disbelief, but he just gave me a knowing smile.

Cassius looked proud, green eyes twinkling and I knew what he was thinking of.

You'd be Alpha.

My throat suddenly felt tight. These people trusted me, had come here when I'd asked knowing they could go to jail if they were caught. With that sudden responsibility came a surge of protectiveness as I realized I couldn't allow any of them to get hurt.

I'd expected myself to shy away from this responsibility, considering all I had on my shoulders, but instead it felt like a gift. A gift I didn't quite deserve but had been given to me nevertheless.

"If we don't do what she asks you'll get hurt," I said uncertainly.

"We didn't come this far to give in to her demands," a person stated.

"We don't have the numbers to protect all of you," Azriel interjected.

"But we will protect you as best as we can," Desmond added.

"We'll get people. There are over a hundred of us and each of us left behind family and friends who'd be willing to help, who'd believe us," a boy said emphatically.

He didn't look older than seventeen. I couldn't look him in the eye and tell him it wouldn't be enough, that nothing would probably be enough to stop this woman from getting what she wanted. They had hope and I had no right to take it away from them. Still, I had to warn them just one more time.

"There will still be bloodshed," I cautioned.

A slightly older woman, probably the oldest one in the room minus Rafia stepped forward. Her voice was wavering but it still carried through the room. The murmur stopped to listen to her.

"There will always be bloodshed dear before change. It's the sad way of this world. You can't let it stop you from fighting for what's right" she said grandiosely.

I wanted to backtrack, to tell them all that we weren't doing this. I'd always be scared of the operation for all they'd done, but seeing the person behind it, being near her had compounded those fears even more. I didn't want more death, not if it could be avoided.

Fighting for what's right had been easier when it was only my life to lose.

But I couldn't take their choice away from them.

"Alright. Call everyone you can and we'll prepare for her retaliation," I said firmly.

I sounded confident but I wasn't, not even close. Everyone dispersed, pulling out cellphones, leaving to get their cars to drive to various places. Hopefully we'd have some kind of force in place before the Countess caught wind of the fact that I'd defied her direct orders.

It was wishful thinking; all of this was wishful thinking.

It was only after everyone left the room that I let my shoulders sag. The boys came to stand around me. All of them looked grim, hands stuffed in their pockets.

This fight was right but it could also all be for nothing if we lost.

"We don't really stand a chance do we," I asked miserably.

"Sometimes you need to fight regardless," Azriel replied tiredly.

The four of us huddled a little closer, forming a little circle between our bodies and the tightness in my chest eased the tiniest bit. Not enough, not nearly enough for me to completely approve of the fight against the Countess. But it would be enough for me to pretend to have hope for them all.

Pretend that we didn't just have a fool's chance. 

The grand 50! I wish this chapter was the action packed one but we're still building up to the climax. Do you think they're making the smart choice, going up against the Countess like this? Should Catherine's fears have been considered more? A more broader question for you to think about, does every fight for the right reasons have to be fought?

If you liked this chapter, don't forget to vote and comment down below. Just a heads up, the next chapter is going to be slightly late. This week is crazy for me as far as work is concerned but I'll try posting within a week. Until then, 

LOVE, 

ASH