I crept down the stairs in the silent house, avoiding the stairs I knew creaked. I was tired of having to sneak around my own home, but it couldn't be helped. I had successfully avoided Sara for days, and I didn't plan to break that streak anytime soon. I was counting down the days until she would go back to the coven, so I didn't have to worry about her anymore.

When I reached the kitchen without encountering anyone, I heaved a sigh of relief and headed to the fridge in search of food.

"She's not here. You can stop sneaking around like a burglar."

I spun around with a yelp and smacked my uncle's shoulder. "How the hell did I not hear you coming?"

He chuckled at my reaction with a shrug of his shoulders. "Because I haven't moved. I was standing here when you snuck in. You were so focused on not making any noise, you didn't even notice."

I grabbed some leftover pizza out of the fridge with a roll of my eyes, not even bothering to heat it up before shoving it in my mouth. Holding a coke with my free hand, I sat on a barstool at the island. We still hadn't replaced the table since the incident a few days before.

"Where is she?" I asked after washing the bite down with a swig of Coke, planning to enjoy a little break from my floor while Sara was out.

He shrugged and dropped onto the stool beside my own. "Not sure. She went somewhere with Julian and River." He smirked when worry seeped onto my features. "They didn't have any bags, and she doesn't have any problem with them. They aren't in any danger."

"Right. She's only a danger with me," I said bitterly.

"Eh. Not really. You could take her," he said confidently, making me choke on my next bite of cold pizza. Laughing, I shook my head at him. "I haven't talked to you in a few days. How are you handling everything? Lucien said you seem to be holding it together."

I shrugged. "Oh, you mean being lied to my entire life about basically everything by everyone I care about? I'm just great," I said sarcastically.

"I'm sure you've got a lot of anger. That's understandable," he said carefully, and I nodded in agreement. "For what it's worth, I don't agree with how they went about it all, but they had good intentions. They might have kept a lot of things from you, but do you honestly think you could have handled all of this when you were younger? They always planned to tell you when they felt you could handle it, and they never once slacked on preparing you. Everything they did, every move they made was to protect you and prepare you for what was coming."

Thinking about it, I realized he was right. I was well prepared to protect myself if anything happened, but that still didn't make up for all the secrets. Especially the one about Dante. I was angry at them for not telling me, and I felt guilty for being angry at the people who were murdered because some sick family was searching for me.

With a sigh, I stood from the stool, no longer wanting to talk about it or think about it, for that matter. I had been hoping to enjoy a little human interaction since I'd been cooped up on my floor for days, with only Lucien making occasional appearances. I glanced at my phone to see no notifications and shook my head sadly. I hadn't even heard from my friends in two days, hadn't heard from the Haltermans since my confrontation with Lizzie at the pier. Even Lucien had been quiet since the night before.

I leaned against the wall beside the window when I reached my floor, staring at the world outside. It felt oddly reminiscent of how things used to be. The last month didn't even feel real anymore. I was right back to the lonely isolation of the third floor all over again.

Grabbing a book, I sprawled out on one of the bean bag chairs and opened the pages to where I'd left off the night before. I was deep into the storyline when my phone chimed. I almost ignored it to continue reading, but I was anxious to see who had finally contacted me. Seeing it was just Julian, I again almost ignored it, but something stopped me. I tapped the screen and felt every one of my muscles tense, panic overwhelming me.

"Get to the Northeast side of the lake NOW. 911!"

Tossing the book aside, I slung the window open and climbed out onto the roof. I easily dropped to the ground and broke into a sprint as soon as my feet touched the ground. I wondered if I should stop and grab Lucien but ultimately decided I didn't have time to stop. If Julian sent me a 911, I needed to get there as fast as possible. I ran into the woods in the direction Julian had told me and didn't slow my pace until the sound of voices reached me. I slowed my steps to gauge what kind of situation I was walking into.

"You shouldn't have come here. This is our territory," an unknown voice said menacingly.

"We don't mean any harm," a voice I believed to be Cal responded.

Tensing, I came to a complete stop when I heard a laugh I recognized only too well. "Your kind always means harm. It's in your nature," Sara said, and I thought my head might explode with the anger surging through me. The first voice was a mystery to me, but if my grandmother was here as well as Cal, she must be going after him because he was a vampire.

 "That's not true," Everett's voice insisted, and I sucked in a breath. So, Sara was making a move against the Haltermans, not just Cal. I wondered how in the world she had managed to get them all out in the woods, but it was obvious why she'd chosen this route instead of making a move on their house. If it had happened next door, I would have heard it, and she didn't want me to be able to interfere.

I was immensely grateful for my little brother's text.

I calmly strolled into the clearing and glanced around, taking a steadying breath. My eyebrows nearly hit my hairline when I saw not only the Haltermans and Sara but also what looked like part of the coven, some wolves, and some shirtless men that I assumed were part of the local werewolf pack. My eyes lingered on the wolves, not having seen one in wolf form before. They looked like ordinary wolves, just a little bigger.

They were all so focused on what they were doing that they hadn't noticed me yet. My fists tightened in anger when I saw Sara standing face to face with Everett while the rest of his family stood behind him with fear evident on their faces as they eyed all the witches and werewolves surrounding them.

Clearing my throat loudly, multiple heads finally turned my way. My eyes stayed locked on Sara, though, and when she finally glanced over to see what all the whispering was about, I tilted my head with a slight smirk.

"Problem?" I asked between clenched teeth, trying to restrain my anger.

"Nope. Just getting rid of the problem," Sara said sweetly.

I shook my head at her to emphasize my next words. "That's not going to happen."

"Stay out of this, Ariella," she said, narrowing her eyes.

My lips twitched, and I shook my head again. "Yeah, that's not going to happen either."

"And how do you plan to stop us?" An unfamiliar voice asked, and I slowly looked away from Sara to search for the source. My gaze landed on a skinny, frail-looking woman that I knew instantly must be part of the coven. As soon as her eyes met mine, she gasped and threw a shocked look Sara's way.

"The one from the prophecy? How is that possible? You never mentioned that the one from the prophecy had been born," she said in a high-pitched voice, taking a step away from me.

"Yes, Gran. Do tell," I said with a smirk. "What's the matter? Didn't want your friends to know about me?"

"Shut up, Ariella," Sara said, taking a menacing step towards me.

"Make me," I responded simply, hoping to keep her attention on me and off of the Haltermans.

"How did you even know we were here?" She asked curiously, shooting a look at the Haltermans, obviously believing them to be the culprits.

I confidently walked through the group, almost daring them to touch me, and stepped between Sara and Everett. Shrugging my shoulders carelessly, I turned to face her. "Does it matter? The question is, why didn't you invite me?"

"Did she say the one from the prophecy? Did she mean the Gorman Prophecy?" A man standing beside Sara asked, and I recognized the voice as the one I'd heard mentioning that this was his territory.

"What do you know about it?" I asked.

He turned to glare at me with familiar eyes, and I almost gasped in shock. I knew without a doubt that I was staring into the eyes of Micah's father. "I know you being here means danger for my pack. You'll bring the Lockton family here in search of you, and when they find us, they'll kill my entire pack like they've done thousands of others."

"If you say so," I replied with a snort. In my mind, if the Locktons did come, the safest place to be was with me if the prophecy was correct.

"Why does she appear to be shielding the vampires?" Another voice asked, pulling my eyes to a short round man with a shock of bright red hair. His forehead was puckered in confusion as his eyes ping-ponged between Sara and me. "If you really are the one from the prophecy, you're a Gorman. Why would you side with them?"

I turned back to Sara and tilted my head to gesture towards the man. "Do you want to tell him, or should I? You really shouldn't have brought them here if you wanted to keep me a secret."

"You kept something this important a secret. What else have you been hiding?" The frail woman from before asked, causing me to chuckle at the mistrust in her voice as she confronted Sara.

"This is Angela's firstborn. We kept it a secret to protect her," Sara answered, almost managing to sound as if she was being honest.

"So, she's the next leader?" The man asked.

I immediately shook my head. "I want nothing to do with your murderous coven."

Ignoring the gasps that seemed to echo around the clearing, I turned my head at the sound of a pain-filled groan from behind me. Lawrence's visiting friend was at the back of our group, holding his arm close to his chest. "You okay back there?" I asked, keeping one eye on Sara, not trusting her in the least. The boy shook his head in denial.

"Werewolf bite," Everett whispered, sounding upset, and I raised an eyebrow in question. "It's fatal to vampires."

"It's a slow, painful death. I can make it quicker if you get out of the way," Sara said with an evil smile.

"Not a chance."

She shrugged. "I'll go through you if I have to."

I snorted, remembering Lucien's story. "Funny. I heard you said the same thing to Mom once." I took a threatening step towards her and enjoyed the flicker of worry that showed in her eyes. "The difference is, you're not stronger than me."

Sara quickly regained her composure and laughed softly. "You haven't even ascended yet. You really think you can fight off ten witches and a pack of werewolves?"

I glanced around the clearing and noted that there were, in fact, ten witches, counting my siblings, four wolves, and five men I assumed were werewolves as well. I was definitely outnumbered, and it wouldn't be easy, but I was confident in my abilities. 

So, I nodded slowly. "Well, we're about to find out, aren't we?"

Before anyone could make a move, Julian moved to stand beside me.

"Julian?" River gasped in shock. "You're choosing her over us?" She asked, clearly shocked that the brother she'd always been close to wasn't standing beside her.

Julian shook his head. "This isn't a choice between you and Ari, River. It's a choice between right and wrong. I'm standing on the right side."

"Sara, think about this. She's your granddaughter. Besides, do we really want to make an enemy of the one from the prophecy? What if the prophecy was right?" The red-headed man asked, taking a step back and looking a little scared.

I flicked my eyes to Sara, waiting for her decision. After a moment of hesitation, she squared her shoulders and looked directly into my eyes. "She might be my granddaughter by blood, but she's an abomination that never should have been born."

I flinched slightly but recovered with a nod. I saw confusion cover all the faces around us. "Maybe you're right. After all, I shouldn't even be possible," I shrugged, "But there's nothing you can do about it now."

"Abomination? Shouldn't be possible? What the hell is going on?" River asked angrily. The girl never did know when to shut up.

Might as well let the cat out of the bag. She had a right to know. So, did all the people around us. "Long story short? Dad wasn't actually my dad," I said, my voice cracking slightly. River's eyes widened, and Sara shot a weak burst of energy towards me in an attempt to shut me up, but I used my own to block it. "Sara did not hide my existence to protect me," I said, glancing around at the members of the coven before looking back to River. "She did it to protect her own reputation. That's why she's trying to shut me up now." Smirking, I looked at Sara, seeing nothing but hatred shining back at me. Now it was my turn to watch as I tore her world apart. "I mean, she's famous for killing vampires, right? How would it look if everyone knew that her only child fell in love with one?"

Gasps filled the clearing again, and River stared at the back of Sara's head, trying to decide who to believe. "That's not true. Mom believed the same as the coven. Vampires are monsters," she said, obviously having trouble believing me after years of hostility.

"No, she didn't. I have a letter at home that proves that's a lie. If she believed the same as the coven, why did she leave it?"

She hesitated and glanced in Sara's direction. I realized then that the woman held more influence over my sister than I'd realized. "Tell her the truth," I grit out between clenched teeth, beyond angry. "Tell her how Mom fell in love with Dante. How you injured her when she tried to protect him from you. Tell them all how Mom got pregnant and how you threatened to kill your own grandchild if he didn't disappear."

"You are no grandchild of mine!" She screamed angrily in my direction. I caught a glimpse of movement from the corner of my eye. Thanks to my training, it was pure instinct to move my hand, catching the large stick only a split second before it would have reached my chest.

I stared at it for a moment in shock before slowly turning to Sara. For the umpteenth time, gasps filled the clearing.

"Did you just-..." River said disbelievingly, looking at Sara as if just seeing her for the first time.

I nodded my head slowly, realizing that it was now life or death. My own grandmother had just tried to kill me.

"Are you okay?" Julian asked from beside me. I nodded mutely, keeping a firm grip on the stick so it couldn't be used again.

I'd wanted to try talking her down, but I realized it had been a pointless hope. I was just wasting my breath and everyone's time. My mind was running haywire, my heart beating erratically, but on the outside, I appeared utterly calm.

I continued to stare at Sara, ignoring the way the wind began to shriek violently through the trees around us, and the ground started to shake subtly. Multiple witches slowly backed away, looking nervous and shocked at my effortless show of power. No witch should be able to do what I was doing before ascending. Very few through history could even after ascending. Controlling nature in such a way was not an easy feat. I wasn't doing anything to hurt anyone. Not yet. This was more of a warning to the amount of power I held.

My eyes began to glow eerily, and the atmosphere around us was quickly becoming volatile. Everyone's tension ratcheted up in response. I knew the attack was coming soon, and I braced for it. Their fight or flight instincts had kicked in, and I was hoping flight would win for most of them.

"Stop her," Micah's father ordered. A wolf lunged for me, and I used a burst of energy to send my group flying back away from the fray.

Before the reddish-brown wolf could reach me, or I could even attempt to stop it myself, a beautiful white wolf came out of nowhere, tackling it to the ground at my feet. Surprise caused me to pause, losing my focus until a bolt of electricity slammed into me, knocking me to the ground. I grunted, convulsing from the shock, but managed to throw up a shield to block the next bolt coming my way.

I barely had time to notice it was coming from the frail woman before a small flame singed my arm from a different direction. Narrowing my eyes, I glared at the short, round man. I shot my own, slightly bigger flame back at him, attempting not to injure him too severely. I tried to aim for his arms, and the size of the flame wasn't nearly what I was capable of.

I vaguely noticed that the group of wolves fighting in front of me had grown, with more than just the white one appearing to be on my side. Three of them were fighting to keep the pack back. The white one had blood soaking the fur of one leg, but it was still fighting strong. My eyes were drawn to a very small, light grey one trying to keep a much larger red wolf from getting to me. The red wolf lunged, and I hit it with a bolt of electricity, just trying to faze it.

I didn't want to kill anyone here. Just get them to back off.

 A solid black wolf darted from the side, managing to get to me while our focus had been on the ones in front of me. It hit my torso at a full sprint while I was distracted, sending us both rolling across the ground. All I could do was grab its throat and push, trying with everything in me to keep its mouth away from any part of me. The close-up view of its teeth glistening in the moonlight while it snapped at me repeatedly sent a shiver of fear through me.

I wasn't sure if a werewolf bite would be fatal to me or not, but since I was half vampire, I didn't want to test the theory. After a small wrestling match, I was finally able to get a little space between us. Drawing my knees up, I prepared to kick it off of me when it suddenly disappeared. I watched it fly through the air and glanced up, seeing both Lawrence and Everett standing above me. Unsure which one had thrown the wolf, I gave them both a nod of thanks.

A deep, ominous rumble echoed through the clearing, and the ground began to shake, momentarily drawing everyone's attention from their opponents. A fissure appeared in the earth between my side and theirs, causing everyone to retreat from their fights. Everyone eyed the ground nervously.

I sat up with a grunt and let loose. Flames burst from the crack, completely blocking each side from the other's view and effectively ending the confrontation. For now.

I watched the flames dance in the violent winds and waited to see what would happen next.

"This isn't over, Ariella," Sara yelled from her side, and I nodded despite knowing she couldn't see the gesture.

The pure white wolf turned into a very naked Micah, and I quickly averted my eyes. "That cracking the ground thing was awesome!" He said enthusiastically as if we hadn't been all fighting for our lives seconds before. I saw how he was pressing his hand firmly against a bite on the opposite arm, trying to slow the bleeding.

I nodded in total agreement to his words. "That wasn't me, though." He looked at me in shock, and I pointed to the flames. "The fire was me, but the crack was not." I glanced over my shoulder and noticed Julian bent over with his hands on his knees, gasping for breath.

Without looking up, he nodded in answer to my silent question just as his knees gave way. His exhaustion showed in every muscle in his body as it sagged against the ground. He wasn't used to using that much power. I was shocked that he was able to at all and more than a little impressed.

"You okay?" I asked worriedly, and he nodded.

"You're going to tell me the whole story about Mom," he said, not leaving any room for argument, and I agreed. He had every right to know. We all had a right to know a lot of things that had been kept from us for far too long.

"Anybody hurt?" I asked, falling back on the ground and staring up at the starry sky above. Holding the firewall up for so long after using so many of my powers was quickly draining my energy, but I wanted to ensure they were gone before I released my hold on it.

"I got bit, but it's already healing. Oliver and Emily look fine," Micah responded for the wolves. I glanced over at the two still in wolf form, realizing who they were for the first time. Although, it should have been obvious. Emily was the small light grey wolf, and Oliver's was skinny, just like he was in human form, making his legs almost appear too long for his body. His wolf was bigger than hers, and his fur was dark grey with some black sprinkled in.

"Your arm is burnt," Everett said, staring down at me. I glanced over at my right arm, only noticing the pain once he mentioned it.

"Julian, can you help me out?" I asked my brother, who was now lying face down in the dirt.

He held up a finger in my direction. "Give me a minute, and I'll try. I really don't have it in me right now."

After not hearing a single sound from the other side during our entire conversation, I released my hold on the flames, allowing them to drop down to an average size. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and forced a strong gust of wind down into the crack, extinguishing the flames entirely.

"I'm dying," Lawrence's friend said, waving his hand like everyone had forgotten about him. In all honesty, I kind of had. I waved him over, and he hesitated but appeared to decide he had nothing to lose and approached me cautiously.

Standing to meet him, I pressed my hand against the bite on his forearm, pushing more energy into healing him than usual. Nothing happened. I felt my magic working, felt it dancing across my skin and eliciting a tingling sensation in my hand, but his arm didn't change. I stared at the bite with my forehead wrinkling in confusion.

"Not even you can fix that," Micah spoke up. "There is no cure for a werewolf bite to a vampire. Just like there's no cure if one of them bites one of us. For some reason, our venom is just toxic to the other."

My gaze rose from his arm to settle on the guy's face, and I bit the inside of my cheek anxiously. I didn't even know the guy's name, but my heart ached for him. Gran had lashed out because of me. He got caught up in a fight that had absolutely nothing to do with him, and it was going to cost him his life.

 I could only think of one way to help him as his face scrunched up in pain.

"Let's go to the house," I said, suddenly in a rush to return home.

"Uh, about that," Micah said awkwardly. "We kind of just fought against our own pack. We can't exactly go home."

I didn't even hesitate. "You can all crash with me."

"You sure?" He asked, looking uncomfortable.

I nodded with a look that made it clear I thought it was a stupid question. They had fought to help me. The least I could do was give them a place to sleep. I was positive my uncle wouldn't care once he heard what happened.