I heard Everett and Cal behind me as I stepped through the doorway, able to keep up with me better than the others. I threw up a barrier across the door before any of them could follow me in. As my eyes scanned my surroundings, I pressed my back to the wall beside the door and slid to the floor, unable to comprehend what I was seeing.

Gripping my hair in my hands, I pulled at it roughly, ignoring the sting it caused. I vaguely heard voices calling my name, but I was too far inside my head to respond even if I wanted to. Finally, my uncle's voice managed to break through.

"Ari, let me in. Just me. I know what's wrong," he said gently.

I dropped the shield just long enough for him to step through before I slammed it back into place. I didn't want the others in there. They could all see me, but they couldn't crowd me while I fell apart on the floor.

"Not again... Not again," I mumbled to myself, ignoring the way my head spun and my stomach cramped.

The scene had too much in common with the night my parents were killed. The blood splatter to the left of the door, the pool of blood right outside the entryway to the living room, even the single bloody handprint on the wall below the stairs.

The déjà vu was causing images of the past to mix with what was in front of me, making me unsure of which scene I was seeing at each given moment. My stomach turned violently, fighting to purge its contents, but I fought it back.

I knew if it was indeed the same, then a body would be in the living room, but I couldn't force myself to get up and look. My muscles refused to cooperate.

Uncle Ben kneeled down in front of me, firmly gripping my shoulders. "Ari, I need you to pull it together for me. You can't lose it. Not right now." He scanned our surroundings, his own disbelief evident. He couldn't believe what he saw any more than I could. He looked back at me with sad eyes. "This isn't your parents' house, Ari. This is now. Whoever did this clearly wanted to mess with your head."

I nodded numbly, agreeing with him. I already knew that. It wasn't possibly a coincidence. The scene was purposely recreated with incredible attention to detail. I couldn't find anything different besides the paint color on the walls and the flooring since it was a different house, but the blood... the blood was a replica of that night. The broken pictures hanging crooked on the wall under the stairs- though the images were different, the scene was the same.

I stuck my head between my knees and took a couple deep breaths, attempting to gather the courage for what I knew I needed to do next. Tears were already running down my cheeks as if they'd already accepted what was about to happen. I used the wall to push myself to my feet, taking a step towards the living room.

Uncle Ben reached for my hand, trying to stop me. "I'll look, Ari," he said, seeing in my eyes that I was already breaking.

I shook my head, pulled my arm free, and took another step towards the opening that led to the living room. I paused before turning the corner, attempting to brace myself for what I expected to see. Taking that final step, I rounded the corner and bent forward. Hands on my knees, I gasped in rapid breaths, once again unable to believe what I was seeing.

Nothing. There was more blood, but there was no body. I stumbled back a few steps before spinning and sprinting through the house. I searched every room, terrified of what I might find each time I came to another door, but it was all the same.

The only blood was in the foyer, hallway, and living room. No body anywhere. After searching every room, I returned to the first-floor hallway and looked at my uncle in disbelief.

"Nothing. He's not here," I gasped out in relief, but then we both scanned the blood surrounding us again. I had no idea where he was, but whatever happened in that house wasn't good.

The rest of the group stood awkwardly in the hallway, looking around as well. Clearly, I had let my shield down when I wasn't paying attention.

"Do you think-..." Julian started, but he couldn't bring himself to finish when his eyes landed on me. We both knew I might not survive a blow like this. Not on top of everything else.

I shrugged, not knowing how else to answer that question. I had no way of knowing if he was alive or not. As the overwhelming fear started to recede enough for me to think clearly, my stomach tightened again, and I tilted my head. Fire burned down my throat as I remembered something Lucien had told me that I was too panicked to register before.

Walking to the wall, I ran a finger through the blood and curiously brought it towards my face.

"Gross," I heard Julian mumble, but my relief was too strong to care. Despite the pain, I looked towards Uncle Ben with excitement shining in my eyes.

"It's not his blood," I whispered, but then I glanced around again. "At least not all of it is." He looked at me quizzically, and I waved my finger at him. "This blood is affecting me. It's not from a vampire." 

His eyebrows rose, and his lips twisted into a relieved smile.

Everett leaned towards the wall closest to him and nodded. "She's right. It's not. There might be some of his mixed in here somewhere, but most of it isn't his."

"He's still missing, though," Julian chimed in, and I gritted my teeth, hating that he was stomping on the hope that was growing.

"Maybe he was attacked, and he took off?" Call said hesitantly.

Me, Julian, and Uncle Ben all shook our heads immediately, but it was me who spoke up. "No. It doesn't matter how much danger he was in. He wouldn't take off without me." I racked my brain for an answer. "If his phone texted you to meet him in the woods, they have his phone. He would never walk you right into a trap of Sara's. He hates her even more than I do." A red tint seemed to take over my vision as I spoke, rage consuming me. "The only explanation is they took him. Either the coven or the pack."

I spun to look at Micah, who immediately held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I don't know anything about this. I swear."

I nodded, readily accepting his words. "I know they're your family, Micah. So, I understand if you're not okay with this, but if they hurt him, I'll tear that pack apart." His eyes widened, but he wisely kept his mouth shut for now. "The pack wouldn't know how to replicate this," I muttered as an afterthought, glancing at Uncle Ben.

He bit his lip, thinking. "They would if they're working with Sara. She could have told them."

"Replicate what?' Julian asked, bringing mine and Uncle Ben's focus to his as our eyes saddened.

"The blood splatter, the pool of blood there, the handprint, the photos... it was all done to screw with my head," I replied, hoping he wouldn't ask more. He and River hadn't come home that night until the police had secured the house. They never saw the things that I did.

When he fell silent, his eyes dropping to the floor, I slid my phone from my pocket and typed a quick text to River. "Make sure everyone knows, I will be finding Lucien, and if one hair is out of place, I'll destroy the coven like it should have been destroyed years ago."

Shoving the phone into my pocket, I walked out of the front door and headed back home. I needed to come up with a plan on how to find Lucien. If he was alive, I wanted him back. If he wasn't, I would get revenge on whoever was involved.

The next morning, I sat on the pier watching the sunrise with AirPods pressed into my ears, drowning out the silence around me. I had tried to sleep but had quickly given up when images of my parents' house kept intermingling with those of Lucien's.

Once I had given up on sleep, I couldn't handle the silence. It seemed to grow into a life of its own, suffocating me with endless thoughts of everything wrong in my life.

Feeling slight vibrations in the boards beneath me, I turned my head to see Lawrence approaching slowly. He sat beside me and just watched the colors of the sky change. Curious, I pulled my AirPods out and waited for him to speak.

"I'm sorry," he began, but I didn't react. I didn't speak or turn my head away from where I was focusing on the horizon. "Thanks for what you did for Craig." Again, I gave no response. "I'm sorry I didn't trust you. I'll make it up to you, Ari. Can you give me another chance?"

With a sigh, I pushed down my rising anger and turned to face him with a blank expression. "I have more important things to worry about right now than a boyfriend, Lawrence." I stood to walk away and didn't pause when he spoke again.

"I will win you back, Ari."

I continued back to the house, carefully keeping my expression blank. I couldn't let anyone see the emotions building inside of me. I didn't want any of them to see how twisted my mind had become since seeing the blood covering Lucien's walls.

Ever since he told me about the prophecy, I'd been confused about one thing. I didn't understand how I could possibly do anything evil or how there was even a chance of me destroying the supernatural world. Now though... Not I got it. I finally understood. Because I was fully prepared to burn the whole world to the ground if that's what I had to do to find Lucien.

I'd like to say thank you to everyone who stuck with me this far. I hope you enjoyed it. I know it ended on a cliffhanger, but book two The Ascent, is available now.