It took a few minutes of embarrassed yelps before I adjusted properly. Every crunch of a twig, clacked like the snap of bones betwixt slobbering jaws of an imagined maw. The flit of a shadow, darting between the mirage of verdant greens, pulled at my shoulder blades as if awakening a primeval fear of predators in the sky, and as the pale whiteness of the clouds out lined the seams of tree tops, it caused my eyes to regret looking upwards as they strained against its brightness.

Lyra was behind me. Patiently watching like a parent. I'd been glad that it was her that had accompanied me on this walk, the embarrassment I felt at my own cowardice from merely going outside seemed a lot easier to ignore when I somehow convinced myself that never seeing her again was a possibility.

"Avery, you're doing great and everything bud, but you're going too fast." Lyra panted, as I turned to her, I was suddenly aware of how far from the Vampire house we were. It couldn't have been more than ten-fifteen minutes since we had left, and yet any other time this walk would've taken an hour or two. I was sure of it, especially because I knew exactly where we were. I always knew how to find my way home in this forest, it's why, after a while, me and Victoria rarely had parental guidance when we went exploring. I'd always find my way home.

Lyra seemed somewhat out of breath, although no where near exhausted, I could tell her heart fluttered in disciplined rhythms beneath the steady swell of her chest. She'd always seemed the type that took immaculate care of herself, but it seemed only now that I noticed how much self control over her own body that she subtly lorded over any that might watch. Like she didn't breathe unless she made the decision to, her heart didn't beat unless she wanted it to, and therefore; she wouldn't die unless she willed it so. It was a powerful feeling, this understanding that poured from her musculature and confident smirk.

"You lot are faster, and over a longer distance, than us lot. If only by a small margin." She laughed, it didn't register quite the uncomfortable cloak she hung over my shoulders at referring to me as "you lot". Meaning Vampires. I was, am, a Vampire.

There was a few things she had taught me in our short time together. It was always a comparison between Werewolves and Vampires, which I found intriguing. Like there was an unspoken competition between the species, which held an air of impossible weight to it. Each comparison thick with a long dead camaraderie, like earth that had long since swallowed the bones of the dead for safe keeping so that they might one day be brought back with a light of fondness and curiosity. Equally, it festered with bloody feuds, that soaked that same earth and those same bones, staining them with its crimson, and blotting out its whiteness forever more. To me it seemed equals parts sad as it was mythical. I wished to learn more, and cursed myself for the lack of knowledge I've had so far.

Vampires were faster, and more diverse in their capabilities than Werewolves. Their variety and diversity is what makes them dangerous and unpredictable. Although there are trends and similarities within clans. Sunlight doesn't reduce them to ashes, at least not immediately anyway. It's more like an aggressive, allergic reaction. Solar Urticaria but ten times worse. Although I am told there is a clan of Vampires in the Bahamas who can walk in the light as much as they please, and it is quite the bid to mingle their blood within your own bloodline apparently.

Werewolves are stronger, naturally manoeuvrer among the rest of the world easier, and have a stronger familial bond. While Vampires cooperate with one another, they are individuals under one roof. Werewolves have an instinctual understanding among pack members, that allows cohesion and teamwork to happen with little energy wasted on expressive communication. It not only cements family strength, but makes them a deadly force when together. This is still a choice I am told. A wolf has to choose to be a member of the pack.

They know nothing of Witches. Only that they're good for advice, sometimes prophecy, but by the time you understand what they're trying to say, it's already happened, and therefore shouldn't be trusted like one of your own. Apparently old Wolves used to have a word for Witches that loosely translated to "Venomous human". I laughed at that one.

"So, Simon had supposedly done some digging on that old guy that Victoria was with." She finally piped up when I didn't respond. I frowned, scrunching my face up with a slight distaste at the pain her name caused in my chest.

"Apparently, he's still kickin'. But is out for revenge. Gunning for the ones who took his beloved ambrosia away."

"Victoria you dramatic bitch." I snorted with the fondness of her mannerisims "Who is this guy?"

"To be honest? I'm not sure, I kind of zoned out a little when he was explaining. I got the gist though. He's a mob boss of some kind. Which explains how Victoria got a hold of so many men and resources to protect her. She must've got lucky with her charms on the right person. And we got lucky we attacked when we did. Any longer, and they probably would've been better equipped to deal with us, despite how much trouble her magic was: all in all, it was a fairly smooth operation." She explained, slowing to a stop when she saw how grim my expression had become. "Sorry"

"It's okay. Everything is just going at a hundred miles an hour ya know? Or at least it was, and now I'm dealing with the fucking splatterfest that is a corpse connecting with the wall after going at a hundred miles an hour. It's messy, it's gotten every where, there's probably no putting it back together."

"Yeah... Well at least you have your family? And the guys? And Bethany...? Right? You guys are a thing, right?"

"Uh... No. At least, not really. We kind of were. I don't know." I threw my arms up in exasperation. "We just fucked a couple of times. I was a toy she could play with until I broke or she got bored. And she was a distraction I could use to get my mind off how shit things were."

"Oh... That's fucked up." She commented, nonchalantly perching herself on a moss covered out cropping of stone, that had been grasped by mud and soft dirt.

"I'm aware."

"Well, would you mind if I...?" She trailed off coyly, rolling her eyes in the direction back to the Vampire manor, a cheesy grin plastered upon her face as she awaited some form of rebuttal. I laughed in response. Loud and hearty, it echoed off the tree tops. "Hey! It's not that bad of an idea, I'm a real catch ya know."

"No, no. I'm not laughing at that. That was just very bold is all." I giggled, wiping a tear that had formed in the corner of my eye. It felt strange to laugh like that again, like it cut me momentarily free of whatever invisible weight held me anchored.

"Sure, go for it--" I said, but cut the rest of my sentence short as my eyes fell upon something. A small shimmering light, brighter than it should be considering the time of day, was slipping its way through the trees. It filtered visible rays of a pale blue through the gnarled trunks in it's travels. Causing my head to tilt in a curious manner. "Do you see that?" I asked, stepping forward.

"See what?" She asked, jumping from the rock she'd sat on to look in the same direction I was. Squinting her eyes and pricking her ears for danger, I'd comment on how endearing it was, being vaguely aware of her nose shuffling to pick up foreign scents; but I was entranced by the light before me.

It moved uniform as I watched. There was no cadence, no bob, to it's movements. Meaning it wasn't walking, and it was certainly too thick in the forest to be a vehicle or torch light. Not to mention it was the middle of the day, visibility was fine without artificial lights.

Lyra's shouts and calls fell on deaf ears, gently fading into background noise as I began to slip between the trees, barely disturbing a single fallen leaf on my way. The light was further than I'd expected as I moved, I prepared for it to be unreasonably bright, but it's brightness never changed. It was hard to tell whether I was moving closer at all, my mind barely registering the subtle changes in my surroundings.

I passed tree after tree, hopped over embankments and miniscule winding streams. Until, eventually, I found it. Or rather: whom.

She stood, slightly smaller than me, outlined in an ethereal blue that gently caressed the scenery in pale films of silver. Her clothing and hair seemed floaty, as if caught in the gentle drifting of the tide underwater, and her smile was gentle and warming. Her hair, I could tell, was dark, but seemed a slight shade lighter given the glow of her situation.

I didn't step forward, although I felt compelled to. A familiarity struck it's chord within a part of my memory I hadn't known existed, as the realisation came that I had seen this face, this person many times before.

It was difficult to determine colour, but her eyes lingered on mine, and I felt an empathic wave of sadness and failure wash over me. The feelings were not mine, but hers. It was strange being aware of the feelings of another so blatantly. There was no barrier, no need for my subconscious to translate body language or expressions, as if she was telling me with her own words as clear as day. There was love there as well. A consuming love that seemed to be the fuel for the guilt that she pushed my way.

Still I could not trace how it is I recognised her. But I wanted to know, it disturbed me of how sure I was that I had seen her before, like an ever present figure in the background.

My lip quivered as a delicate hand reached out, gently brushing my forehead before my vision was overtook with a flash of blinding white. I panicked gasping as my eyes snapped shut, only opening them a moment later when a strange warmth had passed over me.

I was beside the road somehow. The one that cut straight through the forest as the bridge from one town to the next, and I pushed myself up from the dirt and the mud to observe my surroundings once more. The grinding of pavement and plastic wheels, mingled with idle chatter and laughter caught my attention and I pushed forward to see two figures pushing a pram down the side of the road.

It was obvious by their demeanour that they were a couple, blissfully contented in their love as they undoubtedly pushed their child forward. They were heading towards Tithe Manor. The husband paused for a second, his body going momentarily rigid as they both stopped.

"Honey, what is it?" The female, the same as the spirit I had just encountered, but alive, questioned. Looking to her husband with concern. The child began to cry. I knew that reaction. That sudden tension. They were experiencing The Cunning, and just as I too began to search for danger, the husband turned revealing his face.

It was my father. Much younger than I had ever seen him before, he couldn't have been much older than I am now. His hair a rich, earthen brown, devoid of any grey. I wanted to stride forward, and question what was happening but before I could, several pairs of silver dots landed in the darkened pathway.

My father stepped closer protectively to the woman. His wife. His child. My mother. Me.

"You're trespassing." His voice eerily thick with the intimidating countenance of a strong leader as he eyed the figures that had dropped into the pathway. I could see my mothers knuckles, white as they gripped the pram.

I lurched forward, standing beside my father, finding a protective snarl somehow escape my lips. These Vampires meant harm, I could feel it. I wouldn't allow it.

"Leave us be." He commanded once more, the trees beckoning the flex of his Witch-King powers, the sky answering with a thunderous affirmation. But the figures were undeterred. They snarled back with a hiss of a thousand snakes.

"You should of helped us." All their voices whispered in a chorus that echoed around the area. The hush of their presence spilling out before us like an insidious tide. Frigidly chilling me to the bone, as fear pricked at my insides at the monsters. "We have suffered long enough. You should of helped us."

My father stood tall. Unfazed, despite his anger growing with the groan of tree roots and boughs, that itched beneath their bark to lash out in retribution at the intruders.

"A price shall be paid. A debt returned." The hisses came again, and within an instant: They lunged.

I found myself working on reflex as a shadow darted straight towards my father. My helplessness only ringing violently true when it passed straight through me, as if I was not there at all. It barrelled into the young man with a grunt, carrying him into the tree line.

I screamed and lashed as the others descended upon him, but to no avail. My actions finding no purchase, merely passing through as if I was a shadow myself.

One, by one, their heads fell from their bodies, as the trees snapped and lashed like whips. A vampire was impaled through the chest. His heart still beating as it stuck to the tip of a glistening branch, as he was lifted into the air before being tossed to the side. My father stood. Bloodied and wounded, anger flared within him the likes of which I had never seen before as his hands burned like a hot knife through butter against the skull of the Vampire that had tackled him. They slipped through the mushy pile of gore and sinew, as his screams cried out to a sky that answered to no one but the King.

My mothers scream was halted in but a half of second. Clutching the crying baby to her chest she fell to the ground, a number of the Vampires wounded by her own magic, was not enough to stop their tenacity. Until that moment; I hadn't noticed. I had been in such an awe at the sight of my father unleashing a magic that shouldn't be possible, that when my mother was attacked it barely registered.

That same failure I had felt before, I now felt from my father. I now felt from me. As the surrounding Vampires were launched in to a number of trees with a gesture. The trees now wielding gaping maws of wooded teeth that snapped shut with a horrific crunches and they champed and churned the meat that had been tossed to them. He fell to his knees. Tears already slipping down his cheeks, a sentiment the sky seemed to reflect as rain began to bleed from the clouds. I could hear him weeping. Each heave of his chest tore at my heart. Every stifled whimper as he helplessly pawed at my mothers lifeless face, searching for some sign of life.

He clutched her so tightly, rocking on his knees. Thunder bellowed its power above. Clapping with a deafening cry as the last stranger Vampire staggered forward. A blade in his hand, his confidence surging from the distraction. Victory was painted on bloody lips that peeked their fangs. I stepped forward in a last pathetic attempt to intervene.

When he stopped, I thought I might be getting some results, but then I saw that he didn't want to stop. His muscles were tense. Straining so hard that I thought they may burst from his skin, but still he did not budge. Eyes wide with a strange and confused terror, it was then I noticed that my fathers weeping had turned into vengeful growls. His face was a visage of pure, unfiltered, hatred. Anger flowed freely from his eyes that they slipped into a pale white with the thirst of vengeance. Consumed by it.

His lips where moving rapidly, a spell that bounced from the trees. Each word effortlessly leaping from his tongue, punctuated with the violent growl of his voice that then impaled itself on the rapidly rising wind which had began to whip and tug angrily at hair, clothing, and forest dander.

Flash

He called, and the sky answered. Dancing lightning from it's maw, to one cloud and then the next. With a thunderous boom, a bolt struck the Vampire. He let out an ear piercing shriek as his body started to burst and smoulder. His clothing immediately igniting despite being sopping wet.

Flash

Again, he struck. The Vampires throat giving out as his chords were chard to cinders, bursting from his mouth like a volcano of blood and meat. The veins along his neck and jaw blackening as they crackled with electricity.

Flash

Distinct popping sounds were ejected from his body as his blood vessels burst in miniature clouds of crimson, his eyes igniting in blue fire before their matter slipped down the sides of cracked cheeks.

Flash. Flash. Flash.

He just kept, striking. Each word, a crushing hammer. It didn't matter that the Vampire was dead beyond regeneration. He just kept striking. Striking at the bones rattling in the wind. Striking at the figure who had caused him so much pain. Striking at his soul, his idea, his being.

Even as I felt myself being pulled away, my father was still striking with vicious lightning. I called out, reaching for him. Offering whatever comfort I could, but as my eyes opened once again I was standing before the same figure. The same spirit I had come to know as my mother.

I struggled to catch my breath, as I used my sleeve to wipe away tears I didn't even know was there.

"Why would they do that?" I whimpered "Why are you just showing yourself to me now? Why now?"

Again I felt that pang of failure emanate from her. It was confusing, it caused my eyes to furrow in frustration. Her hand graced my chest, and then she pulled it back to her own. When I still didn't understand, she pointed to her canine teeth, using her fingers to emulate extra length.

"I'm a Vampire now? I died, is that it? That wasn't your fault. How could you think such things? You're a spirit, you couldn't of done anything even if you wanted to..."

She then stepped to the side. Gesturing behind her, to reveal a large mossy body. Barely noticeable against the verdant greens and forest floor, save for the large, stag-like, head, that now lay inert atop a mess of limp vines.

"You've been the protector? This whole time?" I mused, stepping forward and plucking the skull from its perch. "But it's supposed to be eons old..." Had the myths been a lie?

I was met with an understanding. An urge to consider deeper, wider. My mind began to work at the different possibilities. Perhaps, The Protector was an old relic as they say. Perhaps it just needed something to operate it. Like a machine that needs a controller, but made of magic and nature, instead of electronics and technology.

"Avery!" Lyra's voice sounded out of breath and pissed, causing me to turn around. Only to find that the spirit was no longer there. She was gone. "You asshole I said don't run off so quick-- what's that?"

"A skull" I said, limply toying with the Stags head in my hands as Lyra rolled her eyes while I scanned my surroundings for a sign of someone else.

"We should head back. The others will be getting worried I bet." She grumbled, and I barely registered her lightly tugging on my forearm and pulling me forward. My mind was a whirlpool of confusion and thoughts, that caused my head to ache. But I had to make myself understand. Had The Protector been protecting me all this time? Maybe that's why she felt like a failure. When I was no longer in the forest, following Victoria, she couldn't protect me anymore, so when I died-ish, it was considered a failure? Yet another thing that was my fault that didn't make sense.

The forest seemed quieter on the way back, and it unnerved me. Like the quiet before a storm.

A/N: Boom, marathon (ish?) Chapter to keep us going through Yule. I am super thankful for you guys reading my story thus far and I hope it's been an entertaining experience. Sorry it took longer than normal to update, work has been killing me and I just haven't found the time nor the energy. Thank you for you patience!