Aneisha stared as a man, tall and bulky, wielding a crossbow, stormed up and within seconds, had shot Beth and Veronica into nothing but ashes. She cried out quietly and saw Dan and Zoe standing on top of the building across the street. Sky moved to stand into her side, her brown eyes hard as Ezekiel suddenly appeared, moving to stand beside Tom.
"The only Old One alive," the man said. "How does it feel to know that you are the last of your kind?"
"How does it feel to know I'm going to snap your neck?" Ezekiel hissed back. In response, the man shot at Ezekiel and Sky with his crossbow. Ezekiel yanked the arrow out of the air in front of him, while Sky just yanked the arrow out of her chest - he'd narrowly missed her heart. In front of Aneisha, Tom morphed into a large dark brown wolf and he charged forward, snarling at the Hunter who threatened everything he loved.
"You would be a powerful ally, Sorceress," the man said, before he took off running. Tom started to follow, but Aneisha called him back and he whined, but obediently trotted back to her side as Dan and Zoe appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
Silently, Dan walked over to the ashes of his sisters, lying on the ground, and knelt down. He let his head fall forward and Zoe knelt beside him, draping her arm across his shoulders. Eventually, Dan stood up, his expression hard.
"What do we do now?" Aneisha asked.
"We ready ourselves," Dan said. "We weren't ready tonight and they came for us."
"So?"
"We'll be ready," Dan said. "We'll be ready for them."
Zoe looked down at the ashes in front of her, swallowing down tears as she ducked her head.
Nina, Malik, Veronica and Beth.
All dead.
All because she couldn't handle a Sire Bond.
Zoe and Dan sat in one of the higher branches of a tree above Matt and Tom, watching. Matt was teaching Tom, once again, to hone his powers as a werewolf with Aneisha and Logan sitting on the ground nearby. Aneisha was throwing illusions at Logan of blood and humans and beating hearts, testing his control.
"Are you okay?" Dan asked quietly, brushing Zoe's hair back from her face.
"Nina. Malik. Veronica. Beth. They're all . . . They're all dead, because I couldn't . . . Because I – " Zoe broke off and doubled over, squeezing her stomach as she let out a loud sob. "They're all dead and it's my fault."
"Come 'ere," Dan said, and he drew her to him, holding her close against him. Zoe sobbed against his shoulder. "I don't want anyone else to die because of me."
"They won't," Dan said. "No one's going to die, I promise."
Zoe wanted to believe him as blindingly as she used to, but she couldn't. He wasn't God, he couldn't handle things with just the snap of his fingers. He'd spent the entire time he'd known her protecting her. Now it was her turn.
That night, while Dan was sleeping, Zoe crawled out of bed and pulled on jeans and a shirt. As she pushed her feet into her boots, Sky walked in and Zoe shoved her out of the room before she could wake up Dan.
"What are you doing?" Sky hissed. "Are you insane?"
"Yes," Zoe replied, shrugging into her jacket.
"You're just going to go and find them?" Sky asked. "Even though they'll kill you?"
"If they have me, they'll leave him alone," Zoe said.
"You don't know that!" Sky hissed. "We're just guessing that they want you. We can't know. They are psychopaths, Zoe."
"I'm willing to take that chance." Zoe said, starting towards Dan.
"What about Dan? What's he supposed to do?" Sky asked.
Zoe turned back, sighing. "He'll have you and Zeke and Tom and Matt and Neish . . . he'll be fine. Eventually he'll get over me and find someone whose very existence doesn't endanger him."
"And what if he doesn't?" Sky asked. "And what about Logan? He needs you."
"Logan?" Zoe laughed bitterly. "I'm hardly Sire material. You and Dan will help him come to terms with what he is and Matt will keep him grounded. You'll be fine. I'm not important."
"You're not . . . Zoe, you're the most important piece in this whole thing."
"I'm not," Zoe said, and Sky saw her shrug briefly before she was gone. Sky stared at the spot that she had occupied for a few more seconds, before she got over her shock and stomped into Dan's room, leaning over him and grabbing his shoulders. She shook him violently until his azure eyes opened and he shoved her away, sitting up. "What the – " he broke off, looking around. "Where's Zoe?"
He looked back at Sky, who stepped back and lowered her eyes. Abruptly, Dan got out of the bed and pulled on a shirt. "Get Logan and Matt. I'll get Zeke."
Nodding, Sky walked out of Dan's room and trudged up the stairs to the attic, knocking on the door loudly before she walked in. Matt and Logan were asleep together on the couch and although Matt remained fast asleep, Logan raised his head groggily. When he saw Sky, he groaned softly and dropped his head back onto Matt's shoulder, effectively waking up the werewolf as he groaned, "Ugh. What do you want?"
"Zoe took off," Sky said and Logan sat up abruptly, while Matt just looked between Logan and Sky as the new vampire stared at the Dhampir as if she'd just grown an extra head.
"Logan?" Matt asked, sitting up as Logan got up from the couch, raking his fingers through his hair. "What's going on? Zoe's going to come back. She'll be fine."
"Yeah, I don't think so," Logan said, turning back to Matt.
Matt yawned into his arm. "Why? Where's she gone?"
"She gone to find the Hunters," Sky said.