Leah could feel the gag cutting into her face, causing her lips to crack. She couldn't do anything about it though. None of them could. She grimaced as she tried to shift into a more comfortable position as she rested on her knees. It wasn't working; if anything, it was making the pain worse. She was beginning to gain more of her consciousness back the longer they stayed out in the desert sun. The only problem was that she really didn't want to be conscience. Especially for what was coming.

Abel's shoulder was pressed into hers; she could feel Esther shaking a little beside her. All the others were there too, including that bastard traitor David. He wasn't tied up on his knees though. He was busy guarding them while the vampires chatted away somewhere else while hissing into radios. The Alphas would be coming in on a chopper with their most prestigious followers.

Warmth nudged against her shoulder. It was Abel, not looking at her but instead squirming in place, checking their surroundings, looking for a way out. The contact gave her some comfort as she began to panic. She appreciated it, but when the khopesh came out there was no quelling her sheer terror. They walked up to the Nistarim on the far left. They grabbed his hair and pulled his head back, leaving his neck open to attack. Leah clenched her eyes shut when she saw the khopesh coming down. She could hear intense screaming followed by the gurgle of blood in the windpipe. She was getting nauseous. Esther was already throwing up.

Death walked down the line in the form of a demonic weapon wielding vampire. Leah looked over at David and studied him. There was something in his eyes that she didn't like. They were cold. There was nothing there...just a calmness that was terrifying. Leah hated the bastard with a passion. She wanted to tear his throat out and let the demons finish him off in Hell where he belonged. Chewing on the gag, she watched him closely, very aware of his position. He was so calm, like this was easy for him.

"Tell me, Leah," David said, pulling her gag out and holding a khopesh. His hand was bare. So, he had truly fallen from God's grace. He was less than human. Soon his body would begin to grey and rot off his bones. He would start trying to use the flesh of others to cover himself. "How do we break the seal you've got on Adam?"

She said nothing.

David huffed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'm trying to help you out, you know. If you do what I ask, I bet I can get them to let you live."

There was no answer. Leah would be keeping her cards close to her chest, thank you very much.

Suddenly the khopesh was flying towards Abel. Leah moved to protect him with her body, making the blade plunge into her shoulder instead, digging in beside her collarbone. The pain hit her like a smack to the mouth. Like a punch. A sudden burst that rocked her to her very core, making the breath leave her in a loud scream. She began to lean, losing her balance and colliding into Abel since she could do nothing more than stare at the hilt pulling away from her shoulder. She was breathing heavy, panting and unable to draw her eyes away from the bubbling wound. She could feel Able leaning into her, practically holding her up as she screams in pain and horror of what just happened.

"You...you want me to wake him up?! Fine! I'll wake him up." Leah took a deep, shaky breath. "Releasing control art restriction levels three, two, one, zero. Approval of situation alpha epsilon theta recognized. Commencing Cromwell invocation. All restrictions released."

The sound of helicopters was getting stronger. Leah looked up wearily. There were three of them. What if she'd been too late? She was feeling no response from Adam. Had they killed him? Then she felt it. It was like the winds of a hurricane, forcing her mind and body to brace inwardly. Had he always had such power? No. This was a combination of what she'd been feeding into him and his own power. Then she noticed something. One of the helicopters was swerving. Then it rammed into one of the other two. They both when down like birds being shot from the sky. In a cloud of smoke and fire they fell, and the ground shook.

Leah smiled. "Happy now?" she asked as the darkness started swirling through her vision. She was getting so tired.

Then there were gunshots. Leah tensed, and Abel tensed beside her. Then more gunshots and something trembling in the ground. Then another explosion and screams on the wind. Leah fell onto her back, groaning from the pain and the feeling of sand collecting in her wound. The trough hid David from her view, but she could hear him, hear the panic, the terror of the unknown. Good.

Abel was moving fast with a fire in his eyes she hadn't seen in years. Soon the two vampires guarding them were dead, stabbed through the heart by a shard of wood he'd kept hidden somehow. She'd have to ask about that later…if she made it. He untied everyone else and then knelt over her.

"Don't move, Leah."

"H-How many of us...of us are left?"

"Thirty-four."

Leah paled. "W-What?"

"I don't understand it either. The gates should've opened by now. The Fallen Ones should've been unleashed. I'm not going to sit here complaining about it though," he said as he tore off his sleeve and started making a tourniquet.

"We have to get to-"

"Hush, the others are joining the fight."

"I need to help, I-" She was so tired.

"Leah? Leah?! Leah, stay with me! Leah!"

In the Halls of the Great Kingdom known to mortals as Heaven, among the tapestries woven by the saints, there walked a young woman of plain beauty. The story of the world and all creation was strewn out on the tapestries that flowed like water on the winds and felt like air to the touch. At last she stood where the tapestry began foretelling the future. She mourned what she beheld, but it wasn't a deep sadness. It was a great pitying. It told of the last stand of the Nistarim. She could only see to where the Firstborn stood over a field littered with bodies and smoke as he searched for something. Then she felt a large, scarred hand touch her shoulder, and in a voice tempered with the sorrow of many ages it spoke.

"You are troubled, Leah."

Leah looked back and saw the tell-tale scars on the male wrist. It was Immanuel. "Yes."

"Will you not tell me of these things that furrow your brow? For you have walked long among the shadows of the world, and you have borne many cares upon your shoulders. Yet of the things most recent you are most mindful."

"I have failed, and my task is left unfinished. I fear for that which shall come."

"Have you failed?" His voice was gentle.

"Yes. A greater servant, a wiser counselor, would surely have seen what lay in my heart and called it unholy. A more powerful warrior might have survived these long millennia. I could have ended the eldest line of all Collectors, and yet I let him live. I cared for him. I…loved him. Like an idiot."

The hand rested gently on her own. "Failed?" His voice was tinged with amusement. "This was all a part of the great plan. You may be yet unable to see the rest of the tapestry, but I have seen it. My Father has foretold and allowed it. Do you think my Father makes mistakes?"

"What?" Leah's eyes widened as she looked up and turned six shades whiter. "No, of course not. Never. But had I not failed-"

He stopped her. "Had you not made the choices you did, the End would be upon us. It is not yet time. My Father has not chosen this day to call His people home."

"Then...there are still thirty-five Nistarim?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"You carry that answer within you, where new life grows."

Leah paused. Was He saying...? Surely not. A vampire and a Nistarim? That should've been impossible. Then again...nothing was impossible for the one that created both species. "You are saying...that...that I carry the thirty-fifth?"

"Yes. The children of all Nistarim will take their parents' place...should the need arise."

Leah frowned. "But I am here. If I am here, won't both I and the child die?"

"You have not yet passed through the Gates. You will yet live."

There was noise, dark patches over her vision and she was blinking a lot, trying to listen to what was happening and very aware of how close Abel was. "Leah! Stay with me! You've got to stay awake. Stay awake Leah!"

"The battle?"

"It's almost over. Here, drink," he said, offering some of his own blood. Leah barely had the strength to swallow, but she felt much better when she did. Abel pulled her up onto his knees so she could see her surroundings. Many of the Nistarim were on the ground…but still alive. Leah searched for a single being, but she couldn't find him.

"Adam?"

"He's still fighting. I don't know what you did, but you must never do it again. He's like a beast of Hell."

Leah could feel as strips of something scratchy were wrapped around her, a belt looped over her shoulder and under her arm, adding pressure and pressure and pressure until blood ceased to leak down her chest when Abel finally managed to sit her up. Abel's fingers tightened over her wrist, slinging her halfway over his shoulder and starting to half drag, half support her to a safer location. Clenching her fingers into a fist, Leah tried to pull away, wanting not to be a hindrance.

"Where are you taking my female?"

Both Abel and Leah froze. That voice was…unearthly in all forms. Leah took the knife in Abel's hand and swung. If that was Adam, he was now one of the strongest creatures on Earth. By unleashing the final Seal, she set him loose with all that built up power she restricted. All the power he had was both his and hers. A horrible, deadly mix. If he perceived Abel as a threat, he would kill him. Abel turned and Leah saw him. It was like he was ensconced in a black shadow. Like he wore Death as a robe.

"Abel," Leah whispered. "Put me down...slowly."

"No, you're hurt. I can't-"

"If you don't, he'll kill you. I'm can't control him. He's gotten too strong."

Abel nodded and slowly laid her on the ground. He stepped back and Adam came forward. Instead of kneeling though, he pressed his foot into her injury. She gasped and stabbed him with her bone shards. She started draining him, trying to make him weaker. The blood she consumed burned like acid and made her muscles spasm. Leah grunted and Adam fell forward on top of her. That's all she remembered as she shut her eyes.