I looked around breathing heavily as a new icy chill reached my bones. The demons were trapped on the other side of the gate still blazing in the fire that covered our House of Night campus. I recognized the cold traveling through my veins for what it was, fear. I was afraid.

I spun in a circle looking for any sign of the others. I hoped desperately that their concentration had been strong enough to get them back to Street Cats. I thought back to the moment we had stepped through the gates. I could see Street Cats in my mind, but I had also been calling out orders. Would that have been enough to interfere with the results? My gut knew the answer, no. This was someone else's doing, another power was at work here.

A soft moan cut through the deathly silence of this illusionary campus. I spun around looking for the source as the sound of pain reached my ears. My heart ached with recognition but I refused to admit it. No, there was no possible way. I began moving through the campus, my chest growing heavier and constricting as it searched for the heart-wrenching sound. I moved back towards the gates worrying that I had missed something. I could have sworn I had been alone when I entered this reality. No one had been with me. I turned down the path moving behind a group of trees and flowers that grew near the front of the school's campus and stopped.

My heart seized up and I fell to the ground in more agony then I would have ever thought possible.

"No," I whispered, "No, no, no, no, no," I sobbed as I crawled towards my grandmothers still form. She laid on the ground covered I her own blood, her moans becoming softer as her life slowly drained from her body. "Grandma," I cried as I searched her body frantically for the wound. "Grandma, what happened?" I whispered as tears filled my eyes obscuring my vision and sliding down my cheeks. They fell onto her small form reminding me of her time spent in a hospital bed after her car accident. It was one of the few times I had seen her helpless and it was unbelievable. My grandma was the strongest person I knew and yet here she was on the ground below me, her life seeping from her with each drop of blood.

My hands brushed over her body until I found the source. A gash had been cut into her chest, a gash that was quickly spilling out more and more blood. I looked around, for something, anything, that I could use to slow the bleeding, but found nothing.

"Grandma," I whispered again as I leaned forward resting my head against her. I didn't know what else to do and I knew I had only minutes left. I sobbed on her shoulder not caring about the obvious danger of the situation. I cried letting my tears soak through the only part of her shirt that wasn't covered in blood. "Grandma, I need you. Please," I pleaded softly as I cried. "I love you," I whispered to her and felt her last breath leave her body.

I collapsed my cries piercing the air. I didn't know how long I laid there sobbing against my grandmother's cool body, nor did I care. My energy was exhausted and I wasn't sure I had the will to even try and find my way back to the others. I tried to wrap my mind around it, but I couldn't make sense of what I was seeing. My grandma was gone. The person I loved most in the entire world, the person who had raised me and taught me everything she knew, the person who considered me the daughter of her heart. She was gone.

I clutched my stomach as a wave of nausea washed over me. I took a few deep breaths trying to calm myself although all I wanted to do was lay down in the grass with my grandma and find oblivion. I couldn't understand it. What had happened? She had been in the circle the whole time; none of the demons had been able to reach her, so how had she been injured? And, how had she ended up here with me? I pulled my knees towards my chest curling into a small ball and feeling the slight pressure of the pouch that lay in my pocket.

"The dust," I whispered to myself sitting up so fast that it made my head spin. I reached in my pocket digging for the pouch filled with Azurite dust that Neferet had given each of us. I bit my lip taking in a shaky breath, my eyes narrowing at the scene before me. None of this made any sense! "It's a lie," I said and then threw the dust onto my grandma's still form.

My vision blurred and the image in front of me shifted, turning and spinning until a new one replaced it. I was in Nyx's temple, a place I would normally take comfort from except that, once again, this was not where I was supposed to be. I looked around spotting the candles and books that cluttered the nearby table where we set up for rituals. The room appeared to be in the exact same shape that it had been left in this morning.

I approached the table opening one of the many books. It was a text from the spells and rituals class. By the looks of it a very advanced class and I realized this was the book Natasha and Neferet had been using this morning. I thumbed through the pages finding a difficult spell used for full moon rituals. It was a spell that enabled the Priestess conducting the circle to briefly tap into a power source. The power enhanced her affinities for the length of the ritual. It was a complicated spell and took a great deal of concentration.

"It's something you'll never be able to do."

I froze. I recognized that voice. It was the voice that had haunted my dreams only the night before, the voice that had told me that in the end I would die.

I tuned slowly, my heart beating furiously urging me to run or to fight. I glanced around the room and then stopped when my eyes reached the stairs. This morning I had thought the voice sounded somewhat familiar, now I knew why. It was mine. A little rougher, a little colder, but mine. I looked at this darker me standing at the bottom of the stairs. She had my dark hair and my hazel eyes, but they were hard and cold as ice. Yet, they reflected like glass or crystal and through them I could see all my failures, all my mistakes, past, present and future.

"High Priestess," the darker me smirked. "Not at the rate your going," she said taking a few steps towards me. "You can't even get back to your friends. Friends that, if you were being honest with yourself, should have ditched you long ago," she said smiling wickedly at me.

I narrowed my eyes at her but didn't say anything.

"No?" she questioned meeting my own icy stare. "Let me show you," she said and suddenly I could see through her eyes and see what she saw. I was back by the old oak, back to the night Loren had betrayed me and Stevie Rae had been found by my friends. I was back to the worst night of my life. I could see the hatred and betrayal in Erik's eyes, feel my friends hurt as they stared at me in disbelief. The image shifted to my confrontation with Neferet after the school assembly. Her voice telling me I was nothing more than a stupid fledgling echoed in my mind and my own voice began reassuring me that she was right. I may have made it through the change but I was still nothing more than a child. I wouldn't be able to get back to my friends let alone save them!

"No!" I shouted pulling myself back from the things I was being shown by this other version of me.

The other me laughed. "Yes! How many stupid choices have you made?" Her voice asked me coolly. "You have made so many mistakes, betraying your friends, falling for someone who didn't love you and was using you. Not ensuring that those who have hurt you could never do so again!"

A vision of Neferet flashed through my mind but I shook it off.

"You lie," I said softly. "You're a lie!" I yelled and threw some of the Azurite dust at her. I waited for the room to spin, for this other me to disappear, but nothing happened. She laughed and I just stood there gaping at her.

My mind reeled. She wasn't a lie or the dust would have worked, but she obviously wasn't the truth either. Great wisdom can be learned from dreams, Nyx's voice replayed through my mind. They were the words she had spoken this morning. This wasn't a dream though, it was… It was a belief. This was the part of me I was always fighting against on the inside. The part of me that was always telling me I couldn't do it and that I was a failure. She was a belief and I would have to find a different way to fight her.

"I'm not a lie," she said softly, "not if you believe that I'm the truth."

She was right. The only way I was going to defeat her was if I stopped believing in her. I took a deep breath in and then slowly blew it out. This whole House of Night was an lie, an illusion like the one we had created. I looked down at my own body sprinkling just a touch of my Azurite dust. The effects were immediate. I could feel the tingles coursing through my body and the weightlessness still consumed me. My skin began to seem slightly more transparent and Marla's silver wisps still wrapped around me. I was still connected to my circle somehow and I was still in spiritual form. The strongest mind would win and I could still create.

I pulled my concentration to me calling out to Nyx. "Help me," I whispered, "give me strength." I felt her move around me pulsing through the spiritual silver mist that covered me. I bit my lip as I envisioned all my friends, everyone I had ever cared about. I held my hand open until there was no longer Azurite dust filling my palm, but the largest piece of Azurite stone I had ever saw. A truth Crystal.

I held it up and focused letting my life's story spill into it. I watched seeing the truth and not my own insecurities. I saw me standing up to my mom and the step loser time and again. I saw me making the right decisions when it would have been so easy to make the wrong ones. I saw me trying to protect my friends in spite of them turning from me when they found out I had lied. I saw myself being Marked by Nyx each time I made a right decision. I realized that each time she Marked me I had gone through a harder challenge then the one before. Each time I had grown, each time I had faced my own insecurities and found out that I was stronger.

"You're a lie," I said again looking the other me right in the eyes. "I may have been a child, but I was Nyx's chosen and I have always been stronger than I thought possible. The same is true now. I am strong enough to destroy you, and I am definitely strong enough to get back to my friends and put an end to this whole situation!" I glared at her watching as each of my words seemed to make her grow more and more transparent. She was disappearing before my eyes. "I am a High Priestess and I do deserve to have good friends. I may get hurt again in the future, but there is always a risk of being hurt when you love," I said fiercely. The truth of my words washed over me and soon the other me faded completely. My vision blurred and the image shifted again. I felt myself being pulled and when I opened my eyes I was standing in the middle of my circle at Street Cats.

I exhaled slowly as relief filled my bones. Everyone was here, everyone was… Standing completely still and staring out into the distance as if they were seeing something completely different then what was in front of them. As if they were seeing a different reality.

I moved along my circle looking at each of my friends and family. They were all still as statue, but one thing remained the same, distinct in each of their features. Fear. They were afraid. We had all made it back to Street Cats, but we had still been covered by spirit and therefore were still able to be pulled into different realities like the one we created. The strongest mind would win. We had each been pulled into a different reality; a reality that had been filled with our own worst fears.

For me it had been the death of my grandma followed by not being strong enough. I looked at Neferet and felt certain I knew what her worst fears were. Her face was etched in terror and tears spilled down her cheeks. Little whimpers escaped her but other than that she made no sound.

"Come on, Neferet," I said softly. "You have to fight! It's not real; your father is not really there! Fight him!"

"I don't think she can hear you," Sister Mary Angela's voice reached me from outside our circle. She and the rest of the nuns stood around us, their arms linked as they used their own spiritual abilities to try and protect us. "We have been calling to you since your bodies returned. You are the first one who seems to have returned wholly," she said thoughtfully, but I could see the worry in her eyes.

"It's this Vampyre we're facing. He has power like Marla's. Powers that allow him to spiritually attack, though I have no clue how he got them. There is not one other vampyre in our history to have powers like Marla's." I shook my head. "He took them to a place where they are living their worst fears." I heard Neferet whimper again and reached out to her. I shook her arm, "Neferet, fight him! It's a lie!" I shouted. A lie my mind repeated to me. I moved Neferet's arm and then began searching the pockets of the flowing crimson shirt she wore. I found the pouch of Azurite dust and dumped it on her. "It's a lie," I said again and breathed out a sigh of relief when her body trembled. She blinked steadily for a few minutes as her vision returned and then looked at me.

"He's powerful," she whispered.

"I know," I said and then went to turn to the others.

"Zoey," she said grabbing my arm and pulling me back. "He is powerful. He was able to see our worst fears and use that against us! Think about it. That means he would have to have some common knowledge about each of us."

I knew she was referring to her own worst nightmare. That wasn't common knowledge. I knew and I felt certain that Shakinah had known, but how many others? My guess was not many. Her torture and rape by her father didn't seem like something Neferet would openly share.

That meant that this Vampyre had to be close to us somehow, because not even Marla's gift could allow her to see into the depths of a soul. Spirit allowed you to see or feel a spirit and in my case I could feel intentions or emotions. But Nyx would never allow for one her children to be able to invade a mind or soul so thoroughly that they exposed a person's worst fears or pain.

I nodded in understanding of Neferet's warning. She released my arm and both of us began moving through the circle dumping dust on each of its members and coaxing them back. I reached Stevie Rae and swallowed down the knot in my throat as I reached up whipping away her blood red tears. "Come on Stevie Rae," I said sprinkling dust on her. "It's a lie," I said softly and smiled when she inhaled sharply and fell forward into my arms.

"Z?" she questioned still stunned.

"Welcome back," I said smiling at her and then moved to help Aphrodite.

She came out of her trance gasping for breath. "Shit!" she said looking at me.

"That was my thoughts exactly," I said shaking my head and then moving over to where my grandma stood still holding Marla in her arms. They were both completely still and both held looks of sadness and despair. "It's a lie, grandma," I said sprinkling the dust I retrieved from her pocket over both her and Marla. "Whatever you're seeing is a lie!"

They both stumbled forward their expressions turning bewildered.

"Zoeybird?" My grandma questioned. She let go of Marla for a moment and then drew me to her. "I thought I had lost you," She whispered hugging me tightly and I found myself once again swallowing back my own tears. Her worst fear had been the same as my own only the opposite. "I love you, my u-wi-tsi-a-ge-ya."

"I love you, grandma," I said pulling back slowly and then turning to Marla who was still breathing heavily. "Marla, whatever you saw was a lie," I told her softly lifting her chin so that her eyes met mine.

"No it wasn't," she said shaking her head as more tears spilled down her cheeks. "I saw him," she said pointing to where a man stood just outside our circle. "The elders win, and I couldn't stop them!"

I spun feeling my heart quicken as I the elder moved closer to our circle. I could feel murder and revenge flowing from him without remorse. I glanced over my shoulder glad that the rest of my circle had been brought back from their illusions.

"You!" Aphrodite said angrily.

I turned my attention back to the approaching elder and saw for the first time what she was seeing. Marla's silver wisps danced around us enabling us to see the true spirit in each living object on earth. This wasn't an Elder. The image shifted and my mouth fell open slightly. Once again it was an illusion. It was a vampyre, the vampyre from Aphrodite's vision!

Darius, Dragon, Stark, and Erik all moved forward within the circle taking on a protective stance. Stark raised his bow and arrow aiming for his heart.

He laughed. "You think that you can stop me so easily?" he asked and his voice sent chills down my spine. He was already dead, or had been. He was a spirit like the demons, but he had already regained his physical form. This vampyre had been using us and the Elders to regain his life, and it was because he had been dead that he had a connection to the spiritual realm. "You see blood and hatred can be used for many powerful things, don't you agree Neferet?" He asked softly.

"Rafe," Neferet hissed.

"Did you miss me, darling?" He cued.

Once again my head swam in confusion. Neferet knew him.

He smiled at her obvious revulsion and disgust. "You see I learned about the powers of blood from you and I knew that I might be able to use that to regain my life and get my revenge on you. It was only after I had returned that I realized that there was so much more I could do. I wanted you to pay, I wanted you to suffer and what better way then to destroy everything you loved, everything you had worked for."

"The demons," I said.

"Were an obvious choice don't you think?" Rafe asked me.

"What are you talking about, Rafe?" Lenobia asked.

"Who is Rafe?" Jack asked softly.

"He is one of our Warriors who died several years ago protecting Neferet from an attack," Lenobia answered just as quietly.

"Is that what she told you?" Rafe asked laughing out loud. "Neferet, you always were good with deceit." His eyes sparkled enhancing his beautiful features.

He had been one of Neferet's warriors and I could definitely see how he would have been her type. He was amazingly handsome. His muscled form played against his smooth tanned skin. His eyes were almost as green as hers, but his hair was a sandy brown. He was gorgeous, just like Loren, and just like Kalona.

"I guess saying I died in a fight wasn't exactly a lie," Rafe said thoughtfully, "you just omitted the part where you told everyone I was fighting against a crazed High Priestess and not for her." He began pacing just outside our circle. He seemed content to talk for now though I knew for certain that he would eventually attack. "I've always wondered, love, when did you decide I was no longer useful to you?" He asked raising an eyebrow at Neferet. "I did everything you asked. I helped you torture and collect blood. I helped you bring those fledglings back from the dead so that you could form your little army. I knew of the danger humans were to us and I believed in your vision to build a defense so impenetrable that we would never have to fear the humans again. I shared your hatred of the human race, and yet none of that was enough. You still killed me. Why?"

"Maybe she saw you were cracked, kinda like we're seeing now," Shaunee said making a face.

"That's what I'm seeing, twin," Erin said.

"Foolish children!" Rafe shouted. "You think that humans aren't a threat to you? Look at the last few days, look at the hatred that has surrounded you, and look at the deaths you have encountered. The Elders had no hesitations about killing you!" He eyes narrowed. "They have plagued us for centuries and many of us have suffered injustices before we were even Marked. Right, Zoey?" He asked looking at me. "You know of Neferet's past because she knew of yours. She knew that you had been hurt. She collected us you see," Rafe said smiling crazily at me once more. "All of us who had been spared by Nyx, who had been brought to a better life, she drew us close to her. She knew we would see the danger the humans brought, knew that we'd feel and share her hatred and her vision. We were part of her plan. I guess both you and I ruined that," he said laughing again. "The only difference is you survived. Still I wouldn't trust her if I were you."

I remembered the words I had heard only minutes before from the me that had shown me all my insecurities. You have made so many mistakes, betraying your friends, falling for someone who didn't love you and was using you. Not ensuring that those who have hurt you could never do so again! Neferet had flashed through my mind. Coincidence? No, the image had been placed there by Rafe. He wanted revenge.

"Although, I guess it really doen't matter," Rafe said shrugging and I had the urge to reach out and smack him. "You'll all be dead soon enough. You see I can't really let you live. You've trapped my demons and I can't release them until I destroy the power source that holds them. That would be you," he said smiling.

"Ok, we may have though Neferet was bat-shit crazy at one time, but this guy just stole her title," Aphrodite whispered in my ear.

"What's the plan?" Stevie Rae asked and I could have laughed. Once again I had no idea. It was funny how our plans always seemed to be just go with the flow and trust your gut. For once I wouldn't mind a carefully plotted out course of action; a simple list of things to do. I guessed that would work if things were ever just simple.

"I think I'll start with the nuns, since their the most vulnerable," Rafe said smiling and looking behind our circle. I followed his gaze my eyes growing wide when they encountered O'Ryan's form holing a weapon in each of his hands. Ah hell! "Besides," Rafe said, "I really do hate humans."

"Fire come to me," I said quickly feeling the element travel through my body warming the air around me. I knew for a fact that fire was one sure way to kill a red fledgling. I thought about Elizabeth No Last Name and shook my head before the guilt sought me. I had told Venus that I had killed protecting the ones I loved and that I would do it again. That hadn't been a lie and I was prepared to do it again.

O'Ryan approached moving closer to our circle and closer to the nuns that were now crossing our defensive line. I wanted to pull back Marla's gift and break the connection to the demons prison, but that would leave us without the ability to create out of spirit and Rafe still could. Then again so could Marla. She hadn't needed to cover herself with her gift to create the flower. The silver wisps had just formed around the flower instead. Besides that our circle had always been able to protect us against spiritual attacks. It was physical attacks we would be powerless against. "Marla, pull back you gift," I said glancing at her out of the corner of my eye while keeping my sight focused on O'Ryan. I felt the tingles slowly leave my body as gravity once again pressed down on me.

"No," Rafe growled and I knew that I had made a step in the right direction. By closing Marla's gift we had in essence locked the gates to the school the demons were trapped in. Though Rafe could still possibly break through once we were dead it would be a lot more work then had Marla's gift left the portal open. He would need a lot more blood and a lot more hatred. I cringed, those two things would always be entirely too easy to find and obtain.

I let O'ryan draw closer spinning his silver weapon in his hand. "Fire burn him up," I whispered so softly I was sure that only Aphrodite and Stevie Rae who were on either side of me could hear. The warmth flew from me, eager to fulfill my command. I made sure to keep my emotions neutral so that hatred could not be used against us. I watched as the ground beneath him began to glow red. He stopped in his tracks trying to stumble away from the heat, but it only followed him. Within seconds the soles of his shoes was smoking, the smell of burning rubber filling the air. Flames shot up around him consuming his body and I bit my lip as his body fell to the ground.

"Interesting," Rafe said seemingly unaffected by O'Ryans death. "You are quite powerful aren't you Zoey Redbird?" He questioned and I realized he had wanted me to kill him. I was playing into his hands.

"Zoey, becareful," Neferet whispered from behind me. She rested her hands on my shoulders as she whispered. "He is powerful, and he has always been a master of manipulation," she said softly, but I could feel the hatred in her words. He had done something to hurt her and his murder had been retaliation. To him Neferet had betrayed him when she killed him; he had taken Neferet's insight for granted. She had seen through his manipulations without his knowledge so when she had turned on him it had been a shock. "He has something planned already. I have no doubt that he wants to kill us, but there has to be more to it than that. He knows more secrets of blood and power then I ever did. Remember I told you that Fear and Hatred are powerful, but it was fear that gave me the power to resurrect those fledglings."

The blood that Neferet mixed with the potion to ease pain had been coated with fear. Fear. We had been taken to our worst fears only moments ago. And though I had controlled my emotions when I killed O'Ryan there was no doubt in my mind that he felt fear. Well hell. O'Ryan had been the wrong target. He was the one attacking us, but Rafe was pulling the strings. He was the manipulator and he wanted our fear for something.

The question now was, how did we kill Rafe and make sure that he had no way to return to life once again? And how did we do that without giving him anymore fear or hatred. He wanted the demons released, and he wanted revenge on both Neferet (which translated to our House of Night) and the humans.

He knew too much about the magic that could be harnessed in the blood through spirit and emotions. He had learned the initial stuff from Neferet and it was something he had been able to play with since his death. He would have to be killed and he would have to be trapped with his demons friends in our House of Night. My only worry was about reopening the portal to get him in.

"There could be another way," Neferet said seeming to understand my thoughts though I knew she couldn't hear them. "We make a new portal that leads to the same location."

"The problem would be tricking him into going there," Aphrodite said glancing at us. "My guess is the direct approach won't work with this guy."

"You're guess is right," Neferet said.

"So what do we do?" Stevie Rae asked.

"We manipulate him back," I said shrugging though I really had no clue how to do that. All I did know was that he wanted our fear for something and that our blood and hatred could eventually be used to give the demons back the spiritual form.

Death in fear Nyx's voice reached me. "People do foolish things when afraid, my daughter. They certainly don't think clearly and it can shatter through love if only momentarily.

Love. My mist that surrounded the demons to keep them from escaping was made out of love. Fear could break through love just as love could break through fear. He needed our fear to release the demons and our blood spilt out of hatred to give them back their physical form. Rafe was a manipulator and had always managed to stay just a step ahead of us through this whole ordeal. Not anymore, that was going to change!

Ok super long chapter, but I hope you all enjoyed it! Let me know what you think! ;-) Thanks to all of my readers for your support! I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!