When AJ opened her eyes again, she was back in the house, lying on the couch. She winced as she tried turning over, finding a hand on her side to stop her.

"You have to lie on your back, darling. If you switch positions too much, you're not going to heal right." William said gently, leaning in to kiss her.

"Wh-what happened?"

"Don't you remember, dear? You and the demon really got into it…you're lucky to be alive."

She tried to sit up, and to her surprise, he let her.

"Ow…ow…ow…" she panted softly, something didn't feel right.

"My guess is you hit a wall, because you had two broken ribs…they're almost healed now, thanks to Jon and Spencer getting enough blood…and Ryan's healing abilities."

"Oh…why does everything hurt so much?"

"You're still sore. Leftover adrenaline."

"Hm…" she sighed, closing her eyes before adding, "I never want to go through that again. That fight….she wasn't herself…she almost…it's like she was imitating Mike, back before he stopped trying to kill me," she explained, laughing although it hurt.

"Guess that just proves you're not the only one with a dark side. But after you completely heal, we need to plan. There's got to be a way to take down Gerard and his men for good."

Too tired to say anything else, AJ nodded, surprised she could still hear out of both ears. This time, sleep was a welcome friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, AJ woke up, surprised to find nothing hurt at all. Stretching, she smiled when she heard her neck and back crack.

"You feeling any better?"

She turned to see Mike standing in the doorway of the living room, a couple blood bags in his hands.

"Catch."

Catching the B+ bag with ease, AJ sat up and then motioned to the cushion next to her.

"You can sit, you know. I'm not afraid of you anymore. Truth be told it's the demon that's more of a problem."

"Really? I heard about what you said she was acting like and all that...William says you said she was acting like me..." he trailed off, sitting on the couch next to her.

"Yeah. It's funny really, she even called me a mutt like you used to. But I think by now you know I'm anything but."

He nodded, ruffling her hair before adding, "You're just the family pet."

She lightly smacked his shoulder, rolling her eyes.

"That's not true and you know it. Now that you've stopped trying to kill me, you're kinda like the big brother I never had."

"Then what does that make me?" Brendon asked, walking in, apparently having heard most of the conversation.

"Uh..." AJ sighed.

Mike smiled, finishing her sentence for her, "You're the other older brother then. But I'm her favorite, right Adeline?"

AJ's head dropped and she mumbled some stuff under her breath.

"What was that?" Brendon asked, poking her nose, eliciting a death glare with a smile from the hybrid.

"I don't like being put on the spot...You're both amazing in your own ways, but since the whole illusion thing was pretty frickin' epic I'm going to have to agree with Mike. Sorry, Bren." she added, "But you carried me all the way home after Seb and his friends kicked our asses, so you're tied."

"But that doesn't answer my question!" Mike complained, sulking.

"Oh, get over it."

"Get over what, dear?" William asked, he too walking into the room.
"These two," AJ said with a smile, motioning to the vampires on either side of her, "Are arguing over who's the better older brother figure to me. Would you mind settling this debate?"

William looked at the three and shook his head.

"If I were, I'm afraid world war three would start. I'll just leave that to you." he said smiling, and AJ could tell he was trying to a hide a laugh.

AJ got up and walked over to him, absentmindedly standing the way she always did with him, her arms around his waist and her head on his shoulder.

She heard him sigh contentedly, and then felt him kiss the top of her head.

"You okay?"

"Uh hm. I just...I never thanked you for two days ago...I thought I was dead, Amelia even said she thought you'd put me out of my misery..."

"Put you out of your misery?"

"She assumed you would pity me and kill me to end my suffering. But I got her good, I ripped one of those wings almost clean off!"

"That's good...and no, I'd never...she doesn't remember I wouldn't be able to, does she?"

"I think she's trying to avoid even thinking about anything that says it's alright for me to be with you, see, she still thinks I can turn good...I don't want to though...but on the other hand, what are we going to do about them?"

"That's what I came in here for; I've got a few ideas on how to handle this. And this time, they're not getting away."

Once all of the ice cream was done, the group sat around, talking. No one knew what to say, but they didn't want to hear the silence.

Amelia was sitting next to Sebastien. She was exhausted from everything that had happened. She laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Before she knew it, she was sleeping, snoring softly. Seb chuckled as he picked her up gently and put her in bed. He closed the door and sat down to talk with the other guys.

"So, what do we do now?" Gerard asked.

Everyone shrugged.

"What about Lucian? Is he still in China?" Ray asked and Mikey and Sebastien looked at each other.

"Not sure. Let me call George," Mikey said as he got out his cell phone. He dialed George's number and waited for it to connect.

"Hey George, it's me, Mikey. Is Lucian back from China yet? Oh, he's not? He won't be back for another week? All right. Hang on," Mikey said as he got up and got a piece of paper. He wrote something down and hung up the phone.

"Well, George said that he won't be back for another week, but he gave me Lucian's cell phone number. I'll call him," Mikey said as he began to dial the number.

"Wait," Sebastien interjected and Mikey turned to look at him. "We've all been through enough today. Let's just rest and worry about Lucian tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," Mikey sighed as he put the phone away. Everyone tried to sleep peacefully that night, but it was difficult to do with the memories of the illusions still dancing in their heads.

The next morning, Mikey called Lucian and put him on speaker as he and Sebastien explained the situation.

They recounted everything that had happened over the past few months, including Adeline going over to Beckett's side. When they were done, they held their breath, scared of what Lucian's reaction would be. For a moment, the Lycan leader was silent, which made Mikey and Sebastien all the more nervous. Finally, he spoke, his voice laced with anger and hatred, yet it was surprisingly calm.

"Tell me something, Michael, why does it always seem that whenever there's a situation, why am I always the last to know?" he asked and Mikey lowered his head in shame. Before he could say anything, Lucian continued.

"Even you, Sebastien. I would have thought that out of the two of you, you of all people would have called me sooner. Well, I guess that's just something you have to learn as you age, right? I guess -"

"We're sorry, Lucian, we thought we could handle it," Mikey interjected apologetically.

"DON'T interrupt me," Lucian snapped and Mikey flinched at the irritation in his voice.

"As I was saying, I guess I shouldn't be so surprised that this has happened. Beckett was the one who turned Adeline into a hybrid, so it's only natural that something like this would happen. When Remus first entrusted me with her care, he said that I must do whatever it takes to keep her safe. I fear that since she is so far gone, the only way she'll find peace is in death," he said and Amelia immediately interjected.

"No, no, no, no! There has to be another way!" she insisted.

"My lady, I know that you don't want to hear this, but think about it. She is with Beckett of her own free will. There is nothing we can do for her now. The only way for her to truly be free is to kill her. Think about it. If she were still on our side, would she want this for herself? Fraternizing with the enemy? I think not. You need to let her go. I know it's difficult, but this is the best way to help her," Lucian said, his tone softening.

"All right, if you say so," Amelia finally said, quietly.

"How do we kill her?" Gerard asked once everyone had settled down to listen.

"Well, as long as Beckett still lives, she cannot be killed. The logical thing to do would be to kill Beckett first. In order to do that, you must find his sire and kill them. Does that make sense?"

Everyone nodded, even though the Lycan leader could not see it.

"Do you know who sired him?" he asked.

"Lestat de Lioncourt," Amelia replied.

"I've heard that name before. Do you have any idea as to his current location?"

At that moment, the demon piped up in Amelia's head. "Child, we are very fortunate to be in Louisiana. This was his home once he immigrated from France. Since he and I used to be "acquaintances" , I can sense his presence. He is in the state at this very moment."

"Thank you, my lady."

"Lucian, according to the demon, he is here in Louisiana. We'll go and find him at once. Once we find him, we'll go after Beckett," Amelia said.

"So it's settled, then. Kill Lestat, then kill Beckett. After that, you'll finally be able to give Adeline the peace she deserves."