"I love you too," Derek said when I finally let go of him. "I didn't know if homemade gifts were appropriate."

"I can't believe you made this," I said. "How?"

Derek chuckled, "I may have cheated a little. It was about the size of my paw while I worked on it, Simon used magic to shrink it to a pendant when I was done."

I handed it to him and lifted my hair, Derek slipped it around my neck. My heart skipped a beat when the cool metal touched me.

"Happy birthday," he said.

We stayed outside for a while longer until it started raining. Everyone was sleeping by the time we came in the room.

Derek excused himself to shower, we were both pretty muddy. I sat down at the edge of my bed, looking at Emma. We could go to Lydia for Matt. We would get closer to the nest than anyone else. It might be stupid but it might work.

"Emma," I shook her shoulder.

She mumbled, "Hm?"

"I need your help with something," I whispered.

Emma sat up rubbing her eyes.

"Can it wait until morning?" She whispered back.

I shook my head, "We need to be back before morning."

"Back?" Caught her attention.

"I can explain on the way," I took her hand. "Please. It's too dangerous alone."

Emma's interest was peaked, she got up and grabbed her shoes. Quickly slipped them on and followed me out the door.

"Where are we going?" Emma asked.

I dangled Matt's keys from my finger.

"You and I are going to run an errand for Matt. There's someone he knows at that nest and we are going for him. A vampire hunter would never be able to get that close to the nest peacefully. But you and I can, we smell of vampire."

Anyone else would have questioned me, stopped me, but Emma was new to the group. She didn't think to stop me and tell the others.

"So we're going on a rescue mission," she said.

I nodded, "Pretty much."

Emma followed me out into the rain and to Matt's car.

"How do you know where this nest is?" She asked as she buckled.

"Matt said it was at the national park up the road, it can't be that hard to find."

I pulled the car from the parking spot and towards the road.

"I meant in the park," Emma said. "It's probably huge."

I shrugged, that's why we needed to be quick. The more time we spent wandering the park the more likely the others would catch up to us and ruin our chance to talk to Lydia.

I turned up the wipers as the rain continued pound the windshield. We drove for about seven minutes before I saw a dirt road leading into some woods.

"That's got to be it." I started to slow down.

Emma peered out the window, "I think you're right, there's a sign next to the road."

I pulled onto the dirt road as far as it would let us, a metal gate stopped us from going in very far. The sign that Emma saw said Restricted Land. Endangered Animal Reserve.

"Are you sure we should be doing this without the others," Emma asked as she got out.

I pulled my hood up to try to keep the rain from my eyes.

"It won't take long," I avoided answering her question.

We started walking down the dirt road, hugging the left side of it for the tree cover. The rain unfortunately washed away any scents that we would've been able to pick up on.

Ten minutes passed and the road gradually disappeared into the trees. We tried to stay in a straight line so we could find our way back but I had no idea if we were successful in our efforts.

Emma grabbed my shoulder, "Shh."

I stopped and tried to listen for what she heard. A splash behind us that was loud enough for me to know it wasn't just rain falling. I spun to barely catch a glimpse of something running by. Lightning and thunder flashed overhead. Emma grabbed my hand and backed up against a tree trunk.

Splash to our right. Something was circling us. I took a deep breath.

"Hello," I called out.

I swore I heard laughter to our left.

"Come on out," I called out again wiping water from my eyes.

Another flash of lightning showed a figure standing partially behind the next tree.

"Are you trying to tell me what to do?" They snapped, a woman's voice.

"No," Emma shook her head. "We came to talk."

The woman came out from behind the tree. She had short black hair soaked from the rain.

"Came to talk?" She laughed. "I take it you know what lives here."

We both nodded.

"Say it then."

"Vampires," I said. "We're hybrids."

Someone stepped into view to our right.

"Hybrids? Come to seek sanctuary with vampires," he said. "Seems fitting. Follow us."

"Roam," the woman scowled.

Roam rolled his eyes, "They're children how much harm can they do."

She turned and disappeared into the night.

"Come along," Roman shouted over the thunder.

Emma held on tight to my arm as we followed the vampire. I was nervous too, I didn't expect to run into a kind vampire. It didn't settle right with me.

We followed him for half a mile to a thickly wooded area, the storm continued but it was almost completely dry here.

"A spell?" I asked.

Roam shook his head, "Nope, just nature. The branches and leaves are very thick over this area."

"Roam," boomed a man as we stepped towards a bonfire. "You dare bring strangers here?"

Now this was closer to what I expected, angry vampires wanting to know why we were trespassing.

"They're hybrids," Roam pulled off his jacket and started wringing it out.

I noticed the woman was standing behind the angry vampire with a smug look.

"I don't give a damn what they are," he glared. "Why are you two here?"

Emma shrunk behind me.

"We came to speak to a vampire named Lydia," I said and pushed wet hair away from my face.

All three of them looked genuinely surprised.

Roam smiled, "I told you word would get out and people would come."

"What do you want with Lydia?" The woman asked suspiciously.

"Isn't that between her and us?" Emma countered from behind me.

The angry vampire turned and walked away without a word. The woman smelled the air.

"What kind of hybrids are you?"

"Excuse me?" I blinked.

"You heard me," she snarled.

"Vampire, werewolf, and necromancer," I said back casually. I did not want to seem like I was challenging her. Things were smooth sailing and I didn't want to mess that up.

"Abomination," she spat at me. "You will not be welcome here."

"Is that your call?" Roam defended us.

The variety of vampires here dumbfounded me, how did they function as a group if they fought this much?

"Ahem," said a female voice.

Roam turned around, identifying where the voice came from. I followed his gaze to a smaller woman. Hair pulled back into a braid and dressed in all black. She wore black jeans and a black tank top and nothing on her feet. A thin black rope was looped around her left wrist like a bracelet.

"Lydia?" Emma asked.

She nodded.

At the same time I felt a weight lift off my shoulders because we found her and a weight put on me because here came the really hard part.

"May we speak with you in private?" I asked.

She waved a hand and the woman and Roam dispersed. She came over to the fire moving gracefully.

"You wish to join the nest?" She questioned.

Lydia sat beside the fire. Emma and I followed her lead and sat down too.

"That's not why we are here actually," I said. "I'm here on the behalf of someone you used to know."

"Oh," her interest was peaked. She picked up what looked like an old coal and twirled it between her fingers. Eyes fixed on us. "What do they want?"

"They want to meet with you," I said. "But we came because they aren't sure you want to meet with them."

She nodded slowly, "Who would this be?"

I cleared my throat trying not to show my nerves. "Your father."

To my surprise Lydia had no reaction, that we could see at least. We sat in silence, the only sound was the rain and the crackling fire.

"Um-" I tried to break the silence.

"Why would I wish to see him?" Lydia asked.

"He wants to make amends," I replied. "Could you give him five minutes?"

Lydia chuckled, "I've made sure my nest stay put for lord knows how many years. Waiting for him to find me. Then word came a few years ago that Batman disappeared. He was underground. Or dead. But I guess he was just living happily with his new family."

The last sentence was spat out. Her expression became darker, angrier. The fire light flickered off her face adding to the intensity.

"No," Emma shook her head. "We aren't family."

Lydia slowly rose to her feet.

"You have two minutes to get off my land," Her eyes darkened and fangs started to appear.

Emma stood and pulled me to my feet.

"Chloe lets go."

I shook my head, "Lydia please. Hear what he has to say."

Lydia brought her fingers to her lips and whistled. Footsteps started our way.

"Chloe," Emma yanked my arm.

"Go," I pressed the car keys into her hand. "Get a head start."

The footsteps got louder, Emma turned and ran. I knew she wouldn't go far though. She cared about my safety too much. But she would be safer at a distance than standing right here.

An unsettling smile grew on Lydia's face when figures started appearing beside her. "I guess dear father didn't learn his lesson last time. You don't let your daughter work in the business."