Merril entered the building in a foul temper. She'd bet everything she had that Kevfire was off trying to find a way to woo Kyra. Why did that bother her so much? She wasn't jealous. She wasn't! However she could feel the weepiness stirring. What was wrong with her? Her moods were so unpredictable lately.

She looked up to find herself inside of a theatre, with some students still working late on whatever show was going to be presented. If they were there that late, perhaps one of them was what she was looking for or could point her in the right direction. She closed her eyes and prepared to read their auras when a high, cool voice sounded next to her. "So, what are you doing here?"

She opened her eyes and turned to find Siro looking down at her. He didn't seem hostile, but not welcoming either. As she hesitated his frozen mask cracked enough to allow the corners of his mouth to turn down in a frown. She swallowed. "Just been sent to look into so much cult shit."

He smirked. "Your friend Campfire around?"

She shook her head. "No, he's banned."

The smirk widened into a malicious smile. "Good answer. So what cult shit?"

Merril shrugged. "Just a lot of bullshit, really." She didn't really want to have to answer him, but the sinking feeling in her stomach told her that she was going to have to.

Siro cocked his head. "Can you be any more vague?"

That was it. That one sentence pushed her to her limit. The tears welled up and over, and she bawled quietly. Siro took a step back in alarm, signaling to her that he hadn't meant his words to bruise. He rubbed the back of his head looking sheepish, took a quick glance at the stage, and twirled his wrist before holding out his hand to her.

Where a moment ago there was only air, there was now a lovely silver rose in full bloom. Gingerly Merril took it, staring at the masterpiece. She hiccuped, her weepiness gone as suddenly as it had come. "Thank you."

Siro cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable. "You're welcome. I'm...sorry I made you cry."

She shook her head at him. "It wasn't you. I'm just dealing with a lot."

He held out his arm for her to take and steered her out of the theatre. "Maybe it'll help to talk about it."

"With you?" She studied him. He was certainly attractive, but she didn't trust him.

He looked like she'd just made him swallow a live squid. "Sure. Yeah."

She laughed. He was almost as fun to wind up as Kevfire. "I'll sum it up. My ex is an asshole. I don't know what he's up to but he's in the habit of murdering my friends." Siro glanced down at her in alarm. "Yeah, he's awful. I've got a new boyfriend who's territorial as Hell. My best friend is distancing from me and I don't know why. And I have to find a vampire or three with magic to help strengthen a cage of a god before that god's cult breaks it."

Siro let out a breath. "I can help with one of those things." He turned them quickly enough that she was almost pulled off her feet and entered a nearby building. It appeared to be a fairly routine dorm building, a co-ed dorm Merril noted. They stopped at a door as a rather frazzled looking young man came up to it, key in hand. He seemed perfectly ordinary, with shaggy brown hair and wide expressive eyes. "Oh, hey Siro! Just got back. You need something?"

Siro jerked his head towards the door and the other man opened it. Inside was a small room, with piles upon piles of books of various ages. Siro steered them both inside and settled them down on the edge of the bed. The other man followed. "I'm Bryce." He held out his hand and Merril shook it.

"I'm Merril. You have so many books."

"I'm a bit of a nerd. So what do you guys need?"

Siro pointed at her. "She needs a magic vampire to help strengthen a force cage around a god under the city. There's apparently a cult trying to break it."

Bryce started flipping through books and papers, finally pulling out a map of the city. "Alright, so it makes sense to keep something that big caged here." He pointed at the map where countless purple pen lines were sketched. "Those are leylines. These all intersect over the city, which is rare to say the least. It's created a nexus portal. The Cult can use that power to break the cage on this thing."

Siro and Merril stared at him their mouths slightly agape. Bryce sighed. "Magic lines make a giant door. Cult uses the door energy to break the cage. Are you with me now?" They nodded. Merril chanced a glance at Siro. He obviously knew something about magic, given the rose she was still clinging to, so was he pretending to be confused for some reason? Or was faerie magic that different from normal magic?

Bryce continued. "Alright, the good news is that the nexus only gives off enough energy for this sort of thing every ten years. Bad news is, it's go time."

Merril snapped to attention. "So they could do it? They could free it?"

Bryce nodded. "I mean they've have to find a way to harness that energy first. If they can't then there's no issue."

"And how would they do that?"

Bryce shrugged. "A metric shit ton of sacrifices maybe? Or finding some sort of conduit. Like a person who could hold or manipulate it."

Merril took a deep breath. "And what if they have?"

He shook his head. "No way. That'd be ridiculously rare. Besides if they had then we'd know. Mostly because there'd be a giant angry god going on a rampage."

She let out of a sigh of relief. However, she remembered that thing they saw before they were ripped into a new timeline by Aiden. They'd managed it somehow then. They needed to figure out what to do to stop them.

She shook herself and realized Bryce was studying her. Her eyes narrowed. "What?"

Bryce ran his hands through his hair. "Nothing really. Just wanted to ask how long you've had your mark."

Merril stared at him. "My what now?"

Bryce went digging on an overly crowded desk and came back with a hand held mirror. "Look at the back of your neck."

She took the mirror and after fumbling with it a moment managed to get a decent look at the back of her neck. There, branded into her skin was the aforementioned mark. A crescent moon flanked by stars. She dropped the mirror. "What the fuck?"

Bryce seemed surprised by her response and started diving into his books again. "I mean you're a thin blood, I can tell. It's common practice in in The Rebellion to mark thin bloods with that mark. It's kind of like branding cattle." He didn't notice her angry twitch. "You know, end of the world prophecies and such, so some vampires who want some clout will mark a thin blood and then parade around that they have found the chosen one. Gives a lot of clout."

Merril wasn't aware that she was listing until Siro pulled her upright. "But-but I haven't been marked. I think I'd remember something like that."

Bryce screwed up his face and pursed his lips, not seeming to believe her. "Right...well if you give me a little bit of blood I can check something out. I'm sure it won't show anything."

"Fine." She bit her thumb and squeezed, letting the blood well up. Bryce quickly caught it in a glass vial and went to the desk to work. Merril thought to herself, "I just want to be normal."

She didn't realize she'd spoken aloud until Siro put an arm around her. "Yeah, me too."

She looked at him, really looked, and saw for a moment an extremely broken young man under a thick veneer of ice and duty. She was about to ask when Bryce left his desk with a clatter and came up to them. "Well, um not sure if this is good news or bad news. Your mark is most definitely the real thing."

Merril sighed. "Ok, and what does that mean?"

Bryce pulled out a book, ancient and heavy, and handed it to her. It was open to a page and her, "mark" was featured prominently on the page. "It means that you're the last daughter of Lilith."

She stared at the book, then back at him. She rifled through her lessons and came up with very little. "I'm the what now?"

Bryce paced a little and gestured at the book. She took the hint and began to read. The more she read the more she suffered. Lilith, the first woman, the ancient being where, according to this book, all of their vampire powers came from, had a bloodline. It was believed that the last female in that line would be marked, and be destined to murder, seven times over, her former lover Caine. Caine, whom she remembered from her training, was the original vampire, or at least something close to it. He'd started all of the families eons ago, and to this day was believed to be the father of all vampires.

She stared blankly at the page, having finished reading and not seeing the words anymore. What was she supposed to do? She couldn't handle this. She was a soldier not some prophesied angel of vengeance. How could she tell her friends? Would they be in danger? Should she leave?

Merril was knocked out of her thoughts by Siro giving her a shake. She looked at him blankly and his icy eyes were filled with masked concern. "Bryce asked you a question."

Merril turned back to Bryce. "Sorry. This is just a lot. What'd you say?"

Bryce didn't seem fazed. "I asked, how long have you been pregnant?"

The floor gave out and her mind was sent reeling. That was impossible. She was dead. Yes, she played at still being human, but this was physically impossible! "You're wrong."

Bryce held up the vial with her blood. "Blood doesn't lie."

Merril just stared at the red liquid in the glass. How? How could she be pregnant? Sure she hadn't been using protection with Thor, but that's because she's dead! She had never wanted children. They weren't in the plans for her. She wasn't a fan of them, and had never developed a desire for motherhood. Her own mother had hated that about her.

Siro stood up. "Ok, I think that's enough for tonight." She felt herself gently lifted to her feet and followed him out, seeing and hearing nothing along the way. Before long she found herself deposited in the most comfortable chair she'd ever been in. Siro crouched in front of her. "Rest there, ok? I'm going to call your friends to come get you." She didn't answer, and wasn't sure she could. Luckily he didn't seem to expect her to, so she just handed over her phone.

Prophecies? Pregnancies? This was too much for one person to handle, let alone her. Deciding to take Siro's advice, she leaned back into the cushy chair and closed her eyes to wait.