Epilogue:

                Selena was dead. As was her soulmate, Rayne Endymion. At last the myth had come true. Selene and Endymion were together in peace. They were no longer suffering. They were happy.

                But if they were so happy why did she feel so sad?

                Thea stared at the amber candle on her bedside table and the light of the flame shown on a lonely tear that had trailed down her face. Had Selena spent countless nights like she did now, staring at the flickering flame? Or a bottle of brandy? Listening to wind chimes tinkle?

                Thierry had said that he had found both their bodies days later, when he had gone back with a team to pull out the remains. Selena's back had been crushed and Rayne's body had been found not too far away, his head cracked open by a stone. It hadn't been pretty, he had said, and he hadn't allowed her to see the scene.

                But it was over. She had seen the graves. Side by side. She had placed twin roses on them. And she had walked away.

                Blaise was worried. She never showed much in emotion but it was there, in the hooded gray of her eyes. And Winnie was worried, too. It was because she hadn't broken down yet. They were ever watchful of her and they would both be there to comfort her if she did decide one day to mourn.

                The candle flame flickered, amber drops of wax trailing down the length of the clear orange candle.

                How long had it been since she had slept? She needed to sleep. Her body was weak. Her mind was numb from all the emotions she had experienced that day.

                And she wanted to see Selena in her dreams.

                She watched them climb up the cliff, both of them, dragon horns trailing down the backs of their necks. The smaller one had blond hair, long and lustrous, floating dreamily in the soft breeze. She was dressed in a flowing gown, silk and light, blowing around her slender frame. And he was tall, dark and beautiful, looming beside her like a shadow. He wore all black, a heavy cloak hanging from his lean shoulders. And he carried a box in his arms.

                The woman stopped at the edge of the cliff, hesitating. And all she did was cast her eyes on the sea far below. She slowly lifted her arms, spreading them, and she inhaled the gentle breath of air sweeping across the cliff side.

                The man stopped a few feet behind her, setting the box down slowly.

                The woman turned to him, lifting her head to look up into his eyes as he stood to his full height once more. They were lovely together, perhaps a princess and her dark guardian. The corners of her lips tilted up, her hand rising to run the backs of her fingers across his cheekbone.

                The man caught her hand, kissing her palm tenderly. And then he released her hand to bend to the box and open it.

                She came forward. She was intruding, she knew she was. But the couple was familiar. She knew them from somewhere, from some time long ago. Or perhaps a time yet to come.

                The man took something out of the box, lifting it to her. She took it into her hands and gazed at it. Something a clear amber, a slight weight in her hands.

                She came up beside the woman quietly and looked at the object held in the slender fingers.

                A stone. A stone of amber fastened to a chain. That's all it was. She lifted her eyes to the woman's face, frowning. Why had amber been so important to her? She knew it had been but she couldn't remember exactly why. The answer was so far away. A dream away.

                The woman suddenly closed her fingers around the stone tightly. She looked out over the sea momentarily. And then she drew her hand back and flung the stone.

                Together, all three of them watched it vanish into the deep blue waters.

                And then the man was pulling something else out, handing it to her. The woman looked at it and, hovering like a ghost beside her, she was surprised to see tears in the woman's eyes.

                It was a bar. A bar of amber. Soap. And the woman did away with it as well, flinging it out to sea.

                More objects came, so many in all. More bars of amber soaps. Bottles of amber gels. Amber candles. All meeting their end in the cold waters. She watched the woman, eyed her as she slowly learned to stop looking at the objects, learned to just throw them away. Shut her eyes to the past. With every object she hurled, the faster she did it, the faster she moved to take another. The more breathless she became. Her shoulders began to heave, her breath in gasps, and she continued to fling them, tossing them away.

                One last object came into her hands. A long bottle of amber liquid. She pulled her arm back to throw it but suddenly hesitated, twisting her head back to look at the object clasped in her hand.

                She watched her, the woman's ghostly spectator.

                The woman lowered her hand, breathing in ragged gasps. Her blue eyes were locked on the bottle, trained on it fearfully. She jiggled the liquid, stared at it as it splashed.

                Let it go, she willed the woman. She reached out to touch her bare, slender shoulder.

                And with a cry the woman pulled her arm back and flung the bottle. Her voice echoed across the sea, the bottle of amber liquid chasing after it on its fatal course.

                She gazed out to sea, a smile lifting the corners of her lips. And then she looked at the woman because she suddenly remembered who she was, why she was so familiar.

                Selena Chimes' face was strained.

                She frowned slowly, turning a bit to gaze at her friend.

                Selena's lips trembled for a moment, a small gesture that she was going to break and then her face crumbled and she lifted her hands to her face as a wounded sob broke from her throat. Another followed and another still until the all became one long weeping spell, tears slipping through her stiff fingers.

                The man came forward, face tender in sadness and his hand lifted, tangling in her hair.

                Rayne Endymion. With the amber eyes.

                Selena turned into him, crying sobs that threatened to rip her body into pieces. Her fingers caught on his cloak, gripped forcefully, and she melted into him, allowing him to hide her away in the cloak. He did so, enveloping her in the blackness lovingly and his amber eyes lifted to gaze out at the sea.

                Thea sat up in bed with a gasp. She blinked, wide-eyed, at the moonlight spilling into her room and then at the amber candle still flickering beside her. The candle flame danced, the shadows jumping and darting all around, the darkness threatening.

                Darkness had threatened Selena. In so many forms. In the form of the witches. In the form of Cassandra. In the form of Rayne, in the shadow of his obligations to his Prince, duties that hadn't died over time. And finally in the form of death, reaching out and seizing her just when she had made it.

                She stared at the candle, feeling tears well up. And then she felt a sudden anger. Pure, dark fury. Rage so powerful it was almost murderous. With a shout she swiped at the candle, knocking it from her bedside and against the far wall. But she didn't watch it crash and bounce to the floor, the flame snuffed. She didn't hear it snap upon impact with the floor.

                She gazed at the moonlight, at the blue-white beams that were suddenly all the light in the eerie darkness.

                Selena. Goddess of the Moon.

                She understood her dream. Selena was gone and she had rid herself of her past, hard as it had been for her. She wouldn't ever see Selena again.

                Death had passed over this house.

                She didn't realize she was crying until the door opened and Blaise entered, Winnie at her heels. Then she drew her knees up, reaching for her cousin like a child in desperate need of her mother and she wept against Blaise's shoulder, lost in misery.

                Thierry's hands were clasped before him and he held a look of understanding upon his face. "I heard about last night." He said quietly.

                Thea sighed, face hidden behind her hands.

                "I think I have something that will take your mind off of Chime." He continued and there was the sound of papers being shuffled across his polished desk.

                "A loaded gun?" she mumbled wearily.

                He chuckled. "No, I'm afraid not. I have no use for them." He leaned forward in his seat, pausing in the shuffling and said, "Crying is usually the first step in moving on, Thea. It gets better over time."

                Thea shook her head, finally dropping her hands away. "What are you offering me?" she asked.

                His lips tightened as she lifted her eyes to him but he nodded nonetheless. "A job. To keep your mind focused for a while." He flipped a photo at her. "You are to take Winnie and meet up with this person."

                Thea looked at the picture. It was a black and white photo of a dark-haired young man wearing mirrored-shades and a long trench coat.

                "He has information we need. Unfortunately I can't convince him to come to the mansion." Thierry said with an impatient sigh.

                Thea gazed at the photo sadly. "Almost looks like Rayne." She whispered softly.

                Thierry's face turned firm. "No, Thea. No, it doesn't." He pushed another paper her way. "That's the address. Take Winnie with you."

                Thea swallowed, pulling her eyes away from the photo. "All right."

                The address was bogus.

                Thea wanted to rip the paper into pieces and then burn them with witch fire. But that wouldn't do at all. Instead she continued to look at the two houses and the house that should have been in between. But it wasn't there, there was no gap in between the houses. There never had been a house there.

                And she was going to hurt someone.

                "Thea. What happened?" Winnie jogged up, holding a bottle of water and a glass bottle of juice. She handed the juice to Thea and opened her water, taking a sip.

                Thea handed the paper to her wordlessly, clutching her bottle of juice with stiff fingers.

                Winnie capped her water and took the paper, looking from it to the houses before her. After a moment she frowned. "Where is it?" she asked.

                "My point." Thea growled. She lifted one hand to her hip and looked over her shoulder to the small park on the other side of the street.

                "I don't get it." Winnie began. "Thierry wouldn't have-"

                Thea's hand clamped down on her wrist.

                Across the street leaning against a tree was a young man. A black trench coat fell around his lean frame and height. Almost like Rayne but he was different. More compact. He held a cigarette in his mouth and a flame in his hands, lighting it. Dark mirrored shades hid his eyes from them. His hands fell away as he took a deep drag of the cigarette, looking down his slender nose at them from his position beside the tree.

                "That's him." Thea whispered and she started dragging Winnie, looking both ways before hurrying across the street.

                A faint smile curled his lips as they reached him. "You are the ones the Night Lord sent?" he asked them quietly. His voice was soft with an accent in its depths. A strange accent, not one they were familiar with but pleasing, nonetheless.

                "Yeah." Thea nodded, eyeing him. "You have the information?"

                He pulled away from the tree wordlessly, peering down at them. "Of course I do." He said and Thea stared into his darkness. The darkness that had taken Selena and Rayne. Reflected there in the mirror of his shades.

                He moved to the side, trench coat flowing behind him. "Come with me."

                Thea glanced at Winnie who merely shrugged at her.

                He led them to a large jeep, quite a nice one. The alarm beeped as he neared and holding his cigarette to his lips he opened one of the back doors, holding it open politely for the two witches.

                "Where are we going?" Winnie asked him cautiously.

                He took a drag, exhaling it to the side. "To the information." He answered. And when they didn't budge he continued rather impatiently, "You do want the answer, don't you?"

                Thea frowned. "The answer? What's the question?"

                He smiled again, that eerie smile. And his eyes were hidden, making him all the more eerie. "Get in and you'll find out." He said with a shrug.

                Winnie glanced at Thea as the blond witch turned quizzical brown eyes on her. She also shrugged. Thea turned to look back at the young man before nodding and climbing into the backseat. Winnie followed, eyeing the young man warily. He raised both eyebrows, smiling arrogantly before shutting the door on her. He pulled off his trench coat, tossing it into the passenger side of the jeep before climbing in and starting up the jeep.

                A moment later they were heading around the park and then taking a quiet road through it.

                Thea swallowed. She could see his face in the rearview mirror but he seemed to pay them no mind. He looked so much like Rayne. Rayne had been that laid back. That cool and confident. But this wasn't Rayne.

                Rayne was dead.

                "What's the question then, guy?" Winnie asked after several minutes of silence and green scenery.

                He didn't answer.

                But he did slow the jeep after several more seconds when someone came out of the trees of the dark park and stopped at the curb of the road. He pulled the jeep up before the person, stopping finally.

                "Hey, whoa." Winnie said as the figure, another young man, came forward and paused at the open window of the passenger side of the black jeep. "He never said that there would be two of you. Just one."

                The driver looked over his shoulder at them and bared sharp, white teeth. "We never work without the other." He said to the witches in the backseat, lifting his cigarette to his lips.

                Thea looked at Winnie quickly. Was he a vampire? Would they be able to take him on if necessary?

                The newcomer, a strangely beautiful young man with deep blue eyes leaned in through the window. "I want to drive." He said to the dark driver, ignoring Thea and Winnie.

                "You can't drive." The first young man said with a teasing grin. "You got to drive us here."

                "It's my jeep."

                "I'm the one with the keys."

                The boy outside sighed in defeat before pulling open the door. He pulled the cast off trench coat from the seat and wrapped himself in it as if cold. Then he climbed into the passenger seat. And the moment he shut the door the jeep took off, Winnie and Thea bouncing in the back.

                The newcomer, a light haired boy looked towards the driver from his spot leaning against the passenger side door. Then he reached over and plucked the cigarette from the driver's mouth.

                "Hey-"

                The dark haired young man driving cast the second guy a quick look but was cut short as the fair-haired one leaned forward and placed a tender, lingering kiss on his lips. "I told you I hate it when you smoke." He whispered against the driver's cheek. Then he pulled back against his seat and flicked the cigarette out the window.

                Thea slowly looked at Winnie. The red-curled witch threw her an, 'Oh, darn.' look and Thea nodded slightly in agreement. Both guys had been cute.

                The fair haired boy finally turned in his seat towards the witches. "Hello, Winnie." He said and then to Thea, "Hellewise."

                Thea did a double take, feeling her heart drop out from under her. "What did you...?" she stuttered.

                The boy smiled faintly and there was something familiar in the expression. "The dream didn't mean I was gone, Thea. It meant I had freed myself from the past." He shrugged. "Devlin is gone. I said good bye. Now it's just me. And him." He placed a hand on the driver's wrist.

                The driver slipped the shades down his nose a bit and smiled the haunting smile once more at the witches.

                Winnie merely blinked, wide-eyed.

                "Chime?" Thea whispered faintly.

                "Tell Thierry that we agree. His answer to the question." The fair-haired boy continued. And he grinned wryly.

                "What's the question?" Winnie asked dumbly.

                "If we'll work for him, of course." The driver said in his beautifully accented voice.

                "Of course." Thea uttered blankly.

                "Where are we going now?" Winnie asked, turning her eyes to gaze out at the park.

                The driver slipped the shades from his face altogether, perching them upon his forehead and he squinted at the road thoughtfully. "To find…an old friend." He said slowly. And then he trained wonderfully amber eyes on Winnie and Thea. "A Royal Guard's task is never done."

                                                                             FIN

Note:  Ok, before I confuse you all because I've had people before not understand the last moment, no, Rayne is not gay (LMAO!!) and no, Chime is not a guy. She was not reborn because she never died. Dragons are born with the ability to shape-shift…

But yay, I finally finished uploading the fic!!! *Suddenly notices the emptiness of the room and the sound of…crickets?* Hello?? Anybody there?

Anyways, I enjoyed making this story as much as hearing what you all thought about it so thanks for reading along, it meant a lot that ppl appreciated my efforts. =)

There IS a sequel (which I'm not sure I'm going to put up here because I wrote it in a terrible hurry but I guess it's not too bad). I guess if I get enough ppl telling me they'll kill me if I don't put up the story, maybe I'll put it up… XD

And last but NOT least, for all you Lord of the Rings fans, I'm writing another story as we speak with my sister Cassandra. It's called The Witch Child (has nothing to do with LJS or Illiana) and both she and I were DYING to do it since seeing LotR the week it came out. If you're into LotR (especially Legolas because these days I live and breathe him) please stop by and check it out, the Prologue is up already. We decided to list it under Cass' name because she doesn't have as many fics up as I do. So check under Author: Cassandra Salvia (she has 4 fics with this one) and look up The Witch Child. I think it's coming along pretty good. Drop us a review so that I can know whether or you guys even LIKE it. ;)

Anyways, I'm off. For all my long-time readers, I appreciate your interest and the time you took to read, I hope you continue to do so. Thanks so much! And hope to hear from you guys again soon. =)

-Aeslinn Salvia