A/N: THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS. SORRY I DIDN'T UPDATE SOONER. I HAD EXAMS AND THEN A NEW SEMESTER STARTED. IT'S BEEN A REAL CRAZY FEW WEEKS. ANYWAY, HERE'S THE NEXT CHAPTER. ENJOY.

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"What the hell?" Michael muttered as he walked to Tess' room and noticed that three tall, dark men, dressed in all black were standing by the door, looking very much like mafia bodyguards and that his friends were nowhere in sight.

Aliens, he thought.

He cursed under his breath again when they spotted him before he could make a run for it. Standing still in his spot, he watched as one of them approached him.

"Rath." The man said as he nodded at Michael.

Slightly surprised and confused by the gesture and recognition, Michael said nothing and waited.

"They're waiting for you inside." The man continued as he gestured towards the room.

Michael watched him warily, not sure of what to do to. There was something strangely familiar and trustworthy about the man so he did nothing and walked to the room. He hoped that Tess was alright in there.

What he found surprised him even more.

Cramped inside the somewhat small room were five more men dressed in black. They were circled around the bed where Tess was. A ceremony was taking place.

Michael glanced at Max who was standing by the corner, a gun threateningly pointed at him, Isabel and the rest of their friends.

"What the hell are you doing?" Michael dared to exclaim at the man.

The man turned to him, his eyes soft yet threatening. He didn't speak in English and strangely, Michael understood. Silently, he nodded and backed away, letting them continue with what they came to do.

"Michael?" Isabel asked warily. He seemed strangely calm for someone who was being held hostage.

"Quiet Isabel, they're praying." He said in a hushed tone and Isabel turned to look at the group.

Pale and almost dead, Tess laid on the bed while the circle of dark strangers surrounded her.

Suddenly the man raised a knife and Maria whimpered while Max moved to run to Tess but Michael was quicker than he was and in an instant, he was in front of Max, telling him no.

The leader of the strangers took the knife, dipped in a small cylinder filled with blood. He then turned to Tess, took her limp hand and sliced her palm.

"Oh my God." Maria murmured in disgust as she clung to Kyle's arm.

The man continued his chant and a silver glow appeared on Tess cut and in a few minutes, the scar was gone, leaving no trace that it ever happened.

The man abruptly stood up and the rest of his people moved away from the bed.

For what seemed like eternity, nothing happened and just when Max was about to say something, Tess' body began to trash on the bed, her head rolling back as her eyes snapped open. They could see that her pupils were gone, and there was only black there.

Her fingers curled and she clawed at the bed underneath her almost ripping the sheets as she struggled. Two men moved to hold her down, pinning her arms to her sides.

She started to yell in their alien language and only the men in black and Michael understood.

She fought, trying to break free as she continued to trash but she was weaker and smaller. Ten minutes later, her seizures subsided and Tess laid on the bed heaving and covered in her own cold sweat, her black eyes turn emptily to the ceiling while blood trickled down her cheeks and from the corner of her mouth.

Her eyelids closed and her head turned to her side as her body relaxed. The leader moved forward, motioning the two men to let Tess' arms go. They nodded in obedience and moved away. The man sat next to Tess and wiped the blood from her face.

"Rest well, your highness." He whispered in English. It was the first thing in almost an hour that Max understood. The man then stood up and walked over to Max but he looked at Michael and spoke in Antarian again.

Michael nodded when the man finished. "He says that now we wait." He explained to Max who looked confused.

"Ask them who they are." Max told him.

The man's eyes snapped at Max and he glared at the younger man. "We are servants to the queen." He said in English.

"Servants?" Max echoed.

"More like warriors, actually. Soldiers." Michael clarified.

"We serve the queen and her alone." He stated firmly, his dislike of Max more evident. "Had we not come here in time, you would have let her die." He spoke to Max accusingly.

"It's a good thing that you came then." Michael interjected. "Can you get your men out of here? It's getting a little too hot with this many people." The man nodded, glanced at his people and they all disappeared out the door.

"You should get rid of the humans." He said.

"No, they're with us." Michael answered for Max as he glanced at Alex, Kyle and Maria who were still huddled in the corner. "What did you do to Tess?"

"You mean Ava." The man corrected sternly. "She will be fine as soon as the new blood mixes with her own."

"New blood?" Isabel asked.

"Yes, Vilandra, the new blood." The man said icily as he glared her down. "The pure blood of the heir mixed with the cure of the poison."

"My son's blood." Max whispered as he walked over to Tess and sat next to her.

"Yes, the future king. He has pure blood that can heal, like yours; mixed with the cure for the poison, it saved his mother." The man answered.

"Where is he now?" Max asked, his eyes never leaving Tess.

The man sighed. "He's somewhere safe." He said curtly.

"Where is my son?" Max demanded angrily.

The man growled. "You will see your son soon enough!" He declared firmly as he moved towards the door. The man stopped short. "While Ava is asleep, I'm going to take this opportunity to tell you this. She spent her whole life with the belief that she was meant to die for you, for all of you, but the truth is without her, there would be no royal four. She is your salvation. You don't deserve her." With that said he shook his head in disappointment and disapproval and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Max, Michael, Isabel, Kyle, Alex and Maria looked at each other in disbelief.

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"Sheriff, who are these people?" Liz asked as he glanced at the men standing by Tess' room.

Valenti shrugged his shoulders, his eyes casting a worried look towards the door. He and Liz had just gotten to the scene and it seemed that something had happened inside but no one wanted to explain.

Micheal, Maria, Kyle, Alex and Isabel were still in the room. Once in a while, Alex would pop out to speak to Liz and Sheriff Valenti who were instructed by one of the men to wait outside.

"You're the human, who played guardian to the royal four, aren't you?" One of them asked him.

Valenti glanced at the other figure and nodded. "Tess was like a daughter to me." He said proudly.

The other man stretched his lips in an effort to smile. "We would like to thank you for guarding the queen." He said.

"Anytime." Jim answered. "Do you mind telling me who you are?"

"Kail. High General to the Council, protector of the queen."

Jim Valenti's eyebrow furrowed. "Isn't that supposed to be Michael or Rath?" He asked.

"I'm the leading officer of the rebel forces based here on Earth. My predecessor, Nasedo, died a few years ago and now I'm left to guard the queen while she tries to kill our enemy herself." He explained.

Valenti nodded. Everything seemed confusing but things were falling into place now. He didn't know whether to trust Kail and his men but they seemed sincere enough and by saving Tess' life, Valenti approved of them.

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Kyle shifted in his seat as he tried to find a comfortable position in the small reclining chair. He rubbed his eyes as he glanced at the clock. It said two o'clock in the morning.

"Jeez." He muttered as he looked around the semi dark room. Alex was sleeping on the couch peacefully. I'm going to have to wake him in an hour or so, Kyle mentally told himself.

It was already two days since Kail and his men came and Tess was still out of it. Everyone else had rented a room to get some sleep somewhere comfortable. No one wanted to leave.

Kyle glanced at Tess and decided to sit next to her. He could see the right side of her face. It was pale against the soft glow of the moonlight that seeped through the curtain that billowed by the window.

Kyle sighed as he quickly glanced at Alex who was still sleeping. He then turned to Tess.

"I was thinking," He started to speak as he clasped his hands together. "You should wake up now, Tess. You didn't fail. You won. Khivar's gone, your son is safe and Max, well, he's waiting for you. I know that maybe you're not waking up because Max is here and you don't want to see him but you have to. It's killing him seeing you like this. It's killing all of us." Kyle sighed and looked down at his hand again. "And I want to see my nephew. I know that he's not really related to me but you're pretty much my sister so I figured he's family too. Anyway, it might be nice to have a family dinner again for Christmas. This year I'll actually help out." Kyle chuckled. "Kail won't give him back unless you're awake. He doesn't like Max. We can all see that. Hey, Tess, if you wake up, I swear that I'll give you that jersey that you wore." He smiled as he remembered the incident.

Kyle leaned forwards as he brushed a stray blonde hair from Tess' face. Suddenly he was racked with sobs and he put his arms around her and hugged her. "We really, really miss you Tess. Come home now, okay."

Suddenly a hand touched his shoulder and he jerked, startled. He slowly pulled away from Tess and looked down at her.

"You almost suffocated me in my sleep." She groaned as her eyelids fluttered as she tried to look up at him straight. They were still black but traces of her blue eyes were becoming visible.

"If I knew that it would wake you up, I would have suffocated you a long time ago." He grinned as he hugged her tighter. "I can't believe you're back."

"Kyle, I need air." She groaned.

He loosened his hold around her and gave her an apologetic smile as he stood up and shook Alex from his sleep. Alex muttered something under his breath as he was ungracefully woken up.

"Tess is awake." Kyle declared happily and Alex leapt for his position and ran over to Tess.

"About time." He said trying to sound stern but he was beaming from ear to ear and he took his turn to hug her. "Welcome back. How are you feeling?"

"Weird." She answered. Kyle was about to run out of the room to tell the other the good news but Tess called out. "Don't." She said weakly. "I'm not ready to see them. Not right now."

"But Max would-" Kyle said but Alex cut him off.

"We'll tell them in the morning." Alex declared firmly and Kyle nodded. He went to Tess' other side and sat down next to her. "We were worried about you." Alex said, glancing at Kyle who nodded in agreement.

Tess nodded. "I told you I can take care of myself." She smiled as her hand went to his. "You never have to worry about me."

"Well, with the numerous close calls you had, I think Alex had the right to worry. We all did." Kyle piped in happily.

"I'm going to take that jersey since you promised." She smiled at him. Kyle beamed. Her face grew serious and the ordeal that she went through became evident. Suddenly, she seemed old, not by appearance but in her eyes. They looked tired and beaten. "Thank you, both of you. I owe you a lot." She said and she opened her arms so they could both hug her. So they did.

"Anytime." Kyle said when they pulled away.

"But don't do it again." Alex added half jokingly and Tess nodded. "Get some rest, princess. You have a few hours left until everyone's up." He said as he patted her arm.

"But I'm not tired." Tess argued as she tried to stifle a yawn.

"Sure you're not." Kyle said as he kissed her on the forehead. "We'll be here. Yell if you need anything."

Tess nodded as she turned to one side, pulling the covers over her shoulders despite the warm New Mexico weather. She heard Alex and Kyle return to the couch and chair. For a long time, she didn't sleep but just stared out of the darkness, her eyes focused on the lace curtain that billowed like a ghost standing near the window. She listened to Kyle and Alex's breathing when they finally fell back asleep an hour later. Tess sighed as she pulled the covers tighter around her. She felt shivers run up and down her spine, making her uneasy. She shut her eyes, knowing full well why she couldn't sleep or rest.

In the morning she would have to face Max all over again.

~*~

A/N: YAY, I MADE HER WAKE UP. I KNOW THAT IM MEAN FOR NOT LETTING KYLE TELL MAX BUT I FIGURED THAT I COULDN'T MAKE THEM FACE EACH OTHER NOW SINCE THE WHOLE CONFRONTATION THING WOULD START ALL OVER AGAIN AND I ALREADY WROTE ENOUGH FOR ONE CHAPTER. I WANTED SOMETHING MORE EXCITING FOR TESS' REVIVAL BUT ALL I COULD THINK OF WAS AN INDIAN HEALER AND WELL, YOU KNOW HOW IT WENT. TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK BECAUSE I SERIOUSLY WON'T PUT ANOTHER CHAPTER UNLESS THERE ARE ENOUGH REVIEWS.

SO REVIEW ALREADY.