Carl was worried. He had been looking after the children for Gabriel and Anna for about a month or so now, it had been the same things every day. He would go and start making breakfast and then go and wake the younger two and his own child up and then older two would usually smell the food a mile away and come down themselves. He had always thought himself quite lucky this time around. Usually Kate and Scott got into all sorts of trouble, and now, on the final morning, they had decided to go missing.

He sat at the large dining table with Serena and Alex as they ate their toast greedily. Serena suddenly stopped and looked around, as if she had only just noticed where she was.

"Where's Katie and Scott?"

Carl sighed and smiled falsely at the little child, her dark brown eyes staring at him with the utmost confusion. "They're probably still in bed, they were out late last night." The young beauty seemed to accept this excuse and went back to her breakfast.

"Morning Dad."

Carl turned round to see his daughter, Cathy, enter the room. She looked at the three with her hungry green eyes and quickly stole a slice of toast from her father's plate. "I was going to eat that." He moaned under his breath.

After breakfast, Carl began searching for Kate and Scott. He checked everywhere in the manor that they could possibly be; the library, Anna's father's study, the armoury, but there was not hide nor hair of them. Then he went to tell Cathy to keep an eye on the twins before going to search the village. It was only when he entered the stable that his worst fears were confirmed, and he saw that both Beacan and Braelyn were both missing, and the hoof marks on the floor were old.

Anna held the reins to her own horse and also to Braelyn on their way home. Gabriel had Kate sitting in front of him asleep on his stallion and Scott stayed close to his mother's side. She looked at her husband's grave face as they all rode in silence. He looked terrified, but he was covering it up for the kid's sake, and also for Anna. Ever since they had defeated Dracula for the first time he had a habit of trying to cover up his fear from Anna, not wanting her to see him scared as long as he could stand it for.

She loved it that he did it to protect her, and the children, but she knew it was tearing him up inside, and it was only in the middle of the night that he would tell her his fears and his worries. But she had seen fear covered up all her life in her family's struggle against the curse, she didn't want the madness to take hold of her new family as well.

Angel Valerious.

That name made her shiver with fear. She remembered when she had encountered Dracula as a child, no more than five years old, and he had called her that. He had said so many things to her, but those two words were the only ones that had stuck with her to this day. It scared her more than her encounter did that he had called Katie that.

"Anna."

She looked up as Gabriel's voice put a stop on her crazy thoughts. Scott looked at him as well, and she suddenly realised that he looked more like his father now than he ever had. They had the same grave expression that was searching for hope amongst the darkness.

"We should take the children to Rome. Jinette will keep them safe in the Vatican. It's too dangerous here." She knew he was right. He always was. The Vatican was the only place Dracula and his brides couldn't get to them. There, under the protection of God himself, Kate, Scott, Alex and Serena would be safe while her and Gabriel took care of Dracula once and for all.

She nodded. "It's the only way" she said, more to herself than to her husband or son.

"But what about the Ball, dad?" Scott piped up. Katie had wanted to go to this ball so much, she wouldn't be able to go to another once for a year or so.

"We'll have to cancel it, Scott." Gabriel said. "They'll be another, when everything's safe again."

Scott nodded and looked straight ahead of him. He could see the manor now, home. Now he would have to explain to Carl why they were missing this morning. It was all his idea. He felt so stupid now, he put his and Kate's life in danger so they could see their parents half an hour earlier than they would have if they stayed at home. It was all his fault that Kate was hurt. If he hadn't been too selfish, she was quite happy to stay at home and wait; she would never have been attacked. What if she had died?

Later that night, Scott packed a small bag for him and Alex. They were allowed to take a few outfits and some essentials. They had to travel light so the risk of being seen was low. Beside him, a recovering Kate was putting some of Serena's clothes into her own bag. She had a small bruise on her forehead from earlier that had seated itself upon a little lump. She noticed him looking at her and stopped packing.

"Scott, what's wrong?" She said quietly, not to disturb the twins, who sat on their bed trying to decide which of their many toys to count as an essential.

"This is all my fault, you getting hurt, us getting sent away." He admitted, not looking at her, but rather at the ground.

"It would have happened sooner or later." Kate said. "If I am the one they're looking for like Momma said, then it was always going to happen. It could have happened tomorrow, it could have been two years ago, it doesn't matter. When Momma and Dad go off to kill him, just think of it as a normal mission for them." She said reassuringly. Scott was amazed, she was always so wise for her age.

"It's not a normal mission though, Kate. That's why we're being sent away, miles away. I don't want to go, as much as I'd like to see Jinette again. This is our home. If anything happens, this is where we'll want to be. All of mum's family have lived here, and we're the only ones of her family that are being taken away from it and we don't even fight what they did."

Kate hugged her doubtful brother. It was very very rare that he lost his optimism. It scared her that her older brother that she looked up to so much doubted their parent's decisions.

"Don't worry Scott, everything will be OK. It's not like we're never going to come home."

She was suddenly filled with a sense of foreboding, and it was bad. She had always had visions in the form of dreams. Sometimes they told the past, sometimes the future, but they were rarely bad. She felt a small pain at the top of her neck that made her shudder. Why did it feel like she was lying? Was something bad going to happen to them in Rome? She had always spoken to her Dad about these things before, but under the circumstances, she thought she wouldn't mention this one. He had enough on his plate without her stupid little worries.