"So what's our plan for you guys? I guessed you didn't want to come home with us?" Jane asked as they passed the border into Italy. There had been a troublesome guard but they made quick work of him.

The two dhampirs muttered amongst themselves. Jane was able to make out the word "airport", which she nodded at to show she understood. She would detoured when they passed Rome. Asya chattered over the radio to let Kotsya the plan. The girl had a confused face as the boy told her something in Russia before smirking and replying back hiding a laugh. "What's so funny?" Jane asked keeping her eyes on the road. "Nothing," Roman interjected quickly. "Should I be worried for Alec's safety back there 'cause you guys' idea of fun is almost as fucked up as mine," Jane joked. Both suspiciously shook their heads in unison.

Jane huffed turning the radio back on hoping to find a song in English that wasn't Taylor Swift. She found a station that was promising with guitar that sounded like a rock song.

Don't need no reason, don't need rhyme

Ain't nothing I would rather do

Going down, party time

My friends are gonna be there too

Figures this song would come on as they drove towards Volterra. Home was Hell in a different definition. Every temptation was at your fingertips as a vampire and with little consequence. It damned you beyond Hell.

"I'm on the high way to Hell! On the highway to Hell!" Roman laughed in his seat doubling over before Asya joined in laughing at the joke. Jane couldn't help shaking her head before singing the rest of the song. "HIGH WAY TO HELL!" The three screamed together. Semi-truck white girl sing-a-longs about Hell on your road trip home to a vampire castle with total strangers you met climbing the Alps in Italian leather are something you never forget. Alec needs to write a book about this someday, Jane snorted to herself realizing how messed up her life was.

She pulled off into the empty countryside when they got close to the airport. Awkwardly Jane waved from the driver's seat as Roman opened the back hatch to let Kotsya out. The Immortal Children and their creator stood frozen in Alec's mist. "So, I guess this is goodbye and we go our separate ways?" Alec shrugged. Kotsya held up his finger to stop him before digging in his cargos for something. Pulling out a sharpie, he pushed up Alec's sleeve and began writing a phone number winking.

Alec climbed back in and Jane looked out the rear view mirror as their new friends took off running in the opposite direction through farmlands to catch a flight to God knows where. Jane just hoped they would stay friends and not have to turn and kill them. She wouldn't have the luxury of hesitating if that day every came.

"Hey, Jane?" the radio crackled.

"Yeah?" she answered.

"What do you think Aro will want to do with these Immortal children? He told us it was because it was a larger scale crime and too dangerous with the kids to leave the Building. But I have a bad feeling about this. I heard about him creating a new born and having it attack the kids for training. He wouldn't send all of these on them, would he? The kids barely survived one vampire and all these ones are still have their new born strength. I was thinking…should we 'accidently' get rid of some of them to at least give the four of them a fighting chance?" Alec started pondering quickly.

Jane sighed, "Aro would read our thoughts and know we did it."

"But if it means saving the life of one of the kids? I'm not going to stand by and potentially watch my son die because I was too scared to not follow an order and I had a perfect opportunity to do something," Alec hissed. Aro's credibility with his treatment of the children had gotten spottier and spottier. They were just kids. Plus the question of 'what happens if a dhampir gets bit by a vampire' had not been answered yet and he wanted to ask Donovan about it. Even if all the children survived by some miraculous odds, the chance of getting bitten was still a high risk that had not been thrown out yet. If one of the kids turned right now they would be too young and unstable to be kept. Alec did not see Aro above experimenting with this possibility at this point. And even if they were allowed to live, he would not want to subject them to the torture of being trapped in a child's body for all of eternity, unable to reap the benefits of adulthood. Watching people grow around you as you stayed too young to participate in many things such as driving, being allowed in bars, being able to travel without being watched, being included in decisions, being able to be your own person and not having your parents define you. Having someone fall in love with you. He still thought about the person with the star tattoo on their wrist. What if that person was way older and didn't want a child like him? It was lonely being fifteen.

At least now with the discovery of dhampirs, Alec had been able to consider companionship an option. He and Jane felt left out in the Volturi because they were seen as inferior for their age. Before a huge part of his identity had been being the youngest and now that had changed to where he was in limbo for not being one of the kids, but not being given the same respect as an adult. The concept of a 'teenager' was a relatively new thing that hadn't been coined until the 1950's and wasn't even studied scientifically until recently. Any vampires younger than were executed, but any one older wanted nothing to do with them. But he now he could fit in with people who seemed trapped young like him and not have to worry about withholding secrets of who he was. Maybe he could branch out and make more contacts in the dhampir world and have friends he could hang out with when he wasn't on missions. Now Jane had her companion. Maybe it was time they both branched out from clinging to each other and met other people and had their own friends. He'd have to get a new phone if was going to start texting Kotsya.

xXxXxXx

They spent a good couple minutes sorting through their pockets and placing things into bags to be checked. Asya kissed her knife goodbye as she tucked it away so it wouldn't get taken by security. They were able to find tickets to Moscow and then a connecting flight in a smaller plane to get closer to home. Luckily since it was ski season in the Alps, people did not question their parkas and snow clothes as Roman went to get their boarding passes. Asya wandered the terminal waiting for their flight that was in three hours.

She froze when she smelt something sweet. Two vampires and a dhampir. She swore for not having her knife. The vampires hopefully were smart enough to not cause a scene in such a large public airport. She scanned the area on alert. A little girl with big blues eyes that seemed a little fogged over as if she was sick or very tired watched her as she walked past. A dhampir child. Next to her were a vampire male who resembled her and a vampire female, both seemed under thirty. Both were talking in Italian, which Asya had a hard time understanding. She pretended to stand in line for the drinking fountain listening to their conversation. Then something made her freeze. She suddenly understood what they were saying.

"Where are we going?" the little girl whispered in Russian her father. "We are taking a flight to the United States. We are going to visit some people who will help us hide and keep us safe. Their leaders a doctor and will help take a look at your head. But for now we need to keep running," her father whispered back in Russian hoping it would make it so that no one could over hear them. "It's so loud and noisy. Too many things moving. I can't track them all at once. So many people," she said wistfully. Asya looked back at the three of them. They seemed so familiar.

Then it clicked. They were the three the amber alert back in Romania was talking about. They were trying escape people who were dangerous and the child was injured somehow, but was completely willing to be with her father which hinted that something else was going on behind the scenes. They needed asylum not being followed. Asya remembered the long years she and her mother were on the run. Dark blue uniforms made her flinch naturally as she ducked behind the woman's washroom door. They were walking towards the vampires.

"Sir, we need you all to come with us right now," the police officers ordered, their hands on their weapons ready for any violent resistance. As if a mortal pistol would stop a vampire, especially one protecting its young. Asya followed silently as they were escorted to a hidden room. Airport Jail. Asya found a guard uniform in a storage closet. "Take care of the child. She does not leave your sight," the lead guard ordered not realizing she was not a real security guard.

"You and your wife are under arrest for kidnapping," they said handcuffing the two vampires who stood in shock. No doubt cameras were watching them making breaking out of them and killing the guards and running not a viable option.

"I assure you she is my child, both legally and biologically," Demetri tried to explain, "There must be a misunderstanding."

"There is no misunderstanding," the mustached guard smiled in his face.

"I get one phone call. That is my civil right," Demetri interjected. The guard glared at him before handing him the phone. Demetri dialed the number for the Building.

"Hello, Volterra Historical Tours," Joan responded using the preface they used to cloak their lived from humans. "Joan, Heidi and I were just arrested and we are in Airport Jail in Rome. Get Aro on the phone immediately!" Demetri spoke urgently.

"It is wonderful to hear your traitorous voice, Demetri," Aro cooed into the phone.

Demetri tapped the receiver five times to signal they were being recorded by humans. "You are a real twisted son of a bitch, you know that!" Demetri growled, "I need you to call off this man hunt. We did not run away, I am trying to keep my daughter safe from harm."

"And what if we had a lead on the one you want? And the only way to catch him and see him brought to justice in person was to return with the child. I promise all will be forgiven if you get back inside the car you stole from me and are home within the next three hours. I have paid these wonderfully corrupt guards handsomely and I can pay them to do anything or forget anything I wish," Aro offered. Demetri could hear him grinning into the phone.

Asya's hearing was not strong enough to catch the entire conversation, especially with whoever this Demetri guy was talking to. She was distracted by the sound of the small girl coughing and gagging on something before she threw up into the trash can next to her. The little girl slumped closing her eyes against the bench they sat her down outside the room. Asya ran to see she was okay. Holding her head up to help her drink some water out of a Styrofoam cup Asya swiped from the nearby employee break room, she felt something warm and wet. The back of her head had begun bleeding again. Asya saw the wound and the girl must have had a terrible blow to the head. "Were you kidnapped or are you trying to run away from bad people, little one?" she asked the girl in Russian. The girl perked up, "Running from the person who hurt and tried to kill me."

Asya nodded, "You need blood to heal. Mine will give you more energy than human blood. I am going to pretend to give you a hug in a second and I need you to look like you are crying on my shoulder, where I am going to make a small cut. I will tap you back when you should let go. But whatever you do, do not make eye contact with the security camera in the northern corner of the room." Living behind the Iron Curtain had made her wise to mortal's attempts at complete supervision of every civilian.

Asya pretended to scratch an itch in her back, nicking her neck, and then kneeled down to hug the little girl. "Oh you poor thing, you must be so scared," she spoke loudly for the people recording them. She didn't even wince as the sharp teeth dug into her. In her head she counted to thirty before tapping the girl's back. With a whimper she let go and sat back. Skillfully, she pretended to be wiping her face and sniffling like she had been crying. Asya reassessed the girl. She looked more awake and alert. "Thank you, my head feels a lot better," the girl smiled at her, "My name is Marina. What's yours?"

The older girl pretended not to hear her as she continued to listen in on the conversation with the adults. It sounded like her father was negotiating with someone over the phone. Most likely the person they were running from. That was a huge mistake. There needed to be a away they could break away and disappear. This human airport was too public and there were cameras everywhere here. She had an idea.

She walked up and knocked on the door. "Who are you and what do you want?" the lead guard asked her. "I am sorry. I was told to assist you as a Russian translator for the man. Perhaps I can speed things along?" She lied. The male vampire froze, finally able to fully look at her. He knew what she was and his eyes looked confused. "Yes, I am a dhampir. I am here to help you and your daughter escape. Follow my lead," she instructed in Russia, flexing her voice as if she was introducing herself and asking if he needed assistance. Nodded he responded making his accent thicker, saying he would need her to read him his rights and he did not understand the guards. They seemed skeptical, but allowed her to pull up a chair to talk to him.

"You should not listen to the man you were talking with over the phone. You need to take your daughter and disappear. Hop freight trains and stay away from humans who seem to monitoring everything these days. Start a life somewhere else."

"There are other children. Not mine, but children of my friends. He threatened to hurt them. He said that if I return with her, they would forgive everything and no harm would come to anyone. That the person who nearly killed her would be brought to justice and she would be safe and out of harm's way. He would call off the investigation. He paid these men in this room and paid off police agencies all around Europe to make it impossible to go anywhere. He put a bounty on my head that no tracker in the world you turn down."

"That doesn't mean he has the right to. Why is he willing to go to this expense? Just for one child?"

"She is gifted, as am I. The leader of our coven prides himself on having the most powerful members. He would slaughter a city blindfolded if it meant having every lost sheep of his returned."

"All the more reason to run. There is a fire alarm in the hallway. In half a millisecond I could pull it and not break stride. It will force an evacuation of the airport. Use that opportunity to do what's best for your child." And with that she politely smiled and thanked the security guards. She gave him one last cold hard, stone eyed glare before closing the door and exiting to the hallway. She smiled as she heard yelling as the fire alarm blare behind her.

"There you are. I've been looking for you everywhere. I don't smell smoke, but we need to evacuate now," Roman lectured her. She let him lead her outside with Kotsya. She never told them about the blue eyed girl named Marina.

Marina jumped when the fire alarm went off. Her father bolted through the door way, Heidi in tow. "Run!" was all he had to say and she ran after him. They kept their speed to a normal human sprint for the sake of the video cameras. He nearly knocked down the steel door to the emergency exit. Tracing the outside of the building for shade they made their way to where they had parked the car. "I understand and support you no matter what you decide," was all Heidi said frowning.

Demetri started the car.

XxXxXx

Damien was awaken by the sound of the door opening. "The Large Scale Combat Evaluation will begin in one hour," Felix said before leaving him. Evaluation? Had they forgotten to tell him they would be tested again? Climbing out of bed, he went to find a new pair of clothes other than the pair that he had borrowed from Alec and slept in. He found that surprisingly some of his clothes were in the dryer, as if someone had kindly decided to help put things back in order for him. They smelled clean. He put them on before walking to the kitchen. It was clean. How? The fridge was new and everything had been fixed as if nothing had happened. There were only a handful of blood bags in there. He heard someone behind him. Turning around he saw Olivia enter the kitchen to grab a blood bag as well. "Hey, it might be a good idea if you have an extra one or two in case you need to zap one of us. It would really suck if Tiago or I died again," he joked trying to brighten the morning. She didn't look at him and closed the fridge door. "Hey," he said again, "Olivia? Did I do something wrong or what? I thought we made up last night." She didn't look back as she left and walked down the hallway. Bitch, he rolled his eyes.

Sitting down he drank his blood bag like a Capris Sun welcoming the savory taste. He felt too nervous about what was about to happen to eat, but he forced himself to eat some apple slices and a piece of toast with Nutella. Something felt off. The toast and Nutella tasted like apples and the apples tasted like Nutella and toast. Looking around he found Joan's crossword on the counter. He glanced at the title.

"Seimmud Rof Drowssorc" was what he read.

"Fuck you psychic visions!" Damien yelled throwing the book across the room. It didn't matter what he did or said. No one would see or hear him. At least he knew that whatever was going to happen couldn't hurt him. It was only a dream in his head. But he could learn from them.

He made his way downstairs to find everyone else down there. Everyone being Olivia, Tiago, AND Marina. Felix and Demetri stood with arms crossed. They weren't happy about what was going to happen. "We are instructed to search you all. Aro has a new rule that you are not allowed to bring anything into the court yard, where you will be assessed, besides the clothing you are wearing. That includes no lighters, matches, knives, swords, battle axes, crossbows, arrows, long bows, daggers like there's a fucking difference between that and a knife but for some reason we need to clarify, poisons, rope, lighter fluid, flint…basically anything but clothing. Are we clear?" Felix read off a clip board. This was new to Damien. Chelsea patted down the girls while Demetri checked the boys. Demetri froze when he saw the rosary Damien's mom gave him. "This is technically not clothing, young man," Demetri cocked one eyebrow at him before confiscating it. Now Aro could read his mind. This would also be important to note.

They were escorted out to the back door. On the upper balcony, Aro, Caius, and the wives sat overlooking them as if they were about to watch a theatre performance. Damien noted Alec was standing to the side of the hedge, creating a Mist barrier to hold something in the very back of the garden. What they were going to fight.

"Today you will be assessed on your ability to battle several opponents at once. For example, in the future you may be asked to defeat a large coven and they might a have a shield that makes it so that Alec's ability cannot sedate them. During the assessment, Alec will form a circle around the courtyard hedge to keep anyone from escaping and the local town's people from hearing the sound of children screaming bloody murder as they are dismembered. Touch it and you will lose all your sense and will be paralysed. It might seem tempting halfway through but any suicides will be an automatic fail. Some of you may die during this exam, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make," Aro announced to his captive audience.

"Happy Seventy-Sixth Annual Hunger Games," Damien laughed back in a shrill voice impersonating Effie, "And may the odds be ever in your favor!"

Alec spread his arms making the Mist move from freezing their opponents to surrounding them.

All Hell broke loose.

Damien tried to run but his feet seemed to be bolted to the grass. Looking around, he saw over a dozen children run at them with blood thirsty eyes. The three other dhampir children scattered. Damien wanted to yell at them to stay together and not separate. Four swarmed Marina as she kicked two away from her. She screamed as they bit into her. Tiago ran back to save her when he heard her scream feeling the necks of three of the vampires crumble to dust as he ripped their heads off.

"MARINA!" He screamed out as he was grabbed by his ankles and dragged into the thick bushes. Damien saw a hand come bouncing out. He wanted to throw up but his body seemed frozen like it was in the subway tunnel.

"No!" Olivia gasped. She had faired rather well. She grabbed children's arms left and right draining them down to weaker than humans before smashing together. But eventually she got too overwhelmed as she backed away from them. She didn't see where she was back up too until she couldn't see anything at all.

"NO!" he screamed as their last chance flickered away into nothing.

He couldn't stop screaming. There was blood all over the grass. He couldn't breathe. And all the Guard members just stood there as their children were ripped to pieces before their very eyes.

Finally someone moved and began walking towards him.

Alec.

With a smile he walked up to his son before crouching down to meet him face to face. He softly placed his hands on either side of Damien's face, resting his thumbs on his cheeks.

"Your turn," Alec smiled an empty smile before snapping his neck.

He could still feel his hands on his face as everything went black.

"Damien," a hushed voice spoke, the hands were still on his cheeks, only this time his cheeks were wet with sweat and tears. The thumbs stroked his cheeks again. He was in the bed in the Building. The vision was over.

"Damien, I'm home," Alec smiled at him again while crouched to meet him face to face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N: we finally got tumblr to work. AKA We made Tory spend a long time doing a photo safari for characters and aesthetics. Will try to post pictures of characters and plot on here.

-Tristan

Tumblr: Teamoctoberwriters