hello, hello! sorry this took a while, but i was grounded from the computer for a while, you're lucky you're gettin this now, cause technically, i'm still grounded. but summers comin soon and then i should be able to update regularly, may even start a sequel, hint, hint:) so look out for that! anyways, on with the story, and bring on the action!!!

"Are you ready?" Charlie asked, and I turned toward Adrian, and answered, not looking away from his loving red eyes."As ready as I'll ever be."

He closed the small distance between us and drew me close to him, pulling my face to his, kissing me deeply as Charlie opened the door to the fate that awaited us.

It was a large room with stone walls and floor and there were seven chairs against the far wall, Damon sitting in the middle, most ornately carved chair. I swallowed hard and Adrian squeezed my hand in support. I squared my shoulders and held my head a little higher as we continued forward to meet them.

I saw to Damon's right, Danya, who I could only assume was his sister. I also saw three tohers that I did not know, two chairs were empty. As we got closer I noticed a very menacing man leaning against the corner to our right, he had an assortment of weapons at his side, and I felt my resolve waver slightly before I looked away.

"The accused are known as Ethan Carvell and Iris of the Linean pack." Then Damon sneered as he continued. "Ladies first, Iris."

Then the man I had noticed earlier came forward and dragged Adrian from my side to the wall behind Damon. Damon smiled maliciously, and I knew that he wa pleased that Adrian would have to suffer watching whatever it was that was about to happen to me.

Charlie walked quickly towards the seats and took her place in one of the empty chairs, the one on Damon's left remained empty. She looked at me apologetically before hiding behind a mask of disinterest.

Damon's voice broke the silence that was only disturbed by Adrian's constant struggle with the man that had taken him. "You stand accused for the murders of the following; Dorian Corren, Alicia Retay, Vincent Corren, Cynthia and Lucinda Jarret, and" then he took a deep breath and his voice filled with rage,"my own brother, Loman Cavell." All others sitting, except for Charlie, looked with sympathy at Damon and Danya, who were staring at me with nothing but rage.

I refused to lower my eyes from theirs as they continued to glare, though I did flinch slightly as Damon snapped at me "How do you plead?"

I saw the triumph in his eyes as he flinched, and I was not about to let him think he had even the slightest amount of control over me. "I'm not too sure..." I said slowly, pretending to look thoughtful."Which one was Loman?" I asked politely with a slight edge to my voice.

Before anyone else could respond, Danya shot up from her seat and took two steps towards me in quick succession before stopping herself. "He is our brother, who died valiently, aiding in your capture. And he is much more deserving of life than you, you filthy dog!" she spat at me.

She continued to glare while the others looked at her in approval. She was looking quite smug, and turned back to her seat before I responded.

I brought my hand up under my chin in mock thought."Loman, Loman...ah! He is the one whose throat I ripped out, correct?" I asked, smiling politely.

Several angry voices shouted out in protest at my comment, and Danya closed the short space in between us and made to slap me, but before she could make contact, I stayed her hand. The voices died, and we were in complete silence. Adrian appraised me from the vice tight arms of his captor.

"I'd advise against that." I snarled, and she hissed back at me.

"Enough!" Damon roared, standing.

I dropped Danya's hand and she slinked back to her seat silently, but my triumphant smirk fell when I met Damon's murderous gaze as he stepped directly in front of me.

"You have heard the charges," he said in a chilling voice, and I stood willing myself not to tremble," Now how do you plead?"

I raised my chin higher and looked him directly in his blood red eyes. "I am guilty," I said with pride," Of those crimes, and so many more." I finished with a small grin.

He stared at me a long second, and raised his hand to stroke the scars that crossed my chest. I shivered at his touch, and he leaned in quickly to whisper in my ear," You should have taken my offer." I wrenched my face from his and spat in his face, and the entire council froze to see his reaction.

He wiped his face slowly, and smiled disturbingly at me. "You will pay for that." he said in a low and dangerous voice, before turning sharply on his heel and sitting back in his seat.

"We have arrived at a decision for your punishment," he said a bit louder, his cold voice echoing across the dark room" That is, if you do not cooperate."

I stiffened. "Cooperate with what?"

"We seem to be at a disadvantage." he said, gesturing to the council," Your 'family' remains unknown to us. We know not who they really are beneath their concealing hides, and as you can imagine, that makes it quite difficult to track them."

I eyed him suspiciously, he could not be asking me what I think he was asking.

"We are offering you a chance at an easy death." he continued,"For have no doubt about it, you will die. The question is, would you rather die painlessly, or we can torture this information from you, with your dear friend Adrian watching."

I gasped and stared at him in shock. How does he know that?

Adrian was staring at him just as incredulously, and Damon smirked.

"Oh, I have known for some time now your real identity. In fact, it was the reason you were bitten in the first place. You were the perfect bait to draw out our furry little friends." he informed us with a smile.

Guilt racked my body. It was my fault, all of it. Adrian lost his life because of me. He was now damned to walk the night for all eternity, and it was because of me.

"So," he went on casually," You have a choice to make."

Every pair of eyes in the room looked at me intently, and all but two were waiting for me to choose torture. The exceptions were pleading with me to take my last chance at survival.

I smiled sweetly.

My voice broke through the silence.

"You, nor any of your kin, will ever know anything more about my family than this; if you somehow manage to kill me, they will enjoy making you pay."

Anger flitted across Damon's face, but was quickly replaced with a look that sickened me.

"Very well then," he said, and thre man holding Adrian dragged him in front of Damon; in front of me." Remember this, and remember it well; you chose your fate. I hope you can accept that when you lay broken and dying in front of your love." he sneered.

"Cedric." he said, and the burly man that was holding Adrian released him into Damon's grasp and walked towards me, pulling somehing from his waist. It was a whip, and its tip was a silver blade.

I fought to keep my composure as Adrian writhed in Damon's arms and the man named Cedric came ever closer.

"No!" roared Adrian, Charlie was clenching her hands in little fists and looking in the ther direction.

Cedric flicked his whip out of the coil it had been in, and I felt a wave of terror at its menace, and took an involuntary step back.

He snapped the whip back and onto my skin, and I felt the skin on my side split open and burn. I let out a small cry of pain and clutched my side, willing my legs to stand and not fall out from beneath me.

"Stop!" he continued to roar, struggling in Damon's grasp. But Damon wrenched his head back so that he would have to stare me full in the face as I suffered."See what it is that you took from me." he growled in his ear." See what you can never have."

And with that the whip skillfully re-opened the scars on my chest, and the skin there was not yet healed, so the pain from it was staggering, and I fell to the ground. The tears fell from my eyes as I clutched the ground and futilely attempted to crawl away from Cedric on my hands and knees. The merciless whip flicked out yet again, and a strangled cry tore from my lips as my back was viciously torn. This forced me into the ground, and though I could not make out the words, I heard Adrian's voice nearby, and with what may have been my last effort, I pulled myself towards him, the tears blurring my vision.

Another crack of the whip, and this time I stayed down, feeling the warm blood seeping from my open wound, soaking my gown.

As I lay there, I could feel the silver take its toll slowly. Cedric was skilled in this form of torture, for I had not the energy to writh in pain, nor scream, and the placement of my wounds allowed the poisonous silver to leak gradually through my veins. I felt my strenth begin to ebb, and I hoped that Adrian would escape with Charlie.

I heard a fierce snarling, and then a few startled gasps, and I managed to wrench my eyes open.

Adrian had ripped himself free from Damon's grasp and had now turned on him, clawing at his eyes and face, punching him with enough force to kill. Charlie had jumped from her seat, and the small, joyous little vampire, had already dstroyed two others, and they lay limp before her fury. She rushed towads me, and I saw the man with the whip jump toward her. She swiftly dodged his blow and reached into his belt, pulling out a menacing blade, and shoved in between his ribs.

Meanwhile, Adrian had managed to kill the other council member, and all that remained were Damon and Danya.

Charlie rushed to Adrian's side and they stood side by side, facing the siblings.

I tried to pull myself to them, to help in any way I could, but I fell back into a pool of my blood.

Adrian's eyes flicked towards me, anxious, concerned, and loving all at once, and Damon took advantage of his momentary distraction, and lunged towards him.

"No!" I shrieked, blood spraying from my mouth.

Danya in turn took Charlie, and they practically danced around each other. Then Charlie took a sudden jump towards her, and shredded the side of her face. Danya yelled out, and retreated, Charlie following her.

Adrian and Damon were rolling around on the blood stained floor, each one losing their lead as soon as it was gained. Adrian managed to kick Damon square in the jaw, but he retaliated with abrupt blow to his abdomen. The Damon brought his hand down on Adrian's throat, pinning him down.

"I gave you a home and this is how you repay me?" he asked, his breath coming in gasps. I looked around, looking for something,anything that I could use against him, my concern for Adrian giving me a sudden burst of energy.

"You may have her heart," he said maliciously, and I spotted the dead man, Cedric, and crawled silently to his side. "But I," he said, smiling cruelly. I found yet another dagger and snuck behind him with the quiet grace of smoke."I will have her soul." he finished, raising his fist to give the fatal blow.

I grabbed him by the hair and pulled his head back, breathing into his ear, "You have no soul." then I brought the blade across his throat.

He clutched his throat, rasping something inaudible, and fell to the ground lfelessly.

The blade clutched in my fist dropped with a clatter as I collapsed.

"Iris!" Adrian shouted, rushing towards me at once.

Having protected Adrian, my short-lived burst of energy died, and I could not answer him, the silver has almost run its course.

He quickly gathered me in his arms. "Iris, Iris love. Stay with me." he looked around himself and groaned. "Iris, Charlie has no more antiserum. This is important, where can I find some? What do I do?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but no sound came out. Finally, I managed to croak out one word. "Home." I said, so silently I was surprised he heard it.

Without another word he picked me up from the ground smoothly, and was running out of the mansion, into the forest. He ran with swift ease and grace, despite my added weight.

As I breathed in the fresh air, I felt for the first time in a long time, relief. I was going home.

But that relief was shortlived, and was quickly replaced by fear as I glimpsed the pale rising of the sun.

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cliffy!!!

long friggin' chapter to make up for how long its been. this is actually the second longest i've written. i was only 5 friggin' words away from beating my record!!again, tardiness, not my fault, grounded. but i had the time to write this on paper, so while they're out, i'm postin it! so sorry if there are any grammar mistakes, i'm kinda in a hurry:)

hope you've enjoyed, and the end of Darkness should be coming soon, but I'm comin up with some ideas for a sequel. if you've got any ideas for a title, tell me, cause so far i've got nothin

and since this story is comin to a close, i decided to post another one of my stories! its called Black Roses Red, check it out!

now, hit that little purple button right there, and REVIEW!!!!

as always, thanx for reading,

the-truth-about-heaven...