Sophia sat in front of the great fire her long dress flattened out around her, her hands pressed together and wrapped in sacred prayer beads, she uttered in an ancient language and the fire blazed with life. The fire's heat blazed against her face but she did not move, then suddenly it died and returns to its normal size.

Nia, who had been standing off in the shadows watched her mistress, said nothing and waited for her orders. "Nia," said Sophia from her place.

"Yes my Lady?" Nia answered moving forward and kneeling down next to Sophia.

"I need you to do something for me," Sophia told her.

"I am ready for any task you give to me Ma'am."

"I need you to watch over Momiji, from what the great fire has shown me she is treading a thin line and may soon fall to her desires," Sophia said.

"I will do my best," she said, Nia bowed and then disappeared with an immeasurable speed.

Sophia motioned for Rin to come forward, "My lady?"

"Rin will you find Yoshiki for me I wish to speak with him," Sophia said. Rin nodded and then too with a blink of an eye was gone a few seconds later there was a soft knock on the door. "Enter," Sophia said knowing that it was her husband.

"You asked to see me?" he said. She turned around and looked at him; he wore another dark colored kimono, his long hair pulled back.

"Yoshiki I had had a vision, the great fire showed me something," Sophia stood from her seated position and stretched her legs, "Elena Vultorian is coming to the city."

"When?" asked Yoshiki.

"I can't be sure, but sometime soon," Sophia said.

"Do you think she will try to make contact with Kreon and Valencia?"

"More than likely, ever since she left her coven she has been more of an outsider just trying to make connections in with the other covens," Sophia told him. "Being free from the bonds of a coven has an advantage especially with someone like her."

"What do you know about her?" asked Yoshiki.

Sophia turned and walked to the other side of the room, she opened the two sliding doors that separated rooms and stepped inside. In the other room stood a complex computer system, three large monitors were mounted on the wall, and three switchboards stood in front of each corresponding monitor. There was a keyboard on the middle switchboard and the other two were adorned with different types of switches and adjustments.

"You have been busy," said Yoshiki looking over the intricate system.

"Just because we were born a generation behind our daughter doesn't mean that we shouldn't adapt and synchronize our information to a better organizational system, truthfully I was tired of the paper cuts and staples," Sophia said.

"How much of my families' archives have you imputed?" he asked her.

"All the information and scrolls that you gave me from the best several hundred years, as well as all the information that you yourself have collected over the past several years, the information that Momiji got from Abby's notes, and the information that I remembered from my own families' archives," Sophia told him.

"We have one of the most impressive systems in the underworld don't we," he said.

"Yes, the only people who may have more information is the Ambrose family," Sophia said. "But that's another issue, Elena Vultorian," she typed her name into a small green box and pressed the search button. Several informational windows opened and were displayed on all three monitors. There were some pictures, some informational boxes, a few case files, and a few scanned scrolls.

"From what your family and my family have gathered she is old, very old, she was once engaged the last Ambrose King but for reasons unknown their engagement was broken off and he married another, but even before that she had been cited in history, the first official sighting of her is from the sixteenth century in Northern Italy."

"She broke from her coven in the early nineteenth century and wasn't seen for a while, she then reappeared in the beginning of the twentieth century," Sophia said. "I believe that was when you had a run in with her," she said looking behind her at Yoshiki, who was intently staring at Elena's picture.

"Yes…." He said absent mindedly, realizing that he was being watched he changed his demeanor, and spoke again. "Yes I was a child and I was introduced to her, then I later met her on the battle field at that time she had lost much of the flare of her life that I had known her to posses."

"You seem quite taken with her," said Sophia watching his body movements, she turned away and looked back at the screen. "From the information that we have gathered over the past five years we have found that she had three biological children, two daughters and a son, she is married and has been leading a peaceful life disguised as a human. She used magic from the ancients to hide her and vampiric genes."

"From this information we should be able to narrow down where she will go and get a vague path of what she will do when she arrives, do we have a current list of all her most well used contacts?" asked Yoshiki.

"Yes Rin uploaded them only a few hours ago," Sophia said searching through the information that was before her.

"Well done," he said, he leaned forward and examined the data in front of him. Sophia watched him as he stared at Elena's picture. She scoffed and stood pushing the chair away from the desk as she moved. She put her hand on the sliding door dividing the rooms when Yoshiki grabbed her wrist. She felt him behind her, "Sophia."

"Don't Yoshiki, I have no time for this," she said.

He leaned in close to her and whispered in her ear, "You have no time for your husband?"

"I have no time for you foolish endeavors," she said turning around to face him. "I have not seen you in almost seven years. Not since after our daughter was taken by Abby and now you wish to rekindle something that is dead and buried. Let me remind you that the only reason I searched you out was so that you could help our daughter," Sophia said.

Yoshiki looked into her eyes "It was for the best, you wouldn't have been able to teach Momiji the control that she needed, Abby did that and now she is one of the most powerful beings in this hemisphere," Yoshiki said.

Yoshiki hadn't even realized that Sophia had moved until he felt the sting across his face, the sound from the slap died in the room but to them it was like a crack of thunder. Sophia was shaking with anger, her eyes blazing with resentment and fury, "How dare you" her voice was soft but he heard the danger in it. "How dare you say that I couldn't control my own daughter. How dare you think that separating from her family from the people who loved here was the right thing!"

"Sophia…"

"No you sold your daughter Yoshiki! you sold her to that madwoman for a treaty, you took my child from me and made her believe that I had abandoned her," She said. "You are despicable," she turned and walked away from him, but then stopped and looked back at him. "You know that this is all your fault. You gave her the tools, you gave her the 'inspiration', your stories made her the way she is, and now she's in this mess, claimed by a vampire, detached from reality, constantly putting herself in danger to try and feel something because she is dead on the inside."

"It all goes back to you, all of it, if it had been my decision I would have raised her to be a normal human. A mortal with no knowledge of this world! I would have bound her powers and given her a peaceful future," Sophia said.

"You would have denied what she was the way you denied what you were for so long!" Yoshiki yelled.

"I would have given her a future!" Sophia yelled back at him. She stopped and took a deep steadying breath, "She would have been going to college now. She would be in her second year, and knowing her she would have been studying something like law or she would be working to become a teacher. Instead of spending her weeknights training to protect her from vampires, werewolves, witches, warlocks, and all other sorts of creatures from hell she would spend her time reading text books and stressing about tests. She would stay up late chatting with friends about professors, and boys, and what was for lunch in the cafeteria that day. She would watch tv with her girl friends, go to the mall, she would skip class because she spent the night up late trying to color her friends hair or do their nails, or because she was debating some topic that they were talking about in class. Her weekends would be filled with homework, and shopping, and a part time job. Not with learning spells that can kill people within a mile radius of where she stood or using weapons to try and eliminate an enemy.

She would be safe and all she would think about boys and going to parties, and the biggest danger we would have to worry about would be underage drinking. She would be able to walk down the street without fear of an assassination or an attack or of accidentally killing someone. So yes Yoshiki if I had had my way I would have denied her power, I would have made her mortal. Yes I would have stripped her of a large piece of who she was but by doing that I would have given her peace and safety! Is that so wrong? Is that so selfish of a mother to want? For her child to be safe? Tell me Yoshiki is it?" She tried to blink back the tears that were seeping from her eyes.

Yoshiki stared at his wife the he answered her, "No its not."

"No I didn't think so, but that life, that life was snatched from her before she was even able to chose it, it was taken from her by you and by that illegitimate whore!" Sophia said. Yoshiki stood silent and didn't answer her, "Tell me husband did you really think that your lover wouldn't use her for her own agenda?"

Yoshiki looked at Sophia with pain and sorrow in his eyes, "Abby and I…."

"Oh give it a rest Yoshiki I don't give a damn what you did with your lover, or what you told her, or what you promised her, but what I do care about is what happens to my daughter," Sophia told him.

"What do you plan to do?" asked Yoshiki.

"You forced this life upon her. A life that she shouldn't of had to live, so now that she has no chance of going back I am going to take her to the only people who can protect her."

Yoshiki knew instantly who she was referring to, "You're going to take her back to your family?"

"After this is all done I am going to make sure she is always going to be protected I am going to give her birthright" Sophia said.

"Sophia you hate your family, you haven't spoken to them in years," he said.

"That is correct, but when I show up with a daughter, who is more powerful than the current matriarch, and renounce my title giving her the leadership, do you really think that they are going to turn me away?"

"If you take her to you family I will never see her again, or you."

"You say this as if it is a bad thing," Sophia said, she looked at him, "It's not really like you've seen much of her in her life anyway."

"You cannot separate me from my daughter Sophia," Yoshiki said anger in his voice.

"Why not, you did the same to me." Her gaze upon her was fierce and unwavering. Yoshiki stared at her trying to think of an argument to give but he found himself choking on his words. "Don't worry Yoshiki this whole mess your little whore created is going to take a while to clean up so we won't be leaving for a while but I suggest that you cherish every moment that you have with Momiji for they will be your last moments."

Sophia then turned away and left the room her head held high. Yoshiki watched her go then he raised his fist and pounded it into the wall in front of him. He heard the wood splinter and crack, "Sophia has you character changed so much?" He stared at the wall and thought of all that he had done to his wife. He knew that in truth he deserved much of what he was being dealt and most of what she had said was true. The only thing that hadn't been true was the part about him and Abby. They had never been lovers, yes they had been friends and even what some would call partners at one time, and yes he knew that Abby had had feelings for him, but never had they been together.

"Sophia thinks that I betrayed her with Abby and that is why I gave Momiji to her," Yoshiki said noticing the person standing behind him.

"Is there any truth to her words?" asked Saya.

"No, I never loved anyone but Sophia, ever since I married her she has always ruled me" he told her.

"Words that she would like to hear," Saya said.

"Would it subdue her rage? I took her daughter from her, the one thing that she loved more than life I took her and gave her to her adversary."

"Abby was not her rival, if what you say is true there was never any competition, the Mistress had had your heart from the very beginning."

"She did, from the moment I saw her, when she smiled for the first time and from then on I was entranced by her," he said. "I knew that for the rest of my life she was the one who I would care for, but Abby was spiteful, and when she threatened to reveal my past sins unless I gave her Momiji I had no other choice, if I had allowed her to speak it would have torn Sophia away from me forever."

"Has she not already done that my Lord?" Yoshiki did not answer her and they stood in silence for several moments. "My lord what is it that was so bad that you would give your own daughter to keep Abby's silence."

"I killed Sophia's father, as well as her brother," he said silently. "Two people who she cared for deeply I slaughtered them thinking that they were helping the Ambrose family."

"Were they?" asked Saya.

"It doesn't matter if they were or they were not, I killed them and Sophia if she knew she would hate me even more," Yoshiki said.

"Sir I am sure if you told her, if you explained the situation to her she would understand," Saya said.

"It is too late for that, she must never know, never Saya do you understand me?" Saya stared at her master and then nodded her head.

"Yes, my lord."

Serena and Hermione sat in the parking lot of the library; it was entirely dark especially since Serena had shot out all of the street lamps in the vicinity. Though it was pitch black Serena was able to see with pin point accuracy, Hermione however was not as in tune to her Vampiric powers as Serena had become.

"You know if he shows up I won't be able to see him," Hermione said.

"Don't worry, I will, besides we don't even know if he's going to show or not," Serena's voice came muffled from the back seat of the car. Hermione turned around and stared at her, Serena was laying face down her face covered by her arms and her hair.

"Serena how are you going to see if you are hiding your face," Hermione said.

"I am trying to take a nap," said Serena.

"A nap?" asked Hermione.

"Hey we've been up for the past 48 hours searching and searching and we get about as far as we had been before," Serena said.

"Kusanagi said he found someone who could help us," Hermione said turning around and sitting back in the driver's seat.

"Yeah well he couldn't have found them two days ago when we left the house?" asked Serena the tone of her voice raising in frustration. She flipped over and looked up at the stars, she was thankful that they were using the convertible. She like riding around with the wind in her hair, but more than anything she liked being able to sleep under the stars again.

It reminded her of when they had been in training. In order to test their survival skills Abby had taken the three thirteen year olds and dumped them on an island off the shore of California. She had told the three of them that they had to survive one month alone with only their powers and their training to assist them.

It had been one interesting month especially since none of them had had any control over their powers yet and their knowledge had been limited. Serena knew if it hadn't been for Hermione's extensive knowledge of botany they would have eaten the wrong kind of plants and herbs and she and Momiji would have most likely died at a young age. Thankfully they hadn't and even though that month had been hard and they had had a few close calls the three of them had been able to get through it with good and bad memories. To Serena her favorite part of the whole experience had been sleeping under the stars.

During the middle of the night while she was on watch she would stare up at the sky and just watch. So many times she had tried to count the stars but she had never been able to count so high. She had loved the stars because no matter how many times she looked at them they were unchanging and unmoving. Realistically she knew that this was not the case but sometimes she had to wonder if whoever it was that was beyond her just placed a blanket over the world every night because even now years after she had stopped looking, she recognized all the stars that she had once looked up at. 'Nothing up there changes,' she thought, 'wish it was the same down here.'

Serena saw a star shoot across the heavens and she closed her eyes tightly and made a wish, 'I wish that the past few months had been a dream, I wish that Abby was still healthy, I wish that Momiji was still with us, I wish that we were still ignorant, I wish this was all a dream.' She waited a few moments and then opened her eyes to an unchanged world, "Damn" she muttered.

"Don't wish that" Hermione said. Serena glanced over at her, Hermione had not moved and her eyes were also staring up at the heavens.

"Why not it would simplify everything" said Serena looking back up to the stars.

"Yeah but would you rather live your life as a lie or would you rather know the truth?"

"Sometimes the truth is evil," Serena said.

"Evil triumphs when good men do nothing, the ultimate evil Serena is ignorance" Hermione said. "Even with everything that we've lost I wouldn't change a thing, I wouldn't go back even if offered."

"Yeah well there's definitely one thing that I would change," Serena said.

"I think it's the thing that all of us would change if given the chance" said a voice from the backend of the car.

Serena sat up to see Kusanagi standing next to the taillight with Louis. Hermione turned around and looked, Serena smiled "Hey stranger."

"Hello to you both" Kusanagi said.

"Louis how is Alana doing?" asked Hermione.

"Better, her wounds are almost completely healed, but whoever that woman was she did a number on her. I think she was a professional she knew exactly what points to hit to immobilize her for the past week," he said, his face was worn and he looked tired, like he had been sitting up with Alana for the past few nights ensuring her safe recovery.

"Why did you come here if she is still recovering?" asked Serena sensing his desire to be with his fiancé.

"Kusanagi has requested my help in a matter," Louis said.

"I know that for the past two days that you have been looking for Momiji and you haven't been able to find anything," Kusanagi said.

"Yeah since she's working solo she has been using any contacts that we used to have connections with she's doing a good job of not making a trail," Serena said.

"That's why Kusanagi has asked for my help, if no one can tell us where she's been then maybe someone can tell us where she's going to be," Louis said.

"You're taking us to an oracle, hell Hermione can do that," Serena said.

"But Hermione's powers are controlled like this Oracles are Hermione only gets visions that they want her to see the Oracle can see what she wants to whenever she wants to," Louis told her.

"Alright let's get a move on" said Serena. "What's this chick's name?"

"Lenobia" Louis said, "She's my twin sister."