Disclaimer: I own Bryce, Avril, Emmeline, Tristan, Adele, Nick, Daniel, Jamie, Chase, some of the pack, and plot.

Okay guys, I have no excuse. I just haven't been writing. You can read the rest if you want, if you hate me though, I understand. This chapter (chapter 11) is going to be put up in three sections. Bryce's POV, Chloes, then Bryces again. I'm doing it this way because of A) time and B) I'm really, really anxious to post something for you guys again…so..here It is…and

Im sorry! You guys are so amazing! Im so so sorry! I hope you don't hate me!L

Bryce's POV.

"Elesieus? Who's Elesieus?" I looked around all of them, waiting for an answer.

A strange silence had fallen since Adele had uttered the weird name.

The silence had been mixed; half confused, but…some of it seemed to generate from… shock?

Shock from the name…Elesieus?

What kind of a name was 'Elesieus', anyway?

Tori finished laying the white bed sheet over Lauren's body, a decision she had made by herself.

I knew later Derek or Kit or someone would yell at her for doing so. I could almost hear them now: "You could've messed with some evidence!"

But everyone was too puzzled to care. And she did it with respect…out of respect.

Something Lauren hadn't really gained.

Tori looked down at the covered body, the white cloth embracing every curve, every tiny bump of her body…and even with her arms and legs sprawled, with the white bed sheet covering her, Lauren looked…peaceful.

Although, it was a little eerie.

Tori solemnly walked over and took her place behind me, and I sushed the giddiness inside me as she drew nearer.

Closer….and…closer…?

I took in a breath as she stopped a couple inches away from me…. And… I didn't realize I was staring at her until she gave me a weird look.

But I didn't look away from her eyes. I don't know why I kept staring…there was just…something pulling me into her…

What the fugg is wrong with you? You can't fall for her. And even if you wanted to, like she'd honestly give you the time of day. You are not here to play Romeo in some twisted romance, you're here because you have nowhere else to go. You're here because your going to help. And your going to help, because -

…Because…

Tori strained to look over my shoulder, annoyed.

I swallowed, and turned around. I knew why I was going to help. I didn't need to think of it right now.

Instead, I turned and focused on what Tori was looking at; Derek brows furrowed, still staring on at the screen, looking as if he was attempting to solve a very difficult math problem.

Standing next to me, a little too close for comfort, Simon looked down, like he was trying hard to remember something, too.

My eyes turned from him, to Kit.

He looked shocked.

Utterly, and completely shocked. Almost stung. His mouth open slightly, his brows furrowed, but not in the confused way Derek and Simon's were; This was more of a….How could this happen? look.

But…how could what happen?

What the hell was going on?

I was obviously out of the loop. And I didn't like being out of the loop.

I sighed and crossed my arms. Didn't seem like this conversation was going anywhere any time soon.

"Kit." Derek said slowly, turning away from the laptop…expression still baffled…then, looking up finally, to meet Kit's blank face…

"Elesieus…I've heard the name before." He whispered, looking distant, then, suddenly focusing right back in on Kit's face.

"You." Derek said, and a wave of confusion raced through all of us; I could see it on their faces. Derek didn't budge.

Just kept staring intently at Kit.

"You said it once," Derek said slowly, his lips barely forming the words.

His eyes became less distant now, and more dagger like - pointing directly at kit intensely.

"I heard you." Derek's voice became louder, sharper; Accusing. Kit looked down, considering something.

"You said," Derek broke his eye contact with Kit to glance up at Simon, almost as if to gain confirmation of his memory, then looked back at Kit.

"You said it to someone at the Edison Group. When I was younger. The same day you took me…home." His face hardened at the phrase he had chosen.

Wait…they had…brought him home?

What was he, a puppy?

I bit my lip.

Actually…guess he kinda was.

"You were talking to someone. I remember. I remember everything from that day." Derek crossed his arms. "And you said, "This new Elesieus idea…"" Derek thought for a moment before continuing.

"It will never work."" He finished.

Silence in the room.

All eyes turned to kit.

Kit, ever so slowly, opened his mouth. "I…I never thought…it…" Kit's eyes flashed from face to face in the room, searching for a sympathetic face. His sentence died out with his weak voice as his eyes reached mine.

I must've had the most menacing expression in the world at that moment, because when Kit turned to me, a look of pain quickly crossed his features, a twinkle of fear danced in his eyes and he looked down, at the floor.

He raised his hand and slowly rubbed the back of his neck, his gaze still at the floor.

"Go on." a hoarse whisper rasped somewhere behind me, behind all of us, and we turned quickly to find the source of the disturbing, almost demonic mumble. My gut twisted at the noise.

Adele sat on the floor, head bent as if in prayer. She slightly lifted her head, so her eyes were no visible, gleaming in the light.

The sight immediately brought on how serious this "Elesiues" situation must be.

She kept her chin down at an angle. "Tell them who she is. Tell them what's going on. They need to know." Adele almost demanded it from Kit, her voice still shaky, still raspy, but sure of the words she was speaking.

The eeriness of Adele and her current state sent my gaze away from her, back to Kit. Waiting, hoping maybe they'd finally just spit it out. But then again, they'd been rambling for quite a while now, and they seemed to enjoy this little game of let's keep everybody in suspense by not mentioning any real names, except of course for Elesieus, which the definition of is also unknown by anyone other than us.

Longest title for a game ever.

Kit slowly looked from Adele to Derek. Kit sighed, gazed Derek directly in the eye, and opened his mouth again.

This time, something useful came out of his mouth. His look didn't falter from Derek's determined one.

"Pheobe Elesieus was born on January fifteenth, in the year thirteen-forty." Kit started, his tone reminding me of my old history teacher, Mr. O' Neal's. A short, bald man with a hot temper and an even hotter face when something aggravated him.

Keep focused, Einstein. This could be important.

But from the look on Kit's face, it wasn't important. It was crucial.

He continued. "Her mother was a witch. Scarlett Jane Marie, from the line of Marie witches. Extremely famous in their time…well, famous in their world."

The feel of his voice became…darker.

"Her father was a Necromancer. Like Scarlett, he had strong, strong powers running in his blood, and a traceable line of ancestors with the same strong powers he possessed. Pheobe's fathers name was James. James Elesieus."

Kit's gaze finally snapped from Derek's trance-like one to Adele's foreboding stare. She knew where this was going. And from her expression, it seemed like the end of the world was in front of us.

Tori fidgeted from behind me, and I turned to look at her, to see her take on this confusing bit of craziness being thrown at us.

Sadness traced the edges of her lips, and brushed her cheekbones. But anxiety and curiosity took reign over her eyes, and they pierced into Kit's face like daggers. She was egger for the truth.

I looked away from her before she could notice I was staring.

Kit locked eyes back on Derek.

"There was a difference between Scarlett and James though. Scarlett came from a family of famous Witches and Wizards, but they were famous for being involved in particularly good incidents in history. On the other hand, the Elesieus'…well, they were known for embracing the darker side of power. They were known for using their powers to their own advantage. And believe it or not, there's a lot more you can do with raising the dead than you'd think."

Derek looked down. I couldn't tell what was going on, but he seemed to be thinking. The whole room grew still in anticipation of his next words.

Kit looked up, and started talking to us as a crowd instead of just speaking to individuals.

He cleared his throat.

"Nobody is exactly sure how Scarlett and James met, but-"

"Party." Adele interjected, rasp still present in her tone.

Kit's brows furrowed for a moment, then he shrugged slightly and continued.

"Okay, so they met at a party or whatever. But when they started seeing each other, it was the hugest scandal you could imagine. Darkest, most selfish Necromancer courting a famous, goody-two-shoes, always has a smile Marie Witch? It was unheard of. People tried everything to pull them apart - mostly for Scarlett's sake, to save her from the evils the Elesieus boy might expose her too.

But Scarlett and James' powers were stronger than anyone else's, and they knew that. They worked it to their advantage. Nobody could tear them apart, and by nobody," his voice dropped an octave, "I mean nobody. So when they got married, their was no objection from anyone. Everyone knew their power, and feared it. Especially James'. After the Marie family gave up on reviving their sweet, innocent darling Scarlett, they simply disowned her, not wanting her embarrassing little scandal to ruin their reputation.

James' family, however, was thrilled to have brought such a highly acclaimed girl over into their family. They welcomed Scarlett with open arms, and tons to teach and show her.

Like I said, Pheobe was born on January fifteenth, thirteen-forty. A full moon lit the sky that night, which is where she got her name from. It is also no coincidence that the day Pheobe was born, the very first case of Black Death began to spread in her very own town."

For some reason, Kit's look caught on me.

"With the parentage of a powerful Witch and a dark, powerful Necromancer, even as a child Pheobe couldn't control her powers. And they were so powerful that without even trying to, they lashed out to others. And they spread, and spread, and spread. And by the time Pheobe was ten, her little accident at birth had already reduced the world's population dramatically.

The Marie family was absolutely terrified. They denied having any part of the child, or of Scarlett. But on the other hand, the Elesieus family was proud. Proud that a child from their line had that much dark power in her blood to kill millions without even trying."

Kits face scrunched in disgust. My stomach churned and did some kind of strange flip at the disturbing thought of someone being proud of a killer.

A thought still flickered in my brain, even more unreasonable now then before…What is project Elesieus? Why would they name a project after someone who killed so many?

Kit turned back to Derek, though his head was still bent.

"Scarlett turned darker and darker day by day, forgetting the morals she had learned as a Marie child. As Scarlett grew darker, so did Pheobe. Darker and darker…Pheobe could raise the dead and practice witchcraft. Her powers were so strong, so powerful that she needed no lessons or practice. She simply got what she wanted by imagining herself achieving it, or doing it. And by the age of seventeen, she made a deal with a demon. A fire demon. Pheobe Elsieus made a deal for eternal, physical life. For a never changing body, an everlasting young state.

As she grew older and older, she entertained herself with placing curses on families, countries, on the human race. But she grew smarter than that, and she soon realized she was more powerful than anyone of any race. She knew she could, single handedly, take reign over the world. She could control everyone and everything she wanted, and simply kill anyone in her way.

The world was hers."

Kit paused, his eyes far away now.

He hesitated before going on.

"…so…that's what she started to do. The rest of the Elesieus family helped her, and together they started taking control of towns. Cities. States. Even a few countries.

But her deal with the demon caught up with her. She had promised the demon a human body for every single last demon stuck in the middle world between the next life and ours in exchange for an everlasting life on earth. Pheobe intended to fulfill her promise to the demon in the start, but after she grew more and more powerful, she didn't see why she had to answer to a lowly demon, or grant him anything."

Kit's eyes returned to the present. His gaze passed between all of us, slowly now, giving each of us a minute long meaningful look.

Derek's head rose, his brows still furrowed.

Adele, slowly, like an old woman unsure of her balance rose from her seat on the ground. Then, even more slowly (if that's possible) she turned her head up to face all of us. Her eyes were different.

Old. Withered with time and knowledge. Scared and scarred from the past.

Her lips parted, and everyone's ears strained to her what she had to say.

Tori softly gasped in a breath of air nervously, then reached down and found my hand.

She grasped it tightly against hers.

I fought heat from rising up in my cheeks and bubbly joy from bursting out, instead deciding to let it simmer in the pit of my stomach.

Adele's eyes caught the movement as the words pushed out over her lips,

"So the demon took her soul."