Abbey's POV

I wake up in my room feeling groggy and disoriented. My body was sore, and I had a pounding headache.

The only thing I remembered before I passed out was that I had been grabbing a bite with Jesse when we ran into Stern, and he knocked me out…he was also my uncle…I hoped that I had dreamt all of it.

I fall back onto my pillow, putting my hand on my head, trying to coax the headache into going away.

"Abbey?" my mother asks. "Are you awake?"

"Yeah," I answer. "I had the strangest dream."

"Sweetheart," my mom says, "I don't think it was a dream. Usually when you're put into a deep sleep like that, it's just blackness."

I just stare at her. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. All of that stuff had happened. The Lucifractor, making out with Jesse, getting caught making out with Jesse, finding Stern in downtown Whitechapel.

"Is it true?" I ask her. "Are you really a witch?"

"Yes," she sighs.

"And Vice Principal Stern is my uncle?"

"Yes."

Stern appeared in my doorway as if I had just called his name.

I hissed and bared my fangs at him.

"Abbey!" my mother scolds me. "Don't treat your uncle like that!"

Stern starts smirking and my outburst.

"He almost killed my friends!" I objected. "I have a reason to!"

My mother sighs, looking over at Stern.

"I wish you would have waited for me to tell her," she says. "She would've reacted differently."

"You wouldn't have told her," Stern says. "Not before it was too late, anyway."

"I probably would've acted the same way," I say, getting pissed. "All I care about now is why the hell did you lie to me for seventeen years? You could've told me that I was a witch before that idiot," I point to Stern. "Told me."

"Abbey-" my mom tries to get out, but I go on as if I had been uninterrupted.

"Hiding my heritage from me?" I ask, starting to raise my voice. "What reaction did you expect from me? Of course I'm going to act like this. I'm a vampire who's supposed to be a witch!"

"I didn't lie to you," she says. "I was trying to protect you."

"Protect me?" I ask. "From what? It's not like I can run into anything dangerous anymore. I'm a vampire for God's sake!"

"I wish you would stop saying 'vampire.'"

I could sense that she was trying to avoid the subject, but I wasn't going to let it go.

"Protect me from what?" I ask. "Mom?"

"Black Magic," she answers simply.

I raise an eyebrow.

"What?"

"The Sinisteros were notorious for using Black Magic," Stern explained. "Your mother was worried that if you started practicing, you'd turn evil."

"Well, you obviously did," I remark. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have tried to rid Whitechapel of vampires."

"I was taking back the town that is rightfully ours," Stern says.

"It's been two hundred years," I point out. "You need to let it go."

"That's another thing Sinisteros were notorious for," my mom says. "Being grudge holders."

Stern rolls his eyes.

"Oh, my dear Gabriele, you were always such a drama queen," he smirks.

I didn't like the way he was talking to my mom. I hissed at him, warning him to back off.

"Galen," my mom says. "Would you please leave us alone? I need to talk to Abbey."

His name was Galen? I guess he was named after his great-grandfather. Figures.

He doesn't answer, but leaves and shuts the door behind him.

"Now we can discuss this calmly and rationally," my mother says.

I don't answer. I just nodded, signaling her to go on.

"Where to begin…" she trails off.

"How about the part where I'm related to the idiot downstairs," I suggest.

"I wish you would talk about you uncle like that," my mom frets. "But I guess you have good reason to."

"Thank you," I tell her.

"Anyway," she continues. "I don't know how much of the story you know, so I'll just start from the beginning. When Whitechapel was first established it was called Black's Church. There was our coven of witches, headed by the Sinisteros and there was a coven of vampires, headed by the Vampire Council. The vampires quickly outnumbered us, and soon became the leaders of Whitechapel. Well, your great-great grandfather decided to take matters into his own hands and create the Lucifractor. The Lucifractor absorbs the dark energy that keeps vampires alive. He tried it out on this one flock, Reverend Black's to be specific, and he ended up getting drained dry by Reverend Black himself."

"Jesse is Reverend Black," I tell her.

"Really?" She asks., surprised. "I didn't see that one coming. After your great-great-grandfather was killed, Reverend Black ran our family out of town, and we changed our name to Stern. When I was growing up, your grandparents made it no secret that we sorcerers. They used magic openly in front of me and your uncle. It wasn't long after I turned sixteen when they finally told us the story of the Lucifractor. I didn't put much stock into it, I never did. Magic was just something that I had, it wasn't something I really cared about using. However, your uncle vowed to get revenge and your grandfather praised him for it."

"So you were the oddball in the family?" I ask, smiling.

"I guess so," my mom smiles. "There's a reason we moved to Whitechapel. And it's not because of your father's death."

Yeah," I say. "He mentioned that."

My mother sighs and continues on with her story.

"We moved here because your uncle had contacted me and told me that he planned to take back Whitechapel. At first, I completely disagreed, claiming that it had been two hundred years and it was time to let it go. Then I thought about what it would be like to live in the town that my family had lived in when we first came to the New World, and I felt like I couldn't say no."

I could understand that. She wanted to feel a sense of pride from her ancestors.

"So then you agreed to help him?" I ask.

"Yes," she admits. "But we weren't counting on you being friends with vampires, or even you becoming one. Now I'm not so sure if I should help him anymore. Especially because of your friends."

"How did you…" I trailed off.

"Know that your friends were vampires?"

"Yeah."

"Witch's sense," she explains. "Each witch, or wizard, has a power that's unique to them. Mine is being able to tell if a person is supernatural or not."

"I think I still have my witch's sense. I can tell when someone's lying."

"I know. I know a lot of things you don't think I do."

"So you knew I was a vampire?" I ask

"Yes," my mom says. "I knew that in time you would tell me. You had a hard time accepting it yourself."

"I did," I admit. "But not all my friends are vampires. Only Sarah, Erica, Rory and Jesse are."

"I know," she says. "Benny is some sort of wizard, but I haven't been around Ethan enough to tell what he is."

"Ethan is a Seer."

"A Seer? I never would've guessed that."

I smile.

"Does this mean that you're taking my side against Stern?" I ask, looking down at my hands.

"Yes. I may regret it, but I'll always be on your side no matter what," she answers.

My phone starts to vibrate in my pocket. I pull it out and look at it. 1 new message. I open it up and it's from Benny.

"Where are you?" the text read.

"My house. Stern is here." I send back

A few minutes pass and he texts back.

"We have a plan to stop Stern. We're all coming there and we'll need you to invite Sarah and Jesse in. We'll distract Stern while Jesse sneaks up behind him…and you know how that will go…"

They planned on doing the same to Stern as they did to his great-grandfather two hundred years ago.

"Ok. I'm in. But on one condition." I reply.

"What?" he asks.

"I want to be the one to kill Stern."

"No problem. We'll see you in a few."

I look up at my mom, and she's waiting patiently for me to finish.

"I need you to help me with something," I tell her.

"Anything," she says without missing a beat.

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