Chapter 49

~Farren POV~

I refused to shed tears over this.

I was on my way, with my friends, no, my family in tow, to kill the one man who needed it more than anyone ever had before. I'd hugged Spencer close, and kissed him goodbye, and that was all that I had needed to be sent away with. He'd stay at base, protected and accompanied, and even though I might die, he had a chance to go on. But, I wasn't going to die, dammit.

That bastard was.

I looked over to Aaden and Derek, holding hands. They'd had the most trouble all morning saying goodbye, but I didn't think harshly about them. Hell, if I had a child depending on the outcome of my actions, I'd be worried and upset too. They were so strong though, and in a slight way, I envied their dueling strengths. They drew power from each other, and that's why we'd win this war, but man, it would have been wonderful to have that with Spencer.

I thought about Jared and Amy, Jessica and Vlad. All of the pack, all the vampires. Their lives depended on this that was happening. It was win or lose, with no in between. They won the battle, or they lost their lives.

But, what I hadn't expressed yet, was that there was a secret plan up my sleeve. Granted, I planned on my own death, but I would rather die knowing my family had a chance than die fighting and never knowing for sure except that they were all as good as dead.

If nothing else, I wanted to make sure that Aaden and Derek got home to their son.

~Aaden POV~

When we arrived at the entrance to the castle gates, we stashed the cars in the trees and went on foot to sneak in. Hopefully, this attack wouldn't be seen.

Farren signaled that there were guards ahead, and then she mouthed, "Seven."

Seven guards, and we had to take them down without the alarm sounding. Thankfully, four of them were making rounds. Without a peep, Jared, Derek, Farren and I crept into the shadows of the trees edge and waited. When the latter three were distracted by Amy breaking twigs off to the left, we reached out from behind their trees and caught the guards.

I closed off the vampire's throat, making talking impossible, and then I ripped his head off. Across from me, Derek held the head of his own victim, and then he turned and threw it through the woods, never to be found. Farren and Jared hid their own fallen, and we stalked the next three. They were so close to death, and they wouldn't know it until it was too late.

"Yeah, I mean, do you think they'll come soon?" One guard spoke to the other, and the other replied. "Well of course, the Princess has nothing but bloodlust for the creaky old bastard. Did you hear that they took out Kyle?" The other sighed. "Yeah, this is scary, man. I heard that they only took ten casualties. They are really powerful. Wish we'd traded in and fought sometimes."

"Too late for that." Farren's dark voice took them off guard and quickly, Derek, Jared and I snapped their necks and took off their heads.

"The only problem now is getting into the place. We're going to need a keycard, so let's search the bodies." Farren began pawing through the closest body's pockets. It wasn't until Jared came sprinting back from the woods with a gray card in hand that we got a hold of it. "He's really upped security. Usually there's only two guards out front. Must have scared him." Farren grinned rather evilly before sliding the card into an almost invisible slot.

"Identification number, please." Came the robotic voice. "Damn it!" Farren whisper yelled, "He fucking replaced the password lock!" "What do we do, then?" "We're going to have to go over the gate. None of these sorry bastards have a number code on them, we checked already. Derek, gimme a boost."

Derek knelt, ready to lift her. Once she was on the other side, she took a pin from her pocket and broke the inside of the lock on the gate. The padlock fell to the ground and she opened the gate door just enough for us all to slide through. "Remember, no noise. Everyone's senses are hyped up in trying to prepare for our arrival. We have to get the surprise on them."

Then, she stunned us all. Her look grew stern, yet loving in a way. "You all fight the good fight. Know that you've been my family all along, and I care deeply for all one hundred and twelve of you," she glanced around the many faces, seeming choked up but hiding it well, "I kept you all unaware of my intentions, and now I must leave you. I'm going to make a dangerous attempt to get straight to the King. If you cut off the snake's head, the body dies. Take care of each other."

I reached out to grab her arm, but she disappeared, just like that.

I looked to Derek, and he seemed troubled, before he stood tall. There was the Alpha. And as he took position, I rose to mine. I put my hand on his shoulder, and we looked back on the group. "All of you, let's end this. Fight bravely, make us proud. There's going to be a new tactic. Farren must be kept secret, as for the rest of us, let's raise some hell."

I felt my fangs prodding my lips, my claws sharpen and my eyes light up. Derek, and the wolves all morphed as well. The vampires cracked their knuckles and popped their necks, warming themselves up for the fight.

We gave it two minutes, and I pressed a chaste kiss to Derek's cheek, then he took my hand and with that, we ran at the door.

We were surprised at the effort it took to break it down, but it couldn't withstand the force of us all, and it gave a heavy groan as it crashed to the marbled floors, sounding the alarm. Derek roared and I gave an answering growl, and suddenly, from all corners of the castle, guards and wolves and vampires came flooding like ants. They all held weapons of deadly proportions, from fists to maces to knives and swords. Some had bats, and wolves were decked out in silver chains.

My heart began beating out of my chest, but I raced forward the same time Derek did, our group falling in right behind us.

It didn't take but two seconds for the groups to collide. All at once, the sounds of rushing feet, swords clanging, and people screaming erupted from every corner. I saw a young wolf girl from our group go down and a large male vampire stomped her head in. I took out a guy coming from my right, then took a hit with a bat from a woman. I reached out and snatched her footing out from under her, disarmed her and tore her throat out.

Derek was fighting off four vampires, and behind the struggle was a wolf, stalking and waiting for the chance to come in for a quick and deadly kill. Without thinking, I leapt from my space and bombarded him, pinning him down and roaring my rage into his face. His teeth snapped at my throat, and I used my claws to rob him of the flesh on his chest. He gurgled his last breath beneath me and I leapt up, snatching one of the vampires off of Derek's back and throwing her through the wall and into the waiting arms of a fellow vampire.

Before I could turn around, I was suddenly overridden by vampires. They hopped on top of me, hitting me with sharp objects. I shrieked in pain as I felt a blade slide into my back, and it was then topped off with a fanged bite to my shoulder. My anger helped raise me, and Derek's red eyes met mine for a half a second. That gave me all the spare power I needed.

Accepting his lent strength, I rose from the ground with the vampires still beating me from behind, and moved forward, catching them off guard when I swung my foot back and knocked them to the ground. I took his outstretched hand, combining our power, and we went to kicking the shit out of them together.

Amy screamed behind me, and I turned, watching as a wolf took a hunk from her waist while a vampire held her captive. I whirled towards them, knocking them down and bloodying the wolf's nose.

I wasn't aware of how long the fighting was going on, but I was terrified when I saw vampires and wolves taking to the road outside. Ally or not, they couldn't be allowed to leave. I gasped as I looked, and all around me, I was surrounded by the bodies of my friends. No, no, no! I screamed.

We were losing, and there was nothing we could do.

"Derek! THE GATE!" I screamed. He nodded and ran after the few stragglers, catching two and breaking their heads off. Much to my relief, I'd find out later that Jared had run ahead, blocked the gate and killed those who arrived that were not allies.

Just as we got through with the opposing team, I sighed. "That was easier than I thought it would be." Said Silas. But Derek shook his head. "That wasn't even a portion of what there is. I don't know where the rest are, but they are waiting for us." I felt my shoulders droop.

"Keep fighting, everyone." Derek's words were strong, but his body was tired. I could feel it.

It was eerily quiet. We hurriedly ran through, searching rooms, and found no one. "The main room." Derek said as we came up to two huge doors. Sighing, he began pushing the door and I helped with the other.

We weren't expecting the hell we'd just arrived to. Inside those doors, stood hundreds of people, armed and ready. They didn't wait for us to take it all in before they were on top of us. "RETREAT!" Derek's voice cut through the yelling and stomping feet. I was suddenly more terrified than I'd ever been. If he was screaming for us to leave, we were outnumbered more than we could handle, and we were going to die.

Our group began to dwindle in seconds. They fought hard, but couldn't get the upper hand. I watched as a wolf jumped on top of Justin, and tore his throat out. Tears pricked my eyes, but there was no saving him, and I had to run. Derek found me in the cacophony of noise and the bustle of chaos. He had a large, bleeding gash on his forehead. "We have got to MOVE!" He yelled, gripping my hand. We took off, snaking through the crowds of death. I saw Amy smash a guy's head in, Jared rip off the arm of another wolf, Silas break a vampire woman's nose. But in all, this wasn't enough.

"RUN!" I yelled, and within seconds, our little bits of broken group began running after us. We retreated down the hallway where we'd just fought, the walls sprayed with blood. I had to hold my mouth when I tripped over the body of a dead ally.

"Close the gates! Don't let them escape!" Cried the leader of the opposing army. Oh, please, no! I cried out mentally. If they trapped us, we were goners.

I was shocked when in our running, I glanced back to see a mess of wild orange hair running after us, a big group hot on her tail. "Derek!" I yelled. "We can't wait on her! We have to go!"

The gate doors were creaking closed automatically. Allies of the group were sliding through, pulling those behind them through before it closed. We aren't going to make it. I thought somberly.

We got to the door just in time to slide through and we ran down the road and to the top of the hill.

"Farren, NO!" I cried out.

I looked back just in time to watch the gates slam closed in front of Farren, and she disappeared under the hands of the angry vampires.

**Wow, things are not going well for the group. Their numbers are lower than when they started and they've lost Farren! Predictions on what you think will happen? Please R&R!**