A/N: Sorry, kind of forgot about you guys and posting the next update. But I'm here now.

Chapter 3

Blair was a voluptuous woman with long, curly black hair and silver eyes. She was also one of the most beautiful women that any of the Ther had ever seen; it was easy to see why Arlo tripped all over his tongue when he was around her. However, what was more impressive was the aura of overwhelming power crackling around the sorceress. It wasn't even directed at the six, but it made the hairs stand on end and each of their beasts uneasy. This was a woman who could kill them all, no doubt about it.

Arlo was the only one who fidgeted, blushing brightly in front of Blair. Roarke, Merle, Ceres, and Kenzie all stood straight and tense, while Isabella struggled to simply stay conscious as the Erebus sorceress examined each of them in turn, saving Isabella for last.

"So this is the girl destroyed by her mate," Blair murmured thoughtfully as she examined the girl being carried in by a beefy man. She recognized his looks from Arlo's description and knew him to be Roarke. However, he didn't look scary or always angry like Arlo had told her. Instead, he looked like a lost and terrified child.

Funny how the potential loss of a loved one, even a friend, could change someone to such a degree.

The girl herself looked horrible, basically on death's door, yet there was a hardness to her eyes under all of the pain. A strength. Blair could already tell her only reason for surviving this long was because of that strength. This wasn't a normal mate rejection, this was as if the mate had gone out of their way to cause as much pain to the girl as possible. As if the mate wanted the girl destroyed. The fact that she survived this far was admirable.

"There is no going back once you become Erebus. You will forever be changed by the shadow, forever be part of the darkness. Even I have no guarantees on how the shadows will change you. What I can promise is that you will be feared by anyone and everyone who knows what you are-save, perhaps, for the people in this room. It depends on how you're changed, as it's different for everyone." Blair never looked away from Isabella's eyes-Blair learned everything from someone's eyes. This girl had come to a decision and never once did she waver from it.

How badly had this child been hurt? Blair had seen others turn to Erebus to escape the pain from a mate's rejection, yet never seemed so sure that they needed to escape it. That there was truly no other option.

"I don't care," Isabella croaked. "I just want to know; will this change really get rid of the mate bond?"

"It will numb it, but it will never truly be gone. The pain, and the pull, will always be there until the mate's death. As your mate is apparently a vampire, that death may never come. That means the mate bond may never truly go away."

Even now, the idea of her mate getting hurt, of dying, made her beast attempt a howl in protest. Yet even the beast in her was too weak, and after the attempt, Isabella felt even weaker. "If it weakens the bond, even a little, I'm going to do it."

Not a single of her friends tried to protest, another first for Blair. Whenever someone decided to turn to the dark and didn't come alone, there was always at least one loved one who would try to convince them to change their mind, even at the very last second. Blair was even more curious than before, especially after seeing the resignation in each friend's eyes. Not just resignation, but determination. They were determined to help their friend, regardless of the cost. Oh, what have they seen? What has been said to make them all like this?

"It's going to hurt," Blair said after a long pause. She had hoped someone else would say something, yet even when she had set her gaze on Arlo, he had squirmed, but he didn't crack under pressure. "It will be the most painful thing you have ever experienced in your life. I want you to know that."

The look in Isabella's eyes was bleak, broken. "I doubt it." She knew nothing could hurt worse than what she was feeling since her mate had destroyed her. Even now, it was work to push words out of her mouth, all while holding back her screams of agony. If becoming Erebus didn't work, she knew she would be driven insane by her pain well before death could finally claim her.

"Very well then. Put her in the circle." Blair gestured where she wanted Roarke to put the girl with a flick of her wrist. He started to obediently do as he was told, but froze at Blair's next words. "Then I want all of you to leave the room."

Only now did Isabella's friends protest, their voices all mingling together, becoming a wave of noise. How admirable, for them to want to stay with their friend through the process. Stupidly, stupidly admirable.

With a murmured word from Blair, all went silent. Many of them immediately grew angry, looking ready to attack Blair for using magic to silence them. Roarke didn't, as he was still holding Isabella, and of course Arlo wouldn't dare. The only other one who didn't was a slender girl she recognized from Arlo's description as Merle. The other two girls, Kenzie and Ceres, looked like the only thing holding them back from attempted murder was the fact that Roarke and Isabella was between them and Blair.

"The change takes days, and as I said, it's going to hurt. Unless you all want to stay and listen to her scream in agony for however long the change will take with her, while potentially being affected and even changed by the errant darkness yourself, I suggest you all leave." Blair made it very clear that she would force anyone to leave who didn't do so willingly. It would be quite a pain to have to deal with random children possibly going mad simply because they didn't want Isabella to go through this alone.

There was hesitation, sadness, pain, regret-so many emotions flashed across the faces of the five children as they realized Blair was right. Blair undid the spell of silence, and only then did everyone start to move. Roarke set Isabella down on the circle and, one by one, the children left the room after saying their goodbyes to Isabella, along with wishes of luck and words of love. Then one, Ceres, quickly rushed back into the room and dropped to her knees beside Isabella.

Ceres laid a kiss on Isabella's forehead. "No matter what you become, we will always be sisters of the soul," she swore, and then she left as well.

Once the door closed behind Ceres, Blair created a barrier to make sure they couldn't come back in, followed by a soundproofing spell so that they wouldn't be heard by anyone outside of the room.

With this, they were officially alone.

"You say that you believe you can take the pain from the change, correct?" Blair asked the dying girl. Isabella could barely even manage a nod, but it was enough. "Well, I have a proposition for you. Basically, there are two ways I can change you. There's the normal way, or...the deadlier way. It has a much higher death rate, and the pain is considered to be much more agonizing than even the normal change. Among those who survive, many are driven insane by the experience. However, I believe you can survive it, and you can survive it with your mind intact."

"Why...would I want that?" Bella asked.

Blair decided to tell her first lie of the night. She could already tell the girl wasn't interested in power, let alone the potential those who survive the worse of the changes would gain. If Blair admitted it was simply a way to sate her curiosity and see what an Erebus who survived that particular change was capable of, there was no way Isabella would agree. And for it to work, the subject had to agree. "It has a higher chance of numbing the mating bond more thoroughly."

"I'll do it," Isabella said immediately. Again, no hesitation. The girl was much too desperate for an end to her pain. Had Isabella not been so close to dying, Blair would have been interested in figuring out just what level of damage the rejection had caused the girl-physically, mentally, and magically. Sadly, she would have to deal with that particular mystery never being solved.

"Good. You're going to need this; I would hate for you to hurt yourself." Blair snapped her fingers and dark, shadowy tendrils appeared out of the floor under Isabella. They curled around her wrists, her ankles, her neck, her head, her middle, her biceps, her thighs, her shoulders, until Isabella could barely be seen under all of the shadow. The only parts that could be seen of the girl was her nose, eyes, mouth, and the space over her heart. Everything else was thoroughly restrained. Then Blair picked up a wet, strong feeling cloth made of foreign material to Isabella and put it against her lips. "Take this into your mouth. We don't want you biting your tongue off, either."

Anyone else would start to get nervous as they realized their current situation, maybe have second thoughts. Again, Isabella didn't hesitate. She took the thing in her mouth, biting down tightly on the cloth, and waited for what would happen to her next.

"When the darkness reaches for you, don't fight it," Blair told the girl as she started writing symbols in the air. They appeared to be made out of shadow, yet somehow stood out among the otherwise dark room. "Accept it in to you. Welcome it. Desire it. Offer yourself to it. Encourage it to merge with you. If it feels rejected, the darkness might not be so kind to you during the change. You have to want to be Erebus. Understand?"

Again, Isabella gave her a weak nod. She would do whatever it took. Anything to lose the neverending torture going on in her chest.

"Good." Blair finished writing the symbols. All that was left was for her to say the words, and it would all begin. "Oh, and Isabella?" Their eyes met for a moment, and the smile Blair gave her was terrifyingly tender. "I'd hate to lose something with as much potential as you. Do try not to die." Isabella didn't have the chance to answer before Blair muttered some words in a language Isabella didn't recognize and closed her fist.

With that, the darkness swarmed Isabella. It covered her, pulsing, burning, devouring...changing.

Around Blair, globes filled with various kinds of magic power shattered, the darkness absorbing the power and bringing it into the raging storm of shadows. Well, that wasn't supposed to happen…

There was a creak, and then her shelf of various essences Blair had taken from all over the world popped open one by one. Again, they were absorbed into the darkness.

That wasn't supposed to happen either…

Then, the darkness started to reach for Blair-no, not for Blair, but for her magic. It touched her, sucking as much power out of Blair as it could without killing her. Again, this wasn't supposed to happen, but Blair allowed it, wanting to see what would come next. Finally, the darkness seemed to settle, having gained enough of whatever it wanted to focus on changing and merging with Isabella.

Blair settled back in a nearby chair, mildly exhausted, and waited. She waited for the change to finish, all the while taking notes and updating the girl's friends magically.

She had done this type of change to others before, had even had a few successes. She was sure she knew how things would turn out, knew how long things were supposed to go and the only options of how the change would turn out. Yet so far, whatever was happening with Isabella seemed to surprise Blair at every turn.

For instance, the change was supposed to take a week. One week, and then the girl would be free-either dead, insane, or awakening as an Erebus to her new life. However, this change didn't last a week; it took a whole month.

When the darkness finally released the girl, Blair was sure the girl would be dead, most likely disfigured from a botched change. Instead, as she made her way to the girl, she found that the Ther was still breathing. Not just breathing, but the darkness had physically affected her much more than Blair had ever seen before. Isabella was barely recognizable as the girl from before save for the shape of her nose.

Brunette shoulder length hair was now black with a blue tint to it, falling past her lower back. Once pale skin was now tanned. The girl's lips were fuller, her ears slightly pointed, and the girl was even taller than before. Not only that, but the girl radiated power. There was such unrestrained magic emitting from the girl that it actually made the sorceress shiver.

For the first time, Blair wondered if she might have actually made a mistake by making Isabella go through this particular change. If the girl woke and had fallen into insanity, the sorceress wasn't sure if she could manage to put Isabella down by herself.

Perhaps it would be better to kill her before she woke? But if she was sane and Blair killed her, it would be such a waste...but if the girl was insane and Blair couldn't stop her, Isabella might manage to level most of England before she managed to be taken down. Then Blair would definitely be hunted down for her role. But killing Isabella would be such a waste, it could be worth the risk…

Before Blair could come to a decision, Isabella's eyes snapped open, and Blair found herself staring not into the icy blue eyes Isabella once had, but swirling jet black orbs. A fire sprung forth in the girl's irises, twin dark violet flames, and the shadowy restraints melted right off of Isabella's body. The Ther flipped to her feet before looking down at herself, taking stock of her body both inside and out.

A second later, Isabella let out a snarl. "It's still there! The bond, the reason I went through all of this-it's still fucking there!" Isabella whirled on Blair, the purple fire in her eyes burning brighter than before. Around her, the room slowly but surely started to freeze over. It would have been awe inspiring to Blair, if it hadn't been her room being damaged. "You liar, you said it would be gone!"

"I never said that," Blair replied flatly. "I don't know if the darkness has messed with your memories, but I specifically told you that the bond would still exist, it would only be muted at best."

Isabella gave Blair a tortured look. "But it still hurts." She rubbed at the spot over her heart, trying to soothe the pain that would never truly go away.

"Take a moment to feel it. How does it hurt? Does it hurt like it did before?"

At Blair's coaxing, Isabella calmed down and felt for the bond. It still hurt, yes, but not like before. Instead of it feeling like she was being destroyed from the inside out, all that was left behind was a sharpache. Not only that, but the heartbreak was muted, just like Isabella was promised. She didn't feel love toward Katrina anymore, or the desire to see Katrina again despite her pain. When she closed her eyes, she didn't open them with the pathetic hope that Katrina would magically appear in front of her again. All that was left was the pain of the actual mate bond, and the emptiness Katrina had left in her.

Compared to what Isabella had felt before, this pain was much easier to handle.

"Well? How do you feel?" Blair asked, trying to hide the hopefully deadly spell she had conjured behind her back, ready to be thrown at Isabella if the girl had to be put down after all.

Isabella looked at her again, the purple fire was quickly fading from her eyes. Once the fire was gone, Blair could see clarity in the Ther's gaze. "I can survive this," Isabella answered. "The pain...it's nothing compared to what I felt before. It's manageable."

Blair let her spell disappear. Somehow, the girl hadn't gone insane. "So would you say becoming Erebus was worth it?" Isabella nodded, making Blair smile at her. She held out her hand to the Ther, wiggling her fingers at her. "Can I feel?" she asked, her curiosity again having gotten the better of her.

Isabella didn't know what she wanted, really, but she didn't care. She nodded again.

Before Isabella could potentially change her mind, Blair reached out and put her hand over Isabella's heart, searching for the pain of the mate bond. It didn't even take a second for Blair to find it, and as that pain shot through her, Blair let go, doubling over and gasping in agony. It took everything Blair had not to scream.

That was what Isabella considered manageable? Maybe the pain of the Erebus transformation had been nothing to the girl after all.

Isabella blinked at Blair, unsure if she was supposed to say or do something in response to the sorceress's reaction. "So what now?" Was she supposed to go on a murdering spree? Strike fear into the hearts of anyone she came across? Honestly, the ideas didn't hold any appeal to Isabella at all. While emotions linked to happiness, joy, love, and so on did feel muted, and she did feel angrier, darker, somehow, she didn't feel evil or soulless.

"First, you can stop freezing my room," Blair said once she regained her bearings, gesturing to the ice covered shelves around her. Immediately, the ice stopped creeping upward, and the room returned to a normal temperature. "Then, we can tell your friends that you survived. After that, well...you're going to need training."

At that, Isabella frowned. "More training?" Wasn't everyone supposed to fear her now? How was she supposed to train like she used to if everyone was supposed to be scared of her and want to kill her on sight?

"Yes. We can't let someone of your power run around unchecked without being able to control yourself. I may be a lot of things, but even I am not that crazy." She frowned as she realized despite how much she might want to, she wouldn't be able to do this alone. "I will certainly have to reach out to some other Erebus I know to help with this. Just what I need; I hate unnecessary people staying in my house, and they'll end up staying who knows how long because of you."

Usually, Isabella would apologize for the inconvenience, but the urge didn't even surface. Were Erebus supposed to be unapologetic?

"Are they really going to help?" Isabella asked.

"Yes. Despite what you may have heard, not every Erebus is a self centered, unfeeling, spree killing, insane, apocalyptic bringing monster," Blair said with a huff. "Some of us, like myself, are simply self centered, and kill only those who annoy us. Some of us are also only mildly insane."

"So which one am I?"

Blair rolled her eyes. "How am I supposed to know that? You're you, you know your feelings, and you'll find what makes you tick soon enough. Now, I need to send out some magical messages. You stay here and try not to permanently destroy anything." Blair paused when there was a knock at her front door. She reached out, feeling for the new arrivals' magical energies. "Actually, it seems your friends are here. Perhaps you should visit with them." Blair almost left, but again paused, giving Isabella one last look. "Oh, and do try not to scare them too much, will you?"

Isabella frowned, mildly confused. "Why not?"

"I have been alive a very long time, and have seen countless turnings. I can say quite confidently that there are few who would still stay by the side of someone who becomes Erebus," Blair answered. "Yet, you have five waiting for you right outside my door, regardless of the danger, and have been checking in on you every day. They're some great friends."

Friends? Were friends important? Did they matter? Isabella searched inside of herself, trying to figure out what "friends" were supposed to do for her.

She wasn't able to find an answer. To her, "friends" felt like something completely useless. A burden, even. "Meaning what?" Isabella asked.

"Meaning, you are one lucky girl. Even I wish I had someone like that, someone who loved me, believed in me, so unconditionally." Blair let out a sigh, and for a moment, looked almost regretful. "Despite what you may have heard, despite what you may or may not currently feel, Erebus still have all of our emotions. The ones considered 'monsters' are usually those who had no empathy even before they were turned. You just woke up, you're nothing but a fledgling in your new life. If you aren't careful, by the time you realize how much those friends mean to you, it might be too late. Do your best not to hurt them."

Blair left, closing the door behind her, before Isabella could respond, but Isabella didn't even want to. Instead, she looked around the room, wondering what she was going to do next. Surely she wouldn't have to do something as stupid as socialize with those "friends" of hers for long, right?

The door opened once more, and Isabella turned to tell Blair that what she had said had been stupid and pointless. Instead of Blair, there was a girl, one with long red hair and over excited eyes. Kenzie. Then another girl with silver hair shoved her out of the way, rushing forward-Ceres-and after her came three more people-a tiny and scrawny boy with a mess of brown curls, a giant beefy man with short blond hair, a slight girl with light brown hair and a naturally shy smile-all looking just as eager and happy and relieved as they all threw themselves at the new Erebus.

"Isabella!" they all chorused as they hugged her, and Isabella could feel the love they had for her.

With that, Isabella felt warmth fill her. Not just with the love that these people felt for her, but with the love Isabella held for the five people as well.

Friends. Isabella had been wrong, Blair's words hadn't been stupid. She had been right. Isabella was sure, even as Erebus, these were people she would die for, and these were people who would die for her.

She didn't know what the future would hold, but she wanted these five in it.

But with what she had become, how she had changed...would they really want to stay by her side forever?