To answer a guest review question: I am going to probably keep a good section of cannon. But Julia's presence is obviously going to change things and eventually I'll go in probably a completely different direction. We shall see what happens. :D I'm as much along for the ride as you are.

In other news, I am on a roll. LOL. I've got several chapters on the edge of being ready to go so y'all are lucky I'm going to be posting a decent amount. *knocks on wood* I've probably jinxed myself now.

Shout out to Kylie Winchester, Sam, Guest, and Breezzylife12 for your reviews! I'm not terribly great at acknowledging but I am trying to get better. Know that you are appriciated. :D

Okay! Read on!

Rarely do I enter the quarter these days. I tend to find my days are now filled with caring for the pups in the Bayou and doing my best to keep them from falling under their pack's curse. But I am never idle, and there is an occasion to enter the quarter from time to time.

I visit the place they call the garden, and speak with the vampires there who dessicate. Some are there for good reason and I make them no promises. But there are others whose offenses are less than deserving of such a punishment, and to them I speak of freedom when the time is right. They are starving for more than just the few drops of blood I am able to provide. They are also starving for interaction, for conversation.

But today, my business has less to do with the vampires, and more to do with the witches.

I head to the chapel and sit patiently before Father Keiran joins me. "I wasn't expecting you today, Mrs. Kenner."

"Surely by now, you expect the unexpected," I say with a smile.

"Quite," he responds. "What brings you here today?"

My face becomes serious. "A rather grim rumor I am afraid. I've heard that the witches are intending to follow through on a ritual of a barbaric nature."

He nods grimly. "I have heard the same. I do not know how much water the rumor holds."

"I fear it may hold more than either of us would care to believe. My sources tell me that four young girls have already been chosen." I steady my breath. "They are children, Father Keiran. They are children being lied to by their own families."

His hands fold together in front of him and I know he prays to a higher power that it isn't true. "What do you propose to do?"

"I propose that we stop it. I cannot sit by while they murder their own flesh and blood."

"You have come to me with this matter. What do you expect me to do?"

I look at him. "I expect you to have a word with Marcellus. You've done very well keeping the peace with him, protecting your own kind in a city that is not so giving for humanity."

"I do not think I would be so brave were it not for your support Mrs. Kenner. You are a human with experience in the dangerous world that we have now found ourselves in. Your expertise has been invaluable to the organization I am apart of."

"Your input and help has been most beneficial to me as well, Father Keiran. I am glad to have someone I can rely on when the time comes. And make no mistake my friend. Change is an inevitable part of life, and we will have our work cut out for us."

On my way home, I walk through the cemetery amongst the tourists and the mourners. My eyes scan the faces of those I know to be the witches among them, but I keep my head down and don't draw attention to myself. I don't know which of them is Celeste, but I know that she is here. I know that this lunacy of the Harvest Ritual must be in some part her doing. I don't know what her plan is, but the centuries have taught me that she always has one. But I know that the moment she slips, I will be there with a sword at her throat.

Days later I receive word of the events that transpired. Marcel heeded Father Keiran's warning about the witch's children, but he was too late to save them all. Three of the four chosen were slaughtered, but not the fourth. Davina, I learn her name to be.

From what I hear, my son has taken her in almost as his own. Protecting and sheltering her from the witches that lied to her. But it isn't long before he turns her into a weapon. The magic conducted in the quarter becomes forbidden nearly overnight. Tensions rise and fear floods the sacred grounds. The smell of desperation permeates the air.

My heart goes out to the poor girl that is caught in the middle of it all. I wonder what on earth her mother must have been thinking, and what she must be thinking and feeling now. I don't understand how any mother could subject their child to the knife the way Davina was.

"Lana Nicole! Careful!" I am quick to remove my five year old daughter from the edge of the ravine that we decided to go for a quiet day away from the cares of pack leadership.

"I want to watch the rocks fall," my daughter complains, the stubborn set in her face looks more familiar everyday.

"Well that's all well in good until you end up falling too."

"Perhaps we should head down to the water and I can show you something even better than rocks falling," Jacque says from his perch on a boulder not far away. His hands busily whittling away on a firm branch.

Lana's eyes light up with curiosity. "Like what?!"

Jacque smiles and reaches for her. I follow behind them as we begin to head down the steep his to the water's edge. "It's called 'skipping.' If you throw a rock just right, it flies right across the water."

"Really?" Her arms are wrapped tightly around his neck and her soft brown hair is falling messily out of her braid. Her sweet innocence makes my heart clench in overwhelming love.

"Really," Jacque says, his fatherly smile growing ever bigger and ever fonder. He sets her down among the rocks near the water's edge and sits on his heels to he at her eye level. "See if you can find me a flat rock about the size of my palm. Just a bit bigger than your hand. Find as many as you can."

"Ok!" She nods firmly in agreement and scampers off to complete her task.

The warm air wraps around me and the sounds of the bayou bring me a peace that I relish in while I can. Jacque being the alpha doesn't make our lives very easy and the ever looming threat of Celeste never strays far from my mind.

"Daddy! Are these good?" She runs back with a small pile of rocks nestled in her shirt like basket.

He leans down and examines the rocks. "Yes, siree. I do believe these will do quite nicely. Now watch and learn Butter-cub."

The nick name makes me smile and roll my eyes. One day she is going to go through a phase where she hates that little pet name. As soon as she figures out what puns are, I am sure. And knowing Jacque, it'll just make him call her that even more.

They spend the next hour or so skipping rocks across the water. Lana laughs in delight every time it happens. She grows frustrated at her own failed attempts until she finally manages to make one of the rocks skip just once. A small victory that Jacque reacts to as if it is the greatest accomplishment of mankind since the beginning of time.

"Did you see Mommy? Did you see!?"

My smile grows wider as she throws herself into my arms. "I did indeed, Little Devil. You'll be a right master at that before long."

I can't help the few tears that flow from me. A mother's protective instincts should override any loyalties to magic or otherwise. I worked very hard to give my daughter the most normal childhood I could muster. I wonder what Davina's early years were like? Did she ever learn to skip stones with her parents?

I sit heavily in my chair and remember my beautiful Lana Nicole's childish laughter. I remember the simple joys she found in the smallest of things. And I remember her teen years as that stubborn streak grew ever more persistent the older she got.

"I'll be home by midnight! I promise!"

"The answer is no, Lana, " Jacque says firmly.

"But Dad! I'm almost seventeen! You can't keep me locked away forever. I just want to go spend time at the lake." She looks at me across the room. "Mom! Please."

"We already told you. The answer is no. It's not safe to go swimming late at night."

"Aghhhh," she exclaims in frustration before storming to her room.

Jacque and I both sigh. "I suppose we should have expected this," he says.

I snort a laugh. "Between her parents and the blood of a wolf, yes. It was only a matter of time."

He nods. "Absolutely. A stubborn mother and a headstrong father and a wolfish spirit just waiting to be released. Is it wrong that I hope it never is?"

"You want to save her pain. But I think we both know that it is likely inevitable."

We were right to worry. Lana snuck out that night and came home distraught and crying. Her friend Nora and her were arguing by the water's edge, though Lana never told me exactly why. I could guess it had to do with a boy. But Nora lost her footing when it began to get physical.

"Mom?" her voice shakes as I hold her on her bed as she cries until there's nothing left.

"Yes?"

"Tell me it will hurt."

I sigh and close my eyes. "I wish I could tell you it won't."

She shakes her head. "I want it to hurt. I deserve it. I killed her. I killed her." Her sobs return tenfold and my heart breaks for her.

"Listen to me. Listen." I hold her face in my hands. "Look at me, Lana Nicole. I know that it wasn't your intention to take her life. But it happened, and you are going to have to learn to come to terms with that and I know that's not easy. I know. But listen. No matter what, you do not deserve to feel pain. You do not get to punish yourself for things that are done. Live and let live, Little Devil. You are stronger than the mistakes you make."

Her tears begin to dry again. She nods.

"You will rise above this," I tell her. "You are the strongest person I know. You can endure more than you know."

Sixteen is too young an age to become subject to the horrors of the world. Unfortunately, the world we live in does not consider age. Our children see blood too early. They know death too early. And though we do our best to shield them, the best we can do is prepare them to be strong enough for it. To teach them to use it to become stronger in the end.