Cassandra loved her day of fishing at the lake, but she felt like she needed some more time to relax and clear her mind of everything that had been going on recently. So the next morning, she decided to join Raphael on another hunting trip in the east woods. And since the hunter was escorting Joseph to that area anyway, he was more than happy to join her, but they had to walk in the opposite direction of Joseph's usual running path for obvious reasons.

The brunette couldn't help but smile as she and the hunter walked along the path on this cool spring day. She and Raphael had become good friends in the months since he began to teach her how to hunt, and it made her happy to see him warm up to not just her, but her family in general. It gave her hope that maybe all was not lost in doing the same for the rest of the village.

After an hour, they had not encountered any signs of game, so Cassandra decided to spark a conversation.

"So the store is almost ready to open. I figure in the next couple weeks, we'll be good to go."

Raphael turned to her and smiled.

"That's good to hear! I can't wait to see how it will be received when it does open. I'm not expecting anything grand, but I'm sure it will at least do decently."

"Same here. I'm a little nervous though. I've never done anything like this before."

Raphael chuckled and gave the brunette a reassuring pat on the back.

"Neither have I, but that's okay. It's always good to try something new. Take me for example. I decided to give you and your family a chance rather than hating you, and look at what happened. Now things are getting better for all of us."

Cassandra smiled warmly and nodded. He was absolutely right.

"Definitely. I don't think I've been more happy now than I've ever been in my life. And if things go well, it might get even better in the future."

"Ah, don't stress yourself about the triathlon either. Even if you don't win, it would still be a big accomplishment for you."

Cassandra shook her head,

"That's not what I was referring to."

The hunter's smile suddenly faded.

"You mean Joseph and Mandy's parents?"

She slowly nodded.

"God only knows what they'll pull when they find us. I know we can beat them, but I'm scared to death that something might happen to my family. Not to mention, Joseph and I think that his mother isn't as hateful as she's letting on, and we're just hoping that that's true and that maybe we can convince her to change."

The hunter again patted her back reassuringly.

"I know what you mean. I get nervous when it comes to Sarah all the time, but you can't let that fear get to you. You need to stand tall and trust in god to protect you. When it comes to Joseph's mother, you and I both know you can't force her to believe or do anything. All you can do is try your best and hope she makes the right choice."

Cassandra now smiled.

"I know. Thank you, Raphael. It means a lot to me to have your support."

The hunter smiled back.

"Of course. Anyway, there isn't really anything happening in terms of game, so I say we call it a day."

The brunette nodded in agreement and they began to walk back the way they came back towards the village.

….

When the hunting pair reached the entrance of the path, they were surprised that Joseph wasn't there. He had been starting to run for longer periods of time to help better train himself, but even then he should have been back by now. And when he still didn't show up ten minutes later, Cassandra started getting worried.

She knew in her gut that something was wrong, and the look on Raphael's face told her he was thinking the same thing. So the pair began to walk along the path that Joseph usually took to see if they could find him, calling his name as they walked.

About five minutes later, they suddenly heard the shouting of three different voices coming from the path ahead of them. Two of them sounded like children, but the third Cassandra instantly recognized as Joseph's, and she immediately began sprinting towards his voice as fast as she could. When she got to the source, the sight made her blood turn cold.

Joseph was standing in front of two children, one boy and one girl. In front of him was a group of lycans all closing in on him. The brunette counted nine in total, and there were another three lying dead on the ground, all with bullet wounds in them. Joseph had shot them, but he didn't have enough ammo for all of the creatures, and was currently standing battle ready with one of the dead lycan's axes in his hand.

He was heavily outnumbered however and was clearly injured as Cassandra could see claw marks on him. Thankfully, the vaccine that Donna had given him meant he was safe from the mold's infection, but he still needed help, and he needed it urgently.

Wasting no time, Cassandra raised her rifle and aimed it at one of the creature's heads.

"Get down!" She shouted, and immediately her boyfriend took the children and dropped to the ground while the lycans turned in reaction to her voice.

She fired a shot into one of the beast's head's, killing it instantly, and this caused the pack to shift their attention to the hunting pair and charge at them. Raphael fired a shot of his own and struck another lycan in the chest, causing it to stumble and giving him time to fire another shot into its head.

There wasn't enough time however to shoot all of the lycans before they reached the hunting pair, so Cassandra dropped her rifle and pulled out her side arm before taking the pack on hand to hand, using every last bit of martial arts training to fight them and get off shots while she could.

Seeing his girlfriend fighting the pack, Joseph got up and ran over to join the melee, striking a lycan from behind with the axe in his hand. Meanwhile, Raphael stood back with his rifle, firing when he felt he had a clean shot. He wasn't immune to the mold like Cassandra and Joseph were. So he couldn't afford to get in close, but thankfully the pack was too preoccupied with the couple to notice him.

With Cassandra and Raphael assisting him, Joseph was now having a much easier time fighting the snarling beasts, and it didn't take long before all of them were on the ground, dead.

Joseph was breathing heavily, both from adrenaline and relief that it was over, but he didn't have much time to catch his breath as Cassandra then crashed into him, giving him a tight hug while sobbing.

"Are you okay?! I thought I was going to lose you!" She choked.

Joseph hugged his girlfriend back and kissed her forehead.

"I am now, thanks to you. You really saved our asses there."

Suddenly remembering the boy and girl, the brunette looked up and saw that Raphael had already made his way over to children, who were still shaking, to check on them, and the couple quickly ran over as well. Thankfully, the kids weren't hurt, and Cassandra picked up the boy while Joseph picked up the girl.

"I-I don't understand." The boy said with a shaky voice. "We've always been safe picking berries here because the monsters don't come here. Why did they come now?"

That was a good question, and it had everyone scratching their heads. Lycans really didn't come to this part of the woods due to the fact it was fenced off. It's one of the reasons why Joseph did his training here. So what happened that made it change?

Cassandra shook off the question and cooed to the boy who was crying.

"I don't know, sweetie." The brunette said. "But it's over now. You're safe."

This made Joseph and Raphael smile, but the group didn't stay around for long though as they wanted to get out of there before more lycans could possibly show up. So they quickly jogged down the path with the children in hand and made their way back to the village.

When they got about halfway there, they ran into a small group of people who had guns and knives, probably a search party that went to look for the children, and the children's reactions upon seeing two of the group members in particular confirmed this suspicion.

"Mommy! Daddy!" They both cried.

The two parents immediately rushed over and took their children, both sobbing uncontrollably.

"Oh, my baby!" The mother said. "When you didn't come back, I feared the worst, so we came looking for you! Thank the lord you're okay!"

"We're okay, mommy." The girl said. "Lady Cassandra saved us."

The parents then turned their attention to the brunette standing in front of them with a look of surprise and wonder. They couldn't believe their ears. At that moment, Cassandra recognized them as two of the people who still resented the Dimirescu family and the other lords. But now, they didn't have an ounce of hate in their eyes.

"You…you saved my children's lives." The father said.

"I wasn't the only one." Cassandra said. "Joseph and Raphael helped too."

Joseph then shook his head.

"Yeah, but I was heavily outnumbered. We would have been screwed if you hadn't showed up." He said

"And I couldn't get close because of the mold." Raphael added. "You definitely deserve the most credit here."

The parents stood there in silence for a moment before they, still holding their children, both walked up to Cassandra and gave her a hug, surprising the brunette.

"Thank you." The mother said. "I…I as well as others haven't been treating you kindly in recent months, yet you still aided us. I will not forget this."

The father nodded.

"I couldn't agree more. You had no reason to do this, and yet you still did. I'm speechless right now."

As the parents released their grip, the father sighed.

"I want to make a confession, because I owe you that much at least. We were part of the group that set the shotgun trap in your store."

Cassandra's as well as Joseph's and Raphael's eyes widened in shock, but they remained silent and allowed the father to continue.

He sighed again.

"Helen showed us how, as apparently she was familiar with the building since she was there before that giant moved in. She convinced us that we needed to take action to put you and the rest of your family down, but seeing this makes us realize how wrong we were. I…please forgive us."

He lowered his head in shame as he fell silent. Cassandra then took a couple steps towards him.

"What's your name, sir?"

"John. John Sewart. This is my wife, Loraane." He said as he gestured to the mother.

The brunette nodded before responding.

"John, you and your wife had every right to be skeptical of me and my family. We've done terrible things that we're not proud of, and I can understand why you would have trouble moving past that. If you never did, I would have understood."

"We appreciate you saying that." Loranne said. "But that still doesn't excuse us for trying to hurt you when you were clearly trying to make things better for everyone, not just yourself. And for that, we are truly sorry."

Loraane then turned to Joseph.

"And you, Mr. Brody, you have our thanks too. Not just for helping to save our children, but for helping everyone in this village. You really have turned things around for us."

Joseph couldn't help but choke at that. Hearing this made him realize how far things at the village had come since he arrived here, and it made him so happy that he helped contribute to that.

Raphael then spoke up in a fake annoyance.

"What am I? Chopped liver?"

This got a laugh out of everyone.

"Of course you have our thanks, Raphael." John said. "Then again, you've always been a good man, and a much wiser one too. I see now why you warmed up to these people."

The hunter laughed.

"I'm a bit surprised at myself for doing it if I'm to be honest, but I'm glad I did. I saw first hand that everyone deserves a second chance."

His face then suddenly took a more serious tone.

"I do want to ask you something though, and I need you to be honest. Lycans never come to this part of the forest due to the gates that seal it off, so the fact that they somehow got here is strange. Did you have anything to do with it?"

Both parents immediately shook their heads.

"Goodness, no!" Loraane said. "We hated the Dimitrescu family at the time, but we would never put our own children in danger for something like that! I don't think anyone would!"

The look on her face told Raphael she was telling the truth, so he smiled and nodded.

Someone else from the search party spoke up.

"I don't know, Loraane. I'm willing to bet Helen was involved in this. She hates the Dimitrescu family more than anyone in the village."

"I agree." Joseph said. "Her hatred has completely consumed her, and she will stop at nothing to destroy the ones she's directed it towards. She doesn't care if innocent people get hurt."

John and Loraane turned to him with a look of shock.

"Do you really believe that?" John asked.

"I don't believe it. I know it." Joseph replied. "Revenge is all she cares about now. Everyone or anything else be damned. To her, it's just necessary collateral damage"

The parents as well as the rest of the search party were all speechless. They saw the look on Joseph's face and they could tell that he was dead serious. They almost didn't believe it, that someone was really willing to go that far for revenge.

Cassandra then spoke up.

"If Hellen is responsible for this, and I think she is, this proves that she's a threat to everyone in the village, not just me and my family, and I won't stand for this. I won't let anyone else get hurt because of her."

John's face then took on a look of absolute fury, the fury of a parent whose child had been threatened, but it wasn't directed at Cassandra, Joseph, or Raphael. It was directed at someone who currently wasn't present.

"In that case." He said in a low but serious tone. "I think we need to head back and have a nice, long chat with Helen."

Joseph nodded and walked over to the father.

"I agree, but let us do the talking. Trust me, it's not a good idea to act out in anger."

John nodded before Joseph turned back to his girlfriend and the hunter with a serious face of his own.

"Let's go."