** Author warning - This chapter does contain the discussion of death. It is a vampire - werewolves - and assassins flick what do you expect. But for all those who wanted a warning here it is. **

Ryan's POV

I had gotten the text from Owen then gotten dressed and left. The symbol on the card looked slightly familiar but I couldn't place it exactly. I was searching through multiple databases trying to come up with a viable one. It was as if the CIA didn't actually have access to the one that I wanted to look at. I could try and work on the names. Though with only first names to deal with it was going to be hard. And to add to that something like Billy it could be short for something his came could be William there were just too many possibilities for me to really be considering all of them.

At 8am I decided to call it a day or rather night and head home. I texted Owen back saying that I had come up almost empty. I had one last thing I was going to try. In the back office here, we had access to the full version of Shadownet. Birkoff had saved one copy, and we had that here of all the missions that Percey and Amanda had lead. So as long as we were dealing with a CIA take over mission that I had done we should be good, but I had all those on my laptop and I had been through those completely looking for any reference to this symbol or either name; I had come up blank there so this was the last option.

I walked to the special room which I had access to, logging into Shadownet I uploaded the picture and added the names to it. Mounds of information started pouring onto the page, unfortunately I couldn't print from this computer, so I was forced to type everything out onto my laptop. I would take this to my bosses here and see what they could do with it.

When I had everything, I shut it down, closing my laptop but making sure I had saved everything that I needed on it. Going to my boss I handed him the print off I had sent from my laptop to the printer and picked up on my way to his office.

When he started to read the page, his face changed. "Where did you get this symbol?"

Squaring my shoulders to him I smiled. "A friend emailed it to me. Asked me to look into it said it would have some valuable information with it."

He nodded ripping the page then putting it through his shredder. "You are going to delete everything you have saved about this and anything that goes with it. Then you are going to go home and forget that this ever existed."

I glanced at my computer for a second. "That was the only copy."

He nodded. "Good. It would do you well to forget about it and forget about them. They won't be able to help you with anything. I would be telling your friend about that too, the people behind that symbol are very dangerous."

I nodded putting my computer into my bag and leaving.

When I got home, I checked my phone. Nothing from Owen yet but he could be flying. He had said they had a bit of time between flights he would get back to me if he could.

I was not going to erase the work that took me over a day to collect. Walking over to the fridge I glanced at it. There was a note there from Birkoff.

At 2:30 today I am off work. Sam wants to see us to discuss something concerning Charlie. I heard from Embry that he did walk her to the counselling appointment on Tuesday, so she did go. Not too sure what else it could be. Though Jacob and Embry both seemed rather pissed at me on Tuesday after school.

I glanced at my watch it was 2:00pm already, that gave me little time to grab some lunch and get over to his place. Hopefully Birkoff was picking me up. I texted him saying I was home and if he could swing by the house to get me, we could go over together.

He texted back saying sure he was leaving in under 5 minutes and that being early for this meeting might be a good thing.

I walked out the door forgetting about lunch. When Birkoff arrived, he didn't look so great.

"Everything isn't okay. I overheard Charlie and Embry talking something about Jake has gone to Sam about something here."

I just shook my head. "Whatever it is we will handle it. We knew having the girl live with us was going to cause a few issues. We knew she liked to defy orders and other things. I am glad to hear that she went to the counselling appointment though. I did text Owen and told him that we might need his help to talk to her. I still think that is a good idea."

He nodded as we pulled into the yard.

We walked up to the door, knocking on it and waiting for Sam to come to the door. When Sam answered the door, he was on the phone. He simply just waved us in and pointed to the couch and then went into the kitchen to finish his conversation.

He smiled to us when he came back in. "Sorry about that, just trying to deal with a minor situation with one of the students." He took a seat in the chair across from us. "Now this situation is more of a request coming from me. It has been brought to my attention that Charlie has been having trouble eating what we would normally call breakfast."

I glared at him. "I get that, but she had agreed to try to eat some yogurt in the morning and the one morning she did have toast with us."

He nodded to me. "Do you realize though the other morning when she did try the yogurt, she brought up everything she had eaten even the night before? The day she had the toast she puked as well." He ran his hands through his hair for a second. "I am not saying she won't eat breakfast I am saying she confessed to one of the guys that this began when her parents died and since then trying to eat before 9am is almost impossible."

When I went to speak again, he held up his hand shaking his head.

"I have heard from several of them that she does eat between her first two classes. Then eats quite a bit throughout the day after that."

Birkoff nodded. "So, she can take the yogurt drinks with her to school and drink them between her first two classes."

Sam nodded. "That would be acceptable." He turned to me. "What are your thoughts on this?"

I just shook my head. "I don't like it. She tried what twice and didn't succeed, that isn't enough times."

Birkoff turned to me. "She isn't saying no she is saying let me do it on my time." He placed a hand on my knee. "I know you want us all to eat breakfast together, but what did you have for breakfast this morning when you were at work?"

I glared at him. "You know I sometimes forget to eat when I am in the middle of something."

Sam coughed for a second. "So, I get you are concerned she isn't eating enough throughout the day, is that what this is about?"

I nodded to him. "Girls her age are statistically more prone to eating issues. And she refuses to eat breakfast."

He nodded before turning to the kitchen. "Emily, can you come out here for a second?"

A woman who looked to be about Sam's age walked out of the kitchen when she came to join Sam on the couch he smiled at her.

"Charlie came here for lunch today, right?" he asked her with a smile.

She nodded. "She said it is nice to get away from all of the girls. Kim has confirmed that they have been really picking on her. Said something happened on Monday that made it even worse but won't say what it was."

Sam nodded to her. "That is okay. If Charlie eating her lunch here keeps her from being in a fight, then I am very happy. What did she have for lunch do you recall?"

She thought for a second. "Well, she brought a few slices of pizza, which she ate. Then she had at least 2 sandwiches. And I am pretty sure she took at least 4 muffins for the walk back."

Birkoff grinned. "Okay so she does eat at lunch time. She hasn't eaten that much at dinner the past few nights though."

Emily smiled at me. "Monday when she was here, she took a bag of cookies for her and Embry to share in the afternoon. He complained before going to work that he only got 3 of them. Tuesday, she took 6 muffins well she took 4 and Embry took 2 but he said she took them from him when she got to the library claiming she was still hungry. After school she stopped by and had some chips and dip that was out on the table before Jake and Quil got here, and they headed to your place. The girl does eat, in fact I swear sometimes she outeats some of the guys."

Birkoff smiled. "I am satisfied with that. If anything does change you will let us know?"

Sam nodded standing up holding out his hand. "I will say you did good with Charlie and getting her to go to the counselling appointment. Though Sue said she didn't want to talk much, but she made it to there and into the house which is a big step."

I glanced at him. "She is 15 years old. Just making it to the appointment is a big step." Maybe it was the lack of sleep or food that was getting to me but the simple idea that she was 15 and she was just making it to the appointment should be taken as a given."

Sam nodded. "Yes, having her make it into the house is a big step. The fact that she made it into the house and sat there in the same room as Sue discussing a few things is huge. We are going to try another one next week."

Birkoff nodded. "Let us know when it is."

Sam smiled. "Probably going to try for about the same idea. In the afternoon after her gym class or even during gym class. We have been playing around with times and that could have been the thing to do it, though I heard from Embry there was a pretty sweet deal put on the table for her to attend the appointment with Sue?"

I nodded. "We had suggested that if she went to the appointment that we would get her a twenty-five-dollar gift card to the diner in Forks."

Sam smiled and nodded. "That would do it for the first two times."

I scratched my head. "Only the first two times?"

Sam nodded. "After Charlie goes once, she won't want to go again for a good few months. Last time she went was in the summer. Her and Embry went there one Friday night." He laughed for a second. "Embry had me try that one already and it worked twice then she went back to skipping them."

Birkoff slumped into the couch. "So after this next one we are back to square one again?"

Sam nodded. "But in about 10 minutes this house is going to be overrun with teens getting here after school. Charlie will probably stay over here for dinner tonight."

I nodded. "Good thing Owen will be here later this week. He might be able to get Charlie to open up a bit more about things."

Sam smiled walking with us to the door. "If he wants Sue's notes let me know. At this point I don't particularly care if they are trained fully or not which is why Emily was going to try just something came up that day."

We both nodded leaving. It might be nice to get an evening at home alone. I could ask Birkoff about what I had found on Shadownet.

Owen's POV

When I woke up, I glanced at my phone. Nothing from Ryan or this mystery person. I knocked on Alex's door.

"Yes, I'm up." She groaned.

I laughed for a second. "Sounds good. We have about an hour before we have to leave."

I started walking around the main part of the room picking things up when something near the table caught my eye.

A picture. It was of Sean, but the date stamp couldn't be right. It says it was only taken 1 year ago. He has been dead for 18 months. I put it into my bag, I would have to get Birkoff to look at it for me when we got there. We had buried him. Maybe when we land in New York I could take another plane over to Washington after I look into this myself. Though if I did that Alex would get suspicious of me and want to come.

I couldn't trust anyone outside our group with this, or maybe I could. I had seen Nolan before but placing him was harder than I thought it would be. Then we have this other person watching us. I put everything on the back burner for right now. Honestly there was nothing I could do from where we were currently, and I couldn't exactly call to ask if we could dig up the coffin. Hopefully Ryan has some information for me when we landed.

When we landed in New York a few hours after boarding the plane at the airport my phone started going nuts. Several messages from Ryan. I left Alex sitting in the lounge saying that I needed some air and leaving. I would need to contact a few friends who I had met in hopes they could go check out the gravesite for me.

Walking out into the cold air I glanced up at the sky. The site really wasn't all that far away, I could be back during the lay over here easily that way I would be able to see it with my own two eyes that way I could tell Alex for sure that I knew he was in there and the pictures were a lie. Maybe I should just call Birkoff now. Send him the picture and see what he could get off of it.

The phone rang 3 times before he finally answered it.

"Hello. Listen Birkoff, I need a favour. We had this guy show up last night at the hotel. Tell us he was looking for Sean. He had proof, pictures. Only one dropped on the floor. The thing is dated a year ago which makes even less sense."

'A year ago. Owen, he has been dead for over 18 months.'

"I know." I huffed at him. "That is why I am calling you. I don't know if I believe the date on the picture but it is printed right into it. If I sent you a picture of the picture, do you think that you could take a look at it for me?"

'And what if the date is for real that means we buried an empty casket and that someone has been lying to us this entire time again. Are you sure you want to open that can of worms?'

I shrugged despite he couldn't see me do that. "I don't know. You should have seen Alex last night she was so heartbroken when Nolan mentioned about Sean. I thought she was going to start crying when he commented about him playing dead, and he offered a reward if he ever somehow became undead."

'What did he want from him?'

"Something that Sean apparently had. Ryan was looking into it for me. Though my phone is all messed up and so is my head with time zones. She refuses to fly across the date line, or we should have been there by now."

He laughed. 'No worries. We just got our asses handed to us by the head of the reservation. But sure, send me the picture I will see what I can do with it.'

"Thanks. By the way can you look at the last text I sent to other than you and Ryan. It came from an unknown number. Really creepy though. Also, I want to see if we can get the surveillance from the hotel we have been staying at. Someone has been watching us."

'Alex is a celebrity of course she is going to have people watching her. You should have known what you signed up for there dude.'

"This was when she was in the shower. Besides I have felt them watching me too, just see if you can find anything. I have to go before Alex gets antsy that I am taking too long getting some air."

'Sure, no sweat. Send me that picture and I will see what I can do with it. Though I might be able to do much without the original.'

I shrugged hanging up the phone before snapping a picture of the one from my bag and sending it off to him. Going back into Alex she was sitting there looking at the bar.

"I can get you a club soda?" I offered her with a smile.

She nodded. "Sure, that sounds great." She put a hand on my arm looking at me. "You seem different today then you did last night."

I shook for a second. "I know. Have a lot more questions right now than we did last night." My eyes scanned the area again. "Though I feel safer here. I don't feel like anyone is watching us."

Alex nodded and smiled at me. "If that is all it is then. Just get me some water. I think this traveling is getting to me. I can't wait for tomorrow when we finally land in Seattle."

I laughed. "Yes, then we have a 2-hour drive to get to Nikita place."

Unknown POV

I tapped my pen against the paper waiting for the message that the order had been delivered so I could get outside to go get it. Hours after it normally arrived the door swung open. My two bodyguards who don't ever speak to me just put everything right inside the door.

"Why can't I leave the house today?"

The shorter one turned to me. "Master has told us it isn't safe to let you go walking the grounds today he is worried for your safety."

"I would like to meet this Master of sorts."

They both laughed. I didn't get what was so funny.

"What is so funny about that? And what makes me so special?"

The bigger one was to me faster than I could take a step. The next thing I knew everything went black as if a hood had been placed over my head, I couldn't see or hear or smell anything. Then I was being carried, placed on something familiar to me as the hood was pulled off and I went to sleep.

I woke hours later still feeling slightly funny from whatever had happened to me earlier. Going to the computer I seen a note written in old handwriting.

Drink the red juice you will need it.

I held the piece of paper up to the light but nothing. Red juice. I touched the place where I had apparently hit the wall the other day. It was burning right now maybe this red juice would help.

I pulled the red juice from the fridge and started sipping at it. Glancing at the clock I realized it was probably time to get something to eat. The food we had here was almost as bad as the stuff they fed us when I was living in the desert.

I thought about my unit. The most recent one when I had met that woman. I had never been an artist by any means, but I could draw. I started drawing maybe if I showed this to my guards one of them might know who she was. I hoped it was the shorter one who came later that night to check on me. He tended to be gentler than the others even the girls were harsh. He looked young though maybe 16 at most what was he doing working like this. When the drawing was done, I set it aside under the books that were there for me to read. I would ask for another one tonight I was getting bored reading the same old stories again and again.

Sam Ulley's POV

I sat back in my den away from the pack. Jake, I had called to join me in the den knowing full well that as the other alpha he deserved to know what this letter said just as much as I did. After all Leah would more than likely get John into my pack to be with her and Charlie would end up with Jake when she did eventually phase.

I opened the letter for the first time just as he shut the door.

"I know you are going to want to tell Embry about everything that is in here, but he can't go running off to tell Charlie. Whoever cursed the twins is still out there and besides we don't know what the curse actually completely is."

Jake nodded. "Embry found it. Did you get a chance to read the story of the cursed siblings?"

I nodded. "Really horrible story. I can't really believe that Charlie enjoyed that story as a child."

Jake just laughed. "The girl is an odd one that is for sure. But let's have a look at this letter and what it says."

My dearest Daughter,

With everything going on you must be wondering why I am writing you and why this was found in a book which we left at home. Truth is you are cursed. You remember all the stories you use to love to hear about, the legends we would tell you around the campfire.

Well, all of them are true.

I know you are probably freaking out right now so put the letter down and go find Sam Ulley, he is the alpha of the protectors, and he will help you survive.

The legends did say it was cursed siblings, but when he found you and your brothers, he could only curse two of you. So, to save you we with the help of the council found a way to protect you from the worst half of the curse. Your older brother was killed and burned making sure that you would be the strongest one and hopefully no other family would have to go through what we did.

This is the 4th copy of this letter that I am writing you I do one each time we leave cause one of these times the one that cursed you is going to catch up with us. That too is why this letter is staying back with you safely tucked in the book so when you get the urge to go looking for answers you will find it and go straight to Sam with it. The old letters have all been burned and the ashes spread over the seas.

Legend has it that to break the curse and force it to never be placed on anyone again you have to give into that emotion that you try so hard to bury away. Give into it let it take over and power you completely it; allow the true rage to sniff out the one who cursed you and destroy them.

He is a cold one with a lot of followers. But you and whoever imprints on you will become more powerful than ever. Every other time the cursed children have had to share the power between the 2 of them and then they could never win.

Also, the cold ones have a council who want this one dealt with too. Only they can't for some reason, each time he duplicates himself into another recently dead soul. And returns to life. We spoke with the council, but they couldn't help. This mission we are going on, I don't trust where it comes from which means it might be our last.

Take care of yourself, you are really alone in this world until you find your other half.

Mom

P.S. Let your brother know he is just normal.

I breathed. I couldn't believe that the council had approved of them killing a child. It was a complete outrage. Both of our fathers knew about this, they had to have. Why didn't any of them say anything about knowing about this.

Jake looked at the letter. "So, all we have to do is get Charlie to completely give into everything and then she will completely shift. That is at least some good news."

I shrugged. "Her mother knew that this mission would lead to her death probably, but she still chose to go. You know what reading this letter will do to her and very possibly Embry too."

Jake nodded. "But at least it will safe him from the horrors the rest of you had to face with telling your imprints about the legends being true."

I laughed slightly. "Well, I am more worried about it being at school when she finally lets loose. She almost punched Tamara today in Computers."

A knock came on the door.

Jake stood up to answer it. "Sam, Jake." Charlie and Embry turned between the two of us. "Emily says we can't eat until you two are done. Can you please finish this super secret council meeting after dinner I'm starving." Charlie whined.

I laughed about that, nodding my head standing up. "Of course. Maybe I should have filmed that I could have showed it to Ryan and Birkoff the next time they decide to complain about you not eating."

We made it to the kitchen to see Emily just setting the table. I turned to Charlie. "I thought you said we weren't eating until everyone was ready."

She sheepishly hid behind Embry. "Sorry."

I laughed. It was this playfulness I wanted to keep for her. I hoped that Embry could convince her to keep that.