…Anastasia POV…

There is a burning inside of me that I can no longer fight. It feels as if my body is going to be ripped open any second. The turmoil I feel inside of me is beyond anything I have ever felt. Yes, this indeed not the way any pregnancy should feel like; well, that is what I guess.

Now, I have not been present in my own body for far too long now. Lucius has taken over and has been keeping me suppressed no matter how hard I have been fighting. The whole sick thing of this is that I can feel his every thought and emotion. And god! The things that he has planned the moment that he rips himself out of my body are beyond what I ever can imagine.

I would like to believe that Sebastian will make his elegant appearance before that even happens. But we all know that in order to kill Lucius then, they will have to kill me. I cannot see how I will survive childbirth with a, well, let us call him a baby for now, but I will not survive with the rate that he has been growing.

If you ask me, he has been stalling to make his appearance, but for what I do no know. I can only guess it is for the army that he is starting to build together.

The dark skies have left and, if I can say, a portal that has let in so many demons that will serve him in a heartbeat. I hate to so, but Sebastian and whoever shall be fighting by his side have no idea what they are up against.

Now, as for where we are, well, they have been moving me. Something about finding the place that has been marked. Well, I seemed to have gotten it wrong, so they are moving me once again.

…Sebastian POV…

We all are back at the Belmont House; after getting very creative, we all achieved to get what we required.

Now, as I understand, they have been moving Anastasia around; we are therefore not sure if she is, in fact, where that little pendulum thing says. The boys reassure me that it is very accurate, but I am not going to take any chances.

So we are off to the very first location, the catacombs. We all, which consists of the two Windchaser boys, Bobby, Edward, Lilith, and Breyden, are taking the fight to Lucius. I think Lilith is mostly going after Stefan for betraying her the way he did. As they do say, there is no woman more lethal than one scorned.

The problem that I am finding with the catacombs is it is the final resting place for Vampires; why Lucius wishes to choose this place for his birth is unknown. Now Connor has a theory.

"Sebastian, perhaps he is being, let us use the word kind, to leave Anastasia where her final resting place will be."

"Now, my dear Connor, you can be glad that you are so far behind me, for I would have punched the shit out of you. How can you say my beloved is dead already."

"No, don't get me wrong."

"I think for the remainder of this trip, you need to remain quiet."

"Only stating the obvious, my friend, we need to prepare ourselves for the worse. None of us, even experienced Hunters, know what to expect. We need to close that hole in the skies before the entire underworld comes pissing down on us."

"Fair enough."

Yes, the man is stating the obvious, but thinking of losing my beloved is the very last thing that I wish to do.

So, we soon find ourselves stopping down the road from the catacombs, making our arrival at the entrance shall be far too obvious, and I do not wish to have my head eaten off before I set my foot inside. Going in unannounced is far better to our advantage.

Now, Lilith, Breyden, and Bobby shall stay outside to keep a lookout for any nasty surprises while the rest of us will be heading inside. The catacombs are rather bigger than it appears to the eye; winding through the passages shall take us quite some time, but we have this theory that they shall have this ceremony where the Masters are.

With the boys in front, with rather impressive weapons, Edward and I trail behind. Silver bullets, Ancient daggers that are what we believe is going to kill whatever comes in our way. Elloise, well, I am pumping as many bullets into her just for extra effect. I am still yet to find out how she managed to place the spell on my beloved.

Or wait, I think I have got it, but let us wait for the confirmation later.

We are winding our way through the passages. Now they are lit up, which means that someone is or has been down here. There is generally a caretaker that shall do this, but only when he is requested to do so. This makes me believe that he was either forced to or that whomever we shall find at the end had done so themselves.

Ethan, who has been rather quiet most of this time, turns to me and softly whispers.

"Why shall they find themselves with the Masters?"

"It is believed that there is a spell, well, mainly to do with the burning of the bones, that shall allow you to harness the power of a Master."

"God, don't tell me that Elloise has this spell?"

"No, it is kept secret by the member of the Council, which means our dear Edward here. Even I do not know of the location thereof."

"You don't…"

"No! Do not even go that way. Edward shall never betray the Belmont House. I believe the aim for Lucius is just to be born. Perhaps he is trying to do it at the place that we will least expect it."

"Let us just hope this is the place."

With that, we continue our way down the path, now; to let one understand this, it is a dark evil that sets between these walls. One needs to appreciate that some of the most ruthless Vampires are laid here to rest, and it is only natural that their presence shall be felt. Further, there is the smell of death, not only by Vampire but by humans that have been slaughtered down here for many years.

But what makes it bearable to be between these bodies of so many Vampires is the essence of vanilla that is burned to filled the catacombs. It is believed that vanilla shall take a Vampire in peace over into the afterlife.

And then, finally, I turn to make the last corner. With slow, hesitating but somewhat urgent steps, we count the way to the entrance. The boys shall go in first, for they are far more skill, then Edward and me, who are faster, shall kill off what is lingering around.

Finally, we steady, with…one…two…three steps pile into the room.

It is completely empty.

"Fantastic! Only two more places to go, and we do not know if she is still alive."

"Sebastian," Edward rests his hand on my shoulder. "You have a bond with Anastasia; you shall feel if she has left this earth."

"Indeed, you are correct."

With that, we make our way out of the catacomb rather disappointed. There is not even a sign that shows that they were here, but only the instructions of a pendulum.

Let us hope that we shall find her next.

So we, in a rather upbeat mood still, make our way to the next location. A graveyard.

Well, this is kind of odd in itself. Is the man trying to raise the dead? Has he run out of options with a demon army that he is moving to what seems to be a more deadly alternative? It is not known, but Bobby has a theory.

"I think that he is looking for vessels for his monkeys that are falling from the sky."

Then Connor turns to Bobby, "Did you just heard what you said?"

"What? Monkeys?"

"No. You idiot. Demons possessing the dead. That is by far the stupidest thing that I have ever heard you come up with. You are really getting too old for this."

Then for a brief moment, we all chuckle at the banter between the two. It brings somewhat a relief to the dread. But it does bring the question if we shall be faced with the undead, which none of us has the experience in fighting.

So as we stop at the back of the graveyard, we have no clue where they would be. Much to the horror of the suggestion, we decide to split up into groups. Lucky for us, this is not a particularly big graveyard, and we shall spot any lights from a distance.

I pair up with Edward, and I move towards the south side of the graveyard, Bobby, being brave, has gone east on his own, with Lilith and Breyden west and the boys taking the north. We shall move our way from the outside in and meet up where the biggest of the tombstones are held. We are hoping that the center is where they shall be.

Now, a graveyard has never been my most favorite place for hunting; yes, it is perfect, but there is just something about walking on the ground where dead humans are underneath that makes my skin crawl. And I know that Edward shares the same sentiment.

It is with rather awkward steps that we move around the graves; I can see Edward stepping oddly as his body cringes.

"God, Sebastian, I hate this place."

"I agree, Edward. Who on earth wants to be born in a graveyard."

"It seems like Lucius does. Yet, I don't somehow think so. I mean, the catacomb has the smell of death; here, there is a smell of fear. And please don't forget about that goddamn scary owl."

"Let us pick up the pace. I would like to get Anastasia and get the hell out of here."

With that, we start walking faster to the middle; as we get there, though, the rest of the group is waiting. They, too, seem to have come up emptyhanded.

"This only means one thing," Connor says confidently. "She must be at the church."

"Well, guess we a bunch Vampire and Hunters are going to church then."