~Mordikai~

We had finally taken a break from training over the past few weeks, and Amorelli's baby bump has gotten bigger. Her baby bump is restricting her from training, and the only training she can do now is the training with her mother.

Amorelli's family ended up coming up from the trench and have been training with us. I have kept in contact with the other countries and they state that their training is going wonderfully and that they should be ready to invade within the next week. I was pleased when I heard this and decided it was time to talk with Amorelli. Serge also has to talk with Zinniah because he doesn't want her fighting either. Especially after we found out Zinniah had a vision of Serge being killed and Zinniah being taken away again by the boss. Neither of us wants anything happening to our mates, so we need to talk to them about how they aren't going to be fighting. I run my hand over my face and give out a sigh. I had asked Amorelli to meet me in my office so that I could talk to her about something, and she was currently on her way. I was a little nervous about everything. Her welfare, the babies, the war, the Warlock coven in Albania that is supposedly working with the Boss. I groaned and put my hands on my head because of the headache that has become worse. Then I smelled her before I even heard her knock.

"Come in, love," Amorelli opened the door and frowned slightly at my current state.

"Mordikai? Is everything okay?" Amorelli shut the door and walked over to me. I sighed and I pulled her down onto my lap. I rubbed her stomach and smile slightly. Amorelli kissed my forehead and pressed her cheek against it.

"I just have a headache, that's all." She nodded and could tell something was bothering me.

"Well, what did you want to talk about?" She turns her body so that he is facing me and I sighed.

"The war," I looked up at her and she went a little stiff. She knew what I was going to ask her.

"Yeah? What about it?" I could hear the shift in Amorelli's tone and I sighed again. I put my hands on my face and sighed. Amorelli was not going to make this easy. I grabbed her hands and looked her in the eyes.

"Amorelli, I can't lose you. I can't lose our children either. I really do not want you running in there ablaze trying to kill everything in your path. We had to stop training for a reason because the children have grown so much. If I lose you and our children, I will lose myself and eventually die. Please, I do not want you fighting. The only thing you can use is your powers, and you wouldn't be able to do anything until the barrier is shut down. Please, for the safety of you and our children, please do not fight." I felt a lump form in the back of my throat and I felt tears well in my eyes. It's true, I'm terrified that I will lose Amorelli and our children. And they aren't just mine, but Comrade's and Alistair's.

Amorelli looked sad for a moment before she spoke up.

"Mordikai, I want to fight. I know I'd be risking the lives of our children as well as mine, but I need to do this. I need to fight them. They took away so many years of my life from me, and I need to make them pay. Can we please work something out?" Amorelli sat down next to me and I stood up and walked to the window. I let out a shaky breath and sniffled.

"Please don't leave me," I was starting to take in deep breaths and I tugged at my hair. Amorelli stood and came up behind me. She rubbed my back and the thought of not having her around anymore was what broke me. I let out a broken sob and Amorelli hugged my tightly and rubbed my back.

"Mordikai, I know what you're feeling. I've lost you before and it killed me. But you need to understand that I need to do this. I need to help. I'm not saying I'm going to run in there while the barrier is down. I know that is stupid. I want to wait until after the barrier is down. I can wait with the witches and Diesel can stick with me. Zinniah could stick with me as well! Please, Mordikai I have to do this. Please understand," Amorelli pleaded with me and I turned around and placed my head in the crook of her neck. I took in deep breaths and shook slightly.

"I do not want this being the last time I smell your scent." I was still crying and Amorelli was rubbing my back.

"It won't be, Kai. You'll be stuck with me for the rest of your life." I chuckled and she wiped my face. I frowned as I put my hand on our children. I continued to feel my heartbreak. I wanted to believe that Amorelli would be okay and that no one on our side would get hurt. I sat down on my office chair and continued to hold her. I knew that when the barrier was down that she would be more than capable of helping us fight, but I couldn't help but think the worst. I can't lose her, and I can't imagine what she went through when I had died that day.

"Okay," I sniffled and Amorelli sat up a bit.

"Really?" I let out a shaky breath and nodded slightly. Amorelli smiled and kissed me softly.

"One scratch," I started to speak and she looked confused.

"If you get one single scratch on you, you're out. And you will go home and stay there. Do you understand?" I couldn't help the way my voice turned authoritative. Amorelli looked shocked but sighed. I was hoping that she wouldn't try to fight me on the matter, and thankfully all she did was nod.

"Alright," I nodded and placed my head on her heart. Amorelli played with my hair and I started to calm down after a few minutes.

I wonder how Serge's and Zinniah's talk went.

~Zinniah~

I was pissed. He didn’t want me fighting! He needs to understand that I have to do this whether he likes it or not. He knows how important this is to me, and he expects me to sit back and just watch? No, that wasn’t happening.

Currently, I was trying to find Amorelli and Mordikai and see what had happened with their conversation.

Serge was also following me and trying to make me calm down.

“Zinniah! Just listen for five seconds!” I felt rage flow through me as I turned around to look at him.

“No! You won’t even listen as to why I need to do this! So if you can’t listen to my reasoning, I refuse to listen to yours.” I turned around and found that Mordikai’s office was a few doors down. I bolted for the doors and burst through them. I heard Serge behind me and I quickly walked in and sat down on the other side of the room. Mordikai cleared his throat and wiped his face. Was he crying?

“What’s going on?” Amorelli spoke up and I groaned.

“He doesn’t want me to fight!” Amorelli and Mordikai groaned.

“Look, we came to an agreement, would you guys like to hear it and see if you agree?” Serge looked worried but sighed. He sat down and put his head in his hands.

“Amorelli and I decided that she would wait until the barrier was down to start her attack. Since we had to stop the physical training because of the children, we decided she would be strictly dedicated to her powers and she will be training with her mother. She will be waiting behind with Diesel and other guards and just wait until the barrier is turned off. How long this will take, we don’t know. As much as I don’t want her fighting, I know she has to. She can’t just stand behind and be perceived as a coward. As much as I’m afraid of losing her and our children, I know she needs to do this.”

Serge looked at Mordikai like he had two heads.

“Are you fucking insane?” I grew angry and scoffed. Their plan seemed pretty good.

“Well, I like that plan. I haven’t been training, but I have a good handle of my powers. But I could start training with some of the elders.” I spoke up and Serge hissed. I gave him the look that said ‘you did not just hiss at me’. Serge walked to the window and was taking in heavy breaths.

“Zinniah, I have been alive for one-hundred and twenty-three years. I never thought I’d find my mate. And right when I do, I almost die. I almost died twice in the same day. And I can’t imagine your pain from that, but imagine mine from your death. I will still live forever and I can tell you right now, I will not be getting another mate. I will be alone again, but this time for eternity until I am killed by something. And vampires are not the same as werewolves. Werewolves have the wonderful ability to die when they lose their mate. Me? I will keep living and I will die on the inside. I was dying on the inside before you came into my life, and lately, I’ve been happy. I haven’t been this happy since I was a little boy before my brother died and before my sister went missing, and she’s most likely dead unless something mysteriously kept her alive for over a hundred years. And if you die during this battle, I might as well kill myself because life without you is not worth living.” Serge looked like he was on the verge of tears, and it made tears of my own well up in my eyes.

“Serge, I understand. However, you need to understand that I need to do this. I can’t stay back and not help the people I grew up with. They are my family, no matter how horribly they treated me sometimes. Amorelli was like their mother, and she was my sister. I can assure you that nothing will happen to me. Please, I need to do this and help save my family. If you had the opportunity to save your family, wouldn’t you?” Serge tensed and roared in rage.

“Yes! I would go back and save them if they were alive! But they’re dead, Zinniah! Everyone I knew and loved was dead by the time I got back. My mother, father, brother, even my fucking dog! And then when I had found out my sister was missing it made it even worse because I had no idea who the fuck took her! The bad part was that they couldn’t even find my father’s body! They just saw his blood on the ground next to my mother’s! If I had gotten there just five minutes sooner, then yes! I would have tried to save them. But it was no use, Zinniah. They were long gone by the time I had arrived. The worst part? The cops blamed me! They thought I killed my fucking family! With the help of Daniel telling them that I had been with him the whole day, I would have been locked away for the rest of my life. They didn’t care if I was sobbing and begging to hold my mother’s dead body. They didn’t give a fuck. You need to understand Zinniah, that I have already lost so much in life. My family, friends that I had to watch die because I was going to live forever, and hiding away for half a century because at that point I was being hunted by vampire hunters. I’ve lost too much, Zinniah. I refuse to lose you too.” Serge was starting to cry and I felt horribly for him. I wanted to comfort him, but when I stepped forward he walked away.

“Serge, I’ve lost a lot too. I was taken from my family when I was just a small child and was forced into slavery. Those are years of childhood I will never be able to get back. But I’ve accepted what has happened to me and from here on out its finally me who can decide what I do and don’t, what I clean and don’t clean, what chore I have to do and what chores I don’t. Who I have sex with and who I don’t.” Serge stiffened and he sat down in a chair and gripped his hair angrily. I walked up to him and rubbed his back. It was at this point where Serge started to sob. I felt tears well in my eyes as I felt his pain through our mate bond. He grabbed me and placed me on his lap. I ran my fingers through his hair as he sobbed into my chest. I kissed his forehead and held him tight to my body, hoping that this was helping him calm down.

After a few minutes, Serge had calmed down, but he refused to let go of me. I sighed and laid my cheek on the top of his head. I sighed as I continued to rub his back.

“I can’t lose you, Zinniah. I’ve lost too much already.”

“Then you train me, Serge. You train me like Mordikai trained Amorelli. And I’ll work on my powers as well, so that way when the barrier goes down Daniel will be waiting with me to enter the compound and kill everyone in sight. I know if it’s you to be the one who trains me, then there shouldn’t be any problems. Please, Serge. Please,” I was begging now and Serge didn’t know what to say. He seemed like he was having a battle within him and he sighed as he looked up at me.

“Only if I train you. Only if you can get a grip on your powers. Only if you wait with Amorelli, Daniel and Diesel. If I see you try and come in there before the barrier is down, or if you even have a single scratch on you, you’re done. You’re out. You will be taken back here, or better yet, my home in France and you will wait for me to return. Those are my terms and conditions, Zinniah.” I smiled and kissed him softly. Serge held me tight and sighed. I could feel his sadness through our bond and I felt a little guilty, but I knew I had to do this. I had to fight the people who made my life hell.

Mateo

“Su Majestad, are you sure about this?” Why would they doubt me? I’m the King of Spain, they should know better.

“Yes, I’m sure. Come now, we need to perform el hechizo.” My court members followed me to the area where we had set up the ritual. We had created a circle out of candles and had created the pentagram on the floor. Once we had gathered in the circle, I had one of my associates start to sacrifice the goat we had and we all had started mumbling the incantation. We were hoping this would work this time. We have tried many times before, and it never worked.

After a few moments, the room started to shake and the lights were flickering. After another minute or two of this happening, darkness had started to form in the middle of the pentagram. A body started to materialize and I was excited. It’s finally happening. He’s finally here. He’s going to answer our call.

Once the darkness had disappeared, a man stood in its place.

“Why have you summoned me? This is the fifth try, Mateo.” He crossed his arms over his chest and I got down onto one knee.

“My lord, I require your assistance in the retrieval of my daughter. We wish for your aid of you and your people of the war that is soon to happen. Will you help us?” The man let out a small sigh and thought about it for a moment.

“What’s in it for me?”

“Anything you want my lord.” The man thought for another moment and smirked.

“All right, you have a deal.” I smiled and stood and bowed once again.

“Thank you, my lord. We will not disappoint you.” He let out a dark chuckle.

“Please, call me Samael.”