After a little while, I got off from the dusty floor and stepped into the small hallway. Martha was leaning against the bannister, staring at the floor with misty eyes. Quietly she muttered, "They said it was an accident. She eaten some poisonous berries while playing out in the parkland. Her healing factor hadn't fully matured yet, so she had no chance. By the time they'd found her, it was too late. Thelma didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. The police just arrived out the blue and told us, she was gone."

"I'm so sorry," I replied.

She wiped her eyes with the edge of her sleeve and said, "It's not your fault. There is nothing to be sorry for. It happened years ago. They say time is supposed to be a great healer, but it ain't. I miss that little girl everyday... and I miss my sister. Violet wasn't the only one who died that day - Thelma did too. A mother's love for their child is the strongest thing on this planet - it never dies or lessens with time. My poor Thelma, she used to be a fantastic scholar up at the university, but after Violet she now struggles to even recall her own name."

I'd never had children and so I couldn't begin to imagine the heart wrenching grief of loosing a child. My own pregnancy was so new it didn't feel real. I'd never thought of the little bundle of cells growing inside of me as a baby. To me it was just a novelty, and something I'd yet to fully comprehend. I'd never taken the time to think about the future and what it would mean to become a mother. In the last few days since waking up, my sole focus had purely been to survive each day. There was little time to indulge in fantasies of motherhood.

However, as I stood here, having just stepped out from this child's room, it hit me like a freight train - I was going to be a mother, I was going to have a baby, and this baby was going to need my protection. My hand drifted over my stomach and I shivered. I was so scared, but I knew I had to do what needed to be done in order to protect my child and stop Henrietta.

I walked down stairs and back into the sitting room where Thelma was. Walking into the room, I finally understood why she looked so gaunt and old for a vampire. She had to endure what no parent should, and after so many years of unresolved grief, misery and injustice, she'd been driven to madness.

I went to her chair, and leaned down next her. "Thelma," I began, taking her hand in mine. "I vow to you that I will avenge you and your daughter. I promise you, that I will not stop until Henrietta is made to pay for her crimes."

Tears glistened on Thelma's eyes lashes and she said, "Thank you - thank you so much."

It was a promise from one mother to another. I squeezed her hand tight then let go. Standing up I looked over to Jacques and said, "We need to go."

He replied with a simple curt nod. His normally cheerful expression had dissolved into a blank melancholy. He looked sadly over to Thelma and then back to me and said, "I will do everything I can to help you bring down Henrietta. That kind of evil should never go unpunished."

"Thanks," I said softly.

We both silently acknowledge the challenge ahead of us and began to make our way to the door. From behind us I heard Thelma call out after me. "Wait, there is something else," she cried. "The dead, you must be careful of the dead."

A chill rippled down my spine - her words oddly mirrored those of the Queen's, written down in the journal. I turned back to face her and asked, "What do you mean by that? The Queen said the exact same thing."

Thelma's eyes wandered to the corner of the room. "I don't know how, but she controls them. She's one of the old ones - one of the few that survived...Violet, where have you been? I've been looking for you."

"Thelma," I called to her again. "How is she an old one?"

She looked over to me, struggling to remember what she'd just said. "To understand, my dear, we'll need to go back to the beginning of Port Cressida. You see-"

Casper suddenly appeared at my side and grabbed my arm. "We need to go, the guards are here!"

"What?!" I gasped.

"Come on," he said pulling me into the hall.

I threw a look over my shoulder and saw Thelma once again staring at the corner of the room, chatting to her daughter's imaginary figment. I longed to go back there and ask more questions but the front door rattled loudly as guards began hammering on it. "Open up in the name of the Queen!"

Martha, pale and wide eyed appeared in front of us and pointed down the corridor towards the back of the house. "They're going from door to door. I don't think they realise you're here. You can leave through the back door and over the garden fence. There's nothing over the fence - only what's left of the old dock yard."

"Thank you," Casper said, dragging me towards the back door with Jacques following behind.

The banging got louder and louder, and Martha called out, "Alright, alright, hold your horses, I'm coming."

We slipped out the back door into an overgrown and neglected garden. The darkness swallowed us up as we disappeared into the long grass. I turned, glancing over shoulder back into the house. Through the small back door window, I saw Martha opening the front door and the guards barging in. They roughly pushed her aside and as they did so, a familiar figure appeared in middle of them.

I stopped and whispered, "Henrietta."

Both Casper and Jacques stopped at the mention of her name and spun round to look through the window too.

She stepped into the small hallway wearing black figure hugging dress and black lace gloves. Guards flanked her on either side, as she ventured further into the house. Her lips began to move, but we couldn't hear what she was saying. She seemed to be talking to the guards who were standing around her. She inclined her head towards Martha, and then pointed to the small sitting room where Thelma was sat.

"What's she doing," I whispered.

Jacques lowered his voice and replied, "I don't know, what the hell she's doing."

A guard suddenly broke away from the group and went into the sitting room. Martha, who was still pinned against the wall by another guard, began to wildly struggle against his hold. She then started to scream, "No, stop! Please-"

Two loud gunshots followed.

I lunged forward, but Casper pulled me back.

The guard walked out the sitting room and went straight up to Martha. He then raised a handgun up from his side and placed it against her forehead. Casper leaned forward and whispered in my ear, "Mia, look away, there is nothing we can do for them."

"No, we have do something," I protested fighting against him.

But he was right, it was alł in vain. Looking at Martha from the safety of the shadows, I watched the guard glance at Henrietta, who gave him a nod. And he, without even turning his head back to face Martha, pulled the trigger of the gun and shot her point blank in the face.

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Hi angels,

Hope you've enjoyed the new update. Updates are going to be released once a week on a Friday, so I can focus on other exciting projects which will hopefully enable me to write more in the future. Please remember to vote, comment and follow!!

There is a new dream cast this week!

This week's dream cast is by Katyayini!

Remember if you want to submit a dream cast then all you need to do is send me a PM on either wattpad or facebook with your cast suggestions for all these character: Luc, Mia, Jacques, Nico, Jacques, Henrietta, Louis and Casper!

If you want to add any other characters like Laura or Celia, then please do!

Note: I am behind on messaging people back because I've been ill but I'm catching up so if you've submitted a dream cast and not heard back from me, please don't worry!!! Xxx

Remember with your cast suggestions I will make a beautiful Pinterest board which I'll share on social media and the image sections of the chapters!

Plus each week, I'll be posting your cast suggestions onto the official story's cast!

So here is this week's official dream cast!

Luc – Robert Sheehan

Mia – Shay Mitchell

Nico – Coulton Haynes

Jacques – Matt Boomer

Henrietta – Alex Daddario

Louis - Robert Pattison