After we packed all of the necessary items from my house, I locked up and we made our way to my car. I sat in the driver's seat and Alexander sat next to me, the twins sitting in the backseat. We rode in silence, the only sound being the soft classical music playing on the radio and the road against my car's tires.

"We got attacked by a vampire before we left, I disposed of his dead body in Akielia's rose bush." Alexander casually spoke.

My roses don't deserve that.

"Seriously? Was there anyone else with him?" Silas asked, peeking his head between the two front seats. "Are you okay, baby?" He asked me.

"Yeah I'm fine, there was just that one."

"Point is, they know that we're close and there's more than a hundred of them probably scattered around the area," Alexander mumbled, leaning his head back against the seat. "We need to head back home sooner than planned."

"Good, that will make Akielia queen even quicker. Then everything will be the way it should be." Silas said with a nod of approval. I adjusted my mirror, making it face Sei. He was staring outside the window, not listening to anything being said.

I sighed softly, thinking about everything that will happen after this whole ordeal is over. My plan is... Or rather Silas' plan is that I will be crowned queen and he and Sei are my kings if it's even possible to have two kings at once. If not then it should be Silas because he's probably the oldest.

What about Alexander?

What will he do if he isn't crowned? It's all he's ever dreamed of. To make that place a safe and united island. He wants what is best for his people and he has not once failed to show everyone that.

"Silas, why do you want to be king?" I asked. Alexander lifted his head to look at me and then at Silas.

Silas cleared his throat before he spoke, "the power that comes with it, of course. It's important to me that a hybrid gets it, that way we can also be heard."

"Heard?"

"Hybrids aren't the most favored. We aren't purebloods so that is portrayed as a pretty bad thing." He explained. Alexander scoffed next to me, making me give him a brief glance.

"Portrayed as bad? You're exaggerating. No one cares that you're hybrids. In fact, creatures envy that you have two abilities." The vampire stated. "That's a ridiculous excuse to want to rule a whole nation."

I pursed my lips, taking all of this information in. "Sei, why do you want to be king?" I asked.

He looked at me with a face of disinterest. "Silas wants me to be." He simply said before looking back outside the window. There was silence for a while before Silas spoke.

"He wants the same thing as me, to give hybrids a chance to be heard."

I nodded, focusing on the road. Sei clearly didn't want anything to do with being king. It all seemed like it was Silas' dream and he was being pressured to take part in it. I looked at Alexander to find that he was already looking at me. He was thinking of the same thing.

I felt a cold hand lay heavily on my shoulder. "When this is all over and you rule by my side, you'll see exactly the miracles we'll perform. The whole world will bow before our kingdom." Silas said softly, rubbing my shoulder.

My heart picked up speed, not in the way that it usually did. It was like fear this time, the way his calm voice eerily sounded in my ear, his cold hand giving me a discomforting massage. It was strange, everything about this seemed strange to me.

"What do you mean the whole world, Silas?" Alexander asked softly, looking away from us.

Silas looked at him, "I mean just that, dear brother."

I didn't realize that I had held my breath until I pulled over at my parents' house and stepped out of the car. I shut the door and leaned against it, taking deep breaths and trying to calm myself down. I had no idea what just happened in there but I was certain that I didn't recognize Silas for a moment.

I didn't recognize my Silas.

Did I even know him at all?

"Akielia? Are you okay?" Alexander asked, circling the car. He placed his hands on my shoulders and rubbed them slowly. I leaned into him, pressing my body against his. "I'm fine, just worried about seeing my parents."

"I know it's about Silas." He whispered, kissing my forehead. "I see it too, there's something wrong."

The door opened and the twins stepped out of the car. Sei kept his gaze low, shoving his hands in his pockets. Something was wrong, I could feel it. Something was happening with the twins.

"Are you ready?" Silas asked me, nodding towards the house. I looked at it, a lump forming in my throat. I haven't been here in over five years. The house still looked brand new. They must have gotten a new paint job done on it.

I nodded at Silas and walked to the door, the three men following behind me. I lifted my hand to knock, taking a deep breath.

"It's okay, we're right here with you. They can't do anything." Alexander said behind me.

I nodded and knocked, biting my lower lip as I waited for an answer. I could hear shuffling inside the house for a moment and I nearly jumped back when the door flew open. I froze, staring into the doe brown eyes of my mother. The small smile she had on her face vanished and her eyes widened.

"Aki?" She asked softly. Her face had gotten more wrinkles and her large brown curls had been straightened and strands of it had turned grey.

"Hey mom," I greeted, biting my lip to stop it from wobbling. She stared at me for a little longer before calling my father out.

"She's back, Fez! She's back home." Mom said, her eyes watering. She surprised me by pulling me in for a hug. I gasped when I felt the air being knocked out of my lungs at the force of her grip. She may have been aging, but she was still as strong as I left her.

My father appeared in the doorway, a grin plastered on his face. "I told you she'd come home." He said happily. His voice had gotten coarser and his whole head had turned grey but he didn't have any wrinkles on his face as mother did. My father was still as buff as ever too, showing no signs of old age beside his hair.

My mother pulled away from me, tears running down her cheeks. "You must join us for supper, darling. It's been too long." Silas cleared his throat behind us, making my parents finally realize that I wasn't alone.

"Oh, who do you have here?" My mother asked me.

"We're her—" Silas was just about to speak before I jumped in.

"Work friends! And this over here is my... Husband!" I said, pointing to Alexander. The twins stared at each other and I gave them a look that begged them to go along with it.

"Oh my goodness! You've gotten married! Oh, my baby is so grown up! Please, come in Mr..."

"Greystone, Alexander Greystone," Alexander said, stepping closer and lifting his hand to shake the hands of my parents. He wrapped his arm around my waist and kissed my forehead. "I'm sorry that we dropped in unannounced. I was sad that you missed our wedding and I wanted to meet the couple that blessed me with this amazing woman."

My mother swooned over Alexander and invited us in. We followed them to the dining room. I looked around, the modern interior of the house was completely different from when I last saw it. The house had been completely renovated.

"Take a seat here and dinner will be ready shortly." Mother said with a grin. I'd never seen her smile at me before. It was a foreign sight and I had no idea how to feel about it. They were finally treating me like their daughter... But I couldn't understand why.

Did they feel bad for what they did?

My thoughts switched off when another voice spoke behind me, making bile rise my throat.

"Mommy? Who are these people?"

I looked behind me, seeing a girl no older than five standing there with a stuffed whale in her arms. She looked just like my mother, only having my father's blue eyes.

They... Do they have a daughter?