I was sitting in the middle of a circle of candles again. It seemed all too familiar, except that this time I was there because I wanted to be. Gessilyn was speaking in a foreign language. She had explained to me that she would need to use it to lift the curse before giving me the sun blessing.

Clara sat on the outside of the circle across from Gessilyn, who still looked like a yoga instructor. I had to close my eyes in order to concentrate because it all seemed too strange to me. I listened to the relaxing instrumental music that she had playing in the background.

I wasn't sure what to expect, as this was so different from the other circle that I had sat in. I felt like I was drifting off to sleep, but I was aware of everything going on around me.

"We're finished," Gessilyn announced, and I opened my eyes. I didn't feel or look any different, but I hoped that I would be able to handle the sun now.

Clara walked over to the curtains and said, "It's about 7:30 so there should be sunlight now. Shall I open the curtains?" She reached for the curtain, and I moved behind a door across the room hiding before she could even touch it.

"Wow, you must have had some experience with the sunlight." Clara raised an eyebrow.

I looked around the door and scowled at her. "You think?"

She grabbed the curtain, and I pulled my head behind the door again for cover. I wasn't taking any chances.

"You don't have much faith in me, do you?" Gessilyn asked with mock offense. She smiled at me. "Come on out. I assure you that you'll be fine."

I hid behind the door like a scared little mouse.

Clara sighed loudly. "What was the point of coming all the way over here to get you your blessing back if you won't even use it? Come out here, you baby."

"You can call me what you want. I'm not budging."

They both came to me, grabbed my arms, and pulled me out into the light that was streaming through the window. I closed my eyes and struggled against them, but noticed no daggers or heat on my skin. I stopped struggling and opened one eye.

I was directly in the sun, and it wasn't bothering me in the slightest. I opened the other eye and smiled. "Yes."

They both let go of me, and I walked over to the window and looked, surprised. It really hadn't been all that long since I had lost the blessing, but it had felt like a lifetime.

"Thanks, Gessilyn," Clara said. "What do we owe you?"

"It's an honor to be able to help the princess," she said. "It's my gift."

"Are you sure that you don't want anything?" she asked.

"Someday I may need something," she said, smiling.

"Well, I definitely owe you," I said, not taking my eyes off the sunny outside view.

"Let's get going, Alexis. We have a lot to do."

"Has the time has come to fight the Morettis?" I asked.

"Yes, and we need to find Cliff. He was really determined to find my sister and destroy her. I hope she isn't with the Morettis, because with Cliff's state of mind he would march in there by himself."

We walked toward the door, and Gessilyn snuck the now-blessed jewelry in my hand with a wink. Clara didn't see the exchange at all.

"Thanks for everything."

"Yes, thank you for being so readily available to help us out," Clara added.

"It's my pleasure," Gessilyn responded. "Let me know how everything goes with the Morettis."

"You know I will," Clara said with a wink as we walked through the door.

When we got outside, I asked, "What's our plan?"

She looked at me. "You're going to need to be the one who devises the plans pretty soon, you know. You're going to have to princess up."

"Am I going to get any training in the meantime?" I asked. "I missed our previous appointment. You know, getting abducted and everything."

"Don't remind me. That was horrible timing. I need to get back to the house before your parents think I've gone missing, and freak out. Then I have to find Cliff and get you some training so that we can battle with the Morettis."

"We?"

"You didn't think it was just you and Cliff, did you?" she asked.

"Nobody tells me anything around here," I reminded her. "All I know is that the prophecy says I will defeat them."

"Yes, but not by yourself. We're going to have plenty of help going in with you."

"So am I going to meet you somewhere for training?" I asked. "I obviously can't go home."

"No, you can't. Your parents won't let you out of their sight once you return, plus there will be a ton of publicity. You'll have to wait until we finish off the Morettis. Meet me in the woods where we first met, in a few hours. If I have to skip school, I will."

"So you and Natalie have been going to school, like nothing's wrong?" I asked, hurt.

"Your parents want us to feel as normal as possible. Natalie's having a horrible time. I've tried reassuring her that you would be okay, but I don't think she'll believe it until she sees you."

I felt bad. "We need to take care of the Morettis as quickly as possible. I can't stand to think of what my family is going through."

"That's right, which is why I need to get going. I'll see you in a few hours."

"I might have some other vampires with me that you can train. I'm sure they'll probably want to help."

"You've made friends with common vampires?" she asked. "Well, we can use all the help that we can get." She ran off and was out of sight in a couple of seconds.

I closed my eyes to get my bearings and started running towards the house where Tanner and the others were. It actually wasn't too far away. I had almost traveled in a circle from there to Brooke's house and then to Gessilyn's apartment.

I ran the whole way back to the house without stopping. It felt wonderful to be running in the daylight again. I hoped I would never again lose that sun blessing.

When I got to the house, I went through a wall in the back, listened for the others and didn't hear anything. They might have heard me and were being quiet in case I was someone else.

I walked up the stairs to the closet that Tanner and I had hidden in, hoping that they would still be there. I didn't want to have to track them down. I had an uneasy feeling. Something was wrong.

They were all in the closet. Tanner looked like he was going to be sick, and Brad and Eric had tear-stained faces. That's when I noticed Kayla laying on the floor.

"What happened?" I exclaimed.

Brad sighed and said, "We went out to get some blood and ran into some of Vince's runaways. There were a lot more of them than us, and we fought them. You should have seen Tanner. He killed at least five by himself. But Kayla got injured, and she hasn't woken up. There was no silver liquid from her anywhere so we think she's still hanging on."

"It's hard to tell since we're already dead," Eric said. He hadn't moved from her side.

I had a feeling that I should be able to do something to help. I sat down next to Kayla and placed my hands on her head. I thought I should place my hands on her stomach. I could feel some kind of sharp vibration. "I think this is where the injury is," I said, closing my eyes and imagined a vibration of healing, radiating from my hands to her injuries.

Just when I was beginning to wonder if I was helping at all, Kayla sat up. She looked around and asked, "What's going on?"

Eric pulled her into an embrace. He said, "You were injured when those vampires attacked us. Alexis just healed you. I wouldn't have believed it, except that I saw it with my own eyes."

She looked at me. "I don't know how you did that, but thank you."

"I don't know how I did it, either. I just did it."

"Did you have the jewelry blessed?" she asked.

"Yes." I gave everyone their pieces.

"Let's go try these out," Brad said. "It's been a couple of years since I've been able to even look in the direction of the sun."

"I can't even imagine," I said. "The short time that I couldn't go into the sun was torture."

They all ran downstairs where the light was brightest.

Kayla began dancing around. "Look at this glorious sun. Look at us in this glorious sun."

"Where should we go first?" Eric asked.

I looked at Tanner. "I have a battle that I need to prepare for. It's against the Morettis. I think that their leader might be the same Vince that you keep hearing about. I could be wrong, but it's too strange to be a coincidence. The Morettis are trying to take the throne, and it only makes sense that they would be creating vampires for just that."

"A battle?" Kayla asked.

"That sounds right up my alley," said Brad. "I'm in."

"What throne?" Eric asked.

"There is a queen and king vampire who rule the entire vampire world," I said. "The Morettis are jealous and power hungry. They want to take down the king and queen and rule the throne themselves. They are cruel, but the current king and queen rule with kindness and justice."

"I'd be more than glad to use my new vampire strength on them," Tanner said.

"There's more," I told Tanner. "Samantha is still alive."

He gave me a look of total shock.

"As it turns out, she is a descendant in a line that was removed from the throne, and she's working with the Morettis. Because she's still a royal vampire, even though she's not on the throne, she can only be killed with a stake made of one of the rarest types of wood on the planet."

"I'm going to…."

I looked away. "Cliff is already on it."

"What? Cliff is back? When did this happen?" He looked very disappointed.

"Sometime while we were away," I said. "As soon as he heard what she did with your ring, he took off again, this time to kill her."

Eric looked at Kayla and said, "I feel like I should help out with this. When I'm done, we can meet up again. I will only go if you're okay with it. Especially after what you've been through."

She looked disappointed and sighed. "It's okay Eric. You know where I'll be."

He nodded.

"Since we're going to be in training soon, we might want to get something to eat to give us strength," I said.

"Food or blood?" Tanner asked.

"It would probably be best if we have both," I said. "Also, even though we can go out into the sun, we should still be careful because everyone is looking for us."

"Why?" Brad asked. "What did you do? Wipe out a whole neighborhood or something?"

I laughed. "No, nothing like that. We were abducted by the vampires that Tanner killed, and now our families and our pictures are all over the news. After we finish fighting the Morettis, we can go back home, but not before."

"Your human families?" Kayla asked. "How recently were you turned?"

Tanner laughed nervously. "I was turned a couple of days ago."

"Dude, you're going to keep getting stronger for a few weeks. Take full advantage of it while you can!" Brad exclaimed.

"I plan to," Tanner said.

"I'm going to get going," Kayla said, looking at Eric. "I am looking forward to getting out into the sun."

Eric gave her a hug and said, "I will come back to find you."

"Hey guys, let's go to the kitchen and see if there's any food," I said, trying to give Eric and Kayla their space as they had done for Tanner and me. "Bye, Kayla."

"Bye, and thanks for everything. You don't know how much this means."

"I do, actually," I said. "But you're welcome."

Tanner, Brad and I went into the kitchen and found it pretty bare.

"Where are we going to find food?" Brad asked.

"Where do you guys usually find your food?" Tanner asked.

"We eat what we can find at night, and then, of course, feed on people as they sleep."

"It might not be easy finding people asleep during the day," Tanner said. "We could feed on some animals."

I looked at him. If we can get away, we can feed on each other. I'm still part human.

He smiled at me.

Tanner, Brad, Eric and I were waiting for Clara in the exact spot that I had first met Clara. We had come across a large group of die-hard campers and had more than enough blood to fill each of us. We figured they had been up into the wee hours if they were sleeping in so late. Our gain.

Clara showed up. "You weren't kidding when you said you'd have company."

I introduced her to the three guys, and she said, "So, I finally get to meet the famous Tanner."

"Famous?" he asked.

"Sure. You're all over the news. I've also heard a lot about you before that, and you're giving Cliff a run for his money."

He grinned and stood taller. "Well, Alexis needed a good friend, and I didn't see anyone else stepping up to the plate."

"When did you become a vampire? That's an interesting twist that I wasn't aware of." She raised an eyebrow at me.

"Just a couple of days ago," I said. "Samantha left him for dead and I was trying to save him. I ended up turning him instead."

"That's convenient," she said. "It also adds some complications that I'm sure you know nothing about."

"Complications?" I asked. "What kind of complications?"

"It's complicated," she said, smirking at me. "Too complicated to get into right now. You'll have to put your curiosity on hold for now. I'll explain it all later."

"Can't you tell me something? The suspense is going to drive me crazy."

"It should, because you've really complicated things," she said. "You fit in perfectly with our side of the family, Alexis. You can take the vampire out of the family, but you can't take the family out of the vampire."

"That doesn't even make sense," I said.

She laughed. "But it does."

"So what's this training all about?" Brad asked. It was obvious that he was anxious to get on with the program.

"The Morettis are a very strong and powerful group of vampires. We need to make sure that everyone fighting them is prepared. The rest of us have had plenty of training, but you four have not been raised as vampires, so you have much to learn. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of time."

"It's a good thing that I'm at my strongest," Tanner said proudly.

"Have you all watched nothing other sparkly vampire movies?" Clara asked. "We don't sparkle and newly transformed vampires aren't the strongest. There is an initial surge of power for a few weeks, but it dies down. As vampires get older, we get stronger. Even with your power surge, you are no match for me, and I'm only a couple hundred years old. None of us are a match for the king and queen. We have to think fast to be able to beat an old vampire."

"Oh," Tanner said.

"So what's the plan?" I asked.

"I'm going to hunt two of you at a time, and you need to show me what you've got. I'll help you with your weaknesses when I see what they are. The two that I'm not helping will hunt each other."

"Okay," I said. "Who are you going to start with?"

"Whomever I find first. I will probably spend the most time with you though, because you play the key card here as the one who is supposed to win the battle."

"What?" Eric and Brad asked at the same time.

"There's a prophecy about this battle that Alexis is the one who is going to be the one to finish it off."

"Yes. It's a sure win." Tanner smiled.

"That doesn't mean that it's going to be easy, and we still need to be prepared," I said. Even though we took out Adam's group, I was not confident that I was ready to face the Morettis. "Let's get started."

"Why does she play the key card? Why is there a prophecy about her winning?" Brad asked.

Clara rolled her eyes at me. "You complain about people not telling you anything. She's the princess of all vampires, and after she changes, she will be the most powerful vampire around."

Brad and Eric stared at each other.

"At least we're on the right side," Eric said.

"I can't believe it," said Brad.

"Be amazed later," Clara said. "We have limited time to train. You two go off in one direction, Tanner and Alexis in another. I'll be hunting for you, and you need to keep your senses alert to be aware of me and fight me off. When I say stop, stop. Now go."

Tanner and I ran off one way while Brad and Eric ran off in the other direction. Clara stayed where she was. I wondered how long she would wait before going after us. We zigged and zagged, trying to take the most unusual route possible. We wanted to make sure that she was on top of her game too.

Finally, we decided to stay in one spot, and we waited a long time.

"Why do you think she's taking so long?" Tanner asked.

"I don't know. It's pretty weird," I said. "Do you think something happened?"

"Maybe we kept our trail well covered by taking such crazy paths."

"I hope that's it," I said, but I had an uneasy feeling.

We sat in silence for a while and then I heard something. I sat up slightly, trying to tell if it was Clara or an animal. I still had a very unsettling feeling that something was wrong. The pit of my stomach felt twisted.

The hairs on my neck and arm stood up. "It's a predator," I told Tanner. "Let's hope it's Clara."

I looked around and used my other senses to figure out where she was. If it was her, that is.

"It's coming from the northeast," I said.

"That's what I'm sensing too," he agreed.

"Let's go tackle her," I hissed, and jumped out of our hiding spot. He was just a step behind me, and we took our predator to the ground.

"Okay guys, you win," Clara said.

I folded my arms. "Not much of a training session. I was expecting some tips and critiques."

"You certainly know how to hide your trail," she snapped.

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" I asked, confused at her irritation.

"I've been looking for you because I have to tell you something."

My heart sunk. "I knew that something was wrong. I had a really bad feeling about it. What's wrong?"

"Cliff has been captured by the Morettis."

My face went white, and the whole world shrunk away from my vision. "How do you know?" I asked, as if in a dream.

"Samantha called me to brag," she muttered.

"Did she happen to tell you where they have him?" I asked.

She snickered. "Yeah, because she's such a kind soul."

"So what's the plan?" I asked.

"We're going to meet at Brooke's and we're all going to devise a plan together. It's going to be a group effort this time, princess."

"What about Brad and Eric? Did you find them already?"

"They were actually harder to find than I thought they would be. They'll be pretty useful for our battle. I was surprised at their skill for common vampires. They're waiting in my car for us."

"Are we all going to drive to Brooke's?" I asked.

"Not you two," she said. "You guys are missing, remember? You'll have to run there and stay out of human sight. Meet us there. You'll probably get there first, in fact."

"Okay, we'll see you there."

She ran off at top speed, and I turned to Tanner. He looked dejected, and that's when I realized how he must have felt when he saw me react to the news of Cliff being taken. I felt bad, but didn't have time to waste.

"Are you ready for a run?" I asked, him pretending not to notice his hurt expression. "Want to race?"

He just looked at me with another hurt expression and said flatly, "Let's go. You start."

My heart was pulling at me because I couldn't just ignore his hurt. I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him close to me. "Do you want to drink each other's blood?"

He tried to fight a smile, but lost. "Okay. Me first." He leaned in and bit into my neck. I let my head fall back as I enjoyed the experience. It was still amazing, even without the ring working its magic.

When he stopped, I said, "My turn." I leaned in and drank of his blood.

"I'm ready for a battle. Are you?" I asked.

"Most definitely. I'm glad to be at this level of my strength."

"Keep that in mind, as the Morettis will be after me. It's such a horrible feeling to know that powerful vampires that I've never even met want me dead so badly," I said and frowned.

He got a look of sadness and defensiveness at the same time. "Don't worry, I will protect you."

"Sounds good. Let's get going so we can get this over with. I keep hearing about the Morettis and the prophecy. I can't wait to get it all behind me."

"Ladies first," he said and put his arm out.

I started running, and he appeared right behind me. I ran as fast as I could to Brooke's house. I didn't want Clara to beat us, and I knew that she might since Tanner and I stopped to drink each other's blood.

When we arrived at Brooke's house, Clara's car was already there. "I hope she doesn't grillme about why we took so long. Should we knock?" I asked with a smile. I would have loved to just go in since it was their antics that ended up teaching me how to do that in the first place. I knew it was immature to want to rub it in, but a part of me still loved the idea.

"I'd feel more comfortable knocking," he said.

"Knock we will," I replied, and gave the door a good knock.

Brooke opened the door and waved us in. Clara, Brad, and Eric were sitting on the couch, and Brooke stood next to her brother and parents. The atmosphere was very heavy.

"Has a plan been started?" I asked.

Charles spoke up. "We have vampires at the castle on it now. They are searching for the location and Cliff's parents are on their way here. Your parents have been notified and will likely join us too. They keep their location secret, so we don't know what they're in the middle of right now."

I stood tall. "I'll do whatever I need to do."

"Of course you will," Brooke said. She glared at Tanner. "What's he doing here? Didn't he cause all of the trouble you've been in? He threw your blood thirst into overdrive and caused you to kiss him, which is what sent Cliff away."

"Actually, Samantha caused most of that with her selfishness. She wanted to be on the throne, and she used him, giving him a ring that—"

"Enough," said Charles, interrupting me. "What matters is that we have as many vampires on our side as possible. Tanner is a new vampire, so he's got a lot of strength for the battle."

Brooke's eyes widened. "You mean he's a vampire? How did that happen?"

"Never mind," her father said. "We don't have time for that now."

"How many vampires will be joining us?" Clara asked.

"As many as we can get," Rachel said. "There are vampires on their way here from all parts of the world."

"Are they all meeting here?" Clara asked.

"The ones who arrive first will come here," Charles said. "Once we know where we are going, we will send word and they will head straight for the battle location."

My heart sped up at the thought of so many vampires coming to join us for the battle. I hoped that I was ready for this. I was not even a full vampire yet and I had a lot of pressure on me.

"What are we going to do while we wait?" I asked.

"You are going to go to a quiet room upstairs and focus on Cliff to see if you can pick up any clues. You have the closest connection to him."

I didn't feel like I had the closest connection to him. I had missed all of those years while I was away from the castle. Then there was Tanner. I sighed. If they depended on my closeness with him, we were in trouble.

"The rest of us will stay down here and discuss our options and plans."

"Why don't you go to the guest room," Rachel suggested. "That's where Cliff was staying while he was here. That might help."

My eyes lit up as I remembered using his watch to find him before. Maybe I could do that again if he had left anything in the room.

I walked silently up the stairs. I heard the doorbell ring, and there were several voices that I didn't recognize. More vampires coming to help.

I opened the door to the guest room. I hoped it would help and that I could find him again. I closed the door behind me and looked around the room. I could tell by all of the flowery stuff that it was a guest room.

I focused on the few personal belongings that he had left behind. There were some clothes in the closet and a coat resting on a chair. Some books were on the nightstand, but I didn't know if those were his or not.

I picked up the jacket and brought it up to my face. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. I could smell a faint scent that reminded me of Cliff. I pictured his face in my mind and focused on that.

The doorbell rang again, disrupting my concentration. I wondered how many vampires would be fighting with us. My pulse quickened in anticipation. This was going to be much bigger than I had imagined.

I had to continue to focus on Cliff. I slipped the coat on and walked to the dresser where there were a few notebooks. I picked one up and flipped through the pages. There were pencil sketches of me. I skimmed through all of them and all contained sketches of me from infancy, all the way to the time before Cliff had left. I stared at the baby sketches, because I had never seen a picture of myself as a baby.

As they progressed, they looked less like me. It was probably hard to guess what I looked like after last having seen me as a three year old. My heart ached as I thought of what I had done to him, how much I must have hurt him. He had fallen in love with me when I was a baby, and he had stayed in love with me all of the years that I was gone.

We had barely spent any time together since we were old enough for our love to be a romantic one. When we were kids together, it was an adoring love but not mature. I had never had a boyfriend until the time that he came back for me. I had waited for him even though I hadn't known it.

Then, when he showed up, I fell in love with another guy. I shouldn't have allowed that to happen, even if it was all a ploy by an experienced, older vampire who wanted me dead.

Anger burned within me. I would go after Samantha personally. If we didn't have the right kind of stake to kill her, I would make sure that she spent many years paying for what she did.

I lay down on the bed to focus on Cliff and try to get a sense of where he might be. As I did, his scent came up and surrounded me like a cloud. I breathed it in and closed my eyes. I noticed something under my foot. I got up and lifted the blankets at the edge of the bed.

There was a little box underneath the covers, and I opened it. It held a small necklace, and as I contemplated its importance, my mind flashed back to one of my dreams about Cliff in the castle when we were kids. He was carrying me after I'd fallen into the flowers, and I saw him wearing the same necklace then. It would be too small for him now.

The necklace must have been important. Why e