"This way," William said as he grabbed hold of her arm. "Stay by my side." He hurried her toward the back of the crumpling building but they hadn't made it more than ten feet before men began to spill from the woods toward them.

"Fall back!" Xavier bellowed in a voice made thick with ash.

Hannah's hand squeezed around the stake William had given her as she tugged it out of her waistband. William released her arm as he stepped beside his sister and pulled the bow from his back. Aria and William opened fire on the vampires charging at them, but they were steadily pushed back toward the front of the building by the onslaught. Hannah searched for something to help fight with as the tavern started to crumble beside them. Her ears were ringing from the screams erupting around her as vampires and humans alike fell to the ground.

It was only a matter of time before they were overrun. The twins didn't have enough arrows to deter the mass closing in on them. William was tough but he was still human and not as fast as Aria at releasing the arrows. Aria snagged more arrows from William's quiver when hers completely emptied out. Panic began to fill Hannah as she glanced around helplessly at the crush of bodies pressing against them. There had to be something she could do to help.

A smoldering board fell at Hannah's feet as more of the tavern collapsed. Grabbing hold of the board, she rose to her full height as someone snatched hold of her arm. There was only one man that could make her skin crawl like hers now did with the connection of flesh on flesh. A vicious snarl escaped her as she swung violently upward and smashed the board across Calvin's perfect, golden boy face. The force of the blow knocked his head to the side and caused blood to explode from his mouth. A solid two by four soot stain marred his cheek as his ruby colored eyes came back to hers.

She'd only succeeded in pissing him off, but she found she didn't care as her hands clenched around the stake and she leapt at him with the determination of a lion leaping on a gazelle. Fury drove her as she swung the stake in a downward arc at his putrid heart. He fell back from her unexpected attack, because of this she was almost able to drive the stake in. Instinct caused him to rebound faster than she had expected though as he swung his arm up and knocked her hand aside.

She barely had time to react before his other hand came up and he backhanded her across the cheek with enough force to make her stagger sideways. Stars exploded in front of her eyes, pain exploded through her jaw and for a moment she feared it had been broken. A startled cry escaped her; her hand flew to her mouth as blood from her split inner cheek pooled into her mouth. His fingers clutched in her hair, he ripped her head back at the same time that he reached forward with his other hand and tore the blanket from her. Hannah threw her arms up as she instinctively recoiled from the rays of the sun that washed over her body.

It took her a few seconds to realize that her skin wasn't blistering, she wasn't burning, and agony wasn't exploding throughout her body. The sun was shining down on her, she could feel it on her skin, but there was no smoke coming from her exposed arms or face.

She met Calvin's gaze again and a new kind of horror and dread began to take hold of her as his reddened, hate filled eyes latched onto hers. Whatever he had been planning to do to her beforehand was nothing compared to what he was going to do to her now. She could see that fact clearly in the cruel smile that twisted his mouth and the malicious gleam that filled his eyes.

***

William pulled another arrow from his quiver and fired it at the group trying to overrun them. There were too many of them though as they were relentlessly pushed toward the main road and the battle being waged there. Xavier was fighting off two vampires with a staff, he was bleeding from a gash in his head but that didn't slow him down as he twisted the staff and drove it through the chest of one of the vampires.

Lucas tried to beat back the vampires coming at him but he was having a difficult time defending himself while keeping the blanket around him. Ellen was pressed against his back; he tried to keep her behind him as he moved her further into the shadows. He spotted Hannah out of the corner of his eyes as she stopped to grab a board that had fallen from the tavern.

Aria cursed and grabbed an arrow from the quiver on his back. "We're running out!"

He shrugged out of the quiver, pulled three arrows from it and shoved the rest at Aria. She had better accuracy and was faster than he was with a bow anyway. Shoving the arrows into his waistband, he grabbed a staff from a body lying on the ground. He spun it in his hands and slashed it across the face of an approaching vampire. He lifted the crossbow tied to his waist up and fired the bolt locked into it. The arrow slammed into the man's chest, pierced him through the heart and knocked him onto his ass.

Tucking the staff under his arm, he deftly locked another arrow into the crossbow. He spotted Timber and Daniel amongst the fray with Abe at their side. The frail looking vampire was surprisingly agile as he zipped in and out to avoid the vampire pursuing him. Abe kept the small human boy behind him as he maneuvered him toward the safety of a nearby house.

William turned and pulled Ellen back as one of Calvin's men grabbed for her. He was just getting her out of the way when Calvin emerged from the chaos and smoke. "Watch out!" he shouted as he lurched toward Hannah.

He was knocked back as a vampire launched at him. Wrapping his arms around William's waist the vampire pulled William down beneath him. The air rushed out of his lungs as he was thrust forcefully onto the unforgiving ground. William's heart leapt into his throat, he didn't have time to get his breath back as he pulled his stake free and twisted to the side.

"William!" Aria cried.

The vampire's teeth snapped at his throat but William managed to keep his forearm planted firmly in his chest to hold the heavy creature off of him. He could smell the fetid blood on the man's breath as he managed to drive the stake into him. The only problem was he was nowhere near the heart as it pierced into the vampire's stomach. The man's face twisted in agony but the wound didn't slow him as he lurched at William's neck again.

Gathering his strength, William managed to curl his feet up under the heavy vamp and thrust him upward as Aria lifted her bow. Knowing what his twin intended, William shoved the vamp straight into the path of the arrow she fired. The arrow pierced through the vamp's heart and exploded out the other side of his chest. William heaved the writhing body of the dying vampire the rest of the way off of him. Rolling to the side, he placed his hands underneath him and shoved himself to his feet.

He looked toward where he had last seen Hannah but she had disappeared with Calvin amongst the fray. Terror hit him as he reclaimed his lost staff and frantically searched the crowd. Nothing could happen to her, if anything did it would destroy Jack. He'd already lost his father, there was no way he was going to lose his best friend too. He couldn't leave his sister and friend's either though.

"Aria!" he shouted.

"Go William. If something happens to her Jack won't survive it. Go!" she yelled to him.

William shoved through the crowd of people and vampires trying to escape the battle as he ran down the street in pursuit of Hannah and Calvin.

***

"What is this?" Calvin inquired in a low purr that caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end.

Hannah spotted Lucas rushing at them from the corner of the building but before he could reach them Calvin ripped her up by her hair and lifted her off the ground. Pain exploded through her skull, she was certain he'd torn out half her hair as he spun her around and pressed her against his chest. Hannah clawed at his hands in a desperate attempt to free herself, but no matter how much skin she tore from the backs of his hands, he refused to relinquish his hold upon her.

"How is this possible?" he hissed in her ear as he pulled her further away from the others. She was finding words difficult as her feet kicked uselessly in an attempt to connect with some body part of his. "How is it possible for you to be in the sun?" he demanded with a rough shake of her head.

Hannah clamped her mouth shut and refused to respond, but when his hand tightened in her hair and he twisted her neck in an unnatural angle, she finally bit out words. "I don't know."

"Don't lie to me!" he spat.

"I'm not lying!" she snapped back. "I don't know."

She didn't know, she suspected it had something to do with Jack's blood, but she wasn't about to tell Calvin that. Jack had said that the vampires who shared a bloodlink were stronger when they exchanged blood, was it possible that his blood had made it so that she could walk in the sunlight for the first time in her life? What should have been an amazing concept was buried beneath the apprehension that was growing within her. None of it would make any difference if she couldn't get free of Calvin.

His lips skimmed back to reveal his lethal looking fangs. "You may not know but I'm sure we'll enjoy trying to figure it out. Did you miss me Hannah?" She tried to twist her face away from his as he placed a sickening kiss against her mouth. Her lips cracked and bled beneath the brutality of his fangs digging into her lips. She cried out as she pushed uselessly against his chest in an attempt to dislodge him. "I missed you," he told her as he pulled away. "I'm going to enjoy showing you just how much I missed you. Then, well then I'm going to make you pay for every one of your betrayals, and I'm going to enjoy that even more."

He brushed her hair back and pressed his fingers against the fading marks Jack had left on her. "Especially this betrayal. Have you seen your good friend Turner lately?"

Fury and frustration tore through her at his taunting words. "You're nothing!" she shouted at him. "There's nothing you can do to break me, nothing that will ever make you anything other than the coward you truly are!"

He laughed as he pressed his face closer to hers. "By the time I am done with you I will be your everything Hannah. I will be the only thing in your world for the years that I choose to keep you alive. You'll pay for turning to him, you'll pay for costing me everything I earned here, and I will make you suffer for your indiscretions for many, many years of your life."

She had seen that torture room, if he got away with her now, she knew that she would most likely be praying for death by the time he was done with her. Desperation drove her, she couldn't lose everything she loved so much; she couldn't lose Jack. She swung back with her arms and finally managed to drive an elbow into his ribs. He released a loud grunt as his grip briefly loosened on her.

Turning within his grasp, she was able to break free of one of his hands and twist to the right. Through the curling smoke still filling the air, and the bodies pressing around them, William emerged from the conflict. His sapphire eyes were intense as he lifted the crossbow he kept at his side and fired at Calvin.

The bolt created a small breeze in the air as it rushed past her. She felt the brush of the feathers against her ear before it slammed into Calvin's shoulder and knocked her free of his tenuous hold. "Hurry!" William shouted as he held his hand out to her.

She raced forward and was nearly to him when Kane rose up from the smoke behind William, seized hold of his shoulder, and drove his sword through William's back. The tip of the blade ripped through the flesh of his stomach and burst out the other side. Shock and pain caused his eyes to enlarge as his gaze fell to the offending instrument tearing through his muscle and bone. His hands instinctively curled around it, but there was nothing that he could do to stop the weapon destroying his body.

A loud scream escaped her as she rushed to get to him, but she knew that even if she'd already been by his side, there was nothing she could have done to save him. Kane kept hold of his shoulder as he ripped the sword free of William's hands and body. The scrape of metal against bone was a sickening sound that made her wince as she poured on the speed to get to him. Blood spilled from the corners of William's mouth as he took a staggering step forward. Hannah leapt forward in an attempt to catch him before he hit the ground, but arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her away before she could get to him.

Her fingers stretched toward William but came up with nothing as she was swung away from his crumbling body. "No," she moaned as Calvin's hand snaked back into her hair.

"Don't mourn for him dear, he got the better deal out of the two of you," Calvin whispered in her ear.

She knew that this was true but even still her heart was breaking as she looked back at the young man lying face down in the street. He had deserved so much better than this. Tears streaked down her face, a sob wracked her body as she realized how truly devastated Jack was going to be. Her heart broke as she fought to get free, to get to William, to do something to try and help. She'd only known him for a short amount of time, but in that time he had become an important part of her life.

Calvin kept her restrained as he pushed through the crowd. There was a growing puddle of blood spreading around William as he remained motionless upon the ground. She tried to detect a heartbeat from the human but if there was one she couldn't sense it amongst the crowd gathered around her. She ineffectually beat and clawed at Calvin's back as he ruthlessly shoved people and vampires out of his way.

Aria's heart wrenching cry pierced through the commotion surrounding them as Calvin grabbed the horse's reins. "William!''

***

Jack had spotted the smoke miles before they rounded over the last mountain. "Hannah," he whispered as he moved with renewed speed toward the town nestled in the valley below.

The sounds of battle drifted through the air as steadily as the smoke still wafting from the ruined remains of what he now could tell had been the tavern. Braith was a little ahead of him as fear drove them faster than he'd thought possible toward the town they'd mistakenly left behind.

As they moved closer to the town they passed many humans and vampires running toward them to escape the chaos. Jack didn't stop to talk with them, didn't stop to ask them what was going on. There was no time for that, and no matter what was going on, he wasn't going to stop until he had Hannah in his arms again. They were just arriving at the outskirts of town when Aria's broken hearted scream pierced the air.

Something within him curled up and shriveled as within that scream he heard all the sorrow and anguish he knew only one of the twins could exhibit if the other had died. A roar erupted from Jack at the realization that his friend had fallen; his fangs sprang forth as he followed Braith's relentless pursuit of Aria.

***

"William." He felt hands pressing against him as Aria rolled him onto his back. He blinked against the influx of light on his eyes and it took him a moment to get her blurred face to come into focus. Tears were streaming down her face as she dropped at his side. "Hold on William."

Her hands were frantic as they pressed against his stomach in a useless attempt to staunch the flow of blood oozing from him. It was too late though and even if she was too stubborn to admit it yet, he was well aware of the fact that his life was coming to an end. There was no stopping the blood escaping his body right now, no stopping the weakening he felt in his extremities.

"Aria," he croaked. His throat was still sore from inhaling so much smoke and with his wounds he'd lost the strength to speak strongly. It felt as if his hands had been split in half by the sword but he couldn't feel his arms enough to lift them.

"Don't you dare leave me!" she yelled at him. "You just hold on. I'll get you out of here."

She grabbed hold of his arm and draped it around her shoulder. "Aria don't."

"I can lift you up!" she cried.

A groan escaped him, his hand clenched on her shoulder. It felt as if a hundred swords were piercing his gut as she began to lift him to his feet. "I know you can," he whispered. "But please don't."

She lowered him carefully back to the ground. The sound that escaped her broke his heart more than the realization of his imminent death did. She had Braith now, a life that was so different than any they had ever dreamed of, but he knew that his death would destroy her more than their father's had. Just as her death would have done the same to him. They were a part of each other, together since conception, and even when they were apart he always felt her with him. If she had died, a piece of him would have died with her.

Their father, he wondered if he'd see him again now. Wondered if there truly was something after this life or if he was going to fade away into nothing. He hoped there was something after death, hoped he'd once again see the man that had meant so much to him. It was the only bright thing he could find in the growing darkness surrounding the end of his too short life.

It suddenly didn't feel as if he had enough air in his lungs, he tried to inhale but there was a crushing pressure growing in his chest that made it almost impossible to breathe. Unconcerned about his blood, Aria pressed his hand to her face as she leaned over him. Tears dripped onto his cheeks as her fingers curled into his.

"I can get you help," she choked between the sobs shaking her.

"It won't do..." a racking wave of coughing broke his words off as more blood burst from his mouth and trickled down his chin. She leaned forward and wiped it quickly away. "Any good," he finished when the coughing thankfully eased.

"I can fix this," she insisted.

He would have laughed but he couldn't find any humor right now. "Always so stubborn, you can't fix death."

The ring of red that flickered through her eyes momentarily startled him. He knew what she was now, but she'd remained so similar after her death that there were times when he forgot she had become what he'd once considered his greatest enemy. "I can," she grated and he finally understood what she was proposing.

Dread trickled through him. He'd hated vampires his entire life and though one of his best friends was one, his twin now was, and his brother-in-law was the king of them all, he'd never once considered becoming one himself. It wasn't something he'd ever wanted, but then neither was death, not this way and not this soon. He'd been running away from his grief for over a year, hiding in a way that wouldn't have made his father proud, but he'd always known that one day he would come to terms with everything that had happened. That one day he would return to the home he had fled, and he would find his purpose there. He'd planned to do so much more with his life eventually, not to have it end before his nineteenth birthday.

"There's no guarantee you'll survive," Aria gushed out. "But if you'll let me, I can give you a chance. There..." her voice broke and she pressed his hand more firmly against her cheek. "There isn't one now."

He hated the tears that continued to spill from her eyes as she pleaded with him to let her do this. She was offering him a chance, but was it a chance he was willing to take?

His eyes rolled to the side as Daniel burst free of the smoke and chaos surrounding them. Daniel skidded to a halt behind Aria, his mouth dropped open, his eyes brimmed with tears as he met William's gaze. "No," he groaned as he fell to his knees beside Aria and resumed the useless attempt to staunch the blood flow.

He was losing sensation in his arms and legs, there wasn't much time left now. His gaze went to the sky, but he couldn't see the blue through all the black smoke filling the air around them. He could feel the sluggish pulse of his blood as it oozed from him; feel the stuttering beat of his heart as it struggled to pump what little remained of his blood through his extremities. He was dying and he couldn't even get a glimpse of the sky he had spent most of his life sleeping beneath.

His fingers twitched at the thought. He wasn't ready to die, not yet, and though the alternative was almost as unappealing as death, it was one that he could actually live with. Or at least he would be a different kind of alive after. "Do it."

His voice was so weak that even he barely heard it but Aria bit deeply into her wrist and tilted his head back to press it against his mouth. His body recoiled from the coppery tang of her blood, but as it flowed into the back of his throat, he found himself instinctively swallowing it.

Aria bent close to his ear as his heart slowed to an alarming rate. "Try proving that you are just as strong as me for a change and make it through this," she whispered.

He didn't have it in him to get angry, not as his heart gave its last lumbering beats, but if he made it through this he was going to throttle her.