“Right this way,” Kara said as she escorted them back across the square to the temple. As Ellie and Jack walked they took the chance to look around the village to survey what had changed in their absence. Jack had been confined to the hospital since the Order’s failed attack on the village, and Ellie had spent every waking minute at his side, so neither of them had seen the square since.

“Looks like people have been busy,” Jack said as they passed the newly repaired wall. The Order had blown a big hole in the side of the defensive structure. All signs of damage had been erased quickly and the wall looked good as new. The only tell-tale sign that something had happened here lay with a few buildings which were still damaged from the explosions.

“Rebuilding as fast as possible was our number one priority,” Kara said. “Defensive walls aren’t very effective with giant holes in the side of them, but there were other reasons to act fast too. People like to feel like they’re helping. It wouldn’t be good for morale if we left everything damaged for too long.”

While walking Jack and Ellie couldn’t help but notice the team of eight guards walking behind them, one for each of them. Kara assured them they would get used to it soon enough, but Jack thought it would always feel weird. He’d definitely demonstrated that he didn’t need anyone around to look after him and would rather the eight guards just kept on Ellie’s tail. There were few people in the square right now which was probably for the best. If the grapevine was close to truth, then the villagers’ of Skarvast held Jack and Ellie as celebrities now.

Jack glanced over at the tall wall at the town’s edge to the ice-capped mountains in the distance. That image of frozen stone came back to him again, accompanied by the image of the dual peaks this time. The prophecy. He could feel it calling in his bones. It wanted them to move on soon. The time was close.

Kara escorted them into the temple and up several flights of stairs until they were at the top floor. When there she led them through to a room in the back which was filled with cloth-covered furniture. “Sorry about the mess,” she said while throwing back dusty sheets and kicking things out of the way. “I don’t come up here very much anymore, the mirror is the only thing I really need up here, and I usually have a servant bring it down to me. Where is the darned thing? Ah! Here it is!”

They tiptoed around a wall of old boxes and found themselves standing in front of a grand mirror, which was bordered with a golden and emerald frame. The mirror itself was huge, standing the height of the room and easily wide enough to fit a dozen people in it.

“A servant brings this down to you?” Jack asked.

“It’s usually a lot smaller,” she said pedantically. “Darned thing is charmed to do whatever it wants. Changes sized all the damned time. Pah! Magic! Never bother with it, if you can!”

Jack and Ellie both shared an amused glance with each other as the old woman circled her hands through the air in front of the mirror. “Just give me a moment while I try and find the connection… I can never get this stupid thing to… ah!”

A bright and vivid image flashed across the mirror, flickering for a few seconds before staying in place completely. The reflection of themselves and the dusty attic was gone now, replaced with the image of a book-lined study instead. At the center of the room there stood a man in black, standing equal distance from them. Jack stared into the red eyes of the stranger and immediately realized it was his brother. Stunned silence hung in the air between them. The vampire in the mirror spoke first, a disbelieving smile breaking over his face as he did. “W-Wraith… I can’t believe it. It’s really you.”

“Eric?”

The vampire standing across from Jack nodded, his bright red eyes swimming with a deep sadness. “You look well brother. A damned sight better than when I last saw you.”

Jack tried to search through the darkness of his memory to try and figure when that last time was. “You’ll have to forgive me Eric Belmont, but I can’t recall when that was.”

Eric half laughed to himself, brushing a hand across the back of his head. “Of course, brother, I apologize. I forget that you are not entirely yourself these days. It was the night of the burned-out church. The night you took the girl from the White Order.” He trailed off, his eyes drifting across to Ellie. They widened slightly in realization, his pale skin seeming to grow even paler. “And this must be her? The second lost daughter?”

Ellie stepped forward beside Jack and nodded. She spoke, her voice timid and respectful. “That’s what everyone’s calling me these days, I usually just go by Ellie.”

Eric laughed again, nodding in encouragement as he looked back at Jack. “And she’s funny too. I must admit it’s quite amazing. The second daughter… a vampire hunter. I doubt we ever would have found her. Where have you been all this time Wraith? How did you survive that night at the castle?”

Jack looked around and paced across the floor in front of the mirror. “First of all, I think you should understand that my name is no longer Wraith, it’s Jack.”

“Of course,” Eric said and nodded. “Kara informed me of that. She brought me up to speed as best she could. Old habit. Apologies. Carry on. Jack.”

Jack nodded back at the vampire looking back at him. The mirror might have been charmed to act as a communication portal, but the image staring back at him almost looked like a reflection anyway. His brother’s face was extremely similar, and while their hair and clothes were slightly different, it was obvious they were related.

“We think the prophecy is leading us north,” Jack said, thinking of the image in his memory. “It wanted us to come up here for some reason. I can’t say why, all I know is that’s what I feel.”

Eric nodded, but there was a look of uncertainty on his face. “It would be good if we could reconvene at some point. Perhaps it’s best for you and Ellie to join us at Belmont castle? It’s safe here. The castle is a fortress, you know that.”

Jack considered the suggestion for a moment. The image in his mind flashed temporarily, fire and chaos replaced the frozen stone. “I’m… I’m not sure that would be so good. My intuition is telling me to follow the prophecy.”

“I understand Jack, I just thought it might be best if you were here with us. Our numbers are strong now, and we are well versed for a fight against the Red Circle and the White Order. Now that you have found Ellie, there only remains one daughter.” Eric broke out in a smile. “Can you believe that? One more and we’ve solved this thing. Do you know anything of the last daughter?”

The elder Kara stepped forward at this point and cleared her throat. “He does not, believe me I have already tried to mine him for this information, Belmont. She however might.” Kara turned and looked over at Ellie. “And it might be best if you bring your beloved in here. It’s quite possibly time that the lost daughters met each other for the first time.”

* * *

Ellie’s whole body trembled with nerves as she stared into the mirror in front of her. The door to the room re-opened and Eric entered once more with a brunette woman at his side.

“I just don’t see what’s in here that could possibly be so important,” she said as she followed Eric across the room to the mirror on their side. “It better be more important than our children, that’s—”

The brunette looked up and saw the mirror for the first time, her eyes locked onto Jack’s and then to Ellie’s. She stood there frozen in shock, staring back at her, her mouth hanging open. “Claire I’d like you to meet Ellie. The second lost daughter of the prophecy. She is your… sister. Ellie, meet Claire.”

Ellie stood there in wordless amazement, her reaction mirrored back in Claire’s exactly. Tears brimmed at her eyes, just as they did in Claire’s. “It can’t—It can’t be,” Claire gasped.

“It doesn’t feel real,” Ellie stammered back. She brushed back the tears from her eyes as Claire did so, and they both took a few moments to gather themselves, collecting their breath, trying to process the sight in front of them.

“I wish I could walk forward and hug you,” Claire said, laughing and wiping tears from the corners of her eyes.

“Same,” Ellie said, laughing back. For all the differences between them there was definitely a similarity in their faces. They had the same dainty nose, the same cheekbones, the same pointed jaw. Their hair was different, but there was no denying there was a relationship between them. “I have so many questions to ask you,” Ellie said.

“Me too!” Claire laughed back. Her eyes flicked with the burning of curiosity. “What do you remember? Do you remember me as a child? Do you remember our parents? I can’t, I can’t remember anything—”

Kara stepped forward again at this point. “Not to interrupt, but it’s probably best we don’t go into too much detail while talking like this. There’s always a chance the wrong type of person might be listening into this conversation. There’s no way of knowing what kind of detail might aid our enemy.”

Ellie and Claire both nodded in acknowledgement. “We can save the Q&A for the real reunion,” Ellie joked. Claire laughed again, her face beaming with joy.

“It’s a date. When are you coming back? Soon?”

“I was just discussing this with Jack, dear,” Eric said as he moved his arm around his mate. Claire’s eyes flicked over from Ellie’s to Jack.

“My goodness… Wraith. I didn’t even see you. Are you—are you okay?”

Jack nodded. “I am. I must let you know that I’m not the creature you once knew. My name is Jack now. Wraith… he is still a part of me, but he is no longer in control.”

Claire’s eyes seemed to flush with recognition. “O-Of course. Eric mentioned to me that your mind was different now. I just hope that you’re both well. It’s remarkable to hear that you’re alive. I never got the chance to thank you for saving us all that night.”

Ellie looked over at Jack and saw a smile on his face. “I might be able to accept that thanks if I could remember the night itself.” He laughed.

Eric stepped forward. “Before I forget I’d like to update you both on the situation down here while I can. I held a meeting recently with many powerful vampire families from across the country. They have all rallied together to help our cause, to help defend the prophecy and the lost daughters.”

A flush of gratitude swept through Ellie at the news. “That’s promising,” she said. “It means a lot to hear that people would be willing to help us out like that.”

“They are finally starting to realize what is at stake,” Eric said. “The latest resurgence of Black Fang has made people more aware than ever. Vampires are taking notice. The prophecy has repercussions, bad and good. We have to find the final daughter soon, or things could take a bad turn.”

Jack paced across the floor, nodding as he did so. “And what is the morale like in the castle? Are the people well?”

Eric nodded. “There is much to do, so yes. Keeping people busy helps. There are more vampires at the castle now than ever before and hunting enough blood to keep everyone alive is taking up most of our time. It’s too risky to drink from humans now, we are pushed to our limits.”

“Things are the same here,” Kara said sagely. “These are hard times for all us.”

“Indeed,” Eric answered. “But there is good news as well. Claire and I have triplets now… and there is the miracle with Ansel and Kat too.”

“Ansel?” Ellie asked. “Kat? Who are they?”

“Friends of ours,” Claire answered. “They are staying here at the castle with us. They travelled here from the west with another vampire named Edmund and a witch. Kat found out she was pregnant recently, which was most surprising. She wasn’t a breeder before all this started. It seems their direct involvement with the prophecy brought out this change.”

Ellie opened her mouth in shock. Was that one of the benefits of the prophecy? Would all vampires finally lose their infertility? She stopped to think what her father, Valdis, would think of that and smiled. If the three lost daughters could find their mates it would seriously put a dent in the Order’s agenda.

“There is still this issue of the disease however,” Ellie said. “This Black Fang. What can be done about that? Can vampires live off animals forever?”

Eric nodded gravely as he considered the question. “It is very troubling, and we do not know its exact source, but we suspect it is another weapon of the Red Circle. It seems that they are the agency most involved in trying to stop this prophecy. We have some theories as to why, but as Kara mentioned before, it’s probably not best to discuss them over this channel. Hunting animals will sustain us for now, but we will need to find another solution in the long term.”

“But we almost have one, do we not?” Claire said and placed her hand on Eric’s shoulder. He turned and looked at her in confusion.

“We do?”

“Yes.” She nodded with encouragement. “Did you forget about the progress the York scientists are making with their synthetic blood research? Eli was saying just the other day there is a girl in his laboratory, Jessica, she is extremely bright and apparently very close to—”

Eric rolled his eyes and smiled, waving his hand through the air dismissively. “Don’t listen to a word he says. The York’s have claimed for decades that they are months away from creating synthetic blood. It is a pipe dream.”

Kara and Jack looked back at the bickering couple in amusement, but there were several words in Claire’s speech that had caught Ellie’s ear and pulled her attention to the ancient memories swimming in the vastness of her mind. York’s. Was that the name of the vampire family her and her red-haired friend were taken to live with?

Her attention was inevitably pulled back to the room a minute later as Jack placed his hand around the small of her back. The couple in the mirror were waving back at her, and it seemed the conversation had come to a close for now. The foreign room flickered out of the mirror’s frame and was replaced with their ordinary reflections moments later.

Kara stared at them both in the mirror, nodding to herself as she did so. “I’m proud of you both for doing that, I understand it can’t have been easy. If anything, you can rest a little easier knowing that a lot of people are on your side now. The Red Circle might want to destroy us, and the White Order might try to help, but there are a lot of vampires banding together to make sure the prophecy is protected. To make sure you are protected.”

“It helped,” Ellie said with an encouraging nod. She felt an overwhelming sense of strength rising up inside of her after speaking with Eric and Claire. With the support from the villagers in Skarvast and the support from the vampires back at the Castle Belmont, it really felt like the numbers were starting to fall on their side.

Before this it had just been Jack and Ellie, fighting against the tide together, and sometime even fighting against one another. They were stronger now, they were better, and they had the loyal following of a small army to help protect them. The Circle could fight, but they’d be no match for those that wanted life to prevail.

As they left the temple Ellie walked with her head held high, feeling renewed and invigorated about the prophecy. It had always felt like a heavy cross to bear, but for the first time since her involvement she felt excited about it all. What if they could fight back? What if they could win? A smile came to her face as she considered the idea and she squeezed her arm tight around Jack’s.

Nothing could go wrong if he was by her side. What could possibly stop them now?