Chapter Twenty Six: The Awakening

" I fucking hate this " Kara screamed. " What is even the point. You just destroy every single thing I have anyway. You are ruthless. You are a monster..." Kara slams her head on the table which makes the chess piece dance on the board. Gooblin sat across from her, and had beaten her 20 games in a row. " You bad at this. Very bad. " Gooblin pointed out which made Kara groan even louder.

" This is ridiculous" she complains as Aurora enters the room. " Sweetie you have to move the rook.." Kara looks back to her mother. " WHAT THE FUCK IS A ROOK?"

Gooblin laughs " Rook..kie " he laughs even more. " Oh so you think this is funny eh? Well go ahead. Laugh it up. Because I'm going to find a damn game I can beat you at someday"

Aurora shakes her head as the doors swing open and one of the guards walks through, walking past Kara and Gooblin and straight to Aurora. " Lycan scouts were spotted about 4 miles out from the wall your majesty. The same as yesterday " he explains

" Just make sure to keep a close watch and sound the alarm if you see them get any closer" Kara looked over to Aurora " They are close enough as is. We need to do something. If we don't, they are going to keep pressing their luck"

Of course Kara was right. But an act of hostility wouldn't end well either. They had to make sure that they played this right because if they overreacted or reacted to soon, it could be falling into a trap. Normally Lycans We'll stalk their prey, but this also feels different to Aurora. This feels like they're just teasing and watching. " They want us to make a move. They want to see what our response times are and how we'll equipped we are. We cannot show show our hand just yet "

Meanwhile, the Lycan scouts being making their way back home. Once they arrive they head into the castle where Santara is awaiting their report. " Well.." She places her hand under her chin.

" They have about a thousand guards along the walls from what we can see. We assume that there around a couple thousand more scattered around the inner wall as well as throughout the main town" one of the scouts reports.

" They are protected..but not as much as they should be. They are trying to keep us from see what they can do. And that is fine. Because they still have no idea what is coming their way. Go back to the feild tonight. I plan on having you watch for the next week or so. Get a bit closer each time. If they do attack, scatter and act as though you didn't expect it"

The scouts bow and take their leave. Santara stands up and makes her way to the backrooms where she heads down the hall and to Gabriel's room. She cracks open the door ever so gently, slides through and then close as it.

She slowly makes her way to the bed and sits down beside Gabriel who is still asleep. " Oh Gabey Baby. I want to thank you. I know, you haven't lived up to your full potential of use for me yet. But, you have came in rather handy in so many other ways. " Santara pulls out a small vile containing a white liquid.

" My little insurance policy in case you decide to go turn against me. I know, it was unwilling.. " She smirks as she rubs her hand up and down his arm, still rattled with holes that are doing their best to close up. " But I have to know....was it as good for you as it was for me? " She laughs and lays back against him. Resting her head against his chest.

" My sister would've never gone the extra mile. She knew what she wanted but she wouldn't take it. She wanted to dance around it. And I have to admit. I can kind see the appeal you have. The strong silent type " She laughs at her own twisted Joke with a devilish cackle. She was attracted to Gabriel but she never really got the chance to make a move. Victoria had always been in the way of any pursuit she could make towards him.

Santara slowly reaches down her pants, and retrieves a small hidden blade. She places rolls over so that she is now straddling him and grabs his hand and lifts it up. " It is by this hand that I claim my mate. It is by this life that Intertwine mine. It is by this body, that I share with you. My flesh. My heart. My soul. My everything " She proceeds to slice Gabriel's hand open. " One taste of this blood...and you are mine.." She laughs.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Someone is at the door which makes Santara cock her head back " WHAT?"

A voice calls back to her. " Um..there is something that we think you need to see.." Santara screams and climbs off of Gabriel, dropping his hand to the floor as blood trickles down. She tucks the white vile down her shirt and opens the door and shoved the informant out of the way.

Once outside she sees that half the town is on fire. " What the hell happened...? " She asked though Noone could hear her.

The fire slowly inched its way closer and closer to Victoria's Grave and this made Santara go into a panic.

" NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" She shrieked loudly as she ran the to the grave. Trying her best to stomp out the flames. " WATER. WE NEED WATER!! " She screams as guards rush over and begin dumping hundreds of gallons of water onto the fire which seems to quench it in this area. They double back and go to the next areas. Dumping more and more water until the flames are.almost quenched completely throughout the town.

Santara, stayed by the grave however. She was frantic and weeping. She rested her body upon it as though somehow her body could protect it. As though somehow her presence would make a difference. She wasn't exactly sure how the fire got started but she wanted answers and she wanted them now. This had to be an attack of some sort but the guards had not found anyone in the area. " Witches.." Santara growls..

Mean while Shawn and Raven have entered Gabriel's room and Raven sets up her herb bag as quickly as possible. Time was of the essence. The fire could only distract them for so long. She begins immediately mixing as many herbs as she can trying her best to follow the recipe to the letter. And after a few minutes she finally has the right mixture and opens Gabriel's mouth and pours the entire bottle down his throat. She then proceeds to close her eyes and wave her hand over him which heals up his more serious wounds.She was a little worried she had not gotten them all but she did the best she could on such a short time span.

And with that, Shawn snaps his fingers and they are now in Gorgos house.Where Gorgo had been awaiting them They both were relieved. That was until Gorgo spoke " Where is Gabriel? " He asked which made them both take notice of his absence.

" Wait..where is Gabe? " Raven askes as they look around. And that is when Shawn realizes what happened. " She must've put up a barrier of some kind. She knows how I travel and she probably figured something like this would have happened. Clever girl. She is actually somehow getting smarter. Surprising" Shawn mocks.

" Well what the fuck do we do now ? " Raven begins to panic.

" We can't go back right now. That was our one shot. We are gonna have to wait. Let's just hope that by the time the next chance arrives. We are not too late.

Back at the Lycan Kingdom. Gabriel's eyes have finally opened. He is still badly hurt but some of the wounds have healed now and he can move. He raises his hand and looks at it. Seeing the gash upon it that is still dripping. He gets out of bed and makes his way to the door. He opens it and once outside, he proceed to walk to the castle entrance. The council room is completely empty. He walks though the giant door way and smells the oder of smoke and burning wood. His town has been burned to a crisp.

He walks down the street, looking over the damage And that is when he notices the grave site. Where he also notices that santara is laying across it. Santara notices him she smiles and almost leaps into his arms.

" Oh my god you are awake. We were so freaking worried about you. I'm so glad you are okay. We obviously were just attacked and - " The sound of Santara's voice begins to fade for Gabriel As he stares upon the name written on the stone for the grave. Victoria.

" Who.." The first word he has spoken in months escapes his lips. Santara stops talking and listens..." Who did this.." Gabriel stares, trying to convince himself that this wasn't real. That this had to be a nightmare. This had to be a dream of some sort. Some twisted meniacle fantasy from the gods that loved introduced new levels of sadism within his life. Santara stands next to him and looks down at the name as well. " Kara"

Kara at this point was helping her mother organize defences and changing battle strategies and plans. She's studied over every single one of them and even offered some critiques and improvements, to which her mother was extremely grateful. Kara seem to show a lot of signs from military prowess It always astounded Aurora how clever and how quickly Kara caught on to things. She really was a prodigy.

She was now practically fully trained, an in amazing shape. The best shape of her life actually.. She had more knowledge of the Underworld than how it worked Her mother made her study every single night but she knew that it would pay off eventually.

The history of the Underworld and the individual Kingdoms was something that Kara taken a particular interest in. She learned as much as she could and memorized everything. How customs and traditions were developed were also included in the lessons.

She had also taken an interest in physical combat which the guards helped train her to the best of their ability even though they didn't exactly special in it. And last but not least, she learned how to have confidence within herself. She no longer felt sorry for the things that she could not change. She no longer Felt blame for everything that had happened. And while she didn't welcome war. She would fight if absolutely needed.

" I wonder how...nevermind " Kara stopped herself from speaking at dinner though Aurora was not about to let it slide. They had been working on communication through their time together and sometimes Kara just needed a little push.

" No come on. Tell me " her mother encouraged. " Its the same question I always ask. I wonder how Gabe is doing. I fucking miss him" Kara had tried to not think about him. She realised it was completely unhealthy to do so but yet she couldn't stop herself. And Queen Aurora felt horrible because she couldn't give her daughter the answers that she so desperately seeked out.

In truth, Aurora had wondered too how Gabriel was doing. But she knew bringing it up was only gonna make things worse for Kara. So she tried her best to bite her tongue.

" There are so many times where I think about us attacking first...going to them and taking the fight to the Lycans. But it's only because I wanna see him so bad. And I know that's selfish Mom. I know. But he is..well..you know " Aurora smiled " The wolf of your dreams" She nudged Kara's arm who looked disgusted.

" Please dear God don't ever word it like that again" Aurora realized how awkward that had to sound

" Sorry" She chirped and let Kara continue.

" I love him. I don't expect him to even love me back. I know you keep saying he does but I doubt it. Even still, I was so harsh to him the last time I saw him. I think about that alot too. I wish I could take it back everyday. I didn't even say goodbye to him..."

Aurora remembers that day well. It'd sad to think that Victoria was with them not so long ago and now..she is gone. Someone they can never have back. Even though, they had their differences. Aurora always appreciated the amount of effort that Victoria put it to fill the shoes of Gabriel while he was gone. She was born for that role. And now, all of that potential is gone. She also knew that Victoria would make sure that Gabriel was safe..looking out for him like she always tried to do.

" it bothers you too..doesn't it mom.." Kara noticed the sad expression on her mothers face. " Yes sweetie. It does. But maybe someday he will return to us and we will all be reunited once again. And hopefully this time. With less fighting" Kara nods " yeah. Me too"