There’s no more time to lose, no more time to chase answers or try to put all the pieces together. The spell is happening now, and I’m the only one here who can do something about it. Maybe Brianna helps me, maybe she doesn’t, that’s one of those things I can’t focus on. Not until I have to. Instead, I enter the building and gasp as the magic within tries to rip my breath away.

The interior is a warehouse, some kind of storage facility not unlike how I imagine an Amazon fulfillment center looks like. Stacks of boxes and crates up to the ceiling in neat rows…at least by the entrance that’s the case, further back I can see some of these towering monoliths have been tipped over, spilling an assortment of basic goods that I don’t doubt are hiding something more malicious. The Order knows Castillo deals in drugs and weapons, and this place…I get the feeling some of those weapons are tested. There’s a lingering air of terror and death here, but it pales in comparison to the force I witness right in front of my eyes.

Two figures face one another, and I feel suddenly like a spectator coming in to see a show. The spotlight is cold, fluorescent light overhead. Beyond the pair, the lights that remain flicker, a few more go out. But still the pair stands in stark contrast to the shadows.

There’s Castillo, his lips curled back and his eyes blazing. There’s blood coursing down the side of his face and his dark shirt is ripped in several places, wet in others where he’s bleeding from other injuries. Across from him is Elena, but I hardly recognize her for the expression on her face. Her long hair billows all around her as if she’s underwater, and there’s a manic fury twisting her usually pleasant features. Magic swirls around her in visible color, beautiful but so unnatural it’s horrifying too. My eyes want to refuse it, they want to ignore how the twisting tendrils resemble some Lovecraftian beast that looks as though it longs to devour both Elena and Castillo. And me…and the world.

I hear a bark-like shout and see that Castillo’s strike force is here too. Judging by the numbers, it’s the entire South End group. One of them is dead, and is little more than a smear of blood and viscera against the floor where Elena must have hit him with some sort of spell. The others stalk around the pair, looking for an opening or waiting for an order from Castillo. They notice me and Brianna, and I’m sure Castillo does too but he’s not taking his eyes off of Elena. She stops looking at him though, and her expression breaks when she sees me and tears begin to flow down her face.

“No! No! You can’t!” she screams.

“YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING!” I roar over the growing din. The magic sounds like a twister, gathering strength.

“I DO!” she screams right back.

Castillo lunges, but despite her emotional state Elena isn’t letting her guard down. She brings a hand up and the werewolf’s large hand strikes a barrier instead of her face before he’s forced back a few feet. The colors swirling around Elena have shifted to a blood red, and I realize it’s not just the colors of her tangible magic…it’s the blood of werewolves she’s killed over time, flowing into her and returning her magic to its full state. The air feels like it’s being sucked from the room, a vicious wind buffets all of us inside the warehouse and I hear thunder rumbling overhead. Elena is chanting, that bestial look on her face again while tears continue to flow, and suddenly one of the wolves on the strike team yelps and collapses.

Brianna and I turn to the burly female, who is convulsing on the floor. My eyes widen as the snap of bone cracks through the space as loud as the thunder overhead, and I see fur rippling across the werewolf’s flesh.

“Fuck! Fuck! How do we stop this!” I yell.

“We got to kill that bitch!” Brianna shouts.

I don’t know how to reach Elena though! The barrier will keep me back, I have no weapons to speak of and if the strike force is turning then that guarantees more of the pack in the city is also being forced into the change.

“ELENA, PLEASE!”

“I HAVE TO!”

And those colors, they collect into a single mass and then I see shapes in it. Unmistakable shapes. I see Elena, recognizing her for her hair. Her face in the reflection eerily resembles a mournful theater mask, the type denoting a tragedy. She clutches at a lifeless form, a girl with no expression at all that I know intuitively means she is no more. And standing with this grieving mother is Castillo, his reflective mask stoic as his true face normally is.

“I don’t…understand,” I mutter, but I do. I know I do. I just don’t want to admit it.

“Isabella, my Isabella…our Isabella,” plaintive eyes flick to Castillo before returning to me. “She was killed, she was taken! She should still be here!”

Vasilisa spoke of a story that echoed my own, of the downfall of me and Henry when we lost our little girl. Yet the story wasn’t about us, she was telling me about Elena and Castillo. How they met, how they fell in love, these are questions far back in my mind, the present has all of us too close to destruction to wonder about it.

“You taint her memory,” Castillo growled. “You defile it!”

“I won’t let you stop me anymore!” Elena shrieks. “You should know more than anyone else what I’m doing, Riley! I can bring her back! I can open the door to Paradise and bring my little girl back!”

“You can’t!” I feel a piece of me shattering when I say it, but I have to stay firm. “Elena, you can’t! If you fail we’re all dead! If you succeed we’re dead!”

“I’m sorry,” she says with a gut-wrenching smile. “I want my family back, my husband, my daughter…I need them back.”

I feel like the strides I made to stabilize my own mind have evaporated. I think about what I would do…if I could bring Amelia back, if I could restore the family I lost with her. Elena’s right, I understand why she wants to do this. I sympathize with her, and for a split second I want to ask if she can bring Amelia back too, to bring them both back. One, agonizing second where I relish the possibility before I shove that wish down and lock it away. “It’s not worth it!” I’m not sure if I’m telling her, or myself.

If she hears me, she makes no indication of it. I’m about to charge and try my chances when the door is pulled off the hinges and a figure comes rushing in. I raise my fists, prepared for anything…except for Henry, who skids to a halt by me and Brianna. “Henry??”

“Take this!” Henry exclaims, handing me a dark bag that clunks loudly. “I went by your place, I got some of your gear!”

God Bless Henry Stone and his tactful mind during a major crisis. I drop the bag, rip it open and quickly grab the 50-caliber handgun, and two enchanted daggers. The gun is equipped with silver bullets, which will do some damage to Elena, though not as much as it would a wolf…which, given the strike team is all mid-change by now, might be exactly what I need it for. I hate that it’s coming to this. I hate that I still want to ask Elena to fulfill my wish to bring me back Amelia.

“Aim for the legs if one goes for you! Or somewhere a bullet can easily pass through!” Brianna snarls at me. “You don’t have to go for the fatal blow first!”

“How long do you have?”

“Don’t worry about my willpower, dumbass! Find a way to that witch!” and I can tell by her tone that even the strongest willpower won’t help her forever. I can see the strain in her face, and the slight fear in her eyes.

Castillo also isn’t changing yet, but instead looking for a means to break through Elena’s barrier. I’m about to join him when the burly female werewolf howls and lunges for me. I curse and pivot, avoiding the tackle that would undoubtedly lead to my throat being torn out. I square off against the werewolf and raise the gun, but before I can fire, Henry’s there delivering a solid punch right to the beast’s chest. I know, theoretically, that Henry is exceptionally strong since becoming a vampire but I’ve never seen it so blatantly. That wolf goes crashing back through the warehouse, a cacophony of heavy crates and boxes tumbling down makes me hope she’ll be pinned and unable to rejoin the fight.

There’s a snarl behind me and I duck right in time not to be mauled. This wolf didn’t lunge with such gusto, however, and is able to jump nimbly aside to strike again with a large clawed hand. I bend backwards, grounding my feet to keep my balance, and aim the gun at the wolf’s leg. I shoot and the werewolf yelps as blood bursts from the injury. The silver will work fast, making the leg all but paralyzed. But still dangerous if I stay too close, evident by the way he lurched forward and nearly sank his teeth around my ankle.

In the corner of my eye, I see Brianna engaged with one of the others. She’s obviously aiming for a knockout, but then she falls to her knees with a cry. “B-boss,” she groans.

The pack member she’d been fighting barks and rushes towards her, the forced change leaving nothing but the raging beast behind. To him, Brianna is an enemy that needs to be destroyed rather than the second-in-command. Before me or Henry can head the rabid creature off, Castillo is there. He grabs the beast by the throat and actually lifts it before slamming the head against the concrete floor.

That’s three of them down. No, two…I curse as the wolf Henry hit comes charging from the back of the warehouse. Seven more to go and while the fury is controlling them more than any tactics, these wolves are in a full bloodlust, and it’s all Henry and I can do to defend ourselves as they leap at us gnashing their teeth. Castillo is helping, but his pack can’t even recognize their Alpha and they attempt to latch their teeth onto him too. I notice with growing despair that Castillo’s fingernails are beginning to shift to claws.

“Riley!” Henry shouts in warning.

I don’t catch Brianna in time and she barrels into me like a battering ram, knocking the breath from my lungs. My head hits the floor painfully, making stars dance before my eyes before Brianna’s very large teeth supercede all else. She goes for the throat, but I jam the barrel of my gun between her jaws, grimacing as teeth scrape against steel. I don’t want to shoot her. I don’t know if I can shoot her…except I have to. I can see Elena through Brianna’s bristling fur, the blood red of the magic around her is shifting to white and I can only assume that means she’s moved on from the spell that brought the change and is working on the one to open Paradise.

The dark mass above me disappears suddenly, replaced by Henry’s hand that he holds out for me. I grab it and let him pull me to my feet, seeing Brianna rolling to a stop several feet away after being shoulder checked by the vampire. “The Order’s coming!” Henry exclaims and no sooner does he speak the words than Centurions pour into the warehouse. I immediately recognize Chiaki, Calvin, and others led by Chief Glass. Behind them are the Incantatores; Ulysses leading the small group and at the rear is Sheldon.

Still caught in their lunatic rage, two of the strike team immediately go for the nearest Centurion. The Centurion doesn’t hesitate to aim his gun and fire, bringing one of the wolves down with a shot right between the eyes. “Detain, not kill!” Chiaki snaps at the Centurion.

But he isn’t the only one who decides that it’s easier to go for the kill rather than aiming for a smaller target. My heart skips a beat when I see Calvin lining up a shot to bring down Brianna. Henry reaches him and shoves him to the floor, but the gun fires. I don’t see where it strikes, but Brianna goes down with a pained howl.

And the savage roar from Castillo is enough to freeze my blood as the syndicate boss – half transformed – closes the distance between himself and his target, and seizes Calvin from the back of the neck with one hand before he plunges the fingers of his other beneath the flesh. My fellow operative screams and I feel sick when Castillo rips out the Centurion’s spine in one, hard jerk. He drops Calvin, and I’m sure he’s dead before he even hits the floor.

He’s being surrounded by Centurions now and I find myself running to put myself between them and the werewolf Alpha. “Stop!! What the fuck are you doing?? We have to stop Elena!”

“These werewolves are between us and her!” Sheldon snaps. “We don’t have time for mercy!”

More shots are fired and the smell of blood becomes more powerful, the savage barks and growls from the werewolves become more vicious. I am certain there’s more to it, and with dread that certainty tells me the Order is definitely thrilled at having a chance to even the playing field between us and them. To thin Castillo’s numbers and tip the power away from him.

“You can’t do this!” Henry shouts. “This isn’t their fault!”

And one of the Centurions fires at him. He anticipates the response and his speed ensures he isn’t hit, but I’m seeing red. I reach the offending operative from behind and smash the butt of my gun into his head, making him drop. Henry nods to me, then he joins the fight…defending the werewolves from the Centurions and knocking out the crazed pack whenever he has an opening. I can’t keep my eyes on him, I have to turn my attention to Elena…and I can’t bear to see if he gets hurt at all.

By now, Sheldon and Ulysses are at the protective barrier. I can hardly see Elena for the brilliance of that white light shining all around her. Both men are casting spells rapidly to dismantle the barrier. “More!” Sheldon shouts, and the other Incantatores break away from the chaotic battle to help bring the barrier down.

I hear a pained shout and my heart freezes. I know I shouldn’t, I should not see what happened, but I look. Henry’s on the ground, but my brief panic is somewhat assuaged when he gets back to his feet. He has a ragged gash across his chest and is squaring off against Castillo. Castillo who has finally transformed completely and now stands at close to 10 feet tall, inky black fur on edge and dangerous teeth exposed. Henry can’t fight him alone! I start running to them, but I’m intercepted by Chiaki.

“Look!” she exclaims. “The barrier is weakening! You take her down the second you can, Riley! I’ll help him!”

I want to argue, but she’s the only Centurion who has been actively avoiding murder here. I nod and she rushes off to help Henry try and bring Castillo down. Even if part of that task involves fighting off Centurions hellbent on going for the kill. The three of us can worry about the future ramifications of our actions later, we need to survive the present first.

I’m hurrying towards the barrier when a werewolf jumps for my throat. I side-step and take careful aim with the gun again, firing another shot that finds its mark in the werewolf’s right leg. Only for another Centurion to fire a round into the wounded creature’s head. She has the nerve to smirk at me after her crime. “You fucking monster!” I scream and squeeze the trigger again. She’s knocked to the floor by the force of the round that explodes into her shoulder.

“RILEY!” Henry bellows.

I look his way and see that he points to the barrier before jumping out of range of Castillo’s strike. Gritting my teeth, I continue my rush towards Elena, Sheldon and the Incantatores. I can see her now, because I can see a crack in the barrier that is slowly opening. I exchange my gun for the enchanted daggers and sprint the rest of the distance. It’s big enough, I can make it through. I can stop her.

“Averline, don’t!” Sheldon orders when he sees me.

I ignore him and I’m swallowed in that white light as I cross the barrier. I expect to see Elena now, instead a sudden rush of images assaults me. Am I transported? I have no idea, I think I may be, because I’m not in the warehouse, I’m in Order HQ, in the basement where the interrogation cells are. I’m looking at Castillo, at least a decade younger, who is seated at the table with his hands cuffed. He’s looking at me with an alluring expression, a small smirk on his lips and a playful gleam to his eyes.

“At least they give me a beautiful view,” he’s saying.

“Quiet,” Elena’s voice responds. Am I in her head? Looking out through her eyes?

“Ei, hermosa, I see you blushing.”

“Only out of indignation!”

Castillo’s charming grin only intensifies. He looks like he’s completely at home in the cell, comfortable and not at all worried about being arrested. Arrested…I know that he’s been detained by the Order once, and this must be that one time. I never knew Elena was the one responsible for him though…no wonder she’s such a trusted member of the Order. I nearly laugh hysterically at the thought.

The scene shifts, and now I’m in a bedroom. It’s not the one I saw when I went to Castillo’s current address, and I have to wonder if Elena helped him become as big as he is now. I feel my heart race when he looms into my field of vision – or rather, Elena’s. He has the glow that comes after passionate sex and I’m glad this memory is post coital.

“You are a dream, mi cielo.”

“I shouldn’t have…we can’t do this,” Elena sounds heart broken as she says this.

“Hush,” and there’s some of Castillo’s authoritarian tone, yet it’s still gentle. “You want me?”

“...Yes.”

“And I want you. More and more everyday. Let me show you,” he grins and lowers down her body, but the memory blurs again.

I’m in the Common again, and the air shimmers. In the back of my mind, prior training tells me that it’s some kind of spell – illusion? Cloaking? I can’t focus, because I’m looking at the girl giggling madly as she sticks dandelions in Castillo’s hair. She’s a beautiful girl, with Castillo’s dark hair and beige colored skin, and Elena’s bright blue eyes and soft features. She can’t be more than seven.

“Are you making your father a crown?” Elena asks with laughter in her voice.

“Yes! Then I’m going to make you a tiara,” the girl replies.

“And what about for you, princesa?” Castillo asks.

“A wholllllllle cloak of flowers!” she exclaims with glee.

“We’re going to pick the Common clean,” Elena says.

Castillo reaches for her, and I see a wedding band around his finger. I almost want to stay here, there’s so much love and joy…but the vision blurs and I feel wrecked when the next forms. Still seeing through Elena’s eyes, I look down at the broken form in my arms. The girl, Isabella, is dead. Elena is wailing, her mournful dirge that of a broken woman. She screams no again and again, but Isabella doesn’t open her eyes.

“Do something! DO SOMETHING!” she shrieks, looking up at Castillo. The joy is gone from his face, and I see the stoicism I’ve come to associate with him today.

The sound of sirens approaches and I’m cognizant of them being on a sidewalk, though I’m not sure where.

“We have to go,” Castillo says.

I see the urgency, there’s a man lying dead behind him, his face beaten in. Beyond him is a car that’s still running and I can put the pieces together on how Isabella met her end.

I am mercifully taken from this memory and find myself in a familiar place. A theater. Charlemagne’s theater.

“A way to bring her back?” he asks. “Well, if she’s dead already I can’t turn her, you know.”

“Another way, there has to be another way,” Elena begs.

A clever smile curls the vampire’s lips upwards. “There is a rumor I heard a long, long time ago. Ever hear about Paradise?”

A spark of flame ignites within me, but the scene changes. I’m in Castillo’s office, the current one and he looks livid.

“Don’t speak any more about this false ‘Paradise’,” Castillo growls. “Isabella is in the true Paradise of Heaven. Let her go.”

“You can’t ask me to do this,” Elena whispers.

“Let her be,” he says coldly. “What you wish for goes against the natural order.”

“P-please, my love, please.”

“You think I haven’t thought about it? I have. But we can’t.”

“I can make a better reality for us!”

“NO!”

“Please…”

“Leave my morra be, let her rest. Let me rest. Test me no further on this.”

“Alejo…” she trails off and then I feel her grief turn to rage. She tugs the wedding ring from her finger and throws it at him. “You’re despicable! If you won’t help me with this, I will do it on my own!”

The scene fades and suddenly I’m looking at Elena again. She’s crying and has that pleading smile on her face again. I have a dagger to her throat, and wonder how long I’ve been standing here like this while reliving her memories – of seeing her reasons why she needs to do this.

“Don’t you see?” she asks me softly.

“I do,” I reply honestly. “I’m sorry.”

I move to bring the blade across the vulnerable vein in her throat when there’s one more flash of white, but this one is harsh. This one feels like a fist striking me in the face, but the pain doesn’t last. I’m in another memory. No…not a memory. As my vision clears, I see Henry and a girl, who I recognize as Amelia. There’s no doubt that this is how she would look if she had survived, with wavy dark hair, my eyes and Henry’s smile. I’m not looking through anyone’s eyes this time, I am a spectator, and I see myself joining the pair. We look so happy. I can feel our happiness, and I know that this is within my grasp. I just have to let Elena open Paradise.

Then I notice it. I notice myself in this happy vision. I’m not wearing a dress and I don’t have long hair. Instead, my frame is just a bit more muscular and there’s the shadow of facial hair beginning to grow on my face. It’s me, and I know my future can’t be reliving the past. I know what I have to do.

That conviction snaps me out of it and I realize I’m on the ground by Elena’s feet. I can feel a faint rumbling beneath me and know that time’s almost out. I seize the closest dagger and get to my feet, some of the awe in my face must translate to compliance, because when Elena sees me her expression brightens slightly, only to slip to shock when I plunge the dagger into her heart.

I don’t let her fall gracelessly to the floor. I catch her and lay her to rest gently. She’s not quite gone yet, and looks at me with hurt in her watery eyes. Blood has bubbled up her throat and trails from the corner of her mouth, as red stains her torso. “Find her,” I say quietly. “When you go…find your Isabella again.”

She blinks slowly, then smiles before her eyes close for good. The light fades and there’s sudden, jerky movements from the werewolves – those still fighting, and the ones unconscious. They’re beginning to resume their human forms, the spell holding them in their beast state has broken. How much damage has been done throughout the city though…

“Averline!” Sheldon’s harsh voice snaps me back to right here.

The warehouse is shaking now, and I’m horribly reminded of Vasilisa’s story; when she attempted to open Paradise she nearly destroyed the world. “Fuck!”

“We have to get out of the eye of the storm and keep it contained!” Sheldon orders, his voice echoing around the warehouse.

“What about the werewolves?” I ask. Some of them are back in their human form, but a good number are unconscious or still in the process of changing.

Sheldon looks at me coldly. “Let them rot. Centurions! Incantatores! Let’s go!”

They don’t even stop to collect Elena, they just…leave. Without a second thought. Except for Chiaki, who looks after the Order with disgust. It’s only me, Henry and Chiaki and a lot of people to move. Or, us three and Castillo. He’s getting up from the floor, back in his human form. He stalks towards me and I think he’s going to attack until he bypasses me without a glance. He gathers Elena in his arms, looking at her with that stoic expression that doesn’t quite hide the sorrow in his eyes this time.

“Mi amor,” he whispers. “May you find your peace now.”

“Those…fuckers.”

I see Brianna, clutching at her bloody side as she staggers to her feet. Castillo presses a kiss to Elena’s still lips before setting her down again and going to Brianna. “You’re alright.”

“Yeah,” she winces, and looks at me and Chiaki with hardened features.

“We can’t do this now,” Henry speaks up. The wound in his chest from Castillo is healing already, and I’m flooded with relief. “We have to get everyone out of here.”

“Santito is right,” Castillo replies.

“We’ll help you,” Chiaki says, eyeing Brianna warily.

Brianna puts the pack ahead of her personal feelings and nods. As more of the werewolves regain their senses, they join us in our efforts to move those who are unconscious. The building shakes more, making it difficult to keep our balance and I’m terrified of what waits for us outside as we head for the exit. The sky is still black overhead, and it’s cold. Much colder than it should be. The sea is turbulent in the harbor, washing over the docks and only getting more wild. “Come on!” I shout.

It’s hard going, I’m lugging the burly female werewolf, who is out cold and dead weight. But I push myself to move faster, keeping my eyes firmly ahead. The loading docks are chaotic, the whole area is full of people evacuating. They may not know what’s causing this storm, but they know it’s time to leave, because there’s cracking behind us and I know this whole section of the city is about to crash into the water. I grunt and sling the unconscious woman over my shoulder, buckling somewhat under her weight but forcing myself to go faster.

There’s loud groans and mournful screeches as the ground underfoot begins to give way. It’s still coming from behind me, and I don’t dare look back to see how far away it still is. It sounds close. The wind is whipping salty water through the air, catching it from the crest of too-big waves and urging me to keep going.

It’s nearly a mile before I catch sight of what might be every Incantator in the Order. They’re all concentrating on the growing tempest to try and quell it. I’m exhausted by the time I get past them, only thankful that they let us all pass without question. They can’t risk breaking their concentration and I look pointedly at Castillo when I realize this. My meaning is clear, and I’m sure he has the same thought anyway; he’s getting out of here with his pack before the Order causes more harm.

“I’ll take her,” Henry says quietly, nodding to my unconscious companion. He’s already supporting another injured wolf, but I know with his strength he’ll be fine. It’s him choosing a side that has me worry.

“Okay,” I set the woman down carefully and Henry wraps an arm around her. The pack withdraws, undoubtedly getting as far from this place as they can in case the Incantatores fail. Henry catches up to them quickly, and moves as though one of them.

I shake myself from those thoughts to look back towards the Main Channel. The waves are crashing over the whole of Black Falcon Avenue now, which is crumbling under the pressure. The dark skies swirl menacingly, and this darkness – so antagonistic – is creeping towards us like an ever expanding dome, and everything within that dome is being laid to ruin. And the Incantatores aren’t enough.

I watch in horror for what feels like an age before my mind flares to life again. “Centurions!” I shout, seizing the dagger that is still stained with Elena’s blood. “Support the Incantatores!” And with this said, I stab the dagger into my forearm and slice. The others look to me in alarm, but Chiaki follows suit and that has the rest offering their life force to empower the Incantatores.

I imagine this is what it feels like to have a vampire drink your blood, there’s a sucking sensation anyway, only I have to watch with gritted teeth as blood flows from the wound, upwards, becoming a smoky mist that circles around the Incantatores. Their magic bursts with more energy, and where it first appeared a dim flame against that darkness, it shines as bright as a sun now. I’m lightheaded as my blood flows more quickly and I drop to my knees, seeing Chiaki collapse as well. It has to be enough…it has to be enough.