I stood facing Claudia, standing in front of the doorway to the study, blocking her way out. “You can’t do this to me Claudia,” I told her, hands on my hips. “It’s not fair.”
She was standing a few feet in front of me, meeting my furious gaze with a steady, determined one of her own. “It’s not my decision Rox.”
The first thing she had made clear after explaining about going after Micah, was that, even though the Death Walkers would be going with the hunters, I would not be joining them.
“You’re still recovering,” she continued. “We think it would be best if you stay here and continue to do so.”
“I need to be there,” I explained. I’d been telling her over and over and she didn’t seem to get that. And I didn’t know how to make it clearer. I was beginning to think that she did understand, and she just didn’t care. I hated to think of her like that.
“No, you don’t” she said. “This will be easy; we can handle this without you.” She paused. “Look, Rox, I’m sorry. I really am. But we’ll be leaving soon and I have to go.” Sorry was the last thing she looked as she pushed past me, shooting me an apologetic look as she went. I let her past; I didn’t stop her this time.
The moment she was out the door, so was I. I didn’t even wait until she was out of sight and I didn’t care if she saw me. There was only one person with enough power and who was in a position to let me go, and after 10 minutes of frantically searching the Manor, I found him. I walked into the room as he was getting changed. Despite the fact I was here for the reason I was, I couldn’t help it when my eyes trailed over his chest as he pulled a black shirt on over his head.

He pulled the t-shirt down and met my gaze with a look of expectation on his face. He’d undoubtedly known that the moment I was filled in, I’d come to see him. I imagined he had an entire speech prepared.
“Logan,” I started, but he held up his hand and brushed past me, cutting me off.
“I can’t help you Roxi,” he said, continuing to move about the room, grabbing knives and weapons as he went. I could see that his father’s dagger was already strapped securely to his belt. The room had a very serious, business type atmosphere to it, as did he. This was going to be hard, I thought. “It’s out of my hands,” he told me.
I shook my head, refusing to believe that. “No, it’s not. You can talk to Frank. You could pull strings if you tried.”
It felt weird to be having this conversation with him now. After everything we’d been through lately and considering how much our relationship had changed. I knew how I felt about him, but I still didn’t know where we stood. It didn’t matter though, because this wasn’t about us at the moment. It was about what I needed. And he was the only one who could help me get it.
“Actually I can’t.” He stopped moving and stood in the middle of the room, near the coffee table, facing me. He was wearing all black and his blonde hair and blue eyes stood out in contrast. He looked like a warrior, with his face dangerous. “This isn’t about the hunters. Or Frank for that matter. This order didn’t come from us, or anyone in charge of the hunters. It came from you guys. From the covenant.” His eyes were amazingly fierce yet became gentle as he looked at me.
I gulped. Deep down I’d always known that, that was the case. I just hadn’t wanted to believe it.
“This order came from Alana, and Callie, and Claudia, and Quintenn....,” he said, making a point. “Roxi, I could go on and on. No one wants you there. They want to protect you, and they feel the only way they can do that is you keep you here. Out of harms way. The hunters don’t have a say.” He paused. “We’re not the ones who don’t want you to go,” he continued. However as he spoke I saw a spark in his eyes that contradicted what he was saying. I could see that, despite what he was telling me, he agreed 100 per cent with the covenant. He wanted me to stay too.

I continued to look at him. If that’s what they felt then he really was my last hope. He was the only one who could possibly convince Frank to go over their heads and allow me to go along. And I wanted to, desperately. I walked over to him, and stood so I looked up directly into his icy blue eyes. Lately I’d found that although they were an icy blue, I could often find and see warmth in them. And I could now. With everything that was currently happening, they still looked down at me with a kind of warm expression that made my heart jump.
“Logan, you don’t understand. They don’t understand. I need this. I need to go. Micah’s put me through so much. For two years he’s made my life a living hell with every chance he had.” I paused and took a breath as I found my voice starting to shake. “I need to be there when it ends. To be able to see that it’s finally over with my own eyes.”
He was looking down at me, unmoving and unspeaking. “Please, Logan. Can you do this for me?” I felt my eyes starting to get wet. But I wasn’t crying. I hated the thought that I might have to beg him, but at this moment I was willing to do anything, so if he wouldn’t agree now, then that was my next plan of action.
I watched him study my face and saw his expression change. His eyes softened and I knew I’d gotten through to him, and then I watched as they changed and became filled with determination. Logan’s determination however was one that could put Claudia’s to shame. His was more powerful and direct.
He took a step away from me and turned so he was no longer facing me. I saw him run a hand through his hair. “Fine,” he said, his back to me. His voice sounded tight and I could tell he spoke through his teeth. “I’ll have a word to Frank. We’ll find a way for you to go. I’ll make sure you go.”
“Thank-you,” I said quietly, grateful.
He turned back to me. His face looked upset and pained. I knew he was fighting what he thought and wanted for me, over what I did. “You don’t want me to go either, do you?” I asked, although I didn’t need an answer. I already knew. I could read it all over him. In his face, in his voice, in the way he was acting. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

He shook his head and his eyes became inexplicitly tender. I’d never known he could look like that. I’d never thought he could look at me like that, but he was. “This isn’t about what I want Rox. This is about what you need,” he spoke quietly, and his eyes gazed down at the floor. “And if that’s to be there when this ends. To find closure through that, then who am I to stand in your way?”
“Oh, Logan.” I stepped towards him and he looked up, meeting my eyes. I can’t even describe what I felt in that moment. Too many emotions floated through me. One after another, making me feel light headed. Logan reached out and tenderly brushed my hair back from my eyes, sending my heart into a sprinting marathon.
“The covenant isn’t going to be happy with me after this. I’ll be the bad guy in their eyes,” he said, holding my gaze. He had an expression of acceptance and defiance on his face. “But I don’t care,” he said simply. “If this is what you need to be able to move on with your life, then I’ll make sure you get it.”
I was gazing up at him, not quite sure what I could say, watching his face look miserable the entire time he was speaking. He really didn’t want me to come with them, that was evident, but he would still do this for me. Even though it wasn’t what he wanted. I felt a serge of gratitude. Now just for what he was going to do, but for being who he was. For being the person he was.
“I don’t like it,” he continued, I sad smile playing on his lips. “But I do understand.” His expression changed, becoming fierce, as he took another step and leaned down towards me. “I’ll do this for you. I said I will, but if I do, I want you to promise me something. No matter what happens or what Micah tries, you will be careful. You won’t let him get to you and make you act restless.”
I shook me head quickly. “No problem. I feel fine and I won’t do anything stupid,’ I promised him.

He nodded, satisfied. “Okay, well you need to go get changed, while I have a chat with Frank.” His eyes looked down and lingered on my clothing. I was still wearing my black skirt and tank top. His lips curved up slightly, but he didn’t say anything. His face looked in thought and I knew what he was remembering. Our moment in the study and what had happened between us. But we couldn’t worry about that now and we couldn’t talk about it. We didn’t have the time, and we both knew it.
“I’ll let you go and get changed now,” he continued, speaking shakily. “Make sure you’re ready, we’ll be leaving as soon as we can.” He started to step around me, heading for the door, but paused, seeming to hesitate. He turned back slowly to face me, and reaching out and gripping both my forearms with his hands, bent and kissed my fore head. My heart tightened, and as his lips lingered on my head, I closed my eyes. “Be careful,” he said, softly. His warm breath tickled my skin. “I need you to be careful.” Then without another word, and without letting me say anything, he stepped back and left the room.
I stood biting my lip and waiting for my heart to slow, thinking. Even though I’d made a promise to him, I desperately hoped I could keep it. I wanted to, but at the same time there was something inside me that told me I couldn’t. It was the same thing that told me everything else I felt; my instincts and my faith. And I had to trust them. No matter what, I had to trust what I felt and what I believed. I had to let that guide me.
Then, as quickly as I could, I raced to my room and changed into my Death Walker clothes, throwing on my gold cross as I went.


Logan found it shockingly easy to talk Frank into letting me come. I actually think it had something to do with Frank wanting to use me, to get to Micah. And to be perfectly honest, I didn’t care, as long as I got to go, I couldn’t care less about the reasons behind it. And what Frank said and wanted was binding. Our deal stated that we had to do as Frank wanted and because of this the covenant didn’t have a leg to stand on when it came to me joining the Death Walkers. Their displeasure however, was written all over their faces, especially on Claudia’s.
The saying ‘if looks could kill’ popped into my head when I saw her first see Logan after being told. I don’t know how it got out, but it was quickly common knowledge that Logan had been responsible for my inclusion on this mission. He had been right too, not many people were happy with him for that. But he didn’t appear to care what they thought and this was evident when, as we were getting into one of the vans', Claudia gave Logan one of the dirtiest looks I’d ever seen. It was enough to make me flinch, but he continued to look at her, his expression unchanging and his face blank.
Micah had been spotted in a suburban house in the city. No more old, dirty warehouses for him, I thought. Both the hunters and the covenant had, had individual information on this, and it was through combining our information that we came to a solid conclusion on his whereabouts and current defensive position. It was believed that after the attack at the Manor, he and his associates had returned to the city to make some more plans before taking action. They thought that we would be too preoccupied with my condition to confront him. But he’s wrong, I thought.
Both the hunters and Death Walkers were out in full force. We had called in reinforcements and the hunters had called any local, reliable hunter allies to join us. This gave us a total of over 60 hunters and Death Walkers, combined. Many were joking that there was so many of us, that some people would have to sit out. They were relaxed and laid back, ready for battle. I didn’t feel that way. I couldn’t shake that sick, uneasy feeling I had as we pulled up in front of our destination. It was a normal looking, two storey house. Nothing that would suggest the evil we believed to be lurking inside.

“Okay,” Logan spoke to everyone, as Greg helped me from the van. He was looking around at everybody. We had been split up before we left the Manor so we were in three groups. Groups one and two would each take one of the two entrances to the house, the back and front door, and the third group to catch anyone who slipped through or got out any other way. I was in the group that would go in through the front. Along with Claudia, Ben and Logan; who was leading this group. Quintenn was in charge of the group to take the back door and Greg was patiently leading the last group, who would take out any stragglers.
We split up and got into position. “Good luck everyone,” Logan said, looking around at everyone and his eyes coming to rest on me. We shared a look, one of understanding, one that said to be careful. He nodded and I smiled slightly. “Ready?” he glanced at everyone one last time before two hunters broke down the front door and we raced through.
We poured through the door, it was a narrow fit, but we all moved quickly into the large living room that was located at the front of the house and let out collective gasps. We all glanced around the room, hearing similar cries of shock and surprise from Quintenn’s group. The house had plain, very lived in furniture and the TV was on. But aside from the noise that came from it and us, the entire house was quiet. And empty.