As a Night World Academy student and witch, Addie Rosewood has always dreamed about her soulmate. Her world crashes when unfortunate events lead her to realize her soulmate is the school's super-jock and ultimate jerk, Blake Tarragon.

I have no rights and/or ownership over the night world series in any way. The main characters in this story are my own creation.

Hehehehe, yes, I do love my cliffhangers, don't I? I have immensely enjoyed your theories about who's mother it may be. I hope you like what really happened. Oh well, you're going to find out~

To lollipop addict: Nawww, you make me blush :p Also, the whole 'I will always find you' is my favorite thing about the Charmings. xD And yes (Ash Redfern) Daughters of Darkness (Ash Redfern) is pretty great isn't it? I've also (Ash Redfern) read it multiple times. :p

To Lollipoof: Ehehe, yeah the necklace... is very important. You'll find out just how important very soon.

Anyway, I HOPE YOU LIKE IT!

Chapter 25

Eve Redfern smiled. It was a knowing smile – one that had been trained with years of practice. Her lips curled mockingly, with a smirk that indicated she was in charge. Not many women would have been able to pull it off, but on Eve it was perfect – as if it were made just for her.

Carla somewhat resembled her mother – the blonde hair, sharp blue eyes, and a figure to die for. Eve did not look like a mother though. She seemed to have stopped the aging process in her late twenties – definitely not old enough to have a seventeen year old daughter. She was exactly how I remembered since the last time I saw her – prim, proper, and absolutely menacing.

"Hello Carla, missing school are we?" she said in a contrived lazy tone that was meant to seem casual and polite. Yet the sound of her voice made my skin crawl. Everything about Eve was prepared and calculated – like a disapproving aristocrat at a debutante ball. She was dressed the part too – not in a frilly dress of course, but a clean cut dress suit with pencil thin high heels. "I thought I raised you better than that."

Carla stepped in front, closer to Eve and asked, "What in the world are you doing?" Carla's voice was weak and scared. Despite the accusing nature of her words, it indicated an automatic submission toward her mother and a surrender of control.

Eve narrowed her heavy lashed eyes. "What does look like I'm doing? I'm demanding a ransom for a kidnapping," she said patronizingly. "You have always been such a slow girl." The look on her face added, 'and disappointing too,' but she didn't need to say it out loud.

She shifted her gaze from Carla to me and raised a well-shaped brow when she noticed Blake's arm over my shoulder. "I see you've already lost Blake to a… witch." She made a 'tsk' noise, filled with disdain. She looked back at Carla. "Is it really too much to ask that you keep one teenage vampire in your grasp?"

I was stunned silent. Carla's mother always knew exactly what to say to make the people around her feel uncomfortable.

"I-" Carla began, but she was quickly stopped short.

"Hush, Carla. I am speaking now. You know very well I don't like to be interrupted," Eve said coldly. She brought her opaque blue eyes to mine. "Addie, dear." Her voice was lazier once again. "It's been too long since I've seen you. You're looking quite like your mother these days," she said as she scrutinized me from toe to head. "Oh, but such a shame about your hair."

That struck a chord with me, but I put the sting aside to address the matter at hand. "What do you want?"

Eve laughed a light and careful laugh. "You know what I want," she answered flatly. "You read my message. That's why you're here. I was going to let you figure out where by yourself, and send you the address later if you failed. But you came over so quickly." She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "You always were much smarter than Carla. At least you have that going for you."

I brought up a hand to hold my necklace. "Why do you want it?" I asked. I looked down to study the pendant. It was beautiful, but other than that it seemed extremely ordinary.

"Oh sweetheart," Eve said in a condescending manner. "You don't know what it does, do you?"

My head bobbed back up. "It's just supposed to protect me. I'm not sure from what, but I do know that."

Eve smiled once more. "I guess your mother never told you." She cast her eyes up, as if to recall a memory. "Well, she probably never had the chance, since she only found out what it truly does on the day she died."

"What does it do?"

Eve held out a manicured hand my way and said, "You'll find out once you hand it over."

"No." I automatically pulled it closer to my body. "Tell me what it does."

Eve's smile went away and she crossed her arms. "I don't think you're in a position to make demands at the moment."

As if on cue, four people shifted out of the shadows and into the light. They were Night people, judging by the black flower rings they were all wearing. They had been in the warehouse this whole time, just quiet and listening.

Goosebumps formed on my skin as I inspected each one of them. They all had heavy expressions that were very dark - ready to kill if they were commanded to. They were too far away for me to clearly see what their flowers represented, but they looked like… irises.

Vampires. We were up against vampires.

"Now," Eve said. "Hand it over."

The vampires were intimidating but I shook my head. "Tell me why you want it."

Eve pursed her lips. "Persistent, aren't you? Very much like your mother." She dusted some imaginary lint off her shoulder. "If you must know, I'm sure there's no harm in telling you. It's not like you're going anywhere anytime soon." She straightened her posture and began pacing. "You see, nature has been stirring up something lately…"

She was talking about the old powers. I should have known that it had to do with this whole war situation - something about the species. She prattled on about things I already knew, so I tuned out. Eve was distracted and this was my chance. She was off-guard and it was the only way we could attack. I glimpsed over at Belle and she knew what I was thinking. We were going to use our powers.

But Eve caught on and in a flash, someone pounced on me. I was knocked hard to the floor, and my head hit the ground. Black spots danced in my vision. Soon, the blackness took over entirely.

"Wake up!"

Azalea Rosewood's eyes popped open. She was disgruntled and her surroundings were blurry. Someone was shaking her.

"Wake up, Azalea!"

She looked over and saw a blonde head of hair. "Eve?" Her vision cleared up a bit, and confirmed that the person shaking her was in fact, Eve Redfern. "What are you doing in my bedroom?"

Eve Redfern scoffed, surprising Azalea. Normally Eve never did anything so unladylike. "We're not in your bedroom. We're in the office and everyone has already gone home," she said.

Azalea took a quick look around. Eve was right – they were in the office and Azalea had fallen asleep on her desk. She stood up, and rubbed her eyes.

"Eve, I just had the most… vivid dream," she said.

Eve rolled her eyes. "You know I don't care much for your dreams. They're always filled with nonsense. Honestly, you should get those strange ideas out of your head. You're better than that."

Azalea laughed. It was just like Eve to give that sort of backhanded comment. "No, listen," Azalea said. She was glad that the office had been cleared out because what she had to say was not suitable for the ears of Day people. "I think I finally know where I'm from. I didn't just have any crazy dream. I think I had a vision, or a projection, or something – but it was real."

Eve kept quiet, encouraging Azalea to go on. "I know I found the Night World when I was very little because of my powers… and my necklace. I've always had my necklace, and all I ever knew was that it belonged to my parents and that it would protect me."

"Yes we all know about your charming little backstory. Get to the point," Eve said impatiently.

"It's not just some trinket I inherited, Eve." Azalea looked at Eve straight in the eyes. "It was forged by Hellewise herself."

"What? How would you know that?" Eve lost her equanimity to gawk at her friend.

"I saw it in my dream. It's supposed to protect the wearer from… dragons," Azalea said.

"Dragons? Why dragons?"

"I don't know. But it's extremely powerful. Supposedly, a dragon's fire will not damage the wearer at all."

Eve returned to her usually levelheaded self and cleared her throat. "Why in the world would you, a simple lost witch, have such an extraordinary amulet?"

"Because I'm not just a simple lost witch." Azalea smiled. "I'm a direct descendant of Hellewise. I'm a not a Rosewood, I'm a Harman."

"Excuse me?" Eve uttered.

Azalea just kept on smiling. She hugged her friend and said, "Eve, we're family!"

When Azalea broke away, Eve was speechless, but she seemed to be thinking. Azalea jabbered on. "I saw it like a flash of lightning. My lineage down from Hellewise to me – and to my daughter. All of them were women, but they broke away a long time ago without knowing. That's why nobody could tell me what my necklace did. It had been too long since anyone who knew could explain."

Azalea shook Eve. "I'm a lost Harman!"

Eve pulled herself away from Azalea's grasp and a very stern expression took over her face. "We have to surrender it to the council at once," she said.

Azalea stumbled. "What? What does the council have to do with this?"

"Your necklace is not something you should be holding to yourself. If it was made by Hellewise and if it is as powerful as you say, you should bring it up to the council," Eve said.

Azalea backed away slightly, and hung on to her necklace. "No," she said. "This belongs to me. It's the only thing I have left of my family. Let me think about it or something. I've got to talk to my husband. And to Addie. I have to tell them."

Eve took a step forward and said with a very commanding tone, "Azalea, stop messing around. We have to give it in first. Hand it over."

Azalea took a bigger step back, but she hit the wall of her cubicle. "Stop it, Eve. If I decide to give it to them, I'll do it myself."

Eve shook her head. "I can't trust you to do that, give it to me."

Azalea was shocked. What had come over her friend? Why wasn't she excited to learn that they were family? Sure, it was by a blood-tie ceremony and Eve was only a Redfern by marriage, but it counted nonetheless.

Eve suddenly grabbed at the necklace. She caught a part of the string in her hand. Azalea realized she was about to yank it from her neck. Oh no, Eve couldn't do that. One thing that Azalea had learned from her dream was that the chain was too strong to be broken – even by a vampire.

"Wait, Eve no-" But it was too late. Eve yanked the chain hard, expecting it to break off and end up in her hand. But all Eve ended up doing was pulling at it much stronger than any human could take. The result was something Eve hadn't expected. Something she hadn't calculated for, as it happened too quickly.

Azalea's neck broke at the force and she tumbled into Eve's arms.

She was dead.

Eve dropped her friend and hopped back. The necklace… it was gone. She shifted Azalea's lifeless body and checked properly. For some reason it disappeared. Well, that was going to be a problem.

But Eve had another problem at the moment – one that was more pressing. She accidentally killed her friend. This wasn't very good. The council was not going to be pleased. Azalea had made quite a respectable reputation for herself in the Night World, and she would be missed.

Still, Eve Redfern prided herself in being able to think on her feet. She had to cover up the murder somehow – she was not going to take any chances. She peered around the office slowly until an idea came to mind. When her eyes landed on a loose wire, she solidified her plan. She was going to create a fire. It would burn up Azalea's corpse, hopefully enough to hide her true cause of death.

She went over and tampered with the wire then moved on to the office kitchen. She had to find some kind of oil. When she found what she wanted, she took a match from the drawer and walked back out. She was thankful that the office did not have any cameras, saving her the hassle of meddling with the tapes.

Eve walked over to Azalea and began pouring the oil generously. "Sorry, Azalea," she said. "It's nothing personal. I just have to look out for myself." When she was done pouring, she lit the match. "I will have to get that necklace though. I'll find out what you did with it. It's going to help me gain some ranks in our community." She threw the lit match on Azalea's body, and it caught in flames.

Eve dusted off her hands. "I may be a Redfern, but there are many of us, and I was originally a Hawthorne anyway. Being a woman, I'm not regarded very well as one to look up upon. Unlike you witches and your traditions, the men rule the vampires. I hope you understand."

Eve took the oil and poured it over the rest of the office. When she was done she took the bottle and matches, and put them back into place in the kitchen.

"ADDIE!" a voice roared out of nowhere.

Eve didn't seem to hear it. She just walked out of the office, as if there weren't a raging fire behind her.

"ADDIE! WAKE UP!"

My eyes snapped open. I must have had another dream. I looked around frantically trying to place where I was.

It was the warehouse.

"Addie!" Blake shouted. He was sitting on the ground next to me, and his hands were clamped behind his back by… wooden cuffs.

Belle was on my other side. She was cuffed down by normal metal ones. Wait a minute… it wasn't any metal. It was iron.

That was when I realized that I was restrained as well. I felt the cold iron digging uncomfortably on my skin. It was blocking my abilities.

I looked up and saw Eve, just watching me, as if she'd patiently been waiting for me to wake up. Carla was standing next to her, looking down at her feet.

What happened while I was knocked out?

But… my dream. Oh Goddess, my dream. It wasn't just any dream, it was a projection.

I felt horrified as I saw Eve Redfern more clearly than I ever had in my entire life. I felt my lip quiver when I said to her, "You killed my mother."