The gravel crunched beneath the tires wheels as the silver Audi rolled to a stop. The engine clicked off and the grounds were silent once again. The driver opened the door and stepped out, the gravel crunching under her shoes. The passenger opened his door and exited; "This is where we are supposed to meet him?"

"Yeah," Rin stared up at the large house, all the windows were dark and the curtains on the first floor were drawn shut.

"Looks like it's been abandoned for years," Fei said running a hand through his hair.

"He told me this was the address, and I followed his directions," Rin snapped.

"I'm not questioning your directions I'm questioning Christopher's reliability," Fei told her. He looked over at his sister, her hair was significantly longer since the last time he had seen her, she was also thinner. "Rin…." Before he could begin his sentence however Christopher pushed open the two main doors, a smiled plastered on his face.

"Welcome friends," he said.

"I wouldn't address us so informally," Rin said.

"Ahh but we are old friends," Christopher smiled at her.

"There was nothing about our relationship that made us friends," Rin said.

"Rin…" Fei glanced over to her, she locked eyes with him then held her tongue. "We're here as your requested now will you tell us what this is about?"

"Certainly come in," he stepped aside, Fei and Rin climbed the three stairs and entered the house. It was almost pitch black in the grand foyer, save a small lit candle in the corner. "I was waiting for you, come with me," he had a strange smile plastered on his face, one that to Rin said trouble.

They followed him into the house and through another set of double doors. All the doors in the empty hallway were closed, and there were sheets thrown over the small tables, it was dark save the white glow at the end of the hallway where the doors were open.

"As you know before her death your Aunt and I met on several occasions, the last meeting between us was the very night of her death, only moments before she faced Yoshiki in their fated battle. During that last meeting she gave me one last task," he said.

Rin and Fei glanced at each other, Rin moved her fingers discreetly already planning to defend herself if Christopher attempted to bombard them.

"She even forced me to take an unbreakable vow in order to ensure that I would do what she asked of me," Christopher said.

"And what exactly did Aunt Sophia ask of you Christopher?" Rin asked.

As they reached the end of the hallway Christopher turned around with his dark smile, "I'll show you, she left me strict orders to ensure that you two would be here, family always needs family…."

Rin and Fei locked eyes again as Christopher turned and walked into the garden. Rin felt a deep pit opening in her stomach, something was off, something sinister was just beyond the threshold of the garden. Rin inhaled a deep breath and brushed her brothers hand as she walked by.

Christopher was already twenty feet away from them walking towards the back of the garden, which was hidden by large over grown willow trees. Rin walked down the path observing the wild foliage and the blossoming flowers, magic was thick in the air and it was making the flowers bloom in the middle of fall. Rin brushed the willow leaves away, she stopped suddenly in her tracks her hands shaking. Fei walking into her back, "Rin what…." He stopped talking when he looked over her shoulder.

Beneath the willows was an open grotto, the floor was sand and rock, and in the middle stood a large stone table, around the table a large circle was drawn in dark liquid that both siblings suspected was blood; there were candles placed at the north, east, south, and west ends of the circle, another bloody line connected the candles and the circle to the stone table, within the circle bloody symbols were painted on the rocks and sand. In the corner was another ritual shrine where a woman was sitting on her knees muttering and stirring something in a bowl. All of this was shocking to Rin, but the worst was the still body of a female that was lying on the stone table covered in a white sheet.

"Fei….." Rin whispered.

"What is this Christopher," yelled Fei, he gripped his sisters hand and pulled her behind him.

Christopher turned around and held up his hand exposing the black tattoo on his arm. "This…" he spread his arms out, "This is my last mission for your Aunt….a resurrection ceremony. I've been under contract all this time waiting for the right moment, waiting for your darling Mistresses orders to arrive."

The woman in the corner turned around and spoke, "It is ready," she held out the bowl to him and bowed. Christopher turned around and faced the body on the table, he held the bowl out before himself and bowed, then he threw the liquid onto the sheet. It was a reddish copper color, Rin knew it was blood mixed with some other types of potions.

"You're….you're…..trying to resurrect…" Rin stammered as she realized the ritual that was about to be preformed.

Christopher handed back the bowl to the woman, "Yes, so you understand it now….it took me a long time to find her."

"Are you telling me that Sophia gave you orders to do this," yelled Fei.

"This is against everything that we were taught, it's an abomination!"

"No more of an abomination than those Vampire's!" Christopher yelled turning on them.

"Didn't you used to work for those Vampires?" asked Fei he gripped Rin's hand, he could see that something had changed in Christopher's eyes, he recognized it though, it was the same look that Sophia had carried for so long. "And didn't you try to kill our beloved cousin at one point too?"

He stared down at the body in front of him his eyes shadowed by the dim candle light, he reached out and touched the body in front of him with a gentle grip. "I did, however your Aunt was a woman like no other, she was able to show me the error of my ways, and in doing this I will have redeemed myself for her….It's warm the body is beginning to come back to life."

Rin glanced at the body on the table then over to the woman at the shrine who was shaking and muttering spells. "That's not the hard part, any necromancer can bring a body back and make cells regenerate," said Rin.

"Yes to bring back a soul, to bring the essence back that's harder," he said. From the table next to him he picked up another vial, he held it into the light. The small amount of gold liquid swirled around in the bottle, "I have to say your aunt was a genius, it was like she could predict every move before anyone even made it."

"If she had been able to do that then she would have been able to save herself," Rin muttered. Fei gripped her hand, they both knew that they needed to leave, this ritual was against the laws of nature and just for being there they could be in serious trouble.

"Brining a human back to life can cause serious damage to the mind and soul," Fei said.

"Yes that is true, but in about ten seconds here our little subject won't exactly be human anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that our little subject here is going to be something more, something that Sophia had planned and wasn't able to produce. Something that it took me a long time to perfect," he said. "Your Aunt was the architect, I was the creator," he smiled as he took a needle our and extracted the gold liquid. He then injected it into the subjects arm and waited.

He dipped his hand into a bowl filled with human blood, removing his fingers he began to draw symbols on the arms, legs, and hands of the body. Muttering in an ancient language he placed his hands above the heart.

Rin saw the old flesh growing young and healthy again, "Fei….We shouldn't be here."

Fei pull Rin's arm and made for the path that they had come from, when he reached it however he was suddenly shocked and thrown backwards. Rin caught him and pushed him back onto his feet, she looked down and saw that his hand was burned and smoking, they turned and looked at Christopher.

He smiled darkly, "Family should be near when a new birth happens….or in this case a rebirth." He turned back to the body and continued to mutter.

"Rin…this is dangerous," Fei said. "You need to get out of here."

Suddenly the air around them began to hum and crackle. Rin grabbed her brother's arm, "Too late now."

Christopher smile, the circle around the grotto began to glow a deep red light, the symbols on the ground began to crackle and burn into the sand. Rin felt the air around them heat up, she felt the power building, and the pull of gravity was getting stronger. Suddenly Rin heard a loud crack from behind them, she turned and saw large pieces of earth pushing up and caving in around the garden.

Rin turned to Fei who's eyes were staring at Christopher and his ritual. Rin followed his gaze, in the midst of the chaos Christopher was removing a silver pendant from around his neck and placing it around the wrist of the body. "I promised I'd return it when it was time," he whispered.

Rin's eyes widened and right as she felt the air heat even more she thrust out her hands and yelled, "Seki!"

There was brilliant flash of red light, a roar of wind, and a blood chilling scream that echoed throughout the building. The ground around them shook and Rin heard several more loud cracks from the foundation beneath their feet. Then as suddenly as it had happened there was nothing but silence and a ringing in all of their ears, Rin looked up to see Christopher laying against the opposite wall. The force of the blast had thrown him backwards, she saw blood against the wall where he had hit.

The woman who had been on the ground next to Christopher was lying face down next to the stone table. Her back was smoking and there were several burns on her hands and arms, Rin didn't want to see her face. Fei had crouched down and hidden his face in Rin's coat when she had activated the shield, thankfully she had done it just in time and they were both unharmed.

The area around them began to cool after a few moments and Rin lowered her hands and let down the shield. She could now smell burnt flesh and sulfur, "Come on Fei let's get out of here before they wake up." She looked down at him when he didn't respond or move, "Fei?"

"Rin…" he pointed at the table. The smoke had cleared and they were now able to see the body's silhouette. The figure was no longer lying on their back but on their side, slowly she began to push herself up off of the table.

"Oh my god," Rin muttered staring at it her eyes wide and filled with terror.

The woman sat up completely her back facing them, she looked down at her hands and then clenched and unclenched her fists. Her foot touched the cold stone floor and she stood, unsteady at first and then strong, her black dress was torn and burnt but for the most part it was still intact. Her long hair fell to her waist and covered her face. She looked down and touched the silver pendant that Christopher had wrapped around her wrist, she stared at it with confusion then recognition.

"Mis…." Rin began. She saw the figures shoulders tense at the sound of her voice. "Mistress?"

She looked up and stared at them in confusion for a moment, then recognition set in, her eyes flitted from side to side then her brain seemed to remember that she had been spoken to. "I…..I suppose…..that is my name," said the figure her voice scratchy and low. She coughed, "You….something is different….my body wasn't…..it wasn't like this…..before….when I was….."

Rin and Fei stared at her, they had noticed the differences in her appearance they were extremely hard to miss. Her skin was beautiful and alabaster, something that it had not been before, her eyes were still their natural dark color however now they were rimmed with a bright gold which shone in the darkness.

Rin glanced over at her brother and then back to the woman standing a few feet away from her. Though she knew the face well she wondered if the spirit was the same, there was an ominous feeling in the room that had not been there before. A feeling that had came with that flash of red light.

"You are right Rin, I'm not the same as I was before….I'm…..I don't know what I am…" she said.

"You're a Vanguard, one of the first," said Christopher. The group looked over at him, he stood before her on shaky legs blood dripping down the back of his head, the same tainted smile on his face. "You've transcended humanity, you're the next level of evolution that your mother wanted to create."

Momiji looked down at her hands, she clenched them once more, "I see…..I see what her intentions were." She smirked then looked up at the group before her, "Now tell me how long I have been dead?"

Fei locked eyes with Rin, he looked back at his cousin then stood, "As of today it had been Seven Years."

"They've pulled her back," said the sweet melodious voice from her high backed velvet chair.

Lenobia stood at the window, her head held high and her eyes never wavering from the horizon. "That fool thought I wouldn't feel it, across a country and an ocean, even hiding in England like the rat that he is….I felt it…and so did others," she said.

"This wasn't in the stars," Hotaru said. "She wasn't supposed to be brought back to life."

"They've defied a great taboo, and not only have they brought back an exiled and tainted spirit but they've also given her more power, as if she wasn't a problem before," Lenobia turned and faced the younger girl in her chair.

"We can wake the others," Hotaru said with a dark smile.

"No not yet, I don't want Van to be tipped off to the fact that the game has begun again," Lenobia said.

"You've waited a long time for this to happen, the marriage of the Prince and Princess, the birth of another seer, and for the Roderick family to weaken," Hotaru said. "And knowing you I don't think that this little mishap will change any of your plans."

"You're right…however it will cause a ripple….Prince Kusanagi will be aware of her resurrection soon," Lenobia said. "I assume he won't stay in hiding for much longer."

"Well….things will get more interesting, especially since the little Roderick Princess isn't fully human anymore," Hotaru said.

"Yes…..things are going to become much more interesting."

Hermione's eyes snapped open suddenly, she sat up without thinking and the world around her began to spin. She had felt intense head and a dark presence, she shivered the night air was chilly against her skin. She looked around her expecting to see a vast and ancient garden, instead she saw before her a dead and barren wasteland. She rose from the swinging bed she had been laying on, her bare feet touching ash and cold cinders. Her dress flowing around her as the wind blew, she walked forward not hesitating in her steps. She walked to the edge of the burnt garden and stood at the stone wall. She looked down and saw the beach of the island below; the water was blood red and numerous bodies littered the ground and floated in the ocean.

She heard a rushing sound behind her, she turned around suddenly to face the attacker. A black shadow rushed at her, she felt it stab her stomach, and she heard a familiar chuckle. "The world isn't kind….."

Hermione woke in her bed and sat up immediately, she looked around and saw the familiar bedroom she shared with Daniel. She reached over and felt his empty side of the bed, it was slightly warm meaning he hadn't been gone long. Looking to the window she threw the covers off and ran to the two doors leading to the garden, she threw them open and breathed a sigh of relief. The garden was alive and as beautiful as ever, she looked towards the beach and in the fading light of the Greek sun saw that the beach was still pure and untainted by blood and bodies. She sat down upon the hanging bed and allowed her feet to skim the ground as she swung back and forth gently.

She looked up at the darkening sky and touched her slightly swollen stomach gently. "Whatever is coming….I pray that it holds off for a little longer," she whispered as a warm wind blew against her. Despite the gentleness of it Hermione had a foreboding sense that it was fate mocking her.