"Well, this day just keeps getting better and better," Nyla purrs, caressing the garnet pendant dangling from her necklace. "If I had known that we were family, I wouldn't have been so harsh on you." Nyla tosses her head back and lets out a musical laugh.

The sound chills Carmine down to the bone.

"You're my great-aunt? How is that possible?" Carmine asks, reaching for a napkin and dabbing the sweat off her forehead.

This can't be. She can't possibly be related to a murderous vamp like Nyla.

"And why not?" Nyla muses, taking a large stride towards Carmine. "I'm sure you've noticed how closely we resemble one another."

It's true. Carmine has noticed. She shares Nyla's jet black hair, pale skin, high cheekbones, large eyes and full red lips. In fact, now that she thinks about it, her and Nyla almost look like sisters.

The only difference is, Nyla is a few hundred years older and far more deadly and callous than Carmine.

"So I gather you two have met," Mason says quietly, offering Nyla a seat.

"We work together," Nyla explains, sitting down. "At the hotel."

As soon as these words leave Nyla's mouth, the whole room is enshrouded by an uncomfortable silence. It doesn't take long for the rest of the family to figure out that Nyla is the vampire killer terrorizing Richmont.

Nyla shakes loose a cloth napkin and lays it across her lap. "I'm starving. Shall we eat?"

Red nods nervously and offers Nyla something to drink. "A blood cocktail perhaps?" She reaches for a plastic pitcher filled with crimson liquid.

"That would be lovely, Kardinal," Nyla says, holding out her glass.

Red sloshes some of the thick blood into Nyla's glass. "Please, call me Red," she says, her voice cracking a little.

"Alright," Nyla brings the glass to her mouth and takes a tiny sip, savouring the taste on her tongue. "Red, are you feeling okay? You seem a little pale."

Red brushes back her hair and shakes her head. "No, I'm fine. I think I'm just overtired, that's all. Lots of overtime shifts at work."

"So, Nyla, what brings you here today?" Carmine asks between mouthfuls of raw sausage. She chews each bite carefully, keeping her eyes focused down on her plate.

"Why don't you ask your father sweetie? He invited me," Nyla replies, looking to Mason. "And don't you think referring to me by my first name is a tad disrespectful, considering the fact that I'm your elder?"

Carmine ignores the comment and turns to her father. "Father, why did you invite her?" Her voice carries an unmistakable edge.

Mason runs a hand through his golden brown hair. "I invited her here because she's family and she's never seen you or Blake before. Since she was in town I thought-"

"-Why don't you tell them the REAL reason I'm here, Mason," Nyla says, downing the rest of her blood cocktail in one gulp. Once the glass is drained, she licks her lips and holds out the glass for a refill. Red quickly replenishes the cup.

Mason looks hesitant but resigns to a quick nod. He weaves his fingers together and sighs, "Okay. The other reason I invited your great-aunt here is because...we need her help."

"Why do we need her help?" Carmine snaps, growing more uneasy by the minute. Something tells her she won't like Mason's answer.

"A couple days ago, I heard through the grapevine that a new coven is coming to Richmont. They've decided to establish themselves here and start breeding. They also want to convert all the human here into vampires," Mason explains, taking a gulp of his blood cocktail. "Rumour has it they won't stop until every last person in Richmont is either dead, converted or has run away. The problem with their plan is, they don't know about the vampire hunters gathering in Larksdale. New hunters are being trained daily by the one they worship called the Hunter Queen. She's making it her mission to stop the new coven from infiltrating Richmont. They're calling it 'The Great Culling'. They won't stop until all the vampires in Richmont are dead or they are. Bloodbaths and massacres are imminent. We need your great-aunt's protection in order to successfully flee the state. We might even be leaving the country."

"What if I don't want to leave?" Blake interrupts. "I have friends here! My whole life is here. This isn't fair! Why can't we stay and fight the hunters?"

"It doesn't matter what you think about fairness. You wouldn't last a minute up against an experienced hunter," Mason says grimly. "They are elite assassins trained specifically to kill vampires. You're not even a full-blood and you still have so much more to learn about the vampire world..." Mason explains, "You'd be torn to pieces in the fray. We don't stand a chance. The new vampire covens won't offer us any protection because you two are half-bloods. We have no choice but to leave."

"Your father is right," Nyla says, dabbing her mouth with a napkin. "I'm even older than him and I wouldn't challenge a pro vampire hunter unless it was absolutely necessary. The best course of action for us all is to leave before we're stuck here."

"I agree with great-aunt," Carmine finally says. "We need to get out of Richmont. Preferably tomorrow or the day after."

Even if Mason never mentioned the new coven and the hunters, they would still need to leave before the world learns about Liam's death. Before they see the incriminating footage. This additional piece of news only accelerates their predetermined course of action.

"Tomorrow!" Red exclaims. "But all our things...this house...my beautiful garden. Everything we've worked so hard to build here...my jobs...I-I can't just-" Red begins spluttering, her eyes pricking with tears. Her face grows red and blotchy and she hides it behind her sleeve, all the while continuing to tremble.

"Mother, you need to worry about the bigger picture," Carmine says softly. She stands up and walks toward Red. "If we don't leave as soon as possible, nothing will even matter anymore because we'll be dead."

Red swallows hard at Carmine's words and then buries her head in her hands.

"Carmine is right. We should make preparations and head out tomorrow night," Mason says, resting a fist on the table. "Take only the bare essentials. The rest we can sell through an agent...if anyone is still willing to buy a house here after the butchery begins."

"What about money?" Red asks. "We don't have enough cash to start over. Not unless we sell this house and our belongings first."

"There's no time," Mason repeats. "This is all happening fast. If we don't stay ahead of the game, we will fall behind and get trampled to death. Don't you understand, Kardinal?"

Red folds her arms across her chest and leans back in her chair. Only a weak sniffle escapes from her.

"So what do we do now?" Blake asks quietly. "What's the plan?"

Mason squares his shoulders and looks incredibly somber as he gives out the next instructions. "We pack everything we can today. I will contact the rest of the Redoza clan and ask to seek asylum in their homes. If they agree to take us in, I will book us flights for tomorrow night. We will fly out to Minnipola and stay there until the battles are over."

No one dares to challenge the authority in Mason's voice.

"I'll start packing," Blake mopes, his face bruised with defeat. With head hung low, he slowly makes his way upstairs to his room.

"I guess I'll take out the suitcases and call a travel agency," Red adds reluctantly, following Blake.

Carmine, Nyla and Mason look at one another.

"Father, may I speak to Great-Aunt in private first? Then I will join you in your study and discuss our...plans?"

Mason nods. "Don't waste too much time. You need to be ready to leave at any given moment now. I'll be upstairs collecting my things."

After Mason disappears, Carmine turns to Nyla. All of Carmine's pent up emotions are begging to spill out of her. She feels as if she's an overblown balloon, a pinprick away from exploding. "If we leave, what about Sebastian? You promised me you would look after him."

"That was before I realized Richmont was going to hell," Nyla explains casually. "We need to focus on saving our own asses, don't you think?"

"So we're just going to run away and leave Sebastian and all our co-workers to rot in hell?"

"I'm obviously not as attached to them as you are," Nyla scoffs. "Didn't your mother ever teach you to never be friends with humans? They are our only good for three things: blood, sex, and money. You should only get close to them if they can offer you one of those things in return. That's just common sense."

"Well not everyone is a conniving, murderous bitch like you," Carmine spits. "You're heartless. You promised you would respect Sebastian and care for him. Now you're going to leave him to a pack of hungry vampires. You're despicable."

Nyla doesn't even flinch. "Please, princess. Did you honestly think I would treasure him and dote on him? I'm a vampire. Vampires don't have human emotions. They don't fall in love, they only fall in lust. And once lust is replaced by boredom or higher priorities, such as survival, then the humans become disposable. Obsolete."

"My father is in love with my mother," Carmine points out. "So you're wrong. You don't know everything."

"Hah! Is that what you think? That your father is still in love with your mother? Oh child, you are SO naive. So innocent. You are just precious, aren't you?" Nyla reaches out and attempts to pinch Carmine's cheeks but she dodges the advance.

Carmine's eyebrows knit together. She's unsure of what to say next. She's done arguing with her psychopathic great-aunt. It's pointless. Carmine slowly backs out of the kitchen, afraid of turning around for fear that Nyla will stab her in the back. When she reaches the bottom of the stairwell, Carmine flies upstairs to talk to Mason.

"Father, may I come in?" Carmine asks once she's outside the study.

"Yes, come in, Carmine. We don't have much time so please be quick." Mason is pulling all the books off their shelves and shoving them into an open suitcase.

Once Carmine enters the study, she shuts the door behind her. Without further prelude, she blurts out, "How could you invite that killer into our home and ask for her help! She's murdered two people right in front of me! Do you realize what you've done?"

"Keep your voice down, Carmine."

"She's been slaughtering people right left and centre. She's not like us, father. She's incredibly powerful and 100% pure evil. We should stay away from her. We don't need help. We can escape without her."

"I can't take that chance," Mason says, toying with a pen on his desk before slipping it into his briefcase. "There's too much at stake here. We need every helping hand we can get. Now I know you and Nyla may have had your differences but I hope you can set those all aside and learn to work together. She may be a murderer but she's still family. The hunters are our enemies, not each other."

"But father-"

"Do you remember the time I told you about the oak tree and the sapling?" Mason suddenly asks.

"Yes...why?"

"Why do you think I've been grooming you all these years? Why do you think I wanted to teach you all the skill sets as soon as possible? I won't be alive forever. I might die tomorrow. Who knows? When I die, you will need to step up and protect this family. When the battles come, they will inevitably lead to a full blown war. Possibly on a national or even global scale. If that happens, you need to be prepared. If you don't become more powerful, you will get crushed like an ant. Do you understand? War has been threatening to break for years now. Both sides have simply been waiting it out and amassing more resources and building their armies. But when full-fledged, targeted attacks start happening, you can bet that both armies will throw in everything they've got to try to annihilate the other party. Our family has always stayed neutral. We don't kill. We only take what's necessary to survive. We don't draw attention to ourselves. That's how we've stayed alive all these years. But now, this tactic will no longer serve us. Because hunters can smell a vamp from a mile away. They have witches and wizards and even seers on their side. They will actively seek us out and destroy us. We are at a disadvantage. If we don't fight back, we will be tortured and ripped apart. Do you understand?"

"Isn't there any way to end this senseless violence?" Carmine asks, her lips trembling.

Mason looks out the window at the tall oak tree in the backyard and shakes his head, "No."

"I don't want to abandon everything we've built here," Carmine sobs weakly. "Don't we have any options?"

Mason frowns and then says, "Go pack your bags. I don't want any further discussion on this topic. You're lucky we're not putting you under a house arrest spell...We will deal with you and Blake's little "indiscretion" after we've settled into a new place. Now go."

***Next update on Friday! Thank you so much to my lovely fans, notably DarkDovely, MeowSniper, imortalslover123, WickedPuppy11 and countrygal1323! You all inspired me to finish this book! Chesmok***