Matilda felt ill, a strange, twisting feeling filled her gut. She remembered awakening in that vault, locked in a powerful cage. But there was something else, something before that. She stumbled along, holding her stomach. She'd tried to find Reaper, but he was nowhere to be found. She felt pursued by something, something powerful, something furious. She could feel it's cold breath on her back when she slept. She felt strong, steel claws on her arms when she awoke, but there was nothing there. She felt unsafe, she felt terrified. She didn't know what it was, or why she didn't remember what had killed her, but she felt a strange sense of dread that had only increased since she left that village. It had been a year now, and it was only growing. She had to get out of here. She felt the power getting ever closer, and saw a strange figure standing on the hill far to the south. She felt a wave of impossibly powerful psychic energy wash over her, and saw the figure rush down the hill, it's silver blade reflecting the setting sun briefly.

"Who are you?" She whispered, dashing out of her cave.

"You remember me, don't you, Matilda? Has it really been that long?" A strong, male voice echoed through the air around her. It was him, that man from the village. But why did she feel such dread? He had resisted her psychic assault, which scared her, but how was he tracking her? She hadn't left a trail of any sort. She felt her stomach lurch, and she threw up on the grassy hill; a sickly, black pool. She was unwell, she needed to run. She fled for weeks, far to the south, until she was lost in the Caerinian desert. There was something inside her. Something... alive. She felt weaker with each passing day, and felt a powerful presence inside of her womb. She was cursed, she was sure of it. She needed out, she needed a respite from this chase. She needed to leave this world. She summoned all of her power and created an enourmos orb of black energy in her hands. She hurled it forwards, where it collapsed into a pinpoint of energy, that rapidly expanded, ripping open a hole in the void, as bolts of energy fired out, blasting the sand around her into glass and creating a powerful sandstorm. She lept through as it slammed shut behind her, and was in the burning abyss for a split second, but that was long enough for her to see someone reaching out to her.

"NO!!" She screamed, as the memories came flooding back in to her mind at the sight of that armored claw. She fell out of the void, far above a dense pine forest, and fell through their boughs, richocheting off of the branches and snapping them with her back. She hit the forest floor with an echoing boom that shook snow off of the highest branches. A second thunderclap signaled the void snapping shut behind her. She began to weep as she crawled away, throwing up again as she struggled to get to her feet. She knew why she felt ill, she knew how she had been captured. Worse still, she remembered what had killed her, and how.

"I wa-" The words caught in her throat as she threw up again. She had been violated, attacked, in a horrific way.

"How could he!?" She screamed at the sky, making the birds drop from the branches, as their hearts stopped. She crawled slowly into a small cave and wept, curled into a fetal position, as her nightmares forced her to relive that night over and over. His impossible power, his adamantine grip, and worse, his insane eyes floated around her head as she screamed in her sleep. She had never been overpowered like that, and had never once been invaded against her will, but she wasn't strong enough. And he took what he wanted from her. For seven days and nights, he took from her. Seven days and nights of unending torture. Even as the sun burned her skin, he continued. Even as she screamed in pain and disgust, he continued. She jolted awake as her gut jerked again, and she rolled over to vomit again. She pressed her hand against her stomach, and felt a faint heartbeat deep inside of her. It sent shivers up her spine, and she threw up again. What was she going to do?

For two years, she lay alone in that forest, in misery and horror, feeling the creature inside of her grow with each passing day, until one night, in the middle of summer, she felt a horrific pain deep inside of her, and felt her muscles contract as her stomach lurched. She screamed, making the creatures of the forest drop dead instantly. For two months, she screamed in pain, until she was vomiting blood daily. Finally, in the ending days of autumn, she felt something leave her. She awoke the next day, her pain almost gone, and heard something screaming. She looked down near her legs to behold a small, naked child, that pulsed with a strange power. But she did not feel her instincts screaming at her to kill it, like they normally did. Instead, she felt nothing. Her instincts were silent, the ceaseless chanting in her mind was gone. But the child continued to scream. She gathered it up in her arms in shock, and gathered her torn garments around it to keep it warm. It was a baby girl. She pressed it against her breasts, and as it began suckling, she felt a hole inside of her open up. She felt nothing for this creature. Yet she held it. She had seen mortal mothers with their children, and had seen how they loved them, and what they did for them. But she felt nothing for this being she had created. She had a child. And she was terrified.

"I've had the wierdest dreams lately." Janet said, sitting next to her husband at the table, as the setting sun poured in the open windows, painting the room a vivid shade of scarlet.

"Oh?" Nathan said, taking a big bite of steak and looking at her quizzically.

"Yeah..." She said, pouring a glass of wine. Nathan chewed the steak contemplatively, watching her.

"Gonna expand on that?" He asked, keeping his lips together, but somehow managing to grin still.

"Well, I would, but I have to warn you, it's really, really wierd." Janet said.

"I've heard some wierd ones, doll. I don't think yours can outwierd the ones I've heard." Nathan said, taking a sip of wine.

"So remember that big storm a few weeks ago, and that one night the wind howled so loudly it was like someone was screaming? Or howling?" Janet said, setting the bottle down gently.

"Yeah. That was a freak storm." Nathan said, cutting off another piece of steak.

"Well, ever since then, I've been having these dreams. It's always the same too, like I'll be sitting in a room, reading a book, and I'll hear this voice. It's a woman's voice, and at first, it's unclear. But-" Janet paused as Nathan put his knife and fork down, resting his chin on his hands and listening intently, only occasionally chewing the steak.

"But as I listen, I can hear her asking me questions, but not the type you'd expect from a dream. She asks, like, 'how do I get her to stop screaming? I just fed her.' Things like that. It's like the voice is asking me advice for raising a baby. But I never see her, I only hear her." Janet said.

"So that's why I hear you talking in your sleep." Nathan said.

"It's unnerving, honestly, having the same dream every night. But it always varies a little." Janet said, taking a sip of wine. She hadn't even touched her steak. Her appetite was gone anyway.

"Oh?" Nathan said, taking a little sip of wine as well.

"Yeah, like I'm always in that same room, reading the same book, but her questions are always different. And I can remember it clearly when I wake up. It doesn't fade like a normal dream." Janet said.

"Well what was the last question she asked?" Nathan said.

"She asked me what kind of meat she should eat." Janet said, shrugging and taking a sip of wine.

"Odd." Nathan said, cutting off a piece of steak again.

"Right?" Janet said, finally cutting into her steak.

Nathan waited until Janet had fallen asleep next to him before calling the Bureau.

"Nathan Spencer." He whispered, getting out of bed slowly.

"Go ahead." The man on the other side said.

"I've got a report of unusual psychic activity. We've got multiple individuals reporting similar dreams, all nearly identical. I've narrowed the search area down to the mountains near Highway 13. I suggest a silent op, on account of possible civilian intervention." Nathan said.

"I'll let them know." The man said, static nearly cutting him off completely.

"Did you get all that?" Nathan whispered. Only static replied. But this was a land line. There shouldn't be any static.

"He won't hurt you. He's a really nice guy." Janet mumbled from the bed.

"What?" Nathan said, turning around. She was still laying on the bed peacefully. But there was something else. A strange, threatening presence.

"No, he works at a paper mill." Janet said, rolling over in her sleep.

"I'm sure he can." Janet said.

"Can what?" Nathan said, feeling a cold breeze rush past him.

"Yeah, the back door's unlocked." Janet mumbled. Nathan felt his heart skip a beat, and moved as quickly and quietly as he could down the stairs. He heard a baby's giggles coming from the living room as he locked the back door. He felt cold chills go up his spine as he rushed into the living room. He expected to see something horrifying and permanently scarring. But instead, there was a woman dressed in black sitting on one of his chairs, holding a small baby in her arms, and rocking her back and forth slowly. The baby wasn't any older than a month at most. And very small.

"Can I help you?" Nathan asked.

"I hope so." Said the woman, looking up at him. Nathan was taken aback. It was one of them. The aliens he was tracking. But it didn't look like the others. No, this one wasn't panicked and nearly rabid, she was calm, sleek, and seemed well-fed, unlike every other one he'd captured or seen captured.

"I've been told some... conflicting things about you, mister Spencer." She said, caressing the child's head carefully. Was he dreaming? That child was human, not alien. The juvenile aliens he'd captured were like smaller versions of their adult counterparts. But this baby looked as human as any other he'd ever seen.

"I've been told you've released my location to some... unpleasant individuals. I'd like you to reconsider that action, and possibly redact it, if at all possible." She said calmly.

"And why would I redact, or reconsider that?" Nathan asked.

"Don't you have children, mister Spencer?" She asked.

"No. No I do not." Nathan said calmly. Had she kidnapped a baby? Why was she holding a human child?

"To answer your question, no, I did not kidnap a baby. The reason I'm asking you to reconsider is I want to raise my daughter in peace. Alone." She said.

"You expect me to believe that is your child?" Nathan said.

"She is. This is Persephone." The alien said, smiling sweetly as she showed him the baby she held. It was undoubtedly human, but her ears were ever so slightly pointed backwards. And she was no older than a few weeks.

"I've never seen one of you with a human baby." Nathan said, making a mental note of how far away his gun was. He remembered that this particular alien was suspected of having powerful psychic abilities. There might not be a baby at all.

"She isn't human, mister Spencer. And I assure you, she is very real. And as long as you do not threaten her safety or well-being, you have nothing to fear from me. Would you like to hold her?" The alien said softly, smiling at him.

"Er..." Nathan wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"Nate, what're you doing up?" Janet asked groggily as she walked down the stairs.

"Stay there, Janet." Nathan said, stepping between the alien and his girlfriend.

"You have nothing to fear from me, mister Spencer. Hello, Janet." The alien said softly.

"Matilda?" Janet said, walking past Nathan in a daze.

"Isn't she beautiful?" The alien said, holding out the baby to Janet as she walked closer slowly.

"Janet, stay away from her." Nathan said, stepping closer to his gun hidden in the tv stand.

"She's so precious." Janet said softly, picking up the baby from Matilda's arms.

"She's sleeping now, which is the most respite I ever get. But I need to find a place, far from here, to raise her." Matilda said softly.

"And you don't need that gun, Nathan." Matilda added.

"You have a gun here?" Janet asked Nathan in disbelief.

"He's not what he seems, Janet. But then, neither am I. Not here, anyway." Matilda said softly as Janet sat down next to her, still holding Persephone carefully.

"What do you mean?" Janet asked, unable to take her eyes off of Persephone.

"I don't feel... bloodthirsty here. At home, I was driven to kill, to hunt and consume. But not here. With her in my arms, all I feel..." Matilda paused to take her baby back from Janet.

"Is nothing." She said softly, a tear flowing down her cheek as she brushed the blanket away from Persephone's face gently.

"I'm terrified, honestly. But not for my own safety. But for hers. Look at her. She's so small. I've got to keep her safe, Nathan. Surely you know how I feel." Matilda said, looking up at him.

"I can't say that I do." Nathan said.

"Well. If you can't feel pity, or at least empathy." Matilda began, standing up slowly.

"Then you will feel terror." She said.

An explosion of wind and dense black smoke shot out from Matilda, enveloping the room suddenly, swallowing everything as she towered over Nathan.

"You will tell your friends to leave my daughter and I alone. Or I will consume everything you love, everything you know, and leave you in the empty abyss alone. Beginning with her." Matilda said, as a spear of black energy appeared out of thin air and fired towards Janet.

"NO!!" Nathan screamed, leaping to intercept it. It stopped an inch from his chest as Persephone began crying loudly. Nothing moved for the longest time, as Persephone's cries echoed through the darkness. Suddenly the darkness was pulled back to the center of the room as the world returned to normal, with Matilda standing in the center of the room, comforting her wailing child as best she knew how.

"What just happened?" Janet asked, holding onto Nathan with an iron grip.

"My daughter just saved your lives, mortals. That's what happened." Matilda said furiously as she pressed her baby against her chest.

"You leave me alone, and I won't kill you. Next time, I won't hold back." Matilda said, vanishing in puff of dense black smoke.

"Nathan?" Janet asked quietly.

"Yeah." Nathan said, his heart beating wildly in his chest.

"You've got some explaining to do." She whispered.