"What happened?", Paige asked, pulling back slightly from Ralph.

"Are you hurt?", Walter asked, looking him over, relief still flooding him.

"I'm fine, but the question of 'what happened' is a bit of a long story that I think would go much faster if I introduced you to someone first.", Ralph replied, stepping back and adjusting his armor plates.

"Oh?", Paige raised an eyebrow, reality finally diverging from the nightmare.

Ralph nodded as a woman walked in from the balcony.

"Mom, dad, everyone, meet Elisabetta."

Elisabetta Moretti didn't look imposing for being so powerful, in fact, she reminded Paige of a younger version of herself.

Then she noticed how Elisabetta seemed to have a shimmering aura around her, and that her features were changing minutely by the second.

For a split second there, Elisabetta had been a younger version of Paige.

"Hello. It is good to finally meet you. I'd like to start by apologizing for kidnapping your son, it was not my intention to cause you any sort of panic or worry, thought I clearly failed in that respect. That battle back in the ballroom was far too dangerous a place for someone like Ralph.", Elisabetta said, "Reasons aside, I can't imagine the fear you felt, and for placing you in a lot of undue emotional distress, I am deeply sorry."

Walter was the first to straighten up and respond.

"I accept your apology, but I still can't begin to completely trust you until you tell me why you decided to use my enemy and Paige's ex to get to us. You do realize what Collins did to my sister, right?", Walter replied.

"He almost killed me.", Megan piped up.

Elisabetta's lips formed a line and she looked down before facing them.

"I must confess that I had knowledge of this. I knew how much he hated you, and therefore, I had to use you as bait to get him on my side. I have kept him on a close lead ever since I picked him up from that warehouse."

"Could you explain to me how he was trying to kill me earlier if what you say is true?", Walter asked.

"I lost control of him. He used subterfuge to get out of my sight for one moment, the next thing I know, he's got Drew like a puppet on a string, he's got control of a squad of Strigoi, and he's making Drew attack Paige. None of that was a part of the plan. I heard him tell his Strigoi to bring you, Paige, and Ralph to him, so I had to do what I could to help you, which is why I had my guards remove Ralph from the area.", she replied.

"Then what was the plan?", Paige asked.

"First of all, my problem is not with any of you. I have no hate for you, in fact, knowing Paige's ancestry has given me a new reason to fight. All your grandparents wanted was to be free and rule closer to home. My parents were some foreigners who didn't have any clue about your ways and traditions, so it's only fair for your grandparents to reject control like that, after all, throwing off foreign control is the American way. What my parents did was reprehensible and so much innocent blood was spilt unnecessarily before they were imprisoned."

Elisabetta sighed and continued.

"My plan was to take over and just keep a watchful eye over the nations who would want to have their own ruling covens, have them tell me what's going on so that I can send help or offer guidance if need be. I would intervene when necessary and focus more on in-depth training and accident prevention when it comes to highly gifted individuals rather than imprisonment or death. I was going to kill my mother and have my father torn apart by my Strigoi…call me barbaric if you want, but they've caused decades of pain and suffering, so I think it's time they've answered for their crimes. Then I was going to keep my Strigoi until there was a cure, which I have had my top scientists working on for many months now."

"What about the Strigoi corpses that have turned up?", Zehra asked, "Wasn't that you?"

Elisabetta shook her head.

"No. That was my father.", she replied, "You see, things have been very strained between us since I told him about trying to find a way to reverse the control of Moroi and bring Strigoi back to their former selves. He killed some of his Strigoi and left their bodies out in the open. One of his enforcers started the rumor of me being Moroi…Of course it's true that I am one of the Moroi now, but we're getting close to a cure, so I have every intention of turning them back. In fact, one of the other reasons why your grandparents were imprisoned was because they had been on the verge of finding a cure for the Strigoi..."

"So, Drew…how did that happen?", Paige asked, "We have his side of the story, we just want to make sure it matches."

"We met in a New York nightclub, we began dating and I brought him here because he had never been to Europe. It's a bit odd to say it out loud, but I had feelings for him, and then he had his accident. He was hit by a car and I did the only thing I could to save him."

"You turned him.", Paige stated.

Elisabetta nodded.

"He then met my parents. Diana met him, too, although it was in passing…She told my parents that Drew was highly gifted and shouldn't have been changed at all…"

The entire coven turned and glared daggers at the young woman.

"Hey, don't look at me like that.", Diana said, holding up her hands in surrender, "I was just doing my job."

Happy shook her head and the rest of them went back to facing Elisabetta as she continued her story.

"Of course, by that time, I knew that Drew had a son and my mother made a prediction and said that any of his children would be highly gifted. My mother also asked for the name of his child and the name of the child's mother. When I heard that his children would be gifted and that Ralph's mother was a possible living descendant of the Rosen-Dineen line, I knew I had to send Drew back to the states to find you and keep you safe."

Paige didn't speak.

Elisabetta cleared her throat in the silence and continued. She shimmered a little to mirror Megan before changing again.

"I knew Ralph was ten, so it would only be a matter of time before his gifts emerged if he was in fact a vampire, so I didn't have much time to defend him if my mother really planned on harming Ralph in any way because of his gifts and I didn't have much time to find you either, Paige, because it was my mother who sent the enforcers to eradicate your grandparents' covens, so I made some connections to find someone who would be able to track you down and came across Mark Collins. We all emailed back and forth, but when I thought that I was being monitored, I had Collins erase everything and had him go to Drew directly… I had no clue that he would go to him using an alias and calling himself 'Ray' to do it and paint you in a bad light…it wasn't until after that that I found out the history between Scorpion and Mark Collins, and I knew he wasn't going to work for free, so I offered you as payment and played the part of the villainess to a T."

Paige filled in their side of the events from the past month or so and then Walter recounted what Oliver had told them about his plans with Regina and Alfonso.

When all that was said and done, Toby let out a low whistle.

"Wow, this sounds like an M. Night Shyamalan movie…"

Walter stared at Toby.

"And what is that supposed to mean?", the 197 IQ genius asked, raising his eyebrows.

Toby narrowed his eyes and shot Walter his signature 'I-Can't-Believe-You're-A-Genius' look.

"It means there were a lot of plot twists and that when we go home, we need to watch some movies.", Paige responded, patting Walter on the arm.

"So, what do we do now?", Cabe asked, "There's a lot of people hurt, dying, and dead because you declared war on your parents. I don't know what you're doing to fight back, but your father's Strigoi are treating this like it's open season."

Elisabetta nodded.

"You're right. I have all of my Strigoi deployed to fight my father's army. This library is guarded by those gifted people that I've freed from prison who were mentally healthy enough to withstand battle. My scientists are secured in another location where they are close to finding a cure for the Strigoi, and I have friends of mine stationed there to guard them."

"So how do plan on defeating your parents and ending all of this?", Cabe asked.

"I have to find my father first, but it's hard to do that at the moment."

"Just disguise yourself as someone else and go up through the passageway.", Happy replied, "That's how we got here, minus the disguising part, but we barely had any Strigoi in our way and the ones we did encounter, Paige took care of."

"No, I mean it's hard to do that without knowing where Collins and Drew are. I think Collins got inside my head and saw how I was planning on, well, let's be honest here, killing him. He might be gifted, and I know that with all of the things I've said about my parents killing gifted people and how it was wrong, killing Collins will make me sound like a hypocrite, but he's got plans that are far worse than mine. I don't want to kill normals like he does. What he has suggested to me sounds like eugenics.", she replied, "He wants to kill all the non-gifted vampires and halflings and then only have the smartest, most gifted vampires reproduce, regardless of mates. It's sickening. I had to stop him somehow."

"Well, we don't know where they are.", Megan said, "The last we saw of them was Collins waking up after being knocked unconscious and raising Drew and a bunch of Strigoi with him, then we were rushed to the infirmary with everyone else because we had been ordered to fall back."

"Collins has severed any mental connection he had with me and he's taken a potion that makes him all but invisible to our senses. He has also disabled all the cameras by hacking into the security systems, so he could be anywhere.", Elisabetta replied.

"How do you find someone like that?", Rochelle asked, speaking for the first time since Oliver's execution, which felt like days ago.

"Walter.", Diana replied, "He can hack into anything. It's a part of his gifts."

Elisabetta glanced at Walter and he nodded.

"If you get me to a computer, I can find him, but I might need some help.", Walter replied to her unspoken question before patting Ralph on the shoulder.

Ralph frowned.

"Dad, I already looked, he's got all of the systems messed up and the passwords keep changing every ninety seconds to a new random selection of numbers, letters, and symbols… it's like Enigma, but much more difficult, even I couldn't do anything."

"I appreciate you trying to help, but I can actually control the system from inside, almost like linking my mind into the systems.", Walter replied.

"What if he's able to hack into you that way?", Toby asked, "I mean, you're opening your mind into the computer, who's to say that the hacking can't go both ways?"

Walter and Cabe shared a look, and Walter recalled their discussion on the very same topic back when his gifts were first appearing.

"Trust me, I've thought of that, but if I can get in, just for a second, and bring the systems back online, maybe we can find a way out of this that doesn't involve me leaving my mind open.", Walter replied.

Elisabetta walked away and returned with a laptop.

"This is all I have right now. He didn't take out the Wi-Fi, almost like he's expecting this to happen."

"Sylvester, can you form a barrier around us?", Paige asked.

The mathematician nodded and raised his arms, a dome falling over the group.

"Hopefully, this will keep Collins out.", he said as he looked around at the group.

Walter took Paige's hand, closed his eyes, and very carefully, let his mind enter the machine.

He could see the inner workings of the system in a way he had only imagined it before, maneuvering himself carefully until he came to what seemed like a wall of code. He could feel the timer and the password preparing to reset, but the symbols, numbers, and letters were all there and they were being selected for the next ninety seconds.

Paige watched Walter carefully as she released his hand, observing him as he brought his hands forward to the keyboard, his eyes still closed. He began typing rapidly, entering what she supposed was the secure password. He was still typing when sixty seconds passed and Ralph marked the time.

"He has to speed up if he plans on entering the password in time.", Sylvester muttered.

They all watched with bated breath as time ran out and just before time was up, Walter hit the 'enter' key and said, "I'm in."

While the rest of the team breathed a sigh of relief, Walter quickly set his mind upon the task of clearing the mess of code and the Enigma away until it was gone and the codes were fixed to let others in. He heard the hum of the system being brought back online.

Then he heard a faint clicking sound that was growing louder and louder. Lines of code were flashing and changing before him, and Walter knew he had to fight.

He only hoped that Collins wouldn't realize what was really happening, that it wasn't just Walter performing the hack with a keyboard, but that he was doing it with his mind. As long as Collins remained oblivious, he would be somewhat safe.

He fought code with code and they went back and forth, Collins commanding the system to remain offline, Walter tearing his commands to pieces.

"This is bullshit.", Walter muttered and Collins froze.

Walter realized with a start that he had probably been discovered, and then Walter realized that he could make Collins get out of the system for good, so he thought of the worst virus he could imagine and raced through the system until he found the device Collins was using and corrupted it before bringing the system back online, quarantining Collins to prevent the virus from spreading to other devices, and removing himself from the system altogether.

When he opened his eyes, he was weak in the knees and swayed where he stood, only to fall back and be caught by Paige, Cabe, and Julian. They guided him into a chair as Ralph took over the computer, setting everything to rights. Walter had done his part, Ralph could do the rest.

The amount of energy that Walter had needed to fight back had drained him and Elisabetta had Sylvester let her out to get some blood as he rested.

"Are you okay?", Paige asked, "He didn't get in your head, did he?"

Walter shook his head.

"He tried, but I gave his computer a virus and locked him out of the system."

"Good, I'm glad to hear it."

"Okay, all security and surveillance systems are back up and running, I have camera feeds from almost everywhere, except for the ballroom, the courtyard outside of the hall of transformation, and a few other places whose names are in Italian…", Ralph said.

Elisabetta handed the blood to Paige and stood behind Ralph.

"Okay, that one that's dark is the King and Queen's solar, the other one is for the underground tunnels, and that one is for the entrance hall to the royal suites. There are no cameras inside the royal suites, my father had them removed because he likes his privacy."

"The courtyard outside the hall of transformation is dark because your mom torched a bunch of Strigoi down there and probably destroyed the camera in the process.", Happy said, "That's probably the same case for the one in the ballroom, it was probably destroyed during battle…"

"Uh oh.", Ralph said.

"'Uh oh' what? What happened?", Walter asked, becoming more alert as the blood went to work.

"Collins must've found a way to get back online because he's taunting us."

Walter looked at the camera feeds and saw Collins walking through a few frames at the same time, one of them happened to be very close to the library.

The words "Find me before I find you and you might survive" scrolled across the bottom of the computer screen.

"He won't do this again.", Walter concluded, "One of those images had to be real and if he did it again, we would be able to pinpoint his location."

"Unless he prerecorded them and then decided to loop the footage.", Sylvester interjected.

Ralph replayed the footage and then frowned.

"All fakes, the shadows are wrong, but the threat was real."

"So, you're telling me that he might know where we are?", Elisabetta asked.

Megan hummed and they all turned to her.

She was floating on her back in her oracle trance and spoke to them slowly.

"For a homicidal genius with mind control powers, you'd think he would keep his plans to himself a little more…I guess spontaneity isn't a trait of his…", Megan said, "He's coming for us…I see rooftops and the sea…are there lanterns or lampposts on the terrace outside this library?"

"Lanterns, twelve of them lit with candles…we put them out there every year for the ball…", Elisabetta replied.

"Sylvester, extinguish one of them.", Megan hummed.

"I haven't figured out how to suffocate things yet…", he muttered, casting his eyes downward in disappointment.

"Don't worry, I can do it…", Paige replied, closing her eyes, "I just need to concentrate…"

Paige could see the candle burning steadily, and commanded the fire to disappear.

"It's out…", Paige replied and Megan stiffened.

"I know…I could see it go out…", she said before drifting back onto her feet, her glow vanishing as she looked around solemnly at the group.

"He's here…", she said.

"He knows we're here, too.", Ralph said.

"Hide.", Diana ordered.

"No, I want to face him head on.", Walter replied and the rest of the group murmured in agreement before getting into fighting stances.

Walter and Paige shared a glance.

This was it.

All their hard work and training was about to be tested.

"Stay by me?", Walter heard Happy murmur to Toby.

"There's no place I'd rather be.", Toby replied.

Paige was at a loss for words, but Walter's glance told her all that she needed to know and she nodded her silent response to his unspoken inquiry.

The library went silent and Sylvester raised his hands, a barrier forming in front of the team.

Rochelle kissed Julian on the cheek and then leapt up into the rafters with catlike grace and slipped into the shadows. She became one with them, preparing to attack, the only things of hers visible were pearl white fangs, two red eyes, and a glint of silver from where she had her stake.

Walter had to hand it to her. Out of all of their gifts, Rochelle's was the most terrifying by far.

There were thuds as bodies landed on the outside terrace, followed by the shuffling and clicking of boots on the floors just beyond the doors.

"There are eighteen of us and thirty-seven of them. Collins and Drew are there with another Moroi. Collins is controlling Drew and ten Strigoi, none of them gifted. The other Moroi is controlling the rest, but Collins has some sort of hold on him. Some of his Strigoi are gifted. Three with telekinesis, another three with superhuman strength, one with invisibility, two with the power to heal, one with the ability to warp reality…he must've picked that one up at one of the confinement centers… So, everyone, stay on your toes. If something doesn't seem right, yell it out.", Diana instructed, "Does anyone want to claim opponents?"

"I'll quarantine the one that can warp reality and perception, that way they can't function.", Sylvester said.

"I can see motives, so I'll take the one who'll be invisible.", Megan said, "If I need help, Zehra, you'll have my back because you can smell them."

Zehra nodded.

"Try to keep the heads intact, I need to report them to missing persons.", Zehra replied.

"I'll get one of the superhumans.", Happy said.

"I could just electrocute all of them…", Walter said with a shrug, "That seems more efficient…"

"Do as many as you can.", Toby replied, "There's a couple of healers among them and they just broke their Hippocratic oaths…I need to teach them a lesson…"

"I've got Drew…", Paige muttered.

"I'll take the second Moroi", came Rochelle's low hiss from the rafters, "I have a plan."

Before anyone else could speak, the doors flew open and Strigoi began pouring in off the balcony.

The team held their ground and waited until all of them had entered.

Drew, Collins, and the unnamed Moroi were the last to enter. If Collins had been injured in his earlier knockout, he didn't show it, but he had picked up a new weapon; a silver-tipped javelin.

When Drew saw Paige and Walter guarding Ralph, he remained outwardly emotionless, but inside his mind, he was protesting against Collins with all of his might.

He may not like Paige's new situation or the fact that Ralph was probably calling Walter "dad" now, but he was not going to be used by someone else to hurt them, at least not without resisting.

Collins smirked at the ragtag bunch of vampires before him.

"Well, well. It's good to see that you all made it through unscathed…", he said, "Now we can have a proper reunion, can't we?"

Collins paced the floor.

"Megan, the last time I saw you, before you knocked me out, you were stabbing me in the eyes…", he tutted at her, "So sorry that we didn't meet on better terms, you really do have a beautiful mind and your gifts would be such an asset to my friends and I… It's a downright shame that you picked the wrong side….", he sniffed and curled his lip in disgust, "As well as the wrong mate."

Sylvester stiffened.

"I haven't got much to say to you, Sylvester, but you're still weak and easily manipulated. That hasn't changed and I'll bet my mind games still work on you…speaking of mind games, Toby, I trust you're getting on just fine for being the only one here who needed a degree to prove they were a genius and the only one who isn't of any real use to anyone in Scorpion except maybe Happy when she needs some mental help."

Toby clenched his fists and Happy placed a hand on his forearm.

He wouldn't gain anything by getting mad at Collins.

"And Happy, how are your mental issues? Do you still see your mother dying or your father dumping you at the doorstep of some hospital or were those just some delicious, torturous goodies that your mind cooked up for you?"

Happy resisted the temptation to send him to his knees.

"And then there was Walter…", Collins said with a sneer, "I was wondering why you didn't behead me when you had the chance…now I know why… that bastard progeny that Drew and your unintelligent mate created was snatched up, wasn't he? So, naturally, you and your fiery whore had to track him down… I'm happy to see you reunited… Shame about Paige though."

Walter couldn't hold his tongue anymore.

"What about Paige?"

Collins smiled.

"Well, when I kill one of you, the other will either be left alone or they'll die, too…that's the fun of dying when you have a mate…so either Paige will die and you'll be left alone, or you'll die and Paige will be left alone…or you'll both die… then it'll be a shame about Ralph…", he replied as casually as if he were commenting on the weather.

Paige shook her head and ignited, stepping towards Collins, causing the Strigoi to hiss and recoil as she spread her wings, shielding her team from them.

She strode forward with her head held high, her flames burning bright blue.

"You know, Mark, I've had about enough of your shit.", she said, keeping her distance from him and his javelin.

Mark leered at her.

"And what are you going to do?"

Paige reached back to Elisabetta and said, "Dagger.", keeping her eyes forward on Collins, her features stoic.

The shape shifter handed her the silver dagger and then Paige reached over and grabbed one of the Strigoi by the scruff of his neck and put him in a headlock as he thrashed and struggled, squealing like a pig as she burned him. Paige remained stoic as she drove the dagger into the middle of his chest and dragged it downwards, effectively gutting the Strigoi before passing the dagger back to its owner and taking the Strigoi by the head and shoulders before tearing the head from the body.

She threw the body to the side, the impact from the body hitting the floor spattering blood up onto Happy and Toby's armor.

Paige gripped the head tightly by the back of the skull as she burned the flesh from the bone until all that remained was a flaming skull, which she then threw at Collins's feet, causing it to shatter into ash upon impact.

"That's what I'm going to do.", she replied, dusting her hands off, "And none of you will lay a hand on my son unless you want the same to happen to you."

The unnamed Moroi scoffed and rolled his eyes at Paige before spitting at her.

"Dumb cunt", he whispered to Collins.

"Say it to my face, I fucking dare you!", Paige replied, her flames lashing out at him.

Collins shook his head.

"I'm tired of listening to this.", he said before snapping his fingers and forcing his Strigoi to charge.

Walter immediately found himself squaring up with a rather large Strigoi.

Walter hissed at his opponent and when the Strigoi charged, Walter faced his palms outward and grounded himself before stopping the beastly vampire in his tracks with several million volts straight to the chest.

Santana got on the other side of the Strigoi and used a garrote wire to decapitate the opponent.

Happy was staring down with her opponent, a telekinetic who had a large marble statue hovering above her head, while she was bringing him to his knees with her pain projection.

Sylvester was backing her up and forming a shield above her head in case the statue fell.

Diana was taking a hell of a beating from another opponent and he got her on her back. Just as he went in for the kill and tried to get on top of her, she lifted her legs and thrusted her stiletto heels into his groin, forcing him to double over as he howled in agony while she got to her feet and used the fabric from her gele to strangle him.

Kim screamed as one Strigoi leapt at her and went to bite her before Santana garroted him, blood and venom spraying on Kim.

Walter watched in frozen horror as Bruno was too slow to save Maria as she was torn apart, her screams turning to silence as several Strigoi descended upon her at once. Bruno wavered where he stood and fell to the floor, also dead.

Walter's heart sank as he realized that what they said about bonded mates dying together was true and he scanned the room for Paige.

Paige was in the air, forcing back advances from one Strigoi with strong wingbeats while Elisabetta backed her up from behind, fighting off another telekinetic Strigoi with her dagger.

Elisabetta's form was like liquid, shimmering and constantly changing until she finally stabbed her opponent in the throat, spraying blood into her face, which left her unfazed as she whooped with victory, kicking the corpse to the floor and rushing back into the fray.

Megan, Toby, Zehra, and Anthony had teamed up and were fighting off a hoard of Strigoi.

"Nice moves, Indiana Jones!", Toby yelled as Zehra pulled a bullwhip out from under her coat and cracked it in the air before wrangling in a massive Strigoi.

Walter had no clue how Zehra had got her hands on a whip or who Indiana Jones was, but he figured that they were someone to be celebrated as Megan cheered triumphantly when Zehra decapitated the Strigoi.

Julian and Rochelle were fighting the unnamed Moroi and Drew was advancing on Ralph, who was wielding a red-hot fire iron with Cabe by his side.

Walter rushed over as Drew raised his hands and blasted Cabe with a jet of water, forcing the older agent into a wall before encasing Ralph in what could only be called a hydrosphere before running off into the courtyard with him.

Walter vaulted over a table and ran after him, skidding to a stop as he rounded a corner and found Drew with a silver stake pressed to Ralph's throat.

Ralph was coughing, soaking wet, and shivering, but was otherwise unharmed.

"One more step and I'll kill him.", Drew said, his voice taking on the same tone it did whenever Collins was in control.

"Dad…help…", Ralph managed to gasp out.

There was a flicker of recognition in Drew's eyes and the stake wavered ever so slightly before it was squashed out by that same deadened look that came with mind control.

"So, Ralph is calling you dad now?", Drew asked.

"Yes.", Walter replied, realizing that he would have to rely on EQ to break through Collins's hold on Drew's mind, "I care for him and love him as I would my own flesh and blood."

The dead look disappeared again and Drew came to his senses, throwing the stake to the side and releasing Ralph.

"You do?"

Walter nodded, hands raised in a surrender pose.

Ralph was still too close to Drew and he didn't want to risk Ralph's safety in any way.

"Why?", Drew asked.

"I don't need reason and logic to justify why I feel this way. I can't explain it, but it feels right…Like I need to be involved."

"That's nearly as complicated as the question of why you didn't want to be there for me.", Ralph said to Drew as he turned on his heel and backed away from his biological father, "He can't possibly answer why he wants to be in my life as a father figure, just like you can't give me an explanation for why you left."

Drew shook his head.

"Here's the rub, Ralph, I actually can explain myself, you just won't like what I have to say because it casts your mother in a bad light.", he replied.

Ralph gulped.

"Tell me. I want to know why you left. Mom says you were unfaithful to her and that you wanted to pursue baseball, is that true?"

"Partially. In pursuing baseball, I was constantly uprooting you and your mom every time I was signed to a new team and I wasn't home a lot. I was also bad at being exclusive with your mother. I don't know how much you remember from the time before I left, but a month and a half before I did, I can remember coming home late and you were asleep and your mom sat me down and told me that she couldn't stand living on the road and that my cheating was an issue. I agreed with her on the cheating, but I had to live as a baseball player and that meant that you and her would have to do it too, which ultimately meant that you would be coming with me and relocating pretty frequently."

Drew paused and looked back at the doorway to the library, the sounds of battle still resonating from within before he continued.

"Your mother told me I should give up baseball because it wasn't a sure thing, that I would likely get injured or age out of prime condition, and she was right about that. She said that we should move back to Pennsylvania and settle down, get married, and become like any other young family; she should go back to school and work while finishing her degree and I should do the same. I can remember asking her to marry me, to prove to her that I was serious, but I didn't want to abandon my dream right away, though I was willing to do it in time…"

"So, then what happened?", Ralph asked.

Walter sensed Paige nearby and then they all turned as she came rushing into the courtyard.

"Ralph! Are you okay?", she yelled before falling silent as she saw Ralph with Drew and Walter. Her eyes narrowed at Drew before she realized that he was not currently possessed.

"I'm fine…we're all fine.", Ralph said before turning to Drew and repeating his question, "Why did you leave if you and my mom were going to get married?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself?", Drew replied.

Ralph looked to his mother.

Paige looked very uncomfortable and she extinguished her flames.

"Well, for one, Drew asked me to marry him and said he was going to change for me and for you, which is something he had said before, but never followed through on. I never agreed to marry him, in fact, I rejected the proposal outright…"

"He said you had talked about getting married…", Ralph stated.

Paige nodded.

"That is true, I had mentioned getting married in the past, before all his affairs came to light, and then after I found out about the affairs, I began to limit my suggestions of settling down together and just began suggesting going back to Pennsylvania and working to complete our degrees instead. I mentioned co-parenting, too, but Drew was having affairs with married women. If he was able to ignore their marital status, would he also be able to overlook his own and his place in your life? I couldn't place my trust in him."

Ralph glanced between his biological parents.

"Is all that true?", he asked.

Paige nodded.

"It's true…for the most part…but Paige, I think you're missing out one tiny little detail.", Drew replied.

Paige got red in the face.

"Mom? What aren't you saying?", Ralph asked.

"Do you remember when you were staying at Drew's parent's house for the day?"

"You said that you were getting the apartment repainted and some stuff packed and sent ahead of us before we moved to Los Angeles."

"We did, but before that happened, I told Drew that I wasn't going to marry him, no matter how much he asked, and I suggested that he should just pack up his stuff and send it to a bachelor pad in LA because I didn't want you to grow up with a father that cared more about a sport and married women than he did for his own son…this was when we first began to really notice how different you were from other children your age, and that was frightening for both of us, but more so for Drew than me because I had been with you nearly every day of your life since the day you were born."

"So, you told him to leave? He didn't abandon us?", Ralph asked angrily, tears forming in his eyes.

"Not quite. He did move with us, but when he did leave, he did it without warning. It was for the best in the end…"

Ralph looked betrayed and hurt. Walter was just stunned at the full story.

"It's true. Paige made me see sense and realize that I didn't want you to grow up with someone who was a bad role model… I'll be honest, I wasn't ready to be a parent then, and I'm not going to pretend like I'm ready to be one now. You are better off with your mom, Ralph, and I kind of knew that from the start, it was just hard to admit that to myself…"

Ralph was silent for a moment before nodding.

"I think I understand."

"You're not mad at me?", Drew asked.

"No… I don't think I was ever really mad at you for leaving me, but for a long time, I was mad at you for leaving my mom.", Ralph replied, suddenly sounding a lot older and more mature than his age.

Drew nodded and Walter remained silent.

These were past issues being brought to light, ones that he didn't feel he had the right to comment on, so he simply remained silent and listened.

"And you aren't mad at me, are you?", Paige asked, "You understand why I asked him to leave?"

"I'm not mad at you either, I don't know why you would have willingly put yourself in a position where you would be financially unstable, especially when I had to be supported, but I'm glad you did because you seemed happier after Drew left, even if it was a lot of hard work for you just to keep a roof over my head and food on the table... I'm sorry for being emotionally distant…I didn't know then that I wasn't being supportive…"

Paige shook her head.

"No, baby…you were being supportive in your own way…I understood that…", Paige replied, "I'm glad you opened up to me in your own time…"

"I had help.", Ralph added, nodding at Walter, "Watching you two interact showed me that even geniuses can express their emotions."

"How touching.", came Mark Collins's voice laced with disgust, causing all of them to whirl around and face him.

Paige altered her stance and ignited, unsheathing her sword.

The battle was still raging inside, but those sounds were drowned out by the click of Mark's boots on the floor as he strode towards them.

"If you so much as lay a hand on them, I'll-", Drew began, advancing toward the megalomaniac before Collins cast his control over Drew again, causing the water wielder to stagger and stop in his path.

"Please…", Collins muttered before approaching Drew, "You're weak and now I see just how worthless you are to me…", he said, roughly grabbing him by the shoulders and turning him to face Walter, Paige, and Ralph, forcing him to his knees.

Collins smirked at Ralph.

"Say goodbye.", he said, hissing in warning as Walter began advancing on him, causing the other genius to stop in his tracks, feeling his body come under the sway, but not his mind.

"He will never take my mind!", Walter shouted internally, Paige hearing his thoughts echoing in her head, not as feelings but as his voice…

Their powers were strengthening.

Collins grinned and withdrew his control over Drew and as the kneeling vampire shook his head and went to ask, "Goodbye? Why would I say goodb-", Collins rammed his javelin through the back of Drew's neck, killing him instantly.

Paige and Ralph both screamed as Drew's lifeless corpse slumped forward and Walter broke free of the sway enough to let loose a feral snarl and close the distance between himself and Mark, not wasting any time in beating him up.

Walter faltered enough for Mark to grab him by the throat, choking him until Paige came out of nowhere and sucker punched Mark with her fist on fire, whaling on the evil genius with all her might until he released her mate.

It was two against one, Walter and Paige fighting Collins with all their might, yet still the opponent did not waver.

"You can't take me…", Collins snarled even as Paige got him in a full nelson hold, trapping his arms.

"Fucking watch us…", Walter hissed back as he punched Collins in the face, breaking his nose with a sickening crunch, blood gushing down his face.

"Mommy?", Ralph's voice broke through the sounds of their fight.

Paige looked over at her son who was clearly under Mark's sway as he removed his gauntlets, tears rushing down his face as he dropped them to the ground before rolling up his sleeves and taking the knife from his belt, hovering the blade over his outstretched forearm.

"Release me, or I'll make him cut his wrists…and not sideways for attention, I'm talking longways for results…", Mark hissed.

Walter immediately made a move for Ralph, but the hand holding the knife jerked downwards and Ralph cried out in shock although the blade didn't break his skin.

"Take one more step and Ralph's dead.", Collins sneered, spitting out blood.

Paige hesitantly released Mark and stepped back.

"Don't hurt my baby…", she whispered.

"As you wish…", Collins muttered, removing his hold on Ralph, who dropped the knife and Walter rushed to his side, making sure he was okay.

Collins wiped the blood from his face, turning to face Paige.

"I will never understand the reason behind weakening yourself to the point of surrender over another person…", he muttered.

"He is my son…I would suffer a thousand horrific deaths if it meant saving his life. That is the power of love.", Paige replied, pushing past Collins and making her way to her son and her mate.

Before she could reach them, Walter felt a tingling of premonition in the back of his mind and apparently, Ralph felt it too, because they both glanced at Paige in time to see Collins lift his javelin as if in slow motion and ram it through her back.

Walter felt his heart stop as he felt a pain in his chest, felt her name being ripped from his throat, his world crashing to ruin in that one moment.

"PAIGE!"

"MOM!"

The cries of her loved ones echoed in her head and she gasped, the air rushing from her lungs as she felt the sharp pain and looked down at her breastplate, her focus resting on the place where the sharpened, jagged end of Mark Collins's silver javelin protruded from her chest, coated in blood and ashes.

Paige coughed and blood came out along with clumps of ash, falling from her lips and landing on the ground.

She felt excruciating pain but was unable to cry out as Mark pulled the javelin back through her chest, the points tearing her apart and breaking her ribs as he removed it.

She fell to her knees, sitting back onto her heels, her flames dying as she heard screaming, and looked weakly towards the sound, realizing that it was Ralph.

Her pain from the javelin was nothing compared to that grief-stricken sound.

Walter's heart broke for the boy, he tried to move but was glued to the spot, his moment of weakness and shock being enough for Collins to place him under his sway.

As Ralph screamed in anger and agony, Paige saw her baby boy's eyes turn red as glass shattered and he rushed at Mark, tossing his flame hood aside as he went.

Ralph leapt over a pile of dismembered Strigoi that had been thrown from the library and raised both hands as he skidded to a stop, still screaming.

And then, all of a sudden, Ralph stopped screaming and stood there, shaking, tears streaming down his face, his hands still raised.

Mark Collins laughed maniacally.

"I can't believe what I'm seeing! Look at you! You're just as weak as your idiot father! Dying as you surrender!"

He readied his javelin and aimed it at Ralph's chest.

"Looks like I'll be killing you, too, stupid boy… I suppose idiocy is passed from father to son…Any last words?"

Walter was frozen, Collins's control over him lingering, making him unable to move.

Ralph stood still and remained silent, his arms still raised, glaring daggers at Collins as tears ran down his face.

"Nothing?", Collins asked and shrugged, "Have it your way then…"

Paige let out a weak, gasping sob and Walter cried out wordlessly as Mark threw the javelin straight for Ralph's heart.

The javelin stopped in midair, just in front of Ralph's chest and the young genius grit his teeth, bracing for the fatal blow that never came.

Collins's eyes widened in shock as Ralph's skin seemed to crack and glow like embers.

"I am NOT my father. My name is Raphael Alexander Dineen. I am my mother's son, and don't you ever forget it!", Ralph spat as he hovered about three inches from the ground, his eyes like two glowing embers which flicked up to pierce Collins on the final syllable.

On the last word, Ralph ignited, flames whooshing and dancing across his skin as he grabbed the javelin out of the air and threw it aside, turning it to ash in an instant as he charged towards Collins.

Ralph willed Valkyrie towards him, out of his dying mother's hands and into his own as he ran around the top of the low fountain wall, his own fiery wings forming as he leapt off the edge of the fountain and raised the weapon high above his head, letting out a mighty cry as his mother's sword ignited. Ralph swung the sword down, cutting off Mark's left arm at the shoulder. Ralph landed and Walter could finally move again as Mark screamed and fell to his knees, clutching helplessly at the place where his arm used to be as blood gushed out of the severed arteries. Ralph paused and then grabbed the manic genius by the hair and began burning his face, causing him to scream in agony.

Walter was horrified as Ralph's fire burned hotter and hotter, practically melting part of Collins's face. Walter couldn't erase the image of Ralph with a twisted smirk on his face, torturing their enemy. He was so young and yet so violent in this moment.

Walter looked at Paige who was seeing her son become a masochist before her dying eyes and she opened her mouth to cry out, but all that came out was blood and more ash.

Walter shouted at Ralph to stop.

"Ralph! Stop burning him…"

Ralph obeyed, but he was crying, his tears surviving in the flames, no doubt something inherited from Drew.

"He's taken everything from me and he didn't feel sorry, he didn't feel anything at all…I have to make him suffer…"

Walter crossed the courtyard as Ralph threw Collins to the side, falling to his knees and sobbing openly.

Mark was still alive but he remained in one place, frozen in shock, bleeding out. He wouldn't last long.

Walter slowly approached his protégé.

"Ralph?", Walter said, placing a tentative hand on the boy's shoulder, making sure that he adjusted his electrical output as he did.

Ralph seemed to come out of a daze at Walter's paternal touch and his flames disappeared.

Walter went to say something but was interrupted by a crash as Paige keeled over onto her side and her armor collided with the cobblestones, her wound turning gray and spreading up her neck.

"Mommy?", Ralph whispered, his voice breaking as he dropped Valkyrie and ran to her with Walter at his heels, kneeling at her side as she coughed weakly.

Walter lifted his mate into his arms and Ralph used his and Walter's bottles of tears, pouring one into her wound and the other into her mouth.

"Don't…don't think it…works on me…", Paige rasped, her rattling cough getting worse, more blood, ash, and venom coming up when she coughed, "I-I need you…Ralph…I need you to…to listen to whatever Walter says… In s-secret… signed another coven d-document… In case you ever lost me and Drew… Walter would…would become your legal guardian…"

Walter was taken aback by this sudden revelation.

"Mommy…mommy, please…", Ralph whimpered, tears running down his face, "Please try to fight it…"

Paige grew very pale and Walter could feel her growing cold in his arms.

"M' trying sweetheart…", she rasped, the red from the venom fading from her eyes, leaving them the same brown they had been when she and Walter had first met and fallen in love.

For once in his life, Walter was speechless, his mind blanking, caught on the single, terrifying realization that Paige, the only woman he would ever love, was dying in his arms and that he was helpless.

Walter blinked out tears and noticed how Paige's face had begun turning to ash, and how his tears were causing dark deterioration to form as they fell upon her skin.

Paige mustered her strength and oxygen to say goodbye.

"Ralph…I-I love you…more than words…I…Know you'll do great things…you'll always be my baby…", she managed to get out before bringing forth more ashes and blood.

Walter and Ralph were oblivious to the rest of the team standing to the side, but Paige raised her hand to them, and bade them a silent farewell.

Walter just barely made out Megan's voice as she tearfully mentioned how Paige's soul line was growing shorter.

Walter held her a little closer to his chest, remembering how they had laid together in that hammock for the better part of an afternoon, how she had rested her head to his chest and talked about how comforted she was by the sound of his heartbeat, how she could fall asleep to it.

He never expected it to guide her into eternal rest, not this soon.

Walter glanced back at the team, knowing very well that he stood a chance of dying once Paige passed away.

"If I die too, let me say goodbye.", he murmured to them before smiling a watery smile, "I do love you all."

Walter faced Ralph and placed a hand to the young boy's cheek, studying his features.

Paige gazed up at the contact and was touched by Walter's words and deeds.

Walter leaned forward and kissed Ralph on the forehead.

"Your mother and I love you so much and we could not be prouder of you. I feel honored to have you as my son, even if it was only for a brief time. You have a very bright future ahead of you."

"Dad? I-If you go too, who will raise me?"

"Megan is my natural successor. She and Sylvester will be your legal guardians under coven law."

Megan and Sylvester sat by Ralph's side and Megan leaned over and kissed Walter on the cheek.

"I can see your soul line too… It's intertwined with Paige's.", she whispered, "I love you, little brother."

Walter inhaled shakily and pressed his lips to Paige's, tasting blood, ash, and venom mingled with the salt of his tears.

"I love you…", he whispered, "This wasn't how we were supposed to end…"

"Walter…", was Paige's last word, exhaled upon her dying breath and she went still, her unseeing brown eyes reflecting the empty finality of death.

Walter braced himself for death, but it did not come.

Instead, Paige's features fell away into ashes and became undefined, the light breeze pushing them from Walter's arms, as a small zephyr formed and shaped them into a pile several feet away.

"Megan, why aren't I gone?", Walter choked out, not wanting to leave his family and coven, but feeling as though the pain of grief in his chest was far too great for him to ever survive.

Elisabetta stepped forward, bearing a bowl that must have come from the library.

"I know it isn't fit for her remains, but it is all I have at the moment…", she murmured as she knelt by the ashes and reverently bowed her head, placing her dagger before her on the ground, the blade tip facing north in what was the traditional way of paying respect to a fallen coven leader.

Walter reached for Ralph and pulled the sobbing boy to him, just thankful that he was still here for Ralph.

Cabe approached and pointed his blade north before kneeling and embracing Walter.

"I'm sorry, son…I'm so sorry…", he whispered, his voice shaking.

Walter reached out and concentrated on Paige's ashes, lightning striking them from above.

It was his vain attempt at bringing her back.

Walter sobbed harder, not caring that his carefully controlled logical demeanor was gone, the pain of losing his mate was driving him insane.

"Can you give us a minute alone please?", Ralph whispered and the coven nodded solemnly and returned to the library as Elisabetta went to find out if her father had been found.

Walter and Ralph sat there in a silent vigil.

Paige's ashes had been lifted by Sylvester and placed into the bowl which was now surrounded by blades that were facing north.

"What is your earliest memory of her?", Walter asked.

"It was when I was about two, I guess. Mom had this rocking chair that was in my room and she would hold me as I was falling asleep, rocking us back and forth, singing a song called "Golden Slumbers". I can't sing…mom can…could…", Ralph replied, wiping away tears, "Dad, can I sleep in the same room as you tonight?"

"Of course, you can…", Walter replied.

Walter began to rise and he took the bowl and a new wave of emotion brought him to tears which mingled with blood and venom from the cut over his eye that had started bleeding again and dripped into the bowl.

Walter cursed as he wiped the blood and tears away, placing the bowl back down within the ring of blades, a small jolt of static transferring to the metal bowl as he moved.

An instant later, smoke began rising from the ashes and Walter was oblivious to it until Ralph shook his arm and breathed his name.

Both Walter and Ralph stood and stepped toward the ashes, which were now on fire and swirling up into a vortex above the bowl.

The pair of geniuses watched in awe as Paige's ashes began to form a swirling column of flame which grew blindingly bright before dimming again.

In the place of her ashes, floating, cloaked in fire, was Paige.

Her eyes were closed but her wings were unfurled, her hair was braided in a flaming crown atop her head, her wounds were gone and Walter heard the rumble of thunder and lightning struck her floating figure, illuminating the entire courtyard with a deafening crash that threw Walter and Ralph back onto the ground, nearly blinding them in the process.

Megan emerged from the library, her eyes aglow, floating in her oracle state as she spoke,

"Alas the prophecy is complete! See and believe it to be true as the phoenix rises from the ashes, her worthy soul reborn! The queen of flame itself, the most untamed of all the elements, has risen from the dead and has now become master over death. Hail! Queen of fire, master of death, vision of rebirth, and wielder of Valkyrie!"

As Megan's prophecy rang out, Paige inhaled and the last floating ashes entered her body, her eyelids flying open to reveal her red eyes.

She raised her hands and red velvet drapes tore themselves from the doors with golden satin sashes and they flew to cover her body as her flames died out.

Valkyrie flew to her right hand and she caught it effortlessly before she floated to the ground and walked slowly towards her awestruck son and mate.

She exhaled and her flames extinguished, and before she knew it, Ralph was hugging her and sobbing into her makeshift robes.

Paige tossed away her sword unceremoniously, holding her baby to her, lifting him into her arms as if he was still a toddler.

Paige shushed her son, reassuring him that he was safe and she was here before glancing up at Walter and smiling, tears welling in her eyes as she placed her son on his feet and Ralph backed up to look her over again, making sure he wasn't imagining things.

"Walter.", she whispered and he ran to her, laughing through his tears, lifting her off her feet and into his arms, holding her bridal style as he kissed her.

"I thought I lost you…Paige…oh god, Paige…", he cried, tears of joy running down his cheeks, Paige wiping them away with her thumbs, peppering kisses across his forehead.

"Shh, I'm here, love, I'm here…", she soothed as he placed her back on her feet, the rest of the coven now coming out and gasping as they saw Paige alive.

"You'll never lose me again…I promise…", Paige murmured, bumping her nose against his in her haste to kiss him.

By now, the rest of the coven had swarmed the courtyard and they were cheering and celebrating, embracing Paige and marveling over her resurrection.

Diana rushed in and exclaimed over the balcony, "Hey everybody! Elisabetta has taken over, the Morettis are dead, the cure has been found for the Strigoi by blending a phoenix tears with the original cure mix! We won!"

And among all the hustle and bustle of celebration, Sylvester proposed to Megan and she said yes.

As the sun rose over the city, Paige held her mate and her son close.

"Well, I suppose we can go home now…", Walter mused aloud.

"Yeah, I kinda miss LA…" Ralph stated.

"Well, we've done our job…we've saved as many people as we could…which I think is just as good as saving everybody…", Paige murmured, content to be with her family.

"I agree.", Walter replied, kissing her cheek.