"Because if you don't you'll never see your children again."

Those words froze Thorn to the core. This man was her Uncle, the only blood she had left seve for the children he'd just threatened. He smirked seeing the confusion and worry on her stunning features.

"Thought you were smarter that my idiot of a sister, Thorn. You're a Mortimer after all." He mocked with a cruel bite to his words. "Oh, come on, who the fuck do you think has been sniffing around this backwards town? Searching. I burnt your lover boy's house down."

"Why?"

That one word was all Thorn could get out as shock continued to rip through her. Kylian laughed at her again, this wasn't the man she knew, the man she'd known had been an act.

"Remember the Solstice? My little story? Your father had The Pearl, he had it and kept it from me so I killed his sons but he still wouldn't tell me. I though maybe he'd hidden somewhere else but no, it's still in this crappy town and I've had enough games. You, niece, are going to get it for me!"

"You killed my brothesr?" She asked in disbelief. "They were your nephews, your blood."

"Blood is meaningless unless it's an ingredient. I'm not stupid, I laid a trap and Abraham walked right into it. There were Witch Hunters in the area so I just made it look like they'd done it." He laughed again. "Now, unless you never want to see those brats of yours again I suggest you don't make a scene and come with me."

Thorn burned with ire, wanted to impale Kylian Gethic on the horns of the statue behind her but she resisted; he knew where Judas and the triplets were. That reason alone was why she nodded and let him grab her by the arm.

"Thorn?" Faustus called down from just outside his office above them and two sets of eyes peered up at Father Blackwood. "Hello, Lord Gethic." Kylian nodded in calm greeting. "Are you alright, Thorn?"

She nodded, if anything happened to her children she'd never forgive herself; Alistair had only been a few years older than them and yet Kylian hadn't had any issue killing him.

"Yes, fine. Don't worry, Lucky, we'll be back in a while, just going for a walk."

"Very well." He responded in that deep voice of his.

Kylian led his niece out of the Academy of Unseen Arts by a harsh grip on her arm and forced her towards the woods. She couldn't understand this, she'd long suspected something had been off about Witch Hunters managing to get the drop on her family but there hadn't ever been any evidence to counteract it. Kylian though? Her mother's brother? How had he slaughter his own nephews for a stupid Pearl that might not have even existed?! The realisation that had she been there he'd have killed her too hurt, this man wasn't her Uncle, he was a monster motivated by greed.

"How could you kill Alistair? He was a child." Her voice shook but Thorn wouldn't give him the satisfaction of crying.

"Well, Abraham was more powerful than me, I needed a shield, didn't I." He boasted. "It gave me just enough of a shot to kill good old Lord Mortimer and after that it was easy to kill Gray and the little one." He chuckled. "Speaking of little ones, you'd best find me The Pearl, I know it's somewhere at Mortimer Manor, or all four of yours will be heading to the Dark Lord a little early."

"I don't have it!" She yelled as he forced her faster through the leaves towards her home. "I never have, it doesn't exist and even if it did I wouldn't know where it was."

"So many secret passageways in that fucking house. You know them all and you're going to help me search all the ones I don't know about."

It hit Thorn then, when knowledge of someone lurking around their coven had started she'd sealed the house with blood magic with Faustus' bloodline as the only exception. Kylian was her Uncle, of course he'd gotten in without her knowing. Suddenly as squawk sounded above her in the night sky and green-eyes snapped up to see Ásvaldr flying high above.

When they arrived at her home Kylian shoved Thorn through the doorway into the vestibule while Ásvaldr settled himself on the bronze bust of Griffin Mortimer.

"Go on then, niece, where is it?"

"I told you I don't know!" She growled only to be struck in the face and set to the ground.

"Hold your tongue unless it's to say 'here Uncle, here is The Pearl'. Do you understand? And don't even think about using those powers of yours or those children are all dead."

Thorn nodded as she mopped blood from her lip. So much of Mortimer blood had been spilt at that house, what was a few more drops. He forced Thorn back to her feet and made her go through ever hidden passage in the whole house, a number that lingered in the dozens. Her father's study was the obvious choice but surely she or Faustus would have found The Pearl by now. Would have helped if people actually knew what it looked like, could have been the size of her fist, could have been tiny, no one knew.

"Why do you want The Pearl so badly? It effects everyone, warlocks included. Only The Dark Lord is immune." She asked as he forced her up the stairs with the owl trailing behind.

"Stupid girl. It's the most powerful magical object there is. Once I possess it I'll be able to do anything. I'll put an end to my enemies and take over."

"This is about world domination? How cliché are you?"

Kylian struck her again. "Shut up, you fucking brat. Too much of your father in you, that's your problem, maybe if more Gethic had been in there you'd be smarter."

When none of the passages yielded any result the blonde grew angry and shoved Thorn into her bedroom where he started screaming at her for answers on where Abraham might have hidden something so precious. Thorn honestly didn't know, she still didn't think such a thing as The Pearl existed, but if it had ever been there it couldn't have been now and she told him just that.

"It can't be gone!" He screamed only to throw everything off her dresser onto the floor where it landed with a series of clangs. Her large jewellery box nearly struck Ásvaldr on it's way to the ground where it broke spewing things out everywhere. "It can't be gone."

"I've played your game long enough Uncle, where are my sons and daughter?" Thorn demanded only for the blonde to spin around and flashed her a rage filled look.

"You don't make the rules here, niece, I do! Just as dumb as your father, got his kids killed and now you're going to do the same."

Suddenly Faustus burst through the door forcing everyone's attention towards him. He had clearly been running going by the flushness of his face and the quick rise and fall of his chest.

"What in Satan's name is going on here?" He demanded with a scowl.

"Nothing, Father Blackwood." Kylian tried but the mess on the floor and the fact the sconces were burning high all over the house wasn't fooling Faustus. "Just a chat."

"Do not play me for a fool, Gethic." He pointed to his wife. "She called me Lucky."

Thorn breathed a sigh of relief, she'd not known if he'd have picked up on that or not. When Faustus took a step further into the room he kicked Thorn's jewellery box and more items spilt out, specifically a simple silver chain with a small black pearl hanging from it. Kylian's eyes went wide when he spotted it, as did Thorn's while Faustus just appeared confused and rightly so. The blonde dove for the necklace when his niece reached out for it and scooped it up before her.

"Finally!" He cried, overjoyed. "Finally, I have The Pearl! Thank you, dear niece, if you hadn't have irritated me so much I might not let your children suffocate in the forest."

Faustus' eyebrows shot up as he just the realised the triplets, Judas nor their familiars were anywhere to be found. He and Thorn focused on something else then, Kylian's previous bold eyes darkened until even the whites were jet black and they all remembered that being a warlock wouldn't protect against the rage of The Pearl. He launched at Faustus.

"Enough, Uncle."

Thorn shot to her feet and with a wave of her hand set her Uncle flying back against the wall where he landed just under the window; The Pearl rolled out of his hand and his eyes faded back to normal.

"You stupid girl. Can't follow simple orders." He spat.

Too late did Kylian realise his mistake. The fireplace burst to life and the sconces raged upwards against the ceiling but nothing set alight. Wind appeared from nowhere and Faustus had to sheild his eyes as his wife's hair blew in the harsh breeze.

"I am Thorn Mortimer, last of my name. I am of Founding blood and wife of the High Priest. I do not take orders from you!"

In her rage Faustus could do nothing but watch as Kylian Gethic levitated from the floor where he'd been slumped and then, without warning, burst into flames of Hellfire. He screamed, Lucifer did he scream but Thorn didn't blink.

Soon it was all over and Kylian crashed back onto the floor as nothing more than charred remains. The scent of burnt flesh and thick ash assaulted Faustus' nose but he didn't care, this man had threatened his wife, had stolen his children. In a crazed panic Ásvaldr took flight and crashed out through the window but he didn't get far. Thorn raised her hand in the air and the very second she clenched a fist the owl imploded on itself and fell from the sky dead.

She took a series of calming breaths before the flames died down to normal hight and then she retrieved The Pearl from beside her Uncle's body. Faustus backed away towards the threshold but when Thorn turned to face him here eyes were still the stunning green they'd always been; it didn't effect her. Thorn hung the necklace around her neck where small bead of black hung at the valley of her breasts.

"What are you?" Faustus asked in amazement and Thorn's head snapped up hurt.

"... your wife." She whispered.

"If that really is The Pearl, you should be trying to kill me right now. You just killed your Uncle like it was nothing with Hellfire. You're more than witch, so what are you?"

"We don't have time for this, Faustus, the chil-"

"What are you?!" He demanded forcefully.

A pause, small and hardly there. "Do you remember when I first showed you that painting?" She glanced over to her family tree and Faustus nodded. "I told you we didn't know our family before the Marquis, that was a lie. We know who the start of our lineage is. When I said I couldn't tell you why my family lived amongst the flames, I didn't say can't because I didn't know, I said it because my family was sworn never to tell."

"And who did start your family?" He asked suspecting he already knew the answer.

"... The Dark Lord. I am his descendant. Sabrina may be more closely related to him but my family bread us with the strongest witches and warlocks the world had to offer, it concentrated out power. Sabrina is my family, though she is his daughter and I his granddaughter of any number of greats, I could still kill her with little more than a snap of my fingers."

Faustus swallowed. Blood of the Dark Lord, it explained so much, why she could do things without potions or chants, why fire was her plaything and why childbirth had been easy for her; she wasn't entirely witch.

"I didn't want to lie to you, same way my father didn't want to lie to my mother, but it has to remain a secret." Thorn stepped closer. "I love you, Faustus, please don't take that away from me."

Blackwood pulled his wife into his arms and held her tight. He'd come to accept she was more powerful than him in the time they'd been married and maybe this was as it should have been, him the Dark Lord's representative and his wife, the Dark Lord's granddaughter.

"I love you too, never doubt that, Thorn."

Thorn let out a sigh of relief, she'd loved him since childhood and didn't know if she'd have been able to take losing him.

"Where are the children?"

Thorn's head snapped up. "He's warded them, I tried finding them the second I left the Academy but he said they were in the forest. I can track them based off that."

In a blink of an eye Faustus found himself and his wife stood dead centre of the woods, he'd never known such a smooth teleportation.

She stood there in silence a moment with eyes closed as if listening for something that Father Blackwood was deaf to.

"This way."

Once again she teleported them though Faustus didn't know which part of the woods they were in this time. Husband and wife found themselves in a clearing, the ground covered in a thick layer of browning leaves.

"They're not here." He said as he tried to locate them, hands held out as he searched.

"No, they're here, I can feel it. They're right here!" Her voice cracked, these were her babies. "Wait! He said suffocate."

Suddenly Faustus felt a blast and the leaves blew away almost like they'd jumped to the edge of the small clearing. Powerful didn't really come close to describing his Thorn. Both parents dropped to their knees when they found a long trough like box half buried in the wet soil. The dark-haired man found he wasn't even remotely surprised when the bindings and charms Kylian had placed on the box burnt away and he yanked it open revealing the triplets, Judas and two familiars bound together with chains. Cries erupted from the box as they called out to their mother and father.

Thorn burst into tears, she'd lost Alistair and Gray, she couldn't loose her children. Faustus waved his hand over Caligari and Ostara and the chains released as Thorn pulled Duvall and Lucian into her arms; Faustus grabbed Judas and Artura. They clung to their little ones in relief, the familiars curled around them, but before long Faustus found that Thorn had collapsed against him so he rested his chin atop her head.

"I love you." He said quietly into the night.

Neither knew how long they sat there but it was long enough that the triplets and Judas calmed down and settled into the comfort of their parents, Faustus even managed to shuffle so he could wrap an arm around Thorn.

"I was so afraid when I found out I was pregnant." Said Thorn when she noticed him bouncing Artura softly. "I thought I would give you a girl and she'd grow up with you disappointed, but then I gave you three children and I though that maybe – knowing I'd given you sons as well – Artura would be able to skate through. That you'd never fully approve of her but wouldn't view her as... what might have been. I never expected you to love her as much as you do, but our daughter has wormed her way into your heart. Judas is your heir, Duvall and Lucian will carry on your name and our reputations," She peered up at him with those stunning green eyes. "but learn Artura is your loyalty, because she is a Daddy's girl. As she grows you'll realise she will stand by your side through anything without question. Artura may not carry on the family name but she will uphold the reputation you've built.

Faustus pulled his family closer. "I honestly did not expect to lover her either. However, she is my... little girl."

~X~

It had taken Faustus a fair bit of time but he'd eventually been able to work out that Thorn and Sabrina were first cousins ten-times removed, which, quite frankly, he didn't seen as really being related any longer. Still, the knowledge might have come in handy later.

At first he'd just been pleased to have his children back and safe but after time to think and digest everything his wife had told him Faustus knew he was proud of her. She might have been the most powerful witch in creation and yet she loved him whole-heartedly just as he loved her. Their children could have even ended up more powerful than Thorn herself. Yes, she'd strengthened his family line considerably, but even if she hadn't he'd still love her. Truthfully he suspected that keeping that much magical power controlled must have been excruciatingly difficult and she deserved his respect for it.

They'd shown Kylian's body to the rest of the Coven and explained that he'd been the one causing trouble, though, of course, they didn't tell them his name and thanks to being barbecued in Hellfire no one had been able to identify him. Sabrina and Zelda had raised questions but Thorn had squashed them with that ever logical brain of hers. Surprisingly though, when Sabrina had started picking a fight with Thorn it had been Prudence to shut it down and diffuse the tension; Faustus made a mental note to ask his wife about that later.

Thorn continued to wear the necklace around her neck, rarely ever took it off for which Faustus couldn't blame her. When the children had been home and safe he'd asked her about it, how it had come to be a necklace hanging in her jewellery box amongst everything else. His reply had been so simple that he quickly realized just how much of a genius Abraham Mortimer had been. Thorn's father had given it to her as a present shortly before she'd left for the Academy, the best hiding place was in plain sight after all. Thinking back he'd been able to remember her wearing it when she'd stormed into his office all those years ago demanding to kill Witch Hunters.

Suddenly Thorn shuffled in his arms and Faustus snapped out of his inner thoughts and back to the bedroom around him. His wife lay cuddled into his side fast asleep and safe as he stared blankly up at the ceiling.

"You might have the power, my love." He said softly so as not to wake her. "But I am your husband and I will keep you safe." Fasustus pressed a little kiss to the top of her head with his moonlit vow. "I love you."

He did, he truly did. Witches weren't suppose to love with such an intensity and Faustus had long believed no woman was worth dying for … but he'd die for her.

THE END

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Massive thank you to everyone who has read, commented, followed and favourited. I really hope everyone enjoyed Faustus' and Thorn's little journey through the craziness of life. :-) :-D