“Darci just called, she says Destiny has two fractured bones in her neck,” Joan said to Rooney who was sitting on the couch, monitoring her heart beats and holding ice to her chest.

“This is a disaster,” Mike ran a stressed-out hand though his hair.

Everyone just sort of sat around in silence, wondering what to do next. Aron had placed Nora under a sleep spell, but she would wake up sooner or later once she regained her strength.

Lyssa stared out the window to the front of the house, monitoring for any spies or trespassers. Bex sat on the stairs, staring off into nothingness. The air was tense, uncertain, hostile.

Lyssa glanced at Bex as Bex asked through their bond,

‘Should we just leave? We shouldn’t drag them into this.’

‘It seems a bit late for that.’ Lyssa responded.

‘It’s not. They can handle Nora, we just need to go, get out of here. As far away from them as possible.’

Lyssa turned back to looking outside, weighing her options.

‘You and I could go on the run, alone, together.’ Lyssa offered.

‘We’ve tried that before, this is where it got us.’

‘Then what?’

‘We turn ourselves in.’

‘No, my love, only me. Not you.’

‘If you go, I go.’

‘I won’t let them hurt you anymore.’

‘I won’t let you die alone!’

Lyssa sighed and stared out the window.

Bex glanced up and glared at her.

“Stop it, stop having silent conversations without us,” Vinny snapped at them.

Bex looked away again.

“Doesn’t matter, we can’t come to an agreeance,” Lyssa supplied.

“About what?” Joan asked.

“About what we want to do,” Lyssa said, still not turning to face them.

“What are your options?” Aron asked.

“If we run, they will just come for you. So we were debating on turning ourselves in.” Lyssa said.

“Are you kidding me?” Vinny clenched his hands into a fist.

There was a moment of silence.

“We are not invincible, I am not invincible,” Lyssa whirled around to face him. “We will fall if we go to war. It’s inevitable. They have more power, more resources, more influence than us. We don’t stand a chance. My only option is to surrender or more bloodshed will come.” Lyssa said.

“Our, only option.” Bex stood up to face her.

“No Rebecca.”

“Stop it! Stop trying to get yourself killed! You can’t die without me, literally. We are bound together. If you go, I go. I won’t let you die alone.”

“I can’t sacrifice myself knowing I bring you with me, I just can’t.” Lyssa grabbed Bex’s hands in her own.

“No one is sacrificing anything!” Vinny shouted.

Lyssa sighed and looked down, Bex squeezed her hands.

“We are fighting this, whatever it takes. That’s what we decided. You two can’t just go off and do your own thing.” He said.

“It takes everything,” Lyssa said.

The house got quiet.

“It takes and it takes and it takes. An endless cycle of pain. Do you understand that?” Lyssa let go of Bex’s hands to meet his gaze.

He looked away.

“It takes everything, Vinny, everything. People will die. People we love and cherish dearly. Innocent lives will be lost. Blood will be shed. By the end of it, we will all be left wondering what we were all fighting for in the first place. I survived one vampire war; I am not so sure I can survive another. It takes everything, and this time I’m not so willing to give it all. Can you understand that?”

He covered his face to hide his tears.

“We all know this is the only way. It must be done.”

Bex engulfed Lyssa in a hug from behind.

“What exactly are you fighting for anyway?” Mike asked.

“Liberation from outdated and outrageous vampire laws. Liberation from joining packs and territory battles and so on and so forth. The vampire council wants total control over vampire kind, we want people to be given options and to move vampires into times of peace and prosperity.”

“It doesn’t matter why they are fighting, what matters is a war is coming,” Joan spoke up.

“It doesn’t have to, we can stop this. Rebecca and I.” Lyssa tried.

“No one here is going to let either of you die, so enough with the bullshit. We fight.” Joan said.

“We fight,” Mike repeated.

“We fight,” Vinny said sternly.

“Always the same with you two,” Aron sighed. “But I’m in. We fight.”

“No!” Bex shouted.

Everyone turned to her.

“I’ve lost so much already, I can’t lose anyone else. No one is fighting anyone.”

“Bex—”

“No Joan. I can’t do this. What if Destiny would have died today? What about Nora? I can’t… I can’t be the reason why more people get killed. It’s tearing me apart, I can’t.” Bex shook her head as she shed tears.

“Bex it’s okay we can figure this out.” Joan approached her.

“No!” Bex’s eyes turned blood red. “I said the same thing. I said let’s fight. I said we could figure it out peacefully. But I was wrong! Here is the truth,” Bex spat. “The truth is that they don’t care about us. Or what we are fighting for. They just want to kill us because they are bored with their pathetic lives. They don’t care! People like that can’t be reasoned with. I tried, God knows I tried. But I’m done trying. I want to go to war! I want to rip those losers limb from limb for what they did to me. I want bloodshed! I want to slaughter them all!”

Joan blinked at her in surprise and took a step back.

Lyssa had to put a hand on Bex’s shoulder to calm her down.

“I want this fight more than anyone in this room, but we can’t…” Bex looked at her shaking hands. “I can’t. If I lose anyone else I don’t know what I’ll do. I might just lose my mind for good. I feel so lost and angry, and scared. I just want to hurt them, feel their blood in my hands, hear their screams for mercy. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I’m becoming a monster.” Bex sobbed.

“No my love, don’t say that.” Lyssa comforted her.

“I don’t even recognize myself anymore. Look what they’ve turned me into. The truth is, I don’t want to surrender myself for the cause, or for all of you. I just want to end this pain and confusion inside of me. Die as me, before I become someone else entirely.” Bex finished.

Lyssa tried to comfort her but Bex slapped her hand away.

“Uh… there’s a lot to unpack there,” Annalee said from where she sat at the kitchen table.

“Bex,” Joan tried to comfort her but Bex pushed her away and walked out the front door to get some air.

Lyssa sighed as she watched her go.

There was another moment of silence.

“This life has taken its toll on her,” Lyssa stared at the front door.

“Clearly,” Rooney muttered.

“You two didn’t make it any easier,” Lyssa turned to snap at them.

“We did what we had to,” Joan said.

“Had to!? Look what that got you, your daughter is possessed!” Lyssa pointed out.

“You almost got her killed!” Joan shouted back.

“That doesn’t mean you cut us off. Pushing us away was the first step in Rebecca slowly falling apart. Years! Years Joan. All she wanted was to be part of your lives and watch Nora grow up. You forced her away. Not a day went by when she didn’t long to hear from you, or any of you!” Lyssa turned to the room.

“All of you should be ashamed of yourselves.” Lyssa spat.

Mike looked down in shame.

“You are her family, my family. After everything we went through together… how could you?” Lyssa asked.

“We did what we did to protect Nora. I don’t regret it.” Rooney struggled to stand up to face Lyssa.

Lyssa nodded and turned to leave.

“Where are you going?” Joan asked.

“A place where we belong. Because this clearly isn’t it. We’ll stay away, for good. I’ll do my best to move the war elsewhere.” Lyssa walked to the front door, Vinny close behind her.

“Don’t,” Joan called.

Lyssa paused in her steps.

“Don’t leave again,” Joan said.

“Just pretend we were never here to begin with, you’re good at that.” Lyssa walked out the front door.

Joan sighed.

“You’re just going to let them leave?” Ross asked.

Everyone turned to him.

“When friends mess up, they apologize. They admit their mistakes, no matter how embarrassing it is. Friends don’t leave friends behind.” He said.

Garret gave him a fist bump.

Aron smiled at him and ruffled his son’s hair.

Joan looked down in thought.

“Sometimes we say stupid things, dumb things for dumb reasons or maybe even valid reasons. When we hurt the people we care about, it’s up to us to right the wrong. If you let them leave, you’ll never see them again. Is that what you really want?” Ross added.

Joan looked at Rooney and Rooney sighed before nodding at Joan. Joan glanced at the unconscious Nora before she narrowed her eyes and made up her mind.

“You’re right,” Joan said.

“I know,” Ross said softly, glancing at the unconscious Nora.

Garret pat his back in understanding.

Joan grabbed her car keys and walked towards the door.

“I’ll be back, and when I come back we are exorcising that freak out of Nora,” Joan said. Then she walked out the front door and let it slam shut behind her. She had two vampires to track down, and she knew exactly where to start.