A strange thing happens inside my body. If I wasn't almost certain I was dead then I could swear I can feel my heart beating.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

I listen to the rhythm, almost like a lullaby. I imagined the afterlife to be much more clear and in-your-face, but I just feel disorientated and lost. Maybe this is how it feels at first, or maybe listening to my beating heart is all there is for me. How long until I see my mother? My father? My whole family? Have I failed them or will they be proud of me? I'm anxious. Their legacy is everything to them, and I think I've left at least something behind for another generation to follow. That generation might not be Harmon, but they might be a new hope. I want to see Victoria now. I want to embrace my cousin. It's been so long. So damn long. I can't wait to tell her about the Slayers, about Sam, to tell her that she was right all along.

Oh. Oh. Something changes. I want to wake up. But how do I wake up? My eyes begin to drift open while I linger on that thought. Everything is bright. I see the sun. It is directly above me. My eyes close again.

"Theresa. Theresa."

"Father? Is that you?" I whisper.

"What?"

My eyes open again, wider, more assertive. Sam leans over me, the shine of his golden eyes lights up a smile on my face. I shy away in embarrassment. And then the shock sets in. I'm alive. My heartbeat is real, and I'm still in the same place I fell asleep in. However, Megan is gone, and the attackers are out of sight.

"Are you. . . okay?" he asks.

"She left me alive," I say, glancing at Sam in confusion as I sit up. "Why would she leave me alive?"

"I don't know," he says. "But I'm glad she did."

He holds out his hand and I look at it for a moment, almost wishing I was still asleep so I could avoid this moment. I slide my hand into his and I accept his help to balance me back to my feet. I try to hide the sensation that is burning me from my insides. It starts in the hand he touches, and then it travels to my gut, causing a reverberation of consequences. Does he feel it too? I'm dying to ask him. But that would mean exposing this bizarre connection and he probably doesn't even have a flicker of the same emotion. All I know is, whenever his hand leaves mine, I want to feel it again.

I saved his life, and now I have to understand why, but I don't even know where to start.

"You're alone," I say. "That isn't good news."

"No," he sighs, staring around the compound. "Amara has taken my entire unit hostage."

"We have to go find them."

"I already know where they are."

"She's using them as bait, to draw you out. We need backup, Sam. Tex and his team are waiting literally just over-"

"No," he says immediately. "I'm not giving Amara more hostages." He turns around and stares at the building. "This is our one and only chance of getting those humans out. She's going to leave them to die in there. I have to choose between them and my unit. How do I. . . how can I protect my unit if I can't even save lives that are right in front of me? I couldn't protect Sophia. That witch did something to her head, she started seeing things and then she launched herself at Milasia. By the time I split them up, the coven had already got inside the heads of the rest of them. I've just spent the last hour fighting off my own unit. I had to knock Sophia unconscious. That's when Amara showed up and things got even more complicated."

I take a deep breath. I feel at blame. This was all my fault. If I hadn't have pressured him into taking me and his team instead then none of this would be happening. It's as though Amara predicted my actions from the moment I learned about the rescue. It scares me that she knows me that well. This entire rescue was manipulated into an assassination against Sam. The coven turned his unit against him, Sophia against him, this is the first time I've ever seen him hopeless. It isn't a mask he should wear. I want to melt it away.

Even with so many wanting him dead, here he stands. A giant warrior. Brave. Strong. And infuriatingly invincible.

"If I choose to go to Amara, then I die, my unit dies, and the humans die. If I choose to continue with the rescue then a hundred humans live. What the hell do I do?"

"There's another way, Sam." I place my hand on his arm and he doesn't even flinch. He allows me to touch him, to comfort him.

"A portal big enough for one hundred people? You'll die for good."

"I can do it."

"No, you can't," he says. "You're wounded and you used too much magic doing whatever you were doing before you passed out. This isn't your fight, Theresa. You should leave while you still can."

"The hell I will," I hiss, removing my hand. He turns and looks at me. "That isn't just your unit out there, it's mine too. They're here because of me, Sophia is here because of me, and I am not leaving her to die like last time. This day hasn't gone to plan in the slightest, and maybe we are about to walk in to a suicide trap, but whatever you decide, I'm going to be by your side."

He smiles slightly. "No offence, but you're not exactly at your best."

I lower my eyes and I scowl at him. I clench my hand into a fist and the front building of the compound bursts outwards. Slabs of brick crash against the ground and a gust of strong wind blows a hole in the fence in front of us. Sam is silent, but his expression is implying an apology.

After several tense seconds, the first human walks out of the hole. He places a hand above his eyes, staring up at the sun in awe before motioning with his hand for others to follow. As the man approaches us, I take a deep breath.

"We saved you but you're not safe here," I say. "Lead your people through the woods to the edge of the river. Don't stop until you find a group of Slayers, one is called Tex. Tell him that Sam is running behind due to complications with wiccans but he's got it under control and the team will join you later. They will take you to safety but you have to be quick. Do you understand?"

"Yes," the man says. "Thank you. Both of you."

Both Sam and I become distracted with watching them leave their prison for the first time in possibly weeks. Earlier, I never thought I would see this sight. The sight of seeing children with smiles on their faces and sudden hope in a parent's desperate eyes. It somehow makes whatever happens today worth it.

"Let's go," I say.

Sam looks at me and nods.

I follow his lead around the camp to the north, and we begin the climb up a small and steep hill.

"What you did, it was brave," he says. "But also reckless. Amara could have a dozen wiccans in those woods waiting to kill anything that moves."

"I took a risk," I say. "Whatever happens, at least they get a chance. Sometimes, you have to leave people's fates in their own hands."

"I'd agree if I wasn't on my way to die for my people."

"Die?" I mutter. "I thought you couldn't die?"

He glances back and I grin at him.

"Some do believe I'm immortal. They're crazy. I can die just like anyone else, and if that moment happens, I'd accept it."

"Really? I prefer the immortal story, it's cooler."

He laughs to himself. "As long as Amara believes it, then she fears me. And that's something I can use to my advantage."

"I hate to break it to you but I think the events of today kind of go against that."

"And am I dead?"

I smile. "Point taken."

We walk for a while until we reach some trees, and then my insides tingle as I sense the magic around me. Sam doesn't have to lead me anywhere anymore, I know exactly where Amara is, how far away she is, and how strong her power is becoming.

Sam drifts to a tree and watches in sadness. Everyone is there, on the ground and positioned in a circle with their backs to each other. They aren't physically bound, but they look as though they can't move. For a Slayer, being taken prisoner by the enemy is a fate worse than death.

"My patience is wearing thin, Malachi!" Amara shouts at the trees. "Either face me or I start executing your filthy species one-by-one."

"Got a plan?" he asks me.

I stare at him, confused he's asking me. I was just about to ask him that. God, we're screwed.

"She kept the coven there to watch," I say, my eyes landing on a rather bored and irritable Natalia. "That could be good for us."

"How?"

"Trust me, there's only one person Natalia wants to kill more than you and she's standing inches from her."

"You want to turn them against Amara?"

"I just need a fuse. Do you remember the spell that the coven used on the others? To make them turn on you?"

"I don't particularly memorise spells, Theresa."

I close my eyes. I was there when Natalia cast the spell on Sophia, I must have heard it, but it was so quick. It's a dark spell, stemmed from practising dark magic, and it could backfire terribly if I cast it. But it's our only chance. I think back to that moment, just before Sophia fell to her knees and screamed in pain. I almost have it. . . it's so close.

"You've got ten seconds before this blonde parasite loses her head!" Amara screams.

"I've got it," I say. "Stay hidden."

"Wait, Theresa, what-"

I walk out from the tree and I approach the clearing. Amara stops pacing and stands still, the coven scattered around the trees hold their heads higher in alert, and Natalia shakes her head at me. What I didn't expect, was for Sam to join me. He doesn't trust that I can save them, and I oddly respect him for that.

"Just one would have done the trick, Amara," Sam hisses.

"What's the fun in that?" she says.

At the sight, and knowledge, of Sam's presence the Slayers begin frantically thrashing against their invisible binds. Sophia's eyes are blood red as she groans like an animal, itching to get to him. I glance around the circle for Megan, and I'm relieved to find her alive and unaffected by the dark spell. She's weak though, and drifts in and out of consciousness every few seconds.

"What did you do to them?" Sam demands.

"You can save them, and reverse the spell, if you lose the body guard. I didn't take you as a coward. Why are you even here, Theresa? I let you live, go, live."

"Should I be grateful?" I say. "Is it any wonder that I can't walk away? Look at what you do. These people are innocent and you defiled their minds."

"They are not people. Slayers are not human. They are abominations."

"Actually, we're half human," Sam says. "Just like you. And if we're such evil, soulless monsters, then why haven't we taken over the world? We have the numbers, and the powers, just like wiccans. We could have wiped the mortals centuries ago, but we didn't. Because we're better than you."

"Save me the good versus evil drivel," Amara says. "You only think that way because your kind has hidden underground for centuries! You couldn't even comprehend the torture and pain our kind has had to endure because of mortals. Hanging, beheading, burning. If the Slayers had suffered like we had suffered then this conversation wouldn't be happening."

"You're right, we haven't suffered at the hands of mortals. But those trials? They were a damn long time ago. But you just can't let that go. You have to blame the entire species for the actions of a few. You Elders are all the same. Corrupted. Blinded. Doomed to repeat history."

"You think you're a better leader than I am, Malachi?" Amara says, smirking.

"The fact I'm here willing to die for my unit means that I'm a better leader than you will ever be."

"If only it would be that simple," she hisses.

Sam's eyes narrow in confusion and I grin up at him.

"She's been trying to kill you throughout that entire conversation," I say.

"Since when could you create force fields?" he whispers.

"It's a shock for me too. But it's keeping you from turning to ash right now."

"If I have to go through you to get to him, I will," Amara says. "Drop the shield."

"No."

Amara turns her attention to Sophia and Sophia screams. I have to hold Sam back from lunging forwards and that's more difficult than mastering the shield. Sam stands in front of me, breathing weirdly heavily.

"Drop the shield or I'll blow her head off."

I turn my attention to Natalia. "Are you really going to stand there and watch this? You've been waiting for your chance at revenge for years. You can have it. Today. Right now. You said yourself that his death goes to her advantage. Do something."

"What are you talking about?" Amara demands, leaving Sophia alone to focus on a conflicted Natalia. "What is she talking about?"

"Look at your coven, Natalia," I say. "They're ready for this. They've been waiting for this. If you walk away today you are never going to get a better chance than right now, with us. She took away your freedom, but you can get it back."

Natalia glances at her surviving coven, who nod to her.

"Join us," I say.

"Natalia." Amara growls out her name with fury in her eyes. "I will end you the moment you even consider-"

"El Quaint Seda," Natalia whispers.

"What the fuck is going on? Where are those witches!"

Milasia. Hearing her voice is surprisingly the best sound I've heard all day. The Slayers come back to us, and Sophia meets my eyes for a moment with a light smile before she jumps to her feet. They all gather their strength again, rising from the circle to confront Amara fearlessly. All except Megan, who drops sideways to the floor.

"Megan," Sophia whispers. "Get up."

"She's okay," I say, my eyes fixed on Amara and who she's looking at. Even with a dozen Slayers around her, Amara is still only interested in Sam. Again and again, her attacks come, stronger and stronger, almost breaking through the shield that protects him.

Natalia holds out her hand and starts chanting. Amara stops her attacks against Sam and glances at the floor. Even an Elder as powerful as her isn't immune to spells. The coven surface from the trees, chanting the same spell over and over. Amara is locked into something, and the coven can hold it. I leave Sam's side and I join Natalia, repeating the spell along with her. The spell is dark, as Natalia warned, and the magic is unfamiliar to my mind. I begin to see images of death. Killing someone, taking the life of someone. The satisfaction of it. It seduces me, piece by piece.

"Do it now!" I scream.

The Slayers back away as Sam takes lead. He unearths a singular blade and throws it through the air. Amara's mouth twists to the point that she's almost smiling, but it's sinister and dark. We stop chanting when the blade reaches the point between her eyes, but a force holds it back. Amara is fighting our spell with everything she has and it's enough. Pieces of the blade slowly chip away until it completely vanishes. Amara's eyes go up and the air is her anchor.

My back slams against a tree and I cry out in pain as I fall to the ground. I force myself to sit up immediately, clenching my hand as it becomes unbearable. I scream because I can't do anything else. Amara is the only one standing, everyone else is. . . somewhere.

"You can't kill me!" she screams. I watch as powerful gusts of wind swivel around her body. The sky turns darker, the leaves of the trees fall out and die, the green-grassed ground she stands on becomes damp soil and rotten earth. "I am a god!"

I see Sam in the corner of my eye. He's already on his feet, charging back towards her. I offer him an apologetic glance before I coat his feet in concrete. He stares at me, and begins shouting, but my ears are ringing and I can't hear anything anymore.

I use the tree to pull myself up and I start limping towards the clearing. Milasia goes to strike Amara first; but she can't break through the force of the wind. Sophia and the others join her in a desperate attempt to edge closer, but their efforts are useless.

I hold my hand in front of my face as I push myself through the wind. It's mighty, the magnitude is unlike any bad weather I've ever encountered in my lifetime. I limp myself through, step-by-step, getting closer and closer. Once I'm inside her bubble, she stares at me. Her eyes are ferocious blue. Bluer than I've ever seen. And I'm pretty sure they've always been brown.

"I knew you wouldn't be witch enough to do it," she snarls. "You are a fool!"

"If that's true, then why haven't you told them what I was ordered to do?" I shout to her. "You had several chances to tell Sam, but you didn't. Because you know that you'd lose every chance of getting to him."

She growls. "You're killing this world. I hope you realise what you've done before it's too late."

"I am the only one that can get close enough and that must drive you insane. It drives your mother insane."

"Do not speak of my mother!" she screams. "She gave you a job to do and you must complete it."

I shake my head. "It's over, Amara. Even the wiccans are turning against you now. What's the point of any of this if you end up with no one?"

Her nostrils move at a rapid pace. "Like you? Killing your mother was so easy. It was hardly even a difficult manifestation."

"Stop talking," I mutter.

"She was weak and annoying. Like a fly that just won't leave you alone. Until you squat it, until you watch it go splat. Your mother was an embarrassment to your coven, to us all. And the satisfaction of turning her to ash was exhilarating."

I stand still as the ferocious wind subsides. It all goes quiet and the grief is once again overwhelming me.

"Victoria's death was even more glorious," Amara says. "The Slayer sympathizer, she deserved to die. She could have been so much more but she chose to turn on me. She chose to end her life before it even begun. They were weak. You are not like them; I know you see the bigger picture."

"Victoria did not deserve to die," I say, choking back tears. "All those people did not deserve to die."

"You can't fight fate, Theresa. And it's their fate to die today." She snaps her head towards the line of Slayers that are watching closely from the trees. Behind me, I hear Sam smash his way through the last piece of concentrate and I know he's on his way. The moment she sees him, he's dead. I have no more strength to create a shield, I'm dying all over again.

"Theresa."

I hold my breath as I hear my mother's voice. The image is distant and uncertain, but I can feel her hands on my face, her eyes boring into mine. I don't know how old I am but I'm old enough to feel afraid of her.

"This memory will come when you need it most," she says. "The moment when you believe all hope is lost, you will remember my words. You will be weak because you have lost your energy, but if you cut all ties with your magic, energy will flow through you. Every connection to a witch must be banished, any power you have acquired must be suppressed. Feel the wind, the auras of those around you, the sun beating down. Anything. I've spent your entire life trying to hide you from who you are, but today is the day you must discover it. If it saves you, or someone you care for, then it can only do good. Don't be afraid, when the time comes, you will know. I'm sorry."

I snap out of the memory. Another spell? How many spells did my mother cast on me? Was any of my life true? Do I have to spend the rest of my life being confronted with memories that she took away from me? I bite down on my lip.

Focus, I tell myself.

I have seconds to act on her advice. I find the manifestation power first, and it struggles in my desire to hide it further. It wants out, as always. But I can't be a witch right now. That was what she told me; I have to banish my magic. It runs through my body as clear as blood, it is one with me, part of me. To banish it, is to accept something else. Something strange and unknown. It confuses me, I stumble. Am I drunk? I look around the hillside with new eyes. I feel everything.

The more I breathe, the stronger I get. The air is like an oxygen mask, the ground is like a pill that makes me want to dance. The sun, when I feel the sun, I feel connected to a part of me that I have never known before.

I watch as the Slayers throw bolts from their hands at Amara, standing as one to halt her. I intercept their voltage, and my hands begin to fizzle. The wound on my palm no longer hurts, and it's almost completely healed. I hold my hands up higher, staring at the jumping electricity that changes from green to blue.

"Impossible," I say to myself.

"Not impossible," a voice says. I turn to look at Sam, and the wonder on my face reflects back to him. "I had my suspicions."

"This isn't magic, this isn't anything connected to my witch side. My father wasn't a mortal."

"Your father was a Slayer," Sam says.

Amara turns her head at Sam, I can't feel the magic she is using anymore, but I can conjure a force field ten times as powerful as the last. The shield expands, covering the Slayers at the trees. With energy, it's endless. I can feel energy all around me, and just like a Slayer, it can't weaken me. Amara narrows her eyes in frustration, because she can no longer sense my magic either.

I glance at Natalia as she emerges with her coven. She stares at my hands, her mouth halfway to the floor. I suddenly realise that everyone is staring at my hands. Sophia is the only one grinning.

"Your shield expansion is unlike anything I've ever seen," Sam whispers. "Your witch side must amplify it. Take my hand."

I take his hand, and a shiver runs through him. He intercepts my voltage, changing it, moulding it into something hotter.

"It's useless to even try," Amara shouts. "Maybe I'll go pay those humans a visit."

I narrow my eyes.

"Feel that?" Sam says.

I smile. "Yes."

"Damn, Theresa, don't take all my energy."

"Sorry," I mutter. "This isn't exactly easy."

Amara walks towards us, the ground splits apart behind her. Sam and I stumble as it trembles, but our hands only get tighter. She's bringing the wrath of the Elders with her and she's about to blast us into darkness.

"Breathe," Sam whispers at me, remaining focused. "There's energy in everything, especially in her anger. Anchor it. You got it?"

"Out of all the abominations in this world, you are the worst!" Amara screeches as she creeps closer, dragging the ground along with her. "Now it makes sense why your mother was a Slayer sympathiser, because she was that much of a desperate slut, she bedded one!"

I clench my teeth, anger begins to build up in me like a bomb, and because Sam's energy is tied with mine, he feels it too. I keep my eyes on her, while Sam shakes his head to try and supress my emotions.

"You'll never be accepted by either side. You're worthless to us. Damaged. A freak of nature itself. You dare to stand there and hold his hand! When you were happy to kill-"

The anger bursts and I scream it out. My hands carry a voltage that's hotter than Sam's lightning and I strike it at her heart. She conjures a shield and the electrifying blue light meets a barrier. Sparks fly everywhere, small fires break out and the ground's aroma changes from torn to scorched.

"Lightning!" Sam yells.

At his command, the unit runs out from the trees, they leap aggressively over giant holes in the ground and they form a circle around Amara. Every Slayer lights her up, using any voltage they can master. Natalia and her coven join in, chanting a spell to break through the shield and paralyse her like before. Sam let's go of my hand, leaving me to amplify the voltage by myself. We work together, every one of us, no matter the blood or the upbringing, today we are one team.

The shield begins to get smaller; Amara's body drops lower. She's on her knees, desperately trying to push the shield outwards. I suddenly see Megan among the faces, she's awake and the extra voltage is a huge advantage. It causes the shield to collapse completely and Amara screams as the heat reaches her, it takes her hair first, ripping it from her scalp. She screams even louder when she feels her head, and we all stop.

Her clothes are torn, her skin burned so badly that her face isn't recognizable. She lays on the floor, writhing, and pants. I may hate her, but seeing anyone endure that amount of pain is almost unbearable to watch.

Sam glances at me for a moment, almost like he's issuing an apology for something that hasn't happened yet. He walks towards her, carrying a blade.

"I've already taken the life of one Elder, and it isn't quite fair that I should do it twice," he says. I wince at his implication. "I'll leave the honours to the future Malachi."

Everyone stares at Megan, even I stare at Megan, and it's clear in her face that she wants it too. But the blade is passed to someone else, someone completely unexpected. Sophia stares down at Sam's hand, her face becoming paler than snow.

"Me?" she says. "I don't understand."

"I don't choose," Sam says. "But even if I did, I think you'd make a damn good leader one day. You just have to start acting like one."

Sophia nods and takes the blade. Megan smiles at her cousin, though it isn't clear if it's genuine. Amara is still writhing on the floor, succumbing to her wounds with cries of helplessness.

Sophia hovers above her body, and the Slayers stay silent, though I can tell they're itching to shout things. Amara reaches out to try and stop Sophia's sharp attack on her heart, but she's too weak. The blade penetrates her chest and Amara's head falls back. A moment later, her lifeless body is reduced to ash, scattering around the calm air. She just vanishes.

When Sophia stands up, everyone cheers. The noise is almost painful but it makes me smile too. Just for a moment. I've spent many endless, lonely nights imagining and wishing for this to happen, but it doesn't bring my coven back. It doesn't put the world back. It doesn't change the arrival of demons. For the Slayers, it's everything. It's a party right here and now, it's a celebration the entire world should rejoice in. But I just feel. . . empty.

And I think it may be permanent.