Ionca opened her eyes and glanced up, seeing the approaching woman. Who was she? When had she come here? It made Ionca's throat burn to be so close to a human. As the woman patted her back, only trying to comfort her, Ionca was fighting against all of her instincts as a vampire. She wanted nothing but to turn and sink her fangs into this woman's neck... To suck her dry of all her blood... But, of course, she couldn't do that. The Cullens would be upset with her, as well as her brother, and Karn would probably punish her for it. He would hurt her, again. That made her just wail louder, and she struggled against Karn's grip, again. "Let me go! My Oneesama is gonna kill you for this!" She wailed.

Suddenly, she felt herself being placed on the ground, a strong hold on her arm. Being a vampire, it didn't hurt her, but the woman here didn't know what they were. She wanted to gain her pity... Maybe she could help. "Ow! Stop it, that hurts!" She wailed, sobbing. "I-I want my Oneesama!" The woman stood up for her then, telling Karn that he should not speak to a child that way, but he shot it right back at her, and she stormed off. Ionca looked down, her eyes still filled with tears. "I am too still a child..." She muttered, the saltwater tears streaking down her pale cheeks. "A-And you can get in big trouble!" She was simply dragged along, though, to finish up his chores.

As they went into the shop, she made as loud of a fuss as she could, but nobody would even come near. Ionca felt herself beginning to give up hope, and her cries quieted down as she followed him, sobbing quietly to herself. "I-I want Oneesama..." She whimpered, softly. "I-I hate you, you stupid mutt..." As they headed outside, the woman was suddenly there again, and Ionca was confused. Why had she come back? Hearing that she was going to help him read the book, Ionca panicked. She had been hoping that he would have no way of reading it, and that she would be safe, but this wasn't good. Using vampires to ressurect the dead... He was going to hurt her. She understood it, now! He had brought two vampires, just in case one wasn't enough! Just in case he messed up on the first one! "Don't help him!" She shouted, frantically. "P-Please don't help him! H-He'll hurt me, he's gonna use the spell to hurt me!" She reached out for the woman, desperately grabbing on to her sleeve. "P-Please..." She whispered, pitifully, crying. It hurt to resist these urges, but if she could get away from Karn... If she could save herself, then there would be no worries.

Stephie...? Oh, look at you... Why are you lying on the ground? Did you fall asleep again?

She opened her eyes, finding herself in a large clearing. She was surrounded by what seemed to be millions of flowers. The comforting sound of a pan whistle floated through the air, and she sat up, looking around. Where am I? She wondered. As far back as her memory would go, she could not remember ever being to a place such as this. However, the sound of the whistle that floated through the air was familiar, and she recognized it as her mother's old lullaby. Standing up now, she glanced around, frantically. memories of the fight with Roy and Hype came flooding back to her, and she knew that she was dead. Somehow, she had died. And here she was, in the afterlife... In heaven? No... There was too much blood on her hands for that. But this definitely wasn't hell...

"Stephie."

She heard that all-too-familiar voice behind her then, the one she had been searching for. Her heart skipped a beat, and she felt relieved... Her mother had waited for her, after all. However, she couldn't move at all, or even turn to face her. She was frozen, not believing that she could actually see her mother after all of this time... A warm hand touched her shoulder. "What's wrong, baby girl?" Tears sprang up in Stephie's eyes. "I-I messed up," She replied, her shoulders trembling as tears streamed down her cheeks. "K-Karn..."

Her mother's embrace surrounded her, then, and she felt warm... calm. "I didn't want to die," Stephie said. "I-I love you, Mom... and I miss you... B-But I wasn't ready to die!" Her whole body shook with sobs and Cassandra turned her around, pulling her close into a warm hug. "Do what you think is best," Cassandra replied, stroking her hair. "Karn... You love him, don't you?" She stepped back from her mother, looking at the ground. "Yes," She whispered. "But I couldn't protect him. He won't want to see me, again... I failed him." A light hand touched her cheek and made her look up into her mother's eyes. "Do what you think is best," She repeated. "Don't give up. You still have a chance. You may be able to fix this... but you won't know unless you try." Stephie stared at her mother. "Good luck, Stephie, darling... My brave baby girl..."

Everything faded out in that moment, and the pain came rushing back. The wound in her chest, the emotional turmoil of her mother's death... It all came rushing back to her, and she found herself surrounded with people, laying on the floor of that little store. They were police officers... but why? Oh, yeah. Karn had caused a ruckus... One of them saw Stephie and, realizing thst she was still alive, went over to her and kneeled down in front of her. "Hey, can you hear me, ma'am? Hey!" She glanced up at him to show she could understand, but she was too weak to move. Everything hurt... it was hard to breathe... "Go get a stretcher in here!" He shouted. "There's a wounded person!" Stephie closed her eyes and grunted, shaking violently as she stood up to her hands and knees, slowly. The officer tried to get her to stop, but she wouldn't listen. "Ngh... K-Karn..." She grunted. "I-I have to save... K-Karn..." Tears rolled down her blood-stained cheeks and she reached for her phone. Once she had it, she collapsed, clutching it. Even so, she dialed the number, holding the phone close to her ear. She shook from the pain, but called Karn anyways, needing him to be alright. He couldn't get hurt like she did... He couldn't. "K-Karn...!" She struggled to speak into the phone. "I-I'm... sorry... H-He... he got m-me..." Sighing, she looked up as men came in with the stretcher. "T-They're comign a-after you... r-run... K... arn..." A weak smile crossed her face. "L-Love... you..." And with that, she snapped the phone shut, dropping it as the men lifted her onto the stretcher. I failed... She thought. But at least he knows, now... There's no looking back.

(You can either have him answer the phone or have it be a voice mail... Either one. )

Roy followed them down into the tunnel, but stopped when he heard clanging metal. Immediately, he crouched low, snarling as he looked around. However, as his eyes adjusted, he saw the ladder, and stood up once again. A hole in the roof? "But..." He held a pained expression, now. "Which way... Which way, dammit?!" He looked around visciously, but he couldn't make out anything. "Her aura... None of her aura's left! None! There's no trace of it!" He gritted his teeth, looking around. That could only mean one of two thing: Either she had woken up... or she was dead. The first one didn't seem likely. "Should we split up?" He asked Hype. "Or... do we guess?"

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