Chapter 35

"The human soul is not a rubber ball.

It's vulnerable, impermanent, but stronger than you know.

- Death -

"We're far from perfect, but we are good."

- Sam -

"No matter how much it hurts,

no matter how hard it gets,

you gotta keep grinding."

- Dean -

"There is not much difference

between madness and devotion."

- Ghost Girl-

"What if I said I didn't want to die yet?

That I wasn't ready?

The life I live, the work I do...

I pretty much figured that's all there was to me.

Tear around, jam the key in the ignition

and haul ass till I ran out of gas,

I guess I just thought that sooner or later

I'd go out the same way that I live.

Pedal to the metal and that'd be it.

But now I don't know.

There's things...people...feelings that

I want to experience differently than I have before,

or maybe even for the first time.

I'm just starting to think that maybe

there's more to it all than I thought."

- Dean -

"Baby..." Drake said. "Hhhhhmmmm..." Katherine said. "Paps is awake." Drake said. With a blink of an eye, Katherine disappeared from Drake's side making him smiled and followed her.

"Paps!?" Katherine said slamming the door. "You're really that excited to see me not caring about how you will look infront of the others?" Serafino said looking at his granddaughter with her PJs, messy hair, and puffy eyes. Without any word, without even trying to fix herself, Katherine ran towards her grandfather and embrace him tightly. "Ssssshhhhh, it's okay now, dear. I'm okay, don't cry." Serafino said stroking the back of Katherine who is crying hard. The girls are with teary eyes too because they knew how Katherine loved her grandfather. He's been her father-mother figure since she was little. She grew under his strict but caring attitude. He never made Katherine felt that she's alone in this world. He gave her everything and still giving her what she needs and what's best for her.

"You're...not...okay...and...now...is...the...time...to...tell...us...everything...and...you...don't...have...a...choice..." Katherine tried to say her words clearly in between her sobs. Serafino sighed because he knew Katherine is right, they should know because he can't tell if he has enough time to stay with her granddaughter and his clan.

"I've been shot with a silver bullet." Serafino started making the rest gasped. Katherine wanted to cry again but she stopped herself. "Lucky for me, I'm with a witch and she immediately gave me a potion that will slow down the effect of the bullet on my body." Serafino said then, he slowly lifted his clothes and everyone saw a wound on his left side. "As we all know, even if we are vampires, everything is going to end." Serafino said. "Don't say that!" Katherine said with an angry tone. "Katherine..." Serafino said but he was cut off by her granddaughter. "Don't! We will find the potion again. Who's the witch and where can we find her?" Katherine said making Serafino sighed again. "She's dead." Serafino said. "Then, we will find another witch to make the potion again. Vladamir inform all the witches that I want to talk to them." Katherine said. "All of you, I want you to find a witch that can make the potion." Katherine said. "Kath..." Serafino said. "No! I will find her! I will find her!" Katherine said with her tears falling from her eyes. Serafino embraced her grandaughter tightly to calm her. Drake closed his hand into a tight fist because of Katherine's sudden outburst. The rest felt their hearts ache because of the scene infront of them. "You can't leave me. You can't go. You're my life, Paps. You're my life." Katherine said while crying out loud.

Serafino fell asleep while Katherine is holding his hand. Katherine looked at her grandfather and tears start falling from her eyes again. She felt a hand on her shoulders. "He will be okay. He's strong, he's stubborn, he's hard-headed, a pain in the ass most of the time." Vladamir said making Katherine smiled. "You should be strong for him. He's counting on you. He's always proud of you, Kath." Vladamir said and Katherine nodded. "Now, go, and make him prouder. I will take care of him." Vladamir said.

Drake, together with the rest of the gang, are busy training with the other guards. Drake was giving Athan a hard time. Alaric and Blade are fighting against Amber and Dawn. Kieran is having a hard time dealing with Thana and Amdis.

"Want a helping hand?" Katherine said that caught Drake's feet that will give a front kick on Athan's face. "Thank you, Milady. I will gladly accept a help from a beautiful lady like you." Athan said smiling widely. Drake rolled his eyes over his friend. "Ladies first." Athan said. "My pleasure." Katherine said then gave a continuous attacks on his mate. The boys and the girls felt relieve seeing Katherine started to join their training.

They were all panting after their grueling drills. They were calming themselves by lying on the ground, inhaling through their nose and exhaling through their mouth to feel more relax.

"I will talk to Gregory tomorrow. I need to get all the informations I want so I could make a plan out of it." Katherine said. "Drake, you can come with me. Athan, Amber, stay here with us. Alaric, Dawn, go to Mzukwa clan. Blade, Thana, with the Raeb clan. Kieran, Amdis with Fanpaya clan. I want you to join their training and make it sure that they are ready to face whoever comes to thier territory. Wait, where's Hunter?" Katherine asked because, again, she can't feel the presence of her wolf. "He's with Celeste." Drake said. "That's good. He already did what I want from him." Katherine said smiling because her wolf was a responsible being too.