Chapter Thirty Five: The Wicked Queen

Gwen and Nate laid in a bed naked within the abandoned home that they deemed as their own temporarily. Scratch marks covered one another's bodies and they were exhausted. Gwen sits up as Nate looks over, arms tucked behind his head.

" I told you that you couldn't handle me " Nate laughed which made Gwen roll her eyes and punch him in the shoulder. Gwen was silent, whilst she had fun with Nate, she couldn't get Kara out of her mind. " Nate..I hope you know that..this doesn't - " Gwen tries to explain her thoughts but Nate cuts her off.

" It doesn't mean anything. You are still getting over the other person. I get it. I am not going to push you about it but I am gonna say" Nate sits up and looks over to Gwen with a smile across his face " I had a lot of fun..and if you ever wanted to do something like this again.." he didn't have to finish his sentence. Gwen already knew what he was going to say. And on some level, she knew she should enjoy her time with Nate and move on. But she was still hung up on Kara and being with Nate and misleading him would put her in the same position that Kara was in.

" I know. I just don't want you to think that there is a chance right now..with my head being fucked up" Gwen stood up and began to put her clothes back on. " I don't even know what to think right now. Having sex with a Lycan..that...I don't know. I've thought about it but never followed through with it " she explains as Nate watched. " Well we aren't a sub species you know. We have feeling too " Gwen slides her pants on and then her shirt. " I didn't mean it like that. Our people have fought a long time and this..this is a new thing " To which Nate nodded. " Yeah well I still enjoyed it. And I know you have things to work through so I don't mind you taking your time to do that. But you are the first girl I've met who has kept up with me. Who has the same passion I do and it was just..nice ya know " Nate explains as he gets out of bed and slides into his pants. Gwen felt the same. There was something about him that was comforting.

" I loved this too ya know. I just don't want you to get hurt" She tried to assure him though he didn't seem all too bothered. " I think you've seen how durable I am " He chuckles which makes Gwen smirk. " Yes. Yes I have "

Their conversation is cut short however due to a loud explosion coming from outside, prompting them to both go outside and seeing a giant green light In the distance.

" Isn't that the Witches Kingdom? " Nate questions to Gwen who see's the column of light. " Yeah".

There was a part of Gwen who wanted to rush into help. Kara could be in danger and Gwen knew how serious this could be and yet she found herself hesitating. Gwen reaches over, taking Nate's hand who seems shocked by this.

" Are we gonna go help?" Nate asks, looking to Gwen who stares a little longer, analyzing the situation before turning to him and pulling her to him and kissing him deeply. " Not a chance in hell"

Kara, Gabriel and the others decide that they would have to go to her Kingdom. This had to be something to do with Aurora and they knew that. Raven, however, decided that it would be best for her to not leave, she wanted to stay with Penelope. The best that she could do was offer assistance from back home if they needed it.

Shawn's sisters were nowhere to be found which to most of them was a blessing.

Shawn, Gabriel, Kara and Lysette arrive at the castle just in time to see Kara's father standing in front of the throne. They imagined there would be a giant blast of energy that ripped through the castle, but as they noticed, it seemed to radiate from the castle itself.

Kara approached her father, grabbing him by his shirt and shaking him. " Do you realize what the hell you've done? " Kalivare seems confused as to what was happening and why Kara was so upset with him. " What are you talking about? " he asked, looking to the others for answers. " You know what the hell I'm talking about. You freed Mom. You know what she did and you still did it! " Kara let him go, pushing back a little.

" Your mother realizes how badly she messed up and she wants to make things right. And I have to think that it would be best for the Kingdom.." He answers, which prompts Kara to raise her hand and slap him across the face. " You are a fucking fool. She is playing you. She is using you. She has no intention of uniting the Kingdoms. She doesn't even want me and Gabriel together" Kara explains though Kalivare stands firm in his response. " Since you both couldn't sort your issues out, me and Aurora will unite the Kingdoms " he explains, trying to get Kara to understand his truth.

" If that was even possible. Then there would've never been a need for me to have been born. But yet here I am" She shouts at her father, who said nothing now. " But Gabriel is back now..and I don't know what that means for me and him. But you, whether because of your selfishness or because of your lack of faith in me, freed a woman who has made it obvious she doesn't think clearly. She killed your friends, Gabriel's parents..." Kara reasons which finally makes Kalivare speak up.

" She killed them because she blamed them for my death. It doesn't make it right but she had her reasons. Before I passed, she had every intention of doing the right thing" he explains.

" No. She blamed them because she wants to be in control over everything. She couldn't stand the thought that me and Gabriel would have complete rule. Hell, did you ever stop to think that is why you two are together" Kara had been thinking of this for quite some time but had never expressed it. But things made sense to her after being away from her mother's guidance. She was able to see things clearly.

" She probably made you fall in love with her with magic. Not because she cared about you..but because she wanted the power. Under her spell, you damn sure wouldn't be making the right decisions. She would be in control. But fates deemed otherwise. And that is why she killed Gabriel's parents. Not because she cared about you. It was because she wanted to set us up to fail as much as possible. And I'm sure they had their suspicions of her too, so that is probably another reason. But you died, and she lost her puppet. The new Vampire King was already married and so she was left with few options except to make it impossible for me and Gabriel to work things out. When she was gone, I felt free. I no longer felt trapped and helpless. I think she had me under a spell too. " Kara turns to Gabriel. " Back when we first came here, I had a dream about my mother and the Kingdoms" Kara turns back to her father. " I think she put me under a spell too in that moment. When I got here, she needed me to submit to her but I broke away from it"

Lysette steps forward. " And that explains why she worked with Santara. Santara was gullible and would easily be manipulated. She would've used Victoria but she was protected by the council. She had hoped that Victoria's presence would be enough but it didn't work. Not completely. They still thought of one another.. She would've never done anything to hurt Gabriel and so she had to be killed. That is why Santara left to pick the fight with Kara..a fight she knew she wouldn't win. It was a trap"

Kara then speaks up. " She probably promised her control over the Lycan Kingdom. And with Gabriel in disposed, there was nothing that could be done about it until Shawn and Raven woke him up. Which was not apart of the plan. A plan that was probably made around the same time that we first bumped into Santara. She said she was out hunting but I bet she was coming from here..." Kara had thought this out well. Feeling deeply inside for this to be the truth.

" And after all that has happened, after every obstacle we have overcome. We are still here" Kara added. " Because me and Gabriel might be fucked up. But we have had shit working against us since day one. Gabriel had a lot less going for him so he had it even worse than me. But you know what? It doesn't matter. Not to my mother. Because she would use anything and everything and anyone to get what she wants. Which is power..and you are just the last piece of a puzzle that is far beyond what any of us could have been prepared for. She used you to come back. And now we have to stop her. We have to end this. I should've killed her when I had the chance but I didn't. A mistake I won't be making again " Kara ensured.

Everyone listened to this, things now making complete sense. Aurora had used everyone in some way from the very beginning and that meant they were dealing with something far more serious than they could've imagined at the time. Aurora was cold and calculated and they needed to find her as soon as possible otherwise she could cause even more destruction.

" So where is she?" Kara asked her father who was in shock at his daughter's words. If she was right..this would mean that he had made a grave mistake.

" Kara..I'm sorry " Kalivare cries as his eyes begin to glow purple and he begins floating in the room, upwards, commanding a presence that made everyone prepare for battle.

" You think you are so smart...you think that you know everything but you know nothing.." Aurora's voice called out from her father's lips. " Mom? " Kara was piecing together now that her father had been taken over by her mother. She had went to an extreme that Kara was not surprised by, but still found disturbing and uncomfortable. " I did what was best for the Underworld " Aurora explains. " By killing off almost everyone here? That isn't uniting people, that is genocide" Kara says, her eyes beginning to glow green.

" So many times we tried. We tried so hard to make things work. But nothing ever did. I knew I had to do something. I knew I had to make things work, for the betterment of the world. But your father was weak, he is too emotional. Though, he did prove useful in the end" Aurora laughs, looking down at her daughter. She was ready to do whatever it took to ensure her plan was followed through. No matter the cost, even her daughters own life