POLOKWANE, SOUTH AFRICA
STERKFONTEIN CAVES

"Julia!" Vincent Moore cries, rushing toward his friend as Quentin Blood sinks his fangs into her neck.

Quentin slides out of Julia's flesh, turning toward Vince and with a wave of his hand, stopping him in his tracks. Placing Vincent under his thrall is an easy task, but proves to be mentally straining. "This girl...there is such energy in her..."

He allows Julia to crumple to the floor as he approaches Vince. "But in you...there is even more. This peculiar...you possess the same energy as your sister."

"Leave...leave Julia alone," Vince gasps. "Leave all of us alone."

"Vince, just stop!" Alec Bale says, reaching for Vince's arm. "We need to —"

Alec falls in line with Vince, however, trapped in Quentin's mental hold. Kelli Anderson follows suit, held within the same trance. Near Quentin's throne of human skeletons, Chris Server and Akilah Moore stand together. Chris' salivation at the scene is in direct contrast to Akilah's emotionless state.

"Why are you so strong?" Quentin demands, reaching out for Vince's neck. "I will drain you of your blood and end your torment of my mind."

"There are...things in my mind you don't want to awake," Vince says, still struggling to get words to come out.

"It is such a shame that you will not be able to attend your sister's wedding," Quentin says. "It will be the most beautiful ceremony in —"

Without warning, Vince's eyes begin to glow. He emits an excruciating scream from his lips, and Quentin sails through the air, crashing into his throne. The human bones scatter as he lays sprawled out, seemingly unconscious.

"What the hell was that?" Alec demands, staring at Vince in surprise.

"I don't know..." Vince shrugs. "I guess my powers are back."

SECOND HANLEY PRIVATE JET

"According to the pilot, we're almost ready to land," Michael Hanley announces, hanging up the jet's private phone.

"I can't believe we got there so quickly," Felicia Bale says. "Time has just traveled so far this summer. I feel as if I just saw Alec a couple days ago, but he's already been in South Africa for weeks with Vince and everyone else."

Leslie Hanley rubs her forehead before raising a glass of water to her lips. She uses it to down the two aspirin in her mouth, washing them down her throat to join the others she'd taken over the course of the trip.

"Slow down on those, honey," Michael says, reaching out to touch her arm.

She recoils in surprise, still uncomfortable with Michael touching her. Even not being in the same home with Sean at the moment, she realizes that she will never fully be comfortable with Michael again, or with Sean, until her former husband regains his memory and they're able to fully deal with their current situation.

The plane begins to shake, causing Leslie's glass to tumble to the floor. She grips the arms of her seat, shutting her eyes.

"Tell me that's only turbulence," Leslie says, her voice just above a whisper.

Michael leans back in his chair, utterly defeated and wishing he could help Leslie. Wishing that just his presence would be enough of a calming influence, like it was in the days of their early marriage.

But those days are gone now.

"It's just turbulence," is all Michael can say.



POLOKWANE, SOUTH AFRICA
STERKFONTEIN CAVES

"Powers?" Kelli Anderson says, still unable to move as a result of Quentin's remaining hold over her and Alec.

"I used to be able to move things with my mind, then it went away," Vince says. "Probably because I wasn't possessed by a demon or an angel turned demon anymore."

"Quentin awakened something in you," Chris says, advancing on them. "Something that I should wipe out permanently."

"Chris, stop it!" Kelli cries. "I don't know what's happened to you, but...please, try and remember how much I care about you! How much you care about us!"

"I'm not the Chris that you know," Chris says, running his fingers along Kelli's arms. "I'm not some silly fag who cries in his bedroom at night. He's dead. And I'm what's left."

Vince raises his fist, punching Chris in the face. Chris stumbles backward, tumbling onto the ground. Before he can stand, Vince whips his hand to the left, causing him to fly into the air.

"Stop it!"

Vince allows Chris to fall to the ground as Quentin climbs to his feet and glares at him. He moves toward Vince, attempting to put him under his thrall once again.

"You will be under my control," Quentin snarls.

"No!" Vince cries, intensifying his concentration to stop Quentin's attacks.

The entire cave begins to rumble, causing large pieces of rock to fall from the ceiling. Vince tries moving out of the way, but the power of the tremors cause the ground to give way. He falls through the hole, along with Alec and Julia's unconscious body sliding in after them.

"Dammit!" Quentin says, standing amongst the shaking cavern. "I will not have this ceremony ruined!"

"Don't worry, sir," Chris says, eyeing Kelli. He flicks his hand across her neck, slitting her throat. Kelli falls to the ground, blood gushing out onto the ground. "We still have our sacrifice."

Quentin grins widely. "Let us begin."