Sorry guys, I could not, for the life of me, think of a song that went with this chapter, so no song. This will be the last chapter of this generation.

I sat in the living room with an old book in my hands. A cool breeze wafted through the open windows, ruffling the pulled back curtains. The house was quiet for the moment and I reveled in it. Silence was not a thing that came often around this place, with all the people coming in and out. Our place had become the main “base” of the Resistance.

The silence was shattered as the backdoor flew open. Little voices and laughs filled the air. I looked up to greet them with a smile.

“Mommy! Daddy showed us how to turn a pencil into a flower!” Maya, my youngest daughter exclaimed. “Logan was able to do it the quickest.”

“It was easy mommy, I just had to want it that way, and it was!” Logan, my eldest daughter, smiled. Silven, my oldest child and only son, marched in behind his sisters.

“Logan is so good with magic mommy. I want to be as good as her someday.” He said. Maya and Silven adored their sister.

“Daddy let me look at his alchemy books.” My middle daughter, Spenser, muttered.

“Okay, you four,” Keighlyn said, closing the door behind them all, “Hand over your wands.” He held out his hand. All four dutifully handed their wands over. After every training session the children had to hand their wands to Keighlyn for safe keeping. I closed the book and stood up.

“Go get cleaned up and I’ll get dinner ready you guys. I bet all that work has made you hungry.” I said, walking towards Keighlyn as the three children ran past me.

He pulled me into a kiss and I smiled. “How are they doing?” I asked, listening to the children’s pitter patter.

“Really good. Logan is just doing amazing. She has more power than I did at that age.” He sounded proud. I smiled, so happy with my family. Years had passed. Terrance had been correct about me being pregnant. I ended up having one boy, Silven. Less than two years later our triplets Logan, Spenser, and Maya came along. The four were inseparable.

(In order of age left to right. Silven, Logan, Spenser, Maya)

We got married

And raised our little family as best we could. I had stopped touring, so I could watch the kids as Keighlyn focused on the Resistance.

“I’m afraid she’ll receive the tattoo on her 18th birthday.” He said. In his family, one of the children each generation had a tattoo appear on them when they reached adulthood. Keighlyn had his on his arm, many a nights I had traced it, marveling at its twisting lines. “If she does, there’s no way I can keep her from the life of the Resistance.” I smile and look at him.

“Hey now, it will be okay. Everything will work out.” I said, moving to the kitchen to begin dinner. Keighlyn nodded and joined me.

At first, I had been afraid. We were at the beginning of a war; could I really bring a child into this world? But Keiglyn had calmed me. He had always tried to stay away from violence, only resorting to that in self-defense situations, but now he did it even more so. He had not slowed down over the years. In fact, since we knew I was pregnant he and the Resistance had been working harder, trying to get this war done before our children came of age.

They had been setting up rallies and meetings, gaining strength in support from politicians and people with high standing in the community. All of this, of course, under the safety of anonymity. No one knew Keighlyn was part of the resistance. If the government were to find out it would be a death sentence for our entire family. We practiced no magic in the open or inside our actual house. Never did we practice in public places. Not only was that a death sentence, but if we did, the Weres the government used to hunt witches down would catch our scent and follow it back here.

Suddenly a scream broke us from our thoughts. I dropped the knife I had been using to cut vegetables and looked to Keighlyn. Then, the two of us broke into a run, flying across the house to the children’s room.

We stopped just outside. Silven was holding onto Spencer and the two were looking back at the door to their room with wide eyes. I was going into panic mode, pulling my wand, readying myself for whatever stood behind that door. Had the Weres finally found us?

“Your children will have their blood drained. You will witness Keighlyn as he slowly dies, and then you will die painfully.” Terrance’s words came back to me from all those years ago. Was it a vampire behind the door?

Maya’s whimpers pulled me from my reverie, and I pushed forward, throwing to door open, a spell ready on my lips.