Page 66 of I Am the Night

And then she's given to me, and I hold her tightly and whisper words only meant for her before I hand her to her aunt.

"I wish she could stay with us forever," I say, "but I know she needs her own kind."

More tears flow, and the Earth Dragon looks on sympathetically. "I will bring her back for visits," she says, as Alina begins to cry when she realizes her best friend will not be returning.

Liam picks up his daughter and rocks her to soothe her feelings.

"And what of the girl," Brock says. "Ana?"

"She has shown no signs of the monster since that night," I say.

Liam nods. "All of my examinations have indicated that in her death, the monster part of her died and the child yet lived."

"A child who is part unicorn, part dragon," Brock says.

"Yes. And maybe one day she will exhibit shifting abilities," Elijah says, "but we have seen no evidence of this."

"So you will keep her and raise her?" Brock asks.

I look to the brothers and nod. "Yes. She is family now."

Brock smiles. "Very well. If she ever does show signs of shifting into a dragon, don't hesitate to reach out. She may need guidance from us to know herself."

"We won't," I assure her.

Tension coils in me as our time nears to an end.

And out of the corner of my eye, I see a small form sneaking through the shadows behind the Earth Dragon, wielding the unicorn horn dagger.

I hold out a hand and cast a shield, just as Ana strikes against the dragon, and trap her in a barrier before she can do any harm.

There's chaos for a moment as Sebastian pushes Brock out of the way and everyone stares wide eyed, shocked at the little girl holding the weapon mid-air, ready to kill the last remaining adult dragon on this world.

I remain calm.

And approach the child. "Ana? Can you hear me?"

But she doesn't respond. Her eyes are black pools floating in silver and I know she’s not acting on her own accord.

She never was.

"Callia, show yourself!" I shout, and then I repeat the words Lilith taught me. The mother of all vampires did not discover how to defeat Amora in her time away, but she did bring back some very useful information. And it helped me put all the pieces together.

Callia appears, locked in a barrier much like the one holding Ana, looking angry and confused. "How did you summon me against my will?" she demands. She thrashes, but no amount of force allows her to escape.

"You can't leave or hide any longer. You have been behind the murders the whole time, haven't you?"

Her eyes shift, and she realizes that everyone can now see her. Her mouth is agape as her new reality settles in on her. "I… how did you know?"

"I never believed Ana was acting out these attacks on her own. She was having night terrors and talked of an imaginary friend. I suspected she was being controlled, but didn't put the pieces together until Lilith returned from the dragon world with some very interesting information about the war between the unicorns and the dragons, and a specific ability the unicorns had to control other sentient beings, making them particularly dangerous. She found a spell that I could use to bind you here."

Callia turns to Brock, rage simmering in her dark gaze. "You killed my brothers and sisters. You all did. You massacred us out of fear, and then your mother killed me to hide her secret. You all deserved your fates."

Brock frowns. "Hate begets hate. Violence begets violence. I could justify what we did by pointing out what your people did to an entire generation of our eggs. And maybe you could go back further and argue we deserved that. Does it matter? If we continue this path there will be no more of either of our kind left."

Callia spits. "There are no more unicorns left. I was the last one."

I point to Ana. "There is her. She is part of you and part of the dragons, yet you would use her as a weapon to murder? A child? Your child?"