Chapter 33 - The Funeral

They laid Mortimer Goth to rest in the family mausoleum.

Morgan offered her heartfelt sympathy to her future mother-in-law. She had never had the chance to meet Mortimer, but she knew he was a good man, cruelly taken before his time.


"Well be here for you, Mrs. Goth," Morgan assured her. "Xander and I will stay with you as long as you need."


"I'll take care of the family now, dad," Xander told his father's urn. "I'm sorry we lost Cassie and Miranda. I'm sorry you won't meet your new grandchild... but I will keep them safe. I swear it."

Bella walked home in the rain. The world isn't seemed to grieve with her.


"They've gone..."

Gwen stood aside, letting her love grieve her father alone for a moment...


... before trying to comfort her.


"This shouldn't have happened," Cassie said.


"Everyone who has investigated our disappearance is dead..."


"Every moment we stay in hiding, people are dying. We could have saved them."


"We will stop Vlad," Gwen said, "together, we will. I need you to trust me."

"I need to say goodbye to my father. I need to talk to him."

"I'm so sorry, father," Cassie said. "I should have told you... should have let you know we were safe. You wouldn't have died. This is all my fault."


"No," Gwen said. "It's mine. I believed your friendship with Vlad would protect you. I didn't foresee this."


"I'm going to make this right," Cassie's eyes suddenly blazed. "I'm going to kill Vlad!"

"No," Gwen gasped. "You can't!"


"Now you two listen to me," Mortimer's hollow, ghostly voice said. "This is not your fault. It is the fault of my killer and no one else. If you had told me you were alive, if you had told me what happened, I would have confronted Vlad and he would have killed me, or controlled me. Then he would have hunted you both down. My life is small price to pay for keeping you safe..."


"As for killing Vlad," Mortimer continued. "You will do nothing of the kind, young lady. He is ancient, powerful and protected. He has an army of minions at his command... but his strength is also his weakness. Now listen to me. I have a plan..."