Sebastian frowned and kissed her, "No, I still love you and I'm always going to... If I seem different it's all the stress." He smiled some at the way her belly separated them, "Though... I do feel as if something is coming between us." Just to show her what he meant he lowered his hands to her belly and kissed her again.

"I'm nervous... about the ceremony. I don't understand why they have to make a big deal out of it." He sighed, he'd never been one for a huge public displays. He ran a hand through her hair, "I'm also worried about Anna... She's been gone for days again."

They both knew what had happened to Gunner though neither of them had pressed her for further details on what had happened. All Seb knew for sure was that her aura wasn't happy and it wasn't sad either... It was determined... like that was all there was for her. He rested his chin atop Serena's head, "I'm afraid she isn't going to recover from this... I'm afraid she's going to spend the rest of her life chasing after Gunner and that's all there is ever going to be for her."

He shook his head, "But I can't tell her to just move on... He's like my brother. I don't want to give up on him either but I have you now, I can't just run everywhere after him. I want to be here for our baby and for you... everything is different and I worry sometimes that Anna holds it against me..."

It was true, Anna hadn't been around nearly as much. Their conversations had been short and though Anna always seemed friendly enough there was no life in her eyes and her voice was empty... even when she laughed. The only time he saw it come back was while she was training and then right before she left there was always fear in her aura... but she wouldn't talk to him about it...

~*~

Anna had her hands shoved deeply into her pockets of her jacket, the scarf pulled tightly around her neck, but the cold wind still stung her eyes and the exposed portion of her face between the hood of her coat and the scarf. Despite the fact that her cheeks and nose were chapped red she barley felt it... She was too busy trying to understand what the russian woman in front of her was saying. They'd seen Gunner in this small village, the hunters had spotted him and apparently he'd been alone at the time. At first Anna wasn't certain it had actually been him but the more the woman described the Strigoi her son had told her about the more it was beginning to sound like him...

Still, if he'd been here he was long gone now and so were his tracks. The blizzard that had held back the search for him would have wiped away all traces of his travel in the three days Anna and the others had been forced to hole up in another commune several miles away. She wasn't good at Russian, even after taking lessons and having Kazenia (another of the elites) trying to teach her she was still only able to understand certain words.

The woman kept pointing to the dense woods behind the village and saying something but Anna didn't know what... despite that she nodded as if she did and walked back to the others shivering and rubbing her arms. "Did you find anything out," she asked Kaz. The other woman had a grim look on her face, "More Dhampirs were taken from several different hunting parties... this isn't right. Strigoi almost always go after Moroi... the blood makes them stronger. Why would they be going for Dhampirs now?"

Anna knew why... because Dhampirs were the better fighters. They could be trained more easily than the weaker Moroi who lost their magic anyway after the change. Still, she kept that fear to herself. "Easier prey I suppose... We should meet with the others."