Virginia stared at herself in the mirror. The wedding dress was beautiful. Wendell had the royal courtier make it for her. She sighed. It was her wedding day, she should be happy. She was happy, she loved Wolf and wanted to marry him, but she still hadn’t told her dad about the baby. She wasn’t sure how he’d react. Would he think that was the reason she was getting married? Would he try and kill Wolf? She hoped that when he found out that he would be happy for her. She was just nervous. She hoped she would be a good mother, but a tiny fear lingered in the back of her mind. What if she turned out to be like her own mother? The thought terrified her. The more this thought came to her, though, the more determined she became. She would try her best to be a good mother to this child, whatever it took. Now she just had to tell her father.

Tony stood in the grand ballroom of Wendell’s castle. His little girl was getting married. He still couldn’t believe it. He knew Virginia loved Wolf and that Wolf certainly seemed to love Virginia, but she was his daughter for goodness sake; he was supposed to feel this way.

He thought about all that had happened in the last two months. He had been an unappreciated janitor until he and his daughter were whisked away to this magical land. He was now an advisor to the grandson of Snow White, he had found his wife after fourteen years and she had turned out to be an evil queen, and his daughter was marrying a half-wolf. The thought of Wolf made him think about something else that had stuck in his mind for the last month and a half. Why had he called him Grandpa? He managed to convince himself he was just joking, but the idea that Virginia might really be pregnant still bothered him. If she was pregnant she would have told him by now, right?

Wolf jumped around excitedly. Today he was finally going to get to marry Virginia. He wore a tux (like the one he had worn to the coronation) that made him look extremely handsome. He was even more hyper this morning than usual (which was hard). He was getting married today, and in several months he was going to be a father. Wolf knew Virginia still hadn’t told her father that bit of news, but today he was too excited to care. He checked himself over in the mirror one more time and ran out of the room to go and find his best man, Wendell.

“If they only knew,” said a woman to no one in particular. She stood in a dark room, staring into a very large mirror. In the mirror she could see Wolf leaving his room. She had been watching all of them for quite some time. “You fools,” she said. “You’re happy now you think it’s over, that you’ve defeated the threat to the Kingdoms. Christine was nothing compared to me.”

She had watched the queen. Her plan had been a good one, but she had made many foolish mistakes. She should never have trusted the half-wolf and she should have killed the girl when she had the chance. The girl. She had been struck down by her own daughter. What an idiot.

Of course in her defense she had done a better job than her predecessor. She’d watched the old witch fail as well, but she was more powerful than either of those amateurs. She also knew not to trust anyone. You couldn’t get betrayed that way.

“Have your fun now, I have waited and watched for centuries, I can wait a little longer.”

The wedding guests had all arrived. Virginia stood at the entrance to the ballroom. As soon as she had looked and seen Wolf standing there, all the worries she’d had before evaporated.

Tony took her arm as the wedding march started. He stared at his little girl. “Virginia, I love you. You know that right?”

Virginia looked at her father fondly. “I love you too, Daddy.”

As soon as they had made it to where Wolf was standing, the bishop began the ceremony . A little while later he pronounced Wolf and Virginia husband and wife. When they leaned into kiss, even Wendell had to choke back tears.

The mysterious woman just watched and smiled an evil smile to herself. Soon, she thought. Very soon.

It had been two days since Wolf and Virginia’s wedding and they had spent most of that time alone together.

“Mmm,” sighed Virginia as she rolled over to look at Wolf sleeping, and to her surprise she found him already staring at her.

“Why hello,” said Wolf, and began to nuzzle her neck.

“Wolf,” Virginia giggled. She retaliated by kissing his chest then moving upwards till she had made a trail of kisses to his neck. She was about to kiss him on the lips when she backed away suddenly. “Where are we going to go on our honeymoon?” she suddenly cried. They had completely forgotten about it because they had been so busy.

“Huff puff, I completely forgot.” Wolf began to scratch his temple.

“How about the Second Kingdom? I want to see where you grew up.”

“Really? I haven’t been there in quite some time.”

“Then it’s time you went back,” said Virginia as she started to kiss Wolf again. Wolf let out a little growl and eagerly returned her kiss. (Well since I don’t write lemons we’re going to leave them alone for awhile.)

Virginia opened her eyes and found herself on a path in the woods. How’d I get here? she thought. Suddenly she found herself running, but she didn’t know why. “What’s going on?” she yelled to no one in particular, not really expecting an answer. She looked behind her as she ran and saw Wolf running behind her.

“Run, Virginia, run.”

Run from what? she thought, but didn’t stop. After running a while she looked back to see if Wolf was still behind her. When she didn’t see him she stopped suddenly, only to find herself at the edge of a cliff that she hadn’t seen a minute ago. She tried to balance herself, but her attempts were futile; she fell off the edge and started to scream when she felt someone grab her hand.

“Wolf, oh thank god, Wolf.” She looked up, but didn’t see her husband staring back; instead she saw another all too familiar face.

“Hello dear,” said Christine. “It seems I am once again in a position where I can finally be rid of YOU.” Christine smiled down at her coldly.

“Mom?” asked Virginia uncertainly. ”But you’re...”

“Dead,” Christine finished for her. “Well, I guess I am, aren’t I, but of course you would know that wouldn’t you? It’s not every day you kill someone, especially your own mother.”

Virginia stared up at her, horrified. “I... I didn’t want to. You were strangling me. I would never have...” She couldn’t finish. She didn’t know what to say to her. She had killed her mother. Her mother. How could she have done something like that? And now here she was, the same mother she had murdered was the only thing keeping her from falling to her own death.

“Look at yourself, Virginia. You are no better than me. I never killed you. Just think if you could murder your own mother, what will you do to your child?”

“Noooo!” screamed Virginia, and then her mother released her hand and she felt herself falling into the abyss.

“NOOOO,” she yelled and sat up in bed. She wasn’t dead. It had been a dream, just a stupid nightmare. Virginia looked over at Wolf. He hadn’t woken up. That was strange. Wolf was a predator, always alert. On any other night he would awaken if he felt her jerk suddenly. She felt soft fur brush against her leg. It was his tail. The furry appendage was wagging back and forth frantically. He must be dreaming, she thought. Probably about sheep. She sighed and rolled over to go back to sleep. His tail began to wag harder. What is he dreaming about? she thought before drifting off to sleep.

Wolf followed the scent of his prey. He had been following it for quite some time, but for some strange reason couldn’t remember what he was tracking. It didn’t matter; the wolf in him was at full force. He slowly made his way through the forest so not to disturb whatever it was that he was hunting. He was getting closer. He sniffed the air again, but this time found a more familiar scent, one he enjoyed even more than bacon or lamb. His eyes flashed yellow, but quickly faded.

“Virginia?” Wolf called out into the darkness of the woods. He momentarily forgot about his prey and went towards his mate’s scent. He walked for several minutes, but couldn’t find her. “Virginia, where are you?”

“Right here, Wolf.”

He turned to find her staring at him coldly.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. Something about her smelled wrong.

“Oh, nothing. I just woke up this morning and realized I had married a filthy animal. Nothing big.” She continued to smile in that evil manner.

“Cripes, Virginia, what are you saying?” He couldn’t believe what his creamy, dreamy girl was saying to him.

“Isn’t it obvious? It was a mistake for me to marry a savage monster. You should have been burned along with your parents.”

Suddenly Wolf found himself tied to a stake like he had been in Little Lamb Village. He smelt burning flesh and looked over to see his parents tied to their own wooden stakes nearby, except theirs were fully ablaze and their faces were twisted in utter agony. No. Not again. He couldn’t go through this again. Why was Virginia doing this? He tried to shut out the screams of his parents, but he couldn’t. It was exactly like he remembered. That night so long ago would forever stay burned into his mind.

“Oh, Wolfy.”

He stared down to see Virginia standing at the base of the wood pile on which he stood. She was holding a torch, a flaming torch.

“Virginia, no,” he pleaded. How could she do this? He began to whimper. It was all he could do. He didn’t know what to say.

“Time to say goodbye, animal.” She smiled that cruel smile one last time as she lowered the torch and lit the wood on fire. Wolf began to howl and then his animal side took complete control. He forgot who his executor was; all he thought about was escaping. With his wolf strength he managed to break the ropes and leap off of the stake and onto Virginia. She never had a chance to scream. A stunned look was forever frozen on her face as his canines tore through the soft flesh of her neck. When Wolf came back to himself he gasped in horror when he realised whose limp body it was that he now held.

“What have I done?” he cried to himself. “Nooowoooo.” His cries turned to mournful howls as he held Virginia’s bleeding body in his arms.

Then he woke up. What did I do?! What did Virginia do?! A thousand questions shot through his mind all at once. He glanced over at Virginia. He could hear her soft breathing and the beat of her heart. She was okay; it had only been a dream. He scratched his head nervously. Then, ever so carefully, he wrapped his arms around his mate protectively. Wolf laid that way for the rest of the night, afraid to sleep.

The next morning when Virginia woke up she found Wolf holding her closely. She didn’t mind, though. She knew she should get up, but she felt so good in his warm arms. Wolf stirred beside her. He knew she was awake.

“Good morning, Wolf.”

Wolf was unusually quiet, but he managed to get out a quiet hello. He was still thinking about his dream. He couldn’t forget Virginia calling him a filthy animal or him holding her dead corpse in his arms. Virginia waited for him to start talking about breakfast, but he said nothing, just stared at her with those hazel eyes of his.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

He simply nodded; no further reply.

“What’s wrong?”

“Uh, I’m just nervous about going back to the Second Kingdom,” he replied quietly. He wasn’t really lying; an image of his burning parents flashed into his mind.

Virginia just stared at him. She had a feeling he wasn’t telling her everything, but she didn’t push it. “How about some breakfast? Don’t you want some bacon?” She smiled as his eyes lit up with anticipation. He had completely forgotten about bacon. He jumped out of bed and started to get dressed.

Virginia watched him, smiling. He was depressed, but would still get that excited over bacon. She slowly got up and began to get dressed herself. As she did this she began to think about the dream she'd had during the night. What had it meant? It was just a dream, right? Still, the image of her mother’s cold face calling her a murderer wouldn’t leave her mind. Was she a murderer?

Wolf’s voice broke through her thoughts. “Huff Puff, come on Virginia. The bacon awaits.” And with that Wolf ran out of the room.

Virginia followed, but Wolf was gone by the time she had made it through the door. “Well,” she said to herself, “at least he’s back to normal.”

She started to walk down the hall when she felt herself get sick. “Not again!” She covered her mouth and ran back into the room. (I don’t know what she would throw up in, but there is nowhere else for her to go. I guess she can throw up in a bowl or something.)

“Anthony, is something the matter?” King Wendell asked his friend. Tony seemed to be in some sort of a stupor at the moment.

“Uh what? Oh, Wendell, no, no nothing’s the matter,” Tony stuttered. “Okay, I kind of had this weird dream, and I guess it kind of got me thinking about some stuff.” Tony’s brow furrowed as he went back to his thoughts.

“Would you like to tell me about it?” Wendell asked, concerned. He could tell this dream had really bothered his friend.

“Okay, it was really strange. I was standing in the mirror room, and somehow Christine was there. She told me to look into the mirror of truth, and I did, and it wasn’t Christine standing next to me. I mean she was wearing the same clothes, and her facial expression was the same, but her face was Virginia’s. I looked next to me and Virginia was there just like she was in the mirror. Then she just started to laugh and laugh, but it wasn’t happy laughter, it was evil laughter, and then I just woke up. I guess what I’m afraid of is that Virginia will end up like her mother.” Tony sighed letting his head slump down. “Christine started to show signs of going crazy after Virginia was born. I just ...”

“You’re worried about what Wolf said before he went through the mirror, aren’t you?” Wendell cut him off. Wendell looked at him and nodded. “I’m sure Wolf was just joking with you, but whatever happens, you just have to remember that Virginia is not Christine, she’s Virginia. Just be happy for them.”

When Virginia finally came downstairs, she found Wolf, Wendell, and her father already eating.

“Virginia, are you okay? You’ve been up there for a while,” Wolf asked with genuine concern.

Virginia gave Wolf a look. “I was just getting dressed. I just took my time.” Ugh, what a bad excuse. Hopefully her father and King Wendell would buy it. Wolf understood, because he said nothing else about it. Her father, however, looked worried. I should tell him, she thought to herself, but then forced the thought out of her mind. She wasn’t ready yet.

“So what is this I hear about the two of you going to the Second Kingdom for your honeymoon?” asked Wendell, changing the subject.

“Oh, I wanted to see where Wolf grew up. Besides, I haven’t even been to the Second Kingdom yet,” replied Virginia. She was glad for the subject change.

“When are you leaving?” asked Tony.

“We haven’t decided yet,” Wolf said in between bites of bacon. “It’s up to Virginia.”

“Well, we might as well leave soon. How about today?” Virginia said, eager to get out of the castle.

“All right then. I’ll have a carriage prepared for your journey,” Wendell said with a smile.

“Thanks, Wendy,” said Wolf, finishing his last piece of bacon. With that, Virginia and Wolf excused themselves to go pack.

“Fools,” laughed the woman. “Going to the place of his past will only make my job easier.” She stared into the mirror and watched as Wolf and Virginia left the room. To think, these were the Four Who Saved the Nine Kingdoms. How had Christine been defeated by these people? She smiled to herself. Her dreams had already begun to disturb them, but it was only just the beginning.