Slight of hand,

slight of tongue.

Either way,

her opinion is posed.

Never weeping,

always screaming.

Edging, like a Veteran disposed,

towards firearms where comfort grows.

She does not shift,

she hardly turns.

She relies on her sights,

her muzzle turned.

Twisting tightly, sights locked.

A deep breath taken.

A shot sounds off.

Sorin.

She is everything of a warrior.

Tidy.

Neat.

Clean.

Sorin.

Ferocious.

Blunt.

Serious.

She lives the soldier's way.

Her eyes straight,

her mouth poised,

lips almost pursed.

Her feet tight to the floor beneath her,

waiting for command.

She runs to battle when told.

She hardly questions,

rarely argues.

She is... a woman of order.

A woman of prejudice.

A woman of pride.

But in the matters of family,

her emotions doth hide.

Seething with anger,

she always pops.

Her worries, her fears, her anger sloughs.

Like a wolf,

boundless and empty

She jumps into the fray,

tearing, throwing, snapping up

each one like sheep.

Each leech tossed away.

Her nephew's son was lost somewhere.

Her heart was heavy,

her sorrow high.

She was not the warrior she was typically tonight.

A silver bullet,

liquid metal oozing through.

Hot metal beamed,

then shot right through.

Pierced her eye,

twisting the flesh away.

Gleaming metal oozed down that day.

Writhing back,

the fur retreats.

Her screams,

they dance.

They echo.

Her claws all sheathed.

No peace.

No silence.

No soldier's honor.

Just a woman, lost to her emotions.

Lost to her sorrow.

A scar of no honor,

a scar of sorrow.

He [the leader of the group of thug vampires] cocked the revolver at her, seeing Warren coming and fired.

The first bullet pierced her chest and blood poured down. Kat advanced on him slowly, jerking back. Another pierced her thigh and she still descended on him. Finally the last grazed her cheek before she leapt at him, crashing into the open crates beneath them as he jumped back into the crowd of men, laughing.

Sorin made a hard bee line for him while Cole covered her back.

The man turned and promptly shot her in the head as she gasped. The fur peeled back as blood gushed from her eye and she hit the ground.

Sorin screamed, grabbing her face as liquid silver oozed out from her wound. Cole punched someone hard as he grabbed his aunt to cover her and she was writhing in pain.

“Eat shit, fucking mongrels.” He scoffed as he turned to see Kat leaping into the crowd at him again. He turned, his brown eyes focused as he primed his second to last bullet for her head.

Her massive shape descended on him and he fired. Kat fell into him and she fell in a heap, her body moving without inhibition it seemed but it was all the wolf. Hunt. Kill. Hunt. Kill. It gleefully danced in the idea of the carnage before she was shoved up and tried to press her crushing weight down on him. Silver was oozing from her wounds but she couldn’t feel it. Not even the new one pouring blood from her skull that grazed and went around her thick skull.

Another Roar erupted from Warren seeing Kat get shot. He could hear her wolf, hear the one track mindedness of it. He landed next to them, grabbing the man’s head and ripped it off. Blood spraying all over him and Kat. He grabbed her and made her look at him. “Enough!” He told her. She was bleeding so much and the silver mixed with her blood made him sick. Fear was like a vice in his chest, squeezing his heart. Can’t lose her! Can’t lose her, too!

Kat stared at Warren, her gaze steely as the wolf smiled back at him. “It is when I say enough.” She pushed against him, trying to tug free.

He grabbed her when her wolf tried to resist. “Stay down!” He wasn’t going to let it take over her. He felt this primal urge forcing him to get a handle on this. Never had she felt more like a fledgling than she did in this moment.

The wolf snarled hotly, receding then cackling. “I am hardly done. No. This is just the beginning,” and her eyes returned to their dazzling bright brown. The raw sugared flecks blinked at him as she returned to her human form. Blood was pouring over her left eye, dribbling in gushes from her right leg and chest. She coughed up blood, vomiting a little as her head fell forward. “Let me go,” she gasped out painfully, finally herself again.

Fervent Hearts by Stonzi Morrigan and Diana H. Forst

Fear,

Excitement.

Worry.

He felt them all.

He denied it for so long.

At first.

She hated him.

He hated her.

They had a commonality.

Something he could agree with everyone on.

Then she was gone.

The cold crept in.

The loneliness started.

No else gave him the same feeling.

Why did he feel so much pain?

He felt it because he knew her.

He understood her,

where no one else did.

He could cajole the beast to slumber,

to bring out the girl in her.

To sweeten her up,

make her stop and think.

And then he could view her again.

Beautiful eyes.

Like rubies.

A smile on her small, pursed lips.

Thick, large waves that lengthened to the end of her back in white.

Small, dainty hands

and that sharp yet quick voice that always rang true.

He loved it all.

The loud protests.

The quiet sulks.

The pouting.

All of it.

All he needed was to be a little patient,

to be quiet.

Then speak after she was done and whisper sweet words to her.

Nothing honeyed.

Nothing complex.

Just, "I care"

And "You're beautiful"

And he had her captured enough.

Under arm.

Under chin.

Strong desire building within.

Oh, she was sweet when she gave in.

It was good for her to give in.

So he felt more confident,

more content with what he desired.

Souta. My name.

I would have forsaken it too with my last name, but I don't care much about it. It doesn't bother me enough to bother with trying to sort out some other thing people might call me. They call me many things. Monster. Demon. Scum. My favorite one is murderer, but in our realm... Our side of the world, that is normal. I believe people are just dramatic.

Then there is her. The cute bloody red eyes, the flaring temper that bristles up at the first notion of rejection and the white eyelashes, brows, and hair that make her look pure. She could practically blend in with snow.

Oh, I desire her so. I covet her! I want to squeeze her cheeks in my palms, but I find myself pressing my fingers in tightly till she cries. I was to kiss her lips, but my teeth are sinking into her flesh, tearing in for a taste - a bite - as she makes me wanton for treats, but I think her flesh is all the better.

No, sweet Julie of mine.

Sweet.

Sweet Julie.

Silly, foolish girl.

Promising me her eternity.

She is my possession.

Mine to covet, mine for all time until the end of time.

If only she didn't run. Why did he have to try to escape me?

I found her first again, nearly eighty years later. Beautiful. Pristine. Her womanly body so different now to that of her more girlish figure when we first met. Yes. Mine again! My thoughts were rampant, hungry and desired to feast on the thing that I had not held in so long. I thought I might squeeze her tighter when I caught her first as she tried to run away till she cried. I thought her bones were about to pop!

The blubbered moan, the whine of pain and then her hands gripping my arms that tightened around her waist till she was coughing and sputtering, gagging and choking while banging on my arms.

"Let me go!"

Oh, the terror in her voice. Sheer, unadulterated terror.

My Hunger thrumming wildly within me, screaming at me to chain her up. To shackle her and keep her safe so she could not get away again. But I let her go, knowing she was all too cute and too beautiful when I gave into the chase.

The long flow of wavy white bouncing, the desperate pants and labored breathes as she willed herself to run faster, nearly breaking her ankle as she flung herself down the steps. Oh, but I chased. I chased on. I was walking here, sometimes there, running at other times and laughing as she ran from me. It was a joy to my ears. I adored it so.

Please, run for me more dear, sweet Julianna.

Oh, won't you be mine?

I could squeeze you till you stop breathing.

I know you'd come back to life again.

I know that kind of death is only temporary.

Yes.

Oh, beautiful, sweet, alluring Julie.

You are mine.

Rocks sprayed up into my face, pebbles and dust hitting my eyes as I flinched back. I was turning, she was grabbing another handful of the charcoal up from the freshly spent fire and throwing it back in my face.

"You foul-"

I could hear the words starting to leave her lips, the anger coursing hotly through her. "Shut up, Jess!" I screamed back at her. "Listen to me for a second!"

"You told me this was the last time!"

I knew. I knew it was supposed to be the last time, but I had lied about that. I had lied about a lot of things and I knew I was fully in the wrong and she was completely within her right to feel indignant.

"Everything you've ever told me was a lie!" Jessica screamed at me, tears falling down her face as she picked up another handful of ash and gravel, having dug a little beneath the charcoal and wood bits before she flung another handful at me.

I flinched, feeling a few tiny hot coals sliding down the back of my shirt, into my hair and more powdered black hitting my face. I could taste it on my lips, making me flinch back. I was putting up a hand, unable to laugh, unable to sneer or crack the crooked smile she hated so much when we argued.

"Five years! Five-motherf**king years I waited for you to return to me after you were kidnapped!" Jessica screamed.

"Jess- I'm sorry!" I yelled back, coughing and spitting the black from my mouth.

"Isaac, do you have any idea how I felt! I watched them drag you away! DRAG! I was horrified. There was nothing I could do, you told me to leave it! You promised you'd be back in days and it was nearly five years before I saw you again! I thought you DIED!"

My fangs were aching as the emotions bubbled up. I could recall the previous five years. The first, I had been drug into the LGS as a test subject. They had cut me open, drained my blood and then cycled it back into me. They burned me with UV lights, sampled squares off my skin and then threw me in a white cell before pairing me up with a boy who barely knew anything outside of the white walls of his 'play room', but he wasn't a boy. No, he was a seventeen-year-old young man that seemed to have grown up in it all. The pain of seeing someone grow up that way made my heart squeeze, my teeth ache at what he possibly saw and I shut up about the torment after a while. I think my lack of a reaction was probably what kept me alive as they figured I was a good enough candidate that they paired me up with him as his companion. Sinclair. That was his name. What hurt more was knowing the kid was, the head scientist, Dietrich Volkov's very own biological son. At first, it was a soul-sucking feeling, but then hearing directly from the man himself - when he was scolding Sinclair for his fear of needles - that he was nothing more than a failed experiment that he was going to have work out the kinks on made my heart sink. Even if my parents weren't the best, they never... They never gave birth to me for the pure sake of being used as a tool. What the hell kind of sh*t excuse was that? That wasn't the only thing I went through with Sin. No, that was only the beginning.

"Jess, you have to listen to me! Please! Just hear me out!"

"What? What? So I can hear another excuse about how you're going to leave me alone? What? You're doing drugs, Isaac!" she screamed. "We're vampires, we don't even get high! It's hard enough to get drunk! You're telling me you experimented with- with- with some stupid drug to see if it was enough to sell... ARE YOU INSANE! It could have had Wisteria in it and it could have been the end of you! What am I supposed to feel if you die on me? You turned me! You told me we'd be together forever!"

I winced at that, knowing exactly what that meant. I had promised her forever. I had promised her more and for the better part of the last decade prior to my disappearance, I had maintained that. We had skipped our homely little small town, rode out into the night in my small, beat up black BMW, and then ate at diners till our cash dwindled. What went wrong was that one of the dinners had a guy named 'Shim' that promised quick and easy work. He said he'd pay well. Well- He didn't pay well, in fact- He didn't pay me at all! He also didn't give me work either. He was just looking for the quickest sucker and I was it. Bit me, turned me out of pity because he pretty much killed me then left. I struggled for weeks with that and he didn't even tell me he was a vampire. No. I had to figure that out the hard way.

I had to nearly attack Jessica who knows how many times. Bury myself in shallow graves off the side of the road if a hotel wasn't close enough and eventually get the hang of it till I was fully able to handle it. The compulsion was the niftiest trick of it all, giving us free passage wherever I wanted and gas. Sure, Jess had her misgivings about me stealing, but was it really that bad when no one remembered it? Remembered us? The bulk of it wasn't even the worst of it. The worst of it was when I tried to compel a cashier to a small grocery mart in the middle of nowhere. My mistake was thinking there wasn't any other supernatural types like myself. She nearly shredded me to bits when she found out we didn't have money. What's more, she wasn't a vampire like myself. She was a werewolf and as I lay in the parking lot, bleeding out as she slapped the Closed sign on her window and locked the door, shutting out the lights... Jessica kept calling my name while I bled out. What I don't remember was how she got me back up. I just remember my fingers digging into her wrist, the blood pouring in and the relief. Oh, the relief was so good, but she was so very much near death. I had nearly killed her that time and that's when I desperately made the promise before turning her, before desperately trying to fix my wrong for the final time and shoving my blood into her lips, hoping I could replicate the very thing done to me. Well- it worked. And here I was now, eating my own words as she cried at me.

What had been twenty-three years to him? What had made him decide to reach out after all this time to message her, offering his time? She didn’t know.

Julie, I know we agreed to never see each other again, but I hope you’re doing alright. If you want to talk I’m here.

The words were concrete, hard to discern anything heinous from and sounded so foreign to her ears that she could hardly believe she hadn’t seen him in so long. She had left that night. She remembered that well enough.

‘Enjoy her. I left like promised. -Jules’ was scribbled on the small cut of paper. The edges shorn off messily and she had crumpled up a number of other notes, ones she had scribbled out, torn up and discarded in the trash.

‘Would it be ironic if I said I cared about you?’ the previous one had said. Torn to small pieces.

‘Do you hate me? I want to stay, but I said I’d go.’ The one before that read. Also torn to shreds in the trash.

‘I love you. I’m sorry I was terrible. I’d never ask you to forgive me.’ She had lit that one on fire over the stove. What a confession.

Her heart was racing, her hair was messily strewn about as she pushed it back out of her face, racking her brain, trying to understand what she felt. Why she felt this way and why it was all so terrible and terrifying all at once. She had done unspeakable acts! Terrible things to this man. This man whom she so deemed to barely call Dean, and had birthed his daughter out of her own sheer stupidity and momentary wanton. Sure, she had laid with men left and right spottily throughout time, then after a time she had staved off from any sexual interactions for long droughts, disgusted at the prospect of anyone touching her.

Then there was him. The smooth deep brown eyes, the rugged stubble over his strong jaw and messy mop of brown hair that cast shadows over his high cheekbones and well-sculpted face. Her heart ached at how naïve and stupid she had to have swooned over a man’s looks. Men were more than that. There had been paler ones, less tanned and more refined. Sharper. Maybe even wittier… or was that the cunning? She didn’t remember, but many moons ago she had sunk into the deep lust and allure of love, the type of love that she later realized Vincent professed to her sister when she was smart enough to remember it.

“Fucking fool,” she chastised herself. “You’re a fucking idiot!” Julie cursed herself silently, gritting her teeth. She had removed her card, her wallet and phone and placed them neatly on the counter. She wouldn’t be needing them. He would. Her stomach was in shambles, she was leaving without much of anything except her second card and ID. She stared at it, her eyes mulling over it. What if she lost it? No. She’d change her address. The paperwork was in order. The card she was leaving was set to be cleared out. A check would be mailed, made out to him here and soon enough when she was gone.

Her hands were working over the white leather wallet and she was suddenly so disgusted with herself, over her material possessions and everything she had that she found herself dumping it in the trash. The card remained in hand. She had a pair of cheap boots in mind for the journey. She imagined heeled kickers weren’t going to do well if she had to walk anymore and she was staring down at her white leather boots and suddenly she hated the reminder. She hated white. She hated how it reminded her of how unclean she was, how dirty her hands were and how much of a piece of shit she’d been for all too long.

Julianna looked up, startled at the sound of the waking baby. The baby she hadn’t named. The baby she wouldn’t name–

Flooding back to reality, she blinked, staring down at the bound journal. What was she doing here? Making excuses? Making up something. She’d been scribbling in the damn things for a few weeks, but it was hardly full. No, it was more just pieced together bullshit history on her family, pieces of her own experiences with maturing, and a few ’I’m sorry’s awkwardly placed around things she didn’t know. A couple entries about her thoughts here and there… Things she didn’t understand and worst of all, the family reputation that she had now added more red marks too. Great. Fan-fucking-tastic! Mother of the century! She could almost sarcastically clap at herself, feeling more than embarrassed that she was standing in front of his very door. The door she had looked up through Red Pages, the door she had meticulously double-checked and verified with a little compulsion at the local records office to procure. “I’m either doing this, or I’m not,” Julie muttered before she tucked the worn journal under her arm and rang the doorbell. She was rocking back on her heels, if you could even call them that, the worn and warped souls of her ragged sand-colored boots revealing just how much she’d cast aside her appearances.

She was wearing her white hair back in a low ponytail, sporting a comfortable but midriff and skin-tight cream t-shirt neatly tucked under a sky blue denim jacket and slimming, yet thick baby blue skinny jeans that she had tucked into the top of her ankle-high boots. The flaps of the ankle highs were peeled down, like the lapels of a dress shirt, and then tied tightly as if it was a fashion statement more than utility, but with how raggedy they were, that point could easily be disproven. “Fuck, he’s not answering.” Julie cursed herself. “Dammit. I knew I shouldn’t have come here.” She was putting her hands to her head, then knocking before pacing the door. After a moment, she crouched down, her back to the door as she grabbed her head, feeling like she was going to twist in on herself if she had to deal with the gut-wrenching anxiety any further. Leave! Just leave! What are you even doing back here in Washington? Don’t you have any sense? Her mind screamed at her. He doesn’t want you! Nobody wants you! She cringed at her own internal thoughts. Nobody wanted her. That’s right. Who in their right mind would ever want a Caecilian, cannibalistic nightmare of a woman like her? Certainly not the man I tortured.

There was blood running down her hands like rivers, draining into the sink. At first, she was furiously rubbing it off then she stopped. Her eyes went up to stare at the mirror, the light flicking overhead as she laughed to herself. "Why am I scared? Why am I scared? I'm Anita Bludhaven, I have nothing to fear." She felt the words bring power to her voice, bringing her dark black eyes to life with light. The flickering light overhead.

Shadows of black rolled down her shoulders as she leaned forward, turning the knobs of the faucet off before laughing to herself. "Why am I scared?" Anita was putting her hand to her head, laughing. She didn't even kill her. She didn't kill her cousin. No, he did! She could just out him for it and even if she did, who would believe him. He was a good for nothing in their father's eyes, the weaker link between them both and as her twin, he was inferior.

"This is fine," she breathed, sighing, her shoulders falling as she glanced off to the towel beside her. She was snatching it from the ring, wiping her bloody hands off as she tossed it into the bathroom sink then went to the door. The moment she ripped it open, she was coming out into the hallway, seeing her servant coming up to her.

"Anita, Anita. Where have you been? I've been looking all ov-"

There was a clap and then silence filled the hallway. "Don't talk to me like that!" she spat at her. "I am not to be treated like a child. I'm thirty-seven years old. I'm older than you! Just because I look like a child does not mean you may treat me as such."

She watched the woman kneel before her and she laughed, feeling haughty. "Now, what is it?"

"Th-the heiress of Faux Noir is dead."

"My cousin?" she asked, feigning stupidity.

"Y-y-y-yes! They found her body in the Zen garden. Her eyes gouged from her head and a hole through her chest."

The would kill a vampire, wouldn't it? Anita's eyes rolled. "I see and you're here for."

"Your alibi, mistress. Your father demands it."

"Yes. Very well then. I suppose I ought to see him."

"But!"

"Enough." Her voice was even and cool as she strode past the blubbering woman. "I do not fear him. If I did, he would have gotten rid of me long ago. I'll tell him my alibi myself."

“Cam was there right? Did she say anything?” He frowned and glanced at her as he started the car, letting it warm up. “Did he-” He knew Dean’s type. He wouldn’t put it past him to have taken advantage of Selene while she was drunk.

“I-I think.” She looked up at him and then down, unable to meet Lex’s expression. The man had the eyes of a doe and while they were very innocent, his words could be slightly judgmental. “I think… I think she drove me home,” she sighed. She stared at her phone a while longer when she noticed something tucked behind the case. Selene tugged at it, pulling it out to look at the small piece of smudged paper. “Or… Did something good?” She looked at Lex confused as she flashed Dean’s name and phone number to him. “What do I do with this?”

Lex shrugged. “Message him. I mean he wouldn’t have left his number if he didn’t want you to call him,” he suggested.

“What?” Selene stared at Lex, at the same freckle-faced boy who mirrored her own freckled skin. Her face paled a little at the idea as her gaze slowly shifted back down to the paper between her fingertips and she sat there to just stare at it. “What if he thinks I’m completely different from last night. I don’t remember what I said to him.” She felt her stomach wrench a little.

He sighed. “He’s the only other one who knows apparently, so there’s only one way to find out. Or you can just go on not knowing what happened.” He knew the last suggestion wouldn’t be as appealing, but Selene would worry herself in circles.

She groaned, “I-I guess.” Why didn’t Cameron say anything? She chewed at her lip. “Fuck me.” She sighed noisily, unlocking her phone. “I-I guess a message won’t hurt,” she mumbled, typing into it.

It didn’t take long until they were at her apartment, but Selene spent the majority of it repeatedly checking her phone between watching the line of fir trees pass them by. She blinked, a little amazed at how quick they’d pulled up to the apartment complex. Her gaze floated up over the ugly square building.

Stucco cream walls lined the front as outdoor halls littered the face of the building, creating square, narrow cuts of hallways decorated with the face of the building as makeshift railings.

“I’ll just wait here for you,” he said parking the car.

“Sure,” she told him, her gaze never falling away from the twelve-story mid-rise building as she climbed out of her Durango. “Thanks,” Selene mumbled as she pushed the door shut behind her and strode up to the building. She paused, finding herself gazing down at her phone again at the unsent message and mulled over it a moment before she paused a few steps from the car. “I shouldn’t be long.” She called back to Lex before making a brisk walk up to the stairs. She started up them quickly to the fifth floor, skipping a few steps with the help of the railing. Selene felt nearly out of breath as she finally climbed to the top, then came to a stop at one flight and bent over her knees for a moment.

The nagging feeling of that unsent text pressed in the back of her mind and annoyingly enough, she could hear Lex’s words repeating in her head. “He’s the only one- Cam knows too.” Selene grumbled as she whipped her phone out for a moment and slid down against the landing of the fourth-floor stairs, quickly pressing send and pocketing it. If it was bad. He wouldn’t answer. If it was good… Well, maybe he’d say something good.

The car rolled into a parking spot and the driver got out. Kat was writhing in the back seat, moaning and crying. The moment the door opened, her legs fell from the door and suddenly she was being dragged across the seat on her back. The other guy let go of her hands to slide out of the passenger side to come around and help his partner.

“No! NO!” Kat screamed as he hefted her up and out, dragging her out of the car. She screamed, crying for help as they yanked her out of the car and she tried to focus through the pain. Her hands were grabbing the vehicle, trying to keep herself from being pulled out but they yanked her out of the car with far greater force than she could fight against.

She could see the car getting further away as the second man shoved it shut. She started beating on the guy’s back, smashing her head into him. “LET. ME- GO!”

And he didn’t seem to mind her thrashing at all as he hauled her down the steps of the quiet dock, though his pace seemed to increase.

Kat took in a sharp breath and tried to scream at the top of her lungs but he jostled her hard and it knocked the wind out of her, making her cough and gasp. She was grabbing her neck where she’d hit his shoulder and trying to catch her breath as she turned behind her to see him walking her to the boats. Her mouth opened and she tried to strangle out her next words. “Ah- fuck.” She winced, turning to try to look at her captor. He pushed her back more so she couldn’t see his face and she grabbed what little hair he had and yanked back, making him yell. He squeezed her tighter, making her ribs ache and scream and she blubbered out a pained moan in response as she let go and tried to work to free herself again.

“Hurry up and tie that anchor there to her ankle and we’ll just throw her in and be done with it!” He whispered loudly to his bald partner.

The moment she heard him, she was flailing her legs, trying to fight back. The other guy grabbed her leg and she smashed her head into his repeatedly, dizzying herself. She clamored to push the hands off as he peeled her head back, shoving her face away so she couldn’t keep hitting him in the head. She was clawing at them then before trying to fight the anchor that was being tied around her ankle.

“Fuck! Drop the anchor already!” The man seethed to his partner.

“I’m fucking trying! It’s heavy! It’s tied! It’s tied! Just shove her in!”

Kat was slapping him as he tried to pull her off. She managed to get him to drop her on accident and she hit the pier, wincing. She gasped as he tried to pick her back up and she slapped at his hands. He grabbed her in frustration and managed to grab her throat, pushing against it for a moment as he choked her, pinning her down before she hit him with her foot, managing to get it between them and she slid back. She realized too late that she was at the edge and she grabbed the end of the pier before he shoved her off completely and into the water. The cold bit at her limbs, stinging her and she wanted to cry out, to scream for help as the water flooded in. She started coughing, gasping as she reached for the pier’s pole that held it up from the bottom of the coast.

She stared at the two shadowy figures, but her eyes went to the anchor as she watched him dangle it beside her and then before she saw him throw it, she went back under. Hands pushed against her shoulders, and she thrashed. She threw herself back up, shaking her head. There was a brief moment she resurfaced, grabbing onto the pier again to scream but it came out as a cough before she was shoved back under. She choked, gasping and suddenly she was falling. Her hands were wildly thrusting against the water as the hands left her and she felt her strength go at a harsh tug from beneath her. She felt a yank when the rope tugged tight and she was brought down towards the bottom of the body of water.

Kat was holding her breath, watching the sky melt away as the dark of the water overtook her vision. She reached up, holding her breath till she felt her chest throb painfully and the cold cut in. She gasped and suddenly the bubbles of the last of her breath were floating away. Water rushed in and her eyes rolled as she sunk deeper into the water.

The light from the pier sank away as she fell further into the dark before she tried to tug away, but the rope held tight and her movements felt so rigid and slow. She kicked, trying to free her ankle, but the water was so cold that her body went into shock, paralyzing her. Kat closed her eyes, motionless as the water slowly came to a halt around her and she was floating. It felt like a cold, like a dark dream. Was this how she was going to die?

The bald man was sighing heavily. “Fucking hell- I thought it was weird that she was able to fight back so well.”

“Well- when you’re on your way to kill someone, they tend to give it all they’ve got.” He sighed heavily, looking at his wet sleeves. He sighed, unbuttoning it as he tried to tug the button up shirt off, leaving his black t-shirt underneath. “God. Lee- fucking bastard. He said we were good-”

There was a loud roar as a nearly eight-foot beast came barreling down the docks.

He stopped, turning to glance up and his brows rose sharply over his shades at the lycan. “SHIT!”

“Wha-” The bald man was turning to see a black form barreling down at them and he turned, slipping on the dock to run back towards the boardwalk. His partner was fumbling for his gun.

“Shit- shit! SHIT!” He pulled the gun out quickly, trying to prime for a silver bullet at the top of his ejected clip.

Bright gaslight blue eyes fixed on them, a deep rumbling growl could be heard over the pounding of claws into the dock as it drew nearer to the boat.

“FUCK!” His hands trembled as he dropped the silver bullet, accidentally shoving it and missing it from the clip. He winced, turning to look up before he turned and made off after his partner who was clamoring over the brick and trying to get away.

“FUCKING THINGS COME IN PAIRS!”

“NO SHIT BEN!”