Monster

My elbows pressed into the hard workbench down in the basement of the Chasse house. I was cleaning weapons for them, preparing for the imminent battle. They didn’t know when it would come, where it would be, but I did… somewhat. Annabelle had told me that we had a week from the moment she informed me in the graveyard. I wanted to tell them so badly, but I worried that if I did, I would mess up something in the flow of choices that Annabelle had seen play out, effectively changing the path we were on. Every decision I made since then scared the shit out of me. I couldn't lose any of them.

I also had the entity to think about. He, it, Jon… whatever… told me we were also on a path, and that I didn’t get to save everyone. I felt like I was tiptoeing between the two different predicted futures. Maybe they were on the same path or intertwined at a certain point or something. I thought that, maybe if I just carried on with Annabelle’s plan, there would be less collateral damage. She would have the family’s best interests at heart, whereas the entity would not. It cared more about some kind of balance of power in the world… or something. So, I chose the only thing I could make sense of in my small human brain. I wasn’t an entity that could walk between worlds, neither was I a gypsy that could look into the future and see shit. I wasn’t a fine-tuned tool like that. I was a hammer, a blunt instrument made for one thing; to beat the shit out of something, and fuck shit up. So, I relied on Annabelle's greater knowledge, skill, and foresight.

As I cleaned multiple weapons, Autumn and Eleanor were training against each other on the wrestling mats. They both had on padded gloves and headgear as they fought hand-to-hand in the training areas beneath the house. Frank and Carter were lifting weights in the corner, clanging and banging plates around as they strengthened their bodies. Alan and Eloise had made it over with Jane. The two young werewolves were at the sound-proof range below the house, shooting a variety of weapons. Allan was teaching Eloise how to shoot like he had been taught as he grew up. She seemed to catch on fast; her enhanced senses allowing her to focus and move beyond the means of mortal men and women.

Everyone was training and planning, but I was just waiting. I sat at the lone workbench as I cleaned and oiled weapon after weapon. I was like a shadow in the lower-lit region of the basement armory, a ghost that existed just out of touch with everyone else. Their efforts and concerns were grounded more in the physical human world. Mine were… tied in with something else.

I wondered when would I get the call to meet Annabelle. I was nervous for the moment that we lost our fortune teller, and the family wouldn’t be able to see the danger coming before they stumbled upon it. I hoped that Shelta would step into that role and be able to keep them safe like Annabelle had. It seemed that was primarily a job that was done mostly by Annabelle exclusively, to my knowledge at least.

Frank joked with me from time to time as everyone else trained, trying to lighten the mood. “You want to hit these weights, Sam? You could probably use it,” Frank laughed. Frank amused himself down there, trying not to think about all the loss for a while.

I just smirked, continuing to clean and prepare weapons.

After the evening had passed, and everyone was leaving, Autumn and I finished the night with a couple of drinks in the kitchen. She was drinking her mother's red wine while I mixed in the yellow dust from Martin’s.

I was taking in every aspect of her; the brown hair so dark that it bordered on black, her lean build, and her beautiful face that looked on me with care. She was dressed in her workout leggings and a loose-fitting shirt. She was still damp with sweat from the intensive training they had been doing. I wanted her to be able to stay with me forever. I didn’t want to outlive her one day. I wished she could stay with me through my time as the monster. But… she was only human… and I was not.

“Should we be worried?” Autumn asked hesitantly through the sips of her wine. I could tell she wanted to ask me something since the moment at the graveyard, but she knew not to pry if Annabelle hadn’t told her something. If Annabelle kept secrets, it was for a reason.

I shook my head, “No. I know what’s going to happen.”

She took a deep breath, calmed by my answer.

“I trust you, Sam,” Autumn spoke sincerely as she stared at the wall. “I just worry about what Peter can do, and if he still blocking Annabelle’s vision somehow.”

“Annabelle told me she can see Peter better now, but that’s not what I am relying on,” I told her bluntly.

“What do you mean?” Autumn asked as she took another drink to calm her mind.

“I’m not leaving you guys again… not till’ this is over. If he comes around, whether it's time or not, I’ll fucking end him before he does anything. I’ll kill him and buy us more time until the right time appears.” I took a breath, trying to find the words for something else that I had been feeling. “There’s something else… it’s hard for me to explain. I’ve been feeling it ever since the funerals. It’s like I can feel something coming… something big. Now that I know he’s the one behind everything, the agitation, keeping me away from you all, whatever else he’s been doing… I feel it all starting to fade.” I nodded to myself, agreeing with the words I spoke, ensuring it was the best way to describe what I was feeling. “He told me that my power keeps growing, and Peter’s won't be able to keep up.”

Autumn looked concerned for me. I wondered if she was afraid that the longer she knew me, the more she’d see me turning into the monster that hid below. Knowing Autumn, she wasn’t thinking anything of that sort, but I always went to darker places than she did.

“When I see him again, I’m going to kill him. I’m going to transform… let it out and tear him in half. I won't give him a chance to hurt anyone else I care about!” I said the words powerfully, more to myself as I feared what could happen to this girl I had grown so attached to. I would use every tool, and every strength at my disposal to keep her safe from harm.

Autumn didn’t doubt me or ask specifics about some of the things I said in that kitchen. She believed every word I spoke to her in the kitchen, and I could see that the dark entity that resided behind my eyes still scared her more than she’d ever tell.

Autumn looked around cautiously before speaking, “I think now is the time, Sam.”

I looked up, puzzled, “What do you mean?”

“That talk…,” she nodded towards the back patio.

I felt my heart beat harder for a few beats, and then it slowed. One of the few times in this second life, I was nervous. I wanted this, but now that it was here, the seriousness it could bring… I felt like a scared human again.

I nodded slowly, my voice steady as I said, "Okay."

I followed closely behind Autumn as she slipped out the back door. The cool night air brushed against my skin, heightening my already sharpened senses. The soft creak of the door shutting behind us seemed louder, more distinct. Each subtle noise around us was magnified; the rustle of fabric as she moved, the faint scrape of her shoes against the worn floor. Her scent hung in the air, crisp and familiar, with a trace of something comforting, like the warmth of a memory I didn’t want to let go of.

We stepped out onto the darkened patio, the night swallowing us in its quiet embrace. My ears picked up the smallest sounds: the distant chirp of crickets, the soft hum of the house behind us, and the steady rhythm of her breathing, shallow but deliberate. Autumn reached up and flipped a small switch, and the awning above us flickered to life. The soft glow illuminated her face, casting delicate shadows that danced across her features. It caught the edge of her hair, lighting it up like a halo, and in that moment, she looked almost ethereal, as if the world around her had dimmed, leaving only her in focus.

I moved to sit beside her, my every movement deliberate, almost painfully aware of her proximity. I angled my chair so that I could face her, eyes locking on her. This was it… the moment that would determine the future of whatever this was. My heart hammered in my chest, not with fear, but with an overwhelming sense of anticipation. Her presence was all-encompassing; it filled the space around me, wrapping itself around my heightened senses. The scent of her skin, soft and clean, mixed with the cool night air, grounding me in a way that felt almost too intense. It was as if I could feel the weight of her thoughts before she even spoke, the hesitation in her posture, the slight tremor in her breath.

"I've thought a lot about what I needed to say to you," she began, her voice steady but low, carrying the weight of unsaid things. She took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling slowly, the sound of it clear in my ears. "Honestly, I've been too scared to say it to you."

"Before you say anything," I cut in gently, my voice soft but firm, "let me tell you something first." I leaned forward slightly, feeling the energy between us shift, growing heavier with the unspoken emotions we both carried. "I told this to your parents when they found me at the safe house. I told them this, and I meant it." I paused, taking a moment to soak in the way she made me feel, how just being near her seemed to sharpen every sense I had. Her warmth, her scent, and the quiet strength she exuded were something I needed to remember, in case this was the last time I’d be this close to her.

"I don’t know for sure what I am, or what the entity is," I continued, my voice low and honest. "And I don’t know what all I might have to do one day. But I do know this: I want to be with you and with your family. I’ll stay as long as you want me around. But if you, or Carter, or Eleanor ever want me gone… if it gets to be too much… I’ll leave. No questions asked." The words hung between us, heavy with meaning. "I’ll disappear from your lives if that’s what you want."

As I said it, I watched her reaction closely, every shift in her expression, every subtle change in her body language amplified in my mind. Her breath caught for a moment, her eyes searching mine. The space between us seemed to hum with unspoken tension like the world was holding its breath, waiting for her next move.

She nodded, not expecting that from me. I think I threw off the momentum she built to get herself ready.

“Um... okay.” Autumn nodded as she gathered herself once again. “Look, I don’t want you to leave. I want you here with us. I was going through a lot after you left, trying to figure out what I still felt for you and what it meant. I was scared of what I felt before, knowing you are… what you are, but…” she looked down as she spoke. “I don’t care anymore. After Uncle Zeke… and Bartley… that could be me tomorrow. That could be any of us… even you. That thing could give you a vision and send you off again. I might wake up tomorrow and you’d be gone, forever.”

I could tell she was spilling her guts even though she wasn’t sure that everyone else would be on board. At that moment, she didn’t care.

“I still don’t know what will happen in the future, but I’m not going to make myself miss out on the things here today…”

Autumn tilted her wine up and finished the rest, set her glass down on the patio table, and then stood up. She stepped over to my chair and sat with me, on my right leg. I leaned back to give her room there with me. She leaned against my chest and buried her face into my shoulder. For a second I thought she was smelling me, but she was just breathing slowly, taking it all in.

“I don’t know what this thing is inside of you, but I feel like I know you,” Autumn said to me quietly. “It does scare me, I’ll be honest, but I know you wouldn’t ever do anything to willingly hurt me, or my family. You won’t hurt us… I know you won’t!” she said it like it was a fact. “And honestly, I think we’ve all gone pretty numb to you. We know you have some scary, unexplained stuff, but just being around you has…” she searched for the right words. “Acclimatized us to it partly. Not to say that’s the best thing,” she laughed a little, before falling silent for a moment.

She inched her face toward mine, painfully slow, her eyes searching mine as if she were trying to unravel something buried deep inside. When her lips finally met mine, it was hesitant, like she was testing the waters of something long forgotten. Her kiss wasn’t rushed; it lingered like she was trying to remember what this was like before everything got so complicated.

But slowly, that hesitation melted away. Her hands moved to my neck, her fingers trembling slightly before they tightened, gripping me like I was her only lifeline. She squeezed my arms next, pulling herself closer, her body pressing against mine in a way that felt desperate as if she had been holding this back for too long and couldn’t stand the distance anymore. I could feel the hunger in the way she clung to me, the way her kiss deepened with each second, her breath quickening, her heart racing against my chest.

The monster grinned inside his cage, urging me forward to indulge. It wanted me to live a little and to stop worrying about everything for once. It didn’t have to push hard. I fell into it hard. I grabbed her tightly and pulled her even closer, if that was possible in this shitty patio chair. I indulged, but I always kept the monster, and my strength in check with her. I couldn’t let myself get too carried away.

I didn’t need air to survive, but I could feel the growing urgency in her, the way she seemed to forget herself in the intensity of the moment. I was starting to notice how long she was holding on, and how tightly she refused to let go. Her grip on my neck only tightened, and the passion in her kiss became a fierce, overwhelming thing. It was like she was drowning in everything she had held back, and I was the only thing keeping her from sinking under.

When she finally pulled back, gasping for air, I almost expected to see her lips tinged blue, her face pale from the sheer force of her need for oxygen. But instead, her cheeks were flushed, her breath ragged, her eyes burning with something raw and wild. She didn’t speak, neither of us did, but the silence between us felt heavy, electric, like the air was charged with everything we hadn’t said. Then we started again.

We stayed locked in that fevered exchange for what felt like forever, time losing all meaning as we gave into the longing that had simmered beneath the surface for so long. The night around us was dark and quiet, the stars hidden behind clouds, the world seeming so far away. Out here, behind her house, there was no one to interrupt us, no one to remind us of everything waiting on the other side of this moment. It was just us… alone in the night, wrapped up in each other’s heat, finally letting go of the walls we had built.

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, I felt close to someone again. Truly close. Not just physically, but in a way that I had been yearning for, aching for, since everything in my life had been stolen from me. The way she kissed me, the way she held me… it was more than passion. It was a need, emotional and raw, an unspoken desire that matched my own somehow. I had missed this… missed her in ways I couldn’t even fully understand until now.

I finally had one of the things I’d wanted for so long. But even now, it didn’t feel like enough. It would never feel like enough with the monster always lurking behind my eyes to rip apart this world and the people in it… reminding me of what I was. The way she made me feel, the way she needed me, it was something I craved in every fiber of my being. Something I couldn’t let go of now that I’d tasted it again. It was the perfect counterbalance to make me feel human when my dark side wanted to slaughter and destroy. I knew that the moment it was over… reality would always pull me back into the dark.

Our pace slowed, becoming more about just being this close to each other again in the presence of the other. Eventually, we stopped the heated exchange, and just sat together in silence on the back patio, holding on like if we let go this would never happen again. After a few more drinks, we found our way back inside and upstairs.

Autumn needed to hit the shower. She said she was still “sweaty and gross” from the intense sparring with her mother and Clara throughout the day. I didn’t mind anything about her at the present moment.

Carter and Eleanor were still down in the basement doing things, and my hearing wouldn’t fail me, so I followed Autumn upstairs. I was taking in every moment I could with her. I wanted to remember everything about my time with her… while it lasted. The few minutes I spent alone with Autumn outside was intoxicating. I never wanted it to end.

I waited in her bedroom while she cleaned up. I was hyper-aware of the noises coming from the bathroom upstairs. I thought I heard footsteps coming up the stairs, so I ghosted out of her room like a shadow. I zipped around the corner lightly, stopping in Carter's empty office. I began looking at the books on the shelf.

Eleanor appeared behind me with a smile on her face and a stack of blankets in her hands.

“Carter and I weren’t sure if you’d stay the night, but we have stuff for you just in case,” she offered me the blankets.

“Thank you, but I don’t need to sleep,” I laughed.

“Sam,” Eleanor chuckled to herself. “We know you don’t need to sleep, but we’d like you to stay here. It would make us feel better, knowing you're all right. It would make me feel better knowing we had you in the house with us, at least until Peter is gone,” she admitted.

“I have no plans to leave you guys until this thing is done,” I assured her.

She sighed with relief, “I can't tell you how glad that makes me to hear. Just knowing you are only feet away from us all will put mine and Carter’s minds at ease.” She smiled as she continued. “We’ll let me at least show you where you can sit… lay down… or whatever you’ll do while us weaklings get our required sleep.”

We both laughed together for a moment as I took the blankets from her and followed her out of the office. We walked down the hallway to the room closest to the stairs. Eleanor opened it up and led me into it. When she flipped the lights on, I realized that this was Allen’s old room. His old pictures and memories were all over the place.

“We can’t have you on the guest side like before. Kayla and Arthur are taking up that space, but Allen won’t mind sharing his room with you.”

“Thank you, Eleanor. It means a lot for you guys to still want me around,” I told her.

“Make yourself at home, Sam. I don’t think you will, but if you need anything, don’t hesitate to go downstairs and get whatever you want from the kitchen. Carter and I are pretty beat, so we’re about to hit the hay.”

“Okay, sounds good. Thanks again, Eleanor.”

She reached around me, hugging me again, “We should be the ones thanking you. Instant death as a bodyguard.” She patted my shoulder as she walked out, smiling lightly at her comfort knowing I’d be inside their house.

I pulled the door shut behind Eleanor and turned out the lights. I had no intention of sleeping. I wouldn’t be able to, no with the threat of Peter still out there. I’d stay awake while they all slept through the night.

I heard Autumn finish in the shower and head back to her room. She must have realized I was gone instantly since I wasn’t where she left me. I heard her get dressed in different clothes before hopping into her bed and shutting her lamp off.

Carter set the alarm and closed up the house before he joined Eleanor in their room. I never heard a peep out of Kayla or Arthur on their side. The house was silent. The room was dark and the house fell to a low hum that probably only I could hear. I sat in the darkness of the room, thinking about the time with Autumn.

I heard Carter and Eleanor’s heart rates drop as they fell unconscious. After about an hour of absolute silence afterward, I heard Autumn. She was talking to me.

“Sam…” she said quietly in her room, “come here.”

I felt my heart jump into overdrive. She knew I could hear her from where I was. She was calling for me.

I moved slowly and quietly out from Allen’s room across the far side of the second floor from Carter’s room. I monitored their pulses closely, making sure they were not waking as I snuck around their house. If I was ever a shadow in the dark, I was in their hallway as I snuck into their daughter's room.

I opened and rushed through a small gap in Autumn’s door before closing it in dead silence. I was in her room with her, alone and out of sight of everyone else.

I turned to see Autumn sitting up in her bed staring at me. She was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, sitting on top of her blankets. Her dark hair was still lightly damp and strongly scented from her shower. She didn’t say anything as I walked over to her quietly.

When I got to her, she looked up at me for a second before she grabbed my hand and silently pulled me into her bed. She laid back as she pulled me on top of her. She started kissing me aggressively like she was still out in the most heated moments of our time earlier. I didn’t stop her. I had always wanted this.

After a few minutes of things getting heavier in the seclusion of her room, she pushed my jacket from my shoulders. That was the first thing that started pulling me from the moment. The old fears I used to have about this presented themselves again. I tried to stop thinking about them, but other things added as we kept going.

The next thing that stirred my fears was when she slipped her shorts off. Alarms were going off in my mind. I had to stop her. There was too much I didn’t know. But it was hard to pull myself away from her.

The final straw was when she took off her shirt and she was only in her underwear. We were still on top of her blankets, but I could feel her legs pushing down the blankets beneath us so she could get us under them. I had to stop our progress; I couldn’t go through with it. What would it do to her?

“Wait,” I said a little too loud as I pulled away from her. I stood up from the bed as she laid there on top of the ruffled blankets in nothing but her underwear.

“What is it? Do you not want to…” She was confused, and a little embarrassed.

I breathed long and slow, trying to calm myself down, “It’s not that I don’t, I just… I don’t know what it would mean. I don’t know what it could do… to you.”

Autumn looked sharply at me in the dark, trying to understand my words. Then she got what I meant. “You think you might hurt me, or change me in some way?”

“Not physically,” I assured her. “But I don’t know what I have in me… like biologically. Just being with me… in that way, could hurt you.”

She was very amused, “It’s sweet of you to worry so much about me, but is that all you’re worried about?”

“That’s all? Yeah, that’s all I’m worried about,” I said, unsure of why she didn’t seem so concerned. “Just infecting you with some kind of… whatever… doesn’t sound appealing in my mind.”

“Okay,” she was understanding, “come back and I’ll explain.” She patted the bed beside her, wanting me back in the closeness of our moment. Her deep brown eyes seemed calm and not ferociously intent on ripping my clothes off.

I sat back on the bed and laid down to match her position. We both lay beside each other on our sides, looking face to face on her pillows as we spoke about it. She had pulled the blankets over herself to cover her exposed skin so we could talk more seriously. She could tell this was something I had thought a lot about.

“Okay, so I’ve actually had this conversation before with Jane, and even Frank. I wondered about these kinds of things after you left, once I knew you were something else. They were both worried when they were younger that somehow Jane would pass some kind of weird werewolf disease, or whatever, to Frank. But, thanks to her rapidly healing cells, her body is too strong for things like that. You heal fast, right?” she asked me in the dark.

“Yeah,” I responded.

“Your body is in a constant state of looking for things to repair, or foreign bodies to purge or destroy. It doesn’t matter if it is physical trauma, a foreign substance, or whatever. The things you’re worried about, things that can have serious long-term effects on humans have no real place in the supernatural body.”

Shockingly, it made sense, but I didn’t want to just take her word on it here and now when all I wanted to do was agree and fall into my baser instincts. I still had questions, and she could tell as I sat quietly beside her on her bed for a few moments.

“If it makes you feel any better, I ran tests on your blood before,” she admitted sheepishly, pulling her blankets up a little to hide her face. I think she was slightly worried about telling me.

“You did? When? How?” I asked, smiling at her feigned innocence.

“Biology major, remember. After I accidentally shot you in the chest with that arrow, I took it from the street that night and brought it home. I ran tests on it, and it looks and acts completely human. Until you introduce something foreign into it, then it does what most other supernatural blood does. It almost acts like soap.”

“Soap?” I asked, confused.

“Like soap. Have you ever put dish soap in water, with pepper or anything else like that? It’s an old science trick in school.” She scanned my face for a response but could tell I didn’t have that kind of knowledge. “The soap pushes things away from itself in the water… something about surface tension… I can't remember the specifics. But that’s kind of what your blood does under a microscope, it really doesn’t let anything get in and stay. If something does manage to linger in your blood, it gets destroyed by your cells quickly, if not outright ejected.”

“So… I don’t have anything that would hurt you then?”

“No,” Autumn assured. “As far as anyone would be able to tell if they had a sample of your blood, you are completely human. Well,” she admitted, “you’d be a human in perfect physical health.”

I nodded, accepting and believing her words. Autumn had already done the research on this part of our relationship, even after I was gone. I was glad she looked into my blood. That made me feel much more relieved.

“Okay,” I said, more letting my stress fall away.

Autumn took that as the play button to continue what was happening, “Okay?”

She reached out from under her blankets and pulled me under them. In only moments, we returned to just how hot and heavy things were before, only this time I didn’t stop her. I was with her in the darkness of her quiet room, nothing to stand between us anymore. We were together, there was nothing that would separate me from her moving forward. I wouldn’t ever second guess my place with her. I would never leave her willingly again…not unless she told me herself that she wanted me to leave. That the monster, or the ancient entity was too much for her.

It was very late, and Autumn’s room was pitch black, except for the hint of moonlight that crept through the fabric of the closed curtains. I almost fell asleep right there with her under her sheets I was so content there with her. I hadn’t been that close with anyone since Vicky. That was the first time I had been with anyone since becoming the monster.

It was very different, almost overwhelming how much more my senses picked up in the heated moments with her. Her smell, her breath against my skin, her heart beating, even the pulse of blood beneath her skin anywhere I was touching her. I could feel it all like never before. Everything was magnified for me now. It was a whole new experience, one that I wasn’t sure you could ever get used to. I couldn’t quiet my mind after what had just happened, even in the silence after Autumn fell asleep. Even though Autumn’s rhythmic breathing lulled me into a trance-like state, I could never let my guard down.

I had to be on high alert with the threat of Peter still looming in the shadows. I would stay alert every second of every day until I drained the life from his body. I wouldn’t let him take another one of my friends. It didn’t matter what Annabelle saw or predicted, she couldn’t see me, and none of them knew the lengths I would go to protect them all. I would become a monster more vicious than any that opposed us if it meant saving their lives. In the darkness of the house, I was their silent protector. I was the Chasses monster.

Then I heard voices down the hall. A phone vibrated on a nightstand in Carter and Eleanor’s room. Voices grumbled through the walls and into my ears. Carter was speaking with Martin. I couldn’t tell what exactly was being said through the one-sided conversation, but I knew it was serious. I slipped out of bed with Autumn and silently melded through the shadows out of her room, through the hall, and back into Allen’s bedroom. It was like I never left.

In only a minute or two after I closed the door, Carter was bounding down the hall to my door. I beat him to the knob and pulled it open.

“What is it?” I asked in the dark to his surprised reaction.

“Martin… he said he thinks he’s seen Peter. He said outside of his bar, just standing in the parking lot,” Carter informed.

“What is he doing? What’s he waiting for?” I asked in a rush, panicked at this new information dump.

“He doesn’t know, it’s like he’s waiting for Martin to come out, but the bar is packed. Martin’s afraid Peter’ll kill innocent people if he confronts him,” Carter informed.

I waited for nothing. I saw this as my chance to kill Peter and end this for good. I didn’t care what Annabelle saw; I knew where he was right now, and I would kill him again. Whether this would be the final death or not, I was unsure, but it would at least buy us more time if he did come back.

I could hear Autumn’s unconscious breathing through the hall. Eleanor was getting dressed quickly and coming out to meet us in the hall. I decided I’d leave quickly. If I could end this without their involvement… I would. I couldn’t risk them… I couldn’t risk Autumn; not after everything I knew I had with her now.

“I’m going,” I told him. “You all need to stay here. Lock this place down with whatever warding, alarms, whatever. Just keep everyone in,” I told Carter before I became an intangible shadow, disappearing into the darkness of the house, and then leaving through the backdoor, bolting to the tree line.

In only about ten minutes, I found myself standing in the dimly lit parking lot of Martin’s vampire bar. The night air clung to me, a biting cold that wouldn’t let go, and the pungent scent of cigarettes and cheap liquor. Neon lights from the bar’s sign flickered erratically, casting an eerie glow across the packed lot. Cars were crammed together, their metallic frames reflecting the sparse light like dark sentinels. Shadows stretched long beneath them, pooling in the gaps between each vehicle. The murmur of laughter and muffled conversation leaked out from the bar, blending with the low hum of engines cooling down after the drive there.

I hesitated before stepping out from protecting the Chasse house, but Peter’s location was too tempting to ignore. The chance to kill or incapacitate that life-sucking gypsy was too great a prize to pass up. I wondered if there was some way I could trap him… keep him locked down until I got the word on what to do. My mind screamed for clarity, for some dark voice to guide me, to tell me exactly what to do. But none came. Instead, the only clear thought was the desire, no, the need to feel my hands around Peter’s throat, squeezing the life out of him.

As I moved further into the parking lot, the gravel crunched beneath my boots, breaking the quiet between the cars of the bustling nightlife. The sound felt too loud in the stillness of the lot, like a warning, but I pressed on. Among the maze of vehicles, I spotted him, the familiar black suit cutting through the night. He was facing away, oblivious to my presence. I kept to the shadows, my breath tight in my chest as I crept closer, my heart pounding harder with each step. Why was he here? What did he want from Martin, alone? Why hadn’t he sought out someone else from the collective family?

As I edged nearer, a movement caught my eye. Another figure emerged from the darkness, one I hadn’t expected to see. Charles.

A head of silver hair flashed onto the scene. He moved faster than any of the other vampires in our circle of supernatural friends, yet he was not totally unfamiliar. Charles, Martin’s creator, stood across a small space in the parking lot from the Grimwood man.

“Well, isn’t this a surprise! They finally sent someone to figure out what has been going wrong with the sacrifices,” Peter laughed cheekily.

“Yes, they have, son.” Charles looked behind him swiftly to call forth two other beings from the shadows. “I would much rather prefer to keep these others out of what comes next,” Charles motioned over toward his oldest friend’s establishment as his unnamed cohorts joined him.

Two others appeared from behind Charles, a man and a woman dressed in black clothing, stopping directly beside him. As soon as they appeared in sight, I knew what this was. This was a hunting party, a band of three, so-called immortals, sent up from the pits just like when they came for me.

“This is not good news for you,” Charles admitted to Peter.

“And you think you’ll be the one to stop me?” Peter asked cockily before laughing in the parking lot. His shrill laughter filled the air as his confidence overflowed. “Please, the pits aren’t what they once were. Do you think I learned all this on my own? The elders aren’t the only ones with contacts in ancient places. There is a change coming down below, but you won’t see it,” Peter spat to the elder being as his devilish grin grew wider with pride. “I’ll take you now… and add you to my collection.”

The two beings flanking Charles launched forward in a sudden, violent rush. The first, a man, seemed to dissolve as he moved, slipping out of the physical realm in a ghostlike shimmer. His form flickered in and out of existence, blurring at the edges like smoke caught in a breeze. He surged through the expanse of the parking lot with uncanny speed, his nearly invisible claws slicing through the air. When he struck Peter, the impact was brutal and swift, sending the Grimwood tumbling helplessly across the gravel. The parked cars, though low and scattered, offered decent cover from the violence unraveling just feet away, but the sounds of the struggle echoed through the lot; metal groaning, gravel scattering beneath their feet.

The second figure was a woman, her appearance deceptively normal, completely human, with no claws or fangs, no monstrous features to hint at the raw power contained in her slender frame. But as Peter scrambled to regain his footing, she met him with a devastating knee to the pavement. The sickening crack of bone echoed in the night air. I could almost feel the snap of ribs and sternum, pulverized into dust beneath her crushing strength. Her movements left clear evidence of her force; every leap, every lunge toward Peter left jagged cracks and splinters in the asphalt, like the ground itself was buckling under her assault.

Her expression remained eerily calm, devoid of the rage her body projected. Despite the overwhelming power behind her attacks, her face held a cold detachment, as if this destruction was simply routine.

Both attackers moved with surgical precision, darting in to strike and then retreating to Charles as quickly as they’d come. Their movements were calculated as if they understood that letting Peter get his hands on them would be fatal. They were clever and cautious. I could sense the deadly calculation behind their rapid assaults as I watched.

Gradually, they drove Peter deeper into the parking lot, away from the view of onlookers inside. The fight shifted, becoming less visible, as they maneuvered him into a darker, more obscured corner of the lot. It was a strategic retreat, one designed to hide the battle from prying eyes. They were smart, relentless, and working in perfect tandem, their attacks whittling Peter down as they herded him like prey.

“Don’t you see,” Charles asked Peter, “it is fruitless. You cannot escape us, and you cannot win. Do you think you are the first to reach this level of necromancy? We know what you can do, and we know who your master is,” Charles informed the blood-spitting Peter.

Peter smiled with blood in his teeth, “I don’t think so. I’m learning from someone special. Someone far away, in a land of blood and flames.” Peter laughed at his description. He said it mockingly like he was reciting a poem.

Charles shook his head, “Then, you are beyond reason, and there is no benefit in returning you to the pits. You’ll die here!” Charles’ words were rigid and unbending. His word was law.

The two moved in again at their leaders’ words, one phasing like a wraith and the other leaping through the air. What they did to Peter was hard to put into words. The woman brutalized him beyond recognition while the wraithlike being shredded and flayed him in ways that I never could have replicated. The ghostly being had precision, unlike anything I had seen before in this dark world. He moved in and out of physical objects, intangible and out of sync with this world. This went on for about five minutes of agonizing torture for Peter. However, the man just kept smiling and laughing. Nothing they could do to him would ever wipe that grin from his face. It was like he knew something the rest of us didn’t.

As Charles turned, his gaze locked on a shadow moving in the distance, a creeping sense of dread filled the air, suffocating and thick like the weight of a storm about to break. I stepped out from the dark, my sole purpose was to end Peter and the threat he posed to everyone I cared about. The shadows clung to me like a second skin, the chill of the night biting into my flesh. Everything that followed happened in a blur, a violent instant of chaos and horror.

Peter let out a surge of power that rippled through the parking lot like a shockwave, flinging his attackers away from him as if they were nothing. The sound of bodies hitting concrete echoed in the still night, but Peter stood tall, unscathed, his wounds closing, flesh knitting back together in an instant. The smirk that curled across his lips was unnatural, twisted, and full of something far worse than confidence. His eyes locked onto mine, and I realized, with a sinking pit of dread, that he had been waiting for me. All of this… was to draw me out. But… why? He couldn’t kill me, and he knew that…

“There you are, Sam. I’ve been expecting you,” Peter’s voice dripped with malice, each word laced with a sick, twisted pleasure. And then, before I could react, flames… sickly, unnatural green flames began to lick up his body. They clung to him like a living thing, crawling over his skin, crackling and burning. But it wasn’t just fire. It was something darker, something ancient and foul. The flames didn’t consume him like ordinary fire, they devoured him. His flesh blackened and blistered, peeling away as the fire swallowed him whole. The scent of charred meat filled the air, choking the night with its foulness. This didn’t seem like a power that was a gift… this was cursed.

We watched in horrified silence as Peter’s body burned alive, green flames dancing around him like a twisted mockery of life. The fire was so intense, it seemed to eat at the very air around him, yet there was no heat, no warmth; only that sickening green glow that would emanate from his eyes at times. Everyone stood frozen, shock and confusion paralyzing us all as the gypsy’s form dissolved before our eyes. In mere seconds, Peter was gone, vanished into the inferno, leaving nothing but the strange, flickering flames in his place. And then, just as suddenly, they too disappeared, leaving only the heavy silence in their wake.

I stopped dead in my tracks, my breath coming in shallow, panicked gasps. My heart pounded in my chest, a sickening rhythm that echoed the terror in my mind. I could feel the fear clawing at me, not just for myself but for my friends... for Autumn. What had Peter just done? Where the hell had he gone?

"Charles," I called out, my voice strained, cutting through the oppressive silence. "What are you doing here?" The question came out in a rush, more desperate than I’d intended, but I needed answers. Anything to make sense of what had just happened.

Had Peter just done my job for me? Drawn me all the way here to just kill himself in front of me?

But Charles... his face was pale, frozen in fearful shock. His eyes, wide and unblinking, were fixed on something beyond me, his mouth moving but no sound coming out. Whatever words he’d meant to say were swallowed by the intensity of the moment.

I followed his gaze, every muscle in my body tensing. What was he looking at? Why did he look like that? I barely twisted my head around to see where he was looking.

"Let’s go somewhere we can be alone." Peter’s sick voice rolled over my shoulder.

My blood ran cold. I spun around, my body already shifting, instinct kicking in as I prepared to tear him apart. But it was too late. Whatever he had done with those flames... it had already caught me off guard. The dread, that sinking pit in my stomach, deepened. Peter had the upper hand, and I was standing in the middle of his trap.

His pale, bony hand grabbed my arm, and I felt the flames wrap themselves around every inch of me. They swarmed me in an instant, blocking everything from my view. All I could see, and feel was the twisting heat of the green.

Blinding light and searing fire tore through every fiber of my being as my body was violently ripped through the strange, eerie space. It wasn’t just fire… it was a plane of pure agony, a realm made of nothing but energy that felt alive with decay, like it was eating me from the inside out, fueling its power by converting my life to fuel. My eyes, if they could still be called that, were flooded with the most intense emerald energy, a glowing inferno that engulfed me. It was everywhere, pressing into my skull, forcing me to witness my own torment. The heat was unbearable, as if my skin, my flesh, and even my bones were boiling alive, disintegrating piece by agonizing piece.

Peter's grip never faltered. His hand clamped onto my arm like a vice of solid steel, biting straight through to my bones, fusing his fingers to me. I wanted to scream, to tear myself away, but his hold was unbreakable in that space. The searing pain pulsed up my arm, a grotesque mixture of fire and pressure that I couldn’t escape. My blood felt thick, like molten iron pumping through my veins, each heartbeat pushing the agony deeper until it consumed me completely.

The world around me blurred into chaos; a swirling vortex of heat, and light. It was a pain that stretched on for what felt like an eternity. The pressure mounted, suffocating and relentless, squeezing the breath from my lungs. I was certain I’d be torn apart by it, obliterated in this infernal passage between worlds. And yet, just as the pressure reached its peak, it lessened, a brief, sickening moment of reprieve before vanishing entirely.

Then, we were spat out, violently hurled from the wormhole, and slammed onto the ground below. I hit the earth hard, my body collapsing onto the coarse, blackened terrain. The ground beneath me was charred, rough, and jagged, every piece of it cutting into my skin. My hands instinctively splayed out to catch myself, only to burn at the touch of the scorched earth. It felt like a fresh wave of fire tearing through my palms. I couldn’t tell if the heat came from the ground itself or if the portal had scorched my flesh so deeply that I couldn’t distinguish between the two.

My fingers dug into the earth as I gasped for breath, every inhale dragging fiery embers into my lungs. The air was thick with the scent of ash and sulfur, choking me, adding to the relentless pain still surging through my body. My skin felt like it was melting, peeling away in raw, blistering patches, the remnants of the portal’s fire still licking at my nerves. I lay there, unable to move, the sheer agony chaining me to the blackened ground beneath.

Peter’s presence loomed beside me, his grip finally loosening from my arm, leaving behind the memory of the grip that transported me as a prisoner. I could still feel the imprint of his fingers burned into my flesh, a constant reminder of the torment he had dragged me through. But as I lay there, struggling to breathe, the pain was the only thing that felt real in this alien land.

I looked around shakily at my still-burning body, muscles, and bones protruding from what remained of my human form. I was shocked by the instant damage and confused as I looked around. There was a ringing in my ears that was so loud I couldn’t think straight initially.

“Damn. I was really hoping I could steal you,” Peter said almost to himself. He seemed let down. “Welcome, my friend,” Peter greeted me from a few feet away, he and his suit were utterly unharmed by the green flames. “Welcome… to your end.”

I gritted my teeth and forced my legs to stand as I growled, “Where are we?” Drool seeped through the cracks of my teeth as I willed my muscles with all of my might. They were burning and in searing pain, but I needed them. The pain was mind-numbing as it singed my cells.

“This is where you will die. You are much too strong for me to kill, let alone siphon your life, it seems. Maybe once I steal the lives of all the ones you hold dear, then I’d have the strength to take you. However, it seems that won’t happen. I’ll just drop you off here to deal with what calls this place home.” Peter smiled as he looked around the vast hellscape. He mocked a shiver of fear. “Good luck with this place…”

As I emerged from the portal, my eyes slowly mended, shifting to darkened voids that absorbed the grotesque details of this hellscape. The sky overhead was a deep, oppressive black, choked with thick, acrid smog that hung heavy like a funeral shroud. It was intermittently illuminated by raging fires that erupted from the scorched ground below; fiery tongues licking hungrily at the night, casting an eerie glow that painted the landscape in hues of blood-red and orange. Unlike Peter’s sickly green flames, these were primal and furious, reminiscent of the infernal rage of Mercy’s blood flames, devouring everything in their reach.

The ground was a desolate expanse of charred earth, scattered with small rocky crags and jagged outcroppings that rose like the broken teeth of some slumbering beast. In the distance, I caught a flicker of lightning arcing across the smog-laden sky, its flash as crimson as the flames that danced below. This was not Earth; this was not the land of the living, nor the fields that my entity called home. This was a realm lost to life, a tortured dimension that thrummed with agony and despair.

As my ears healed from the brutal cacophony of the portal, the world around me erupted into sound. The constant roar of the otherworldly flames filled the air, a deep, resonant growl that reverberated in my chest. It was as if the fires themselves were sentient, alive, and ravenous, consuming every scrap of organic matter in their path until only ash remained. They rolled across the land like a predator stalking its prey, ever searching for the next morsel to devour.

That’s when I noticed them… bones littered everywhere, stark white against the scorched earth, remnants of those who had been consumed. My body was almost fully healed in this twisted place, but the sight around me chilled my blood. Dead bodies lay strewn across the ground, a macabre scene of carnage that sent waves of dread coursing through me. Upon closer inspection, it became horrifyingly clear: these were not human remains. These were the carcasses of beasts, grotesque creatures that looked as if they had been born from the very nightmares of this hell.

Their forms were monstrous, forged from the chaos of this realm. Jagged, charred horns jutted from massive skulls, and teeth lay scattered like jagged shards of obsidian. Their claws were slick with blood, glistening darkly as if they had just finished tearing apart their own kin in a savage display of brutality. These creatures were thick and dense, their squat bodies seeming to defy nature’s design.

The hide of each corpse was tough and nearly as charred as the ground beneath them, taking on a sickening reddish-black hue that blended seamlessly with their surroundings. They were all as large as I remembered Phineas in his fully transformed chimera state, monstrous in their proportions and ferocity. Yet despite that comparison, they were unlike anything I had ever encountered, anything I had seen or read about in the bestiaries. This land was a breeding ground for horrors I could scarcely fathom, a realm where life and death twisted together in a grotesque dance of survival, and I was now part of it.

This must have been what the being, Jon had mentioned before. He said that there were places I could be trapped, places I could be put where I wouldn’t die, but would remain until he could find me a way out. This seemed like one such world. Was I stuck? Could I get back and save my family? Could anything that lived here actually harm or kill me if it tried?

Peter was enjoying every second of my reaction to the sights before me. None of this looked like it surprised him. He had been there before. His guard seemed lowered, and that is when I turned on my heels and exploded towards him.

“Not today, Sam,” Peter said as he sidestepped my approaching form and lashed my body with a green spout of flames. He seemed faster here… stronger.

I was thrown across the charred and jagged rocks beneath us, slicing and burning my flesh again. This place was dangerous and sturdy. The materials here were much more durable and sharper than the environment of the living world.

“It’s too bad, really. I would have liked to take all that power for myself. Maybe if I’m lucky, I can still get the rest of the monsters you call friends. I am especially thrilled to take revenge on your two werewolf friends. They cost me a whole pack… I had plans for them. I used them much too often to just be snuffed out like that. Yet, ole’ Darry never stood a chance against you, did he?” Peter laughed darkly. “I guess you didn’t have the nerve to kill Allen and Eloise, huh? But I guess you did come for them, didn’t you? I still can’t figure out how you found him. You wouldn’t tell me, would you?” he played a begging face for me, just to be psychotic.

“What,” I couldn’t believe the words he was speaking. How did he know that name?

“Ah, yes, you see it now. You really should have before, Sam. Really… you are a dense one huh?” Peter looked absolutely thrilled as I lay in the burning ash, connecting the dots in front of him. He was finally getting the big reveal for something he had kept hidden for so long. “Allen kept many things hidden from the pack, even young Eloise. Darry didn’t need to know who Allen, or should I say, “Jimmy,” really was, he just needed to keep Allen broken and in the pack. You see, I cursed people for him whenever I needed them to grow stronger in numbers. I used Darry’s pack to kill my enemies back home. They were a convenient bunch. A little more subtlety would have been nice, but they were… effective. They helped me grow as strong as I could before I realized that my true power lay in necromancy,” Peter laughed at me.

I clawed my burning body up from the ground with blackened eyes and extended talons. His words angered and fueled me to struggle through the pain of the burns.

“It is pretty poetic, is it not? The lone hunter from the Chasse family that survived his werewolf hunt, was turned into the very same beast he hunted. I’ve got to tell you; I’ve been waiting a long time to take credit for that one. As soon as I knew a Chasse, that was connected with the Wicklows, and even the Talbots, was coming into my reach…” Peter’s eyes grew wide as he relived the excitement, “it was too good to believe. When I found Allen, I did to him just what we did to the Talbots all those years ago. He’ll pass that curse on to his children, and his children’s children just as the Talbots do. Then, the Chasse family will be nothing more than the things they hunt.”

“I’m going to kill you,” I spoke slowly at him as my muscles began to flex and push against their natural limits. “I’m going to be the one you see when the lights finally go out, you mother fucker!” I was enraged at the situation.

“I know you want to, and a part of me wants to let you do it again, only so I can see your face when I come back again. However, I have a schedule to keep. My master will arrive here shortly, and he is very intent on meeting you… if you survive long enough. I may not be able to steal the life and power that lies inside of you, but he will take you in an instant,” Peter said coldly. “Another herald of an ancient, given to him on a silver platter. Oh boy, he’s going to love me after he consumes your power. Then… he’ll be able to kill your Ancient… and take his power. Then…” Peter’s eyes grew even wider. “Then the world will know something it hasn’t for eons. True power!”

Peter walked over to me as I struggled through pain and kicked me in the face. It didn’t physically do anything, but it enraged me that he could do this to me while I was stuck in such agony.

“I really wish it were me to kill you and steal your power, but I’ll settle for your friends… especially that Autumn!” Peter let out an admiring whistle, “She looks strong…” His eyes were wide.

I dove forward to wrap my hands around his throat. I inched closer and closer as I flew through the air, actually believing I caught him by surprise, but I was wrong. The sick fire wrapped him up in a pillar of flames. When I collided into the burning pillar, my body burst back into flames as it spat me out of the other side.

The tower of fire vanished as soon as I hit the ground; the only fire left from it was burning away the outer layers of my flesh. Peter was gone, and I was alone in the burning world of corpses and darkness. Jon told me that he wouldn’t always be able to save me from things like this. Was this one of those times?

I was alone amongst the demonic-looking corpses and flames that consumed them. Peter was gone, probably back in the world of the living, tunneling through dimensional planes to return to the city of St. Louis. I, however, did not have that ability. If I was getting out of this place, it would be by my creator. If he could pull me from the top of the Lemp Brewery like he did, maybe he’d call me back to the fields from this hell.

It had to be soon. If what Peter said was true… then another Ancient was coming… and it was coming to kill me!