I dismissed everyone, sending them back to their daily duties, and pulled out my phone. I stared down at his dead body, the one of my half-brother Myrus, lying at my feet. Not that he was ever a real brother. No. He was always just like our father. A living devil. There was nothing good within him. The call only rang twice before I heard a click and a voice on the other end.

“Hello?”

I sighed automatically hearing that near growl of a greeting, closing my eyes as the strain of the last few moments came crushing down on me harder.

“Hey. It’s me.”

I shifted my weight uncomfortably despite hearing a familiar and comforting voice.

“Why aren’t you calling the pack phone?”

I let out a half laugh that nearly ended up in a whiny sob.

“Because I needed to make sure I was speaking with you?”

There was silence for a few seconds. I knew what she wanted to say. She would’ve said right away that all I’d need to do was call the pack phone and then ask for her and it would just be the two of us talking anyway.

“Okay.” Her tone had changed. She’d sensed something within my voice. She knew something was wrong. “What is it?”

And right to the point.

If only I knew how to say it.

“I – I uh…”

Where was I supposed to start?

“What is it, Danny?” Her voice was commanding as she asked. Gosh, I’d missed that… even if it wasn’t what I wanted right this moment. But she needed to know. She was the first on the list to know.

“Animiya…”

I couldn’t call her by the familiar ‘Blakeley’. This hit too hard. The resulting words were too personal, too difficult to maintain an air of calm collectedness.

“Danny,” she spoke sternly in my ear. “What is going on?” It wasn’t even really a question anymore, with how serious she sounded.

I sighed.

Out with it, I told myself, just say it instead of beating around the bushes forever and ever.

“We found Myrus,” I finally whispered.

“What?! Where?!”

Here.

Right here.

I’m staring at his body.

I heard movement on her end of the line, like she was up and moving. The rustling of clothes or sheets–

Well, we were in different time zones. I didn’t even think to consider what time of day it was there, not that it was more than a few hours difference. I guess she’d might’ve slept in on this particular day…

“Danny!”

I was silent too long, staring at the redness of the blood that had come from his mouth. If I hadn’t had her, if I hadn’t had Helena or my brother Jacob… would I have ended up like…

Like that?

Like him?

“Talk to me!” she shouted through the phone.

I opened my mouth.

“Myrus. He – he practically… he just basically showed up on our doorstep?” It was a question. It wasn’t supposed to be one, but I just kept looking at his body, at the lifelessness, hearing his words tumbling through my mind, over and over again.

The way he’d called me brother, like I was the curse.

None of this felt real.

I kept thinking I’d see his chest rise and fall as he started breathing again. That he’d move and get up and haunt me forever.

“…Why? What does he want now?” I could hear her anger, her fury. She was nearly ready to come racing this way to tear him apart herself. I could hear it.

Hell is coming…

For you…

For all…

Of you…

“Ani…” I sighed, finally looking away from the body that only grew colder by the second. He wasn’t going to be saying anything more, not ever.

But he’d already said too much.

He wanted hell for us.

And something in his eyes told me he’d found exactly that.

He’d smiled. Gleefully.

“He’s dead.”

…

Tricked by Myrus, the human with a warm heart and soul, who’d lost his own wife years back, trekked through the trees and rough pathways. He’d felt the desperation of the dying man. Some part of him thought they were alike, that they’d both lost someone they cared deeply and dearly for, someone irreplaceable. That was why he’d agreed to help the poor man who couldn’t complete the dying wish of his wife.

In a way, this was him latching onto a wish, however odd or strange, because he’d been just twenty minutes short of being there to hear his own wife’s last wishes. So, in this way, he’d felt the need to use this as penance for being late, for not knowing.

A short distance away, he spotted the particular grouping of rocks that the man wanted the vial dumped on. It was in the only area on the entire park that didn’t have trees. It wasn’t even plentiful with grass and weeds. The grass that did grow was short and sparse. He stepped out of the trees and started across the dirt toward the odd cave with no entrance that jutted out of the mountain-like hill behind it. If the mountain was the body of a creature, this cave would be its tail.

The man tried to recall the name of a landmark like that in his mind. One huge rock formation with a flat top. Plateau?

He shook his head. It didn’t matter.

The sun beat down as he drew closer to the rocks. He glanced over at the lake just inside the opposite line of trees from which he arrived.

Lake Tarva.

He’d always thought the waters should’ve been clearer than they were, but if you’d stick your hand in those waters, put your whole arm up to your shoulder in… you’d lose sight of your hand in the process.

Pushing away those thoughts, he pulled out the vial and looked it over. The small crack, the stopper, the redness of the liquid within.

Sure, this wish was an odd one. Blood? Not ashes? Very odd.

“Weird.”

And yet, he’d heard stranger things before.

He shrugged off his apprehensions and pulled the stopper out. He looked around for a moment, trying to determine which rock would be the best to dump it on, and settled on a circular, but slanted one near the farthest point from the mountain.

He tipped the vial over, keeping it close to the rock so that the drops of blood wouldn’t fly off the rock and onto him.

The rock looked strange with the red blood running down it in several streams, all with the same origin point.

For the first time since hearing of this man’s final wish, the man got a worrying feeling in his gut, like he’d done something horrible.

Like he’d desecrated some kind of hallowed ground.

And that was when the first rock crumbled at his height level, just a short two feet away. He stumbled back, only jump and dodge falling rocks from the end of the rock formation. What everyone assumed was a cave with a blocked off entrance had now become that. A cave.

An open cave.

“What the–”

A growl rumbling from the now open entrance to the cave cut him off. A set of glowing eyes in the distance grew closer, clearer. The sound of footsteps. The moisture caused the steps to have that distinctive sticky noise, like the suction of clammy feet on linoleum. Bare. Feet.

The man stumbled back in fear as the noises grew, the ominous presence drawing nearer. He stumbled and fell, only to then scramble backwards, not even bothering to pick himself back up onto his feet. He just crawled back on all fours, trying to put some distance between himself and this monster emerging from the darkness.

He felt like a rabbit trapped in front of a giant wolf. No… it was worse than that. This was a predator stronger, scarier, larger. Eyes of a wolf wouldn’t be up that high. His hands shook, his legs felt too numb and weak to stand. He wasn’t sure if the ground had been wet or if it had been himself, leaking in his own pants.

The monster reached the edge of the cave, remaining just inside the shadows and crumbled rocks. Slowly, a hand reached out, a hand that looked all too human.

Suddenly, wild ideas were flying through the man’s head. As long as he’d known this place, that rock had always been there unchanged. No human could be trapped in there for so long and survive. And… he’d placed blood upon the rocks.

Blood.

Was this thing… a vampire?

To a man who had no truth to grasp onto, and as someone who had scoffed at all mythological things in the past, jumped to the thought that this being was from what myth was based on. He immediately thought of vampires.

But the hand was touching the light, the fingers were covered in dirt. He watched the monster’s hand, as the being itself seemed fascinated by the light touching his skin. The monstrous being flipped his hand over, holding it out like he was trying to catch and keep the sunlight in his palm.

Aren’t vampires…fake?

The human stared in horror as the monster took another single step, his arm now reaching into the light. It looked human as well. There was nothing sharp or grotesque, like he’d expected to see.

But don’t they look human?

He was terrified to wait and see if this monster had fangs, if he could grow claws. He was too terrified, and yet remained immobile in his fear.

“You.”

The human shivered at the low voice. He felt cold all of a sudden. Chills raced up his arms, leaving goosebumps in their wake. He gulped, but couldn’t speak around the growing knot in his throat.

Am I… going to die?

I just opened a cave to an immortal beast of a man. A vampire or something worse… is it going to eat me? I’m just one person… how am I supposed to get away?

“Human.”

His heart thundered, nearly jumping out of his chest. It was all the confirmation he needed. This humanoid figure… was not the same kind of human he was. It only looked human on the outside.

But this…

It was…

He was looking at a monster.

Truly.

“Leave now.”

The commanding tone of the sentence was all he needed to hear. He couldn’t get his legs under himself fast enough as he sprinted from this place.

He knew the land here like he knew himself.

Once he reached far enough, he chanced a glance back, only to see a man-like figure, an all-too-human looking thing, emerge from the darkness of the shadows, with only a pair of worn and tattered trousers on.

His skin was pale.

One glance up a little farther only made his eyes widen more.

Fangs.

Fangs on his upper teeth.

He turned back around, not daring to look for another second while he escaped.

“He pulled a Jesus… came out of a cave… scary… a vampire…” the human muttered to himself as he quickened his pace, fearing that this monster liked to chase his prey, just like in stories of old. Just like in anyone’s worst nightmares.

Once he reached his lodging, he felt lucky to be alive, lucky to be spared.

And terrified.

He made up his mind.

Whether it was an alien or a vampire or some other kind of monster…

He would never come back to Lake Tarva again.

Ever.

Australia was sounding nice.

Danny

“Dead.” The voice repeated. There was a pause. “Dead-dead? You’re sure it’s him?”

I sighed, running a hand over my head, closing my eyes. I nodded, even though Blakeley couldn’t see it.

“Yeah… he was still breathing when he got here. He… recognized me. Laughed in my face.”

“Did you…”

“No. He was spitting up blood.” I shook my head, closing my eyes. Had I killed him? No. There hadn’t been a chance to. “His injuries… there was no way anyone could fix that.” I’d checked after as well, seeing the deep bruises, likely internal bleeding, and cuts that went far too deep. Things were clearly broken – had been broken for a long while. Will had seriously done a number on the guy. The fact that Myrus even lasted for months like this was strange in and of itself. The man looked like a pin cushion.

All in all, it meant one thing for certain. There was no way I wanted to get into a fight with Will, not even if it was a practice one. It didn’t matter who had more experience. The kid knew exactly what he was doing, didn’t need any kind of special powers to help him.

“Did you find–”

I cut her off right away, before she could finish that sentence. I knew what she was asking about. Also related to Will.

The problem was…

Myrus had nothing in his pockets.

“No. It’s gone. He doesn’t have it.” I sighed, running a hand over my head as I grudgingly admitted that I checked three whole times.

“Do you think…” she started to ask slowly, her voice trailing off.

Despite already knowing the answer, I wished it wasn’t true. Even more than that, I hated the thought of telling them all. I was the one to hear his last words, so I had to do this.

“Yeah. He already used it,” I said quietly. “For what? I have no idea. But Ani?”

“Yeah?” Her voice was wary on the other end of the line…with good reason.

“He knew he was a dead man walking when he entered the pack here,” I started. My breath caught in my throat for a moment as I recalled his expression of glee. “He didn’t care. He smiled… saying hell is coming for all of us.” I paused, my hand clenched into a fist at my side. “Do you have any idea what he means?”

“No… this time I don’t,” she admitted, voice full of resignation. “Cian might, though.”

“Or Ashena.”

I heard her scoff at my suggestion.

“You think she’d give a straight answer?”

Oh, come on, I wanted to say to her, like her suggestion had been any better. Cian? Really? Those two were like peas in a pod, despite not being related. He’d technically gotten his powers from her, so maybe it had to be something with that ability making them so secretive.

“You think Cian will give an answer at all?” I retorted.

 She was silent for twelve whole seconds, only to groan.

“Fair. That’s fair.”

I opened my mouth to say something, only to stop, to tense up not just my jaw, but my entire body, and feel… feel whatever it was that I had sensed. It had been southeast of where I stood. I could only pinpoint that much. But something was hanging in the air. Something ominous. Something dangerous. Something, just now…

Why did I feel like it was going to change everything?

Why did I feel like it was…

Thoughts of Myrus and the vial of blood raced through my mind over and over again. It could’ve been anything, but the timing – the timing was too much to be a mere coincidence.

I heard her call my name through the phone.

“Hey… uh…”

I couldn’t finish my thought. I just stared off into the distance.

“Danny. Danny what’s going on?”

“Something just – that was odd.” I shook my head.

“What?”

“Didn’t you feel it?” I asked. She had to have felt that. Had to… Unless I was imagining it. “It felt like…” I shook my head, my mind fighting with my instincts. One was insisting the other couldn’t be right. I trusted my gut instinct this time. “Like I could feel magic in the distance, just for a moment.”

“Direction?”

“Southeast from here. No visible signs. I see nothing.” It was all the more discouraging. There was no proof of what I’d just felt.

I took notice of myself for a moment. My bottom lip was trembling. My fingers were clutching onto the phone too tight, my hand pressing the speaker into my ear too hard.

I felt unnaturally warm as I searched the sky in that direction, for a light, for birds taking flight in fear or surprise.

There was nothing to see.

And maybe that was worse.

This was a different kind of fear racing through me.

“Ani… it felt wrong. It felt like a bad omen.” I shook my head again. “Something just happened.”

Whatever it was…

Somehow, I knew it was what Myrus had wanted.