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I took three strides and heard a great commotion behind me. I whirled and watched as werewolves spilled from the shattered dorm window and cascaded to the ground three-storeys down. I bared my claws and waited as the dozen or so took steps to apprehend me. Luis and Sophie must be down and out.

I growled, but the space between myself and the other wolves was blocked suddenly when two great forms landed between us. One was scaled, the other covered in golden fur, both bearing claws, both tall and broad. The golden beast stood at around six foot four and was broad, muscular and shook a mane of dark, copper fur as his tail cracked like a whip and his fangs bared. He let out a ferocious roar as he stared the werewolves down with angry, golden eyes. The remnants of a Haven uniform clung to his muscled body as he touched a clawed hand to the ground and growled at the wolves before him.

The scaled wereanimal stood a solid three feet from the werelion, his broad, muscular body towered over the lion, a long, thick tail slammed the ground as its long maw snapped ferociously, rows of white, sharpened fangs bared, yellow crocodile eyes narrowed with defiance.

"Get moving, now!" Lian growled over his shoulder, "Fuck Linus! Make that canine fucker pay for killing Miles!"

"Isaiah?" I asked, unsure of what he'd want.

Isaiah never turned as his voice rumbled, "Do what you think is best. I trust your judgement!"

I nodded and suddenly loved them both. Miles was dead and his murderer was fleeing.

Trap, or no trap. Broderic would pay for what he'd done.

I took off, without looking back as the sounds of brawling shattered the growls and strained silence around me. Rage fuelled me as I trusted the lion and the crocodile not to die then and there. Survive, God please let them survive. I didn't like to think that two powerful werewolves had fallen before them, I didn't want to think of what that would mean for Lian and Isaiah. I focused, focused on Broderic, focused on avenging Miles. Broderic had killed the werefox to entice me into a confrontation! That was fine with me. If he wanted a fight, then so be it!

I crossed sloped lawns in seconds and disappeared between the brush and dived into the woodland like it was a swimming pool and I was an athletic swimmer. That scent of cigarettes and wolf hung in the air. I followed that, hunted after the owner. I peeled between the trees and felt that much more confident, determined I could do this, determined I could beat Broderic!

Isaiah had explained when we first met that my inner beast would strengthen and thrive in its natural habitat. That was a good advantage, if my opponent hadn't also been a wolf, but for now I was content with the bolstered strength and speed as I pursued Miles' murderer.

I moved like I had memorised the woodland as I followed that scent, the scent of a killer, of a madman. All the while the beast inside me growled its desires over and over again, fuelling me, adding to the fire like gasoline.

KILL! HUNT! FIND THAT TREACHEROUS, DISHONOURABLE FIEND AND TEAR HIM IN TWO!

I skidded to a halt when I noticed the scent had stopped and was floating all around me. It never continued, it just stopped. A great howl of rage shattered the quiet above me. I looked up and watched as Broderic plummetted from above, claws brandished and fangs bared. I raised both hands to block him. Broderic gripped my forearms in his hands and used me to swing himself around, his heels planted into my stomach and with a great burst of strength, he catapulted me. I careened backwards, spinning, crashing along the ground, scratching my skin on the brush before smashing into the side of a tall, slender tree trunk. The bark splintered as I collapsed to the ground, coughing as I relearned how to breathe.

Broderic hit the ground in a crouched position, he leaned his elbows on his knees as he laughed.

"Get up, kid, get up and fight me, fight me and kill me!" Broderic taunted.

"Why? Why did you kill him? What did he do to you?" I snarled back as I clambered to all fours.

"He did nothing to me, but he was close to you. Killing him would make you more determined," he grinned.

I screamed wordlessly and launched myself at the wolf. I was airborne for a second. I tackled him around the middle and we rolled, claws stabbing, scratching into each other, Broderic laughed as I screamed in pure, blood-thirsty rage. Soon I found myself straddling his waist as I reared my claws back to gouge out his throat.

He reached up, gripped me by the back of the neck and pulled me down as he launched his forehead into mine with a sickening smack of flesh on flesh. I was dazed as I tumbled backwards. I couldn't see passed the star bursts erupting all over my vision, as Broderic stood and grabbed me by the neck of my vest. He turned and launched me. I span through the air and smashed into a tree trunk. I groaned as pain thrilled through me. I collapsed in a heap as I tasted blood again.

Fuck!

"Your getting there, but you need to be quicker! Let the wolf lead as you kill, Jack!" he snarled at me.

"You didn't have to kill Miles!" I snapped.

"How else was I going to get you all hyped up like this?" he giggled madly.

"You'll regret doing that to Miles, Broderic!"

The wolf inside me filled me up, like water filling a goblet. I growled as I felt strength thrill through me. I was suddenly airborne, ricocheting from trunk to trunk as Broderic looked around wildly. I hit the ground hard behind him. I dived into a forward roll behind him, and kicked off with hands on the ground. My boots connected with his back and launched him through the air. He hit a tree trunk face-first and gripped it, he managed to stand as he turned around to look at me. I crossed the tall grass and planted my foot in the middle of his back. He slumped to one knee and coughed, his laughter still there.

KILL! KILL! KILL HIM!

I did what the wolf ordered as I planted my boot again and again into the wolf's spine. I wanted him broken, begging for forgiveness. I wrapped my clawed hand around his face from behind, and launched him straight up without relent. He span through the air, laughing as his fur blossomed and his body transformed with bone-popping and snarling fangs. He hit a tree trunk with both hind legs, and kicked hard. He span through the air toward me, claws bared as his full moon form shot at me like a furred bullet.

I turned full circle and slashed out with my arm. I caught him back-handed and sent him careening across the tall grass. I was a new wolf, giving way to the rage and destruction that my inner beast desired. Broderic scrambled through the grass and dust as he rushed me again. I lifted my right leg and brought my heel down. I smashed the top of his head into the ground and stopped him dead.

"Miles did nothing to you! Your a fucking animal!" I snarled as I gripped him by the scalp and turned, throwing him onto his back before me. I hopped and planted both feet to his stomach, I crouched as he stared upward, eyes wide and muzzle open as I winded him. I knelt on his wide, muscular stomach as I reared back a clawed hand and thrust downward. I felt his fur and flesh peel as I buried my claw into his throat. I ripped my clawed hand back and watched as crimson spattered the green, green grass all around me. I stood and wrapped both hands around his wide, canine throat.

He coughed and spluttered, still laughing, still fucking laughing!

"STOP LAUGHING!" I snarled.

He murmured something I didn't hear.

I leaned close and grinned, "I can't hear you, Broderic, your having trouble breathing!"

He coughed and hacked up blood before growling, "I'm laughing because your finally giving in to your werewolf name!"

The rage inside me bubbled even hotter as I planted a knee into Broderic's stomach over and over, rage drove me as I kicked outward and sent the limp wolf back through the brush.

It was then that I heard a distant, mechanical sound, the whir of blades and the sound of engines. It was distant, but I was too focused on ending Broderic.

"You sure you want me to be this violent little psychopath?" I grinned down at Broderic.

He leaned on his elbows and wiped the blood from his newly formed muzzle as he growled, "Yes."

I nodded and grinned wider, my eyes widened with blood-driven madness. "As you wish!"

I rushed him, gripped him by the throat as I went and carried him as I smashed him into yet another tree trunk. "You are nothing!" I snarled as I reared back a clawed hand and thrust hard and true. I envisioned my claw scraping the inside of the wood beyond his limp body, and felt the muscle and blood and bone scraped on my claws as I tore through him. I dragged my clawed hand to one side, ripping him wide open, the evening twilight danced across his blood and organs. I could glimpse bone glistening white and true through the gore.

"Good...boy..." Broderic choked as one of his lungs was nicked and caved in.

"Shut up! Shut up! Just shut the fuck up!" I screamed as I released him and watched blood spill from his insides. He slumped lifeless and dropped to the ground, as I stood blood spattered and fuelled with so much adrenaline and rage. I looked down at Broderic as his body returned to normal, his pale skin bloodied, his insides hanging out, his breathing ragged as he stared up at me with heavy-lidded eyes.

"Good...boy..."

"BE QUIET!" I raised my foot and watched as he grinned wide. I slammed my foot down and felt his skull implode beneath my boot. Brains and other heavier liquids spilled across the ground, as I watched Broderic's life filter from his dead body.

Silence stretched as the wolf inside me faded and dived back into my inner darkness.

The silence didn't last for long though as a quiet applause rang out through the imminent darkness.

I rounded on whoever was clapping, half-expecting to see Isaiah or Lian. What I had not expected was Linus.

Linus Eckhardt, still in human form, watching me with yellow-green eyes, and still dressed in a tailored suit done in charcoal grey. He applauded me with long, drawn out claps of his hands. His braided hair spilled behind him as he smiled at me warmly.

"I really didn't know what to do with that one. He was something of a headache toward the end, my deepest thanks."

"W-When did you get back?"

"Didn't expect me back until tomorrow. I do wonder who told about my return?" he taunted.

"What do you want, Linus?" I snarled, rage bubbling back up.

"I came to see how my little wolf is doing, and I must say you are doing fantastically, your progressing well." He smirked as he buried his hands into his pants' pockets and asked, "How does it feel?"

"How does what feel?" I stammered, unsure what he meant.

"How does it feel being a killer?"

"I'm not..."

"Oh, come now, Jack. Look at what you did," he gestured at Broderic's beheaded corpse.

"I'm not a killer! He did it! He pushed me!" I snarled back, I took a step, but stopped when that mechanical sound filled the air loud and clear, the blades whirred as the trees around me moved in the sudden gale. I looked up and shielded my eyes as a great, black helicopter hovered above the treeline.

"You have to realise, Jack. I am not just some simple madman, with a great fortune and beautiful mind when it comes to violence. No. I am so much more than that, I am your world, your God, your Judge and your Executioner!" Linus called over the sound of the helicopters engine.

"What? No jury?" I snarled back with a defiant glare.

Linus laughed then. He reached into his inner-jacket pocket and pulled out a walkie-talkie. "Release the coffin!" he said.

A second later something large and square fell from the helicopter. I jumped back as it crashed into the grass, grazing one of the trunks, sending clouds of dust and grass up all around me as I shielded my eyes and wondered what on Earth Linus had been doing.

"You don't need a jury, not at Haven, Jack."

He grinned wide as the dust settled and I straightened up, looking at the collossal metal crate between us.

"You brought me back a souvenir? You shouldn't have," I sniped.

"I brought something that you and your friends may be able to share. Do you want to know where I've been?"

No point playing dumb. "Russia, right?"

He nodded. "I went in search of something. Since I met Isaiah I have heard time and time again about the werecrocodiles of old. It made me wonder, were there ever weresnakes of old, the first and most powerful kind before the blood thinned and men like me were born." He smirked as his eyes narrowed, his forked tongue trailed along his suddenly wider mouth as he hissed, "I found her! I found one of the first, one of the oldest dwelling in the Russia wastelands! Do you want to meet her?"

I went wide-eyed. One of the oldest weresnakes? It sounded impossible, no way had Linus discovered one of them. He'd said they were more powerful than his kind. The blood had thinned, he'd said. How powerful was this thing? How insane was it if Linus was considered the weaker one.

Linus pulled a small, black device from his pocket and pressed his thumb against a small, red button without taking his eyes from me. "Her mind is simple, she responds to commands from her own kind, someone who is more intelligent than herself. She is the perfect weapon. She is what I hope you and your friends will become in time, Jack."

The crate hissed between us, smoke spilled from the inside and with a great boom the lid popped off, span through the air and struck a tree trunk a good ten feet above me. It pierced the tree trunk like a blade, as the smoke clouded the area around me.

I could smell snake, but it was darker, mustier than Linus' scent, more...old.

What had Linus done?