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Lykos Chapter 15 (One of Them)

Echo Creek's morgue was seldom used and well maintained. The chill hung in the air, the tiled floor was immaculate and the stainless steel doors were highly polished. It was easy to keep up with the cleaning when the city had such a low population and low mortality rate, but that rate had ticked up by one. Doctor Woods pushed the gurney into the morgue himself, his eyes surveying the body on the bed before him. Silas' body had fought the change dramatically. The lycanthropy had tried to heal his inability to walk, but that problem had been rooted in his very genetics and it had led to his death.

Woods felt a heavy weight on his chest. The fact that the bite could potentially kill anyone was one of the few things that kept the number of wolves in the world in check. The fact that such a young and innocent boy had lost his life in such a way was tragic, but to Woods it was even more tragic that the wolves had been denied another fine addition to their pack.

The most important thing at this point, though, was that Silas' death not be linked to the community of wolves. Hunters sought out unexplained and unusual deaths to narrow in on their targets. Woods opened the door to the pod for Silas' body and wheeled the gurney in slowly. His body had been examined and prepared. Since the infection had not come from a bite, but rather through fluids, there were no external wounds. With its host dead, the virus had died as well and left no evidence. Even the normal blood toxicity was absent from general rejection. Woods counted himself lucky.

The door closed shut and latched and Woods hung up Silas' paperwork. The cause of death had been listed as complications of pre-existing genetic disorder. He'd been as complete as possible in the autopsy as he could to prevent anyone else wanting to peek into the issue. The sooner the issue was laid to rest, the better. Woods turned and moved for the door, his eyes gleaming golden for just a moment as he thought about the shame of it all. The door slid shut and clicked, leaving the morgue in silence once more.

Moments ticked by, minutes, then a half an hour. It was natural for dead bodies to continue with minute changes over time; hair and nail growth, shifting of gasses, but locked away in the morgue, something else was going on. There was movement. Silas' skin shifted somewhat, almost wriggling. The stitches from his autopsy began to pull and pry. Even Silas' fingers began to wiggle, but not from their own movement. They were like puppets on the ends of strings and something else was moving.

The dead flesh began to tear, first at the knuckles as sharp black bloody claws emerged. The skin peeled apart around the intruding flesh, revealing a sopping coppery furry paw. The tearing continued up the hand and arm, the human skin shedding off like a cocoon. The human body had been but a husk for what was now emerging - a direwolf. The stitches on the chest split apart and opened up as a growing canine torso pushed outwards. Silas' human mouth opened wide and the jaw broke as a soaking wet blood red furry muzzle began pushing out of the hole.

Like desiccated leaves in the fall, the teenager's body came apart into pieces, allowing the massive wolf to crawl its way out. The gangly paws reached around and the wolf flipped over from its back to its chest, laying on the gurney, smearing slime across the walls. The wolf panted hard, becoming aware of several things all at once. It felt its body weight on its foot and a half long canine cock. It felt the weight of its muscles, the bitter cold of the morgue... and it felt trapped.

The bloody wolf surged forward with its forelegs and rammed into the door, bouncing back. Out of instinct it pushed off the back wall with its legs and hit the door again, bending the latch a little. A surge of shock raced through the direwolf's mind. What little shreds of Silas remained knew that its legs should have been dead and lifeless, but they had just kicked. The wolf lunged once more with new force and will, slamming into the door. It budged more and groaned. The direwolf clawed and slashed at the metal, cutting into it with razor sharp claws. The door groaned and finally snapped off, flying across the room and skidding across the floor.

The red wolf tumbled out of the morgue pod onto its arms and feet, trying to get used to its own body. Everything was uncertain and new. It stumbled around on its legs, trying to get its bearing, feeling its muscles continue to swell and grow now that it had escaped its human confines. Drool and blood and precum leaked all over the clean morgue floor. The wolf bore its fangs and exhaled slowly, feeling such hunger and wrath and lust course through its body.

Crimson eyes searched the room before settling on the door. With a powerful leap, the direwolf crashed through the glass portion of the window and sent shards raining out as it landed on the linoleum outside the morgue. It felt the sting of the glass, but the pain was life, its new life. The direwolf began moving down the hallway, thinking of where it could go, where it could get satisfaction, but outside the silence of the morgue there was so much more noise. Beeps and clicks and wheezes. Machines and people and distant cars... and something even more remote, something far less tangible. It was like a whisper carrying on the wind, but it found the crimson soaked ears of the new beast.

"Silas... Come to me my beta. Come to your alpha, find Demeas in the shadow of the forest." The voice whispered. Despite the insanity and crazed mentality surging through his mind, the direwolf's erection stiffened far more. His alpha would know how to help him, to give him satisfaction. The direwolf turned away from the throngs of people and moved to the back of the hospital, pushing off his hind legs long enough to slam into the bar of the emergency exit. An alarm sounded, but the direwolf was already galloping out across the parking lot and toward the trees in the distance.

****

A chill wind blew through the trees outside of Echo Creek, whipping through the lone highway to hug the Grand Mesa. It was just enough of a bluster to send the storm shutters clacking. The door to Old Man Turner's house opened as the veteran moved out, grumbling under his breath. He usually shut up the house and waited out storms, but if the house wasn't going to comply he was going to have to do something about it.

The old man moved through the brush to grab the flapping shutter and pull it back into place, sliding the latch back where it belonged. The worn metal clip hugged the old screw and the noise was silenced. Turner sighed with relief and started trudging through his yard to get back into his house where his cold beer and warm television waited, but something caught the corner of his eye.

Turner peered out past the road and into the wilderness beyond his house, through the dense trees. He lived out in the middle of nowhere by choice, wanting to put as much distance between the 'every day modern man' and himself. The glint of light perturbed him and for a moment his eyes glinted yellow in fury.

"Damn fool kids, this ain't no time for a camping trip on my property." Turner muttered. He charged across the road and through the ferns, pushing branches out of the way. As he approached, the light grew brighter and brighter, but it wasn't the light of a camp fire or even lanterns. As he stumbled over sticks and thorny weeds, his eyes beheld a most unnatural sight.

Greenish teal light swirled and spiraled around the ground like some sort of magical sink hole, drawing in more tendrils from piles of bones that had been unearthed. The bones had been worn and weathered, but it was clear what they were. They had the rib cage and hips similar to humans, but massive canine skulls. They were the remains of direwolves.

Turner had seen enough. He spun around on his heels to get back to his house and call his contacts, but he came chest to chest with Ethan. He grunted and looked down at the twenty year old. Despite the keeper having started to grow his hair out and his almost sickly looking complexion, Turner's brain churned enough to produce a name.

"Haddix... Ethan Haddix, right? What in the hell is going on here?" Turner asked.

"I have... I have to complete this, to bring Conrad back." Ethan said. His skin was sallow, he looked exhausted and dehydrated. In fact, everything in the area looked drained. The ferns and grasses were brown, the dirt was dried and desiccated. Every ounce of moisture had been drawn into the vortex.

"What you're doing, boy, it ain't natural, you can't do this." Turner muttered.

"He couldn't, that's true, we needed one more thing." Came a lighter voice from near by. Turner followed the sound to its source, Fletcher sitting on a log.

"You... What in the hell? Is this your alpha's doing?" Turner asked. Fletcher groaned.

"Everyone keeps failing to realize that I'm the alpha in this equation. I guess I've been keeping my secret so far, but... yeah. I won't have to play it safe much longer. We had almost everything we needed right here, but to pierce the veil to the other side we needed the blood of a guardian, and that's just what you are, isn't it? You didn't pick this place out of thin air. You wanted to protect Echo Creek. A sentinel on the edge."

"Now listen just a damn minute, I-" Turner's voice failed him. He shuddered as a stinging, burning filled his abdomen. He looked down just long enough to see the blade before his eyes flashed yellow and his claws extended. Ethan brought his hand to the metal blade he'd stabbed the veteran with and unleashed his magic through it. The lightning flashed brightly coursing through the metal.

Turner shuddered and collapsed to the ground, killed instantly. As he fell into the ring of dried out plants, the blood started weeping from his wounds, pulled across the ground toward the vortex before it was drawn inside. The portal turned darker and darker green before it started to tinge with purple. Demeas closed his eyes and licked his lips slowly. He was so close to home.

****

Marco's eyes opened slowly from his sleep. He blinked a few times before he raised his head up and looked around the crowded bed. Artyom was snuggled into his armpit and Udo had his head resting on the alpha's hairy stomach, but Fletcher was absent once again. Marco felt a pang in his heart. Fletch had been broken by Silas' death. His first friend on campus, his constant gaming companion ripped away. It was enough to challenge anyone's faith... especially since it had been the wolves that had taken Silas, that had caused his death.

The fact that Fletcher could die from the bite was something that haunted Marco every day. They had been lucky, but Silas had not. It was a reminder how risky it all was. After all, they'd lost him once, but had gained Artyom instead. Marco carefully started to move toward the edge of the bed, cradling Udo before lowering his head onto the pillow. Yom, however, stirred.

"Are we going after him?" Yom asked.

"Not we, you need your sleep and someone has to keep Udo warm. I'll be back once I find him." Marco said, stroking Yom's hair, marveling at how long it was getting.

"You need your sleep too." Yom commented.

"I'll get it once our pack is back together." Marco said. Yom shook his head softly at that.

"The eclipse is almost here." He whispered softly, "The keepers are going to start rounding up the wolves to keep them safe tomorrow."

"Keep us safe?" Marco asked with surprise.

"No moon, no wolf. No wolf, no defenses. Having our abilities start to wake us up, only to be cut off? It's like a sugar rush and a heavy crash." Yom explained. Marco looked dismayed at that idea.

"No wonder they want to protect us..." Marco murmured, "All the more reason to find Fletch before it happens though." He said softly, meeting eyes with Yom, "Stay here with Udo." He repeated. As much as Yom wanted to go, he wouldn't disobey his alpha. Marco turned and quietly excused himself from the door room, heading along the hallway and out the door, heading up the ramp and into the night air. He rubbed at his arms a bit and continued walking, glancing over to the glass walls of the science building and his reflection.

So much had changed in the last few months. It was a thought on an endless loop inside his head. Marco tried to shake it loose and focus on something new. He looked through the glass corner of the building to someone on the other side... a face that was familiar to him. For a split second he wondered if it was one of his classmates, but then a terrible realization swept over him. Marco had seen the face many times before, but only in his dreams. It was the face of a hunter.

He looked a bit different. His hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail rather than the long split bangs and top knot, and the purple stripe of coloring across his eyes and cheeks was missing, but it was him. The man that had plagued Marco's dreams. Marco's eyes glinted amber as his claws pushed out, his ears stretched into points and he lunged. He came around the corner just as a small ball bounced off the ground and sailed back up into the air. Instinctively, Marco pushed off the ground and sent his legs up above his head in a flip, kicking the ball. It shot far, far higher up into the air as it split. The alleyway between the dorm and the science building lit up with artificial lightning crackling between the pieces.

Marco landed on feet tearing through shoes, steadying himself just in time to dodge a knife sailing toward his throat. He grabbed the man's arm, ready to break it, deciding instead to tug on the hunter's arm and bring him close enough to grab the man's throat. Marco was about to squeeze before he felt a blade pressing into his abdomen, threatening to break the skin with an undoubtedly poisoned blade.

"You're the one they're all seeing, aren't you?" Auel asked through a hoarse, partially muffled voice, "The one that'll save the humans and the wolves?" he asked. Marco's eyes widened even more in shock at that.

****

The red beast panted as it padded through the trees, feeling the sticks and twigs pushing at his furry flanks. He pushed on, drawn toward the single point, his instincts directing him. The direwolf emerged from the thickest of the trees into the clearing, his gleaming ruby eyes spotting the vibrant purple vortex... and a familiar face. Fletcher was standing near to it, his hair wild and wind swept, his eyes a solid and dark black. Fletch turned slowly and met eyes with the beast, a grin crossing his lips.

"You finally found me Silas... Come here boy." Demeas called out. The four hundred pound wolf lumbered out, panting and drooling. Fletch crouched down and reached out and rubbed at Silas' head, getting sticky blood all over his hand. The possessed young man chuckled gently, "You got lucky... We needed a sacrifice but someone beat you to it. So instead you'll get to stay as my protector." Demeas said, looking at the direwolf for a long moment, eye to eye, "Oh wow... You're pretty deep kid, you know that?"

The direwolf growled a bit at that but leaned in and brought its muzzle to Fletcher's lips. The huge, grizzly tongue slid into the human's mouth and Demeas didn't resist. He grabbed onto Silas' snout and returned the embrace, tongue to tongue, slurping and sucking even as the slop of the discarded human shell smeared over his face. After a few moments Demeas broke the kiss and reached down to unbutton his jeans and draw down his zipper.

Silas wasted no time, bringing his maw to his alpha's cock, slurping and licking it eagerly before taking it in. Demeas moaned, tipping his head back, grunting as the wolf sucked his cock. He thrust it back and forth into the dangerous maw, panting harder and louder, his toes curling in his shoes. Silas pushed forward until he knocked Demeas over and brought his maw down harder, putting a kitchen plate sized paw on the young man's chest. Demeas squirmed, finding it oddly alluring to be trapped by his newest conquest.

"Alpha, what... is the point of all of this? When do we cross over?" Ethan asked, breaking the moment. Demeas snarled, looking over at his dark keeper.

"The moment the eclipse reaches its peak, the pathway between worlds will be open to us. We won't be constrained by life or death, virtue or sin. Everything we want can be achieved. All Conrad needs to return to life is for me to reach the other side. Until that happens, though, what's the harm in having a little fun? Don't you want to join in? Our guardian's got a mighty big tail hole here." Demeas panted. Ethan's lip curled a bit in disgust.

"I'm good, thanks..." he muttered. Demeas shrugged and went back to muzzle fucking the brutish beast before him, enjoying the carnal pleasure with wild abandon.

****

Echo Creek was as silent as the crypt. The stores were closed for the night and everyone was at home in bed... everyone but Marco and Auel. The two sat at one of the metal café tables left outside on the street for the night. It was such a small town that no one would think to steal the outdoor furniture. Marco stared at Auel, his eyes occasionally shifting amber before reverting back to brown. Auel traced his fingers across the holes in the surface of the metal table, looking back at the almost normal looking werewolf before him.

"How'd you get turned?" Auel asked, breaking the silence. The hunter took a breath, "Did you ask for it? Or did one of them attack you?" he asked. Marco gave a derisive snort at that, leaning back against the chair.

"I was giving CPR." Marco replied. Auel's brows furrowed at that before they widened again.

"F... Fuck, seriously?" Auel asked. Despite Marco's intense distrust for the hunter, the rather human reaction was somewhat amusing.

"Rising Sun... What were you doing that day?" Marco asked. Auel winced a bit.

"I didn't know about the attacks until after they happened, I... I was already trying to find out what the dreams meant." Auel replied. Marco leaned forward, his fingernails extending into claws.

"I don't even know what the dreams mean and I'm having them... I have absolutely no clue about what's going on. I've seen you before, and you shoot at me. We're lost and confused and there you are with your face paint. I could change it all if I killed you right now." Marco snarled.

"But you won't, because you're the guy that got turned into a werewolf trying to save someone's life, right? You're a better kind of wolf than that." Auel replied. Marco snarled again but he slowly leaned back.

"How did you know about the dreams?" Marco asked. Auel's shoulders started to slump and his eyes seemed more hollow.

"We... My family, we'd been raised to be hunters. That's what we did, our whole life... It... was predictable. We always went after violent wolves, the kind out of horror movies that stuck out like a sore thumb... But one day, last winter, they started getting better at escaping us. It was like they had advance knowledge about what was coming. Better strategy." Auel replied.

"So you're here to get your winning streak back? To figure it all out?" Marco asked. Auel groaned and slammed his fist against the table.

"You're not getting it at all... If I wanted you guys dead I would have killed you already. If something is going to happen that reaches back through time? If these are premonitions? That... That's going to change the world more than any rising sun or wolf bite or silver bullet. Whatever that is, I need to be ready for." Auel said.

"Then it is time." Came a voice neither had expected. Auel was unaccustomed to being caught off guard. He sprung to his feet and produced a foot and a half long blade from his sleeve even Marco had been unaware of, but his eyes did not find a threatening figure. Standing a short distance away was a middle aged Asian woman in a white dress with a cherry blossom pattern across it. Her hair was bound up with ornamental painted sticks, but her eyes were gazing at the young men.

"Ren? What are you doing out here? I thought you were getting... Uh, stuff ready." Marco asked, though he didn't want to refer to the eclipse out loud. Auel kept looking at her for a long moment before his posture changed.

"You're human, aren't you?" he asked. Ren ignored them both.

"Marco, there is something we haven't told you... Something we haven't been certain of, but it seems destiny is taking us to that very point no matter what we try." Ren said.

"You kept something from me? About what?" Marco asked. Ren looked deep into the werewolf's eyes.

"You already know." She whispered.

"Rayne..." Marco murmured, his heart sinking.

****

Ethan sat on the ground, feeling the distemper in the air. He had honed his focus as a keeper to its peak, but now everything was off. The humidity, the breeze, the smell of the air, even the feeling of the nature around him. It was all coming apart. His heart ached hard and he opened his eyes, taking a sharp breath. The bones that they had recovered were nearly reduced to dust and ash. Everything had been drawn out of them and into the portal. Across the way, the red direwolf had passed out and Fletcher, or rather Demeas, seemed to have quieted down after his bout.

"You're going to betray me, aren't you?" Ethan asked. Demeas looked up from Fletcher's cell phone where he had been reading something. He lifted one eyebrow up before smirking softly.

"If I was some sort of evil incarnate I might, but you miss the point. I just want to live a true and real life, not bring others suffering. I got cheated out of my life, twice really, and this time I'm going to do things my way. That doesn't mean other people can't do that too. You want your brother, so I'll give him back to you. You'll be happy, I'll be happy, we'll be great." Demeas said.

"But that violates the rules of the universe. I still don't understand how you're going to be able to bring Conrad back." Ethan whispered. Demeas stood up and walked around the portal, coming up to the keeper. He reached down and rested a hand on the man's shoulder.

"Sometimes to build a new world you have to destroy the old one. The rules of the universe are wrong, so we're going to change them." Demeas said.

"Just like that? Life and death?" Ethan asked. Demeas shook his head.

"Don't think small my friend. We're not just changing the meaning of life and death, we're going to change the curse too." Demeas grinned.

"The... curse?" Ethan asked, looking far more startled than ever before.

"Oh yes." Demeas grinned, reaching up to rub his chin, "Wolves supposedly regain their humanity by acting human, but they're reminded of what they did with the full moon. That's the curse that fell on us, but what if we need more reminders? What if all the dark wolves need to be reminded of what sort of animals and beasts they are right when there was no moon at all?" Demeas asked. Ethan trembled just a bit as he soaked I the information.

"But if the direwolves change during the eclipse, the werewolves... They'll be defenseless." Ethan murmured.

"Ethan, they can still survive. All they have to do is give in to it, to their deepest selves. They'll hear my howl, my song, and we'll be a family again. All the sons and daughters of Lycaon feeling the heat of a life lived with passion." Demeas whispered, his eyes flooding with black, his manhood growing erect once again. Ethan sat there, feeling his heart beat with stinging pangs of guilt, his eyes twitching as his veins contracted. He was growing weaker by the moment. The portal was drawing off of him as well. Ethan looked around at it all, seeing the mess he had created. Maybe it was good the portal was killing him. Maybe that was his punishment... but was it too late? Had he unleashed the devil himself?

****

The car rumbled along the road, Ren's eyes shrewdly studying both the road and the reflection of her passengers in the windshield. Auel had been made to sit in the front passenger seat and Marco was behind him. It was a vulnerable position, but he wanted a show of good faith. What Ren had revealed to them both, however, had chased away any thoughts of pre-emptive attack.

"That's not possible." Marco muttered finally. Ren let out a clicking noise with her tongue and lips in deridement.

"How many impossible things have you seen in the last few months?" Ren asked.

"We always knew the wolves had human helpers, that they did weird stuff, but..." Auel murmured.

"The hunters gain their powers from technology and we gain it from nature. We are different sides of the same coin. We exist to keep the balance." Ren said.

"You say that like... we could be friends." Auel said uncertainly.

"You misunderstand." Ren replied, "Keepers try to save the wolves by bringing out their humanity. Hunters try to save humanity by eliminating the monsters. I am well aware of you Auel Myerson, and so far you have not killed an innocent wolf. For that, I let you live."

"Is that how the whole rising sun thing happened? The terrorist threats? You guys are that far ahead of us?" Auel murmured.

"When a hunter assumes he is hunting an animal, it is easy to hunt him." Ren replied. Marco growled from the back seat.

"We're way off track here. I don't care about the hunters, I don't care about any of that shit. You keepers didn't tell me that my boyfriend's near death experience had a side order of contacting a demon, a demon that... you guys assume he might still be in contact with?!" Marco asked. Auel fell silent. It was a lot to take in, though from the story Ren had told he felt out of his league in more ways than one. The fact that this werewolf had some sort of threesome going on with a human and another werewolf that had tried to kill the human, only to end up in a relationship was seriously messed up.

"We had no way of proving it, it was baseless speculation." Ren replied.

"Mattias said his eyes turned fucking black." Marco growled, feeling betrayed.

"But Ethan said he had checked Fletcher thoroughly and found no trace of anything out of the ordinary. He went home on vacation and nothing happened there either." Ren replied.

"But this isn't one of you, it's one of those... um, those dark ones, the messy wolves." Auel said.

"-Direwolves-" Ren and Marco said in unison. Auel rolled his eyes before continuing.

"They're normal people until the monster bursts out. It's a wolf in your boyfriend's clothing. The bad dreams, all of that stuff... It has to be. You're the one that they've all been dreaming about." Auel said to Marco.

"He is... I confirmed it in Japan." Ren replied. Marco shrunk down in his seat.

"How can the whole world know about me, and I'm just finding out about this now?" Marco asked.

"The dreams... are our only advantage. Whether it is a warning or not, somehow the wolves are seeing a glimpse of the future. The eclipse will come and weaken the werewolves. You will venture into a strange place with your pack mates and this hunter..." Ren said.

"Ren!" Marco barked.

"I already know about the eclipse, dude..." Auel groaned.

"I was given a gift by Yom's keeper, something... for you and him, to give you an advantage over what's coming - though you likely won't see it that way." Ren said, the car pulling to a stop.

"Where are we?" Auel asked, looking out of the window, realizing they were back at the college. The door opened behind him suddenly and two clawed hands closed around his neck. Yom was growling, baring all his fangs, wearing nothing but his pajama pants. Auel winced as he was lifted up off his seat.

"Yom, put him down!" Marco shouted. Yom continued to growl but Marco bore his own fangs, "Drop it!" he added. Yom released the hunter and Auel plopped back onto the seat.

"Fuck, that's him, isn't it?" Udo's voice came from the other side, "Purple face? You're... depressingly normal looking." He said, examining Auel from Marco's side of the car.

"Get in, both of you. We only have a few hours left to get ready." Ren said.

"We don't need one of them to get ready, we'll fix this our own way." Yom said.

"I guess the big, fuzzy gay Russian werewolf is too afraid to work with a hunter to save the world?" Auel asked.

"Was that supposed to convince me to do anything other than spread your entrails across the hood of the car? Because if that's the be-" Yom's voice was cut short and his eyes rolled into the back of his head, just as Auel's and Udo's and Marco's did the same. The surroundings swept away from them like dust on the wind and their minds filled with the mental image of a tranquil piece of the forest. Yellow and orange leaves coated the ground and droplets of rain were falling down through the bare branches. Everything was silent save for the sound of the precipitation.

Auel stood in a sky blue long sleeve t-shirt with sleeves that were too long, looking down. The water on the leaves didn't reflect the sky, but instead another image interrupted by rippling water. As he looked at the reflection, he felt the cold and dark, claustrophobic closeness of the thick branches on the other side. His chest was heaving and he felt like he was running. He winced as he felt the sting of branches against him.

He turned and looked over and saw the Russian werewolf with his thick bushy beard and his hair worked into odd corn rows, but the feeling he felt was one of recognition and relief. The most startling part were the man's eyes. They were a vivid and surreal turquoise blue. Standing next to Yom was his own reflection, a face Auel knew well. His dirty brown hair was tied back into a very loose top knot and his face was covered with the rectangle of purple pigment crossing his face. Auel watched himself lift his bow and draw back, aiming right at him... and then slightly to the side.

"I wasn't aiming at you!" Auel called out, his voice cutting through the rain as it stopped. The sun came out and the water began to evaporate. Japanese cicadas started to chirp and buzz and from the trees Marco and Yom appeared, moving out.

"What do you mean, you weren't aiming at me?" Marco asked.

"I know it looked that way, but the angle was wrong, I was aiming over your shoulder." Auel said.

"He's just trying to get us to trust him." Yom snarled.

"Can't you hear his heart beat? See his breathing? He's not lying, he's telling the truth." Udo added in.

"What is this place, where are we?" Marco asked.

"We don't have time to bridge the gulf. One of us, one of them or we won't survive." Ren murmured, her voice everywhere and all around them, "We need to get ready and work together, or we won't just lose Rayne. We'll lose the world as we know it." Ren intoned. The voice was ominous enough. Marco felt strange, having his dream ripped out of his head and played for everyone to see, but for the first time since the dreams started, he felt like there was a bit of hope. The hunter wasn't there to kill him, he was there to help. They all were.... And the biggest question left was if their efforts would be enough.