FSE

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Just like any other night, I dream no dreams in the depth of my slumber. My mind blanks completely and it's almost like traveling forward in time. I lie down in bed and after what may feel like minutes passed, I wake up the next morning in the exact same position as if I had never moved. I'm not necessarily complaining about it, in fact, it might be the only amount of true peace I have ever or will ever get. How soothing it is to be so clear of mind in those hours. Such tranquility.

Head stuffed under my pillow and probably snoring like an ox, I feel myself begin to switch places with my subconscious as a tickle riding across my chest slowly brings me back to life. It took a few moments while I unintentionally tried to fight it and stay as knocked the fuck out as possible but my blind efforts proved useless when I finally caught myself dragging my eyelids open. With a weak hand, I grabbed my pillow and threw it on the floor to get it off my head. The light shining through my window scorched my pupils as soon as I did and I grunted loudly as I put a hand up in front of my face, shutting my eyes tight once more.

"Well, good morning," Selina's adoring voice says with a few giggles as I realize it's her finger dragging across my chest that's tickling me. "Sleep well?"

"Like a baby," I mumbled as I focused in on her smiling at me in my bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Amazing," she replies, wiggling closer to me and laying her hand on my chest to share the one pillow I left under my head. "Like I never accidentally poisoned myself."

"I see your fur grew back, too," I said, fiddling with the hair on her neck where the trach tube had been. "I'm glad to see you back to your old self again. Even if it took a week to bring you back."

"If it wasn't for you, I never would have gotten a chance to make it back," Selina tells me while she wiggled under my arm, resting her head on my shoulder as I laid my hand on her waist. "You saved my life."

"Selina...," I mumbled her name as I looked down at her sparkling blue eyes.

"I know, I know, stop hanging it over your head," she stopped me, smirking as she rolled her eyes at me. She started to circle the center of my chest with her claw as she watched her finger, deep in her own thought. "Nathan, that changed everything for me. I feel like a new person."

"I wasn't going to let you die on us, Gooser," I told her, lifting her chin to meet her eyes again. "I wasn't going to let you die on me. Don't know if you've noticed but I can be selfish like that."

"I'm happy you are," Selina says, giggling again as she looked straight into my soul. "By the way, I like the new nickname."

"Do you?," I asked as I smiled back at her. "Jake thinks it's stupid. I'm pretty sure Elrick does too but he'd never say it."

"Screw them," she says, waving her hand at my bedroom door. "It's cute. Makes me laugh."

"Good enough for me," I said, resting my head next to hers. "Are you here to stay cause I could use a cuddle buddy right now."

"Actually, I was sent down here to wake you up but I came for my own reasons," Selina said, drawing a circle on my chest with her claw again.

"Really now?," I questioned, watching her trace the same circle on my chest over and over. "Reasons other than to pester me about saving your life?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," she tells me, smiling as she peered back into my soul.

"Care to share?," I asked, looking back at her.

"Gladly," Selina said then rushed in to press her lips against mine.

She came in so fast and then kissed me so softly, running her fingers through the fur on the back of my head as she forced my tongue to dance with hers. She really caught me off guard but I quickly gave in and tightened my grip around her waist, holding her closer to me while I rested her cheek in my other palm. I heard her let out a tiny whimper as our lips puckered from the kiss that continuously dragged on and I rolled onto my side to hold her even closer. Her hand locked around my head as she pulled me into her and refused to let go. Even when we parted with one final smack of the lips, leaving less than an inch between us, she didn't let go and neither did I.

"That was one of the big ones," Selina says, smiling innocently, which is rare for her, while she stared hopefully into my eyes.

"Was that for saving your life?," I asked, still caught in the moment.

"Sort of," she giggled while she brushed my ear backwards with her thumb. "But mostly because I wanna give us a try."

"Us?," I repeated, looking down into the blue of her eyes that proved she wasn't kidding. "Are you sure?"

"I told you, you changed everything for me," Selina said, holding the smile on her face beautifully. "I feel like I should be doing more with my life than running a dispensary out in the boonies so I'm going to start making some changes. I'm happy I died on that table, Nathan, because now I have a second chance and a new outlook on life. I have a new perspective to do things differently and that includes my relationship with you. So yes, I'm sure. I want to try if you do."

"I don't know what to say," I mumbled as I chuckled at my own ignorance, "I did not see that coming."

"You're going to make me ask like a school girl, aren't you?," Selina questions me as her smile morphed into a grin that criticized me for making her work for it.

"It definitely would be one of the cutest things you've ever done," I replied, looking up at the ceiling as I pictured it.

"Nathan," she says, lightly slapping my cheek to bring my eyes back to hers, "please be mine. Be that boy for me."

"That's one hell of a request," I joked softly, "I have only one condition."

"Really?," she giggled as she faked a complaint, "okay, let's hear it."

"I will happily be that boy for you," I told her then began to brush my nose against hers, "if and only if you be that girl for me."

"Is that all?," she asked, brushing her nose on mine while she stretched deeper into my grasp. "I think I can manage that."

"I'm sure you can," I said with a smile then kissed her gently as I ran my hand down her side. We puckered and smacked a few more times, all the while I feel like I'm literally getting high off her touch, then parted once more. I left my head touching hers as she left her nose touching mine and the both of us smiled happily at each other, savoring the moments as they slowly passed by. "I definitely didn't see this coming."

"Honestly, I didn't either," she tells me without breaking eye contact. "I never thought until now that we'd take it this far but I'm really, really glad we're giving it a chance. It feels right."

"It feels intoxicating," I added, smiling wider than I have inyears. "I don't want either of us to leave this bed now. For at least a week. Just long enough to let it all settle in."

"In that case, let me up so I can get under the covers," Selina said then kissed my nose before jumping up to her feet.

"Don't take too long," I told her as I watched her strip down into her bra and panties, "your spot will get cold."

"Wouldn't kill you to keep it warm for me," she picked as she crawled back into my bed.

Without hesitating, Selina pressed her body up against my chest and waited for me to wrap my arms around her. She laid her head on my bicep and tucked her snout under my chin with her hands wrapped around my neck. I wiggled one of my legs between hers and one of hers between mine so they all were free to intertwine together and bring us that much closer together. When I was sure there wasn't any other gap between us that could be filled, I felt my eyes start to get heavy again. Just before I found myself ready to pass back out, I spotted something on my nightstand and woke back up as I tried to make it out.

"What's that?," I asked, squinting in on the flat square object.

Selina pulled her head out to look behind herself. "Oh!," she exclaimed as she reached around to grab it. "It's paper."

"Paper?," I repeated.

"Yeah, another reason I came down was to make you keep a promise you made to me," Selina says as she carefully tears the paper into equal halves.

"Dear God, five minutes in and I'm already forgetting promises," I said to myself, "I'm a horrible boyfriend."

"Oh, shut up," Selina says as she giggled at me then took the moment to kiss me to prove me wrong. "You promised to show me how to make those origami cranes, remember?"

"I did, didn't I?," I asked rhetorically as she handed one of the halves to me.

"Yes, you did," Selina assured me then started to twist around in the bed. "Now spoon me so I can copy your folds."

I laughed at her reasoning, mostly because I found it adorable, then did as she demanded. Selina scooted back into me, harmlessly tucking her wings in to rest against my chest and wrapped her legs back up with mine. She laid her head back on my bicep again while my other arm draped around in front of her with the paper in hand. We both got extremely cozy again and began to make our cranes.

The folds are a little tricky and a tad bit confusing at first but she caught onto it really quickly. We had to back track once or twice to make sure she didn't goof it up like she thought she did but it didn't make any of it any less enjoyable. I guided her through each fold while I got a little drunk off having her laying in my arms like this as she giggled through every mix up and paused several times to turn around far enough to kiss me again. And again. After a few minutes of being her teacher, I felt a certain pride wash over me when she showed me the crane she so flawlessly crafted. It had a few extra fold lines where there shouldn't have been any from her small mess ups but I thought she did fantastic for her first crane nonetheless.

"Are you gonna remember all of that?," I asked her as she set the cranes on the nightstand then held onto my arms holding her.

"If not, I have you to show me how to do it again," Selina pointed out, softly rubbing one of my arms as she turned her head back to spot me again.

"Just keep practicing, it'll get easier," I told her then kissed her again. She threw her arm back to wrap it around my head as she kissed me back but when our lips parted again, she didn't let go, she didn't turn back around and settle back into my arms, she just held her position and looked at me with an eyebrow raised and a familiar smirk on her pretty face. "What?"

Selina began to grind up and down against my pelvis as the smirk widened and a flare of excitement ignited within her. "Is that what I think it is?," she asked me, still grinding against me.

"Yes," I immediately answered with a smirk of my own while her grinding urged me to push into it. "I couldn't help it. Damn thing has a mind of its own."

"Well...," Selina mumbles, pausing to drag my hand down between her legs and across the wet surface of her panties, "I haven't exactly been Miss Innocent over here either."

"I wonder what I could do about that," I said as I poked my claw into the cloth right over her clit.

"Ohh...," she hummed as she tighten her grip around my head while my claw tickled the sensitive skin. She bit her lip and smiled back at me then draped her leg over mine to give me more room to venture. "I'm sure you can come up with something..."

"Typical," I joked, sliding my finger under the waistline of her panties. "Make the man do all the work."

"Quit your bitching, boy - ahh! God...," Selina told me then gasped hard when I began to flick at the little man in the boat. She tugged on my head that she still had a firm grasp on and let out a short weak moan each time my finger hit hard against her tiny little button of a clitoris. She began to push her knees together and trap my hand down below until I forced them back apart to drag my middle finger up and down the length of her pussy. I made sure to reach far enough to penetrate the surface of her asshole with the tip of my claw then slowly slid the finger from bottom to top, stopping to dance on top of her clit then sliding all the way back down to do it over again. "Mmmpf... keep all that up and I'll be sure to repay the favor.. Ohh.. yes..."

"Who you tryin' to fool, you were gonna repay the favor anyway," I said to her, laughing while she whimpered under my finger.

"So not the point... Oh, FUCK, Nate...," Selina gasps again when my finger pushed through her small hole under the lips.

"Not just yet," I told her as I teased her by thrusting the tip in and out, "There's still a lot of lost time I need to make up for."

Very, very slowly I pushed my finger in until I couldn't get it any deeper, listening to her moan incline the further in I dug. As the finger very, very slowly slid back out, the fur drenched in her juice, she let out these small suffocated breaths accompanied by tiny twitches and jerks in every direction but mostly into my hand as if that was helping me sink in. I let Selina thrive on the one finger for a minute or two, taking my sweet time to please her in ways we both enjoyed. I soon added my index finger to the mix, making sure they both pushed inside her side by side, stretching the walls of her hole apart as they vanished between her slender legs. When she realized my "fuck you" finger had a buddy, her eyes rolled up as she threw her head back and arched her stomach a little ways into the air, taking the blankets with her in an attempt to get more than I was allowing her to have.

I love teasing.

"Uh, uh, uh," I cautioned her, removing my fingers and spreading her pussy lips apart with two as I tickled her clit with a third, "my bed, my rules. You get off when I say you do."

"Oh, you are such an ass," Selina told me before losing all her will to my touch again. "Hahh! Oh, fuck it, never mind, just keep doing that..."

"That's what I thought," I whispered in her ear.

Instead of doing as she asked, I took it upon myself to completely drop what I was doing to undress us both. I literally tore off her panties, unsnapped her bra and even went as far as a gentleman to throw them all to the ground for her. Next, the easy part, I pulled my boxers down and chucked them at my bedroom wall then tossed the blankets to the floor last, leaving us both plenty of room to... experiment as we saw fit. I carefully stacked all four of my pillows against the headboard of my bed, angled just right to support my back then laid into them to comfortably sit upright. When I was finally finished, I took Selina's hand, who was sitting on her knees with her arms crossed under her perfectly perky breasts waiting and watching, and guided her to sit back against me. Her wings spread apart across my chest as she got comfy then I wrapped both arms around her waist and nibbled at her neck. Her sexy little moans echoed into my ears as she gave in to me again and grabbed on tight to one of my arms. I used the free arm to push her legs apart, exposing her small pussy to me again and watched her as she stared down at my hand with a cute smile on her face and a pink blush showing through the purple fur on her cheeks. Or at least on her right cheek, the one I could see. I hovered my hand just over the surface of her pelvis, leaving the tips of my claws the only things making contact as they flowed through the fur when I began gliding my fingers across the inside of her legs and around the one part she really wanted me to demolish, all without ever really touching it. I thought she would have complained about the teasing by now and forced me inside her but she didn't, she watched me with the blushing smile and let me take my time.

The bad thing about teasing is I have to put up with it, too. The most I'm getting right now is a lower back job on the underside of my cock. It kinda gets a little too much to bare, spending all that time just to warm her up, but I took the time nonetheless. However, I did start to get a bit anxious so I finally made contact again and pushed both fingers between Selina's pussy lips to let them slide up and down on the surface once more. I could tell how well that few minutes of teasing did its trick by the unexpected pleasurable cry that escaped her lips and the trails of her love juice dripping from my fingers when I pulled my hand back. I wiggled my other arm free from her grasp, which was instantly replaced with my neck in one of her hands and my leg in her other, and used it to stretch her lips apart again. I held her pussy open with the left, swiftly dragged my right finger up and down the length again and when she least expected it, which was the very moment her head fell back onto my shoulder to sigh and moan, I forced my middle and ring fingers squishing inside. Other than her surprised yelp, the sound of her soaked inner walls smacking against my fingers spread throughout the silence in the rest of my room.

I began to give her what she wanted with a slowly paced rough thrust of the two fingers again and again. The light whimpers and soft moans from before were now a distant memory for the both of us as Selina now sits between my legs trying her best not to cry out too loudly while I ravish my fingers inside her. I pushed them both deep in, hooked them and pulled up to stretch her walls up towards her clitoris that my left hand began to play with. I pushed back down to stretch them towards her ass and repeated this a few times before returning to the slow, hard thrusts. Selina whined and cringed her entire body in my grasp when my fingers straightened out and she tilted her head to the side to look at me with begging blue eyes. I grinned and thought to myself for a moment while my hands did their job. She's obviously loving the hell out of this, she could try but she couldn't deny it. I figured it was about time I let her have a taste of what I had in store for her for the next hour or so so I carefully attempted to slip in a third finger. Selina is one tight lady, she always has been, so this was a little difficult. I had to stack my middle finger on top of the other two to make it fit but it worked and she fucking melted in my hands. As if she was avoiding losing control over herself, she wrapped her legs around mine and locked them in place, wrapped her arms around my neck and locked those, laid her head back down on my shoulder again as her eyes rolled back into her head and shivered on top of me, moaning and huffing with no restraint and coloring her face pink from cheek to cheek as all three fingers pushed in deep, spreading her pussy apart wide in each direction. I made damn sure to give her plenty of that. I kept this up long enough to turn her shivers into spasms. Long enough to literally coat the cover sheet over my mattress between her legs with a nice, dark, soaking wet splotch with trails of juice running down to it from between her legs. Long enough to make her relinquish all control to me to finish her off in this round however I pleased and I knew exactly how I wanted to do it.

If there's one thing I know when it comes to sex, it's stimulus. And when all else fails, or you just want her to finally pop, that grapple move is one hell of a handy trick. So I did my best to hook all three fingers inside her and began to push up and down with them all dug in deep and latched on to her inside. I started out slow, tugging up and pushing down as her juice came flying out into my palm or missing me completely to join the rest of her cum soaked into my bed, all the while three fingers on my left hand are wiping across her clit at an alarming speed, tossing it here and there, knocking back and forth faster than you could count the intervals. Selina seemed as though she didn't know what to do. As I fucked her senseless with my hands, she twitched and jumped, threw her head back and tossed it forward, moved her hands from holding on to one part of my body to grasp onto the next, even her wings had joined the party as they began to flap a bit and convulse with the rest of her being. Selina's pleasurable cries have now turned to relentless screams towards the ceiling of my bedroom which would be the floor of the patient room where she could easily be heard from the center of the lab.

Well, at least Elrick knows I'm awake now. It's a good thing she's not one of those girls who screams like she's fighting off a killer. If that were the case, she might actually bring the entire second floor guard in here.

I gave my right hand a little more momentum, pushing and pulling on the walls of her delectable pussy at a sonic pace. My left ear began to ring from her screams but that didn't slow me down in the least. As this beautiful new girlfriend of mine looked for but could find no other ways to contain herself, I smiled wide because I knew it was coming. While I played inside her with my fingers, Selina's voice began to incline with each new shriek to pass over her tongue. As her sloppy juice splashed out of her to add on to the mess I'll have to wash out, her claws began to dig into my skin. While I numbed her clitoris with the nonstop sensual massage from every angle, she began to push her hips back and forth into my hands and when her voice could not possibly get any higher, when her claws couldn't possibly dig any deeper without drawing a severe amount of blood, when her clit couldn't possibly take anymore stimulation, Selina froze for a split second with her bottom lip bit between her right fangs and hers eyes clenched tight. I took that split second to spread her pussy lips apart and as soon as I felt her insides convulse rapidly followed by the force of her intensified orgasm, I pulled my fingers out and rubbed the lips while she exploded in my hands. Selina screamed to the heavens with a smile on her face as a thick wave of juice pushed against my hand and shot between each finger, spreading her cum all over the bed and parts of the floor in a thick droplet mist while I continuously massaged her surface. Selina sat nearly frozen as she continued to erupt until I couldn't get anymore out of her. The very second she stopped squirting, she started to convulse wildly in my arms, so much so, it was nearly identical to when she did the same lying on the operating table with the ricin in her system. But this was much less horrifying and so, so, so sexy. The way she trembled for me, reaching for my arm to my leg to my head, not knowing which way to lean or what to hold on to, unclear whether to look up at me or down at herself, unable to keep her eyes open or shut while her entire body tingled with that feeling of a sweet release while yelped, whined, and moaned through it all.

God damn. This is the hardest I have ever seen her burst.

"Jesus Christ, Nathaniel Ray!," Selina cried out passed her whimpers and whines of her orgasm, "what did you do to me, you've never made me cum this hard before..."

"Hey, I take offense to that," I joked calmly, smiling as she continued to wiggle in my arms now wrapped back around her waist. "You make it sound like I do a better job with my hands than I do with my dick. I try my best, dammit."

"That's not at aaahh-ll what I'm saying," Selina stuttered through her words with her eyes shut and a smile on her face. "This is ahh-bsolutely incredible, Nathan... It's always so much mmmmore intense when it means something... nnmmffff-fuck, it won't stop!"

"Take your time," I told her with a light laugh as I tightened my grip and rested my chin on her shoulder, "I'm in no rush here."

Selina looked up at me with her cute smiling, trembling through her actions, gently scratching at the back of my ear and still sporting that pink blush over her face. "Neither am I," she said then paused to peck my cheek before forcing herself to jump up and lay in front of me on her stomach, her paws perched into the air hovering over her ass as she rested over one arm, "but now I don't want to wait." Without hesitating, she grabbed me at the base and pointed my tool straight up then dragged her long, hot tongue slowly all the way to the tip as she moaned through the stroke for my own excitement. Selina kept her tongue pressed against the underside of my dick then wrapped her lips around the tip and forced me into her mouth. I felt the wet heat her tongue gave off now coating around my shaft as the head scrapped at the back of her throat each time she swallowed me whole and in that instant, I melted in her hands this time.

"Holy hell...," I groaned to myself, watching her suck me off with that evil sexy grin I know all too well. I let my head fall back into the headboard and cussed a number of times because I had almost forgotten how good she was at this. "Alright, I'm not complaining. Help yourself, sweetheart."

Selina pulled her head up, letting my cock slip out of her mouth until she stuck her tongue out and rested my tip right in the center then stared at me with that smile. "I don't believe I was asking permission," she says as she stroked my cock from bottom to top.

"Fair enough," I chuckled then melted again while her soft palm spread her warm saliva across and around my lean, "God damn, Selina... I missed you..."

"I didn't actually go anywhere, you know," she says to me as she smiled at her results, "I was just sick. But I missed you, too, Nathan."

"Not just while you were sick," I said, struggling to summon my words as my mind melded with the sensation of her hand around me. "Since the last time we had any fun like this. I didn't think a relationship is what I wanted, I've never been good with them but from the moment we stopped doing this, I missed you a little more everyday. And before you get the wrong idea, I'm not just talking about the sex... I missed feeling close to you."

"This is horrible pillow talk," she giggled as she sat up and straddled me, pushing my shaft against her wet pussy when she sat on her knees and rested against my chest. "But it's sweet... I'm not going to lie, I missed it, too. It's why I flew home drunk the night I hooked you up with Cassidy. I didn't want to listen to you in bed with her."

"For what it's worth, I don't remember most of that night," I told her, rubbing my hand up and down the small of her back while the other trailed up her spine. "I remember you and Jake having to practically carry me home because the pain killers Elrick gave me wore off but it gets really fuzzy after that."

"I really don't care about anything before this," Selina told me then pulled me in and hugged me tight. "This is what I care about. This is what I want."

"It's what I want, too," I said with a wide smile as I hugged her back. "And I'm glad you didn't wait for me to realize it."

Selina loosened her grasp to kiss me, pushing her clit into my length as she did, then pulled her head back to look me in the eye with her new adorable smile and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Enough with the foreplay and pillow talk," she says to me as she slowly lifts herself up. I felt her pussy lips slide upward along my length until it fell underneath her. She gently sat back down on her knees enough to poke at the surface of her hole with the head of my dick then leaned back into me and held me close. "I'm gonna do to you what you just did to me."

Selina pushed her pelvis into mine, dropping into my lap like a rock and forcing me to stretch her pussy walls apart again as my dick slipped inside. Her lips puckered around the head and engulfed the rest of me in an instant which made the both of us cry out in our own different tones. Hers in her high girly gasps that came with the claws in the skin of the scars on my chest and a ring in my ear and mine in my low moans and grunts that came with an unbreakable grasp around her body and plenty of bad words. That first feeling of penetration stunned us both for a moment as we let it sink in, literally, until Selina found the strength to rock her hips back and forth on top of me with her soaked inner muscles squeezing snug around my shaft. As she rocked back, I felt an inch of myself slide out of her as the rest slipped between those same soaked muscles and as she rocked forward, I felt it sink back in then I would thrust upward into her when she pushed herself down into me. Each time she rocked forward, we both attempted to push it in deeper and moaned in a mixture of natural ecstasy and passion.

I sat in my bed nearly helpless underneath Selina as she rode back and forth on top ofme. She held me and only allowed me to hold her close enough to still look into my eyes so she could see what she was really doing to me. I caught her try to giggle through her sighs at the faces I made but she couldn't keep a straight one any better than I could. My entire shaft had begun to throb upward and center at the tip and that really made me want to take control but for some reason, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. As much as my instinct urged me to push her onto her back and dominate until the cannon let loose, I did not move. I let her do the work like she wanted and drowned in every passing second of it. She likes seeing me powerless to her like this, I can see that so clearly and maybe that's what held me back, or maybe it was just the sheer pleasure of being inside her that completely devastated my will power. Either way, she's right, it's so much more intense when it means something.

"Don't you cum yet," Selina tells me as her hand dragged up the back of my head. She grabbed on to the fur, leaned back and spun the both of us around to get me flat on my back. "Don't you dare."

Sooner or later, that's not gonna be an option.

Selina sat up and turned around, her ass facing me. As she repositioned herself, I rubbed my hand across one asscheek and squeezed on that bubble while I rubbed the tip of my dick against her clit. She shivered a little while she placed her hands against the headboard then used her paws to lock my wrists down to the bed. She simply smiled her evil grin at me and told me not to move then angled herself until the top half of my shaft pierced back inside her. Again, with that penetration, we both twitched and moaned but that didn't stop us this time. It didn't stop her, rather. Selina began to slam backwards into me, smacking into my base hard with a loud yelp from her and a few "fuck"'s from me then her round booty bounced off me and she slid me out almost completely, just under the tip where I could see a fraction of the head until she slammed back into me again. She didn't go slow with it either. I could hear my headboard begin to bang against the wall repeatedly as fast as she was bouncing her ass on me, stuffing me hard inside her dripping cunt. My toes tightened and my knees bent underneath her as I pushed myself up to let her smack into me that much harder. I instinctively tried to grab onto her hipswhile I watched my length sink into her pussy again and again but quickly remembered my arms were still pinned underneath her so I sighed, blending it in with my moans, and let my body meld with hers.

I watched as her lower lips stretched wide the further in she took me and listened to her cries as she forced more of me in. I heard a faint "smack" when she hit the base then watched my shaft drag those lips down as she pulled up, leaving her juice and probably plenty of my own pre-cum trailingall the way around my cock. Selina had started to pound on top of me so quickly with determination that not just myself but the whole bed had begun to bounce. She synced in with the rhythm she created, slamming down and feeding both of our hormonal cravings as the mattress sunk down under me then popping back up and making us both gasp for air as the mattress bounced up with us. It's almost like we're having sex on a miniature trampoline, which I've actually done before and it's not as easy as it sounds, but Selina made it work amazingly. She rode me like a queen for her king, trying her damned best to give me everything I wanted but what she didn't know is that she was giving me so much more than I could have asked for. Usually, I take my satisfaction in being on top or in any powered position but being Selina's bitch is just as inebriating.

"Selina, I don't know how much longer I can keep this up," I said, trying to fight back the tingle that began to form. "I can't fight it, I'm not gonna last, oohhh, fuck!"

As soon as I said that, Selina pulled herself up and hung her ass in the air over me, letting my dick slide out andsit idly under her pulsating pussy that is now dripping on every inch of my pelvis as she trembled and softly moaned in her position. I let out a gasping breath when my length fell free from her and slammed my head into the bed while I clenched my teeth as the pleasure that started to exceed within me slowly died down. When she had caught her breath, her moans and yelps had calmed and she made herself capable to move in other directions than up and down again, she turned back around, laid on my chest while she shiveredand rubbed my cheek softly whileshe kissed me with all the emotion that had stacked inside the both of us. When she pulled back, her tongue trailed our saliva from mine until the string broke and landed on my chin which she laughed at and wipe clear for me.

"I told you," Selina says with a few giggles as she stroked my cheek with her thumb. "It's kinda hard to fight when it's not _just_sex, isn't it?"

"It's unbelievable," I muttered through my hard breaths as I looked into her beautiful eyes. "I want to move, I want to do so much but I can't."

"I guess you can teach old dogs new tricks," Selina joked as she giggled at me.

"Like I said, relationships aren't my strong suit," I excused myself as I shrugged and laughed at her pun. "I've never had sex like this. And in case you're forgetting, you're older than me, goofball."

"Details," she talked away my correction with her cute smile. "We're gonna make it last regardless," Selina paused to lean in and kiss my nose, "and when we do finally finish," she paused again to kiss my cheek then leanedin down by my ear and whispered, "I'm going to blow your mind, Nathaniel Hart."

"Oh, you mean like how I blew yours not too long ago?," I whispered back then dragged my tongue up her neck.

"Mmmm...," Selina hummed to the touch of my tongue, "Exactly like that."

"Let's make a mess, then," I whispered then reached down between us and angled the head of my dick up against her pussy. "A bigger one anyway."

Selina smiled down at me while I dragged my tip down her pussy lips until it found the hole again. The very moment I felt myself begin to spread her walls, I couldn't stop myself from thrusting everything back in. Selina screamed with that first slam deep inside her dripping cunt and cringed her body tightly against mine as she started to push her hips into my thrusts. While our bodies smashed together, I felt and heard the mixture of fluids between us splash off drenched fur every time I pounded up into her and every time she dropped down onto me.It really adds on to the rush knowing how wet she is for me. How hard she came for me. To think about how hard she's going to cum for me again. As fast as my heart is pumping the adrenaline in these moments, as overwhelming as the hormones mixed in with my blood are right now, and needless to say how badly I want to pop, my mind focused on pleasing her. Every thrust, every kiss, every scratch and bite, every splash between us and every second I held back what my body is striving to get out I did for her.

That's what a good boyfriend would do. Right...?

Neither of us wanted to stop for even a single moment. Selina has completely coated my length with layers of her juice and she just keeps piling it on each time I stuff myself in until I can't get any deeper. Our bodies remained pressed together through it all with no gaps between them except for the space between our hips when I pulled out just to push it back in again. Leaving this bed wasn't an option for either of us but that didn't mean we were going to leave a mark in just this one spot. Not too soon after we got back to it, Selina jumped back up and stood in the bed over me. I watched her toy with herself a little bit as she smiled down at me, her juices dripping from her legs and hands to my chest. She rocked her butt from side to side, rotating her hips and exploring herself as she gave me some off form of a lap dance that sparkedmy desires for her. Not a minute passed after she started doing that did I find myself in my own hands, stroking from top to bottom while I watched her. She got down on her knees, her evil grin still spread wide from cheek to cheek, and straddled my head while she fingered herself in my face. She might not have been expecting it, she might not have even been going for it, but on impulse, I pulled her hand away and replaced her fingers with my tongue. I kept one hand down on myself spreading the mess she left along my length while the other wrapped around her leg to keep her from moving around too much. I didn't want her to twitch toofar away from me because I am absolutely infatuated with the way she tastes. Those juices that never stop flowing from her elegant body practically sweetened across my taste buds and that only made me dig my own long, sloppy tongue deeper inside her. As she started to scream again, I could feel her trying to push into me like she's been doing the entire time but I could also tell how hard she was trying not to crush my head between her long and powerful yet jaw dropping sexy legs. I looked up while I dragged my tongue over her clitoris a few times and saw her eyes barely open staring down at me literally sparkling in the sun light shining through my window with the grin now long gone and replaced with widely parted lips and her heartwarming feminine voice shrieking in a way that says she hasn't had it better. I let Selina enjoy herself as she sat on my chest with my tongue sunk inches inside her cunt until it slipped out to glide across the rest of the skin and through the fur around it all just to tease her a little bit more.

Before I was ready to give my jaws a break, Selina struggled, fought her own will to stay put for me and stood again, her legs shaking in and out as she did. I licked my chops while I watched her bouncing in her footsteps on the bed until she reached the wall. Her legs still shaking underneath her, she supported her torso against the wall, stuck her ass out towards me and lifted her tail high into the air above her wings. She didn't say anything and I didn't need her to. She simply looked back with a smile and peered at me in waiting while she swung her hips from side to side, her pussy drawing a line across my bed as it dripped while she moved. I knew what she wanted me to do next. Her temptation couldn't have been more obvious. I rose to my feet while she positioned her hands against the wall and pushed her back end out towards me that much further. My shaft is still drench from that dripping cunt of hers and I shouldn't have to point out how hard I still am which made this next part mostly just to excite her. When I reached her, I grabbed the base of her tail, pulled up to give her a small ounce of that dominating rush and used the other hand to push one cheek to the side. Selina reached back a spread the other cheek for me, leaving another hole yet exposed to do with as I saw fit. I forced as much saliva as I could gather to the tip of my tongue and let it drip from my mouth in a long, thick line until it touched just under my hand holding her tail in the air. I wiped my mouth across my shoulder while I watched my spit slide down between her ass cheeks, over the untouched hole and to her pussy to mix in and drip down to my bed with the rest of her flowing creamy juice. I kept my hands in place, angled my hips to rest the tip of my dick against her ass and watched the pebble sized hole stretch around me as I forced the head inside. As I groaned, I saw Selina's eyes clench tightly together while her evil grin returned with a loud grunt escaping her mouth into air. I grinned to myself at the thought of how filthy she can get and looked back down to watch while I slowly pushed the rest of my shaft inside. The head fully slipped in, Selina hummedonce more as the first two inches dug into her ass then gasped hard and clawed into my bedroom wall when I pounded the rest inside in a single heartbeat.

I wasn't lying when I told Selina I don't remember much of that night with Cassidy. Her and Jacob dragging me home is the last thing I remember vividly but Istill have small traces left of what I did with her friend. Namely, the ass play. It was kind of hard to forget that. But just like everything else so far, it felt so much better with Selina and that's the God honest truth. Her ass squeezed around me just as tight as her pussy does, making it a perfect fit and a world of unrestrained pleasure for her and I both. I found myself hunching over her more and more as I pushed my cock deep into this irresistible bubble butt of hers. To keep myself from giving out under the sensation, and to keep my legs from giving out under me, I pushed her tail to the side, leaned over her ass and reached betweenher wings to press my hands against the wall next to hers. Selina saw this then immediately put her hands over mine and locked her fingers between mine to hold onto me in the best way she could right now. Her back pressed against my torso, her wings parting across my pecs, her tail wrapped and looped around my leg, my tail looped and wrapped around hers, and the heat emanating from her body combined with that coming off of mine to flare us both into a single burning hotpassionate aura.

This is so far from just sex. Actually, at this point, I'm pretty confident that just using the word "sex" is an understatement. I can barely feel my legs, not just because they're weak from the sheer pleasure running through my body thanks to Selina but also because my thoughts, my mind, my entire fucking being was lost in being so far inside her. Any part of her. No fraction of who or what I am could stray away from this girl. It just made it better like it has been from the start. It magnified the warm and wet grip her ass had around my shaft, it forced me to quadruple the pace I took in slamming my dick inside Selina's _other_tiny hole, it emphasized the noise the both of us let pass our lips as it inclined with each thrust and as the time passed, that forming tingle returned and mycock began to throb again, harder and faster the longer it took to build up. I gritted my teeth and pressed my head into Selina's back between her wings.

I looked up to her head with one eye open and raised my voice over her moans and screams when I said, "I can't take it anymore, Selina! I'm gonna -

"OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH FUCK, NATHAN!!!," Selina cut me off as she began to squirt again. A thrill ignited inside me and pushed me straight to my release when I realized she was cumming again. As I screamed and literally punched a hole in my wall from the first couple spurts I let loose inside her, her hand began to vibrate her clit again, rapidly tossing it from side to side while sprinkling her cum all over both of our legs until it pooled in thebed around our feet. "AAAAWWWWWWW MY GOOODD, YEEESSSSS!!!"

I couldn't summon anymore words for the life of me. I completely lost count of how many times I creamed inside Selina's ass in a row while she drenched my entire bed in her own cum. Nothing but noise and nonsense passed over my tongue as I pumped a few more times while I shot out the rest of the enormous build up within me. One hand pressed against the wall with one of hers covering it and the other tightened into a fist that remained in the crater it created in the drywall, I forced my entire shaft back in one last time and held it there as the last couple spurts exploded inside Selina's perfectly round booty. Realizing that my base is pushed hard up against that ass and clearly not caring in the least bit, I thrust forward again and again, shoving Selina into the wall which she must have loved by the look on her face. All the air in my lungs depleted and my legs about to drop me to my knees at any second, I began to hyperventilate while I pulled my fist out of the wall and placed my hand around her waist. I pulled her into my last thrust to help her finish herself off and when she had finally let out every last drop that was meant for me, her legs began to wobble which threw off my balance standing in the bed like this and we both fell on our sides together to lie crooked across my mattress in a pool of our own passion. We laid there, catching our breath without a word. I had fully gone soft and slipped right out of Selina's ass, my cum oozing out and dribbling down her cheek to the rest of our mess. She moaned loudly one last time without opening her mouth and grasped on to my arm wrapped around her then tangled her legs up with mine.

"Oh my God, Nathaniel...," Selina mumbled as she tightened her grip on me while she quivered in my arms. "That was so... I don't even have a word for it..."

"There are no words for it," I mumbled back, huffing my words into the back of her head. "I feel like I just slept with a goddess... Jesus, fuck, that was so..."

"Perfect," Selina finished for me, struggling in the rest of her body's orgasm to roll around and lay on my chest like she does. She smiled the cute smile, held my cheek in her palm and stared at me with those big blue eyes again with her head resting on my shoulder, her legs knotted together with mine and now her tail attempting to do the same with my tail over the toes on our paws. "It was so perfect."

"It absolutely was," I agreed as I smiled and brushed her cheek. I kissed her gently and we let it drag on for a few minutes at the least before returning to the blissful silence of our cuddling.

"I can almost see the tiny hearts floatingaround you two," I hear Jacob's voice at my door. Selina and I both raised our headsand spotted my brother standing in my doorway with a hand between us and his eyes. "Don't worry, I went blind the very second I saw what you did to the bed."

"Jake, what the fuck are you doing, man?!," I yelled at him as Selina rushed to the blankets on the floor so she could cover herself. "GET OUT!"

"Hey, don't get mad at me!," Jacob yelled back, still covering his eyes. "I didn't want to come in here either but Elrick made me when we heard you smash that hole in the wall!"

I'll get it fixed now LEAVE!," I yelled at him again.

"Get the fuck out of here, asshole!," Selina screamed at him as she reached over the bed to grab one of her sneakers to throw at him.

"Fuck, alright, I'm sorry!," Jacob apologized after the shoe hit him in the chest. "God damn. Psychopaths." His eyes shut tight, he reached for my doorknob, missed the first couple tries then pulled it shut when he finally got his hand around it.

"I cannot believe he just came in here," Selina says, covering herself and shivering in disgust at the thought of Jacob seeing her naked.

"I can," I said, unhappily sure of my words. "What I can't believe is that he didn't knock first just to be a dick."

"Ugh, as if that rabbit watching us in the woods wasn't enough," Selina groaned then shook the feeling off her body. "I think I need a bath."

I laughed and looked at her, my eyebrow raised and a grin on my face, "Just because Jake saw you without your cloths?," I asked.

"Yes," Selina nodded, "that and the fact that I am completely soaked from the waist down."

"Oh yeah," I mumbled then laughed at my ignorance as I realized I wasn't any cleaner than she is. "A bath does sound nice. Mind if I join you?"

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't," She tells me with her adoring smile then kissed me and hopped up out of the bed. "I'll get the water going."

"Watch your head," I warned her, flashing back to my last bath as she disappeared into my washroom. I watched her swing her hips all the way until she vanished behind the door with the candle from my nightstand then let out a long satisfied sigh as I relaxed my muscles.

I think that might have been, wholeheartedly, the best sex I have ever had. Jesus fucking Christ.

I closed my eyes and held a smile on my face as I listened to the sound of the rushing hot water fill the tub in the washroom. The running water echoed into my eardrums and ignited a peaceful flame in my chest as I thought about her and I bathing together. The image in my head stuck like glue and the flame seared into my heart like it was being branded by Selina's affection.

This relationship will be different than any of the others in my past. Whether or not it will last will depend completely on us but it will be different. A good different. I can see that clearly. I'm really looking forward to working on it with her now. If someone were to ask me a few weeks ago what I thought of being with her, I would have told them I couldn't see it happening. Honestly, that's most likely the answer I'd give for any woman. The whole wolves loving only once in their life thing makes it difficult to see myself mated in the future but this... just maybe. I'll have to wait and see what happens.

"Nathaniel," Selina sang my name beautifully from the washroom, "I'm waiting."

In a flash, I jumped up out of the bed and hurried into the room where Selina is already sitting in the tub, soaking in the hot water as she watched me walk in with a smile on her face. As I approached the tub, she sank into the water on one side and came back up on the other, her coat dripping back into the bath she made for the both of us. I stepped in, sunk underwater myself for a moment to soak my coat then came back up and rested against thewall of the tub. Selina slowly closed the distance between us, straddled my lap and laid against my chest as she rested her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her and held her tightly while we soaked in the water for a while. Eventually, we got around to the actual cleaning. For the most part, we washed each other. She did her hair and the rest of the fur above her shoulders while I lathered my head with soap then we both dunked our heads torinse them off. After that, We stood in the center of the tub holding each other while I soaped up her back. Then she pressed her back against me and rubbed my arms sensually while I washed her front. I moved down her legs, covering every centimeter of fur and even massaged her paws for a while after I washed those. Once she was completely covered with soap, so much so, she's now showing more white than purple in her coat, she did the exact same for me. Selina washed my back then my front, got on her knees to lather my legs and massaged my paws for doing so well with hers. I don't know how long we spent in that tub but it was long enough for the water to start to cool off which, added with the fact that it's holding all of our filth, was more than enough to coax us out. So I drained the tub while Selina dried herself off. She got dressed while I dried my coat then waited for me to clothe myself and we both left my room together.

Once we made it up to the lab, Elrick cut us off as the top of the stairway with his arms crossed and an angered look on his face.

"I don't care how good it was, Nathaniel, the next time you decide to damage my walls, I'm going to take it out on your ass," Elrick told me quite sternly. "Do you understand me?"

"Yes sir," I replied, feeling a bit remorseful. "I'm sorry, Elrick. I'll pay to have it repaired, I promise."

"You're God damn right you will," he said, pointing a finger in my face before motioning us to join him and Jacob at the table. "Now come have some breakfast. Jacob made pancakes."

"Seriously?," Selina asked as we walked in behind him then looked at Jacob chewing his food. "Since when do you cook?"

"Since the Old Man decided he wasn't going to make them for me," Jacob answered with his mouth full. "I probably make them better anyway."

"You keep telling yourself that," Elrick picked at him as he sat down in his seat to return to his meal.

Selina and I sat at the table next to each other across from Jacob where a plate had already been made and set for each of us. I've had Jacob's pancakes before so Selina's reaction was no surprise to me when she took her first bite.

"Oh my God, Jake, these are delicious," she tells him with a chunk of her pancake in her mouth. "I can't even make them this good. What'd you put in it?"

"It's my grandfather's recipe," Jacob tells her before chowing down on another bite. "There's a specific kind of spice that he makes just for meals like this. It's some kind of chocolately, cinnamonly sugar powder or some crap like that. I found a bottle of it in the lab."

"I've had it in there for a while," Elrick explains after swallowing his mouthful. "I used it in the oatmeal you had when those two twins stayed the night."

"No wonder it was so good," Selina mumbles as she stared at her food then grinned at Elrick. "Here I was thinking you were naturally a good cook, you cheater."

"Excuse me?," Elrick pardons as Jacob and I laughed. "I'll have you know I ran a five star restaurant before I took this job, little lady."

Selina giggled at him while Jacob stared him down with a raised eyebrow. "You what?," he questioned his uncle. "You did not."

"Oh, yes I did," Elrick assures him. "If you don't believe me, ask your father. He was one of my best cooks."

"You're being serious right now," Jacob says, mostly trying to convince himself.

"Where do you think he learned how to cook so well?," Elrick asked him with a grin of his own. "Of course, the skill runs natural in our family but he took after me. I am the older brother after all."

"When you put it that way, you make it sound like I should take after him," I told Elrick as I pointed at Jacob with my fork. "God forbid. I would have died a month ago if that were the case."

"Keep hatin', Nate," Jacob says then stuffs his mouth with pancake. "You won't phase me."

"I don't doubt that in the least," I told him as I chuckled then returned to my plate.

"So, Selina," Elrick says as he shifts his gaze to her, "How are you feeling today?"

"I feel brand new," she told him, crossing her foot with mine under the table. "Whatever you injected me with worked. As horrific as it was..."

"Yes...," Elrick nodded as he thought to himself, "_that_most definitely was not the immediate effect I thought it would take."

"That's putting it lightly," I said after I swallowed a mouthful. "It was fucking terrifying, Elrick. I thought you're little concoction was going to kill her."

"I do have a theory," Elrick points out. "It's my guess that since the sample I took from you is formed from your DNA, your genetic code, the body of a new host would try to reject the serum I created from it."

"Reject it?," Jacob repeated. "Elrick, she was screaming and thrashing around like her bones were being snapped into pieces one at a time. Besides, Nate has the most universal blood type there is, if anything, it should have helped her body take it."

"How do you know my blood type and I don't?," I asked him, straying away from the topic for a minute.

"I was helping him work on it while you were off chasing your killer with the Leprechaun," Jacob told me then raised a finger to me to take a bite of his pancake. "You're typo O negative, by the way."

"Selina, do you know what your blood type is?," Elrick asked her as she chewed her food.

"AB positive," she mumbled through her full mouth.

"Strange...," Elrick says, scratching his chin.

"See, that just proves my point more!," Jacob exclaims, pointing a finger at Elrick.

"Hold on a second, what am I missing here?," I asked Jacob then looked at the Old Man. "If my blood is universal, what does hers have to do with it?"

"Well, where as O negative is the most universal donor type, AB positive is the most universal recipient type," Elrick explains.

"Meaning there's no reason why the serum being made from you should have affected her, of all people, the way it did," Jacob tells us. "It wasn't your code that put her through that pain. It had to of been something we used to craft the stuff."

"Which means we're going to have to start over," Elrick says to Jacob. "We'll have to go through the process again and figure out what it was."

"Oh, hell to the no, Old Man," I said, pointing at Elrick. "You are not taking another sample from me. Not this time."

"Don't worry, Nathaniel, I don't need to," Elrick said as he raised his hand to calm me. "The sample I took was more than enough. With it, I should be able to craft dozens more doses of the serum. Provided Jacob and I can isolate the chemical that caused the negative affect."

"Can we at least get through today without worrying about it?," Jacob asked Elrick. "Besides the recoil, it worked, she's happy and healthy again and it only took... what, nine, ten days?"

"Nine," Elrick told him. "And yes, we can look the other way for now but if we're to correct our mistake, we need to get to it soon."

"Fine. Just give us the day and we'll get on it tomorrow," Jacob told him then went back to finish his pancakes.

"Very well," Elrick nodded then looked at my girlfriend. "Moving on, I have a surprise for you, Selina."

"Really?," she asked, excitement filling her face. "What is it?"

Elrick reached down by his feet a brought the white hoody she bought from the Phillip twins back up with him, neatly folded in a square then handed it to her. "I finished the inner layer while you were recovering," he told her as she stood to try it on."I used the same material that I modified both Nathaniel and Jacob's with. I also added another zipper on the inside. It was a little tricky making this one interchangeable but I made it work."

"Thank you so much, Elrick," Selina says with a smile as she spun around in her new hoody. She looked at me and raised her hand, palm up, "How do I look?"

This snow white hoody with the purple, yellow, and lime green stars over her heart fit quite snug around her figure. It held well against the curves of her waist, giving her a bright atmosphere while still allowing her gorgeous body to display perfectly, even unzipped. "Completely stunning," I said, smiling at her as I watched, resting my chin in my palm. "Damn fine job, Elrick."

"Thank you," the Old Man replied, sounding proud of himself.

As Selina sat down in her seat, I heard our front door creak open.

"Knock knock," Anthony says as he walks in, shutting the door behind him.

"Hey Anthony," I greeted him as he sat down next to Jacob. "What's up?"

"Just came to check on everyone's favorite sweetheart," he said as he looked at Selina. "How you doin', lass?"

"I'm doing great, Admiral," she told him with a smile. "Thanks for asking."

"It's my pleasure," he smiled back at her then looked at Elrick. "How did she recover so quickly, anyway? I thought ricin was a fatal poison."

"It is fatal," Elrick assured him, "But it would appear she outlasted it, for whatever reason."

That reminds me, I can't keep Anthony in the dark about... well, everything much longer. But I have no idea how he's going to take it.

"Well, I'm just happy to see her back to normal," Anthony says, smiling at Selina again.

"As are we," Elrick agreed.

"Since you're here, Admiral, how about an update on the Draufht killer?," I asked Anthony, eager to get back to work now that Selina's healthy again.

Anthony sighed and shook his head at the table. "I knew you were going to mention that," Anthony says then looks back up at me. "I'm sorry, Nathaniel, but he hasn't so much as pissed in an alley since Trevor. I've tightened the guard around the city, if he had anymore business left here, we would have known by now."

"Fan-fucking-tastic," I complained, throwing my fork down to my plate. "So what, you're just going to drop it?"

"We're chasing a ghost, lad," Anthony tells me, leaning in on his elbows. "we're just wasting our time and resources carrying this on. If he acts again then I can reopen the case but until then, you're just going to have to let it go."

"Let it go? His 'business' almost killed her!," I stated, pointing my thumb to Selina. "You expect me to just let that go? Me, really?"

"Nathan, stop," Selina calmly tells me, placing her hand on my arm. "Anthony's right. If you haven't found a trace of him by now then chances are he's most likely left the city." Selina looked over to the Admiral. "Anthony, instead of closing the case, would you be willing to suspend it? Spread some wanted posters around and put the entire city on watch, someone is bound to show up with some information if he's still here."

"I suppose I could do that," Anthony nodded. "I'd have to get a description from those two boys but even then, it wouldn't be much. Just a picture of a man in a hood."

"It'll have to do," Selina says. "Whatever will work. If the people know there's a killer running around in a hood, someone will get suspicious if they see a man hiding his face. It might not be a lot of info to work off but it'll be more than you have."

"Well, Harrison's execution is today so I should have something said to the people," Anthony said as he crossed his arms. "Very well, Selina. I can have some wanted posters handed out during the execution. I'll inform the newspapers as well."

"Thank you," Selina said, giving the Admiral an appreciative smile then looked back at me. "Okay? Just relax for now and let him come to us."

I sighed and nodded my head. "Alright," I agreed. "As long as we do something, anything about it. I can't just let it slide."

"I know and you don't have to," she tells me. "But for now, forget about it and spend some time with us."

"I guess I can do that," I said as I smiled at her.

"Good," she replied then gave me a kiss.

"Well, well, what's all this then?," Anthony asked as he smirked at me. "I knew you two were more than just friends."

"It was bound to happen sooner or later," Jacob said as he rolled his eyes. "Anthony, where is this execution going to be? I kinda wanna watch that douchebag's head roll."

"Right in the square," the Admiral told him. "The guillotine is being set up as we speak."

"When?," I asked.

"High noon," Anthony answered, shifting his gaze my way. "We still have a few hours. I can have a number of wanted posters finished by then and as soon as I get the first one, I'll take it straight to the media."

"Alright," Jacob said with a grin. "I'll enjoy watching that asshole get what he has coming."

"You are one twisted lad, lad," Anthony jokes as he elbowed Jacob then stood from the table. "Well, I'll get to it. Have a good one." Anthony turned around to walk out and stopped halfway through the front door, "Oh, one more thing, Nathaniel. Do you still have those coin bags I had you take from Derrick's safe?"

"Yeah, they're in my room somewhere," I told him. "I figured you'd want them back."

"Actually, I want you to keep them," Anthony says as he pointed to me. "Consider it your pay check for helping with the case."

"Really?," I asked, quite shocked that he'd let me take evidence. "Awesome. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Anthony nodded. "It doesn't do us any good finding our killer so there's no reason to hold onto them."

"You're supposed to return it to its rightful owner, are you not?," Elrick asks him.

"Aye," Anthony answered, "but he won't be needing it and his family will be satisfied with what they inherit without knowing anything was missing."

"And you're calling me twisted?," Jacob questioned as he looked back at the Admiral.

"Get over it," Anthony told him then nodded to everyone. "I'll see you."

"Later Anthony," I said as he walked out.

"So now what?," Jacob asks, looking back at Selina and I.

"No clue," Selina shrugged then looked at me. "Nate? I know you got some ideas."

"Actually, I do have one," I said then looked over to Elrick. "Let's find Victor."

"Ah, I was waiting for this subject to come up again," Elrick says as he stood from the table and walked into the lab. He came back out moments later with a large rolled up sheet of paper in his hands and sat back down. "I have your map here but I must warn you, in the time Selina was poisoned, I did a little more research on the area of the Indo Forest where he's supposedly residing. That region has not been traversed in years and for good reason."

"Such as?," Jacob asks.

"Well," Elrick mumbled as he scratched the back of his head, "this is going to sound ludicrous but about forty years ago, there were some missing persons reports of some travelers heading in that direction. The records I found state that the search parties that were sent out had also gone missing except for a few. Those certain few claimed..."

"Yes?," I asked after a long pause.

"They claimed that they were ambushed by a terrifying beast," Elrick tells us. "They described it to be monstrously large and quite unfriendly, to say the least. If you three are going to go out there, I'd feel a little more comfortable if you brought more protection that just your bow."

"Selina, don't you have an arsenal back at your place?," Jacob asked as he gave Elrick a questioning look.

"Yeah, literally," Selina nodded. "I could head out there and bring some toys back around noon."

"Elrick, how beastly is this thing supposed to be?," I asked, questioning him with my hands. "Any idea what it looks like or where it'd be exactly? Maybe we can trail a course around it."

"Not likely," Elrick shook his head. "From what I've gathered, it lives in a swamp somewhere deep in the forest. The swamp itself is considered to be too large to go around, you'd be out there for days if you didn't get lost first. Your best bet to find Victor and be back by morning is to follow the course I plotted for you. Which will lead you directly through the center."

"That's not a big deal," Jacob suggests. "Me and Nate can move through the trees and Selina has her wings. Unless this thing can fly, it shouldn't be able to touch us."

"Yes, well, regardless, I want you three to be armed should it show its face," Elrick said to Jacob then looked at Selina. "Grab all you can carry. Any incendiaries would be best. Molotov's, maybe some flammable arrows that Nathaniel could use."

"Hmm... I don't think I have anything like that... but with the right chemicals, I can make some," Selina says, holding a finger to her lips as she thought. "Cheaper than alcohol and three times as effective."

"I can get what you need," Elrick told her, handed the map to me, stood and walked over to one of the desks in the room. "Make a list for me before you go and I'll have the items by the time you get back."

"Alright," Selina acknowledged as Elrick returned to the table, handing her a pencil and paper. "I'll need to drop by my shop while I'm there, it shouldn't delay me too long."

"Don't waste any time," Elrick says while Selina started her list. "Believe me when I say you don't want to go through that swamp in the dark." Elrick took the map back from me, unrolled it across the table and pointed to a particular area just south of the city. "You may recognize this landmark, Nathaniel."

"Is that the giant oak tree?," I asked, leaned over the table to get a closer look. "That's the Indo Forest?"

"It is, the start of it anyway," Elrick says as he drags his finger along a line representing our course. "There used to be a trail behind that oak that would have lead you easily and safely through to Victor's location but over the years, The grass covered it back up. There might still be traces of it further into the trees but I can't say for certain so I'm going to give you a compass to navigate your way through. All you need to do is head directly southwest from that tree."

"I have a compass at my cabana he can use," Selina says as she hands Elrick her list. "I'll grab it while I'm there."

"Very well," Elrick said then began to skim through the list as he pointed at the map, "I've pin pointed Victor's homestead to be right at the base of the mountains on the border of the Indo Forest. Nathaniel, you may want to use that pay of yours to stock up on anything you might need. Grab some groceries for me while you're in town, there's a shopping list taped above the ice box in the lab. You two have been eating me out of a house and home since you moved in."

"Speaking of which," I said then jumped up from my seat and jogged down to the den. I went in my room, scavenged through my dresser for about five minutes until I found all three coin bags from Derrick's safe then hurried back upstairs. As the three of them watched me walk back in, I tossed one of the bags to Jacob, another to Elrick then tied the third to my belt loop. "Jake, that's for all the coin I've bummed off you since we got here and Elrick, that's for the hole in the wall."

"This is much more than the repairs would have cost, son," Elrick tells me as he holds up the bag.

"Keep the change," I told him. "It's the least I can do for all you've done for us."

"Fair enough," Elrick said, quickly deciding to keep the money. "Now go. You should all be off preparing. The more time we sit here and discuss it, the less daylight you'll have to make it through the swamp."

"Right," I mumbled as Jacob and Selina stood, leaving their plates on the table with mine and Elrick's.

Selina immediately hugged me close which I wasn't expecting but I didn't hesitate in hugging her back. She pulled her head back, kissed me for a few seconds then smiled in the way I find so damn adorable. "I'll be back," she says, holding her smile.

"Fly safe," I told her, smiling back and not wanting to let her go. "And make it quick. I just got you back."

"I'll be here when you finish running your errands," she says, scratching under my chin with her claws. "Like I never left."

"I'll hold you to that," I said then kissed her one more time, turned her around and smacked her butt. "Get going, Goose. Hurry back."

"Yes sir," Selina playfully replied, grinning and winking at me as she walks towards the stairs to the den.

Going out the bay window, most likely. Why do I feel like she's done that before?

After Selina left, I walked into the lab and retrieved Elrick's shopping list then walked back into the room and patted Jacob's shoulder. "Alright, let's go, Jake," I said as I walked towards the front door. "We can get a few things done before the execution."

"You mean you're actually gonna watch it?," Jacob asks as he joined me while I waved back at Elrick.

"You're damn right I am," I said as Jacob closed the door behind us. "Just because we can't look for this killer doesn't mean we can't keep an eye out for him. I have a hunch he might show up when it happens."

"You do know there's going to be guard everywhere, right?," Jacob asked while I tracked our way to the greenhouse.

"No offense to the man but Anthony's knights couldn't spot their own dicks between their legs," I said then thought about it a little more. "Except Cole. But I doubt he'll be there. I wanna make sure that assassin is nowhere in sight myself. Then I will feel a little better letting the Admiral do it his way."

"Whatever," Jacob shrugged as we walked. "If it'll help you sleep at night."

I have Selina for that now, I'll sleep just fine with her laying there next to me. I just want this killer caught for what happened to her. I want to make him pay for it.

For once, the trip down to the greenhouse was short. I've been there and back countless times with Jake and a few with Selina after she regained her mobility that the path through this giant stone maze has become a distinct memory. When we walked through the stained glass doors and into the office, we found Cole and Marcus sitting at the rectangular table chatting with a joint in each of their hands.

"Hey, if it isn't the martial artist himself," Marcus greeted me as he smiled then turned to Jacob. "Good to see you again, too, Jacob."

"Likewise," Jacob said while he nodded, eying the joints in their hands.

"How's it goin', Nate?," Cole asks as he kicks two chairs in our direction, "Have a seat."

"We're doin' great," I smiled at Cole as Jacob and I sat down, "thanks for asking."

"So what can I do for you guys?," Marcus asks then holds out the joint in his hand. "Craving a buzz?"

"Don't mind if I do," Jacob said as he plucked the joint from his hand to puff on it.

"Actually, I was hoping I could do a little business with you," I told Marcus while I watched Jacob inhale deeply.

"Really now?," Marcus questioned, raising an eyebrow. "I don't usually distribute directly but I suppose I can make an exception for you. What'll it be? Maui Waui? Silver Kush?"

"No, I was thinking about snagging some of that pride of yours," I told Marcus, grinning and staring at his office behind him.

"The Super Juice," Marcus said, smiling while he nodded. "I could have guessed. Give me one moment, I know I have a scale around here somewhere."

"Take your time," I insisted as he disappeared behind his office door then reappear behind the window. I then looked at Cole as Jacob passed me Marcus' joint and asked, "How's the concussion, Cole?"

"Long gone now," Cole smirked, fiddling with the joint in his hand. "You sure as hell did a number on me though. I won't be stepping back into the ring with you anytime soon."

I laughed and shook my head at his comment. "Anthony said the same thing. I'm really sorry about that, usually I have better control."

"It's alright, really," Cole told me while I puffed on the stick. "I'm just glad your on our side. And you gave me a reason to work more on my own abilities so I should be thanking you."

"Please don't," I said, grinning as I waved the hand with the joint at him. "Between you, Jake, and Anthony, I won't ever get rusty so let's just call it even."

"Works for me," Cole shrugged as Jacob took the joint back from me. "So what's on for you guys today?"

"We're chasing a dream," Jacob joked before he took his puff then spoke again, half-silenced, "Some dude his father wants him to see."

"Really?," Cole questioned, passing me a weird stare, "I thought your father..."

"He did," I assured Cole, giving Jacob a mean glare. "He's kidding. We're just gonna go see an old friend of his but it's a ways away so I'm stocking up on some things before we head out."

"Good thing you came to see me then," Marcus states, walking out of his office with a pound bag of the colorful Super Juice in one hand and an old fashion gram scale in the other. "How much you looking for?"

"'Bout and ounce should do just fine," I answer, smiling at Marcus as he sat back down at the table. "At least until next time."

"By all means, Nathaniel, come see me whenever you'd like," Marcus says to me as he began to place the multicolored bud on the scale. "That goes for you as well, Jake. My doors are always open for you two."

"Much appreciated, Mark," I said smiling while I watched him adjust the weights on the scale. "What'll the damage be?"

"An ounce will put you at any equivalent of forty-six G's, my friend," Marcus mumbles, piling more bud onto the scale and readjusting the weights. "I know it seems steep but -

"No, don't worry about it," I interrupted him as I fished into the coin bag tied to my jeans, "that's what I'd expect from the best."

"Then we're in business," he concluded, smiling at the perfectly balanced weights on the scale. "Twenty-eight grams even. Want to take a look?"

"That's quite alright," I told him, counting the number of gold pieces I placed on the table while Marcus emptied the scale into another zip-lock bag. "I have no reason not to trust you."

"The feeling is mutual," Marcus says, zipping the bag shut then handing it out to me. I took the bag then emptied a number of buds into my tin case before storing both in my pockets. Marcus shoveled the gold pieces into his own coin bag then leaned back as he searched for something. "Who has my joint?"

I looked at Jacob and saw the stick more than half burnt between his fingers as he grinned and shrugged at me innocently then looked at Marcus, handing him his nearly finished piece. "Sorry man," he says, only a hint of remorse to be found in his voice. "I can't be stopped sometimes."

Really Jake? ...Ah fuck, I guess I'm not surprised. I've done the same thing to Tony many times, too, so maybe I should keep my mouth shut on this one.

"No worries," Marcus calmly replied, taking the joint to finish what Jacob left him. "So what else can I do for you guys?"

"That was pretty much it," I told him. "We got a few stops to make in town so we should be heading out."

"Well, alright then," Marcus smiled, "you guys take ca-

Marcus was interrupted again not by me but a female voice I've come to fear since my last encounter with her, "Hey Mark, I finished that quarterly you asked for." I looked to my left and spotted Sherry, the middle aged, blonde haired mouse I left half naked in this very section of the castle, flipping through some papers on her clipboard as she walked into the room. As soon as she spotted me, I felt the urge to prepare to take another blow to the face because God knows I deserve it. But even within arms reach of me, she didn't hit me or say a word to me. She only grunted as she looked away then handed her stack of papers to Marcus. "Anything else you need?," she asked him.

"Nope, that should do for now, Sherry," Marcus excused her. "You can get back to the usual routine."

"Alright," Sherry smiled at him then completely avoided making eye contact with me as she turned around and left the room.

I sighed as I shook my head then pinched my temple between two fingers.

"Damn," Jacob cussed as he smirked at me. "She's all about the cold shoulder with you."

"Yeah, I know," I rudely remarked at him, returning to my guilt. "I still need to make it up to her but I have no idea what I'm gonna do."

"I have a suggestion," Marcus says, coloring me confused as he spoke like he knew.

"You know?," I asked him, looking up from my hand. "Did she tell you?"

"The gist of it," Marcus nodded. "I'm the only reason she got out with her dignity still in tact."

"Jesus, man," I sighed again, slamming my head back into my palm. "Let's hear it. At this point, I'll take any help I can get."

"Wait, hold on," Jacob stops us then looked at me. "I still want to know what the fuck happened with her."

"To put it short, I fucked her then left her underground with no cloths," I summarized for him. "It was while Selina was poisoned, I thought the sex would get my mind off the guilt but it only made it worse when she said something that reminded me of her and what I was doing while she was basically dying over my bedroom then I freaked out and bolted. I didn't even think about how that affected her until it was way too late."

"Ah...," Jacob mumbled as I slowly returned my gaze to him. "I guess I don't blame her then."

"Neither do I," I agreed with him then looked back at Marcus, "so your advice then?"

"Well, think about it," Marcus told me. "Sherry is a bit of a dominatrix who really only wanted one thing from you; sex. Right?"

"Yeah," I answered as I nodded.

"I see where you're going with this," Cole said, leaning forward as he took over. "What would you give a dominatrix to bring her back to your side?"

"I dunno," I said with a shrug. "A double-sided marital aid?"

Marcus and Cole smirked as they looked at each other then looked back at me and simultaneously said, "Give her what she wants."

"You mean the sex," I said, staring at the both of them. "That sounds like a horrible idea. You expect me to walk up to her and ask her to let me back inside her after what I put her through? She'd kill me for having the nerve to think she'd even be okay with that, any woman would."

"Not this one," Marcus shook his head. "Sherry has worked for me for a long time and I've come to know her quite well over the years. You gave her what she wanted then took it back and left her to deal with it. Giving it back to her is the only thing that will even make her consider forgiving you."

"That sounds terrifying to attempt," I said to him. "But even if I wanted to, I can't. I'm spoken for now and I'll be damned if I become a cheater."

"Then I suggest you get used to her ignoring you, Nate," Marcus shrugged. "She's a tough egg to crack, I can't say there's much else that can be done other than that."

"Wait a second," Cole says with a smirk on his face, "what about Jacob?"

"What about me?," Jacob asks, looking at the eagle with a raised eyebrow.

"So now you want me to treat my brother like a harlot in exchange for the respect of a woman," I stated, falling back into my palm again. "Great. Whether she forgives me or not, I'm left feeling like a prick."

"'Harlot' my ass," Jacob says, nudging me with his hand as he caught up with the rest of us. "Pussy is pussy, man, I'm in."

"Like I didn't see that coming," I said then sighed again. "What other choice do I have?"

"You could deal with the growing guilt every time you show up at the worst moment," Marcus says, chuckling and shrugging again.

"That or you keep apologizing and hope she eventually comes around," Cole added.

"I don't have time for that," I said to Cole then looked at Marcus, "and that sounds worse than the first idea."

"Then go get Jake laid," Marcus grinned. "That's your best option."

"How am I even going to bring this up to her?," I asked, frustration in my words. "She won't so much as look at me, let alone hear what I have to say."

"You're a smart man, you'll come up with something," Marcus told me.

Amazing. Look at the mess you put yourself in, Nathaniel.

"Get to it, buddy," Jacob said as he laughed. "And don't worry, I won't say anything to Selina about this."

"Please and thank you," I said to him as I stood. "I don't want to do anything that would jeopardize what I have with her."

And with that, I left the office and went into the next room. Then I walked through the second pair of stained glass doors and took in all the scents and aromas of the forest of plants growing on the floor beneath the scaffolding I now stand on. As I hung over the railing, I looked around for the mouse I'm horrified to confront but found her nowhere in sight. As a raccoon walked by me, puffing on a piece between his lips, I placed a hand up to stop him.

"Sorry to bother you but I was hoping you could point me in Sherry's direction," I said, letting my hand fall back to my side. The raccoon said nothing but instead pointed straight across the scaffolding. I followed his finger to an office on the other side of the balcony hanging over the garden below. "Thanks," I told him then walked off again as the raccoon returned to his own path.

As I traveled overhead of all the marijuana plants and scientists tending to them, drawing closer to the office he pointed to, I began to make out Sherry's figure, sitting at a desk behind the window of the office I was directed to, scribbling on some paperwork with an agitated look on her face, her palm pressed up against her forehead and a light shake vibrating the pen in her right hand.

She's going to kill me for this. Just seeing my face pissed her off. Maybe I should just send her some chocolate and a card.

I approached her office and she quickly spotted me as I realized how much worse of an idea that was than anything Marcus or Cole suggested. Now unable to turn back after being seen, I gulped hard and walked through her door.

"Get out," she said harshly without looking away from her paperwork before I released the doorknob.

"Sherry, please hear me out," I said, standing in the doorway as the fear of the female gender took hold of me again.

"You can say you're sorry all you want, it's not going to change anything," Sherry told me, still refusing to look at me. "Now get out of my office."

"I know you think I'm just like any other asshole that sees you as nothing but meat but I'm not," I said, withdrawing my pride. "I can't deal with how I treated you and I'm not going to just leave it the way it is, I have to make it up to you or I'll never be able to live with it."

"I am absolutely fine with that," she says, looking up just to smile an angry smile that quickly turned back to the enraged frown. "Get. Out."

I might as well just come out with it.

"Sleep with my brother," I swiftly stated, gulping again as I listened to myself.

"Excuse me?," Sherry replied, sounding insulted as she looked back up at me. "Do what?"

"My brother, Jacob," I said, weakly waving a finger behind me. "The grey wolf that was in Mark's office with me. You want the excitement of a young guy without the humiliation I left you with so give him a chance. I can personally guarantee he'll give you what you want and come back for more whenever you want it."

"Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?," Sherry asks, shaking her mean gaze at me.

"I don't know what else to do, Sherry," I pleaded as I approached her desk. "Please, please forgive me for what I did. Jake has no ties to hold him back like I do, he'll be your slave if that's what your into, trust me, I know how perverted the guy is. All I want is your respect because I'm not the type of man I left you thinking I am. I'm trying to offer you the perfect fuck buddy you've been craving so you don't have to keep dealing with the bullshit I or any other guy has thrown at you. If that isn't enough then please tell me what I have to do to make you see that I actually do care about your feelings."

"You're serious," Sherry stated, dropping her head back into the palm of her hand as she stared at me, completely dumbfounded.

"Unquestionably," I told her. "Please, Sherry, the guilt is overwhelming, what's it going to take?"

"How about an explanation first?," Sherry suggested, spinning in her swivel office chair to face me as she crossed her arms. "Then I'll consider it if your excuse isn't as horrible as your apology."

"Of course, absolutely," I responded, feeling a ray of hope shine down on me. "The God honest truth is you reminded me of my girlfriend."

"WHAT?!," Sherry yelled, echoing her voice into the rest of the greenhouse. "YOU HAD A GIRLFRIEND THE ENTIRE TIME?!"

Oh, real fucking smooth, Nate!

"NO!," I shrieked as I quickly hurried to shut the door. "That's not what I meant, we haven't been together for even an hour yet! What I meant is that you reminded me of how important she is to me."

"That doesn't sound any better, kid!," Sherry yelled at me, thrusting a finger in my direction.

"God dammit," I bitched at myself then looked back at her. "Alright, just listen and I'll explain everything. Her name is Selina, I met her in a village just north of here and we had a fling for a while but it ended not too soon afterward and we decided to stay friends but while we were screwing, she conjured up this pet name for me that stuck and after we broke it off, she was poisoned and the depression ate at me because I thought she was going to die and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't help her or track down the bastard who did it to her so I jumped in bed with the first person I found hoping it would take my mind off my problems but then you called me an animal which is what she always called me and it made me think about what I was doing while she was dying in my home so I felt so unbelievably guilty and stupid about it that I was instantly repulsed by my actions and I hate myself for ever doing it because it made you hate me but no matter how I feel about her now, I can't just move on knowing I left you feeling used the way I did because that's not who I am! I cannot express how sorry I am, Sherry, it is literally impossible and I swear to you I have never been so disrespectful to a woman before this which is why I'd kill if it made you even think about leaving all of this behind us so please, for the love of God, forgive me, forgive my idiocy and my juvenile excuses as true as they are, I know this all sounds completely retarded but I have no reason to lie to you. Please forgive me, Sherry, I am begging you."

"You're a dick," Sherry says while I strained to catch my breath. "You are a fucking dick for leaving me down there and I can't even look at you right now without wanting to tear your head off."

And suddenly, that ray of hope is gone.

I sighed hard as I dropped my head then slowly turned around to watch out, dragging my tail on the ground behind me. "Alright, I'll leave you alone," I mumbled as I reached for the door.

"But," Sherry began again, forcing me to freeze in my tracks and look back at her, "I do appreciate the honesty and I can see that you do sincerely care about how you made me feel. As much as I want to kick your ass and leave you in a ditch, you're right about one thing, you're not like any other asshole I've slept with. None of them would have made any effort at all to make it up other than a simple apology, especially after hooking up with someone else. But you're still an asshole!"

"I know, I know, good God, I know," I mumbled more as I walked back to her desk. "But I promise you, Sherry, I would never have done any of it if I had my head on straight."

"And the reason you left me like that," she started again, "it had nothing to do with me?"

"Absolutely not," I assure her, wiping the air with my hands. "You're a gorgeous, brilliant woman, you fuck like a porn star and if it wasn't for the mixed feelings I had for Selina at the time, you would have went home satisfied and rejuvenated just like you wanted. I can't take any of it back and I can't give you what you want now because I'm perfectly clear about how I feel about Selina but I _can_give you someone that you can get exactly what you've been looking for from with absolutely no strings attached in any way, shape, or form."

"Well...," Sherry mumbled as she looked down for a moment. "He was pretty cute. Is he good like you?"

I blinked at her question then shrugged with a stupid, oblivious expression. "I have no idea," I said, "I haven't slept with him and I'd really rather not. But any girl I've seen him with leaves with a smile so I'm gonna go ahead and say yes."

"And when can this happen?," Sherry asks, looking more interested in my offer.

Holy shit, this is actually working.

"Immediately," I told her, pointing a thumb behind me, "If you want, I'll go get him right now."

"Do it then," she tells me.

"Alright, no problem," I happily stated as I turned back to the door again.

"Hold on, I'm not done yet!," Sherry stopped me again. I looked back over my shoulder. "This doesn't mean you're forgiven. You really screwed with my head, Nathaniel. I'll try to find it in me to trust you again but it's going to take some time."

"I completely understand," I said, smiling and hoping she hates me a little less. "Take all the time you need. Just please don't give me that cold shoulder you did earlier anymore. It's too agonizing. At the very least, say hi and walk away, that's all I ask."

"You're not really in any position to be making requests from me," Sherry complained as she turned back to her desk. "But like I said, I will try to trust you again. Now please get out of my office and send that brother of yours in."

"I'm already gone," I said as I opened the door, "have a good day, Sherry." And with that, I walked out and shut the door behind me then sighed roughly with relief.

I instantly burst into a quick jog all the way back to the front of the greenhouse, through the stained glass doors and into the front office where the other three still sit waiting at the table for my return. When I spotted Jacob sitting in his chair as if he had never moved an inch, I pulled him up to his feet by his orange jacket and spoke with such a nervous tone that I couldn't so much as conjure full sentences.

"Sherry's office, straight across the balcony, go fuck her," I told him quickly as I pushed him towards the door, "now!"

"Alright, geez!," Jacob bitched as he straightened out his coat. "All you had to do is tell me where to find her."

"Just go, Jake, she's waiting!," I pleaded to him, worried that any second lost might ruin my chances to earn her friendship. "And put in a good word for me!"

Jacob didn't say anything else and walked out of the office. As soon as I heard the double doors of the greenhouse close, I fell back in the chair he was sitting in and wiped the stress off my face as I exhaled.

"So I take it it worked?," Marcus asks, leaning over the table.

"Just barely," I told him as I began to calm a bit. "She made me thoroughly explain myself before she even considered the idea but she accepted it. Said she would try to trust me again but it'd take a while for her to completely forgive me."

"She'll get there, just give her time," Marcus encourages me.

"How do you know so much about her?," I asked him, leaning in on the table myself. "Did you two have a thing at some point or something?"

"Not even close," Marcus laughed then held up his left hand to show me his ring. "I've been married to Cole's sister longer than I've had control of this place. She's just an astounding employee and a really great friend. In a way, she's a sister to me."

"I'm glad I listened to you then," I said, shaking my head at the table. "That would have gone miserably if I went in on my own."

"Here," Cole says, handing me a joint he must have rolled while I was settling things with Sherry. "Get your mind off it."

"Thanks," I said while Cole sparked a match for me to lit the stick. "So what to talk about while I wait on him?"

"How about this new relationship of yours?," Cole asks, grinning at me while I puffed. "Selina, huh?"

I smiled while I exhaled then leaned back in my seat. "Yeah, I guess I should have seen it coming," I said, the smile still spread across my face. "I always felt this strong connection with her but I never stopped to think about being with her. Until just this morning."

"I knew there was more to it than the whole 'best friend' excuse you gave everyone," Cole snickered as I passed the joint to Marcus. "How does it feel?"

"Strange almost," I said, gazing into nothing as I thought deeply. "I've dated before but they all ended quickly. And I get this feeling like it could be more than just a mutual attraction with Selina. If it wasn't for the ricin poisoning, that never would have come to me. At least not any time soon."

"Any different than when you two first met?," Marcus asks.

"Yes and no," I told him as I looked back up. "She still gives me this rush of adrenaline like she always has but now it's like it's being injected directly into my chest. She smiles at me in this way I can't resist and all I want to do is keep her close to me. And the sex..."

"You two already went at it?," Cole asks, skeptical of my actions. "This soon?"

"We had a fling of our own before any of this ever happened," I informed him. "So it's not like it was our first time together. But it was just... I don't know, our sex was amazing before but now it's so... so fucking intense. I can't even wrap my mind around it yet. I've never been so lost in another person. In or out of the bedroom."

"Well, good on you, Nate," Marcus says as he smiled at me. "I wish you two the best of luck. The way you make it sound gives me high hopes."

"I second that," Cole agrees.

"The way she makes me feel gives me high hopes," I told them as the joint came back around to me. "But I'm trying not to get ahead of myself. Anything can happen and we've only just started dating so we'll see."

"That's the way to do it," Marcus states. "That's how Brianna and I started off and look at us now."

"Even though she kicks your ass every time you piss her off," Cole laughed.

"Speaking of an ass kicking," the lizard began as he smirked at his brother-in-law. "I heard you gave Cole quite a thrashing last week."

"Hey, give the Birdman some credit, too, he really caught me off guard with those wing attacks of his," I said, eying Cole as well. "If I hadn't gotten him on the ground, I might have gotten my ass kicked."

"I doubt it," Cole says, waving away the compliment with modesty. "You knocked the Admiral unconscious in all of twenty minutes from what he told me so I knew I wasn't going to win. But I sure as hell tried."

"You came real close," I told Cole. "The only other person who has come that close was the smuggler boss. And he tore me apart. Both times."

"Yes, but you did beat him, too," Marcus points out then looks at Cole. "Or so I hear from the rumors going around lately. It sounds like it was a stalemate to me."

"The first fight was," I told Marcus, "although he did go down first. The second one I got a little too cocky and he broke my body. Luckily, I had Jake in hiding with a crossbow waiting to put a bolt through his mind."

"So Jake was the one who pulled the trigger?," Cole asks with surprise in his voice. "I thought it was all you?"

"Nope," I said, shaking my head. "The plan was for me to face him alone while Jake covered me with the crossbow in case the smugglers tried to jump me in the middle of the fight. Long story short, I went down and he saved my life."

"I'll be damned," Marcus says, looking out the door of the office. "I would have never thought he had it in him."

"I always knew he did," I said as I looked at Marcus. "But he really shocked me that day."

"How so?," Cole asks.

"When he pulled the trigger," I mumbled, staring down at the table, "after he patched me up and we started to leave he said something really disturbing. I asked him what it was like to take a life for the first time because it devastated me when I did it. He simply said it was fun."

"Fun?," Marcus repeated, Cole's surprise now washed over him.

"Fun," I said again. "I still can't let that go. Jacob and I are identical in so many ways and I just can't see how he'd get a thrill from something like that. I am a weapon, killing is what I was trained to do if need be but that doesn't mean I enjoy it. That doesn't mean when I take a life, it doesn't affect me. But for him... it was like he wasn't even phased. Ever since then, I've been second guessing a lot of things."

"Maybe he's just an adrenaline junkie," Marcus suggested then looked at Cole. "What do you think?"

"I'm not sure," Cole shrugged. "The Admiral is the psychology expert, that would be a question for him. Have you brought this up with Anthony, Nate?"

"No, I haven't," I answered, shaking my head again. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to but I'm afraid that there might be something... dark in Jake. I'm afraid that if he was put in that situation again, whatever it is might come out."

"You may want to get the Admiral's opinion on this, Nathaniel," Marcus insisted.

"I know," I said with a sigh. "I've been trying not to think about it but it creeps up in the back of my mind sometimes. I don't want to lose my brother to a thirst for blood."

"Chances are it won't come to that," Cole says, trying to lighten the mood. "Right? I mean, what reason would he have to kill again? The smugglers are gone."

"And besides," Marcus starts to add, "He killed to save you. _His_brother. Maybe he just thought the smuggler boss deserved it. I know if someone went after Cole here, I wouldn't think twice about taking a life if it meant saving his."

"That's just it, though," I said, pointing a finger at Marcus. "Eventually, it would sink in. Just think about it, play the words in your head and let yourself believe that they're true: I killed a man. A person is dead because of me. Imagine watching the corpse hit the ground at your feet and the blood pool around it. Imagine that memory sticking with you for the rest of your life. Are you saying that if you had time to dwell on that that it wouldn't bother you in the slightest?"

"I guess not...," Marcus mumbles.

"It's getting close to two weeks since Jake pulled the trigger," I continued. "How have those thoughts not so much as tweak his attitude by now?"

"I'm not sure what to tell you, Nathaniel...," Marcus says to me. "You best bring this up with the Admiral if you're really worried about him having to kill again. Although I don't see why he would have to."

If you only knew. Jake is only months away from being placed in those positions for a living. I can handle it, Selina and the Admiral can as well, but Jacob? He wasn't taught to live these moments like the three of us. For God's sake, his uncle is training him to do the exact opposite. While Selina and I are working on showing him how to do it better... But you're right, If anyone would have my answers, it'd be Anthony. And having him on my team will keep me from having to hold any information back. I hope he doesn't tell me what I think he will.

"You still with us, Nate?," Cole asks, waving a hand in my face.

"Yeah," I said, jumping back to reality, "yeah, sorry. You're both right, this is something I need to talk to Anthony about. I'll bring it up with him tomorrow after we come home from our trip."

"I hope he can give you the answers you need," Marcus says, smiling compassionately.

"Me too," Cole says as he stood from his seat. "But I should get going. The Admiral wants me to make a trip into the city with him to get a description of the Draufht killer. Would you like me to tell him you want a word with him, Nate?"

"No, that's alright Cole," I said, shaking my head to him. "Thanks but I'll handle it. You go do your job so we can catch that mother fucker."

"Yes sir," Cole says with a smirk while he began to walk out of the office. "I'll see you guys later."

"See ya, Cole," Marcus says then looks at me when he left the greenhouse. "I actually have some work downstairs I need to take care of myself. Are you going to be alright here by yourself?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I said, slouching in my seat. "I'll probably just nap or something until Jake pulls his dick out of your sister."

"Delightful phrasing," Marcus laughs as he stands then follows Cole's step out of the office. "Alright then, see you around, Nathaniel."

"Have a good one, Marcus," I said as he disappeared from the room. "Thanks for the bud!"

I heard Marcus yell "anytime" from the other side of the stained glass doors into the greenhouse below. As soon as those doors closed, all fell deathly silent as I sat alone in this room finishing the joint Cole gave me. For a while, I attempted to entertain myself with the most childish of ideas. I made a paper football from a notebook I found while snooping through Marcus' desk and spent a good fifteen minutes trying to flick it between the gap of the cushion and the backrest of one of the other chairs. Not that I didn't get it the first time, I just kept it up out of boredom. When that became boring, I went back to snooping through the office. I found a number of interesting things. The most interesting being a porno mag buried under some files in one of the cabinets. Of course that caught my eye so I laid back in Marcus' chair at his desk, propped my feet up and flipped through it for a good while. The ladies between each page were all arousing, obviously, it's what they're paid for, but it didn't really interest me that much. Sure, I was attracted to them but I made more fun out of criticizing their monstrous toys.

Weird. I guess you'd be surprised at what you'd find out about some people. Like a baseball-sized anal beads fetish. Who'd have thought? I wonder if Brianna knows about this.

The magazine eventually left me with nothing left to pick on so I carefully returned the magizine to where I found it, exactly how I found it, and went back to snooping around. I found a deck of cards stashed in one of the top drawers of the desk and figured I could kill some time with those so I carried them out of Marcus' office and started to make a house of cards on the large meeting table. This was something I could enjoy if I really wanted to. An outlet for creativity. Seeing as I had time before Jacob showed back up I decided not to waste any on making a simple pyramid. I went for the gold and attempted to replicate the Canniban castle as best as I could. For the six multicolored stained glass windows and the kingdom crest on the front of the building I left holes in the structure and struggled with balancing the cards right to make the front doors. I tried my best to get every curve right so I ended up using all the cards before I could start the tower. Immediately after that, I came at a loss of what to do next and started to grow a little impatient. I thought in silence on this whole issue with Jacob's first kill which really started to depress me so I switched my frame of mind and thought about Selina until I dozed off.

"Hey," Jacob's voices says as he nudged my cheek. "Wake up, we're gonna miss the execution."

"Wha...?," I mumbled, blinking myself awake then looking at Jacob as I sat up. "The execution? How the fuck long were you in there?"

"Don't even give me that," Jacob said as he pulled me to my feet. "Do you have any idea how long Elrick and I had to listen to you and Selina this morning?"

"Right...," I said under my breath. "I withdraw the question."

"Damn right you do," Jacob says as he looked down at the table. "What's all this?"

I followed his gaze to where my unfinished castle of cards used to stand and found nothing but a game of fifty-two pick up spread across the tabletop.

"I was bored," I told him as I started to clean up my mess. "Gimme a sec."

"Make it quick," Jacob told me. "It's gotta be close to high noon by now."

So much for getting some things done early.

I cleaned my mess and returned the deck of cards to Marcus' desk where I found them then left the greenhouse with Jacob. As we marked our path to the city streets outside, Jacob went on and on about his Sherry experience. He told me about that whip of a tail of hers, which didn't surprise me at all, and showed me some bite and claw marks where she had torn out fur. And even drew a little blood. He made it sound like she was more vicious with him than she was with me which kind of felt like a relief to me. For him, it was probably rough sex but for her, I'm willing to bet it was angry sex. As bad as this sounds, It made me really glad about my relationship with Selina because if that had been me, I might have been the next one on Elrick's operating table. Again.

Not too long after Jacob stopped bragging about being Sherry's new chew toy, the two of us found ourselves only yards away from the city square. There's a large crowd already gathered from corner to corner and rising out of the crowd is the tall structure of a guillotine. Hanging at the top looked like an enormous razor blade ready and waiting to take off a head. I really didn't want to watch this but I did want to be here to keep an eye out for the assassin. As unlikely as I knew it was, there's still a chance. If I was a professional killer, I would want to make sure all my loose ends were tied off. Derrick is the only man who ever came close enough to this guy to get a look at his face but whether he did or not, he refused to give us a description in exchange for his freedom. Why I will never understand. Maybe he feared for his family or Amber, the crude bitch, or maybe he just thought a death sentence would be a less painful alternative to whatever this assassin would to do him for revealing his face to the military.

I guess it makes sense. Either way, he's going to die, might as well make it as numb as possible.

"Looks like we're right on time," Jacob says as we drew closer to the crowd.

"Yeah, and look at that," I said, pointing up into the air where I spotted a large set of wings hovering overhead. "Selina's back."

"Awesome," Jacob said as we merged with the group of people cluttering the square. "Looks like we'll be all set to go when we get home."

"By the time we finish our errands, hopefully she'll have our incendiaries ready," I mumbled as I thought to myself. "She is such a badass."

"Don't drift off on me, loverboy," Jacob says as he elbowed my arm.

"Hey, I had to listen to you boast about Sherry," I complained as Jacob and I found a place to watch the execution in the back of the crowd.

"Whatever," Jacob rolled his eyes. "So do you see anyone who looks like your killer?"

"No," I replied, shaking my head as I scanned each figure around us. "Not yet anyway." I looked all over the square for any hint of who I was looking for. I spotted Derrick restrained by two guards next to the guillotine's wooden foundation and some faces I've passed by in the streets during my days spent here in the city but it's true, I didn't find any mysteriously hooded man in the crowd. But my eyes did stop on a familiar face a little ways away from me. "Check it out, there's Amber."

"Stupid cunt," Jacob said then spat in her direction. "She should be up there with him."

"I still can't believe she got out of it," I said, sighing as we stared down the blue cheetah. "All that time and work Anthony and I put in to catching Draufht's killer all so she could get off without so much as a slap on the wrist." "How did that happen anyway?," Jacob questions, averting his gaze from Amber long enough to ask.

"The King gave her a pardon for setting up a sting operation for us," I told him, still burning holes into the side of her head with my eyes. "Amber was supposed to take that portrait of me and some of Derrick's gold to order my assassination but the killer never showed up."

"How do you guys know she actually placed the hit?," Jacob asks.

"Cole was tailing her from the skies and confirmed the payoff in the park," I informed him. "Just like Derrick did for Trevor."

"Wait, you guys actually had him in your sights?," Jacob asked, shock on his face. "Why didn't you get him then and there?"

"It's a public park, Jake, there were too many civilians around," I said, looking back at him. "He would have fought back and there would have been swords and arrows flying everywhere. Anthony didn't want to risk the casualties."

"So this guy took the money and decided not to kill you," Jacob summarized. "Why?"

"I have no idea," I said, shaking my head as I turned back to Amber again. "We waited for days for him to make his move but it never came."

"What about that calling card of his?," Jacob asked.

"I got it in the mail and took it straight to Anthony," I said, "it was the entire reason we carried it on."

"I don't like this, Nate," Jacob uneasily mumbled to me. "None of it adds up."

"I know, Jake," I said, my voice growing just as uneasy. "I know it doesn't. Something's not right."

"Citizen's of Canniban!," a loud, manly voice calls out to the crowd from the foundation. "This man before you has been found guilty of association to the murder of one Trevor Druafht and thus has been sentenced to death!"

"It's starting," Jacob said as he crossed his arms. "Hey, wait, why didn't he mention the other part?"

"The conspiracy to my murder?," I asked, looking at him as he nodded. "The King dropped that charge since we were going to order my own hit anyway. Not that it did Derrick any good, it just seemed like overkill."

I looked ahead and watched as a tall, steroid-built rhinoceros spoke to the crowd, pointing at Derrick in the most heinous manner.

"Against Canniban law, this man, Derrick Harrison, ordered the assassination of Mr. Draufht in his own home!," the rhino yelled to the people, pacing back and forth while the other guards placed Derrick in the guillotine. "After being found guilty, he refused cooperation of any knowledge regarding the killer or his identity!"

A light murmur erupted amongst the crowd.

"But fear not people," the rhino continued as he retrieved a piece of folded paper from his pocket and revealed it by holding it open over his head, "for we will not let this murderer go unpunished! I have in my hands just one of thousands of wanted signs that will be placed throughout the city to your leisure! You may also find this portrait in any daily paper and we will personally hand out copies to you before you leave the square! It is up to you, good citizens, to bring this man to justice! To meet the same fate as his accomplice that kneels here before you! If you see anyone matching the figure in this portrait, the King himself urges you to report it to your closest military representative! We will not have our great kingdom soiled by the likes of these felons and we will see their heads in a basket for the crimes they have committed against us all!"

"Here it comes...," Jacob says as the crowd burst into an uproar.

I already knew it was coming. My eyes were shifting back and forth between Amber and Derrick the entire time this knight flapped his mouth. I watched as the two guards restraining Derrick kicked at the back of his knees, dropping him harshly into the guillotine until his head hung over a large wicker basket. While they locked him into it, I looked up at the blade and was blinded by a glimmer of sunlight that rode along the razor sharp edge. I then looked down at Derrick and saw the depression spread on his face, the remorse in his eyes. He had done all of this for a girl who abandoned him at the moment she found her self preservation. I can't help but feel bad for him but he brought it on himself. Amber is not the type of girl anyone should do anything for and I bet he realizes that now.

For a few moments, all to be heard were the screams and demands of the people to put an end to the bulldog's life. Once Derrick had been fastened into the device, the guard who spoke before quieted the crowd then turned toward him.

"Mr. Harrison," the rhinoceros spoke clearly for all to hear. "Have you any final words?"

Derrick's answer was too silent for most to hear but simply enough for all to read on his lips, "No."

"Very well," the rhino says as he moved to the side of the guillotine. He raised his hand to a lever and paused for only a moment, "May God show mercy on you where we did not."

It was over in a matter of seconds. I saw the knight pull down hard on the lever then watched with every other person in the square as the blade released from its cradle in the top of the guillotine. It fell fast, grinding against the rest of the metallic structure as it came down like a boulder. The giant blade flew down and made its first cut at the back of Derrick's neck. Within the next second, the blade smacked hard at the bottom of its track with a loud cracking noise that echoed throughout the city and with it, the bulldog's head dropped into the basket. Many of the people gasped as the body went limp then fell backwards onto the foundation, spurting a river of blood from the open neck to pool around Derrick's headless corpse. I watched the basket start to stain a maroon red as many of the crowd dispersed from the area, instantly wishing they hadn't just witness this horrific event.

While the two guards who once restrained the man moved the lifeless being into a body bag, I turned my gaze to Amber one last time and filled with hate at the sight of the smile on her face.

"That fucking bitch!," Jacob yelled under his breath as he spotted her next. "Is she seriously smiling?!"

"That figures," I mumbled to him. "All she ever cared about was the money. She's rid of her father and now Derrick, too."

"That self centered tramp deserves to die!," Jacob said, rage hot in his voice. "Give me one of your throwing knives, I'll do it myself!"

"Forget it, Jake, there's nothing else we can do about her," I told him as I turned us both away from the scene. "C'mon, let's get the fuck outa here."

"So now what?," Jacob asked, still fuming from Amber's conceited ways.

"Shopping," I replied as I pulled Elrick's list from my pocket. "We can get more done if we split up and meet back at the lab."

"What do you want me to do?," he asks.

I handed him the shopping list. "Go get this stuff for your uncle," I told him as I started to walk off. "I need to see Tyrone."

"Wait, you're going there without me?," Jacob asks, stopping me in my tracks.

"Relax, I'm not visiting," I told him as I stepped away again, "just gathering some supplies."

"At least tell him I said hey!," Jacob yelled over the distance between us.

After I left Jacob, I traveled most of the way to Tyrone's black market shed down by Derrick's place. I intentionally trailed around the square to avoid running into Amber but also because I didn't wanna see anymore than I had to. There was so much blood when we left and the body had only been laying there for ten seconds or so.

When I found myself just up the road from my turn down Derrick's street, I was suddenly cut off by Damon and Tyler. As if they had been following me, they ran up from behind and stopped right in my face.

"Hey Nathaniel," Damon says as he pointed up the street. "Did you see all that?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "it was part of the reason I came. Did you two actually watch it?"

"I did," Tyler says as he laughs at his friend. "Damon started gagging when he saw all the blood."

"Right," I said then scratched the back of my head, "and you clearly couldn't care less that Derrick's dead."

"Not really," Tyler shook his head. "We never really liked him, man. We were just kinda..."

"Afraid of him," Damon finished.

"Pretty much," Tyler agreed.

"So what are you guys gonna do now that he's gone?," I asked them, crossing my arms. "And if you stick around Amber, you're going to end up just like him."

"Don't worry, we're so done being her errand boys," Damon informed me. "Me and Tyler are actually getting our own place soon."

"Really?," I asked, slightly astonished. "That's great news, guys."

"Yeah, we got some jobs at a convenient store and found a small apartment we can afford if we put our pays together," Tyler says with a smile on his face. "We sign the lease tomorrow."

"We kicked the pills, too," Damon added, grinning widely.

"No shit?," I questioned them, feeling a smile spread across my face. "That's fantastic! I literally never thought I'd hear myself say this but I'm proud of you two."

"Thanks man," Damon smiled back. "So what's been up with you?"

"Not too much," I told them as I looked off into the distance. "I'm seeing someone now so that's new."

"Really?," Tyler asked with a smirk. "Is she hot?"

"Drop dead gorgeous," I told them as I started to walk off again, "but listen guys, I'm kinda in a hurry so I need to get going."

"Alright man," Damon says as they both waved to me. "See you later!"

"Yup," I said, pointing back at them as I turned the corner. "Don't follow me!"

At least those two finally got their heads on straight. Which is more than can be said about Derrick.

The rest of the walk to Tyrone's shop went by within the next five minutes. As I came up to the small beat up shack, I remembered the reaper arrowheads I bought from Tyrone during my last visit. Rather, the ones Jacob bought for me. I figured some extra arrows and bolts would do us some good so we don't go using all we have on the incendiary tips Selina should be making right now. I'm sure I can find quite a few things here that would be of some use on this trip and what better time to window shop than payday?

I approached the shack and walked through the door. As I shut it behind me, I took in all the illegal products I've seen before one piece of equipment at a time. I noticed some new things but other than that, it wasn't any different than when I first met the owner.

"Speaking of which," I mumbled to myself as I spotted a large black bear sharpening a knife behind the back counter. "Hey Tyrone."

"Yo, what's up?," Tyrone greeted me as I approached him. "Nathaniel, right?"

"That's me," I assured him then started to look around. "Was hoping you could help me stock up on some things for a road trip."

"Now what kind of road trip would you be goin' on that you'd need to stock up here?," Tyrone asks, a grin on his face as he pointed at me with the knife.

"One that might get me and my friends killed if I went anywhere else," I half-joked, grinning back at him.

"Ha, aight then," Tyrone said as he stood. "Whatcha need?"

"First thing, arrows and bolts," I told him. "Next, a few heavy duty hiking packs, some survival kits and I guess I'll browse for anything else."

"You got it," Tyrone says as he disappeared into the gated room behind him. "Do your thing, dawg, this won't take long."

"Thanks man," I hollered into the room then started to wander around the shack.

I spied through the racks and show cases spread across the floor, just to get a glimpse at some of his hardware. The blades and bows all neatly ordered within each one, all the armored clothing hanging from their own racks, the tools and equipment lined up in rows in the cases, some of which I don't even know what they're for, I found smoke bombs that weren't here last time and several different pouches of all sizes to hold whatever its user wished. I spotted some climbing gear I may not have noticed before and a black three pronged grapple with a fifty foot rope at least that really sparked my interest. Lastly, I found some of the strangest looking things. They appeared to be glass bottles about the size of my palm filled with an odd clear liquid and what appear to be metal shavings. There's also a long wick inside each one that sticks out of the top just a hair.

"Like whatcha see?," Tyrone asks as he comes up behind me.

I looked back at him for a moment then back at the bottles in the show case in front of me. "I'm not sure," I said as I shrugged. "What are they?"

"I call 'em poppers," Tyrone told me. He then unlocked the show case with a ring of keys hanging from his baggy jeans and pulled one out to hold it up to me. "These little bitches will blow your arm straight off."

"It's an explosive?," I asked, taking the popper from him to examine it.

"Damn straight," Tyrone's deep voice replied. "Just pull the wick out as far as you want it, the full length will give you about ten seconds to bounce, throw it and that one little bottle will shred anything apart within a ten meter radius. Catch the shrapnel any further away than that and let's just say you're gonna wish the blast killed you."

I bet these things will send that beast high-tailing it.

"I see that look in your eye," Tyrone said as he grinned, "how many you want?"

"All of them," I told him, handing the popper back to him.

"Damn son," he laughed as he started picking each one from the show case, "You're my new favorite customer. Tell ya what, I'll throw in one of these pouches for free."

"You don't have to do that," I said, holding my hand up to the offer.

"Unless you want these bad boys ring-a-ding-dingin' in your pocket all day long," Tyrone said, setting the poppers down and pulling out one of the pouches. "You'll want it, trust me. These pouches have pouches in 'em to hold the poppers in place. So if you're sneakin' around, they ain't gonna give you away."

"Hmm," I hummed as I considered the thought. "That's not a bad idea when you put it that way."

"Well, alright then," Tyrone laughed again, closing the case and taking the poppers and the pouch to the back with the rest of the things I ordered. "Anything else catch your eye?"

"Yeah," I said, pointing to the show case with all the climbing gear. "That grapple."

"Aight," Tyrone nodded then unlocked that case to take the grapple out. "Come to the back, I'll show ya what I scrapped together for ya."

Once he locked the case back up, I followed Tyrone to back show case where he had piled all the things I had planned to buy. Sitting on top of the glass is a band of at least twenty arrows, much like the ones my father made but with a sleek silver paint from feather to tip, another band of bolts in the same color, three black packs with some hoses traveling one strap on each, three survival kits that were exactly as I expected, the free popper pouch, and the poppers themselves.

"This is a lot of hardware, dawg," Tyrone pointed out. "You sure you got the dough?"

I untied my coin bag from my belt loop and dropped it on the show case, it still heavy with gold even after the fortune I spent on the Super Juice. "That should about do it," I said to him. "Probably more there than I'll need to pay so I hope your good at math."

"Shit, nothin' but numbers," Tyrone said then picked up one of the black packs. "Now lemme show you these. Ninety percent elastic, they look small but you could fit a whale's cock in one of these things. You know what, make that five whale cocks."

I laughed and took the pack from him. "Alright, you got my attention," I said then pointed at the hose along one of the straps. "What's this for?"

"That's your water, man," he said then pointed at a small plastic screw on cap on the back of the pack. "It'll hold about two gallons, put your water in here, stick the hose in your mouth and suck, as simple as that."

"I'm loving it," I said, placing the pack back on the counter. "What else we got?"

"Well, your kits here have all the survival necessities," Tyrone says, pointing at the survival kits that come in red bags. "extra food bars and drinking water, a survival blanket, a two hundred foot long survivor's cord, a whistle, a big box of waterproof matches, a utility knife, a dust mask, some antiseptic wipes, bandages in all sizes, sterile gauze pads, antibacterial ointment, medical scissors, rubbing alcohol, stitching needles and thread, and a first aid guide to top it off."

"Jesus," I said, blinking at all the supplies in just one of these red bags. "That will definitely make a difference. How about these arrows and bolts?"

"'Member that little titanium pick you bought last time?," Tyrone asks as he pointed to me. I nodded. "These suckers are made of the same material. I guarantee they'll slice right through concrete. Perfectly balanced to ensure precise accuracy if you know how to handle a bow, crossed or not."

Crossed or not. Never heard it put that way before but it's funny.

"I'm completely sold on it all, T," I told him, staring at the grapple. "I'll take your word for it that that thing is top quality, too."

"You bet your ass it is," Tyrone smirked as he picked up my coin bag. "Gimme just a minute, I'll be out with your change."

Tyrone vanished behind the gated doorway once more and while I waited on him, I began packing what I could to make my trip back to the lab a little easier. I stowed one survival kit in each pack, placed the bolts in one meant for Jacob and the arrows in the one that would be mine, I carefully moved each popper into the inner pouches of the pouch I got free, I believe I counted twenty and I still have some unused spaces inside, then I placed the popper pouch in my pack along with the grapple and no sooner than when I finished did Tyrone come back out, my coin bag in his hand with little than a quarter left of what was in it.

"Sorry I had to break ya, man, but you know how business is," Tyrone says, handing my coin bag back to me.

"Not a problem," I smiled at him as I tied it back to my belt loop. "You've done me a big favor here today so we'll call it even."

"Sounds good to me," Tyrone laughed then pointed a thumb to the back room he came out of. "You wanna chill and toke for a bit?"

"Any other time I would gladly take you up on that," I told him as I pointed my own thumb behind myself, "but I gotta get going. This trip is gonna take most of the day so the sooner we leave, the better."

"Nah, I hear you," Tyrone said, waving me off. "Come back anytime, dawg."

"You can count on it," I said as I gathered the three black packs. "Oh, and before I forget, Jake says hey."

"Yeah, you take care of that runt," Tyrone picked on Jacob. "If he's anything like the five year old I knew, he'll be gettin' into all kinds of shit."

"Don't worry, man, I've been guiding him since we were kids," I said with a smile as I began to back towards the door. "I'll catch ya later, T."

"Take it easy, Nate," Tyrone said, waving me off. "Safe trip."

So I splurged a little bit while I was in there. The grapple was completely unnecessary but it'll keep me from dulling my claws climbing the trees with a lot less effort. The poppers should make a huge difference if we run into this beast that's supposed to be standing between us and Victor. With these reinforced arrows and bolts, we can use the ones we already have for the incendiary tips and I'll still be able to make use of my reaper heads. And these packs are much more than I was expecting. I was only looking for something to get us through this trip but now that I think about it, these things will do Selina, Jake, and I a lot of good on our future missions for the King. The survival kits, too. With everything I have on me, and the weapons Selina brought back, all we need now is food. Which is a good thing I sent Jake shopping because knowing him, he splurged as well. I'm confident he's brought home tons of munchies and crap we wouldn't need at home so we should be good to go. All that's left is for me to get home, gear up, and then we'll be off to track down Victor.

I'm coming for you, Vic. Whoever the hell you are.

Already back on main street, I turned up the road and made my way to the lab. By the time I passed through the square, Derrick's blood had already been wiped clean and the foundation and guillotine were dissembled and taken away with the body and head as if none of it had ever happened. Most of the kiosks had been moved back into place around the area and the crowd that had once watched the bulldog lose his head had dispersed back to their lives long ago.

Before heading back to the castle, I stopped by Native Ash and picked up a carton of full flavors. I ran into Alex Phillip while I was there. I didn't know she smoked but it was nice visiting with her for a little bit. I told her about Selina and I, which she seemed to be absolutely ecstatic to hear and couldn't wait to tell Cassidy then she told me that the two of them found a new boy toy to share which I found slightly comical. After we left the smoke shop, I gave her a hug, told her to say hi to her sister for me and we parted ways. She headed down the street towards their shop and I walked the distance until I found myself passing through the large front doors of the castle. Without any more distractions to keep me held back, I quickly traveled upstairs to the second floor, turned the proper corners and walked the corridors until my front door stood in front of me. When I walked through, I found Selina and Elrick sitting at the table where several bottles stand, all but a couple already crafted into the molotovs, and many small black bulbs that I'm assuming to be the incendiary tips. There were also some beakers sitting around holding the chemicals Selina used to craft our new weapons and a bunch of miscellaneous supplies cluttering the table.

"Hey you," Selina greeted me with a smile as she finished off another molotov. "I was wondering when you were gonna get home."

"Sorry I'm late," I said, walking over to her to give her a kiss. "I ran into a few familiar faces while I was out. Jake home yet?"

"Yeah, he's in the lab putting away the food he bought for Elrick," she told me as she spotted the three packs I placed on the floor next to the table. "Those look expensive."

"Don't worry about the price," I told her with a smile, brushing my thumb across her cheek. "Elrick said we'd need the best for this trip so that's what I got."

"Alright," she smiled back at me, tilting her head into my hand, "well, I'm almost done here. We should be ready to leave soon."

"Nathaniel, why don't you go help Jacob," Elrick suggested, grasping my attention. "He really went overboard with the shopping so you can take some of the extra with you."

"I knew he would," I said, grinning as I rolled my eyes. I picked up the packs, kissed Selina once more, then walked into the lab where Jacob stood in front of the ice box and dozens of plastic bags filled with food. "Holy hell, man. Did you buy enough?"

"Damn right," Jacob nodded without looking back at me while he filled the ice box. "I knew the Old Man would bitch if we took the food we just bought for him with us so I got some of our own."

"Some?," I asked, walking up next to him and dropping the packs on the floor. "There's enough here to feed an army."

"Then I guess we're not gonna starve anytime soon, huh?," Jacob rhetorically asked with his cocky attitude. "Did you get what you were looking for?"

"And then some," I nodded, pointing at the packs at my feet. "Tyrone is pretty fucking resourceful."

"Tell me about it," Jacob said, looking at the shopping bags on the floor. "So I got the stuff separated. Everything on my right is ours. I figured I'd let you pack for the trip since I did the shopping."

"Fair enough, I guess," I said, kneeling down to the group of bags that holds our food. "Let's see what we got here."

As I guessed, munchies and meals that were perfect for the trip. There are several things that would need to be kept cold, such as steaks, hamburger patties, bacon, eggs, chicken breasts and nuggets, sausages, hotdogs, milk, lots of different sodas and juices, frozen pizzas, sandwich meat like turkey, ham, roast beef, cheeses like swiss, provolone, cheddar, the list just goes on and on. I set most of those things aside except for the lunch meat and cheeses so I could make sandwiches for us all. Then there were boxed and canned goods like beef stew, tuna, raviolis, spaghetti rings with meatballs, green beans, corn, carrots, diced potatoes, candy bars, cake and brownie mix, cereal, pancake and waffle mix, there were also lots of white bread bags, buns, rolls, flour tortillas, croissants, biscuits, Jacob really didn't hold back at all.

How did he even carry all this stuff home by himself?

That question flew around in my head for a while as I set some more things aside for us to chow on this trip. I bagged up a handful of apples and stored them in Selina's pack along with some sweets and canned things that could be cooked over a fire. I used Jacob's pack to store some juice pouches and a few sodas for when we got a craving for something other than water then threw some bags of chips in there as well. I kept my pack clear for the sandwiches and a pan or two we would need to cook as well as plates, bowls, silverware, and anything else we might come across that we'd need. After I felt I packed enough food, I grabbed some of the kitchenware, made sure to wrap them up in newspaper to keep the weaker objects from breaking, then took the lunch meat, cheese, and bread to the counter next to the coal stove to make our sandwiches.

"Hey Goose," I called to Selina as I pulled out a number of bread slices.

"Yeah?," she called back from the center room.

"What do you like on your sandwiches?," I asked.

"Anything, really," she told me. "Surprise me."

"You got it, babe," I replied then looked over at Jacob still storing things in the ice box and cupboards on the wall. "Jake, can you toss me the mustard and mayonnaise?"

"Sure," he said as he rummaged around in the box then turned towards me. "Heads up."

Both the yellow and white bottles came flying at me one after the other until they landed in each of my hands. I set them down on the counter, pulled out a butter knife, and got to work.

I decided to just give everyone a little bit of everything. I made three sandwiches, each one with the mustard and mayo evenly spread over the bread. I piled a few slices of each type of meat into them, separating them with a combination of cheeses and when I finished them all, I tossed the ingredients back to Jacob so he could store them all in the ice box then safely packaged the sandwiches in baggies and stored them in my pack. As Jacob finished up putting away all the food he bought, I carried all three packs back into the center room, dropped them on the floor next to the table then sat down next to Selina. Without a word, she hugged me tightly, pecked my cheek then popped up from the table as she pointed at me.

"I have a surprise for you," she said as she walked across the room.

"And what would that be?," I asked as I watched her trot away to a large leather travel bag.

"Remember when I went with you to train Jake with the crossbow?," she asked me as she rummaged through the bag, clanking metal against metal within its contents. "On the way back, I told you guys about all my swords and stuff my uncle made for me."

"Yeah, quite vividly," I said, resting my head in my palm. "Why do you ask?"

"Do you remember me telling you about this?," Selina asked me, pulling out a sword from the mix of them she had brought back with her.

I examined the blade and within an instant, I knew exactly which one it was. It was the replica of the King's personal blade she had told us about that I had been so interested in. As I stood up and hurried over to her, I took in the fine white gold lining along the hilt and the grip, the shining flat gold of its primary coloring, the razor sharp double edged three and a half foot blade, but most importantly, the Canniban crest on each side of the hilt. Stuck in a moment of awe, I took the blade from her while she giggled at my faces and fell in love with the weapon at the very first touch. Balanced to perfection and practically light as a feather compared to any other sword I've handled, this thing was simply too easy for me to work with and it was spectacular. I wanted so badly to test its handling but I knew Elrick would bitch me out for swinging a sword in the lab so I just held onto it and stared straight into the light flickering off the edges of the blade.

"This thing is amazing," I mumbled to her, unable to take my eyes off of it.

"Would you like the sheath?," she asked me, leaning on her hip as she watched me gawk at the weapon in my hand.

"You don't mind that I use it?," I asked, looking passed the blade at her.

"Of course not," Selina told me, smiling as he returned to the leather travel bag. "I brought it just for you."

"You're an angel," I told her, pulling her close to me to kiss her when she took the sheath from the bag. "A very sweet, lethal angel. Thank you so much."

"You're very welcome," she says as she giggled some more then handed the sheath to me.

"What do I get?," Jacob asked as he joined the rest of us in the room while I sheathed the blade and fastened it to my left hip.

"Take your pick," Selina told him, waving a hand to the travel bag. "There's lots to choose from."

"Awesome," Jacob proclaims, walking by us to rummage around in the bag himself.

"And as for you, my adorable, brown-eyed lover, take care of that sword," Selina says, poking a claw into my chest as she leaned into me. "That one particularly means a lot to me."

"I'll treat it with the utmost care," I promised, wrapping my arms around her waist.

"Holy shit," Jacob cussed as he pulled something from the travel bag. "Is this a mace?"

"Oh yeah," Selina laughed, turning her head to spot him. "I had a feeling you'd like that one."

"Don't hurt yourself," I told him, watching him gawk at the large, spiked weapon as he fastened it to his person. "I trained you to use the crossbow, not a giant meat hammer."

"Bite me," Jacob said, retrieving some combat knives.

"Oh, toss me a couple of those," I told him when I eyed them in his hand. Jacob threw two sheathed knifes into the air and as soon as I caught them, I strapped them to each boot and remembered something. "I almost forgot," I said, hurrying over to my pack next to the table. I dug through the supplies within and pulled out the pouch of poppers.

"What's in there?," Selina asks as I strapped the black pouch to my right hip.

"Explosives," I told her with a grin on my face. I then pulled one out and handed it to her. "Jake introduced me to a black market dealer in the city last week, that's where I got all this stuff. He calls them poppers."

"Oh, damn," Selina mumbles, staring into the clear liquid riddled with metal shavings. "Nathan, be careful with these, I'm pretty sure they're made with nitroglycerin."

"May I take a look at one, Nathaniel?," Elrick asks, tapping my arm from his seat at the table.

"Sure, go nuts," I told him as I removed another popper to hand to him.

"She's right," Elrick says, peering into the popper bottle I gave him. "Every one of these small bottles is filled with the same primary chemical used in dynamite."

"How did you know that?," Jacob asks, tapping Selina on the shoulder.

"My uncle's an arms dealer, remember?," Selina reminded him. "I picked up a little chemistry one summer helping him in the forge."

"Chemicals and forges," Jacob says, shaking his head, "that whole scenario sounds like it shoulda ended fiery."

"We didn't mess with chemicals in the weapons forge, you dope," Selina says, giggling and shaking her head at him. "We were in his living room and we were only making some flares for one of his more confidential customers anyway."

"Flares are flammable," Jacob pointed out, raising his finger.

"Shut up," Selina says, sighing with a little humor on her voice.

"That reminds me, Elrick," Jacob says as he returns to the table, "why incendiaries in a swamp?"

"Those waters are contaminated with a variety of flammable chemicals," Elrick tells him as he and Selina hand the poppers back to me. "But the water itself will keep you from burning down the area so long as the fire doesn't ride the surface for too long. As long as you aim carefully, the most damage you could do to the environment is ignite a small splotch of oily water for a few minutes before the dies out. I asked you to use flames because your beast is most likely coated in that water, allowing your attacks to burn longer so you'll have an opportunity to flee.

"We'd be better off if we killed it," Jacob says, crossing his arms.

"I agree with Jake," I said, looking back at Elrick. "We'll avoid it at all costs but if it finds us, it needs to die. We still have to make the trip back and it'll be searching for us if we even did manage to get away from it."

"Listen to me very carefully you three," Elrick says, leaning in on the table as he waved his finger to us. "This isn't your average creature that can be slain by just a few burns or a blade. It is a monster. It has inhabited that area for decades and nearly all who have faced it have perished. Under no circumstances are you to take it head on."

"We understand, Elrick," Selina says as she nods. "But I agree with them, too. I'd rather avoid anything as horrifying as you make this thing sound but Nate makes a good point. If we tip it off on our way through, we're screwed on the way home if we don't find a way to kill it."

Elrick sighed long and hard as he pinched his temple then looked back up at us. "This beast will chew the fur and skin off your bones if you get too close," he warns us. "Kill it if you have absolutely no other choice but your priority is to stay as far away from it as possible. I will have your heads on a platter if I find out you went looking for it. That is if you make it back alive and that is a substantially large 'if'. Do you understand me?"

"Yes sir," Selina and I said together as Jacob nodded.

"Nathaniel, Selina, I fully understand how much more capable you two are compared to the fighters and knights in this kingdom," Elricks says, switching his gaze back and forth between us. "But this creature is on an entirely new level. It outweighs you by tons and very little is known about its own capabilities. No matter what, if you must face it, keep your distance and use your heads. If you do not think before you act, you will most certainly die."

"Killing it is our last resort," I told him. "You have my word on that."

"I wish that was enough," Elrick says, giving me a disappointed stare. "When I first learned of the beast, I came very close to burning that map and forbidding you from taking the trip but I know how important it is to you to find Victor. I am not okay with any of this in the least bit but you are all adults. I only want you to be safe."

"Take a look at our line of work, Old Man," Jacob says, motioning his hands back towards the door. "'Safe isn't exactly in the employee benefits."

"The line of work you have yet to get to because your training hasn't come close to being finished yet," Elrick says, pointing at him. "You'd do well to remember that on this trip and listen to these two."

"Great," Jacob complains, rolling his eyes. "It's Ms. Anders all over again."

"Who's Ms. Anders?," Selina asks, turning her head towards him with curiosity.

"She's our old babysitter back in the mountains," I told her, bringing her gaze back to me. "Little old women who used to live next door. Our parents were convinced we needed one until about my ninth birthday and she was sooooooooo controlling of everything."

"She was a bitch is what she was," Jacob said sternly.

"Are you implying that I'm a bitch?," Selina asked him, feeling insulted.

"What if I was?," Jacob asked, raising his eyebrow at her with a lazy stare.

"Then I'd remind you that I can literally tear you apart with my bare hands," Selina says, a little anger in her voice. "I hope you don't think that little bit of training will get you far against me."

Jacob's eyebrow fell when she said that, he hesitated, then simply stuck his tongue out at her. Selina stuck one out back at him then they looked away from each other and her eyes met mine. I couldn't help but laugh at the two of them bicker.

Just look at this happy family of ours.

"Are you all ready to go?," Elrick asks, getting us back on subject.

"Yeah, we should be," I told him. "Just gotta pack up these molotovs, grab my bow and the crossbow and we should be good." I stopped to think for a moment then remembered one other thing. "Oh, wait, not quite," I corrected myself, shuffling towards the stairway to the den, "We should attach these incendiary tips so we don't have to do it on the spot. I'm gonna grab my reapers, too, I'll be right back with the rest of our gear."

"Hurry back," Selina says as she smacked my butt this time.

I smiled as I rushed down the stairs. When I walked through my bedroom door, I snatched my bow and quiver off the inside doorknob then moved around my bed to the dresser on the other side. I scavenged around through all my useless junk in the top shelf and pulled out the box of reapers heads then went across the den to Jacob's room and grabbed my hunting bag off his floor. I then zoomed back up to the center room and sat back down at the table with everyone else.

"Here, Jake, do yours," I told him, handing him the hunting bag then reaching for his pack that I bought to give him next. "There are some extra bolts in there, as well. Make sure you unwrap them and get them in your quiver."

"Can I help?," Selina asks, scooting closer to me to rest her chin on my shoulder as she smiled at me.

"Sure," I said, smiling back then handing her my quiver. "Could you put the incendiary tips on these while I attach my reapers to the new arrows?"

"No problem," She says, taking the quiver from me.

"Hey, how do I get these things on?," Jacob asks, fiddling with the tip in one hand and a bolt in the other. "There's no hole or nothing to stick it through."

"Just push the tip of the bolt through either end of it," Selina told him as she grabbed one herself. "Like this." Selina unscrewed the head off of one of my arrows because if she had left it on it would have cut the incendiary tip in half, then pushed the headless end into the butt of the new tip. There was a lit rip to be heard from the material tearing, then a very faint sound of metal hitting glass, but it held like it had been glued on. "Then when you use it, light the end with a match or whatever you got handy and let it fly."

"Nice," Jacob smiled as he attached his first incendiary. "I'm almost hoping I get to try these things."

"Just make sure you're not to close to what you're shooting at," Selina warned him, "There's a glass bulb of chemicals in the center that will burst on impact. The glass shards tear the outer layer apart and the liquid spreads everywhere as it ignites from the flame."

"Good to know," Jacob mumbled, surprised at the information. "I was wondering how they work."

"I might have to track us a duck roast for dinner or something," I said, smiling as I removed the head from one of my titanium arrows and replaced it with a reaper. "I could slice a good chunk of a moose's snout clean off with one of these."

"Enough with the metaphors, man," Jacob says, working on another incendiary tip to one of his old bolts. "You've been bragging about those new tips since I bought them for you."

"Which I'm very grateful for and did pay you back, in case you've forgotten," I pointed out to him as I set the finished arrow aside then reached into my pack for another. "Also, they're not metaphors. Just one is like a three inch razor flying through the air at high speeds. And according to Tyrone, these new arrows are reinforced to cut into concrete. The reaper tips would break if I tried that with them on but you get the point."

"I hate to kick you out the door, especially knowing where you're heading," Elrick cuts into the conversation. "But you're burning daylight."

"Right," I acknowledged then picked up the pace. "Let's get these on so we can go."

As fast as we attempted to rush through it, we killed a good ten minutes or so attaching all of the new tips but it would be well worth the time spent should we need to use them. As soon as we finished, Selina and I returned all my arrows into my quiver, separating them to the sides of the quiver so I wouldn't accidentally reach for the one I didn't want, and Jacob returned all of his bolts into his. We managed to work out a way to attach both the quivers to the packs, Jacob left the crossbow in the hunting bag and tied that to his pack while Elrick sewed on a velcro strap to my pack to carry my bow. While the Old Man worked that out, Selina loaded up her pack with a number of toys she brought from her place, strapped a light three foot sword to her hip and hid a small bladed knuckle duster in her bra. Jacob and I evenly portioned all the molotovs, giving each of us ten a piece, and we found we were able to safely store five each in both side pockets of our packs. Once everything was loaded up, our weapons secured, and the water bags of our packs filled to the cap from the pump in the lab, the three of us all hugged Elrick, Jacob groaned through it but he humored the Old Man, Elrick gave me the map, Selina fished out the compass for me that she promised from the travel bag, and just before we walked out the door, Elrick stopped us as he jumped up from his seat.

"Wait just one more moment," he says as he disappeared into the lab. I turned to Jacob looking for an explanation but he just shrugged then looked back again as Elrick came back out. "Here," he says, holding out three syringes filled with an orange liquid to me.

"Is that what I think it is?," I asked him, staring down at the needles in his hand.

"Yes," he says, nodding at me. "If something should happen to any of you that Jacob can't handle, your real last resort is to use these."

"That pain was inexplicable, Elrick...," Selina says to him, her voice low and fearful.

"I know, dear," Elrick said softly as he handed the syringes to me. "I know it was but I have only taught Jacob so much in the time these two have lived under my roof. It's a precautionary for the worst that may be the only thing that will save your life."

"Nathan, promise me you won't use one on me unless there's no other choice," Selina says to me, cowering on my chest from the needles.

"I promise," I told her, lifting her chin up to look me in the eye. "I couldn't imagine putting you through that again unless I absolutely had to."

"Thank you," she said, laying her head back against my chest.

I hugged her for a moment until Elrick spoke again, demanding all of my attention.

"Nathaniel, listen carefully," Elrick tells me as I turned back to him. "Should something happen to you personally, I would advise against using one of those injections though it may end up being your only chance of survival. These are not like the one I gave Selina. For you, they could be quite dangerous."

"Alright...," I mumbled, my head low as I questioned his reasoning. "Why? How?"

"How do I make sense of this?," Elrick asks himself then looks back at me. "The protein that enables the regenerative anatomy is naturally present in your system. And the main ingredient in those needles, so to speak, is a concentrated, much more potent form of it. An enhanced clone, if you will. Do you follow?"

"So far, yeah," I nodded, "still don't understand why I shouldn't use one."

"I'm getting there," Elrick says before he continued. "I designed this clone of that protein to be powerful but fragile, with ample doses of it per cubic centimeter. Meaning it will act hard and it will act fast before it dies off. It is my concern that, with your body custom to the original protein and it's lasting process, you could actually overdose if you were injected with one of those syringes."

"So you're saying it could kill me?," I asked, raising my eyebrow to him. "I make one mistake and my life is in jeopardy yet again, isn't that a fucking shocker."

"That pretty much sums it up," Elrick sighs. "I'm sorry, son, I did the best that I could."

"No, it's alright Elrick," I told him, pushing away his apology. "It'll work for these two if they need it, that's all I really care about. It was just nice thinking I had an extra life in my pocket."

"Give me time and I can perfect the formula to work for you as well," Elrick says then looks at Selina, "and painlessly to boot. I would need a few months at the most."

"Do what you have to," I said. "I trust you know what you're doing."

"Just as I trust you to know what you're doing with my nephew and the family sweetheart out there in that swamp," Elrick points out then shifts his gaze between Jacob and Selina. "Oh, one more thing. This was a bit of a design fluke but I suppose it poses no real threat. Do you two recall the increase in overall strength and stamina that Nathaniel benefits from when the natural protein is released in his cardiovascular system?"

"Yeah," Jacob nodded, "what about it?"

"Well, look at it this way," the Old Man began again. "He heals much faster than anyone else while these syringes would allow anyone else to heal much faster than he presently would, considering that the time his healing process takes is drastically reduced each time the protein is released in his bloodstream. Mind you, these injections won't make the process instantaneous for you but it will work quick enough to get you back on your feet within an hour or so. It should work for the two of you just long enough to close any wounds and stop the bleeding so keep in mind that this in no cure-all. My point is that because the injections work for only a limited time, opposed to Nathaniel's limitless reserves of the protein, it will not last long enough to give you the bulk up he gets."

"That's disappointing," Jacob said, crossing his arms. "I was actually thinking about shooting myself in the foot just so I could take one for the power up."

"I hope that was a joke," Elrick says to him.

"Only a little bit," Jacob told him with a smirk.

"I don't care about the power up," Selina says, shaking away some cold chills. "Even if it was there, I still wouldn't want one of those things near me."

"And no one blames you for it," Elrick assured her.

"Jake, you mind keeping these in your pack?," I asked, handing the syringes out to him. "Yours doesn't have as many heavy objects and breakables as mine or Selina's."

"Yeah, sure," he said, taking the needles from me and storing them in the front of his pack.

"Now, off with you, before I come up with some other reason to keep you from walking into your graves," Elrick insisted, waving towards the door.

"Really cute, Old Man," Jacob said as he opened the front door.

We all said goodbye to Elrick and walked out the door. Then our journey began. The distance we knew we had to travel made the walk to the city's front gate seem like a timeless path. Like the wind, we blew through the corridors and around the corners. We flew down the spiral staircase to the ground floor, whizzed by a group of knights as we marched through more halls, catching their eyes with all the gear on our backs, walked across the balcony, down the stairs in front of the courtroom, across the room, through the doors, passed the grand staircase in the large, open foyer and out the front doors. Then we blended into the crowd of the city in a matter of seconds. But I suppose it wasn't very good camouflage seeing as we caught the eyes of every person to walk by us as well. It didn't really matter, though, you see anyone armed and stocked the way we were, the last thing you would want to do is fuck with them. Our hoods were down and many of the knights knew our faces, mine at the very best, so we were left to our mission.

We passed through the square where Selina asked about the execution then instantly regretted it when Jacob went into to excruciating detail. Then we spent the remainder of the walk splitting through the center of the crowd to one side of all the kiosks as their owners tried to sell us their product, most likely thinking we're merely travelers passing through the city. At first we rejected the offers but they came with each kiosk we passed so eventually, we just started ignoring them until we reached the gate. Strangely, however, the gate was closed and bolted with its gigantic locks to prevent any entry or exit from these large stone walls.

"Halt," says a knight we approached guarding a door on one side of the gate.

"What's the problem?," I asked as the knight walked up to us.

"The Admiral has tightened guard around the city since news of the assassin began to spread," this hilariously buff yellow frog said, holding his hand out to us. "I'm going to have to see your citizen's cards before I can let you leave the city."

"You know, I kinda regret pushing Anthony into taking away my authority now," I said to Jacob as the three of us removed our wallets to dig for our ID's.

"You will address him as Admiral," the frog said to me as Selina and Jacob handed him their cards.

I yanked mine away from his reach and gave him a rude expression. "Bite me, squishy, the guy acts like he's my father," I remarked _then_held my card out to him. "If you don't like it then go ahead and find a way to tell him he shouldn't care about me, I'm sure he'd love to hear your opinion on his personal life."

The frog snatched my card from my fingers, letting his rage shine through, then looked down at all of our cards. He procrastinated to piss me off, I could tell by the countless seconds he spent shifting his eyes back and forth between each ID, double and triple checking as he looked back up at us to confirm multiple times the portraits sketched onto the cards matched then lazily handed them back to us.

"You may pass," he finally said, irritation heavy on his voice as he walked back to his post in front of a door to his side of the gate.

"Damn right we may," Jacob mouthed off as we followed behind the guard.

He lead us right up to the door on his side of the gate, slipped a key in, unlocked it and held it open for us to pass through. "Knock on the next door, the knight posted outside will let you through," he says to us in his agitated tone.

"Thanks again, squishy," Jacob says, passing the knight a sloppy salute as he grinned.

"My name is Tom," he said roughly then slammed the door behind us, leaving us only the light of the torches on the wall.

Selina, Jacob, and I cracked up to the fit he threw at the end and practically bent over laughing at it as we traveled through the stone wall until we reached the next door. After catching our breath, I knocked on the door and a moment later, the doorknob rattled as a key turned the tumblers and the door opened, revealing the thousands of shades of green and blue of the natural wild outside and the beautiful clear skies above.

"What was with that door slamming?," the guard on the outside asks as he let us out.

"You know the knight guarding it?," Selina asks him, still smiling about the whole conflict as she pointed behind us.

"Yeah," the guard said as he nodded.

"Call him 'squishy' and you'll find out," she says, causing us all to burst out laughing again while we walked away.

Damn, it feels good to be out in the open again. I had gotten so used to city life, I almost forgot how much I loved being outdoors. You'd figure after spending two decades finding beauty in the absence of color, I'd be more drawn to spend a little more time out in this wilderness. I guess I had just gotten so caught up in everything, it didn't occur to me that a little fresh air from the trees blowing through my fur could relax me as much as it is. And what's more is my family is whole again. With Jacob by my side and Selina on my arm, I proudly marched the dirt road as we followed the trail ahead of us, aiming for the oak tree above that stands a mile in the sky.

The walk was short but lasting. I had a thought along the way about turning back and checking a few horses out from Daniel's stables but I knew it'd just be wasting more time. We could travel faster by horse but by the time we made it to the large oak, we could already be deep in the forest if we kept going by foot. Not to mention navigating through those woods with the steeds would just slow us down if it got too thick so I dropped the idea altogether. Better to keep a steady pace and hold it.

When we reached the oak tree, Jacob reminded me about the Devil's Fruit I left hanging in the limbs from our training session. To his surprise, they still hung there, each one from the bright orange string I got from Selina's father, Pete. Jacob convinced me to stop so we could get them down. So we made it quick. Selina flew high up to the branches and cut lose every last one of the hanging buds, freeing the limbs as they plummeted to the ground where Jacob and I walked the perimeter stuffing them into a small empty pocket under the water cap of all of our bags. We just barely had enough room in all three to fit every last bud in, all except for a few which Jacob decided to roll into a blunt for us to enjoy on the way.

"How far in are we going?," Selina asks me, bumping me with her hip while Jacob worked on the blunt.

"Uh, lemme check," I said, removing and rummaging through my pack for the map and compass. I flipped the map open in one hand while I leveled the compass out in the other and estimated the distance between us and Victor's homestead. "Trusting that Elrick mapped this right, it looks about thirteen kilometers in...," I paused to check the compass then pointed slightly off to my right, "that direction."

"Thirteen kilometers," Selina repeated. "That's about, what, eight miles?"

"Give or take," I said, staring into the trees. "With the sun in the position it is," I stopped to look up into the oak's limbs blotting out the sky, "correction, was when we last saw it, we got about five or six hours of daylight left. We should be able to make it before dark with just enough time to relax for a bit when we stop for lunch. That is if this monster of ours doesn't show his face when we hit the swamp."

"So what are we sitting around talking about it for?," Jacob asks, pushing between us with the lit blunt in his hand as he walked in the wrong direction. "Let's go already!"

"Wrong way, Jake," I chuckled as Selina followed me the right way, giggling at my brother herself.

"I was testing you," he says, trying too hard to convince me as he caught up with us.

Not much was said for the first hour or so. We finished the blunt quickly after entering the forest and paused a few times for a few moments to pack some of the Super Juice in my pipe. The first time took longer than the rest because Selina and Jacob were just as fascinated about the color-changing smoke of this rainbow schemed bud as I was the first time I smoked it. But after that, we smoked as we walked, keeping an even pace at a quickened speed as we hopped over bushes and tree roots piercing out of the ground, climbing hills and sliding down banks following the compass southwest for the first mile.

I made sure to track our distance as best as I could because the map isn't showing a straight line for our trail. By the looks of it, our path carries on southwest for the first few miles, with a detour west around an enormous rock formation another mile, then shot down directly south the rest of the way. I was disappointed that I couldn't tell where on the map the swamp started exactly, all the tree tops are painted the same color, with a few shifts of hue here and there, but no solid dark green isolated in a large area like you would think. It all looks the same and that worries me.

Who knows when we'll get to the swamp? We could literally stumble right into it at any time.

I tried my best to push away those kind of thoughts. I needed to stay positive for this and there's no way in hell I'm turning back now. The trip is a long one, that can't be denied. This might be the farthest I've ever traveled on foot. I know Jacob never left the village in the mountains except for smoking a joint in the trees. And that one time I forced him to go hunting with me. Selina definitely hasn't walked this far. I don't say that just because she has a beautiful set of wings but her sneakers she wears day by day never did strike me as the hiker's footwear of choice. I'm sure I could make half the distance within the first couple hours but I don't know about them keeping up nonstop. I wanted to make it at least to that rock formation before stopping for lunch but we're going to have to slow it down a bit soon if I want to keep us moving.

"You two getting tired yet?," I asked, looking back over my shoulder as we jogged between the trees.

"Yes!," Jacob cries out over his exhausted windpipe. "Slow the fuck down, man!"

"Sorry," I said while I laughed, catching Selina when she stopped so she could chase her breath. "I guess I'm the only one used to using my feet."

"Hilarious," Selina huffed sarcastically, weakly patting my chest with her hand while she hyperventilated in my arms. "Can we take a break?"

"We have to keep moving," I told her, lifting her up to her feet without releasing her. "We can walk until we stop for lunch but we can't stop now."

"Okay," Selina huffed out again, kissing my cheek and pressing on ahead with me, "I can handle walking."

"This is crazy," Jacob says, catching up to my other side as he strained to breathe again. "I was expecting flat terrain, not this hilly shit."

"I think it's gorgeous out here," I said, staring into the nature to be found in every direction as I carried Selina on my arm.

"You said that all the time back in the mountains," Jacob says, raising a finger to me for a second. "I mean, I get this but I don't see what's so pretty about white. And brown."

"It's not just about the colors, Jake," I told him. "There's beauty in everything, the sights, the sounds, the smells, even the taste of the air. You gotta learn to let yourself find it to really appreciate it."

"There's that phrase again," Selina says, tapping my hand she held with her finger. "'Tasting the air'. You said it when you trained him with the crossbow. Is it a metaphor for something?"

"Why does everyone think I'm always using metaphors?," I asked as I laughed then shook my head. "No, I'm being very literal. Tasting the air is exactly what it sounds like, you gotta feel the temperature and humidity on your tongue, learn to distinguish one taste lingering in the atmosphere of an area from another. My father had me convinced for the longest time that he could navigate the woods back in the mountains by his senses of smell and taste alone."

"Oohhh," Selina hummed, her mouth open wide as the word came out. "I think I get it."

"So what does 'tasting the air' have to do with sight-seeing?," Jacob asked, quoting me with his fingers. "Or using a crossbow for that matter."

"Well, for the crossbow, that's kind of complicated," I groaned as I thought of a way to put it to him. "Think of it as animal instinct. No matter how far our population of animal-folk have evolved over the years, we're still animals. We're just... domesticated. We've grown out of touch with nature and that's the very thing my father taught me never to do."

"I don't get it," Jacob shrugged.

"Me either," Selina laughed.

"Alright, how about this," I said, laughing along with her. "Remember just before you took your shot and cut down five buds from the tree with a single bolt? I was talking you through it step by step, I told you to line up your shot, hold your breath, and squeeze the trigger, don't pull."

"Yeah, how could I not?," Jacob asked rhetorically. "That was one of the best moments of my life."

"You need to get out more," Selina picked on him as she grinned.

"Haters hate but I manage," Jacob blindly stated, looking passed me for a moment.

"Anyway," I chuckled, continuing my explanation, "that moment before you fired, you took in a deep breath and you held it just like I told you to. You don't realize it because you're out of tune with your animal side but that ancient instinct feeds off your actions, breathing, smelling, hearing, all of it. There's a primitive motion that works with the way we function, repressively, it helps our different species live our lives the way nature intended. For the three of us, our wolf sides, our senses are heightened on a towering scale over most other species so when you took that deep breath, your animal side did exactly what it's meant to do. It worked off what you tasted in the air, the temperature and humidity like I said before, it worked off the distance between you and your targets from every square foot your brain processed through your sight, it measured the weight of your weapon by how heavy it felt to angle it perfectly and all of this comes together for that exact and precise shot that will never miss. It's all about listening to your body, let it do what it's designed to do and if you do it right, that repressed instinct can give you the flawless accuracy you've seen me use, among other things."

"That sounds pretty bad ass when you put it that way," Jacob says as he pointed at me.

"He also makes it sound easy," Selina joked as she squeezed my hand.

"Alright, I'll give you that," I surrendered as I laughed. "It's not by any means easy. At first. You gotta let out the wolf within." I looked over a Jacob and smiled, "Nail it enough times and it becomes second nature to your critical ways."

"Ignoring that," Jacob said, peering at me before his face washed over with realization. "So that's what you didn't teach the King's archers!"

"You're exactly right," I said as I nodded. "But I didn't tell them just so I wouldn't have competition, I left it out because it wouldn't have done most of them any good. This accuracy, this deadly hidden skill only dwells in a few select species such as wolves like us, or tigers like Anthony. That's why he's so fucking fast, his animal side gives him his speed and he doesn't even realize it. You'd be surprised at the things we could do."

"I'm going to have to work on that," Selina mumbles to herself then looks back up at me. "So how about the whole sight-seeing bit? Where does that instinct come in play here?"

"That's much easier to explain," I smiled, "mostly because I've pretty much already explained it. It basically works the same way but it's a different notion. Instead of intense, concentrated focus in the moment like when Jake took his shot, you'd need a deep feeling of relaxation. Almost like meditating. Actually, it works a lot better if you do meditate on it. That instinct works with your body and every little detail in your surroundings can each be felt with its own unique sensation. That's what makes it truly beautiful, the ways everything around you makes you feel inside. Don't think while your taking it in, just let your body feel about the things your seeing, the sounds your hearing and -

"The air we're tasting?," Jacob suggested, a smirk on his face.

"I take it you get the point," I said, rolling my eyes at him. "So does that about answer all your questions?"

"Pretty much," Selina answered first. "I've never thought about any of it like that. Your father was a smart man."

"Yes he was," I agreed with her, staring into the trees as we walked by them.

"And to think you grew up on this shit," Jacob says, slapping my gut with the back of his hand. "No wonder you cant be stopped."

"Did you forget I've almost died twice since we left the mountains?," I asked him, turning my head to face him.

"That's beside the point," Jacob said, waving away the reminder. "With all those years of training, this animal instinct power boost - and if Elrick were here, he'd make a huge note on your regenerative anatomy - like it or not, Nate, you are a natural born killer. The devil be damned."

"You know, I take offense to that," I told him, looking over at him again.

"Well, while that may be a fact, Jake," Selina says, poking her head around my arm to spot him then back up at me, "which is one of the fucking sexiest things about you, by the way, you're also one of the best types of people. I think you're father taught you everything you know because he knew you'd always do the right thing with it."

"Who knows, you might be right," I admitted with a shrug. "My father's motivations were his own. If there is anyone who would have a clue as to why he trained me to be what I am or why he ever walked out in the first place, it'd be Tony."

"Why not your mother?," Selina asks, looking up at me from my arm.

"Ben and Tony had the same bond that me and Nate have," Jacob cuts in. "I'm not saying he wasn't close with the Misses, though. You know how the whole 'wolves love once' thing goes, right?"

"I'd be a pretty stupid wolf if I didn't know that, Jake," Selina said sternly to him.

"Anyway," Jacob continued, shooting down her tone with a searing glare, "The connection Silver and Ben had was the perfect example of the true love our species is cursed to search for."

"Silver?," Selina repeated, a little confusion on her brow.

"It's a nickname," I told her. "For my mom. Her name is Sylvia, Ben was my father."

"So Ben loved her but trusted Tony more, is that what your saying?," Selina asks Jacob.

"Uh, kinda but not really," Jacob answered, struggling to find a way to put it. "Ten years ago, before Ben left, you could have asked anyone in the village and they all would have told you the same thing; those two were born to be together. But if you had asked them about him and Tony, they would have flat out told you that they were brothers."

"Why are you over explaining it?," I asked Jacob, laughing at the words coming out of his mouth. "Yes, my parents loved each other and yes, they were sincere and honest with each other but there were some things that my mom never really learned about her husband. Things that only Tony would know."

"Things that only Tony would know because they've been inseparable since they were children," Jacob added. "No one alive knew him longer or better than Tony did before Ben took off."

"Just like you two," Selina giggles then points a finger at Jacob. "Are you trying to tell me I'll never understand Nate better than you?"

"That goes without saying," Jacob picked, grinning as he peered by me at her.

"Eat me," Selina says, pushing away Jacob's ego.

"Ah!," I stopped Jacob, raising a finger as he opened his mouth to reply. "That was not an invitation."

"Awesome," Selina says, laughing at Jacob's words frozen in mid-thought. "So this is probably a dumb question then but did you ever ask Tony? About anything?"

"I did once...," I said, scratching my head as I thought back. "It's a little fuzzy, though. I think I was eleven, maybe twelve. I remember calling him out on his bullshit because I knew he always kept secrets for my father. I figured that he knew more than he was letting everyone believe so I made him tell me."

"Was that the day you dropped him?," Jacob asks, looking over at me.

"Yeah," I nodded, smiling on the distant memory. "One of the masters became the student that day. I got pissed and made him fight me until either he told me what he knew or one of us went down."

"And we can all guess what happened next," Jacob mumbled in a confident pitch.

"Tony hit the snow with a fracture then gave in," I stated anyway, a small mix of pride and remorse washing over me. "I think it was his rib. Or maybe his shoulder..."

"Nathan," Selina called, giggling at me again. "What did Tony tell you?"

"Oh, right," I said, my train of thought returning to me once more. "I don't remember much of it, most of that memory is of the fight. He said my father left for... something about a promise he made, something he'd want me to finish one day... He said he wouldn't tell him anything more that. But that I should respect his choices and it'd make sense to me one day. I dunno, whatever Tony was trying to tell me did not click."

"Did your mother know about any of that?," Selina asks me.

"I'm not sure," I shrugged. "Probably not."

"And that's all you remember?," Jacob asks next.

I nodded then looked back at the grass passing by for a moment. "I do remember hearing the name Marshal," I added after giving it some thought. "Marshal... something. I think he was my grandfather."

"Well, at least that answers one question," Jacob stated, clearly still processing in his head. "Hunting down Victor and this mystery cave, which by the way I'd like to remind you that we know absolutely nothing about, maybe this whole fucking adventure your missing father has sent you on is what he wanted you to finish for him."

"That would explain why he had a vision of Ben but not how," Selina pointed out then looked at me. "Has anyone thought about that yet? We are hours away from finding out for sure if the things he said in your coma were just your imagination or not and I'm starting to think that it wasn't just a dream anymore. Not if we're about to risk certain death to a forty-something year old swamp monster. If that's the case then okay, we know why we're out here. What I want to know is how your dad, after disappearing from the kingdom for a decade without leaving a trace behind him, beamed a set of instructions straight into your unconscious mind."

"I have no idea, Goose," I sighed as I looked over to Selina. "If Victor is real and we're not about to risk certain death to a forty-something year old swamp monster for nothing then that's a question we're gonna have to ask him. He's bound to know something. He has to know something."

"Why else would we be looking for him?," Jacob asks me, raising his eyebrow.

"At this point, if Victor doesn't know anything then it's all just a wild goose chase," I mumbled, staring down at the ground passing under all of our feet. "No one would know why Victor was involved to begin with or where this cave is or what's so important about it, we'd have no leads just like our luck with the Draufht killer... We could probably try to turn to Tony for answers but I doubt that would get us much further."

"It'd be a lost cause," Jacob says, sighing loudly at the depressing thought.

"Would you two quit being pansies?," Selina says to us, smacking my arm as she did. "Look at where we are, what we're doing, look at the heat we're packing out here!" Selina paused for a second to poke her claw into my chest, "Ben had to know the turmoils he was setting you up against when he told you to find Victor. Who knows what we're going to face when we finally find something with that cave of his but whatever it is, Ben knew about all of it. According to you, Tony made it sound like Ben always knew he'd have to call on you to finish what he couldn't so that's why he asked Tony to help teach you everything you know, to prepare you to take on... whatever it is you're supposed to take on. Like this forty-whatever swamp thing. So you tell me, Mr. Pessimist, why would the both of them put you through all those years of preparation to get you some face time with a man who knows absolutely nothing?"

"God damn," Jacob laughed, "that's a good point."

"And you," Selina switched over to Jacob, "You've both said it yourselves, you're his brother. You've seen how set he is on all of this from the same moment I did when he first told us so how are you going to walk by his side like that and agree with his doubts?"

"I'm sorry...?," Jacob mumbled, not sure if that's what she wanted to hear. "I don't know what you expected me to say, obviously you saw the upside before I did."

"Obviously," Selina repeated as she lowered her head a little. "But I don't think you should have encouraged his negativity like that. If he's going to lead us, he can't have any doubts." Selina brought her hand up to my chin and pulled my gaze to hers. "You can't have any doubts, Nathan."

And that's where she gets the new nickname. I'm not even allowed to think about the downside of things with her around.

I raised an eyebrow at Jacob and smiled as I hoped he had finally made the connection I explained to him last week.

"I get it now," he said to me. "But it's still a stupid nickname."

"Hey, focus," Selina lightly giggled as she smacked my cheek for my attention. "I'm not gonna let you think like this anymore." Then she looked at Jacob again, "And I'm not gonna let you let him think like that anymore. Am I making myself clear?"

"Crystal, baby," I laughed then guided her chin up to kiss her as we walked. "I'm glad we have you around to keep our heads straight."

"Elrick and Anthony are horrible at it, someone has to do it right," Selina says, grinning as her words escaped into the air.

Silence struck again after that. But not complete silence... there are still thousands of birds chirping in the background, plenty of insects orchestrating an opera of random noises on the forest floor, even the calls of the larger wildlife echoing throughout the millions of leafs over our heads. I heard a doe's ear-piercing whine off to my left and the cough-like bark of a badger minutes later to my right. Many of the woodland critters in this area made their voices heard to us as we pressed deeper into their home. These are the beauties of nature that the animal inside thrives off. All of these wondrous sights and sounds, the glowing green of the leaves rustling on the treetops, the spread of the color across the ground in each blade of grass, the various fragrances spilling into the air from the reds, purples, yellows, blues and rainbows of each wild flower I caught Selina trying so hard not to step on. If these two really wanna tame that inner wolf, walks like this are the times they should practice.

I think Selina thought about that as well not too long after I did. Every now and again, she'd stop in her tracks as Jacob and I pushed on ahead until I noticed I couldn't hear her footsteps. I would look back and see her yards away in the distance making her appear small as if she was a scale replica of herself, standing in a single ray of sunlight beaming down between the tree limbs surrounded by a dozen other smaller rays. Her weight shifted over on her right leg, one hand tucked under the strap of her pack and the other hanging loosely at her side, wings and tail hovering still in the air, her entire figure was in a peaceful paralysis except for the wiggle in her nose as she pointed it to the leafs towards the sun's rays, taking small but rapid whiffs from the air. I forced myself to stop and watch her for a minute every time she did it. She looked so beautiful standing with such a stillness in the light. For the moments I stood drooling as I watched her, a pounding in my chest bashed against my ribs like a hammer in a way that soothed rather than harmed. As much as I would have loved to watch her do this all day, I eventually had to call her back to the trip, snapping her from her trance. Even for her, it may take some time to figure it out but she's on the right track, I could see it every time she stopped. I was almost astonished by how quickly she caught on to the idea of how this animal instinct works. But then I remembered who I was looking at.

I was hoping that Jacob would have at least given it a try. He's only ever scraped the surface of the possibilities once in his life and he has my persistence to thank for that. And he was so pleased with himself, I had thought that would have been motivation enough for him to keep trying on his own. He did hold his own pretty well last week in our sparring match, considering. Not to mention the one-shot kill on the smuggler boss he claimed. There's no way he could have made that shot being the Jacob I know on a daily basis so maybe he has been practicing behind my back... maybe he's already developed a moderate understanding of the animal side since that first moment he felt it training with the crossbow, maybe he's been teaching himself how to grasp onto that potential... fuck, I just gave him the crash course so maybe he's working on it right now and I can't even tell...

It hasn't been that long since I last saw him holding that crossbow... could he already understand the instinct enough to conceal it as well as I do?

I'm honestly not sure if that reality would surprise me. About half and half. But the thought quickly faded as my mind focused back on our path. We were drawing fairly close to our halfway mark. According to the map, our detour around that rock structure would have us hugging its wall until we break south. To my delight, we came within arm's reach of the stone barrier blocking our route about an hour and a half after our chatter died down. It looked like a mountain from where we stood. Towering gray stone rising high out of the ground spreading miles apart on both sides. The green of leaf is painted over the structure's summit causing it to blend in with the rest of the background from a viewpoint like the castle. If it wasn't for its outline on the map, we never would have known it was here and we really would have been screwed. Elrick would have mapped us straight through the thing and we wouldn't know which way to go around it. Left or right, it doesn't matter, they're both long walks to get clear of it but what if we turned left and gone east instead of west to the right like the map says? I don't want to think of where we would have ended up. It shames me to admit I don't think my navigation skills are that strong to get us back on track if we had gotten lost. Or home for that matter, we would have had to rely on Selina's wings to at least get us facing the right direction again.

We all took in a shared amount of awe in this boulder-like mountain then continued to do so as we started on again due west. The map measured about a mile of us having to walk along this thing until we're in a position to get back on track and that really kind of annoyed me. I almost wish we could go over it to save time, having to trail around it isn't getting us closer to Victor. But we do have time to do it right, just like Elrick wanted so that's what we're going to do, not that we have any other choice.

Selina dragged her feet behind me and Jacob dragged his behind her while we traveled along this stone wall in the middle of the forest. For a good portion of the walk, besides the tranquilizing voices of nature, the only sound heard was that of Jacob dragging his claws along the stone out of boredom. Eventually, Selina scolded him for it and the headache it gave her. These first few hours have been more hell on her than it has on Jake, she didn't grow up grounded like we have so I can only imagine how badly her paws must be aching. When I looked back at her, she walked with a small hunch, holding her palm against the wall of rock as she took quick, short breaths pointed at the grass in front of her. Jacob wasn't breathing much easier than she was but his legs would have much more stamina than hers so I'm sure he's fine. Give him five minutes and a doobie to toke on and he'll be ready to go again.

I soon decided it was about time we took our lunch break. We had made a good distance around the rock formation with little left to go and I didn't want to run these two dry. I was getting a little peckish myself so we took a short break. Jacob rolled two sticks from the Devil's Fruit in his pack and smoked one while I took my break time to massage the three miles of tension from Selina's paws. While she groaned with relief in my hands, I mentioned something to her about wearing those sneakers. I told her she needed to find a decent pair of boots, especially with the work the King will be having us do. We'll be running around all sorts of terrain and if she continues to wear these things, it's going to give her some serious pain. She quickly accepted the advice and said she would look into a pair when we got back to the city so I smiled and continued working out the stress from each of her toes, the pads of her paws, all the way down to the heels.

As much as she clearly enjoys my foot massages, Selina stopped me after a little while and slipped her sneakers back on so we could get to having our lunch. All three of us scavenged around for fallen branches and sticks for a small fire to cook the various different canned things I packed for a stew. Once we got the fire going, we relaxed and chatted while the stew brewed in the pot I brought in my pack. Jacob complained that I wouldn't let him eat his sandwich until the stew was ready which was hilarious in the manner he went about it. Whining like a child, a result from his exhaustion, then giving me the cold shoulder for every second that went by until the stew was finished. When all was finally ready, I fished three plates from my pack, three small bowls, three spoons then handed the other two one of each. I pulled out the three sandwiches and distributed them while Jacob passed around the drinks I stored in his pack, I took a grape juice, Selina took orange, and Jacob confided in his citrus flavored soda. Selina passed out the apples in her pack as well as a nice treat for each of us from the sweets I added. By the time we were finally ready to eat, each of our plates had a sandwich, a bowl of stew, an apple, a chocolate chip cookie frosting sandwich... thing... and a granola bar. It might not seem like much but we still have plenty of leftovers to grab seconds from. If we get hungry again before we reach Victor then we can take five to cook up a can of whatever else I packed or just munch on the small things.

We must have been hungry because lunch went by faster than it took to put together. Again, it wasn't much but it was devoured in a matter of minutes and left us satisfied regardless. When we finished, I tossed the very little remaining cooked stew into the grass for the wild animals to enjoy once we vacated the area, we all had a cigarette then burnt our butts to ashes because I've never approved of littering, Jacob shared the second joint he rolled earlier with Selina and I then we packed up all the utensils we used and took off once more.

The rest of the walk around the rock structure went by much faster. We were fully energized and the stamina lost had been regained. I convinced Selina and Jacob to kick it back in high gear until we cleared the wall, they seemed up to it after we finished our meal and I figured what better way to prepare for military field work than to make the most of this trip? Of course, when I brought it up, they both groaned at the idea so I went as far as to make it an order as a bit of a confidence booster. Jacob hated it but he complied and it made all the difference. From the moment we cleaned our mess and got back on the road, so to speak, we held an even pace jogging in a straight line alongside the stone wall. It was less than half a mile, I knew we could make it but I didn't expect the terrain to shift as drastically as it did. Once our will had first been tested and pants began to wheeze over our tongues, the hills and crowded forest floor morphed into something completely different. The majority of the unearthed roots and bushes that put the slack in our pace faded as our elevation inclined and soon, we found ourselves actually climbing uphill the further we went. Jacob and I were forced to dig our claws into the ground to keep from slipping and rolling back down to the bottom, using the trees as anchors as we leaped from the support of one to the trunk of another, climbing up and around it then bursting up the hill again to yet another while Selina soared upward, the wind under her wings, not even phased by the pull of gravity. We did this for the rest of the detour around the rock wall, even having to use the wall itself for support once the trees had started to fade from the area as well. It had almost become like we were climbing over the structure like I had thought about earlier and to my surprise, that is exactly what we did. Soon, all trees, shrubs, even tall grass had fled our surroundings, causing Jacob and I to cling to nothing but the wall and loose dirt the rest of the way. We had climbed uphill well over the treetops cluttered together above the forest below we once traveled through, exposing the bright, clear blue sky, the warm touch of the sun on our coats, the miles and miles of green wilderness spread in every direction - every direction except for south that is - but most of all, the giant oak below the castle now standing far in the distance. From our vantage point, it looked like any other tree from a reasonable perspective. Poofy, flush, dark brown bark holding up a glowing cloud of leaf over the smaller trees beneath it that could be seen as grass if it were in a painting.

This would be one for a museum. Not just beautiful but eluding as well.

I tried not to dwell on it for too long. Just long enough to get a few deep breaths in before I continued the climb. To both mine and my brother's relief, the elevation began to even out and some trees returned to our benefit as we came closer to the summit of our mysterious stone barrier. The path Elrick marked for us lead us up an average mountain of dirt that connected with the wall right under the base of it's top. Unfortunately, we had to climb vertically along the stone wall to make it over while Selina showed off her wings but thankfully, this task was made easy with the grapple I bought from Tyrone. I wasn't sure if I was going to get a chance to use it but I was definitely pleased once the opportunity rose. The vertical climb was well over the fifty foot maximum the grapple has so it got a little tricky. It took two good throws to get Jacob and I to the summit, I would find a decent latch point in the wall, Selina would hover close by and fasten it tightly just to be safe, I climbed up, latched onto the wall myself while Jacob made the climb then held on for dear life while I made the second toss that caught right at the edge of the summit. It took all of ten minutes to get the two of us to the top and once we were there, we had plenty of time to catch our breath as we stood in awe at what we saw next.

On one side of this rock formation are the glorious greens of the forest we found peace in traveling through and on the other directly in front of us, a petrifying display of overshadowed mountains of sizable trees in a mix of dark and depressing colors. The beauty we once walked through had vanished and been replaced with blacks and browns, some oranges and unpleasant greens, all of which did not make me feel safer about pressing on ahead. The summit the three of us stood on stretched ahead maybe fifteen feet before it dropped down to the horrors below. The slope was riddled with gravel and flat enough to make the trip down as simple as sliding to the bottom on a foot and knee. Leveled terrain now under our shoes, the ground began to engulf in a yellow-green water that turned the land around us into tiny islands the closer we got to the line of dark mountain sized trees all hovering over the dissipating ground. Each gloomy tree stretched a different height above, each with lazy tops that drooped down, each with thick vines connection one to the next, each with such a blackened bark, it was unlike anything I had ever seen. We were now caught in the swamp and this place reeked an evil stench to match it vibes.

Its innards were no less "majestic". Light was scarce as the dark trees above blocked out most of the sky which brought Elrick's concerns to reason. We still have more than enough time to make it through this place with plenty of sun to spare but if by some off chance, one such as the monster that's supposedly calling this place home cutting us off at some point, we'll be stuck in this place at night and making it to Victor will no longer be a liable option. It'll be too dark to navigate over these marshy waters and crumbling islands safely and if it comes to that, survival will become our objective instead.

We three kept quiet for the first thirty minutes hopping from island to island, Jacob and I doing our best to clear the edges as not to find false footing and fall to the contaminated waters while Selina fluttered over each stream like a butterfly. Though all was not silent. Even in such an unwelcoming place as this, there were still many insects and wildlife singing in the background. None such as deer or badgers now, their voices had been replaced with the croak of toads and the hisses of snakes, among many other frightening vocals.

"Nate," Selina calls to me from my side, breaking the silence between us as we all walked a long island.

"Yeah?," I replied, looking over to her.

"I not going to lie to you," she told me, reaching for my hand and holding it tight. "I am really creeped the fuck out right now."

"Stay strong, Goose," I told her, holding her hand tightly in response. "We're going to be fine."

"I'd feel a little safer in the air...," she mumbles, stepping closer to me in her walk.

"I'm with her, Nate," Jacob says from my other side. "You and me should be in the trees."

"I know, Jake, I know," I sighed. "Believe me, that's the way I wanted to do it but with the way these trees vary, we'll spend too much time just getting from one to the other. They aren't level like the ones back in the mountains, we can't just hop from one limb to the next. We still have a few miles to go, if we try to take to the treetops, we won't make it out before nightfall."

"Alright...," Selina mumbles again. "So what about the beast? What are we doing to avoid it?"

"At the moment, we're just playing off luck," I admitted, biting my tongue as I spoke. "We have no idea where it might be and as long as that remains to be a fact, we're not safe."

"Please tell me we're not going to just play off luck the entire time," Jacob says to me, leaning into my view.

"Of course not," I told him. "I've been scanning the area for any clues since we entered the swamp. A print in the dirt or maybe an unnatural marking in the trees. A shit ton of broken twigs as unlikely as that sounds. Something that will point me in it's general direction."

"Elrick said he'd kill us if we went looking for this thing," Jacob reminded me. "He doesn't make threats like that."

"I'm not trying to track it, Jake, I'm trying to evade it," I said then hopped over to another island with him as Selina glided over. "If I can figure out which way it went last, we'll go the other way around."

"That doesn't sound very promising," Selina says, looking back up at me as she took my hand back. "No offense, I'm sure you know what you're doing. I'm just a bit terrified... This places freaks me out..."

"I don't get you sometimes," Jacob says to her, looking by me.

"What do you mean?," she asked him, the both of them stopping in their steps a few feet away from another edge while I jumped over the gap to the next island.

"I mean you're this bad ass martial artist who may be the only person we know who could stand up to him," Jacob answered as he pointed at me waiting for them on the other side of a stream. "Yet you scare so easily to where you scream like the Phillip's twins do when they get excited about something."

"I'm not perfect, Jake," Selina tells him. "No one is, look at Nate. He has much more training and combat experience than anyone I've ever known but it still wasn't enough against the smuggler boss and from the way I understand it, he fought like a two-bit mobster." Selina processed her words then instantly looked across to me with an apologetic look on her face. "No offense, baby boy."

"No, you're right," I told her, holding my hand up in submission. "He kicked my ass. Twice."

"Alright, I get your point," Jacob said as Selina fluttered over the stream to me. "I'm sorry I brought it up."

"It's fine," Selina told him, "now come on, we're wasting time."

"Actually, give me a sec, wouldja?," Jacob asked as he turned towards a tree. "I gotta take a leak."

"Make it quick," I told him as he disappeared behind it.

"You think he's ever going to get used to us dating?," Selina asks, leaning on my chest while we waited on Jacob.

"I was wondering when you were going to ask that," I admitted, grinning at the thought as I wrapped my arms around her waist. "He hasn't exactly shown his support yet, has he?"

"No, he hasn't," she shook her head. "In fact, he's mostly gone out of his way to annoy the hell out of me since we left the city."

"Give him time," I told her then kissed her forehead. "Believe it or not, he's just being protective of me. In his mind, there's no chance of it working out because he knows we jumped right into the sex when we first met. Right now, he's just waiting for something to go wrong so he can rub the 'wolf love' thing in my face."

"So what you're saying is...?," Selina prompted me, a little bit of confusion on her face.

"That when he sees first hand that we're not going to break up as soon as he thinks, he'll warm back up to you," I answered, smiling at the adorable look on her face. "Give it a little bit more time after that and then he'll show his support."

"I'll take your word for it, I guess," Selina says, smiling lightly. "You know him better than I do."

"I'm in that guy's head," I half-joked.

"Holy shit!," Jacob's voice echoes from behind his tree.

"Jake?," I called out to him, looking back in his direction. "You alright?"

"C'mere," he echoed again. "You're probably gonna wanna see this."

I looked back at Selina who wore an oblivious face and simply shrugged. We released each other, I hopped back over to the island Jacob decided to soil with his urine, Selina fluttered over on her wings and we both walked around the tree he hid behind. On the other side, Jacob stood at the edge of the island looking outward into the distance.

"What are you looking at?," Selina asks him as we approached from his left.

"That," Jacob replied, nodding into the air.

We followed Jacob's gaze into the swampy air and stopped on a mutilated silhouette hanging from the neck by some type of cord tied to the tree limbs above. It's clearly a man but of what species can't be said. The skin that once held either fur, scales, or feathers to this man's body has been torn off completely leaving nothing but dried meat and exposed bones hanging by threads.

"Dear God...," Selina says, covering her mouth in horror.

As I gazed speechless at the poor guy hanging in the air, I reached around my pack, retrieved my bow and one of my reaper arrows then let it fly into the air, severing the cord that hung him in a second. My arrow struck another tree in the distance as the dead body plummeted to the filthy dirt island a few stepping stones away from ours. It smacked the ground with a loud thud, kicking up a large dust cloud that slowly faded as I returned my bow to its velcro holster on my pack.

"Selina," I called her attention, snapping her back to reality, "would you grab my arrow, please?"

"Yeah," she mumbled, spreading her wings to lift off the ground, "yeah, sure."

"Jake," I called him next, hopping forward to another island.

"Right behind you," he says as his sneakers plant into the dirt behind me.

We hopped two more islands then approached the body as Selina hovered back down to us, my arrow in her hand. As she returned it to my quiver for me, Jacob knelt down next to it as we all inspected.

"What the hell happened to him?," Selina asks, fear on her voice.

"I have no clue," Jacob answered, shaking his head, "I doubt Elrick would even be able to describe this."

"He's nothing but shredded meat and bone," I mumbled to myself, knelling down next to Jacob. Avoiding touching this mess as much as possible, I reached down by the head, which is nothing more than an old, stained skull with pieces of tissue still attached around the eye sockets and cheeks, and pulled out the cord that hung him from under his body. "What is this?"

"It looks like an umbilical cord," Jacob says, reaching for the strange tissue-like rope in my hand. "It feels like an umbilical cord. But this stuff is too strong, an ordinary cord couldn't hold this much weight without tearing."

"It's sticky...," I hummed, clenching and releasing the fist that held the cord. "Is that normal?"

"Not like this," Jacob says, dropping the cord and mocking my fist with his own hand. "Normal would be dried soda sticky. This is spiderweb sticky." Jacob began violently scratching at his palm with his claws, easily becoming frustrated. "It won't come off."

"Try some water," Selina suggested.

Jacob and I filled our mouths with water from our packs and washed the sticky goo from the cord off our palms, scratching away to be sure we were free of it all.

"I dunno what to make of this," Jacob says as he stood.

"Well, we know what did it," Selina said, her frightened look still glued to the body. "Why do you think he was hung up like that?"

"You got me," Jacob shrugged then looked down at me still knelt in front of the body. "Nate?"

"I can't say for sure," I admitted, shaking my head at the body as I stood. "Maybe he's a territory marking."

"Our swamp monster might not be too happy we just cut down its 'keep out' sign," Jacob pointed out. "We should keep moving."

"Switch your jackets, hoods up, no colors," I ordered, dropping my pack and pulling off my sweatshirt. As I turned it inside out to the silky black stealthy layer I had Elrick add to all of our coats, Jacob and Selina did the same and zipped up theirs, throwing their hoods up. We all put our packs back on, I threw my hood up, and we pressed back on our path. "Goose, keep your wings tucked in. Let's hope this thing has a crappy sense of smell."

With no other option, the three of us continued forward, silence following our muffled footsteps but this time out of caution. We now roam in the one sector of this swamp we hoped we wouldn't have to venture through. Or so we assume.

I honestly don't know what to make of that poor man. How long has he been hanging there? Did he put up a fight or was he hunted? Are there more like him around the area? I have so many questions and no answers for another few miles. We have no idea what we're dealing with and no way to find out without taking this thing head on. That scares the hell out of me. So for the next twenty minutes, I walked at the head of our small troop, guiding Jacob and Selina on a path I now know is no longer safe with my thumb pried between the hilt of the blade at my hip and the sheath that holds it, ready to strike at a moments notice. At this point, there's nothing more we can do other than keep our eyes peeled. Anything can happen now.

Soon, the islands we hopped across like a rock skipping on water began to spread from each other, making each long jump Jacob and I preformed further and further away as Selina took ease in floating on the air. Time moved faster, our destination grew closer, and the sun fell closer to the horizon leaving beams of its glistening light peering down into the swamp between the trees.

"Nate," Jacob called my name from behind as I hopped another long jump.

"What?," I asked, not stopping, refusing to turn around.

"Nate!," Selina called me next, her voice echoing from further back.

"What?," I replied again, finally stopping in my dusty tracks and turning around to find both of them standing a few yards away. "What did you stop for?"

"Look up," Jacob told me.

I looked up and saw nothing overhead. My eyes searched around the area and froze on another skinned body hanging from the same type of cord the last hung from. This one more fresh with little remaining blood dripping from the torn meat. But this body was not a man. It's an animal. Was. Was an animal. One that still holds enough figure to prove to have once been an alligator. Instead from the neck, this body hung from a skinless leg.

Or should I say scale-less?

"Nathan...," Selina calls me again, the fear returning harsh to her voice.

I looked back at her pointing off in the other direction. Jacob and I followed her finger to yet another hanging skinned body. This one had to have been here for years, there's almost nothing left of it. It's just a large clump of rotting meat hanging by yet another cord. Beneath it in the dirt of an island are old bones that must have fallen from the body as it decomposed.

"This is so wrong, Nathan," Selina says horrified as she fluttered over and stood as close to me as possible. "I feel like it's watching us."

"Me too," Jacob agreed, "I think we're getting closer to it. Maybe we should turn back."

"No, we can't," Selina says, her eyes watching our surroundings. "We've come too far, we can't turn back now."

"Then what do you suggest we do?," Jacob questioned her. "In case you've forgotten, Nate and I don't have wings, we can't fly out of here at a moments notice like you can."

"I don't know, Jake, but we can't stop," Selina told him, stress passing audibly over her lips. "Let's just keep going and hope we pass around it."

"That's a brilliant idea," Jacob says sarcastically.

"I don't see you coming up with anything!," Selina yelled at him.

"I get it," I mumbled, my gaze still switching back and forth between the old and fresh hanging bodies.

"You what?," Selina asks, looking up at me from my side.

"I get it now, I know how it hunts!," I exclaimed, pointing at the fresh body. "I was only half right, these aren't just markers, they're incenses!"

"Incenses?," Jacob repeated, "what are you talking about?"

"Don't you smell that?," I asked him, looking down from the fresh body. "That horrible stank that's filled the air since we entered the swamp?"

"It's the rotting meat of these bodies," Jacob replied, "I realized that after we found the first one."

"Right, and the stench has only gotten stronger the further in we've gone," I added. "Regardless, that smell is literally everywhere. This place reeks of death. Elrick said this beast is over forty years old so it knows that scent well, we've been moving for about twenty minutes since we found the first body so what does that tell you?"

"That it has a stronger sense of smell than you made us hope?," Jacob asks, partly making fun.

"And what do you think it's gonna do when it catches our scents mixed in with the decomposing bodies spread around this swamp?," I rhetorically asked him. When Jacob didn't answer, I turned my head and pointed at the older body. "Look at that one, there's not much left of it. Hardly anything at all."

"That one has some years on it," Jacob added. "It won't hold together much longer. I'm actually surprised it hasn't crumpled already. It probably doesn't even stink that much, not that you could tell in this atmosphere."

"That explains this one," Selina says, nodding up at the fresh alligator body. "This beast has a horrible taste in air freshener."

"I don't think it can hunt without it," I said, scratching my chin. "It's my guess all the natural scents of this swamp would confuse it so it uses these bodies to mask its territory. It catches a whiff of anything else and the hunt is on."

"That makes sense," Jacob agreed as he nodded. "So what do we do?"

"I have a very disgusting idea," I responded, feeling queasy as the thought passed. "We can mask our scents in that," I nodded at the hanging alligator, "and hope the beast is as blind as a bat in the day. Or we can push through as fast as possible and hope we miss it like Selina said."

"Ew," Selina groaned, giving me a disgusted look.

"I don't like it either," I told her, "but it could save our lives."

"I don't think I can," Selina says, pausing to gag. "I wanna puke just thinking about it."

I looked at Jacob.

"Don't even ask me," he told me, holding his hands out between us, "you know what I'm gonna say."

"Right," I mumbled, looking back at our path. "Running for our lives it is."

"How much further do we have to go?," Jacob asks.

I reached into my back pocket and pulled out the map to take a peek and estimate our general location. "Not much," I answered him after a few moments of staring at the paper. "Another hour, maybe two, and we're there."

"Then let's go," Selina said, grabbing my arm with both hands and pulling me ahead with her, "before we see something else we don't wanna see."

Wishful thinking.

As putrid as this scent is, as putrid as it would be coating our fur and clothing in it, I really think we should have bathed in that alligator's remains. The ideas Elrick gave me of this monster terrify me. Not for my own safety but for that of Selina, let alone Jacob. Sure, he's armed to the teeth as much as the rest of us but he doesn't know how to use all those weapons properly. He's just barely got down the crossbow and his martial arts training isn't anywhere close to finished. Granted he is improving well. But I seriously doubt it would do him any good here. He'd have a better chance holding his own against the smuggler's boss.

There's that and Selina's state of mind right now that worries me as well. She's a significant fighter but Jacob raises good points. I'm not saying she shouldn't be afraid but she sinks into the fear of what's to come if we're forced to confront the beast. That will immensely contradict her ability to fight if the time comes and I'm not sure I can cover both of them by myself.

Maybe we should have brought Anthony along. It's a little late to consider now but in hindsight, it would have made quite the difference. He has more speed than any of us, I would have been completely content letting him watch Jacob's back. Even so, after all this time, I still haven't come up with a way to convince him to tag along with us based on the small bit of information we have. A man and a cave we know nothing about. He'd call me crazy just like Selina did when I first told her and Jacob. Fuck, even I'm beginning to think I'm a little insane. I won't say it though. Selina would kick my ass for doubting myself.

All things considered, it's looking more and more like we're going to run into our monster regardless of what we do. The meat suits would have given us a better chance to elude the bastard but I suppose that's out of the question. I need to devise a plan but I don't have a lot to go on yet. The most I know of the monster is its thrill for the hunt. And its taste for meat. Its sense of smell is obviously astonishing so I doubt we'll be able to hide from it without some sort of camouflage that isn't revolting. I haven't caught of whiff of anything other than that rotting stench no matter how much I focus on it so that leaves us with options next to none. As far as I can tell, our best move is to improvise.

God helps us.

The swamp islands soon spread out too far for Jacob and I to hop the gaps. We found ourselves having to cross through the mucky waters, drenching the legs of our pants and filling our shoes with the contaminated liquid. It seemed the longer we traveled, the further we were forced to walk through it. It became deeper after a while, rising up to our waists. As it turns out, the water had a stench of its own, something almost identical to that of sulfur. The smell soaked into my jeans became a bit overwhelming for Selina and she paced a small gap between us to relieve herself of it. As much as I wanted to stay close to her, I didn't blame her. I can't really stand it much myself, it made me crave another bath. I hated that she was forced to stray away from me so much but it lightened the mood and eased my tension after Jacob stepped into a pocket, tripping, splashing a belly flopping in the water, soaking himself in the reeking odor from head to toe. We couldn't help but laugh at him but we still felt horrible. I helped him back up as he cussed out his frustration and pulled him back up on dry land so he could pointlessly wring his jacket and shirt out before we continued on. It didn't help the smell lingering from him whatsoever and I quickly gathered how agonizing it must be for Selina.

Soon after, we reorganized our formation. Selina, being the only one still odor free, I had take to the trees. Not only to free her from our new smell but her wings make it simple for her to traverse the uneven tree limbs and it gave us a great vantage point to keep an eye out for anything... monstrous. Jacob and I formed a short line on the ground with him holding up the rear so I wouldn't have to be downwind from him. After all, that trip in the water completely disintegrated his "natural musk" as he calls it. At this point, I'm fairly certain he's as disgusted with it as the rest of our trio, if not more.

As Selina fluttered overhead, Jacob and I found ourselves walking another long island which gave me opportunity to check the map I had thankfully moved to my pack before the water got too deep. Fortunately, the zip lock bag of Super Juice and my airtight tin case kept my bud and matches from soaking up any of the liquid in my pockets. It's only been about thirty minutes since I last pulled it out so we haven't covered much ground but being this close, I'm anxious to get this journey over with. At least the first half. I'm not nearly as anxious to make the trip back but we can't stay at Victor's. Not forever at least. Just for the night at the most.

Just before I had to lead my brother back into the water we both dreaded so dearly, Selina dropped from the sky like a rock, catching the air under her wings to ease into her landing between us and the island's edge.

"We got a small problem up ahead," she told us, backing off a few steps when she recognized our stink. "Actually, it's kinda huge."

"Do I want to know?," I asked, raising an eyebrow to her.

"You're gonna find out whether I tell you or not," she shrugged. "You might as well hear it. There's an enormous body of water about two-hundred yards up. Nothing short of a lake."

"Great," I said with a sigh. "That just penalized our time, we're gonna have to go around."

"Maybe not," Selina says, pointing back behind herself. "The islands stop but the trees don't, there's still plenty of them sprouting up out of the water one right after the other. You'd probably make it across faster than you'd make it around."

"So we do get to climb some trees today," Jacob says with a smile, sounding mildly optimistic as he pressed on ahead. "Childhood memories, here I come."

"Good eyes, Goose," I praised Selina then kissed her cheek. "Let's keep moving."

"I'll see you on the other side," she tells me, spreading her wings. "I love your kisses but I hate that smell."

I chuckled lightly to myself as she soared back into the air and flew ahead. Without wasting any more precious time, I followed Jacob's example and pressed on behind him.

We crossed a few more tiny rivers, moving from one island to the next as we re-soaked our cloths and fur in the foul scented waters. The dusty landscapes began to shrink in size as the two hundred yards passed quickly under our feet and after about ten minutes of walking weighted down by the thickness of the swamp water, Jacob and I approached the shore of the lake Selina spoke of. She really wasn't exaggerating. This body of water is so large, I could hardly make out the land on the other end. If it wasn't for the trees, someone might mistake it for an ocean.

Without giving me a moments' notice, Jacob immediately began climbing the nearest tree to him, digging his claws deep into the wood and pulling himself up higher one arm at a time. I had thought he would've asked to used the grapple but the calling he heard to do it the old fashioned way must have taken hold of him. I let him hold onto the lead and followed him up but with much less enthusiasm, I enjoy climbing trees as much as any ten year old kid but I've mostly broken the habit since we began living in the city. At least a bit more than he has, by the looks of it.

Traversing these tops definitely proved more difficult than the ones we're used to back in the mountains. This requires much more stamina than simply hopping from one limb to another. Once we actually made it up top, we had to make large leaps across a terrifying gap, catch a limb if we were lucky and pull ourselves up and if we weren't, catching the tree trunk itself was the only option left. It really made me glad I was born a wolf, claws made things so much easier than they could be and I use the term "easy" very loosely. I thought about using the grapple myself but when I focused on the semantics, that just seemed like way too much swinging for me so I stuck with the old fashioned way as well. It may or may not sound as simple as a one-two step process but it caught Jacob and I hyperventilating nonetheless before too long.

"God damn, this is taking forever," Jacob huffed passed his deep breaths when we paused to regain our strength. "Are we fucking there yet?"

"Not even close," Selina answered as she roosted on a limb above us. "You're barely halfway."

"Would it kill ya to lie to me?," Jacob asked her, leaning against the tree.

"No but this is funnier," Selina grinned as she replied, "for me anyway."

"Look, we're not gonna get any closer sitting here bitching about it," I said, struggling to speak through my gasped breath. "Let's just keep going and try not to think about how much longer it's gonna take."

"Easier said than done, Nate," Jacob argued. "Not even you can catch your breath right now."

"Jake's right, babe," Selina tells me, fluttering down to a branch at our level. "You could go a little further but if you don't stop to rest, one of you is going to jump too short and fall to your death. That or break some bones on impact with the water, either way, it won't end well."

"At this height, we'd basically be diving into stone," Jacob states. "I like my bones the way they are, thank you."

"Alright, alright, I get it," I pleaded, "we'll rest for a bit but we can't -

I was cut off in the middle of my sentence by a loud yet severely muffled thud from below and a wicked vibration throughout the tree that rustled the leaves and nearly shook Jacob and I out of the limbs.

"What in the hell was that?," Jacob questioned as he looked to the waters below then up at me. "Did a giant fall off a magic beanstalk somewhere?"

"You know I don't believe in magic, Jake," I said as I looked down, "and this isn't a child's bedtime story."

Again, a loud yet muffled thud echoed up to our ears followed by the violent vibration. I looked up to see only the leaves of our tree rustling after the thud then down and spotted thick ripples in the water around the trunk.

"I've got a really bad feeling in my gut," Selina says, the fear hard on her voice. 'Please tell me that's not what I think it is."

"I'm not gonna lie to you," I told her, staring down at the water. "I think we just walked right into the wolves den."

Before another word could pass any set of lips, the water erupted near the base of our tree, splashing a dozen feet into the air and from it, the one thing we dreaded to make eye contact with the most sprung out and hooked onto the tree with talon-like claws as it screeched a horrifying roar. The swamp monster we'd hoped to avoid was nothing like I expected, almost as if an ungodly hybrid of several deadly beasts. A body like an elephant-sized crocodile, the leg structure of a lion, an eagle's talon on each toe and sprouting thickly from its joints, its head shaped like that of a viper with the same paralyzing green eyes and its roar exposing the razor teeth you'd find in the mouth of any shark. Horns not much different than the spikes on its leg joints peak around the top of its head then spread down and cover every inch of the top of its body to the tip of its tail like a scaly armor. As threatening as this freak of nature is, we are lucky enough for it to be too heavy to climb as we watched it slide down the tree the dive back into the water, tearing chunks of wood out as it went.

"At least it can't reach us...," Jacob muttered, staring down at the water waiting for it to try to launch back up into the tree.

"Shut up before you jinx us!," Selina yelled at him, immediately dropping down to my branch and wrapping her arms around me with no intention of letting go. "What are we gonna do? Nathan, I can kill a man but I don't know if I can kill that."

"I don't think that thing is going to give us a choice," I told her, fighting the urge to gulp out of fear. "We can keep moving but it's just going to follow us. And judging by the hanging bodies we found, I really doubt it'll stay in the water when we get to the other side."

"Wait a sec, those bodies," Jacob reminded us, "if it can't climb, how did it get those hanging from the trees?"

Again, the beast launched out of the water and hooked onto the tree with another roar. This time before sliding back into the swamp, it took a deep breath, almost sounding like it was preparing to hock a loogie, then spat into the air with a powerful force. Ironically, it did spit a giant snot ball at us but within the snot is a ball of the same umbilical cord-like substance that thinned into its rope shape and trailed all the way back into the monster's mouth. The snot/umbilical ball nearly hit Selina, just missing her by inches, and smashed into a tree limb above us, spreading around the entire limb and answering Jacob's question. When the beast realized it missed, it chomped down on the cord, severing it from its body then dove back into the water once again.

"God dammit, Jake, what did I just say about jinxing us!?," Selina yelled at him again.

"Oh, yeah, blame the guy who asks the right questions!," Jacob yelled back at her. "How was I supposed to know it was going to do that?"

"Can we fight about this later?," I quickly butted in. "That thing isn't gonna wait for you two to resolve your issues!"

The thud from before echoed up to our ears once more, followed by the vibration and this time a loud crack and thousands of small pops as the entire tree shifted a few feet.

"Jesus Christ," I exclaimed, holding onto my limb with one hand and Selina with the other, "one more of those and this whole fucking tree is coming down, we need to move!"

Selina immediately freed up my arm, jumping from our branch and catching the air under her wings. Jacob balanced his way to the edge of his branch and kicked off with the powerful force of his adrenaline carrying him to the next tree. I began to follow behind him but when I had found somewhat stable footing under the same limb, the beast in the waters below smashed into the tree once again. The vibration of the initial impact threw me off balance and falling off to my side. I just barely caught another tree limb and saved myself from plummeting into the beast's jaws.

"Nathan!," I heard Jacob scream from the next tree as mine began to topple.

The large hunk of wood, no longer able to hold up its own weight, snapped at the point of impact our swamp monster thrashed its body against and started to fall to the water with me still in its tops. As I fought the instinct to panic and quickly scurried to the end of my branch, I looked down at the beast hooked to another tree preparing to hock another loogie, not at me or Jacob, but Selina once more who hovered in the air, watching me in horror as my tree subsided. The creature spit its mucus covered grappling hook just a moment before I leaped from the falling tree but by then, I was too far south to reach the limbs Jacob sat in or any tree limb for that matter. Instead, as I fell with the tree, I unsheathed the replica King's sword and sliced the cord of the snot ball with an uppercut as it flew by my head.

I know I have no time now to make sure Selina wasn't hit by the disconnected slime ball but I'm content knowing the monster can't reel her in. As fast as I could moved while free falling through the air, I sheathed the sword, reached down to grab one of the combat knives I had strapped to each boot, then thrust the blade into another tree just across from Jacob. That didn't instantly break my fall, the blade is inches deep into the wood but still it cut up the trunk in a vertical line as I slowly came to a stop a couple dozen feet from the water's surface. Relief washed over me in a heavy sigh then instantly washed away as I realized I'm not falling to my death anymore but instead, I'm hanging from the handle of a knife over my death.

Lovely. How ya gonna get out of this one, Nate?

"Nathan!," I hear Selina's voice call out to me from above, "are you alright?"

I looked up to catch her sitting next to Jacob in the trees. She hadn't been hit by the giant flying loogie.

"Thank God," I muttered to myself then hollered back up as I looked around, "I'm fine! Where is that thing?"

"The monster?," Jacob questions.

"No, Jake, the giant snot ball, I wanted to lather my fur in it and see if I could stick to walls," I sarcastically mouthed off, "yes, the fucking monster!"

"It dove back underwater when it saw you falling!," Selina answered.

Good, maybe I can get back up there without that bastard snapping at my feet.

I reached down to my other boot and retrieved the second combat knife. I managed to climb up a few feet, one knife at a time, before the water below me erupted once more followed by the swamp monster hooking to my tree. This thing is much more horrific when you're close enough to spot the blood lust in its eyes but the sudden fear did help me climb faster. I could hear it just underneath me trying to jump and climb its way up, snapping its powerful jaws like a caged shark. Its massive weight against the tree nearly shook my grip loose a few times and the more it happened, the less frightened and the more irritated I became.

I looked down to make sure I was out of its reach and that it hadn't given up on me yet and when I was, I pulled one knife out and slammed it back into the tree horizontally with as much forced as I could summon behind one arm then repeated this with the second blade. I then climbed up a bit and found the most unlikely footing standing on both knives as I practically hugged the tree. The beast below still ravishing the wood, attempting to make its way up to me and I could audibly tell how frustrated it became. So I rushed myself, removing my quiver and bow from my pack and strapping them to my chest as I always do, retrieving the map and compass and stuffing them in my damp pockets, hooking the claws of one hand to the tree, carefully spinning around to face outward then held my pack out in front of me. I looked down to make sure I wouldn't miss then dropped the pack. It fell right into the beast's jaws as it snapped it's razor teeth, tearing the fiber to shreds and smashing the glass bottles of the molotovs to pieces, allowing the chemical concoction Selina whipped up to spread around its mouth and down its throat.

"What the hell are you doing!?," Jacob yelled down at me but I ignored the question.

"Selina," I hollered up to her as I rummaged in my pockets for the matchbox in my tin case, "remind me to bitch you out after this!"

"What?," Selina yelled back down at me as I lit one of my incendiary arrows, "What the fuck for?!"

"For not using rum in the molotovs, I could use a drink right now," I said, laughing behind my words as I pulled back the arrow, "besides, when you fuck with chemicals, they tend to backfire!"

I released and the arrow flew true, straight down towards the monster, dodging its chompers and right into its mouth. My ear twitched as I heard the glass vial of the incendiary tip break and within the next instant, the entirety of the monster's mouth burst into raging flames. The fire blew by its teeth and exploded into the air, creating a hellish inferno underneath me and turning the damn thing into a wingless dragon for just a moment before it began to screech and roar in terror and agony. It thrashed around on the tree a few moments longer, biting ferociously at nothing. The monster attempted to inhale to hock another loogie but it only succeeded in guiding the flames deeper down its esophagus. It did manage to up chuck a few tiny fireballs accompanied by some more shrieks of terror then finally caught the sense to dive back into the water and disappear from sight.

Whoa. You know, I don't think a rum explosion woulda been that satisfying.

It grew quiet. I stood in place on the handles of my combat knives, bow still in hand, waiting for another sign of the beast so I could put another fire arrow in its eye. But I heard and saw nothing. Nothing but the sound of the leaves above blowing in a mild gust. Then, Jacob.

"Your tail's on fire!"

"Shit," I muttered, lifting my tail and snuffing out the flame as quickly as I could. "See? Instant recoil."

"That backfire line sucked!," Jacob yelled down to me again. "Now get up here before that thing comes back!"

I laughed and almost shook myself out of the tree. It took a second but I calmed myself down, holstered my bow, hooked to the tree, reclaimed my knives and began to climb my way back up to the both of them. By the time I reached the top and fell limp in the branches to get a little break, Jacob hopped over to me while Selina fluttered over on her wings as she always does.

"I didn't think it was that bad," I told Jacob as he sat on my branch. "What would you have said?"

"I woulda thrown a handful of those poppers in its mouth and yelled 'suck my bombs'," Jacob replied, crossing his arms.

I chuckled as Selina crouched next to me, looking almost emotionless. I couldn't tell if she was still overcome by fear or just too happy to display it.

"The things I'll do for you," I mumbled to her, hoping to break the silence.

She didn't speak, instead she pulled a hand back and slapped me hard across my cheek.

"You think I didn't notice?," she hollered at me, her emotionless expression replaced with anger. "The huge fucking slime ball flying at me? I'm a god damn black belt in several different martial arts under several different degrees! I'm trained to react in moments like that!"

"I'm sorry...," I mumbled again, shocked by her reaction as I rubbed my cheek, "I thought you were watching me fall, I just didn't want that thing to snack on you."

"If you hadn't wasted the time cutting the line, you could have caught yourself much sooner than you did!," Selina continued to scold me. "You almost fell right into that monster's mouth!"

"Well, actually -

"Shut up!," she yelled at Jacob, only glancing at him long enough to cut him off then looking back at me, "I can handle myself, all you did was make me worry!"

"I'm sorry, Selina," I apologized again, moving my hand to her cheek, "I know how well you can hold your own and you're right, I used up a lot of airtime cutting that cord. Just know that I did it because I care too much for you to take the risk."

"The risk be damned," Selina muttered, tilting her head into my palm. "Don't you ever risk your life to save mine again."

That's a promise I know I just can't make and I don't want to lie to her. Instead, I smiled and leaned forward to kiss her.

"And, um, for the record," Selina began, shrugging and looking away, "Jake's line was funnier." I let out a short laugh and looked at her like I couldn't believe she wouldn't side with me. She just smiled and shrugged again, "Sorry, baby."

"Ah, to hell with both of ya," I picked as I pulled myself to my feet. "I'll take damage ratio over comedy ratings any day."

"Hey, my way might not be as effective but at least I woulda gotten some laughs," Jacob said with a smirk then looked down below. "We should probably bounce before that thing comes back."

"At least we can agree on that," I said, looking down to the mucky waters. "I doubt that fireworks display killed it. Charred the hell out of its throat and probably pissed it off at the most, just enough to buy us some time."

"I hate the idea of letting that thing live," Selina barked as she looked down to the murky swamp. "It could have killed you." "But it didn't," I reassured her, holding a hand down to her. "C'mon, we'll get it the next time around."

Selina smiled with confidence, took my hand, and rose to her feet. With our monster tending to a burnt tongue, the three of us immediately got back on our path through the trees. Selina, soaring on her wide-spread purple and white wings while Jacob and I took one leap of faith after another through the trees as we struggled to cross dead through the center of a lake. The same lake that monster calls home. That only inspired us to move quicker, take shorter breaks, and push our stamina to their limits. In retrospect, we should have held an even pace instead of exhausting our strength in bursts of speed and power but regardless, it got the job done. It took longer than we could have hoped but eventually, we reached the other side and touched solid ground under our feet once more.

Jacob instantly kissed the dusty ground several times as soon as we did, ignoring the dirt taste enough to enjoy the reunion. Selina and I laughed at him and I thought to myself we wouldn't hear him mention tree climbing again for a while. But that aside and all things considered, I was proud of him. He's really coming into shape for the jobs that lie ahead of us. The trip through those tops were easier for me than they were for him since I ditched my pack, Jacob still had his loaded with supplies and still he kept up with me. Granted, he's hyperventilating like a bitch in heat but still.

Well done, buddy.

Jacob and I laid flat on our backs in the dirt for a little while, just long enough to catch our breath. Selina sat next to me leaning on one arm with her legs kicked out to the side and watched the waters of the lake to be sure that beast wasn't stalking us. We're all still a little stirred and the aftermath of the adrenaline is starting to kick in but we'll be prepared if it decided to try to get the drop on us again.

I just hope it doesn't. I almost want to take back the big words I said back at the lab. Not just mine but all of our words. Everything we said to Elrick about how we couldn't let it live, how we'd kill it or die trying or whatever else we said without thinking. Of course, I took Elrick's warnings to heart, he's too wise of an old geezer to ignore, but I honestly thought he might have been exaggerating just a little to keep us away from the beast. Lesson learned, Elrick doesn't dick around when shit gets real. That quality skipped his generation and went straight to Jacob.

"Come on, guys, get up," Selina urged Jacob and I. "The longer we sit here, the closer that thing gets."

"Speaking of, I've decided to give it a name," Jacob says as he struggles to sit up. "I'm calling it a Cock Sucker."

"Are you just insulting it or is there a punchline set up here?," I asked, sitting up after him and eying him along with Selina.

"Both," Jacob said, "I hate it and there's no way its' got so much shit caught in its throat without putting something in its mouth."

I chuckled and shook my head while Selina fell over laughing. I may never understand why she finds his jokes so amusing.

My ear twitched again to the sound of rushing water. I immediately shot my gaze to the lake and hopped up to a crouching position.

"Nathan?," Selina calls to me then looks out to the lake as well. "Tell me you didn't..."

"I heard something," I mumbled, "and it wasn't the wind blowing."

"Are you fucking kidding me?," Jacob complains. "How fast does that thing swim?"

Again, the sound of rushing water and this time, we all heard it. We all saw the ripples in the water in front of us and the quick glimpse of a thick, spiky tail whip out of the swamp lake.

"Doesn't matter, it's here," I said quietly, lifting Selina to her feet then grabbing Jacob's arm and pulling him up as well. "Weapons ready, this thing dies now."

Jacob pulled out the crossbow, loaded an incendiary bolt and took cover behind a tree a few yards away while Selina unsheathed her sword and did the same in the other direction. I hesitated as I looked around the shore of the swamp lake and found myself in the center of the monster's sight as its head slowly emerged from the water. Its large green eyes searing my body with their gaze froze me in place. I met the beast's stare and it began to make its way to the shore. An enormous scaly paw rose from the water and lifted the monster up onto the land. It growled softly, almost like a purr, as it took step after step closer to me. I stood perfectly still, whether out of fear or dominance is beyond me, most likely a little of both. I felt a deep need to stand my ground against it, a need that forbade me to move. A suicidal instinct to tell this thing I'm not gonna run. It walked right up to me, its massive size thumping the ground with each step until my snout was in its face. The beast actually sniffed me with large inhales and short exhales like a dog. My nose wiggled a little when I caught the scent of burning flesh coming from its mouth. Then, with one long breath, it rose its head, opened its mouth wide, exposing the rows of razor teeth and black, charred muscle left in its jaws and screamed its terrifying roar. Its hot breath came with a powerful force and caught me shifting to a more stable position to keep myself from being blown over. As it shrieked in my face, I knelt down and discreetly pulled one of the combat knives from my boot. When the monster emptied its lungs and lowered its head to see how its threatening display worked out, I bared my fangs and screamed back in its face as I plunged the knife into the beast's eye.

It screamed again and pulled itself back onto its hind legs, thrashing its head from one side to the other. While it panicked, I noticed its underbelly. From its abdomen to just below its neck is a large patch of leathery skin, no spikes, no armor, a perfect soft spot. The monster spotted me with its good eye, pulled back its left paw and swung at me full force with its talons. With the best timing I could manage, I jumped, palmed the beast's arm in my right hand and vaulted myself over the attack. When my boots hit the dirt, I took a firm grip on my sword, spun around and sliced the soft spot with a diagonal uppercut. The beast recoiled to its side giving me an opportunity to retrieve the blade I left in its eye. I sprinted over to its right hind leg, hopped up and pushed off the spike at the joint. The second I landed on its back, the beast tried to buck me off. It bounced me into the air but I caught my footing atop the monster once more and bolted across its spine as it bucked again. I bounced again and landed on its head, grabbed the knife and ripped it out. The serrated back of the blade must have ripped out some good chunks because the beast roared and bucked its head, sending me flying into the air away from it.

I tried to level out but I was spinning too quickly and I was sure I was about to have a painful landing when I felt a pair of arms tighten around my chest. I looked down and saw the white of Selina's hoodie sleeves.

"What the hell are you doing?," Selina barked in my ear as her wings flapped violently to carry me to the ground.

"Playing the field," I said with a smirk as our feet touched the ground. "Thanks for the catch."

"Can't let that pretty face get scratched now, can I?," Selina joked while we watched the beast screech and sniff for a target. "Please tell me you have a plan other than pissing it off."

"I might have an idea, yeah," I said with a nod. "Think you can distract it for a couple minutes?"

"Are you serious?," Selina asks, shifting her gaze to me. "Why?"

"I'll explain later," I told her as the monster picked up a scent and bolted in our direction, "Jake, tag team him!"

I watched Jacob drop down on one knee, take aim with a lit incendiary bolt and pulled the trigger. The bolt flew fast and impacted against the monster's face. The tip exploded in a blaze, knocking the beast off its course and encasing the side of its head in flames. Jacob quickly stuffed the crossbow in the hunting bag, dropped his pack and charged at the beast as he pulled out the mace.

"I just need a little time, go!," I told Selina. "And leave your pack." She nodded, dropped her pack on the ground then spread her wings with her sword in hand and shot towards the monster to help Jacob fight it off.

I want to craft a bomb out of my poppers but I'm going to need the cord in Selina's survival kit. As I retrieved everything I needed and began to tie six of of the poppers together, I watched the others battle the beast. Jacob smashed its bottom jaw when he swung an uppercut with the mace and without hesitating, he jumped, spun a verticle three-sixty and slammed the mace down on the monster's head with even greater force. Jacob had trouble catching his landing and fell over to his side. The monster saw this and rose its right paw, talons extended, and tried to cut him while he was down. Selina, carrying her weight on the air, soared by, blade raised, and sliced the paw with one swift attack. The monster recoiled again while Selina pulled Jacob to his feet then pounced toward them with a roar. Jacob rolled off to the side while Selina pushed off the ground just as the beast landed. It looked at Jacob, growled then gazed up, inhaled and hocked a corded snot ball into the air. Selina dodged, letting the ball fly by her. The frustrated monster roared at Selina hovering above then tried to tag her with a snot ball again and again.

"Jacob!," I hollered, as I twisted the fuses of all six poppers together, "shoot out its other eye!"

Jacob turned back to the beast spewing its spit at Selina and loaded a normal bolt in the crossbow. As he took aim, I retrieved another match from my tin case and lit the fuse of my bomb. Dropping everything else, I stood with the lit bomb in my hand. The very second Jacob pulled the trigger on the crossbow, I burst into a full powered sprint. As I closed the distance between me and them, the bolt hit its target and cut deep into the beast's only good eye. It screeched viciously and slammed into a tree as I zoomed passed Jacob. As the monster stood again, sniffing around in every direction for a scent, I dropped to my knees and slid across the dirt ground, bending backwards and limbo-ing my body underneath the beast. I dropped the bomb directly under the monster's soft spot and rolled to my feet on its other side.

"TAKE COVER!," I screamed to the others then ran to the edge of the shore and jumped. My feet left the ground and in the next moment, my bomb exploded behind me with one hell of a concussive blast that hurled me into the water.

The next few minutes were quiet. Disoriented from the close proximity blast, I surfaced and dragged myself up to the land. I sat kneeling for a moment and looked around. The monster lies motionless in the dirt surrounded by a huge cloud of dust, a large pool of blood spreading around it and the visible top of its body shredded to hell from the inside out. The shrapnel in the poppers tore straight into it and out through the tough scale-like armor, completely destroying its insides.

There's no way that thing is getting up. Where are Selina and Jake?

I tried to look around for them but caught myself falling to my hands. Suddenly, I grew dizzy and began finding it hard to focus my vision.

"Nathan!," I heard Selina's voice cry. "Jake, I found him!"

Thank God, they're alright.

"You okay, buddy?," Jacob asks as he and Selina jogged out from behind the beast's dead body.

"No," I grunted, squinting at the ground "I can't.. something's wrong."

"Jake, his neck," Selina pleaded as I felt the energy in my body start to drain.

"Shit!," Jacob cussed as I fell over on my side. I couldn't see but I could hear Jacob scurry across the ground to my head. He lifted me up, rested me on his lap and pressed his hands on the side of my neck. "The shrapnel in the blast must have nicked his jugular, Selina, I need the survival kit in my pack."

"NO," I grunted as loud as I could, "the shots."

"The shots?," Jacob repeated, "Those syringes the Old Man gave us?"

"I'll go grab one," Selina said just before I heard her wings flap and felt a gust of air against my face.

"Selina, wait!," Jacob yelled but it doesn't sound like he stopped her. "Dammit! Those fucking needles aren't going to close that hole in your neck, Nate!"

"Elrick said...," I grunted through my ditzy state. "Elrick called them... an extra life... he said if it comes to it... they might be the only thing that can save us."

"He also said there's no telling what they would do to you, specifically," Jacob reminded me. "Are you sure you wanna risk that?"

"You sow me up... and we spend the next few days... right here with that monster's body," I told him. "It'll take too long for me to recover... and you guys can't carry me... this is the only way."

"I got it!," Selina hollered between the distance as she soared back over to us.

"I have to keep pressure on the wound," Jacob told her as she flutter down and knelt next to us. "You're gonna have to inject him."

"What?," Selina asks, fear on her voice. "I don't know what I'm doing, Jake!"

"Neither did he when you stopped breathing but that didn't stop him from knocking me out and beating you back to life," Jacob snapped, "now do it! He's already lost too much blood!"

"Right here, Goose," I told her, straining to point at my chest. "Right in the heart."

"Dammit, Nathaniel," Selina pleaded.

I heard her yell then felt a sharp pain on the left side of my chest. Selina drove the needle in hard and right on target. As she emptied Elrick's formula into my heart, I felt something wet on my face. I opened my eyes and saw the blurry vision of Selina crying over my dying form. I want to comfort her but I'm also loving this. I smiled lightly at the thought of this girl not wanting to lose me, I don't think I've ever felt so wanted. But that quickly faded as the formula took its affect. I swear, for a moment, my heart stopped and my entire body clenched up. My smile vanished, my eyes opened wide and silence struck us all for a single moment.

Then, I felt pain. Every muscle in my body seized and I started screaming. Jacob made Selina hold me down while he held pressure on my neck but at this point, I had completely forgotten about my jugular. Every part of my body convulsed, pinching the nerve endings and afflicting me with such a horrible agony that my voice quickly went hoarse soon after the serum took affect. I've never felt anything as bad as this.

"Jacob, what's happening!?," Selina cried out as she struggled to hold me still.

"I don't know, Selina!," Jacob barked at her.

I don't know either but I don't like it. I don't know what's happening to me and I don't know how long it's going to last. I don't know if there's anything else that can be done other than to wait but that's what they did. Selina held me, crying for my life, Jacob held my neck, probably criticizing me in his head for not letting him stitch me up, and me seizing in their hands screaming blood churning murder with what little voice I had left. I began to wonder if it would end and for a brief moment, I contemplated suicide to make it stop. My arms thrashed around looking for something to stab myself with and then I remembered the syringe. Just as I started to reach for it, my body went limp and I slipped out of consciousness.

When I woke, I strained to open my eyes. My eyelids were heavy and fought against me but I came out victorious and managed a lazy stare. My vision is still blurry and all I really see are fragments of sunlight gleaming overhead like stars in the moonlight. I realized I was staring at the leafy roof of the swamp after a minute then slowly waved my gaze around to see what else I could make out. I shifted my head to the side and realized it was resting on something warm and soft. I squinted and focused my vision a little more, it's still hard to see but my wits are finally coming back to me. I can see... purple.

"Selina...?," I muttered with barely any volume in my voice. My sight began to return as Selina rose up and smiled. "What am I laying on?"

Selina giggled as she smiled wider and brushed her hand across my cheek. "My lap," she said softly. "You've been out for a couple hours."

"What happened?," I said, groaning through my words.

"I think you better let Jake explain it," Selina told me, looking off to the left. "I'm still trying to process it."

"That bad, huh?," I asked then dragged my sight over to find Jacob.

"By the looks of it, I'd say it's better than we thought," Jacob said, walking over and sitting next to us. "I can't even begin to explain exactly what happened. That's a question for the Old Man. But I can tell you what we saw."

"Mkay," I said, slowly rolling over on my side to sit up. "What did you see?"

"Well," Jacob shrugged, "Feel your neck."

My neck!

I rushed a hand up to feel for some stitches or a patch, whatever Jacob would have used to fix me up while I was out but there was nothing. Nothing but my own fur.

"What the hell?," I mumbled, rubbing my neck.

"It sealed up," Jacob told me, "Instantly, right in front of us. Your artery was split wide enough for me to stick a small coin in it one second and the next, it seared itself back together, skin and all."

"Then your fur grew back like it never happened," Selina cut in, staring off into the memory. "There's not even a scar."

"Speaking of scars...," Jacob said, as he removed his pack and dug into it. What he pulled out looked like my sweater. As he handed it to me, I looked down at my chest and realized I was topless. And whole. Without thinking, my free hand slid through the blue and grey fur that covers the four scars I once had across my chest, courtesy of the smuggler boss.

"I took your sweatshirt off to wash the blood out of it when I noticed they were gone," Selina said, staring at my chest.

"How do you feel?," Jacob asked.

I sighed, laid back down in Selina's lap, and closed my eyes as she stroked my cheek. "Groggy," I answered. "Hungover. My muscles are screaming at me but I think I'll be alright. Just let me rest for a minute."

"Take as long as you need my big, strong suicidal bomber," Selina says, smiling and pinching my cheek. "I'm going to kick your ass for pulling that crap later."

"Don't take too long," Jacob butted in. "The day's almost gone."

"Any idea how much further we have to go?," Selina asks.

"Ask him," Jacob said, probably pointing at me.

"Well," I said, pausing to think for a moment. "I'm just guessing without looking at the map but I'd say less than a mile, considering the distance we went jumping across that lake."

"We better kick the dirt when you're ready," Jacob says. "We don't have much light left to burn."

"Don't worry, I'm still motivated," I told him.

"Good," he said as I felt a poke in my arm. I opened my eyes and saw Jacob handing me the water tube on his pack. As I drank vigorously, he leaned forward on his knees and asked, "So what was that comment you made earlier about damage ratio?"

"Jake," I said with a cautioning tone.

"What?," he asks, raising his hands, "I'm just trying to say I told you so, at least give me that."

"Fine," I groaned as I rolled my eyes and tossed the water tube at him. "But just so you know, that only worked because that fat fuck was so focused on Selina."

"Yeah, what was with that?," Selina asks, raising a hand to us. "I gave it a paper cut and flew away, you guys burned the fuck out of it and beat it in the face, why did it keep going after me?"

"Because you don't stink," I told her.

"Um...," Selina paused then laughed, "Thanks?"

"Maybe I should be more specific," I said with a chuckle. "That thing hunts by scent, remember? When Jake and I soaked ourselves in that disgusting water it must have masked our scent. Especially him considering he fell in face first. Since you flew most of the way, you're scent was the only thing it could pick up from a distance."

"That explains a lot," Selina says, nodding to herself. "That's why you wanted me to distract it."

"And why it just growled at me after Selina gave it a splinter," Jacob added.

"That's also why it didn't see me coming after you shot out it's other eye," I concluded, nodding to Jacob then looking around the swamp. "So it is dead? It didn't crawl away went you weren't looking?"

"No," Jacob shook his head as he reached in his pocket. "We carried you as far south as we could then stopped to rest here about half an hour ago."

"Jake was worried that thing had babies or something," Selina said with a laugh as Jacob tossed me the compass.

"Hey, the paranoid survive," Jacob said, pointing at her.

"He's right," I said, chuckling to myself. "About the paranoid part, not the monster babies."

"Whatever," Selina said, smirking and rolling her eyes. "I'm just glad everyone is still alive."

"I'm glad that thing's dead," Jacob pointed out. "Think about it, with that thing gone, this whole region to open to us to come and go. As long as we can get to him, we got Victor by the balls, he has to tell us what he knows."

"I don't know if it'll be that simple," I said as I slowly rose to my feet, "but we will get some answers."

"Then let's go get 'em," Jacob said then pointed behind me. "Your sword and bow are right there."

I turned around and saw the sword Selina loaned me safely stowed in its scabbard leaning against a nearby tree along with my bow and quiver. After taking a quick peak at the compass to get a sense of direction, I stuffed it in my pocket, put on my still damp sweatshirt, helped Selina to her feet and fastened all my weapons to my person.

"Everybody ready?," I asked as I tightened my quiver strap to my chest. They picked up their packs and nodded with confidence. "Alright then. Let's go."

Jacob was right, the daylight is bound to fade soon so we wasted no time. We stomped through dirt, mud, and thick, foul waters just as we did coming into the swamp but this time with gusto, kicking up puffy tan clouds with every step. Killing the beast filled us with such an adrenaline fueled confidence, Jacob and I raced each other through the ends of the swamp as we jumped, vaulted, and sprinted across and over every island, stream, and unearthed tree root. Selina, riding the air as she does, weaved between trees and over bushes, sticking her tongue out at us with a grin on her face as she sped by. I could have seen that coming but Jacob must have taken it as a challenge and stormed ahead of me to try to catch up with her. Though the adrenaline flowing through my veins drowned out my exhaustion, I could still feel some tension in my muscles from that miracle shot so I hung back just enough to sustain myself without falling behind but that doesn't mean I slowed down. I want to reach Victor more than any of us and when it comes down to it, I'll get the answers I want from him or he's going to bed tonight with a reaper head in his throat. That may be a bit excessive but I don't care at this point. I've been kicked, punched, knocked out, kidnapped, shot at, stabbed, ripped apart, hospitalized in a coma, set up, lied to, placed in an assassin's fucking cross hair, I've beaten, threatened, killed, manipulated, lied, stolen, I forced my brother to take a life, I've nearly given up mine more than once and almost lost my girlfriend in a quest for control, I've taken down an entire criminal organization and thrown myself out as bait in a failed attempt to hunt down said assassin, and now I've blown up myself and a massive, cannibalistic creature that hasn't been matched evenly in forty years. I've had too much on my plate lately so either someone explains why I'm going the extra mile to find this guy or I go over the edge, take a page from Jacob and find pleasure in ending a life tonight. I am fed up with this shit.

The rage brewed slowly within me as the thought of facing this man boiled my brains. The further we pushed on, the closer we came, the angrier I was. That thought lingered in the front of my mind as sand and dirt turned back to grass and flowers under our feet. After spending the later half of the day marching through that hellish swamp, we finally burst through its borders and stopped to take a breath on whole, green fields at last. We all gazed on the path ahead while Jacob and I caught our lungs. The bright green land below is decorated across the horizon with large oak trees, tall weeds and shrubs, healthy, blue rivers and in the middle of it all, one single dirt path that lead into this tiny forest. Far in the background but too big to ignore, the large mountain range we've been headed for all day stands gloriously in front of us. Victor's homestead is right at the base of that mountain. All we had to do now was follow that trail.

Selina, Jacob, and I decided to walk the rest of the way. The sun began a slow decent behind the treeline to the west as the grass under our feet patched over the start of our trail. The sky shined a bright orange color with not a single cloud in the sky to obstruct the beauty it rewarded us with. The wind blew a cooling gust through our cloths and fur that tingled and relaxed the skin while carrying the sweet scent of lilacs and pomegranates on the air that tickled our noses. It's almost as if Mother Nature herself has seen our struggle and given her aid to sooth our stress. I'm probably the only one of us seeing it that way but if I don't, I might lose it. Besides, taking in the surrounds has always been one of my more favored hobbies, no sense in breaking the habit now.

Before too long, the trail we followed snaked back and forth between the trees and hills then straightened out towards the base of the mountain above. As step after step passed under our feet, the trail widened little by little. In the distance ahead I could see the trees spread out and inevitably fade around a large open field. The grass here seems somehow greener than in the rest of the kingdom. It's thicker and every blade is rich with life as they dance in the breeze. The hues in every wildflower glow like neon in the dusk lighting and the birds in the surrounding trees sing their own individual song to accompany the view. As we neared the edge of the field, the mountain's base came into sight a few dozen acres ahead and in front of it, a large, luxurious cabin. The cabin, tall enough to contain two floors, stands between two huge trees and appears to be made from the same wood. Each plank seems to be cut right down to specific measurements and sanded with such skill, it shines like glass. On each side of a set of double doors are enormous panel windows exposing some leather furniture and tall bookshelves behind one and what seems to be a pool table behind the other. Just above those two rooms, an awning stretches out towards us over a slick foundation made from a darker wood and rests on four columns. On top of all of that, the second floor stands up high with only three smaller windows and a gable and valley style roof with red shingles. The three of us walked the field, all of our eyes fixed on the cabin as its glamorous details became visible. Each column holding up the awning is carved from top to bottom in a thick wavy pattern with thousands of inscriptions in a language unknown to me and several designs scattered around them forming demonic looking creatures in the same style. It all blended together nicely, you could easily overlook many of the designs if you weren't looking carefully. To match each column's uniqueness, the double doors between the two wall windows is carved in the same wavy pattern but show seven distinctive head designs. There are three on each door and one in the center where the doors meet, each head and face carved with too much detail to not be based off someone's identity. Three are women and four are men, each one with it's own species and each with a very specific facial expression. The way all of this is designed, it's almost like this front porch is trying to tell us a story. Aside from all the fancy carvings, every window and door is lined with gold and silver as well as the columns and the corners of the entire cabin. The foundation touches the ground below with four large steps and on each side of it a very well cared for flower garden.

"This isn't exactly what I was expecting," Jacob mumbled as we stood in awe in front of the huge fancy cabin.

"This guy has me beat," Selina admitted dreadfully, "my cabana is nowhere near this... I don't even have a word for it. What would you call it?"

"Shiny," I joked.

"I call it overkill," Jacob says, pointing at the doors. "Look at the doors, those faces are fucking creepy."

"Who do you think these people were?," Selina asks as we walked up the stairs.

"I was thinking they might be members of the family that mighta built this place," I mumbled as we stepped up to the doors and inspected the faces.

"You_were_ thinking that?," Jacob repeated, peering his gaze over to me with curiosity. "What are you thinking now?"

"Look at their faces," I said as I pointed to one head. "This guy has a wide smile and narrow eyes, almost like he's proud of himself."

"Look at the chick right above him," Selina says, pointing at the face on the door then grinning at me. "Does that look familiar?"

"That's the same look you give me right before you jump my bones," I grinned back and laughed. "She's looks lustful like she was wet when she posed for this."

"This guy over here looks pissed off," Jacob said, pointing across from the lustful woman.

"Why would these people make these stupid expressions?," Selina asks, placing her hand on her hip.

"That's just it, I think the expressions are what's important, not the people," I told her then looked back at the door and shrugged. "The thing I can't figure out is why."

"Wait a minute...," Jacob mumbles, squinting and leaning in on the doors. He then starting pointing at the same ones we mentioned, "Pride, lust, and wrath... Nate, what expression would you say the rest of them have?"

"Uh, well, Anthony's better at facial recognition than I am but I think I've picked up enough hanging around with him," I said, examining the four heads we hadn't gone over. "The guy at the top looks tired... the woman below him has a sort of yearning look in her eye, like she's jealous... and the guy across from her... he's the only one who likes like he didn't pose for this..."

"Yeah, but he's fat," Jacob said, pointing at the chubby face. "Gluttony. This bitch is Envy and above them is Sloth." Jacob then looked at the last one in the bottom left corner and pointed, "That makes this guy Greed."

"How do you know that?," Selina asks him.

"How do you not know it?," Jacob countered, raising his finger to the door. "These heads represent the seven cardinal sins in the Christian religion."

Selina and I raised an eyebrow to him and let silence stand for a moment.

"The seven most deadly vices among men?," Jacob says, as if that would jog our memories.

"I'll ask again, how do you know that?," Selina says, her curiosity spiking even higher.

"Uh," Jacob mumbles, scratching the back of his head and looking down at the ground, "let's just say the Old Man's been giving me more lessons than you think and leave it at that."

"Mkay then," I muttered then looked up at a bell hanging above the right corner of the doors. "What do ya say we move on to the reason we're here?"

I reached up to the chain hanging from the bell to ring it but when I pulled down the ball came down with the chain, revealing a thick wire concealed within. When I realized something was wrong, I released the chain but something in the wall had already clicked. The wire pulled the ball and chain back up into the bell and at the same instant, the floor under our feet gave out and we all fell. It was a very short fall, short enough for Selina to dog pile on the rest of us before she caught herself on her wings but still too high to reach. We coughed and waved the dust away as we slowly rose to our feet. I looked up and spotted a bulky silhouette standing above at the edge of the trap door we fell for so easily.

"Took you long enough," a mysterious deep voice broke the ice. "Where ya been, kid?"

"Who the hell are you calling kid?," I barked up to the man. "Are you Victor? Get us the fuck out of here!"

"Try not to tell me what to do," the silhouette said as it bent down and reached for something. He pulled up the first half of the trap door and clicked it into place. "I'm gonna be straight with you, kid, I know why you're here and I'm not going to help you."

"Like hell you're not!," I yelled up at him.

"Jesus, let me finish before you bite my head off, you little shit!," The man yelled back at me. "I'm not going to help you because you're here to help me."

"Well, you've sure shown some God damn hospitality!," I yelled at him again.

Before another word was spoke, a quick gust of air kicked up the dust around us as Selina blasted into the air up towards Victor.

"Selina, wait!," I called out but she ignored it. Jacob and I watched her fly out through the half closed hole above and out of sight with Victor. We kept quiet and listened to her rumble with him, we heard a few smacks and stomps in the dirt then a thud and silence once more. "Selina!?"

"Shut up, she's fine," Victor's voice replied as his blackened silhouette returned. "Don't worry, she'll keep me company while we're waiting on you. Hope you're not afraid of the dark." Victor then knelt down and reached again.

"Victor!," I yelled as he pulled up the second half of the trap door. "VICTOR!" The door closed, latching into place and suddenly it was dark.

However, it didn't stay dark for very long. Our eyes adjusted and Jacob and I found ourselves in a small, stone room with absolutely nothing in it but the torches attached on the walls and the two of us.

"Not the first impression I was hoping to make," I growled to myself, anger hot on my voice.

"Nate, look at this," Jacob said from behind me. I turned around and walked over to him standing at the only door in the room. "This door is three inch thick steel and there's five bolt locks on the outside."

"You don't put in a door like that unless you're using the room as a holding cell," I said, pulling the door open and walking into a long hallway.

"You don't drop someone in a holding cell and leave the door open if you're trying to keep him captive," Jacob adds, walking out into the hallway with me. "You think he wants you to find you're way out?"

"He's testing me," I mumbled, looking down both ways of the hall. "I swear to God I'll tear him open if he hurt her."

"I don't think you have to worry about that for now," Jacob told me, looking down our path choices as well. "So far, it looks like he's trying to tell you he's in control."

"I'm still going to fucking hurt him," I growled again.

"So which way do we go?," Jacob asks. "Everything looks the same down here."

"Hm...," I hummed then walked down to right end of the hallway. There was only another hallway that stretched down to the left and right with torches along the walls exactly identical to this one. Jacob followed me as I then walked passed the holding cell down to the other end of this hallway. To the left of this corridor, it was mostly dark. There were still torches on the walls but they weren't lit and far down towards the end I could see the torches of another corridor. To the right, it was pitch black. "That fucking dick is toying with me," I mumbled then turned around to Jacob. "Jake, hold the end of my tail."

"What?," he replied, disgust spreading across his face. "Why?"

"He basically told me how to get out," I told him. "We just have to follow the dark."

"Great," Jacob complained as he grasped the end of my tail. "Don't get us lost down here."

We're not going to get lost. Victor already gave me the answer to his maze down here and it couldn't have been more obvious. So I began leading Jacob down the right passage, straight into the pitch black darkness. This darkness is too thick to see through, even for me, so I hugged the walls and relied mostly on my sense of touch. When I reached the end of a hallway, I looked down both to the left and right. If there was torch light at the end of one, I went down the other. It was a simple yet clever tactic he used down here. He must have snuffed out the torches in these passages to keep the way out hidden, just in case his captives somehow broke free from that room. People don't generally choose the unseen path so unless you get a clue like, "I hope you're not afraid of the dark" you're probably likely to spend hours running down random corridors. For this to be effective enough however, the passage out has to be short and the number of lit hallways has to out number the dark ones. That way, by the time you realize you should have checked the dark passages, you're already lost in the maze. Trapped in the light.

It's really a shame, this would have been much more challenging without that hint but by the sound of things, Victor's as tired of waiting as I am. That brings the question to mind, why exactly has he been waiting?

I can only imagine how big this maze really is but what's important is the escape route. I dragged my hands along both walls as I walked the corridors. Corner after corner, Jacob and I traveled the darkness until at the end of one hallway both the left and right paths were pitch black. There wasn't another torch down either passage.

I heard Jacob feel his way along the wall next to me with my tail still in his hand. "Now what?," he asked, probably still looking for a torch. "If we turn here and lose that light behind us then we're fucked."

"No...," I mumbled, still looking from left to right. "It's a trick to get us to turn back. The exit has to be around here somewhere."

"Okay, so which way do we go?," he asks.

"Neither," I answered, holding a hand out in front of me and stepping forward. Instead of finding a wall, my hand went straight through revealing another path in front of us. This must be the only four-way intersection down here. We've been taking nothing but left and right turns, anyone else would have turned down one of these dark hopeless passages or gone back. "Found it!"

"Great, let's get the fuck outta here!," Jacob exclaimed.

I stepped forward onto a staircase and walked up slowly, careful not to step wrong and tumble down backwards. Jacob released my tail and felt his way up the stairs behind me. I kept going up with a hand in front of me until I felt a wall once again. But it isn't stone, it's wood.

"Found a door," I told Jacob as I felt around for a handle. "When we find him, I get the first swing."

"No objections here," Jacob said. "Now open it before I go permanently blind."

I found a long handle with a simple thumb switch latch and opened the door. The light on the other side blinded us momentarily as we stepped into it. Jacob closed the door behind us and we looked around. Laminated hard dark wood floors, red wallpaper with floral patterns and gold trim, mounted unlit torches with several fancy paintings and a couple podiums with busts of men bearing a strange insignia on the collar of their shirts. At the end of the hallway to the left I can see the edge of the pool table we spotted through the windows outside.

"In here, Nathaniel," Victor's voice called out to us from the right.

Jacob and I jogged to the end of the hall and into the room with all the bookshelves and leather couches and chairs. In the center of the room, an oval shaped glass coffee table with a metal frame stands between all of the furniture. Selina sat in the chair closest to the wall window, twiddling her thumbs and looking at me nervously. Sitting as formally as possible in the couch next her is the man we've been looking for. He's a timber wolf, like me. His coat is a simple flat grey but his short beard, not much longer than mine, and long, sleeked back hair are a dark brown with random strands of grey. His eyes, while harsh and piercing, are a blue-green hue with a touch of hazel around the pupil. The scar across his snout says that he's seen battle and his toned build and the way he presents himself is proof that he has no fear. He wears a simple red crew cut t-shirt with long sleeves and twin white stripes around the forearms, a pair of battered old blue jeans, a pair of worn and torn brown boots and a long hooded black cloak that fastened around his neck.

"What's with the cape, dude?," Jacob asks from over my shoulder.

"That was the first thing I asked, too," Selina says, her voice still low with anxiety.

Cape or not, he looks unarmed but if he's anything like me, he's just hidden them well. I'm positive he's armed to the fangs. Fortunately, so am I. I reached back into the hidden pocket of my sweatshirt and with a quick streak, I hurled one of my throwing knives at him. The distance between us would have been far too short for anyone else to react in time but then again, I expected him to be as professional as he appears. So when he caught the knife, I had already drew my sword and raised it to strike. As my blade came down, the throwing knife came up and both edges sang a piercing song as they collided together. Victor blocked such a heavy attack with such an inferior blade.

"The trap door, the elaborate maze," I began, pulling my blade off him. "The open cell door, your skills with a blade and hand to hand combat sharp enough to block me and best her in a fight, not to mention that casual get up. How many knives are you hiding under that crew cut?"

"Is that really what you wanted to ask me?," Victor asks, raising his eyebrow to comment his icy stare as he tossed my throwing knife to me.

"No," I said, shaking my head as I sheathed my sword and slipped the knife back into the hidden pocket on my back. "Out of all the attention you paid to detail planning for this just so it'd go exactly how you want it, that stupid hint you gave me sold it. There are only two other people I know who'd add insult to injury like that."

"Ben and Tony," Victor said as he nodded. "Good, then those fools haven't forgotten."

"Who are you to them?," I asked sternly.

"Why don't you take a seat, kid," Victor suggested, waving towards the couch on the other side of the glass coffee table.

"Don't call me that!," I yelled at him.

"Shut up!," he screamed back, catching us all by surprise as he snarled and bared his fangs at me with as much ferocity as I give. "Either we can all sit down and have a civil conversation about why you're here or you can throw a fit and I get to snap your arm like the inexperienced brat you are, now sit down, boy!"

After a few moments of silence, I asked, "How do you know Tony and my father?"

"Sit," Victor says again, pointing at the couch. With several reservations and a burning rage boiling in my belly, I hesitated for a moment then sat down on the couch. As Jacob sat down next to me, Victor leaned back in his seat and adjusted to his formal posture as if he hadn't just screamed at me. "Good. Now, I'm going to explain a few things. Whatever questions you could have will be covered so don't interrupt me, it'll only test my patience."

"Fine," I agreed, trying to hide the irritation on my voice.

"Great," Victor said, clapping once with a smile. "Now to begin with, I used to be an active force in your family for a very long time. Up until about a decade ago when your father disappeared, and no, I don't know where he is or if he's still alive so don't bring it up. About thirty years ago in the heartland of Queen Iris' kingdom, I took Ben and Tony into my home when they were young and reckless just like you three. They sought me out, just like you, looking to be my apprentices. After a couple threats, some flying blades, and some truths revealed, I agreed and spent the next ten years teaching them every last technique, maneuver, and skill they taught you. In return for all my generous hospitality, those two made an oath to help me reach a goal the men in my family have chased for centuries, I'll explain that later, it's not important right now. Unfortunately, at the end of that ten year mark, your father met a woman here in Canniban and let Tony talk him into settling down. They both knew I wouldn't stand for it so they ducked me, paid off some bandits to forge a fake paper trail in the other direction and hid in the mountains. It took me a while to find them but I tracked them down with the same tricks they used to run just a couple days after your parents married. They had bought a house and merged with the small community so I played the part of Ben's estranged father showing up late for the reception. I even scavenged an invitation from your neighbor's trash and forged one with my name on it, anyway, when those two saw my face their hearts dropped and they froze so I approaching your dear old mother, who's now sporting a bulbous beach balloon in her stomach as she carries your unborn ass around, and introduce myself. Of course, Ben and Tony played along until the wife was gone and I gave them a choice, don't think I have to be very specific, you're a smart kid, try to keep up. Long story short, some time passed and Ben made me an offer that was just too juicy to refuse. Wanna take a guess at what it was?"

"I'm hoping it was 'lick my furry ass' or something to that affect," I replied, waiting for him to continue.

"Ah, funny," Victor said, smiling a fake smile then cutting back to his story. "No, he told me that if I gave him the time to be with his family, he'd come back and serve me to his death. I was so kind to give him another ten years of my life as I played the loving father-in-law to your dear mother but when the time came for him to return, wouldn't you know it, he never showed up. I never heard from him again but Tony has seen plenty of me since. You can imagine how upset I was about Ben skipping out on me again so, ha, poor Tony, he always did catch the most shit, Tony caught the broadside of a knuckle duster with his face and various other body parts until he told me what he knew."

"I remember that...," I mumbled, not realizing I had cut Victor off. "A couple nights after my father disappeared, Tony showed up on our front door beaten to hell saying he'd gotten in a bar fight because some jackass was spewing shit about my dad walking out on his family."

"Yeah, I remember that, too," Jacob butted in next. "My dad patched him up while I poked at the cuts and bruises."

"Great, you both remember, now shut the fuck up," Victor said abruptly, clearly annoyed by our interference. "I didn't learn what happened to Ben, as it turned out, Tony knew as much about that night he vanished as any one of us do now, other than Ben telling him to protect you and your mother while he was gone or some mushy shit like that. But imagine my delight when I learned the very killing machines I crafted out of the two of them passed down their knowledge to the young puppy hanging from his mother's tit. Thankfully, for your sake, that was enough to stay my blade. I told Tony I would leave him, your mother and the rest of your village alone as long as he looked the other way when I was ready to draft you."

"Draft me?," I repeated, raising both eyebrows to him. "I don't remember signing up for the reserves."

"Yes, see, your father did that for you when he left you to be raised by your mother," Victor said, smiling at himself. "I knew her well enough to predict she'd teach you compassion and that's exactly what I'm going to use against you, Nathaniel."

"Really," I said with a laugh, "You're going to threaten my entire village so I'll bend to your will?"

"Nathaniel, how do you think the smuggler's knew exactly when and where to ambush you when you moved to the city?," he asks, pointing at me. "How do you think they knew beyond a doubt that you were in the city before they raided it? Why do you think the assassin you've been chasing for the last few weeks didn't take the hit on you? I mean, did you honestly not get the cards I left?"

"What...?," I muttered, narrowing my vision on him. "That was all you?"

"You haven't seen me, Nathaniel, but I've been manipulating your life since the day your father walked out," Victor told me calmly. "Everything I've done since you left the mountains I've done to test you and I must say, I am pleased with the results.

"YOU BASTARD!," I screamed as I lunged from the couch but was caught and held back by Jacob. "Do you have any idea what you've put us all through!?"

"I'm guessing you're referring to the bimbo over here catching a whiff of that ricin I left in Trevor Draufht's roses," Victor says, lazily eying Selina. "You know that fairy used to switch out the vase and flowers he put on that desk every night? Made it a bit difficult to deliver the poison but I managed. And how about that poison, I have some of the same castor beans I made them from growing out back."

"Enough of this shit!," I yelled as I lunged again, Jacob still holding me back. "If you think threatening my hometown is gonna get me in bed with you, you got another fucking thing coming!"

"Has anyone ever told you you're cute when you're angry?," Victor teased just to enrage me further. "Nathaniel, I convinced a small band of justified hijackers to lay siege the most well guarded stronghold in the kingdom over a twenty year old spoiled brat with a little training and that prissy blue toy you carry around everywhere. They were ready to move on to their usual antics before I got to them and I didn't even have to flash any coin, you don't think I can't annihilate a small snowy village with the flick of my fucking wrist?"

I said nothing as I contemplated his words.

"That's what I thought," Victor says, smiling at me. "So you've heard the back story. Anything I didn't cover before we move on?"

"You're a fucking monster," I barked at him. "And as convincing as that all is, there are just a couple things wrong with your bullshit story."

Oh, this'll be great," Victor said with a laugh, "please, enlighten me."

"Those cards lead nowhere," I told him, the anger hot on my words. "It was just some gibberish scribbled on some construction paper, they meant nothing!"

"Are you that daft?," Victor asks, raising his eyebrow. "I left my initials in big bold letters on every one of them. Are you telling me no one ever told you who I was?"

"I can see why they wouldn't," Selina muttered into the mix. "Nathan's right, you're a fucking monster."

"You're lucky I have a use for you, girl, now keep your mouth shut," Victor warned her harshly.

"Don't talk to her like that!," I yelled over the table, Jacob still fighting my lunges. "Why would anyone breath a word about you to me?"

"Well, clearly, Tony had his reasons for keeping quiet," Victor pondered. "But not even your mother? And after all the time she and I spent together when you were just a newborn pup."

"That's the other thing that makes no God damn sense," I announced, pointing at him. "I checked with my mother weeks ago, She's never known anyone by the name of Victor Pearce."

"So that was the first name you came across?," Victor asked rhetorically. "Curious. Nathaniel, Your mother doesn't know a man by that name because twenty years ago when I met her, I was still using the name Marshal Evans. I may have been playing the part of the estranged father but that doesn't mean it was all a lie."

"Ma...," I mumbled, my senses overloading in the revelation. "Marshal Evans..."

"Ah, so you do know my real name," Victor says to himself. "So then you finally know who I really am?"

I hesitated for a few moments, the shock overwhelming my mind and answering a hundred questions then finally managed to fall back down onto the leather couch andmutter out the truth, "You're my grandfather..."