Their lives were not mine to sacrifice. Their blood should not have spilled. My hands shouldn't of been coated in the slick red guilt. They should not have been moved like pawns across a chessboard and knocked over one by one.

But it had happened like that.

It had all been because we weren't ready; it was really quite funny if you thought about it. I had refused to back my dearest friends up for that very reason and they had died. Now the story seemed to be coming to a darkly twisted full circle as I had planned my assault full heartedly knowing that we were far from ready. Then again, as I had thought about it in my room last night, I had always known that there was no such thing as being ready to fight an immortal being that was far greater than you would ever be.

I had known that deep in my chest as I had told my friends not to go and fight the alpha, I had known that as I had promised to back Andre up and I had known that when I swore to kill it. I had known that our deaths were inevitable. It had been heart wrenching to watch all of the young hunters chat eagerly about strategies as they had poured over the information Andre had left us. They had no idea that the task at hand was near impossible and I didn't tell them. If they knew the truth they would leave and the fact was that I needed them. Why would I need them if I already knew we were doomed to fail? I had hope. Hope and perhaps the most foolhardy plan I had ever thought up. I had sworn that I would kill this creature and as far as I was concerned I was going to go down fighting.

The first scream that ripped through the old warehouse that had been set up as the shapeshifter's nest nearly changed my mind though. Emerald and Indigo who stood beside me outside both exchanged a glance and started forward.

I fought the weight in my chest and grabbed their arms. I had known this was what would have to happen, besides it was too late for them. It had to be done though. A few lives or the lives of countless others in the future? "No. Stick to the plan, the other parties can handle themselves."

Indigo raised his eyebrows and stared at me dumbfoundedly, "That did not sound like they were handling themselves, that sounded like someone was dying!" He snapped reaching for the iridium loaded gun that I clutched in my hand. I pulled it from his reach and stuck it in the waistline of my pants.

"Indigo, calm down. That could have been anyone. Besides there is nothing we can do about it now, whatever happened is already over, the only thing we can do is follow through with our part of the plan." I said evenly, my voice cracking a little at the end like it had begun to do in my old age.

Indigo's shoulders slumped slightly and he looked away, whether it was in irritation or surrender I don't think I would ever know.

The air became incredibly heavy as more shouts and gunfire was heard, slowly I became aware of the fact Emerald was staring at me with a dark look in her eye. "How can you be so cold?" She asked finally her empty voice filling my ears.

I felt a small stab of pain in my chest, I asked this question of myself many times though I had never questioned the answer. "Because I have to be."

There was more silence as the gunfire began to slow, I glanced down at my watch. It had been fifteen minutes, more than enough time to draw all of the alpha's guards away from the alpha's room. "It's time." I said simply, turning around and pulling down the tailgate of my truck. "Would either of you be a dear and grab the ladder for me?" I said rather than asked.

Indigo nodded as he swung himself onto the old chevy that had served me faithfully all these years. I felt a small lump in my chest as I realized that this was the last time we would be working together. I put my hand on the rusted chrome and patted it a few times. "You served me well girl." I muttered, recalling picking the truck out almost fifty years ago now.

"So where are we going in?" Emerald asked with a loud sigh.

I pulled out a blueprint of the warehouse, my eyes scanning the paper that had been splattered in the blood of a shapeshifter we had interrogated for the exact location of the alpha shapeshifter's position. I looked over at the looming building that was completely dark save the dim light cast upon it by the full moon. "It should be the right window, there." I gestured to the window that sat high above the ground, smudged with years and years worth of grime.

"Let's do this then." Indigo said nervously as we began to advance down the dark ally toward the window. I looked down at the gun that I had loaded with iridium and tucked it deeper into my beltline. I only had one bullet. Iridium bullets had proved impossible to make and had been incredibly difficult to find, nonetheless I had managed as I always do. I would just have to make sure I didn't miss.

Emerald propped the ladder up against the window gently, "I'll go first." She whispered clutching the old wood apprehensively for a moment before hoisting herself upwards. I didn't bother telling her that she and Indigo would have been going up before me whether they had wanted to it or not.

Indigo followed her without me even having to ask him to go first leaving me to bring up the rear. My stomach twisted in knots as I resisted the urge to actually follow them and do as I said I would. I shook my head as I struggled vainly to ignore my protective human instinct. None of these hunters deserved to die, least of all someone as young as Emerald, but I needed the alpha distracted for when I went in for the kill.

The loud crash of Emerald breaking the window erupted in my eardrums, I looked down as glass rained down from above slicing open my old weathered skin. After a second I grabbed the ladder and began climbing, from inside the window I heard the sounds of two people fighting for their lives. Screams, grunts, the explosion of gunfire.

The wood felt rough underneath my hands. "Dammit no! The silver isn't working!" I heard Indigo cry followed by a loud grunt that sent a sickening wave through my body. Another thing I had refrained from telling them.... I was a monster.

I lifted myself through the window only to see a scene I wasn't ready for. The shapeshifter, who wore the body of a man I didn't know, has his large hand clasped around the short, shaggy blonde hair of Emerald. I watched her green eyes filled with pain slide over to me for a second before she clenched her jaw and pinched her eyes shut as the alpha slashed her throat in one swift motion.

I flinched as I watched him drop the young girl and stand up, observing his work. I focused on the shifter's back, watching the way it rose and fell with each breath it took and cocked the gun The click sounded a thousand times louder than it actually was sending rivets of electric anxiety rippling through my veins. I could still hear it though, the gurgle of Emerald choking on her own blood as her lungs filled with her own blood. It's smell wafted into my nose reminding me that I had set them up to die.

I had sacrificed almost every hunter here.

It wasn't going to be in vain though.

"Hey, you whiney bitch, you missed one." I didn't hesitate, I gently squeezed the trigger, just as the creature began to turn and face its attacker. My only regret was that it would never know that he had been toppled by a little old lady with an attitude and a cane.

It let out an agonized shriek as it folded forward clutching it's shoulder around the iridium, the twisted skin flashing a dull red as it sent waves of pain crashing through the creature's body. I walked over to it, it's once strong, immortal body that now lay convulsing on the floor. "You messed with the wrong family." I hissed and kicked it's near lifeless body with my shoe.

It let out one last groan as it went completely limp. I let out a small breath only to inhale one big one, the smell of blood and dust infecting my nose. All of my fellow hunters had died here and I would die with them. I was ready to go, I could feel the winds of time blowing away the last few grains of life from me.

I heard a loud crack as as the door to the room was broken down by shapeshifters who had survived the attack. I felt their eyes fall upon the remains of their father and then I watched their eyes not full of malevolence fall upon me. I felt one last smile stretch across my face as I pulled my silver sword free from my dragon-headed cane.

This was the part of the story in which I was going to die, but hell, I was going down fighting. To go down in combat, in my opinion, was perhaps the most beautiful way to die and I wouldn't have my death be any other way.

With that I lifted my sword and with one last warcry I charged the army of shifters.