Enjoy guys, let me know what you think as always ;) It's a bit of a brutal chapter, but it's a goodie! Hope you like it,

Libby xx

It was a perk that Rebekah's police car was an automatic. Her broken leg was eased off the brake, and she floored her car the entire way to her home, the sirens warning everyone to move out of the way. Rebekah had called Peter forty-eight times since entering her car, as well as twenty-three calls to the landline.

But no one picked up.

She tried calling her fellow officer friends, her colleagues, but apparently the Commissioner had blocked her number from the precinct. Rebekah had let out a string of vicious vulgar words towards her Commissioner, most likely damning him and her for eternity.

Her entire body was in pain, her leg stabbing against her nerves in each jerk of the car, but adrenaline kept her from being unconscious. She needed to know whether Peter and Jemima were okay. What had happened; no matter what, she had to find out.

Swerving into her street, she all but crashed the car into the pavement and opened her door. Her leg screamed at her as Rebekah threw herself out of her car, jarring her elbow on the ground. With a hoarse throat from the Red-Eyed vampire's strangulation, Rebekah couldn't scream for her family. Throwing a hand out to shut her car door, and with her non-jarred arm got herself partially on her feet, the half-human hobbled towards her house. Slamming her shoulder against the plain wood door, she was overcome by the smell of air-freshener and the scents of her family – no blood.

"Peter?!" Rebekah cried, her voice coming out as a gravelly whisper. "Jemima!?"

Turning into the living room, she almost collapsed onto her knees when she saw her Peter sitting on his favourite arm chair with Jemima resting in his lap.

Both were alive.

Rebekah couldn't stop the tears as they rolled down her cheek as she stared into Peter's eyes. They were usually a bright green, sparkling with happiness and hope... but now they were filled with betrayal and disappointment. Somehow she knew exactly what he was thinking.

They won't walk away the same. Was what the Red-Eyed vampire had said. The Detective's heart cracked as she realised just what the vampires had done.

"Tell me." Peter whispered, no doubt seeing the bruising on her neck and the manufactured splint on her right leg. Rebekah couldn't care less what she looked like right now – she was about to lose her other part of her soul.

"P-Peter..."

"Tell me everything Beck." Peter whispered with such clarity. Jemima snuggled further into him but he cringed, as though he knew exactly what creature lie in his arms. Rebekah felt her heart shatter into millions of tiny pieces, scattered with no chance of piecing them back together. She could barely feel the pain in her broken leg as she slid onto her knees, collapsing against the wall.

However, the human pushed the mental anguish aside when she felt her phone ring in her pocket, and it was the phone call that changed the tide for Raven.

~~~~~

Thalia and Elijah were running, following Raven's blood trail with precision and desperation. They'd lost enough of their cadre, and Thalia was adamant that Raven wouldn't be written on the long list of lost friends. They were running north from the clearing, Elijah close to his knives at all times and Thalia prepared to shift into her wolf at a second's notice, and the trail was starting to spread further and further apart.

"We're losing it." Elijah panted, scrambling to keep up with the fired up wolf.

Thalia shook her head. "The scent is still there, I can follow it for a little while longer."

And they did. The two of them ran, side by side as mates should be. Darting left and right, weaving between the trees like knitting, Elijah's hope for Raven's rescue was diminishing. But Thalia carried enough hope for the two of them, so they ploughed on. The Princess kept her nose and eyes to the ground and followed the breadcrumbs that the young wolf had left behind.

It was only when Elijah tackled her to the ground that Thalia looked back up. She side-glanced at her mate when she spotted an establishment, one like the one they found Raven in. It was a ghastly two story industrial rust-bucket that looked like it had taken several hits from a wrecking ball.

"It leads in here." The Hunter breathed. "Raven's blood leads in that warehouse..."

Thalia held back a rumble as she crouched lower to assess the building as best as she could. There were guards stationed around the warehouse, she could smell others inside, and through the massive holes in the infrastructure she could see several solid silver doors. Raven had to be behind one of those... trapped, again.

Before Thalia and Elijah could exchange a 'let's go in' look, three vampires emerged from the building. The Princess's gaze locked onto the two who exited the entrapment first, blood still staining their mouths. She couldn't stop her lips from peeling back in a snarl, mouth open as though already taking a bite of their jugular, as Thalia smelled the scents around them. The two of them were patting each other on the back, laughing, bragging...

They'd killed Greg and Kelly.

Somehow, Elijah could see what Thalia was snarling about, and gripped a knife to the point of his knuckles turning white. His jaw was firm, and just like the grip on the knife, wasn't loosening any time soon. Those two vampires definitely weren't leaving the warehouse alive.

But the third vampire, he trailed after the two of them and looked down upon their celebration. His hands were bloody, but with vampire blood, not human or wolf. His mouse brown locks were swept back as though he'd been running against the wind but it was his red eyes that Elijah in. He'd seen this type of vampire before. Halfling... He's half vampire...

"He ripped away the vampires from Ke..." Elijah took a breath as he recalled the two bodies. "From them, that vampire tried to stop them."

Thalia shook her head slowly. "All I can see is two vampires with wolf and hunter blood on their hands Elijah... And they're not leaving whole."

The Hunter grinned with malice as vengeance struck a chord. He knew that Lara and Dave should have the kill, it was their right to, but they weren't here right now. And Elijah was happy to wield the knife for them.

For Greg and Kelly. Elijah thought. For their mates, Lara and Dave.

Elijah looked to his Princess and smiled, knowing that she was thinking the same thing. They slipped into the grass and instantly blended in, the consciousness of a predator sinking into their bones. The Vampires were the sheep, and they were the tigers. Every creature in that warehouse, except for Raven, was going to see the ends of their blades.

Red-Eyes had glimpsed the Princess of the Wolves, Thalia King, and the Leader of the Hunters, Elijah Griffin, before they descended down the grassy hill towards the compound. He knew why they were here, and he knew who they were going to kill first. The protégé of the Vampire Master seemed to grin at the thought of finally being free, and even though it was against every bone in his not-so-alive body, Red-Eyes knew what he had to do.

He could see the grass ripple as the mated pair crawled closer. Hell, he could feel their anger from here. And what better way to guarantee his freedom by handing their vengeance to them on a silver platter? This is it.

"I saw something." He said loud enough to gain the attention of the guards. The ripples stopped, but his eyes seemed to be staring into those of the Princess and the Hunter. His two blood-coated acquaintances stood either side of him, alert. All the guards seemed to drop down from their posts and fan out either side of him, like a wave preparing to break. Like a wall that wouldn't fall. They were a team, a unit... an army. A part of him enjoyed the power... but a larger part of him wanted to get away from the infamous Buchannan Blood and help the poor wolf he had in his clutches.

"Fan out," He commanded. "Check the grass, I saw something in there."

"It's too potent to smell anything." The bloody comrade said on his left, the blood of the human still coating his face and hands. "And we can't see into the grass, it's too high."

Red-Eyes snarled at the lack of obedience. "Go out and search, you imbecile!"

The other thirty-five vampires didn't question his order and started to head into the long grass. His two acquaintances twitched at the demand and hesitantly followed their brethren. Red-Eyes took a step back towards the compound as the vampires started to sweep the grassy fields.

"I'll warn the Master." He said and entered the warehouse. Once he was out of sight from the doors, he sprinted towards his stuff, grabbing everything he could, and leapt out of one of the many holes in the rusty industrial barn just as the screaming began.

One by one they went down in a fit of blood and rage.

The slice of a knife or the plunge of a claw; they all started to drop.

Until two remained; the blood-coated acquaintances.

Thalia was licking her lips as she crawled upon one of the last vampires that had been sent out. Elijah was on the other... But these two were special. They were the killers of their friends; they were going to take their time with this. In front of her was Greg's killer. Elijah was handling the vampire that took down Kelly, who was swiping through the long grass in a craze. Thalia's ears flickered as she heard his increased heartrate. However, the dark eyes of the vengeful Princess were focused on the vampire that stood no more than five metres from her.

Unlike his comrade, he was still. The human-killer had his eyes squinted as though zooming between the sharp grass stalks in an attempt to see what was taking down his brethren. Thalia herself was still in her human form; the sound of the shift would alert him where she was.

Her body was still as she heard Elijah strike, taking down Kelly's killer who screamed in agony and pain. Good. She thought mercilessly. He kept screaming, before gargling, and then eventually silence echoed from that part of the grass. Greg's killer stopped completely and jokingly threw his hands up in the air.

"Well, you have me now!" He yelled, his eyes sweeping the grassy fields but mostly looked towards the place he last saw his acquaintance go down. "You might as well come out!"

There was no movement from Elijah's end, and Thalia herself stayed low and silent. Let him talk, she pondered, let him waste his final breath.

"I must say, that puny human was an easy kill." He yelled, walking carefully towards the woods... the woods were still tens of metres away from his location now.

"He would have squealed like the piglet he was if I hadn't bit his throat!" The vampire laughed in glee, licking the dried blood around his mouth. Thalia bared her teeth silently and was about to stand and face him off when a conscious pricked her mind.

Princess.

Thalia stopped as the cold, lifeless voice entered her mind after she let her walls down. There was nothing to it, as plain as a stale biscuit.

How did you find us?

Rebekah's contact Julie Sparks pulled through; Buchannan's human alias had this address. Lara Knight replied in monotone. You know what I came here to do.

Lara...

Let me take him down. She requested. Thalia carefully looked towards another edge of the woods, seeing the dark wolf amongst the shadows. The Princess of the Wolves barely recognised one of her own; Lara Knight was wild.

With a slight nod, knowing she could see, Thalia edged back and away from the pesky vampire, who was still shouting about how Greg's blood was sitting in his stomach.

But the vampire paused when Lara's wolf emerged from the woods.

Lara Knight was a Warrior through and through, and she was one of the greatest fighters that Thalia had ever seen. Her wolf was tall and had crisp mud fur that stood at all ends as though someone had tried to brush her. The inner Knight had long lean legs jam-packed with enough muscle to concave someone's ribs. But the Princess was frowning as she saw Knight's wolf emerge.

It was different. She knew that Lara was wild, but it was as though she'd broken down those walls and released the crazy beast inside her soul... was there even a soul in those eyes? The obsidian eyes of her wolf were holes into a dark abyss – she couldn't see anything but hell in those eyes.

Windows to the soul they're called... Lara was in Hell.

And the vampire in front of her was about to get the entirety of it.

He seemed to know it as well, because he started to step back in a panic. Mumbled words dribbled out of his mouth, the wild look in Lara's eyes had pieced together just who the human was to her for the vampire. Greg's killer knew he was dead.

And he still had the bloody guts to run.

The final comrade of Red-Eyes' company leapt into a full-out sprint into the woods but Lara's wolf stayed still as he ran away from her. The Princess watched in horror as the dark brown beast seemed to smile before roaring.

The roar from the wolf alone was enough to loosen the bricks on the industrial warehouse behind Thalia, the trees shaking and birds flying at the anguish and challenge in the mighty call. Both Thalia and Elijah watched as Lara leapt into the trees and started her chase.

With no other vampires left to slay besides the one that counted in the warehouse, Thalia and Elijah stood in the grass. He was still in the general vicinity of Kelly's killer's body but his eyes were filled with both wariness and utter fear.

"Wolves' don't roar... do they?" Elijah asked quietly as though afraid that Lara would come back and eat him for that comment alone. But Thalia shook her head.

"No, they don't." She answered. "Not unless they're in a predatory state."

Elijah seemed to frown but she turned away from the conversation. A predatory state was what a wolf encountered when their mate seemed to be in danger or in death. Lara was the ultimate predator now that she had lost Greg; she had nothing to lose. And now Lara was enjoying the hunt, probably one of the last ones' she'd have. The vampire was mince-meat and Lara was going to eat her dinner. Slowly.

The Hunter Leader shivered. "Let's cut the head off the snake."

Thalia snarled in agreement as they both descended off the grassy hills and into the half-collapsed warehouse. She had pure hatred for the building; it housed vampires and one of their own wolves. Thalia wasn't going to look at warehouses the same again. Elijah stepped cautiously through the broken doors, creeping along the corridors.

They were eerie. This warehouse rotted with the flesh of the vampires... and the slight scent of a wolf. Thalia gleamed when Raven's presence was confirmed and bared her fangs in anger. The vampire compound was half-crumbled thanks to Lara's roar and pure old-age, but the infrastructure was still giving off a powerful aura. The whole place pulsed with an unwelcome sensation which rattled Thalia and Elijah's bones.

They'd seen the giant silver doors from the grassy hills, one of the many holes in the wall ironically pointing the way to Raven's cell. However, Thalia and Elijah didn't counter for the non-existent ceiling above them, nor the doctor who sliced the rope holding the silver chains in place.

Thalia screamed as silver sizzled against her skin and Elijah yelled at the weight of them. The Hunter tried to push his mate underneath him but the chains themselves were too heavy to move. Elijah's knife had fallen out of his grasp since the chains landed on him, and Thalia was bound to the ground and couldn't shift. There was nothing they could do as two footfalls approached the trapped pair. Elijah's daring green eyes flashed as they met the amused jade of Buchannan Blood. He was standing above them with a grin of triumph. The Master of the Vampires was ecstatic at who lay at his feet and relished at the smell of the Princess of the Wolves' burning flesh.

He groaned as the scent of blood washed over him. "I love this!" Buchannan clasped his hands firmly and skipped on the spot. The doctor stood next to him and was keeping an eye on the rope that had dropped the silver chains.

Thalia was whimpering in pain as she tried to pry the thick silver off her body but it was no use. The burns were branding themselves into her skin and Buchannan cackled! Elijah looked desperately at his mate, his lover, his Princess... they weren't getting out of this.

"And to think that you came for my Reaper!" Buchannan claimed before tutting the two of them. "See, that was your first mistake..."

Elijah spat out at the Master Vampire's feet. He stilled as the saliva ran over the tip of his polished shoes. With lightning speed the Hunter hadn't thought possible, Buchannan had grabbed his collar and brought their faces close together. Thalia snarled viciously but the Princess was vulnerable with the chains on her. She couldn't do anything as the vampire took a deep breath of Elijah's blood beneath his skin.

"Listen here you weasel." Buchannan hissed low. "Reaper is mine, I created her, I raised her, I turned her into one of mine! She's not one of your hunter pests, and not one of those bitches... She's my Reaper!"

The Reaper in question opened her eyes.

"I wonder about your stupidity." The vampire muttered. "You, just a Hunter and a Wolf, kill my entire patrol and try to save my Reaper? She's save with me! I would never hurt her, unlike you."

Raven's fury bombed in her stomach as she overheard Buchannan's bewitching words. She knew that he had hurt her in ways she would never be able to describe... He was lying. Raven's body, even with the fresh wounds, started to shake but not in fear.

"You're going to die by my hands!" Buchannan cried to the ceiling, his laugh bouncing off the walls as the doctor beside him tightened his hold on the rope holding the chains. Thalia cried out as the Vampire Master budged the silver coils around her body while letting out another booming laugh. Elijah cried out in curses, attempting to lunge towards Buchannan, but the green-eyed devil in disguise kicked him back down. The Hunter looked at Thalia in a dark green gaze of pain and fury, not to mention worry. The Princess was too weak to even open her eyes fully at her mate.

Thalia...Elijah... The names pulsed through Raven's head, and the fury in her stomach spread into her lungs. She knew those names. She knew them.

Princess Thalia of the Wolves and Elijah Griffin, Leader of the Hunters. The two people in charge of her, that saved her the first time she was held by Buchannan... And they'd returned once again.

They don't hate me for Kelly and Greg's death...

They came to save me.

But Buchannan was going to...

No.

"Any last words?" Buchannan called to the mated pair. Raven's eyes blurred into hypnotic black irises, dark smoke running along her bloodshot veins. Her trembling limbs burned as obsidian fur sprouted, ripping apart the cuffs she had been strapped in.

Elijah desperately looked towards his mate; her usually glossy brunette locks were shrivelled from being burnt, her tanned skin sickly pale from the pain... But her eyes, although flaring with anguish, sparkled still with a promise of a final fight. The Hunter quirked his lips up slightly before saying a special three words that he had been waiting to say since they first saw each other.

"I love you Princess." Elijah whispered...

....Just as a force of darkness ripped a solid silver door off its hinges.