~The Hunter~

Grayson delighted in every bead of sweat that dripped down Detective Brendan's face.

The man was paler than a sheet of paper, his wrinkled hands clasped around a handkerchief to keep them from shaking. He was staring at the radio in the car with utter contempt. Jacobs had obviously picked up something was wrong with the detective but he far too focused on the plan ahead to address it. Grayson was grateful he had allowed him to tag along. It is something Brendan never let him do.

"See anything yet?"

"No, sir. Coast is clear," answered an officer through the radio.

Jacobs sat back with a heavy sigh. They had been waiting for about an hour and for each minute that passed by the more unsteady the ground beneath Grayson felt. Jacobs had put a lot of faith in Grayson's plan and not only did he not want to disappoint but he didn't know what he would do if the Beast wasn't captured. Everything in his life was resting on his quest for revenge. Jacobs and Brendan may have their jobs at stake but Grayson's life was at stake.

He watched as Jacobs checked on the news reports circulating about Bethany's supposed capture. The report was being aired as breaking news every half hour and social media was being flooded with her picture attached to a link on the story. Grayson had retweeted it and urged all of his classmates to spread the news. It would take the murderer living in a cabin in the woods not to come across the report.

"You alright, Detective Brendan?" Grayson leaned forward in his seat in the back of the cop car. Brendan turned his head ever so slightly, just far enough to sneer at him. It was incredibly satisfying to know that in enacting revenge on the Beast he was also getting revenge on Brendan. He was killing two birds with one stone.

He scrunched up his features as if he was summoning any ounce of patience to him. He released the words in a defeated sigh. "I'm fine."

The radio went off, static and beeping invading the charged tension of the car. Everyone visibly shifted their attention to it, quiet and on edge to hear the report.

"The Beast has been spotted and is being apprehended."

Grayson felt his heart begin to race in his chest. Suddenly, it wasn't enough to hear that it was finally happening. He wanted to see it. No. He wanted to be a part of it. The climax of this event could not be neatly packaged away and tied with a ribbon with him only being involved behind the scenes. He wanted more of a struggle - a challenge - something to awaken a deep emotion in him that wasn't pain or affection. He needed to be there and fight.

"Stand down! Do not approach or shoot!" It was Jacob's voice on the radio but he was sitting right in front of him, without the device in his hands. He gaped at the machine. "We have new information. Officers, stand down. Let him go."

Jacobs picked up the walkie. The veins in his forehead were bulging. "This is Jacobs. Take the Beast into custody! Do not stand down."

His own voice answered back. "I don't know who you are but I'm standing directly in front of my officers and they know who I am. Impersonating a police officer is a crime."

Brendan's color was beginning to come back to him. He was so relieved at the words he was hearing, he was far too distracted to stop Grayson from what he was about to do.

He reached into the front seat and grabbed the gun that rested beside Detective Brendan. Without hesitation, he took off towards the trap. His legs and arms pumped with a newfound fever, stronger than anything he had felt while searching for Bethany. He had a clear purpose and direction that anchored him better than anything he did in the last few months. One image was etched into his skull and he'd do virtually anything to make it a reality.

There was no thought of the possible danger he could be getting himself into. The stakes didn't matter anymore. It was to kill the Beast or nothing.

~The Beast~

She came back for him.

He couldn't believe his eyes. There he stood, about to make a decision that would end his life, when he heard the sound of her voice.

"Teigan!"

She stood outside of the house calling to him. It was a desperate plea for him to not give up - to fight back.

Never had a voice sounded so crisp and sweet. Never had a voice been able to pull him from the darkness at the edge of a cliff back into the stream of sunlight.

She came back for him.

The simple notion had reinvigorated him. The strings and pulleys that had been working his heart were oiled. They were functioning at max capacity. He didn't care if seeing her again had given him a momentary high that would fade away once she was kept from him once more. He would live that high while it lasted.

He placed his hands above his head slowly, taking a tentative step back from the surrounding officers. There was no possible solution to this predicament that could end with them all winning. If he fought back, he'd be reverting back to the man he had chosen not to be anymore. If he didn't, he'd be taken into custody and then all chance of freeing the roses would be lost. He was both figuratively and literally backed into a corner.

Defense. His only option was to play defense.

An officer had boldly decided he would be the one to chain the Beast. He took the handcuff from his belt and approached him, the number of guns pointed at Teigan providing an air of comfort for him.

Teigan may have been down bad, but he was still him. The two years of fighting were not lost.

He dropped into a crouch, sweeping his leg underneath the cop. He fell to the ground and Teigan didn't waste a second in pulling the man up to use as a shield. He hoped that as long as the officer was blocking him, they wouldn't shoot - both for his and the officers sake.

"Stand down! Do not approach or shoot!" He could not believe the words coming from the officers radios. He eyed them suspiciously, waiting for following orders that would make the previous command make sense. "We have new information. Officers, stand down. Let him go."

Confused but obedient, the officers kept their guns aimed at him as they cleared the area.

Teigan loosened his grip on the officer he was holding. The man scurried off, a hand on his gun holster.

Once they were around the corner, Teigan heard their steps going down the stairs, leaving him alone in the room. He let out a strangled breath. Beth and the radio command couldn't have come a second later.

Teigan looked out the window to find where Beth had gone. To his surprise, she was no longer on the sidewalk.

She was climbing the scaffolding.

He had no clue how she had gotten through the cops but he followed her lead and headed towards the rood.

He waited for her at the top. When she was safely on the roof, she ran to him. He didn't hesitate in picking her up in his arms. They held each other for a quick moment that filled him with pure glee. One hug from her was worth everything.

She pulled away, looking at him through his mask.

"Are you okay?"

He couldn't stop staring at her. For nights he had thought about the millions of different scenarios that would lead to them meeting again. He thought of how he would see her, how she would look, how she would change. It was frightening to him that his memories of her had already become distorted in the few weeks they had spent apart. Her image had been fading in his mind and nothing terrified him more than losing her in all senses of the word.

"You came back for me."

"Of course I did."

"I thought I'd never see you again," he said, fumbling for words. There was so much he wanted to say but their time was ticking, the sand in their hourglass slipping through to the bottom. He didn't want to put her in danger. The police would think something of it - climbing scaffolding just to speak with her former kidnapper. He had already made too big of a mess.

"I couldn't stop them from going after you. I didn't want to help them but I had no choice," she said, regret was a shadow looming over features.

"I know."

The wind felt especially strong on top of the building. It blew against the sunset that had been reborn after the threat of rain. The pinks and oranges shone brightly, outlining them in light. He inhaled every last particle of air he could, knowing well that having to say goodbye again would steal the breath from his lungs.

Her hand lingered over his mask. "The curse . . . "

"It hasn't broken."

"But it will." Her voice held a kind of certainty he wished he could have. "The witch will help us figure it out. I spoke with her - "

A loud crack whipped through the air. They both glanced over their shoulders to see a man standing with them on the roof. Teigan instantly recognized him as Beth's friend. Immediately, Teigan's heart fell to his stomach. He knew who he was to Grayson. He knew what he had put him through.

Grayson stood with trembling hands, gun pointed at him. Questions flooded Teigan's mind. How he had gotten a gun? How had he gotten through the cops? Would he shoot?

The man's eyes were trained on Teigan's lower body. He followed Grayson's gaze to his own leg and saw the hole gushing a steady stream of blood.

He had been shot.

The pain came in one big wave. Had he not looked he was certain he could have enjoyed the adrenaline longer. He shifted onto his other leg, pressing his hand against the wound as he knew the curse would do little to help him now.

Teigan prayed it was only a warning shot.

Bethany seemed to be choking on a gasp. Her eyes darted between the blood pouring out of Teigan and her friend who was still aiming the gun. "Grayson, put the gun down!"

The man shook his head. His posture was stiff as if he was bracing himself. "No. Not until he's dead."

From the manner in which he shook, Tiegan knew there was still some humanity left in him. It had been hard for him to shoot him in the first place. With Bethany talking him down, it would at least take him a little bit of time to work up the nerve to shoot at him again.

"Grayson," Beth pleaded, "You don't understand. He's not a monster! If you'd let me explain -"

He let the gun rest at his side. His focus was shifted towards Beth. "There's nothing to explain. He killed his own mother! All of those criminals! My life is in fragments because of him!"

Teigan was looking for a means of escape. Grayson ws making it abundantly clear he did not shoot him to buy the police time to apprehend him or to get Beth away from him - he was planning to kill him.

"And you!" Grayson's voice took on the kind of pain that made it seem as if he had been the one that had been shot. "You betrayed me Beth! You didn't have to love me . . . You just had to not choose him. Not after everything I lost because of what he did."

Tears spilled down Beth's face. "I didn't know you were hurting so bad."

Teigan could go for the scaffolding. He had to inch his way towards it. He could not risk crossing the path of a man with a gun without his healing abilities.

Still, staring at the young man in front of him made something shift in his chest. He was familiar with his anguish, his frustration, his desperate plea for justice - for things to be made right. Teigan could see how he was the villain in this situation. Just a few months ago, Teigan had been enacting a similar form of revenge against criminals. He understood Grayson. He had been Grayson.

Teigan's sneaking towards the scaffolding had gone unnoticed until the pain in his injured leg caused him to stumble. The jerk of a movement was enough to gain Grayson's attention.

"I'm sorry. Don't do this." The simple apology would not suffice and Teigan knew that but he was sincere. He wished there was a way to undo the damage he had caused but there wasn't. Whether Teigan broke the curse and freed all the roses, or whether he miraculously was able to gain Bethany's affection, he would never be able to take back what he did to the man in front of him. That would haunt him for the rest of his days.

Grayson lunged at him. He shoved Teigan down, kicking him in his injured leg and then again in the stomach. Teigan swiped at Grayson, not to actually hit him but as a warning. Teigan didn't want to hurt him.

He got up, swaying slightly. His head felt light and the wound in his leg burned like it had been set on fire. He moved towards the scaffolding, fearful that his swaying would lend himself to plummeting off the edge.

Grayson shoved him back. His face was red and his veins bulging.

"Get up! Fight me!"

Teigan could only think about the pain in his thigh. He thought of how many times he had been shot before but the curse had healed him before the adrenaline wore off. He thought how painful it would be if he had to feel the impact of every bullet that had ever hit him at once. Would all those bullets make up for all the hurt he had caused? Would it be enough to pay for every wrong thing he had ever done?

Grayson hovered over him with the gun at his side. "Can't take a bullet? You're the Beast. Aren't you magic?"

Bethany came up behind Grayson with a powerful shove. It knocked him away from Teigan but the gun was still secure in his hands.

"Stop! You'll regret this Grayson," she reasoned. He could tell that Beth meant every word she said. She wasn't just pulling things out of thin air to pacify him. She was appealing to the best friend she knew inside and out. "This is not you. You would never kill someone, not even someone you thought deserved it."

Teigan used this time to throw himself towards the side of the roof. This was his one chance to flee. He hesitated a second. He paused a foot from the scaffolding to get a final glance at Beth.

"I've changed."

Two cracks of a whip. Two loud clammors. Two explosive heartbeats.

Two more holes in his body.

Grayson had only been standing a couple feet from him. The force of the bullets sent Tiegan back. He lost his balance and stumbled past the edge of the building and the scaffolding.

The next thing he knew Beth's delicate hands were secured around his forearm. His feet swung in the air.

"Hold on. I'll pull you up."

He smiled at her. She was beautiful and strong and everything he wished he could be.

He said the words softly, "Let me go."

Beth was trembling from the mere effort it took for her to hold him in place. She sobbed. She knew he was going to die. "I can't. I love you."

He lifted his other hand and cupped her cheek. "At least I got to see you one last time."

Her image blurred as his eyes rolled back into his head and his hand went slack.

She let him go.