As soon as the ghoul had dragged Dallon around the corner, Brendon went back to work trying to get the knife out of the wall. He bumped it with more urgency now, unsure how long the ghoul would be willing to play with her food before taking a bite.

He hissed as his shoulder rose into the blade of the knife. He lowered, but felt blood beginning to trail down from the point of impact. "Fuck..."

He rolled his shoulder for a few seconds before going back at getting the knife out of the wall. He needed to hurry. Despite the new pain from accidentally cutting himself, Brendon worked harder at getting the knife out of the wall. He could feel it loosening. It was getting closer...

The knife clattered to the floor, followed by a cry of success from Brendon. Now he just had to get the knife into his hands...

"Fucking hell..." Brendon hissed as he adjusted his position. The knife was just out of the reach of his fingers. He angled himself to jump on his butt and catch the handle under his cheek.

"Finally!" Brendon managed to bring the knife close enough to grip. He moved as fast as he could in his restraints, swearing when the knife threatened to slip from his fingers.

When the restraints finally gave, Brendon rushed to get to his feet. He was running out of time. That escape had taken too long. He needed to find Dallon and the Ghoul.

Brendon held the knife firmly in his hand as he made his way across the room he had been held in. The Ghoul hadn't bothered to lock him in. He paused, listening for some kind of sound to indicate where they were. It was silent...

Until there was a thump downstairs.

Brendon hurried to the basement door. He leaned against the wall just beside it and listened.

"Wake up!" The Ghoul was growling, "I like it when my food squirms."

Brendon pushed the basement door open. By some miracle, it didn't squeak.

"What did you do with her?.." Dallon's voice sounded weak and disoriented. At least he was still alive.

"Haven't you heard?" A laugh followed by another thump, "She's dead!"

Brendon was creeping down the cement steps, keeping in the shadows. The basement seemed to be a morgue. There was a wall of metal hatches and two metal tables with small trays of tools beside them. The two figures Brendon was looking for, however, were at the room's opposite end. The Ghoul  was standing over Dallon, looking ready to pick him up and throw him.

"She tasted so good." The creature taunted, kneeling down in front of Dallon. "What a woman."

Brendon eyed the tools on one of the small tables. Was any of it silver?

"Why?" Dallon croaked as the Ghoul grabbed his shirt. "Why her?"

The Ghoul growled, pulling Dallon closer. "To get closer to you." It grinned before biting into Dallon's arm.

The human cried out in pain. It was quickly drowned out by a howl of pain from the Ghoul. The knife Brendon had been holding had been plunged into the creature's spine. It released Dallon and fell to the floor.

"Let's go!" Brendon grabbed hold of Dallon's uninjured arm and pulled him up. Dallon stumbled, but Brendon managed to get him going in the direction of the stairs.

"Hunter!" The Ghoul screeched. It jerked it body, successfully dislodging the knife.

Brendon took a step back. "Son of a bitch."

The Ghoul grinned wickedly before running towards him. Brendon ducked out of the creature's way, barely avoiding being tackled.

The creature snarled, spinning to face him. It went to lunge at him, but stopped. It turned to look at its arm, catching the sight of dripping blood.

Brendon held up a small surgical tool. "Wha'd'ya know," He grinned, "silver."

It lunged.

Brendon wasn't fast enough to dodge. He was pushed back and pinned to the floor. A hiss escaped his lips from a fresh pain in his shoulder. He maintained the grip he had on the small knife, but the Ghoul had his wrist pinned to the ground.

"Couldn't wait your turn?" It hissed as it leaned into Brendon's face. It didn't look anywhere near forgiving or willing to relax the hold on his wrist. "I'll just kill you and take bits of the taller one slowly, while he's still squirming."

"I'd like to see you try." Brendon shot back. He attempted to get a shot at the creature with what little maneuverability he had, but it just laughed.

"I'd like to see you stop me." The creature grinned. Its eyes darted over Brendon's figure. "Can't cut a head off when you're about to lose your own." The Ghoul practically sang before its eyes locked onto its chosen target.

Brendon snapped his eyes shut as the creature's head lunged. He held his breath, waiting for the pain to come... But it never came. Instead, something warm dripped onto his neck. Brendon opened his eyes.

Halfway through the Ghoul's neck was some kind of saw from on of the tool trays. Standing to the side, shaking, Dallon was staring at what he had done with wide eyes.

Brendon pulled his hand away from the weakened grip of the Ghoul and grabbed hold of the saw. "Glad you wanted to see me try." He huffed before ripping it through the rest of its neck.

The ghoul's body fell on top of him while the head hit the ground with a thud. Dallon cried out with a sound that was somewhere between horror and wanting to puke.

"Fucking gross." Brendon muttered, wiping dark blood from his face. He then pushed the limp body off of his own and pushed himself up. He looked over at Dallon, wanting to thank him for the save, but stopped himself.

Dallon was up against the wall, slowly sliding down to the floor. He was shaking, looking at the Ghoul's body. "I just killed my girlfriend." His voice croaked.

"Not your girlfriend." Brendon reminded him, "That was a Ghoul. They take the shape of people they've eaten or tasted."

Dallon kept staring at the body. "It... It ate my girlfriend." It wasn't a question.

"Bad way to break up." Brendon tried to lighten the situation with the joke, but Dallon wasn't ready for it. The man grabbed tufts of his hair and shook his head.

"This isn't real. This can't be happening."

Brendon held his hands up. "Dallon, take a deep breath."

"We just cut the head off some... Some thing that looked like my girlfriend!" Dallon yelled.

Brendon reached out to Dallon, placing a hand on the taller man's knee. "Before it could kill you. It's dead and, unfortunately, so is your girlfriend."

Dallon shook his head. "I thought it was just stress... I thought..."

"It tricked you." Brendon said. He rose to his feet and offered his hand. He needed to take care of the body. With how Dallon reacted to just the head being removed, Brendon figured seeing the body burned wouldn't help the situation at all. "Listen, we can talk about this. Go upstairs and make some tea or something. I'll take care of this."

Dallon just stared up at Brendon's hand. It took him a moment before he reached out to grab it.

"There you go." Brendon encouraged.

Once Dallon was up, Brendon guided him around the body to the stairs. He watched the man shakily climb the steps. Once Dallon was at the top, Brendon turned back to the body on the floor.

"Won't this be fun?" He asked himself before setting off to work.

---

Fifteen minutes and a contained fire later, Brendon was climbing the stairs. He had started slow, but rushed his steps when he heard Dallon speaking.

"Across from the cemetery, yea..."

Dallon was on the phone with someone. Most likely the cops. When Brendon rushed into the kitchen, he froze. The refrigerator was standing open. Dallon had discovered where the ghoul had kept parts of his girlfriend.

Dallon's voice was the only thing that snapped Brendon's attention away from the remains within the fridge.

"No, you don't understand-" Dallon was in the middle of his sentence when Brendon snatched the phone from his hand and slammed it against the floor. "Hey!"

"Are you a fucking idiot?!" Brendon snapped, "If you call the cops, they'll think you did it!"

Dallon stood like a deer in headlights. "If I can explain..."

Brendon rolled his eyes. "Explain what, Dallon? That your girlfriend is cut up in the fridge while her burned double is downstairs?"

"You burned-"

"There's no time!" Brendon grabbed Dallon's wrist, "We have to go."

Dallon pulled away from him, "Go where?"

Brendon screamed internally. Dallon calling the cops meant time was ticking by faster and faster. "Away from here, where we'll definitely be arrested if we stay." He'd have to take Dallon with him. The poor guy had already been through enough without getting prison time for it all.

"Why should I go with you?" Dallon questioned, "You literally just burned a body!"

"You cut half its head off!" Brendon countered, "Is that really any better?"

Dallon hesitated. Brendon felt closer to winning him over.

"Come with me and I can explain things." He coaxed, "We just need to go now."

Dallon was still but, after a moment, he finally nodded. Brendon quickly grabbed his wrist and pulled him out of the kitchen and down the hall. As he did it, he pulled a match out of his pocket. He hummed as he struck it against the wall and flicked it behind them.

"Black chevelle." He instructed Dallon, pushing across the buildings threshold and shutting the door without looking back. "Let's ride."