⌜ chapter thirty ⌟

"What did you want to talk about?" Letty asks as she looks at Eric.

"I can't stand that you think I hate you." He tells her. "I don't, I never could. It's just... I've thought one way about you our entire lives, and...and the girl that I thought you were couldn't actually hurt a living thing. And I heard what you said about how they're monsters, and I get it. I do, but...

"Finding out that you've killed things before, it changed everything that I thought I knew about you. I saw this entirely different person than the one that I fell in love with, someone that I don't know." He says, and she nods as she looks down. "But I wanna know her. I wanna get to know you for who you really are...and I want us to try and be friends."

"I can't be your friend, Eric." She shakes her head as she looks at him. "I don't want to go back to being just your friend. I... You saw the one part of me that I have always hated about myself, and it shattered us. It hurt like hell to look at you...and see fear in your eyes; to reach for you, and watch you pull away from me. I haven't felt this horrible...in a really long time.

"So, I can't be your friend. I just can't. Because I can't be friends with someone that I'm in love with. I'm still in love with you, and I don't see that changing. I don't know how to fall out- out of love with you. And seeing you when I have and not being able to be with you... I mean, even when we've broken up in the past, I could still go to you...because I could still feel the love from you. And I could hug you, and feel okay, but I can't anymore. I'm afraid to reach for you...and I don't feel that love from you anymore. And it has been killing me. It's killing me standing here right now."

Eric takes a deep breath as he reaches up to wipe a tear from his cheek, and he looks away from her as she turns to the side. Letty covers her face as she chokes back her tears, and it takes her a minute to regain her composure.

"You are an incredible person, Eric." The brunette says as she turns to face him again. "You're the sweetest son, and an amazing big brother. And one day you're gonna be the best damn boyfriend and then husband to some unbelievably lucky girl, and...and I can't be your friend while I watch that happen. I can't handle watching you move on from me and fall in love with someone else. So, no, I don't want to be your friend. Because that will hurt infinitely worse than not having you in my life at all."

He nods as he looks at her. "I understand." He tells her, and she turns around and walks away from him.

"Hey." Hope taps Jason's arm when she sees Letty walking over to them.

"What the hell happened?" Jason questions when he sees her crying.

"He said that he wanted us to be f-friends." She tells them, practically choking on the word as she wipes her face again. "And I told him that I can't do that."

"Oh, babe." Hope wraps her arms around her, and Letty buries her face in her shoulder.

Jason sighs as he looks at the two girls, and he shakes his head as green eyes meet his blue ones. Neither of them understand how this whole thing has completely torn Letty and Eric apart, but it's the reason they keep this part of their lives to themselves. It's just too much for some people to handle, and the fact that Eric's one of those people really isn't much of a surprise.

His hand settles on the small of Letty's back as he moves closer to them. "Come on, let's get you home." He whispers as he rests his forehead against the side of her head. "We'll get the girls to bed, and then the three of us will stay up and spend the night watching movies or something. I think we've got ice cream in the freezer. Vanilla, right?" He asks, and Letty lifts her head to look at him as he stands up straight.

"You promise you'll never leave me, right?" She asks, and he smiles.

"Never."

"What would we do without our leading man?" Hope muses as she pulls him to them, and he chuckles as he hugs them both.

"Let's hope you two never find out, huh?" He asks. "You'd be a train wreck."

"We love you." They both smile as they stretch up onto their toes to kiss his cheeks.

"You know, most men would kill for this." Jason says as he looks between Hope and Letty, and they laugh. "I get this kind of treatment from the most beautiful women I've met, and yet I love you both like sisters."

"What a dumbass." Letty shakes her head at him, and he sighs.

"Alright, get your asses in the car."

Back at the apartment complex, Jason parks behind the building before the three of them then round it to get to the front entrance. Letty's a few paces behind them, and Jason turns to look at her. He stops walking, waiting for her to catch up, and then he wraps his arm around her shoulders as they follow Hope up the sidewalk. Letty takes a deep breath as both of her arms wind around his torso, and he kisses the top of her head.

Hope glances over her shoulder at her friends just as Jason turns his head to watch where he's walking. He sees a dark figure land in front of Hope, seemingly coming out of nowhere, and then her scream pierces the air, which immediately kicks both of her friends into action.

Letty lets go of Jason as his hand moves for the gun at the back of his waistband — he started carrying again after what happened with Julian. The brunette quickly moves forward as Jason lines up a shot. He can't kill it, but at least he can pull its attention from the girls; then he can get a clear shot when it turns on him.

The monster lets out something mixed between a scream and a roar, and it knocks both of the girls to the side before it goes after Jason. Letty hits the wall before falling to the cement, and her head hits the sidewalk. She's in a lot of pain as she pushes herself up, and her eyes land on the monster as it takes Jason down.

His gun flies out of his hand, and Letty forces her body to her feet before lunging forward. She grabs the gun from the ground before tackling the creature into the street. They roll, and her back hits asphalt as she looks up at the fanged monster above her. It raises its hairy, clawed arm to slash at her, but she raises the gun just as fast and pulls the trigger.

Two bullets enter its chest, and the monster slumps. The brunette shoves it off of her, and she sees the full moon above her before looking back to see the werewolf turn human again as it dies in the street next to Letty. Her mind's racing, and she turns her body back the other way to get to her friends.

"Jase..." She groans as she looks at the seemingly unconscious boy to her left.

—

Mr. Feeny quickly opens the gate between his backyard and the Matthews' before crossing his neighbors yard and bursting through the door into the kitchen, not bothering to knock before entering. Everyone who was at the restaurant earlier ended up back at their house, and they all turn to see what's going on.

"George?" Mr. Matthews takes a step forward when he sees the panicked look on the older man's face. "What's wrong?"

"I just got a call from Jonathan Turner. Scarlett, Hope, and Jason were attacked on their way back to their apartment tonight; they're in the hospital." He tells them. "Jonathan's calling Alec now, and then he's heading down there as well."

"Let's go." Shawn gets up and runs past Mr. Feeny, leaving the house with everyone else close behind him.

The three different groups all get to the hospital around the same time, and Tyler looks up when he hears the commotion. He's the only one to move from his seat, and he stops them before they can rush over to where they see Letty sitting with Reggie.

"What's going on?" Shawn asks, his gaze staying on his older sister.

"Is she okay?" Eric asks.

"Scarlett has a concussion and some stitches in her left arm; she'll be alright. Most of the blood on her doesn't appear to be hers." Tyler tells them.

"What about Jason and Hope?" Mrs. Matthews asks as her gaze travels over the many faces in the waiting room, hoping to see someone else that she recognizes.

"They're both in surgery. We haven't heard much on them yet."

"And, um... Where are the twins?"

"Lina was with me and Reggie while we were watching them. She stayed at the apartment." He says, and she nods.

Mr. Matthews wraps his arm around his wife as Topanga and Angela both move closer to their boyfriends. Mr. Turner rests his hand on Shawn's shoulder, and Mr. Feeny looks at Eric to see how he's doing; Eric's staring at Letty, who's clinging to Reggie's hand as her leg bounces.

Tyler's eyes flit around the group before they land on Alec. "We should see if we can get ahold of Hope's father, and Melissa. I've already talked to Bobby; he's driving out from Sioux Falls as we speak." He tells him.

"I don't have Delgado's number...and I have no idea where Melissa is." He says. "Best we can do there is talk to Bobby when he gets here."

"They're gonna be okay, aren't they?" Topanga asks, and they both look down at her.

"Hasn't really been our experience, kid." Tyler tells her.

"There's a doctor walking over to them." Jack says suddenly, and the group looks over as Letty and Reggie get to their feet.

They can't hear what the doctor's saying, but they can tell by the look on his face that he isn't giving the two of them good news. Seconds feel like years as they wait to hear what the doctor has to say about their friends, but none of them can bring themselves to move.

Letty suddenly pulls away from Reggie, who doesn't seem as though he's fully processed the information. He doesn't move as the brunette backs away from him, and she turns so she's facing the group, but her eyes don't find them. Her hands land on her stomach as she chokes on a sob, and they see the oh my God leave her lips.

Alec and Tyler suddenly lurch into action, moving for their respective siblings. Tyler gets his hands on the chair that Reggie grabbed and he keeps him from throwing it in a fit of anger. He has to keep him from lashing out, pinning him against the wall near them as he yells at him to get his hands off of him. But then all fight leaves Reggie just as quickly, and he slides down the wall; Tyler kneels down in front of him as he looks over his shoulder at the other set of siblings.

Alec grabs his sister's arms just as her knees start to buckle under her, and she collapses. He pulls her to him as they both hit the ground, and her breathing is erratic. The brunette grabs for him, trying to find something to hold onto, and her fingers curl around his t-shirt as her hands ball up into fists.

Letty keeps repeating something incoherently through her sobs, and Alec wraps his arms around her as he pulls her into his chest. He can't understand what she's saying, but he thinks he makes out one word: dead. And then he hears it—

"Hope's dead."