Chapter | 16

April woke up with a painful headache and a blurry vision clouding her eyes. It took her long moments to realize that she was laying in the back of Eric's car. Her body was sore from the awkward position she was laying on the backseat.

She blinked a few times to have a clear vision. Her eyes darted to the automatic clock in the car. Barely thirty minutes had passed since the last time she checked the time. She was confused what she was doing in the car in the first place.

With her hand, she grabbed the head restraint and pushed herself up. Her hand quickly shot up to her aching head, rubbing it in soothing motions.

Shawn. His name was the first thing that flashed through her mind. He wasn't with her in the car and the longer she thought about what had happened, the more she remembered the moments before she fell asleep,

Or rather, before Shawn knocked her unconscious quite painfully.

"Shawn, you're dead," April spoke under her breath and unlocked the door of the car before getting out. She steadied herself by leaning her arm on the car.

She was slightly angry that he knocked her out and left her alone in the car, as if he didn't care what happens to her. But April was more confused than angry, when she realized where Shawn had left her in the parked car.

April didn't even need to let her eyes waver around the place to know where she was. She was on the empty parking space in front of Rutherford's pub and though it was rather unsettling being there, it was not as surprising as it should be.

The last thing she expected was to wake up in a car in front of Rosewood's pub.

But what was Shawn doing here? She doubted that he would be serving drinks right now, it was too early for that. April headed towards the entrance, remembering the first night she found the pub after her long drive to Rosewood.

She slowly pushed the wooden door open and the familiar smell hit her nose. It reeked just as she remembered it- a strong smell of beer and something unfamiliar mixed in the air around her. Only, that this time the smell was even stronger than the first night she spend at the pub.

It took her several minutes to get used to the smell. Unlike her first night, the pub was empty. There was no one sitting at one of the dusty covered wooden tables or leaning against the counter of the bar.

Momentarily, she stood like being lost in the middle of the place, unsure where to go and what to do, but her attention fell on the small backroom behind the counters when noises erupted from behind it.

April couldn't tell what it was, but she followed the noises with a deep frown set on her face. She didn't notice the small backroom on her first night. It didn't look like it was supposed to be hidden from other eyes, but hidden enough to miss it.

The backroom was nothing special. There were boxes with bottles of alcohol in the corners of the small and dusty room and maybe two or three chairs.

But was caught her attention was a very small door. It was painted in the same brown color as the walls around her.

Only the metallic door knob gave away that there was in fact a door. April battled with herself. Should she open the door and see what hidden behind it? Did she even want to know whats in there?

After reaching for the door knob, she quickly let her hand drop again. For once, she decided against giving into her curiosity and sniffing around in places she didn't belong. She let a sigh falling from her lips.

"You're awake," Shawn's voice startled her.

She quickly spun around to face him, the odd door behind her already forgotten. He carried two boxes, placing them next to the others in the corner of the room. Watching her, he wiped the dust off his hands before speaking.

"I completely forgot about you," he continued honestly and scratched his neck, looking slightly apologetic.

"Yeah, already figure that much," April spoke dryly, casually crossing her arms with a burning glare. "You know, that really hurt what you did to me."

Shawn just grinned at that. "Oh? It did?"

"You are a piece of shít, redhead with absolutely no respect towards others. You really should-," she was cut off by a loud thud erupting behind the secret door. April jumped visibly at the sudden sound.

April crooked her neck and looked at the door before looking back at him. A frown settled between on her forehead.

"What was that?"

"Not sure. Move back."

He slowly pushed April behind his back. Shawn opened the door in a very quick motion and to both of their surprises, it was Eric who stumbled out behind the door- covered with blood.

"What the hell happened to you!" April almost shouted. She watched him with a look of utter disbelief, her tone sounding slightly hysterical.

Eric mumbled something she couldn't understand. "April?" He asked surprised when he lifted his gaze. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"What I'm doing here? What are you doing here? Did you have a fight?"

"What are you talking about?" He spoke slowly, in a very tired manner. And he looked exactly like that- tired.

"You have blood on your shirt. Explain."

Eric sighed tiredly. "I think I need a drink first."

* * * * *

April, Shawn and Eric were sitting at the counter of the pub. While Shawn was watching them with a bored expression, April was taking care of her brothers wounds.

They were deep. Some of them were long scratched on his back - similar to the one she had - while the others were clearly bite wounds. She only could imagine what had happened behind the door.

"So, you want to tell me what happened back there?" April asked again, cleaning his back from the blood.

"There was a problem down there and- AH!" Eric hissed painfully when April added more pressure than needed on his wounds.

He turned his head around, shooting her an angry glare, which April only returned with a simple shrug of her shoulders and a small smile on her lips.

"The truth, Eric. Just for once."

She was sick of her brother tiptoeing around the topic, lying and keeping things from her she should know.

Eric let out a low growl of frustration. "Fine, fine. Someone was causing trouble. Attacking other people and such. I had to take care of him," he finally gritted out, his hand tightening around his glass.

Whoever did this to him fücked him up pretty good. She was surprised he was able to stand on both of his feet, though he was rather hobbling than walking straight and even.

"You took care of him by letting yourself being beaten up? Sounds rather stupid to me," she spoke. "I wonder how you even survived a Lycan attack. My arm was hurting like hell and it wasn't even as near as worse as your wounds," she mumbled rather to herself than to him.

"Don't worry about me," he spoke with a gruff voice. "How's your arm anyway?"

"Better. Much better."

Eric turned his head and let his eyes drop on her arm. He frowned deeply when he saw that there was absolutely no trace of the scratch.

"It's .. healed." It sounded more like a question than a statement. Disbelief and confusing were lacing the tone of his voice. "It's healed. How's that possible?"

"Turns out Nikolaj gave her the antidote," Shawn interrupted, raising his glass to his lips. "Quite funny, don't you think?"

"Antidote? There is no way in hell that Viktor would give the antidote For him, it would be a waste of blood. He's not someone who helps other people out and you know that."

"Who said that Viktor gave it to her?" Shawn asked, raising both of his eyebrows in a questioning way.

Eric was silent for long moments. The frown on his face deepened the longer he thought about it. "You mean Nikolaj stole it from him? Are you even listening to yourself? That's just ridiculous, he isn't that stupid."

"Well, turns out he is," was Shawn's reply.

"Why did he give it to me anyway, if it was forbidden?" April jumped in. The question was bothering her awhile now. She just couldn't find an answer to that. Eric and Shawn remained silent. They didn't seem to have an answer either.

"Just be glad that she's alive and well," Shawn broke through the silence, talking to Eric.

Eric nodded in agreement and sighed. "I am. I'm just afraid of the consequences," he admitted silently, only for Shawn to hear.

"Don't worry," Shawn spoke just as silent as him.

There was a hint of doubt and even fear in Eric's eyes, but he didn't say anything else after that. He silently gulped the rest of his drink down his throat, before shoving the glass away from him.

When April cleaned all his wounds she handed Eric's dirty and slightly ripped shirt. He quickly pulled it over his head, not caring about the holes and dirt on it.

She let the blood stained towels somewhere on the counter and excused herself, hurrying to the restroom. She still remembering the way from her last visit. It didn't surprise her that the restroom was still dirty and dusty like the last time.

There was a light smell lingering in the air and by washing her bloody hands, a metallic smell hit her nose also. April scrunched her nose. She quickly dried her hands with paper towels before heading back to the others.

"Want a drink?" Shawn asked when she took her seat at the counter.

"Just water."

Shawn pulled a glass from behind him and filled it with water. "Not a drinker?" Shawn asked with a grin as he looked at her, amused.

She smiled and shook her head. "I am. Just not in the mood right now," she explained simply and took the glass to her lips. She didn't realize how dry her mouth actually was. "So, this is Roswood's public hangout for Lycan's, huh?" She wondered aloud.

Eric snorted, while Shawn snickered silently to himself, amused with her question. He turned to face her and rubbed his chin in a thoughtful manner. A slight smirk tugged at his mouth.

"Something like that, honey. Something like that," was Shawn's answer.

April stared at him, when the front door of the pub creaked open, making all three of them all turning their heads around.

Evan entered the pub, running his hand through his damp hair from the rain that started not too long ago. A smile formed on his lips when he approached the small group at the counter. He took a seat next to Shawn.

"You look like shit," he stated when he noticed the cuts and blood stains on Eric's shirt. "Rough day?"

He grunted at that. "You can say that," he muttered.

Eric wasn't exactly in talking mood. Even Evan noticed that and averted his gaze to April, surprised that she was here sitting with the others.

"And you even brought your charming little sister," he continued with a small smile.

"I brought her here, actually," Shawn retorted.

"Forcefully," April quickly jumped in.

"What?" Asked Evan.

"Don't even ask," Eric answered instead in a low voice, obviously annoyed with the whole conversation and probably still being in a bad mood from the attack.

Evan raised his eyebrows and briefly shook his head. However, the confusion was soon replaced by surprise.

"Lorena is back." His voice was low, sounding very surprised and confused. His forehead was creased with a deep frown.

Who is Lorena?

"Why is she back?" Eric asked, traces of annoyance slowly vanishing from his face. He straightened his back and focused his attention to Evan.

April somehow got the feeling that Lorena's presence wasn't exactly welcomed by them. For any reason whatsoever.

By the way they all were looking, she knew that they didn't want to see that person again. And she was also sure, that she didn't want to meet her, either. Rosewood had already enough odd people and she could gladly live without meeting another one.

"She has a fight tonight.. With Nikolaj," Evan answered with a smirk. Excitement was flashing through his eyes. "That's going to be interesting." He chuckled loudly and leaned his chin on his entwined fingers.

By hearing Nikolaj's name, April's attention perked up. She hadn't really thought much about him since yesterday, when she was a visitor at Viktor's estate.

"No doubt," Shawn spoke with a scoff.

"Fighting? Why should someone want to fight him?" She asked confused and furrowed her eyebrows. Nikolaj didn't seem to be someone weak, judging by his slight intimidating appearance. She asked herself who was brave enough to challenge someone like him and especially, why?

"Because today is cage fight night."

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Short chapter and most probably the worst way to let you all know that this story is partly about cage fighters. Keyword: PARTLY. I definitely have to rewrite this once I finish this story. Important question: Should I mention in the summary that this story involves cage fighting? I don't know if it would reveal too much.

Next update: Probably this weekend, if not then someday next week. Thanks for reading!