I dislike Eichen House a lot.

And when I say a lot, I mean I'd rather be stabbed with a fork multiple times than have to set foot in that place again.

Even so, I find it in me to go with Theo's pack, despite how dastardly the looming building was. The plan was to let Tracy do her thing and paralyse any guards in our way before waiting for the signal to proceed.

It's a long an anxious wait with an extremely tense Theo — a stark contrast from this morning. He's jittery and readjusts himself several times. "Theo," I murmur. "Calm down."

When Theo's phone buzzes, he jolts upright and checks it. "She's in," he muses. He alerts the rest of the pack and we trudge down to the gates. A lifeless body is at the foot of the stairs behind the gate, and behind it is the menacing figure of Tracy.

She smiles. "Come on, guys."

I hesitate before stepping through, again letting that little voice inside me tell me that it's wrong and that anyone so excited to throw an entire building into chaos probably isn't trustworthy.

I take a step, gnawing on my lip. I feel that hopelessly regretful feeling in the pit of my stomach that I haven't felt in a while. Since the crash, it's been as if my strength had plummeted to the ground. I didn't really notice it at first, but it was still there, slowly ebbing at what fire I had in me: that feeling of vulnerability and unsureness.

The state of the foyer was silent. It looks as though whoever would've even visited this place was long gone by this hour. The guy behind the desk looks up, quirking an eyebrow. "Visiting hours are well past over," he says bluntly.

Theo takes a step forward, smirking. "We're not here to visit. We're here for Lydia Martin." So quickly that I barely get a chance to comprehend it, Theo lunges at the man behind the desk. He yanks him up by the shirt as if he weighs no more than a feather and throws him to the ground, his body landing with a thud.

He huffs out a breath. "Come on."

He leads the way through a door and we find ourselves in a network of confusing halls. Theo seems to know the way perfectly, weaving effortlessly through the corridors. There are voices coming from down the hall, the stale air carrying them to my ears.

"Is that her?" I whisper to Theo.

I get a curt nod and a small shh. The voice becomes clearer, a clinical, calculating voice.

The voice of Gabriel Valack.

Lydia. Lydia is in there with him. I hurry my steps, shouldering past Theo and all but sprinting to the room.

The room is dark and derelict. It's like a small box, and when I step inside I feel almost suffocated. I'm not thinking things through. I don't even care about Gabriel Valack when I see him. Nothing else matters except Lydia.

My eyes flit up to Valack, but for a second, all I can do is pause as we stare wide-eyed and gaping at each other. I snap out of the surprise and, when I hear Theo stop behind me, I shove past Valack and go to Lydia.

My breath hitches in my throat as I gaze upon her. Her eyes are vacant, her skin is pale and her hair is matted to her scalp with blood. I make a small noise between a squeak and a sob and before I know it, my knees are giving way and I'm shaking her shoulders but nothing is happening.

She doesn't deserve this. She doesn't deserve any of this. With a trembling hand, I gently caress her face, tracing my fingers over the hollows of her cheekbones. Theo looms over me, furrowing his eyebrows. He's focussed on something at her head. "I can't believe they call this a medical establishment," he spits.

My eyes linger on the gaping bloodied hole in her head. I feel like vomiting, crying and screaming all at once. "Lydia," I croak out. "Lydia!" By now my voice is dominated by sobs and I can't catch my breath.

People are speaking behind me and there's a commotion right outside the door, but all of that pales in comparison to the sight of Lydia. Her eyes are wide and focussed on nothing in particular. She looks as though her brain has shut down, leaving her trapped in her own body.

I know nothing about having someone force themselves into my mind, but I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be anything like this. "Theo," I breathe. I look up at him with a quivering bottom lip and eyes red and raw from crying. "This...this wasn't you, was it?"

He looks guilty and pitiful. "No," he says. "I mean, it shouldn't have. She would've healed by now. It was this place. It was him." He looks pointedly at Valack who's being held against the wall by Tracy.

"We need to get out of here," I say. "We need to get her out of here."

"I still need to find the hellhound," he murmurs quietly.

"To hell with the hellhound," I hiss back. "Pun intended. But, really, I need to get Lydia out of here."

"Arden," he whispers, "we will. I promise. We just need to get to the hellhound. Come on."

He grasps Lydia's upper arm and hauls her to her feet as gently as possible. I put an arm under her armpits to support her and guide her out. I'm surprised she can still hold her own weight even when the rest of her seems to be asleep.

I'm not even paying heed to Gabriel Valack when he speaks. "And what does a siren want with a banshee?"

I freeze in the hallway. "What?" I ask.

Theo cuts in. "I don't want a banshee," he says. "I'm looking for a hellhound."

As if on cue, the slight sound of sizzling comes from down the hall. I swivel around and look at the flaming figure behind the metal door. Jordan Parrish melts the wire away and it turns to putty under his grip. Bits of metal fly into the ground in front of him and he bares his teeth viciously.

Theo looks at him with admiration and in awe, but under all that, I can sense fear as well. Who knows what Parrish can do in his supernatural form?

I wasn't sure what Theo wanted with him or how he'd even cause Parrish to be malleable under his control. From what I heard, hellhounds were powerful harbingers of death, and I'm not exactly excited to be working with one.

I tighten my grip on Lydia, stepping in front of her and making sure she isn't in Parrish's line of attack.

That's when the alarm starts blaring.

It's a shallow, tinny sound that becomes tiring after just a few listens. "What's happening?" I yell over the noise to Theo.

He looks back at me, his eyes weary and unsettled. "It's a lockdown," he says. "We're stuck in here."

I feel a knot in my stomach. We're stuck in this hellhole for god knows how long. I swallow hard, trying not to scream. Who knows what'll happen during those hours?

I go rigid, latching onto the strawberry blonde beside me. Her eyes are wide and dazed just as before, but I swear I can see a hint of fear filling them.

I can see Theo's morale falling into despair as he gazes upon the hellhound. I can see him thinking hard, trying to conjure up something to help us.

He bares his teeth into a snarl and before I know it, Lydia is getting pulled away from me by him. I intake a sharp breath as he holds his claws at her throat. She furrows her eyebrows slightly — the only movement since I've seen her. It's a minuscule one, but it gives me enough hope that she's still somewhere in there.

My hope is quickly dispelled when Theo digs his claws in slightly. "Back off!" he yells to Parrish. I look back at Tracy who has Valack in her clutches. "I mean it," he says, tightening his grip on the banshee. "Back off."

Tracy exchanges a glance with me. "Hold him," she demands, and before I have a chance to object, she sets off and I'm in charge of babysitting the mad scientist.

She takes off at a run towards the hellhound before swiping at it. It's a blur of claws, arms and tendrils of flame and I can't help but be stunned at how smooth their attacks are.

"What did you do to Lydia?" I breathe, gripping Valack's arm painfully tight.

I let out a mockingly sheepish grin. "I amplified her abilities."

I hear a sound between a scream and a groan and when I snap my head back to the scene happening in front of me, I realise that Tracy has been beaten. The hellhound advances. Should I do something? I think to myself, panicked.

"Why aren't you doing anything?" Theo demands. But it's not to me, it's to Corey.

"He's on fire!" Corey argues.

"You'll heal," Theo urges, teeth gritted. Hesitantly, Corey steps forward and makes a beeline towards the creature. His eyes are wide and anxious but his posture attempts to be intimidating.

The fight is over before it even starts.

Parrish drives his claws into Corey and I feel my gut wrench as the boy lets out a blood curdling moan of pain. Corey falls against the wall, blood and smoke seeping from his wound. The skin around it is blistering and his shirt is lined with claw marks.

Real fear paints itself upon Theo's face and I even find myself wanting to run as fast as I can the hell away from this place.

Instead, I stand with my feet planted firmly on the ground and don't move until the hellhound stops. He looks Theo in the eye before looking down at the metal rod at his feet. Something in me snaps and I let go of Valack and rush forward. I can't let Theo die.

So I stand in front of him.

He latches a hand onto my arm and shoves me out of the way. "Arden, get the fuck away," he growls. "I won't let you —"

He doesn't get to finish his sentence.

In that moment, the metal rod spears itself through Theo. He chokes slightly, blood pouring from his gut. He falls to his knees, wavering on the spot. I crouch down and swallow hard. Tears form at the back of my eyes, but I don't let them roll down my face.

"Sorry Theo." I turn to Valack, who has a satisfied grin on his face. My eyes travel to the person he's holding onto and my breath catches in my throat.

It's Lydia.

"I'm not done with her yet," Valack says.

And with that, he's gone.

I'm frozen, my hands gripping the rod so hard that my knuckles go white. When I look behind me, Parrish is no longer there. I clear my throat. "Are you okay?"

"Apart from the whole spear thing, yeah, I'm good," he says with a dry chuckle. I tug it out and the sound of flesh tearing echoes quietly through the corridor. I shudder.

I link an arm under his armpit and allow him to lean his weight on me. "Will you heal alright?" I ask.

"I always heal," he says. "I'm fine, really." He pushes himself up with a grunt and I try to hold his weight on me.

"You shouldn't have pushed me out of the way."

"Then what should've I done?"

"You should have let me protect you," he says. "Instead of being stubborn, that is."

I gnaw on my lip. "Seriously, Theo. Why didn't you just let me take the spear for you?"

He sighs. "Arden, you are my life," he says. "Why would I even want to continue to live without you?"

* * *

OH MY GOD HELLO EVERYONE ITS BEEN SO LONG I'm so sorry for not updating I just had so much going on and I was putting my time into a guy who didn't deserve it but yeah I'm back and I'm now a nun (I'm joking fr) because I hate boys except for Theo and Cody. I hope you enjoyed that it just took me so long to get through this chapter idek why. I hope it's not too bad and as always feedback is greatly appreciated. Also, if you ever want to keep up to date with me the best place to go is probably my spam book which is more like a journal lmao. I also feel like I've finally let down my Hannah Montana side since I've put up a picture of myself (on the right) as my profile picture lmao I feel like I'm miley stewart now

Until next time, Georgina xx