HAPPY HALLOWEEN IF YALL CELEBRATE IT. If ya don't, happy day? HERES A NEW CHAPTER THAT WAS SEMI HARD FOR ME TO WRITE EVEN THO ITS PRETTY SHORT. Love you guys ❤️

"Tell me where it IS!" Konrad screamed in my face.

I was in a cell. My arms had cuffs on them that chained me to the floor, lotus poison seeping into my skin. A cold breeze blew through the dungeon even though there were no windows.

I looked across from me where Alpha Arlis Barron sat against a wall, his skin red and bloodied. His eyes were shut, a case of REM behind them..

Konrad slapped me and my head whiplashed to the side. "This can go on for forever." Konrad threatened.

I should've felt small, weak. I should've cowered away. But... I smiled. "Good. Give me more."

Konrad laughed, above all else. And for a moment I understood what Polyphema saw in him. He had a nice laugh, he was attractive, and everyone loves a good ol' murderer.

He sat down on the floor. "Clay!" Konrad yelled. He looked like a little kid on Christmas, bright and happy.

It was disgusting.

A couple moments later, Clay walked in. And God did he look old. His entire head was grey, his eyes covered in wrinkles. "What?" He snapped, his voice rough and quiet. I didn't make eye contact with him. I couldn't. I thought he wanted to help, I though he was on our side.

"I want you to bring me Fiona." Konrad ordered, slightly turning his head to Clay but mostly watching me for my reaction.

I didn't give him one. Although, on the inside, my heart was thumping wildly and my head was pounding. Sis? I hadn't seen her since... since Dad.

Clay nodded solemnly and walked down the room of cells. I heard a metal door creak open and then a body hitting the floor with a thud. "C'mon." Clay said. He walked away, the sound of fancy shoes clicking in the darkness.

A blonde appeared in front of me in seconds. Her blue eyes weren't gleaming, her nails were ragged as if she was scratching on the floor.

I didn't flinch. I wasn't going too. "You know what fear does." Fiona groaned. "You know what weakness is." She reminded me. The family motto flittered through my mind.

I looked above her head, straightening my back. "I know." I had to be strong. I couldn't afford to be weak, no right now, now ever.

Konrad pulled Fiona roughly, tossing her onto the ground. "Tell me where it is and I'll keep Fiona alive."

I smirked back. "You wouldn't kill her." I was gambling, but hey, the Dawns always were risk takers.

I didn't think he'd kill Fiona but I guess I wouldn't know for sure until he did or didn't.

Konrad had a high fancy for Fiona, a fueling fire in his heart for her looks and personality. I didn't know where it originated from, I just knew Konrad had always treated Fiona like a chase, one he would gladly run after for forever.

He bent down to Fiona's level on the ground and gripped her chin. "You're right." He let go harshly and she hissed at him.

"But... I will let her go." Konrad bargained, all business to his tone. "She knows where your mom is, don't you?" He asked Fiona.

Fiona didn't answer, didn't twitch a muscle. Didn't blink. She was a stone statue, watching us with blank eyes and dull expressions.

Konrad must have thought she was just avoiding the question, but I knew what she was really doing. She was thinking, plotting, coming up with a solution to solve our problems.

It was a Dawn trait. We always had something to say, something to retort back. We weren't liars, we'd scar people with the truth, use it against them. And I've said it before, and I'll say it again, never ever ever piss off a silent Dawn. When a Dawn goes silent, you need to fucking run.

"Everly." Fiona spoke, her voice crawling with fear, but also determination. "Don't give him that notebook."

I nodded. "Okay."

"Don't you want her to be free?" Konrad questioned, testing my waters. "See her mother?" That almost got me.

Mom. She could help mom. Get mom. It would work out, mom could come save us. Or... or it wouldn't. Mom could end up just like Dad. Dead. Was it worth the risk?

I looked at Fiona's bruised body, wishing there was some way I could help her that wasn't this. "Sure. But she said no, I'm going to listen." Fiona was old, still a child in this world, but to humans she was an elder. She was wise, or she was brash. Right now, she was thinking things over and being... smart. I had to listen to Fiona.

Konrad rubbed his jawline, thinking. "What if I let Zach go?"

My heart was pained, clutching and wringing itself put. Zach. "No."

He laughed, even though the situation didn't call for it. "You Dawns are unbreakable, aren't you." He rolled his shoulders back.

"Family is important but we're Hunters." Fiona's pointed out sadly. "Our parents taught us a lot of lessons, one of those being that keeping the world safe is more important than any one person, family or not. Constance understands that, I'm sure you've realized."

Konrad shrugged and stalked over to the cell across from us

"Arlis thinks differently, don't you?" Arlis was seething, steam literally rolling off his body. "I had him in a silver bath. His back has more scars on them now from my dagger. He was... dying practically." Konrad kneed Arlis in the face, Arlis fell back onto the ground, instantly being knocked unconscious. "And he resisted my compulsion over the thought of losing his mate." Konrad turned back to us and winked. "I still might live up to threat I held over his head. I've practically killed him, I won't mind killing her."

"She looks like your wife!" I yelled. I didn't know Kate or Arlis that well, but I knew that neither of them deserved any of this. In Konrad's eyes he might have deserved it because Arlis helped send Konrad to Hell the first time. But in the eyes of every sane person, Arlis didn't deserve this.

Konrad stretched his hand open and closed, flexing his muscles. "I know. All the more reason to end her life."

"Why!? Did you ever love Polyphema? Why did you wait a thousand years after meeting her to finally kill her!?" I shouted.

I was expecting him to be furious, at least sightly daunted. But instead, he was calm. "I loved Polyphema with all my heart. All of it. I loved Becker, still do. She didn't, apparently. She slept with Kasparov, a man who I hated. A Hunter. Do you understand how wrong that is? She created the Hunters. She was never supposed to have sex with one." He cracked his knuckles nervously.

"You shouldn't of killed your wife over it! That's for sure." I stated, narrowing my eyes. The longer I kept him talking, the longer Fiona had to plan. The longer she could take to come up with a plan.

He rolled his eyes. "Common misconception. I didn't kill Poly. I was never going to kill her. She killed herself."

If I was standing I would've taken a step back, fallen to the ground. "No. You killed her." That was what I learned, that's what Becker said. He killed his wife.

Konrad took a breath. "I stole her powers. Most of them. At the last minute, in an attempt to protect Becker and give him some of her power, she killed herself." It wasn't an explanation I wanted. It was information I wished I never had. "So technically... Becker killed his mom."

I didn't know how to respond. I couldn't respond. Not to that.

Arlis was halfway in and out of consciousness, and I prayed to whatever God would listen that he found some strength and fast. But that was a pipe dream, he was weak right now.

"What do you even want to the notebook for? There's nothing to know that's special in it to you. To the Hunted yes, but not to you." Fiona asked.

And then it dawned on me. The prophesy, him wanting a war, wanting chaos.

"Ah, Everly gets it." He chuckled.

I closed my eyes. "You don't want it. You want The Hunted to have it." I guessed, but at this point it wasn't just a guess. It was practically a fact.

He snapped his fingers. "Bingo."

"But the Hunters are working for you." Fiona snapped.

Konrad shrugged. "Quite frankly, I don't give a damn. A war between the Hunters and the Hunteds? Where the Hunteds can finally win? Sounds like the Hunters are going to need allies. And allies cause war. A War Of—"

"The Species." Fiona finished for him.

Last time there was a war of the species, millions died. And the Hunters weren't even in that one. This one would draw more attention, kill more people.

"Who are you going to lead when everyone is dead!?" I screamed.

Konrad walked to the wall and leaned against it. "Not everyone's going to die. People will seek me out for help. And those who do will be infinitely in my debt. Last time I rose I tried to have just the Hunters and the witches. Why not go for everyone? Unlimited power? A God instead of a tyrant? Sounds great."

Fiona shook her head at me. "Don't you give up where that notebook is."

I wasn't planning on it, but now I definitely wasn't.

Konrad stalked around me a couple times. "Is it hidden? Or left on some table?"

I hid it when I was done. Not in the safe. I had taped it under my middle dresser drawer. It wasn't the safest place but c'mon? Who would think to look there? Why would I hide something so valuable, there?

"Not telling? That's okay. Kate, Arlis's mate, she's going to look through your house for me." He prided himself in that.

I boiled. "KATE IS WORKING WITH YOU?" That two timing, too ugly to be with Arlis, whiny, not supposed to be here, BITCH. Did she put Arlis in this cell? "Is SHE working with you?" I seethed.

Konrad bit his lip and smiled. "No. I threatened her life and Arlis's. She's not working for me willingly. She's just weaker than you."

Oh.

"Why would you—"

Suddenly, a high pierced howl roared through the dungeon. I looked behind Konrad and watched as Arlis ripped through his skin, screaming and howling.

As far as I knew a werewolf only had a painful shift his first time going wolf. So why was he screaming? Why did he look like he was in so much pain?

Konrad got up and slammed the cell door shut, breathing slightly heavily. "Going Dividus, aren't you buddy?"

Atrax. Rogue.

Arlis wasn't Arlis anymore. He was a rogue wolf, ready to hurt any and everyone. His wolf was asleep.

"He's talking to Kate." Konrad muttered. Roses burst from the ground beneath Arlis, the thorns' tips were silver. The vines tossed themselves around Arlis and pulled tightly until the wolf's eyes snapped open, howling and crying.

The vines receded, leaving the big black wolf shaking and twitching on the ground.

Konrad popped his knuckles and looked at me. "You're not winning, Eve." He snapped his fingers and him and Fiona disappeared. The lights in the dungeon snapped off.

The only sound around me was the occasional hiss from the lotus chains glazing over a new part of my wrists, and whimpers from a powerful werewolf across from me.

ARLIS
Arlis sat in an office, looking at papers to deal with another pack. He heard the door creak open in the silence but didn't care to look up. It was probably Chleo, his beta. And he didn't feel like talking to Chleo.

But something tipped him off. Chleo didn't smell like petrichor and honey. He looked at his hands, wondering why he felt so... ghostly.

"Arlis?" A voice asked, her tone soft and quiet.

Arlis's head snapped up. His eyes widened and he jumped over the desk to run to the brunette. His arms locked around her comfortably, tightly, scared. He took a deep breath in the crook of her neck and then pulled back. He put his hands on her cheeks. "Kate?"

Arlis expected her to cry but instead she smiled at his face. "You're back!" She shouted, wrapping her arms around his neck. He didn't give her the same treatment back because... Arlis knew he was still at Konrad's. They were dream walking. "What's wrong? You're back."

He shook his head. "No, Kate, I'm not." He replied. "You're dreaming. We're dreaming." He had heard about mate couples doing this when they were far apart, Dream walking. He had never done it until now.

She gulped. "But, you're here." She thought it was real.

So Arlis kissed her hard, passionately, to show that they would barely feel it.

"No. This isn't real life. You're in my dream." He gripped his hair. "But you will remember what happens. We will." He promised.

"What?"

He didn't know how long he had until Konrad realized he was asleep. All he knew was that Konrad asked Kate for the journal. "There's no time to explain. Did Konrad ask you to get the notebook?" Arlis asked.

She nodded. "Yes."

"You let me die before you get that notebook. That notebook is the end game. Do you hear me?" Arlis gripped her arms hard, begging her. "Don't get it from Everly's." She couldn't choose him over the world, he wouldn't let her.

She took a step back, astonished. "But... we'll both die."

Arlis looked at her face with regret, his heart clenching. "He said he'd kill you too?"

She was downcast, sad. That's all he needed to confirm it.

"Oh god." He covered his mouth and turned away. The moon behind them grew bigger and bigger. When he turned back his eyes were turning a darker shade of brown, near black. He felt his skin thinning and burning. And he was going Rogue. "I love you Kate. More than anything. If it kills us both..." he strained and bent over, gripping his stomach. What he was about to say, what he was thinking, pissed off his wolf beyond all measures. No mate should ever have to say this. But Arlis knew what was at stake. He understood what he had to lose. Everything. He had to lose everything.

Kate moved to him but he shot up and pushed her backwards, causing her to tumble on the floor. She was in danger. She needed to leave.

"NO!" He screamed. His nails elongated, his hands covered in black fur, not the normal calico he normally was. He stripped off his shirt, his skin bleeding from different pours as his skin ripped disgustingly.

"Arlis?"

"KILL US... BOTH!" He screamed and his scream turned into a mangled howl. "Don't give up... that notebook." Arlis's mouth was replaced by a muzzle, a full set of sharp canines.

He collapsed onto the floor, a black wolf. Not calico. Not his usual size. But a larger, darker, black wolf.

The wolf growled at Kate, stating that she had no more opinions. His wolf was going to protect even if it meant hurting her first. She turned to open the door and run but the wolf latched onto her ankle, pulling her down. It tore and tore until when she tried to stand, she fell again.

And Arlis's wolf was satisfied. Now she couldn't run and get herself into more trouble.

Arlis's wolf paced around Kate, watching every single nook and cranny. She tried to creep away but the wolf grabbed her arm and pulled until something snapped.

She screamed out, crying and begging to be let out of the room. The wolf almost let her but he couldn't. If he couldn't watch her, she'd die.

"Please!" She screamed.

But Arlis heard something coming, something big. Something powerful. Konrad.

Konrad climbed in through the window and Arlis blocked him from Kate's eyesight.

The wolf lunged, dragging a shadow down and tearing it to shreds.

The wolf turned and looked at Kate, it's mouth bloody and hungry. It howled, the noise probably piercing Kate's eardrums.