*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧—chapter twenty-two: a recipe for disaster

August 23, 2021
Hackett House
Upstate New York, New York

NEITHER CASSIDY NOR RYAN MAKE IT VERY FAR. Bobby's already down in the basement, having them cornered. Cassidy doesn't have a plan for how him and Ryan could escape Bobby.

So, the two friends stay silent and don't try doing anything as Bobby instructs them to head up. But when neither of them move, Bobby seizes them roughly by their shirt collars and shoves them toward the ladder in the other room of the basement. Cassidy practically trips over his own feet. He grabs onto the ladder and starts the climb up, glancing down every few seconds to make sure Ryan was coming up too, and Bobby was watching both of them with the eyes of a hawk.

Once up, Cassidy moves out of the way to allow Ryan space to enter the dining room. The Erzahler boy climbs up and Cassidy grabs his hand, helping him up the rest of the way. Now that the two of them were now on ground level, Bobby closes the trapdoor.

But before either of them can move from their spots, the shotgun is snatched from where it was slung over Cassidy's shoulders and he is once again grabbed by the shirt collar by Bobby and shoved towards the door that leads into the hallway.

"Let him go!" Ryan exclaims, about to head over to stop the tall, burly man in the denim overalls, but an arm wraps around him, pulling him back. Jedediah had his arm wrapped around the boy's throat.

Cassidy struggles in Bobby's grasp, yelling as he calls for help, though it falls on deaf ears as the others are making sure Ryan and Laura don't try to pull anything. Panic rises in the boy's chest as Bobby opens the door leading into the hallway. Where was Bobby taking him?

He leads him down the hall before turning and taking him into one of the rooms off to the side. It leads into the kitchen and he leads his nephew through it, before reaching another door. Now, they were in the living room.

Bobby brings him past the couch and coffee table, exiting the room and entering the foyer.

Bobby leads the boy upstairs. Cassidy still doesn't know where his uncle is leading him, but he knows it was probably to a room he had never been in before.

They walk down the hall until they are at the very end. The room on the right is where Bobby takes Cassidy. Bobby pushes open the door.

It was a room that hadn't been touched much since the house was built. The floor of the room was just the concrete foundation of the house. The walls were made of bricks. It was mostly unfurnished. The only pieces of furniture being the wardrobe resting on the left wall and the wooden chair directly beside the door. There was an air conditioner vent screwed into the ceiling. A window was embedded in the back wall. The wall on the right had a set of chains bolted to the wall. And something was chained up to the wall, struggling in the binds. A werewolf in black Calvins...

"Why the hell is that werewolf— Gabe in here? Why is he...? Why does...?" Cassidy stops in front of the door, staring wide-eyed at the werewolf that was chained down. "Why is he here and not in the basement?"

"We had to relocate him," Bobby answers gruffly, shoving Cassidy into the room.

Bobby didn't call the werewolf an it. He didn't treat that thing as if that wasn't Gabriel. He didn't treat it as if that was some kind of monster. But Cassidy supposes it was true in some way. The werewolves weren't its and monsters, but at the same time, they were. They were definitely not human, but they were, nonetheless. But none of the werewolves seemed to really have any control over their own human minds. That part was locked away, held back by a much stronger force. The wolf within.

Cassidy stares at the werewolf warily. A pained howl leaves it as it tugs on the binds. It wanted out. It didn't want to be locked away. Gabe never wanted to be held hostage in the house.

He looks to Bobby, who hadn't moved since shoving the boy into the room. The man was gesturing toward the chair by the door.

"Sit down," he says.

"Why?" Cassidy questions, turning around to face him. There's a scowl on his face as he looks up at his uncle. "So you can let werewolf Gabe kill me?"

"Sit down." Bobby repeats, a bit harsher this time and he sets the gun against the wall on the opposite side of the door, before shoving him toward the chair. Cassidy nearly trips as he goes to sit down.

Bobby then heads over to the wardrobe, pulling out a bundle of ropes. Cassidy's eyes widen as his uncle walks over to him with the ropes. He was going to tie him to the chair.

He tries to scoot the chair toward the door, knowing that Bobby wasn't going to let him get up. But if he could get to the door and open it...

But before he can, Bobby stands in front of him, blocking his path. Cassidy tries scooting the chair in the opposite direction as Bobby begins tying the ropes around him and the chair, but is halted when Bobby puts his boot-clad foot out, stopping him. So, Cassidy stops trying to attempt to leave.

Bobby ties a knot in the bundle of ropes before taking a step back. Satisfied with his work, he pulls open the door and leaves, slamming it shut behind him.

The werewolf had been staring at Cassidy the whole time, sniffing the air. It was only when Bobby left when he starts growling. The chains rattle as the creature tugs on them. Not hard at first, just gently. Like it was taunting Cassidy before it actually broke free. It starts tugging harder, the heavy chains rattling even more. The shackles around the werewolf's wrists and ankles snap and the chains clatter to the floor.

Still growling, the beast crosses the room on all four, before rearing up on its hind legs a bit to gaze down at the boy tied to the chair. Cassidy tenses, inhaling and exhaling shallow breaths as the werewolf looms over him. It moves its head closer, its nose just mere inches from his face as it sniffs him. And Cassidy knew what it was trying to figure out.

The growling starts up again, growing louder by the second as the werewolf stares down at him. Cassidy whimpers, bottom lip trembling from fear as tears leak from his eyes and roll down his cheeks.

In the same moment, the werewolf lunges. Cassidy screams as the chair falls backward, colliding with the floor. The ropes are ripped away and the chair snaps as the creature lands on top of him, pinning him to the floor. Saliva drips from its tongue, falling onto his face and he can't help but grimace and cry out, trying to get away. But he can't move much, the sharp claws of the beast pressing down hard against him, tearing his shirt and digging into his arms and stomach, breaking through skin and making it bleed. He can barely breathe with the weight on top of him, breaths coming out forced but his lungs ache with each one he takes.

Cassidy tries to reach for the gun and manages to grab ahold of the leather strap, pulling the firearm toward him. He raises it and hits the beast upside the jaw with the barrel. This only makes this worse as the werewolf growls louder in anger, before grabbing the gun between its teeth, yanking it from his hands, and throwing it across the room. The shotgun smacks one of the walls and clatters to the floor. The werewolf turns back toward Cassidy, staring down at him as it tightens its grip on the boy's arms. Another whimper crawls up his throat as he squirms beneath the weight of the werewolf as he tries to wriggle free. But this only angers it even more.

The werewolf moves quickly, sharp teeth clamping down on Cassidy's left shoulder. There's a searing hot pain traveling through his arm and he screams in agony, writhing beneath the werewolf that had a hold on his shoulder. Blood was spurting from the wound rather quickly, and within seconds, it had drenched the now torn sleeve of his shirt and was spraying onto the hardwood floor. He kicks at the creature again and another painful cry leaves the boy's lips as the teeth of the werewolf tear through his skin as it tumbles backward.

Another angered growl fills the air. The werewolf paces in front of Cassidy for a moment, thinking over other options it had for hurting the boy. But before it can do anything else, the door to the room slams open. Several gunshots fill the air and the werewolf yelps in pain upon getting hit. The beast heads straight for the window after that, glass shattering in its wake.

Cassidy tries to sit up, a weak attempt made. He falls back down onto his back, a pained cry leaving his lips. The impact from his back hitting the floor makes his teeth clatter and a bitter metallic taste fills his mouth. He swallows it, and then keeps his tongue pressed against the roof of his mouth to try and stop the bleeding.

He glances toward the door to see Travis lowering a shotgun, before picking up the other gun and tossing it to him. Cassidy grabs it but doesn't sling it over his shoulders immediately. First, he uses it to help him sit up.

Once he's sitting up, he slips the strap over his shoulders, wincing as he moves his left arm and gets the strap in the right position. Once he lets go and double checks to make sure it was secure, he looks up at Travis, who was now walking across the room and making his way over to him.

The sheriff was muttering something that Cassidy couldn't quite hear, but it sounded like he was talking about how he can't believe Bobby would lock him in here with that thing.

"I don't understand, Dad..." Cassidy starts, the first thing he says to him just barely above a whisper. He was fucking terrified. He was injured and in a severe amount of pain. Werewolf Gabe had just bit him. Now he was infected. And Travis had come and saved him again. It was all so confusing and scary. "One minute you're nice to me and you want to help me and all that, right? Like, right now. And the next minute, you... you're bein' a bitch to me. Why?"

Travis doesn't answer, grabbing Cassidy's arm gently to inspect the bite wound. Cassidy hisses in pain at the touch, recoiling.

"How come it's only when my life's on the line you go and help me?" Cassidy asks through gritted teeth. "That ain't what Mom wanted. When she said protect me, she didn't mean do the shit you did. Not lettin' me leave the house much. Havin' me be up in my room whenever there's an inconvenience—which I hate bein' in my room when you tell me to. Not tellin' me shit that, if I had known about in the first place, coulda saved my life. Bein' a dick about everythin'. Mom never wanted this. She just wanted you to protect me, to make sure I was safe, but what you're doin' goes beyond that... This is more like holdin' me hostage in our goddamn house. I don't get it. How is this helpin' me?"

Travis exhales shakily, shaking his head. "Just let me bandage you up, 'kay?"

Cassidy doesn't respond. He slips the gun off of his shoulders and sets it on the floor before removing his shirt, wincing as the fabric brushes against his shoulder wound. Blood stained part of it and he drops it onto the floor.

"Your tank, too. It's better to wrap the bandage 'round you while you're shirtless. Fully exposed skin is better for bandages to help a wound heal."

Cassidy groans, going to remove his black tank top. Once it's off, he sets it down on top of his shirt. There's a miserable look on his face as he looks back over at Travis, who had picked up the roll of bandages and started to unravel it, getting to work. The bandage wrapping only took a few minutes, but a few minutes felt like hours.

Travis helps him gets his shirts back on, the limited arm movement not being able to have his arm move much. Cassidy would end up, somehow, unraveling the bandages if he had tried putting his shirts back on himself.

Cassidy picks up the gun and slips the strap back over his shoulders. Once it was on, he leans against the wall, a tired sigh leaving his lips.

"You good?" Travis asks him once he backs away.

"No. Does it look like I'm okay?" Cassidy answers, shaking his head. "I'm really tired."

"Your symptoms are setting in already. Fucking hell..." Travis mutters. He then says something under his breath about Bethany, which piques the boy's interest.

He furrows his brows in confusion. "What's this about Mom?"

"Nothing," Travis answers, looking at him.

"It's always 'nothing' with you. Nothing, nothing, nothing," a halfhearted laugh leaves Cassidy's lips and he just shakes his head. But he soon stops and meets Travis' gaze. Travis can see a dark look in the boy's eyes as he stares at him, the boy's eyes flashing a shade of yellow. He doesn't have time to react. Cassidy lunges toward him and wrapping his fingers around Travis' throat. The man lets out a strangled gasp, trying to pry his son's fingers from around his throat as the boy shoves him back toward one of the walls.

"My trust in you has been gradually decreasing in the past six years, and tonight, it's decreasing even faster," he growls, not loosening his grip. "And guess what? I know about the werewolves. Known all night since just after Chris drove here. Found all the letters and shit in Chris' desk."

A look of surprise crosses Travis' features as he looks at Cassidy. "You... know...?" he chokes out, clawing at the boy's hands.

Cassidy scoffs. "Okay, don't act all stupid now. Did you really think I was never gonna find out?"

"Cass—"

"I have been lied to for six years and it is your fault that I coulda been dead within those six years," he tightens his grip. "Remember I asked you what the danger was and that this protectin' me bullshit ain't gonna work if I don't fuckin' know? Remember that?"

"Let... go... of me..." Travis tries prying at his fingers again, but Cassidy wasn't budging.

"No," there's malice in Cassidy's words and Travis recoils at the tone. "I bet you don't actually care 'bout me, Dad."

"What...?" Travis stares at him, brows furrowed.

"I didn't..." Cassidy eyes return to their normal chocolate brown color and he looks confused now as he loosens his grip on Travis' throat. "I didn't mean to say any of that or do that... I—" Let me out. There's a voice in his head. One he's never heard before, or... at least one he doesn't remember ever hearing in the past. It wasn't the voice of his own thoughts. It was something else, belonging to something much more sinister. Cassidy honestly didn't want to believe that the voice in his head at this very moment was the wolf within. He had to convince himself everything was fine. That he wouldn't be—

Do not ignore the signs.

"Shut up!" Cassidy snaps, his eyes flashing a dangerous yellow again before fading back to brown. He takes a deep breath and looks up at Travis. "Sorry— There's a voice..."

Travis nods in understanding, though a look of worry crosses his features. "Was it asking to be let out?"

Cassidy nods slowly, looking away. "I can still hear it." Hungry... You are hungry. I am hungry. He looks back up at Travis, frowning slightly. "It's hungry."

"Chris, Kaylee, Gabe, and Caleb experience that same thing every full moon. The voice in their heads. The exaggerated need for food—"

"Can we talk 'bout somethin' else?" Cassidy interrupts quickly. "Maybe I can be distracted so I can ignore it, then I won't have to keep hearin' it. Can we... Can we talk 'bout Mom, maybe?"

Travis nods, eyeing him worriedly before speaking. "Beth was still infected when she was pregnant with you. Some of the werewolf DNA, uh, transferred to you. But you never really experienced any symptoms of lycanthropy or anything until you were five."

"Which symptoms?" Cassidy asks, tilting his head slightly as he looks at him.

"Frequent irritability, prolonged fevers, fatigue, nausea, unsteadinesses... Only some of them happen, but there were only a few times where you actually turned, based on these..."

Cassidy's eyes widen at this and he furrows his brows, thinking as Travis continues.

"Your transformations are infrequent. They don't happen every month. Sometimes they happen every two months, every five months, every year, every two years, three to five years even. It's sporadic, but I'm always prepared to help you. Most recent time you turned was May of this year," Travis explains, a sigh leaving his lips.

"I don't remember any of that..."

"You're not going to. Leading up to the transformations, you would... Shit, I can't explain it properly. But you weren't really all there. Like your mind was elsewhere as the beast started to make its way out," Travis grits his teeth as he speaks. "And you don't remember anything leading up to that point. So, by the time morning came, you thought everything was perfectly fine. But it must be different this time..."

"What about when..." Cassidy trails off, furrowing his brows as he frowns. He had no idea what he wanted to say. Hungry... He shakes his head and blinks rapidly, trying to get the voice to stop. He takes a deep breath to stay calm before focusing his attention on Travis again. "What about the blood and my clothes?"

"I always changed you out of your clothes beforehand and would give you warm baths to clean up the blood. You weren't really there this happened, you were completely out of it. Uh..." Travis sighs again. "It's been three months since your last transformation, and it seems tonight'll be your next one."

There's just silence after Travis finishes speaking. Cassidy has his lips pressed to a thin line as he ponders his father's words. It all made sense, but at the same time, it didn't. It was too much information to handle that it was making him get a headache.

"I know it's hard to process, Cass. I had a hard time believing it, too," Travis says, breaking the silence. "There's not much we can do about it right now. I don't know how much time you have until you turn..." he takes a breath. "But time is limited."

"Okay, well, then we gotta go," Cassidy states, pushing away from the wall. "We have to..." he staggers to his feet, swaying a little. He mutters a string of curses as he leans back against the wall, closing his eyes. "Never mind. I think it's starting now."

"It is," Travis confirms as he wraps an arm around him gently, supporting him as he helps him toward the door. "We don't have much time."

They leave the room and head back stairs, passing through the living room, then the kitchen, and then the hall that separated the rest of the house from the dining room.

As soon as Travis pushes open the door and enters the dining room with Cassidy, Constance is already making her way over to her grandson.

"Are you okay?" Constance asks him, a concerned expression on her face. She glances down toward his arm, seeing it wrapped up in bandages. She rolls up his sleeve, seeing the rest of the bandages wrapping his shoulder. A gasp leaves her lips. "What happened to you? If it was Travis, I'm gonna give him another talkin'-to if he—"

"No, Gammy. Dad didn't do anythin' other than bandage my shoulder," Cassidy explains, shaking his head. The corner of his top lip twitches as he turns his head to glare at Bobby. "It's uncle Bobby's fault this happened."

"Bobby, what the hell did you do to him?" Constance snaps, walking over to her youngest son. "You let Gabriel bite him, didn't you? Why would you do that?"

"I was teachin' him a lesson, Ma," Bobby says, looking at her with an almost scared look in his eyes.

"That's not teachin' him a lesson," Constance continues, shaking her head in disappointment. "Travis has spent the last nineteen years protectin' Cassidy, but now you're tryin' to kill him? Do you want your nephew to die?"

"Ma—"

"We can't let him die. We can't let him, or Caleb, or Gabriel die," Constance replies, shaking her head in frustration. Cassidy could see the pained look in her eyes. "My little Kaylee's already dead because of that bitch over there..."

Her gaze lands on Laura, who was seated on the floor. The blonde still had the shotgun gripped tightly in her hands, though she wasn't aiming it at anyone in particular. As she goes to sit up, Constance crosses the room and seizes her by the ponytail again, dragging her across the oak wood floor.

It was currently two-fifteen in the morning when Laura's threats to Constance fill the dining room.

"Put me down!" Laura hisses as she struggles in her grip, thrashing about to try and get away, but it wasn't working.

"Easy, Ma!" Travis warns, though his words had fallen on deaf ears.

"Put me down you old witch! I'll blow your fuckin' head off!" Laura yells, swinging the shotgun around. It hits Constance in the knee and the old woman's grip loosens as she gasps in pain and shock at the sudden attack.

"You bitch!" Constance spits as Laura rolls toward the window and stands up, pointing the shotgun at her.

"Everybody just relax..." Travis says calmly as he raises a hand, meeting the eyes of his family members, and Ryan, and Laura.

Cassidy moves to the other side of the room to stand beside Ryan. He has to lean against the table once he's over there, palms of his hands pressed against the side of the table as he squeezes his eyes shut. Ryan glances toward him nervously, a look of worry crossing his face.

"Cass...?" the Erzahler boy says quietly.

"I'm fine, Ryan..." The Hackett boy says through gritted teeth. His headache was getting worse by the second and he could feel his heart beating faster in his chest, feel the blood pumping in his veins. "Fuck..." He reopens his eyes and turns around, still leaning against the table.

His eyes flick over to Constance, who walks around Jedediah and heads over to the other end of the table, to the lamp resting on top.

"Can't shoot what you can't see, darlin'," she says as she grabs the knob and turns it.

The bright yellow light that had once illuminated the room fades, bathing the dining room in pitch black darkness. The moonlight shining through the window lends them a bit of light, but only if you were directly in front of the window.

The wooden floorboards creak as Constance crosses the room. Laura stands up from where she had been crouched in front of the window and raises her shotgun, aiming it in front of her into the surrounding darkness.

Constance appears beside the blonde, grabbing ahold of the barrel of the shotgun, aiming it toward the ceiling so that it wouldn't be in her face it case it were to go off. Laura turns slightly to face Constance and tugs on the gun, trying to pull it away from the elder woman, but it wasn't working. Constance had a firm grip on the gun.

"Gotcha!"

Cassidy watches the struggle from afar. His panic levels were quickly rising the longer it went on. Scared that Laura would accidentally pull the trigger and the gun would go off and blast Constance's head off. Either woman should just let go of the firearm, but Cassidy knew that wasn't going to happen.

"You'll pay for what you did to my Kaylee," Constance threatens as she tightens her grip on the shotgun as she continues to try pulling it out of Laura's hands.

"Get the fuck off of me!" Laura hisses, not letting go.

Cassidy counts the seconds that pass in three-second intervals, once getting to three, he restarts from one. One, two, three... One, two, three... One, two, three... He had his eyes shut as he counted in his head, trying to keep himself calm as the tension continued to rise.

Laura yanks hard on the gun, her finger putting pressure on the trigger as she pulls the firearm out of Constance's hands. The sound of a gunshot fills the air and Cassidy flinches as he opens his eyes, the three-second intervals he had been counting to ceasing.

There's a thud that follows and Cassidy looks around in the dark to try and see the exact outcome of the struggle. But he already had a feeling of what happened. Shaking his head in denial, he feels around the table for Ryan's hand. Ryan turns to look at him, a frown upturning his lips as he squeezes his best friend's hand gently, trying to calm him.

"Everybody stop!" Travis demands, his voice breaking the tense silence that had filled the room.

There's footsteps that echo and the floorboards creak as Jedediah crosses the room, completely ignoring Laura, who was staring down at the floor in shock.

A look of disbelief was on the elder man's face as he kneels beside the dead body of his wife.

"...Constance?"

The lamp's yellow light comes back on suddenly, illuminating the room. Cassidy looks to his right to see Travis holding the lamp in his left hand. There's loud footsteps from the left and Cassidy turns to see Bobby grab ahold of Ryan. An alarmed look is on Ryan's face as he's pulled away from the table.

"What the fuck is going on up here?!" Bobby demands.

No one answers his question.

The only sounds are Jedediah begging, pleading, for Constance to wake up. "Oh, wake up, wake up," he says quietly. "Darlin', come on, wake up. Wake up. Wake up."

He then attempts to do CPR, one hand over the other as he applies pressure on Constance's chest as he gives chest compressions, trying to revive her. But nothing could bring her back. She was dead. And death was permanent.

Realization takes over and he sits back, his eyes filled with unshed tears. His hands fall to his sides and he looks up toward Bobby, blinking back the tears.

"Oh... She's gone, little Bobby. Mamma's gone!" Jedediah's voice cracks as he speaks, his bottom lip wavering. "Killed her.. No!"

He staggers to his feet as he stands. Stepping over the dead body of Constance, he walks over to the table and grabs a pistol, looking at his eldest son who was still stood in front of the table with the lamp. A saddened expression was on the younger man's face as he glances toward the dead body of his mother.

"No more pr- No more... protecting anyone, Travis," Jedediah states, cocking the gun.

Cassidy looks over at Laura, who was still paralyzed by shock. But she soon snaps out of it and bolts across the dining room, heading straight for the door. She grabs the handle and tugs down, wrenching open the door.

Jedediah raises his arm, aiming the pistol at Laura, who had run in to the hallway and was now sprinting down it. Cassidy pushes away from the table and chases after her.

The Hackett boy ducks just as the trigger is pulled, the gunshot reverberating through the hallway. Laura ducks too, narrowly avoiding the bullet, which sails over her head and embeds itself in the wood of the forest green painted wall to her left.

She continues sprinting down the hall, but Cassidy was hot on her tail.

They both turn the corner, disappearing from sight.

author's note
this chapter is so
messy omg

nah bc this bit
had me all kinds
of stressed and
then laura fucking
blasts constance's
head off with the
shotgun and then
i started sobbing bc
i felt so bad for
jedediah

08.09.22