Copyright © 2019 by Matt Shaw

Matt Shaw Publications

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The Full Moon Trilogy

The Pack

Book III

Matt Shaw

A recap from The Den: Michael held up the silver knife Jason had used to kill the previous Alpha of the house. Melissa and David both looked at it with renewed interest in what Michael had to say to them.

‘He kept it in his office. A reminder of what he did in order to get where he is today and a warning to those who may dare defy him. Silver. Only need the slightest nick in his skin. One little cut and he is dead and you’re both as free as you ever can be. You just have to follow my plan and do as I say and you can both have a better life than what you’ll have under his house rule.’

Michael put the blade back in his pocket.

‘Now I’m going to get this back before he comes home and sees it missing. I don’t know what time they’re coming back but if he comes back and has time to go in his office before we get a chance to put the plan in action - he’ll notice the blade is missing and then we’re all fucked. So, I’ll run this back and you two can talk amongst yourselves and decide what you want to do but, I’m going to need an answer when I get back.’ He asked, ‘Understand?’

Both Melissa and David nodded.

‘Good.’

And, with that, Michael left the room.

The pair stood in silence for a moment, unsure whether this was even real or just a test of their loyalty. By agreeing, were they signing their own death sentence? Although - would that have been the case even if it weren’t a trap? How could they believe anything Michael told them? Would he really keep them safe from the others if David was successful in killing Jason or would he - literally - feed them to the wolves? The only thing they both knew for certain, without even a need to discuss it, was that if they didn’t help then their lives wouldn’t be worth living.

Given as it would be David doing the most dangerous part of the plan, from what she was led to believe after listening to Michael anyway, Melissa turned to him and asked, ‘What do you think? What do we do?’

David shrugged. ‘We try to survive.’

Down the hallway, in Jason’s office, Michael heard David’s desperation to survive. He smiled. He knew he had them where he wanted them. Better yet, he knew he was one step closer to taking Jason down without alienating the rest of The Pack. His smile turned to a cocky laughter as he truly believed that, when the moon next shone brightly, he would be in charge. All of this would be his.

He carefully set the silver bladed knife back in it’s place, before heading back to Melissa’s room in order to let them tell him their decision to his face. All the time, he was completely unaware that elsewhere - other plans were being put into motion.

PART ONE

THE CHANGE

The Good Old Days: The deer stood motionless in the small clearing, illuminated by nothing more than the brilliant shine of the moon high up in the sky. It knew it was being watched yet couldn’t see from where. Sounds of undergrowth moving underfoot seemed to come from all directions, only serving to confuse the animal more.

As another scrunch of trampled leaves came from behind, its ear twitched around to the source of the noise.

The majestic animal poised itself, ready to run just as soon as it could figure out from which direction the danger was coming. A big clue came as a branch, still from behind, snapped. The deer didn’t hesitate this time and took flight, leaping through a small thicket hoping that whatever was behind wouldn’t be able to follow.

Whatever it was, stalking the deer… It didn’t need to follow though. There was another beast of similar shape and size waiting in the shadows in the direction the deer had leapt.

A single slash of a clawed paw and the deer stumbled to the wet ground with its head flapping at a peculiar angle. Its throat hanging out of its neck in stringy tethers of ripped flesh as the blood immediately began to soak into the muddy earth.

First there was only one loud, haunting howl which pierced the night sky. Then, others joined in chorus as a gentle night breeze carried the song skywards.

The deer’s life slipped away before it could see the monster that had killed it and before the teeth of a host of animals started to shred into its still-warm flesh. Not all of the carcass would be eaten this evening. Tonight was just about the sport.

The Woods: Jason stood in the very same clearing the deer had died in. As he looked at the dirt beneath his feet he couldn’t help but remember it with the dead animal laid upon it. The brown mud had almost appeared black once the blood had seeped into it. His stomach rumbled uncomfortably at the thought. The next moon was due within the next ten days, or so, and the cravings had already begun.

Debra looked at him and asked, ‘Why are we here? I thought we were going to go out and hunt for volunteers?’

That had been the plan: Leave Michael with David and Melissa and head on out into the town to find people who’d be willing to sign up for The Run. Or rather, find people who’d be up for trying to win a substantial amount of cash. It hadn’t been the genuine plan though. Jason just needed to get them away from Michael to talk to them about the future of the pack. From where Jason was standing, it wasn’t a bright future. Not if things carried on the way they were headed with Michael. His brother’s disdain for Jason was getting worse every day and he knew something was about to take place. Maybe because Jason had been the same, before he ran the knife through his Alpha? Maybe he recognised the signs? Whatever - he knew things needed to change sooner. At least, if there was any chance of a peaceful future.

‘Do you miss the old days?’

‘What do you mean?’ Carolyne asked.

‘Chasing wildlife for sport. Not having to worry about paying off officials. Not having to worry about finding people to come to the property? Just running free. Hunting and killing any animal that we came across be it for food or fun.’ He admitted, ‘I miss those days. They were simpler.’

He ran his hand through his thick silver hair and laughed.

‘Remember when I used to have dark hair? Seems like a lifetime ago.’

‘I like the silver,’ Gina said, much to Debra’s annoyance. ‘It’s distinguished.’

‘I’m tired,’ Jason continued. ‘Not of leading and not of the pack,’ he quickly added. ‘I’m tired of the bullshit. I’m tired of Michael. I’m tired of the constant shit. I’m tired of the fact he likes to keep his little play-things. Enough is enough and it is time to draw a line under it all and start again.’

‘Start again?’ Debra looked at him, worried that he was about to say he was leaving the pack.

‘And,’ Jason continued, ‘it is time for you to pick a side. You either stand with me, or against me. The fact you’re here now is because I think I know the answer but, with what comes next, there is to be no confusion or doubts.’

‘You or Michael?’ Carolyne raised an eyebrow.

Jason didn’t need to say that she was right. The pair had been butting heads for so long now that it was inevitable another challenge was coming. From the way Jason was speaking though, it sounded like he wasn’t willing to wait for the fight anymore.

‘You know what the biggest threat we face is?’

None of the women said anything.

‘Us,’ he said. ‘Internal fighting. We have nothing else to worry about but that. It’s getting worse though and the tensions are raising. You can’t say you haven’t noticed it either.’

‘So, what are you suggesting?’ Carolyne always had been the voice of the women. Debra and Gina were always too busy cooing over Jason and trying to win his favour than to really focus on the bigger picture. Not Carolyne. She was like the self-appointed “mother” of the pack, not that Jason really noticed her in such a role. He just found her irritating. If questions were to be asked, it would be from her but then - she had heard his stories about how he’d taken the life of his previous Alpha. More to the point, she knew just as well as the others that - when she came to the “family” there had been no other members of the original pack and that was something that had never been discussed.

Carolyne knew what Jason was capable of and was just thankful he was talking to them this time instead of taking matters into his own hands.

‘A fresh start. There’s a couple who have been sending letters to the house, asking us if we would be willing to sell. They have cash and want to move in as soon as they can.’

‘A couple?’

‘Helena and Max Larsen. I don’t know them. Letters have been coming in for over a month now and, well, the offer is good.’

‘You want to sell our home?’ Debra didn’t want to move. That home was where all of her good memories were after she’d escaped her old, pained life with a single scratch.

‘Move somewhere new. Where people don’t know us.’

‘But we have all the space we need for the run,’ Debra continued.

‘Running walled in, like a caged animal? I miss the days of running free. You know, I was looking forward to David not coming back. Taking his scent and running into the open to find him.’

‘I never knew,’ Debra said. She was hurt. She thought Jason told her everything but - how long had he been feeling like this. What he was saying now was a far cry from the man he pretended to be, back in the house.

‘And now you do. You all do.’ He clarified, ‘I think we should sell up, find somewhere new, go back to how we used to run. It’s not like we get much challenge from the run anymore.’

There was silence. Gina was still relatively new to all of this and was only here because of Jason stalking her in the wilds, something which continued to eat away at Debra to this day as she considered Jason hers. Debra didn’t know what to think either way. Her head was twisted whereas Carolyne was feeling uncomfortable with this “new” Jason. Just how long had he been feeling like this and not saying anything? How much of what he had been doing was an act? In this short conversation, she felt like she didn’t know him anymore. Worse, she felt like Michael had been right this whole time. He had been warning them that Jason wasn’t up for the job anymore and maybe it was true! From where she was sitting, he wasn’t looking competent.

A twig snapped a few feet away from where the trio were standing. They all looked up and saw a deer watching them. Jason laughed as the deer took flight and disappeared into the forest. If ever another sign was needed that it was better to return to how they used to run, then that was it.

‘I’ll let you talk amongst yourself,’ he said.

Jason walked back towards where he’d left the car. They knew that he’d still be able to hear them, if he really wanted to. In truth though, he didn’t care to ear-wig on their conversation. He’d given them a choice and figured they would be just as honest with him as he had been with them.

The three women stood there, in the clearing, unsure of where to even begin.

Carolyne called out to him, ‘I have a question.’

Jason didn’t turn to face her. He stood there with his back to the women, waiting for Carolyne to say whatever was on her mind.

‘You killed your Alpha. We all know it because you told us,’ she said.

‘I did.’

‘So, what happened to the rest of the pack?’ She only asked because in the case of her, Gina and Debra - they would be the rest of the pack in the event of Michael attempting to take over as Alpha.

Jason didn’t answer. He walked back to the car, leaving them in the clearing.

PART TWO

A LONE WOLF

BEFORE: Jason walked into the office where he had been summoned by Nathan, the Master of the house. He took a seat opposite him.

‘You’re late,’ Nathan said.

Jason didn’t apologise. He just sat there and stared at his Master with contempt in his eyes. Nathan smiled. He liked Jason’s defiant spirit. It reminded him of himself, when his own hair had been dark as opposed to grey and his skin more wrinkle-free.

‘Well as you clearly have more important things to do, I won’t waste your time.’ Nathan jumped to the point and said, ‘I want you out.’

‘What?’

‘I want you out of the house. You need to find a pack of your own to lead and, well, it won’t be this one.’

‘Find my own pack?’

‘You’re not going to be happy following me forever, are you? More to the point, you won’t survive challenging me and, well, I like you. So, you need to leave before you dig your own grave.’

‘I understand.’

Nathan looked at him suspiciously.

‘You’re challenged by me so you want me out. It’s natural.’ Jason looked at the clock which hung on the wall. ‘How long do I have? Do I leave today? Next week? Any pointers on how I find a pack of my own to lead? You made me. You just going to abandon me now?’

‘We will give you some money of course. Enough to make sure you’re more than comfortable in whatever you choose to do.’

‘Well that’s good of you.’

‘And once you leave, you can’t come back. You understand? You sever all ties. We do the same.’

Jason shrugged. He didn’t know what to say but had suspected something like this might happen. He and Nathan were arguing more and more and it was causing unrest amongst the others. Something had to give and - clearly - it had.

Jason stood up and extended his hand towards Nathan. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘thank you. Thank you for all that you did once do for me.’

Nathan nodded, surprised by Jason’s reaction but - pleasantly so. He stood up and took Jason’s hand in his own. ‘I wish things could have…’

His sentence was cut short. Jason released his grip on Nathan’s hand. As he did so, Nathan stumbled back with a look of shock on his face. He tried to speak but blood - black in colour - trickled from his mouth and down his front. He looked at Jason and then at Jason’s other hand; the one clutching the silver blade.

Nathan forced a sentence through the pain, ‘What have you done?’

‘I’ve found a pack of my own.’ Jason winked.

Jason hadn’t found a pack of his own though. That was just a lie. A final fuck you to the man who turned him, as Nathan lay struggling to keep a hold on his life. Jason looked at him and watched, fascinated, as his veins visibly turned black beneath his skin. To think, he hadn’t been sure whether silver would have even worked or whether it was just a make-believe solution to the werewolf problem, created by the lazy writing of Hollywood executives. But sure enough, it was definitely doing something.

Black blood trickled from both nostrils as Nathan rolled around in clear agony. His eyes were wide and locked on Jason with fear clearly visible. From the corners of them, black “tears” rolled down his cheeks as his blood looked for any orifice from which to leak. His ears also bled as he opened his mouth, desperate to scream in pain yet unable to find the words.

Jason took a step back as Nathan reached for him with a claw-like hand. There was even black blood beneath his nails. Something else Jason was quick to notice was the stink of death too. The ooze coming from his once-upon-a-time-master was foul and lingered heavy in the nostrils. Like walking past a butcher’s shop on a hot summer’s day; the smell of rotting meat hanging heavy in the air.

As the blood continued to trickle, seemingly not able to clot, Nathan’s skin looked as though it were pulling tight against his body. Here and there, little rips appeared in his flesh but Jason wasn’t able to watch further as the sound of footsteps came running from beyond the office doorway. Like vultures attracted by death, the others were coming.

‘Someone help us!’ Jason called out to them, false panic in his voice, as he hid the bloodied blade behind his back. ‘Something’s wrong with Nathan!’

(BEFORE) The Dining Room: Jason was sitting in the dining room, at the head of the table. His eyes were fixed on the door as, one by one, the house staff filed in. The shock of seeing him sitting there, covered in blood, caused them alarm but none of them were foolish enough to run. They had heard the commotion. They had heard the screams. They’d even heard the sound of a point piercing flesh. They had heard it all and knew what was happening but also knew there was nothing any of them could do about it. A change of leadership had taken place and all they could wish for was that they would be spared.

‘Take a seat,’ Jason said to them.

He waited as, one by one, the ten-strong team of staff took a seat around the table. No one dared to utter a word yet it was clear to him that most had at least one question. He would wait for them all to sit before attempting to explain enough to satisfy their questions.

With the seats filled, he told them, ‘You’ll be pleased to hear that your job here has just become a little easier as you’ll only be feeding and cleaning up after one person. Me.’

Jason had killed the rest of the pack. It was easier than having to explain his actions for killing Nathan and it took the worry out of having one of the others trying to contest his new-found leadership. Especially seeing as some of the older members were already making noises about wanting a change in the hierarchy.

The staff did their best to hide their shock.

Jason warned them, ‘Don’t think that you can stop what you are doing though. Other than the number of people you now serve, nothing has changed.’

The house-staff all knew what their employers were and only stayed because they knew that if they didn’t, then they’d be hunted and killed. Within the house, hidden from sight, were a number of small safes and within each of those safes was a number of personal belongings taken from the staff when they’d originally accepted the job. Each little souvenir taken was not because it was worth anything to the staff member but because it had their scent locked upon it. If they ran, their scent would be breathed in and the hunt would be on. Having witnessed first hand what the pack had been capable of, it was enough to keep any of them from trying anything. Even now, with only one of them sitting before them, they were too scared to make a move or even contemplate trying to run.

Jason asked, ‘Does anyone have any questions?’

No one spoke.

‘Then,’ he Jason said, ‘you are free to leave and go back to your relevant stations. Oh, but cleaners, you might want to go check out the upstairs office. I’m terribly sorry but there’s a bit of a mess up there for you to sort out.’

Jason wasn’t lying. The bodies of the other pack members were all lined up neatly on against the wall where he had stacked them. Each of them looked as though they’d been stabbed multiple times, and mutilated, but the truth of the matter was - it had only taken a nick of the skin to cause such a mess. Not that Jason would let the staff know that, or think otherwise. If they knew how easy it was for silver to poison the system, they’d undoubtedly be harder to control.

Jason added, ‘On the plus side though… Moving forward… With only me here to look after, the mess won’t be half as bad as it once was!’ He smiled at them as though he had done them a favour.

Only one member of staff “thanked” him as the filed from the room. The last one to leave closed the dining room door behind them, leaving Jason alone with his thoughts.

(TODAY) The car: The car doors opened and the women got in. Debra climbed into the front, next to where Jason was sitting in the driver’s seat. Carolyne and Gina got into the back, closing the doors behind them. For a moment, no one said anything.

‘I take it you have come to a decision?’ Jason didn’t look at them. He just sat there with his eyes fixed forward to the muddy track ahead.

‘Yes,’ Debra said.

‘So tell me. Am I a lone wolf?’

Slowly he turned in his seat until he was staring directly at Carolyne. Of any of them, it was her he expected problems from. She stared directly back at him as she let Debra answer the question.

‘No. We stand by you.’

There was a slight delay before Jason smiled. Even hearing the words, he still wasn’t entirely sure as to whether he could trust Carolyne. Whilst she never made a move for an Alpha position, there was a way about her which made him question whether she could make such a move.

‘Well that’s good,’ he said.

He realised it would have made more sense to tell them what had happened after he took charge - in the way he had killed everyone else - as it would have made them even more wary of such a leadership challenge from Michael. Would Michael have gone for them the way Jason had done with his old pack? That would have been a good seed of doubt to put in her mind to make them stand closer by with Jason. Better the devil you know. The only reason he didn’t say anything to them was because no one knew exactly how far he had gone when he took the role as Alpha. Would such an admission make them look upon him in a different light?  Quite possibly. One thing to murder an Alpha because you want to rule for yourself. Quite another to murder a whole pack to eliminate any chance of further challenges.

Carolyne asked,  ‘So what happens now then?’

‘Now we have to get rid of Michael. All the time he is in the frame, he won’t be happy that we’re out there doing our own thing. He will always be wondering if we’re going to go after him, just as we will always be wondering if he will bring a new pack to challenge us.’ He continued, ‘It isn’t nice but it’s something that we need to do to ensure a peaceful future for ourselves. Obviously, I’m not asking you to dirty your hands. That wouldn’t be fair. He has a problem with me, not you. Although,’ he added without telling them the whole situation, ‘I can’t promise he wouldn’t try and hurt you if he did do anything to me… Even so - I will deal with him. You just need to be prepared for the fact that it’s going to get messy.’

He stopped talking. They sat in silence a while.

‘Of course if you wish to leave and do your own thing, you are more than welcome to. I’ve always said this is supposed to be a family and not a prison so… Sometimes families move away from one another.’ He joked, ‘We can still send one another the odd Christmas card though.’

No one laughed.

Gina asked, ‘If families sometimes move away from each other, how come we can’t just move away from Michael?’

‘Do you really consider him a part of the family? He is a loose cannon. He isn’t interested in anything other than being the top dog. He certainly doesn’t care about who he treads on to get there. Families don’t do that to one another.’

Debra stayed quiet. Her family did. Her real family, that is.

‘We have to get rid of him,’ Jason reiterated. ‘Do any of you have a problem with that.’

Once again, the car fell silent. With no further words, Jason leaned forward in his seat and twisted the key sticking from the car’s ignition.

‘Here we go then,’ he said.

PART THREE

TENSION

Melissa’s bedroom: Melissa felt sick with worry. The whole scenario Michael had suggested kept playing over and over in her mind, stuck on repeat. She kept asking herself if they were doing the right thing in even entertaining what he had said. That little voice in the back of her mind crept in, whispering that - really - they had no choice but to try at least. If they refused his suggestions, he’d only turn nasty to them. Worse yet, he would go and fetch Lauren - her daughter. He could bring her back to the house and hold her captive there regardless. Or worse. At this stage, seeing what she had seen, she wouldn’t put anything past him and the threat he had made earlier wasn’t exactly cryptic.

Melissa sat up on the edge of the bed and leaned forward with her legs parted. The need to vomit was getting worse as the stress and anxiety continued to swirl around in the pit of her stomach, along with a heavy ache.

The bedroom door opened and David walked in. At this point, Melissa didn’t know if this was any better than seeing Michael standing there. She knew one was a monster but, although he hadn’t changed into an actual creature, the second hadn’t exactly proven himself to be anything but.

‘Are you okay?’

She looked up at him. He was standing in the doorway. Another person might have been fooled by the look on his face but she wasn’t. He didn’t really care. Had he done so, he wouldn’t have left her here. He would have got her out of there whilst they were going back through the change. There’d been time to do so. They would never have needed to know she had made it back. She could have just climbed a wall, or something. This scenario, the fact he kept her there, was something else that had been weighing on her mind since they’d agreed to help Michael. Clearly he was in this for himself now and she meant nothing to him. Yet here he was pretending to give a shit.

‘I’m fine.’

He laughed, but not because something was funny. It was more of a nervous reaction.

‘I’m not,’ he said.

‘You’re not?’

He shook his head.

‘This whole situation is fucked up,’ he said. It didn’t matter that he was saying this out loud. So what if Michael heard him? It didn’t change anything now. If anything it might make Michael treat them nicer whilst they waited for things to fall in place.

David crossed the room and sat next to Melissa on the bed.

‘I’m sorry for not getting you out of here,’ he said.

She didn’t tell him it was okay. She didn’t say to not worry about it. Instead, she just snorted. Yeah, right, thanks.

He reached into his pocket and pulled a piece of paper from it. It was folded in half. Melissa glanced down as he unfolded it for her. She read:

What if we use the knife on him?

The note referred to Michael. She looked up at David who, in turn, shrugged. It could have been an idea? They could kill him and then immediately surrender the weapon to the others when they got back? They could tell them of his plan. Maybe they’d be grateful? Perhaps a reward, or something? All these thoughts couldn’t be discussed. Not with Michael somewhere in the house. The full moon was coming in a few days and their senses would already starting to get sharper. A lesson learned the hard way when David first found himself trapped in the property with his sister. The pair of them had conspired to break out but, everything had been listened to. Both were punished.

He folded the paper back up and stuffed it back in his pocket. Melissa made no expression to show what she may have been thinking. In truth, she didn’t know what she was thinking. So many thoughts raced around her mind at a million miles per hour. She was a mess. This whole situation was a mess.

David stood up.

‘Well I can see you just want to be left alone so…’ He took his shirt off and threw it into the corner of the room, as Michael had instructed him. A reason for why his scent would be so heavy in the room. ‘I’ll be back when I hear them pull up,’ he said.

Melissa didn’t say anything. She stared at the floor instead, wishing for the ground to open her up and swallow her down. Anything would be better than this, she thought, as another scenario ran through her mind. What if they got this wrong? What if they were blamed? Michael was using them as his pawns and giving himself the perfect get-out clause for if this did go wrong. She could almost hear him now.

‘How was I supposed to know what they were planning? You think I was a part of this?’

She took in a deep breath. They’d just have to make sure it didn’t go wrong.

The car: Jason pulled up onto the driveway, close to the double garages. He sat there a moment with the engine running. This was done intentionally to make it harder for them to be heard as he had to double check something.

‘You’re sure about this?’

He didn’t look towards Debra sitting next to him. He didn’t turn around to face the others. Not when Michael could have been watching. He just sat there with his eyes fixed forward, barely moving his mouth when he did speak.

‘There’ll be no going back.’

No one said anything. Jason took this as a positive sign with regards to all they’d gone through on the drive back.

‘Or maybe one of you has another suggestion? Something I haven’t considered yet?’ By asking them such a question he was protecting himself for the future, if they tried to blame him for things not working out. Well you can’t say I didn’t ask for your input… Unsurprisingly, no one said anything yet all had their thoughts.

‘Okay,’ Jason said, ‘I’ll go see David.’

He opened the car door and climbed out. The others followed. One by one they closed  their doors and headed towards the house.

Debra couldn’t help but feel sad when she saw the house. Not because there was a problem with it or because it came with bad memories but because Jason wanted to sell up and move on. The house held a lot of memories for her and she just knew it would be weird knowing another couple was living here now. It did make sense to move on though. Find a town where no one knew them, get a new property and move quietly in. Her only regret on the moving front was that they’d be going together. In a perfect world it would just be her and Jason. Fuck Carolyne and especially fuck Gina. She tried to push the latter thoughts from her mind as she continued thinking back to the house and what it meant to her. For all the good memories it had there were also bad ones too and, her heart sunk, they were about to add more negativity to it. A fresh start would definitely be welcome.

Jason got to the door and pushed it open. He stepped in. The women followed.

The Hallway: Michael came out of the dining room and smiled at his brother and sisters.

‘I was wondering when you’d be coming home,’ he said. ‘Did you sort out whatever it is you were sorting?’

‘All sorted,’ Jason said with a smile of his own.

‘That’s good then.’ Michael continued, ‘Look, I need to go out soon but - any chance we can talk later? I’ve been doing some thinking and I think it’s fair to say we need to clear the air before one of us chokes on it.’

Jason smiled wider.

BEFORE: As Nathan walked down the stairs, Jason called out to him.

‘You busy?’

‘Always. What is it?’

Nathan stopped and looked up at his young brother.

‘I was just hoping to have a word with you.’

Nathan said, ‘Now isn’t the best of times. Is it urgent?’

‘Be nice to get it out of the way.’

‘Well look, I’m going out right now but I shouldn’t be long. How’s about when I am back I’ll call you into the office?’

Jason smiled.

‘That’ll work,’ he said.

Nathan nodded and, without another word, continued on his way.

The Hallway: Jason said to Michael, ‘We can have a chat in my office later if that is any good to you? I just have some business to take care of.’

‘That’ll work. But not just us though. This involves everyone,’ Michael added.

Jason hesitated a moment. Maybe he wasn’t using the exact same tactics Jason had employed when he stabbed his Alpha? Maybe he was being genuine? There was a time when they’d been close, although it was a short-lived time. Maybe he wanted to get things back on track? Tough.

Jason asked, ‘Have you seen David?’

Michael lied, ‘Can’t say I have. Probably in his room. Anything I can help with?’

‘Nah. Need a little chat with him.’

‘Oh okay. What about?’

Jason looked at Michael suspiciously. He wasn’t one to usually ask so many questions.

‘Doesn’t matter.’ Jason walked to the bottom of the stairs and called up, ‘David! Come down here a minute, please…’

Without waiting, Jason crossed the hallway once again and entered the dining room. Michael stood in the doorway still and looked at the women, trying to figure out what was going on. None of them gave anything away. Carolyne headed up the stairs and Debra and Gina headed towards the other side of the house. As they walked, Michael overheard them.

Debra asked Gina, ‘Can I borrow you for a quick chat?’

Jason called out from the living room. ‘He coming?’

‘Can’t hear him,’ Michael said. ‘Maybe he is asleep? Or maybe he is with the bitch?’

‘Can you send him down?’

Michael didn’t say anything. He just stood there a moment, unsure of how to get Jason to go up there for himself. Without giving anything away, he didn’t think it was possible.

‘I’ll go and find him,’ he said.

The plan wasn’t going anywhere. It would still happen. It just wouldn’t happen right this minute. Michael ran up the stairs to get David from where he was lying in wait.

PART FOUR

SEIZING THE ADVANTAGE

BEFORE: Debra was standing in the bedroom she occasionally shared with Jason. Her arms were folded over in front of her body and she struggled to hold back the jealous tears welling up her eyes.

‘I’m sorry but I don’t understand,’ she said.

She was talking to Jason who was changing out of a bloody shirt. He took it off and tossed it to the wash basket across the room.

‘What’s not to understand?’

‘You tell me you’ve been following another woman because you were curious about her pheromones… You wounded her and then brought her back here? Now you’re nursing her back to health?’ She asked in disbelief, ‘Are you honestly being serious about what’s not to understand?’

‘She’ll make a good addition to the pack!’

Jason knew he was out of order. He had followed Gina well before he had taken wolf form. He didn’t know why and struggled to come up with anything even remotely close to an excuse when asked about it. All he knew for sure was that he wanted her. At the same time, he wanted Debra.

‘How’d you feel if I went out and brought some guy home into the family? Aren’t we supposed to talk about who we bring into the fold?’

Jason’s stance changed. He stood up straight and his tone changed for the worse. It was one thing for her to be pissy with him but quite another for her to question the decisions he made for the family. The bottom line was; he was the Alpha. If he wanted to bring someone back, he could. End of.

He asked, ‘Would we be having this conversation if it were a man?’

‘Well no, probably not. I probably wouldn’t give a shit if you brought a guy home but it’s not a guy. It’s some whore that, apparently, you have been following.’

‘There was something about her. I told you.’

‘Something fuck-able?’

‘You’re being fucking ridiculous. She’ll be good for the pack.’ He added, ‘If she survives.’

‘Yeah? Well, fuck you. I hope she doesn’t.’

Jason just stood there with a look of disbelief on his face as Debra stormed from the room. Whilst they’d never called themselves “official”, with regards to their relationship, this was the sort of petty shit that would put him off her it if continued. Jealousy is the ugliest.

Jason momentarily considered chasing after her to explain that he didn’t want her but, honestly, fuck Debra. If she wanted to act like a petulant child, he’d let her stew with her unwanted imaginings of what Jason was going to do with Gina, if she survived. What? She thought the two of them were going to be a couple? Out with Debra and in with Gina? He barely knew her. Sure, he might have wanted to fuck her from time to time but so what? A fuck was a fuck. Exercise. Something to do to pass a rainy afternoon. A change of scenery from the norm. It didn’t mean anything more than that and if Debra wanted to throw away whatever they had because of it - well, more fool her.

Jason shook his head as he turned to find himself a clean shirt.

The Garden: Debra opened the back door and stepped into the garden with Gina following close behind. She didn’t hold the door open for her, much to Gina’s amusement.

‘What’s up?’ Gina asked the moment they were clear from the house.

‘I have been talking to Jason.’

‘Oh?’

‘He’s been telling me for a while about wanting a change. You know, to start a fresh.’

Gina smiled. She had a feeling this chat was coming.

‘Oh,’ she said.

‘We were thinking it might be a good idea for you to get out there and find someone of your own.’

‘Someone of my own?’

‘A mate.’

‘A mate?’

‘It’s not healthy the way you look at Jason. You must know now that nothing is going to happen between you two…’

Gina grinned. ‘Other than the times he comes to see me during the night, you mean?’

Debra swallowed the image of them fucking down to the pit of her stomach. She knew they had not-so-secret liaisons. They’d even argued about it before now too but Jason always had a way of making it sound “acceptable”. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just sport. I’m bored, so why not? It’s a bit of fun. I don’t love her. She means nothing to me. You’re the one I love though.

‘I think it’s fair to say that we don’t like one another,’ Debra said. ‘I haven’t liked you from the moment you came into the house. I tolerated you.’

‘Very big of you. Thank you.’

‘You make my very skin crawl.’

‘I bet.’

‘And Jason only sleeps with you because he pities you.’

‘Is that right?’

‘Now if we are starting afresh, we were thinking it is high time you found yourself a mate of your own. It’s not healthy getting unrealistic thoughts about Jason. To him, you’re just a toy.’

‘So what are you?’

‘I’m his mate.’

‘His mate?’

‘We love one another.’

‘How do you know he doesn’t love me?’

Debra laughed. ‘Does it feel like love when he fucks you?’

‘Oh it feels so much more.’

Debra ignored her as best she could. ‘You’re his play-thing. You’re something he uses to pass the time because he has nothing better to do. You know - I actually feel sorry for you. To just be a play-thing to someone. A toy. It’s embarrassing.’

‘Maybe he’s my play-thing.’

Debra laughed.

‘Something funny?’ Gina asked.

‘I’ve seen the way you look at him. It’s tragic.’

‘Of course it is.’

‘Look, I’m not going to stand here arguing with you all afternoon. The bottom line is, we think it was time you found yourself a mate of your own. Now, you can find a mate and you can stay as part of this family or you can move on with your new man and start a family of your own. That is entirely up to you. But this infatuation with Jason needs to stop.’

Gina hesitated a moment before she said, ‘You don’t mind if I check all this out with Jason, do you?’

Debra laughed. ‘Entirely up to you. He told me to talk to you because he couldn’t be bothered explaining it to you but, okay, if you want to piss him off and talk to him about it - feel free.’ Debra stepped back and gestured towards the door.

Gina looked at the door and then back to Debra again.

‘Fuck the both of you,’ Gina said eventually.

She stormed back into the house as Debra stood there, grinning.

BEFORE: Debra was sitting on the edge of Jason’s bed. He was in the bed, buried under the duvet.

‘I don’t know what you’re trying to prove but I want her gone,’ Debra said.

‘You want her gone?’

‘Yes. You’ve had your fun. You’ve made me jealous if that was the intention.’

‘Why is everything about you? I told you I liked her. I told you it is nothing but exercise so…’

‘Exercise you could do with me!’

‘And I do do it with you! Just sometimes, people want to work out to a different program.’

‘Fuck you.’

‘I don’t understand what your problem is. It’s a bit of fun. Sport. That’s it. Stress-relief. I don’t fucking love her.’

‘Do you love me?’

‘I’m really supposed to answer that?’

‘Either you do or you don’t.’

‘What do you think?’

‘I’m asking you!’

‘This is such fucking bullshit!’

‘You can’t even say it!’

‘Yes I love you!’

‘Then get her to leave!’

‘I’m not doing that. I made her. She stays. She is a part of this family and you will treat her as a sister. Do I make myself clear?’

‘I will not…’

Jason slammed his fist against the wall.

‘Do not forget your place, bitch!’

Debra immediately fell quiet. She had more to say. She had a lot more to say. At the end of the day though, he was the Alpha and if she continued pushing him, he would have no choice but to put her in her place by any means necessary. She hesitated a moment, unsure whether she was actually about to challenge him or not. She opened her mouth. No words came out and she walked from the room, closing the door behind her.

Jason quietly seethed.

The Garden: Debra wasn’t sure what Jason had been saying in the car. There was a part of her that wondered whether Michael was right in what he’d been saying with regards to Jason’s leadership skills. Now though, seeing a way to use all of this to her own advantage - she was definitely on board with it.

With thoughts of what a perfect day it had turned out to be, she stepped back into the house unaware that she wasn’t the only one with a plan of her own.

PART FIVE

BEST LAID PLANS

Melissa’s Bedroom: Michael opened the door and walked into Melissa’s bedroom. She was on the bed, huddled up and looking petrified - not because of Michael, but because she was expecting someone else to come walking in instead. Michael immediately brought his finger to his lips, before she had a chance to question why he was there.

Without a word, he bent down to peer under the bed - still with his finger to his lips. David was under there with the silver knife gripped firmly in his hand.

Michael gestured for him to come out.

Confused, David pulled himself free from beneath the bed. He stood up and Michael took the knife from him. He handed it to Melissa and silently gestured for her to put it under the bed.

The plan had been simple enough. Jason was going to walk into the bedroom, after Michael told him Melissa wanted to cut him a deal. David would be hiding under the bed with the blade. Once in position, the knife would be used: A slash across the Achilles heel, bringing Jason crashing to the floor. From there, he’d be easy to despatch: The blade across his throat. The plan would remain but, it would have to happen later. For now, Michael had to be seen as the “willing” brother, even if it was complete bullshit.

With David out from under the bed, Michael told him, ‘You’ve been given an audience with The Master.’ The sarcasm oozed from his voice.

‘What?’

‘Jason wants to see you.’

The colour faded from David’s face.

He asked, ‘Did he say what for?’

Michael shrugged. ‘I’m just the messenger boy.’ He wanted to add a “for now” but didn’t dare. Not with bat-ears downstairs, potentially listening in. ‘Come on,’ he said as he shoved David towards the door.

Melissa said nothing. She just sat there, huddled up. Before he stepped out of the room, Michael turned to her and gave her a little wink. All this planning and talking hadn’t really given him much time for all the fucking. Seeing her sitting there, looking vulnerable… He’d have to change that soon and fuck her brains out. Or, as she promised before, let her fuck his brains out.

He remembered her words, ‘I’ll even pretend to enjoy it…’

He laughed as he followed David back down the landing, towards the stairs and where Jason was waiting downstairs.

The Dining Room: Jason was standing next to the drinks’ cabinet. He was pouring himself a large scotch on the rocks when David and Michael walked in. He paused what he was doing and looked at Michael.

‘Thank you. That will be all.’

Michael hesitated a moment before frowning. Jason nodded towards the door, a non-verbal gesture to Michael that he should use it. Not wanting to appear like he was constantly questioning him, Michael nodded and turned away. He left the room.

‘Can you close the door, please?’

Michael closed the door as Jason continued pouring his drink.

‘Can I get you a drink?’

‘I’m okay, thank you.’

‘Sure? This is the good stuff.’

‘I’m okay.’

‘Fair enough. How are you feeling?’ The last time Jason had seen David, he’d been unconscious. The bruises were still clearly evident on his body.

‘A little tired.’

‘I bet.’

David quickly added, ‘I told your brother what happened.’

Jason pointed to the settee and said, ‘Please, take a seat.’

‘I’m okay.’

‘It wasn’t a choice.’

David walked to the settee and sat. Jason set the scotch bottle down and lifted the glass. The ice clinked against the side of it as he took a sip.

Jason said, ‘We’ve been here before, haven’t we?’

BEFORE:  David was sitting in Jason’s office. His nose was bleeding profusely thanks to being greeted by a heavy right hook straight to the face. Jason was sitting opposite him, a look of thunder on the face. The punch he had administered had done nothing for his tempestuous mood.

‘You look nervous. Don’t you think if I wanted to kill you, I would have done it already?’

David said nothing. He just sat there and squirmed uncomfortably as Jason continued to stare at him.

‘I’m not going to kill you,’ Jason said eventually. ‘That would be too easy for you and you won’t learn anything from it.’

The office door opened and Michael came in, pushing Sophie out in front of him with his hand gripped around the back of her neck. He rammed her face down onto the table dividing David and Jason.

‘I’m not going to kill you.’

‘What are you doing? Please don’t. I already apologised…’

David had gone out with a bag of money, in order to secure “contestants” for The Run. Whilst out and about, he was supposedly set upon when some people saw the contents of the bag. Needless to say, he was jumped and the bag was stolen. The problem with his story was that there was a distinct lack of bruises on his body, considering how many people had supposedly attacked him. It was more likely, David had simply stashed the money somewhere. A little nest-egg for if he ever managed to get away from the household.

‘Sorry brings the money back, does it?’ Jason continued, ‘You know I can smell the lie on you, right? Never mind the fact you have zero bruises or wounds suggesting that you didn’t even fight for it. So what? Some people grabbed the money and you just let them leave with it? Didn’t try and stop them at all?’ Jason shook his head. ‘Do you know how disappointing that is?’

‘I can get the money.’

‘Oh you can? I thought you didn’t know who took it?’

‘I know them.’

‘Really? Or them? Or did you just hide the money somewhere? Come on, you can tell me. We’re all friends here, right? A big happy family.’ He looked towards Sophie who was quietly weeping on the table top. ‘Although if this kind of crap carries on, the family will probably get smaller…’ He gave Michael a look who, in turn, repositioned himself so that both his hands were clamped on Sophie’s head. With a sadistic grin on his face, he started to squeeze. Sophie screamed.

‘I’m sorry! I took the money! I stashed it!’

Jason gave Michael another look. Michael stopped.

‘Now why would you steal from your own family?’

‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking straight.’

‘You’re making a habit of this. You try and get away from us, you steal the money… When will it end?’

‘I’m sorry…’

‘A part of me thinks I should just kill you now. Get it over and done with considering you clearly can’t be housetrained…’

‘I can… I’m sorry…’

‘You’re not showing me that you can. One thing to say it and another to do it…’

‘I’ll be better. Please just let my sister go.’

‘Go? Well, on this occasion, I’ll let her go back to her room with my brother here but… She’s not going anywhere. And neither are you, as we’ve already discussed.’

Another gesture was given to Michael. He lifted Sophie up from the table and dragged her from the room.

‘Right here is what is going to happen. You are going to go and get my money. You’ll bring it back. You’ll hand it to me and you will apologise. Then we will say no more about this unfortunate incident. After that if you keep messing up like this - I will have no choice but to teach you about consequences. In short, I will kill your sister in front of your very fucking eyes. Do you understand?’

‘I do.’

‘I won’t kill you so don’t even think you can push me to that level. I’ll keep you here and I will make your life a living fucking misery until the day you die. Do you understand that?’

‘Yes.’

‘Now get the fuck out of my sight.’

The Dining room: Jason set his scotch on the rocks down to one side and crossed the room to behind where David was sitting.

‘Do you think I have been lenient with you?’

David answered, ‘Yes.’

He flinched as Jason set his hands down on his shoulders. Slowly, with strong hands, Jason started to massage David.

‘What happened with your sister, that wasn’t my idea. I can’t say I opposed it but, it wasn’t my choice to put her out on the run. Believe it or not, having you and her here… That wasn’t my choice. It was his choice. I just went along with it because, well, we all need our hobbies and pets, right? You and your sister - that was something to keep him happy.’ He paused a moment. ‘The more we go on, the more I think it is fair to say it’s not working out though, don’t you? Even before your sister was killed. I sense your heart isn’t in it anymore and…’

‘I told Michael what happened. I told…’

‘Stop.’

David stopped talking.

‘I’m tired of the games. I’m tired of the bullshit. I’m tired of all of it.’

Unbeknownst to David, Jason wasn’t just referring to his antics but also the constant fights within the pack. When Jason stopped to actually think back to all that was going on, it was hardly surprising he was feeling that way.

‘I remember a simpler time,’ Jason continued.

David winced as Jason’s grip got firmer.

‘You won’t remember it. It was back before you came along.’ He said, ‘And that’s what I want to get back to… Which is why…’

In the blink of an eye he grabbed David’s head and twisted it to the side hard. There was a godawful crack from David’s neck.

‘… You need to go.’

Jason twisted back the other way too. Another crack but also, this time, the flesh ripped as well. Without a word, he kept twisting to each side until all the flesh around the neck was torn away. Then, he lifted David’s lifeless head up and away from his still body. The broken spinal column hung down.

The Hallway: Michael was standing with his back to the dining room door. He had heard everything. As he realised his plans had been disrupted, he couldn’t help but feel as though the walls were closing in around him. This was supposed to be his day. This was supposed to be his moment. Yet Jason had ruined that in one simple neck snap.

He tried to bury his frustrations deep. He knew Jason would be out soon and that he’d need to be seen as being “okay” with what he’d done to David. If he was angry, or questioned Jason in the slightest - it would undoubtedly get Jason’s guard up again.

To buy himself a little more time before having to face his brother, Michael headed for the stairs. A little time with his play-thing would kill some of the frustrations at least.

PART SIX

MORE TO THE STORY

The Office: Carolyne was rifling through the paperwork on top of Jason’s messy desk. True enough, just as he’d said, there were a number of letters bundled together from a Max and Helena Larsen. She sat back in the chair and read with interest. True enough, they were interested in purchasing the property but for what reason, they didn’t say.

The first letter was more of an are you interested in selling up kind of letter. It wasn’t forceful. It was polite and to the point. They wanted to move to the area and needed some privacy from everyday life. They’d spotted the house on one of their drives, whilst looking around various areas, and had fallen in love with the exterior. Apparently money was of no issue and the home owner was to call if there was any interest in what they were asking.

The second letter was more of the same, if not a bit more wordy. There was a note at the start, stating it was the second letter sent and enquiring as to whether the first had been received. A polite message, at the end, asked the homeowner to just email them either way and - if it was to be a no - then they’d know to move on.

Letter three: Apparently their heart was set upon this property. It was perfect for the life they wished to lead and, to show they were serious, this time they included a rather mouth-watering figure for the homeowner to mull over. The sum was, for sure, more than the house was actually worth.

Carolyne skipped a few letters when she realised they were all following a similar pattern. As she did so she quickly skimmed.

Want to purchase…

Please consider…

We would love…

She stumbled over a particular sentence on one of the latter letters.

‘What?’

We were driving past last one night, wishing that we could hear from you either way, when we saw you in the light of the bright full moon.

She carried on reading:

You may deny what we know we saw. You may say that we are mad for thinking such things exist but we know more about what lurks within the shadows than you could possibly even begin to comprehend. Needless to say, we took some footage of what prowled that night and are reluctant to show it to the masses for we fear what it would mean for you and your family. We will be happy to destroy such footage but at a cost. We believe you know what the cost would be.

There was a PS at the end of the letter:

Do not think that you can come for us. We know when you are at your weakest and if we do not hear from you before the next full moon we will know how to end your curse. The question is, will we come to you or you to us? Either way, we will be prepared. Let us hope it does not come to that.

Carolyne set the letter down without knowing what to think. Were they really being blackmailed by some random couple?

‘What are you doing?’

Jason’s voice from the doorway startled her. Had she not been so engrossed in the letter, he’d never have been able to sneak up on her. She turned to him, red-faced.

‘Is this why you want to move on?’

Jason laughed.

‘You think I am bothered by what they say in their letter? Quite the opposite. I’m intrigued. What would happen if they knew how to destroy us? What would happen if we hunted someone who knew about us as opposed to picking off animals and desperate cash-hungry fucks who know nothing about what they’re letting themselves in for? That night could possibly give us the challenge I’ve been yearning since starting up The Run but,’ he added, ‘is it the sensible thing to do for the pack?’

Jason closed the door and took a seat opposite Carolyne.

‘Michael is restless and becoming more obnoxious as the days go on. Debra and Gina are one step away from the bitch fight of all bitch fights. We have some whore locked away in a room as a toy. Even you don’t seem happy anymore and yet, you once considered what inflicts us as a gift.’ He asked her, ‘Now do you think I am stressed about whoever these two are, or the state of the pack as a whole? That’s why we need to move away from all of this. Get away, start again.’

Carolyne leaned to the desk and grabbed a pen. She quickly scrawled a note:

Michael will hear you.

‘He’s with his toy. He isn’t listening.’ He nodded towards the letters and asked, ‘So what do you think we should do then? Sell up at a fair price and move on or see what happens with both that situation and whatever is going on with our little family?’

‘It’s not my decision to make,’ said Carolyne.

‘I’m curious.’ He was more than just curious. He was suspicious. She had no business being in his office, especially going through the letters he had stacked up on his desk. They all knew this room was private and, unless invited, out of bounds. He continued, ‘Clearly you have some thoughts of your own to this situation. If you didn’t have, then you wouldn’t be in here now, would you?’

‘They can’t live.’ To show whom she was talking about, Carolyne lifted the letters up for Jason to see, not that he needed a visual reference.

‘They can’t?’

‘They know what we are.’

‘They do.’ He added, ‘There’s some government officials who know who we are too. We let them live.’

‘They threatened us,’ she said as she waved the letters around again.

‘And they also offered to buy us out.’ Jason said, ‘They don’t want a fight. They say they know what will take us down but, do they? And even if they do, do they want to risk a fight with us? The desperation to buy this property… Clearly they have an agenda of their own. Let them get on with it, I say. We can get on with living our lives, they can get on with their life. Plenty of room for everyone.’ He added, ‘You consider them a threat. I consider what is happening within our own home a bigger…’ He stopped.

Jason’s eyes had drifted to where the silver knife had always been displayed proudly.

Carolyne noticed the change in his expression.

‘What?’

‘Where’s my fucking knife?’

Melissa’s Bedroom: Melissa was riding Michael, giving the impression she was enjoying what she was doing and happy to be there, just as she’d promised in exchange for him leaving her daughter out of this. As she ground down on his hard cock, Michael was whispering in her ear with each loud groan she made; her way of hiding from the others that they were having a secret conversation, not that they made a habit of listening to him fuck.

‘David won’t be coming back,’ he whispered. ‘It is down to you now. I’ll tell Jason that you want to see him. You have a proposition for him but you wouldn’t tell me what it was. Then, when he comes in, you stick that blade in him.’ He stopped a moment as the sensations of Melissa’s tight cunt momentarily distracted him. ‘Fuck, baby.’ He continued, ‘They’ll ask where you got the blade from. You can tell them it was all David’s idea. He got the blade because he was going to use it against us… Do you understand?’

Melissa didn’t acknowledge his question. She just carried on grinding down on him, bucking her hips hard and fast in a desperate to make him ejaculate just to get it over and done with so that he’d go back to leaving her alone. Her heart was racing from both what he was saying, the way she was fucking him and the fact she’d thought of a plan of her own.

The knife Michael referred to was no longer under the bed where he’d told her to put it. Now it was just beneath his head under the pillow, tucked out of sight. All she had to do was lean down, take it and run it across his throat. A quick move whilst she was in control and, for him, it would all be over. As easy as it would be though and as tempting as the act was, she couldn’t bring herself to do it… Too many questions going through on her head and scenarios in which it could all go horribly wrong. And after trying to kill him? If she failed there would be no turning back from that point and she’d have to take whatever punishment was given.

Thoughts of her daughter came to mind as she struggled to fight back tears from unwanted emotions.

‘Don’t stop,’ Michael said. ‘I’m going to cum.’

Melissa’s heart rate increased further as she reached down and placed a hand either side of his head. Now all she had to do was to reach up a little bit, under the pillow to the knife. A little bit further and it would be in her hand… One step closer to having it run across his neck, cutting his veins open.

‘Fuck you’re so fucking tight…’

The door suddenly swung open and Jason burst in with Carolyne standing by him. Melissa panicked at the abruptness of their entrance and jumped off Michael before he had a chance to finish inside her.

Michael shouted out in frustration as Melissa huddled herself against the wall, ‘What the fuck!’ He made no attempt to cover his throbbing erection.

‘Downstairs,’Jason said to Michael. ‘Now!’

Before Michael could protest, Jason and Carolyne left the room. Michael moved to the edge of the bed and sighed heavily. He turned to Melissa and shot her a look as though he was blaming her for the interruption. She said nothing. Her eyes - filled with regret - were fixed on the pillow. Michael followed her gaze and slowly lifted the pillow. He spotted the knife immediately and looked back at her. He didn’t question whether she’d been planning something stupid the whole time they’d fucked. The look on her face said it all.

He shook his head.

‘Stupid girl.’

Realising he knew what she’d been thinking, Melissa quickly made a grab for the knife. Before she could place a hand on it, he snatched it away from her.

Michael said, ‘We’ll finish this later.’ If anyone overheard the conversation, they’d have presumed it was to do with the fuck. Melissa knew the fuck was the last thing on his mind now.

Michael got up from the edge of the bed and left the room, closing the door behind him. The moment she was alone, Melissa started to cry as thoughts of her daughter, and what Michael could do, came rushing to mind.

PART SEVEN

CORNERED

The Living Room: Jason paced the far end of the living room as Carolyne took a seat in one of the armchairs.

Jason made no attempt to hide the mood he was in.

‘Are you going to tell us what this is about?’ Debra asked.

Gina and Debra were already in the room, having also been summoned there by Jason. Debra was uncomfortable seeing Jason like this, and not just because she cared about him. She was also worried about the fact that she knew he had a temper on him and if he was already this upset, it wouldn’t take a lot to send him over the edge. What made it all the  more disconcerting were the blood splatters on his clothing from where he’d tugged David’s head clean from his shoulders.

Michael appeared in the doorway.

‘This had better be fucking good,’ he said.

Jason immediately stopped pacing. He turned directly to Michael and demanded to know, ‘Where the fuck is it?’

Michael first looked at Jason and then at the women. All eyes were on him.

‘Where the fuck is what?’

‘You know what.’

‘Brother, I was balls deep in that bitch and about to shoot my load. If I had any idea what you were talking about, I’d fucking tell you so I could get back up there and dribble it out into her, if you know what I mean.’

‘No one else is stupid enough to take it,’ Jason said. He asked, ‘What, do you think I wouldn’t have fucking noticed?’

Michael turned back to the women and said, ‘Seriously if any of you want to step in and tell me what in the fuck this cunt is talking about, now is the time.’

‘The knife is missing,’ Carolyne said.

Debra immediately turned to Jason. She knew what Carolyne was referring to. They all did. And she knew what that blade had meant to Jason.

‘A missing knife? All this for a fucking missing knife?’ Michael continued to play dumb. ‘You know you can probably find another one in the kitchen if you’re that desperate for a knife. You don’t have to disrupt the whole house for…’

‘The knife from my fucking office,’ Jason said.

Michael didn’t say anything. Instead he tried his best to look as shocked as the others.

‘Where is it?’ Jason pushed him for an answer.

‘Wait. You think I have it? You think I snuck into your office and took your precious knife?’

‘Like I said, no one else is stupid enough to take it.’

‘Because I am stupid enough?’

‘Quit the fucking games. Where is it?’

‘You know what, fuck you.’ Michael continued, ‘I don’t know where your knife is. I haven’t seen it. Why haven’t I? Because I’ve not been in your fucking office. So, sorry, you got the wrong person but, yeah, I’ll accept your apology whenever you’re ready to give it.’

‘I don’t know what you’re playing at…’

‘Playing at? Why in the fuck am I playing at anything? Just because you’re happy enough to bring silver into the house and ram it into someone who is supposed to be a member of your fucking family, it doesn’t mean I’d do the same. I want Alpha spot, I’ll take it with a fucking beat down… Not a sneak attack with a blade.’

Gina said, ‘Maybe everyone should just try and calm down a little? I mean, all the shouting probably isn’t going to solve anything, is it?’

‘Then if you don’t have it, who in the fuck does?’

‘Maybe David went in your office and took it? Maybe he’s planning on doing something stupid?’

‘And yet I’ve never seen David go near it…’

BEFORE: Michael looked at the knife on its stand as Jason searched for some paperwork in the top drawer of his office desk.

‘And this was what you used?’

Jason wasn’t really listening or interested in a conversation about the blade. Not with Michael. He hadn’t even invited him into the office. He had come in of his own accord, after walking on by and seeing the door was open.

‘Pure silver…’ Michael went to take hold of it but was promptly stopped.

‘Please don’t touch it.’

Michael pulled his hand back.

‘Sorry. I just wanted to take a closer look…’

‘Well don’t. It’s not for anyone else to touch…’

Michael held his hands up defensively.

‘Well, excuse me for giving a shit about the history to our pack,’ he said as Jason continued searching for the missing paperwork.

The Living Room: Michael shook his head as Jason continued eyeballing him as though he were nothing but a common thief.

‘Tell you what,’ Michael said, ‘why don’t we go and ask him? He lies, we’ll smell it. Although… Might be hard to ask him. You told the others you killed him yet?’ To Michael’s surprise, although he didn’t know why he was surprised, none of the others reacted to what he had said. ‘Oh, I see. They knew you were going to do it.’

Jason smiled.

‘But apparently I’m not worth telling. Not like I’m a part of the pack, is it?’

‘Maybe all of this was a test,’ Jason said.

‘What the fuck are you talking about?’

‘Maybe all of this here is an act?’

Gina stood up and walked from the room.

‘I can’t do this,’ she said, fed up with the arguments.

‘Seriously what the actual fuck are you talking about?’

‘It’s funny but had it not been for Carolyne here, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed the knife was missing. At least, not until it was too late.’

‘Any of you back-stabbing cunts want to tell me?’

Michael looked at Debra and Carolyne. Both were sitting there expressionless. The concern Debra had initially shown, seemingly gone. All eyes were on him now and, despite trying his hardest to remain calm, he felt his heart rate increase as his world got ever smaller.

‘This is fucking ridiculous,’ he said. ‘I haven’t…’ He stopped talking when he heard Melissa screaming from upstairs. He walked out into the hallway in time to see her get shoved down the stairs by Gina. Her earlier departure from the room nothing but an act too.

Michael’s heart skipped a beat when he noticed the knife in Gina’s hand.

‘You should take a few deep breaths,’ Jason said to Michael as Melissa landed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. ‘Your heart sure is racing.’

Michael didn’t say anything. He realised it was over now.

Jason explained, ‘Did you honestly think I wouldn’t be listening closely to you the moment I realised the knife was missing?’ He added, ‘Smart though. Whispering to your little whore while she screams out as you fuck her? Smart. Not smart enough, mind you.’

Jason passed Michael and headed over to Melissa as she lay weeping on the hallway floor. Gina came down the stairs and stood on the last of them. She handed the knife to Jason. He put the knife in his back pocket and picked Melissa up from the ground.

‘What did he promise you in exchange for helping him.’

Michael wanted to tell him to leave her alone but he knew his words would fall upon deaf ears. He was also very conscious of Debra and Carolyne standing close behind him.

‘Is that what he offered?’ Jason pushed Melissa for an answer. ‘He offered you a chance of freedom? A chance to go back to your daughter?’ He asked, ‘What about David? What was he offered? We’d already taken everything from him… Including, his life… Which brings me to the point: If you want to survive the next five minutes, you really need to tell me what he offered you in exchange for helping him… Come on, it’s your only chance to walk away from this.’

Melissa was weeping, both from fear and the pain in her battered body.

‘I just want to go home.’

‘Tell me what he offered and…’

Michael called out, ‘I didn’t offer her anything…’

Jason shot him a look and warned him, ‘Don’t make this any harder on yourself. You’re a liar. You’re not a part of this pack and haven’t been for as long as I can remember now.’ He turned back to Melissa and said in a kinder, but still as dangerous, tone, ‘Come on - what was offered?’

‘He said my daughter could come and live here and that we would be given a better life. I couldn’t go free but… He said things would be different if he was in charge and…’

Jason laughed.

‘He said that? You realise it was his choice to keep you here. My sisters and I don’t want prisoners. You complicate things for us. Your face in the news, people looking for you… We are careful, plucking people from their lives to bring them to The Run but… What if we were spotted with you? All eyes on us. Not good for business with the people we deal with, if we make it obvious it’s us snatching people away from the streets… No, this wasn’t our idea. This was all Michael’s choice. He’s the Devil and you just made a deal with him…’

‘I’m sorry,’ Melissa said, tears streaming down her face.

‘And I believe you really are…’

Gina was grinning from ear to ear behind Melissa. With a quick chat before the faked “meeting”, she knew what was coming next.

‘I’m not the monster until the moon is high. If you don’t cross me, I have no reason to hurt you. If you try and hurt me, or my family and our way of living then, well… I will defend that which is important to me.’ He sighed. ‘You want to go home?’

‘Yes…’

‘There’s the door.’

Jason pointed to the door. Melissa followed his finger and looked towards the door.

‘Go.’

Melissa hesitated a moment. She looked from the door back to Jason. He folded his arms as if to say he wasn’t going anywhere, or going to chase her. And he wasn’t. That was Gina’s job; a task given to her to prove her allegiance to Jason.

‘Go on. Before I change my mind.’

‘Don’t let her go out there,’ Michael said.

‘You, shut the fuck up. You don’t get to talk anymore…’

Debra and Carolyne took a step closer to Michael on the off chance he tried to intervene.

‘Enough is fucking enough,’ Jason said. He turned back to Melissa. With anger in his voice he demanded her, ‘Leave or stay… You won’t get another chance. This is it for you.’

Melissa walked to the front door. Her hand was shaking as she reached for the handle. As she gave it a twist, she half-expected it to be locked. To her surprise the door opened and sun-light shone in through, illuminating the hall with a welcome warmth and brightness.

A gun shot rang through the air.

PART EIGHT

A PLAN “B”

BEFORE: Holding the silver knife in his hand, Michael read the letters from Max and Helena with interest. He hadn’t gone looking for them. He had known nothing about them. But the way they were so beautifully handwritten, he couldn’t help but to notice them on Jason’s desk. He couldn’t not stop a moment to find out who’d send such a letter.

We were driving past one night, wishing that we could hear from you either way, when we saw you in the light of the bright full moon.

Michael knew he didn’t have time to thumb through all the letters and skim reading might have made him miss something. He took his camera phone from his pocket and started to take pictures of the remaining letters so he could give them a read later, without risking being caught in the room.

As he snapped his shots, another part of the current letter leapt out at him; the threat that they knew how to kill the likes of the pack. As the camera flashed, so did Michael’s imagination. Why settle with one plan of action when he could have two? Where one might fail, the other would succeed.

He smiled to himself as he quickly put the letters back how he’d found them. Then, with knife in hand, he left the office to set about his first plan. Once that was done, all it would take for the second was a single phone call.

The Hallway: Everyone dove for cover as Melissa’s body flew back into the hallway. She landed hard upon the floor with a neat little hole in the front of her forehead and a gaping exit wound upon the back of her head.

Gina screamed, ‘What the fuck was that?!’

‘Stay out of the doorway,’ Jason ordered them as Michael laughed.

‘Told you not to open the door,’ he teased.

Jason looked to where Michael was hidden, just around the corner of the stairs. A wave of anger rushed through his blood as Michael winked at him.

‘This is your day,’ Michael said. ‘You knew it was coming. So why not just make it easy on yourself and step out into the open?’

‘Fuck you.’

‘Just think, no more stress. No more worry. Just peace. Ever lasting peace. And you saw how quick it was for her,’ Michael said as he pointed down towards the dead woman. ‘One minute you’re there and the next, you’re not.’

Jason pulled the silver knife from his pocket and pointed it towards Michael who just laughed in response.

‘Think you can get me before they get you?’

‘What have you done?’ Debra screamed to Michael. ‘What have you fucking done?’

Carolyne knew, as did Jason. Michael had done a deal with the devil.

Michael laughed again. ‘Did you really think I would leave it up to those two fuck-wits to help me? I mean I can’t lie… I was going to do it but then I saw those letters… Just sitting there. These strangers supposedly bragging about how to kill us… Why would I not offer them the house? Even told them they can keep their money, which surprised them.’

‘You’re fucking dead,’ Jason warned him.

‘What is he talking about?’ Debra asked.

Gina was as equally confused. Whilst they knew about the offer on the house, they had no idea there had been threats made against them too.

The layout of the hallway was such that Gina was now backed up against the wall, in the corner by the stairs. Jason was standing opposite her. His back was against the wall. On one side of him he had the door and on the other, a window which overlooked the courtyard. Michael was tucked up behind the stairwell and both Carolyne and Debra were adjacent from where he was, also out of the line of sight of any windows and doors. The once spacious hall now seemed small and cramped.

Michael addressed the women, ‘Only Jason needs to die today,’ he said. ‘If it has to be all of you then so be it but, that wasn’t the deal I made.’

‘I am going to kill you,’ Jason said with a snarl in his tone.

Michael laughed.

‘No. You’re not.’

‘What deal?’ Gina said, ‘I don’t understand!’

BEFORE: ‘Who is this?’ Max asked as he answered his phone.

‘You’ve been sending me letters,’ Michael said.

Max paused a moment. He’d only been sending letters to one person recently but was it really them he was speaking to?

Michael said, ‘You like my house.’

That was all Max needed to hear. He smiled.

‘I do.’

‘And you want to buy it.’

‘Well I think given the last letter’s contents… The deal is going to change somewhat now, don’t you think?’

Max clicked his fingers to Helena, his wife, who was sitting but a few feet away idly thumbing her way through a book. She looked up, almost irritated in the way her attention had been stolen from the words on the page.

‘Then you’re lucky I don’t want your money,’ Michael said.

‘Oh? So what is the call in aid of?’

‘What if I was to say you can have the house?’

‘Have? In exchange for the footage we took the other week?’

‘I don’t even care about that,’ Michael said.

‘What is he saying?’ Helena asked.

Max frowned, confused about what Michael wanted.

‘So what is it you want?’

‘You say you know how to kill us?’

Max smiled.

‘I’m well versed in creatures such as yourself, and not just your kind either. Let’s just say, those who live within the shadows are of interest to my wife and I.’ He added, ‘You may believe yourself to be powerful, above all else, but I know for a fact that you’re not. You are nowhere near the top of the food chain no matter what you may believe.’

From the other end of the phone, Michael started to laugh. It had been a while since someone had openly tried to offend him. In fact, the last time a stranger tried to do it - it had been David. And that didn’t exactly go well for him.

Max asked, ‘I amuse you?’

‘You talk like I honestly give a shit, mate. You might think you know us and all that crap and who knows, maybe you’re right? Bottom line is, though, if I wanted to kill you - I would. Sure, you might have a friend with you who might get me afterwards but, not before you’d have your throat ripped out.’ He paused a moment before he continued, ‘Now, we can have this pissing contest all day long but honestly - I just want to get to the fucking point and be done with it. Busy day and all.’

‘And your point is?’

‘You think you can kill us? Honestly?’

‘I believe silver will do the trick,’ Max said. ‘Of course we haven’t actively gone hunting for your kind before so I could be wrong. We do have a nice collection of ammo for such an occasion though. Funny thing is, we bought it as a novelty piece. Never realised we would actually come to use them.’

‘You’re not wrong in the slightest. And you want this house so bad you’re willing to kill for it? Because that’s what the letter suggested.’

‘My wife and I have plans and your house would be a good location. I will do what it takes to see those plans come to fruition.’

‘So then you will kill the rest of my pack,’ Michael said coldly.

‘Well of course we would rather a non-hostile takeover,’ Max started to say.

‘Not going to happen. Kill them or we will kill you. That’s it in a nutshell. The good news for you is that I’m willing to help you. You scratch my back and I will scratch yours.’

‘And how do we scratch your back?’

‘I already told you. Kill the rest of the pack. Once you’ve killed them, I’ll give you the keys to the house.’

‘For free?’

‘Not free. For the cost of four lives.’ Michael said, ‘I’ll send you pictures of each of us. When you come - and it needs to be today - I would appreciate no bullets firing past my head. Now you don’t know me and I don’t know you but are we able to have a gentleman’s agreement?’

Max smiled.

‘I would hope so,’ he said.

‘So, the next question?’ Michael asked, ‘Do you think you would be ready to come today? Has to be today.’

Max laughed.

‘I think we have the means.’

‘Good. You have the address. Make it towards late afternoon. They’re out at the moment. I’ll send the pictures now.’

Michael hung up. Max pulled the phone away from his head and started to laugh.

‘What did they say?’ Helena had been patiently waiting for the call to come to an end.

‘Looks like we’re in line to get a new house,’ Max said with a grin.

‘We are?’

‘What say you?’ Max turned from his wife and looked down the hall he was standing within. There were at least one hundred people sitting there, watching him and his wife up on the stage. All of them were dressed in black, as though a part of a cult. ‘Who wants to help us get a new abode from which we can start practicing the ritual?’

The congregation cheered. Max turned to Helena and hugged her close.

She asked him, ‘Are we really doing this?’

‘We are.’

‘Are we really going to bring Him back?’

‘This is just the start,’ Max promised her. ‘We get today out of the way and that’s it… We have the location, we have the followers, we have the ritual needed… You and I will be Gods amongst men.’ He started to laugh as the congregation continued cheering them.

‘So what next?’

‘First we have to go and put some rabid dogs down.’

The first of the pictures came through to Max’s handset. It was a photo of Michael. Beneath the picture it read: Do not shoot me. Max deleted the photo.

PART NINE

ALLEGIANCES

The Hallway: Michael said again, for the benefit of his sisters, ‘Only Jason needs to die today.’ He continued, ‘I’ve done a deal. They’re going to take the house today and they’re going to kill Jason, but we can go. We can start again. Wasn’t that what you were talking about with him? Weren’t you going to go and start afresh somewhere? Someplace I wasn’t invited?’ The lies continued, ‘I only got in touch with these people out there because Jason had just ignored it. Ignored their threats… They know what we are. They know how to kill us… Had he dealt with it when the first of the letters came… Had he even shared the information, we wouldn’t be in this spot now… I called them. They said it was too late for deals… I’m lucky I got this one. We give them him. We give them the house. We leave peacefully, as a family. A stronger pack.’

‘You’re full of fucking shit,’ Jason shouted.

But to the others, Michael wasn’t. At least they couldn’t tell for sure if he was. The lies usually stunk but this time, they couldn’t sense anything. Of all the sisters questioning what Michael was saying, Carolyne was the least sure of them all. She had seen the letters for herself. She had seen the dates. There was no denying the fact that Jason had been putting off replying to them.

‘Come out of the house with your hands raised and we will let you leave,’ a male voice called out from beyond the open front door. It wasn’t Max.

‘That’s all we need to do,’ Michael said. ‘Step outside with our hands raised. Talk to them. They’ll let us collect our possessions when they see we aren’t a threat and then we can go.’ Another lie, ‘I’ve even arranged a nice place for us to stay while we look for a place of our own…’

‘Fuck you,’ Jason said. He hadn’t heard the guy calling from outside. To him, whoever was out there was the lesser of the threats now as Michael continued working on his sisters, twisting their thoughts to fall in line with his own. ‘He’s desperate,’ Jason said for the benefit of the women. ‘He will say anything to get you to believe him and go with him but, I fucking promise you, he is full of shit.’

‘Well there is a dead body on the floor which shows I wasn’t lying about calling them. And, think back, I did tell you not to open the door so… Ask yourselves, am I really full of shit as he so lovingly put it?’

‘What if we all go out there with our hands raised?’ Gina looked almost hopeful. ‘They might let us…’

Michael stopped her. ‘I’m afraid not. To show you how not full of shit I am, I will admit to telling them to put a silver bullet straight into Jason’s brain.’

Debra looked at Michael with horror in her eyes. She looked back to Jason who was now looking more concerned about his predicament. There was a look in his eyes that she’d seen only once before.

BEFORE: Debra knew she should have been scared. She had just watched beast turn to man. There was no fear in her though, only intrigue. Possibly helped by the look in his eyes now as he struggled to get up after his transformation. Naked, muddy, almost in pain. She should have run when he looked at her but that look in his eyes… Sorrow. Fear? She didn’t run. Instead she took her coat off and nervously handed it to him. He hesitated a moment before he took it from her.

Debra watched in silence as he put the jacket on, covering his naked body as best as he could.

‘Thank you,’ he said.

He took a step forward and stumbled on his unsteady legs with a little cry of pain. He caught himself against a tree to stop himself from falling flat on his face. It was always like this after the transformation; unsteady legs caused by the bones getting used to snapping back into “human” form once more.

Debra didn’t know why she went over and helped him stand up properly but she did. He didn’t argue as he leaned some of his weight on her.

He asked, ‘Where am I?’

‘You are on the edge of town…’ She didn’t ask how he’d made it out so far. It was a fair assumption, upon seeing the beast he had been, that covering ground would not have been an issue.

‘Damn… I don’t suppose you have a phone I can borrow, do you?’

‘No service out here so I don’t bring it with me,’ Debra said. ‘You can come back to mine. It’s just a short walk from here. Use the phone to call whoever you need to phone…’ She added, ‘My ex-husband still has some of his clothes there too… They might not fit you perfectly but you,re welcome to take some. Not like he will be coming by to collect them any time soon or that I’ll be needing them,’ she said.

Feeling weak and confused after his transformation,  and with little other option but to walk naked for God knows how many miles, Jason accepted Debra’s offer, unaware of just how much she had seen.

‘My friends… Got to love them. Due to get married next week so had a stag-do last night. Guess I knew they’d pull a stunt like this. I’m just thankful I’m not tarred and feathered too.’

Debra looked at him. He smiled at her. Unsure what to say at this stage, she just smiled back.

(BEFORE) Debra’s House: Debra walked into the living room where Jason was waiting. With her, she had two cups in hand. A tea for her and a coffee for him.

Jason had just got off the phone, which he set down on the side of the armchair where he was sitting. As per Debra’s offer, he was wearing some ill-fitting clothes from her ex.

‘Did you get hold of someone?’

‘Yes. They’re on their way now.’ He added, ‘Thank you for all of this. I didn’t fancy stumbling around out there, trying to figure out where I was.’

Debra handed him his coffee.

‘Thanks.’

She took a seat opposite him and quietly sipped her tea, trying not to scald herself in the process.

‘You have a lovely home,’ Jason said, trying to break the uncomfortable silence.

‘What are you?’ Debra asked the question but she didn’t need an answer. She knew what he was. She had seen it with her own eyes. She’d seen it even though she wouldn’t have believed it if someone had just told her they existed.

Jason hesitated. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone.’

‘I’m not sure what you’re talking about.’

‘I watched you change…’

Whilst Jason’s face stayed as expressionless as he could, his eyes gave him away.

‘I don’t know what you’re…’

‘I saw you.’

‘A trick of the light.’

‘No it wasn’t.’ She laughed. ‘I don’t even want to say it out loud… What you are, that is. But I saw you and I know what I saw.’ She said, ‘Can you make me one?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Please don’t take me as an idiot and please believe me when I tell you I won’t say anything.’ She asked again, ‘Can you make me one?’

Jason stood up.

‘Thank you for the drink but I should probably wait outside. My driver will be here soon, I’m sure.’

The Hallway: Michael was still talking, trying to convince the others that his way was the right way and, if they were to survive, they needed to side with him. His words weren’t landing with her though. Debra had followed Jason from that day on and would continue to follow him until the end. If today was the end then, so be it.

Debra screamed and rushed forward to where Michael was standing. Everything happened so fast. Gina screamed. Carolyne tried to grab Debra, to hold her back. Jason yelled for her to get out of the open door’s eye-line…

When Debra cleared the distance between them, another gunshot rang out. A bullet dug into the wall as Debra slammed against Michael, knocking him back against the wall.

‘Don’t you fucking touch her,’ Jason yelled.

Michael grabbed Debra by her throat and immediately overpowered her. With a grin on his face, he slammed her hard against the wall.

He asked, ‘Got any silver on you?’

She couldn’t answer. His hand was too tight around her neck.

‘So what exactly was the point in this?’ He said, ‘All you’ve done is show me which side you’re on and… Well.. You picked the losing team…’

He spun around, spinning her round in the process too and holding her out in the open. Jason rushed forward with the knife in hand… A gunshot rung through the air for a third time. Jason screamed as Debra’s expression instantly changed from one of fear to that of pain. Her eyes were wide as blood started to seep out from beneath her sweater. Michael released his grip on her throat but she didn’t fall to the ground. Instead, she fell into Jason’s arms as he dove past. The two of them slid across the wooden flooring and slammed into the far wall, out in the open.

Michael laughed. ‘If only you’d got to her a fraction sooner… Oh well… Least you still got the other whore,’ Michael said, making reference to Gina - who was standing there, stuck to the spot in fear. Her legs trembling.

Jason didn’t hear his words. He was cradling Debra in his arms. Her eyes were fixed to his. She gasped for breath like a fish out of water trying to breathe.

‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered to her. ‘I’m sorry…’

Her gasps became more infrequent. For the first time ever, she saw tears in Jason’s eyes. As her body went numb, she gave him one final smile.

Jason screamed before he slowly turned his head to look at Michael. He was still standing there, just out of the opening. A grin still plastered on his stupid fucking face.

‘Is she dead? Is she? Sorry, not sorry. Only herself to blame.’

‘Stop it! Just stop it now!’ Carolyne yelled out. She was still hopeful there’d be another solution to all of this. Deep down she knew there wasn’t though. There’d be no happy ending today.

Michael shouted out to the shooter outside, ‘Three left and then the house is yours!’

‘You’re a piece of shit… I brought you into this pack and this is my thanks?’

‘And what was Nathan’s thanks for bringing you into the pack? Oh that’s right, you stabbed him. Real nice of you.’

Carolyne glanced over her shoulder. The dining room door was open and out of the line of sight of whoever was outside. She turned back to Gina who was rooted to the spot with a look of fear embedded on her face. Even if she had been able to get over to where Carolyne was standing, she knew she would have a better chance without her.

Gina saw her sister looking at her.

Carolyne shook her head and mouthed, I’m sorry.

‘Where are you going?’ The panic was very much evident in Gina’s voice as Carolyne turned and ran through to the dining room.

Jason carefully placed Debra’s body down on the floor and stood up. He still had the knife in his hand and, as he heard the dining room window open in the other room and another of his sisters abandoning him, he still planned to stick said blade into his treacherous brother.

‘We both die today,’ Jason said.

Michael adopted a defensive stance.

From out back a male voice shouted, ‘I got one!’ Before the sentence finished, there was another gunshot. Gina screamed out again. It dawned on her that there was no deal to save all but Jason. Had there been so, they wouldn’t have shot Carolyne. Fair enough, in the confusion, Debra could have been an accident. A trigger-happy person out there got carried away and pulled the trigger before they realised what they were doing. Or maybe they saw Debra going to attack Michael and protected him as part of the deal? But to shoot Carolyne as she left the house alone? She slid down the wall into a huddled position on the floor and started to cry. She didn’t want to die.

PART TEN

THE IMMORTAL

BEFORE: Gina was sitting on the edge of her bed, close to tears when Jason had walked past and seen her there.

‘Are you okay?’

He hovered in the bedroom doorway, not wishing to intrude if she’d sooner have peace. He knew she was struggling with the gift he had given her. She’d been at the house for a fortnight now and would often withdraw into herself. The others had noticed too and were equally concerned. She had been told she could leave at any time but that wasn’t entirely true. They wouldn’t just release her back to the wild. Especially not before her first change. She needed to be watched. She needed to be mentored. To release her, without her knowing what was coming exactly… It would only bring attention to the pack when she was seen, or caught. And a wolf out there for the first time would be seen.

‘I’m fine,’ Gina said.

Jason laughed.

‘What’s funny?’

He told her, ‘I’ve lived with women long enough to know that I’m fine means the opposite.’ He continued, ‘Come on, we’re family now. Aren’t we?’

‘I guess.’

‘We are,’ he confirmed.

‘So then - what’s on your mind? Maybe I can help?’

She sighed. Jason walked in and closed the door behind him. He went over and sat next to her on the edge of the bed. He placed his hands on his knees and turned to face her.

‘So what’s up?’

‘I just don’t feel settled.’

‘You’re not comfortable in here?’

‘No, I mean… I miss my life. I miss my friends. I appreciate what you have done for me but, it’s not what I am used to.’

‘I said you’re free to leave whenever you want. It’s just harder out there, for the likes of us.’

‘Monsters.’

‘Immortals.’ He explained, ‘You will age but you will never die. Your friends, out in the real world… They’ll age, they’ll wither away… They’ll die and turn to ash. You’ll always be left there, mourning them. It’s a lot of grief to carry. Then you get scared to get close to people because you know how it ends. We stick together, as a pack, to avoid that pain for ourselves.’

‘So - what? No relationships?’

Jason hesitated.

‘Is that what you’re missing?’

‘I don’t know…’

‘We can find you a mate. Someone that you find attractive and someone with similar interests… It’s not a problem to introduce more people to the pack…’

‘Look at me, I’m a mess. Who’d want this?’

Jason laughed again.

‘You’re not a mess. You’re sad at the moment but that doesn’t make you a mess. You have a lot to learn about this new lifestyle but, again, doesn’t make you a mess…’ He paused a moment and then said, ‘You’re beautiful.’

She looked at him, unsure whether he was mocking her. He leaned in and kissed her softly. He pulled back a moment and looked at her. Her mouth was slightly open still and her eyes were closed as though she were lost in that brief moment. He leaned in and kissed her again.

When he pulled back for the second time, she asked, ‘What about Debra?’

He smiled. ‘We’re immortal. We don’t have the same rules as the rest of society. This doesn’t mean I don’t love Debra…’ He said, ‘Right now, I just want to make you happy. I want to make you smile.’ He leaned in closer to her again and whispered, ‘I want to make you cum.’

His hand moved to her leg. She slowly parted her legs as her confused mind continued to race. Jason continued to kiss her as his fingers teased her pussy beneath her dress, brushing its lips. She felt herself wet to his touch and couldn’t help but to gasp as a finger pushed inside her.

Jason pulled his face away slightly and looked her in the eyes. The fear and pain she’d originally been feeling all but gone to lust. He smiled.

‘We’re immortals. We have different rules.’ He pushed in deeper with his finger and she gripped his shoulders with both hands. ‘And you’re feeling sad about a life you once lived?’ He slowly rotated his finger inside her. ‘You need to embrace it. Life is for living. Don’t live forever in regret. Live for the moment and enjoy every fucking moment…’

Jason pulled his finger out and moved from the edge of the bed to his knees, in front of Gina. As he parted her legs wider, she laid back on the bed. She put one leg over his shoulder and closed her eyes.

BEFORE. The woods: The man fell to the ground and rolled through the dirt as the beast’s swipe took him clean off his feet. He rolled onto his back and looked to the thicket he’d just come from. His eyes were wide with fear. His side was open, seeping blood. His heart was racing.

The shrubs parted and the beast came through. There was no rush on its part. The wound it had inflicted was more than enough to stop the prey from running further.

‘What are you?’ The man’s voice quivered with fear as the beast stalked closer to him still. Saliva drooled down from its long, pointed fangs. Its eyes glistening with pure evil in the pale moonlight.

The howl was heard several miles away as was the scream of this beast’s first human meal.

BEFORE: Gina was lying on the settee of the mansion’s living room. She was suffering from having only recently transformed from monster to woman. Her core body temperature was through the roof, her bones ached, her head pounded. Yet, still, she felt strangely satisfied.

Across the room, on the other settee, Jason was sitting with Debra, Both naked. Both cuddled up having also just gone through the transformation. Jason’s eyes were fixed firmly on Gina. He knew that look upon her face. That satisfaction that she felt. He winked at her and she couldn’t help but to grin.

For the first time in as long as she could remember, she felt alive. This was the gift that had been promised to her and she never wanted it to end.

The Hallway: Michael had lied. Had he not done so, there wouldn’t have been a gun shot from the other room, when Carolyne went to leave.

Gina looked up to Jason and Michael. The two of them were locked in an embrace, struggling over control of Jason’s blade. She looked towards the open door; a certain path to death.

Jason had promised to always be there for her. Not just him either but her brothers and sisters too. They’d always be there. She was part of a pack now. She was part of a family. A real family. Watching him fighting with Michael now - that too had been a lie. She only had herself to count on.

Gina got up from where she was huddled on the floor. She looked up the stairs before her. Even if she couldn’t get out of the house, she could at least lock herself in the safe room. Whoever was out there wouldn’t be able to get her there. She could call for help. Help would come… She could get out and go back to her old life. It might not have been the best of plans but it was better than just sitting there, watching the chaos all around.

Gina took a deep breath and ran up the stairs.

A shot rang through the air. The wooden bannister splintered. The bullet grazed Gina’s ankle, cutting her in the process. A touch of silver was enough. She fell to the floor with a pained scream and immediately grabbed her ankle, pushing herself back up against the wall in the process, in the hope that she was far enough out of the line of sight for a second shot. Her flesh burned and not just at the source of the wound.

‘Look what you’ve done to us!’ Jason screamed at Michael as he pushed him back against the wall, still trying to wrestle him for the domineering control of the blade.

The Woods: Outside the house, hidden by the edge of the tree-line framing the driveway, the shooter cursed himself for a lousy shot.

‘Fucking grazed the bitch!’

Max leaned down to where the shooter was lying and patted him on the shoulder.

‘That’s good enough,’ Max said. He laughed. ‘That’s good enough.’

The shooter was looking back down the scope of his rifle. Whilst Gina had moved back against the wall, he could still see her clear enough for a second shot. Without asking permission, and despite what Max had said, he took a deep breath and held it for a second. His finger squeezed the trigger back and - once again - the rifle sung into the mid-afternoon air. A split second later and Gina’s body slammed back against the wall, leaving a splattering of red against the wallpaper as her now-dead body tumbled down the stairs. Smoke billowed from the rifle’s mouth as the shooter turned back to Max.

‘Better safe than sorry,’ he said.

Max shrugged. Long as the end result was the same - all previous occupants of the house were dead - he didn’t care how it was achieved.

He muttered under his breath, ‘And then there were two.’

Max stood up straight and looked around him. He was standing with an army of supporters. All of them were dressed in camouflage in an attempt to remain as hidden amongst the trees as possible, not that it really mattered.

Behind him, to his side, Helena was standing. Unlike Max who was grinning from ear to ear, she looked more nervous. He flashed her a wink and mouthed, I love you.

Helena smiled.

‘I don’t have eyes on the others,’ the shooter said as he looked back down the scope of his rifle.

‘Two of them. An army of us. Move in. Finish the job.’

‘Yes, sir.’

The shooter gave the gesture and - all around - the foot soldiers started to close in around the mansion.

PART ELEVEN

NEW OWNERSHIP

BEFORE: Max pulled the car up at the end of the driveway. The mansion looked glorious, nestled amongst the English countryside and away from prying eyes.

‘Look at it. It’s perfect,’ Max said.

Helena leaned across from the passenger side. She looked out of Max’s window and towards the house he’d brought her to.

‘But I don’t see why we can’t just do it in our current home,’ Helena said.

‘Because we need privacy and that house is anything but private.’ He added, ‘This thing could take years to pull off. Out here, we can be left alone with no one bothering us. No one getting in our way. It makes sense.’ He turned to her and smiled. ‘And I’m sure we could get it for a good price, if we asked nicely…’

‘You think they’d want to sell?’

Max said, ‘Everyone has a price. Even if they don’t know it when first asked.’ He said again, ‘They all have a price.’

The Hallway: Jason and Michael continued to tussle. Both men knew the house was being approached but neither was willing to relinquish control of the blade. They knew what would happen if they did, just as they knew what would happen if they didn’t.

‘You’re a fool,’ Jason said. ‘We could have had it all. Everything we wanted. It was ours for the taking but your greed…’

‘You really want to use your last moments trying to lecture me?’ Michael laughed. ‘I told you that this was the day you would die.’

‘And yet you think they’ll leave you alive.’ Jason said again, ‘You’re a fool.’

Footsteps approached, stopping just outside the house. Jason jumped up and away from Michael and stood with his back to the door and his hands outstretched. Michael struggled to his feet with the knife now in his hands. He was a good few feet away from where Jason was standing.

Michael smiled. ‘So what is it to be? Bullet or blade?’

A number of soldiers entered the house with their guns raised towards the two men and stern warnings not to fucking move.

‘Bullet or blade? That’s me being nice. If you cast your mind back, you never gave Nathan the choice did you? Just stabbed him out of the blue…’

Max entered the building.

Michael said, ‘Took your fucking time. I was just giving my brother here a choice on which way he would sooner die…’

Max took a gun from one of the soldiers and - without a word - put several bullets into Michael. Michael dropped to his knees with a look of shock on his face. Jason, who hadn’t moved, flashed him a wink.

‘You really think I would have ignored the letters?’

Before Michael could say another word, Max put another bullet directly between his eyes. The far wall was splattered with brain as Michael slumped to the hard floor, lifeless.

Jason turned around to face Max. Max pointed the gun at him for a moment and then, slowly, lowered it until it was pointing to the floor. All the other men lowered their guns too.

‘How were you so sure he would get in touch?’ Max asked.

‘Any and every opportunity to get me out,’ Jason said. ‘Just had to fake those letters from you and provide you with the means. It wasn’t hard. Just took a little longer than I would have liked.’

Max glanced at the two dead women.

‘Your sisters?’

‘Not my blood. They’re replaceable. I said I’m tired. I’m tired of it all. This is my chance to start again. Get it right.’

Max couldn’t help but to laugh. ‘You’re a cold man.’ Then, without warning, he raised the gun. ‘But why should we let you walk out of here? Surely it’s easier just to tidy the loose ends?’

Jason shrugged. ‘Wouldn’t you rather have someone like me on side?’

Max hesitated a moment and then lowered his gun once more.

‘Now, want to step into the office and sign over the deeds? Then I’ll get a bag of my belongings and - the house is yours.’

‘What about the bodies?’

‘Your problem but I believe there is enough space to bury them on your property,’ Jason said.

Helena walked into the house and asked, ‘Is it done?’

Max said, ‘It’s done.’

‘Stinks in here. Smells like damp dog,’ Helena moaned.

Jason turned to her slowly, mildly insulted.

‘Excuse my wife,’ Max said.

‘Tell me - what exactly did you want to do in this property?’

Max smiled. ‘Do you like Octopus?’

Jason looked at him for a moment, confused by his question. He shook his head. ‘The office is this way,’ Jason said as he led the way up the stairs.

Max raised his gun to Jason’s back.

The Woods: Another gunshot echoed through the woodlands surrounding the house.

Further Reading:

Max and Helena’s story continues in “OCTOPUS” and “OCTOPUS 2”, available now on Amazon

Author Bio

Matt Shaw is the author of over 200 published works. As well as appearing in a number of anthologies, Matt’s work has been translated into French, German, Korean and Japanese. His work has also been adapted into graphic novels and - more recently - film.

Having successfully crowdfunded a feature film, in 2018 Matt Shaw adapted his best-selling novel MONSTER into a screenplay (with Shaun Hutson acting as script consultant) and then went on to direct it himself. The film starred Rod Glenn, Tracy Shaw (Coronation Street), Laura Ellen Wilson and Danielle Harold (Eastenders). Having broken his “film cherry”, Matt is currently producing two more feature films - one an original piece which he wrote for screen (Next Door) and a second based on another of his novellas (Love Life).

Matt tours both the UK and the US on regular book signings but - if you’re unable to get to where he is - there is also a store where you can purchase signed merchandise direct from him over on ETSY. Simply look up The Twisted World of Matt Shaw where you’ll find exclusive downloads, his infamous DeadTed bears and more…

Want to stay up to date with Matt? He can be found on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. There is also a fan club which has exclusive stories, early reads, behind the scenes information and a whole lot more - available on Patreon!