Sitting beside Jordan, I tried not to admit how far out my depth I had ended up. I was, no I am an expert at getting out of difficult situations. So Selene had both of us, big deal. It was just going to piss her off that little more when we got out.

If we got out.

Jordan wasn't in great shape and looking down at him, he had been asleep now, for at least an hour. The only obvious way out was going to be the way I was put in. Getting up, I tried testing the bars of the gate. I could just make my head fit through and sadly my bones were set in place making squeezing myself out impossible. For the first time in my life, I wished I was a mouse. Reaching out, I picked up the old heavy padlock that kept us in. If I had something sharp and pointy I could try picking the lock, but that wasn't really an option.

"Elise?" Jordan yawns, moving to stretch and he winces slightly. Going back to his side, he frowns making him look so much like Dad it's scary considering the twenty or so years he had on him.

"How you doing?"

Brushing back his hair from his forehead, his head rolled lazily to the side and his eyes glazed over in such a way I'd think he was about to cry. Jordan doesn't cry. Ever.

"Jordan? Hey, we'll get out of here." Seeing him so defeated made me panic. What had I walked into? It's like when you see your parents cry, you know shit is bad.

"I'm so, so sorry." He hung his head in hands and pushed me away. "It's my fault your here!"

"No, it's mine. I don't care about the bigger picture, we'll get out of here and put that stupid mutt in her place! Jord, come on. I know it's been tough, but-"

"You say that now. This whole time I was so stupid and it's all my fault! I shouldn't have stayed away, I should've come home and told Dad. I thought I was doing the right thing and by the time I worked out what was going on it was too late." His voice was shaky, and closing his eyes he refused to look at me.

"Well good thing I'm not just a pretty face and worked it out on my own." I smiled, trying to reassure him.

"Not all of it. I can't believe I trusted him and now you're here!" He sighed, rubbing his face roughly.

"What are you talking about? Trusted who? Jordan, I got here myself. I let them find me."

Now he was the one confused. "What? I'm sure you think that, but you were set up."

"No, I have this ring and it's meant to stop them from finding me with magic. I went up to the roof of this hotel I was put in by these demons who work for the Council of Treaty Keepers and took off. I wasn't set up, I did it." Now I was probably going to be lectured on being irresponsible.

"Hotel? Not from the underground jail they put you in?"

"No, when it was compromised Ailin got me out." I started to get worried now, what he was saying didn't make sense and how did he know I had been in jail when he'd been here the whole time? "What do you know?"

"I heard them, upstairs, after they were trying to find out if you were still alive!"

"Heard who?"

Heavy footsteps came from down the stairwell and having found his strength, Jordan sat up and pushed me behind him. It was a touching move, but at this point I was in better shape than he was and could look after myself. At first I thought it was Big Al as the hulk of a man came into view, blocking the light from the hall so his silhouette filled our cell. I held my breath, not sure what to expect and as he bent over I realized he had something in his hands. Two plates were put on the ground and pushed under the lower bar. With a grunt he left us.

"Don't eat it. I don't trust them." Jordan didn't move until we were alone again and getting up I looked at the slop on the plate with disgust. As if I'd eat that anyway. "I suck so bad as a big brother Elise, I shouldn't have been so quick to dismiss you at the Underground. Keiran and Grant only praised you, Grant even said you remind him of Dad when he was younger! Can you forgive me?" Being compared to Dad wasn't as appealing to me as it was to him.

"Of course! I'm not risking my ass to save yours for fun, it's in the past." Reconciling was easy, we're family and needed to act as such if we were going to get out here. "But Jord, what did you hear?"

"They couldn't find you, but they could find Logan." He looks at me expectantly, but I don't get it.

"Logan? He was with me in the underground, surely they would have shielded the area."

Now Jordan just looked mad and I also realized he probably doesn't know about whatever is going on with Logan and I. It wasn't the best time for him to suddenly want to play protective big brother.

"The shield only works if you stay inside it!" He snapped, and his anger wasn't directed at me. Now I got it.

"You think Logan told them where we were?" I asked in disbelief.

"I know he did. I heard Selene talking about it after they tried to open the portal."

"You're wrong Jordan, Logan wouldn't do that!" Instantly I got defensive, "If Selene told you Dad was working with them would you believe that?"

"Dad is a bit different to that Tracker. What is going on between you two?" All I can hear is Dad in that last bit and acting as the adult I am I rolled my eyes.

"None of your business!"

"Real mature Elise. I thought I could trust him, but I was wrong and by doing that I left you in danger. Trust me on this one!" He yelled, clearly feeling better now.

"No, you trust me! I'm not a kid, and I'm not stupid-"

"Says the girl who let them take her!" He cuts me off, waving his hand dramatically. I knew that wasn't going to go by unnoticed.

"To help you! No one else was doing anything about it. Why can't you see me for who I am now?" I was so frustrated I wanted to scream, cry and punch him in the face. What did I have to do to make him believe in me? I wasn't doing this to annoy Mum and Dad, I don't care about superficial shit right now. I wanted my brother safe and my family back together - well as together as we could be.

"I can, trust me I can. I've never been prouder to call you my sister, but you've been doing this Hunter thing for what? A month? What if we can't get out now, they win!"

"If you're proud of me, you have a fucking weird way of showing it and they're not going to win. I've got Alfie, I stopped Alison, I've killed vampires, made friends with a ghost and have an alliance with a coven of dark fae and I've managed to get out every bad situation thrown my way. I can do this Jordan, we can do this! Mum and Dad are meant to have a whole little team rallying together to help you so even if we fail, we have back up coming!" So apparently I can sound convincingly confident when I need to, because any doubt I had about this was gone. Just for good measure, I slapped his cheek. "So snap out of this mood, because I need you to start acting as awesome as I know you can be."

"You just slapped me, my little sister slapped me." He muttered in disbelief, rubbing his cheek.

"Please, I have kicked your ass more times than you can count. Do not make me result to hair pulling or pinching." My threat works he stands a little taller, daring to smile.

"I am actually glad you're here, that was exactly what I needed."

Then we start to brain storm. We could fake sickness to draw them, get the gate open and force our way out. Next meal time grab that guy and try to beat him up through the bars and hopefully get the keys to the lock in the process. Our ideas starting getting worse with him suggesting we try digging our way out - knock down the wall, none of which were logical or possible. Defeated I sat down on the mattress in the corner and Jordan came to sit beside me. Instantly I rested my head on his shoulder and sighed. We had nothing. The high from my little pep talk had died and now we waited.

"What is that smell?" The moldy tart stench that had slowly worked its way into my senses was different to the dampness down here.

"The food." Jordan glanced down to where the plates still sat untouched and that was when I saw something sticking out of the mush.

Getting up I walked over to them and careful not to touch the minced meat in the off gravy sauce, at least I think it was a gravy - I picked up out the forks. Bending one, they were actually metal and turning back to Jordan I held them up.

"They feed you every day?"

"Yeah, normally twice." He looks over confused.

"You never touch what they give you?"

"Sometimes, depending on what it is. I'm pretty sure that is actually dog food." He gets up and kicks the plate with his foot, sending it outside our cell.

"Do they always give you cutlery?" My patience is wearing thin now and I wondered how we were actually related.

"Yeah?"

"Ever thought about getting out of here?"

"No, I just love being here so much." He answers dryly, stiffly rolling his shoulders.

For some reason, the sneak peak of Beyoncé's newest hit I saw on TV in the hotel in Paris came to mind. I only heard it once and never really paid that much attention to it, but I'm pretty sure it just might turn into a hit. Who run the world Beyonce? Girls, because men are stupid, closely followed by werewolves.

"We were raised in the same family. We went to the same school. We have the same parents and you were one who taught me to pick my first fucking lock. How hard have they been beating your brain?" I muttered, going to the lock I started to mess around with the handle of the fork in the key slot. I was struggling with it, unable to get the angle needed from where I had to stand.

"Let me," Jordan took over and with his first go the thing popped open.

"Show off!" The lock fell to the floor with a clang and the door swung open easily. "Come on, let's get out of here."

I ran out with Jordan following and getting to the top of the stairs, I tried to remember where I had gone last time.

"Lets go this way for a sec," Intead of going up and out, I kept going towards the holding cell of where they had kept Alfie's creator and the sobbing that echoed up from that room had Jordan carrying on down there instead of just stopping at the collection of weaponry. "Jordan!"

We didn't have time to mess around down here and grabbing a couple of knives and a sword, I hated the fact the weapons were so primitive. A gun would have come in handy right now.

"It's Opal." He whispered back, "I was wondering where they had been keeping her." He went to the door which was solid wood compared to the silver bars of ours and peeked through the hole in the top. I wondered if they had cleaned up the demon remains before putting her in there and the vindictive side of me hoped they hadn't.

"You're kidding right?"

"Elise, come on. We have to help her!" Jordan begged, and keeping an ear above us, went down a few more steps.

"No we don't. Her sister is in on this, she probably is too. It's a trap!" Seriously, how stupid is he?

"She's not, they've been torturing her as much as they tortured me. Alison was the one who got the vamps in on this scheme and-"

"And I say she stays." I glared at him, tempted to slap him again to see if that would help with him finding some common sense. "She is Alison's problem like you're mine. Let's go or do you want to stay?"

"There is someone else in there!" Jordan reached out and grabbed my arm, stopping me. "Hello?"

"Help, please help!" Came the weak reply and twirling of the smaller knives in my hand, I was tempted just to stab him and get both our deaths over with now.

"Give me that!" He snapped, taking it off me and after fiddling with the lock, took my sword and broke it off that way.

He was right, there were two girls in there. Opal was easy to identify, she looked too much like Alison for my liking and the other girl, well maybe she was a Winter too, by adoption because her black hair and brown eyes weren't like the blonde of Opal or Alisons. Opal helped her walk towards us and I cringed at how bad they looked as they came into better light. Jordan was a picture of health compared to them. The unknown one was ridiculously skinny, any muscle tone she may have had was gone and the baggy dress she had on looked like a pillow case. Dried blood and dirt covered her skin like it did Opals but at least she was in better condition and clearly hadn't been done here as long as her friend.

"We get them out of the house, then they're on their own Jordan. I'm not letting any Winters fuck us over again." I didn't care if I was being harsh, the raid on the underground was because of Alison. She had got Grant and a bunch of others killed. She had hurt Reece and Alfie, and put Logan in hospital.

Thinking of the hospital I could still see Alison laying there when she stopped me on my way out of the underground. Maybe she didn't expect her sister to be treated like this in her absence and her words to me didn't help my faith in Opal.

"Well if in your walk you find my sister, please help her." Alison had said.

Help her because she'd end up down here or help her because if I have her with me, I'm screwed. I didn't owe Alison anything, so I could easily keep walking now.

"You're a Tracker?" I ask the other girl, finally able to get a read on her. All she does is nod, biting her lip as she takes the first step but the moan of agony isn't masked easily. This was going to take forever and looking down her ankle is swollen and purple. Jordan hands me back the sword and scoops her up, moving much quicker up the stairs. As we pass the stash of weapons, Opal goes to grab something and I instantly block her.

"Touch a thing on here, I'll kill you myself." I'm not playing.

"What if we're attacked? What can I use?" She cries, but it doesn't work on me.

"Your fists or whatever else your family likes to use to stab others in the back. Move." I nudge her with the blade, pushing her up the stairs behind Jordan. I can tell she wants to say more, but her fear wins out and she does as I say.

Getting to the top of the stairs, I know this will come out in a tiny little room that feeds onto the main hall. I also know there is a window and that we're on the ground floor. I take the lead and cautiously open it. Luckily the room was empty and creeping to the window, it opened easily. Nothing apart garden beds, green lawn and then forest filled the view and waving them over, stood by the door into the hall.

Opal was sent out first, taking off across the yard I watched her closely, wondering how good my aim would be from a distance and if I could even throw a knife far enough to get her should she try anything to ruin this for us. Jordan is helping the Tracker girl out the window, before getting himself out and looking over to me, waves me over.

"I know some shifters in the territory beside this one. No matter what happens, keep running." I tell him.

"I'm sorry I ever doubted you Elise, come on." He takes the weapons from me and I jump out, pushing the window frames back together to close it up.

We all freeze, looking around cautiously. Opal has hit the forest and taking back the sword, Jordan lifts Tracker girl up again. Her cheeks are wet with tears and her arms wrap around Jordan's neck as I help her curl against his back. She is tiny, not just because she is skinny but in general. I doubt she'd reach 5 foot and I'd guess her to be my own age, maybe a tad older. Jordan takes her legs and looking at me he smiles, trying to tell me it's going to be ok and then we start to run. He keeps to the lawn, thanks to being bare foot the bush trek is going to be killer on him and with his torn jeans, his legs might get some protection. We're nearly at the forest when I hear the first growl, and we keep going.

Hitting the trees we keep together. I have the weapons and as the first wolf appears I don't hesitate in throwing the knife into its neck. As we go past the fallen shifter, I grab it back out and we keep running. Two more come crashing behind us and I slow down, leaving Jordan to keep going.

Thanks to some of Ailin's lessons, my swordsmanship has improved. Sure it wasn't the lean and agile blade of the samurai sword she had used, but I did alright. The echo of yelps made my blood run cold and as our followers ceased to keep coming, I turned to keep after Jordan. I didn't get very far before the high pitched scream had me swerving left off the path he had was following and coming up behind two shifters and a werewolf, I saw they had Opal cornered against a tree.

Was I walking into a trap?

Instinct won out and beheading the first wolf to leap at me, the others soon paid attention. I threw her the smaller knife, leaving her to deal with the werewolf while sorted out the animals who kept on coming. The bite on my arm made me drop the sword and grabbing its muzzle with my freehand I blocked its nose, making it let go to bit down harder a second later.

"Stupid. Fucking. Dogs!" I growled, my hatred of the creatures even more cemented in place before I poked it in the eye. Grabbing the sword back, I bought it up under its belly and the animal fell with a sickening thud as it's attack was ended. One good thing about the werewolf being here was the human had a gun.

Opal was exhausted, struggling with him in a wrestle and coming up behind him I hit him in the back of the head with the handle of the sword. He was instantly knocked out and picking up the gun, I didn't hesitate in shooting him. Throwing herself at me, I stood there in shock for a moment, pitying her like I promised myself I wouldn't.

"Whatever. Let's go." I mumbled, leading her back to the path we kept running. She continuously fell behind, struggling to keep up, but for now no one seemed to be following us so it didn't matter so much. We kept going until we found Jordan and we were all out of breath. Opal practically collapsed as we stopped and Jordan wasn't much better considering he had also been carrying the other girl.

"Shit! What happened?" Jordan was up in a second, looking me over.

"Had some company." I shrugged, trying to ignore the duo staring at us while we had a little family bonding time. The bite on my arm sent a warm stream of blood towards my hand.

"She saved me." Opal managed to get out between gasps.

Ignoring her I turned to the other girl, "What's your name?"

"Sam." She didn't even do any running and she is struggling as much as Opal.

"What's your deal in all this?" I at least wanted to know that as I can't see Selene having her without a good reason.

"We should keep moving, it's not safe to stop." Jordan got up and taking a few deeper slower breaths, turned to let Sam climb onto him again.

"Change of topic much?" Now Jordan only looked guilty and Opal looked between us as if she was about to say something. "You know?"

"Yes, she is how Selene is making the other Tracker help her."

"Other Tracker?" Looking at Sam, she starts to cry again and groaning, Jordan keeps walking.

"Come on, let's get out of here."

Tucking the gun into the back of my jeans, Opal and I follow Jordan. By now it's going towards late afternoon and nothing else has followed us. Not that we know of anyway and coming across the clearing I am certain Alfie and I had been in to attract to the dark fae that bound him, I feel a little more hopeful now. That is until we come across Oz.

"Hunter!" He greets cautiously, looking at the others.

"Oz, we need help."

"I can't kid, not this time. After you left we were attacked, we can't hold them off for a second time!" Behind him, a leopard slinks closer. It keeps low to the ground and its gaze is intense, probably waiting to see what Oz says before doing anything.

"Ellie, what's going on?" Jordan pips up and it's then Oz takes in the sight of the other two women.

"Oz, this is my brother Jordan, a Slayer and a Tracker. I know I've asked so much of you already, but we really need some help." I'm more than willing to beg.

"I'll give you a car, but that's it. You still got the, ah, thing?" He whispers, leaning in towards me.

"I do, did you want it back?"

"No kid, you keep it. Follow Pete and I'll meet you there." With a shimmering step, he is back in his bear form and runs off while Pete growls and takes off in the opposite direction.

"You're trusting these guys?" Jordan asks doubtfully.

"Once this is all over, I'm going to tell you everything that's been going on. Then you'll understand."

"Can't wait for that!"

We keep going after the leopard and stopping by the side of the road, he disappears. Taking a seat on a fallen log, the trio enjoy the break and at the sound of the car I get up to meet Oz.

"I owe you bear!" I don't hesitate in hugging him.

"Stop that werewolf and we'll call it even."

He doesn't say much more than that, leaving us alone and getting into the old sedan I push the car to its limits to get us as far away from the pack lands as possible and looking in the review mirror to where Opal is trying to comfort Sam, a hospital wouldn't be a bad idea either.

-x-

The hospital was practically empty and sitting outside Jordan's room, I had visited this place more in the last couple of months than I had in my entire life. I prayed it wasn't going to be a habit and as the seven council guards appeared around the corner, I was actually kind of glad to see Ailin amongst them. The look on her face told me it wasn't mutual and no one said anything as they walked past me. Ailin didn't even look in my direction and crossing my arms, I sat back in the chair. I should be thankful they went into Opals room and left me alone. She was a demon after all and it's not as if we were friends.

"Miss Bunting, shall I take a look at your arm?" The doctor came out of Jordan's room and looking at where the wolf had bit me, it could use a clean.

Getting up I checked on Jordan who gave me a thumbs up before going into the bathroom. Leaving him alone, I followed the Doctors to the less formal cubicles and he pulled over the aqua curtain to give us some privacy.

"Is he ok?"

"Jordan? Yes, he'll be fine. Miss Pattern will need some additional care and I've already organized for her to be taken to a safe house to recover. Miss Winters is much like your brother, a little bruised but they're tough." He smiled, grabbing a piece of gauze from the table and not expecting it to sting I gasped as he rubbed my wound with it.

"I don't really care about the others." I admitted.

"I know, I thought you might like to hear it though." He kept quiet as he dressed my wound and getting out a needle, a flicker of fear sprung up in my stomach. Facing demons, easy. Fighting vampires, no worries. Getting an injection? I'd rather die. "This placebo is our greatest invention yet, we've managed to locate a certain rehealing cell from some fairies that is compatible with the human body and will get you healed up quicker than the time it takes me to tell you that this won't hurt a bit!"

I closed my eyes as he stabbed the sharp point into my arm, the rush of warmth as he injected the liquid only freaked me out as I felt it travel around my arm.

"All done. I believe you have a bag waiting in your brothers room if you would like to freshen up?" He disposed of the needle and went as far as offering me a lollipop from the jar in the cupboard. I have him the reaction he wanted and smiled, taking one.

"Thanks!"

"Anytime." He left me alone and getting up, I rubbed my arm where he had given me the needle before opening the curtain and going back up the hall to Jordan's room. Passing the nurses' station, no one was in there and for whatever reason I found myself dialing a number I knew by heart.

"Hello?"

"Who is this? Where is Reece?" I snapped, gripping the receiver tightly as a surge of anger flowed through me.

"Who is this?" The voice was familiar, I just couldn't pick it from where.

"I asked first!"

"Bunting?" A ruffling sound followed before Reece came on the line. He sounded tired, and my anger left me as instead I only felt worried.

"Reece?"

"Hey, Elise?"

"Are you alright?" It was a stupid question, I knew he wasn't and something told me it was more than a gut instinct.

"I need to see you. Where are you?"

"The hospital. I have Jordan now."

Silence.

"Hello?"

"I'll be there soon." Came the husky reply and the beep of the phone disconnecting was all that remained as I just stood there.

Hanging up I hurried to Jordan's room and as the Doctor said, my bag sat on the end of the bed beside what I guessed was his.

"Just spoke to Mum and Dad. They're going to meet us in the morning. We're staying here tonight. They have us cloaked and the guard is set up everywhere in case of an attack." Clean and minus a few more bruises, I wonder if he had that placebo stuff in his IV for him to be healing this quick. He was practically back to normal and all I could do was nod.

"Great. I'm going to shower."

"Ok, I'll see you in the staff room for dinner." He ruffled my hair and walked out with his IV still attached, practically skipping.

Was it that simple, was it over?

Everyone else seemed to think so, the guards chatted easily despite the fact they holding Opal in custody until they could take her in for questioning. Ailin had gone, or at least if she was still around she wasn't letting her presence be known. The hospital staff went about their duties and now the rush of care was over, their laughter from the nurses' station surrounded us in the staffroom.

Jordan ate like it was his last meal, yet I'd lost my appetite. Not even his offer of putting on The Hills helped cheer me up and I found myself continuously looking down the corridor - waiting for Reece. In the end, something else that was bothering me had me leaving Jordan to find Sam.

Knocking on her door, I opened it slowly and she shuffled up on the bed slightly. Nothing had really changed for her. Maybe she had a little more color in her almost transparent looking skin. Her eyes were sunken back into her skull and she barely managed a smile as I took a seat at her bedside.

"Thank you for saving me, despite not wanting to do it."

Well that's not an awkward way to start a conversation.

"I don't know you or trust you, considering you're with Opal do you blame me?" I try to stop myself from sounding defensive, but fail.

"She is innocent too!"

"How am I supposed to know that? Her sister tried to kill me and nearly killed my friends!" I argued.

Sam only shrugged, looking more bored than anything else. I had listened to the doctors when we bought her in, she was older than me at twenty-one. Despite everything she managed to hold her head high, keeping some dignity intact and I kind of admired her for that. I don't know how I would be after being kept there for months, we'd been lucky so far and one day that might not be the case.

"Why are you here Elise?" She sighed, shivering slightly.

For whatever reason I got up and went to the cupboard and got out a thick knitted blanket and draped it over her legs. She reached out and lifted it higher so it sat under boney arms and the sight of the assortment of tubes and medical gear covering her made me think of Reece when he had been submitted. The all too familiar ache started in my chest, it had been weeks since I'd fallen victim to a panic attack and standing, I looked away fighting the urge to curl into a ball and try to disappear.

Breath.

In.

Out.

"Are you ok?" There was a hint of concern in her tone now, for me or for her I'm not sure.

"Yeah, peachy. So I was wondering why you were being kept there. Are you like some long lost cousin or Winter relative?"

Getting myself under control, I helped her get the glass of water from the stand by her bed and held it for while she took a sip from the straw.

"No, I don't have anything to do with that side of things."

"Did you do something to piss off Selene then?"

"My boyfriend and I went to investigate some territory war last year. Things didn't go well and that's when we also met your brother. When he left us, the wolves attacked and we were given an ultimatum. Help or die."

"You decided to help?" Already I was itching to go see Jordan, he knew more than he was letting on - again.

"No, I was happy to die fighting and I almost did until they were going to make me watch them kill him first." Anger was laced in her words at the memory and her heart rate monitor started to beep more frequently. "The stupid part was we broke up like a week before, but we had to finish this mission."

"Then what happened?"

Her skin was like ice when I took her hand in mine, eager to hear the rest of the story.

"I begged them not to do it. To let him go and kill me, so of course he said the same thing and Selene offered him a deal. I was thrown into their dungeon before I could talk him out of it and I guess he did what they wanted because I'm not dead. We'd get a phone call once a week, he never said much, didn't tell me what was going on and a couple of months ago the phone calls stopped and I thought he must have finally been killed. They were going to let me go once this portal thing was done with. I think they would've killed us both then anyway, but at least you got me out and the Doctor told me Logan isn't dead and they're trying to contact him for me. Now I'm out, he doesn't have to do what they say anymore and we can leave!"

She finished so hopefully, but there was one word that had stopped me from listening to the end of her story and when I spoke, I didn't reconise my own voice. "Sorry who?"

There has to be more than one Tracker called Logan, surely it can't be the same one. Inside I knew the answer, I had since Jordan brought it up. I just seemed incapable of accepting it and needed to hear Sam tell me. I expected the panic attack to return, but instead I only felt numb and letting go of her hand, mine curled into fists. Sam only looked at me cautiously, frowning before she decided to speak.

"Logan, Logan Murphy. Do you know him?"