I walked over to Nick who was blankly looking down at the ground. I sat next to him and looked around the woods. The same woods not too long ago where he and Uncle Carter helped trained me to become a hunter. So many memories, a new one tonight. My sister was pale and scared, not wanting anyone to come near her so she stood by a tree by herself.

She was completely different. She wasn’t the same innocent Courtney she used to be. Her life will never be the same now. She trapped herself in the basement. She had moved all her stuff down there because she says the dusty smell helps block out all the other smells in the house. I didn’t ask and my mom didn’t like it, but let her. She never left the basement other than to eat, go to the bathroom, and one and while go outside. She ignored her friends, hated when the phone went off because she says it’s too loud.

Now I can understand why she was so scared to come back.

“I’m sorry, Nick.” I said to him. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

“It’s alright.” he said, his voice having no emotions.

“You’re father, he was a good man. He didn’t deserve what happened to him.” I said.

“He jumped in front of me, to save me.” he said and grabbed a stick, breaking it. “I felt like my heart skipped a beat at that moment, I thought it was a dream at first. He was doing his job though, we all know the risk.”

“Who’s Thea?” I asked and his back stiffen a little. “I heard she’s been with you since your father funeral.”

“She’s my—well, I’m not even sure.” he said as he finally looked at me. “She’s my pain of the neck.”

“Sounds like love.” I said and he rolled his eyes. “You’re blushing and being shy, you like her.”

“I don’t have time to be in love.” he said. “She’s a Hunter also and she’s with her father most of the time. Junior decided he’s going to stay home with my mom for a while to help take care of Dawn. Carter talked to me about me becoming his partner since you’re growing now more and more.”

“I can feel the back pains already.” I said. I turned and looked at my sister, “I almost didn’t come today.”

“What made you get out of bed?” he asked and I turned my gaze to Dante who was talking with Leo, Victurus, and Aracelia. I hardly spoke to Aracelia now, I was still so upset with her and I know it hurt her that I was ignoring her, but I couldn’t help but feel like she did something wrong. “Ah, I see.” Nick said.

I looked back at him, “I came here to be with my sister, I need to be here to show I still love her.”

“I heard Rafael been having his eyes on her.” he said and my eyebrows furrowed together. “He been visiting her in the basement, I think they like each other.”

“Really?” I asked, surprised. “Rafael doesn’t speak allot of English, he can’t speak sentences but words...”

He shrugged, “He’s mostly just reading, keeping each other company.”

I looked back at my sister who was now chewing on her own hair. The only people here was Uncle Carter, Nick, Leo, Victurus, Aracelia, Dante, and I. We wanted my mom to stay away for her safety and the Nephilims as well.

“That shows how much I’ve been paying attention.” I said sulkily.

+Hadrian.+

The white owl took the piece of meat out of my hand and ate it. I scratched the top of her head and her wings fluttered, moving her head around in the palm of my hand. I looked at her dark eyes and they reminded of hers. Those deep eyes of the owl reminded me of that Nephilim and I so badly craved her soul. I’m tired of living off the girls in the villages. I need a Nephilim! I had her in the palm of my hands to quickly losing her. She was like a drug, something I needed. Why’d Senka have to get rid of her so quickly?

“I see you still like these creatures.” Rien said as he came up behind me onto the balcony. He leaned against the stone ledge and looked at the owl then me, “Want to answer me why finally?”

“I think being able to fly would be amazing.” I said as I took another piece of meat from the bowl and threw it in the air, the owl catch it and quickly eating it. “I think She was unfair to not gift me with that ability.”

“Leilah cat been missing all day. Would you have any guess to where that feline might have gone to?” he asked, glancing at the bowl and I smirked. “She’s going to kill you.”

“She will get over it.” I said. “That cat was no ordinary cat, but from hell. It hissed at everyone that came near it and it scratched me plenty of times. It pissed me off finally today when it bit me.” I said as I took another piece of Leilah cat Sheba meat and fed it to the owl.  “I always knew Leilah would end up a cat lady.”

“She would kill you if she knew you said that. She may be able to control the air, but it should have been fire with how feisty she is.” he said and I snorted. “I haven’t used possession in the last eight hundred years, I’m feeling more and older each year.”

“I’m starting to feel that way.” I said. I scoffed and rolled my eyes, “I guess becoming a father would do that.” I said sarcastically.

“You did a good job.” he said. “Did what you were told. That child may have half of you, but it’s not yours.”

“That thing will never be mine.” I said. “He will sure make me famous though, Senka can have him for all I care.”

Rien put his hand on my shoulder and shook it, “Smart. I can say this is a time I can be proud of you, little brother.”

I heard the door to my bedroom open and my door hitting the wall, “Hadrian!” I heard Leilah and the owl flew away.

+Nevaeh.+

I was scared to death as I watched Courtney crawl at the tree she was chained to. Her nails were scratching deeply into the tree each time her fingers went down, making her fingers bloody and dirty. Her green eyes had turned an amber yellow color.

She was jumping up and down, thrashing her hands at the tree before she threw her body against it in a fit of rage. It was a few minutes before midnight and I can see my sister wasn’t here already. This was the beast we were all afraid of.

I wanted to speak, but I couldn’t unfocused her. I had to stay quiet, just let it happen.

I ran my fingers threw my hair and placed my hand over my mouth. It was like watching someone being possessed or something. She was panting heavily and I could see her veins in her arms. Courtney ran her hands threw her hair and cried out like bloody murder. My whole body shook as I watched my sister make that horrible noise. It was deep and made goose bumps appear on my skin.

She went back to thrashing out against the tree. I could see her spine in her back moving since she had on a sports bra. She was saying how she had felt like she was burning up even though it was pretty cool in the woods. Her back bend back painfully as her spine move and she cried out deeply again.

I turned and smacked right into Uncle Carter. I hid my face in his chest, too scared to watch. It was like when I was little and I was scared of watching horror movie, so I would hid my eyes.

“Let me go!” I heard her scream but there was another voice, like a different tongue. It was hard, deeper than her regular voice. She screamed and screamed like she was being tortured. She suddenly stopped and I heard her whimpering, “Nev-Nevaeh, help me. Please.”

I turned my head to see her looking at me with pleading yellow eyes.

“Don’t.” Aracelia said, looking at me.

Courtney eyes went hard cold before she looked at Aracelia and growled at her. She panted heavily to the point she was sounding like she was saying ‘he-he-he’ each time she pant. She made the scariest faces as she had a panic attack on the floor, trashing her body around.

Her nails crawled into the ground, throwing dirt around. She went on her body and her body rose until she was sitting on her knees. She brought her hands up to her hair and started ripping her hair out.

“Courtney!” I yelled as I broke free from Uncle Carter arm but Leo grabbed me while I was running over towards my sister.

Courtney threw her head back and she howled that made my blood cold as I stared at my sister. Dark hair all over her body grow out of her body everywhere thick and dark. Her body slowly forced into a wolf. Her hands and feet changed first and she threw her body down so she was on all fours. All of her teeth sharpened as they lengthen in her mouth.

“Oh my God.” I said as I watched my sister turn into a giant wolf.

And she wasn’t happy when she tried to move since she was still chained to the tree. She had no control of her body and she’ll kill anyone she wanted. I saw the hunger in her eyes as she looked at Nick. Victurus came sneaked up behind her as Aracelia distracted her by stepping in her view.

Courtney tried lunging to Aracelia but was only pulled back by the chains. Victurus grabbed her from the back of her neck and forced her onto the ground. Courtney fought to get up, but the strength of an Angel overpowered her but it only pissed her off more.

“Stay here.’ Leo said in my ear before he let of me and grabbed the chain that would go around Courtney throat. Her hooked it to the three and he opened the collar, “Hold her still.” he said and Victurus put his hand on top of her head, pressing it to the ground so her head would stop moving. He put the collar around her large thick neck and they quickly backed away from her.

She tried lunging as she got up, but was pulled back.

“Now what?” Uncle Carter asked. “We wait until the morning?”

“If it takes that long.” Leo said.

We all looked at Courtney who was angry and wanted to kill all of us. Uncle Carter stepped towards her and she growled at him, barking.

“Carter, get back.” Aracelia said. “You’re just tempting her. She’s wants to kill you more since you have a strong alliance with heaven.”

“The only time I step into Church is to get an assignment.” Uncle Carter said coldly. He looked as pale as I did.

“You’re a Prophet of God.” Leo said.

“Meaning, she wants you dead of the first of many.” Victurus said.

Someone grabbed my arm and I turned my head to see Dante pulling me away. He pulled me away until we were a good distance away and he turned to me, “I think you should go home now.” he said. “You look terrified.”

“I just watched my sister turn into a monster.” I hissed coldly. “But I’m not leaving, I need to be here so she know I was here the whole time for her.”

He groaned stressfully at me and reached into his pocket, pulling out some green earplugs, “She’s going to be screaming all night and you start shaking every time she does it loudly.”

“I didn’t think it would be like that.” I said as I took them. “I never actually saw a Lycan actually shift. She can’t be tamed, can she?”

“It’s always harder to train mutts.” he said.

I scoffed, “Don’t call her that.” I said as I stuck the earplugs in my ears.

“It’s what she is, Nevaeh. She’s a half breed now.” he said. “She did fine though, we just have to work with her. It’ll take time, but like any other dog we can train her to relax her instincts and she won’t actually ever be here when she shift.”

I nodded, knowing. It would be like teaching a regular dog to run when it’s told and doing tricks. But you can never fully tame a Lycan, you can only do so much. You do one thing to piss them off and they go crazy.

+Courtney.+

What woke me up was the birds. I peeled my eyes open a little to look threw my lashes and I could see the sun rising. I moaned a little as I brought my arm up and scratched my head. I lifted my head to look around. Uncle Carter was pressed against the tree and he was sleeping with Nick beside him. Leo, Victurus, and Aracelia were a dozen feet away talking. I looked to my right to see Dante and he was sleeping with his back against a tree with Nevaeh head laying on his thigh, a blanket covering as she spelt.

I realized I had a blanket covering my naked body. I held it close to me as I sat up, chains rattling sounds. I reached up and took the large metal collar off me and I saw the three Angels walk over to me. They unlocked the chains off me and gave me a container with raw steak inside. I was starving.

Not helping myself, I took it and ripped off a piece, “Did I—did I hurt anyone?” I asked as I chewed.

They shook their heads, “No.” Leo said. “You did well, Courtney.”

“Thanks for not killing me.” I said as I ripped off another piece. I was hungry, I barley ate yesterday and it seemed like all I did was eat.

Victurus grinned, “Not problem.”

“You can do it, Courtney.” Aracelia said and I looked at her. “You proved you can handle this. You’re first shift is always the hardest, but next one should be a bit quicker.”

“And get chained up like an animal.” I mumbled as I ripped off another piece and chewed.

+

I walked passed everyone in the house. I ignored my mother when I walked past the kitchen she was stepping out with a small smile on her face to see everyone was alright. I went over to the basement door and opened it. I turned onto the light and closed the door behind me.

I went down the steps and fell onto the mattress. I felt so exhausted for some reason like I had run a marathon. I twirled my hair around my finger, bring it to my mouth to chew on. I stared at the wall across from me and just enjoyed the quietness as much I could. Quietness is something I just seem to want lately but once and awhile throughout the day I could hear everyone upset. I could smell all seven Nephilims upstairs. I could only point them out because I know what they are. When Nellie cut herself with a knife while she was cooking, I could smell it all the way down here.

A little later I heard the door to the basement open and I saw Rafael come downstairs. He put a plate of chicken in front of me and he grabbed the old yellow chair over. He placed it in front of the bed and opened the book in his hand. It was a book that had words in Spanish and English in it. I took some Spanish in school, but I wasn’t a master at it.

I understood when he told me he understands English, but he has a trouble time speaking it. When he had a hard time saying the words, he would show me and I would help him. I wasn’t bothered that he was speaking in Spanish and I couldn’t understand.

When he started reading and a couple of moments passed, I sat up and reached out, placing my hand on the book. He gave me a confused look as I lowered the book, “Do you think I’m a monster?” I asked.

He licked his lips and shook his head, “No.” he said. “You—“ he scratched behind his ear nervously, “is the same.” he said hesitantly and it made me smile a little since he was trying. “Uh, Courtney.” My eyebrows came together confused as I tilt my head, “You never monster, you are good.” he said. He placed his hand over his chest where his heart is, “I am Nephilim, you and I are different. It is okay.” I gave him a small smile and he smiled back, “Uh—good English? You understand?” he asked as his face redden a little.

I nodded and laid down, “Very good. Read.” I said as I pointed at the book.