© 2014 SilverStream22. All Rights Reserved.

"Halloween festival?" I echoed Lorena.

She nodded. "It's the best way for us to get information on the vampires hunting you down. Stark and I will be watching from afar. Draver, Castor and Jazz will be withing a twenty foot radius of you and Iris."

"Why can't Stark be with me?" I asked cautiously, noticing the stiff Lycan mope in the corner.

Her eyes sharpened on his relaxed form. "We need to have a talk. We'll change out the positions every so often, but Stark will mainly be away from you."

I wasn't exactly complaining. The events of last night led to him taking the couch. At the moment, I wanted him as far as away from me as possible...at least I think I do. It was hard to push down the mating bond that seemed to make itself prominently known just as we had gotten into a dispute. What would've been minute tugs have turned into viscious yanks due to Stark's mark. All of my feelings were amplified. One moment I could cry in a corner the next I could be clutching my stomach with laughter. Stark seemed to have the same issue as mine. I could tell by the cracks and slips in his normally flawless composure.

"So," Iris broke. "We should go look for costumes!"

"No need." Lorena smiled softly, pulling off two bags from her arm and handing them to me. "I bought some on the way here. Now go try it on. I'm pretty sure everything will fit since you and Iris are the same size. You've been wearing her clothes since you got here."

"Really?" I blinked, looking down at my blue and white striped tank top. "I always thought this was yours."

Castor snorted from beside me. "Your boobs aren't as big as her's, darling."

I gave him a sickly sweet smile. "At least my boobs are bigger than your dick."

Iris scowled, "Enough of that nasty talk- I don't want any of that in my house. Shame on the both of you."

Chuckling, Lorena ushered the two of us into her room. "By the way, you have to change in the dark."

"This is absurd." I muttered, grappling around the darkness for a light switch.

"It's no use." Iris sighed. "Lorena has her light switch on the ceiling and she turns it on with her water. It's a practice for her."

"How convient." I grumbled sarcastically. There was the slight sound of shuffling and the familiar noise of plastic crumpling. I swallowed, "Please tell me you aren't trying on the outfit."

"Just do it." she laughed. "Come on, it's fun."

"I'll look like an idiot." I hissed. "What if I put the wrong thing on?"

"You'll be fine. Don't worry." she reassured me as the sound of a zipper snapped me into action.

"Yeah, yeah." I grumbled, stuffing my hand inside the bag as I groped around for my costume. "Is...is this a princess dress?" I exclaimed after feeling the jewels.

"You got one too?" Iris squealed. "Mine's a bit shorter."

I frowned, pulling it out of the bag. I could tell the dress was long since the fabric brushed against my toes. "How am I supposed to wear this thing?" I grumbled, feelings around the body of the dress in hopes that I would find a zipper.

Iris' hand touched mine, scaring the living crap out of me. I jumped, startled. "Oh my God, Iris, don't scare me like that."

She laughed and pulled the dress from my hands. "What's wrong with you? You're so ansty. Here, I'll find the start of the dress while you strip down."

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"I look ridiculous." I deadpanned as I stood in front of the full length mirror. The chiffon looked flawless, whereas I looked as if I was drowning in the fabric.

Alric ruffled my hair. "You look awesome."

I wrinkled my nose. "Don't say that. You sound like a teenager."

"I am a teenager." he protested. 

"You look pleasant," Jazz commented as he walked to the kitchen, pulling out a gallon of milk before pouring himself a glass.

"Where's Draver?" I asked as I turned around and made my way to the kitchen.

Large hands encased around my hips lifting me up like a child until I was facing away from the kitchen and back at Alric who had a smirk on his face. The mirror behind him showed Draver.

I spun around."Hey, what was that about?"

"Lorena had strict instructions for you not to enter the kitchen." he muttered. "Something about the fabric not being ruined."

I glanced down at the Greek Goddess costume. "Wait...is this her's?"

"She wore it back when she was in Greece."

My body stiffened at Stark's voice. I spotted him leaning at the doorway of our bedroom, his eyes shut as he took in steady breaths. For some reason he reminded me of a sly cat.

"Oh. She went to Greece?" 

"Not exactly." he muttered, lifting his shoulders in a slight shrug. "She lived there."

"When?" 

His silver eyes slid open, dark lashes like a sharp edge on his cheek. "Back in the Bronze Ages."

I gaped. "What?" 

Draver laughed. "Didn't you know? Lorena is the oldest of us all."

''Yet I still look like I'm 20." she playfully frowned, walking from the opened front door to embrace me. "You look wonderful! I haven't used that thing in centuries."

I felt ready to burst into tears when I looked into her silver eyes that seemed so distant, as if she was still living in the past. I stifled a cry, wrapping my arms around her as her body locked awkwardly.

I found myself stroking her hair as sobs wracked my shoulder. "How many horrors have you seen, Lorena? How can you keep it all in?"

She pulled back, her hands gripping my arms as she gave me a weak smile. "Many, Katya. Too many. But there's a good thing-" she brushed away my tears with her thumbs. "-there's always more beauty than horror in the world. At least, in the world I have seen."

A soft hand laid on my bare shoulder and I turned to see Iris with a grin on her face. "Turns out you aren't a princess. But you did leave this here." she held up a collar necklace with turquoise jewels glinting under the sunlight that poured from the skylight above.

"Wow." I murmured, wiping a stray tear as I took it from her hands. "That's...beautiful."

"Stark got it." Jazz filled in, putting his empty glass in the sink.

I turned to thank him but he was missing from his favorite place to slouch and brood. 

Draver pulled on a leather jacket. "Don't worry about him. He probably left early."

"Speaking of leaving early, where's Castor?" I put in.

Jazz ran his fingers through his sandy blonde hair. "Out. He's meeting with the nearby packs to form an agreement."

"Agreement for what?" I mumbled.

"I'll explain on the way," Iris jumped, latching onto my arm. "Come on, let's go."

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The Halloween festival was quite a sight. Although, my favorite part had to be the sheer amount of children that frolicked around with the most adorable of costumes. I couldn't get over one costume where a little girl had dressed as a puppy. Her big brown eyes reminded me so much of Marie. I missed my time with them. I constantly found myself thinking of those three: Ryker, Ryland and Rosemarie. I felt ashamed everytime I thought back on how I just up and left without much of a second thought. I felt even more ashamed when I realized this the other night: my brother was so upset with me that he cut off ties with our mindlinks temporarily. The situation just kept on building.

"Are you even paying attention?" Iris grabbed my shoulders, shaking me slightly in the middle of the bustling festival.

"What? Oh, I'm so sorry. I was just caught up looking at the costumes." 

She giggled, dropped her hands. "True. They're the most adorable things ever." 

We continued our walk down the closed streets, passing by vendors and ocassionally stopping by for a snack. 

"So what I was saying- vampires can't enter a territory that's under the names of a human without their permission. However, a majority of the land owners in the United States and Canada are werewolves themselves, so the territory can be cross without given permission. Unfortunately for us, you came to a place where a werewolf runs the area: Donovan Harris. Castor is meeting with his pack and others for them to give up the name of their territory to Liston Bright, one of the few humans who actually know of our existence." she paused, letting that sink in. I didn't understand at first, but then it hit me.

"Wait Liston Bright...as in the mayor of New York?" 

"Correct. He's known for the past years. If he reveals our secret or doesn't comply to our requests willingly, we resort to unfortunate circumstances. Though lately he's been realizing that there is no other option for him as long as he remains the mayor- which he will unless the next elections are in favor."

"Wait- I thought we were in Toronto." I frowned, side-stepping so a child could frolick past me.

When I turned back to face her she handed me a candied apple. "Well you guys crashed at my place. Alric needed medical attention fast. You were supposed to head to Lorena's but I called her here instead."

"So how long have you known the boys?" I asked after biting into the apple, scanning over the festive area.

"A few years." Iris shrugged, finishing up the rest of the apple.

"A few years?" I blinked. "I thought you guys all knew each other for like centures. At least it seems like it."

"Oh no." she laughed and shook her head. "I've only recently become a Lycan."

"Oh?" We made our way to a bench, sitting down with the festival as our background noise. 

"Yeah. Well, I've known all of them for years- but Lorena; I've known her forever."

"Did she take care of you?"

Iris smiled, flipping back her auburn hair. "Lorena... She's my mother."

In a flash her eyes hardened and she took a sweep of the area. She sat up straight, narrowing her eyes.

"Get under the bench." she spoke gravelly. "Now."

"What? What happened?"

A large mass of fur flew over me, crashing into one of the stands. I gasped, flinching back. Castor.

"Oh my God. We need to help me, what are you doing?" I screamed in dibelief, seeing Iris start to strip.

"There's no time for arguing." she breathed. "Just trust me. I need you to stay under that bench. Do not come out unless I tell you to."

I did as I was told, sorely regretting the fact that I was dirtying Lorena's dress in the process. I watched as Castor raised himself on all four legs, his stance stiff and viscious. The ground by his paws seemed to vibrate as held himself back from zipping forward to lunge at his attacker: a black wolf the size of an SUV, a little over a third of the size of a Lycan, but bigger than the average wolf; an Alpha. I knew who he was right away: Donovan Harris.

Howls and growls were exchanged as they circled each other. Donovan seemes royally pissed while Castor was annoyed at his antics. I could tell by the way Donovan's upper lip curled into a snarl and Castor's bushy tail flicked back and forth impatiently.

It wasn't until a little child fell down in front of me that I realized something: humans were still in the vicinity. I turned to tell Iris that we should evacute them but she was already gone, leaving me stuck under a bench with a child in danger a few feet away from me.

Ignoring her warnings, I wriggled out of my spot beneath the bench, reaching down to haul the wailing child in my arms. Her cries were almost deafening as I struggled to maintain my balance as I ran across the street to the underground parking lot. People were piling into the elevators and stairs, desperate to get into the confined safety of a building.

I circled around, trying to find to calculate the amount of time each form of transportation would take to let me off at the roof top. Finally giving up, I opted for the stairs since the line there was less than the one for the elevators. The bustling sounds of people making phone calls to animal control and the police, their raging and angered voices had me on and the little girl on edge.

We turned to corner of another flight of stairs, with each one the amount of people was lessening, something I was grateful for since I didn't have to clutch so tight on the girl in hopes of not losing her.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" I asked softly, trying to ease both of our nerves as I made my last trip up the stairs to the roof top. Everyone had got off at the seventh floor.

I got a cry in response, her tears soaking into my dress. It wasn't until I looked down at her properly that I realized she was the girl who looked like Rosemarie with her pumpkin costume and big chocolate brown eyes.

I clutched her small form to me, running my fingers through her thick wavy hair to soothe her. 

"It's okay," I murmured. "You're okay..."

Was she?

Was I?

I didn't know anymore. I set the poor girl down, walking to the fenced edge of the buiding. The sheer number of werewolves wasn't what had me choking- it was the amount of vampires that gathered to watch the scene unfold.

I noticed his prescence before he landed, a sixth sense that all werewolves had that came with becoming familar with another werewolf or in this case, Lycan.

"What's going on down there?" I said stiffly.

Stark paused when I looked back at him, his eyes trained on the little child. Then I saw him pull out a tootsie roll pop, handing it to the little girl. Without giving her a second glance, he flashed forward next to me, adressing the scence below. "Donovan is pissed that Castor led vampires on his territory. He doesn't want to rennounce his land to Liston, especially since he wasn't told in advance. Apparently I made it worse when I threatened to diminsh the entirety of his pack if he didn't release his land up to us."

"Where's Jazz? And Draver? Are they okay?" I gulped, locking my fingers into the fence as I saw Castor dodge one of Donovan's lunges. 

"They're fine." he muttered. "Jazz and Draver went to find Faye. Right now we should be focusing on getting you to safety while Lorena, Iris and Castor try and convince Donovan."

"I'm afraid that's not going to happen."

I jerked my head back, bile rising in my throat when I noticed the cut open neck of the little girl, her head just barely connected to her neck. Red eyes and a bloody smirk brought my gaze to a black haired vampire, his fangs shining with fresh blood. Anguish flooded through me. It was her blood on his mouth and hands. Beside me Stark shook with anger.

The vampire grinned cynically, "Happy Halloween, Katya."

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So i wasn't planning on it...but then I looked back on my chapters and I realized that I noted that it was the near the end of October then so I was like "eff it. Halloween edition time." so yeah. And I left you with another cliffhanger. Sorry. It's my specialty.

Question: What are you guys gonna be for Halloween? I'm a dressing in a yukata and carrying a wooden katana ._.