Chapter XVI

"You cannot save people. You can only love them."

-Anais Nin

Mitchel stood in front of them, his wings resting neatly on his back for them all to see. He couldn't care less if they hated him for their color, he only cared about saving Andrea. A new burst in adrenaline showed him that.

He exhaled as he paced in front of them. He had just finished telling them what he had heard from Jacob and from his father. "We have to leave as soon as possible. I am going to be splitting you up into groups once we reach the gates of Hell."

The group nodded. Eventually, they all separated to make sure they had everything they needed. Soon, it was just Mitchel and Aristide in the room.

Aristide turned to his best friend. "Mitchel, are you alright?"

"I'm only royally pissed off." He growled, thinking back to Gavin touching Andrea.

His friend nodded. "In all honestly, I would be too in your position."

Mitchel looked at his friend. "My position?"

"It's obvious you love her, Mitchel." Aristide answered, looking up at his friend.

His face heated up. "R-really?"

"I figured you did. Even on her first day of school, you're eyes sparkled whenever you looked at her. You went off to find her even though she had only fallen asleep. You stayed with her even though she fell asleep. You refused to let Jacob touch her, and you protected her from anyone that wasn't in our friend group. She told me about the incident in the Coffee Shop, you know. She told me about the advise you gave her, and she realized she might be falling into it. She also told me about the time when you slept over two weeks ago. She said you told her about your mother, and she couldn't help but cry. She told me about how she considered you a part of her life that she couldn't live without. She told me about how when you were both in the bathroom trying to clean up that she almost jumped up and kissed you. She told me about the fact that after that night, she couldn't stop thinking about you. Andrea was so confused, and she came to me for help because I am your best friend. As soon as she told me this, I knew that you two were meant to be, you know? You deserve a girl as good as her. No matter how much you both try to ignore it, it will always be there, growing every time you see one another. Don't think I don't catch you with those sneaky glances you cast her way. I see the jealousy in your eyes whenever Jacob was around. I saw the look in her eyes. She didn't love him, but she was trying to convince herself she didn't like you. Not because you are a bad person, but because she was scared."

"Scared? Of me?"

"No, scared of what could happen. Her last crush, Liam, had been her friend too. You saw what happened with them, they never got together. She was scared that falling for you would result in something similar. She didn't want to fall out with you. Whenever I tried to convince her that you liked her as well, she would give me a deadpanned look and then burst into laughter. When we save her- and we will save her- you need to show her exactly how you feel."

Mitchel was still processing his words when his friend patted his back. "Well, I must be off. I have to grab some chargers, just to be on the safe side."

Aristide left Mitchel confused as he stood in the middle of the Motel room. He didn't know how to feel. He wanted to believe it was all true, but this was real life, not some fantasy/paranormal book. He chuckled lightly before sitting on the couch.

He did know Aristide was right about one thing: he needed to show her how he felt, even if it would ruin their friendship.

****

I frowned as I walked with Darrin an Garroth back to the place we were staying at, otherwise known as the woods.

Yes, we lived in a motor home in the middle of the woods, sue us.

We simply needed to grab a few things to help defeat Demons. Upon reaching my bed in the MH (that's what I am calling it for short), I grabbed the small leather bound book every Hunter had on their Must-Have list. It was filled with different incantations to defeat every kind of Monster. I was certainly going to need this, only because I had a feeling that something was going to happen.

As we walked back, I couldn't help but think back to the conversation I had with Leyna and Michal, where I said I was a half-blood. I honestly wasn't lying.

My mother had been a werewolf, and my father a hunter. They met on a Hunt, and fell in love. On the day I was born, my mother had been killed by another werewolf pack. My father attempted to save them all, but he ended up losing his life.

The pack that found me was none other than Michal and Leyna's pack.

Upon realizing I was a human and werewolf, they left me for dead. The Monster Hunters came soon after, knowing my father had been there, but they only found me, a crying, starving new born.

They taught me what I was and why this was important to keep secret. They also explained why my pack had an issue with the local pack here.

Apparently, the half-bloods of my pack went on a killing spree, murdering all the new born pups in the other pack. However, upon closer inspection, they weren't from my pack at all. They were rogues who had rolled around in our scent long enough to make the other pack think they were of our pack.

They slaughtered my pack on false accusation, which makes me hate the entire werewolf species.

I am able to shift, but I hate that side of me. If I had the choice between human and werewolf, I'd take human any day.

My werewolf side is the one part of me that I refuse to embrace. If you remember back during the questioning Salvin, Rayna, and Draco put us through, then you'll remember me mentioning powers I didn't want to use. Now you know.

And don't give me the 'You shift every full moon,' bull-crap. I don't. Some werewolf's do, others don't. I'm one of the ones that don't, which is one of the many things I thank whatever divine being is up there for.

After reaching the Motel room, everyone was already seated, prepared to leave to the gates of Hell. Mitchel waited for our approval as he pulled out a bottle. It was filled with what looked like lava, but I couldn't be fore sure. He then looked at Aristide, who held a blade.

Aristide gestured for the bottle, which Mitchel handed over. He then held out his arm, and Aristide carefully cut into his forearm and collected the blood that dripped out into the bottle. As soon as enough was collected, Mitchel slapped his other hand over the wound. A soft, white light spread out from under his palm, and upon removing his hand, the wound was completely healed.

Mitchel sighed. "Alright, time for your groups. There will be three groups in total. Ready?"

Everyone nodded.

"Group one: distraction; Leyna, Troy, and Timothy. You'll be in charge of distracting the Demons, allowing Group three to sneak past and Group two to have the sneak attack. Group two: attack; Michal, Estal, Fai, Charlotte, Zoe, Garroth, and Darrin. You'll be in charge of fighting off the Demons. And finally, Group three: Rescuers; Salvin, Draco, Aristide, Rayna and myself. We will be in charge of saving Andrea."

Everyone nodded once more. Even though I disliked my placement, I figured he put me with them due to my sarcastic and, might I add, sexy nature. Of course, being paired up with both a Vampire and a Werewolf from the pack that killed my parents is annoying, but I'll push my problems aside for now.

Mitchel sighed again. "Obsecro, in nomine Domini, et aperuerit tibi portas inferni transitum concedat nobis."

For those of that don't speak Latin, know he said this: 'I pray, in the name of the Lord, to open the Gates of Hell and grant us safe passage through'. I silently cheered on the inside. Latin 101 really paid off when I went to school.

I watched as the liquid swirled out of the bottle, creating what looked like wrought iron gates with devil heads as ornaments on the spires. The inside of the gate was the same color as the liquid; a dark, orange color with crimson swirling through it.

We all took one last glance at one another after getting into our respective groups. Nobody made any move to go in.

I scoffed. "Let's get a move on, you lazy asses!" And jumped into the portal Mitchel opened.

****

And that concludes the third part! What did you think?

The next five chapters will deal with their adventures, and the sixth one will probably be pretty long, so expect a lot of action (I hope).

The song for this chapter is Rise by Skillet. One of my favorite bands, seriously!

https://youtu.be/Zk0Sr0C3yYM

And with that, I leave you lovelies! See you!

-Paige