Allen

"Any volunteers to die first?" asked Donovan.
Nobody responded.

"Really...well... I nominate Allen as tribute." He said jokingly. Donovan patted my shoulder and nudged me forward, a nervous smile on his face.
Marissa pulled me back.

"I'm sick of your issues with Allen. Why don't you just shut up and keep all of your little ideas and thoughts to yourself?" She said angrily.

"Actually," I started. "That might be a good idea. Our wolf claws are sharp, right? Probably sharp enough to go through these walls. So I'm thinking if I transform into my wolf man form and jump, I should be able to climb these walls. Or at least hold onto them."

Everyone looked worried, even Donovan.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Jamie.

"Yes. I'm positive. And I'm not trying to put you out there, but I think you should try too," I said, talking to Donovan.

"You also have the form." I reminded him. "We could split up. You could try to make it to the other side, and I'll slowly make my way down."

"What if the walls are reinforced, or something like that? What if we can't punch and claw our way through them?"

I had to think about that. If we both fell down, the mission would practically end. That is, depending on what's down there. The way Shaye looked when he saw the pit, I felt like there might be something down there. Maybe even Danielle. It certainly looked like a place they would torture someone, and it had to have been built for a reason.

"I'll go first, of course. If I plummet to my death, you know what not to do. You can go back down and use the stairs. Simple."

"Fine." said Donovan. He cracked his neck both ways. "Let's go."

Everyone backed away to make space for me. I closed my stretched a little, and imagined the wolf form taking over. I imagined my hands and arms getting bigger, changing before my eyes. I imagined running around, jumping high, being completely free from all responsibility.

My whole body shuddered and I got goosebumps. My arms started to each and I thought harder. I thought about my extremely strong sense of smell, and the grass, dirt, and trees. I thought about my fight with Donovan, and my concentration broke. My teeth got sharper and bit into my tongue. I tasted blood, and my heart started pounding. All I could imagine was me tearing Donovan apart, ripping out his throat, biting his heart in half and cutting off his head. I felt a small touch on my back and heard a voice.

"Allen, are you okay? We can't read your mind right now."

I blinked. At some point I grabbed the elevator doors for support but my grip was too strong. I had broken the walls of the elevator while I was trying to transform. I had succeeded, but something was off with my transformation. I didn't feel like I had control.

"Come on. Let's see if we can do this." Donovan told me.

I mumbled a low growl. I got this. I concentrated.

After a count of three, I half ran half jumped out of the elevator and aimed for the left side. The impact felt like nothing but I furiously slammed my claws into the metal, hoping they would cut through.

Any fortunately, they did. I was hanging from my arms like a cat about to fall out of  a tree, but I made it. My wolfish paws scrambled about until I was able to make a decent foothold. Peering into the darkness, I still couldn't see anything, but I was a lot less worried about what was down there.

I let go with my left hand and foot, and slowly turned myself over to look at the elevator. There they were, Shaye and Jamie were smiling and Marissa was clapping. Isaac was watching quietly as Donovan began to move.

Unlike me, He didn't transform before jumping. He had pushed the others out if the way and was already teetering on the edge. Everyone faces went to shock and before they could reach for him, he leapt out the door.

Donovan jumped at an incredible height and shifted into the man wolf form in midair. He landed directly above me, slamming into the wall so hard I started to lose grip.

"Donovan, be careful!" Jamie yelled.

My claws slipped and I plunged into the darkness. Even though I had survived worse I still had an irrational fear of heights. My pulse quickened and I closed my eyes. I tried to imagine jumping off the balcony at the hotel, but I remembered that back then, I actually knew where I was going to land at. In this moment, darkness was wrapped all around me. And that's exactly how long it lasted. A moment. I hit a wet flat surface with a small thud. My wolf form felt no pain, so I opened my eyes and returned my body to it's normal form. 

Everything I saw made me want to vomit.

Dozens, maybe hundreds of bodies were scattered about all across this blank, otherwise empty room. The darkness must have been an illusion, because the room was fairly lit with a bright light. I couldn't see above me. There was nothing but a huge ceiling of darkness that expanded, I couldn't see the end. I didn't see Donovan, or the elevator, or the other rooms. 

The bodies littered across the floor smelled rotten and decayed, some more than others. And the blood, the cold red and black liquid that covered the floor had an old dried up smell, even the parts that looked fresh. These are vampire bodies. I realized. Something, or someone, murdered all of them.

I quickly got to my feet and wiped the blood off of my hands. I tried to stop myself from vomiting but I was too disgusted to put my hands near my face. It harsh smell hit my nose and got stronger, it my eyes tear up and I started to gag. 

"Allen! ALLEN!" I heard the others call out to me from above.

"Are you okay?" said Marissa alone.
"Are you still falling?" Shaye shouted.

I took deep breaths and began to speak, when suddenly I heard a sticky, wet footstep, like someone was walking barefoot across the bloody floor. I didn't dare move.

"ALLEN! LET US KNOW IF YOU'RE OKAY SO WE CAN COME DOWN AND-" I channeled everything I could and manifested a mental connection so I could tell Marissa to shut up.

I'm not the only living thing down here, and it's not safe! Be quiet and stay put, this seems to be a illusion.

I slowed my breathing and waited to see if they would respond. A second later Marissa whispered into my mind 'Okay, we'll wait on your signal'.

Whatever was behind me took a few more steps forward.

"Allen." It whispered. "Allen."

I took a step forward and it took more steps forward. There was nowhere to run out hide, no doors, walls or windows.  I closed my eyes and listened to the footsteps. Whatever it was, it might've been limping, but it was moving just as I was moving.

I stepped on something and opened my eyes. It was the hand of a mangled vampire, I could tell by the smell. I lifted my foot and saw that I had crushed two of his fingers. Not that it mattered.

"Is it you Allen?" said the voice in a harsh whisper. "Stop moving. Please. Turn around."

I was able to run but my instincts wouldn't let me. I was not going to end up like all these vampires.

Allen it's been too long. Are you okay? Are you still going to give us a signal?

Marissa's voice echoed in my head.

"Stop running!" Whatever it was had raised it's voice, and it sounded feminine.

"Turn around and look at me, now." It demanded, voice cracking from strain.

Yes. I thought to Marissa. This is the signal, right....now.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" I shouted as I transformed into my wolf man form. I kept my eyes closed and turned and slammed my fist into the floor right behind me, hoping it would give me some space and time. My fist caused a lot of dust to fly up, and it got into my face and almost made me sneeze. I heard a small thud to the side and saw that Donovan had made it down. A couple seconds later, everyone else followed suit.

This is good. I thought. Whatever this creature is, I have back up. We can all defeat this thing together.

Then the dust settled and I finally made eye contact with the creature.
And she was smiling.

She stood to her feet and wiped blood off her cheek.

"Allen... You came." She said to me.

Shaye spoke before I could even grunt.

"Danielle, what have they done to you?"

London

Those werewolves seemed full of power and energy. I've killed tons of them in my life,  but these were in their own category. I understood why they were part of the plan. I just didn't know if Avery  could control them. Once I made  it back to Avery's floor I manifested back into my human body instead of the wall of frame. It was a struggle to breathe for a moment, but after the heat went away I spoke to Gabriel.

"Hey," I started. "I just made contact-"

"I know." he waved me off. " His eyes glowed purple and he tapped his temple. "Remember?"

He motioned towards Avery who was leaning against the wall with her phone in her hands. She texted for a few moments before shutting off the phone and closed her eyes. I walked over to ask her something and she raised her hand before I got close.

"Is Allen here?"

"Yes. along with the others."

"Thank God. The midwesterners  arrived too early. My whole plan almost went up in smoke."

She put one hand up to her head and closed her eyes again. She looked like she was about to have a breakdown.

"So what do we do now?"
She opened her eyes and glared at me silently, as if wondering whether or not she should slap me.

"I'm going to go talk to them. Gabriel must make sure that Allen and his group are trapped in the illusion until the meeting is over. Afterwards, you and whoever is left will burn this entire building to the ground."

I thought I had zoned out for a second.

"Wait, what?! Why are we burning the building down?"

Gabriel appeared next to me, but kept silent.

"We can't reason with the vampires from the Midwest, it's pointless. It's better to go out in a blaze of glory than be taken out like a chump." She replied bluntly, no emotion in her expression.

"But there are several other ways we can go about this! Why don't we just run- ugh!"

She grabbed me by throat and lifted me off of my feet. I could feel her sharp nails digging into my skin, the rotten, decayed flesh that had covered her chest now spread all the way down to her arm, covering the palm of her hand.

"We do not and will not run, ever! I will not lose to those people! They will not take over my father's territory and I will not ruin my family's name by becoming a coward! Do you understand me?!" She growled.

Gabriel decided to intervene.

"Enough of this. We're following your plan to the end, and there's no going back. Allen's going to lose control any minute now. The last of the werewolves in our territory have been rounded up and trapped in cages and the midwest has no idea what's coming. Today, we're gonna kill the biggest birds ever with one stone. Your father would be proud Avery, I know it."

Avery slowly loosened her grip on me and set me down. She had tears in her eyes, something I would've never thought I'd get to see based on what they told me she'd be like.

"You can't be this weak when you face them, you know that, don't you?" Gabriel asked her, which I thought was rude.

"I know. I need blood, even if it kills me, even if I vomit, even if it tastes like acid and toilet water it'll return me to full strength and I'll be ready."

"At the same time, it could fully complete the revenant transformation. That, and the way you used to act..."

"Just find me someone. Alive. The fresher the blood is the more energy I have."

I grabbed Avery's shoulder. "You can take mine, I'll be fine." I told her. "I want to help you this last time in any way that I can."

Avery looked like she wanted to say something but changed her mind and gave me a big hug instead.

"Thank you " She whispered against my chest.

"No problem." I whispered back.

I looked over to see what Gabriel would think about this, but he seemed to be completely disconnected from his surroundings. His eyes were glowing gold and they kept changing from light to dark. He wasn't looking at us or anything in the room. He was probably dealing with Allen.

"London," said Avery. "I want you to promise me something."

"What is it?"

"Promise me that none of the vampires from the Midwest leave this building. Promise me that them, and this entire building, will be nothing but ash after today is over."

"I promise." I told her, and hugged her tighter.

She looked up to me and kissed me on the cheek. Then she softly tilted my head to the side and her sharp fangs sunk into my neck.