As the forest floor became pavement, I realized where my feet were carrying me. Through the quiet sleeping town of Soundless Cove, I ran. My claws tapped against the road with every step like the sound of a metronome keeping time. The gates of my neighborhood rose before me, and I leaped over their highest peak with little effort. I was determined. Determined to find out who my father was, who his killers were, and for that matter, who Maeve's killers had been. I would find them. Find them all. And kill them.

I am not a killer, I am an avenger.

Shimmering back into my human form without breaking stride, I tried to cool the boiling blood in my veins. If I were going to confront my mother for the truth, I would have to refrain from attacking her.

A glimmer of happiness flooded over me but quickly vanished. I'd shifted back to human so easily. Cal would have been proud.

Callum.

Screaming rage and sadness escaped me and I clasped my hands over my mouth with shock, hoping no one had heard. A fever of distress and embarrassment quivered through me. I knew my body was trying to shift, but I held on to my human form. Balling my hands into fists at my side so hard my nails cut crescents into the skin of my palms.

My house stood before me, a place I had once associated with comfort was now a house of lies. The two-story modern colonial building towered over me with its blue shutters and red-bricked pathway. Its windows closed and void of light. I had no idea how late it was. My mother would be fast asleep by now, but I would wake her. The bitter night air clung to the sweat on my skin. I inhaled one last deep breath for good measure and stepped toward the impending storm.

"She's not home." Eric emerged from the shadows. The happiness I had seen in him earlier had been taken over by something else, something almost painful in his eyes.

"Eric? What are you doing at my house?" It wouldn't have been so startling to see him had it not been the dead of night. My skin crawled and my eyes narrowed. Something's not right.

His eyes evaded my own. "They know, Ricky," The sadness I could see all over him had crept into his voice.

Something about his words sounded like a warning. What could who possibly know? "Know what?" I tried to keep my voice steady.

"They know you're a wolf."

My world had ended. A secret I barely knew I had was already known, and by Eric of all people. "I—" What do I say?

"Don't bother trying to deny it. They're already coming for you. I couldn't stop them if I tried, but they promised to be kind. They've been waiting for you, to see if you would ever shift. They've been waiting for the Miracle Child."

It was just a silly nickname my mother called me.

Suddenly the sound of chains rattling came from behind and they were swiftly wrapped around me, pinning my arms to my torso.

Hot fire licked at my skin, and I could feel my flesh sizzle under the chains. My own scream pierced my eardrums with a sound so shrill I knew it was the sound of my death.

"Stop! You're hurting her!" Eric begged my captors, but I knew it was in vain as the man behind me laughed. His breath was so close it pushed at my hair. I could smell tobacco and a lack of remorse all over him.

What struggle I had made to free myself was of no use. As I strained to crawl out of my own skin to escape the horrifying pain, I knew it was all over.

This is death.

My body collapsed to the ground with the sickening thud. I had no more control or desire to force myself to move any longer. All I could do was focus on the cool cement under my face, hoping its chill would quench the fire burning my skin. It did not.

"Filthy bitch," a gruff voice spoke as a pair of heavy-duty combat boots walked into what vision I had left. One foot pulled back and I watched the immanent impact come toward my head.

♪

Miracle Child . . .

♪

Darkness. The light of the moon illuminating the metal bars danced all around me. Darkness enveloped me again as my eyelids sunk down with a weight stronger than my own. The struggle to open my eyes failed and I realized my right eye was now swollen shut. It was a pointless effort to try and rub the blurriness away in my left eye; my hands were tied behind my back. A sudden awareness of blood pooling in my mouth forced me to cough and gag, but the taste lingered and filled my senses with its iron bitterness. My nose was quite possibly broken. All over my body I could feel blisters from the searing pain I had endured when the chains had touched my skin.

Eric had betrayed me, when only yesterday he had promised he would be there for me.

Only yesterday.

It was hard to believe my life could change so drastically in such a short time.

Only yesterday I had fallen in love with a complete stranger.

I sucked in a jagged breath. It was felt throughout my entire body with every nerve, but I managed to force myself to sit up against the walls of my cage.

A cage. And here I thought I had escaped my father. Not my father. Just the man who raised me. I squeezed my eyes shut and a half mad laugh crept out from deep inside me. Instead of cry in fear like any sane person would have done, a smile pulled its way across my face as memories flooded my mind.

"He used to put a leash on me like I was some dog," the words spat out before I knew I had spoken them. I opened my left eye as much as I could, searching to find someone listening in the dark.

A shadow was lumped over in the corner of the cell next to mine. I craned my neck to search the darkness, but it was unmoving.

Just the shadows, I can tell the shadows. "My father, or at least the man I thought was my father," my voice was hoarse from screaming and I hesitated to speak to the darkness. Leaning against the bars that separated the two cells, I concentrated on staring at the only window in site, high above me and strapped with iron. It was comforting to say the words out loud to no one. "He would chain me to a kennel in the garage when my mother wasn't home," words I had never told anyone, not even Ethan. I pretended my shadows were Ethan. "I used to think it would be nice to have a dog, then maybe he would have something to beat that wasn't me. But just thinking that would make me feel sick. How could anyone love me if I could think like that? How could you love me, Ethan?" My shoulders sagged as sobs ripped through me. I wanted so badly to bury my face in my hands. "You wouldn't love me now, though," a bitter tone to my voice. "I'm a monster. Barely a werewolf for one day and I attack my mother and some poor girl who only wanted to keep the man she loved. But no! I'm a home-wrecker too. I stumbled into Callum's life and he falls in love with me. He told me we're soulbound and that it means I love him, and he's not wrong." I was gritting my teeth, forcing myself to say the words that were killing me inside, "But now he knows I'm a killer, like the ones who killed his mother." I sucked in a painful breath. "A hunter!"

A door suddenly opened and washed the room in light. My stomach twisted. They're going to kill me. The figure at the door was cast in shadows but I could tell it was a man. He stepped inside the room and I could hear his heartbeat quicken as he let out a long sigh. I didn't dare breathe.

"I know you're awake, Ricky." It was Eric. Fluorescent lights flickered on, confirming it.

I blinked against the light, having just gotten used to the darkness.

"I'm sorry they hurt you," he apologized.

"No, it's fine. It only hurts half as bad as your betrayal," I sneered.

Eric took his face into his hands and crouched down in front of my cell. "They promised they wouldn't hurt you. And I knew they wouldn't kill you because you're the Miracle Child, but I never imagined they would do this to you," he cried out.

"Only my mother calls me that. Why do you keep calling me Miracle Child?" I tried to keep my voice level.

He grabbed the bars of my cell. "There's a prophecy. You're going to be the one that ends the wolves."

I nearly choked on his words. "What?"

"Five years before you were born, an oracle had a premonition about a girl that would be half wolf and half hunter. They saw you standing above millions of dead wolves," he elaborated.

The bonfire dream. "No," That man with the tied back hair. It couldn't be me who was responsible. It had to be him. I needed to stop that man. "The future is malleable. That much my mother has taught me."

"Your mother was the oracle who saw the premonition," he said, tilting his head to the side.

Callum's grandmother had guessed my mom was a witch-hunter. And my mother had seen my future. I had thought my life was over when I lost Ethan, and now I knew it had to end. If that man couldn't be stopped, then I would die before I could fulfill their prophecy. It was a simple choice of heart to become a martyr. Before I caused the death of Callum. "Where is she?"

"Your mother?" Eric asked.

"Tell me where she is," I demanded. If I could ask her what exactly she saw I could avoid this future, or I could say goodbye at least before I had to die.

Eric sat away from the bars. "We don't know where she is," he said, brushing his fingertips along the cement floor.

I beat my head against the bars behind me and cried out in rage.

"But we have a lead on where she might be." He glanced to the empty cell next to me and leaned in closer to whisper, "There's something I need to tell you, Ricky."

The door Eric had come through burst open. Although I couldn't smell the man that came through, I knew it was the same man that had kicked me in the face. His boot was still slick with my blood.

"So the Miracle Child's awake," he commented in his gruff voice.

I winced. "No thanks to you."

Two more people followed him in through the door, Lydia and the man from my bonfire nightmare.

The harbinger of death.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Lyric. I'm Richard, Eric and Lydia's father," he introduced himself. His black hair slicked back, but unlike in my dream, it was short. Gray hair speckled his sideburns; if he was the man from my dream, he had aged at least ten years. I was sure he would smell like sandalwood if my nose weren't filled with blood.

I had never met Eric's parents. With the divorce, his mother lived far away, and he claimed his father worked the graveyard shift and slept during the day. Anything and everything could have been a lie.

"Nice to meet you, Dick," I spat out more blood that had pooled in my mouth.

Richard paced the room, but I was too tired to watch his movements. "You still have an awful lot of injuries. You are aware you can heal yourself, right?" He paused his pacing to watch my reaction.

"Where would be the fun in that?" I attempted to roll my eyes, but the swelling hurt too much.

Richard continued his slow pacing, a smile played at his lips. "Ah, I see, you're not sure of how to do it. Well, in time, we can teach you."

I tried to scoff but a bloody cough came up instead. "You?" I choked, "You're not a werewolf. What would you people know about healing?"

The smile spread. "We are hunters, my dear. We heal through meditation. It's the magic that flows through our veins and allows us to have the strength to fight the demons and damn them back to hell." He raised a clenched fist.

"Demons?"

"The wolves," he answered gesturing to the air. "Rogue witches and vampires. It is our birthright. And we can save you and your mother if you help us realize our dream."

I froze. He wanted me at his side to fulfill the prophecy. "Where is my mother?" I asked.

Lydia had been silent as she stood against the wall with an almost bored look on her face until suddenly erupting into giggles. Her wicked black eyes lit up. "You're going to love this, Lyric," she chirped.

"Love what?" I asked.

Eric had stayed on his knees in front of my cell. "I was trying to tell you." He hesitated, "Ethan knows where she is."

I couldn't hold back the anger, "You expect me to believe that my dead boyfriend knows the whereabouts of my mother!" I growled.

The man with the gruff voice spoke again, "Dead?" He sneered, "He probably wishes he would've stayed that way."

My head was spinning with a pounding headache and confusion. "What?" I asked as the air left my lungs.

Eric pointed to the cell next to mine, his head bowed down in shame.

It took me a moment to shuffle my weight around so I could turn and look where he was pointing. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. The vision in my left eye had started to return and now I could see the figure slumped on the floor of the cell next to mine. Not a shadow. "It can't be," I whispered.

Ethan's lifeless body had been next to me this whole time.

"You dug up his body?" I screamed, "You monsters!" I couldn't take my eyes off his ashen skin. All signs of warmth were gone. Though he'd been dead awhile, his body showed no signs of decay.

"We didn't have to dig it up," said the gruff voiced man. "The thing was standing outside your house a few hours before we grabbed you."

There was no air for me to speak. My mouth slacked open.

Eric leaned into the bars again. "We sedated him with an injection of aconite laced silver. Much like the aconite laced chains we used to bring you in," he explained. "He's a vampire now, Ricky."

"Vampire," it was the only word I could say although a plethora of others rang through my brain.

Eric leaned in even closer and reached for my knee. "He's damned now, and he always will be until he's vanquished. In some ways, you're just as wrong as him, but you won't be damned forever, Lyric. When you end the wolves, your curse will end with them. We're going to save you."

I thrashed my body against the bars, forcing Eric to pull away and avoid my snapping teeth. He cursed and clutched at his almost bitten hand. If I couldn't claw my way out of here, I would bite my way out. "I won't be your Miracle Child!" I screamed, my voice coming out guttural. My body quivered with the attempt to shift but it just wasn't happening.

"Thomas, get the cattle prod," Richard calmly ordered the gruff voiced man.

Eric had fallen backwards. Staring at me wide eyed and scared, still clutching his arm as if I had bitten him. Lydia, on the other hand, laughed like she hadn't been this amused in all her life.

"Sure thing," Thomas obeyed, grabbing a long black rod and jabbing it through the cell bars and into my side.

Every muscle in my body clenched tight as the electricity zapped through my veins. A thousand needles burned into my skin. I was locked in my own body unable to scream. And then it was all over. My body slumped to the side as saliva dripped from my mouth. My heart sluggishly thumped inside of me. I was surprised it hadn't stopped altogether.

"Dose her with some aconite-silver. I don't want her to wake up when we interrogate the vampire," Richard ordered, his voice distant in my ears.

Thomas reached towards me with a needle. Fear screamed at me to fight but my body refused to obey. The needle pressed into my skin and my world was lit on fire.

♪

"Are you sure you don't want to come with me? I don't want to leave you here all alone if you're not ready," the worry on my mother's face was clear.

"I'm ready," I lied. "Besides, I won't be alone, I have the TV." If I couldn't be honest, I could at least be sarcastic.

She palmed my face. "I won't be gone long, I promise," and with that she pecked my forehead and left. Leaving me utterly alone.

I collapsed into the sofa with a deep sigh. It wasn't as comfortable as I remembered, but I ignored the unfamiliar stiffness and proceeded to flip through the channels on the television.

War.

Channel after channel depicted a silent war. The news was reporting on mysterious bodies found and eerie sightings of wolves prowling city streets. What they did not know was that they were reporting on a war I had tried and failed to stop.

"I'm so sorry."

I alone was at fault for all this death. The tears crept up behind my eyes and I swiftly changed the channel.

The nature channel panned in on a lush forest scene. Brilliant greens, reds and browns danced in sunlight filtering through the trees. It glittered with magic.

And then there I was. Sitting among the ferns. My hair shining like fire and my naked alabaster skin glowing like moonlight.

"A dream?"

"What an odd dream," Ethan was sitting in the recliner, a bowl of popcorn in his lap. "So, what happens next?"

My attention snapped back to the television. I knew what happened next, but I didn't want Ethan to see. I hastily changed channels, but it did me no good. On the next channel Callum was standing not far from me, wet, his naked body glistening in the morning light. I changed the channel again. No good. This time I was on top of Callum, pressing my body to his and kissing him passionately. Blood on my lips. It was just after I had attacked Anna. My pulse quickened and I looked to Ethan to gauge his reaction. He sat in the recliner casually tossing popcorn into his mouth with little more than a disinterested look on his face.

No, I don't want him to see this.

Changing the channel was of no use. Now we we watched as Callum and I swim in the hot spring. Our hands explored each other's bodies, and we only broke our kissing when my shirt was removed. We clung to each other like our kissing would give us air, like it was all we would ever need.

Abruptly, I stood, dropping the useless remote to the floor. I only had moments before Ethan would accuse me of cheating. I had to get away.

Ethan stopped me, "Wait, you're going to miss the best part."

I turned back to the television.

Callum and I were tangled under bed sheets; our bodies pulsated together with heated sensuality. The ecstasy was unmistakable on my face as a pleasant moan parted my lips.

"But . . . I've never—" I paused, brushing my fingertips along my lips. Feeling the pressure of Callum's kisses as if I was in the memory that didn't exist.

"Just wait, it gets better," said Ethan.

But I wasn't in my living room watching myself on the TV anymore. Now I was pressed against Callum. Unable to control my body, I collapsed on top of him and rolled to his side, our breathing labored and humid. I looked to Callum and watched him as he closed his eyes and smiled with a heavy sigh.

Sweat had forced his hair to curl and stick to his forehead. My own body felt slick with sweat all over and my hair had wrapped itself around my neck like a scarlet noose.

"Perfection," he breathed.

At the same time, my hand reached under my pillow. It grasped at something cold and metal. Before I knew what was happening, I was thrust back onto the couch in my living room. Struck still with horror, I watched as the girl in the TV held a knife over Callum's heart, his eyes closed and unknowing.

"No!" I screamed, reaching out at the television and slamming into its glass face, but it was too late. A sickening smile spread across the face of the girl in the TV right before she plunged the knife deep into Callum's heart. "No!" I pounded hopelessly on the screen as Callum's eyes opened in confusion and fear. Blood spilled from his mouth and the wound in his chest. Then his eyes glossed over, and he was dead.

Ethan clapped his hands together in applause, "Bravo. Wonderful performance. Didn't see that ending coming, did you?" He smiled, lifting an eyebrow.

"No. That never happened," I assured myself.

Ethan laughed, "But it's what will happen. Whether you like it or not, you'll be the death of that boy."

♪

I woke with a start. The swelling in my right eye had almost entirely vanished and my mouth had dried into cotton. A burning still resonated in my veins. "Ugh!" I moaned, remembering my so-called friend Eric had locked me in a cell. I attempted to inhale through my nostrils, checking if my nose had really been broken. Jasmine filled my lungs and watered my mouth.

Ethan.

He sat against the wall of his cell, looking at me. His face covered in cuts and bruises.

"Your alive!" I pushed my face to the bars, but he flinched and stayed pressed against the opposite wall. "Ethan?"

He laughed and shook his head, "Don't pretend to know me, dog."

"I don't understand," my voice trailed off. Something was different about him.

Vampire.

I recoiled and slumped to the concrete floor, observing the little things. His voice was deeper and void of all the gentleness I remembered. He was much paler than I'd ever seen him before. Even a year without sunshine wouldn't have made his tanned skin pale as much as it had. And his smell was ten-fold now. It held a rust-laced poison tinge to it that rumbled my stomach with hunger to my surprise.

"Get your hungry eyes off of me," he demanded.

Ethan had never talked to me with so much malice in his voice before. "You're the one who was looking for me," I snapped.

His eyes narrowed, "I would never go looking for a wolf, I don't have a death wish."

"A death wish?" I echoed.

"I don't exactly desire to be eaten alive," he sneered.

"Like I would eat you alive, you're too skinny," I quipped, hoping to hear him make a snarky comment like usual or even crack a smile, but he just looked at me with cold dead eyes that had grown darker as we sat in our cells staring each other down. There was so much I wanted to ask him, and I didn't know where to begin. "Why were you at my house?"

His eyes tightened for a second and relaxed, "And which house would that be?" He asked airily.

"You've been there a million times, you tell me." If my arms hadn't been tied behind my back, they would've been crossed over my chest in annoyance.

Ethan stared at me, his face losing some of its hostility. "Big house? Blue shutters?"

"Duh." It was a childish response, but I was still at a loss for words and too many questions buzzed around my mind.

He slowly considered what to say next, "I was going to see if I could climb the fence to get in through a window."

"My window." My heart skipped. Tears edged their way to my eyes. "Why? How did you get here? Why are you a vampire? Why did you leave me?" There were too many questions.

His face was calm. "I don't know you," was all he said.

It was almost robotic and didn't answer any of my questions. Instead, it made me quiver with anger and I struggled against the binding on my wrists.

Snap.

I blinked in disbelief. I held my hands out in front of my face. I'm free. I searched around the cell, fumbling my hands over the bars looking for the lock. Nothing. There was absolutely nothing to mess with or pick. How the hell am I locked in here? I sat down, defeated, and planned my next move.

The door creaked open, and Eric entered the room again.

I put my hands behind my back and pretended to still be bound.

"How are you feeling?" Eric asked.

I scoffed. "I get kidnapped, beat up and imprisoned, then beat up again and you wanna know how I'm feeling? Well, let's just say I'm not feeling like your friend anymore."

Eric flinched but proceeded to kneel within arm's reach of my cell. "I just want you to know that I'm not doing this to you."

"Really?" I exclaimed, almost shrieking the word. "If you weren't doing this to me, I wouldn't be locked in a cage!"

"Please, forgive me," he begged. "It's my duty. I'm bound to keep you here by the laws of the hunters. I would be imprisoned by my own family, or killed, if I went against the laws."

"Why do you need me? What is it that I do to end the wolves?" I asked, desperately wishing I knew how to save the wolves instead.

"We don't know yet, that's why we're keeping you here, to keep you safe." His eyes pleaded for me to understand and forgive him.

Ethan laughed, eaves dropping on our conversation. "They're keeping you here to save their own skins. If you were out in the world, you could be making decisions for yourself. Maybe become feral or join a pack, then you'd be of no use to them," he sneered.

Eric didn't look at Ethan to argue. Instead, he continued our conversation as if Ethan had never spoken, "In time we'll let you out. When it's safe for all of us. Then you can help find your mother."

"I thought you had a lead," my voice rose in panic.

Eric's head dropped. "We think a very old and very powerful vampire named Aldrich may have her, and if that's true it's going to be very difficult getting her back."

Ethan interjected again, "I've told you a thousand times, Aldrich doesn't have the woman you're looking for."

Still refusing to look at Ethan, Eric retorted, "Then why were you at her house?"

"I don't know," he shouted, an anguished sting to his voice. "I swear I don't know her. . .but I remember the house. . . I remember the window," his voice faded to a whisper, and I turned to see him stare helplessly at the ceiling.

He really doesn't remember me.

"We're doing everything in our power to find her. My father, Lydia and Thomas are even on their way to a pack of wolves they think are lurking in the forest nearby. If Aldrich didn't take her, then maybe they did."

Callum. "No. Call it off, tell them not to go," I begged.

Eric raised an eyebrow. "They're already gone."

My heart dropped. The hunters were on their way to slaughter Callum's pack. I needed to stop them. Without hesitation I grabbed Eric's head with my free hands and bashed his head into the cell bars, knocking him unconscious.

"What are you doing?" Ethan yelled. "How are we supposed to get out if he can't get us the key?"

The key. Crap, didn't think of that. I searched Eric's unmoving body and sighed with relief, he only had one key on him, and it had to be the one.

"Where's the lock?" I asked Ethan, hoping he may have been awake when they locked him in.

"It's on the bottom and top left corners." He nodded his head towards the lower corner where our cells met. "There's a lock on each end, then you have to lift it up and out."

I managed to get my door open as fast as possible and turned to open Ethan's as well.

He backed away. "Swear you won't eat me," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "You're still on about that? I swear, I'm not going to eat you," I promised and opened his door.

He struggled to get to his feet and flinched when I went to untie the bindings on his wrists. His smell was intoxicating enough to devour, but I wasn't about to eat him for it. The feel of his skin made me pause. He was ice-cold, almost as cold as Maeve had been when I had clung to her lifeless body. I shook off the memory.

We rushed out of the prison room and found a lengthy hallway. I ran to the farthest end and burst through any door that looked like it could be an exit, ending up in what appeared to be an average living room. The pictures on the mantle were of Eric and his family. If I was in Eric's house, then I wasn't far from my own.

I burst through the front doors and into a pitch-black night. How long was I imprisoned?

Ethan stumbled through the door behind me, limping and nursing his right arm.

"I have to go to my house," I explained. "I have to make a phone call." It was my only chance to warn them.

If I wasn't too late already.