-Crow's POV-

Naturally, being the ones to discover the enhanced humans, we were automatically forced to help the vampire council figure out how to put a stop to things. It didn't matter that Noah and I didn't know much about vampires and their society. Nobody paid any mind to our lack of knowledge, or the fact that we wanted nothing to do with it. We, I, Noah, Haven, Caio, Sawyer, Geppetto, and Aldrich, forced to follow Miss Munro to their secret underground lab and be experimented on.

It wasn't much of an underground lab, that was an exaggeration. We were forced to follow her to her small home in the middle of the city. It almost reminded me of Aldrich and Sawyer's home. Which didn't help my nerves, because we had been attacked just as easily there as we would be in the middle of an isolated forest.

"Nice place," Noah muttered beside me as we entered. He had been in a much better mood since we handed Murdoch over to the vampire council. Apparently, a lot of the vampires there had some kind of grudge against him. I couldn't imagine how he could possibly have that many enemies, but I didn't ask questions. The feeling of being somewhere I didn't belong was still attached to my skin like relentless slime. I wanted to shiver every few minutes due to the discomfort.

I had a firm grip on both Noah and Haven's hands. I didn't want to let either of them go, which made me feel even stupider. I usually wouldn't care what others thought, but Caio was scowling at me, and I couldn't ignore the glances I was getting from Aldrich. Maybe my unease was affecting them, that part I didn't care about.

"Thank you," Miss Munro replied as she hastily picked up some scarves, which were on the floor by her coat hook, which swung as she placed them on. "It needs a few repairs done." She chuckled nervously before moving straight into the next room.

"Need a better taste in snacks," Aldrich muttered. He appeared beside his son, a large packet of ready salted crisps in hand. He held it out for us, and I gladly took a few. "Eating is good for the brain chemicals." He nodded, happy that I had taken some. "I know I need it."

"You're acting like a human," Geppetto muttered under his breath before following Miss Munro further into the house. "And I do mean offence."

Haven squeezed my hand a bit tighter. I glared at Geppetto's back and turned to her. "It'll be okay," I said, trying to be reassured. "If anyone of them wanted us dead, we'd be dead."

"Well, you were meant to be trapped inside a dungeon under a castle right now," Caio pointed out with a wicked smile. "A castle which collapsed in an attempt to kill you. You even went back inside and nearly got your head chopped off by an axe." Caio probably would've continued, if Sawyer hadn't whacked him upside the head.

"Shut up," Sawyer hissed. "For all our sakes."

Caio rolled his eyes and glared at Sawyer before following Geppetto. Geppetto and Miss Munro had been talking about metal quantities inside blood and white blood cells. I didn't understand much of it, as biology had never been my strong suit. I should've been paying more attention to what they were saying, but they used a lot of medical jargon, which I wouldn't understand anyway.

"You what?" Haven asked. She didn't have a single drop of fear or nervousness in her voice anymore. Instead, it was replaced with anger and frustration. She slowly turned her fiery eyes to me and stared. I wanted to see how long it would take her to blink, but I'm certain she wouldn't appreciate that.

I felt a very well-known shiver go down my spine, and I shook my head. "It's nothing. We're both safe, alive, and well." Sawyer cleared his throat. "We are all safe, alive, and well," I corrected myself. "Besides, we have more to worry about now."

"Yes, let's not forget the time you were knocked out for the first time in your immortal life," Aldrich pointed out and chuckled. I could tell why he and Geppetto used to be extremely close. "You're welcome." He tapped me on the shoulder and moved into what I assume is the living room.

I hurried after him, but not before rubbing my shoulder to get rid of the icky salt that he had left behind on my blazer. It was extremely stuffy in the house, as the air was filled with smoke. I assumed it was thanks to an incense stick or similar, but I questioned if Miss Munro was stupid enough to keep something burning when she was out of the house.

The living room interior was quite bland when you first looked at it, with grey walls and darker grey furnishings. There was a very small and old-fashioned television in the far corner, but it was otherwise unimpressive. That was until your eyes reached the grand, overflowing bookcase which is around the corner. It swung inwards, revealing a secret room.

"My mothers would adore that," I said, extremely impressed.

"Or they would a-door it," Noah joked, I silently commended him for having the courage to be positive and joke in this kind of situation. But I still had to elbow him in the ribs for making such a bad pun.

The gap behind the bookcase was pretty narrow, but it opened up again to reveal a very large lab. "Maybe I was right when I thought of evil scientist," I muttered under my breath. I didn't want Miss Munro to hear me, but she was too busy running around a stainless-steel table, grabbing beakers and small pieces of metal from drawers and cupboards.

"I don't know why we're here," Noah admitted. "I thought we were just going to go and find the hybrids?" He rocked on his heels, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Well, that is the plan," Aldrich agreed and turned to Geppetto. "We need to buddy up." He jumped and rocked on his heels a little. I got the strange feeling that we were students again, on a field trip to potentially kidnap a whole bunch of humans and die in the process of stopping them from creating an army against the undead. That'll probably get an A* if I were to submit it to my English Language teacher.

Geppetto groaned. "Again? The last time we did that, a human fell out of a window." He pouted, his eyes obviously turning to look at Haven. "No fault of the human, I'm sure."

"Unless you want all six-" Haven cleared her throat, interrupting Caio's words. He closed his eyes before taking a deep breath. "Seven of us to stay in one big, obvious group. I think that splitting up is sensible here."

"Who asked you?" Geppetto grumbled. He turned his back to us and paid attention to Miss Munro, who had come back to the table with as many beakers, powder sachets, spatulas, and bottles as she could carry.

"Okay, we need to work quickly and steadily here." She put everything on the table, spreading them out so it looked like a true school's science project. Seriously, I think I did something like this in year seven when we were looking at acids and alkali. "We need to mix these two colours together, and then that'll activate that one. And then we'll put it in the bottles, and we'll have a little hybrid tracking device."

"We should have one hybrid per group," Caio suggested. "It makes sense for the mixture, so that they could stay the same for all of us."

"We only have two vampire hybrids," I pointed out. "And we need better words for them. They're not technically hybrids, they're still only vampires."

"With the blood and DNA of even more vampires," Aldrich pointed out, but I ignored him.

"Haven will cause it to react differently anyway," I continued. "I don't know how effective this could possibly be, we have an entire city to search. We're just expected to walk around and see where the detector is most reactive?" I let go of Haven's and Noah's hands and crossed my arms. I wanted to prove a point. We didn't have a plan, and the parts of the puzzle which we did have, weren't very clear.

"Yes," Miss Munro replied firmly. "It'll lead you to where the hybrids are. Hopefully they have a base somewhere, a laboratory of sorts."

"I know where I'm looking first," Noah whispered to me.

"That's an idea." I nodded, but there was a frown on my face. I didn't want Noah to put himself through the torture of remembering what happened to him. Being in the place where it all went down, I'm sure would lead to disaster. "Okay, who's with who?"

"So, we all know the plan?" Aldrich asked, with the same positive expression which made me want to kill him. "Meeting back here? Everyone got phones?"

I wanted to protest, and with a small glance, I noticed I wasn't the only one. But Sawyer had already been busy making the detector as we were talking. With his vampire speed, he'd gotten most of it done, all that was needed were to put them in bottles.

"I hate this," I told Noah as we trudged through the woods. "A lot." We were going a little quicker than a human's run. My feet were moving on their own accord. It meant that I could talk to him freely, without worrying about being overheard. "I'm tired."

Noah seemed to struggle a bit more with the running and talking thing, but he managed a laugh and shook his head. "Me too, which is ironic." He coughed a few times, stumbling to keep his footing as he covered his mouth. "You would think that vampires would have better instincts when it comes to running."

I huffed. "Everything takes practice." I held up the detector. It had been bubbling since it was mixed together, due to the vampires surrounding it. "Does this seem any angrier to you?" I held it up so that he could see it, but I couldn't move it closer to him.

He peered over at it and clicked his tongue. "It's a different colour." I had completely forgotten that part of the reaction.

"So, we might be getting closer. Or maybe this detector doesn't work and it's all a bunch of pretty elements." I couldn't help but be snarky, it was a part of me which I hadn't been able to fully indulge in.

"Let's hope it's the first one then, ay?" Noah nudged me lightly. But his voice wasn't his usual tone. I could hear the nerves and panic within it, as clear as day. His breathing was ragged, despite not needing to breathe. I didn't even know how he managed whilst running.

I slowed my pace, recognising the fallen tree to our right. "We're close," I whispered. "Try not to make any loud noises." I didn't need to tell him twice, but I did it for my own comfort. I took more cautious steps, avoiding twigs and leaves. There was a set path, but I didn't think that it was a good time to use it. I didn't use it when I tracked Noah's scent to the hospital either. I had stayed a good twenty feet away, in hopes to avoid potential patrols.

Noah nodded bravely but reached for my hand. I let him entwine our fingers before we moved on. Our pace was slower, which drew out even more nerves. My stomach was twisted in knots, and not the good kind.

The more of the building came into view, the tighter Noah's grip got, and the angrier the detector became. I supposed the latter was a very positive sign, but I didn't want to neglect the former. I tried to draw circles on the back of his hand with my thumb, but that required a high level of multitasking. I wondered when I should get my phone out and text Aldrich, but then I remembered that we were far too close to the building. If there were vampires in there, then we would be discovered as soon as I took my phone out of my pocket.

I stood straight, gesturing for Noah to stop. He was going to stumble forward, but I caught him in time. The fizzing and popping of the detector were the only sound which I could hear clearly, which in itself was worrying.

"We need to call them," I mouthed to Noah, hoping he was good at reading lips.

He looked around and let go of my hand. He held up his index finger.

I nodded and pointed to the floor.

He backed away, and mouthed 'I love you', before turning and silently began retracing our footsteps. I refused to let him out of my sight, despite how difficult the trees were making it. I tried to focus solely on the sounds of Noah, despite the wind and detector making it difficult. I was determined to make sure he was safe whilst we were here.