─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

deucalion was still sitting in the corner with the large iv drip of wolfsbane solution as hayden paced around the room. franchie was sitting against the wall behind her, daydreaming.

"do i make you two nervous?" deucalion questioned.

that caught both the girls' attention. they hadn't realised but, they had been stressing about the whole eichen house, dark moonee, deucalion and beast situauion.

franchie looked up at the man, getting to her feet and approaching him.

"shouldn't you already know the answer to that?" hayden inquired.

deucalion shrugged, "well, i thought it would be more polite to ask. but, yes, girls your age shouldn't have a resting heart rate of 110 beats per minute."

"i mean, i get heart palpitations sometimes. when i'm nervous about something i'm not even thinking about or-" franchie began.

hayden sighed. "babe." was all she said.

franchie glanced up at her. "right." she nodded. "sorry."

"how about you unshackle me from this... thing, and we'll all be a little more at ease?" deucalion suggested. "maybe your heart will stop palpitating."

"how stupid do you think we are"

"since i highly doubt you want me to answer that question honestly, let me propose an alternative- you set me free, and i'll tell you a secret about those talons sitting in that jar over there." deucalion offered.

fran gave him a look of confusion before she peered over at the table, where the jar of belasko's talons, that theo gained from the desert wolf, were sitting.

"i may be blind, but my other senses paint a very detailed picture." deucalion informed them. "i know the talons were created by the dread doctors."

"so, what?" hayden scoffed.

"so, theo believes he can fit them onto his own claws like a couple of press-on nails?" deucalion asked, making fran giggle. "use them to siphon the power from the beast?" deucalion then chuckled in amusement. "good luck with that."

"what do you mean?" hayden questioned in concern.

"the dread doctors would have designed those talons with a specific frequency... for a specific person. as genetic chimeras yourselves, i would've thought you'd understand how often the body rejects an organ." deucalion stated. "especially from an outside donor."

hayden's eyes widened in shock. "if he puts them on, then..."

"he'd die." franchie gasped. she didn't want theo to die. he wasn't the best person in the world and he wasn't particularly kind to her, but she felt like she owed him loyalty.

deucalion smirked. "yes, francesca- they'll kill him."

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"visiting hours are well past over." schrader, an orderly at eichen house, announced.

"we're not here to visit." tracy explained. her skin was partially scaled, kanima eyes and werewolf fangs and claws are out.

she approached the front desk with a smirk. she is followed by josh, dark moonee, xan, corey and theo.

theo smirked. "we're here for lydia martin."

"to take her." dark moonee added.

josh gazed at her. "why are you telling him that?"

"well theo basically already said." dark moonee shot back. "so i just wanted to clarify."

schrader's eyes widened in fear at the sight of them, and he gulped nervously before backing away to call for help. however, before he could get far, theo reached through the window in front of the desk and grabbed schrader by the front of the shirt before pulling him through it and throwing him onto the floor.

dark moonee moved to the front, stepping onto and over schrader's body as if he weren't even there. the chimera pack made their way to lydia's room. as they walked, they saw dr gabriel valack approaching them.

"you don't want to do this, theo." valack pleaded. "she's safe in here. the dread doctors don't know how important she is yet."

tracy wasted no time grabbing valack in a choke-hold and pinning him to the wall outside lydia's room. josh, corey and dark moonee followed theo into the room that lydia was staying in. they all frowned at the sight of lydia's weak, pale, sweaty and bloody appearance.

"she doesn't look good..." josh winced.

"she has a hole in her head." corey pointed out, referring to the crater in the back of lydia's. it was leaving a seep of blood on the girl's dirty pillow. "it's not a good look for anyone."

"true." xan chimed in.

the leader of the pack stepped forward, tilting lydia's head to get a better look at the hole. "i can't believe this is actually a medical establishment."

dark moonee nodded in agreement, a small grin on her face at the strawberry blonde's agony. she was in a catatonic state and wasn't moving.

theo scoffed and shook his head in disbelief, "are you laughing at her? you are one sick person."

"thanks to you." dark moonee reminded him.

theo gave her a look. "me? no, no. we didn't make you like this."

"you didn't?" xan spoke up.

"the way she is now? it's deep rooted." he explained. "we simply... unlocked it for her."

"so you can lock it up again?" xan enquired, she had been kept out of the loop when it came to moonee's process.

"alexandra." dark moonee glared at her. "we don't have time for this."

"she's right." theo nodded as he made a gesture to the two boys. "pick her up. we're getting her out of here."

valack gave them a smug look despite still being in a choke-hold. "now, what would a pack of chimeras-"

dark moonee cleared her throat, flashing her grey eyes at him.

"my deepest apologies. what do you want with a banshee?" valack rephrased.

"i don't want a banshee." theo shook his head. "i'm looking for a hellhound."

just then, parrish, who was completely engulfed in flames and in hellhound form, judging by his flaming reddish-orange eyes, fangs, and long black claws, appeared in the hallway and roared menacingly as he clutched onto the gate of the closed unit.

the flames immediately melted the metal of the gate, allowing him to enter the closed unit. valack, pleased by this turn of events, looked back at theo, who seems alarmed by parrish's presence.

"you wanted a hellhound?" he taunted, "i think you found one."

xan. corey and josh, who had just heard all of the commotion, walked out into the hallway and gaped in shock at parrish as he continued to walk toward them.

josh extended his fangs and claws in preparation for a fight while theo rushed into the nearby room, seized the still-weak and woozy lydia. he held her in a choke-hold to use as leverage against parrish, who growls at him threateningly.

"back off." theo warned.

parrish ignored him and proceeded to walk toward the group, and lydia looks horrified as theo tightens his grip so much that her neck starts to bleed where his claws are digging into her skin.

"i said, back off." theo repeated.

parrish paid no attention to his orders, so theo jerked his head toward his pack as a gesture to attack.

"take him."

as usual corey looked terrified, he scoffsed incredulously as he looked at theo as though he was crazy. "the guy's on fire!"

theo groaned in annoyance at corey's continuous lack of fearlessness. "you'll heal. do it!"

dark moonee had a thought. she needed to unlock her fire ability and she knew the only way she could do that is if she had a deep connection with the element. and standing before her was a man who was practically made of fire, it was perfect.

corey hesitated, while tracy, eager to fight and happy to follow theo's orders without question, dropped valack onto the floor. she hissed loudly as she lunged for parrish, jamming her claws into his stomach to paralyze him.

unfortunately for tracy, parrish seemed to be immune to kanima venom and simply gave her an unimpressed look before hitting her in the temple with his elbow with so much force that she was thrown against the bulletproof-glass door.

she was briefly knocked unconscious when her head slams against the wall, which causes her to collapse onto the floor in a heap.

"well, that was a hoot." dark moonee rolled her eyes in irritaion.

josh took tracy's defeat and dark moonee's comment as a cue to leap into action. he utilised his super-strength to break one of the metal tubes that protect the wires running through the building so he could siphon electricity from the cables and shock parrish.

soon, josh's learned the hard way, when he pierced parrish's shoulder with his glowing purple claws, that his electrokinesis also has no affect on him whatsoever.

"theo, this isn't working!" josh yelled, with a horrifed and panicked expression.

theo looks equally panicked when he realized his pack is essentially powerless against the hellhound. parrish shoved josh in the chest and knocks him against the wall. he bounced off and lands on the floor next to the barely-conscious tracy.

after xan attacked parrish with her snake venom, and failing similarity like tracy did, she was tossed onto the wall and left there unconscious.

valack had managed to sneak off and grab the drill, the same one he used for lydia's trephination. he jammed it into the back of theo's thigh, through his hamstring muscle and drilled deep. theo roared in pain and reflexively let go of lydia and fell to his knees.

"no!" lydia mumbled as valack slammed the back of the drill onto theo's head.

"sorry, theo, but i'm not done with her yet." valack hummed before picking up lydia and carrying her away.

dark moonee rushed forward while parrish threw josh onto the ground and roared loudly as he was about to slash at josh with his claws. suddenly, corey made himself visible and grabbed parrish by the arm, using his own super-strength to keep parrish from slashing at josh.

dark moonee clutched his other arm while corey smiled smugly. parrish simply glared at the boy before unleashing the full strength of his hellhound fire. it created such a large and powerful burst of flames that it instantly engulfed the two in flames.

corey shrieked out in complete agony, before parrish lifted him off his feet and launched him down the hall, slamming into stiles. as this happened, dark moonee dropped to her knees as she screamed her throat dry.

the fire had affected her completely different than it did corey. while the boy was burnt instanly, his skin charred and body scorched. dark moonee's pain was internal, it was as if the fire had seeped into her. her skin was untouched but her insides felt as if they were being seared.

soon enough, the two had lost their consciousness, due to the extreme anguish.

⎯ ❃ neens speaks!

i feel sm more motivated to write this and my cobra kai book because school starts on monday. it's weird