Abel hated the plan. He didn't want it to be that way, but if we showed up as a big group, maybe whoever Dres was sending, would chicken out and not even show up. So, Abel, Creek, Fred, Cal, Tasha and Samuel would be hiding in the bakery with Liza. River and I would confront whoever was coming. I felt best with having River there, to be honest. He could be more cool and calculated.

I grabbed his arm when it was time to leave the bakery, and he helped me out onto the street. Thank fuck no one was around in this sleepy town after midnight. Otherwise, it'd look so weird for three randos to meet in the middle of the town square with everything closed in the middle of the week.

"Where is this guy then?" River asked, looking around.

I shrugged in response and turned my back on the square. This felt weird. At the least the weather wasn't too bad. Like it was a bit chilly but it was a clear sky and barely any wind. It would've sucked if we were standing out here in the rain, waiting for some asshole who couldn't even bother being on time.

But then something in the air shifted. Blood drained from my face the second I felt him. That sensation was unmistakeable. I had felt it with River, I had smelt it on him. We both turned towards the empty town square, seeing a figure standing under the streetlights. The way he stood didn't really remind me of how I had seen him when he gave me the bite. He had been such a grotesque figure. Now he looked like a regular bloke.

I was about to step forward, but River grabbed my arm, stopping me. "Don't," he said under his breath. He was so wired, every muscle and vein popping out of his skin.

The man started towards us when he realised, we weren't coming to him. He was walking with a cane too, though he looked a lot cooler walking with his than I did with mine.

"Boys," he said when he was less than five metres from us. He kept his distance still.

"Asshole," River said in the same nice-ish tone.

"I see everything I've heard about you is true," he said condescendingly, and then turned his heavy gaze to me. "Verdict's still out on you. You're smaller than I remember."

"You wanted to meet. Here we are. What do you want?" I asked instead of addressing his idiocy.

"Does a father need a reason to see his sons?" he asked and tipped his head to the side.

"Funny. My dad was a polo shirt, shorts and socks-in-sandals type of guy and he's been dead for the past four years. So, try again," I said really having to keep myself from jumping that asshole.

He just smiled at that, keeping his dumb head tilted to the side.

"He asked you a question," River said, obviously growing impatient too.

He looked at River like he was vermin. Like he was a bug, waiting to be squashed. And I didn't like that one bit.

"We have a friend in common." His gaze rolled to me, and it was like it was actually physically heavy.

"No, we don't," I said and raised my crutch. "He's very much not a friend."

He chuckled and shifted a bit, leaning against his cane. "An acquaintance then. He knew you'd probably be a little emotional. He's quite emotional himself after you sicced your vampire on him."

"He kidnapped me and River to kill us in the middle of a forest. I didn't sic anyone on him. My boyfriend came and rescued us. But that's hardly why you're here. You of all people. I honestly can't imagine why the hell you'd show up here."

He smiled and it looked really creepy. Like if he had been a normal person, maybe it would've been a totally normal smile. But he just looked really creepy. "Again, just a father wanting to see what his children has become."

"We're not your bloody children, stop saying that. You're a psycho monster who preys on those too young to fight you off," River growled and let go of me, still making sure I was standing upright. He was so wired, I was afraid he'd fly off the handle any second. But then again, why would that be so bad? What was the point of this whole meeting?

"What's really the reason, he sent you?" I asked, getting very tired of this whole shit show.

River didn't wait. Claws sprang out of his fingers and fur spread in his face. "I'm done with this shit."

Seemed like our maker was done too. The way I remembered him sprang back out of his small form. He grew and kept growing. I had never seen anything like it. No one shifted like that. River stepped right back and grabbed my arm.

"Well, shit," he muttered, his shift having stopped and reversed. "Honestly, Gael, I don't think I can fight that guy."

"But I can," Abel said as he walked past us. He pulled his t-shirt over his head and rolled his shoulders.

"Did he need to take his shirt off?" River muttered.

"It makes way for the wings," I said and got River to go back with me a little.

"Wings?" River asked, as if I was lying.

At that moment, Abel had grown out his wings. Big bat-like wings that had a wingspan of at least seven or eight meters. Seeing them in properly and not when I was cradled in his arms was awe-inspiring. They had the same colour as his hair and his arms were slowly turning that colour too, fingers growing into long black talons. He let out an animalistic high-pitched roar that sounded like some kind of sonic scream? I had never heard anything like it before, and there wasn't time for me to just stand around and ponder. I initiated my own shift. I couldn't do jack-shit in my human form anyways.

River followed my example too.

I sprang out of my skin, shaking the remnants of it off my fur. And then I turned to the enemy. He was standing on two legs still, but looked like a wolf too? It didn't look like a regular werewolf. At all.

Fred and Creek were beside me then, Fred putting her hand on my back.

"What the actual fuck is that?" she asked, horror making her voice tremble.

I looked up at her briefly before looking back at the bigass wolf. Abel hurled himself at him, but the wolf grabbed him out of the air and tossed him aside. I didn't even think, I ran towards the monster and jumped up on his back, burying everything I could in his hide. Teeth, claws, everything. But it was like biting into leather. Really tough and gross leather. And then I was flying through the air too. Until I stopped and just floated? No, Cal had caught me mid air after the big wolf had tossed me off his back. I was super disorientated but didn't really have time to try and organise myself. The wolf was coming toward me, and I had to get back up. I jumped at him but was swatted away like I was a fly.

I slammed into the ground next to Abel. He was getting back up, flapping his wings a little tryingly, while Cal had a go at the huge monster. She was almost as big as him, her form having changed rapidly too. She was fierce to watch as she kept shooting into the air, only to let herself cannonball herself down on top of the monster wolf. Then Tasha and Samuel joined the fight, hurling themselves at the legs of the monster. River joined in but the monster just shrugged them off and slammed their weirdly shaped first into Cal's face. She flew through the air and slammed into the fountain on the square, completely demolishing it. That was gonna be so hard to explain later on. If there was a later on.

It seemed entirely impossible to even get this guy to falter, even for a second. He didn't flinch when Fred threw fireballs at him. Nor when Abel threw remnants of the fountain at his head. Everything just peeled off him like it was nothing. I was growing desperate because we couldn't keep doing this. We tried all attacking at the same time, one at a time, several at a time, but nothing did a damn thing to him.

I was so desperate I just launched myself at him one more time. Directly at his throat. For some reason I struck true and finally sank my teeth into something that wasn't rock hard. It was soft and warm, and it immediately filled my mouth with liquid. It was so thick I thought I was choking. I let go, falling down on the street again, still feeling like I was choking. It was horrible. It was like it went into my nerve endings and set them on fire. I was forcibly shoved out of my wolf form and back to human. I was heaving, spitting, trying to get the liquid out of my mouth but it felt like it was crawling down my throat. Like it was almost alive.

And then it went from bad to worse. I screamed out but no one was coming to help me. They were all too busy with the monster. Fur sprang out of my skin again, looking like it usually did, but the rest of me didn't shift like normally. My fingers grew long as did my nails. But they didn't grow into paws. My skin dropped off my arms as fur spread over them and they grew longer and larger. I felt myself getting way taller too. My face rapidly broke apart, which felt familiar, but it didn't usually get this big either.

The whole shift also didn't take as long as it usually did. It was faster and I felt... Better. Stronger. Faster. I felt so big and powerful. I walked towards the monster that had fallen to one knee, holding onto his throat. It didn't stop the dark liquid running out of the wound. I grabbed his head, pulling it up. I growled down at him, and he didn't seem particularly scared. Almost looked peaceful. He knew he was dying. He knew. And I knew it too. And for once I didn't stop to think about the implications of death. How it made me a murderer. I only thought of protecting my friends. My family.

He removed his hand from his throat. I let go of his head and he kept it upwards toward the sky. I lashed out with my arm and my claws dug into his throat, more dark liquid spattering everywhere. I kind of wanted to throw up, but I pushed that urge down. I had to check on Abel. I had to.

I felt myself slowly shift back as the pain in my leg returned and I got closer to the ground again. I limped the last stretch of the way over to Abel and dropped down next to him. He looked terribly beaten up; his eye swollen. He still hadn't shifted back either.

"Gael," he said softly, lifting a black taloned hand to my cheek. "Are you okay?"

I put my hand on top of his, pressing it to my cheek. "I'm okay. Are you?"

"Will you judge me if I say it hurts a little?" He smiled up at me, the smile pulling on all the sharp features in his face.

"Never," I murmuredand turned my head, kissing the palm of his hand. "Let's go home."