A/N:
Date 6-14-17

Hey everyone! Just in case you thought otherwise, the quote above is not mine. I find all of my quotes online :)

You're near the end of this story.

Read onward my story starved soldiers!

(I'm sorry, I have no clue where that came from) Here's the chapter...

Word Count: 3145

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Chapter 30: Humor Relieves Most Situations

Lucas is able to change back to his human form when they get back to Cain. The wolfsbane must've finally given up with torturing.

Lena is relieved to see that Lucas and Mason are magically clothed, even though they were just wolves. It's like they never shifted at all.

Lena's train of thought quickly cuts off when she sees Lucas wince as he gets out of the truck bed.

"Are you hurt?" Lena asks as she notices that Lucas' shirt looks dark on the side. Dark like blood? If he was wearing a shirt that wasn't black, Lena figures that spot would be red.

Adrian had stopped at Lucas and Mason's house to drop them off, but now he notices something off. Adrian puts the truck in park and gets out, walking over to them to see what's wrong.

Adrian gets a whiff of blood, quickly glancing over at the source. "Why are you bleeding, Lucas?" Adrian questions in confusion.

"I'm fine. It'll heal." Lucas answers, stepping to the side to get past Lena and Adrian.

"Lucas-" Lena tries to object, but Adrian stops her.

"Stop it, both of you. I hate to be the responsible one here, but Lucas, you need to go make sure you heal. And Lena, you know we have school tomorrow." Adrian advises.

"Adrian's right. You all have school tomorrow." Mr. Sterling adds as he leans against the truck.

"And it's late. I want to go to sleep." Adrian adds, revealing that he wasn't only thinking of what's best for everyone else. But who would be?

Adrian is tired from the days of searching for Lucas and the destruction the hunters caused by the Kitsune Vampires. Adrian is ready to be done with all of this.

"I'll make sure Lucas is okay." Mason tells Lena. "Now go home." Lena sighs, but obeys and turns to go home.

"Do you want me to drive you home?" Adrian asks, gesturing to the stolen truck.

"No, we'll walk." Lena replies without looking at Adrian, making the decision for herself and her dad. Lena walks home silently while the night's events play through her mind. This couldn't be over, could it?

Lena has a bad feeling that this isn't the last they'd see of the hunters.

~*~

Mr. Sterling didn't say a word on the short walk home. He was still processing everything that Lena told him on the drive back to Cain.

But Mrs. Sterling definitely had something to say when they entered their house around midnight.

"You, I will speak to in a moment." She pointed an angry finger at Mr. Sterling.

"And you!" Mrs. Sterling turned her accusing finger towards Lena. "You are grounded. Now go to bed. I'll talk to you tomorrow after school." Lena has never once heard her mom, er-step mom, that angry. Ever.

Lena just scowls and goes to her room, only to find a furious Ivie waiting for her. "How could you just leave without telling me? And taking Adrian with you? That's beyond cruel."

"Okay, I didn't take him with me. He joined in the trip later. I didn't know he was coming until he met me in Kansas." Lena defends herself, understanding why Ivie is mad but not being happy about it.

"I lot happened tonight. I'd like to go to sleep." Lena announces, even though she doesn't feel tired in the slightest. There's no way Lena can sleep with all of the noise in her head.

Ivie's expression softens a bit, feeling guilty about snapping at her instead of first asking how things went. "So did you get Lucas? Is anyone hurt?"

Lena sits on her bed next to Ivie, rubbing her head to ease the pain from the headache forming there. "We got Lucas. And he got hurt, but I'm sure he'll be okay. Dad was hurt,but he's okay now too. Adrian's fine." Lena adds that last part, knowing Ivie really wants to know of the well-being of her boyfriend.

"Did you at least kick some hunter butt? Did you use your magic on them?" Ivie asks excitedly.

Lena can't help it, a small smile spreads across her lips. "I used a bit of wind magic to defend myself. I suffocated one guy with just a thought." Lena's smile turns into a grin, until she realizes what she said. "Not that I killed him! I didn't kill anyone!"

"Good. I wouldn't want my baby sister to be a killer." Ivie teases, falling back into their sister routine.

"I could say the same thing for you. I'm glad you're not a killer." Lena says, referring to Ivie's transitions into vine girl. "Have you been... going out at night? I haven't been paying attention lately. You know, with Lucas missing." Lena suddenly realizes that she's been ignoring everyone else's problems.

Ivie gives Lena a sad smile, one that says she's tired of having to worry about turning into vine girl. "No, I actually stopped doing that for a few days. I think I finally got the pattern though..."

"The pattern?" Lena questions, not understanding Ivie's train of thought. And that's not just because Lena is crazy tired.

"I think me being vine girl is tied to my relationship with Adrian." Ivie's eyebrows crease in confusion as she looks down at her unmoving hands in her lap.

"When I feel good about us being together, I don't become her." Ivie takes a deep breath to steady herself.

"And when I'm fighting with him or I'm unsure if we're going to work out, I go out at night." Ivie finishes her explanation, ready to hear Lena laugh and say she's ridiculous.

"You question your relationship with Adrian?" Lena asks curiously. Usually, Lena doesn't ask these sort of things and doesn't get into Ivie's business. Ivie always hated when Lena tried to help. But ever since the supernatural entered their life, it's as if that brought the sisters closer.

"Yes. All the time. At first the mysteries were just that... mysterious. It was exciting." Ivie admits, fighting the blush creeping up her face.

"But now I have a strong feeling that he's always hiding things from me. And I wonder if I should be in a relationship that isn't truthful." Ivie chances a glance in Lena's direction, only to see Lena looking at the floor.

"I had no idea, Ivie. You two seemed so happy. I just thought... it was perfect. We both have boyfriends. But apparently yours isn't so great." Lena says with a frown, not knowing what to say to comfort her older sister.

The bitter side of Ivie, the one that used to rule Ivie's life most of the time, remembers that Lena always has it better than Ivie. That's why Ivie pushed Lena away for years. Out of jealousy. And now it's happening again, but this time around, the fair side of Ivie is trying to take control.

Before Ivie has to choose which way to go, bitter or fair, Lena finds the right words to say. "Look, you need to do what's best for you. Weigh your options here. Has the good in your relationship outweighed the bad? Is it the other way around? And decide if you should give Adrian a chance to explain himself."

Lena takes a deep breath to gather her thoughts before continuing. "Adrian is a complicated guy. He's probably hiding things that hurt him. I would listen to him first, if I were you. But it's your decision."

"Thanks Lena. That's the first time in awhile that you actually said something useful." Ivie says with a taunting tone to lighten the mood.

"Hey!" Lena cries indignantly, shoving Ivie off the bed.

They both laugh, then stop at the same time with wide eyes when they remember they're supposed to asleep.

"We'll finish this tomorrow." Ivie says sternly, trying hard to keep the grin off of her face.

"Definitely." Lena nods, standing to make sure Ivie can't shove her off the bed in return.

"Unless you're dead already." Ivie says with a shrug.

"What?" Lena asks in confusion.

"Mom's gonna kill you for taking off on a dangerous mission." Ivie says with a laugh.

Lena scowls as Ivie scampers off to her room in the attic.

The scowl suddenly drops as Lena realizes she didn't have time to tell Ivie about their mom actually being their stepmom.

~*~

Lucas locks himself in his bathroom as he checks his wound. Lucas remembers being shot outside of the hunter's building while fighting, and he's pretty sure the bullet exited his side, but it's not healed yet. It should've healed already.

As much as it hurts to do so, Lucas cleans the bullet wound to help the healing process. The bullet probably had wolfsbane on it, like the sword that Mr. Haze used.

Lucas shivers as a dizzy spell sets over him. Lucas grips the counter tightly as his eyes reflect golden in the mirror.

Lucas feels incredibly, physically weak as if his bones are tired from the transformation into a wolf. This happened to Lucas the last full moon when he and Mason went running together as wolves, but it seems this time is worse due to the wolfsbane that was in Lucas' system.

The only thing that helped last time was to sleep for 12 hours. Lucas feels doubly tired just knowing he's only going to get around six hours of sleep tonight.

"Lucas? Are you okay?" Mason calls from the other side of the locked bathroom door.

"I'm fine. It's healing." Lucas says, gritting his teeth to endure the pain. Lucas glances down at his side, seeing that what he said, coincidentally wasn't a lie. Lucas is finally healing.

Lucas lets out a sigh of relief, then opens the door to find Mason and Jerica waiting for him.

"You woke her up?" Lucas accuses Mason, wishing Jerica was still asleep. Mason shook his head no.

"I can't believe you got yourself kidnapped! You're so stupid." Jerica snaps as she pulls Lucas into a quick hug. And by quick, Lucas means a two second hug. That's the longest Jerica ever hugs someone.

"It's not like I planned on being kidnapped." Lucas retorts with an eye roll, falling quickly into the norm again.

"Whatever. I'm going to bed." Jerica replies grumpily before she stomps off.

Lucas and Mason glance uneasily at each other, then let out a short laugh at the same time. They both know that Jerica is completely ridiculous.

Mason throws his arm around Lucas' shoulders causing him to flinch at his sore side, which Mason ignores. "I'm glad you're not dead." Mason grins from ear to ear. Honestly, Lucas wonders how anyone could have this much energy this late at night after a battle with hunters. But this is Mason, after all.

"You'd be lost without me." Lucas taunts, not sure if he's really joking or not.

Mason just laughs and steps away from Lucas, abandoning him in the hallway.

~*~

Ivie lays in bed, contemplating whether or not she is going to continue seeing Adrian.

He's just so complicated. It feels to Ivie as if he'll never tell her everything. But then again, Ivie hasn't asked him what he's hiding. Or why it's upsetting him so that he won't tell anyone.

Ivie doesn't want to think about that anymore, so she decides to be happy about what's going right in her relationship. Like how Ivie really likes Adrian, and he seems to like her too.

After that hastily made choice, Ivie's thoughts drift to the information she didn't share with her little sister.

Vanessa came over to Ivie's house after school, right after Ivie found out that Lena left to save Lucas, that day to tell her why Selynn ditched school for a sick day.

Selynn told Vanessa what she found out about their family, and Selynn said she promised she would tell anyone besides her twin.

Vanessa quickly pointed out that she didn't promise anything, only Selynn did that. And that's how Ivie came to know of their secret; the fact that Selynn is a zombie that has visions and does not eat brains.

Ivie purposely did not tell Lena this secret because she wants that information to be just between her best friends and herself for now.

Besides, how many times has Lena kept things from Ivie? Too many to count, that's how much. Especially about the supernatural.

~*~

"I feel like something should be different here, but it's all the same." Lucas says while rubbing at his eyes, which he's struggling to keep open as he sits with his friends for breakfast in the school cafeteria.

"I'd rather go back to being tortured than be here dying of boredom." Lucas complains as he stares at his empty tray. It had held delicious breakfast pizza, one of the only edible breakfast choices at school, but Lucas had practically swallowed it whole.

"And I think I hold a high opinion for this one." Lucas adds with a grin, glad that he's able to joke about his time at the hunter's building. Not that Lucas allows himself to think about it. At all.

"Lucas! You can't be serious." Lena whispers in disbelief, although Lucas hasn't bothered to lower his voice.

Lucas shrugs as if he's still debating. Lena grabs Lucas' chin suddenly to make him look at her.

Lucas inhales a sharp breath, and all he wants to do in that moment is forget everything. The hunters and their torture, school, even his friends and brother at the table. Lucas forgets it all.

Lucas takes hold of Lena's hand, lowering it away from his face and intertwining their fingers. Lena notices her scowl isn't affecting Lucas the way she wanted.

Lena wanted Lucas to feel bad for joking like that, but instead he is consumed with the urge to kiss away the frown on her lips.

Lucas leans forward to do just that and Lena lets it happen, even leaning in a bit too. They're only a breath away from one another when someone clears their throat.

Lena straightens up immediately, but Lucas ignores whoever it is, closing the distance between himself and Lena.

The kiss is short and sweet. Lucas doesn't want to push his luck. They are at school, in public, after all.

But the affect is exactly what Lucas hoped for. All of his concerns have dropped away and Lena is smiling now.

Adrian speaks up then, in a slightly disgusted voice. "If it wasn't obvious, I cleared my throat because I didn't want to see that."

Lucas turns to Adrian slowly, smirking at him in a rare moment of confidence in the face of the vampire. "Why? I know your kisses with Ivie in the school's janitor's closet last longer than that."

"What?" Lena squeaks out loudly, glaring in shock at her older sister. A few people turn at the sound of Lena's sudden panic.

Lena doesn't know what to think. Why would it be cool to have make out sessions in a filthy janitor's closet?

Ivie's face turns so pale she looks ghostly, immediately denying what was said. "No! I would never do that."

Adrian glares at Lucas, about to open a can of butt whooping on the ignorant young werewolf.

"I was just kidding." Lucas says with another shrug and an amused grin that reaches his eyes.

Lena frowns and feels she has to scold Lucas for his foolery, but the bell rings before she can say anything.

Lucas and Lena stand at the same time as Adrian. He is still glaring at Lucas, as if he can burn holes into Lucas with laser vision.

Ivie bolts from the cafeteria, super embarrassed and ready to go to class.

Lena grabs Lucas' hand and starts pulling him away as Adrian takes a menacing step towards Lucas, steam practically visible shooting from his ears at the level of fury building up inside of him.

"Let's go see if you made it on the football team before heading to class." Lena says to distract Lucas, so he hopefully doesn't go back to fight Adrian.

The plan works, and Lena is excited to see Lucas' reaction to the tryout results, since she saw them yesterday when they were first posted.

Lucas rushes over to the bulletin board that all of the major news for the school is posted on.

Lucas' heart pounds as he reads the list. He can't get past the second line of the paper.

Football Tryout Results:

Quarterback- Lucas Hallow

Lucas grins as Lena pulls him into a congratulatory hug. "Congrats! You deserve it!"

When Lucas puts Lena down after picking her up and spinning her around, he notices the next line on the paper.

Quarterback- Cade Gagnon

Lucas knew there could be more than one quarterback, but did the other have to Cade? The Cade that tried threatening Lucas at practice?

Thinking about Cade reminds Lucas that Cade's friend Lawrence Beland was accused of being the killer that murdered Russel Stitch and Kelly McKay. Lucas makes a mental note to find out what exactly happened with that whole situation.

"Why the frown? Is it Cade? He's a jerk, but I know you'll do great on the team! You could even be team captain." Lena smiles brightly at Lucas, not guessing the dark thoughts floating through Lucas' mind.

Lucas forces a smile. "Mason is on the team too! Everything will work out just fine." Lena adds, causing Lucas' smile to become real.

"You're right." Lucas says, kissing Lena on the top of the head affectionately. Lena laughs at him before growing serious again.

"It's true, Lucas. We've been through this much. The rogue Alpha, you and Mason being bitten, me and Ivie being struck by lightning, Ivie turning into a completely different person at night, Adrian's secrets, John's secrets, a teen killer, my parents, the other hunters... We made it through all of that. If we can survive that, we can survive anything." Lena tells Lucas sincerely.

Lucas grins at her before grabbing her hand and pulling her down the hallway, escorting her to her first class before they're both late.

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A/N:

Don't panic! I know that could have sounded like the end of the book, but it's not. There is still around five more chapters.

I know the ending, but I'm not sure how long it'll take. I've probably said that before, but oh well! I said it again!

I hope you are enjoying this story XD