Date: 2-21-17

Chapter 23: Packless

Lucas and Mason follow close behind Adrian until he suddenly stops. Monique catches up first.

"Adrian! Why did you stop?" Monique asks in a hushed whisper.

Lucas answers before Adrian can. "She ran off again, using the trees to evade us."

Adrian turns to Lucas. "Wow! It sounds like you can control some of your wolf senses." Adrian says sarcastically.

"Yeah, why's that so surprising?" Lucas asks defensively.

"Because I believe you and your brother aren't the most capable for-"

"Hey! Can you stop fighting, Adrian?" Monique interrupts before Adrian can say any more.

Adrian grins at Monique and she rolls her eyes at him playfully. Lucas can tell she's not really mad. Then Lucas realizes something.

"Monique, why aren't you as fast as Adrian?" Lucas asks Monique because he saw that she was a little slower than both him and Adrian. "Aren't you like him?"

"Were only half siblings. So we're not the same type of supernatural." Monique says with a shrug. It doesn't seem to upset her that she's not a werewolf like Adrian.

Lucas notices that Adrian is looking around, listening for any movement near them. He is waiting for vine girl to show up.

Monique notices this, so she decides it's okay to keep talking. "I'm a Shadowhunter, which means I draw runes that give me power." Monique vaguely explains.

"I've never heard of that." Lucas says honestly.

"I think I hear her." Adrian suddenly says, actually warning them this time before he takes off.

Since Adrian is the fastest out of all of them, he gets ahead and out of sight.

Vine girl jumps out from the shadows, surprised Adrian completely, and wraps Adrian tightly with vines.

"I love playing games with you." Vine girl says sweetly.

Although the vines are squeezing so hard that Adrian can hardly breathe, he manages to gasp out a few words. "Really? Me too!"

Even in a deadly situation, Adrian just can't lose his sarcasm.

Lucas catches up just then and slams into vine girl, knocking her to the ground, messing up her concentration so she lets go of Adrian.

Lucas gets up quickly to make sure he didn't hurt vine girl, who he can't help but think of as Ivie. But vine girl isn't moving.

"Great. Way to go Lucas! She's out for the night." Adrian says, sneering at Lucas. "Now what are we supposed to do?"

Mason runs up just then and wisely stays silent, not wanting to get in the middle of the conversation.

"I saved you! And I didn't hit her hard enough to knock her out!" Lucas argues, felling his anger rising up from deep inside of him. It's like it's always there, just waiting to come out.

"I guess you underestimated your new strength." Adrian practically snarls at Lucas like a wild animal.

Lucas doesn't say anything because he's slightly embarrassed. He ruined everything tonight by trying to help. Adrian apparently needed Ivie awake, but as vine girl.

Lucas doesn't see a thing as vines wrap around his neck from above in the tree. They pull Lucas up as his claws come out and his eyes turn bright from the danger. Lucas claws at the vines but they won't let go.

At the same time Lucas is attacked, a couple of vines go straight through Adrian's chest, dangerously close to his heart, pinning him to a tree. Adrian gasps in shock and blood drips from his mouth.

Vine girl sits up with a laugh. "This is so much fun!" She says as she claps her hands together for emphasis.

Adrian's eyes burn the color of his blood. Lucas doesn't see until he drops from the tree, right after he claws the vines that have his neck in half.

Lucas doesn't attack vine girl yet because he's desperately trying to pull air into his lungs. Lucas holds onto the tree that he was just in to stay upright.

At that moment Mason attacks vine girl with his claws extended and eyes glowing. In Mason's rage to save Lucas and Adrian he moves to shove vine girl. But she sees it coming and stabs Mason in the upper arm.

Mason growls and tries to keep going, but a vine hits him hard enough to throw him to the ground. Mason doesn't get up. Lucas can hear Mason's still breathing, but he's out like a light.

All thoughts of Mason leave Lucas' mind when he notices Adrian's eyes are red.

Lucas stares wide eyed at Adrian as Lucas puts the pieces together. Adrian doesn't notice because he's weakly pulling at the vines in his chest.

When Lucas read about werewolves a few days ago he had come across an article about how werewolves in myths could have different colored eyes. The colors were a sort of ranking.

Lucas remembers that red eyes mean that werewolf is an Alpha. It's supposed to be a werewolf leader. What if Adrian's been lying and he's the one who turned Lucas and Mason?

Then Adrian's eyes meet Lucas' eyes, and Lucas moves to help him. Vines shoot through the air towards Lucas and he bats them away with a snarl, then slashes at one of the vines pinning Adrian to the tree.

Vine girl goes to attack with her vines again, but she's suddenly knocked over. Monique is standing where vine girl had been, standing over her to make sure she doesn't get up.

Monique quickly steps on a vine with her heeled shoe that's close to her feet, and vine girl cries out in pain. Lucas sees his chance to help when he realizes vine girl is weaker right now.

Before Lucas can help Adrian break free, Adrian frees himself with a roar. Adrian drops the vines to the ground then leans back against the tree he was just stuck on. Then Adrian's eyes turn back to their normal blue color.

"I'm taking her out." Monique announces as she finally knocks out vine girl for real.

"You're an Alpha? Do you have a pack?" Lucas asks Adrian incredulously.

"I don't have a pack and I don't need one." Adrian says defiantly, as if daring to question Lucas.

Lucas just turns to stare at vine girl, who is back to being Ivie. Her green hair changed to orange again when she fell to the ground. Mason lies unconscious near her.

"So is she normal now?" Monique asks, directing her question to Lucas because Monique has never seen Ivie before.

Lucas is still busy thinking, so he just nods once towards Monique. Lucas notices that Adrian didn't tell at Monique for "taking care of" Ivie. But when Lucas thought he did, Adrian got onto him about it.

Monique moves over to Mason, kneeling next to him and putting a hand on his chest. "He's breathing regularly." Monique comments. She's giving him a curious stare.

Mason opens his eyes slowly and blinks up at Monique. She removes her hand without blushing. "Hey there." Mason says with a goofy smile. Adrian scowls over at Mason.

Mason then remembers that something serious is supposed to be going on, so he sits up. Monique stands and steps back as Mason gets up. She knows better than to wound a man's pride by offering a hand getting up.

Adrian steps away from the tree, looking fine except for being a bit pale. But that's how he normally looks, so Lucas really can't tell. All Lucas knows is that Adrian is healed enough to be moving.

Adrian wipes the blood off of his face. "Are you okay?" Lucas can't help asking him. Lucas could see blood all over Adrian's shirt. At least it isn't a white shirt this time.

"Yeah, I'm great." Adrian says harshly, sending a glare to Lucas.

"Let's not start that." Monique comments with a glare of her own sent to Adrian. "How about we settle this somewhere else?" Monique suggests.

"Cool. See you at your house Lucas." Adrian says with an easy smile. Before Lucas can open his mouth to ask how Adrian knows where his house is, Adrian is gone.

Lena and Jerica run up then. "There you guys are!" Jerica says happily. "It took us a minute to find you." Jerica explains.

Jerica frowns at the blood on the ground. "Where's Adrian?"

"He'll meet us at your house. Bye!" Monique says. She pulls out what looks like a decorated stick and draws a shape on the tree. Only her Shadowhunter eyes can see what she's drawn, so everyone else stares in confusion. Then Monique disappears through the tree with a small flash of light.

Lucas, Mason, Lena, and Jerica stand in shock. Then Lucas mentally slaps himself. Going through trees into portals shouldn't be any weirder than him and his brother being werewolves.