The werewolves in movies never got it right but they were close. Lycanthrope are natural, natures balance to the vampire but werewolves were bitten. Lycan can control themselves when they change, are conscious of it; there's a balance between man and wolf. Human's bitten by lycanthrope are infected and it spreads like a disease. They can't control the transformation and in turn it drives many of them mad. Most are driven out of cities, forced to live in the outskirts and feed off animals. Warned that if they hurt a human they will be put down like the rabid dogs they are. They become sociopaths and live for blood, the hunt takes over and it's all they know. Creating packs was not something werewolves were known for, they didn't trust each other or have enough control to keep followers under their thumb. Human minds were never meant to encompass this life and there is no cure. Werewolves lose any sense of humanity, and the hunt consumes them, worse than any obsession. They quite literally become monsters, single-minded bloodlust and incapable of remorse.

Reagan had never been more scared in her life. He was blocking her exit and the rank fumes emanating from him made her gag. She felt for the wolfsbane potion on her wrist and with an insignificant tug it came loose. It wouldn't kill him but it would disorient him long enough for her to get around him and make a break for it.

"You smell nice." His voice was raw, like a junkie needing a fix. She instantly felt violated and disgusted. His words came out sideways and the spaces between just slightly too long. Almost as if they didn't make it from his head to his mouth smoothly. They clung to her skin like a toxic film. A layer she felt she would never be able to wash away.

He stepped closer to her, still trailing his nail along the wall, his sharpened nails like claws splitting the layers of paint apart. "I've been told not a...drop of your... blood is to be ssspilled.. and if I keep my promisess.. Then..then I get all the blood I want. The streetss....of this city will be my buffet and I can ... indulge in whatever... fitsss my fancy." His tongue drooped from his mouth as he talked barely making him audible but she caught every terrifying word.

"Told by whom?" Reagan wasn't sure how she managed to get the words to form but they came out a lot stronger than she felt.

Tisk, tisk, tisk." He lifted his hand from the wall, tipped his finger back and forth like a pendulum with every tut. "I'm not... sssupposed to say. It... 's a surprise."

"I'm not really that big on surprises." Reagan felt like keeping him talking would be the only way she might be able to get a blitz attack on him.

"The ssurprise... isssn't for.. you." He sneered. "You.. 're the ssurrr..prise." and he lunged at her.

Throwing the vial as hard as she could at the floor between them it smashed and a pale gray smog enveloped him midair. She had to lunge to the side to miss him and made her escape for the door as he crashed passed her. Putting her between him and the exit she ran as fast as she could. The potion did its job; half transformed in mid jump he had inhaled the gas and slammed into the end chair of the dining room table, crashing into the floor. His momentum had flipped the table on its side and sent the chair flying into the wall.

She ran without hesitation. Careening around the corner she came to a sudden stop. Skidding over the tile barely being able to grab onto the wall for support before she crashed to the floor. It was worse than she could have imagined. They had managed to melt the doorway completely. The door was gone, whatever potion they had used liquefied nearly the entire wall. Pieces of melting sheetrock dripped to the floor.

This is the home of a high ranking Warlock, they couldn't have gotten in without help and somehow they did. Someone had sent them after Oliver. No, that couldn't be right. They weren't here for Oliver, he was already with the traitor. They were here for her, she was the surprise. The adrenaline alone was the only thing that kept her from fainting out of terror.

There in the foray between the hall and freedom were three more werewolves and more were coming in. Forcing their way through the gaping hole in the wall they knocked over the table, sending the vase of flowers tumbling to the ground. Her ears were ringing already with the adrenaline pumping through her system so when the vase shattered she didn't hear a thing.

Her ungraceful entrance had an immediate impact. The three men stepped into fighting stances and two, already transforming into wolves, leaped onto the walls and dug into the wood. When she first arrived she considered the hallway to be huge but with three werewolves standing there she didn't think it was small enough. They were so large the three of them struggled to fit into the tight space, using every surface to propel themselves forward tearing down the hall towards her. Growling and biting at each other, the three wolves each trying to get to her first.

She barely had time to react before she was changing directions. Trying to catch some traction and heading through the living room and down an unfamiliar hall. She could hear their claws digging into the sheetrock. The growls were deadening reverberating off of the walls. If she could have she would have screamed.

She turned into the first open doorway too fearful to pause to check to see if the closed ones were locked not willing to be caught. Slamming it closed and locking it to give her time to plan her next series of ideas she looked around her. It was a bedroom and she had nowhere to go. Turning towards the bay window on the other side of the bed, she vaulted over the bed rushing to escape. She tried to find a way to open the window but couldn't before the door crashed in and she turned, horrified, to watch as a full sized werewolf stalked in after her. It was enormous. The doorframe snapped as it forced its way through. Stepping on the bed it had to hunch down to squeeze under the ceiling.

The bed collapsed beneath its weight as it rolled its shoulders forward and stopped. Its nose inches from her own. She could feel its moist breathe blast across her cheeks. It was disgusting, if she wasn't as scared as she was she would have vomited. Rowling growls escaped from between the beasts teeth. She was trapped. She couldn't breathe, panic and fear were starting to overwhelm her.

Walking around the wolf into the room was the leader she had evaded in the kitchen. It was an entire pack and he was the alpha. She could see where the wolfsbane had burned his face. It looked like an acid burn, raw and patchy.

"I ssshould rip... out your thrroat.. right now jussst on pprrinciple alone." He snarled. He was furious. Any other werewolf would have attacked her without a seconds thought. Werewolf's were terrifying enough on their own, one with any semblance of self-control was unheard of. "Get the bracelet." He ordered.

With a skill that was unbelievable the wolf reached towards her wrist and without touching her skin bit down on the chains and snapped them in half. Growling uncomfortably having to be so close to sliver but it did it anyway. The warm sticky breath from his nose moved the hair on her arm making her shiver uncontrollably. The bracelet fell to the floor with a thud.

She understood then. He didn't have a quick death planned for her. She knew this man wasn't sent to kill her. Her death was going to be slow and agonizing. "You see,.. I made an agreement. You.. for the city." He snarled. "You..'re waisting.. my time."

He charged, slamming into Reagan lifting her off her feet as they flew backwards. They both crashed through the windows and fell. She hadn't known until that moment how high above the streets of New York Oliver's home really was but a blood curling scream burst form her lips as story after story flew up and away from her and her attacker as they fell.

He changed as they plummeted towards the ground, the arm around her side stretched and broke. Hair grew from his skin like grass in a time lapse video. It was revolting but something in Reagan no longer functioned. A fuse had burned out and she no longer felt emotions. Shock. This was what shock felt like.

He landed on his rear legs on a balcony too many stories down for her to count with such a force she nearly had whiplash. She would have likely broken several bones they slammed onto the terrace with such an impact if the wolf hadn't been gripping her so tightly. It hurt but only because she bounced roughly off his leg and torso.

The rooftop they were on dented and crumbled where his paws had hit. Had the werewolf not been holding her in his grasp she could have easily died. A fall from that height would have killed most. Before she could register where they were let alone regain her sense of direction he was leaping onto the rooftop the next building over. She could do nothing more than hold on as they raced across the skyline of New York.

****

Sealey was the first to break the silence. "They're here."

Marcus was the first to turn away from the biers. He changed his position to be closer to the gate; facing it, taking his role as their speaker.

Oliver hated everything about it as he lined up with the others, his back to the dead. James would see it as a defensive position, interpreting their intention incorrectly.

Sealey had taken a stance next to Marcus. Everyone else on either side of him as James stepped through the vail.

"Hello, Brothers." His voice smeared in distain. His hair was light, not as white as Peter's but a dirty blond. It curled around his head, trimmed short but long enough locks wrapped around his ears and across his forehead. Grey blue eyes in deep sockets and high cheekbones. He could be a surfer on the California coast and no one would think him out of place.

Judging by the look on his face Oliver had anticipated his reaction accurately. James looked at each of them, waiting for everyone to enter and only saw an opposing team.

"James," Marcus started. "please, let me talk. We don't need to lose anyone else."

"I see you've started without us." James said gesturing towards the stone tables. "Did you not consider that we would also want to say goodbye."

"We didn't start without you." Phillip pleaded. "We just couldn't leave them like that."

James's eyes flitted towards Phillip, then to Oliver, Peter, Sealey and back to Marcus.

Marcus looked back unblinking. "This is what he wants James. For us to kill each other for him. It's our destruction he wants not any talisman."

James laughed. "For you to kill us you mean. Did you think we wouldn't see them?"

"See who?" Sealey asked. They had all made it through the gate now, facing each other. Brother against brother. There was no else to see.

****

They had finally stopped running. The werewolf dropped Reagan unceremoniously onto the concrete. She barely caught herself in time before she cracked her head open. Her palms scrapped across loose gravel. She was surrounded by werewolves on a rooftop. She stood up and scrapped her hands on her jeans. Looking at them for a moment she realized she was bleeding but she couldn't feel any pain.

Getting her bearings she looked around her at the buildings on all four sides of them and judged they were on top of the library. There was a large air conditioning unit and a few other pieces of equipment she wasn't at all concerned about. She'd never been on the roof of the library before. She recognized the glass ceiling that was centered in the middle of the building. They must be on the maintenance side of the rooftop. The other side of the gable would be open to the courtyard. She could see wolves pacing along the roof tops of the buildings surrounding them. Their shadows and outlines like some animated forms of grotesque gargoyles.

Some had transformed back into their human selves but most stayed in wolf form. The alpha could control the pack. That was all anyone knew, no one was sure how. Rumors had been floated around about an up and coming alfa who had disciplined a pack. Until now Reagan had just assumed they were tall tales. Meant to scare everyone and have something else to gossip about. Apparently, it was true, judging by way they were all staring either at him or at something Reagan couldn't see, waiting to follow his commands. The werewolf's were scary enough when they were a bunch of rouge monsters roaming around in the woods. To think someone rallied them together and formed an army was absolutely terrifying.

"Thiss.. way." he said, "We.. Have our...own...entrancce."

Entrance? Reagan suddenly realized why he had brought her here. They were at the gate. The Order's Alter, that's where they were taking her. They were doing exactly what Oliver feared they would do. Use her against him. It was the only reason they would bring her here. They wouldn't stand a chance against him on their own but with her as leverage there was no telling what they could force him to do. She wished she could believe that Oliver would allow them to take her life before he caved to their demands but she also knew that was highly unlikely. She quickly tried to figure out how to get a message to him but she couldn't see any way.

The alpha grabbed Reagan's arm painfully and pulled her along the edge of the building. She scrapped up against the bricks of the wall unable to avoid them because of the angle he dragged her. The pain and suddenness of it brought her out of her stupor. He stopped on the other side of the stairway door and placed his hand palm outward, away from him. A golden hue spread from his hand and before her eyes a wall of golden light stood before her.

The werewolf stepped through pulling her along with him. She held her breath as she stumbled through it and found herself in a room. It didn't have any walls that she could see, it was as if the golden mist had formed a box and she was standing in it.

Making a break for it before there was no way out she dropped her shoulder and slammed her full weight into the alpha. Startled he stumbled giving her her opportunity. She ran. The man directly behind them reacted but not fast enough. She used her momentum to block his out reaching hand and slammed her elbow into his face. She wouldn't have managed half that much if she hadn't caught them by surprise.

Stepping back out onto the rooftop she came to a halt, there were way more werewolves than she had expected. She altered her course and tried to make a break for the fire escape. She managed to reach the outer edge but before she could throw herself over it she felt hairy hands grab her and jerk her back. She saw the head of one of the lions that flanked the stairs of the library over the edge before she was surrounded. Fighting with everything she had, she refused to give up but she was quickly out numbered. She landed a few kicks and even more punches but it wasn't enough. She prayed for Magic to come to her aid but she was on her own. This wasn't Magic's home. Overwhelming odds subdued her and restrained her. There was nothing here to help her this time, powerless, without magic, she was on her own. Too many werewolves to count dragged her back through the entrance like a mob. Other werewolves followed in after her, leering and cheering. The men in wolf form snapping their jaws at her.

The alpha stood waiting. When they reached him they flung her down at his feet. He waited till she looked up at him before he slapped her across the face with such anger she crashed to the ground twisting her wrist painfully. She couldn't break her fall this time and her head collided with the floor. Her head exploded, her ears rang and spots sprang up in her eyesight. She shook her head as her vision cleared which only made the pain spike.

Their leader grabbed her by her hair and pulled her further into the room, half dragging her; ripping out a few strands of her hair at the root. She tried to stand up but he was pulling her too quickly and she staggered behind him but couldn't catch her footing. He threw her into a stack of firewood. She hit it hard, the bark cutting into her skin and bruising her shoulder and knee where she had landed before collapsing onto the floor. The alpha kicked her repeatedly before dragging her up onto her knees by her hair once more. He shoved her head away from him when he let go. Turning her to face the stack she had fallen into. She could see it clearer now. In center of the room was a stack of logs and out of those logs stood a stake nearly eight feet high.

Reagan's knees gave way as she stared at the makeshift wooden stage and she was faced with the horror of what they had planned for her. No, not for her, for Oliver. She was the show. What was it that the wolf had said? 'You're the surprise.'

Black dots appeared in her vision as the werewolves stepped into her view adding bundles of kindling to the pile. She felt heavy, couldn't concentrate, couldn't think or breathe or accept anything. Her mind was breaking. She could feel herself losing it, feel all reason leave her mind.

Before all went black the alpha leaned down, sniffed her hair and whispered into her ear. "Thou sssshall no....t ssuffer a witttch... to live."

It was a pyre.