CHAPTER 9

After they had gathered up some… tools, mainly consisting of long daggers Mark had procured, resulting in some interrogating from Isis, they headed out.

"So where are we gonna find these things?" Isis asked as they walked down the street, heading for the city.

"I don't know, I'm guessing they'll find us. That's what John's friend said anyway." Mark replied, shooting a sly backward glance at John, smirking when he seen John blush and Jaden start growling.

[Be nice.] Isis scolded, rather loudly.

Mark winced. "Get the hell outta my head woman."

[But I like it in here.] She teased.

"Why are we going to the city if we're hunting these things?" Jaden asked suddenly. "Shouldn't we be leading them away from people?"

Mark frowned, shooting his mate a dirty look. "If someone hadn't been messing with me I would've thought of that." He grumbled, changing direction.

Isis just whistled, rolling her eyes heavenward.

They didn't get very far when a sudden howling alerted them that they were now being hunted instead of the other way around.

"Remember, they're animals." Mark whispered as the four went their separate ways. He buried himself under a loose mound of dirt, surprisingly quick for a man his size.

John opted to pick the cleaner route, placing himself in a nearby shed, peeking out the window, all but invisible except for his crystalline blue eyes.

Isis and Jaden took to the trees, preferring to have a slight height advantage, drawing their daggers and waiting.

The wait wasn't that long, in less than an twenty minutes, the werewolves appeared and this time all three of them were together. They were bigger than Jaden remembered: tall, great hulking things that were slobbering madly.

The wolves halted, raising their long snouts to the air, clearly sniffing. One moved off towards the shed John was in, moving much more gracefully then it's size suggested.

"Shit!" Jaden cursed, seeing that the creature was approaching John's blind side. She tried that mind thing Isis and Mark used but all she got was her own thoughts swirling around her head. They went something like, "You dumb ass, he's going to get killed and you're standing here with your eyes shut pretending you're Jean Grey!"

Isis eyed Jaden before guessing what she was attempting and sighed heavily. "Kids…" She muttered. [John? John, can you hear me?]

[What the…]

[You swear in my head and I'll rip yer throat out.] Isis threatened sweetly. [You've got a large mongrel comin' up from behind ya.]

[Thanks… Hey… you can't, like read my mind can you?]

Isis had to smile. [I can see some things… as time goes I get better with this, why, something in there ya not wanting me to see?]

He sent her a mental image of him and Jaden in the shower, chuckling softly when he felt Isis recoil.

"Sick bastard…" Isis hissed, ignoring the curious look Jaden shot her.

Jaden started to ask what was going on but decided better of it, focusing on the matter at hand. She readied her dagger, smirking when she seen the pair stop right over where Mark was laying.

Isis seen it too and nudged her friend.

"Ready?"

Isis nodded.

Silently they leapt from the tree, each landing on one, stabbing over and over with their daggers. From the shed they could hear John fighting the one that had snuck up on him.

"Holy shit!" Isis shouted when Mark rose, with alarming intensity, shooting out of the earth and up into the air, coming down on one of the werewolves.

Jaden joined Isis and together they took it down, getting a few slashes for their efforts but nothing to bad, just some torn up clothing.

John came bursting out of the shed, breaking down a wall with a werewolf right behind him. His face was barely recognizable underneath all the blood, and his shirt hung off him in shreds.

"John!" Jaden screamed when she seen the werewolf slash him across the back, sending John face first onto the ground, a large gaping wound on his back. She darted over to him, leaving Isis to fend for herself.

Isis was doing just fine, mostly, growing slightly pissed off when she realized she was pretty much wearing expensive leather rags. She lunged forward, slashing her dagger across the werewolf's throat, watching in mild astonishment as a sort of thick, purplish blood sprayed out of the wound. She quickly shut her eyes and mouth tight as it got her face, coating her.

Jaden was stabbing John's attacker viciously, her mouth contorted with fury. She felt gratified when she heard a howl of pain, gritting her teeth and plunging her fist into the wound she had made, a second later yanking out the werewolf's heart.

A second later the damn thing exploded.

"Oh that's just sick!" Jaden shrieked when she was able to open her eyes, spitting out blood, nasty tasting blood.

"Ouch." John moaned, slowly raising his head from the ground.

"You all right baby?" Jaden asked, dropping down besides him but not touching, not wanting to smear him with the purple coo that coated her.

"I'm in agony." He replied, trying not to move.

Jaden surveyed the wound on his back, disgusted to see tissue, nerves and even some bone. "Ugh…"

"How bad is it?"

"Well… at least it missed your ass."

Isis watched as Mark followed Jaden's example and ripped out the heart, only he moved away quickly to avoid getting splattered. "That sucked." She said, walking over to hug him, resting her face against his chest.

"Thanks, and I liked this vest." He laughed, looking down at his denim vest.

"Sorry." Isis glanced over at Jaden and John. "How is he?"

Jaden had gnashed her wrist and was dripping blood into the wound. "On the mend."

"Oh man…" John groaned, getting to his feet after the wound had slowly healed. "That was a bitch…"

"You're not kidding." Mark agreed, surveying the bodies around them.

John looked at Isis, his blue eyes crinkling in amusement. "Thanks for the heads up by the way, if you hadn't told me, I might've been wolf chow."

"Probably." She replied, narrowing her own eyes. [And if you ever, ever do that to me again, I'll kill you.]

John started laughing while Jaden and Mark looked confused.

"Me first!" Jaden laughed, darting for the shower.

She found herself struggling with Mark, John and Isis, then she heard:

[C'mon.]

Mark and John stopped struggling when they realized, they were fighting each other.

"Where'd they go?" Mark demanded, looking around.

John shrugged, taking advantage and slipping into the bathroom, shutting and bolting the door.

Mark pounded a large fist against the door once before heading to the backdoor, planning on using the hose. He halted when he found Isis and Jaden had already beaten him to it, attaching it to a sprinkler that they were darting in and out of, stripped down to nothing more than their undergarments.

"Hey, go away!" Isis shouted when she seen him, her hair now hanging down her back, soaked through. "You're supposed to be with John!"

Jaden giggled madly.

"Wenches." Mark growled, stripping down to just his jeans and joining them, sighing in pure relief as the blood washed off him.

"Hmmm… I think it's time for a little payback…" Isis murmured. [John?]

[Yes dear?]

She smirked. [I see you go the shower…]

[Of course, was there a doubt in your mind?]

[Nope, I figured you'd be where the action WASN'T.]

[Huh?]

Isis started giggling when she actually pictured him, in the middle of soaping his hair, now standing still with an expression of confusion written all over his face.

"What are you doing?" Jaden whispered, catching the look on her friend's face.

"You'll know in a minute…" Isis returned her attention to John. [You heard me handsome…] She sent him a mental picture of her and Jaden running through the sprinkler, hand in hand, Baywatch style. A slight exaggeration on her part, but…

"ISIS!"