WHEN Brie had finally read her messages, the most recent one from Lilith caught her attention. 'We need you. Jack is dying.'
Putting her pride to the side, she made her way to the den from Vera's. She didn't bother knocking as she entered the den to see Jack laying on a bean bag, motionless with the other three standing over him. "What happened?" her voice caused their attention to move from Jack to her.
"We don't know. But I think it's Silverback separating from him," Randall answered as Brie pushed past them and knelt beside Jack.
She pulled up Jack's shirt and noticed a patch of what looked like burnt skin on his side. "Well, I don't know what you think I can do for him. Unless you have a way of removing Silverback," Brie pointed out as she rose to her feet.
The wolves won't able to answer her as a loud knocking came from the front door. "Jack! Jack!" a voice cried out as Randall walked over and opened the door.
An older man rushed in asking; "Where is he?"
"Mr Morton, I'm Hamish Duke," Hamish began but was stopped by Mr Morton seeing Jack and crying out; "Jack!"
Mr Morton knelt down beside Jack, running his hand over Jack's head. "Jacky-boy," Mr Morton spoke; staring down at Jack.
Jack had mumble something that Brie was unable to hear which made Mr Morton say; "It's Pops, buddy. I'm here."
"What's wrong with him?" Mr Morton asked the four standing around him.
His eyes locked on Brie before they narrowed at her. Brie's brows frowned as he seemed to recognise her, but she had never met him before today. "I don't know what you know, Mr Morton but you're gonna need to brace yourself," Hamish spoke calmly, bracing himself.
"He's a werewolf and he's been fucked up by magic," Mr Morton snarled; his eyes remaining firmly locked on Brie.
"He knows quite a bit," Randall stated as he and Hamish nodded to each other.
"Tell me everything," Mr Morton demanded; his eyes finally moving off Brie as they softened.
"Jack went to the temple to quiet the Order," Randall started which Hamish continued; "They were preparing for a spell. Somehow it infected him."
"When he came back, he was like this," Lilith finished explained for both Mr Morton and Brie.
"Oh, God," Mr Morton gasped.
"We think his hide is trying to separate from him," Lilith explained which the others had also assumed.
"That's all we know," Hamish spoke, watching as Mr Morton pulled Jack into a tight embrace.
"Okay. Okay. We gotta get him to a hospital," Mr Morton went to lift Jack but was stopped by Brie leaning down and placing a light hand on his shoulder.
"Doctors can't help him," she told him which she instantly regretted saying as this caused Mr Morton to sob; "Oh, God, no!"
"Look, Jack's Grandpa. Jack's body is under attack by his hide. He'll never heal as long as it keeps pulling off and reattaching," Randall explained which confused Mr Morton.
"His hide? What?" he asked those standing around him.
"It's what makes us werewolves." Lilith answered before Randall continued explaining; "We may be able to save him if we can remove the hide."
"So..So…if you pull it off, that's right? I mean, he won't be a werewolf anymore?" Mr Morton asked which made everyone look avoid eye contact with him; unsure how to answer.
"You don't know," Mr Morton snarled; going back to glaring at Brie like he was blaming her.
"We do know that doing nothing is killing him," Hamish pointed out.
Mr Morton was silent for a few moments; contemplate the wolves' plan. "Do it," he ordered; knowing that if they did nothing, Jack would definitely die.
As Lilith and Randall had picked up Jack and began carrying him to the table across from the front door, Brie went to follow them but saw stopped by Hamish grabbing her upper arm. "Thank you for coming," he told her as he stared down at her.
Brie let out a loud scoff before snarling; "I'm not doing this for you."
She ripped her arm out of his grip and continued making her way to the others. She lifted the back of Jack's shirt before waving her hand to form a deep cut in his skin. She could see something moving under his skin which she knew was Silverback. "Okay. Now what?" Mr Morton asked once Brie moved back from the table.
"We wait," she replied; her eyes firmly locked on Jack's deep cut.
Silverback began moving more which was visible from the cut. "Next time it breaks through," Randall spoke as he readied himself.
Brie held her hands out; almost ready to hold down Jack. When Silverback had finally broken through, Randall cried out as he grabbed the hide; "Now!"
As Randall pulled, Jack began screaming as he struggled under the other's grip on him. "I take it back! This is more like a birth than tissue rejection," Randall remarked which made Brie stare at him in disgust.
"On what planet is this like a birth?" Lilith asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.
"Guys, there's something written inside of it," Hamish said when he saw something imprinted on Silverback.
Randall finally pulled Silverback from Jack, his screams dead. Brie noticed that Jack was no longer breathing. "I got it. I got it," Randall cried out once he had stopped pulling and held the hide in his hands.
Their small victory was broken when everyone noticed that Jack wasn't breathing. "Oh! No. No," Mr Morton sobbed as he knelt down by Jack's head.
Brie closed her eyes, feeling one tear drip down her face. She wanted to feel happy that her father now couldn't complete the Vade Maecum…but she didn't want like this.
"You know magic. Bring him back," Mr Morton snarled as he looked up at Lilith and Brie.
"We can't. I'm sorry," Lilith answered softly before Brie continued explaining, her voice wavering; "We can't resurrect the dead."
Mr Morton rose from his knees; his eyes remaining locked on Jack. "First, my Chloe. And now, Jack," he snarled before he began walking out of the den.
"Mr Morton, wait," Hamish tried to stop Mr Morton, but the older man continued.
Another tear streaming down Brie's cheek as she stared down at Jack, wishing she knew about him being her brother earlier. To let him know that he had more than just his grandfather by his side.
Night had fallen and they made no effort to move Jack's body. While Brie had gone to the bar to find the strongest liquor she could find, Randall had sat on the floor, staring at Jack. Silverback had been pinned to the wall; allowing them to see what was written on it. Hamish had gone to the basement to see if he could find something in the journals about Silverback. "Hey. You can't help him anymore," Lilith spoke softly to Randall as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
Randall nodded into his folded arms that he had placed onto his knees. He stood onto his feet and wiped away his tears on the sleeve of his hoodie. Brie walked beside him with a large glass of various liquors in her hand. She rested her head against his shoulder as they all stared at the hide.
"I think this writing is part of the Vade Maecum you two were talking about," Hamish spoke when he walked over to the other standing around Silverback.
"You found something?" Randall asked when he noticed the book in Hamish's hands.
"This is the journal of Grafton Davis, also known as Alpha," Hamish explained which made the hide breathe heavily.
"Alpha? There was another Knight?" Lilith asked as this was the first time she had heard of this other hide.
"Apparently. The journal only goes up to the last '50s and then it just stops," Hamish remarked making Randall realise something; "That's around the last time Silverback was in action."
"Does he explain why Jack's hide was acting like the carpet in Aladdin?" Lilith asked making Brie have to bite her bottom lip from giggling.
"I think so. Grafton recruited a guy by the name of Jurgen Sawyer. At first, Sawyer was a perfect Knight. Then he learned about the Vade Maecum Infernal. And get this, it's our responsibility to keep the thing in pieces," Hamish explained as he walked over to the hide and pointed to the writing with a closed fist.
"We are doing a bang-up job," Randall remarked as Brie lifted her head off his shoulder and slowly walked towards the hide.
"Sawyer became obsessed with the Vade Maecum," Hamish continued explaining as he walked away from the hide.
"Because he was a Knight, he was able to track down all the pieces," Lilith figured out before Hamish said; "Sawyer was the first person in centuries to restore the book."
"Sawyer was Silverback," Brie spoke, looking at the others over her shoulder.
"Grafton and the Knights tracked him down and tore the Vade Maecum apart, just as he was about to complete the final incantation and become one with the book," Hamish told what he had read from Grafton's journal.
"If Sawyer was bound to the book…" Lilith started which Hamish finished; "Then the book was bound to Silverback."
"That's why the page got stuck to the hide," Lilith pointed out.
"Silverback wasn't hibernating for the last fifty-odd years. He…he was in a time-out. We were supposed to keep Silverback from bonding with anyone, instead, I let him escape," Randall's voice wavering as he spoke.
He placed his face into his hand and spoke into them; "Guys, I fucked up."
Brie's heart broke as she knew Randall was hating himself. "We all did. We had one job to do and we failed," Hamish said as his eyes remained on Brie who was now standing in front of the hide.
"Et a quattuor angulis terrae atque quattuor plagis maris," she read from the imprinted words and she noticed Silverback had calmed down.
"Maybe we shouldn't recite the evil words from the demon book?" Randall asked sarcastically; not wanting anything else bad to happen from her reading out loud.
"Whatever she's doing, it's calming Silverback down," Hamish pointed out when he noticed Silverback no longer growling.
"We should put him away. I'll take it downstairs," Lilith suggested as she moved forward to stand next to Brie.
She began removing the knives that they had used to keep Silverback on the wall. "Hey. Do you want help?" Randall asked as he grabbed the knife from Lilith's hand.
"Pretty sure I can lock a wolf hide in a box," she answered as she folded up Silverback and took it down to the basement.
Brie had walked back over to the bar and was leaning against it; staring down at the drink she had placed on the bar. She felt Hamish stand beside her with his eyes looking down at her. "I'm sorry," she said as she looked up at him and saw him frowning in confusion.
"I took my anger out on you. I just…" she paused as she took a shakily deep breath in and her eyes began clouding up as she tried not to cry again.
"I suddenly have this power that I don't know how to control. I don't feel like myself anymore. I had so much anger that I took it out on anyone who would listen. And it wasn't even them I was angry at," she explained; closing her eyes and feeling a tear drip down her cheek.
"Who are you angry at?" Hamish asked as he stepped closer to her and placed his hand on hers that was resting on the bar.
"My father mostly. And myself for not trying to stop my father sooner. At Jack, for not telling me he was my brother. I could have told him he wasn't alone," she sobbed as more tears streamed down her cheeks and her body began shaking from her sobs.
Hamish wrapped one of his arms around her waist and pulled her to his chest; his other hand rubbing the back of her head. She sobbed into his chest; her arms wrapped under his arms to grip the back of his shoulders. She finally let herself break as she couldn't remain strong anymore. Life enjoyed breaking her…but it made her stronger.