I've been doped up on ALLL the allergy meds since spring has arrived. Eat, Work, Sleep, Repeat. Please enjoy...or don't. I'm too doped to care. Lol. :D But no, seriously, I really am trying to keep up the momentum.

Chapter 8: Feeding the Fever

Sweat dripped from my brow, chest heaving. I was cold but felt feverish as I pushed my muscles to the brink. Hunted...I'm being hunted.

But where? Where…

Panic swelled in my chest and my heart was beating so hard I could barely hear the sounds around me.

Bang…

'What the hell?' That didn't sound like a gunshot.

Bang…

I stopped, taking in my surroundings...wait...how...this isn't right.

How had I ended up here? It made no sense. It was dark but I could see clearly enough; a couch, a fireplace, windows…? Yes...I was standing in Chris's living room. I sighed, stupidly relieved that I was at least in a familiar place...but something was off.

I spun on heel, searching for the wrong when it finally occurred…

Dirt...I'm standing on dirt. More precisely, I was standing in what should have been the middle of the forest. Leaves and various other debris sticking to the bottom of my bare feet.

"You! Why are you doing this to me?" A gravelly voice called out from the stairs. I turned to find Colt, back pressed so hard to the wall I thought he might crack it with the force.

"Colt!" I tried to scream but my voice came out hoarse. When I tried to move, I couldn't, my feet seemingly weighted down to the spot I was in.

There was another voice, another male that I couldn't identify nor even see; his shape was nothing more than a twisted distorted haze like I was looking at him through wells of tears.

"Don't!" I tried again, "Get away from him!" I croaked, when suddenly Colt lit up with bright blue, screams of pain ripping from his throat and the acrid scent of flesh burning breached my senses. 'He was being electrocuted to death!'

The scent of his blood wafted to me and I felt sick, unable to move or scream as I might.

"Chris…" a soft whisper spoke, "Chris...wake up...now…"

"What is it, Kate?" The soft gravelly voice that made me weak in the knees, half whispered back.

"Get up...someone's been here…" Kate said.

The warmth that had been surrounding me moved away gently, I felt a soft stubbly graze to my cheek, "Shh...go back to sleep…" he whispered when I felt the ghost of his lips against mine.

Asleep?

This is a dream!

The realization hit me, reality and consciousness came rushing back like I was fast exiting a tunnel. The house shifted and stretched, the anchor that held my feet releasing me as I was hurled down spiraling hallways until I could see the light at the end. I found my voice again as I screamed, shooting straight up.

"Jewels!" Chris screamed and I was suddenly wrapped back in the warmth. "Wake up! Jewels...wake up!" He screamed with a shake.

"What the hell?" Kate asked before I felt a stinging pain to my cheek.

My throat felt raw as I buried my face into Chris's shoulder, hiding the burning in my eyes when I realized Kate had slapped me. My hands fisted hard into Chris's shirt as I focused on breathing; both to calm my anger and to calm my fear from the horrid dream I had just come from. "It's alright…" Chris soothed in my ear, "give us a minute, Kate." She must have glared at him in response, "I said give me a minute." His tone held a growl to it.

"I'm sorry…" I apologized once I had felt Kate leave, "I don't know what came over me. I've never…" I stopped.

"You're okay, now." Chris whispered and I finally felt calm enough to pull away from his shoulder, resting my forehead against his.

"Thank you…" I punctuated with a kiss, releasing my death grip on his shoulders and moving to tangle in his hair, "I'm alright now...you better go see what Kate wants."

He kissed me again before getting up and moving slowly to the kitchen where Kate was waiting. I watched as he limped and held his side, obviously still in pain. I would have to have a look at that wound later and probably re-dress it.

I sat forward on the couch with my head between my knees, hands gripping either side of my head as I tried to sort through the odd nightmare. It fucking terrified me. I felt sick thinking about it; grabbing Chris's half unfinished water and packet of Tylenol, I popped two in my mouth and downed them with the rest of the glass.

I focused on my breathing, assessing my body to see that the bruising had gone, thankfully. Now it was just a matter of sore muscles and a headache.

I was trying desperately to think of anything other than my dream when I smelled it; that unmistakable scent of blood and slightly burnt flesh. Colt!

I whipped around to the stairs, half expecting to see him pressed up against the wall, but alas, nothing. I leaned back against the couch and sighed heavily, I'm fucking loosing it. Yet the smell still lingered…

Standing up, I inhaled a deep breath...yes, Colt was definitely here...somewhere. I kept my footsteps light, not wanting to disturb Chris and Kate in the kitchen as I followed the scent to the front door. I peeked out the little window, expecting to see Colt standing outside somewhere, but saw no one but neighbors going about their daily lives. But the scent was strong here; he had to be here.

I looked around, smelling a couple of the coats hanging on a rack, some shoes, and yet nothing, until…

I zeroed in on the mail slot in the front door; a standard brass slot that for all purposes served more for aesthetic than actual collecting of mail, seeing as the Argents had a mailbox at the end of their drive.

Upon closer inspection, I found a red stain...blood. Colts blood.

Fuckfuckfuck…

"Oh come on, Chris, it has to be Marks!" Kate hissed from the kitchen, followed by Chris shushing her, "he went missing today, Chris. And this was personally delivered right to our front door. The note even says, "I have something you want" We have to go after this fucker and now."

"Stop and think for a minute, Kate." Chris said much more calmly.

I eased closer to the kitchen, careful of my footing as I eavesdropped, "Why send us this finger that could be anyone's? Mark has tattoo's on all of his fingers on the left hand. Why not send us one of those that could positively tell us it's him?"

"I don't know, Chris!" Kate said.

"Shh, keep your voice down, Kate," Chris hushed.

"Oh please," Kate said and I could practically see the eye roll, "that's something else we need to talk about."

My stomach sank to my toes as I eavesdropped. The, "we need to talk", was never a good sign.

"One thing at a time," Chris said, " But first we need to find out what this thing wants." I imagined the wheels turning in his head. "I'll take the finger to Stilinski and get him to ID it. In the meantime, we need to re-group and do another sweep."

"We've done sweeps and still haven't found shit." Kate retorted, "what we really need to do is interrogate Scott."

"No!" It was a solid demand on Chris's part.

"Why? He's one of them, Chris."

They knew another werewolf and it wasn't dead?

"Because we go by the code, Kate." Chris growled, "it's not his fight anymore."

"So typical…" Kate snarled.

I couldn't take it anymore, going back to the living room and grabbing the glass from the table before heading to the kitchen again, this time making enough noise that you'd have to be deaf in order not to hear me coming. "We'll talk more about this later." Chris said just as I knocked on the doorframe to the kitchen.

"Sorry to interrupt," I said as nonchalant as I could and waved my empty glass, "I just wanted to grab a drink real quick."

"Go ahead," Chris said pleasantly like he hadn't just been threatening Kate. "We're done." He gave a pointed look to Kate that said to make herself scarce. She glared at him and I thought for sure she was going to say something before taking the wadded up paper from the counter and tossing it in the garbage and headed off towards the garage.

I stood in front of the open fridge, feeling the cool wash over my face and chest, as I scanned for something to drink when strong arms wrapped around my middle, chest pressed to my back as I lay my head back on his shoulder.

I relished the feeling of his lips on my cheek, moving to the shell of my ear where his hot breath sent goosebumps rushing down my neck and arms. I laced my fingers through his around my middle, using the other to guide his lips back down my cheek and neck. He kissed me softly before whispering, "seems like I have to work today after all," he kissed me again, suckeling a spot.

I twisted in his hold, capturing his lips and circling my arms around his body, making to grab a handful of his ass in a playful manner when he grabbed my hands before they could reach my prize. In reality, I was after the finger he had stashed in his pocket the moment I came in. I wanted to feel it, to be sure that it absolutely belonged to my brother, even though I could smell it. Chris cleverly detoured my hands to his chest, "you're not healed enough." I said in an attempt to keep him here where it was safe. That finger and letter hadn't been meant for the Argents, but for me. And who knew what trouble waited for Chris if he showed up instead of me.

"I'm fine," he said, recapturing my lips before I could protest. I need to let him go so I can find my brother. The thought was there and my dream lingered in the back of my mind, but I just couldn't pull away. I kissed him with everything I had, hands fisting his shirt and keeping him anchored to me.

"At least let me take another look," I said, resigning to the fact that no matter how much I attempted to make him stay, he was going to go out there anyway. The least I could do was make sure he went out in the best possible condition.

He stared at me for a moment, his hands holding either side of my face, like he was trying to read me. I felt exposed, no one had ever tried to read me so deeply. It was unnerving...yet...I found that I wanted him to really see me.

Don't be stupid, Jewels. If he really saw us, he'd take our head off here and now.

For a brief second, I feared that he had seen straight through me after all, when he finally pulled me back to him for a kiss before agreeing, "Alright, nurse."

"Well?" Chris questioned, standing shirtless in front of me as I tried hard to focus on what I was meant to be doing.

I glanced up to find him smiling mischievously down at me. Sly prick.

"Well," I said, wetting my lips and continuing, "as long as you're not in any underground fight clubs, you should be good." I replaced the gauze over top of the stitches which were healing nicely, smoothing the tape down to perfection. I was being overly perfect with the dressing; wanting it to hold in place without budging in preparation for whatever it was he and Kate were planning. I was also using it as an excuse to keep touching him...to keep him here for as long as I could possibly stahl him.

"First rule of fight club…" Chris chuckled

"Don't talk about fight club?" I said in understanding. I let it drop, sensing Kate coming up the stairs when she knocked and poked her head in.

"That'll suffice," Kate said, knocking about Chris's room as she tossed a shirt to him over my head and grabbed the duffle Chris had brought out from the closet. I hadn't bothered asking what was in it, I already knew. He had sent me ahead of him but I heard the ice maker. When he came up with a capped thermos of ice and my brother's finger tucked safely inside it, the old 'gotta have my coffee' ruse as he slipped it into the duffle. "We really need to get going." She said with a pointed look to me that said 'don't attempt to keep my brother a moment longer'.

"Well, seeing as I'm not going to be spending this day straddling your lap," I said, rising to my feet and straightening out Chris's shirt, "I'm going to go apply for some jobs." I gave him a quick kiss before pushing past Kate and going down to my room to pass the time.

I waited until I saw the back of Chris's SUV turning at the stop sign before sprinting down the steps and skidding into the kitchen, nearly ripping the door off the cabinet in my anticipation as I started to dig through the garbage. It had to be here!

I dug through disgusting scrapes, all the way to the bottom of the can, and just short of turning it over to dump it's entire contents out onto the counter, I screamed, frustrated.

Kate...or Chris for that matter must have thought better of leaving something possibly incriminating in the garbage. She's onto us, my wolf screamed and I could feel the panic gripping at my insides.

Taking a deep breath I tried to calm my nerves; fighting against my flight or fight reaction. I wanted to pack up and head for the hills, but I also wanted to stay and prove myself. Not just to my family, but to Chris as well. What the fuck I was going to prove to him, I had no fucking idea. That I was in fact a good person that wanted to kill his sister for revenge? Or that werewolves could in fact be good?

I would have to cross that bridge when I came to it. Right now, I just needed to find my brother and get him the hell out of the cross fire before Chris and Kate wiped out whatever werewolf stood in their way.