"Well he certainly didn't know much more than you did, Berwald." Lukas sighed, settling into the chair that he had been sitting in previously. Allistor and Tino had fallen asleep by the fireplace in the most unconventional of positions.

"That he didn't. I'm surprised he didn't go for the texts or something to help more. But it is so early in the morning, I feel we should have waited a bit."

"Mmh." Berwald nodded.

"Maybe we should ask later." Lukas suggested with a shrug. "Or I could go and ask to have a look."

"That sounds splendid." Arthur nodded. "I do wish to know what he meant by 'they are converters'. I'm worried about Matthias here… and Matthew… and…"

"Alfred." Lukas nodded. Berwald nodded from next to them.

"Bullocks! I wish Vladimir was awake to help with this- and Allistor was in his right mind." He groaned, glancing over at the screwy head duo.

"Tino too." Berwald sighed.

"Yes… well. We had better get to doing what we need to keep everyone's heads up!" Arthur said, smacking his hands on his knees as he stood. "With Alfred gone, we need to take the lead until Matthew wakes up. Keep the guard duty going and make sure no one else gets hurt."

"But if Alfred and Matthew couldn't fight them…"

"I refuse to let anything distract us from our jobs." Arthur inserted before Lukas could finish. "We are the stubbornly bull-headed town of Nashville. We will not let this get in our way." He said with a huff. "I'll let you know when Matthew wakes up. In the meantime, get!"

"You've been around Alfred too much, Arthur." Lukas laughed.

"Shut up." Arthur huffed, going to mix herbs and find bandages. "I haven't so."

Half the day passed, and in the end the three had decided to save themselves the trouble and tell people who asked the truth: Alfred had gone missing after the attack the night before. Matthew was here, but until he woke up, Arthur was, for all intents and purposes, in charge.

"How does Alfred do it every day?" Arthur sighed, leaning against his door. He had already by that afternoon, met with the mayor over some patrolling details, helped solve a problem with the food stock at the local rest, checked up with the Nords to make sure all was going well, made sure Matthew and Matthias were alright, helped build a new stable for the horses, and re-organized the patrol schedule for the able-bodied men to go on during the nights. He had also helped with some of the trading route problems that had arisen from the 'wolf problem' going on outside the gates.

Speaking of which, he was on the second watch along with- a shiver at the thought- Francis. He hated the thought of being stuck outside with him for hours…. But he supposed he had no choice, he was the only one that didn't have a partner at the ready. So…

Well then.

Arthur sighed as he went to check on the repairs that were being done to the gate. Where Vladimir (who had told him the night before what had happened to the gate) had been slammed against the side of it, the boards had held up relatively well. But without Matthias and Berwald running the show, the work was taking a little longer than what he liked. He had insisted that Berwald not do much of the work, but he did let him direct the others in what they were doing so that he knew it was sound. He found himself unable to trust anyone with the woodwork as much as he did Berwald and Tino, so it was left to him to keep an eye on the happenings there.

Tino, speak of the devil, was following Berwald around like a lost puppy, and Arthur had decided that it was for the best, the poor man had hit his head so hard that he wasn't sure of where he was or who anyone other than himself and Berwald were.

Peter had opted to take care of Allistor, and was doing rather well from what Arthur could tell. His rowdy brother hadn't been seen outside of the small house that served as the doctor's home. So that was good.

Arthur walked slowly back to his home, intent on getting at least a bit of shut eye before he had to go on patrol later that night. Sadiq and Heracles had volunteered to take first watch, so that was a good two hour break for him.

"Bloody hell, how does Alfred keep his energy up like this every day?" he groaned, opening his door with a sigh. Allistor was laying on the ground, peter patting his back as if in comfort. Vladimir hadn't moved at all, which was almost unsettling to the Brit.

"Peter, how are things?" he inquired. "Looks like everything is in one piece, so that's good."

"Yes! I've made sure of it!" Peter said with a grin, looking up with a grin and a thumbs-up. "Had to keep him from smashing all of your eggs though."

"What? Why?" Arthur asked, sitting down at the table, making sure not to kick the sleeping Vampire beneath it.

"He thought it would ward off demons." Peter shrugged. "I don't know what that means, so I made sure he didn't."

'Well thank heaven, Salt is the only thing that would work for that. And Salt is far too expensive to waste like that.' Arthur mused silently. "Thank you for that. He seems to have been a handful." Standing, he reached into his pockets and pulled out a few coins. "Thank you. Has your uncle moved at all?"

"Yeah- it was really weird. It was kind of like he was whining… like a puppy or something. That's when Allistor started thinking eggs would ward off Demons or something." Peter shrugged, taking the coins willingly. He looked over into the next room at his uncle, a look of worry and loss coating his face as he did. "Do you think he'll be okay?"

"Of course lad. He's just resting to heal up his wounds so that he can go back to being an odd stick all over again." Arthur assured the boy.

"I hope so." Peter mumbled slowly. "Well, take care, Arthur!"

"You as well, Peter. Keep your crazy family out of more trouble."

"I'll try!" Peter said cheerfully as he went out the front door. Arthur watched him go with a sinking heart. He turned to Allistor, who hadn't moved from his spot at all.

"Allistor… wake up you. Allistor." He shook his brother's shoulder gently, trying to rouse the man. "Allistoooor."

The Scot sat up with a start, nearly whacking heads with his brother, who dodged just in time.

"No one attacks the great Allistor in his sleep! There'll be-!" Arthur covered his mouth before he could shout more and dodged the wild fists that the red head was putting out.

"Allistor, it's just me." He sighed, looking into his brother's similar green eyes. Allistor seemed to recognize him after a moment and called down, the wildly afraid look in his eye dying down instantly. He slumped backwards and panted for breath.

"Scared the willies out o' me." Allistor said with a groan, carding his hand through his red locks. "My head's still fallin' off."

"I think you mean just off." Arthur said with a small smile, offering his assistance to his older brother to stand. Allistor accepted and let his younger brother grasp him from under his upper arm and heave him up to his feet.

"Allistor, what had you in such a panic with Peter earlier?" Arthur asked, hoping that Allistor remembered. "Did you remember something that could help?"

"Hell hounds, we're dealing with hell hounds, right? Hell hounds?" Allistor knew what he was talking about- or at least he was in his right mind judging by his eyes. But his formations of words- he was struggling horribly in trying to collect all of those thoughts together and forming sentences.

"Yes, we're dealing with Hell hounds." Arthur nodded, looking his older brother in the eye. "What of it, Allistor? What about the Hell hounds?"

"Bite, don't get a bite. Matthias bite?" Allistor grasped Arthur by his shoulders and shook him lightly, also seeming to use him as a support. "Bite Matthias they?"

Arthur took a moment to gather his thoughts, trying to put Allistor's words into coherent sentences.

"I don't know, I have to change his bandages however. I can look." Allistor nodded in understanding. Arthur helped him to sit down on his bed and went to Matthias.

Changing the bandages took slightly longer than usual. That was only because Arthur was making sure that none of the blonde's wounds were caused by bites. Luckily so far, most of them were healing well and looked only like claw marks, easily identified by the four parallel lines running up and down his body. He would have horrible scars when this was all over.

"I don't see any bite mark-oh." Arthur cut himself off as he unwrapped the bandages around Matthias's upper arm. The distanced crescent of a bite mark practically screamed out to him. It was the least healed thing so far, and if Arthur had not been looking for it, he never would have seen it past all of the gash marks that surrounded and covered it.

"Not good." Allistor said, coming up behind his brother. He looked out the doorway, that was opened to let in the cooler air, and out at the setting sun. "Wha's the moon tonight?"

"Full." Arthur said, subconsciously backing away from Matthias and putting an arm over Allistor's waist to hold him back or to protect him, he wasn't sure.

"Oh no."

Both brothers watched the sun sink behind the horizon, a feeling of horrible dread filling them.

Matthias's blue eyes snapped open.

Dark. That's really all it was, and for some reason, cold.

No really, it was super cold. But it shouldn't have been! Matthew hadn't felt cold in five years- since he had fought ice monsters in freezing weather. The dread in his gut seemed to grow increasingly as he fought for consciousness.

Why?

Alfred! Wait! What had happened before, they had been fighting… right? Yes- even in their rider forms. But whatever it was they were fighting had not been affected by their flames! What was it? Did he know? No- it had dropped Alfred when he had caught fire in his hand hadn't it? Yes… but after that it had been fine! It even threw Vladimir across the clearing with a punch!

Where was he now? Alfred- what had happened to Alfred? He remembered some… Looking up from where he had been knocked to the ground and then reaching out to grasp his brother's outstretched hand… and then nothing. Alfred was gone.

It was still dark, and still cold… but Matthew could hear something now… yelling? Or was that screaming? Screaming, it was definitely screaming.

Wake up Matthew. Wake up wake up wake up wakeupwakeupwakeup… Matthew scolded himself, he bashed his own laziness as if he were his brother in the early morning. The early mornings where nothing Alfred said was coherent… it only lasted a few minutes after waking up, so if Alfred could wake up, so could Matthew.

WAKE UP!

Matthew's eyes snapped open and he let out a pained gasp. He looked around, still feeling cold. He was in… Arthur's clinic? Yes, and the sun wasn't coming in from the doorway… which was opened. But where was the yelling coming from?

He turned his head lethargically to the side, making it crack and him groan at the pain that came with the movement. He felt sore and cold everywhere still and he was determined to force his body to do what it probably shouldn't be so soon after waking.

But all soreness and cold was pushed aside as he saw Allistor and Arthur standing defensively in the corner, seeming to be trying to back away from something on the other side of the room. Matthew sat upright instantly, regretting the decision as soon as he felt the pain shoot up through his upper torso. But he ignored that and turned to look at the spectical.

It was Matthias. He was crouching on the ground, and it looked as if he had fallen off of his cot in his struggles to fight pain. He was the one screaming, his worn voice crying wearily for help.

"What's going on?" Matthew cried, leaping off of his cot and in front of the brothers. "What's happening to him?"

"I don't know!" Arthur cried. "Allistor does, but he can't form a coherent statement!"

"Ugh…" Another voice came from… under the table? Matthew looked over to see Vladimir sitting up under the table, having hit his head on the underside of it.

"Vladimir? What's going on?"

"What a way to wake up… Oh no- did he get bitten by the Hell-hound? Why did no one tell me?"

"TELL US WHY THAT'S BAD IF YOU WOULD." Arthur said with as much force as he could. "WHAT DOES BEING BITTEN DO?"

"YOU GET TURNED INTO A WOLF." Vladimir said with a roar. "And not a werewolf- just a wolf! With human thought and all that- but a big, giant menacing wolf that will turn you if you get bitten by it!"

"What?!" all three men cried.

Suddenly the screams from Matthias had stopped. All four men looked over to where he had been and gasped in horror.

Because lying in the place of their blonde friend, was a giant, blonde, wolf.

"Well this isn't good." Matthew sighed heavily, putting his face in his hands.

Heya guys! hows it going wherewasIforaweekortwo I had a LOT of homework going on, so please forgive author! She is very sorry.

Anyhow! Tell me what you think! Drop a review and have an awesome day!