I think the only thing I have to say at this point is…watch out everyone. This might get a little gory…

Better Than This

Chapter 7

Toxic Emotions

Humphrey was walking along with Kate; it was like there was nothing going on in the park right now. No murders, no killing, no innocent blood shed, not a care in the whole world between the two of them. Humphrey was still in the dark as to recent events, like Age being his cousin, but his mind was completely on something else. He wanted to show Kate a very special place to him, and place that would have great importance to their lives as mates, once they became mates of course.

"Can you please tell me where we're going Humphrey? I know you want it to be a surprise, but with everything that's going on right now, I don't think I can take the tension." Kate told Humphrey, in no way was she trying to be pushy, but the thought of a wolf running around and killing everyone scared her.

"Don't worry Kate, I promise I soon as I show you, we'll be right back on our home. But believe me, this is something I have to show you…ooh, we're here, close your eyes!" Humphrey insisted, and she smiled slightly and closed her amber brown eyes.

Kate felt the ground beneath her change from a rough, earthy feel, to a smooth, crevassed rock feel. The light that Kate could see through her eye lids also changed to a much darker setting. "Okay…open them…" Humphrey said to Kate in a whisper. She slowly opened her eyes, and when she looked around, she was standing, not in a den, but in a small cave. There were stalactites hanging overhead and there was a small trickle of water dripping from a crack in the top of the cave. Even though Kate wasn't expecting this, she was still immensely blown away.

"Humphrey…how'd…how did you…?" Her question was quickly answered.

"I searched forever I'll say that. This'll be our home Kate, after we become mates, I wanted to move here and make this our den. It's big enough for the two of us that's for sure; I think it'll be able to support us." Humphrey breathed.

"And then some…" Kate spoke out, a small echo bouncing off the walls of the cave.

"What, and then some? What do you mean by that?" Humphrey should've known, but Kate didn't mind. Nothing could've spoiled her mood right now, not even the thought of her sister being in a coma.

"Humphrey…puppies; this place is big enough for us and the puppies." She said softly and turned around and looked right at him, his eyes were wide, but he was still excited.

"You want to have puppies? With me, of anyone, me?" He asked her and smiled with tears welling in his eyes.

"Yes Humphrey, you couldn't have chosen a better place, I love it, it's perfect…and so are you, thank you." Kate whispered to Humphrey and kissed him on the lips, causing him to blush, wag his tail, and pull her into a hug. "I love you Humphrey… and I can't wait." Kate confessed with a smile.

"I love you too Kate, and believe me, I'm pretty excited too." Humphrey mumbled out onto her back, and then embraced her even tighter. The moment was beautiful to them, it was one of the moments that defined their future together as mates, but all good moments come to an end.

The whole time they walked to their future den, and shared their tender moment, a very sly set of glowing yellow eyes watched them from the shadows of the late afternoon brushes and tree shades. The villain let out a small chuckle and pleased himself with this information. "Now I know who to target, after I'm done with the insignificant one." Blood gurgled to himself and stole himself away, hiding for the time being.

Over in another part of Jasper, Age was asking around as to what the most romantic spots in the park were. Most of the answers he got were something along the lines of "What are you nuts?" or "How can you think about that when there's a killer on the loose?", something in that particular family. But in a general sense he was told of a few spots where wolf couples went on dates and got married. Places like the canyon below, the lake that the stream flowed into, and the howling rock in the center or Jasper. But Age was told by and old wolf about a remote place known as Lone Rock. It was a small out-cropping of stones and stags in which when positioned on the perfect night, made the moon look so much bigger, and the rocks warmed up. It seemed like the perfect place for a first date Age thought, so after he made up his mind about it, he ran off to find Hayley. It wasn't long however, before Blood's threat of one wolf a day came true. On his way passing through the stream that used to border the territories, he knelt down to take a quick drink and he heard a twig snap. His head shot right up, and he looked around, easily pin pointing where it came from.

"Who's there, who are you, why are you here?" He asked his surrounding, but no response except a growling noise from within the darkness. The sun was beginning to go down, and the colors made a streak of red on the horizon line, this made a fire burn inside Age, he somehow knew that Blood was up to something. "Blood…where are you? Who do you have, let them go!" Age yelled into the woods.

"Come out, come out and play…I'm only…scratching the surface…" A maniacal laugh echoed through the area and Age sprinted in the direction it came from. The evil voice was definitely Blood's, but who he had worried Age, and he dreaded to think of what he meant by 'scratching the surface'.

It wasn't a whimper that drove Age to turn around once he was deep in the forest; it was fear, welling from within him. He turned around and looked up, and he saw Candu, dangling from a branch trap about ten feet in the air. He was wrangling to get out of it, he had two huge claw marks running down his stomach, and now Age knew what Blood meant by, scratching the surface. Candu was starting to panic because he thought the approaching wolf was Blood, but he saw it was Age, and to a degree, calmed down.

"Oh Age…boy am I glad to finally meet you. I hear good things about you, but can you please get me out of this, that psycho could be back any second." Candu hurried Age along.

"Actually I never went anywhere…" It was Blood, turning a corner from around a tree, lowering Candu down to about five feet from the ground, out of clawing distance.

After Blood sat next to the lowered Candu, Age growled at him in an angry way, this time he was going for blood. "Cut him loose Blood…" Age commanded, but Blood smiled, and nodded.

"Alright, as you wish…" That wasn't what Age meant, Blood jumped in an arch across the front facing Candu, and a ripping noise was heard. Age looked away, and he heard Blood's voice echo around him as the devil wolf ran away, "Each more excruciating than the last…" And it was heard no more. Just to be sure, Age looked at Candu, and he was spinning around now only by one of his legs caught in the branch that held him off the ground. It was a relief to Age as he ran up to him, and tried to help him out.

"Candu, are you alright?" He asked the hanging Alpha.

"Actually…yes; that was really weird, I could've sworn he was going to kill me. Now, how do I…" Candu stopped in the middle of his sentence, and his head fell down, blood began collecting in his mouth and it fell out like a waterfall.

Age looked away in disgust, Candu was dead, no question. Blood continued to pour from Candu's mouth, but Age was wondering why that wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, but he thought wrong. As soon as the puddle of blood touched the front of his fore paws, while the dead body was hanging lifelessly by one paw, a noise, like something was being torn in half crept its way up his spine. Candu was held up by one of his back paws, and the fact that he was being held upside down by only this paw didn't help with gravity pulling every quart of blood from his body down and empting out of the mouth. As the body spun back around, the two cuts Age saw earlier had deepened, and Age saw the area by his groin slowly being to tear in half.

He heard the sound of Candu's tendons ripping in half from his lower stomach up to his neck, and for reason he didn't know he watched it too. The movement of the rip was like a zipper, starting at the top and moving down leaking more blood and causing his organs to fall out one by one as his chest and stomach was exposed and tore open. Candu's stomach fell to the ground with a splat, making a squishing noise as it hit, then the lungs came, still full of Candu's last breath. It landed next to Age, it rose and then retracted into a shrived up form. The heart bounced once and rolled to Age's paws, which he was now sitting down, his paws, legs, tail, and rear stained with the blood of the wolf he failed to save. It was nothing short of a mess; blood leaking out and flowing meters in every direction, the area under and around the emptied corpse scattered with what used to be inside of him.

Ashamed and horrified at the same time, Age picked up Candu's heart in his mouth and got up and began to walk to the head den. As he walked, the blood that stained his tail, paws, legs, and rear either dripped off or became encrusted on his fur. By the time he arrived to a place where wolves could see him, they gasped and shook, backing away as fast as possible. Age thought nothing, except for the disappointment that was dragging him down. Before he walked into the main den, Hayley was there waiting for him. She dropped her jaw at her blood encrusted friend, carrying the fresh heart in his maw; Age didn't say anything, all he did was give her a look that spoke 'I'm sorry, I failed' and walked in the main den.

Winston and Eve were talking to Garth who was still watching over Lily when he walked in. Winston turned around and saw Age, Eve fainted and Garth said nothing. Age laid Candu's heart down and looked back at the bloody paw prints he made walking into the den, and then back at Winston, who gave him a stern look.

"Sir…" Age started, "Candu, he's dead. He was victim one of the killer's threat, I could've save him. I tried, but I failed." Hayley looked in and then walked in and leaned against Age, his head fell, but Winston seemed to remain strong.

"Each worse than the last you said?" Winston asked, and Age nodded his head. "Well then…go on that stupid date boy, and save our pack…for now anyway." And he walked out, but Age was still staring down at the heart, and his red paws and legs.

"Age…" Hayley spoke, "You tried, and you lived, that's it. That's all we can do, is to try." Hayley said and then turned to go.

"We're going to Lone Rock for our date, I've decided." He whimpered over his shoulder. She turned to him and smiled.

"Be there at sundown, I can't wait." Hayley told him the time, and then she walked off trying to sound excited, but far too shaken by what she just saw.

Shortly after, Humphrey and Kate walked in following the trail of bloody prints, and when they saw it led to Age, Humphrey was the one who spoke first. "Did the killer do this?" He said after he noticed the heart on the den floor. Age nodded to Humphrey, "Well…then this has to stop, when you go for your test, tell them I want to be tested to be an Alpha. This way I can join the hunt to find this guy, and we can live safely." Humphrey stated proudly, Age had a strike for him,

"You're my cousin you know?" Age said between snorts for sucking in tears.

"What…?" Humphrey asked in a suddenly shocked, yet sarcastic voice.

"Winston did some snooping around, and apparently you're my cousin." Age told him, Humphrey just smiled.

"Well then it seems you'll get to stay with me for a few days, until Kate and I are married." Humphrey said to Age and then looked at Kate, which she blushed to. "I'll find some space in my den." He said and walked out with Kate. Garth just shook his head when he looked at Age and turned around, shunning him. Age went to sleep that night in Humphrey's den without washing away the blood; he wore it as a reminder of what happens if you're not strong enough. Blood appeared in Age's dreams that night, and he remember exactly what Blood told him when he woke up in the middle of the night, sweating and panting.

Your feelings for her are poisonous you know. They'll hurt everyone around you, toxic waste harming the innocent…

Well that was…nice. At least now we can finally get to Age's date, I know I've long been expecting it! Okay, fine, this will be solved sooner or later, but Blood hasn't gone too far yet.