Seems like the story is reaching and end right?...Wrong! The story isn't over yet, and believe it or not, the biggest shocks have yet to come. Keep in mind that this isn't meant to be supernatural, so there'll be no aliens or ghosts, just a highly advanced wolf with extra power on his side from some genes in his blood, nothing supernatural about that.

Better Than This

Chapter 11

When in the Dark

Hutch kept himself close to the ground as he moved through the forest with Age and Humphrey. He didn't want to be the next wolf to suffer at the paws of Blood or any of his vial traps. After a while and nothing was seen heard or smelt, Age and Humphrey both became extremely suspicious to their surroundings. It was a point where even an Alpha with a reputation like Hutch's, would drop their macho attitude and begin to start worrying.

"So…why haven't we heard anything yet? You said this guy was out here right?" Hutch questioned the minute his worry got kicked on.

"He's out here Hutch, do not let your guard down." Age warned him. If anyone, Age knew Blood's techniques for taking down 'prey'. He waited until they wondered and wandered, then he struck, and by the time they had realized what happened it was far too late.

"Alright Age, if you say so…but I must ask…" Hutch began, and he caught the attention of Age and Humphrey, "What if he breaks that pack law you told me about, and tries to attack Hayley or Humphrey, or maybe even myself, or possibly Kate? What would you do then, what would any of us do then?"

"If he goes within 300 feet of Hayley, I'll…" Age growled stepping closer and closer to Hutch, making him back up, "Grab his tail, rip it off, watch his blood fly, and then I'm grab his neck, bite down so hard that he instantly goes unconscious, and then I'll gut him hanging upside-down, just like he did to Candu." Hutch and Humphrey both had very big eyes at his threat.

"Well at least you didn't threaten to tear his throat out." Humphrey commented with a smile. Age shot him and look, but then he just simply snickered and back off away from Hutch.

"Ha, alright true, I really am not that good at making threats; I use the same one on just about everyone." Age laughed and confessed. But Hutch was right there with statements of reassurance.

"Well truth be told Age, from what I've seen out of you, I'd be very scared of you if you said you'd tear out my throat. And do you know why?" Age shook his head, but Humphrey thought the answer was sort of obvious, "Because I know you're very well capable of tearing someone's throat out, and efficiently too." Hutch explained to him with a smile.

"Thanks Hutch, that's…settling." Age sort of staggered to get out, apparently he thought nothing of his own abilities, for he had them for so long he just did think of them anymore.

It was funny to them all though, for right after the little laugh they shared, both Humphrey and Age both caught wind of a sound in the distance. It sounded like a very softly patted footstep on the rugged terrain. Humphrey and Age's ears twitched in unison, and Age shot his head directly in the direct where they heard it. After Hutch caught on to what was going on, he gave them both a nod, and Age took point and proceeded cautiously in the direction.

"Step with the pads of your feet, it's the quietest you'll be able to move." Age whispered to them. Humphrey already knew this from chasing squirrels and sneaking up on Kate in the snow when they were in Idaho. He had a good understanding of how to sneak up on somebody, and it was coming in handy. Hutch on the other paw was taught in Alpha school to walk on the tips of his paws, it allowed for a quick and a silent step, but in this case, Hutch was obligated to do as he was told, yes, he did find it uncomfortable, but he noticed a huge different in the volume of his step. And the fact that his feet were aligned straight on the ground, he could move even fast than he would on his tips, without the risk of falling.

"Dang Age…" Hutch whispered to him, "This is working great, yeah, it's not the most comfortable way to walk, but I can barely hear my own footsteps, and I can move a lot faster too." He complimented Age. "Perhaps when all this blows over, you should train wolves to be Alphas, we never learned this kind of thing in Alpha School." Hutch was amazed even more by the fact that Humphrey already knew how to walk this way.

"Please, if you've been paying attention, just look at Humphrey. He already figured it out without spending long cold months and serious training, maybe if you want to train better Alphas, you all should loosen up a little." Age proposed to Hutch. He was surely a good Alpha, but these skills were something that Hutch never saw before, it was almost like Age was not only a good hunter, he was also meant to be a teacher.

"Yeah, you'd be surprised how much you learn about this kind of thing when you're playing games. Even when I log sled, it boosted my awareness of my surroundings." Humphrey also explained in a quiet voice as well.

It was all a huge shock to Hutch, Age was the decedent of master hunters and fighters, and Humphrey had the exact same, or almost the same level of talent as Age did by doing nothing except playing ordinary everyday games. Hutch started to rethink the whole system of Alphas, maybe they should change the way they're trained, and try to have some fun, with it. Being washed up and to concerned with responsibility could lead to bad things, as the pack had seen with Lily and Garth.

After that, the three prowled their way silently through the undergrowth and made their way towards the sound. Age and Humphrey lost the sound after they swore they got closer to it, and it started to concern them. "Where did it go? I just heard it!" Humphrey said at a normal talking volume, he wasn't worried about Blood finding them anymore. Age tried sniffing the air, and he caught the scent of blood, and it was very nearby, and when he turned around, Hutch was on the ground, bleeding out of his neck.

"Hutch, oh no, Hutch, are you okay? Come buddy, stay with us!" Age cried to Hutch, and Humphrey ran over and looked at the body; Age shook the body and Hutch opened his eyes and groaned.

"Oh man, that hurt like hell!" Hutch said with a smile and sat up, blood still trickling from the bite mark on his neck.

"What happened?" Humphrey asked.

"Well, I turned around because I caught the scent of a foreign substance, and then I felt a set of jaws clamp down on my neck. It was piercing my vocal cord, so I couldn't scream, after that, whatever it was just let go and took off, I fell, but it's not as bad on the inside as it looks on the outside." Hutch explained and rubbed his neck, causing blood to get on his paw.

"I bet I know who did this…" Humphrey said and sneered into the bush behind them. Age heard a footstep behind them, and the sound of liquid dropping and splashing, it was only a single drop, but he still heard it. Age snarled at it and spoke to the wolf behind him without turning around.

"You did this…didn't you?" Age said and then spun around, and oh and behold, Blood was there, sitting in a very innocent doggy position. Blood grinned slightly and nodded his head as Hutch and Humphrey turned around and saw him. Hutch stepped up and sat next to Age.

"You must be the infamous Blood I've heard about. I guess I have you to thank for the neck bite?" He said sarcastically. Blood just snickered and laughed out loud,

"Of course, I could've gone harder. I didn't though; I'm not allowed to kill anyone close to your friend here. He and I are of the same pack; therefore we can't hurt one another, that'd be breaking pack laws." Blood explained. But Age exploded onto the blood wolf for the last time, and this time, he wasn't the only wolf who had it.

"THAT'S IT! I DON'T CARE ABOUT PACK LAWS ANYMORE! FIGHT AND FACE ME YOU FUCKING COWARD!" Age screamed and lunged at Blood with everything he had.

Since Blood had the same DNA and prowess as Age, time slowed down for them both. Blood saw through Age's strike and twisted himself out of the way by flipping backwards and landing on his hind legs. After Age landed on the ground he charged and side stepped to try and fake out Blood, but Blood saw the ground alight went he was about to step, letting him turn and ricocheted (I went through a lot of crap to figure out how to spell that word!) off of a nearby tree. Age turned around saw Blood, but he looked different, in fact, he was actually smiling, and laughing. But he did let it faze him and he charged Blood once more, but this time, time didn't slow down, his senses wouldn't let him see what Blood would do, and before he knew it, Blood's teeth were sinking into his back, and he was thrown several meters away and landed on his head. He didn't move, he was knocked out cold, Blood only grinned, and then one of his eyes, as he looked back at Hutch and Humphrey who were now feeling considerable amounts of terror, they watched as one eye of Blood's changed from the light aqua blue color they both were, to the one on his left turn into a bright and penetrating orange color. Humphrey and Hutch stepped back at the sight and then, Blood's muscles grew bigger, and he increased by a small amount in size. He walked right up to them, but they refuse to move or show they were scared.

"He's crossed pack lines by attacking me…the ancestors have ceased his power and have given it to me. Let his injury serve as a warning to all…for now I shall not hold back. I'll kill everyone important to him, and I do mean everyone, and to start…" Blood's voice changed, it echoed with a very demonic sound to the sky and through the trees, Blood turned around and walked off, reaching into and another bush and sinking his teeth into the ears of six wolves head, he tossed them right in front of Hutch and Humphrey who backed up in fear. Hutch held his breath in disgust and looked at Blood, "From now on…be afraid of the dark…" He claimed and ran off into the woods. As soon as he ran off, Humphrey noticed that it was almost nighttime, the sun was almost gone from the sky, and Age was out cold on the ground will a waterfall of blood leaking from his back. Humphrey ran over to him while Hutch took a moment to look over the heads thrown at them. After he dropped his head, in sorrow, he walked over to Humphrey, and Age didn't look so good.

"From what I can tell, all Blood did was bite a major vain in his back, the blood loss knocked him out, but the fall on his head probably helped out too. In short, it's not as bad as it looks." Humphrey explained in relief to Hutch.

"Yeah well, we have a problem…" Humphrey looked at Hutch in anticipation while he worked Age onto his back. "Those six heads Blood just threw at us…those are the six heads of the other two patrols who went out looking for him. Looks like they found him, but the bad part is, all the heads were severed clean from their bodies it looks like. Blood must've set up more traps, and now he's got Age's skills as well as his own." Hutch was now in a panic state, but his Alpha pride kept it in.

"I'm not scared, the minute Age wakes up, we'll find him and hunt him down. For now though, let's just get Age back to our den. I'm Kate and Hayley will be glad to see the two of us." Humphrey decreed and walked off with Hutch, carrying the unconscious Age on his back.

Age lost his pure bred wolf attributes? That's not a good thing, this means that Blood can pretty much strike anywhere he wants at any time. And with Age's genes transferred to Blood because he broke pack laws, now you'd think there's no one who can stop him, and who is Blood? There's no way that's his real name!

Also, will some please tell me if they knew how to spell ricochet before this? I had to go to , an online Thesaurus, and voice check it on my phone! Some please tell me I'm not the only one, let me know in your review or through a PM. Thanks and the story isn't over yet!