Hey Guys!

Unfortunately for me, but luckily for you, I'm sick and couldn't sleep last night, so I finished this chapter. Enjoy!

A loud scream shot through the empty streets of the town. Millie Rose was running from house to house, shouting her only child's name. Ryder Lynn's body had been found earlier that morning and from his injuries it was clear that he had been the victim of the beast. From what the folks could get out of Millie's desperate words, Marley had been with Ryder the previous night and the girl hadn't gotten home since then. And it could only mean one thing: the beast had caught Marley as well.

Most of the people were standing in front of their houses, watching the men carrying Ryder's body. It was horrible to see every time they found another member of the society dead and when the beast caught kids like Ryder or Marley, it felt even worse. Ryder was brought into the sheriff's office where his parents were waiting for him to say goodbye to their beloved son. The others stayed on the streets, though, where Millie continued her pointless search for her daughter.

Millie, from all the people, didn't deserve this fate. She was a nice lady who raised her child on her own, from barely enough money but she worked a lot to give Marley everything she needed. Everybody knew that they were poor and the children at school made fun of them a lot of times but Marley loved her mother with all of her heart and tried to make her forget about their desperate state. They always helped people in need and Millie's desperation broke the others' hearts. People went out onto the streets, mothers walked up to Millie to give her support but it was all needless. What Millie needed, nobody could give her.

"Marley!" Millie shouted again.

Jake Puckerman squeezed his mother's hand and they walked to Millie together.

"Mrs. Rose, I..."

"Have you seen Marley?" the woman asked hopefully.

Jake swallowed and looked down. Marley had left with Ryder the previous day and he hadn't been the only one who had seen them walking towards the forest.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs Rose" he said.

"No! NO, Marley's fine! She has to be somewhere here" Millie said and ran to the next house. "Have you seen Marley?"

But nobody had seen Marley since the previous day. They all knew that Marley wasn't coming back, the monster had taken her like Kurt Hummel and so many others in the past fifty years. Millie knew it as well but she was a mother and she loved her child more than anybody else. She wasn't ready to give up, not until they found the dead body of her daughter.

~ o ~

Blaine had caught another human the previous night. It had been obvious from the second he had dragged the poor girl through the front door. Kurt couldn't see anything, he had walked to his door when he had heard the girl screaming but to his surprise, his door had been locked once again. The house was surely a weird place.

Kurt couldn't sleep after that. He was afraid that Blaine would kill the girl that night and he would be forced to listen to everything like it had happened with Quinn. But the house went silent again and nothing happened until after sunrise.

When Blaine came into his room, he seemed healthy and happy again. He was humming as he made his way to Kurt's bed and he seemed a little disappointed that the boy was awake.

"I thought you were still asleep" Blaine explained.

"I heard everything last night" Kurt said. "Where's she?"

"Why do you care?" Blaine asked with a raised eyebrow. Kurt kept his eyes on him, so Blaine gave up after a minute and motioned towards the door. "She's downstairs."

"You locked her up in the cage?" Kurt asked in horror.

"Of course" Blaine shrugged.

Kurt groaned and went to the door but before he could leave, Blaine caught his arm and pushed him to the wall.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"You left that poor girl in the dark all alone. Do you have any idea how horrible that place is?" Kurt asked.

"Since my father used to lock me up down there, yes, I know" Blaine rolled his eyes.

"And you still do it to others" Kurt said and shook his head.

"You have no right to judge me" Blaine said.

"Fine, we've been through this a million times, so let's skip the 'poor Blaine' story. I want you to let her out" Kurt said confidently.

"Is that an order?" Blaine asked, amused. "As I recall, I'm the lord and you're just a prisoner in this house."

"Blaine, please" Kurt said tiredly. "Just let me talk to her. She must be so afraid."

Blaine didn't say anything for a whole minute but then he released Kurt and took a step back.

"Here" he said and dropped a key into Kurt's hand.

Kurt nodded and rushed out of the room. Finding the room where he had been kept locked up wasn't hard but as he stepped inside, the girl inside of the cage shrieked and pushed herself away from the cage's door.

"Who-who are you? What do you want from me?" the girl asked.

As Kurt stepped forward, he recognized the girl sitting in the cage. It was Marley, Millie Rose's kind daughter. She was younger than him but Kurt knew her and her mother pretty well. His father and Carole had collected them food and clothes several times because they were too poor to buy them for themselves.

"Marley, it's me. Kurt" Kurt said quietly.

"Kurt?" Marley whispered when she finally saw Kurt's face. She let out a loud sob and jumped to the other side of the cage. "You're... You're alive!"

"I am" Kurt nodded and knelt down in front of the cage. He pushed the key into the lock and opened the door in no time. Marley climbed out and threw her arms around Kurt.

"Hey, it's alright" Kurt said.

"There was a man... he-he killed Ryder!" Marley sobbed.

"I know" Kurt sighed sadly.

"Is he out there?" Marley asked in fear, pointing towards the door.

"He is" Kurt nodded.

"He's gonna kill us!" Marley said hysterically.

"He won't" Kurt said but wasn't sure if his words were true.

"My-my mother... she must be so worried" Marley said.

Kurt took a deep breath and forced himself not to think about his own father. Marley wasn't the only one who was worried about her family.

"It's gonna be alright" Kurt said again.

Marley screamed and pulled away from him so fast that she hit her head into the cage behind them. Her eyes were wide with horror as she looked towards the door. Kurt turned away and shook his head slowly as Blaine entered the room. He had hoped that Blaine would leave them alone for a while.

"So who do we have here?" Blaine asked and took another step closer. Marley was shaking so hard that she couldn't stand on her feet. "Do you know her, Kurt?"

"Blaine, leave her alone" Kurt said and snapped Blaine's hand away when he reached out for Marley. "She's scared."

"And she has every right to be scared of me" Blaine smiled, showing his sharp teeth.

Kurt knew what Blaine was doing. The demon inside of him liked torturing his victims and making them believe that they would be dead soon. But Blaine hadn't killed Kurt, so Marley had a chance that she would survive as well.

Don't be stupid, a voice said in Kurt's head. He killed Quinn and Ryder.

But he left me alive, Kurt reasoned with himself.

"You" Blaine pointed at Marley and the girl started crying again. "Stop this. You're giving me a headache."

"Please, let me go" Marley whispered. "I won't tell. Please."

"I know, I know. You always say the same, it's boring" Blaine rolled his eyes.

"Blaine" Kurt whispered pleadingly.

"Fine. You two, let's go upstairs. I'm hungry" Blaine said and walked out of the room without making sure the others followed him. He knew that they would follow him, they didn't have a choice.

~ o ~

Millie Rose had been through a lot in her life. She had been living with Marley's drunken father for more than seven years, she had gone through the pregnancy all alone when her husband had left her, and she had raised her daughter all alone from barely enough money to feed her. But Millie had never complained. She had had a beautiful, happy daughter and that had been everything she needed.

But her sweet Marley had been taken away from her and it was impossible to get her back in her life. She knew what happened to the people who was caught by the beast. None of them made it out of the forest, not alive. When she had seen other parents losing their children, she had felt bad for them but she had accepted the happenings. Now that her daughter was missing, she couldn't even think about Marley's death. Her daughter hadn't been found yet, so it had to mean that she was still alive. She had to believe in it, or else she would give up as well. Marley was the only person who kept her alive, she was nothing without her.

There was a soft knock on the door and Millie jumped up from the bed immediately. She opened the door, hoping that she would see her daughter again...

"Marley?"

But the person standing in front of her wasn't Marley. It was Burt Hummel.

"May I come in?" Burt asked.

"Of course" Millie said sadly. She sighed, walked back to the bed, slowly and limping as if she had grown a lot older since morning, and sat down. Burt followed her and sat down beside the woman.

"Still no sign?" Burt asked after a while.

"No" Millie sighed. "Every time I hear a sound, I look outside, hoping that she would come back but..."

Millie buried her face into her hands and started crying.

"Why is this happening to me?" she cried.

"I don't know" Burt answered. "But you can't give up, not until they find her."

"How can you stay so strong?" Millie asked.

Burt smiled sadly. He wasn't strong at all. He had tried to kill himself, he had tried to go after Kurt several times. The only reason he was still alive was that Carole or Finn watched him all day and made sure he didn't do anything stupid.

"We have to hope that they are strong enough to survive. There's nothing else we can do" Burt answered.

"You believe that your son's still alive? Is that why he didn't have a funeral?" Millie asked.

"I'm not ready to give up" Burt answered. "I'm still waiting for him to come home, sometimes it's like I hear his voice. I guess I'm getting crazy."

Millie stopped crying and looked at the man beside her. Burt looked broken and older than he was, he wasn't even close to the man she had known.

"So that's our fate" Millie said quietly. "We don't even have the chance to say goodbye to our children. We're left in uncertainly and have to live our lives without knowing what happened to them."

"We can't be sure they won't come home one day" Burt said.

"Nobody comes back from the beast's victims" Millie pointed out.

Burt pressed his eyes closed. He didn't want to think about the possibility that Kurt wouldn't come home. The only thing that kept him alive was hope.

"I'm gonna go after her" Millie decided and stood up. Burt caught her arm and shook his head.

"You can't do that. What would Marley think if you get killed by the beast?" Burt asked.

"I don't care!" Millie shouted and started crying again. "I have nobody else to live for."

"You aren't alone" Burt said gently. "I'm here if you need somebody to talk to."

"I need my daughter" Millie sobbed.

Burt put his arms around the woman, trying to comfort her. They were in the same boat, nobody else could understand the pain they felt but the two of them. Burt was getting used to the constant pain in his chest and he decided to get Millie Rose through her grief as well.

~ o ~

Blaine was surprisingly calm and gentle that day. Once they went upstairs, he ordered Kurt and Marley to make him breakfast but didn't hurt any of them. It was probably because Marley's hysterical state. The girl couldn't stop crying and when Blaine ordered them to sit down while he was eating breakfast, Marley hid into the corner of the room, begging for Blaine to let her go. Kurt went to help her again but Blaine didn't let him step between them this time, he forced Kurt to sit down and tied him to the chair as he had done several times and dragged Marley out of the room. Kurt was afraid that Blaine would kill her but the man came back a few minutes later and the boy didn't see blood on his skin or clothes. Blaine sat down beside Kurt and started eating.

"Where's she?" Kurt asked.

"Back in the cage" Blaine answered but didn't look up from his food.

"She's scared, Blaine. If I could just..."

"Stop" Blaine groaned. "If she doesn't learn how to behave herself, she has to go."

"You mean if she won't be your puppet, you will kill her?" Kurt asked in disbelief.

"You've been here for over a month. You know how things work" Blaine said.

Over a month... It was a lot of time. Kurt hadn't even realised how fast the days had passed. But Blaine had done a great job to keep him busy while living in his house. Kurt rarely had a peaceful moment for himself, especially since he had found out about the mystery of the house.

"You know her" Blaine said after a few minutes.

"Yes" Kurt replied, even if it wasn't a question.

"Tell me about her" Blaine said.

Kurt frowned. From what Kurt knew about Blaine, he didn't care about his victims. Maybe this time he had other plans. Maybe he didn't want to kill Marley, he wanted to keep her here like Kurt. Did he ask for informations about the girl to decide her fate?

"We went to the same school" Kurt started. "She's younger than me but I know her and her mother pretty well."

"A friend?" Blaine asked.

"Not really" Kurt answered honestly. "She doesn't have a father, she lives alone with her mother."

"Lived" Blaine corrected him.

Kurt took a deep breath and didn't reply.

"Marley and her mother are very poor. Her mother works a lot but it still isn't enough for them. They're good people, the whole town loves them. My father and my stepmother helps them occasionally with food and clothes" Kurt explained.

"Hm, interesting" Blaine said. "Lima's full of sweet, kind-hearted people now. You know, it's hard to believe since it was the most sinful place in my time."

"What do you mean?" Kurt frowned.

"You're lying" Blaine hissed. "You want me to believe that your Marley's an innocent. But she isn't. She's just like the rest of them."

"Why do you hate humans so much?" Kurt asked.

"I don't hate humans" Blaine answered and got up from the table. "But I know them. You're naive if you think there're any good souls left out there."

"What about me?" Kurt challenged. "If your theory's right, I'm just like the others. What's my sin, Blaine? Why do I deserve to be here?"

Blaine seemed to be surprised by the questions. He had stared at Kurt for a minute before a small smile appeared on his face and reached out to stroke the boy's cheek.

"I will figure out" he answered.

~ o ~

That night was unusually loud. Blaine was in his room, trying to fall asleep but it was impossible with the screams coming from downstairs and from his parents' room at the same time. He gave up after a while and got out of the bed.

He had no idea where to go, though. He wanted to be alone because he needed time to think but apparently, his parents decided not to leave him alone that night.

"What are you doing, Blaine" John hissed into his ear the second he stepped out of the room.

"Going for a walk" Blaine answered. "You and mother are loud."

"You know what we mean" Pamela said from his other side. "You brought another human here and you have no intention to kill her."

Blaine raised an eyebrow. Sometimes his parents surprised him with how much they knew about him and his plans. They must have been around him even when he didn't see them or had some ability to read his thoughts.

"Kurt's lonely" Blaine answered and turned towards the boy's room. If he wanted some alone time he had to sneak into Kurt's room again. Alright, he wouldn't be alone but Kurt was surely asleep and he wouldn't whisper stupid things into his ear like his parents.

"Do you hear yourself?" his mother shouted and went after him. "He's just food, nothing more. You should have killed him weeks ago."

"Not again" Blaine rolled his eyes and continued walking but his father showed up in front of him and stopped him.

"We want the best for you, son" Pamela said and hugged Blaine from behind. The man grimanced and pulled away in disgust.

"They're humans. You know what humans are like" John said.

Right, Blaine knew it very well. Mostly because of his parents who had been the cruelest beings in their lives.

"Just kill them" Pamela whispered.

"Quickly" John added.

"It will be fine."

"We believe in you."

Blaine finally reached Kurt's room and hurried inside. Once he shut the door, he couldn't hear his parents' voices any longer, only the steady breathing of Kurt. For some reason, his parents didn't go near Kurt and stepped through his door. He couldn't even hear them this time and it made him relieved. He had to think about what he was doing and he couldn't do it with the ghosts whispering into his ears.

He looked down at Kurt and shook his head. He was just a simple boy from the town and still made Blaine act so differently. If he had been able to feel anything, he would say that he had fallen in love with Kurt, but he knew that it was impossible. Cooper and his parents had to be wrong. His sould had been drained out of his body long ago and the monster that had been left wasn't capable of love. Right?

Blaine was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't look at his reflexion in the mirror. If he had looked up, he would have seen his eyes changing back to their original color. It only lasted for a minute or so, but it was something that had never happened to him in the last fifty years.