Chapter 2

Victor had walked to the van already and was leaning against it. "What was Lee think? A human with a bunch of monsters, not just any human but a female." Victor said to himself. Victor knew that he wasn't upset because she was a human and he was vampire, but for the first time that he could remember he was attracted to some one. He had lost track of time, so much that he didn't even remember if he was once human. All he could think about now was her, how she looked at him when they bumped in the hall way.

Those soft almond-shaped sapphire eyes that hid slightly behind her blonde bangs. Her moon pale skin, her heart shape head, and her lightly pink bow-shaped lips. He had to quickly recover before he made himself look like an idiot. "But I did make myself look like an idiot, or should I say a big ass." Victor mumbled to himself. "Hey Victor, talking to yourself again?" a voice asked.

Victor looked up to see Black Bird standing near the van with two black gym looking bags in each hand. "You could say that, can I ask you something?" Victor asked. "You just did but go ahead." Black Bird said as he went toward the back of the van. Victor just rolled his eyes and looked at Black Bird for a bit. "How do you feel about the new recruit?" Victor asked as Black Bird opened the back door.

"Well, to be truthful, I can't really judge. She is new and she isn't here to replace any one. So, I don't have a problem with her." Black Bird said as he put the bags in the back of the van. "But she is human and a female, she'll get killed." Victor said with a small growl in his voice. Black Bird just smiled at Victor for a bit before turning and shutting the door. "What?" Victor asked getting slightly annoyed. "You got a thing for her." Black Bird said as he started to walk to the other side of the room.

"That is just ridicules." Victor said while following Black Bird. "Really now? I don't remember you being just as hot headed about any other member of the group joining. Every time we get another member, you are a jerk to them, but you don't throw as much as a fit as you are now." Black Bird said as he grabbed five walkie talkies off of a shelf where they were charging. "I don't throw fits." Victor said angerly. All Black Bird did was chuckle while walking back to the van, this van was different from the one that they picked up Lilly in. This one had tinted windows in the back seats, a special wall to separate the back seats from the front, so basic the whole back dark as the deepest part of a cave.

It had three rows of back seats, all of which was cover with a soft fabric. Black Bird thank goodness that they had special licenses plates that made it impossible for police or highway patrol to stop them and even if they did. When they ran the plates they would get yelled at for stopping the vehicles. Black Bird realized that Victor was still going on about how Lilly was coming with them. "Victor, if you want to keep her safe and out of the loop. Just put her with some one who will keep her safe, like Lance." Black Bird said.

When Victor didn't say anything, Black Bird stopped and turned around to him. Black Bird recognized the look on Victor's face, it was a mix between thinking hard and still pissed. Black Bird just rolled his eyes, turned around, and walked the rest of the way to the van. He entered through the driver's side and put the walkie talkies in the little charger consul sitting between the driver's and front passenger's seat. Once all of them were set in the their places, Black Bird turned to get out of the driver's side to see Victor standing by the door with a big smile on his face.

Black Bird looked at Victor a bit worried of what evil plot he put in his head. "Victor, don't do anything you might regret later." Black Bird said with a stern look on his face. Victor just looked at him but his smile slowly started to fade as he heard Blake, Lance, and Lilly's voice coming closer. "If you mean by scaring her off, I'll do it if I need to but only if I need to." Victor said to Black Bird as softly as he could. Victor then walked around and entered to the back passenger's side door.

"Would you like to sit up front?" Lance asked Lilly as he got ready to climb into the back. Lilly peeked her head into the back it was dark and for that Lilly smiled. "If it is OK with every one, I would like to sit back here with you guys. I haven't been sleeping well and back here will give me the chance to be able to catch up on it." Lilly said looking at Lance and Blake. "OK, hope you sleep well." Lance said as he crawled in the first row of the seats. Blake let Lilly crawl in next, as she crawled in she was going to head for the back until she saw Victor laying down.

Lilly choose to then crawl into the second row and position herself to have her head on the widow. Blake came in next and sat in the front seat next to Lance, then shut the door. The whole van was pitch black, Lilly thought sense she was the only person in the second row she would lay down. She could feel the van shifting but the engine wasn't on, she figured it was going up through the way they came down earlier. Lilly slowly closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Blake just looked back to the second seat, even though it would be pitch black to a normal pair of eyes, he could see just fine. He waited for him to see the steady rise and fall of her chest to tell if she was asleep. "Victor, are you going to chase her away too?" Blake asked softly. "I don't see how that is any of your concern." Victor whispered back. "It is if she wants to stay and you are trying to chase her away." Blake snapped but tried to keep his voice as low as possible.

"Why do you chase any human that joins us inside the missions away?" Lance asked. Blake looked at Lance, he was still sitting forward. Blake could tell that Lance couldn't see in the dark as well as him and Victor could. "If I told you the truth, you would be pissed as well as not believe it." Victor said. "Try us." Blake said.

Victor did not sit up but just looked up at the roof of the van, he always thought it was useful that he could see so well in the dark. "Think about it, we are the things people either fear because we are monsters or fantasies about because they don't know how much we are monsters. Throw a human into the mix, it's bound to turn out wrong. We are what nightmares are made of, humans should never be brought into our world. I don't think she believes we are what we tell her and what do you think will happen when she realizes we were telling the truth the whole damn time?" Victor asked. When Victor didn't hear an answer he took it as the other two got what he was saying. It would be too much to ask for her to stay, Victor thought to himself. The three just sat there in silent for the most part while Lilly slept.

Lilly knew she was having a weird dream again, she was in a white room with only one door. Lilly's heart started to race, the last time she had any dream close to this one was when the dragons appeared. All of a sudden she felt something soft and fuzzy rubbing against her leg, she looked down to see a baby white lion cub. Lilly's heart started to slowly go back to a normal rhythm, as she keeled down and picked up the cub. "Aren't you so cute, where did you come from?" Lilly asked more to herself.

"In time, my dear." The little cub said. Lilly's eyes widen and she set the cub down, she quickly stood up and started to back away from it. "This is one weird dream, I'm dreaming that a white lion cub is talking to me." Lilly said to herself. The cub just sat there looking at her for a bit before turning it's head to her left. Lilly was scared to follow but looked, there was a baby black panther that bowed it's head towards Lilly.

Lilly looked back at the lion cub and saw next to it a Siberian tiger, not a baby one. But slowly all of them started to fade and the room was starting to fill with what looked like blackness goo. Lilly did the first thing that came to her mind, which was run for the door. She pulled and pulled, but the door wouldn't budge. She then tried to push and it still wouldn't move, finally Lilly kicked the door as hard as she could.

The door sprung open and a sort of suction pulled her through the door way. Lilly then sprung up to a full sitting position and she realized where she was, she was in the van. Her eyes had some what adjusted to the darkness in the van. She saw Blake and Lance looking back at her with concern in their eyes. "Sorry, bad dream. Sorry." She said.

"That's all you have to remember, it's just a bad dream. Remember that while you are dreaming, the power to control dreams are within you." Lance said. Lilly nodded slightly as she felt eyes staring at her from behind, she slowly turned around to see Victor sort of glaring at her. "I'm sorry if I bothered you." Lilly said. When he said nothing, she just layed back down. She had troubles falling back to sleep, but she at least closed her eyes.

She could feel all of their eyes watching her, which she couldn't tell if it was creepy or not. Then she felt some one breathing near her ear as the smell of something citrus came to her nose. "Lilly, if anything bad happens. We'll be here to protect you and if it looks like you are having another nightmare, we'll wake you. You can relax and get some rest, we'll be here." Blake's voice whispered into her ear. Lilly smiled to that and could feel her muscles slowly relaxing. She heard a squeak before she fell asleep, she figured it was Blake going back to his seat.

This time as Lilly fell asleep and slept, no more dreams came. As a matter of a fact, she didn't dream at all. Lilly woke up to the smell of cheeseburgers in the van and she slowly sat up to feel something drop to her hips. She looked down to see a long trench coat laying there. "Hey sleepy head." Blake said with a smile.

"How long have I've been out?" Lilly asked as she tried to figure out who's coat was laying at her hips. "I'd say about twelve hours, give or take." Blake said. "Wow, really? I've never slept that long before." Lilly said. She then realized who's trench coat was covering her, it was Victor's. Lilly looked back at him, which he had just token a big bite out of a hamburger.

"You hungry? We didn't know if you were a vegetarian or something so we just got you a cheeseburger. If you are, we could always stop some where else and get you a salad or something." Blake asked which made Lilly turn back to look at him. "Yes I'm hungry, no I'm not a vegetarian." Lilly said. Blake handed her a cheeseburger and smiled as she took a bite out of the burger. "Any more bad dreams?" Lance asked as he munched on a fry. Lilly shook her head as she chewed then swallowed down her bite.

"Nope, no more." Lilly said then took another bite. Good, Victor thought. Lilly smiled at Blake and Lance as they ate their burgers and fries. When they were finished, Lilly looked back at Victor and smiled. "Thank you for covering me with your coat, do you want it back?" Lilly asked as she gathered it up.

"Use it if you need to." Victor said as he layed back down. Lilly frowned a bit then just gently set Victor's coat near his feet, he started to raise his head and Lilly quickly turned around in her seat to face forward. Blake smiled a bit before looking at Lance, Lance just shakes his head a bit. Idiot is going to get himself smacked, Lance thought to himself. "Don't pay much attention to him, he might seem big and bad but... well the bad part is right, big not that much." Blake said with a wink at Lilly.

Lilly giggled a bit as she blushed, after which she heard a growl come from the back which only made her snicker. Victor sat up only long enough to grab his coat and pull it over him like a blanket. Victor could smell her scent on his coat, though he would never say or make any noise to show that he liked it. It smelled of roses, soap, and something else that he couldn't place but liked. He pulled the coat over his head and closed his eyes, he could hear Lance and Blake talking back and forth.

He didn't care for what they were talking about, until he heard something that perked his interest. "So Lilly, tell us a bit about yourself. Where did you come from? Why did you choose to join us?" Blake asked. "Ummm I originally came from Arizona but I've been traveling a lot. I guess the reason why I choose to join you guys is because I need help with something." Lilly said. "What do you need help with?" Blake asked. "That's something that I don't really feel comfortable to talk about yet." Lilly replied.

Blake was about to press for more information when he heard a grunting noise from Victor. "If she doesn't wish to talk about herself, don't press for more information. Besides, we don't even know how long she will be with us." Victor said. Lilly was starting to get annoyed, what was his problem with her. He didn't even know her and she didn't even do anything to him, well yet. "Victor, you are talking more than usual." Lance said now finally turning around.

That was how most of the ride went, if they weren't asleep. They were talking to each other with Victor every once in a while saying something. And each time Victor said something, he shoved his foot deeper and deeper in his mouth. Eventually Lilly just started to ignore him, she learned that Lance use to be on a track team when he was younger. Blake told her about the different kinds of werewolves there were, which Lilly only nodded and smiled.

It seemed like every thing was going well, until they came to a stop and Blake opened the door. It was night outside, they were right outside a log cabin in the middle of the woods. Lilly looked around and started to shiver, it was cold outside. The van felt so warm, maybe because there were four people in a closed space. The next thing she knew there was a long trench coat be wrapped around her, she recognized it.

It was Victor's, Lilly looked up to see him standing next to her. Black Bird came running around to the others with four walkie talkies. "OK, the channel is already set, they are charged, so there shouldn't be a reason any of you can't check in every once in awhile or when you find something to report." Black Bird said as he handed every one one. "So, how are we doing the teams?" Lance asked. "You'll be going with Ms. Stark, Me and Blake will be going inside the house and you two will be looking around outside. If you find anything, radio it in." Victor said after clipping his walkie talkie to his him along with two guns to his back side.

Before any one had a chance to say anything Victor started for the house, leaving Blake to chase after him. "Shall we?" Lance asked pulling Lilly's attention to him. Lance was smiling at her holding out an arm gesturing the direction he would like to go. Lilly smiled and whiled side by side with him as the circle around the house. It seemed like a normal log cabin in the woods.

But then they both heard a loud crack sound, they both looked around and it seem dead quiet. Then they heard it again but this time Lilly fell down into what seem like a tunnel. "Lilly, are you alright?" Lance shouted down to her. "Yeah, besides being really dirty and maybe got dirt on Victor's coat I'm good." Lilly said as she stood up. "Hang on, I'll get a flash light and some rope." Lance said.

"OK, hurry back." Lilly shouted back. As Lance ran to grab a flashlight and some rope, Lilly looked around but the tunnel was dark. Lilly started to hear noise that some one was walking around in the tunnels, as she looked around to see where it was coming from. Then Lilly heard some noise above her followed by a light being shined down on her. "Lilly, is everything OK?" Lance said as he looked down at her.

Lilly looked around to see she wasn't to far down, she then looked and saw that the tunnel went in two different directions. "Hey Lance, which way is to the house?" Lilly asked as she looked up at him. "That way." Lance said after a while pointing to the opposite way from where Lilly had heard the noise come from. "Do me a favor, drop down the flashlight, tie the rope to something, and climb down here." Lilly said. "Are you crazy? You shouldn't be down there in the first place, I'm going to lower the rope and help you out of there." Lance said.

Lilly didn't like this, she expected that from Victor, but Lance was sweet. "You got two choices, you can either do what I said or I'm going on in the dark tunnel without you." Lilly said. She regretted those words as soon as they left her mouth, she didn't want to be mean or rude to him. Lance just looked down at her for a bit, then with a sigh he walked away. A few seconds later, the bottom of the rope dropped down followed by Lance coming down.

"I'm taking lead though." Lance said as he lead Lilly away from the house. "Please don't be angry with me, technically we are doing as Victor asked." Lilly said as she followed him. "And how is that?" Lance asked. "He said we should check out side the house, all we are doing is checking out this tunnel away from the house. It's not like we are going against his rules, we are just checking to see where this lead too." Lilly said. "You've got a weird way of viewing this." Lance replied.

"Maybe, but if Victor gets angry about this. I'll deal with him." Lilly said. Lance just chuckled to that and continued on, it wasn't long when they came to a ladder. "This doesn't look that old, it looks like some one stepped on it recently too." Lilly pointed out as Lance shined the flashlight on the steps. "Yes, it dose. We should radio this in." Lance said as he reached for his walkie talkie. Before Lance realized it, Lilly was already half way up the ladder.

"Lilly, wait." Lance called in after her. She had opened the door up at the top and looked around. It looked like a den of some kind, there was a fire blazing in the fire place. Lilly finished climbing the ladder and walked around in the den. "Lilly, we should really call this in." Lance said as he joined her.

"Call it in now, I just wanted to see where this lead to." Lilly said as she felt the warmth of the fire. Victor and Blake were inspecting the inside of the cabin, when he heard something on the walkie talkies. "Hey Victor, in here." Blake shouted from the back of the cabin. Victor walked to where he heard Blake's voice, he was in a bedroom that was in the back and on the floor was a bloody mess with a werewolf corpse laying on the floor. Victor looked at it for a while then his nose crinkled up, he didn't notice it before but the blood coming from the werewolf smelled funny.

"I'm sure you can already tell, his blood smells all sorts of wrong." Blake said. "Yeah, the question is why." Victor said. "I'll get the team to come here and pick it up. We'll find out why back at the base." Blake said. As Blake called in the corpse, victor notice a set of bloody foot prints to a corner of the room. As he followed them, he notice a handle on the floor.

As Victor grabbed the handle he put his hand over one of his guns. He flung open the door and drew his weapon half expecting to see some kind of danger. But all he could see his steps and darkness. Putting his gun back in its holster, Victor started down the steps. He came to an abrupt halt when he heard Lance's voice over the walkie-talkies.

"Victor, do you hear me?" Lance's voice asked. Victor grabbed his walkie-talkie and clicked on his flashlight. "What is it?" Victor asked only slightly annoyed. "You weren't listening, figures. Lilly had fallen down into a tunnel, don't worry she's fine. But then we followed it and we are at this cabin that looks like it might be on the property." Lance said. If Victor could put words to a he was feeling, he would say that all the blood drain from his body.

Victor then heard footsteps behind him and when he looked up he saw Blake. "I heard, what you want to do?" Blake asked him. "Go outside and track them to where she fell. I'm going to follow this and see where it leads." Victor said. "And?" Blake asked. "After you get there, see if you can track them above ground." Victor said becoming even slightly more annoyed.

Blake just perked up an eyebrow before turning and walking away. As Victor walked through down the steps he let the door slam shut. That's when he lost it, he walked as fast as he could mumbling mostly to himself. "God I hope Lance can keep her safe until I can get there." Victor said out loud.

As Victor moved along the tunnel, he noticed the tunnel starting to get brighter. "That must be where she fell in." Victor said.