sorry again... i sacrificed grammar for update... i officially suck at keeping my word apparently.. i'll try to be better.. EXCUSE ANY EDITING MISTAKES.

Chapter 19:

After finally wiggling out of Cashile's tight grip, I stopped dead in my tracks. "Why are you acting so weird?"

Cashile spun around, grabbed my wrist and continued walking. "They found a trail on Seth in the human compound, and it's not good. They need us there. Now."

I didn't say anything else after that. I just followed Cashile as he told me what to do and where to go. I trusted him.

We stopped by his room quickly. He rushed around his room in a blur as he gathered things and put them in a long, black duffle bag. Hidden in drawers, under the mattress, under the bed, he pulled out an abundance of armory. Guns, stakes, knives, bullets, and little metal balls with pins on top of them. "What is all of this?"

Cashile stopped only for a moment. "I told you Viktor trained me to be a weapon," he picked up one of the guns that was as long as my entire arm and looked through a sight hole. "I told him to use me at his disposal. Fortunately, he and I had the same goal in mind." Cashile put the gun into the bag and opened a box of bullets, inspecting them.

"So…he taught you to kill vampires?" I asked, perplexed.

"In case you haven't noticed, Viktor doesn't like cruel, greedy vampires—like Seth."

"No one likes Seth," I mumbled.

"He knew I would want revenge, he knew I would be stronger than any vampire, like Seth, in the compound. He taught me to fight our own kind and, when the time came, how to kill them."

I didn't know what to say. "Do you do this…often?" Has he been keeping this 'vampire hunting' a secret from me?

"Of course not," his face softened. "I'm not a serial killer. I'm not like them. I was only planning to take out the vampires that either knew about the humans—which is, as far as we know, only Seth—and the vampire that killed my family."

That's right, I thought, I've never heard anything about that vampire. "Do you know where he is?" I asked.

"No." he clenched his jaw. "Viktor and I lost his trail a few months back, just as we started planning our attack. It's like we spooked him or something." Cashile speculated. He shook his head, as if clearing his thoughts. "It doesn't matter. Right now, there are bigger issues to deal with that don't involve my own person concerns." He handed me a small gun that fitted snugly in my hand. The metal was cold and it was strange seeing this machinery in my hand. It seemed so foreign. "Do you know how to use one of these?" he asked, eyebrow raised. I shook my head, still staring at the weapon. Cashile's hands found mine and guided them as he talked. "The bullets are already in there, so you shouldn't have to worry about that." His hands lifted mine to the top of the gun. "This is the safety. The gun won't fire unless you disengage it." Cashile pushed the button down. "Now it's live." He pulled the top of the gun back and it clicked twice. Once when he pulled, another when it snapped back. "This loads the bullet into the barrel." He came around me so that his arms were hugging me, his chest on my back, and his breath down my neck. "Look down the sight. Aim. Shoot." He held my arms together so that they made a V shape in front of me. When he was done he returned the safety into its locked position and handed me the weapon. "The bullets are wooden, soaked in poison. You hit the heart, and the vampire will die immediately, the same way a stake would. You miss, and the poison spreads throughout the blood stream, eventually losing control of the nervous system, like paralysis. Since they can't move, they can't eat and they will die of starvation. It's a long, painful way to die." Cashile said gravely. "Use this as your last resort. I will be with you every step of the way, but if we get separated," he clasped my hands around the gun. "Use this."

I nodded, "I understand."

"We'll get him. I promise." Cashile said as he continued to gather his things.

. . .

Cashile and I ran together to the Human Compound. Running was soothing, relaxing and refreshing. Feeling the fresh, summer air blow past me was exhilarating. I felt free; I felt like my old self again, before all of this crazy war stuff started happening. Running almost made me forget what was really going on. Almost.

Cashile slowed down and I followed suit. We were in front of the fence. The fence that was supposed to keep all of the sectors separated. Yeah… right.

Cashile leaped first, taking only a few steps to thrust him over the twenty-foot fence with ease. He landed on the other side and turned back to me. "Come on,"

Fearful that I wouldn't make the jump, I shook my legs out, took a breath and leaped into the air, closing my eyes while doing so. Thankfully I passed the fence without a problem, landing next to a smiling Cashile. Small broken-up leaves and dirt stuck to my hands as I gripped the earth to regain my balance. I wiped them off. "So that's how vamps got in here," I spoke out loud as we started walking again. This time we didn't run at our full potential, we walked, trying to blend in as much as possible. We're in the human compound now. If anything were to happen, if a fight broke out; we're out numbered.

Even though it was dark, a few people still lingered on the streets, which is strange considering that most humans know better than to walk around at night; night is when the monsters come out. Night is a time to be hidden.

As we passed the humans they ducked back into their homes. They knew we were vampires just by the way we looked. Perfect, pale, fit; all traits of a healthy vampire ready to hunt. I bet some knew we were vamps because of me, I bet it was big news that I was chosen by the vampires.

I was too busy watching humans cower in my presence to notice where Cashile was leading me. Home. My wooden house that leaned to the right, small, quaint, with the rustic smell of a fireplace was directly in front of me.

Cashile knocked three times and then opened the door. Sitting at our wooden family table was my mother, father, Shane, and Nicole—Shane's werewolf 'friend'. They must be the 'backup' Viktor was talking about.

All I could do was gasp, but it came out more like a sob. My family. My family, we are together. I hugged my parents and Shane without hesitation. Their warmth and love brought tears to my eyes. They accepted me. They know I'm a vampire, and they don't care. They're not afraid, not even Wes. Wes? "Where's Wes?" I asked, noticing he was nowhere to be found. The fire crackled in the silence.

"They haven't seen him since yesterday. He never came back from school." Shane said softly.

My entire body went limp. No. No. No, not Wes. He's too young. He's only six. I felt Cashile's strong arms help me to my knees and he knelt by me. "Haven't you looked for him? Haven't you followed his scent?" Cashile interrogated Shane and Nicole. My parents could only do so much, I understand that, but Shane and Nicole could literally track Wes's scent. Why aren't they looking for him?

"We lost it about a mile out. Something covered it up."

"Was it Seth?" I growled his name.

Shane nodded his head. "We thought you two would be better at tracking him than we would. I hate to admit it but vampires have better senses that werewolves, you know that."

"Then we need to go, now." I started standing up, Cashile stayed cautiously close to me.

"Allison," Cashile tried to reason, but I cut him off before he could say anything. "No!" I shoved him away a little. "My little brother is out there with that horrible vampire and I need to save him!" I yelled.

"I know," Cashile spoke quietly, trying to calm me. "but making rash decisions isn't going to help us. We need to think this through."

I took in a few breaths to center myself, take in the words he was saying. "Okay," I breathed one more time. "What's the plan?"

. . .

I took Jugi—our family blanket that is currently Wes's—and inhaled his scent. He smelled like fruit and oats with a little bit of soap mixed in. Home. As I continued to inhale, I recognized something else, something that make my fangs prick my tongue, something sweet. Blood. I can smell his blood. It's not on the blanket but… I smelled again. He has AB negative blood, and I want it. My body craves it. For such a rare blood type I sure do know a lot of people that have it' must be my luck.

I hurried up and passed the blanket along to Cashile, who gave it to Shane, and then Nicole who all inhaled Wes's scent to help us track him. "Shane," Cashile said. "You lead us to where Wes's scent stopped and then hopefully Allison and I can pick up something. You'll stay will us to help fight, right?"

"Right," Shane nodded.

"What about me?" Nicole piped in.

"You'll stay here, protect the house. Howl if you need anything. We'll come running." Shane instructed. He placed his hands delicately around her face and then kissed her on the forehead. "You can take anyone that walks through the door, I know you can."

"Okay," she said softly. "Be careful."

Shane turned to Cashile and me. "Ready?"

Cashile nodded. "Yeah," I did the same. "Yeah,"

My mother came over and gave us a hug; my father followed her. "Bring him home." He whispered into my ear. "We will," I whispered back even though I doubted my own words.

I grabbed Cashile's back of guns and gave them to my parents. "Just in case. You need them more than we do."

Cashile turned to Shane. "Lead the way," Shane—now transformed into a brown and black wolf—ran out of the house, Cashile looked at me to follow him, so I did. Surprisingly, Shane was quick as a wolf. He was much faster than I've seen a regular dog run. It must be the supernatural aspect of being a werewolf that allows him to run so fast.

We ran along the line of the fence. Shane's nose to the ground; he began to slow and go off the course we'd been on. "This must be where they lost the scent," Cashile sniffed the air. "Yeah, it's definitely a lot weaker now."

Cashile and I started walking now, and Shane followed behind us. If we walked any quicker, we would lose the scent. I don't know how Seth did it, but he really did cover up Wes's scent. All I could see in my mind was Wes crying, struggling to get free with no hope of breaking Seth's powerful grip. What if we didn't make it in time? What if we're too late? No. No, I can't think like that.

Cashile stopped walking. "Do you smell that?" I sniffed the air and smelled blood, but it wasn't Wes's, that much I was sure of. "Yeah," I replied.

At the end of the trail we were taking there was yet another abandoned house; there were a lot of them these days. Humans forced out of their home by vampires. Families ripped apart from the choosing ceremony. Killings…There are a lot of abandoned houses.

I looked to Cashile for guidance. He put one finger to his lips to signal silence. We tiptoed around the house.

It was at this point that I regretted leaving the guns with my parents. If I had one now, I would shoot Seth. I know he's inside. I wanted to shoot Seth for what he's done. I wanted his life to be over.

Cashile and I leaned against either side of the wooden door and he kicked it open with his foot. We cautiously entered the musty house. My jaw dropped in shock.

Scattered and shackled along the floor we about 20 people, crammed into the small area. They all had cloth wrapped around their mouths to prevent them from making any noise, but since Cashile kicked open the door, there were two vampires and a werewolf in their presence, they were letting off muffled screams and trying to crawl away.

I kneeled down to one of the humans and untied the cloth. The man was skinny, much too skinny than anyone should be, and had black hair that was balding in the center. His glasses were crooked and round. Just by his physical appearance I knew he was no use to anyone. He wouldn't be missed. That's why Seth chose him. "What happened?" I asked.

The frightened man didn't know how to respond, but he gathered enough confidence to. "H-he came for us. Took us and locked us in here."

"Where is he now?" I commanded.

"I-I don't know."

"He's staring an army." Cashile said as he started untying people, Shane did the same after he transformed back into a human.

"Have you seen a little boy?" I asked people as I untied cloths and shackles. "Have you seen a little boy?" They all shook their head. I started panicking. Where is he? If neither Seth nor Wes is here, where are they?

I rushed over to Cashile and Shane. "Find out anything?" I asked. They shook their heads.

"Allison!" I heard a small voice call from behind me. We all spun immediately around.

Standing in the doorway, with the moon shining behind them were Seth and Wes. Wes stood in front of Seth; Seth held his hands on Wes's small shoulders. He was crying in short panicky breaths. "Please…help,"

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