Chapter Three: Confrontations

She shouldn't have kept talking to him like this. She couldn't help it, really. He was bloody brilliant, really, and helped her to get new software that can swear and much more, which she will forever be grateful for.

But, this year she is the Commander of the Hunt, which means that she's going to have to face him. She's smart enough to deduce that Locke is too soft to be the Alpha, so it has to be Edward. As much as the thought makes her wish she had never done the hunt.

She maps out their attack plans very carefully with the others, and then they go to their respective classes. All day she tries not to be as nervous as she is. After all, last year's Commander had a boyfriend that was a monster, and it turned out just fine. Then again, Byna wasn't really a conventional Commander.

Artelind fiddles with one of the silver medals pinned to her jacket. Maybe the zombies will send us into retreat first. As if. Zombies are known to be very reckless. Don't underestimate them. One of the Co-Commanders got taken by them years back. The leader of the Zombies that year was one of the smartest Panem had ever seen. And most vengeful.

Maybe the vampires will send us away. Vampires are smart, sure, but get overexcited. The ones that don't take forever to monologue, though, are definitely threats. Some years they just spend fighting over who gets to drink from which one, during which the hunters are able to get away. Artelind hates the smell of garlic, but wearing it for a few days is worth not having to deal with them getting near.

The sorcerers are brilliant, though. But usually aren't bloodthirsty. Witches and wizards and dark magic users usually target specific humans, either those that they feel have potential or friends, family, and lovers. They usually aren't more than simple pests, though, and it's pretty easy to send them away.

The werewolves are usually the hardest to fight off. Absolutely savage, animalistic, and when the moon is up they barely care who they're attacking. Artelind learned that her junior year, when she made the mistake of going to the woods again. He would've torn her to shreds if she hadn't been so resourceful and experienced. That was an awkward next-day conversation.

She taps her pencil and dreads the end of the day, when the ranks will get together to attack Panem.

~.~.

Gaylen Fowler walks through the dark hallways. He's hidden his way through the entire day of school, and just had one more period before he could make it back and hide in their shelter until Dawson got back.

Suddenly, everything takes a turn for the worse when he's thrown down by the heavy weight of a malicious pursuer: his own sister.

"Got you!" she says, a laugh exploding from her lips. "Finally, I got you!"

"S-Sadie, p-please…" Gaylen can barely make himself speak. He wasn't expecting anything like this to happen, but he should've known better. She's been raised by the pack, after all.

"This will show our imbecile older brother…. It'll make him regret leaving me behind!"

"Sadie!" Gaylen knows he can't do anything but try to reason with her.

"You never should've left me! And you should've stayed in your own fucking grade, too!" She snarls. "I lost all my friends and all my aspirations to you, not to mention it's your fault that Dad left in the first place!"

Tears dot Gaylen's eyes. He knows he couldn't control any of it, but it still hurts to see the loathing in his sister's eyes.

"Dawson never should've left, and now I'm going to take the apple of his eye from him!"

"He cares about you just as much as he cares about me!"

"Then why was I the one he left?"

Gaylen doesn't know the answer. He'd never heard the story of what happened that night.

"Exactly!"

"Please…"

"It's funny if you think I'm going to have mercy on you because we're related. You're quite mistaken. The hunters have no mercy on their relatives, so why should we?"

Tears start to fall down Gaylen's cheeks. He's horribly scared, when suddenly his sister jolts and collapses, freeing him.

"Sadie!" but his exclamation is cut off by a hand pulling him by the shoulder into a storage closet.

"Please don't hurt me!" he gasps out through tears. When he looks up, though, the eyes he made contact with are a dark green color, not the bright red of a monster.

"Are you alright?" asks a voice Gaylen doesn't recognize.

He sniffles, "Yeah, I'm okay." He bites his lip. "What did you do to Sadie? Did you hurt her?"

"Just paralyzed her for a bit." He says it so casually. Gaylen sniffles and nods.

Upon looking at him, the guy's eyebrows shoot up (though it's hard to see in the dark). "Uh, nice medal." He sounds surprised and very suspicious. Gaylen looks down, at where the familiar golden medal rests.

"Oh, thanks. It's not mine." As if it wasn't obvious. "It belonged to my older brother. He was a Commander when he was a senior in 2010."

The guy's eyebrows crease, in thought. "That means he would've served under my brother." There's a second of silence before the guy holds out his hand to Gaylen. "Verz Price. I'm a sophomore." Gaylen takes his hand in a firm handshake.

"I'm Gaylen Fowler. My older brother is named Dawson."

"Oh. That's awkward."

"Huh? Why?"

"Our brothers… Er, never mind."

"…Okay…" Gaylen doesn't really know what to say to that.

"Anyways, what are you doing, walking around by yourself?" Surely you'd know better with your brother being a Commander was the implication.

"I go to school here now. I have no choice. My brother gave me a weapon, but… I couldn't hurt Sadie." He shows the weapon to Verz, who examines it. "It's nice. Your brother must've been pretty respected."

"Yeah, he was. He was kind of a prodigy because we were homeless and he had to learn how to fight monsters at age 8."

"Oh. Wow. All by himself?"

"He's a tough guy."

Verz appears to be trying not to laugh. "Yeah. He sure seems like it."

"I could never do what he did. Or what you did."

"But… Doesn't that leave big shoes unfilled?"

"Maybe it does. That doesn't matter, though. We're different people with different interests."

"…Hm."

"Is… Is that why you joined the hunt?" Gaylen asks hesitantly.

"Of course not!" Verz snaps. "Sure, my brother was a Commander, but that doesn't matter. People usually glaze right over him anyways." He scowls. "He was a co-Commander with his best friend Lyndon Cory. They had a supposedly foolproof plan to raid the school. They were outsmarted, though, by the zombies. The Head of the Zombies that year was the smartest that Panem's ever seen. She figured out their plan and there was absolute pandemonium. She herself took Lyndon. He told Haul to retreat, and Haul took those that survived and left."

"Oh… That's awful."

"I don't want to succumb to that kind of fuck-up."

"So… You want to succeed where he failed?"

"You could say that, I suppose. Reputation, after all. Family name, and all that shit. Not to mention Lynd's not a bad guy and definitely didn't deserve that fate."

"Oh."

"Yeah. It's not an easy life, though. When you join the hunt you have to swear to always shoot, no matter who you're facing. Whether it be brother, or friend, or even significant other."

"Oh. So you have a girlfriend that's a monster?"

"Don't be stupid, of course not."

"If you did, though, you'd quit the hunt, right?"

"Of course not. It'd never happen, anyways. My other brother State, he fell in love with a monster. A succubus, named Paradise. He quit the hunt to be with her. He joined her side willingly, the worst form of disgrace." His face scrunches like he just ate something really disgusting.

Gaylen looks at the glint of gold in his fingers, and the shiny medal that decorates Verz's jacket. "Some things are more important than these medals, though… Right?"

"I'll never know." There's a pause. "Look, kid, just… Be careful. Alright?"

"Okay. Thanks again for your help."

"Paralysis won't be the worst that happens next time," Verz says gravely.

Gaylen nods a bit, gripping the weapon and hoping that nothing worse comes for him before he gets back to Dawson.

The last period of the day is also glee club, and once again Jason Hollow impresses everyone by somehow being able to play his trumpet even though he lacks a head.

Locke shifts uncomfortably. As the full moon comes closer, most werewolves feel more and more powerful, but Locke just gets antsy. In all reality he's way too nice to be a werewolf. Edward, though, is both nervous and excited for the moon to surface from the sky.

Mr. Everdeen begins class first, silencing everyone with a magical song that makes them silent.

"Yes, it's that time of year again. Which means that we can sing some very scary songs." He reverses the spell he sang before to allow the kids to speak again. "So, what would you like to sing?"

"Bloody… BRAAAAAIIIIINNNSSS!" Kelley O'Callaghan says cheerfully, throwing his arms up in the air excitedly and losing one in the process. "SHIT!"

Edward facepalms. "Will somebody please just kill him this year!?" he asks.

"No way," Rue says, giggling.

"It's just too funny," Skeeter agrees.

"Besides, I don't know how to enchant weapons to be tangible for both ghosts and humans yet," says Ashely, a sophomore and sorceress.

"Santana probably knows," mumbles Jason. She was a senior when he was a sophomore, and a brilliant witch. If only she'd stop chasing him around with love potions. How am I even supposed to drink her damn potions!? I don't have a head!

"I don't see it," Bonnie says. Bonnie is a junior and a fortune-telling gypsy. "Sorry Edward."

"And spider bites do nothing to zombies," Posy adds.

"I can't help either," Prim sighs. She's an angel, and her boyfriend Rory is a demon. They usually try to avoid each other this time of year.

"You're on your own, pal," Locke says. Edward sighs.

"Besides, zombies don't have blood!" The other freshman in the glee club, Vardaman, proudly shows off his fangs from when he was bit first period. Gaylen's stomach flips.

"In this room… There's... BRAAAAIIIINNNNSSSS!" Kelley stumbles towards Gaylen, who quickly picks up his arm. "Don't come closer! I'll beat you with this!" Kelley dares to come closer, and the panicked freshman starts smacking the zombie with his own arm.

"Why aren't you scared of my medal?!" Gaylen says, "My brother was one of the strongest Commanders that ever lived!"

"Oh yeah, he was never scared of those stupid medals. He got the brains of the Commander two years ago."

Gaylen sighs, and finally Kelley gives up and takes a seat, still armless.

"Anyways, what do you all think we should sing?" Mr. Everdeen asks.

"Monster Mash!" Vardaman says cheerfully.

Everyone responds at the same time, "We're NOT SINGING THE FUCKING MONSTER MASH!"

And that was the end of that discussion.

~.~.

At the end of the day, the werewolves all head to their meeting place to prepare to raid the humans for some new victims.

Edward feels great being the alpha, and surveys his forces fondly. However, he also knows that the humans will have no mercy upon his kind. He has to be careful, because they're all as sharp as their arrows.

"Do you have any idea what we'll be facing?" Locke asks, looking a bit like a lost and scared puppy.

"All I know is that there's going to be carnage."

As the moon gets fuller, Edward's entire body pulses with adrenaline, energy, and power. Artelind lines up her forces, making sure any human that wants to is kept safely in the school. Then, she and her forces set out, running into the night. They barely stop. Some of the sophomores give looks to the ghosts but are quickly reminded by juniors and seniors of their peace pact.

However, any malicious monster that crosses them is dealt with, either by bullets or arrows or even blades. The werewolves spread out, and each has their own human target.

Artelind types quickly. "O-H, Edward. We have no reason to play pretend anymore."

The alpha wolf surprises the rest of the pact by coming into sight. Artelind quickly pulls back an arrow, but doesn't release it.

"You're right. It was pointless of us to even pretend. We had each other figured out from the moment we met in the woods. We've been playing this game for years now, trying to pretend we didn't know that the other would ultimately be our cause of death."

Artelind watches him, her eyes wide and her expression giving nothing away. The other hunters and other wolves are speechless.

"I know it's your job to always shoot. And if you're going to fight us… Then we're going to fight you."

There's a moment of tense silence. Artelind's fingers quiver only slightly on the bowstring.

"Let's just not have any regrets? Okay?" A small chuckle escapes Edward's lips before he unleashes his battle call and the pack attacks.

Artelind shoots at the other pack members, and Edward charges for the other humans. As much as she knows she doesn't want to, she shoots. When she hears a human scream, she realizes that she's lost focus, and has to continue being as ruthless as she was in the woods that night. For them.

She sees a werewolf on Verz and shoots him. Locke runs around in circles, chasing his tail mostly while trying to make it look like he's accomplishing things for the pack. Edward fights to the best of his ability, until an arrow hits him in the stomach and he's forced to draw his pack into retreat.

As soon as the last wolf is gone, Artelind and the hunters try to remedy those that have been scratched, but are forced to leave a couple of their comrades behind. Edward and his forces take their dead to the witches, and anxiously wait as the witches and wizards try to get spirits from them.

Edward and Artelind are both glad to be where they are, satisfied with the lot for the year. In the back of their minds, they regret not eliminating the other, but at least they're equal for now.

Maybe they'll be able to agree on relationship terms next year.