Not gonna lie, this chapter has been the hardest. But I finally did it! It will be easier and likely faster updates from now on:)

I must confess that I feel like a monster.

Eliot opened his eyes and blinked multiple times, squinting at the light penetrating his sight. The hitter had a pounding headache. What happened? Scrounging for memories was difficult as his mind was still in a haze. Eliot didn't like this feeling. He'd had experienced it many times before, being drugged or sedated for others purposes (but mostly for the safety of others). It was something the hitter hated most as it gave vulnerability and weakness. Eliot started to process and wake up enough to his surroundings. That's when his ears tuned in to the hushed voices nearby.

"Yeah he should wake up any minute now. I researched it. Kind of."

"Kind of? Do you know how unhelpful that is? Parker, you don't just half research something! Especially when your information comes from Wikipedia!"

"Sophie's right, Parker. I'll gather more info on the side affects of the wolfsbane, although who knows what is accurate anymore."

Side affects? Eliot didn't like the sound of that. His headache must be one of those wonderful add ons. What did Parker do to him? Speaking of which, his limbs also felt stiff and sore. Groaning/growling, the hitter sat up from his lying position on the floor. His sudden movements and noises silenced the rest of the room. Turning his head, Eliot saw his team, except Nate, huddled close but trying to look as if they hadn't been in a secret conversation about him only seconds before. Eliot went to open his mouth to speak, but found that his canines were still elongated. They were not receding anytime soon either. Confused, the hitter closed his mouth just as quickly. It would have been comical if it was any other situation, but it wasn't. However, Parker had a slightly apologetic look but appeared mostly amused.

"Yeah, sorry about that. You should be fine and normal in a couple of hours. Hopefully."

Nate suddenly came through the door and his voice made Eliot's head turn.

"Good. You're awake. We've got a job. Meet Layla."

An average height and build brunette woman in her early thirties was tailing Nate, a hesitant expression on her face as she entered the room. She looked at the trio then turned back to Nate, as if asking if the group were a threat. Eliot looked in bewilderment at Nate, confused and enraged that he would bring a client in the apartment, especially in a time like this.

"Tell them what you told me. Everything." Nate waved at his team, speaking to the woman, Layla. The mastermind then paused. "Well, summarized."

Layla stood straighter and after a sigh, explained, "I'm a thief. So is my sister. We got on the radar of a bad man. He kidnapped her and now I'm asking your help to get her back."

Nate cleared his throat.

Layla hesitated, then spoke again. "We run a business a lot like this one. Helping people who don't get help. But, not everyone likes what we did, and well... Our business isn't exactly like yours. We mainly leave the helping people to you. We help... People who are... Different."

"What kind of different?" Parker questioned with wide eyes, eager to hear what Layla had to say.

"Just... Different. I guess you would call them the things that go bump in the night?" Layla returned with a newfound hesitance, fight or flight response at the ready.

"Like werewolves?" Parker said with too much excitement, throwing glances at Eliot that only she thought were subtle.

"I only have one question. Is Dracula real?" Hardison piped in, starting serious but failing in the end. Sophie however caught the fidgeting from the questioned woman and asked her own pestering thought.

"You're one of them aren't you?" Sophie observed, her reading skills not having to be sharp to see the obvious.

"What a vampire? You know Dracula?" Hardison piped in, slightly excited.

Layla laughed softly but shifted uncomfortably, looking to Nate, who nodded his head. Sophie noticed he must have gotten more of the story after she left to check on the team.

"No, I don't know Dracula. I am a lycan or werewolf in your terms."

Parker gasped and threw a glance at Eliot, eagerness radiating off of her. Layla spoke up with amusement in her voice, contradicting her sad smile.

"Yes, I've been informed of your new pup. It is likely why Moreau picked my sister and I to sabotage, planning this whole encounter. Werewolves helping werewolves and all."

Eliot tensed immediately at the name he hoped to never hear again unless it was on a death certificate. His voice resembled the sound of a volcano before it exploded, the low rumble barely comprehensible.

"Nate..."

Layla took multiple steps back until she ran into the wall. Gone was her soft and sad demeanor laced with undertones of rage. Now was just fear. Her voice was frantic and broke when she addressed Nate, but her wide eyes never left Eliot, his eyes flashing that grey and white color.

"What have you done? You gave him wolfsbane?! Are you nuts?"

Parker held a sheepish smile and shrugged, enjoying the woman freaking out over nothing. She knew Eliot wouldn't hurt them. Then she frowned as she processed what Layla had said.

"Moreau? But we put him behind bars. San Lorenzo bars. The only way in or out is through the steam vents."

Layla made an exasperated noise, amused at something she'd said.

"You think steam vents stop werewolves? He escaped, not to mention his whole security is sprinkled with all kinds of supernatural beings. Werewolves, vampires, shapeshifters, you name it."

"Wait. Moreau is a...?" Hardison questioned, bewilderment in his voice.

"Werewolf? Yes. Said he experimented on his own people to achieve a better species. Sick, twisted mind. But he said he'd give my sister back if I gave him back something he lost long ago. His creation, he said. He called it something along the lines of 'Înger de moarte'? Maybe an artifact? I've never been good at Romanian so..." Layla trailed off, still eyeing Eliot warily. "Are we just gonna ignore the Wolfsba..."

"Angel of death."

Everyone looked to Eliot who was five shades paler than before.

"It means angel of death. Nate..."

Nate looked at his shaking hitter and closed his eyes, rubbing his temples to ease the headache that suddenly pounded on his brain. He wasn't drunk enough for this.

"I assume that angel of death would be the name of a person. Moreau's former right hand man maybe?" Nate subtly asked Eliot, hoping he was wrong. Layla however, was quick to jump in.

"Spencer? That's what this is about?"

Layla looked taken aback but understanding washed over her features.

"Moreau's pet. Of course he would want his best subject. But Spencer... He disappeared. Last I heard he was with a group, turned over a new..." Layla trailed off in thought and confusion crossed her features soon after.

"...Leaf. With a group. Huh. A lot like this one..." Layla stood silently as she stared at the floor, suddenly looking up at each member, stopping at Eliot. Of course Moreau and Nate had left the rest of the team's names out. Because his pet was a part of it. Well that was a wake up call.

"Uh... Well. This is awkward. I don't think just asking you to come with me will work?" Layla questioned Eliot, her humor trying to cover her sad despair over her still kidnapped sister. And her slight fear of Moreau's right hand and now werewolf, not that she would say that to anyone. Then just as suddenly her face fell, horror washing over her features.

"Wait. You... You're... Not human anymore... Oh god. Oh no. This is why Moreau wants you. He will be so..."

"What does he want?" Sophie cut off the woman.

But Layla ignored her and looked at Eliot straight on. "You're... Really him? Like the Eliot Spencer? And it's safe to assume you weren't turned by Moreau?" She paused and visibly deflated when she saw the silent confirmation from the team.

"That's why. He didn't get to turn his best creation himself. Oh I bet he's ticked."

She trailed off, seeing a lack of response or any reaction.

Nate noticed also that Eliot had been silent the whole time and it concerned the mastermind. He walked over to the hitter from his place by the door and Layla. Once he reached him, Nate could tell the hitter was distant from what did look like a mild or maybe not so mild drug. But he was also shaking a bit, which also sent off red flags in the mastermind's head.

"It's the Wolfsbane. You shouldn't have given it to him. Especially now. Especially him." Layla whispered softly, caution and sadness in the undertones of her voice.

"Why?" Parker questioned, the rest of the team fairly silent throughout the whole ordeal, anxious to hear what other information the woman could give.

"Wolfsbane is nasty stuff. For werewolves it can have two effects." She paused and took a large breath. "Wolfsbane is said to be a natural repellant to werewolves. That's partially true. It also functions to identifying werewolves and weakening them. However, there are a lot of factors that play in to the effects. For example, it depends on the werewolf and if they were exposed to it before the change, but it can also be the quantity of use. If a person is injected with wolfsbane before they are turned into a werewolf, it builds up the immunity and can actually serve as an adrenaline boost to them. Basically, it's like giving a werewolf temporary steroids, pumps them up and makes them stronger. But it will eventually wear off in a couple of hours. Only junkies keep themselves doped up."

The woman threw a glance to Parker, then pointed at her.

"She used enough to be an identifying agent but also I would assume enough to be a slight drug. So yeah, any doubt here that your friend was a werewolf is gone now."

Eliot's eye twitched at that statement but his mind was still too clouded to process much information. Sophie spoke up in the tense silence.

"So what is wrong with Eliot?"

The woman kept switching her attention between Sophie and Eliot.

"Well, actually there is nothing wrong with him. It's just that... I suppose... Well you see the thing is... He isn't reacting the way I was hoping. Which leaves a bad sign."

The room was silent for a beat but Hardison broke that quickly.

"Do you care to explain today woman? In English? I don't do puzzles."

"His eyes." Nate guessed at Layla's problem and she nodded the affirmative.

A small or maybe not so small "huh?" came from the direction of the trio of thieves, likely the handiwork of Hardison.

"Werewolves have categories and can usually be placed by their eye color, usually showing when upset or adrenaline high or whatever. There are too many to go off of but the main ones are black, yellow, grey, and white."

She paused.

"Black is for purebreds, yellow are for the infected usually, grey is for the wolfsbane junkies, and white is the rarest as it is in bloodlines."

She paused yet again.

"As you can see, there is a slight problem. Your friend...here, has both grey and white hinting at his eyes not so subtly. This means he encountered a high amount of wolfsbane at once or had been drugged with it slowly for multiple years. Likely before the change as he seems to not exhibit the same effects a normal werewolf would at that dosage. I honestly think he was slowly drugged as this guy doesn't look like he would just dope up on a bunch of wolfsbane all at once. Now for the white, well, white is in the bloodlines, which means somewhere in his family tree, there were werewolves. Now you might ask then why he isn't a purebred. That all depends on the parents. People tend to assume that the werewolf virus is a dominant trait, however, it isn't. In all actuality, it is actually really hard to pass it on to the offspring when only one parent has the virus. Now bitten, that's harder to skip out on, as it is a direct hit from the virus. However, that doesn't mean that recessive trait isn't locked behind bars, never to be accessed until bitten. So yes, if it will set the record straight, your friend here had a little bit of werewolf in him already and he didn't even know it."

The woman stopped and sighed in relief as all those words finally were out, even though she had set her own pace in telling them. It was silent in the room for a few minutes. However, Parker just couldn't hold back her comment.

"It makes so much sense now!"

Eliot acted like he didn't even hear her. Nate noticed Eliot tilted his head to the side as if he heard something close by. Layla spoke in assurance.

"He's in sensory overload. Imaginable for his condition. It's like his mind is in a fog but his body has been pumped full of adrenaline. It's a dangerous combo usually used to..."

A growl stopped her from continuing. Everyone turned to Eliot, which was the right source of noise. Apparently he was still slightly aware and didn't like her word choice. He was deteriorating fast, but somehow still had his bad attitude. However, Sophie was too curious to not hear the rest.

"Used to?"

Layla held an uncertain look on her face and her words came out in a whisper.

"They are used to make weapons out of werewolves. Or for the games or hunts, but those are an uncomfortable topic."

"Like super soldiers?" Hardison asked with glee. The look he got from Layla though was anything but.

"What do you mean games or hunts?" Sophie also questioned.

Parker was silent though as Layla continued her babbling, looking over at Eliot and Nate who were near the table, Eliot stock still and wild eyed. Nate was whispering soothing words to the hitter, but it looked in vain. The babbling from Layla the talking dictionary was boring Parker and she was thinking of poking Eliot when everything suddenly went silent. Layla stopped speaking and Nate stopped his whispering when they saw Eliot tense and tilt his head to the side. Just as suddenly, he tackled Nate to the ground just as the start of hail fire of bullets burst through both windows of Nate's apartment.