The area reeked of sulfur. Sulfur and blood. The energy surrounding the house was unstable. It shot up and down, back up and down again. The bloodlust the Hounds and werewolves shared was palpable, and damn strong enough to almost affect my own mood. Delilah and I bypassed the vigilant creatures and passed through the wall on the side of the house. Once inside, we stuck to the shadows, jumping from one to the other silently until we reached Sookie's bedroom. Delilah looked out the window.

"Could you smell that?" She whispered. "Sulfur. Some of the pack is here."

"Yeah, I noticed that before. Do you think they know Sookie isn't here?"

"Not sure. Bill never mentioned how close he got to the house, only that he sensed their presence. He could've been in the driveway, or a few blocks over."

"Hmm."

Delilah and I sat in the dark, watching the wolves creep closer and closer to the house, this putting us both on edge. The bright moon lit up the front lawn, making them easier to see.

"We need to draw them into the house somehow," Delilah muttered, never taking her eyes off of the yard. "Make them think she's inside."

Yawning, I leaned against the wall beside the bed. "Up for a little mimicry?"

"I thought you'd never ask," She chuckled.

I stood up and paced around the room, concentrating on Sookie and her voice. "I know you're out there," I yelled. "If I were you, I'd get out of here before I call my boyfriend over. And he's a vampire!"

I winced. Uttering that last sentence hurt. I shook the memories from my head and waited in the far corner of the room, veiled in shadow. It wouldn't be long before they came for 'her'.

Delilah looked at me and whispered. "Does Sookie have a boyfriend?"

I pulled a face a shrugged. "Fuck if I know."

The wolves growled in response to the threat, their bodies slinking closer to the ground. They reminded me of lions hiding in the tall grass, ready to pounce at any second. Hounds stepped out from the shadows, all in human form, directing the wolves to enter the house and find Sookie, and bring her out. Preferably alive.

"I'm warning you," I said, mimicking her voice perfectly. "I've got a gun."

The front door burst open below us, coming off of its hinges and slamming into the wall. Nails scraped on the hardwood as they ransacked the large house, tearing through all the rooms looking for the blonde. I continued yelling, taunting them, threatening to kill them all. Delilah raced over toward the bedroom door and locked it, then calmly tiptoed over to the bed and sat down, her legs crossed.

"I'll hold one of them, you take care of the rest," She said. I nodded in agreement.

Bodies slammed against the wooden door, each impact, each thrust of their weight into the wood threatened to break the door free from the frame. The pounding continued until one of the wolves toppled over onto their backside into a pile of broken pieces of plywood. They quickly recovered and got to their feet, head turning every which way, growling, snapping at the air.

I stepped out from the shadows, still mimicking Sookie's voice. "Leave, get out, I'm gonna call my vampire boyfriend, I've got a gun," I drawled. I paused and gasped. "Oh! Wait. I'm not Sookie, now am I?"

The wolf shifted back to his normal state and stumbled back on his ass. "Shit."

"Shit is right," I bared my fangs and advanced in his direction, but stopped when Delilah slammed her arm over my chest. I lost my footing. "Oof!"

"Let me take this one. Get the other," She said sternly. "Go."

I stepped over the wolf and barreled down the hall, shifting as I ran. In one of the bedrooms, Tara's room, a Were tore through her belongings. I leapt forward and sunk my teeth into his leg, eliciting a loud yelp of pain, drawing the attention of the other members of his pack, as well as a profuse amount of blood. He collapsed, and I jumped on top of him, digging my nails into his skin, pinning him to the floor. My snout dived into his taut stomach and ripped away at his insides, teeth crushing his gall bladder, bile spraying from the tiny sac. I spit the liquid out and chewed my way through to his heart and drained the blood from the beating organ. Others closed in on their dying friend, and with a quick swipe of my paw, I slit their throats.

Tara is going to be pissed when she sees the room…great.

I reached deep into the pit of their stomachs, one by one, and tugged their intestines out, tossing them onto the floor in a wet, slimy pile. I concentrated hard, and after a moment of whispering spells, their dying frames convulsed violently, a milky, white stream of smoke rising from their mouths. I stood on my hind legs, tossed my head back and opened my own mouth, devouring their souls.

Heavy boots thumped on the hardwood toward Tara's bedroom. I dropped down on all fours, and padded into the hall. Standing at the top of the stairs was a Hound, a member of the Collectors. Riggs' pack. I tensed and growled at the man, inching forward slowly. The Hound faced me and raised a weapon to my chest. A crossbow.

"That's not going to hurt me," I bellowed.

His red eyes glowed in the moonlight. "You think that," he sneered, cocking the weapon. "I have orders to kill you."

"Have fun trying," I lurched forward and swiped at his throat, breaking the skin but not the artery throbbing wildly under his dark skin, much to my dismay.

The Hound tipped backwards and flew down the stairs, his neck snapping on the last step. He moaned in pain. I towered over him as he blinked a few times and cracked his neck back into place. I stuffed a paw into his mouth, choking him, and tugged downward, tearing the bottom half of his jaw off in a bloody mess. Next came his tongue, the removal of which cause blood to spurt like a sprinkler, and paint the walls of the foyer a deep red.

Fuck, how is he already regenerating? A normal Hound shouldn't be able to heal that quickly…he's still weak, thank god. Where are the other wolves? I looked around and sniffed the area. I can't smell them anymore. Shit.

Before me, his jaw grew back, nerve endings and all, muscle slowly covering the stark white bones like vines on the side of an abandoned home. The bleeding ceased and as I turned to leave the weakened Hound, he pulled something from his jacket pocket. Something I didn't catch quick enough; he drove an iron blade through the bones in my paw, pinning me to the floor. I shifted back to human form.

"Fucking cretin!" I shouted at the Hound, trying to pull the iron from my hand. He cackled loudly as the metal burned through my skin. I was unable to grip it long enough to pull it out. "Fuck."

"Hey, Adrian," The Hound said.

I wriggled around on the floor, my heart racing, panic rising. Dying without killing Riggs isn't an option. It can't happen. I won't let it happen. I struggled harder against the blade, only burning more of my flesh in the process.

Where the fuck is Delilah?

"Riggs wanted me to tell you he killed Alistair. Took the soul from his pathetic little body and tossed him into the sun, covered in silver, after he ripped his heart out," He chortled, as if it was the funniest thing he'd heard. "And fed on it."

My body writhed violently in a mix of pain and rage, and hatred. I let out the loudest roar my body could manage, and set myself on fire. My vision blurred, then returned to its normal state, a golden film tainting my eyesight, a common occurrence when one Hound is enraged, their eye color forms a film, staining everything they see with that particular color. I ripped my hand upward and set it free from the blade, but it was too late.

The Hound quickly picked his weapon up and fired, the projectile hitting my heart. I reached down to pull the bow out, but released it quickly. Iron. He had shot an iron rod at my heart. And punctured the organ. Blood dribbled down my chin and I crumpled to the floor, coughing. I looked up as Delilah burst through the door just as everything began to fade out, and killed the Hound.

"Delilah?" I choked.

"Yeah?" She asked, rushing to my side.

"Fuck you for not getting here sooner."