I waved my hand, "Stop fussing, I'm fine."

Myra filled up my bowl with more soup, the liquid brushing against the very edge of the crockery. Floating pieces of chicken and vegetables.

Myra pressed her hand to my head, "A raging temperature, your face is going green and you've been swaying all afternoon."

I groaned, "People get sick! I'll go to sleep and I'll be fine by the morning."

She paused, "Honey we both know that's not the truth."

Cassandra was still gone, with zero contact since she had walked out during lunch. The weirdest thing was that Cora, too, was still missing. Harvey had called Harmony only an hour ago, saying that he had arrived and what-not. There was no reason for her to be missing, yet, two seats at my table lay empty.

I had been ill essentially since I had arrived home. The thing that felt the worst was the guilt and the fear. It was constant, tapping from the back of my mind. It was all I could think about, running over like a broken record.

I kept spooning the liquid into my mouth, pooling into my stomach, only causing more heat, though on a much more comfortable level. I shoved the bowl away after I had finished, my hands shaking.

Vance placed a hand on my back, "Come on man, I'll help you up and we can get you into bed."

I grabbed onto his arm, "I don't need to be babied, Vance. Even if I wanted to go upstairs, I can do it myself."

"I know you can do it yourself, I just don't want you to." Vance said sternly. "But that's fine, we'll do whatever you want to do."

Harmony's phone started to ring, a melodic tune breaking the tension in the room.

"Harvey! Hey, what's up?" She started cheerfully. I could hear the frantic tones over the call, loud enough that it was echoing through the room. Her entire face crumbled, "Hold on, hold on, let me put you on speaker,"

"-Something's wrong, I don't know if it's me, but it feels... I don't know, I've never felt anything like this," His voice was going crazy, muddled with the sound of what could be tears.

"Harvey," I ordered, "Calm down. What are you feeling, describe it to me," I gripped harder on the back of the chair as I moved myself to face the phone that was lying in Harmony's hand.

"Like I'm on fire, and my heart, my heart, it's burning, I have no idea what's happening."

"How does your head feel? What are you thinking about?" I barked, my head lolling slightly to the side.

A groan of pain, "Cora, apart from the pain, I can't stop thinking about Cora. Is she there? Can you put her on?"

I bit my tongue. If it wasn't obvious before, it was blindingly obvious now.

"Get him off the phone," I murmured into my hand. "Now, get him off the phone."

Harmony turned the phone back off the speaker and raised it to her ear, "Just take a panadol honey, call me later if you're still not feeling ok, see if you can talk to Coach if it carries on to tomorrow. Yeah, bye."

As soon as the call had ended, we all sat in silence for a moment.

"She's dead." Ti whispered, "It's the only explanation, she's dead."

I nodded my head. "His promised has passed away, I'm guessing that her death also wasn't pretty."

"Oh god," Harmony said, "What are we going to do? We need to find her body, get everything confirmed, get Harvey home."

"There won't be a body to find." Ti counteracted. "Trust me, they wouldn't be so sloppy."

My stomach was churning.

Ti took a deep breath. "I was never going to be the one to tell you all, and it was never to happen this early, but I think it's probably time."

Everyone re-took their seats at the table, feeling the seriousness in the air.

"Ti, you have to tell us everything, spare no details," I warned.

A deep inhale, "I know." She spread her hands out against the table, running her tongue along her teeth. "Cas, Cora and I are- were a part of the Organisation. The organisation has a range of people working for them, most of which were taken at an extremely young age. I was three, and the others were six when we turned up, were taken. None of us have any ideas about our origins or our families. We never have. The question that people wonder is why we stay, why any of us stay. Being sent on missions constantly outside the organisation makes it easy to leave."

We were all listening intently, and I could tell by her demeanour that she was about to tell us something that she really didn't want to. "When we all arrived, we spent a week or so in withdrawal. When Cas arrived, she told you it was a withdrawal of... anxiety medication?" She gulped. "That was a lie. What we were actually processing out of our bodies was what we call the Injection. A mixture of the leader's blood and Mistress Hemlocks magic that acted as a binder. It not only connected us to them but forced us to be completely under their control. Side effects of that is a disillusion to what we were doing, not making us unaware but allowing us to think that what we were doing was right. The past few months have been riddled with the realisations of what we were doing to people, and remembering what the leaders did to us behind the scenes that they forced us to forget."

"What... what did they do to you?" Harmony asked hesitantly.

Something flashed over her eyes. "I was never really the recipient, the worst being forced to administer multiple magic-based torture to not only outsiders but rebel organisation members as well. Cora was... taken advantage of. On multiple occasions. Cas was taken down to the dungeons and beaten. She is the most reputable, the most ability, and the leaders were always harsher on her because of that. She still has the scars and proof of that."

The wolf stirred in the back of my head, but I pushed him back. I had to focus.

"Cassandra was sent here on a three-month mission with the aim of discovering and destroying any evidence you had on the Organisation. And, if she had the time," She looked straight at me, "To kill the Alpha in the progress. Figured you couldn't do anything if she was in a hospital bed, so she stabbed herself to set up the situation. Of course, finding her mate wasn't exactly the ideal. Of course, since then, her vision has changed, and because of the withdrawal, changed what she wanted. Alexander believe me when I say, she planned to tell you all of this before leaving back to the Organisation to tie up loose ends before coming back, permanently."

My heart fluttered, yet the rock in my throat remained.

"The fact that Cora has.." She gulped, "Passed away, signals that something has gone wrong. Alexanders bout of illness only backs that up."

I raised out of my chair, drawing on a chamber of strength that I didn't even know I had. "We need to go. You know the location, I have the military resources, we can get her out of there-"

"No." She interrupted. "Trust me, we cannot. They always have something planned, so it's better that we stay here. Cas wouldn't want it anyway, I can guarantee you that she already has a plan."

Farren snorted, "So what do we do?"

Ti blinked. "We wait."

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With a hand around my neck, keeping me completely still and powerless. Another guard had moved, coming around and clasping shackles around my wrists. Master Skotus removed his hand, giving me a moment to breathe before a collar was clamped around my neck. The metal was hot, burning my skin the moment it came in contact. Hanging from the back of the collar was a long chain. The guard grabbed the chain and ran it through his hands before handing it to Master Skotus. He clamped onto the edge of the chain before tugging on it, dragging me over to him in less than a second.

"Now come on pet," He licked his lips, "Follow me."

He held his arm upwards, ensuring that he was far enough in front of me that my entire body was arched over as he dragged me away.

We went back up out of the dungeons, leaving through the office. The moment that we opened up the door, I noticed that the hallways were filled to the brim.

Filled with people, more specifically, filled with other members of the organisation. They pushed themselves against the wall, a range of people, most I could barely even recognise. Some waved to me we made our way through the hall. As we walked, I noticed a small group of young children. The same pups that had come over to me before I left for my mission to Bloodlust. Their names had escaped me now, I couldn't even think of one. Yet I recognised them, and they looked terrified.

The feeling in my gut was telling me that everyone that surrounded me knew what was going to happen, knew what I was about to walk into.

All I could do was hold my head high, as difficult as that was.

Eventually, I realised where we were going. The injection room.

My heart was beginning to beat faster, the blood rushing through my veins in an act of anxiety. I could tell that I wasn't concealing the feelings very well, a vampire on my left licking his lips and surging forward before his spirit friend extended his arm and pulled him back in.

The door was already wide open, and the moment that it slammed behind me, I knew something seriously bad was going to happen. If I ever had a window to escape, it was far gone now.

Madame Beaudeline stood on one side on the chair, Mistress Hemlock on the other. Now that I thought about it, everyone was dressed up. Master Skotus in a purple velvet suit, Mistress Hemlock in a vintage lace dress, while Madame Beaudeline wore a traditional victorian-style ballgown that seemed to take up a quarter of the room.

"In the chair, Nightstalker. I hope you're ready," Madame Beaudeline smiled. "Now please."

Her fangs pointed against her bottom lip, a trail of faded blood down her chin. Her skin seemed even more white than usual. Sometimes I forgot that she was a vampire, forgot that the liquid in her cup was blood, not wine, forgot that the bodies in her personal cellar were humans from the local town.

Forgot that if she really wanted to, I would be dead in a minute.

Master Skotus pulled onto the chain harder, forcing me down into the chair before mystery hands came and tied my torso to the back.

I snorted. "I already told you, that injection isn't going to work. You could inject me every day for the rest of my life and at its best, it could give me a headache."

Madame Beaudeline ran a cold, dead hand over the side of my face, causing me to flinch, "Of course not. We're giving you a completely different injection. A permanent one."

I raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"It's an inconvenience, every day having to inject every single member of this organisation. So we've been working on something else." Mistress Hemlock explained quietly, "We think that it's been perfected, and who better to try it on than our most valued member."

"We can't afford to lose you Nightstalker, so regardless of whether you want to stay or go, you will be staying in this Organisation until your bleeding out dead on the floor." Master Skotus finished. He clicked his fingers, "Doctor, as quickly as possible."

The doctor, dressed up and down in white, pulled out a long needle from the inner pocket of his coat. He placed it into a test tube, filling the needle completely with a shimmering, black liquid.

Fear pooled in my stomach, bile rising in my throat. I praised myself for understanding situations, being able to find my own way out of them.

I was stuck, and I knew that I was completely unable to get myself out.

"You can't." I choked, trying to move. The attempt was futile, every limb. strapped to some aspect of the chair and rendering me completely useless. "Please,"

"How pathetic," Madame Beaudeline said, grabbing my chin and holding my face towards her. "At least try and have some strength, I promise, it will all work out in the end."

I felt a pinch, and I knew that the needle was now in my arm. I could feel the pressure of the needle being pushed on, the liquid seeping into the familiar spot under my shoulder. I bit my lip, I had gotten so used to the injection that I couldn't even feel it, but this time, I could. I small sound escaped my mouth as I clenched my fist. Fuck, it hurt.

I felt the needle being removed and I pulled my head out of Madame Beaudeline's hand. The back of my eyes was burning, my heart pumping and my nerves were skyrocketing.

It was like I completely left my body, I had no control. I felt my head swerving side to side, desperately trying to pull my body out of the restraints of the cords.

All of a sudden, I started to cry. Liquid poured down my face, pooling against my eyes and blurring my vision. Except it was red. I raised my hand to my face, trying to wipe away the liquid. As I did, I realised what was on my hand. Blood. I couldn't deny the strong metallic smell. I was crying tears of blood.

I wrestled with my head, closing my eyes as I desperately tried to stop the flow, but I couldn't, it was endless. The red beginning to drop onto my shirt, staining the grey.

I couldn't be quiet, moans and groans escaping my throat at every moment. In a moment of craze, I opened my eyes, leaned forward and grabbed the dagger that I knew would be lying on Master Skotus's hip. I spun it between my fingers before sending it flying, impaling the doctor through his stomach, sending him collapsing onto the floor.

My face contorted into a smile.

I felt the cords break apart, falling away from my body, allowing me to stand up. A second later, a key clicked into both the shackles on my wrist and the collar on my neck, the metal falling to the floor.

I cracked my neck, "Goddess that felt good." I turned around and spared a glance at the dying doctor, who was reaching out and slamming his hand against the floor, his mouth gaping open, trying to catch our attention. "It's been a while since I've been able to do that."

"How are you feeling?" Master Skotus asked gleefully.

My fingers flexed, "Wet, from the blood. But otherwise, like myself."

Madame Beaudeline raised her eyebrow, "The tears... we haven't seen that as an after effect. Do you need to rest? Take the opportunity, it's the only time we'll ever offer it."

I shook my head. "No, I need... I need to do something. Get out on the field. You sent me on a three-month information mission. I need something fun."

A grin from Master Skotus, "What do you want to do?"

I looked back at the doctor, tapping my nails against my thigh. "Is there anyone you need to get rid of? Just something nice and quick."

I watched something light up in Madame Beaudelines eyes as if the gears in her mind were already turning. She glanced at the two other leaders before turning back to me.

"Well, we know everything you told us before, essentially, was a lie." She started slowly, running her tongue along her teeth. "So, you're welcome to go back to Bloodlust, finish off your mission and kill the Alpha."

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