That night, Greg followed Ace past a set of large metal gates and down a stone path. Ace led him inside the dark building and snapped his fingers, lighting the lanterns that hung by the wall.

"What is this place?" Greg asked, looking at the stone statues that decorated the corridor.

"This is my home," he answered after a while.

"Your home? I thought you lived in that cabin."

"I told you, I move around a lot."

Greg stayed silent, looking up at the chandelier as he passed from under it.

"This place is huge, if this was my house, I'd never leave."

Ace stopped in front of a door and turned the handle, revealing a large study. It was dimly lit with a single solar bulb that sat near his desk while candles decorated the rest of the room. Greg began to notice the weapons on the walls, when he realised it was more than just a study.

"You like guns?" he asked.

Ace shrugged, "I like to collect them."

"So you don't use any of these, right?" he asked, looking closely at an old looking shotgun.

Ace watched Greg intently.

"Not lately. Have you ever shot one?" he asked instead.

"No, my mum doesn't like guns."

"Your mum."

Greg stayed silent.

"Well, you don't really need a gun to defend yourself," Ace said.

"I don't?"

"You're a wolf. You can defend yourself without weapons."

Greg felt slightly uncomfortable. He didn't want to have to defend himself against anyone but sadly times were dangerous.

"You're a wolf, Greg. There's nothing you can't do. Do you have any idea how strong you can be?"

"I wouldn't mind being just Greg," he said seriously, looking Ace in the eye.

"You can still be Greg," Ace sighed. "Were you attacked? Is that how you were turned?"

"I was shot," Greg said after a pause. "I was bitten to save my life."

"And your mum? How does she feel about you being a wolf?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen her."

Ace nodded to himself.

"How do you know so much about the smoke?" Greg asked after a while.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know how to get by it. And you're not as scared as everyone."

"It's the battle of the fittest, evolution. If you're worthy, you'll survive it. The world is being cleansed as it has been many times before, Greg. The only difference is that we're here to watch it happen."

Greg shook his head, "None of this is supposed to happen though, is it? I know about floods and I know that people die but not like this. The smoke isn't natural."

"How is this any different than what we've seen before? The plague wasn't natural to those who lived it."

"Because zombies don't just appear and start killing people."

"Get used to the new reality" Ace told him.

Greg blinked, "Yeah but-"

"Look kid, the way I see it is that the most powerful of us are still alive. The humans," he paused. "They die, they've always been dying because they're weak."

Greg shook his head, "My dad was human and I would still be if things were different. But he's dead. Does that mean he was weak?"

Ace sighed, "I'm sorry about your father."

"Really? Because you don't sound sorry. You don't even sound upset."

Ace ran his hand through his hair. "This wasn't murder, it was natural selection. You're still alive so just get on with it."

"And how do I do that? Nothing's normal."

Ace looked to the side before looking back at Greg. "Well, you could get back at those who you're running from. The ones who are disrupting your peace and safety.

Greg snorted, "I'm not running from anyone."

"Yeah? Well, it sure does look like you're hiding from someone."

Greg sighed, "I could never get back at them even if I tried. There's too many of them."

"So?"

"So they'd kill me in an instant if I tried anything. They have a pack. I'm just some loser kid that they turned. And, they're armed so..."

"I don't think you give yourself enough credit, Greg. You're much more powerful than you think."

"You saw those wolves back there. I'm no match," Greg said. "I'm just a kid."

Something flickered in Ace's eyes, "You are much more than just a kid, trust me."

"Keep believing that," Greg said, getting up. "I think I'm going to go to sleep."

"You're not hungry?"

"No."

"Okay, follow me," Ace said, leading him out of the room and down the corridor.

He opened a door and let Greg walk into a large bedroom. Greg looked at the king sized bed and he raised his eyebrows, impressed.

"I'll be in the next room, if you need anything," Ace said.

"Please don't need anything," Ace smirked, before closing the door.

Greg laughed and sat on the edge of the bed, relishing the feel of a soft mattress. He lay down and stretched his arms, looking at the ceiling.

He didn't realise how tired he actually was until it became difficult for him to move.

Instead he began to think about the wolves and remembered how he'd been pushed to the ground. Gritting his teeth, he tried to push it out of his head but the memory was just reinforced by his school life.

School, he thought. It felt like it was a lifetime ago.

It began with jokes which then became stories and then stories became rumours.

Greg closed his eyes and let himself fall asleep, holding tightly on to the covers.

• • •

A dream.

He hears students giggling behind him and then feel his bag moving from behind him. Greg turns around and looks at Bernard, his classmate looking back at him. Bernard is a chubby child with strong features.

"What are you looking at?" Bernard snaps, causing Greg to sigh and look back at the board.

Home time comes quick and Greg pulls his bag strap over his shoulder, getting up. He walks out of the class and into the quad, glad that he gets to go home.

But someone puts their hand on his shoulder and turns him around. It's Bernard and his friends.

"Look everyone!" he yells.

All eyes are on Greg.

Bernard looks back at Greg. "I thought you were over your little crush."

"Get lost, Bernard," he hisses.

"Hey, Nina!" he yells.

Nina frowns, looking at the pair of them. Her friends stand defensively by her side.

"Do you want to kiss Greg because he wants to kiss you!"

"Leave me alone," Greg shoves Bernard.

Bernard stumbles back a few steps and then charges at Greg, shoving him back. He pushes him against the wall, roughly attacking him when a teacher comes out and separates the boys.

"You'll get it from me, you fucking loser!" Bernard yells as he walks away with his friends.

"What is going on?" Ms. Silva asks as she takes off a page from Greg's back.

It reads:

I want to kiss Nina.

Greg's cheeks turn scarlet and he leaves before she gets a chance to say anything about it and storms past the school gates. He sees his mother and climbs into the back seat of the car.

"How was school?"

"It was fine," he says.

He looks out of the window and vibrates with anger and humiliation.

•

Ace stormed into Greg's room to see that the bed frame was on fire. Smoke filled the room, making it almost impossible to breathe.

"Wake up! Hey!" he yelled.

Ace looked up at the framed picture above Greg's head that swung on the nail, to and fro.

He waved his hand, putting the fire out instantly. Greg woke up, stunned and soaked in water.

"What- What's happening?"

"Look behind you, Greg," Ace said.

Greg slowly turned his head to see the painting moving on its own.

"Earthquake?" Greg asked, a little afraid.

"No, it's not an earthquake."

Greg looked back at Ace, "Are you doing this?"

"No."

Greg stood up on the bed, looking at the painting. He felt something tingling down the skin of both his arms. "What is going on?"

Ace looked at him with one eyebrow raised and arms crossed over his chest. "Take a deep breath, Greg."

"What?"

"Just do it. Relax and take a deep breath."

Greg didn't know why he was saying it but he did as he was told anyway. He felt his mind slowly relax and then suddenly the painting stopped moving.

Greg looked at him, "What did you do?"

Ace smiled, knowingly. "I didn't do anything. You did."

"What?" he asked, his hair messily sticking up.

"Greg, the bed was on fire when I came in," Ace said. "I had to put it out."

"How was it on fire?"

"You set it on fire," Ace said.

"No but I was asleep."

"I think I know enough to know a wizard when I see one."

"A wizard? Are you crazy?" he was taken aback.

Ace looked up at Greg with wide and fascinated eyes. "Greg, do you even know who your family is?"

"If you think I am a wizard, you have to be out of your mind," Greg said, getting off the bed.

"You saw it with your own eyes, Greg," he exclaimed. "You must have had a bad dream or something because pal, you set the bed on fire all on your own."

Greg looked back at the wet sheets. "But that's impossible, you can't be two things at once. Can you?"

"It has to be because here you are."

Greg pressed his cool hand to his feverish cheek. "No way..."

Greg looked blankly at the bed and then at Ace. "So I can do the things you can do?"

"With practice, I don't see why not."

Greg nodded to himself still in disbelief.

"Try and get some sleep," Ace said, walking to the door.

"Tomorrow will be a busy day and kid, please don't set anything on fire again. At least for tonight."

Ace closed the door behind him and walked down the hall when he heard muffled sounds coming from the basement. Looking over his shoulder, he made sure he was alone.

He crept into the study and pressed a button under the table that triggered the bookcase to slide to the right, revealing a small passageway.

He slid inside and heard the case close up again as he walked down into the basement.

Low moans came from the behind the cells. His creatures had begun to return, falling over one another as they did.

He ignored them and walked to the other side, opening a steel door. A man, aged not older than forty lay on an operating table. His naked body covered in a rough grey cloth.

Ace looked at his ugly face, where his teeth were yellow and decaying. The man yelped and opened his eyes, feeling his dark presence.

"Please, please let me go," he began.

"Shut up," he said, looking at the monitor. "We have a guest upstairs and I don't want any of you disturbing his stay."

He spun on his heel and looked at the humans in the cell, all shivering and hugging each other in the far corner.

"Any one of you makes a sound and you'll be on this table, am I clear?" he says, stroking the cold metal bar.

Nobody replied.

"Am I clear?" he yelled.

There were a few muffled replies to which he muttered, "Good."

Ace turned and looked at the man on the table. "Don't worry, we'll soon have what we need and you won't have to stay on this any longer."

The man looked at the other side, too afraid to look at Ace.

When nothing else was said, Ace left the room and locked the door.

Leaving the lab, he quietly slipped back into his room unnoticed. As he drifted back to sleep, the humans underneath him cried into each other's embraces.

•

Freya couldn't sleep that night and hardly got three hours of sleep because of the seance. Her mother had urged her to stay in the bedroom because she knew that things tended to get nasty in those sorts of things.

Nevertheless, Jennifer was right and it turned out that the spirits did know where Greg was.

So the next morning after a small and quick breakfast, Freya and her mother set out. They walked past a couple of streets when Jennifer stopped in front of a jeep. "Hold on."

She held her hand over the handle and opened the front door before slipping into the front seat.

"Mum, what are you doing?"

"Hold on," she mumbled, concentrating on something.

Finally, the sound of an engine working met Freya's ears.

"Get in," Jennifer said.

It was so surreal to Freya at times that everything she used to read about was now true. Witches and magic. She never would've thought. But they were real and her mother was one. And that was a reality she would have to get used to.

They sped away, with the hope to find Greg.

Back at the house, Greg slipped past the gates and ran down the stone path. He didn't know where he was going but he needed some room to breathe.

•