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Freya woke up to a loud bang. When another followed, she realised she hadn't dreamt it and quickly slipped out of bed to put on her shoes. Her heart was racing already, disoriented and confused at what was happening.

"Mum?" she cautioned.

"Over here," Jennifer whispered from near the window in the living room.

Freya walked towards her and looked outside, a gasp escaping as soon as she saw where the noise was coming from. The entire forest was on fire and the smoke had thickened so much that she thought she could taste it in her throat.

"Forest fire?" Freya mumbled, her eyes glued on the flames.

Jennifer shook her head in disbelief, "That's what it looks like."

Freya watched the fire destroy everything in it's path, a sense of gloom taking over. It was then that her eyes moved to where she could see minuscule sparks fly into the air until they suddenly disappeared.

"Mum-" Freya began.

"I know," she replied from behind. "We need to go now."

"What?" she said, bewildered.

Jennifer grabbed the car keys and her coat, throwing it on. "The fire is moving our way."

"But the smoke, it'll kill us, they'll kill us."

"We'll die if we stay here. I think he knows we're here," she muttered, opening the door.

"Who knows? Mum, you're not making any sense."

"Freya, there's no time for talking. Move, now!" she yelled.

Freya's eyes widened and she quickly moved towards the door, going downstairs while Jennifer followed.

"I've unlocked the car, get in," Jennifer said as they reached the ground floor.

Freya ran outside, her heart beating uncontrollably as she looked for the car. After spotting it by the tree, she ran in its direction. Slipping into their seats, Jennifer hit the gas and sped on to the main road. Freya put on her seat belt and locked her door.

"I can't freaking see anything," Jennifer muttered, hastily.

Freya was suddenly pushed against the door with an oomph as Jennifer swerved the car around. "Shit," she swore under her breath as silhouettes appeared in the smoke.

"Mum, drive," Freya said, urgently.

"I'm driving, I'm driving," she said, speeding away from them.

"Mum, who did you mean when you said he knows where we are?"

"I said that?" Jennifer said, monotonously as she kept her eyes on the road.

"Yes, you did. Is there something I should know?"

"No, just let me drive," she said, speeding up.

"We need to get off the road, the creatures will see us," Freya said, irritated.

She felt as if her mother was being reckless. Leaving the apartment was a bad decision, Freya thought as she saw the panic and confusion in Jennifer's eyes. Why couldn't they have charmed the apartment? Surely, Jennifer could've protected the apartment unless it wasn't the creatures she was running from.

"Where are you taking us?" Freya asked.

Jennifer tightened her hands on the wheel.

"WHERE ARE WE GOING?" Freya yelled and suddenly one of the creatures appeared in the middle of the road and the car swerved out of Jennifer's control, driving into the woodland area beside the road.

Freya screamed as she felt the car hit something and that's when it finally came to a stop.

"Oh my god, oh my god," Freya repeated under her breath, afraid to open her eyes and face what had just happened.

She finally opened her eyes, looking down at herself first to make sure she was in one piece. Relieved that she could still move her toes, she looked over at Jennifer who was knocked out, stone cold.

"Mum?" Freya whispered.

Panic began to rise in her and she took off her seat belt, tapping her mum's hand. "Mum, wake up," she said and that's when she noticed the blood trickling down the side of her forehead.

Opening Jennifer's seat belt, she attempted to wake her up.

Suddenly, she saw someone move outside her door but couldn't see who it was because of the fogged up glass. And just like that, the door was forced open, revealing someone she did not expect to see.

Tristan looked down at Freya, as surprised as she was. He then looked at Jennifer's limp body beside her.

"Please help," she whispered when she saw someone emerge from behind him, making her heart stop.

Ace's hand was on his back, making sure he didn't pull any stunts.

"Tristan?" Freya stared at them, confused.

Tristan was breathing heavily, his face pale with exhaustion.

"Well, well, well," Ace said, smugly. "Looks like I hit the jack pot, tonight," he said as he shifted his gaze to an unconscious Jennifer.

•

Freya looked to the side where Jennifer had been restrained to a tree and then back down to her hands in her lap. She was still unconscious and Freya had begun to worry about her.

She looked back in front of her and watched Ace light the fire with his bare hands. To the left, Tristan's limp body lay on the grass.

"What did you do to him?" Freya gulped.

"Who? Him? Oh he's just being dramatic, what's a few hits to a big strong alpha like him, eh?"

"He's not moving," Freya said, worriedly.

"Is that a bad thing?" he joked.

"You electrocuted him," Freya said, bitterly.

Ace raised an eyebrow at her before walking over to Tristan. He kicked his side multiple times before Freya shouted, "Stop it! Just freaking stop!"

He turned and smirked at her, "Sorry, I was just trying to wake him up."

"But," he clicked his tongue. "You, Greg's sister. Sorry, I didn't catch your name..."

"Freya," she stubbornly answered after a long pause.

"Freya, yes. I do think Greg mentioned you once, not sure," he said, thoughtfully.

"What did you do to him?" Freya replied, feeling sick to her stomach.

This man, she thought, knew where Greg was. He knew where he was even when she had asked him. It scared her to think that she didn't catch his lie.

"Me? I did nothing to him," he scoffed. "He invaded my home, my privacy after I invited him as a guest."

Freya stayed silent.

"He's a nosy one. Not raised right."

"What?"

"But I'll forgive him," he said, stopping in front of her. "Because he doesn't understand what I'm trying to achieve here. He'll understand soon though that this is the only solution."

"And what are you trying to achieve here?" Jennifer choked, waking up finally.

Freya snapped her head to the side, startled to see her awake.

Ace narrowed his eyes at her, "Don't act like you don't know."

"You're a psychopath," she spat.

"You chose to breed with their kind," he said, disgusted. "It would've been better if you fucked one of those dogs instead of them."

Jennifer glared at him, "You're so much better? You killed your own kind, Ace. You were always the worst of us, an attention seeking little whiny-"

"They," he suddenly shouted, cutting her off. "They betrayed the cause like you did. Always inferior, dwelling with the scum of the earth. They all wasted their potential, they weren't worthy!"

"So you killed them because they weren't psychopaths like you?"

Ace groaned, finding the conversation agonizingly boring. "I'm tired of conversing with you."

Suddenly, there was a shuffling sound from the bushes and out came one of the creatures. It limped to Ace and finally fell to its knees in front of him.

He looked at Freya and her eyes widened, as if just realising something.

"You are the reason the Jones family is dead," she finally found her voice. Turning her head to Jennifer, her lip quivered. "He killed dad?"

"Now that," Ace laughed. "That was actually fun. The stupid witch thought she could charm her way out of this. You deny full reign of your power yet are surprised when it doesn't work enough to protect you."

Freya snapped her head back and felt her heart sink. Her emotions got the best of her as a single tear escaped. She could see her father's face now, clearly in her mind. Her father's killer was in front of her and a rage, she had never felt, now coursed in her veins.

"No offense, Freya. But humans were supposed to die out centuries ago. Your species is reckless, and the years your kind have had to live out, have been nothing but a mercy."

"My kind, we're meant to live forever. It was and always will be a warlock's world."

"You don't get to decide who lives or dies," Freya said, angrily.

He met her gaze, his arrogance displayed across his features.

"Don't I? he smirked.

•

"Something's wrong," Billy said as he charged into the room.

Murwah looked up from her book and the others began to gather around at his outburst.

"I can't reach Tristan," Jade said from across the room.

"He's been gone since morning," Diego said, gruffly.

"The wood's on fire, not far from here. I don't know how it started but soon it's going to travel our way unless we put it out," Billy said, leaning against the wall.

"We can't put out a forest fire ourselves," Diego replied.

"And what about the pack house?"

"We're going to have to leave," Billy looked at Murwah. "And we need to find Tristan."

"And the smoke?" Kelsie, Diego's mate, asked as she sat down beside him on the sofa. "The creatures might not seek us out but there's too many out there."

"We're just going to have t-"

"We need to protect the pack house-" Murwah began.

"I don't see anything we can do about that. Do you want me to call the fire brigade?" Billy retorted.

She glanced at Jade who had a solemn expression.

"If I have to go out there, so be it. Tristan would never stay out there like this on purpose, I need to find him," Jade told them. "He might be in trouble."

"We'll all go," Murwah finally said, glancing at Kelsie to make sure she was on board, too. "We're not safe here, either."

"Alright, get the cars ready," Billy looked at the men.

"Everyone else, be ready to leave in ten minutes. And I mean ten fucking minutes."

Diego stood up and the others walked out with them while Murwah and Kelsie walked out through the other door to gather the others.

Jade looked at Billy across the room who had an unidentifiable expression on his face.

"Where do you think he is?" Billy asked.

"I wish I knew," she sighed before leaving the room.

•

Billy loaded his shot gun in the garage, putting it into the car with the other loaded guns.

"The fuckers can't climb, use that if you find yourself surrounded," Billy said as he took the shotgun shells from the cabinet. "Stay close to each other, we just need to wait out until the sun rises."

"And we need to find Tristan."

"What if he's safe? Just hiding or something?" someone asked.

"Unlikely that he's hiding," Jade dismissed.

"Now, everyone into your respective cars," Billy shouted and clapped his hands.

"Two words, stay alive," he said as he climbed into the passenger seat of the land rover.

Murwah slid into the driver's seat of her own car as Jade sat beside her. Jade pulled her hand gun out and rested it on her lap, locking the door.

Diego waited out until all the cars drove out before hitting the gas and Billy spat his chewing gum out through the open window before rolling it up.

"You know this is fucking crazy, right?" Diego said as he drove.

"It's the apocalypse, Diego. Everything we do is crazy," Billy said, looking down at his gun.

•

Freya's tears had dried on her cheeks and she felt like she couldn't move her face. She watched Ace reciting something not far from where Jennifer was.

She looked at her mother, signalling her to do something. Jennifer nodded her head at her leg where Ace had wrapped something around it, signifying that her powers were of no use.

"Okay," Ace clapped, carrying a small pot with a strange fluid seeping out and dripping on to the ground below.

"You're going to call out to Greg," he told Jennifer, setting the pot on the floor.

"And you're going to tell him to come here," he added.

"No," Jennifer said, simply.

"You didn't let me finish," Ace shouted and Jennifer flinched.

"You're going to tell him to come here because if you don't, you're daughter is going to burn to death by my own hand. Get it?"

"You fucker," she said. "Why do you want my son?"

"You're in no position to be asking questions now I'm going to make the connection and if you don't tell him, I swear to you, your daughter will be up in flames within seconds."

"Mum, don't," Freya said.

Suddenly, Freya's face snapped to the side as if she'd just been slapped with a hot iron. She screamed at the impact, feeling her skin prickle from the heat.

Her eyes started to water and she immediately tilted her head back, revealing a large burn mark on her cheek.

"Stop it! Stop it now!" Jennifer screamed.

Ace smiled down at Jennifer, "I hope I've given you enough motivation so let's do this."

Freya began to cry again, her hair over her burnt cheek as she let her head bend down.

Jennifer cast a nervous glance at her daughter as Ace made the connection. Suddenly, a small foggy image began to appear in front of Jennifer and she could see a room.

The image altered and she could see, what appeared to be people sleeping on the floor.

"Greg?" her voice, cracked.

"Louder," Ace threatened.

"Greg?" Jennifer said, a little louder.

One of the people began to stir as Jennifer continued to call his name until finally Greg awoke.

"Mum?" he said, his face getting closer and clearer.

"Mum, is that you? How are you on the TV screen?"

"Greg, honey? Yes, it's me. Are you safe? Are you okay?"

"Mum, I'm fine. Where are you? I tried looking for you but-"

"Why, hello Greg," Ace said, talking over.

Greg jumped back in fright at the sight of him. "What's happening mum?"

"Are you having fun, Greg? You doing okay? I must say that you are quite unpredictable, invading my privacy like that," Ace said.

"Now, I have your mum and guess who else I have... Your sister, what's her name? Frances?"

"Freya?" Greg whispered, his heart beating fast.

"I would let you see her but she's not in a condition to be speaking to anyone at the moment. You see, she had a little accident and needs her rest.

So, why don't you come on down to Falcon's Creek and come see her personally?"

"What do you want from them?" Greg asked, his tired eyes full of worry.

"Them? I don't want anything from them. I want to see you Greg, old pal. It's a party down here," Ace smiled but his eyes were menacing.

"And bring my friends that you took with you," Ace added. "I do miss them so."

"You're evil," Greg whispered. "I know what you did to them."

Ace's smile dropped as he suddenly grabbed Jennifer's hair, pulling it with force and earning a sudden yell of pain.

"Let her go!" Greg yelled at the television.

"You want to see them alive? Come down to Falcon's creek within the hour."

"No, I can't-"

"My smoke creatures won't harm you, just get here. Time's ticking, Greg," Ace said before turning to Jennifer.

Tears pooled in Jennifer's eyes as she looked at Greg. "Stay where you are!" she suddenly screamed before Ace pulled her hair and hit her head against the tree trunk.

"Anything else?" he yelled.

"Stop!" Greg yelled, tears pooling in his eyes.

"I love you," Jennifer wept as Ace let go of her head with a sigh.

"Fucking useless," he muttered to Jennifer.

"The clock starts now, see you soon Greg. I don't want to have to send you body parts in order to get you out of your safe house," he said before breaking the connection.

"I swear to God if you do anything to my so-" Jennifer was cut off as Ace waved his hand abruptly towards her and she dropped unconscious.

Freya was too afraid to look up and was thankful when Ace walked away into the forest with a cigarette. After he left, she looked up and blew the hair out of her eyes. Her cheek still burned, a few strands stuck to the wound that she couldn't get to move.

She looked at Jennifer and then at Tristan, who were both out cold.

Suddenly, there were sounds of gun shots from somewhere in the woods. She could hear birds shrieking as they flew away from the trees and silently prayed that someone had shot Ace.

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