Waking up would be so nice if it wasn't for the headache and the burning skin. And I mean burning, like, from the inside. Like every ounce of my blood was tainted with something wolfsbane. Probably because it is. Maybe vervain too. I remember having felt this way waking up in Malivore, so I know I'll be in for a lovely time in about thirty minutes.

Between the somewhat blurred vision and some form of light in my face, I could barely make out my surroundings. I was bound to a metal chair with my arms behind me, tied by rope laced in wolfsbane. Attempting to escape was futile; I'm tired, weak, and a little hungry—which is slightly irrelevant. Plus, I've been poisoned so there's that.

Although I didn't see anyone, I felt a presence in the same room I was in. The person was behind me, silently waiting for me to fully collect myself. I don't know how long they were standing there, but I already felt rather uncomfortable.

Hell, I've been kidnapped, why wouldn't I feel uncomfortable?

"Whoever you are, just know you've made a huge mistake," I said. I noticed my voice sounded exactly how my throat felt; hoarse and dry. To be fair, I'm really dehydrated right now. I didn't get a response, of course, but hell, what else could I do right now?

"I have some really powerful friends, you know. One in particular... seriously, you don't want to mess with her. You know she'll realize I'm in trouble, right?" Still no answer. I'm honestly growing impatient now. I sighed heavily, slightly rolling my eyes. "Let me go and maybe she'll spare your life."

"You talk... so much," a woman said as she came into the room.

"I don't. I'm very quiet, normally, but I'm being held against my will right now. Circumstances have changed." She walked around the chair I was bound to. I saw that it was a blonde woman. Tall, slim... punchable. At least because of the kidnapping. That's mostly what's punchable about her.

"It would very much benefit you to shut the hell up."

"And if I don't? Why am I here, anyway?"

"I'm on a mission. My dear friend here thinks you're the girl to help me with that."

"I'm not helping you with a damn thing."

"I'm not giving you a choice." She looked up from me, looking at whoever was creeping in the background. "Why don't you come and introduce yourself? Although...I'm sure you two are beyond acquainted."

I cocked my head to the side, very confused by what she meant by that. The other person walked slowly to stand by her side. When they stopped just in front of me, I recognized him immediately as the kid that baited me to begin with. But now that I have the chance to really look at him, I knew the recognition was much deeper than that. The ping in my heart said so.

I also remember being on the verge of passing out that he called me sister. Between that, the face he has that reminded me of my tween days, and the gray blue eyes ...

Who else could this possibly be besides Mark?

"How are you here right now?" I asked, my voice trembling. "How are you alive, Bai?" My voice cracked when I breathed his nickname. Bai, short for Bailey, his middle name. It was his more preferred name because people would confuse him for Mason.

"You're welcome," the woman smirked.

I shook my head at her. "You can't seriously be so fucked up that you dig a five-year-old's grave! And for what?!"

"It wasn't his grave that I dug. At least, not at first... It was the other one's... Mason, if I'm remembering correctly." She shrugged as she walked behind Mark, placing a hand on his shoulder. "The first boy was already decomposing. I thought maybe he didn't possess the more useful genes—namely the vampire gene. It would be hard to turn a wolf into a hybrid. Furthermore, turning a were-witch would be near impossible. But Markus here... Being desiccated, I thought he had potential, so I took him. Bribed a witch to bring him back so I could then have him kill, but... he doesn't have that wolf gene."

"You tried making my dead brother a tribrid..."

"Yeah, that was a failure. But imagine my surprise when—years later, the boy tells me that there's another one. One that might have all three. His sister, who survived impending doom that he and his brother suffered from. Come to find that you're a wolf... that has magical potential. And you heal faster than the average wolf, indicating that there's a certain undead gene waiting to be activated."

I shook my head. "You've been watching me. And, let me guess... this is a Malivore thing, right?"

"I see you're well educated."

"Why go through so much trouble when you could've gotten the Mikaelson girl?" I asked. I didn't want to give the impression that I knew said Mikaelson girl and that she was very well on a mission to retrieve me.

The woman shook her head, smiling lightly. "It wouldn't have been so simple. It was easier to wait for the perfect opportunity to take you instead."

"So, it was you that threw me into the pit," I said, realization dawning on me.

"My mistake was thinking you were fully activated back then. But no matter. You're here now, and I know not to make that same mistake twice." Giving Mark a squeeze on the shoulder, the bitch leaned closer to his ear, still eyeing me. "Do it. I have to go retrieve something, but I should be back soon."

Mark didn't take his emotionless eyes off me as the woman left the room. I assumed she also left the premises to get whatever she needed.

I kept my eyes trained on my once dead brother. This whole time I disallowed myself to shed even one tear. Knowing after all these years that one of my brothers was alive? And knowing some psycho bitch forced him into vampirism at what, thirteen? Why keep him around for so long before activating him?

Why didn't he come looking for me?

It doesn't matter now. I had to get us both out of this place.

"Mark," I breathed, my voice still frail. "Bai, I don't know what that woman did to you, or what she told you, but I'm here now. I'm here, and we have to get the hell out of here."

Mark didn't say anything. He only removed his hands from his pockets and started walking behind me. I could feel his eyes on me. It took everything in me to not be consumed by my emotions... especially now. Cracking under pressure like this is a sign of weakness.

I heard him move something behind me. Something metal. I heard his small footsteps slowly start to come around me again, and eventually I was able to see him again. In his hands were a scalpel and a small cylindrical tube. There was a small utility cart in front of me that I hadn't noticed until now. Mason rolled it to my side and sat down the tube. On the top of the cart was a beaker of the very substance I crawled out of after my time in Malivore... I wanted to ask what the purpose for that was, but it was best to just watch what Mark was going to do with it.

It's strange... we're the same age—to the very minute— yet seeing him this way was uncomfortable in more ways than one. One key reason being the fact that we're supposed to be eighteen in a few months, yet...Mark looks like a thirteen-year-old.

I watched him take a liquid dropper and collect some of the Malivore stuff and put it on a sterile slide. After that, he grabbed one of my fingers and cut it with the scalpel, then used the tube to catch the blood droplets. I winced only slightly and watched him pour a drop onto the sterile slide. I could easily see and realize what he was doing; he was testing the reaction Malivore would have to my blood. We know already that if we were to toss just one person, they'd have to be a fully activated tribrid...so why bother testing it?

When my blood met with the tar, the black substance practically absorbed my blood. Markus seemed to watch it intensely and so did I. It sizzled and bubbled a bit, but besides that, it seemed to remain unaffected. I turned my attention back to my brother. His jaw briefly clenched, and in his otherwise emotionless eyes I saw a moment of sadness run through him.

Regardless of his humanity switch clearly being off, something in him wanted that alone to work. Maybe he doesn't want me to have to go through more torture before that woman threw me back in? If that's the case, I really need to try breaking through to him.

Mark stood upright, sighing quietly. I took this as my window of opportunity. "Mark... Mark, listen to me. This isn't right, and you know it. You know what will happen if I get tossed. I'll be gone forever, and you'll be the only one left."

Even though he didn't look at me as I tried to reach him, I could tell he was listening. The fact that he didn't move or slap me into oblivion or whatever told me so. "I don't know how she got you to flip the switch. And I don't know how long you've been this way but believe me when I say that the moment you go back to being you, you'll feel the loneliness and the guilt I've felt for thirteen years. Then there's you'll feel for being responsible for this very moment. I can't tell you how many times I thought I should've died with you and Mason, or how many times I thought I should have died instead of you.

I failed you once. I refuse to fail you again, so listen to me and let me go so we can ditch this place and...I don't know? Maybe we can catch up. So much time's been lost already..."

Bai inhaled sharply, turning away from me. I could see his uneasy breathing even when his back is turned away from me. It was clear that I got through to him, even just a little—enough to make him hesitate. But soon enough he turned around to face me completely. His eyes trailed down to the binds that kept me in this chair. For a moment, I thought he was about to let me go.

However, his cold, empty eyes met mine, and for the first time since being here, he spoke. "In another life, maybe we could've been a family again... but I can't go back to all those...feelings. They were a weakness then, and they are now." I couldn't wrap my head around what was happening until Mason rushed behind me, taking my head in his hands. Panic started to settle in the depths of my stomach.

"Markus, don't! It's not worth it, there's another way to do this," I said, struggling against the ropes.

"No there isn't. Alice said so."

"Alice is a liar and a manipulator. Mark, please—"

"Sorry sis...this is gonna hurt..."

"Mark, please! Don't do it! Ma—!"

heh. hehehehe. MUAH-

sorry.

anyway, i'm having to revert back to using my phone now because of technical difficulties regarding my PC. it sucks... i absolutely did not miss using my phone for writing, but sacrifices be made. it is what it is and what it is is what it shall be. that hurt my brain a little bit.

anywho, I'm slowly catching up with writing on schedule, so that's awesome. for you and for me. my schedule in general is completely fracked, and this is my only sense of normality. thanks you as usual, and HAPPY THANKSGIVINGS TO YOU FROM MOI

gobble gobble x