no name again lmao.. it's tragic, really. I'm getting even more lazy :D

By noon the next day, Mark and I were up and ready to meet with Octavia to forge a plan on how we're going to infiltrate the vampires' hideout. Only, she was late.

Mark had to run down to the car to get out cooler packed with blood. It's not as fresh as the blood I got when I turned, but it satisfied the both of us enough to keep our strength.

As he finished the last of his bag, he breathed deeply in annoyance. "How do we know she didn't bail on us?"

"Many reasons. One in which is because we might be her only fighting chance of getting her son back," I said, then sipped on some of the blood. I've been good at not giving into the thirst by downing the substance as quickly as I did that burrito from yesterday. Taking little sips every few minutes has been my way of testing and slowly improving my self control.

"How can you trust her?"

I gave him a look. "Dude. She's the one that shouldn't trust you. You've been the devil's right hand for years."

"Not by choice!"

"And it wasn't Octavia's choice to help anyone."

"But it was."

I shook my head. "When someone's got ahold of something you love, the ability to choose is thrown out the window." I took another small sip. "Besides, I don't trust her. I trust her love for her son, but not her. Call it a mutual understanding of the task at hand."

A knock sounded at the door. I gave my brother a look that said 'I told you so,' and hopped up to open the door. Of course, it was Octavia, and she had that same backpack from yesterday on her back.

"Sorry I'm late. I needed to make sure I had everything."

I stepped aside to allow her in. "Had what?"

"Herbs for spells. Boosters for my magic." She took the backpack off and sat it carefully on the nearest surface, then looked at me with a smile. "Vervain bombs. Anything that might be of use."

I raised my eyebrows. "You just casually have vervain bombs...?"

She shrugged, "I am up against vampires. I should probably try working up a few chloroform bombs for the witches, actually. Something to immobilize them..."

Okay, this lady is probably the most hardcore person I've met in a long while.

I refrained from asking any further questions about the contents of her bag. I then finished up the last of the blood and disposed of the bag.

Mark stood from his bed, stretching his arms over his head. "About this warehouse..." he prompted.

"Right," Octavia sighed. She pulled out a chair and sat in it. "You know I scouted the place yesterday, right? Well, I could only check out the entrances and exits. They blocked off any openings where the sun could shine through, so it was hard to see inside. But I know there's at least half a dozen of them in there at a time, and Amir is always close by."

"If you can't see what they're doing, then how do you know he's there?" I said.

"I created a spell that temporary gives me vampire hearing. I heard about seven different voices, including my son's. But there could be more."

"How many times have you scouted the place?" Mark asked.

"Five times, maybe. I don't know, I've been planning a way into that warehouse for weeks now."

"Do you think you're ready to do this?"

Octavia paused for a moment, picking dirt from underneath her nails. "I have to be. I haven't been able to hold my son for so long. For too long. I have to be ready. For his sake."

She pulled out a few pictures she'd taken of the warehouse. Different entrances where we could attack from. She took pictures of where they blocked off the sun. They made a huge mistake with using wooden boards. That's an advantage for us as we can burn them, and corner the vampires into whatever dark space there is.

"I think we can climb up to the top and open the boards to drop bombs in," she said, showing me a picture of the top entry point.

Mark scratched at his jaw in thought. "What if they've all got daylight rights?"

Octavia shook her head at the thought. "I did some nighttime scouting too. That's the only time some of the vampires come out, usually to feed. The only one with daylight jewelry is the real leader, Zane. It's how he keeps them in check; anyone defying him gets dragged into the sun. However, the witches' magic keeps them from dying. Their numbers are too precious for him to kill them."

"Now the important question; what we're here for go begin with," I sighed, "do you think Zane knows what Allison wanted from our home?"

"He should," she answered, but it wasn't enough to convince me this will be worth it.

Still, this is my best chance to get the answers I deserve. "Okay then. Let's get going."

Neither of them protested. Octavia grabbed her bag of supernatural weapons, and Mark holstered a wooden dagger he created in his belt. Mark had that dagger and his magic as his weapons. Octavia had her trinkets and her magic as well. All in which are reliable.

I, on the other hand, had my fangs and unstable ice-related abilities. I had to either rely on newfound vampire speed go get close enough to chomp some necks, or get lucky to freeze them in place long enough to stake their hearts or rip them out.

Of course, all this is only if we decide to engage right away. Today's supposed to be about scouting, not fighting.

With Octavia in the passenger seat giving me directions to the warehouse, we got there with ease. Obviously I parked a respectable distance away from it for reasons besides not destroying Kaleb's car.

Octavia handed us these black necklaces and had us put them on before going in. Apparently they were how the vampires never sensed her. Neither through sounds of smell.

She showed us route she takes to perch on the second, unused building of the warehouse and spy on them. Once we were settled at the top of the building, she offered me a pair of binoculars, but I could see just fine without them.

"This is the main entry and exit point. Zane comes out pretty often for a smoke."

"A vampire that smokes?" Mark made a face at me. As if I've heard of a real vampire smoking. I've only seen that in an old 80's film. "That sounds so dumb."

"He took 'old habits die hard' way too far," I said, shaking my head. I nudged Octavia with my elbow. "Have you picked up any routines?"

She shook her head no. "The witches don't come out at all. Their job's to protect their location. And defend the numbers if it comes down to that."

"We need to get somewhere we can see them."

"There's a small hole in the boards at the right side of the building. Visibility is terrible but it's something."

I nodded and had her lead us to it. We climbed down from the building we perched on, and made our way over to the breach in the wooden boards.

I peeked through it and tried my best to see something. All that was visible was the floors, and the wall opposite to this one. There wasn't much to see otherwise, but the first thing I did notice was dried splats of blood on the floor. I backed my face away from the hole, closed my eyes and too a deep breath in.

My senses told me the blood was both human and vampire.

"How do they feed?" I thought aloud, but only loud enough for Octavia to hear me.

"People. They take a few randoms off the streets to last them a couple days."

"Why didn't you help them?" Mark asked.

Octavia turned to him. "I'm one person. I couldn't go against a group of hungry vampires with witches practicing traveler magic on their side. Unless you'd rather I ended up like those people?"

"Okay, that's fair."

I turned back to the hole. This time I leaned closer, closing my eyes to focus on listening. There were a few voices sounding from different conversations that were irrelevant to why we were here. Eventually I zeroed in on something interesting.

"...saying, if we don't need that witch anymore, what the hell are we doing with the boy?"

"Leverage," the second voice told the first. Judging from how he talked, he held himself to a higher standard against her. I could only assume that he was Zane, the very leader of the massacres.

"Leverage for what, Z? We have these witches now. Ones that are far more cooperative than that bitch. What could we possibly use her for?"

"Melori, what's happen—"

"Shhhh!" I waved Octavia off, and refocused on the conversation.

"We've been on the run from the mud bitch as well as the upgraded asshole," he said, clearly referencing Alice and Marcel. "I don't know what happened to our memories for the past three years regarding that kid, but Marcel hadn't sent his vampires after us during that time, until a few weeks ago. Alice, on the other hand, was always a problem. Frankly, I'm tired of both of them. But one of them, we can do something about."

"Care to enlighten me?"

"That boy's mother's surely coming for him. She loves him too much not to. When she does, we capture her to turn over to Alice."

"You want to use her as a bargaining chip."

"The witch has been important to Alice since the beginning. That can't have suddenly changed now."

I turned to Mark. He'd heard the same thing I did, and we came to an agreement just by the looks in our eyes. He took Octavia's backpack off her shoulders, and I hauled her over mine. My brother cast a silencing spell to keep her from cursing and screaming, or even casting as we sped off to the car.

I placed her in the backseat where Mark joined her to hold her in place. I was then able to get in, crank the engine and drive off.

Once we were a flew blocks off in the direction of the hotel, Mark released her and undid the spell.

"What the fuck are you two doing? Are you crazy?!"

"No, actually," I responded. Far more calmly than she did.

"We could have burned through the planks then and there, and gotten my son out!"

"It's a trap, Octavia."

"They're using Amir as bait. To get to you," Mark told her. "They might not know for sure that you know where they are, but they know you're after your son."

"Zane wants to trade you to Allison for their freedom from her." I shrugged my shoulders while making a turn. "I mean, we could go back. They can capture you, probably kill Amir as he's served his purpose. Then you can go back to being Allison's slave, living in constant fear of being devoured if you don't obey her orders."

I looked at her through the rearview. "And before you start thinking it wouldn't be so bad to be consumed after your son's death, trust me, it still will be. She's made from Malivore, and my best guess is if you're consumed by her, it'll be the same as it is with him; you'll roam around in your own prison of nothingness, likely with no way out as you're even further consumed by your own thoughts. Trust me, those 'what ifs' can really damage the soul."

Knowing I'm right, Octavia huffed and sat back in the seat. For someone who's been almost completely level headed so far, I was surprised at the angry scowl on her face. I was convinced she'd burst a blood vessel or something.

"Tomorrow," I promised, looking back into the rearview. "Tomorrow we forge a fool-proof plan to get your son and Zane. The day after? We follow through. Sound good to you?"

Her scowl slowly disappeared, and eventually she nodded.

We arrived at the hotel, and I parked us in the lot. Octavia was almost reluctant to leave the car, but she eventually gathered her bag and went up to the room with Mark.

I hung back and thought of making a call to Hope. Part of me wished she and the others made progress on retrieving the demon boy, but the other half of me knew that kind of progress was near impossible to make in a day.

I decided to check in tomorrow instead, between a planning break.

Before I took a step towards the hotel, I caught a strange scent in the wind. The hairs on my bare arms backed it. I sniffed the air subtly to get a good bearing of what it was.

It was death. More specifically, it smelled like a vampire.

Using my speed, I ran off in the direction that the smell came from. Luckily, I was fast enough to catch them off guard. Before they could run off, I grabbed them by the throat, slammed them against the wall they were hiding behind, then down to the ground.

I let out a growl, threatening the vampire with my fangs.

"Dude, chill! Chill!" I have her a once-over, taking in her appearance. Though she dressed like some hard ass biker with a decent kill count, her body language was the complete opposite.

She smiled widely. Almost admirably, too.

Who the hell...?

"Cool," she gasped. "Never seen a hybrid before. Of course, those like, don't exist anymore."

I growled again. "Who are you?"

She smiled again. "A friend. Look, I promise I'm not here to spy on you. Or to try to kill you, that'd be stupid. Stupid as hell."

"And why would I trust the word of a vampire?"

"Because I'm a friend of Amir's."

yes. Mel absolutely, 100% has a fan now.

also, I realized a while back that at the rate I'm going with the story, in general, we're gonna go WELL past 50 chapters. I wonder; is that fine with you guys or should I try to hurry the fuck up with wrapping it up?

obviously the second option will call for longer chapters, and way less slow burns and I know if I start trying to wrap things up sooner, it'll feel weird. but part of the fun that comes with writing is the fact that you all are enjoying it. it'll be a disservice to you if it all goes to shit either because it's too long and you get bored, or it's rushed and not... me, I guess I should say? like, I'm random sometimes and my brain works in this weird, maybe fun that's worked out fine so far.

with that being said, what do you think? keep our pace and have 50-60+ chapters, or, try to minimize them as much as possible?