For a moment, the world stopped. It was just the three of us, staring at Isaiah, wondering how he would take the information. Wondering if he could handle the information we just dumped onto his lap.
Than chaos breaks loose as he lunges forward, yanking his sword from its sheath at his left hip. "Isaiah!" I yell, jumping forward, pulling out my own sword.
There was a loud crack as our swords meet. "Right in front of me this whole time!?" He shouts, "One of them!?"
We become locked in battle, our bone swords flashing between us. "Calm down!' I shout. He advances, pressing me on my injured side. Unable to keep up, he breaks my guard. I try to throw myself to the side to avoid it, but I wasn't going to be fast enough. I brace myself for the pain, but Zeno steps forward, grabbing Isaiah's bone sword with his bare hand. Blood splatters on my face and chest.
"Zeno!" I gasp.
He turns a smile to me, "Don't worry, it'll heal. I couldn't have you getting hurt on my behalf. You're beat up enough as it is and Fletcher entrusted me with an important task."
In a panic Isaiah tries to pull his sword away, but it doesn't budge. Zeno turns back to Isaiah and takes a couple steps toward him. Isaiah quickly retreats, fear in his eyes. Zeno backs him up until his back hits the wall and he has nowhere to go. Then, Zeno pulls the sword from his hand and tosses it to the side. Blood drips from the wound, puddling on the ground beneath him.
"Raising a sword to an ally doesn't sit well with me." Zeno says, then backs away from him and steps to the side leaving a clear path to escape. "My intentions are only to help the people get into the hospital. And of course, anyone who I think isn't human is coming back with us to Fletcher's mansion. We're going to need all the help we can get if we're going to close the boundary. Especially witches, if you were listening to Miss Quinn's story."
"You're murderers." Isaiah growls, looking distraught and broken, "Fucking murderers! I won't forget! It haunts me! You killed her! You killed my mom!"
Confusion crosses Zeno's face, "What? What are you-"
Isaiah lunges for Zeno again, this time with a smaller knife, "You're all monsters!" He shouts.
Zeno quickly disarms him and tosses him back. Isaiah stumbles, falling down. He pulls out another knife and tries again, ending with the same result. "Isaiah…" I whisper, biting my lip. I had forgotten, but his family was killed by monsters. I wasn't sure what kind, but I now had the sneaking suspicion that it might have been a werewolf.
I rush forward and grab him in a hug, "I'm sorry." I say, causing him to pause, "I shouldn't have placed this all on you so fast. Try to calm down."
For a moment he's still, but he starts to fight again and I turn to Zeno, "Could you step out for a bit?"
Zeno nods, "Sure. I'm sorry." He turns away looking terribly guilty or maybe hurt? I wasn't sure, but Isaiah was first. Michelle and I stay with Isaiah for a bit while he calms down. After a while of silence he says, "It was a werewolf," I had been sitting on the ground, to the right of him. Michelle to the left. "I was eleven. I was there. I watched the whole thing." His eyes looked off into the distance, "I can still hear their screams. I can still see its face. Quinn, you can't trust it. You've always been strong, but not gullible. Not dumb. You have to know that they're dangerous."
"He's a werewolf, of course he's dangerous." I say, "But right now, he's our ally. He took Michelle and I in while we were beat up. He carried me into the house. He and Fletcher nursed us while we were unconscious. A vampire and a werewolf working together to make sure a hunter didn't die."
Isaiah takes in a deep breath, "I just…" He looks impossibly tired, "I don't think I can fight side by side with one of them."
I purse my lips. If I can't get Isaiah to go along with this, how the hell am I supposed to change anyone else's mind? I was still so far behind. People were being slaughtered, I still needed to find a dozen witches to end this, IF this could even be something that could be stopped. The tear could be a permanent thing.
My stomach drops at the thought. Could this all be permanent?
I open my mouth to say more to Isaiah, but Zeno pops his head back in, "Something is wrong, Miss Quinn. I smell blood. Fresh blood. From the surface, I think."
I jump to my feet, "Are you sure?"
Isaiah follows close behind, glaring at Zeno, but saying nothing.
"I can't be from this far underground. It could be nothing," He hesitates, "But, I can't ignore it. I just figured I should tell you as well. I also don't want to panic anyone and-" he glances at Isaiah, then looks away, "T-Turn. I'm going to have to do it in human form and that means, I'm probably going to need some help."
I nod, "You got it from me." I start to follow and Isaiah grabs my wrist, "What if it's a trap?" He whispers, eyes focused on Zeno.
"It's not." I say firmly, whipping around to face him.
"Quinn," He whispers, "That thing is dangerous."
"Then stay here." I say harshly, "I understand your fear Isaiah, I do. But, I trust Zeno. Well, as much as a hunter can trust a Werewolf, anyway. If he's worried something is wrong, I owe it to him to at least check it out. Him and his friends saved me. They saved my life when they knew that if the roles were reversed, I would have left them for dead. Still they helped. Still they went out of their way to make me and Michelle feel safe and to make sure we were fed." I yank my wrist out of his hand, "I will repay that debt."
I turn on my heels and walk out after Zeno. He looks at Isaiah with sad eyes, "Are you sure it's okay to leave him like that?" He asks me as Michelle comes to my side.
"He'll be fine," Michelle says, "Let's go check out this disturbance of yours."
We barely make it through the hidden door when Zeno flinches back and says, "That's a lot of blood." and takes off at a full run through the hospital. I quickly take off after him with Michelle right behind me.
We hear the screams at the front of the hospital before we even make it to the front lobby. All the nurses and staff huddled behind the desks crying with their hands over their ears as people screamed and cried to be let in. Zeno rushes right by them to the front doors. He yanks at the split in the doors, "It's locked!" He shouts back to us, turning around.
"Don't open them!" One girl pleads, "We can't chance something getting into the hospital! We have to protect what we already have!"
Zeno hesitates, looking back at the door, then his eyes trail to the side, up a flight of stairs, where some windows were. He takes off, running up the stairs with me and Michelle close behind, "Zeno?" I yell after him.
He begins taking off his shirt, "I'm going to jump." He yells back.
My jaw drops as I look back down the stairs we were still climbing, "Jump? That's three stories up!"
We finally get to the top of the staircase, "My legs in this form would break if I jumped at this height, but not in my other form. So, I'll need to change. You're going to get on back. Michelle too, if you guys can fight." He says, using his fist to break the glass of the window.
"I can!" I snap. As Michelle nods in agreement, looking slightly sick as he uses his bare hands to carefully remove any shards of glass still in the window. A werewolf's human form was much tougher and stronger than that of a human, but it was still unsettling to see.
He unbuttons his pants and lets them drop to his ankles, then his body begins to transform. Ripping and crunching, his body changes from the inside. Bones snap and pop as they reform into something more animal. Fur sprouts and grows from the splits in human skin as large slabs of skin slide off fresh, golden fur. In less than thirty seconds, there's an enormous golden wolf standing in front of us with two white front paws. The human skin never makes it to the ground, disappearing before it makes contact with the marble floor.
It hunches over, leaning towards us. A clear invitation to get on its back. I throw a leg over and pull myself up onto his shoulders using a huge handful of fur and just hoping it doesn't hurt too much. I help Michelle up behind me. Before I could even say anything, Zeno leaps out the window.