Chapter 10: Moonlight, Blood, and a Betrayal No One Saw Coming
1023 Words
Moonlight spilled through the vault’s vents like cold silver dust—pretty, if the whole place weren’t about to explode with violence.
A shiver ran down Lucas’s spine. Then another. Bones cracking like someone snapping dry branches. His muscles surged. Fur burst out in frantic waves. In two breathless seconds he wasn’t Lucas anymore. He was the wolf. Big. Wild-eyed. Teeth like knives dipped in moonlight.
Jack actually took a step back. His knife hand shook so hard it tapped against his leg—tiny, pathetic clicking sound he probably hoped no one heard.
Sebastian, of course, barely blinked. Fingers brushed his jacket like he was adjusting a lapel instead of pulling out a custom silver-loaded handgun.
“A wolf,” he muttered. “How dramatic.”
Yeah, sure. Until it bites your arm off.
Alicia felt her throat tighten. Silver meant death for Lucas, and the i***t was standing perfectly in the open. She forced her eyes to Jack instead.
“Jack! You really wanna die for him? He doesn’t care about you. Or your sister!”
Jack’s reaction was… complicated. A twitch. A swallow. His grip slipped, then tightened again. He looked anywhere except at Sebastian.
Sebastian rolled his eyes.
“Oh, please. Jack, don’t go soft now. Get the box, and your sister’s medicine is handled.”
That word—“handled”—landed wrong. Too casual. Too practiced.
Lucas threw his head back and howled. The whole vault vibrated, dust raining from vents. And then he launched forward.
Sebastian fired.
A flash, a crack—
The silver bullet sliced a patch of Lucas’s fur and punched a dent into the wall. The scent of scorched metal filled the vault.
Alicia didn’t wait. She sprinted to the control console, nearly slipping because her hands were sweaty—great timing. Her fingers danced over the keys, not gracefully but desperately, like smacking a stubborn vending machine.
Behind her, the fight became a tangle of limbs and claws and swearing. Sebastian shot again and missed again—Lucas moved like something wired on panic and instinct. Jack hesitated… then, out of nowhere, charged at the wrong man.
He went for Sebastian.
“You—!” Sebastian snarled, stumbling as Lucas’s claws tore a shallow slice across his arm.
Jack’s face twisted with something close to heartbreak. Or rage. Or both.
“You used me! My sister’s dying while you keep promising ‘next week’ and ‘just one more job’—”
His voice cracked. He pretended it didn’t.
Alicia finally found what she was searching for—a hidden control buried under layers of unnecessary menus. She slammed the button down so hard her palm stung.
The vault groaned. Metal bars shot upward, slicing the room in half. Sebastian and Jack on one side. Alicia and Lucas on the other.
Sebastian bared his teeth—human, but almost more frightening than Lucas’s.
“You can’t run forever.” He pointed the silver gun straight at Alicia. “Give me the box. Or die clutching it like a child.”
The box felt heavier now, as if her mother’s secrets were physically dragging her down.
“Over my dead body,” she snapped—immediately realizing maybe not the best phrasing with a silver bullet aimed at her.
Something beeped behind them.
The door. Opening. Slowly. Creaking like a bad omen.
Alicia’s stomach dropped. “No, no, no… not now.”
Footsteps.
And in walked Officer Raymond—the one who’d warned her at the station. Not limping, not rushed. Just… strolling. Holding a gun like he’d borrowed it from a forgetful friend.
He gave her a crooked smile that didn’t touch his eyes.
“Evening.”
Oh, hell.
“Raymond,” Alicia said, fighting the urge to throw the box at his head, “what are you doing here?”
He shrugged, brushed dust off his sleeve—small, annoyingly normal gesture.
“I like simple things,” he said. “Food. Sleep. Money. Sebastian pays very well.”
Sebastian perked up instantly—bloody, sweating, still smug.
“Do it, Raymond. Kill them. Box is yours.”
Raymond raised the gun.
Paused.
Tilted his head as if comparing prices at a grocery store.
Lucas growled, shoulders lowering like a spring. Alicia grabbed a fistful of his fur without thinking—not to stop him, just to feel something alive.
“Hold on,” Jack said suddenly, voice cracking on the first word.
“Raymond… you think Sebastian’s letting you walk away after this? You won’t even make it to the parking lot.”
“Jack,” Sebastian snapped, “shut—”
Jack talked louder, desperate, tripping over words.
“We work together. You get half the research. Leave with a fortune before anyone realizes—”
Raymond blinked.
His finger twitched on the trigger.
Not in fear. In interest.
Sebastian, now actually panicking, barked,
“Raymond, don’t listen—”
Alicia cut in, voice trembling but steady enough.
“You kill us, there’s no deal that saves you. Let us go… maybe we can talk to the DA. Maybe.”
She didn’t believe that. Not truly. But she bit her lip like she did—because fear sells better when you pretend it’s hope.
Raymond wavered. His shoulders drooped just a fraction, as if someone had let the air out of him.
“Damn,” he muttered. “I really hate decisions.”
In the corner, a random drip from a broken pipe hit the floor. The sound echoed. Too loud.
Raymond flinched at it—an unexpected, almost ridiculous reaction for a man holding a gun. Even Sebastian looked confused.
Alicia seized the moment, though her heart hammered so hard she thought it might actually make a sound.
“Raymond,” she whispered, “don’t do something you can’t undo. Please.”
His grip loosened.
Just a little.
Just enough to make everything more dangerous.
The tension snapped so tight it felt like the air itself might crack.
Someone—nobody could say who later—moved first.
And the vault erupted all over again.
- Writer
