The Monster Within Me

Chapter 11

Quinn

"I'm gonna kill that stupid son of a-," She was seething.

"Maya! Can you please explain to me what the hell is going on with you?" I said, walking beside her. She had asked me to take her to take her to the vampire but she had stormed off in the right direction so I guess she was tracking him somehow. He hadn't said a word since we got him here and he was getting small animals like mice and rabbits to drink from in order to keep him alive long enough for questioning, but not enough to attack us, or so we thought.

"He did this really painful mind link thing where he like, infiltrated my mind. I have no idea how he did it, but it was painful and he is gonna hurt so much more when I get my hands on him." She said in a clipped voice. I had never seen her so angry.

I ran ahead of her, getting in front to block her path, "Maya, I understand that you're pissed that he got to you, but listen to yourself. A few days ago you went pale at the thought of having to kill a monster that was abducting werewolves and now you're talking about killing a vamp. You're losing control of your wolf and I can't let you in unless you're the one in charge of yourself. You can get hurt and I can't have that." I said firmly.

Finally she stopped walking and paused to look at me, c*****g her head to the side in a movement that was more animal than human. She looked at me for a beat longer than I was comfortable with, but just before I could say anything else she closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. After a minute, she finally opened her eyes and I was greeted with the beautiful green eyes I had become familiar with.

"I'm okay now. Kaia decided that a level head was needed for this, but now that she's gone, I don't wanna go anywhere near that thing." She stated, her voice wavering with her returning fear.

"Do you want me to call Fen and Ylva to come? They'll be a great help to you for this and will help keep you calm hopefully." I said, stepping forward and putting my hands on her shoulders to try to ease her worry. I pulled my phone off and sent the message to Fen to come with Ylva before sliding it back into my back pocket.

"That would be helpful yea. As soon as Kaia left and her strength went with her, it feels like I'm just a tiny little shell of what I was when I had it." She said while stepping forward and wrapping her arms around me.

"Maya, you're strong even without Kaia's help, you just need help to build your confidence. That way, you can feel just as strong no matter what, and use Kaia's strength and abilities as another weapon in your arsenal instead of a crutch." I wrapped my arms around her and held her close. I hadn't held in her a long time and it felt like something inside me mended back together.

"What am I gonna do Quinn? I'm supposed to get strong and do all this kickass stuff and save everyone, but I'm just a scared, confused girl who has no idea what the hell she's doing. How am I supposed to help anybody?" She said, tilting her head up to look at me.

"You are integral to the survival of our kind Maya, but you are also important to people who knew you before that. You have every right to be scared, smart people, the ones who live longest, aren't the people who avoid fear. They are the ones who can take that fear and use it to do what they need to." I said looking down at her.

"How do you do that?" She asked, resting her head against my chest.

"How do I do what?" I asked, running my hands through her soft curly ponytail.

"Know exactly what to say. It's like you have a blueprint to help me stop panicking and you never raise your voice. It always sounds calm, even when I can tell that you're stressed. You make me feel calm and safe. Kaia always feels much so much calmer with you." She said and warmth bloomed through my chest at her words.

I cupped her cheek in my hand and tilted her face up to look at me again, "Maya, you have no idea how good it feels to hear you say that."

She was staring into my eyes so deeply it felt like she was searching for my soul. Having her this close and holding her like this after so long felt like I was awake for the first time after having been asleep. Her scent was becoming intoxicating and I could feel her heart rate increase as it beat against my chest. My eyes dipped to her lips and her tongue darted out to wet her lips. I leaned forward to kiss her, feeling my own heart rate increase. She tilted her head back further, raising herself up on her tiptoes to meet me in the middle.

"Quinn, Maya you guys over there?" I heard Ylva call as she broke through the trees into the small clearing that we were standing in, Fen not far behind her.

With a sigh we broke apart, but I kept my arms around her shoulder to keep her close.

"Did we miss something?" Fen asked with a knowing smirk.

I rolled my eyes and filled them in on what was actually important, the vampire was ready to talk.

Maya

"Are you feeling up to this right now Maya? We can try again tomorrow if you need to rest from your training today." Fen was being more than courteous, Quinn had explained our training and how it had gone to both Fen and Ylva and they had originally looked very concerned, but after I explained that I was fine 5,000 times they seemed to finally believe me.

"I would rather get this over with today, I have an important training session tomorrow." I said with a small smile. I didn't want to miss my first session with Fen to someone who was working for the man intent on killing me. I needed to work hard and I wouldn't be sidetracked.

Fen laughed as he responded, "Alright Maya, but if it becomes too much for you, you say something and we'll take you out of there. We didn't know he had that mind trick he pulled on you and we don't know what else he can do."

I nodded determined to be as strong as I could for this questioning. I'd never done this before so having the others around me was helping me remain calm as we made our way to a structure deep in the woods surrounding the pack territory. 

When we finally began to slow, I could see what looked like a small cabin in the distance. It seemed very cozy, except for the scary looking enforcers that were standing at attention in the front and I could hear that there were more people moving around behind the building.

"How many do you hear?" Quinn asked from beside me. Since our little moment in the clearing he had been stuck to me, his arm around my shoulders, his hand at my waist, almost like he couldn't bare to lose the contact. I wasn't gonna complain, I was quite enjoying it myself.

I closed my eyes and concentrated, pulling from Kaia her acute sense of hearing, "Four outside on the ground, one above, two directly inside and another two further inside. If there is a basement there must be something blocking the sound coming from it because that's all I've got." I said as I thanked Kaia for her help.

They all stopped to stare at me and then glanced at each other.

"What?" I asked cautiously looking at them suspiciously.

"You've been training her well Quinn, it normally takes wolves weeks to have that much control of their senses to be that accurate," Ylva said nodding her approval as she continued, "You're right though, there is a soundproof door leading to the basement where prisoners are held. How were you able to identify that?" She asked c*****g her head to the side in that animal way.

"I'm not entirely sure honestly," I said contemplating how to explain, "It just kind of felt like it cut off too abruptly, like someone had stuffed cotton in my ears or put super good earplugs to prevent me from hearing passed a certain point." I said shrugging my shoulders. I wasn't even sure if that made sense, but it seemed to satisfy them.

As we made it to the door one of the enforcers stepped forward and greeted Fen.

"Alpha, it is an honor to see you. How can we help you today?" He said in a voice that was so deep it seemed to vibrate through my chest. He looked like he was only a few years older than me, but I knew that with the way that werewolves age, he could be sixty years my senior.

"Malachai, this is Maya, the one who was attacked by the vamp we have in holding. It seems our prisoner has the ability to contact people telepathically and is requesting to speak with her." Fen said in a friendly but authoritative tone.

The enforcer, Malachai, nodded once and stepped back to hold the door open for us. As we entered the other enforcers stood at attention. There were two on opposite sides of the room at the front and back of the room leading to a door that I guessed would bring us to the basement. They nodded to our group and then focused their attention back on being alert to the dangers that not only lurked outside but the ones inside as well. There was basic furniture around, a couch, a coffee table, and recliner and some pictures on the walls. It looked like someone might've lived here in the past.

As we reached the door, Fen held up his had to a keypad that was beside the door and entered the code to the door. It beeped briefly and then opened up to an area that had the other two enforcers that I had sensed from outside. One beside the door we were walking through and the other by the door that would finally lead us to the basement. Fen pointed us toward a table where we put up our cell phones and Quinn and Fen put up the walkie-talkies they had clipped to their belts.

"We don't want the prisoners to have a chance to contact those on the outside, so be sure to remove anything electrical. If there's an emergency and someone needs to be removed, I'll let one of these gentlemen, Chris who is guarding the door we're going through or Nash who is by the door we just came through, by way of the pack link instead. Nothing will be tampered with I can assure you." Fen said in a serious tone. He had been all business since we entered the cabin.

We all nodded and put our things on the table. Once everyone was ready, Fen nodded to Chris, who nodded in return and entered a code on the keypad and opened the door for us. Fen went first with Ylva and I following while Quinn took the rear. He still had his hand at my waist as if he was scared I was going to disappear into thin air. Again, not complaining.

The hall was lit by small emergency lights that hung on the ceiling and there were stairs at the end that led down to the lower level. As we descended the stairs it became noticeably colder, almost like stepping into a freezer. I must've shivered with the cold because Quinn was already beside me with his arm around my shoulders.

"Are you okay?" He asked softly.

"Yea, just cold. I feel like I stepped into a freezer." I said, rubbing my hands on my arms in an attempt to warm myself up.

"Cold? Are you sure you're okay Maya? The temperature hasn't changed since we got here." He said with a puzzled look on his face.

I stopped walking and because his arm was still around my shoulders he stopped too. He turned to face me while I tried to make sense of the fact that apparently I was losing my mind.

"So nobody else felt it get ridiculously cold when we came down the stairs?" I said, my breathing picking up with my rising panic.

Fen and Ylva heard me and stopped to come back to where Quinn and I were standing.

"What's wrong?" Fen asked, scanning the empty hall in search of the threat.

"Apparently I am the only one who feels as though we stepped into a freezer when we came down here. It's freaking me out." I said still shivering from the cold and also struggling to control my breathing with my panic.

You're not losing your mind Maya. You are feeling the evil present and past that have been housed here.

"Oh great, that's fantastic," I said, smacking myself in the forehead with this revelation, "Kaia told me that I am able to feel the past and present evil that resided here. I'm guessing that because it literally feels like it's below freezing that whoever this vampire is, he is letting off some seriously bad juju."

"It's not too late for us to go back Maya. Nobody will judge you for not wanting to do this." Ylva said in a kind tone, placing her hand on my shoulder in reassurance.

"No," I said shaking my head, "I won't run from something that could potentially help us. I'll have to face more like him soon enough, so the earlier I'm acquainted with them, the better." I don't think I was being very convincing, but nobody argued with me. Just nodded and turned to continue on down the hall.

At the end of the never-ending hall, there was another door. This door smelt awful and inhaling the fumes coming off it almost felt like it was burning my nose hairs. I tried to recall what this was from one of the training sessions that we had done earlier this week and identified it as silver. Fen took a pair of gloves off a hook on the wall and turned the wheel on the door to disengage the lock and pushed the door open. He then hung the gloves back on the wall and herded us through before stepping through himself and closing and reengaging the lock with his bare hands

Silver wasn't deadly to werewolves, but it made all werewolves extremely uncomfortable. When I (thought) was human I had always written off my sensitivity to the metal as an allergy, but now I can tell that wasn't what it was. In my time studying with Ylva, she had explained that although it made werewolves uncomfortable, it was almost like poison to other supernatural beings that are present. Like vampires, which is why my sensitivity is apparently so high, because I'm a hybrid.

After the door was closed behind him, Fen led us down the hall to a cell completely filled with different silver objects. Sitting tucked away in a corner was the vampire, as far away from any of the silver as he could get. He was noticeably thinner than when he had tried to kidnap me and he had dried blood on the corner of his mouth. As I looked around the cell I could see that there were the tiny bodies of mice, rabbits and even a fox laying around.

"Sorry, had I known I was having visitors I would have tidied up a bit." He said in a voice full of pain. He was looking directly at me, like I was the only one he could see.

"You're the one who called me here so I'm assuming your lack of hospitality must have followed you from your realm." I said with all the mock confidence I could muster. I knew they could all hear my racing heartbeat and I was grateful that they were all ignoring it.

"Ah, so you did get my summons," he chuckled, "good to know that all this silver and starvation hasn't caused me to lose my touch."

"Oh would you cut the crap? All your evil is leeching out of you like a festering wound and I'm freezing. So please cut it out and tell me why I've been called down here." I said my voice filling with the anger and frustration I was feeling at being in this whole situation in the first place.

Use me if you need to. I will let you maintain control.

At Kaia's suggestion, I partially shifted. Drawing on her strength to help me, but nothing more. As I felt her power flow through me, I felt my heart rate return to normal and I could feel myself relax.

"Have you become so strong so quickly? I guess we underestimated you. Not that it matters, it's been awhile since Loki had something to eat, I'm sure he'll be around to visit soon." He said.

"Loki is the name of Vlad's pet isn't it?" I asked.

"Smart girl. I'm glad they've gotten you up to speed so quickly. A shame that you won't live long enough for it to matter though." He said trying for a nonchalant shrug, but he was too weak to make it believable.

"Why were you trying to kidnap me?" I asked becoming agitated at his attitude towards the conversation.

"I was told to bring you back to our realm and get you to fight for our side. You were being a bit of a brat making me chase you so I was going to have a little fun with you first. I was supposed to find you before you had acquainted yourself too well with the dogs, but your parents his you very well. You had no idea what you were until they found you." He said shaking his head.

"What is your name? And did you know my parents?" I asked and I hated how desperate I sounded. I couldn't help the sliver of hope that I felt at the mention of my parents.

"My name doesn't matter, but if you must know, it is Angelo. As for your parents I never met them, or I don't think I ever did. There were so many who left after the war after having fallen in love with a wolf when they should have been ripping them to shreds." He said, his voice disdain.

"Why did you call me here Angelo? There must've been something you actually wanted to tell me, so what is it?" I asked my irritation with this conversation nearly at its tipping point.

"Get rid of your guards and I'll tell you princess." Angelo said with a smirk.

"Not a chance bloodsucker." Quinn said from beside me. I had forgotten the others were there and his voice made me jump. He was shaking with barely contained anger.

"I believe the lady can speak for herself lover-boy. The longer she stays around you the higher the chance she dies anyway, so what I tell her won't matter anyway. But curiosity nearly always wins over better judgement." Angelo said in a voice that was almost goading Quinn.

Quinn clenched his fists and turned to me, "It's ultimately your decision. We will all respect what you decide." I could tell it pained him to say those words, he was always trying to protect me and he knew he couldn't protect me from information that could prove helpful. Plus, Angelo was right, against my better judgement my curiosity had me wanting to know what it was her wanted to tell me.

I nodded at Quinn, then turned to look at Ylva and Fen and nodded back towards the door we had come through, indicating to them that I wanted to speak with them away from the vampire.

When we were all huddled together, I held Quinn and ylva's hands and told them what I had decided, "I want to know what he has to say," Quinn's grip on my hand tightened, "It could be about anything and it could very well be important to us. I need to know what it is." I said in a voice low enough that only they heard me. I was looking at Quinn with a pleading look, hoping he understood why I was doing this.

"We'll leave you to talk with him Maya, but please be careful. He cannot be trusted." Ylva said holding my hand firmly forcing me to look at her and take in the seriousness of what she was telling me.

I nodded my head, letting her know that I understood. She moved toward the door, and before Fen followed, he put his hand on my shoulder in encouragement, "We all believe in you Maya, you're a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for." He turned to follow Ylva to the door to unlock it for her, leaving me standing there with Quinn.

"Quinn, I'll be careful I promise. I'll be okay, but I need you to trust me. If you don't want to leave, that's fine, but please just stay by the door. And no listening to what he tells me either. I'm gonna share it with you guys when we get back to the packhouse." I said giving him a quick hug and turning before he could protest.

I had a vampire that I needed to speak to.