Part Four: End - b

Casey looked up at that with some shock, then down at Kendra’s swollen belly.

“His name is Cedric,” Kendra told her. “And he is your half-brother.”

“My b-brother?” Casey asked, disbelievingly. So many emotions were suddenly pounding through her head. The little bit of hope she had blazed brighter than it ever had in her whole life.

“That’s right,” she replied. “And I think he could benefit from some of your crazy cool, street smarts.”

She smiled and playfully bumped Casey with her shoulder.

Casey actually let out a small chuckle before she realized it and for just a moment, she let down her guard. In that moment, that hope flared into brighter life and she could vividly see a life with Kendra and her weird communal mansion. She could picture a life with her…her…

Brother, she thought, still amazed by that. Her whole life, family was the one thing she had been missing and now, here in this place, she might have found just that. But she had been burned before. Too many times to let that hope burn as brightly as she wanted it to.

“Why are you helping me?” Casey asked. Her voice was uncharacteristically small.

“Because that’s what we do here. We help family,” Kendra responded, as if the answer were really just that simple. “You are family here, Casey. In time, I think you’ll truly see that.”

She folded Casey into a hug and, surprisingly, the girl didn’t back away.

Conor was watching the whole thing unfold and all he felt was a deep, soul-crushing bitterness. He was right there! He should have been able to go to his daughter and be the one to console her. To tell her that she was loved and that he would never, not ever, let her go but he was trapped in a place where he could not reach her. It was unbearable.

Without a word, he left the room.

Kendra couldn’t turn to watch him go but she knew he left. Her heart ached for him and that moment was the first time she realized how much he was hurting. He could not interact with the world. Could truly be with his daughter. Could not tell her himself how much he loved her. How much he wanted her in his life.

It was what hell must be like.

“Casey,” Kendra whispered.

She looked up at her and she knew she had to tell the girl the real truth. Whatever might come from it, she knew it was the choice she had to make.

“What is it?” Casey asked. That fear was starting to creep back into her eyes.

“It’s about your father,” she said.

“What about him?”

Kendra hesitated. She wasn’t quite sure how to proceed.

“Don’t,” Conor said suddenly. He had reappeared inside the room, drawn to it as if he knew what she was about to do. “It will only hurt her more.”

She looked back at him, their eyes locking onto each other.

[Are you sure?]

“Yes.” His voice was solemn. “Right now, she’s vulnerable. If we push her too hard, she’ll run again.”

[We need to tell her eventually.]

He didn’t respond to her. Instead, he just nodded his head.

Kendra smoothly turned back to Casey and was about to talk to her again but there was a commotion outside. It wasn’t a fight, per se, but there were definitely some raised voices. A few seconds later, came a knock.

“Come in,” Kendra said. She rose from the bench but left Casey on it. She was furiously wiping at her eyes to clear them of the tears.

“What?” Casey smiled a little. “I have a rep to protect.”

Kendra smiled back at her as the door opened and Shawn came rushing in with Anya directly behind him.

“Is something wrong?” Kendra asked them but they immediately started shaking their heads.

Before either of them could talk, Deirdre, Ian, Jenna, Abraham, Felix, and Elijah came bursting inside too. The two mages looked free of injury but the two knights bore several bruises and cuts. Elijah had one just above his left eyebrow. There was an animal at Jenna’s feet and when Kendra stared down at it, she was surprised to see the bul-gae dog there.

Jenna followed her line of sight to the supernatural beast and smiled lightly, shrugging.

“His name’s Toasty,” she said. “I saved him about a month ago from a contingent of rogue…” She was about to say knights, but saw Casey and quickly changed her verbiage. “Uh…dirtbags that were trying to hurt him. Now he won’t leave me alone.”

She reached down and pet the top of Toasty’s fury head and he leaned into it, a doggy grin spreading across his muzzle.

“He’s come in handy,” she went on but this time the humor had drained from her eyes and she just looked tired and sad. The last few months weren’t easy ones for the Order of the Defaeco Knights. After Carter caused the rift within the order, the new faction was creating all kinds of trouble within the city. They were attacking all supernatural creatures, regardless of whether they were dangerous or not. That included the bul-gae apparently.

“He’s cute,” Kendra told her. Then she stared at everyone. “What, exactly, is going on?”

She turned once again to Anya and Shawn but they both looked pointedly at Casey. The girl had no clue about the supernatural world and wasn’t even aware of her werewolf heritage yet. Kendra had decided early on that she wanted to keep that away from her a little bit longer, until she was more acclimated to her new situation. When the time was right, she would explain everything but now was definitely not that time.

“Casey,” Kendra started to say.

“Yeah, yeah.” She was already getting up to leave the room. She didn’t look angry about being told to leave. Just perplexed. “You all sure do like your weirdly private convos.”

She left the room with a disinterested shrug, hands in her pockets. Once she was gone and everyone confirmed she was out of hearing range, Kendra gestured for Anya to go on.

“The vampires,” Anya told her. “We found them. They’re at the Hotel Lycaon.”

“We can hit them now and wipe them out,” Shawn said.

“That is a foolish plan created by a foolish child,” Elijah barked.

There had already been a massive argument about whether or not to tell Kendra. With her being pregnant, they didn’t want to risk her health. With just a look, Jenna made her stance on the subject quite clear. She didn’t want Kendra anywhere near a fight with vampires while she was ready to pop. Elijah, Abraham, Felix, Ian, and Deirdre obviously agreed. The two younger wolves apparently disagreed.

“The vampires are stronger and our numbers have been largely reduced,” Ian growled. “Even if we attack them during the day, we don’t stand a chance.”

Shawn blinked at that news.

“They don’t sleep during the day?” he asked, confused. “But all the movies…”

“Are nothing but Hollywood drivel,” Abraham interrupted. “They are undead creatures and as such, require no need for sleep. Their only requirement is blood.”

He visibly deflated and so did Anya.

“Damn, man. I thought that would work,” he said.

“It is time to fight,” Kendra said. She placed a hand on her stomach. “It is time to end this. My son will never be safe as long as they are alive. They’ll always come for us.”

Her face took on a hard tone. Her eyes lit with a furious, inner fire and her jaw was firm.

“I understand if the Order can’t help with this,” she said. “I can’t ask you to fight for us again.”

Jenna stepped forward and put her hand on her cousin’s shoulder. There was a slight, knowing smirk on her face.

“You know I’m not leaving you and my baby nephew alone, right?” she said.

“And my great-nephew,” Elijah chimed in. “You will not fight alone. We are with you.”

“So we’re all going to just let an eight-month pregnant woman fight a bunch of vampires? Everyone here is just totally okay with that?” Felix asked. His voice was dripping with sarcasm and there was heat to his words. He was clearly furious.

“I agree with the mage, Kendra,” Ian spoke up and Deirde nodded in agreement.

“It’s not safe,” she said. “If we lose you, we lose everything.”

“You won’t lose me,” she returned, vehemently. “Trust me. I’m not going anywhere.”

“You’re putting yourself into unnecessary danger,” Conor told her.

“Trust me,” Kendra reiterated, talking not only to those present but to Conor as well. She placed her hand on the swell of her stomach again. “I would never put my son in danger.”

“See.” Shawn smiled widely. “She’s ready to kick some vampire ass again.”

She returned his grin with one of her own, but it was a disquieting thing. It looked like a shark’s grin.

“More than ready,” she replied.

||| ||| ||| ||| |||

Kendra pulled up to an apartment complex that the Order was using for the injured. They wanted to keep the injuries their knights and mages were getting off official records. Inside the building, the interior had been remodeled extensively to look like a hospital, complete with operating rooms in the basement that were sterilized and ready for serious surgeries. The sad part, she thought as she entered, was that they had needed something like that in the first place.

“Welcome, Ms. Henner,” a cheery woman with curly red hair and freckles said from behind the front desk. “Are you here to see Pope again?”

She nodded and the smile on the girl’s face suddenly faltered.

“Is something wrong?” Kendra asked.

“It’s best if you speak directly with Darla,” she replied with a sadness that made Kendra instantly nervous.

She walked hurriedly over to the elevator and pressed the button. When it opened, she rode it up to the fifth floor where Pope’s room was. When she got to it, she found the door closed. She didn’t bother knocking. Inside was Darla, monitoring the unconscious form of Pope in the bed. She turned and when she saw that it was Kendra, her face turned sad.

“What’s happened?” Kendra didn’t bother keeping the fear out of her voice.

She walked fully into the room and came to stand next to the bed with Pope in it. He was hooked up to a ventilator with bandages on his neck that were dark with blood. Several other bandages were wrapped around both of his arms. Kendra could smell the sterile environment of the place but underneath it was the rancid smell of rot. Despite the fact that he was a werewolf, Pope’s wounds still weren’t healing.

Behind Darla, sitting next to the bed on a couple of chairs, were the other betas, Ye-Jun, Calvin, and Amara. Amara was crying and Ye-Jun and Calvin had severe, stiff looks on both their faces.

“The news isn’t good I’m afraid,” Darla said. “We have been trying to pull the venom inside his system out but it is incredibly aggressive. It is causing necrosis to the tissue surrounding the wound sites which is, regrettably, spreading. In addition to that…”

She paused, her eyes shifting to one side.

“What?” Kendra asked. “What is it?”

“The venom managed to reach his brain before we could stop it.” Her voice was soft and almost whispery.

At the mention of that, Amara started crying harder and Kendra went to her, giving her a hug.

“There is nothing more we can do for him,” Darla went on. She gestured to a monitor that was currently tracking Pope’s brainwaves. Or rather, his lack of brainwaves. “The venom has caused brain death. I’m so sorry.”

“Why is he not healing?” Kendra asked, her voice almost disbelieving. She couldn’t quite grasp why Pope couldn’t get better. Her mind stubbornly refused to believe it, like it was some kind of prank being played on her. “He should heal though, right?”

“The venom has preventative properties that have negated his regeneration abilities. As long as it remains inside his body, the wounds will continue to fester and necrosis will spread. After that point, there is little we can do, especially if the infection spreads to vital areas like the heart or brain as is the case with Mr. Wallace.” Darla looked over at the unconscious form of Pope, her own sadness starting to deepen. “We tried everything to get the venom out before that happened, but we were too late. The damage was already done.”

“He’s just...gone?” Kendra asked. Then she pushed past Darla and knelt beside Pope’s inert body. She grabbed his hand and reached out to touch his mind with hers. The irises in her eyes vanished as white light erupted from them, pulsing slightly. Instead of the warm, inviting presence of Pope, she felt nothing but a black emptiness that hurt to touch. She hissed in pain and jerked her mind away from the encounter.

Calvin, Amara, and Ye-Jun were standing over her and she just stared up at them in confusion for a couple of moments, blinking rapidly. Ye-Jun reached down a hand to help her up and she took it.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “What happened?”

“...N-uh-nothing,” she responded, not because she didn’t want to talk about it though. She honestly had no idea what that was. She never encountered anything like that soul crushing emptiness before. “I’m okay. It was just a minor second or two of something...weird...is all.”

“A second or two?” Calvin asked. There was evident concern on his face now.

“Y-yeah?” Kendra answered, unsure of herself now.

“Kendra, you were passed out for nearly five hours,” Darla told her.

It was only then that she realized she was in a hospital bed exactly like Pope’s. She looked over toward where he was and found him still lying peacefully in his hospital bed. His chest was rising and falling but, other than that, there were no other signs of life.

“What?” she asked, confused. She tried to remember if anything else happened in that time but her mind was a curious blank. It was black and empty like that place inside Pope she stupidly touched. “Are you serious?”

“Yes,” Amara told her. She gripped Kendra’s hand tightly in her own. “We weren’t sure what happened. One minute, you were looking over Pope and the next, you were on the floor.”

Kendra’s hands went to her stomach as a pulse of fear shot through her.

Did her baby get hurt? Did she fall on her stomach? What if the emptiness she touched damaged something inside her and he suffered?

What if….

The questions swam inside her head and she felt like she wanted to throw up. The fear and worry made her feel nauseous.