Part 19.

"SHAUN BEHIND YOU!"

As Kyle screams up to the window where Shaun was perched, he swings on the shadow lurking in the darkness, a spy with the small glint of a dagger from the red sky still permeating from the ledge. He was wearing red hooded robes, springing on the boy without hesitation, a deep croak to his voice as he tries to slash down on Shaun.

"...It...Can't happen"

He struggles as the knife hold ever close to his face, a sweat beading as his scrunched face fights off against the attacker, Kyle desperately tries to get inside an save his little brother but a whole slew of Reign soldiers emerged from the woods, firing more arrows at the family and their house.

"Kyle, we can't let them attack the house, you know what's inside there" Zayne pleads with Kyle as he holds him back, the arrows flying dangerously close over their head, pelting into the wooden home an slowly beginning to burn it.

"But my brother-"

Suddenly, without even a single thought to process anything, an arrow flies like a diving bird of prey, striking a hidden cranny in the house with immediately explodes, the traps they had set for the Reign had been triggered early, leaving the moonshine bombs they had crafted days ago to spill with fire as it spread even quicker than before. Watching his home burn in front of him, Zaynes grip on Kyle loosens as his face watches on in horror, the rest of the family fend off the hunters, but they were severely outnumbered.

Ripping from his grip, Kyle shoots into the burning home with a vigour that couldn't stop him, not even the screams and shouts of protest from Zayne, The attack outside was interrupted by the explosion, sending Shaun and the spy sprawling in surprise, giving Shaun an opportunity to attack. He raises his fist in anger and sends it down onto his skull with all his might, dazing him, Grabbing a hold of the dagger without thinking and plunging it into his neck, gurgling on the blood with his face down on Zayne and Kyles bed, slowly flooding the sheets and pillows.

After the deed was done, Shaun was surprised at the bloody mess, the red already seeping into his skin and under his fingernails like a plague, guilt, shame and anger begins to flood his head as he throws the dagger, nailing it into the wall with a skilful aim.

"I...I..."

He tries to wipe it away but it was no use, he was bathing in this other mans blood and the weight of the action had shocked him to the core, distracting him from the door to the room being kicked open, Kyle bursting into the room with the flames on his heel, slamming the door shut and baring witness to the dead man in his bed.

"Shaun...Oh my god"

He hurries over and tries to help him, but Shaun was so in shock that he swipes at Kyles head, defending himself with a widened stare.

Kyle grabs his bare arms, his fingers sliding over the blood that soaked them, staring deeply into his eyes trying to break him from his defensive trance, the fire slipping under the door and quickly beginning to take over the room, Kyle and Shaun's silhouettes were flickering in front of the blazing fire behind them.

"Shaun please! We need to leave!!"

"DONT. TOUCH. ME!"

He swipes viciously, scratching at Kyle's eye and clawing into his eyelid making him pull away from him and clutch his face in pain. The fire had grown even closer and was burning at their heels, the room getting hotter and hotter as the house goes up in flames, Zayne and the rest of the family weren't shouting or screaming, in fact they were steadily silent and the only sound the brothers could hear was the roaring flames threatening to engulf them.

There was a fleeting moment before another of the traps explodes on the second floor, sending the corridor and the door outside to shatter into the blast, wood splintering in both their directions, with Kyle slightly blinded he lifts his hand in an attempt to cast a shield spell, it worked briefly but shatters itself under the flames.

The two are knocked back from the window, the entire house ablaze and smoking, all the memories it carried inside leaving to join the clouds. It was like time was slowing again, like the time when Grandpa Nick attacked them, Kyle was free falling through the air with his back to the ground, all he could see through his right eye was the fire erupting from the window they were shot from.

Shaun on the other hand was nowhere to be seen, he wasn't falling beside Kyle, nor had he hit the ground already. There was no trace, with his right eye injured, he could also see the blood flowing upwards in the air away from it, like a reverse stream.

When he hit the grass below, his vision goes black, and all consciousness faded.

*

Zayne who was preoccupied with fending off the Reign hunters was doing his best to fight, he didnt have time to turn fully so he was fashioning elongated claws and fangs, which tore through them regardless. The hunters were equipped with silver swords and daggers, any swipe against the wolves skin will cause permanent damage.

But all attention on the battlefield was averted to the house at the sound of the second explosion, both sides watched as Kyle was flung from the bedroom window, his body hitting the ground hard as the roof of the house had caved in.

"KYLE!" He cried out loud, slitting the mans throat in front of him with ease and turning to sprint towards him, leaving Cara, Alyssa and Adrian to fight the overwhelming forces driving on them.

As he approached, the orange light blazing down on Zaynes face extenuated his fear and anguish, leaning down to pick up his boyfriend, his arm limp as it hung from Zayne's hold. He held him as if he could shatter at any moment and didnt dare put him down, with a conflicted gaze back towards his fighting family he realizes the battle was lost, without Kyle to help them defend against the hunters, it would only be a matter of time before everyone is killed.

With a saddened face, he drops to his knees and surrenders himself, figuring this was the only way they could escape alive, even if they were prisoners. Cara notices this and gasps, distracting her mid-battle, giving her attacker an opportunity to strike as his sword clashes down again her arm, severing her hand just below her wrist.

She cries out in pain, also falling to her knees, with only two of them fighting, the hunters easily overwhelm the father and daughter duo, restraining them both into the grass head first.

"NO! GET OFF ME!" Alyssa struggled helplessly against them as Adrian stared horrified at the scene unfolding.

"CARA!" He bellowed, hot tears in his eyes as he stares at her still form kneeling in the grass, she was no longer screaming and stared at her devastated home, it was like the very fragments of her soul had crashed down all the way into her stomach, her eyes and forehead creased in pain as tears fall from her faze, highlighted by the blazing bonfire before her, Zayne was clutching Kyle with a frightful need, his decision was worsened by the seconds as the hunters surround them all, whispering amongst themselves on what to do with them.

"Should we kill them? The Head said he wanted only the boy"

"The boy isn't here, suppose he died in the fire?"

They looked on at Zayne who was cradling Kyle in his arms, his head laid desperately in his ginger locks, whispering swiftly to his love.

"Kyle please...you need to wake up...please wake up..." he sobbed, the hunters standing just before him with their silver swords raised, prepared to strike them dead where they knelt.

"NO!" Adrian roars, but the hunters were stopped by an arm, holding it firmly in the air before he was able to strike. The hunter turned on his heel to glare at who stopped him, but the glare soon turned to dread as he backs away in feverish fear, his buddy backing away from him, showing the figure as a bulking, hooded man.

"Your grace...We...I-"

"Close that whelping mouth of yours and get those wolves in chains, prepare an escort back"

"Yes, sir, what of the witch sir?" The man trembled before the man, as he took down his hood, blond hair that was fashioned in a short rugged mohawk, multiple scars on his face and a ghastly burn spreading from his left cheek down his neck.

"Bring him too, Im sure my son will have many questions...what of the young one?"

The hunter gets close to his ear and whispers, Zayne was fortunately a good listener, tuning his ears on his voice despite the crackling from the fire behind him.

"We're unsure what happened, one of our own tried to murder him...we think he may have been under cover...he hasn't emerged from the buildi-"

The whispering man was cut off as the cuff of his neck was grabbed by the Large man, he wasn't familiar to Zayne or anyone there but as he grabbed this man by the throat and pulled hm into his face.

"What do you mean he hasn't emerged from the building?!" He snarled, looking on at the fiery wreck of a home that didnt cease to burn the entire time. The family were slowly cuffed in steel binds and the large man knelt down to take Kyle from Zayne, but he held on to him and growled protectively.

"Give me my son...Now!" He hissed at Zayne, but he didnt relent.

He squints his eyes brows and speedily walks over to Allyssa who was behind held by the hunter group not so far behind him, pulling her from her captors and grabbing her roughly around the back of the neck, his hands was surprising large and strong, pushing her to her knees.

"Give him now...or her pretty head will roll down this hill like a football"

Zayne was scared, he didnt trust them with Kyle but he wouldn't let them kill his sister outright, He reluctantly handed the hunters his unconscious body and was immediately seized by the intruders behind him, knocking the boy out and tying him down so he cant fight them off, The Reign had won.

"Good Boy~" The man says with a pleased smile on his face, taking his weapon and sheathing it, handing the cuffed Alyssa back too her escort, they begin herding the family back to the forest, a deathly silence blanketing the atmosphere.

The man was trailing at the back of the large group of hunters, In his arms was Kyle, who was slowly beginning to wake from his faded sleep, his eye simmering open and shut with a blurry vision of who was carrying him. He couldn't make them out, assuming it was Zayne.

"Zayne?..." He said in a tired and croaky voice, staggering with each step of his father.

"No...But dont fret, We'll be home soon..." His deep voice was gentle, but his expression was dead an numb as he stared down at his child with a robotic like expression. Kyle couldn't help but fall back into his sleep, the man noticing that his arm was slowly becoming soaked in blood, turning Kyles head slightly to discover a small gash in the back of his head.

He took his hand, out of view away from the others and mutters something under his breath.

"Fascia~"

Within an instant, a small glow appeared in his hand, the wound at the back of Kyle's head slowly shutting and healing with ease, thee blood coting his hair and head slowly reverting back into the wound as it heals rather nicely. A small sigh of relief falls from Kyle lips as he does this.

"There you are...Now we can make up for lost time...together"

The man smiles genuinely for the first time as the march everyone back to their fortress back in Winters End, the name they had come up for the strange section of forest that was covered in snow. While Kyle was In his unconscious state, he was having the strangest of dreams as his father carried him, he was standing in the pits of a void, white and scarlet lines of spider webs seem to stretch from the edges and rise up around him, entrapping him in a cage of bronze, like a trapped bird locked in a cage.

He held the bars that trapped him, a withering face and body that aged rapidly stood outside, ten times his side, its skin and hair growing and greying, wrinkles rippling over its features before dying and rotting away, its skeleton hidden behind a small slither of rot.

Then it speaks, the skin on its face falls away like nothing as its jaws move.

"I love you...But I hate you! I haTE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!" Its bellowing voice was screaming in agony before it crumbles away to dust.

He watched on in horror, like the nightmare was never going to end, the screams of the skeleton ringing in his ears like a large drum. The bird cage opening up from the bottom of it and he falls into the black abyss, screaming with distraught with nobody to hear him.

*

After everything had transpired and the hunters had left the burning home in its state, There was nothing but the sound of crackling of the wood and sparks that echoed through the woods clearing, There was a slick moment of quiet before the flames were moving and swaying as if they were dancing. Shooting up into the starry night and disappearing into it with embers floating steadily just above the charred and blackened home.

The fire had been ejected from the house, and suddenly, a cloaked figure leaves the forest and walks into the clearing, their voice speaking clearly into the empty air as more billowing smoke rises from the wreckage.

"Cunubula~"

And like a feather flowing freely in the air, cradled by invisible winds that carried a smoking body from the wreck, It was Shaun, His hair was singed and half burnt on one side, Red scorch marks careening down his left side, his face and neck were burnt so badly his skin would never recover. While he floats down towards the cloaked figure, they reach a frail hand and lays it gently on his shoulder, her finger nails yellowed and her hand decrepit and old.

The woman in the cloak was none other than Mags the swamp witch, who was missing up until this point, her hut had been abandoned the last time they surveyed that area. After the family had uprooted her to get Kyle back, she had flew into the woods and hasn't been seen again.

"Poor child...Come, Ill fix those unsightly scars~" She said, her voice soft yet aged heavily.

She sets off back the way she came, Shaun's floating body was hovering just beside her, her hand still pressed firmly on his shoulder with a shaking leg, huddles under a cane that barely held its own weight, she was in bad shape, and was looking closer to death than Shaun was, who aside from the burns would be just fine with her superior magic skill.

After a hefty walk, they reach another small clearing that wasn't completely empty, it had a rather large rock that was surrounded it what could only be described as a maze of jagged stone, there were twists curves and dead ends. But Mags trails through as if it was second nature, her speed hurrying as the rain begins to thunder even louder than before, its fall heavy and unforgiving.

The cool refreshing water rushing on Shaun's body had slightly relieved his pain, but each drop felt like a pin prick on the reddened parts of his body.

During her hurrying, she waves her hands reaching the large stone in the middle of the smallish maze, The stone which had a crack in it already only opened wider and wider, until a stairwell downwards into the ground shown from the crack, the two entering in silence as it spiralled down deeper and deeper. The darkness beginning to engulf them as the staircase seemed endless. Until the the last click of Mags boot heel connects with the last step, walking through what seemed like a tunnel that leaned in multiple directions, despite this Mags continues undeterred in her mission to save the dying seventeen year old in her care.

Bursting though a door at the end of one tunnel and magicking Shaun over to a table that was in the middle of the room, it wasn't living quarters but a planning room. There was a large wall covered to the brim with multicoloured diagrams and clues made out of a glass like substance, floating an inch in front of the wall and stretching the entire size of it. Like a massive Investigation wall in a detective show.

There were multiple strings of light connecting between one another, one diagram was of the "Pollins family" which candid photos of Kyle and Shaun slotted just next to the larger photograph. There was a few others labelled "The Rogues" "Reign" and " The Others" all connected to each other and various occurrences, like the dazed faceless tourists in the forest, the sudden drop of the protective walls keeping the territories' split. And in the middle of it all was a single note connecting everything.

"The Stag"

As Mags lays him down on the table she starts to mix around at the cupboards along the other wall where an apothecary station seemed to be brewing multiple potions, grabbing one and rubbing it vigorously between her fingers. The thick yellow substance stunk like pus and felt like sticky ink between her finger, but regardless she rubs it into his scorched skin as Shaun finally makes the first sound he made the entire time they were together, his entire body shooting up in pain as a screaming growl left his clenched teeth.

"IT BuRns!"

"Be still child, Still!"

She tried t restrain him, but to no avail, deciding magic would be the only way she could do this without causing more harm.

"Coercer!"

The table that lay beneath him sprung to life, growing more legs beneath it and using them to hold Shaun down as she spreads the awful mixture on his already blazing skin.

"StoP It PlLEAASe" He begged her, unable to pen his eyes from the salty hot tears welling in his eyes. The only thing going through his mind was how much this hurt, and how his brother was nowhere to be heard, Its like the presence he gave Shaun had disappeared completely.

"Let me work and...you will feel nothing at all" She seemed tired, like she hadn't slept in days.

She continued to slather on a multitude of potions and creams, which after the third was applied, Shaun began to feel like he was on drugs for the first time, his head had gone airy and it was like he could see dancing sprites and fairies, lulling inside his eyeballs like annoying eye-floaters. His entire body going numb, finally relaxing under the bracing table legs over him.

"There...now doesn't that feel...much...better" she says, her voice wandering as her eye lids droop, her cane hitting the floor just before she did, but Shaun was so inebriated he couldn't move a muscle, nor could he speak. His mind pulsing on into an enchanted sleep as she passed out on the floor.

"O-Obstruc...ion..um~" Trying her hardest she tries to cast a spell, but she was far too weak and it was pointless, the two of them losing consciousness at the worst moment.

"M-Mags...dont...leave.me" Shaun could barely splutter, his motionless eyes staring into the ceiling, unable to re close them after opening them. The only sound was his breath reverberating of the cobbled walls and the stench of dust that fell from the ceilings.

He tried to lift his leg, but the paralysing ointment she had applied had well sunken into his bones, it was like weights were tied to his ankles wrists and stomach, pulling him to the table. The feeling in his face was slowly coming back to him, he tried to blink with great effort and tears roll down his temples onto the table, he could hear ruffling of leaves nearby, but couldn't make out what it was.

His lips were cracked and ashy, trying desperately to soothe them with his limited spit.

Suddenly, a head shaped bush appears from tee top of his vison, it peered silently into his eyes, though it doesn't have any, its body was mostly bent and crooked, made out of nothing but spare twigs and branches.

"W...what?..."

It cocked its head and its sharpish hands turn from jagged to soft, the shape of a hand in silvery mahogany, grazing against his cheek softly. Slowly petting it to comfort him, The face it had moulded from the leaves was like a stone statue, it reminded Shaun of those roman women holding jugs and chalices with many pieces of their arms and head sometimes chipped or broken.

Then, unlike before, the sentient branches spoke, its mask unmoving, but the leaves near her lips rustled, as if a steady breath had blown over them from the inside.

"Are you afraaaid?" Her voice was wispy and faint, Shaun had nearly missed what she said, but blubbers a response all the same.

"Y-Yes..."

"Dont be...I would never harm you..."

"W-why am I...here..." He was struggling to speak through his clogged throat, coughing due to the sticky smoke clinging to the walls of his mouth, nose and throat. It was like breathing fire in a way.

"The witch saw through her scrye...terrible happenings...terrible...terrible"

"My...brother?" He croaked, just able to turn his head to look at Mags on the floor, unconscious but breathing.

"Taken...by the one who claimed him...his son"

Shaun, realizing his brother was in greater danger than himself, felt a surge of fire unlike the pain her felt, it was a determination to prove, despite his current state, he could protect his family... that he could protect his brother. He moves his legs with all his might, his teeth clenching as his face flushes red, his restraints finally giving in as one of them moves upwards into the air.

Shimmying to slide off the edge of the table, but is stopped by the mysterious leafed figure

"Too hurt...stay...Witch wakes...soon"

"They'll...kill...them...all"

"Not true...they are alive...captives...south of the grove you live on"

Shaun's determination was unfazed however, he now knew their location, and that they were alive. Making the strength in his arms and legs work tenfold, he no longer was tied down by his pain or the numbness in his body, pushing the wooden hand away from him, and taking a large breath as he leant upwards, the skin on his stomach was folding and the sore parts of his skin wrapped over each other, if the potion hadn't numbed his body he would be in agonising pain right now.

"No!...You can't leave...potion permanent...unless-"

"Shut up!" He cried out, looking at the figure in all her glory, she wasn't cracked or balding anywhere but her head, and her body remained curved and graceful like a real woman's would.

"You cant stop me..." He says, looking down at himself, his shirt was burnt away from the fire and his chest which was always pale and skinny was now well fed, but badly scorched, it looked as if his torso was a blowtorched cheese (Or, that's what Shaun thought it looked like), and his hand raises to the side of his head where his hair was singed and burnt away, it felt like the left side of his head was short and patchy as if someone had took hair clippers and shaved the side of his head.

It was strange, but he seemed to like this style more, it made him feel rugged and more intimidating. Gaining all his strength back was a difficult task, despite her telling him not to, she helps him not fall as he hopped off the edge. His face was angry as he looked down at the witch before him, realizing she went into hiding for whatever reason...perhaps she was scared they would come for her?

His attention averts to the crystalline map of the forest, the amount they had explored was miniscule compared to the actual size of it all, they were barely a speck, there was a note underneath the Reign symbol that read "The American Pack" and under that was another that connected all around the stag like a circle of territories, The American pack had the snowy biome while the Pollins had the regular wooden forest surrounding them. The rogues were far into the north of the Sanctuary, where it seemed hotter. And The Others were in a darkened corner of the forest, that looked dead and lifeless. The map was incredibly intricate to its detailing.

The forest borders were shaped into a Hexagon, with each clan or pack enclosing the free spaces within, there was 6 slices of the pie, the Pollins had acquired the most despite the small size of their pack while the others all took a section for themselves.

"The American Pack...Wiped out?" Shaun asked as the woman's body posture was curling in on herself as she looked wearily at the board.

"Yes...all dead"

"Then that's where they are...I need to get a weapon and save them"

"Foolish boy...they hold the very charms that ward against magic...lest you know how to fight...tis a suicide mission"

"Tis enough said actually, thanks for the advice" Shaun was talking rather coldly, like the warmth he used to carry was now no longer burdening him, A cold expression in his eyes as he surveys the room they were in, the chamber was larger than he knew, and had become the new hiding place for the witch of the woods. However, there were multiple potions with glimmering colours and effects, He knew he needed more than that, scouting the shelves to see that there was a bow and arrow notched into the wall above the petty fireplace below it.

He hurries over, tripping over his still sleepy feet, grabs the bow and feels along the string, his fingers were perhaps his worst scars, the knuckles and finger nails had browned from the fire and was close to bubbling like the potions he grabbed from the shelf as well.

Mags began to stir as Shaun begins strapping a potion slinger to his bare torso, the bottles on it jangling around in front and behind him. Then as he rounds on the bush woman he gets into her face with a snarl.

"Arrows?"

"Here...follow me..."

She takes off away down a stairwell across the chamber, going slightly further down with Shaun as he looks around warily.

"What the hell is this place?"

"There are many homes Mags has hidden in the sanctuary...many hideouts and caves"

As they descend further into darkness, the shrub remained silent, leading into the last chamber which held a numerous amount of things like books, ingredients, and exactly what he was after, arrows.

But the tips of them were multicoloured from red, blue, green, purple and orange. This was odd as he shows the tips to the woman who simply cocks her head.

"These aren't regular arrows, nor a regular bow...Destructive, yes...yes..."

"What do they do?" Asked Shaun, who was marvelling at the designs of the side of them, there was only 10 of them and only 2 of each colour so he'd have to make each shot count. Though he had no idea what they did.

"I've never seen it been used...its been collecting dust here for decades."

"Its clearly not the only thing...I recall my brother saying there was another like you...but it was at the hut"

"Mags makes us so she...so she can not feel so lonely, we talk to her...comfort her...we've been with her since the beginning"

"Beginning of what?"

"The Reign uprising...ever since your pack interrupted her work...she was thrown off balance, dropping the wards from territories inside AND outside, there was a high chance that was how they got inside...killing only what they fear, for the sake of fear...Hunters dont fear us because we're stronger...or deadlier Shaun" The woman spoke in a serious tone, her body language had shifted to nervous "Its because we used to outnumber them ten to one...so they just murdered generation upon generations...my people were once free, before we we're annihilated, the Vampires were next but they put up more of a fight than we did..."

Though she was telling him all this, he prepared himself by strapping his locks tight and the potions laced and poised, the bow remained in his hand while the arrow quiver lay gently on his hip.

"Most monsters were already so good at hiding...we were the last..."

"Why didnt you fight harder? why did you allow them to take everything from you...how could you allow her to hold anything over you?" He pointed to mags on the floor.

"She-"

"Isn't worth it...I learnt that the hard way..."

And without another lingering word, Shaun, equipped and blood thirsty from being left behind, sets out...The thrill of the hunt called to him.

And he listened.