Chapter 11

"Who's Leviticus?" I asked again, holding Arlis's hand tightly as we weaved through the crowd.

Constance made a grunted noise of disgust. "A pig." She snarled, the left side of her mouth raising.

Arlis nodded in agreement. "Very true. But he's a smart pig."1

She clicked her tongue four times in disapproval. "A pig none-the-less."

My mind pictured a pink man with a fat belly and a big nose, and when we saw Leviticus I could say I was completely wrong.

He wore a white suit that complemented his caramel skin. His eyes were a bright, almost glowing, yellow and hazel. He stood with the confidence of a lion and the humbleness of a rabbit. He had a black short beard that wound around his chin and faded into his hair.

"Make him cry, Constance." Arlis whispered to her and I almost smacked him.

"Why!?" I exclaimed, a little shaken up by his harsh words.

He gave me a look that said, "not now" and I respected it.

He pressed me up against his side and something washed over me like sunlight in winter, the feeling of being wanted. I closed my eyes to hang on to the feeling.

"You will need more than that to keep this beautiful specimen off of my love-list." Leviticus said once we reached him, his eyes raking over my body uncomfortably. "Mate energy. Disgusting."1

Constance stood in front of both me and Arlis, and for once Arlis didn't argue with her.

"Like you?" She retorted.

"Ah, you have a little Dawn. Not a big Dawn, just a little Dawn." He leaned forward in her face. "I am not scared little one." He leaned back. "And if you came here to make me cry, it is not going to work. I have been gaining strength."

Constance rolled her eyes. "Please, if I want you to cry, you'll cry." She glanced back to me and Arlis and winked. "We wanted to know if you knew anything about the Hunter disappearances."

He widened his eyes. "Well then I am honored that you many people thought I knew such things. But alas... I do not." He was clearly lying through his teeth, trying to deceive us. He wasn't a very good liar.

Constance bit her lip. "Okay okay." She started to turn and walk away, but at the last moment, she flung her fist out and punched him in the nose, causing blue liquid to pour from his nose.

He bent down and I swear I heard him whimpering, but before I could get a good observation, she pulled the top of his suit and dragged him into the men's restroom, him kicking and screaming the entire way. People looked at us strangely but nobody made a move to stop us.

Maybe that's why every other species hated humans. I had with no doubt in my mind that if that was some other werewolf being dragged that Arlis would rush to help. Or if it was some Hunter, Constance would murder to save her people.1

Arlis and I followed, no matter how awkward it felt to walk into a man's restroom, with all eyes on us.

Arlis locked the door behind him as Constance held Leviticus against the wall, and my heart plummeted a million miles below the center of the earth.

When Leviticus looked up he was laughing, actual laughter. His nose was... bleeding? It wasn't blood. Blood wasn't blue and it was a lot thinner than whatever that was. He must have been in pain, but he was laughing.

"I am not going to cry, bitch." He spat the blue goop in Constance's face.

Neither Arlis nor I had the strength, methods, or speed to stop what Constance did after that.

She threw him against the wall next to us, causing him to smash against the mirrors, making a dent into the brick building. He fell the ground with a loud grunt, grabbing his side.1

Constance reared her foot back and smashed it into his stomach, making him roll over and whine. She snatched a piece of glass off the ground and stabbed it into his leg. He tried to scream but Constance covered his mouth, making his pain silent but visible.

"Now who's the bitch?" She asked, glaring as she spat in his face. "I want you to shed some of those pretty little tears."1

She removed her hand and he coughed. "Fuck. You." He closed his eyes, still brave despite the disgusting acts that Constance had just done.

"Arlis. Why are you—" I tried to get him to do something but he interrupted.

"Trust me." He said, and I found it really hard to trust him in that moment. How could he just stand by while this man was being traumatized by Constance?

"Either cry or tell me what you know about the kidnapping!" Constance yelled in his face, and I took a scared step back, bumping into Arlis who held me steady.

He cried but no tears came. "I do not know anything!" He was still lying, but this... this was too much. Something was wrong or he'd be screaming out all his secrets. He really wanted that info safe.

She grabbed the glass and even though her hand was bleeding she had no cuts... they were healed. She grabbed the glass in his leg and twisted. "I'm going to shove this so far into you leg it's gunna come out the other side. Tell me what you know." She threatened.

"Arlis..." he muttered, looking to Arlis with a pleading look.

Arlis looked away, no emotion in his eyes or on his face, and that scared me. He didn't even seem to care.

"Constance!" I yelled as she pushed the glass deeper into his leg. I couldn't handle this, not anymore.

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE MISSING KIDS!?" Constance screamed.

"CONSTANCE!" I yelled, and she finally looked up at me.

"What!?" She snapped.

I didn't know what. I just wanted her to stop. "Stop. He doesn't know." I ripped my shirt and pushed Constance to the side despite my best judgement. My shirt was tattered, but I had a line of fabric to wrap around his leg. "I'm going to take this out, okay?" I asked him and he nodded.

"What are you doing Kate!?" Arlis asked, but I ignored him just like he ignored Leviticus.

I couldn't do this. I couldn't hurt people like this. He didn't do anything wrong. That I know of.1

I tied my shirt as tight as possible around his thigh and then ripped the glass out, my hand cutting and skin, peeling away in a sharp sting. I dropped the knife and buried my hand in my stomach. A muffled cuss fell off my lips and I closed my eyes, looking down and groaning. I scrunched up my face, sucking on my lower lip.

"Baby." Arlis's weak voice came from in front of me, and I looked up, looking through blurry vision. "Hey hey hey, what did you do. Let me see." He lightly pulled my arm and I showed him the giant cut that was running through my hand, blood gushing from it.

He shook his head at me. "Glass is a big girl job." He said softly.

"Helping people is everyone's job." I snapped, aiming the comment towards him. I winced as he placed his hand over my cut, holding my hand between his,

He smiled softly at me. "You make me sound so heartless." Maybe he was. Maybe I was wrong about him. I barely knew him, and this is how he treated people? But how could he be bad when he saved Gracie? How could he be good if he killed people?

My hand was warmer, and it didn't sting as bad. He pulled his hand away however and it was still the same, just less red. He grabbed he glass and cut his own palm, squeezing his blood into my hand.

"What the hec—" my hand cooled like icy-hot and I watched as it slowly healed itself up, my skin stitching itself back together.

"It is not the Vampires. And it is not the Weepers. That is all I know." Leviticus turned his head to the side, shaking and cowering. "I would have told you that even if you did not try to kill me."

Constance shrugged. "You shouldn't have called me that." She wiped her blue-blood knuckles and yawned as if she was tired. "Listen, I know you don't heal fast, but give me your tears and Arlis here, will heal you right on up."

He shook his head, but not very convincingly. "Why do you want my tears? You can not possibly want to drink them?" Drink them?

Arlis gulped. "No. We don't. Listen, just give us a couple tears. Tell us what you know about the missing Hunters. And I'll heal you up, buy you a coffee, and we'll leave on our marry way." He seemed to notice that I hated how violent they went about this, and changed his demeanor.

He huffed out. "Heal me and buy that coffee now, and I will tell you everything after." He said, closing his eyes.

Arlis clicked his tongue. "I'll buy you the coffee now, you tell us everything, and then I'll heal you." Business, you always had to place a little trust in the other one.1

"Deal." Leviticus held his hand out for Arlis to shake and Arlis shook it.

He looked to me and Constance. "I'll go buy the coffee, Kate... get as much info from him as you can."

"KATE!?" Constance yelled at the same time as I yelled, "ME!?"1

Arlis smirked at us, nodding confidentially. "Yes." He walked out of the bathroom, leaving to do a normal thing for a not normal reason. To buy a coffee.

I sat down next to the man with the blue blood. "I know how it feels." I said surprisingly and the man gave me an odd look. "To not heal fast. I don't heal fast either."

He smirked at me, holding a hand over his leg wound that poured blue blood. "What are you? A mermaid?" I thought he was kidding at first but then I realized that he was completely serious.

"THOSE ARE REAL!" I exclaimed, jumping up. "Nuh uh! I knew it! I'm not crazy." Take that you stupid fifth grade science teacher that ruined my dreams. Too bad I would never be able to rub it in her face.1

He chuckled, wincing, but still chuckling. "Human, I see."

Oh dang... I shouldn't have said anything. I shook my head. "Was... but now I'm a full blood werewolf. When I turn 20 anyways." That wasn't a big deal, right? He wouldn't try to kill me to stop the prophesy?

He groaned. "Dang it... I was hoping the world would end." He wasn't kidding. He actually truly wished that.

1

"Sorry, but not yet." Not yet. Hopefully not, anyways. "Do you know what happened to the missing Hunters?" I asked, trying to figure out what Arlis wanted me to find out.

He shrugged. "I know only what I know." He responded. "And since you are so kind, I might just tell you this... The Witches and the Hunters themselves have something going on and they're taking underage Hunters."1

I thought about something that bothered everyone. "Is it Konrad?" I barely grasped who Konrad was, but it worried everyone that he might be back from the dead.

Leviticus shrugged. "I do not know little one. There has been talk of a dead man rising, but I do not know if it is Konrad."

"Than who?" Constance butted in, pushing me to the side. "Who could POSSIBLY be doing this!?"

Leviticus glared at her. "I will not answer you, WITCH!" He screamed. "You could be in on it! In fact, I will relay the more important info on to the werewolves once you are gone from the room!" He tried to stand but crumpled back down. "All you Hunters are the same; traitors, murderers, liars." He whined, biting his bottom lip. "The werewolves, the weepers, and the witches are the only true supernaturals. The rest can burn in hell." He steamed.

Arlis came in at that moment and handed him his coffee. "Well said, but we're not here for that. Constance, can you give us a moment?"

Constance shot him a dirty look, and if it were directed towards anyone else I would have feared for their lives. "You can't be serious!?" She shouted. "You know what? I'm going to go buy a new purse. Bye." She flipped Arlis off and walked out of the bathroom, her fists clenched.1

Arlis knocked off her comment and faced back to Leviticus. "Who?" He asked gently.

Good cop bad cop... I see what they did there.1

Leviticus took a drink from his coffee. "You remembered my coffee preference?"

Arlis nodded. "It's the same as mine. Sugar and Cream, now tell me... who is it?"

Leviticus stared off into oblivion, his eyes watering. "It is who you fear it to be. The man who tortured you to the brink of death. The man who has brought all of the greats to their knees at least once. Felix O'Ceallaigh, Clay Gold, you, Kasparov Dawn, the great Polyphema Reinheart, Becker Reinheart, and even Queen Serafina of the fae. He has killed two of those people, tortured the rest. I just... didn't want that bitch to know. Konrad will rise again."

The look on Arlis's face said it all. The way his eyes grew into shadows, the way his body stopped radiating energy, the sullen expression. "I won't... I can't kill him a second time. I doubt Becker and Constance would be able to either."

He scoffed. "Constance is probably in on it. Who do you think wants to raise Konrad once again? You need at least two Salem of the old witches to make new Hunters at a large scale, and guess who is going extinct? It already takes Leslie to make just one person a Hunter... it is the only reason to raise another Salem Of The Old Witches. To make more Hunters." That didn't sound so bad? They just wanted more people in their species.1

Arlis was too scared to be angry, too fallen to be mad. "It can't be him. Constance, Becker, and I killed him. He's dead." I put my hand on his, but it didn't do anything at all. "How do you know it's him."

Leviticus scratched his shoulder. "I am not for sure... all I do know, is that an evil is rising, and everyone is running for their lives."

"Why are Hunters going missing, then?" I asked.

He gave me a fearful look. "Not all of them are going missing. Some are going into hiding. It takes undecided underage blood to make full blood Hunters. Each underage supernatural equals up to enough blood to make ten new full-blood adult Hunters. But one underage Hunter? It makes double that. Of course, you have to kill them to do so. The Hunters are running out of time. They don't have the patience to make one hunter at a time, to not kill anyone. They don't want to wait 20 years for a Hunter to be ready to fight."

Arlis took a deep breath. "So they're taking and killing underages to make a new batch of full blood, adult, Hunters? And now they're just waiting to raise Konrad in order to actually do it? Becker would never help his father do that."

Leviticus blinked. "You think Konrad would give Becker a choice? Becker is not stronger than his father alone, he will compel Becker and force him to do it. Nobody can stop him."

Arlis popped his back. "Yeah, well, I heard that back in 1837."

Leviticus jumped up and hung himself on Arlis's shoulders embarrassingly. "And look who's coming back? Konrad made the mistake of not killing you first back in 1837, he will not make that mistake again."

Arlis growled and pushed Leviticus off of him. "I made the mistake of not working with Constance and Becker sooner, I will not make that mistake again." He cut his hand, bled it onto Leviticus's leg, and ran a hand through his hair angrily. "If Konrad is coming back he'll come after you, you know that don't you?" Arlis grabbed my hand.

Leviticus pulled a vile out from his jacket. "He'll come after everybody." He muttered before closing his eyes and letting something glowing and silver fall from his eyes. He wept into the vile and then handed it to me. "And nobody will be able to hide. Not Becker, not you, and not me. He'll come after everybody. "You first, me first, Becker first... he'll come after everybody." He said it over and over like a mantra, crying and laughing all at once. "I'll kill myself before he takes me!" He cackled and wailed as Arlis dragged me from the bathroom.

We left through the door, Constance was pacing in front of the entry way, a panicked look on her face. "You know I have nothing to do with it, nobody in my family does. We're too proud for that, to... please I have nothing... I would never..." She trailed off as tears ran down her face, her eyes squeezing shut. "I will die before I help him, don't believe that sick creep..."

Arlis let go of my hand and brought Constance into a hug as she cried into his shoulder, her wrecked sobs heard even though she was muffled. Her legs were weak and I could tell that Arlis was holding her up.2

"I know," He muttered and my heart sank when I realized he was crying too.2

I walked over and Arlis brought me into the crying girl, hugging me tightly too. Some part of me wanted to cry too, thinking about something so evil that made Constance cry. Something that could kill teens.2

"Arlis?" Jonah ran to us, Melloni hot on his heels. "Brother... what happened?"

Arlis couldn't even answer, he shuddered. I peeled away, careful to keep a hand on Arlis's back.

"Leviticus thinks that the Hunters and the Witches are raising Konrad in hopes that he'll change the underages they're stealing into full blood adult Hunters." I said, gulping down, thinking that I might puke.2

Jonah took a step back. "We have to talk to Becker and Kasparov and Leslie and... who could want to do that!? Who... nobody is crazy enough to want to raise him." Jonah put a hand to his mouth. "He's dead. He's not... they can't raise... necromancers? Do you think..." He trailed off as he cried into Melloni's shoulders.4

Arlis pulled away from Constance and wiped his eyes that were too sad for me to look at. I didn't want to see the pain. "No. We can't tell the Hunters, or the any of the witches besides Becker. Kasparov... we'll talk to him... Clay Gold too."

Jonah closed his eyes. "Wow. It's so bad we're going to talk to Clay about it."

Arlis pulled the bottom of his shirt to wipe his eyes. "It's so bad I'll probably pray to God about it too." He took a struggling breath and popped his knuckles. "Did you guys... finish shopping?" He asked.

Melloni gestured to her stack of like twenty different bags. "Hell yeah. We'll have clothes for months before she has to repeat an article of clothing." The mood was still dreary, but I could see the light that Melloni was trying to bring in.

I held the vile of tears in my hand. "Arlis... what are these for?"

He cleared his throat and grabbed the vile from me. "You'll either see your enemy's greatest weakness, or feel your own biggest fear. Half chance you get the upper hand, half chance you go mad." He pointed to the bag. "Here, I'll help you carry those to the car."

"GOOD! Because Jonah is an asshole and wont help me!" She shouted, causing us to at least giggle in the slightest. "This is what I get for thinking you do more than open pickle jars."2

"This is what I get for thinking you do more than take off my clothes with your teeth." He responded.

Melloni widened her mouth in anger, slapping his shoulder so hard I think I heard it pop out of place. "You're back to pickle jars."

Jonah scoffed. "I was kidding!" He laughed, trying to hold her. Melloni pulled away from him.2

"Well I wasn't." She smiled and tapped his nose, blinking her eyes innocently. "Just bought a new bra too."2

He had a mini heart attack. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it."2

She shrugged as she picked up bags, ignoring him. "Pickle jars!!!" She sang as she thanked Arlis who, despite what we just learned, was laughing. "Take notes, Kate, this what to do when Arlis is disrespectful."2

Arlis gasped, accidentally tripping and dropping a bag. "God no." He picked up the bag and looked to me. "That is not what you do."2

I chuckled and gave Melloni a thankful look. "Now I have learned from both you and Iris. Thanks."

Arlis groaned innocently. "Haven't even got passed 1st base and she's already find out ways to torture me. Great. Thanks women of the werewolf species."2

I laughed into my hand and then kissed the back of Arlis's shoulder. "I'll give you a couple warnings before I do what they do."

He smiled. "Good. Because I'm a man and I won't understand after the first warning. Men are idiots, and women are wise."2

Jonah gave his brother a smug look. "Brownie points don't help in the long run, trust me brother, I tried that."

Melloni whacked the back of his head and he rubbed it.

We all laughed as we walked back to the car for the hour long drive back home.