MAN'S DEAD BEST FRIEND

Gabriel

When I woke up I was still on the ground. Avery was leaning on a table, drinking from a black cup, and talking to London. I guess they told the other guards to go on a lunch break, because there were only two in here besides London: the one that was bitten and one of the others I never paid attention to.

I stood to my feet and realized my arm had been healed perfectly. I flexed it, and somehow still felt phantom pains from what happened, but otherwise, I was fine.

The bitten guard was awake, and when he saw me moving my arm he got to his feet too.

"You can thank London for that. He healed you as soon you blanked out."

I eyed him curiously​. "How do you know? I thought they knocked you out."

He looked towards the door, probably wondering where there other guards were.

"It was a knockout spell, but it only paralyzed me, it didn't render me unconscious. I wish it did though. I almost had a heart attack when Avery snapped and I wasn't able to move."

He tried to laugh it off, and I gave a small chuckle too, but that was very serious.

She had reverted back into the bloodthirsty shell of a vampire that she used to be. She seemed alright now, talking to London, but I wondered if she had stopped taking the medicine that kept her normal.

It was either that or something this guard had done made her that way. And there was only one way to find out.

"Hey, I'm sorry, but I never asked you your name."

"It's Tyler, but you don't have to apologize. You healed me the first time we met, so we're even."

I smiled and shook his hand. The color of his eyes was a regular brown now, completely back to normal. I knew what Avery would say about this, but I wanted to make sure.

"I'm going to go talk to them right quick, find out what my next orders are."

"Alright, I'll wait here."

I walked over to Avery and London, who stopped talking when I came close.

"What happened?"

Avery didn't say anything, so London spoke.

"The guy that was not by the revenant snapped, and attacked Avery. His eyes were different, and he grew fangs, so he either has become a vampire or a revenant. The problem is, we don't know if being bitten by a revenant can turn you into one, so we're going to send him to the lab."

I looked at Tyler, who was standing silently, kind of like they all did when they were hiding from me. "For how long?"

Avery spoke this time.

"Indefinitely. This could be a huge discovery, and since someone pissed off every revenant in our entire territory..." She glared at London, who ignored it and kept his eyes trained on me.

"We'll need all the samples we can get."

"Should we contain him now, Avery?" asked London.

"Go ahead." She replied.

He whistled and the other guards emerged from the walls. What were they hiding for?

Two of them grabbed Tyler's shoulders and the others stood behind him.

"Whoa, whoa, wait, what are you doing?"

"We're taking you to the containment room, to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine, I know I am-"

"Do not resist. Move forward."

He struggled with the other guards, all of them unwilling to let go. He broke free and stuck one of them right in the jaw.

The guard stumbled from the shock, and then got back to his feet. He rubbed his mouth then spat blood onto the office floor.

He was breathing hard, moving towards Tyler.

"I'll send you right back to-"

"Enough." Avery commanded.

She had moved from where we were to by the guards in an instant. She had grabbed the guard who Tyler hit, and was holding on to his shoulder, hard.

"You have one objective," she told him slowly.

"Take him to the lab. You will do that, and nothing else. Do you hear me?"

The guard's whole body was stiff and tense, I could tell Avery made him nervous.

"Yes, ma'- ahhh!"

She held on tight to his shoulder bone, so tight we all could hear the cracking sound.

She let him drop to the floor and howl in pain as the others guards grabbed Tyler.

They forced him to his feet and held him in front of Avery. His knees were shaking. She took one step forward, and he flinched.

"We need you to so we can find a cure for the revenant disease."

She got closer to him and whispered into his ear:

"Resist again, and I'll snatch your soul from your body and feed it to my demons."

Tyler, clearly scared for his life, stood up properly and didn't put up a struggle. I decided not to see inside his mind to figure out how he felt.

After the other guards to him out, I turned to Avery.

"You don't have enough time. We won't be able to find a cure before the Midwest comes, especially not with just one subject. They'll kill you and claim this territory."

If Avery had any confidence, I couldn't see it.

"I prepared for that possibility as well. That's why I had you send Axel after Allen. With him and Danielle, we'll have enough strength to bear the Midwest, and they'll kill their old friends in the process."

"Why can't the other three werewolves help us?"

London asked.

So she told him about everything. That doesn't bode well for me. If London was about take my position...

"My father hated those werewolves, and only wanted them to die. They were some of the last remaining werewolves in this region, and to make it worse, they shared the bloodline of some of the eldest werewolves, making them extremely strong, and a pain in his ass. Once the werewolves lost the sky, they massacred my most of my family in retaliation."

"I never had the chance to send Axel after Allen. There was a mob of revenants at the entrance, and then we heard something had happened to you."

I waited for an explanation, but she kept silent.

"Have you returned back to normal?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"No, the revenant's bite triggered my instincts. I still feel the same, but..."

She lifted the sleeve of her shirt, revealing how far the disease had spread. It had creeped almost all the way down her arm, and even the part it hadn't reached yet was extremely pale.

The other guards came back in, without Tyler.

Avery hurriedly pulled down her sleeve. I guess she didn't want to scare the other mages that were keeping her normal. I wouldn't​be anxious to help her if I could possibly be attacked, so I was pretty sure the other mages felt the same. Plus, they already saw how much she cared about their service by what she did to Tyler.

"My options are limited, so these are your instructions. You already know you need to send Axel after Allen. Once he is captured, or brought back, Shaye must die. The only way we'll be able to control Allen is if no outside force gets in the way. You also need to fix this."

She motioned to London, and he stepped aside. The werewolf was behind him, completely hidden from view until he moved.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Heal him." said London.

Avery laughed loudly.

"You can't heal death, London. We need you to reverse time to before I bit him."

"If he's dead, why hasn't he transformed back?" I asked.

London looked confused.

"That's the thing, Gabriel. I thought you'd know. Use your powers and guess were I got him from."

I activated my eyes and sent out the little spheres of light from my eyes. They surrounded the werewolf, and he started to hover off of the ground.

As I began to reverse time, I tried to see into this person's life as well.

The image of his human form became more and more vivid in my eyes, until finally, everything and me grew dark, and I saw his last few moments of consciousness.

He was walking through the forest of Sardis Park, stepping over fallen trees and watching out for big insects. He came to a small clearing with one tree knocked down. Under that tree was a wooden slab. The man struggled and struggled to lift it, and finally managed to push it aside a little.

He slipped inside, and my vision ended. I blinked the spots out of my eyes and looked down. I couldn't say the werewolf looked any better, but at least it was breathing.

"Well? Tell us about him." London insisted.

"I didn't see much. But I know why he's a werewolf."

I kicked the werewolf with my foot.

"He opened Donovan and the others' trap."

"He opened it?" Avery said curiously.

"Yes. Why?"

"I may know who this is. Or who it used to be. In the very beginning, when Shaye told me about Allen... There was someone he mentioned..."

The werewolf started coughing and shuddering. His body spazzed twice, and he was still.

"Wait," said London. "Did he just die again?"

I activated my eyes again, trying to sense his vital signs. London was right. He would've died even if Avery hadn't bit him.

"He's dead again." I told them.

Avery got frustrated.

"Well, reverse time even further then! We need to know what he knows!"

I shook my head. "I can't reverse time far enough to save him. And I don't have any healing magic."

London motioned the guards forward. "I can't do healing magic either, but I know at least one of them can."

"I can." said one guard.

"So can I." said another.

London snapped his fingers and pointed to the werewolf.

"Get on each side. Like Avery informed me earlier, we can't heal death, so you will still need to reverse time to give us a heartbeat. Can you manage that?

I popped my neck and nodded.

"Good. Let's begin."

I activated my eyes and sent my mind into overdrive, trying to speed up the process as fast as I could. I didn't get a vision this time, but it was probably sent to the one that connected to the werewolf with the most magic. He  started convulsing again, and the mages halted.

My job was done, but I didn't think they could heal him that fast. I waited for them to begin again, but London had his hand raised.

"You're forgetting something." he told them.

"Oh!" One of them waved his hands and a light gray cloud surrounded the werewolf's body.

Then I saw why  his body was reverting back to human form, and werewolves don't keep their clothes after the change. Not without some outside magical force.

The man looked around randomly, like everything was too bright for him to see. He got to his knees and the cloud envelopes his body, forming a gray suit similar to the ones the guards were wearing.

"Why a suit?" asked London.

"Everyone ​in this building wears suits," answered the guards. "It just seemed appropriate."

The man shielded his eyes, trying to focus in on us.

"How did I get here? I thought I was-"

He looked at Avery.

"I saw them. The two guys were unconscious but the girl was awake."

He stood up and the fell back down, clutching his head.

"Ow! Agh!"

"You're moving too fast," I told him. "Be still."

He sat up and kept his eyes covered.

"Ugh. The girl glared at me but couldn't speak or attack. I don't what you sent me for. The vampires."

Avery got closer to him. "What? What happened?"

The man sneezed and his nose started bleeding. He wiped most of it away. I looked at his neck, and noticed the mark from where Avery bit him earlier had returned. This guy didn't have long.

"There's something wrong with everybody. Being in close proximity to those werewolves turns you into wolf as well. The other vampires bodies are still in the bunker, dead." His eyes rolled back into his head,  and he passed out. I mean, I hope he only passed out.

Avery grabbed him and shook him.

"I remember ​now. Wake up! Damn it! Jacob wake up!"

The mages started trying to heal him again, but this time, to no avail. His body even slowly transformed back into a big wolf.

Avery gave up stopped trying to revive him. Once the mages saw her indifference, they stopped wasting magic trying to heal him.

"Take him to the containment room as well, but tell the researchers not to touch him. I want his body in perfect condition."

"You said his name is Jacob. Who is this guy?" I asked Avery.

"He's my secret weapon. Allen's best friend."