Thomas was driving home. He had already parted ways with Louis when they reached the highway, and dropped her sister by the mall near their house and said it's going to be a quick stop and asked him to drive home first. But then, as he was driving, there was again – the unusual and heavy atmosphere and it bothered him the fact that it was the third time he felt it in one day. He was reminded though of what had happened back in the field and in the locker room. However, he couldn't stop to wonder why he felt cold even though the car heater was on maximum level as it was heavily raining.
"Quick."
Startled, he accidentally stepped foot on the brake, disbelieved, as he heard again the voice of the girl and stopped the engine. And when he looked at the passenger seat, there sat the girl and facing him.
It surprised him when the girl showed her face, slipped the hoodie down.
"W-who are you?" he said, managing not to stutter. "Why are you following me?"
The girl didn't answer his questions. "Quick. Drive home, quick," the girl said instead, her face was calm but her tone was demanding and in deep seriousness. "They're coming."
Thomas heartbeat raced fast again. "W-what do you mean 'they're coming'? Who's coming?"
"QUICK!" the girl shouted and his car started to move without him navigating it. He was left dumbfounded and the next thing he knew they're moving fast. He looked outside the window and everything was in a blur. But there are no horns of pissed drivers of how fast their car drove fast and no police cars on tail to arrest them, and it confused him. He looked at the girl with the same expression like she didn't do something unusual.
"Who are y-"
"My name's Clarice," the girl said before Thomas could finish his question.
"How am I related to you? And why are you following me?" he asked without being hesitant. He wanted answers and that's what's important to him right now.
"Let's not talk about that now. What's important now is to save your parents," Clarice said and looked at Thomas, determined, and that made Thomas frozen in his seat. It's like it has already sunk in what is happening. He already figured out why his parents behave odd that morning, the unusual things and with the appearance of Clarice.
"Give me your hand," Clarice demanded, and without him already responded, Clarice forcefully held his right hand.
"What are you doing?" Thomas asked immediately, afraid of what Clarice will do next. He tried to pull from Clarice's grip but he couldn't do so. From the inside pocket of Clarice's cloak, she let out a stone-stick that glowed in turquoise. She pointed the tip of it by Thomas' right wrist. Thomas could feel the coldness of the stone-stick as the tip touched his skin. "What is that?" Thomas asked immediately again when he noticed the tip glowed brighter than its body. He felt the tip burning his skin, and observed how Clarice dragged it in a smooth pattern. It stung but he could manage it.
"You're making a tattoo now," Thomas said amusingly, but Clarice didn't pay attention and continued. She did another one on Thomas' forearm with a different pattern. Clarice put the stone-stick in his hands after she's all done. "What is this?"
"A stele," Clarice said, putting back her hoodie on "And that's not a tattoo, that is a rune. It'll help you soundless and invisible." She continues, more likely analyzing she had proven a point, "It's true. You're a hybrid. The runes didn't burn your skin. I could smell your well-being, a werewolf. Legends are true."
"What did you say?" Thomas asked, disbelieving, even though he clearly heard what Clarice had said, he couldn't just accept it. It is too impossible to happen.
"Get out," Clarice said. Thomas looked at her and she already got out of the car. Dumbfounded, he didn't notice they already reached his home. And immediately followed Clarice towards the house as he remembered he had to save his parents. He didn't exactly know who Clarice is, just her name, or where she came from, but he has this urge to believe her and follow whatever she says.
As they were by the porch, Clarice stopped in her tracks and Thomas did also and broke from his train of thoughts when he heard a loud crash coming from the house. They were voices, angry voices, before he could open the door carelessly, Clarice stopped him and reminded him, "You are only soundless and invisible to any supernatural. Thomas, you need to be careful of the things you will touch. They might notice we are here. You're not like me who can easily pass any dividers."
"What should we do, then?" Thomas impatiently asked, looking back and forth from Clarice and to the door.
Clarice grabbed his hand, and started to head at the east side of the house. "Let's go. I know some way inside. I've been here before, secretly."
There, they stopped at a plain, bricked wall.
"What are we doing here?" Thomas asked. "As far as I know, there's no secret pass-"
Clarice just stared and smirked, maintaining to be calm. "Quiet down!" She hissed, cutting him off. "Can you leave those questions after? We save your parents." And without any say, Clarice grabbed Thomas' hand, again. She moved closer to the wall, raised her other hand. Her hand glows in a mix of of bright turquoise and gold, just like what happened to the stele; and waved her hand across the wall.
As Clarice put her hand down, the wall moved and formed in an archway. She did not wait a second with the archway opened, with Thomas, quietly behind her.
Thomas was amazed at what he just witnessed, amazed at the thought of the legends her mother used to tell them before going to sleep, and was amazed at the girl who's in lead while taking the secret passage he thought never existed. The passage was quite long to take knowing that the Stayre's house was not that big, and it wouldn't take a minute to cross the house down to its center. This was a big puzzle to Thomas, how come there's such a place like this in their house, and how their house became this huge.
There were voices as they kept nearing the end of the long, dark hallway. These were the same voices he heard when they were at the porch; the same angry voices and pleading cries. Thomas got nervous bit by bit as the voices got louder and louder. He couldn't try to slip his mother's cry away. Thomas felt the urging sensation again, the feeling he couldn't describe, the feeling to attack. "What should we do?" He asked in a whisper, getting Clarice attention. "I'm sure it's them! They need our help!"
Clarice didn't answer his questions, instead she handed him out a wood-stick. "Use that, when things could get worse than it is. Just believe in that wand, and it'll help you. Or if you won't…" Clarice stopped in her trace and looked at Thomas. "… be yourself, your other self."
Confused, Thomas accepted the wand and put it in his back pocket together with the stele, and followed Clarice until they reached the end.
Clarice waved again her hand across the wall, it opened. "Whatever happens, don't make a reckless decision," she said to Thomas without looking back at him. "Our first priority is to save them…"
Thomas just nodded. Determined, they had crossed the boundary-curtain without making a sound. Clarice guided and they hid behind a big wooden cabinet, and again, she raised her hand and waved, making the cabinet a window where the Stayres are. There, they saw what was happening. And there, Thomas saw her parents. His father lying down on the floor bathed in his own blood while his mother was tied up in a wooden chair, blood dripping from the cuts in her wrist, a cut in its lips, the mixed bruised and blood all over its face. Thomas barely recognized his mother, still pleading, still crying.
"Lucy." Among the two, the tall guy got the attention of Thomas' mother. The guy with the whitest skin Thomas ever saw and its eyes was a deadly, dark crimson. "Don't make this hard. You can still save… Valentine." The tall guy said, its voice bombarded the whole cellar. "Where are your children?!"
"I won't tell you!" Lucy shouted, tears flowing down, looking at his husband with the most soft, worried look. "I won't tell you, Marcus… whatever happens."
"I won' tell yo-"
A loud shot was heard before Lucy could finish. She looked at his husband - was breathing now lifeless.
Thomas couldn't believe what he just witnessed. His father is dead in just a second. He couldn't take it anymore. He took the wand Clarice gave him, stared at it like his life depended on it. But, that's not just it. The urge he felt inside, doubled its intensity, like any minute he would blow up. He badly wanted to save his mother; he couldn't take it to lose another. He looked to his side to ask Clarice for some help, but there's no one beside him. He's alone. He looked around and Clarice was nowhere to be found, only to find another rune on his arm, brightly shining. He looked at the wand with a plan in mind, pointed it at the ropes tied in his mother's.
"You left us no choice, Lu," Marcus said. "Where are they? You know, we just want to talk."
For a while, Lucy noticed and felt that they're not the only ones in the room, besides the four of them. She felt two presence; one's on her right and one on his left, one's a werewolf and one's a witch. She knew them; her son and her niece. She knew it was her son, untying her, and she never let the two vampires know it. She keeps the act.
"Liar!" Lucy hissed, anger in her eyes.
The other vampire grabbed Lucy by her air. "You wouldn't dare!" and laughed evilly. "For twenty-one years your family is the most wanted everywhere. The Council of Stars just wanted to prevent the consequence of the forbidden legend you and Valentine did! You made the world in chaos! You broke the balance of heaven and earth!"
Thomas sprang free from his hiding place, pointed his wand at the big fat guy, it sparked a venomous evergreen, that struck the guy on the floor, lifeless. And without a word, immediately ran to his mother's side. "Come on, mom. We need to get you out of here!" Thomas said to his mother, almost breathless, assisting his mother to walk. But what bothered him most is the moment he exposed himself to them, the urging sensation inside him when he killed the guy, his senses heightened and everything went to its limit.
"What a shame," Marcus said, getting Lucy's and Thomas' attention "There's a lot of us, outside. You cannot escape."
Thomas looked at Marcus with much hatred he didn't know existed. "Clarice!" he shouted. Clarice appeared at his side in an instant. Thomas didn't know how he did it, but he continued his plan.
"What do you want me to do?" Clarice asked in his mind. Thomas was shocked, but didn't want anyone to notice it. "Get my mother to a safer place, and watch out for some of his kind," Thomas replied through a mind link, pertaining to Marcus kind. "I'll call when it's safe, and no buts! Now, go! I'll distract them." Clarice obeyed. Thomas had this demanding voice Clarice had known so well.
Clarice and Lucy immediately disappeared in a snap. What was left was Marcus and Thomas. Blood boiling with each other's presence. Thomas didn't know why so much hatred towards the guy in front him, he never met this guy up until this day, the day that was supposed to be normal like any other Wednesdays.
"You're different…" Marcus calmly stated, "Thomas." Marcus knew why such hatred occurred when the 'son' appeared, and he knew it was a werewolf, the mortal enemy of the vampires. And he couldn't let it pass because he could smell its stinkiness.
There were a lot of things Thomas was shocked about that he never noticed – all the things he just did that day and the fact that this guy knew his name. "Why are you after us? What do you want? What are you people?"
"Such a talker. Why don't we rephrase your question?" Marcus laughed it out, and approached Thomas. "What are you? Do you know your real self? Why don't you show me?"
Thomas' expression changed at Marcus' provoking. He suddenly remembered the unusual and sudden appearance of Clarice, her instruments and magics, her knowledge about his family, and how he ended up in the situation. "I don't know."
"See, you don't know. Why bothered to save your parents? All this time, they are lying to all you. Why don't you just come with me? I'll tell what they have hidden from all you." Marcus started to manipulate Thomas, offering his hand in which Thomas accepted unconsciously.
"Tell me ev-"
A deafening bell roared the entire house that woke Thomas from the manipulation, he quickly retrieved his hand and regained his stance. Marcus looked at his watch and smirked. "Just in time."
The roaring bell continues, the same with how Thomas was going through, it was painful. Thomas could literally hear his bones cracking, the growing sensation in his entire body, the stretching of his skin. He was panting, breathless.
"Filthy dog!" Marcus stated in disgust. "That's what you are!" Marcus ran after the full transformation, not because he's scared, but because he's already done with his part and most importantly, he proved something.