Gabriel strolled down the wide, marble staircase. He strutted like a king who was parading in front of his minions. But not all were minions, and many were hoping he’d slip and break his own damned neck. He wore a gold trimmed t-shirt and was waving his hand like Liberace, or the Queen of England.

Mutters of “What a dick” ran through the pack below him, a few that were met by snarls from Gabriel’s avid followers. A little jostling broke out between faction members, and it was easy to see the pack was split into two.

“Whatever you’re doing, stop it,” Gabriel boomed from his new speaking area on the stairs. “You’ll have more than enough time for that in a short while. The room’s undergoing the last preparations, and we have more than enough going on to keep your tiny little egos satisfied.”

Maria could see a few raised fists followed by chants of “Rel, Rel, Rel.” She wondered why they’d chosen “Rel” and not “Gab” as their chant, which seemed to make more sense. Perhaps that’s why they were following him, and not hanging onto the hope that Declan would make an appearance.

Gabriel commenced his march down the stairs as someone belted out “Declan!” from the rear of the pack. Silence fell in the apartment lobby, and the crowd parted, leaving one sole member standing by himself. Gabriel approached him, and the pack member stood, shaking. A few giggles started and then they turned into laughs as the guy stood alone. He proceeded to pee his pants. A dark stain appeared around his crotch, and a puddle of yellow liquid ran around his feet. Gabriel neared him and put his hand on the kid’s shoulders. He held his head close and called his inner wolf to the surface. The audience gasped, and without much effort, Gabriel’s head turned into his wolf form. His fingers dug hard into the kid's shoulder and made his body lean at a forty-five-degree angle.

“You’re lucky you’ve pissed yourself, I was gonna rip your head off and stick it on a pole. Any more talk of Declan and I’ll do just that. Now, clean your mess up and get into the basement.” Gabriel’s words snarled, and he spat saliva into the kid's face.

“Sor—Sor—Sorry, Sir, I won’t mention his name again,” the kid stuttered before raising his fist. “Rel, Rel, R…,” he started to mutter, before Gabriel pushed him down to the floor, and into his own puddle of pee.

Gabriel walked among the pack as everyone stepped away from him as he neared each of them. His finger pointed. “Now let that be a lesson to all of you. If I hear as much as a Dec, I’ll personally kill you there and then,” he snarled, as his head returned to its human form. “He’s the one who deserted you and quit, and I was the one who stood by you and stayed.”

He walked through the pack as the gap closed behind him, and they all began to follow. Gabriel led everyone to the basement under the apartments. There was complete silence the entire way.

“Are we all secure, doors and windows?” he yelled out.

“Aye, aye, Sir,” Gabriel’s men shouted. “All locked up. No way in and no way out.”

Gabriel raised his arms. “Let the show begin,” he boomed from cheers from all the pack.

It didn’t matter who the pack were rooting for, this was one night they'd all been waiting for. Which female was going to make the cut and become Gabriel’s alpha mate?

The double doors of the basement opened. Gabriel sauntered in and took a glass from the scantily-clad waitress. He eyed her up and down, her heaving bosoms were held in by her lace-frilled corset.

“Damn girl, why aren’t you fighting for me?” he asked. The waitress giggled. “Li’l ol’ me isn’t worthy of someone like you,” she replied, licking her top lip.

Gabriel reached to his pants. “You want to bet? I can make you alpha right now if you want,” he whispered into the girl’s ear. “Saying that, you can always make your way up to my apartment when all this is over, you won’t have any scratches on that pretty little face of yours,” he replied, now caressing her cheek with his fingers.

The waitress batted her eyelashes as Gabriel walked into the basement. He sat in his large leather chair that’d been set as his throne for the evening. A large, dark red, velvet and gold cover was draped over the top. Gabriel sat in his chair and crossed his legs and began drinking from his glass.

He watched the throngs of pack members filtering into the large basement area. All of Edmund’s gear was pushed way back into the dark corners and sat out of sight.

The basement walls had all been covered in dark red fabric apart from the area where the girls would be fighting for their place next to Gabriel. This was lined with clear plastic sheeting; the type used to wrap bodies and dispose of them in the forest, or at least that’s what they used it for in the movies.

All the pack filtered into the basement and hit the bar immediately. Gabriel spared no expense in making this a night to remember. He'd become a rather wealthy person when he'd called in his policy. Gabriel wasn’t the smartest kid on the block, but he wasn’t that stupid, either. He didn’t give Edmund all the cash for his experiments. Out of half a million, he'd forwarded just over a hundred grand. That was money well spent, and Gabriel was in possession of a case full of elixir to protect himself and his chosen ones against the effects of silver, and both Declan and Noelle had both lost their inner wolf. And unbeknown to the pack, the final event of the evening was choosing someone who would take on the huntress at her own game.

A fight to the death it would be, Noelle against the chosen one, yet not Gabriel’s new alpha, she was to be his for the evening, and he didn’t want the chance of losing her before he had his mating ritual.

Gabriel knew in his mind, that it was supposed to be a joint hunting ritual, yet they still had no idea what hunters were out there. Word was, the hunters were re-grouping and building up forces, and they could’ve left a few to catch the pack unaware. That was another area that Gabriel wasn’t so stupid about. His new manta had become, “Don’t get into a fight you might lose, always make sure you can win.”

Maria stood close to Gabriel, and it wasn’t out of choice. If it were up to her, she’d shove his own silver bullet down his throat, and hopefully, his body would disintegrate before her very eyes. Maria was a devout follower of Declan, always was, and always would be. It wasn’t a crush because she hardly knew him, really. That was, apart from the time they got close at the camp before he left on his trek to find the witch. Maria knew there was only one woman for Declan and she was to be the main event of the evening. Maria felt the palms of her hands becoming clammy, and she really had no idea if Declan was going to make an appearance. And if he did, was he a wolf, or was he human? In all the questions she asked herself, not one of them she could answer.

Gabriel held his hand to silence the crowd. He stood. “We’ll have the first round of fights which I think is six, and then we’ll have a break. I have some delicious meat in the freezer room. Not as much as I hoped, because someone didn’t turn all the freezers off,” he said at the top of his voice, while he glared at Anthony and Stuart.

“We did turn the freezers off, didn’t we?” Anthony asked Stuart.

Stuart nodded. “Yeah, I know we did. Oh well! Too late now.”

Gabriel reached into the black bag Maria was holding. “Tanya,” he shouted holding a ball with her name on it. “Versus Susanna.”

The two girls walked to the outlined area. Tanya pulled off her t-shirt and stood there in a white tank-top and no bra.

Gabriel raised his hand. “We all wanted to the death, I know, but we need each and every one of you. Just to the point of being close to death,” he said as he smiled an evil smile. “FIGHT!”

* * *

Noelle sat on the steps with Edmund. They both panted as they'd pushed as hard as they could against the cover, yet it felt as if it had been welded shut.

Edmund pulled out his phone. “I can’t even call for help, there’s no signal down here,” he said, wiping damp streaks of dirt and dust from under his eyes.

The raindrops fell on the metal doors and dripped through the center crack. The water puddled on the top step and made its way to the next, and then the next, until it reached the damp bricks on the floor.

“How long have you been in here?” Noelle asked. Her face was lit by the dim light of Edmund’s phone.

“What day is it?”

“Saturday, and by the look of it through the crack, it’s Saturday evening and the ritual might’ve started already,” she said. “I’m gonna have to get back, if they find me in here, we’re both dead. At least if they’re distracted, you might stand a chance.”

Edmund shrugged his shoulders. “Why would you want me to escape? Look what I did to you and Declan. I was a complete ass,” Edmund replied, holding his phone close to his knees. The light shone upward to Noelle’s face, and to Edmund, she'd taken on a ghostlike appearance. He turned his phone over.

“You’re right, you’re a complete dick and mentally unstable, Edmund. I, on the other hand, am not. I can let you go and it will be very soon you’ll get what’s coming to you. The situation is at a head, and no one needs you anymore.”

Edmund sat and thought over Noelle’s words for a moment. She was right, he'd made his elixir as a cure for silver, for this pack at least, and he'd laced all the meat in the two freezers to turn them all human again. Beyond that, he was unsure anyone felt the same. The want of turning werewolves into humans, apart from Sanders and him, was selfish. Outside of the Creek, it was the hunters who were going to make the decision, and they’d go on as they had done for years. Edmund knew they'd started using silver, so their battles were slowly becoming one-sided. And it wouldn’t be before long that the packs could be picked off from a distance, without close-up combat.

Shit. Noelle’s right. I’m defunct, out of action. Rendered useless and no one has a need for my skills. Shit and fuck, together.

“Noelle, you can’t leave me in here. I’ll die,” Edmund said as he began crying. He tried to rest his head on Noelle’s shoulder, just like a girl does with her best friend, right after she’s heard she’s been dumped.

Noelle pushed Edmund’s head away from her shoulder. “Stop being such a wet one, will you, fucking man up and take it all on the chin,” she said. “I bet that’s all you’ve been doing is sobbing.”

“Honest, I haven’t.”

“I gotta go. That room’s locked and they don’t think anyone’s in here. Just stay this side of the decaying carcasses and then they won’t smell you,” Noelle explained.

She stood to go and fumbled her way to the bottom of the steps. Her hand rested on the wall, and she shuffled her feet back into the direction of the rotting meat and bones.

Noelle paused in the darkness. She heard footsteps, and Edmund shuffled into the back of her. “Edmund will you please fuck off, or I’ll tell Gabriel you’re in here, myself.” Edmund fell to his knees; his hands began clutching at Noelle as he begged her not to leave him any longer in the dark. “Edmund, I’m gonna tell you one last time, will you get your hands off me,” she said.

“Pleeease, pleeease Noeeellle,” Edmund begged, as tears fell from his eyes.

Now, the tone of his voice sounded as if he was going to choke on his own vomit. Noelle could hear his bottom lip quivering, just like a child does when crying their eyes out. Noelle responded and fumbled over Edmund’s head until she found something to tug on. She yanked as she realized she'd got ahold of Edmund’s ear.

“Noeeelle, pleeease don’t leave me,” Edmund blubbered, hanging onto her leg.

Noelle tugged Edmund’s ear and shook her leg free. She pushed him away from herself and stepped back. Her hand went back to the wall, and she shuffled her way through the stench of the rotting bones and the safety of the freezer room. She pulled on the door handle and pulled it toward her. She squinted as her eyes adjusted to the light. Noelle closed the door behind her and left the sounds of Edmund sobbing behind her.

Noelle dipped her hands into the puddle of water on the floor then wiped her hands on her jeans. She sat on the freezer and listened to the chants and jeers from the basement, the sounds heightened, from where the tournament had begun.

“When are they gonna come for me? And what the hell are they gonna do with me?” she said out loud to no one.

“Stars can’t shine without darkness.”