Drowning with Fire #3 ✔

Chapter 18 - Theo

"Thea?" Ryder shouted upstairs, much to my surprise; both of us frowning as we sprinted up the stairs – round the corner, and consequently up the ladder into the attic.

They'd found Victoria.

The scream came from Wednesday; the chemosignals of fear and shock consumed the room. Wednesday sat, ashen-faced, in a faded armchair that matched the one Victoria was slumped in; Al was crouched down next to her holding her hand; Halia was frowning intently at Victoria, and Thea...

Thea was fine. What wasn't fine about Thea was the fact Ryder had gone right over to her. "Are you okay?" He was asking her, eyes searching her face.

"Me? I'm... fine."

I shot her a frown; <We're talking about this later.>

"J-Jade?" Ryder stuttered, eyes wide as he tore his attention away from Thea, after what felt like an eternity. He stepped towards Victoria. "Is it really Jade, Theo?"

Thank God that Ryder's also been learning not to trust appearances so carelessly.

While it's true that not all werewolves have to act like monsters, Victoria seemed to check that box intentionally. The way she was back here all those months ago, it seemed like she'd lost so much of her humanity. I dreaded to what she would be like now.

"No," I told him with a heavy sigh, "It's not Jade. She's a borderline psychotic born-werewolf with an insane blood lust, and her name is Victoria."

As if upon hearing her name, Victoria stirred slightly, her fingers moving and her head straightening a little with the first signs of consciousness.

"You don't think–?" Thea's question faltered before it could make itself audible.

I strode over to the IV bag and squeezed the flimsy plastic, displacing the purple water elsewhere in the bag. Only a shred of an aconite petal, the wolfsbane plant, remained. A quick glance over her previously-gaping wounds reaffirmed my fears. The slashes were thinning, the skin knitting itself back together.

We were running out of time.

"Either we find more wolfsbane or we get the hell out of here." I stepped back, shoving my hands in my pockets to wipe the sweat off them – even being near such a monster was making me nervous. But I couldn't let the others know that; the role of leader somehow kept falling on me, and I couldn't lose my cool... It'd only make them lose control too.

"What's so dangerous about her?" Thea raised an eyebrow, looking Victoria up and down with a judgemental glare. "I reckon we could take her."

"She used to be an Alpha, and still could be." Al chipped in pointedly, tapping her fingertips together in some sort of contemplative matter.

"Yeah, but Theo's–" Thea opened her mouth only to get cut off again; Al seemed as desperate to keep the peace as I was to keep control.

"Theo's tired and he's been alone since losing Ember." Al eyed Thea, replacing her arm around Wednesday – who seemed to quiver and pale further at the mention of her dead best friend. "So, we find more wolfsbane and we cast some anti-werewolf charms. Got it?"

Thea mumbled, begrudgingly agreeing, eyes flicking across to me, then away again.

"Wednesday, why does your dad even have her here in the first place?" I questioned, forehead furrowing in confusion; "I thought she'd be dead by now. With all the hunters that went after her and all... Do you know how far north she got before your dad caught her?"

"Many of the hunters abandoned the hunt once they figured out you weren't with her, Theo." Halia voiced, throat slightly hoarse and eyes glazed over. "Victoria came back to Lake Oldoy months ago... just before–"