return • theo raeken [2]

eleven. blitzkrieg

"I'll break the sword," Hayden says.  "I'll break it right into—"

"Hayden," Liam stops her from finishing her sentence as he steps forward.

"You break, I'll talk," Theo promises.  When no one moves or says anything, Theo continues.  "Come on, guys."

I walk towards the cell to stand in between Liam and Mason at the same time Theo stands up to do the same thing.

"Look, I don't want anyone's pack.  I don't want anyone's power.  I just wanna stay alive."  His eyes land on Liam before turning to mine.  "Now that Luna's a Beast, she could easily kick my ass if she wanted to."

"How do we know if we let you out, you won't run?" Hayden asks.

"'Cause we're not letting him out," Liam announces.  "He's gonna tell us from in here."

Theo sighs and stares at the sword.

"I'm still going to need some incentive."

As Liam turns around to think about what he's going to do, I study the look on Theo's face.  The way he stares at the sword in a far away, fearful manner tells me something must've happened on the other side.  Something that traumatized him to the point he would rather die than ever go back there.

"Luna," Liam calls quietly.  First, I turn my head, then walk over to him after he motions for me.  His back is facing the others, and I come to stand next to him with my back facing the same way.

I whisper, "What's up?"

"How do you feel about this?  What do you think I should do?  I know you don't want him back but—"

"He knows about Douglas.  Getting our friends back is more important than how I feel about him," I tell him.  "I say break the sword."

Liam nods and I turn back to stand next to Mason.  We hear Liam unsheathe the sword and slowly turn around.  He places his hands on the proper places before glancing up to meet Theo's eye.  With bated breath, we watch him twist the handle and all of the pieces of the sword drop and clink on the floor.

As soon as the last piece drops, Theo says from behind me, "He's a Lowenmensch."

I turn around in shock, knowing exactly what that was.

"What the hell is a Lowenmensch?" Hayden asks.

Mason answers her as I'm staring at Theo with widened eyes, "It's part wolf, part lion."

Theo glances at Mason before settling his eyes on me and continues, "He was a part of the Ahnenerbe, Himmler's personal project to use the Occult to win the war."  He continues on into more detail about what Douglas did as a Nazi and at what lengths he went to find the Hunt.  Theo goes to sit back down as he tells us that when the Ghost Riders attacked Douglas' troops after he attempted to get through the rift, he had no choice but to get out of there.

"Douglas didn't beat a Ghost Rider," Liam says, approaching the cell bars.  "He ran."

Hayden scoffs quietly before saying, "We broke the sword for nothing."

"Wait, if that was back in 1943," Mason observes as Theo stands up to grip one of the bars, "where's he been all this time?"

"Douglas kept looking," Theo continues.  "He found a scientist that he thought could help him.  Three of them."

"Wait, was he the one in that big, green liquid, cylinder thing?" I ask aloud and Theo only nods.

"The Ghost Rider's whip didn't go deep enough to take him, but left a gash on his back.  He was thrown into the tank and the wound infected the water.  It mixed with the fluid from the vat and actually made him stronger.  Soaking it in, absorbing the power for seventy years."