After Jacob left and took Chris with him, Allison looked at the worried Victoria and said. "Don't worry, Mom. Dad will be fine."
Then she turned to leave.
"Where are you going?" Victoria asked sharply.
Allison stopped and looked back at her. "I'm going to my husband's house. My home."
Victoria's eyes narrowed. "No. You will not."
Allison sighed. "Mom, you were lying to me for so many years—not telling me that you were a hunter. You had the chance to tell me when we saw the Alpha, but you just told me it was a bear. And tonight, you and Dad sent your hunters to shoot Lydia, Jacob, and me."
Tears welled in her eyes as she continued. "You know, Jacob told me that you guys have a code—that you only hunt the bad supernatural creatures. He also told me that there are some hunters who don't follow the code and kill supernatural creatures just because they are supernatural creatures. But he never told me that you and Dad don't follow the code, or told me anything bad about you. And even if he did, I wouldn't have believed him. But what you did tonight really broke my heart."
Allison stepped closer, her voice trembling. "And since I'm supernatural now too, I guess you hate me. So go ahead, Mom. Kill me. I won't resist."
Victoria didn't move, and Allison took her mother's hand—the one holding a dagger—and put it on her own neck. "Go on. Do it."
Victoria's hand shook. The dagger slipped from her grasp and clattered to the ground. Tears ran down her cheeks as she touched Allison's cheek. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I never meant to hurt you. We told our men not to shoot, I swear. Wanting you to break up with Jacob wasn't fair, but… I was raised to believe shapeshifters are evil. I've seen what they can do with my own eyes. That's why your father and I didn't want you with him."
Victoria took her hand back and said. "I'm sorry. Maybe if we had told you the truth about us being hunters, you would have never fallen for him in the first place."
Allison shook her head. "I'm glad you didn't. Otherwise you would have filled my head with hatred. You've seen what some shapeshifters do to innocent people… but I've seen what hunters do. I've seen them butcher people—supernatural or not—and sell the bodies on the black market. They destroy lives for money or claim it was for the greater good."
Then she turned to Kate. "And some hunters burn werewolves alive, even when they were protecting the innocent. They burn their families too—supernatural or not, kids or grown. They burn them alive just because they hate werewolves."
Kate was shocked, wondering how Allison found out what she did. But she was more concerned that Allison would hate her—not that she killed the Hale family, because she thought they deserved to die, or at least that's what she was convincing herself so she wouldn't feel guilt.
Victoria glanced at Kate, silently suspecting the truth, but said nothing. She turned back to Allison. "Okay, sweetheart. You can go. But we need to talk. I will visit you tomorrow with your dad after school."
Allison nodded and was about to leave, but the man who was shot earlier with her wind arrows in the legs and was lying not far from them yelled, his voice hoarse. "You can't let her go, Mrs. Argent! You have to kill her! She is a monster, and you know what a hunter should do when they turn!"
Before Victoria could respond, Kate—who was still thinking about what Allison just said—lifted her shotgun without hesitation. One deafening shot rang out. The man's head exploded, his body collapsing lifeless to the ground.
Kate lowered the smoking shotgun and said. "Screw you and your hunter code. No one is killing Allison."
Lydia looked away, feeling nauseous again, and Cogman looked at Kate with an approving look but didn't say anything.
Allison watched Kate for a long beat and sighed, then turned around and took Lydia's hand. "Cogman, let's go home."
Cogman said. "Alright, my Lady."
He walked by Allison's side and said. "By the way, what would you like for dinner tonight? Sir didn't say—he just told me to make dinner and left."
"You can just make him steaks." Allison said without enthusiasm. "As for me, I don't feel like eating."
"Me neither." Lydia agreed.
"That's not good, my ladies." Cogman protested. "You have to eat well so you can grow into beautiful, chubby, and healthy Ladies."
Lydia blinked. "You idiot, are you cursing us? Who told you we should become fat? Is it Jay?"
Cogman said. "No, it was not Sir who told me. But I thought a slightly protruding and chubby lower belly and big bums were a beauty standard and what men were looking for in a woman. That's what I learned from my previous masters, you know—in the 15th–17th centuries and during the Victorian era, men loved fat women."
Allison said. "Really?"
Cogman said. "Yeah, fatness was associated with beauty and wealth back then."
Lydia said. "Well, not anymore, old man. Fatness is now associated with health issues and laziness."
Cogman shrugged. "I will never understand you humans. Some of my former masters were fat—and I mean fat as pigs—and ate like pigs too, but they lived past a hundred. But also, some of them died early because they were too fat, and had diabetes. It's just fascinating."
They reached the car while Cogman was still saying nonsense, making them both smile despite everything. They got into the car and drove away.
Victoria watched them go and sighed. "We went too far tonight. We should have just talked to her instead of sending those idiots after Jacob and almost hurting our own daughter in the process. Now, we only made her hate… well, not hate us, but she was looking at me with such disappointment…"
She continued. "Besides, that kid had already told her what he is and about the supernatural side of the world, so even if we succeeded in making him lose control, it wouldn't have changed anything."
Kate said. "That kid is smart and so scary. I've faced a lot of shapeshifters in my life, but none of them made me as terrified as he made me when he looked at me earlier. And when he dealt with those nine hunters, he didn't even use his powers. I wonder what kind of creature he is."
Victoria studied her. "They seem to know something about you, Kate, that me and Chris don't know about."
Kate didn't answer. She changed the subject and said. "So—what do we do about this mess?"
Victoria's expression went cold. "Kill the surviving idiots, and compensate their families. Say they died in a hunt. I don't want them spreading the news that my daughter is a shapeshifter and making her a target. Then call the cleaners."
Kate hesitated, then nodded. "All right."
Then the two of them killed all the surviving hunters and called a discreet crew who specialized in cleaning bloody scenes and removing corpses, and waited for them to arrive.
---
Deep in the woods, Jacob dropped Chris to the ground and eyed the gun that he took from him. "A Desert Eagle!" He said with a grin. "Nice. I'm keeping this one."
Chris staggered to his feet, dazed by Jacob's speed. "Why did you bring me here, kid?"
Jacob hid the gun in his pocket dimension without Chris noticing and looked at him, his expression turning serious. "I didn't like the way you treated me since the first time we met, and I especially didn't like what you did tonight at all. Not only did you send your hunters after me, but you almost got Lydia and Allison—your own daughter—hurt. So I'm going to beat you to death."
Then, without another word, Jacob started beating Chris brutally—punching him and breaking his nose, then with a knee to the gut, he made him spit blood. When Chris began to lose consciousness, Jacob shocked him with a burst of electricity, forcing him back awake, then resumed the beating.
He kept beating him for half an hour before he took his Glock from his pocket dimension, zapped Chris with another electrical jolt to keep him conscious, and leaned close. "Remember that night outside the school? When the mountain lion showed up?"
Chris stared at him, silent and defiant.
"You said something to me that pissed me off, and if you weren't Allison's father, I would have killed you that night." Jacob said, voice cold. "You told me, 'Just because you don't have parents to worry about you and can do whatever you want, that doesn't mean you can kidnap my daughter.' I didn't like that at all."
Jacob aimed the gun at Chris and said. "This is for what you said to me that night."
Jacob raised the gun and fired—shots tore into Chris's stomach, legs, arms, and right lung.
Then Jacob just watched him bleed from his wounds, and coughing blood.
Chris rasped through his pain. "Allison will never forgive you for killing me."
Jacob's mouth curved into a small smile. "Who said anything about killing you?"
He took an expired Senzu bean and a bottle of water from his pocket dimension. With a rough, efficient motion he shoved the bean into Chris's mouth and forced the water down his throat.
Then Jacob stepped aside and covered his nose. He took his phone and a strong flashlight he got as a daily reward and shone it on Chris, starting to video record as Chris's wounds healed.
Chris felt all his painful wounds heal and disappear like they were never there. He sat up, bewildered. "How…?"
Then his stomach gave a terrible, ominous rumble. He clutched at his belly and glared at Jacob. "What did you do, kid?"
What followed was absurd and humiliating. A loud, thunderous fart burst from Chris. Then another. And another.
Chris's face turned red. "Damn it, I'll kill you one day, you little punk."
Then he turned around and ran away while still farting, and Jacob just filmed him, holding his laugh to not cover the sound of the farts.
Once Chris almost disappeared into the night, Jacob grinned and took a banana peel and threw it on the ground not far from him. Chris, overcome by some strange compulsion, suddenly turned back and ran straight toward the peel, stepped on it, slipped, and rolled on the ground a few times while farting loudly before sprawling flat on his back.
He lay there and didn't move, still farting. He covered his face and said. "Damn it, kid. You can kill a man, but you can't humiliate him like this."
Jacob laughed. "Don't say that. You are my father-in-law, I don't want to kill you."
Chris hissed. "You're pure evil."
Jacob just laughed, and after ten minutes, the humiliating symphony finally stopped. Chris pushed himself to his feet and eyed the phone in Jacob's hand.
Jacob pocketed it and delivered the final warning. "From now on, don't anger me. Or I'll show this video to Allison, Kate, and Victoria—or I'll beat you half to death again and make you swallow that medicine in front of them."
He casually draped an arm around Chris's shoulder. "So from now on, we should act like a real family and not make Allison sad—even if we don't like each other."
Chris shoved him off. "You already told her about the supernatural world. About us being hunters. And you even turned her into… into some kind of supernatural creature."
Jacob smirked. "Of course I told her. I'm not as stupid as you to hide the truth from her and make her hate me when she finds out."
Chris's jaw tightened. "I hid the truth to protect her."
"Then explain that to her, not me." Jacob said with a shrug. "Besides, she can protect herself now. That's why I helped her become what she is."
Chris narrowed his eyes. "What did you turn her into?"
"Ask her yourself." Jacob replied smoothly.
Chris hesitated, then asked the question that had been eating at him. "Then what are you?"
Jacob only smirked and grabbed him by the arm.
"What are you doing?" Chris demanded.
"Sending you back to your wife. Can't leave you weaponless out here—you'd just get yourself killed."
Before Chris could argue, Jacob blurred into supernatural speed, dragging him through the forest until they arrived back where Victoria and Kate stood overseeing men cleaning up the bloody mess. Jacob dropped Chris at their feet.
"You two are ruthless." Jacob said flatly. "We didn't kill all the hunters. Some were still alive when I left."
Victoria didn't flinch. "I don't need people who don't listen to orders."
Jacob studied her for a moment, then gave a faint smile. "I see. Well, see you around, guys. Good night."
Then he used his speed and disappeared, going back to his mansion.
Victoria's gaze shifted to Chris, noticing the blood soaking his clothes. "Are you alright?"
Chris rose unsteadily. "Physically? Yes. Mentally? …No. That kid is evil. He beat me half to death and then healed me with some kind of… magical medicine."
Kate raised her brows. "Seriously?"
Chris nodded grimly. "Yes. He even shot me a few times. Look…" He showed them the bullet holes in his torn clothes and continued. "After he gave me that medicine, my body pushed the bullets out and all my wounds healed instantly."
Remembering the brutal beating, the shocks, and the humiliating farting, Chris shuddered. "Anyway… let's not mess with that monster anymore. He's pure evil. Besides, since we can't break him up with Allison, let's try to get along and not make Allison angrier at us than she already is."
To be continued… 😊