Chapter 10

After spending some time with his friend Hendell, Stephan drove to East Long Lake Road to pay his partner in crime a visit. And on arriving at his destination, he alighted from his car and entered the red-brick mansion.

"Didn't expect you to be back so soon" he heard someone say when he entered the living area, and when he looked up, he saw his accomplice climbing down the stairs with slow graceful steps.

"You should know I wouldn't be here if it wasn't expedient, Cecilia," he said to the woman as he walked towards her.

"Of course. So what's the matter?" she asked nonchalantly while leading him to her minibar.

"Your people are beginning to talk" Stephan furrowed his eyebrows

"I'm not surprised. After all, anything can be achieved when you employ the required amount of pain necessary." the woman replied as she poured herself a drink. "Besides, you don't have to worry about me. I can handle a few dogs myself. I wouldn't be queen or the mayor of this godforsaken city if I was weak" she handed Stephan a drink.

"It's not you that I worry about." he corrected her. "I fear that if things move too quickly, you might not have enough time to free the Comedentis"

"As I said, you don't have to worry about me. I always deliver when I give my word" she assured him, then proceeded to take a sip from her drink. "Just who could've thought. Two enemies as ourselves, reptile and wolf, working together?" she grimaced due to the effect of the alcoholic content in her drink.

"A lot can happen when two people share a common goal" Stephan smiled maliciously "You get to return to Michigan and I continue to lead my revolution"

Jane and Bale hunched over a big book, flipping through the pages that seemed to be old as time itself. Their eyes skimmed through the thick brown pages of the Encyclopedia (an ancient book that contains information about werewolves and their supernatural foes and allies) as they sought for something.

"So here it says 'one can only turn into a true alpha if his heart is pure.' Hmmm, tricky." Jane read out a sentence from the Encyclopedia.

"So what does it mean? Is it because of his unwillingness to kill?" Bale looked at her, confused.

"I'm not sure. Killing doesn't mean someone is evil. It's the motive that defines them. Isn't that what you always say?" Jane asked rhetorically. "Maybe it's more than that. And see, here it says that the process of turning into a true alpha is quite the reverse of turning into an alpha" her fingers skimmed over a paragraph in the Encyclopedia.

"So instead of just turning into an alpha, he'd have to lose his powers as an omega and werewolf first before he becomes a true alpha?" Bale asked for clarification.

"Exactly! And unlike becoming an alpha, it's a very slow process. But on the bright side, true alphas are much stronger than ordinary alphas, and their powers can't be stolen."

'So what if he couldn't sense the reptiles were dangerous because he was evolving and not because he wasn't feeding?"

"Or maybe both. Either way, we still have a lot to figure out" Jane replied and continued with what she was doing.

Penelope stood before her fridge, ransacking it as she sought something to prepare for dinner. It had been a very long day for her and even more frustrating now she couldn't find anything edible in the fridge. She had forgotten her mom would be working late again, so it didn't occur to her that no one would be preparing dinner until she became very hungry. She bit her lower lips in angst as she thought of what to do, then she decided to go to a grocery store. She grabbed her car keys and drove hastily to Kroger's to buy groceries and other things she could need at home.

After going about her business in Kroger's, Penelope exited the store and began to walk towards her car before something strange happened. The lights outside the store went off.

Penelope stopped in her tracks as she glanced about herself, startled by the sudden blackout. There was something eerie about this darkness that sent chills down her spine. Maybe it was just the rumors of strange creatures lurking in the city or the missing people that disturbed her, but in the end, she waved it all as just 'nonsense' and continued to walk towards her car (which was just a couple of feet away from her now). Every step she took drained her courage as everything inside her kept screaming for her to just run back inside the store and wait for power to be restored, but she shunned them all till she finally got to her car and found her doors jammed. Now she was in topsy-turvy as her heart raced a thousand miles per second. She couldn't see anything but she knew something was wrong. Her sixth sense yelled at her to duck for safety, but she tried to be diplomatic instead. She wanted to remain calm and collected since everything could just be her mind playing games with her. She could've achieved this... she had almost achieved this before she began to hear strange noises (like rattles and hisses). This time she didn't wait for any other signal and she began to run.

Fueled by the adrenaline triggered by her fear, Penelope ran swiftly as she headed towards the store which seemed to be too far away now. And for a split second, she could've sworn that through the corners of her eyes, she had seen the shadows move, but she waved it off and continued to run till she suddenly collided with a strange behemoth mass and fell on her butt. Still wincing in pain, she looked up to see what had obstructed her way, but the next thing she saw stupefied her. A giant mass armored with scales. The most bizarre creature she had ever seen. And as if that wasn't enough, it began to move.

Terrified, Penelope crawled backward immediately as she tried to evade this monster that glared at her with wicked green eyes. Her heart raced faster, trying to escape from her rib cage as this hideous giant lizard continued to move towards her with slow deliberate steps. It knew exactly what it was doing. It knew it was in control. That it was the predator and she was the prey, but Penelope determined not to die (because she felt she was too young) continued to retreat even when her brain had stopped supplying her with ideas. The creature continued to prey on her, closing the distance between them with every step, and when she thought that it'd be over in the next second, she heard...

"Get away from her!" And when she turned, she saw her knight in a shining leather jacket, charging against the lizard.