The next day Red showed him to his new room. It was toward the top of another tower and through five gateways. James swore that he would never be able to find his way back once he left and jokingly vowed to stay there until he died.

“It’s the same as the last one,” he said disappointedly.

“Not true,” replied Red as she pointed toward the wall. “You have a window this time.” He turned his head and confirmed that there indeed was a window. When he drew close enough to look out, he found that his view extended well past the walls and over the forest surrounding them.

“Not bad at all.”

“You’re also in the same gateway as myself. For better or worse, we shall see.”

“Ah. Well, as long as there aren’t any feeding rooms nearby, I suppose I shall manage.”

“Abouuuut that.” Red smirked as James’ face melted into a frown.

“Is this another one of your tasteless jokes?” His voice was almost pleading.

“Yes, and no.”

“What does that mean? Can you answer a question seriously for once?”

“Fine, fine. There technically IS a feeding room up here, however it is for ordinary meals.”

“Like, a dining room?” Red laughed.

“No, more like an inn I would say.”

“Why an inn?” James could not think of anyone who would stumble upon this place and be allowed to stay. Anyone else who already knew about this place, he assumed would have their own rooms.

“There are other places like this which means we get visitors from time to time. Most of them have to stay at the inn since you have to live here fairly often during the year to be allowed your own room.”

“So, this place isn’t the only one of its kind?” James could not believe this one alone existed, and Red had just said there were multiple. Red nodded.

“Also,” she paused and pointed to his neck. “You might want to keep that hidden from now on. Consider yourself lucky that Markus did not notice it.”

“Why is that?” James asked as he tucked the necklace beneath his shirt.

“They just really don’t like them,” she laughed. “Vampires that is. I’ll tell you about it some other time.”

“Why not now?”

“There is something else we need to do at the moment.” James tilted his head, raising his right eyebrow in the process. “They finally buried your family.” Her voice was soft when she spoke, and her hair had become so light it was nearly pink. James found himself unable to speak as he stared at Red. She must have become uncomfortable as she turned her face away from him. After several minutes like this, James spoke.

“Okay.” He started toward the door and she cleared her throat. Looking over his shoulder he found Red standing by the window with her broom floating next to her. “Again? Seriously?!” She laughed and he walked over to sit on the broom behind her. Having wrapped his arms around her once more, she launched them straight through the glass and into the sky.

“Why is it always windows?!” James yelled into the air.

“It’s faster!” Red shouted back to him as she took off even faster. He suspected that it was because she just enjoyed destroying things, but he refrained from saying anything more about it. As they flew, he felt the barriers slip over them, one and then the other. Upon breaking out the sky immediately changed, just as it had when they first entered. It changed from clear and sunny to a cloudy, stormy mess of rain. What he found odd though was that the rain never managed to touch them. That is, until he remembered that Red was a witch. James looked around the overcast sky and bade a temporary farewell to the sun which brought a flash of Markus to his mind. When they had first encountered him, it was outside under the sun. Yet he was a vampire for which the sun is supposed to be lethal.

“Don’t vampires burn in the sunlight as the stories say?” he asked. Red nodded.

“They do.” As if she already knew his intention she continued. “The sunlight inside is fake, allowing vampires like Markus to walk around without issue.” She glanced back at him over her shoulder and smirked. “Although day-walkers are a different story.” Suddenly a bolt of lightning struck the earth in the distance, followed by a second not so far away. Concern broke across James’ face, as it was his hometown that looked to be beneath the massive thunderstorm.

“It’s not there yet,” said Red. “Don’t worry about it.” He nodded, but his concern did not fade. As they flew, James kept his eyes glued to the storm. By the time they reached his town the rain had increased severely. Yet even against this Red’s magic held up without any sign of struggling.

“How did you know?” James asked, referring to his family’s burial.

“I’ve been keeping tabs on this town for a while,” she answered. “Although it was not my intention to bring you back, once I found out I felt like it was the right thing to do.” She brought them to a stop directly above the cemetery and slowly began to lower them to the ground.

“Thanks.”

“Besides,” she paused and glanced back at James once more with narrowed eyes. “Tombstones can’t tell anyone they saw you.” He frowned, losing any sense of his prior gratitude.

“You really are the worst.” She shrugged and turned away. James turned his attention back to the steadily approaching ground and tapped her shoulder when he spotted several people attending a funeral not even a hundred feet away from their intended landing spot. “What about them?”

“No one can see or hear us,” she said as they finally touched the ground. “So, get as close as you need to, and I will wait here.”

James walked right up to the two headstones, stopping only when he was close enough to kneel and touch them. The moment he read off their names it clicked in his brain that they were really and truly gone, and he sank forward against his mother’s. His eyes broke open like the skies above him and heavy tears fell to the earth beneath him. He let out several loud cries of sorrow, gripping both stones as best as he could, and cursed himself for letting this happen. The man he had killed flashed before his eyes and his sorrow was tinted with rage. Not only had killing the man failed to bring his family back but it also served to make him feel worse. Red sat upon her broom, quietly watching him with softened eyes that took on the blue-grey of the thunderheads. How much time passed while he sat there and cried, James could not tell. One at a time, he kissed each headstone and placed his forehead upon them as he said his goodbyes. When the clouds had become so dark that she could not tell if the sun had set or not, Red spoke.

“We should go.” She placed her hand on his shoulder lightly. James looked up at her with his bloodshot eyes, and his tearstained face, and nodded.

“You’re right. There’s nothing left for me here now anyway.” Looking around him and taking in the sight of his hometown one more time, he realized that the nearby funeral had cleared out. James tilted his head in their direction and paid a silent tribute to whoever had passed, feeling a strange connection to the dead now that his family had all joined them. As he was about to climb onto the broom, he found his attention once again drawn elsewhere. When his eyes found them, he froze. Walking down the nearby street, just close enough to hear their conversation, were the bastards that started it all. From the night of the bonfire when he had first met Red, all five of them that shoved him into the river were right in front of him. His body twitched toward them slightly, but he resisted it.

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“James?” Red tried to get his attention by waving her arm in front of his face. “Everything okay?” He made another effort to turn away from them only to fail once more when one of them shouted.

“They’re just up here!” James recognized the voice coming from the tallest one, his name was Kyle. He was the one who had the idea to shove him in the river in the first place, their leader.

“Who is?” This time it was Derrick, the one that held James’ friend to the ground to stop him from intervening. Seeing the lot of them this close was causing James to grow increasingly agitated. Even so, James made one last effort to push them out of his mind and climb onto the broom. What stopped him then, was his curiosity.

“Why are they here?” he muttered to himself.

“You know who, dumbass. It’s his family. You know what I mean? Him.” This time it was Tommy, the one who helped Kyle to secure both of James’ arms. Squinting, James assured himself that they wouldn’t have come all this way just to see his mother and sister’s graves.

“Why are you acting all scared for? Just say it. It’s that douchebag James’ family. The one who almost got us arrested at that party because he couldn’t handle a little river current.”

“If it wasn’t for my smooth talk, we would have spent the night in jail for sure. I guess my dad being the deputy sheriff didn’t hurt either.” James could not recall the names of the last two men, only remembering that they had been the ones to grab his legs. His curiosity now gone entirely, James bit into his lip as he desperately fought to control his anger. The ring on his finger was pressing further and further into his mind, trying to once again guide him over the edge. Then Kyle spoke again.

“It really is a shame that they died.” James was dumbstruck for a moment. What did he mean it was a shame? As far as he knew, Kyle had never met his mother or sister before, so how could their deaths cause him any sort of emotion?

“Did you smoke too much? Why on earth would you give a shit about these two, Kyle?” For once, James agreed with the words coming out of Derrick’s mouth. A surprise he never expected he would experience.

“Don’t be cruel, Derrick. How could I not be upset over this?” James clenched his fists as he took a step forward. No matter what Kyle said next, he knew he wasn’t going to like it. His tone was too…fake. Red must have realized the situation had become far too dangerous and reached out for James’ shoulder.

“Ignore them James, we need to leave!” Unfortunately, it was Red that James was ignoring. He had positioned himself just one step in front of Kyle, who of course could not see nor hear him, and let out a low growl.

“Don’t say another word you low life piece of trash.”

“James he can’t h-” Red was too late. Before she could finish Kyle opened his mouth with a wide grin and turned toward his pack of goons.

“Afterall, I never got to fuck his sister.” James was beyond shocked. Never in a million years did he expect Kyle to say something so incredibly vile. His mind broke, and for several minutes James could not move or even think. The group laughed their way back down to the road completely unaware of James as he stood there. His mouth, which had been hanging open, slammed shut as he proceeded to grind his teeth.

“James come on, let’s go. They aren’t worth it!” Red moved forward with the broom and grabbed him firmly by the arm only to let go immediately as his skin seared her palm. “James. Calm down…now.” In that moment James had only one thought pop into his mind which somehow managed to slip out of his mouth.

“I want to kill them.” Red’s eyes widened as her fears were confirmed and she opened her mouth once more to dissuade him. However, as James’ rage boiled over and the hair on his arms began to visibly lengthen, the only thing she found herself able to do was to regret her decision to bring him here.

James’ ring took over the instant his mind broke. Draining his rage, and his energy, it forced his body into the transitioning state between human and werewolf causing him a great amount of pain. Through his clamped jaw he let out an anguished scream and placed both hands over his face as he hunched over. Just as it had the first time, his head was threatening to explode. Red pushed closer to him and wrapped her arms around his torso as tightly as she could and spoke directly into his ear.

“Stop, James! Bring yourself back, you have to control yourself!” Her efforts were futile though as James could not hear a single thing she was saying. The storm had become so severe now that the rain had created a loud and constant buzzing. Combined with the continuous thunder echoing through the skies, it was near impossible for her to reach him.

“Ahhhh!” He let out another cry as the pressure in his head finally caused his skull to crack open. In his pained rage he flung Red off of his side and sent her flying through the door of a nearby mausoleum. Immediately he was beset by the furious storm above him, rain drenching every inch of his body in seconds. James strained his neck as much as he could to look for the targets of his aggression and found them nearing the end of the street, nearly a football field away already. Not wanting to allow their escape, he began to limp after them. His arms snapped in unnatural directions as the bones broke and grew back together and yet he continued to gain speed. Even as his legs shattered, causing him to fall to the ground, he merely pulled himself by his claws until they healed. Once they had, he pulled himself back to his feet and flung open his arms, revealing his chest to the sky above. Down the road the group of men stopped and covered their ears as lightning struck somewhere in town. It must have been behind James, as they all turned together in his direction. Just as they did so he let out his war cry, an ultimate howl of rage that would have muted any he had let out before without challenge. The instant he had finished, James dropped to all fours and sprung toward them as fast as he could. In a mere matter of seconds, he closed the distance.

“What the hell is that?!” Derrick yelled as he turned to run. Watching the backs of his friends grow farther away from him, he realized that he had wasted too much time. He was the first to be caught. James ripped his legs off with one motion and snatched his body out of the air with the second. Without stopping, he slammed Derrick into the ground with so much force that every possible orifice on his head burst with a surge of blood. Screams of terror filled the air as the other four glanced back at the now very much dead, Derrick.

Running even faster now, they tried desperately to escape their fate. Still, he caught them. As lightning struck with increasing frequency and illuminated the now completely dark sky, the scene beneath the clouds took on the appearance of a flip book horror story that was just a little bit too fast. One by one James tore them apart, dyeing the street a deep scarlet as the rain swept up the blood. If there had been anyone watching, it would have appeared to them that James was teleporting. Darkness, a sudden flash revealing a man feverishly running for his life, more darkness. Another flash, a roaring wolf like creature holding the man above his head as he rips him in two, more darkness. A final flash, nothing but two limp halves of a man lying in the bloody street.

There were now only two left, Kyle and Tommy. As James grew closer, nearly within reach, Kyle grabbed Tommy’s arm and threw him on the ground. Tommy cried out in the rain but whatever he said was lost in the rain as James descended upon him. With one bite, and a twist of his neck, he ripped Tommy’s head off and crushed it between his teeth. Standing, he let what was left fall out of his mouth and picked up Tommy’s body. With both arms James pull it over his head and flung it as hard as he could toward Kyle’s legs. James felt a small bit of pleasure at the fact that Kyle had thrown Tommy on the ground, and seconds later Tommy had repaid the favor. Well, his corpse had anyway.

“L-Leave me alone!” Kyle was scrambling backwards as fast as he could manage as James closed the gap. He watched as Tommy’s corpse was flung out of the way and froze when James stopped before him. “No, stop! Let me go!” James grabbed him by the torso with one hand, digging his claws into Kyle’s ribs, and held him at eye level. The smell of urine crept into his nose and James let out a long, deep growl. “Please! Let me go, it hurts!” James began to squeeze tighter as he grabbed Kyle’s left ankle in his other hand. “Ahhh!”

“Stop! James, put him down!” It was Red. He looked over his shoulder and found her standing several feet away soaked from the rain with blood dripping down her forehead. He snorted and turned back toward his plaything who had continued to cry out in pain. “I said STOP!” Still ignoring her James tried to squeeze tighter only to realize he couldn’t move. Irritation bolstered his rage as he struggled harder and harder against Red’s magic.

“James? Did she say…your name is…James?” Kyle coughed, looking confused and in great pain. “You don’t mean…” His eyes widened to a point that they threatened to burst as the dots connected.

“Just put him DOWN James!”

“It isn’t possible.” Kyle said softly. “You’re James? That weak little shit?” He laughed bitterly. “No, that’s not right. You’re a god damn MONSTER!” James, who had been pooling his strength into the arm holding Kyle’s ankle, felt a sudden surge of rage at being called a monster by him of all people. With it came an equal surge in strength and in one instantaneous motion James ripped Kyle’s leg off and flung it at Red. Dodging it distracted her enough to allow James spin around and rip off and throw Kyle’s right leg as well.

“AHHHHH!” Kyle was now screaming at the top of his lungs from the unbearable pain of losing both legs in such a violent manner. Unfortunately for him it did not stop there. Red managed to deflect his second leg after dodging the first so James repeated the process with Kyle’s left and right arms. Red deflected both of them with a wave of her hand, sending them flying in separate directions before she once again tried to restrain James. Having ripped Kyle’s head off with one hand, while holding his torso with the other, James put the remainder of his strength into launching them as hard as he could, in quick succession. It was a useless endeavor though, now that Red had become serious.

“You absolute idiot!” She screamed, her almost neon-orange hair bursting into the air wildly as if her head had been set on fire and slammed him into the ground with nothing but a downward point of her finger. “It is TIME to LEAVE.” She lifted him off the ground, and slammed him down again, and again. Each time simply changing the direction of her index finger. Even after his body had become human again, she continued to slam him into the ground. Only when it looked as if he would suffer permanent damage did she stop. “Let’s go.”