It had begun, indeed. A constant sequence of jumping, kicking, dodging and clawing...

Even with Anas and Kali by their side, it seemed they were only delaying the inevitable for them. Fighting a battle that was heralded fruitless at best and crushingly lost at worst.

"there's more of them coming!" yelled Boyd, right after he'd managed to successfully stab a longtail through its chest.

Erica seized the chance that presented itself in front of her, when Kali held one of the creatures in place long enough for the blond to pierce it with the blade she held. Kali allowed the motionless body to fall out of her hands; she turned around just in time to dodge an incoming, and quite possibly deadly, hit to the head. But that same longtail did not get the opportunity to swing at her a second time since Anas had already punctured its heart from behind.

"Stay focused!" Derek alerted them just as he shifted back to his human form.

"Any other, better suggestions?" asked Erica in the heat of the moment.

"Yeah, try to stay alive!" was the only think Derek added before jumping back into action.

And trying to stay alive they did; they did their very best for that. There was no use in pretending, however. They all knew that if none of them came up with a better plan or a solution, and quickly, there was no shot for them to make it out of there alive.

A change in pace did finally happen. But it wasn't thanks to their efforts. Instead, it was the longtails that drew back, for seemingly no reason. Well, there was a reason... And that reason announced its presence as soon as the longtails had stopped attacking, "Well, well, well! Look what we have here!" his voice sounded like it was coming from everywhere; they struggled to pinpoint its origin inside the green house.

Kali took a few, slow steps back towards Anas, "It's him. It's Matt. He controls these bastards. Be careful everyone,"

"Why spoil the fun like that?" it seemed that despite Kali's efforts to keep her voice on the low end, Matt had still managed to catch her words.

All of the sudden and without any prior notice, Matt lunched himself at Derek. An action that none of them could counter. For as fast as they all were, none of them had the speed that would match Matt's. Apparently, and as the leader of the longtails, he enjoyed far better perks than the rest of them were given. Derek found himself lying flat on his back only seconds after that, a few feet away from where he stood previously.

"I remember you. You were a pain in my ass on that day back then, in the station," said Matt towards Derek. He took a small step back, almost like he had all the time in the world, in order to avoid Erica's attack, "Really? Is that all you have?" but then he directed his attention back towards Derek again, "So, you came all the way here to take us down and this... Is the backup you brought with you?"

In the midst of all the insanity they were thrown into, Boyd still found the time to squeeze a chuckle out, "Yeah well, it took more than a cancer infested, dying old man to take us out the first time around," he said, referring to Matt's fate on the hands of Gerrard Argent.

Matt did not appear to appreciate being mocked in that fashion. In the blink of an eye, he cut the distance that stood between him and Boyd very short. And in another very swift movement, Matt had grabbed him by the throat and effortlessly lifted his entire weight off the ground, "What do you think it will take for me to take you out?"

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Derek, Erica and Anas did not waste any time to react. The three of them hurled themselves at Matt in that instant.

"It seems I already missed most of the party," and the three of them fell to the ground before Jennifer had finished her sentence.

"You finally decided to show yourself," said Kali, her eyes on Jennifer.

"Why am I not surprised? Loyalty has never been part of your vocabulary, has it?" Jennifer spoke again, a hint of disappointment in her eyes as she stared Kali down, "I see you're having fun," she said towards Matt.

"Why do I have the feeling that the fun isn't gonna last now that you're here?" he said, tossing Boyd to the side like he'd toss a toy he was bored with. Just like Kali, Matt had his eyes on Jennifer.

Seeing as Jennifer was maintaining the three other werewolves flat on the ground, Kali seemed to feel like, the burden of bringing a change to the situation, relied on her alone, "So, are you going to kill them?" her eyes fluttered between Jennifer and Anas.

Jennifer followed her gaze, but she didn't stop at Anas. Between Derek and Erica, the look on her face softened; especially once it had landed on Derek, "Are you worried about them?" she paused, but then she continued, "Of course you're worried. You've been acting all righteous from the moment you were brought back. Can't say it looks good on you," she kept on addressing Kali.

"Why? Is it that unconceivable?" asked Kali.

"On the contrary my dear Kali. The reason I find it so nauseating, is because I know for a fact, that it's true. You used to be like that once upon the time, remember? I used to be your closest friend for it. I just wished you came to your senses before you killed every member of your pack, before you slashed my face off of me, and my entire identity with it,"

Nobody moved, nobody laughed. In fact, nobody said a thing after that. Jennifer's words seemed to reach very deep within Kali. Derek knew they reached him too. As much as he wanted to believe he wasn't concerned with that affair, he'd found himself dragged into the very middle of it a few years prior, regardless. So, and from Kali's demeanor, he knew just how sharp, how jagged, how venomous those words must have been to her. Even though, the constant pain Jennifer was inflicting on him, impaled him to the ground, he still thought that kind of ache held no candle to hers at that moment. Yes, there was a way to remedy his situation, change his fate, the outcome of the fight. There still was hope for that but no way was that appliable to the past... There was no changing that.

"Well, that soured the mood... Didn't it?" Matt broke the agonizing silence.

Jennifer had noticed that one of the longtails was nearing dangerously closer to Erica. Upon understanding what Matt had ordered the creature to do, she immediately lifted her arm up towards it. The monster froze and began to visibly spasm on the spot.

"What are you doing?" asked Matt.

"Did you know that mountain ash wasn't the only way to take your little toys down?" she asked as her arm shook slightly harder while still being directed at the longtail.

Under everyone's eyes, the creature's heart moved gradually closer to its rib cage before literally breaking the bones that were in the way and protruding from underneath the tough layer that served as flesh and skin. The heart flew across the room, straight into Jennifer's open hand, where she held it up in front of Matt's face, "In reality, you just need to entirely remove their hearts. Like that!" she finished her sentence by flinging the heart to the grown for it to splatter into pieces.

Matt waited until the heartless body of the longtail had dropped to the floor before reacting, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Relax, I am just doing my job. We can't kill any of them just yet," she said as she ambled towards Derek.

"I know that! I wasn't going to kill her," Matt protested.

"You can't be trusted with something like that. At any moment before I arrived, you could've have killed them and ruined everything by the same occasion," she said, "I'll advise you to step back. I know ripping your heart out won't kill you but ripping your head off on the other hand might do it," she added when Matt stepped towards her in a threatening manner.

He seethed in place for a moment, before taking a deep breath and averting his gaze towards Derek, still on the ground, "Fine...," he conceded, "Now what?"

"Now, we wait patiently for further instructions. Very unfortunately so, might I add. Believe me, I want to hurt them as much as you do and perhaps even more but... I am not about to ruin my chance at revenge yet again," she said looking back at Kali.