Monstrous ➳ Dunbar

[ in which she is under control ]

Sydney didn't know what exactly told her to run after Scott and Liam as they disappeared into the night, but she did. Her feet pounded over the littered forest floor, twigs and leaves crumpling beneath her every step. Her breathing was labored, adrenaline pumping through her veins like blood as she stared around the dark forest- which seemed as bright as daylight, thanks to her supernatural night vision.

Sydney felt a sudden wave of guilt as she thought of Kira, all alone in the boathouse or perhaps making her way back up to the party. Maybe Sydney should have stayed with her, to protect her from any monstrous threats. She knew that the girl was perfectly capable of protecting herself, as she was a katana-wielding badass, though she didn't have the fangs or claws of a werewolf, or a three foot long Japanese sword by her side twenty-four seven.

Sydney pushed the thought to the back of her mind, focusing on catching Liam and Scott as she took a sharp left. She could hear several growls echoing through the forest in front of her, and she smelled a mixture of panic and anger coming from the two werewolves. Finally allowing herself to fully shift, Sydney quickened her pace, enjoying the feeling of the wind whipping through her hair.

Suddenly, the growls and the yells stopped, casting the forest into an eerie, bone-chilling silence. Sydney stopped running along with the noises, slowing her pace to a walk as she stared around her. She didn't want to walk into a trap, only to be attacked by an angry, shifted Liam once more. Though her chest was already almost completely healed, she stilled felt the soreness from Liam's claws digging into her skin. Sydney realized that she could no longer hear the sound of waves splashing against the bank, telling her that she was far north of the boathouse and the lake. She looked around her, listening closely to the eerie silence as she realized she had stepped into some sort of clearing. A sudden flash of blinding light broke the unnerving darkness, followed by a high pitched whistling sound and a howl of pain from somewhere in front of Sydney. Her hands found their way to her ears; she struggled to block out the horrible, high-pitched whistling, realizing that it could be no other than ultrasonic emitters- a device that hunter used to trap werewolves. The sound gave any supernatural creature a headache, nearly driving them crazy.

But, almost as soon as the horrible sound began, it stopped. Sydney slowly lowered her hands, shaking her head several times before running off in the direction of the sound. She stepped into another part of a clearing, only to see Liam surrounded by a circle of emitters, laying on the ground and shaking uncontrollably. He was now longer transformed, his growls replaced by soft whimpers of pain. Sydney approached Scott, who was standing just outside the corral of emitters with his face twisted into a look of sympathy.

Liam suddenly lowered his hands from his head, looking between Sydney and Scott and clearly trying to control himself, "What's happening to me?" He panted, pulling himself into a sitting position.

"The same thing that happened to us, Liam." Without even really thinking, Sydney approached the shaking boy, kneeling beside him and wrapping her hand around his tense arm. His gaze shifted from the ground to Scott, then landed on Sydney, his eyebrows pulled together.

"They can't know about this. My mom, my step dad. I can't do this to them again," he whimpered quietly, his whole body convulsing as he spoke.

"What do you mean again?" Scott beat Sydney to the question, cocking an eyebrow at Liam suspiciously.

"I got kicked out of school and- and I deserved it," Liam explained slowly, looking between Sydney and Scott as he did so. "The way they looked at me when they saw that I did to that car..." He suddenly stopped talking, his body shaking violently as he fell to the ground in a fetal position. Scott was by his side in an instant, though Sydney had already acted. She ran her hand through Liam's damp hair, using her other hand to rub his arm comfortingly. His face, which was pulled together in a look of pain, slowly relaxed, his lips pulling into a small smile.