Greykin Valley

| 40 | Evolving Danger

⥐ ⋞ ☽ ⋟ ⥐

| Damon |

So much was going on. Faceless, undead humans, a war with Kane's pack, and Jackson summoning crystals from Hell. Damon wasn't sure which thing unnerved him the most.

He led his pack through the woods, focusing all of his senses, moving as fast as he could without tiring his wolves out. He was glad that he was able to fight Kane's wolves without stumbling, but he couldn't ignore the ache in his back. He couldn't remember when he took his last antibiotic, but he was sure that Jackson did. When he looked back to where his mate was, though, he saw him walking with and talking to Wilson, and that made Damon feel irritated.

With a quiet snarl, he tried focusing on getting his pack somewhere safe to spend a few hours of the night. He was sure that they were tired from the fight, and they probably also wanted time to process what they'd seen. Damon was admittedly a little unsettled knowing that the cadejo virus was now evolving in humans, and he didn't know what to expect.

He looked back at Tokala. "Take Dustu and scout ahead. Find us somewhere to spend a few hours."

The Zeta nodded and hurried off with Dustu.

"Dad?" Remus then asked.

"Mm-hmm."

"Do you...do you think that...there are more infected human variants like there are cadejo variants?"

"I don't know, Remus," Damon answered, leading the pack up a hill. "But after what we just saw, I think we better assume that there are."

"How did it make us freeze like that?" his son questioned.

"I don't know that either. I think the only way we'll get answers is when the Venaticus pick up the body Sebastien tagged."

Remus nodded. "I just...I'm scared."

Damon looked at him and frowned worriedly.

"If there's a variant that can do something like that, then...what else could be out there, you know?"

"Unless it wasn't an infected human," came Sebastien's voice.

The Alpha shifted his sights to the hound and saw a haunted look on his face. "What?"

Sebastien glanced at him. "If the virus has evolved and spread to humans, then it's only a matter of time until it evolves to infect other Caeleste."

"I don't like the sound of this shit," Wilson called.

"Even demons?" Jackson asked.

The hound shook his head. "I don't know. I was bitten not long ago, and I haven't turned, so maybe it hasn't evolved that far yet. But it's only a matter of time in my opinion."

Remus stared at Sebastien. "So...that thing could have been...what? An infected elf or something?"

"No, I don't know any elf species who can make a bunch of lycans and a demon freeze on the spot like that," the hound answered.

"Fae," Wesley suggested. "I, uh...there were a lot of fae stories in my family. I heard a few when I was a kid. Something about...a kind of fae which can paralyze someone with this low-frequency sound."

"That thing didn't look fae," Rachel mumbled.

"Have you ever seen one?" Wesley questioned defensively.

"No...but I've heard they have wings," she replied.

"Not all fae have wings," the Gamma said matter-of-factly.