sired • luke hemmings/5sos [au]

thirteen // add that to your book of creatures

      WE BARGE INTO THE LAKE house without a second glance behind us. Luke didn't want to risk it, so I wasn't going to, either. Liz and Andy jump up from the sofa, looking at us with expectant eyes. Neither spoke up, and there is this silence that fills the air that's thick with tension.

"What the hell happened?" Andy finally cuts through the sharp quiet, his deep, Australian voice seems to echo through the room.

I can't find my own voice, but luckily Luke can. "We were walking, and-"

"You were walking? Why didn't you go in the car?!" Andy's expression is not a pleased one. I jump slightly, startled.

Luke remains calm. "I wanted some time alone with Ridley, and, um, we stopped to talk and admire a...uh, tree, and we heard this branch snap, and I swear that I could smell a hybrid." A what? We were what?

"A hybrid? What are they doing in Portland?" Liz speaks up, and looks at Luke with her I-know-what-you-were-doing look. Is Luke thinking about the kiss? I can't help but smirk.

"I don't know, but one was there. And it was watching us," Luke says, and I can't take it anymore.

"A hybrid? Like, a two-creatures hybrid?"

Andy shakes his head at me. "No, they're just breeds. Relatively harmless. Hybrid's are a force which can't be stopped. They're part Demon, part Traveler, and part Keeper." Whoa, head spin. "It takes five of us to kill one of them. They're our worst enemy above the Travelers."

"Oh, shit," I mumble, feeling my legs buckle beneath me. They are more of a threat than the Travelers? "But I thought that the Travelers wanted me dead or something?"

Andy shakes his head. "No, they need you too much for that. The Travelers won't kill you, but the Hybrids will. Their genetics automatically make them kill anyone in their path. They take no prisoners and don't have any sympathy for their victims. You know how you see all these murders and suicides on the news?" I nod. They're all over the place. "That's the hybrids. They get a buzz out of killing, and even more of a buzz when they persuade people to kill themselves."

"So, they're incredibly dangerous," Luke adda, taking my hand and squeezing it lightly. He gives his dad a look which tells him to stop, and gives me a heart-stopping look. "I'm sorry that I dragged you out there."

"Don-"

"What were you doing out there, anyway?" his dad cuts in, pushing me aside quite harshly.

Luke rolls his eyes, getting aggravated. "I told you we were going for a-"

"That's not an excuse! Do you realise how much danger you put yourself and Ridley in? What if it wasn't a Hybrid? What if it was a Shifter coming to kidnap Ridley, the threat that we ran away from in the first place?" Andy's voice seems to get louder, and I shrink back in my seat.

"Yes, I know, that's why we need to leave. Now," Luke says through gritted teeth, and I can tell that he is getting angry. His fists clench and unclench, his jaw ridged as he he stares at his dad.

Andy shakes his head. "No, we're not."

"Yes, we are. If the Hybrids can find us, then what's stopping the Shifters?"

"The hybrids didn't try to find you. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time - as usual."

Something flickers in Luke's eyes at Andy's words, and when I think he is about to unleash his anger on his father, he just shakes his head, and turns around so that he can stride up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. He slams our bedroom door behind him. I look at Liz, who looks like she has just about swallowed a fly, she looks that shocked. Noticing my gaze, she nod at me, answering my unspoken question to go after him. So I do. Almost running up the stairs - and, yes, tripping over my feet a few times - I make my way to our room.