Seeing Red

Chapter 4

I could have stayed in Marks' arms forever; I certainly wanted to. However, we eventually broke the kiss and smiled at each other.

"So, I'm here," I said, "What happens now?"

"I assume Becky got you up to speed on what we're doing," said Mark, "Bet you were shocked to see her again, huh?"

"You have no idea." I said, "I was sure she was dead."

"So was I," said Mark, "But here we are. Now, we just need to make sure Brandon and Dustin are safe too. Have you seen them, or heard from them?"

"My phone was destroyed when we fell into water," I said, "I haven't seen them since." I didn't want to think of the idea that my friends were dead, especially after everything we had all gone through together.

"Anyone else we need to contact?" Becky asked as she walked over to the two of us.

"Uh... yeah, my foster parents," I said as I remembered them, "Paige and Elliot Houston, but I don't remember their phone number."

"If they're foster parents, that makes things easier," said Becky, "Anyone else you're close with could end up being a target. Were they fostering anyone else?"

"Three girls, but I only really talked to one of them," I said, "Grace White."

"She's our top priority then," said Becky, "Anyone you've been close to is nothing but a plaything for Gwen. Do you have a phone number for her?"

"Not off the top of my head." I said.

"We can work on that," Becky said, "In the meantime, we need to get some of those forces in the town back."

"They already attacked?" said Mark, his eyes widening as Becky just looked grim.

"The town that Scarlet was in," said Becky, "People saw them, but I think they were on Gwen's orders, only for capturing Scarlet. She was lucky that we got her when she did."

"So not full scale yet?" said Mark.

"Hannah said that all the werewolves were gathering in one place?" I said, "Does that mean bad things."

"It always does," said Becky, "But yeah, since the jig's gonna become public one way or another, Gwen's been convincing other leaders that it's time to take over the country."

"Or the world. Or the tri-state area, for all we know," said Mark, "Gwen was savvy enough to keep us out of the loop as much as possible, but some of the others could be convinced to keep us in."

"Gwen wants a coup and that's what she's gunning for," said Becky, "She wants absolute power, and she's already corrupt enough that she won't have to worry about the latter part of that old saying."

"Hey."

The new voice caused me to look in the doorway Mark had been standing in front of, which led into a dining room/kitchen combination. Standing by a counter next to a microwave was a man in a black leather jacket, bald with a thick beard and thick glasses. As soon as we looked at him when he spoke up, the man pushed himself away from the counter and sauntered over to us.

"I hate to interrupt the happy reunion," said the man, "But didn't you have to go get the others you said you needed to get here?"

"Oh crap, you're right Simon," said Becky, "Mark, we better get going, unless you want Simon and I to go? Lisa should be back soon, provided Gwen didn't rip her head off."

"Lisa?" I asked.

"She was the werewolf with me," said Becky, "She chased Gwen off so I could get you away. I doubt she'd be able to kill that bitch on her own, but hey, props if she does. Either way Scarlet, I don't want to leave you with anyone you don't trust."