Dawn of Vengeance

Chapter 21 - Parting Ways

Lance's POV:

Lance had arrived back in Santa Monica about 20 minutes after Jake had more or less ran him off from the hospital. He was still shocked that Jake was blaming him of all people for what happened to Sister Mary and for not being there for Father Matthew. How was Lance supposed to know that something like that was going to happen, he wasn't psychic and Jake was being completely unfair in saying that Lance should've been there? He was following his orders to stay with the werewolf packs to offer any aid that they could possibly need and he just couldn't understand why Jake couldn't see that?

The harsh words that Jake had said to him were still painfully fresh in Lance's mind and he couldn't help but relive the entire scenario over and over again. Him and Jake standing nose to nose just begging the other to do something and what shocked Lance most was that he actually found that he was excited by the thought of fighting Jake. Not the playful little fights that they got into more often than not, but a real fight in which only one of them was going to walk away with their life...

Lance let out groan as he sat along the edge of his very own bed and he leaned forward running his hands through his hair. It bothered him more than he was willing to let on that he actually looked forward to a fight with his best friend, the guy that he grew up with since they were five years old. Something about Lance was definitely changing, but he was scared to think that he was becoming the very thing which he despised more than anything else. A savage and mindless beast that ran amok hunting, stalking, and killing any and everything that moved.

It was bad enough that it happened once a month on a full moon, but now there was a chance of him actually losing it to the point of changing like that on a normal day. Lance stood up and walked the very short distance over to the small mirror that hung on the wall. He looked awful, his hair was a mess from all the times he'd run his hands through it, his normally tan complexion had gone somewhat pale because of his worrying, and his eyes were slightly puffy due to the tears that so desperately wanted to flow after what Jake had said to him but Lance absolutely refused to cry. It hurt to have one of his biggest anchors as for as holding onto his humanity just up and call him a monster.

He's hurt and he's just lashing out at others. That's what Lance was telling himself at least but even he had to admit that Jake had a very solid reason for being angry with him. Lance could make excuses all day about why he wasn't at the hospital or wouldn't even pick up his phone. He could say that it was because he was helping Luis or even Merrick with another vampire attack, or maybe he could say that he was out on patrol and left his phone in his room aboard the Wolfhound. Lance could definitely say either of these excuses and people might believe them, but in reality he didn't want to answer his phone because he just wanted to spend more time with Maria.

"Maybe Jake's right-" Lance said letting his head and shoulders slump down. "I do just want to be with them. With more of my kind..."

"Well you're hardly going to do that if you spend all night locked up in this little room." The familiar and very much adored voice of Maria said off to the side. Lance looked to his left and saw the young she-wolf standing in the doorway her head leaning against the doorframe while she lightly chewed on her bottom lip. Her demeanor shifted though once she got a good look at him and she went from flirty to concern as she entered Lance's 6x6 rooms and threw her arms around him. "I don't know what's wrong but it’s nothing that can't be fixed Lan."

Lance shifted his posture slightly before half-heartedly wrapping one of his arms around Maria's small waist. Hearing her say that annoying nickname that she'd given him made him smile a little but it did absolutely nothing to help his mood. Lance took a deep breath in through his nose and caught a whiff of Maria's vanilla scented shampoo and for some reason he felt absolutely mystified by it. Wrapping both of his arms around Maria's petite body Lance nuzzled his way into her neck and took several deep breaths which made her giggle and pull away.