Dawn of Vengeance

Chapter 23 - Doubles

Lance's POV:

Lance was a mere five miles from the church, traveling beneath the freeways had definitely saved him a ton of time and every second counted now after what happened. He needed to get back to the church and inform Jake and any other Saint that may be there about what'd happened at the harbor. For whatever reason Stark had taken at the very least a dozen and a half werewolves after killing their leaders and they needed to find out why. Though Lance had to shamefully admit that Stark taking Maria gave him a little extra motivation to see this through, he still also wanted to try and mend what he could between him and Jake.

Anything that'd help him get back the person he'd grown up with and gladly come to call his brother Lance would gladly do. Saving Maria, as well as the other remaining members of the Los Lobos and Wolfhounds was just part of his job now, as he realized that he needed to look at this as a Saint first and a pack member second. Still, Lance just couldn't get the image of that slaughter at the harbor, as well as the image of both Merrick and Luis lying in pools of their own blood. Despite his desire to look at it in a Saint's point of view Lance couldn't help but feel a need to claim vengeance for lives Stark had ended so casually as if they meant absolutely nothing. Lance felt it all throughout his body and with every fiber of his being, but for now he needed to put it on hold and focus on getting to Jake.

He'd run about another block or so and Lance's ribs felt like they were about to implode after running from Santa Monica all the way here. He needed to get to the church, that's all that mattered and it’s what Lance repeated to himself over and over as a form of motivation but even his strength was beginning to falter. Finally Lance just couldn't bare it any longer, he needed to stop and rest if only for a moment. He couldn't have been very far from the church at all but Lance's body was refusing to obey him as he slumped down beside a garbage truck. Leaning back against the truck's tires Lance was taking enormous intakes of air and was wiping away enough sweat that he swore he could fill a mop bucket with it. His shirt was practically plastered to his body and his legs felt like they were on fire from that long run. As if that weren't enough for him the full moon was just a day away making Lance's much more sensitive to everything around him, so much so that he could hear the rhythmic thumping of someone's pulse in the buildings down the block from him.

Now that he was tired and weak from fatigue his hunger was beginning to creep in on him, and what a terrible hunger it was. Within all werewolves it doesn't matter how old or young they were exists a hunger that much like a vampire's thirst for blood, is a constant reminder of what they are. Predators who NEEDED to feast on flesh no matter what kind; it was an absolute nightmare for Lance to occasionally see someone walking by him and fantasize about making a meal of them. It's far worse though if you should be very close to someone, in this case Lance always, ALWAYS had dreams of feasting on Jake's flesh near the full moon. The hunger was terrifying because he actually wanted to do it, and the thought of it was actually arousing hence why Lance was so crazy about Maria as of late.  

But the worst thing now was that Lance's instincts to hunt and feast were beginning to take priority thanks to his fatigue. At this point even a rat was beginning to sound like a delicacy to Lance, one that he so desperately craved. Speaking of, Lance's head jerked to the side at the sound of some kind of can being knocked over and low and behold there stood a cat. Swallowing Lance's mouth began to water and he began to slowly get on all fours stalking the unsuspecting cat. His stomach growled so loudly that he was afraid the cat had heard it, which thankfully it didn't, it just mulled around probably looking for a meal itself. Shuddering Lance took a few more silent steps closer to the small animal before realization dawned on him about what he was actually doing.

"Get out of her!" Lance shouted throwing a rock at the cat making it bolt in to opposite direction. His stomach growled in protest of what he'd just done but Lance took a deep calming breath before focusing on what he needed to do. "Church, Jake, and then food. Church, Jake, and then food."