Chapter 11 – Seven Days
The darkness advanced.
—
Not as shadow.
As weight.
—
Each streetlight that went out sounded like a missed heartbeat.
—
Lin Mei squeezed Terry's hand.
Her fingers were cold.
Colder than the air.
—
"Terry."
Her voice was small.
But firm.
"I don't know how to fight."
—
"I know."
—
"But I can run."
—
Terry looked at her.
"You're not running alone."
—"You're not staying alone either."
—
Pause.
—
"Then both of us."
—
"Sebastián."
—
Terry turned.
Sebastián was still on the ground.
Breathing.
But barely.
The golden eyes had faded.
What was left was a broken kid.
—
Terry crouched.
Grabbed him by the collar of the shirt.
Lifted him as if he weighed nothing.
—
"Can you run?"
—
Sebastián nodded.
Without saying anything.
—
Three meters.
Two meters.—
The men at the end were no longer walking.
They were accelerating.
"Now!" Terry shouted.
—
He ran.
Sebastián behind him.
Lin Mei beside him.
—
The empty street felt infinite.
—
Each of Terry's steps was longer than normal.
Faster.
His body understood it.
But the other two couldn't keep up.
—
Lin Mei was falling behind.
Sebastián was stumbling.
—
"Faster!" said Terry.
—
"I can't!" shouted Lin Mei.
—
Behind—
A sound.—
Not of footsteps.
Of something faster than footsteps.
Something that didn't need feet.
—
Terry turned his head.
—
And he saw.
—
The first of the men was no longer a man.
His body had stretched.
Arms too long.
Neck too thin.
Mouth too wide.
—
He wasn't a wolf.
He wasn't human.
He was something else.
—
And he was ten meters away.
Five.
Three.
Terry pushed Lin Mei to the ground.
Just in time.
—The thing passed over her.
Landed in front of Terry.
Hit him in the chest with an arm too long.
—
Terry flew four meters.
Crashed into a wall.
The concrete cracked behind him.
—
The pain came late.
And when it came, it was everything.
—
The ribs.
The chest.
The head.
—
He stood up.
Staggering.
—
The thing walked toward him.
Without rush.
It knew it had won.
—
"Broken moon pup," it said.
Its voice was scraped.
Like sand in its throat.
Pause."Your blood is going to make an army."
Pause.
"But not for you."
Another of the men was approaching Lin Mei.
She crawled backward on the ground.
Dragging herself.
—
Sebastián stepped in between.
Without thinking.
Without a plan.
He just stepped in between.
—
"Get away from her!" he shouted.
—
The thing smiled.
And opened his side with one hand.
—
Sebastián fell.
The blood reached the asphalt before his body did.
—
"Sebastián!" Lin Mei screamed.
—
But the thing was already on her.
—
It touched her forehead with one long finger.Just one finger.
—
And where it touched, the skin glowed.
—
Green.
Not red.
Not gold.
Sick green.
Like moss in dirty water.
—
Lin Mei screamed.
—
Her scream wasn't human.
It was something deeper.
As if something had entered her.
And didn't want to leave.
—
She fell to the ground.
Unconscious.
The green mark pulsing.
Terry saw everything.
—
Not with his eyes.
With his body.
—And something inside him broke.
—
Not the wolf.
Not the mark.
Something older.
—
The part that was him.
—
He clenched his fists.
—
His nails grew.
Not much.
Barely.
—
His eyes sank into black.
And then came back.
But different.
—
Darker.
More awake.
—
"You touched her."
—
The thing turned toward him.
—
"You touched her," Terry repeated.—
"Yes."
—
"Good."
—
And he attacked.
This time it wasn't technique.
It wasn't control.
It was rage with direction.
—
Terry crossed the four meters between them in a blink.
—
His fist hit the thing's jaw.
The sound was like glass breaking.
—
The thing flew backward.
But got up.
Too fast.
As if it didn't matter.
—
And it laughed.
—
"Ah," it said.
Pause.
"There you are."Pause.
"Now you're fun."
—
It attacked.
Faster than before.
—
Terry dodged two blows.
The third opened his shoulder.
Deep.
To the bone.
—
But Terry didn't feel it.
—
Because he was no longer thinking.
He was no longer deciding.
—
The wolf had him.
And this time he didn't fight against it.
He opened the door for it.
And then they arrived.
—
They didn't run.
They didn't shout.
—
They appeared.As if they had been everywhere from the beginning.
As if they had only been waiting for the exact moment.
—
Eliza at the end of the street.
—
But she was no longer Eliza.
—
Her hair floated as if there was wind no one else felt.
Her eyes were pure red.
No pupil.
No white.
Just red.
—
Her nails shone like black glass.
And her teeth—
Too many.
Too sharp.
—
But she was still beautiful.
That was what was scariest.
—
Paulina on the other side.
—
Her transformation was different.
More subtle.
Colder.—
Her eyes were liquid silver.
Her veins showed beneath her skin.
Not red.
Black.
As if inside she was something else.
—
And around her, the temperature dropped.
Really dropped.
The air could be seen.
—
Terry blinked.
And understood something new.
—
Eliza wasn't just a wolf.
Paulina wasn't a wolf at all.
They were different things.
Older than him.
Older than this.
"Terry," said Eliza.
Her voice was two voices now.
Hers.
And another beneath.
"Take them."
—"I can—"
—
"You can't."
Pause.
"Not yet."
—
"But you—"
—
"We can."
—
Paulina was already walking toward the men.
Without rush.
—
"Three minutes," she said without turning.
Pause.
"Three minutes and you catch up to us."
—
Terry wanted to argue.
—
But something in their voices didn't allow argument.
—
For the first time, he wasn't the one deciding.
And for the first time, that was okay.
He picked up Lin Mei in his arms.
She weighed less than he expected.Or he was stronger than he remembered.
—
Sebastián was on the ground.
Looking at him.
With glassy eyes.
—
"Leave me," said Sebastián.
His voice was barely air.
Pause.
"I'm not going to make it."
—
"Yes you are."
—
"Terry."
Pause.
"There's too much blood."
Pause.
"I know it."
—
Terry looked at him.
And for a second he didn't see the bully.
He saw the kid.
—
"I told you, you're my responsibility."
—
"I did this to you."—
"No."
Pause.
"I did it to you."
—
Terry crouched down.
Lin Mei in one arm.
Sebastián over the other shoulder.
—
Both weighed.
But they didn't weigh enough to stop him.
—
"If I leave you here," said Terry, "what am I?"
—
Sebastián closed his eyes.
—
And for the first time he didn't answer.
Behind him, the street exploded.
—
Not literally.
But almost.
—
Eliza crashed into one of the men.
The collision shook the windows of the buildings.
Glass fell.Car alarms went off.
—
Paulina touched the second with a single finger.
And the man froze.
Literally.
His arm covered in black ice.
Cracked.
Broke.
—
The third turned toward Terry.
Started to run.
—
But Eliza appeared between them.
As if space itself had folded.
—
"Run," she said.
Without looking back.
—
And Terry ran.
The safehouse
He arrived in less time than he thought.
—
His body responded better carrying two people than carrying just himself.
As if it knew it had to make it.
—He kicked the door.
—
The driver was inside.
And another man Terry hadn't seen before.
Older.
White hair.
Calm eyes.
—
"Doctor," said Terry.
Without knowing why he knew he was a doctor.
He just knew.
—
"Here," answered the man.
Without surprise.
As if he had been waiting.
—
Terry put Lin Mei on the couch.
Sebastián on the floor.
—
"Her first," said the doctor.
His hands were already working.
Pause.
"The boy is losing too much blood already.
But they did something different to her."
—
"Different how?"—
The doctor lifted Lin Mei's shirt only as much as he needed to.
The green mark glowed.
Pulsing.
Like a second heart on her sternum.
—
"That," said the doctor, "is not from this side."
Terry didn't understand.
But he didn't ask.
—
He just watched as the doctor pulled something out of a case.
Not medicine.
Something older.
A stone.
Small.
Black.
With lines carved into it.
—
He placed it over the green mark.
—
Lin Mei arched her back.
Screamed.
—
But she didn't wake up.
—The green mark stopped pulsing.
But it didn't disappear.
It just slept.
—
"Is she—?"
—
"Alive," said the doctor.
Pause.
"But this isn't healed here."
Pause.
"This is healed by whoever did it to her."
—
Terry clenched his jaw.
—
"Sebastián."
—
The doctor moved to the boy on the floor.
Checked him for two seconds.
Shook his head.
—
"He won't survive the night."
—
"Make him survive."
—
"Young man."
Pause."I have no way."
—
"You said you were the doctor."
—
"I am a doctor."
Pause.
"I'm not a miracle."
Terry knelt beside Sebastián.
—
The boy opened his eyes.
Barely.
—
"You're still here?" he murmured.
—
"Yes."
—
"You're stubborn."
—
Terry almost smiled.
"You too."
—
Sebastián coughed.
Blood.
—
"Can I tell you something?"—
"Yes."
—
"I hated you a lot."
—
"I know."
—
"But I didn't hate you."
Pause.
"I hated you because you didn't need anyone."
Pause.
"And I always needed someone."
—
Terry didn't say anything.
—
Sebastián closed his eyes.
—
"It's funny."
Pause.
"In the end I was the one who needed you to need me."
—
His breathing got slower.
—
And then—
Something inside Terry moved.
—Not the wolf.
Not the mark.
Something else.
—
An idea.
Without words.
Just certainty.
—
Your blood made him.
Your blood can unmake him.
Or save him.
Terry bit his hand.
Hard.
—
The blood came out black at first.
Then red.
Then darker again.
As if it couldn't decide.
—
"Drink," he said.
—
Sebastián opened his eyes.
"What?"
—
"Drink."Pause.
"Trust me."
—
"You hate me."
—
"Yes."
Pause.
"But I don't want you to die."
—
Sebastián opened his mouth.
Barely.
—
Terry let the drops fall.
—
One.
Two.
Three.
—
And then it happened.
—
Sebastián swallowed.
And his body arched.
As if something ran through him from the inside.
—
The wound in his side stopped bleeding.
It didn't close.It just stopped bleeding.
—
The doctor leaned in.
Surprised for the first time that night.
—
"That's…"
—
"Alpha blood," said Terry.
Pause.
"I don't know how I know.
But I know."
The door
Opened.
—
Eliza came in first.
Her transformation was already coming down.
But she hadn't come back fully.
Her eyes were pink now.
Not red.
But not human yet either.
—
Paulina behind.
A hand pressed against her side.
Bleeding.
—"Lin Mei?" asked Eliza.
—
"Alive," said Terry.
"Sebastián?"
—
"Also."
—
The two of them stopped.
—
"How?" said Paulina.
—
"Blood," answered the doctor.
Pause.
"His."
—
Eliza approached.
Slow.
Looked at Sebastián.
At the wound that no longer bled.
At Lin Mei with the black stone over her chest.
—
"You shouldn't have been able to do that," she said.
—
"Why?"
—
"Because to do that you have to have accepted."Pause.
"What you are."
—
Terry didn't answer.
—
But something in him knew that he had.
That at some point that night, between the rage and the decision and Lin Mei's hand in his—
He had accepted it.
Without realizing.
Paulina sat down.
Heavy.
Tired.
—
"We didn't kill them," she said.
—
"I know," answered Terry.
—
"One escaped."
—
"I know."
—
"And he saw your face."
—
Terry nodded.
—Eliza took something off her neck.
A chain.
Small.
With a pendant Terry didn't recognize.
A moon split in two.
—
She approached him.
Put the chain over his head.
—
"Don't take it off," she said.
Pause.
"This hides you.
But not forever."
—
"How long?"
—
"Seven days."
—
Pause.
—
"And then they come."
—
"How many?"
—
Eliza didn't answer.
Paulina did for her.—
"All of them."
Terry looked at Lin Mei on the couch.
At Sebastián on the floor.
At the two girls, hurt and exhausted.
At his own hand still bleeding.
—
And he understood something.
—
Seven days.
—
Not to hide.
Not to run.
—
To learn.
—
Because if the three men from that night had done that to Lin Mei with one finger—
What came in seven days was going to be worse.
—
Much worse.
—
"Eliza."
—
"Yes?"
—"Teach me."
—
She looked at him.
Really looked at him.
—
And for the first time since he met her—
She smiled.
Not with her lips.
With her eyes.
—
"Good," she said.
Pause.
"We start at dawn."
That night
Terry didn't sleep.
—
He sat next to the couch where Lin Mei was.
—
He took her hand.
It was warm now.
Too warm.
The fever rising.
—
The green mark glowed faintly.
A soft pulse.Like a small animal sleeping under her skin.
—
"I'm going to learn," he said to her.
Even though she couldn't hear him.
"I'm going to learn fast."
Pause.
"And I'm going to find the one who did this to you."
Pause.
"And I'm going to take it from him."
—
He stayed like that.
Watching her.
—
Sebastián was breathing on the floor.
Stronger now.
More stable.
—
Eliza was sleeping in a chair.
For the first time she looked her age.
A girl.
Not a countess.
—
Paulina was watching the door.
Awake.
Always awake.
—And outside—
—
The sky was beginning to change.
—
The sun wasn't out yet.
But something in the air said it wouldn't be long.
—
And for the first time in his life—
Terry wasn't afraid of the dawn.
—
He waited for it.
—
Because at dawn the first day began.
—
Of seven.