In his nightmare, horrible creatures were chasing Saul. They were once vampires and werewolves, now they were something else.

White-eyed, claws and fangs always extended, even in death, naked flesh, humanity replaced by primal feralness. No matter how hard he and his wolf fought, how far they ran, still the mad ones chased and attacked over and over. It was like they were fed on his fear as well as wanting his flesh. Torn, bitten, clawed, and hopeless, he took a last stand in some town he had never even heard of because he no longer had any strength left.

The clear winter afternoon was suddenly obscured, but the sky was still blue. The sulfurous stench of synthetic smoke and gunpowder filled his nose. A single shot rang out and he was splattered with gore he did not make. Exhaustion tried to drag him into darkness, but he fought to stay aware, stay standing...

'Come with me if you want to live.' the soft voice whispered to him again, and he jerked awake.

Saul survived the nightmare the Quarantine Zone had become, only to find himself in a teenage boy's bedroom. American Ninja Warrior posters decorated the walls. He tried to sit up, but the darkness rose up and threatened to drag him back under.

The last thing I remember is a pregnant female putting me into a pick-up truck before... Did she kill those demented creatures chasing me? Or did I imagine it? Saul wondered, as he tried to make sense of things. 

He tried to sit up again. His wounds pulled against the bandages. Groans escaped before he could silence them, and the soft thump of footfalls came, followed by heavier ones.

The pregnant shewolf hurried to the door followed by a large scruffy male. She started to come into the room, but he grabbed her arm. "Don't. He might be a rogue."

"Easy Rand, my wolf says he is okay. He has been through a lot, he's probably like Luca," she retorted and approached the bed. "Do you need to go to the bathroom?"

"Yes, please. And I'm not a rogue, I'm just trying to get home." Saul stuck with the story the Fae told him to tell.

It wasn't a lie because he did want to go to Monarch Mountain eventually. The other parts of the Monarchy wanted to know what happened to the third largest territory in the country. She gave Rand a classic "I told you so" look that made Saul missing his cousin and grandmother.

The large wolf came over and helped him to a small bathroom, while growling a threat in his ear, "If you hurt her, you will wish the Ravers killed you, lone wolf."

Saul could only nod, he was in too much pain to fight anyone.

Back in bed, she had him sit up and gave him a large mug of broth, "If you can keep it down, I'll bring you some stew later."

"Thank you," was all he could say before hunger overrode his manners and he greedily drained the mug, then he introduced himself, asking, "I'm Saul. Are you the ones who rescued me?"

"I'm Shalom, this is Rand. You were being chased by Ravers. You're lucky I found you before they ate you."

"Ravers?"

"Raving mad werewolves and vampires that never recovered. Never run from them, if you run, they have to chase you. It's their nature." Rand growled as Shalom took Saul's empty mug and left, he hoped she would bring him more broth.

"Would they have really eaten me?" Saul knew that some rogues turn to cannibalism, but as a rule, wolves only ate prey species, not each other or humans.

"Eaten you while you were still alive. Yes. If you were a female, they would rape you to death, then eat you. They are very hard to escape. It is like their predator instinct got put into overdrive that night. It never turns off. And they won't eat meat once it's more than a few hours cold. All you can do is evade them, until you can kill them, or they kill you. They never quit coming," Rand explained. "You were lucky Shalom is a crack shot and the others didn't see you both."

Shalom handed Saul another mug, it was savory, and he honestly thought he could drink gallons of it. "Thank you, Shalom. I didn't know about the Ravers. Everyone thinks everything here is dead. I was trying to get back to my home pack, my grandmother, sister, nieces, and cousins are there."

"Were. Were there," Rand growled aggressively. "They are probably dead like everyone else. You need to just go home, city wolf."

Saul pulled his wolf back from the obvious challenge, but he still snapped, "Look, I don't know who pissed in your cornflakes, but I am not giving up."

"You need to, you don't know what's out there and you will die," the burly male snarled.

"Enough, he just wants to get home like Luca did, be nice," Shalom interrupted, "Rand, why don't you have some coffee while I make MY guest comfortable."

Rand stomped out of the room, grumbling.

"Sorry, he gets a little testy. He lost his mate and sons. We haven't found or heard from his daughter. Can I bring you a book or a radio or would you rather have some more rest?"

"No thanks. Who's Luca?" He was curious about how made it here before him.

"He's a vampire, his beloved is a human, her family are preppers. They escaped the town and survived. He was away when it happened, and it took him a month to sneak through the blockades to get here," she explained.

"Wow." Saul tried to think what to ask next but the throbbing pain in his body was distracting. "How.. I mean... Have you killed a lot of those Raver things? Are there a lot of them?" Saul needed information, to decide if he was going to stay here.

"Fewer than you would think, but they don't come up the mountain. Too hard to chase things in the deep snow. Luca and his family killed all the Ravers close to us. You're safe here. We are waiting for the spring thaw to see if they start moving this way." She answered. "But Greyson doesn't think they will, easier to hunt on the prairie than in the forest."

"Who's Greyson?"

She smirked at him, "Our local vet, he's a fae. He patched you up. I hope you don't mind; I mean, we are basically dogs." She laughed at her wolf's reaction.

"He left you a biscuit for being a good boy," When she pulled a milk-bone out of her pocket, he laughed too, which was a big mistake, because pain shot through his side and chest and he gasped in misery.

"Oh damn, now I've killed you." She giggled as he groaned.

"You're very funny, Shalom, but I don't think I'll die just yet," Saul wheezed but the tears were real.

She handed him a couple of white pills and a couple of striped capsules. Saul looked at them oddly, wolves didn't usually take medicine.

"White are for the pain and the caps are antibiotics, Greyson says wolves don't normally need them, but Raver claws and bites are full of all sorts of nasty stuff. Without help, they take twice as long to heal," she clarified.

His wolf said trust her, so Saul swallowed them. Soon, he was drifting off to sleep.

VvvvvV

Wake, eat, pills, sleep, became his routine as he healed. Saul had bouts of fever and chills as his body and the medicines fought off the infections from the Raver bites and scratches. It had never taken him this long to recover from anything, even a silver wound. Shalom was very kind to him but whenever he asked about her pup, she shut him down, and anything about her family too. She just said they were gone forever.

Greyson only told him that they died that night and she didn't, and that she doesn't know who her pup's father was because she was in heat and was raped. He confided in Saul that he didn't know how she survived... And Saul wondered what Shalom's truth was. From the things she would say and do sometimes, he realized Galen was right, Saul needed to teach Shalom how to be a wolf.

Someone from the group of survivors she called neighbors, stopped by every day. These lost souls had heroic and always tragic stories; the only story Saul hadn't gotten was his host's. He noticed that Greyson the Fae veterinarian and his human partner Lance were the most frequent to visit Shalom. Shalom had many college books about biology, genetics, pharmacology, chemistry, and physiology, and a whole shelf on wolves and werewolves. They were always talking in low voices over her laptop.

VvvvvV

Finally, after about a month, he confronted them. It annoyed him and his wolf that he felt left out. "What the hell are you three always whispering about?"

They looked at him, evaluating and cautious, then Shalom announced, "My wolf says he's okay. That I can trust him."

Greyson sighed, then asked, "What do you know about the Revelation Night and chemical called A.S.H?"

"The stuff that caused all this. Only that some pro-human terrorist group put it in the water, and it fell in the snow that night." Saul was surprised that that was the first question they asked.

He knew that many in the upper echelons of the governments didn't really believe the story they were telling the media. Many had been led to believe that overdoses of the hormone could have caused the Revelation Night, but the scientists hadn't been able to prove it. Some people claimed it was impossible and that there had to be another cause. Some nonhuman-haters even claimed that the nonhuman community wanted to be exposed and that the millions of deaths were an act of war.

"That's what they keep trying to convince everyone, but it isn't true," Lance declared. "And we have proof. Well, not proof, documentation... But we will have proof."

"But the press, the governments, all the researchers..." Saul started, acting like he thought they sounded like those crazies that hosted the conspiracy theory podcasts.

"Are lying," Shalom interrupted, "They are lying because they don't know what happened, how it happened, or if it will happen again. If the public knew that kernel of truth, they would be afraid. Fear leads to violence, and violence to war, Saul. We are trying to find out what the Revelation Night really was, before that happens. Before it happens again."

He gaped at them, the best government and private researchers in the world were looking into it and finding a whole lot of nothing, but these three seemed like they actually believed they could find the truth. He felt the strange sensation of being Alice going down the rabbit hole.

"Saul, my name isn't Shalom Smith, it's Quinn Shalom Phillips and my late husband was the Dr. Kenneth Troy Phillips they blamed for it all. He developed the A.S.H. to curb the predatory natures of nonhumans and make it safer for them to live among humans. We have been over every bit of his notes, everything he took from the Human Purity Project terrorist group. Whatever happened, whatever caused the Revelation Night, it wasn't Ken's aggression suppression hormone. It was something else, something the governments of all our species are lying about to hide that they don't know either. Ken was working with a Fae entrepreneur and an agent of the Werewolf Monarchy to try to keep what happened from happening, but he found out too late to stop it. We are trying to find the truth before going public. It has only just begun." Her dark hazel eyes were so intense that Saul looked away.

His wolf said she spoke the truth and he wondered if his older brother knew what they knew. He swallowed his shock that his brother Paul might have failed to report such a threat to the Monarch and Alpha Commander. It would be treason, but it wouldn't be the first time Paul betrayed their family for some ambition Saul didn't understand.

"I want to know everything. I want to help."

For the next several hours, they told Saul the things he had always suspected were true about that night. It was like walking out of a cave into the bright sun.

VvvvvV

Quinn Shalom...

Breathing slowly in and out, I enjoyed the scent of the trees. I glanced over at the snow-covered ground under the evergreens. The roads were clear in spots, slush covered in spots, and treacherously icy in places where the sun never touched. I was driving because being a passenger increased my morning sickness. The higher in altitude we went the worse the roads would become. Saul was quiet, I knew he was tired. I didn't mean to wake him every other night as I screamed in my sleep. Last night, I woke to Saul shaking me and pleading with me to wake up. He held me as I sobbed for over an hour. This morning, we ate a quick breakfast of venison sausage and oatmeal before we headed toward his home pack's territory.

"Thanks for going with me, Shalom. I know the others didn't want us to go, but I have to see for myself," Saul said as he looked out the window. He knew what we would find, he had been in the cities, but he needed to see it. I understood. I needed to go home too.

"Not a problem, maybe we can find something useful there, it is the Monarch's home pack. If not, when we go home through Mile High, we can stop at the address Kenneth had in his notes for the western Human Purity Project headquarters at that University." I knew I sounded tense, but the lab hidden on a college campus was the only place we might find answers here. If it hadn't been looted or destroyed.

He just hummed in agreement. I knew he was distracted so I said nothing more. We drove through the mountains in silence, the only sound was the diesel engine pulling us forward to face Saul's sorrow.

"You know, I was in Vietnam, I went because I saw a shewolf murdered and I got blamed. I had a choice, go to war, go to prison, or expose someone I loved that made a stupid mistake because I got him drunk. I knew no one would believe me even if I told the truth, that it was an accidental death... So, I chose the war thinking it would be the easiest since I was a werewolf and all, but I was really messed up afterward. It helped to talk to someone, kept me sane," Saul said softly. "You could talk to me, Shalom. Tell me about Miles and Molly. The stuff you didn't tell Greyson and Lance, I would never tell anyone." He had his hands deep in his pockets, shoulders down, like he was trying to make himself seem smaller than he was.

Like he's not a threat, my wolf declared.

My fingers were clutching the wheel so hard my knuckles were white. I wondered painfully; Do I want to talk about it? Do I have the courage to accept they are gone, and I am pregnant with their murderer's, my rapist's child? I felt like I was looking for salvation, something to give me absolution for surviving, but I also could feel myself unraveling every starlit night.

After a few minutes, Saul added, "Or don't talk to me. Talk to Greyson or Anita. But you need to talk to someone about them. It is eating you alive and it isn't good for the pup if you don't get enough rest." He sounded so worried and I felt his wolf's concern through mine. Our wolves treated each other as family, and we didn't know why.

"We thought it was a hoax, a Halloween hoax." I started slowly, thinking I would do this. I would tell this wolf of my nightmares, of my guilt. If I listened to the damn warnings, my family would be alive.

"What was a hoax?" Saul sounded confused.

"The afternoon of the Revelation Night, there was a storm coming in, we started getting all kinds of crazy text messages and calls from the 911 alert system. We thought it was a hoax, that someone hacked the emergency alert messages... Vampires, werewolves, those weren't real things. We didn't know the threat was real until after it began... By then, it was too late to save ourselves..." The words poured out like a landslide.

Two hours later, I shared every minute detail of that evening and night until I crawled into the greenhouse. Saul's fists were clenched so tight he has split the skin across his knuckles. I could tell he was having trouble containing his wolf.

"Do you know why they left? Where they went?" His voice sounded weak, and he kept swallowing.

"No. But they must have left because they thought I was dead like Molly," I answered shakily. "Or they heard another victim or challenger. I just woke up laying in the snow, alone. My wolf wouldn't let me give up and die, so I crawled into my greenhouse and passed out again. I honestly don't know how I even made it that far."

"I can't believe your mate did that to you, that Molly's mate did that to her body," Saul wheezed out, he looked very pale.

"How did blood dr-drip... get into y-your mouth... Was it while you...while you screamed? While you w-were being..." His voice shook as he stammered the questions, not even able to finish.

His horror was evident. Everything I learned about the nonhumans taught me that they hold their soulmates in the highest esteem. To hurt or kill one was nearly unheard of, but it happened many times that night.

He blurted out, "Stop the truck. NOW!"

I stopped as quickly as I could, only to have Saul jump out while we were still rolling. He began vomiting in the snow. Lance had done the same thing. I reached behind the seat and retrieved a bottle of water. He staggered back to the door, and gratefully took it.

Rinsing out his mouth and spitting on the ground before he climbed back in, muttering, "Thanks." He kept the door open as if trying to decide whether or not he was going to be sick again.

"I don't understand, Saul, I really don't, I thought only vampires drink blood."

Saul took several breaths, explaining slowly, "In order for you to be changed, he had to bite you into the bone marrow, and you had to taste or drink his blood to get the virus."

"I didn't drink his blood that I remember. It couldn't have dripped accidentally into my mouth, because I was on my stomach most of the time, even when he was in his skin. But I blacked out from the pain... I... I woke up once, they were both human and still raping us. He rolled me over once and I woke, but I blacked out again. It was agony. If there was blood in my mouth, I wouldn't have known if it was mine or his. I told you, he struck me across the face when I cut his hand in half."

"He could have put it in your mouth while you were passed out. To try to keep you alive longer... Do you... do you know who bit you? Any ideas?" He slammed the door so hard I worried it would be wedged shut.

I pulled the chain from around my neck and handed him the ring before putting the truck back into gear. "The only light was from a burning house a few streets over. He was a dirty gray monster. As a human, he was so covered in gore and mud, I doubt I would recognize him if I saw his face or the other one. After he bit me the first time everything twisted sideways like being at the dentist. I only have this ring that I cut off his hand or paw. It looks like the military tattoo you have on your shoulder."

"This is my pack tattoo." His voice was shaky as he answered, "Only high-ranking wolves get rings. There were a lot of alpha-ranked wolves in the Monarch Mountain Pack."

He handed it back to me like he didn't want to touch it. He was quiet as we drove the remaining miles.