Chapter 94 - A small victory

**Hopes pov**

“Hope…Hope, it’s over, they’re all dead, we have the building” Callum’s voice is calling me back. What the fuck was that? I feel the swords heavy in my hands as I start to take in my surroundings. So much blood..so many dead bodies. I feel the fur on my body and the hair on my head soaked and sticky.
“Awesome! Luna that was awesome! Haha, you were like swosh, swish, cutting them down like they were weeds, You’re awesome!” Reece is probably high on adrenaline and keep praising me, clapping his hands and almost jumps around like a kid on Christmas morning. But I don’t feel high..or happy. “Luna..you can’t keep doing that..you cant keep flooding my mind with your old memories.” I drop the weights in my hands and take a deep breath.
“Where is Mercedes?” I look around to find her
“I’m right here miss Hope” The beast is keeping her close to his side, probably not trusting us still.
“Mr Landrover and my father..Where are they?”
I watch as Reece kicks open the locked double doors before stepping aside and letting me through. The shot is heard loudly in the isolated space and the pain in my shoulder when the bullet hits is palpable. Luna heals it quickly, not as before though, but fast enough for it not to stop me. Callum is behind the desk where Mr. Landrover is sitting in a second and I hear the crashing sound accompanied by a loud scream as he breaks his wrist and takes the gun from him.
“Is this your father?” Ambrogio comes up at my side. He is sweating and shaking and his skin is pale, almost transparent. Tony is beside him, ready to catch him if he has to. I shake my head and turn my eyes back to the man behind the desk.
“Where is he?” I growl at him
“He is long gone you stupid bitch. Do you really think this changes anything? Do you think you have won a great victory? You slow thinking monsters..you really are nothing but stupid dogs” He laughs but is quickly silenced when Callum smacks him in the back of the head.
“I will only ask you one more time, Where is my father?”
“He’s where he’s meant to be, At the head of the table, rallying the families and their resources..like I said, this doesn’t change anything, don’t you think we have hundreds of places like this?” he chuckles and shakes his head.
“I can’t believe he was ready to let you inherit everything, a filthy mongrel like you would never understand the importance of the job we do to keep people safe.” He spits the words out and I can feel his hate across the room, he will not give us anything and I am so sick of breathing the same air as this twisted man.
“Tony, your father is ill, he needs more human blood.” I turn and leave the room, strangely, the screams from Mr Landrover when Ambrogio kills him doesn’t bother me at all..not so long ago the death of a man would have made me feel terrible, but not now. Those who are a threat to those close to me can rot.
I couldn’t wait to get out of here, with every corridor and room we passed, the bodies became more numerous. Most were humans but wolves and vampires had been lost as well. Callum and Reece had already arranged for the bodies to be taken care of and I assume Ambrogio’s trueborn had done the same because everyone was busy collecting theirs. Jesse came jogging over and I threw myself into his arms, happy to see he wasn’t hurt. He informed us that explosive charges were deployed and that they were just waiting for the place to be emptied. Mercedes and the Beast had gone to make sure that all the cells were emptied, they had also collected a lot of files and documentation that we would need in our continued hunt for the hunters.
My fur was stiff and itchy from all the dried blood, I know I could shift a few times and it would go away..but I feel like that would be cheating right now. I look back at the building, We have all gathered at the edge of the forest on a nearby hill, at a safe distance. Before going out I passed the labs, what I saw there will haunt my dreams. Dead wolves in various stages of shift, large containers filled with what Mercedes declared the newest anti-werewolf elixir, a fridge of what I assume was my blood, dead vampires exposed to the same.
Callum comes up behind me and puts his arms around my waist, in the next second it starts. first a series of bangs are heard without us seeing anything, then another series and the building collapses completely. The third wave detonates and flames engulf the remains. Whistles, happy shouts and howls are heard in the forest around us. I turn around and bury my face in Callum’s chest.
“Take me home..please take me home.” I whisper and his arms tightens around me.
“I want nothing more” He answers and kiss my bloodsticky hair.

On the way to the cars I am stopped by one of Ambrogio’s trueborn. This is someone I have not met before.
“Excuse me, miss Hope..can I have a minute?” He says but before I can answer Callum growls and take the man by his neck.
“Callum! What are you doing?”
“Remember vamp-Brad?..I told you about him, he is the one who put Kevin in the hospital.” Fuck..how was this suppose to work when there are so much bad blood between us? I put my arm on Callum’s to calm him.
“I remember..I also remember Ambrogio told me he was severely punished for it..let him go Callum.” It is clear that he hesitates but a few seconds later he lets go. Vamp-Brad falls to the ground and coughs before recovering and standing up.
“What do you want?” I ask
“My father would like a word with you before you leave if that is okay? I also want to apologize..for the attack. I met the kid, and I talked to him, you know, told him I was sorry..its a good kid, strong and fast..” He seemed a little nervous.
“You are a trueborn..What is your name?”
“Yes I am, born in California and Brad, my name is Brad.” A few seconds of silence followed by both me and Callum bursting into laughter. It felt so good to laugh, as soon as we look at each other we break into more laughter again.
Brad looked confused and doesn’t quite understand what’s so funny.
“Well Brad, the name suits you perfectly. Sure, I’ll talk to your father, take us to him” I say as I calm down, having to bite the inside of my cheeks to keep control.
Ambrogio sat in the backseat of a black jeep. He was nestled in blankets and had Tony by his side. I glanced towards the front seat and a growl escaped my throat when I met Fredrick’s eyes in the rearview mirror.
“Peace or not, I’m not talking to you if he’s around” Ambrogio sighed and gave Fredrick a nod that made him leave the car.
“How bad is it?” I asked, glancing at his arm where the sword with my blood hit him. The wound had healed with the veins visible and angry red.
“It’s not that bad, a few weeks maybe. Tony will be in charge while I..recover.”
“Good..that’s good.”
“Hope..the bird..Zandra..will you let me know if she is okay?” He really sounded concerned.
“If she wants me to..look Ambrogio, I know you love her..but still, she hates you just as much..and you are mated to her granddaughter..it’s a very odd situation.”
“It sure is, and I understand..I just..need..to..know..”He started coughing violently and I could see blood at the corner of his mouth.
“Tony, take him home and get him better, I’ll check in with you in a few days, we all need some time to heal I think.” I closed the door and looked at Fredrick who was standing in front of the car. He was fast back in his seat and they took off.
We stayed for quite a while. People from the different packs came and told me how relieved they were that I was ok, I thanked them from the bottom of my heart for their help and regretted their losses, something Luna also felt.
Mercedes and the beast accepted the invitation to come home with us. The beast still hadn’t shifted back and something inside me told me that the experiments had seriously hurt him and his wolf and it was something I planned to see if I could help him with..but there’s nothing I can do tonight, especially not out here in the forest.
Jesse decided not to come with us, he wanted to take a few of the surviving prisoners with him to get them help but promised to keep in touch. He gave me a hug and grimaced a little at my condition before he left.
“Can we please go hom now?” I kissed Callum’s cheek and screamed a little as he picked me up in his arms and walked towards one of the cars.