Catherine POV:
I had to go back to the Manor for my passport and research drive, hidden in Errol's nursery floorboards.
I crept into Errol's room. He was sitting on the bed, clutching a spray bottle.
"You came back," Errol said. His voice wasn't angry; it was trembling.
"I just need something of mine, Errol."
"Anjelica says you're a monster," Errol whispered. "She says you want to hurt me."
"That's a lie."
"She gave me the holy water!" Errol shouted, raising the bottle. "She said it burns the monsters!"
"Errol, no—"
He squeezed the trigger.
Liquid sprayed across my chest and neck. It hissed.
I gasped, clawing at my skin. Wolfsbane. Diluted, but potent.
"It burns!" Errol screamed, dropping the bottle. "See? You are a monster! Mommy said it only hurts monsters!"
I fell to my knees, the chemical burn radiating down to my bones. He didn't know. He was a child holding a loaded gun he thought was a toy.
"I hate you!" he sobbed, curling into a ball. "Go away!"
I looked at him. My skin was blistering. But I saw the terror in his eyes. He wasn't evil. He was weaponized.
I stood up, using the pain as a focus. I wiped the wolfsbane off with a towel.
I pried open the floorboard, took my waterproof bag.
"Errol," I said, my voice calm.
He looked up, tear-streaked.
"One day you'll know the truth," I said. "And I hope you can forgive yourself."
I walked out.
I was scrubbing the wolfsbane from my skin in the motel shower when the door banged open.
"Get dressed," Anjelica said. She stood there with two guards. "Derek wants you at the track. He thinks a 'family outing' will clear the air."
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
"You are if you want your passport back," she held up the document I thought was safe in my bag. "I swiped it while you were bleeding in the nursery."
I had no choice.
At the track, Derek was pacing. He looked agitated.
"Why are we here?" I asked.
"Anjelica thought it would be good for us," Derek mumbled. "My wolf needs the speed. You used to love racing, Catherine."
"I was a wolf then, Derek."
"Just one lap," Anjelica tossed me the keys to a stock car. "Unless you're scared?"
I got in. I needed to get close enough to snatch the passport from her bag on the pit wall.
The flag dropped.
I drove with precision, relying on physics where I used to rely on instinct. I was winning.
Then I saw Anjelica in my mirror. Her eyes were glowing neon yellow. She wasn't racing. She was hunting.
She swerved, slamming her heavy sports car into my rear quarter panel. A PIT maneuver.
My car spun. The world turned into a blur.
Impact.
The car flipped. Metal screamed.
I hung upside down, blood dripping into my eyes.
Through the shattered windshield, I saw Anjelica get out. She checked a scratch on her bumper, then threw herself onto the grass.
"Derek!" she screamed. "My baby! She tried to kill me!"
Derek ran past my smoking wreckage. He didn't even look.
"Is the baby okay?" I heard him shout.
I let out a breath that rattled. Blackness took me.
