Claws And Fangs
Good things come once in a blue moon but misfortunes never come alone.
Claws And Fangs
Alex walked slowly around the trees in the depths of the forest until he came to a clearing where two dozen of his kind were waiting. He stopped and stared at the one member of the pack who, even among the alphas, could be fairly called an alpha.
"So have you decided to join us?" he asked.
He had short raven-black hair and stubble. His icy blue eyes frightened Alex.
"Let the girl go first," he demanded, and he managed to sound quite credible, even though his hands were shaking with fear.
"As you wish," he agreed.
Alex still did have a little faith that he would let her go, but when the sharp claws appeared where the alpha's fingernails had been, all hope evaporated.
Before the man could strike, a dagger was embedded in his shoulder. I remarked to myself that Rolo must have had a lot of practice, and then I lifted the girl off the ground, making her disappear — of course, my companions could see me well, it would have been disappointing if I had been hit by an accidental attack along with the wolves.
The wolves were stunned, so they couldn't even react for the first few seconds. Des, Coffee, and Rolo sprang out of their hiding places and attacked the pack.
Des immediately brought the edge of his blade to behead the first wolf he saw — decapitating it quite easily. He was renowned for never taking chances and killed most of his opponents with a straight slash — through the neck.
Alex himself plunged a dagger into the heart of the wolf closest to him, and after a brief struggle, slit the throat of another attacker.
Coffee wielded an unusual weapon, a spear of sorts, made up of several pieces, which only took solid form when she swung it to her side menacingly. She wrapped the weapon around the throat of her first victim, then pulled the two ends and snapped his neck. She then swung the metal bars, linked by chains and they snapped into place, forming a spear. This form was very useful, as it allowed her to keep his opponent at a distance and protect her back.
Still, Rolo surprised me the most. When his cloak flew up it revealed a series of holders sewn into its interior, each containing a slender vial. Two of them were already in his hand, and he was popping the caps off. He then poured the contents of the vials onto the two wolves nearest to him — I didn't understand it at the time, because he didn't even have acid in them, the wolves were unharmed.
That is until Rolo took another step closer to them, and with a flick of his fingers, sparks exploded. Only then did I notice that he was wearing what looked like thimbles on his thumbs and middle fingers. The two wolves burst into flames, and how majestic flames they were — I guess chemistry isn't such a useless subject after all. Who says we can't use it in real life?
Meanwhile, Alice fired a series of bullets at his opponents. This was useful until the wolves wised up. After three victims, they were trying to avoid the bullets by sound, as well as find the shooter. That's why Alice was running as fast as he could, changing his position after each shot. No one knew where he was or where he would appear next. Maybe he'd shoot from the top of a tree? Another hidden branch? Or maybe from under a bush? No one knew. His movements were meticulous, like a hunter specializing in assassination. (It was no surprise that rumors were flying that Killey had a special rival.)
Meanwhile, I saved the girl, then hid her as agreed, with the ring on her finger — so the wolves couldn't find her. I pursed my lips — I shouldn't have come up with such a great idea, but Alex was whining that he wanted to see her alive, so there was nothing I could do.
I hurried back to the battlefield, where chaos was ruling. I had barely taken down a few opponents before the ring of wolves was slowly closing in around us. For there were more than twenty of them! We weren't the only ones hiding.
"Shit!" I cursed.
I couldn't think of another word that better described our predicament.
Three wolves led me to the others. I looked at Rolo and nodded. It could have been the kid's motto: A plan B for every battle — because he always had an emergency plan for things, even if it was one simple word:
"Run!" I shouted, and everyone started running as fast as they could and as far away from the others as possible.
I headed in the direction of Encsi because I couldn't leave her behind — because she had my ring. The biggest wolf must have spotted that I was in charge because he took off after me — well, that spoiled our plan.
We were expecting him to try and get Alex. Before we left, Rolo gave everyone some of his toys. A few vials of the strongest acids, and a thin wire. He instructed them to stretch the wire out into the trees before we took up our positions, and when they escaped — if they did, of course — to lure the wolves that way.
I was the only one exempt from this obligation, as I tried to sneak up as imperceptibly as possible into Encsi's vicinity. This is a difficult task with wolves who have good hearing and a great sense of smell, even if you have an invisibility ring. I tried to block out the smell by rubbing my skin well with dirt until I felt it completely overpowered my scent, but I had to be careful with their hearing in such close proximity — so it took a while.
Since I didn't know exactly where the others had stretched the wires, I couldn't lure the alpha that way for I could also end up in pieces. I looked back. A six-foot-tall, jet-black wolf ran behind me, and the distance was closing — meanwhile, I could hear the first wolf's howls of death. I didn't really want to fight the main beast. I really didn't.
Soon I would have reached Enchi. I thought about quickly pulling the ring back on and sneaking off with the girl, but soon realized that the wolf would sniff me out — I was sweating from running.
Instead, I avoided the girl and changed directions, pulling slightly to the left. Soon I spotted figures also running between the trees on either side of me. One I suspected was Alex, the other Rolo, as they got both sides of me — though I'm sure they shouldn't be so close even with the change of direction. Maybe they realized I was being followed by this mutt.
The next moment the two guys were running at arm's length from me.
"Any ideas?" I said between two gasping breaths.
Rolo took out two vials and threw them to the ground. He then lit a match and threw it behind him. Huge tongues of flame stretched skywards from the liquid, but the wolf jumped over it with ease — the only thing that burned was the hair on its belly.
The kid's next idea was to throw his spikes at the ground, hoping it would slow him down. The spikes were welded together from four angles and looked very, very sharp — I could tell he'd sharpened them himself. Well, this solution, while it slowed the wolf down somewhat, didn't stop it. In fact, it got angrier and growled like a mad dog. Like a huge, oversized mad dog.
"Do something, damn it, or we'll die here!" demanded Rolo.
The next moment I realized it wasn't that fate couldn't stand me — no fate hated me, loathed me even. Fortuna, you stupid bitch!
So, we reached a dead end, because a fence was blocking our way. But not the simple wire fence that you can climb up or jump over on the spur of the moment. No, it was a good four-metre concrete wall with barbed wire on top for safety. Why did I have to find out now that some private company had a very secret, very fenced-off property around here?!
We stopped and turned to face the beast, at which point the wolf slowed, seeing that his prey could no longer escape — slowly, agonizingly slowly, he stalked us.
"Hit him," I heard Rolot say, but he wasn't saying it to me.
No, not to me at all.
"What?" Alex asked.
"I said hit him," Rolo repeated, "If he loses consciousness, we might be saved."
He didn't have to tell Alex twice, before I could protest, my favourite werewolf was about to punch me in the face. He was damn lucky I dodged because if he had hit me, he wouldn't have survived. I blinked furiously at Alex.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Rolo snapped urgently.
Alex didn't even have time to think, because the alpha had reached us. With his huge paws, he pinned Alex against the wall, squeezing all the air from his lungs.
"Alex!", I cried out in fright, and before I knew it, I was already in action.
Shit! I reached into my pocket and threw the bottles. Alpha let Alex go with a whimper and shook his head, hoping to get rid of the rest of the lye. Meanwhile, two other wolves were closing in dangerously. Their hateful growls from deep in their throats boded ill. I took a deep breath. There was no other way. I stepped in front of my two friends.
"Don't move, okay?" I asked.
Although my voice sounded gentle, at that moment a destructive storm was raging deep inside me. I had to warn them because even I didn't know how much I was going to be conscious.
The monster burst out of me hungry, as if it had been starving for decades. This ferocious beast could devour everything and everyone in the blink of an eye, yet I was not afraid of it. Because this beast was me.
I drew my dagger and a moment later, I stood before the alpha. My bones gave up under the monster's power with a loud crack, yet I did not give it a moment's thought. The pain, as quickly as it came, left my limbs, leaving nothing but the intoxicating feeling of power.
The world seemed to move at a snail's pace. It seemed almost unnervingly slow to me, as the alpha's eyes found me, and surprise and then fear gleamed in his eyes.
I thrust the blade into his neck and with a sudden movement I slashed upwards. My muscles ripped apart beneath my skin with a sort of wet sound, only to fuse again the next moment.
I felt my lips curl upwards slowly, very slowly. The wolf collapsed and the air was filled with the pungent aroma of his blood. The beast inside me simply could not be contained or controlled anymore.
The monster in me just couldn't get enough of the smell and wanted more. I could see the image of me in its glassy eyes and that blood-curdling grin — it was like I was wearing my bone mask. Still, it felt right. The beast was happy, joyous to be free at last. I licked along the blade.
The two other wolves were on the run, but they didn't get far. I jumped on the back of one and put my dagger in its skull. All the while, the cracking of my bones rang in my ears, and my muscles gave way again and again, only to heal with incredible speed in the next instant.
Coffee appeared out of nowhere, and in a second, she stabbed through the other wolf's chest.
Even though the fight was over, I was still just sitting on the wolf's corpse. I held one hand with my other trembling hand. The moment Coffee appeared, I felt an invincible urge to rip open her chest and sink my fangs into her neck.
The beast recognized Coffee as a strong opponent, and that made him even more excited. It fought me harder than anything to gain control of my body. I took deep breaths and with every ounce of strength I had left, I banished the monster back into its prison.
"Are you okay?" Coffee asked.
I was sure my eyes had already shifted back when I looked up at her.
"I almost killed you," I stated, and the vampire girl nodded slowly.
"I felt your bloodlust," she said simply, "We all felt it."
I glanced toward Alex and Rolo, who stood a little pale and still motionless by the fence.
"But the point is, you managed to suppress it," Coffee continued, and I returned my gaze to her face.
A tiny smile was on her lips and she held out her hand to me. She pulled me up and I felt a little relieved. It was my first victorious fight against myself. But before I could be sufficiently pleased, the world began to blur before me, and then I was swallowed up by darkness.