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I edged off of him, distracted at the rustling around us. Biting my lip, my mind buzzed, fear ran cold through me as I searched my mind for a spell to undo the finger cuffs.
“You cannot win, you are outnumbered. Within seconds our werewolves, our vampires will tear her apart. But not you, Lycaon.We want you alive.”
Lycaon lowered the dart gun, whilst I fumbled with the cuffs. I had to get these off.
My voice shook, but I figured what the hell. I was dead anyway and we were outnumbered. I was terrified but I didn’t want to cower. I’d rather die standing, so mustering what was left of my courage I shouted, “Who are you? What gives you the right to decide who lives and dies by some archaic system?”
The masked leader stepped out from the shadows. “Ah, theproblem witch. But your mother was a traitor, turning her back on her own kind. I’m inclined to get rid of you now. You, it seems, like your mother,you won’t listen, not even for your own good. I had thought to give you, Elsa the benefit of the doubt. I see I was wrong. And worse than that, you endanger us all.”
He turned his head, Lycaon growled. With my shackled hands, I reached out to Lycaon. “No, stay alive. Don’t fight them.” I didn’t hold his gaze, his wide eyes implored me. I was in truth terrified but I guess I’d known my fate ever since I walked into Savernake Woods that night to face Marrock.
It was weird, like catching your shadow in the light, a quiet sense of foreboding. Now I realised that this had been my reason to join the coven in the first place. It wasn’t the camaraderie or the belonging. It was to hide from the fear. To seek comfort. Even though I had never been fully accepted, I’d always known I was an outsider.
Lycaon barely listened as four shifters edged from the trees, one holding another dart gun aimed right at him.
Then something odd happened, as if someone controlled me, my thoughts, my body. As they came to grab me, I linked my hands together and took a swipe using the cuffs. Smacking the nearest shifter in his temple faster than I could think, the sound of the dart whistling through the trees and a weak cry, I realised Lycaon had shot someone.
I staggered as one of the shifters took a punch at my head. Lycaon was transforming as the shifters closed in on us. A rattling of metal, chains and werewolves and rabid vampires charging through the undergrowth towards us.
Holy shit!
Lycaon had partly morphed into a wolf, still standing beside me, he whispered, “Ready yourself to run. I will take you…”
Shaking as the enemy now gained on us, and through gritted teeth, Lycaon whispered urgently, “Now!”
I heard the shuffling, the crack of a gunshot as Lycaon grabbed hold of me, crouched slightly and ran. The bullets came from behind Adara, he screamed, staggering, as I tumbled forwards. The werewolves and vampires were already before us before a sudden heat burned around me, the enemies were on fire. The trees illuminated in amber light, more screeching behind us, around us, the heat intensifying.
A cocky voice called, a voice I knew, challenging, threatening.
“Come on then you masked cowards, come and have a go if you think you can take me. I’m the oldest, except for Lycaon and I pity you all if you believe you can take my life. But I welcome the challenge. Unmask, show us who you are, fraidy-cats!”
Leaping from a tree to my side, Hakon, with magic oozing from him, packed with amulets that glistened from his neck, smiled.
“Didn’t think we’d leave you, huh?”
In his hands he held two automatic guns, turned his back on us and fired. The air around us filled with smoke, shouts and cries. My ears stung, ringing with the sound of gun fire. The scent of copper and flesh was thick, recoiling from the fear, choking back a sour taste in my mouth.
Panting, I tried to calm my mind in the midst of the chaos. My skin burned inside the cuffs, shaking, I tried to cast an incantation to release the lock. But it was useless. A vampire came at me baring teeth and claws.
I used the metal shackles as a weapon. Though it dived as I went to smack it in the face, I anticipated that. It didn’t stop, but spinning around as Lycaon’s claws sliced through its face. Recoiling, it stepped back as Hakon finished it, firing bullets that had the fanged creature splatter into pieces. I wiped my face with the back of my arm, jumping violently as a voice whispered behind me.
“Elsa, here…”
A large wolf sprang alongside Hakon. Shouting, Hakon nodded to him “Alright mate. Conor, behind you!”
The wolf spun around so fast for its size. Opening his massive jaws, bit the head off of an incoming vampire, it tumbled out of his mouth, bouncing on the ground.
I winced, holding back a gag.
That was the first time I met Conor. Lycaon’s mentor to the modern world.
The wolf, Conor pounded toward a werewolf, who on seeing him, backed away. Members of Adara were fleeing, though some shouted, pushing their feral servants in the line of fire.
Grace grabbed my arm, mumbling a spell which had the cuffs tighten. Swearing, she did it again, her face wrinkled. Letting out a gasp, the restraints sprung open and fell from my fingers. Sucking in her cheeks, her fingers weaved, dancing over my hands which had turned red and blue from the iron until they slowly regained their colour. “Let’s go. Lycaon! Conor, Hakon!”
Behind her, Austin was shooting out fireballs, but most of these were being hurled back at him as some of the Adara members stood defiantly wielding their brand of dark magic.
From their hands, a twisted plume of grey smoke that wove and spun into the shapes of the beasts we encountered earlier with Luke.
