Lycanthropy

“Steady.” I said through the pack link.

“Steady.” I said again, dragging out the word.

Radu’s scouts were running towards us, and when they were a few yards away I gave them the command.

Suddenly, I saw Amy being pushed away by Michael, and reluctantly she ran up the slope of the mountain. There was no time for me to respond to her action now, so I just kept my gaze towards the upcoming crowd.

“Now!” I yelled out loud.

Everyone turned on their UV lights that were attached to their shoulders, exactly at the same time, making them shine brightly onto the bodies of the scouts.

The flesh that simmered upon the bright rays touching them, was music to my ears. They all hissed and stopped their movements for a while, before becoming even more enraged and managed to start their attack on us once more.

But now we were prepared for them to come near to us. Their pride and arrogance interrupted, and their high moral going down fast, made it slightly easier for my wolves to face them head on.

Bones crushed, blood spilled, abdomen gushed open, lacerations on their faces erupted, but still those scouts kept on coming and going. Rabid creatures with sharpened teeth, as their half-dead bodies yearned for a taste of blood, and bit through the skin of my wolves. Carefully aiming their heads towards the skin, in between the leather armour patches.

I killed one after the other, but with each dead body, two more assaulted me. It was as if I was chopping off one hydra’s head, and more grew back at the same time. It was just an endless stream of stinking Nightstalkers and they forced us to get to the next step of our tactical plan.

This was going way too fast, but we have no other choice.

“Terrence, turn on the field lights!” I yelled to him through the link.

He hesitated for a second, but did as I asked eventually.

Some of the lights came on instantly and others blinked a few times before shining their bright light. Within seconds, the whole field at the bottom of my mountain was lit with bright UV light, as if it was suddenly in the middle of the day.

All scouts, and by now also some Nightstalker assassins, bend over forward, hiding their faces and finding shadow as quickly as possible.

The smell of burning flesh was filling the cold crisp air of the night again, and when the scouts had scurried away, the field was left with exhausted warriors and blood.

“You really think that some big lights would stop us from attacking?” Radu suddenly yelled, from under the cover of the trees in the distance.

“No, but I thought you would appreciate a good barbeque on a busy night like this!” I yelled back, while being a little astound that he responded so soon on a small setback.

Aron stepped closer to me, putting his hand on my shoulder.

“Why don’t you come out of those shadows, coward!” I yelled again and within a few flashes he stood right in front of me.

He had to cover himself with some clothes in order for him to not get burned, so with a scarf around his face, with only a slight opening for him to look through, he stood there, fuming with anger.

“You are the one hiding behind your lights! Not me!” He stated.

“No Radu, that is where you are wrong. I am not hiding, I am just using everything I can to make an end to you and your people.”

“What does it matter to you, that I take down a pack every now and then! Your people fuck like rabbits and create a new pup each day, so if I take five-hundred wolves with me, you still wouldn’t be slightly decimated!”

“Is that your reasoning? Is that your excuse for the mass-killing you have caused over the centuries? We are just a means for you to get fed? Just a number for you to be scratched off your to-do list?”

“Yes, that is all that you are.” He stated with straightened back and shoulders.

Even though his face was covered in a scarf, I could still tell that he was smirking behind it. His arrogant composure didn’t tell me otherwise either.

It was odd to hear those words from him though. I knew that they drank our blood, to keep their bodies strong and undamaged, but Radu never chose to drink it directly from me. He had let the machine do all the work, and afterwards he had cared for me with dignity. I never was a ‘number’ to him.

“Hmm… strange…” I said while touching my chin. “Aron, please enlighten me, what was my grandmother’s name again?” I asked, while looking at him.

“Yrsa, love.” He replied with a smile.

“Oh, right!” I said to him and turned my face to Radu again. “If we are just a number, then why did you try and turn Yrsa to become one of you?” I asked him and I heard him take a few breaths.

I could have easily searched for her name in an old history book, so I knew that I wasn’t going to be convincing enough to startle him completely.

“I mean you must have loved her, otherwise you wouldn’t put up an godawful painting of her in your office.” I continued, and now he was truly confused.

“How would you know of…” He started to say and turned his face to the forest again.

“No Radu, it wasn’t Marius who told me about the painting.” I interrupted his thoughts, as I knew that he was looking back at him.

His head snapped back, and even through the scarf I could see that something changed about his face. I don’t know what it was exactly, but I could bet that it wasn’t normal.

With a simple flick of his hand he commanded his scouts and also assassins to attack the lights that surrounded the field and to bring them down as soon as possible.

The fight around us started again, as all the wolves defended the lights from being wracked by those monsters.

As soon as one of the lights that covered Radu, was down, he took off the scarf and showed me how he looked right now.

I gasped for a moment as I could see that his whole face had been contorted. His upper and lower jaws were wider, his eyes were gleaming red, veins alongside his temple and cheek had popped up and his neck was wider as well.

Only then I had realised that his fingers had changed too, as his nails had become darker, thicker and longer. They were now sharp weapons to use against us, and he was willing to show us what he could do with them as well.

“Where is she!” He yelled, in the flurry of yells, growls and howls that surrounded us.

He clearly had deduced himself that my grandmother was still alive and that she was the one that told me about the painting. She had said to me, that she had posed for it for over several days in order to capture every detail of her, but that when the painting was finished, she still didn’t like the idea of herself hanging on a wall.

“Who?” I asked him, faking an innocent confused face.

Radu was annoyed to the edge of exploding, and I could only laugh on the inside as I was able to infuriate him this easily. Again, he normally wasn’t the type to act this way, so why was he now?

He took one glance towards Aron and with a fast flash he punched Aron in the gut which made him fly backwards for a few yards.

I was taken aback due to the force that he was able to apply on a strong Lycan such as Aron. If he was able to do that to him, then what are his limits?

I shifted to Lycan instantly and took Dakota’s eyes as well. If this was the moment to fight him, then I have to do it with all my power.

Another light came down, scouts came pouring in again, and I started to attack the monster in front of me.

I was fast and had trained all my life to become faster each day, I even got training from Marius and became even faster. So, I strained my vision towards Radu and focused on getting him hit.

A volley of punches quickly followed each other, and then I kicked him in the stomach and tried to hold him tight in a headlock. He managed to undergo the kicks and hits, but when I positioned myself behind him, to strangle him with my bare hands and claws, he had managed to step from underneath me and flashed a bit to the side, out of my hold.

“You have been trained well.” He smiled.

“Yes, that is your brother’s doing.” I replied.

I saw Aron getting up, lunging himself towards Radu as well, so now he was fighting against both of us.

Aron found a hole in his defence and grabbed Radu by the throat, all the while I was hitting him in the stomach. Radu huffed and coughed from the blood that now filled his mouth, as he had bitten his tongue.

Then another two lights fell at the same time, and the field was dark once again. The only light that made us able to see anything was that of the full moon.