Their Silver Moon

Alice Black

I looked down at his body, the human form at my feet. His vibrant red blood leaching into the snow, and I was surprised at how little resistance his body had against the knife, against my killing blow. How pathetic.

And something inside me fluttered, wondering when I stopped caring about life, about other’s lives, regardless of status and allegiance. When did murder, become justified?

The first wolf lunged at me, and I gestured for Pet to stay at bay on the side lines. That she could step in if things got too out of my control, not that I planned on letting them. The snavelling creature over shot, flying well past me and I turned catching his hind legs with the same silver blade that brought down their leader.

Letting our a whimper, the wolf rolled off down the snow bank. That cut wasn’t enough to kill, he’d be back, but in no rush would he be making any jumps like that. Silver wounds don’t heal like normal cuts and bruises. They require a little extra power and medical intervention.

The second and third wolves lunged at me, their attack timed, but poorly. Going for the one on my left, I turned and let the blade slide back up my sleeve as I opened my arms and caught his snout, grabbing the top and bottom of his jaw. Untwisting my arms, his body swivelled mid-air and before he could process my touch, I separated his jaw from his skull. I slipped the silver blade back out and turned to face his partner and the silver blade slipped seamlessly between her eyes as she continued to lunge at me. For good measure, I ripped it up through her skull and the top of her head.

I could feel the remaining four wolves staring at me, Pet as well. They would be weighing their choices; I could almost see the thoughts and words bouncing between them. Two of their party was dead, and one wounded and I hadn’t even shifted. What a rough day for them indeed.

As they began to circle me, they sealed their fate and stepped over the boundary. If they didn’t have enough never twenty minutes ago to trespass, they now feared being hunted down and slaughtered if they didn’t. They were fighting for their lives and their ‘freedom’. A fight they would lose.

I looked up at Pet, her small black wolf reminded me cruelly of Nate’s, but half the size, if not smaller. Although, Nate and I were in a different league entirely. Our wolves were those of legend, those that were once hunted and mounted on walls, those that surpassed those of vicious power-hungry Alphas. Our wolves were born to rule, to conquer, to control.

Their stances were rehearsed, but not enough. The first wolf jumped forward, snapping at me and I looked away from Patricia to the other side of the circle, slipping the larger silver blade out of my leg sheath and shook it at the wolf who was about to lunge at me while distracted.

“I can see you,” I said, scolding him with the movement of my blade.

He let a feral growl rip from his lips in reply, and the wolf directly in front of me lunged and I brought my two arms together, slicing through his chest in two simple movement. Kicking his body away before it even hit the ground. I swear, rouges used to be so much stronger. This wasn’t even a challenge.

Two more wolves fell in a similar manner and now it was one uninjured wolf and the injured pup that roamed off in the snow, who currently stalked Pet, who was wound up tighter than a spring. But not tight enough, too focused on wanted to protect me, I saw the pup get ready to lunge at her, mid-air, mid leap, ready to be mid kill.

You have to start somewhere, and I’d never thrown any of these knives before, at least not like this. So, I threw both of them, one at where I hoped would hit and one that would shave right past Pet in case the first missed its mark. But of course, this left me weapon less, momentarily.

Not taking a second glance back at Pet and the Pup, I took several steps out of the cross hairs of the wolf that was now lunging at me. Taking a few steps further back, I then ran at the boundary, projecting myself up it. It was electric pain, but it didn’t hurt. Not anymore, and I had no idea why.

As gravity took my body down to earth, the wolf that I now hunted twisted, trying to keep up with the speed of my movements. But it was too late, my mid-air movements had allowed me to free two more silver blades from around my ankle, two blades that while were short, embedded themselves nicely in the wolf’s vertebrae. And I revelled in the cracking of bones as I ripped them out and up it’s spine.

It was like a mist of blood and death, clinging to the air, Patricia’s eyes scanned the scene that lay between us.

Seven rouge wolves, trespassing and now dead.

I pulled the two blades out of the pup and shoved the silver into the snow, washing away the burning blood that stained them. I let the snow melt from their warm blades, and I grabbed a handful of snow, half-heartedly cleaning my hands of the blood that lingered.

‘What were they doing here?’ Pet asked, stepping around their bodies as she came to my side.

“If I had to guess, which I am. I would say that they were stationed here, to guard that,” I replied, pointing at the gold circle that was planted on the territory boundary. “And potentially report back to mate, if anyone came too close to it.”

Patricia seemed to shiver at the mention of her mate.

“You can smell, can’t you?” I asked.

Her wolf nodded.