Lucy’s POV
I spotted a strange group advancing towards the pack through the trees. They were advancing slowly, but from the way they moved, they weren’t trying to be stealthy.
Panic started to ring a tune in my head as I watched them advance. “Who are they?” I wondered out loud.
Rosa’s hands found her small waist. I didn’t like the worried look on her face, but a discovery like this was enough to make anyone worried. “I don’t know either, but I caught a glimpse of them while I was coming here. I’m certain they didn’t see me now because they would have done something different. I thought they were part of those guarding the borders, but something about their demeanor seemed off.”
“Who do you think they are?” I asked.
“I have little idea, but they don’t look like they’re coming to join the meeting, though.”
“You’re right, there’s something strange about them.” I moved away from the opening and turned to face her. “I have to inform guards so that they can go and see what the issue is. Hopefully it’s just a passing party.”
Rosa looked like she would have preferred to believe the words I uttered, but couldn’t. I didn’t blame her, I didn’t believe the words as well.
We rushed down the hall and went down the stairs again, trying to be careful. It wouldn’t help anyone if we tumbled down the stairs and ended up breaking our limbs.
We reached the landing and bypassed the hall so that we could reach the guards stationed outside. As we went through the nearby hall, I noticed how quiet things were, but I didn’t pay too much attention to it.
Finally, we burst outdoors. Harsh sunlight greeted us first, ruining my vision for a split moment. By the time my eyesight adjusted to the bright light, what came into my vision shook me so badly that I stumbled back with a scream growing out of my throat.
–
They were up to a dozen of them. Those same great black beasts. They ripped into the guards trying to hold them off, tearing limb from limb, and removing organs from their cavities.
We were too late.
I was stunned into silence, but I still kept my wits about. I turned to Rosa, who looked in the same state as I felt. Her eyes were wide as she took in all the carnage, and her breathing became heavy and laboured.
I took her by her shoulders, forcing her to look at me. “Rosa! We can’t stay here!”
She blinked, returning to reality. She turned to the ongoing violence once again, before looking back at me. “Yes. You’re right.”
Someone screamed, drawing our attention. One of the guards was getting bit into by one of the rogues. He reached out towards us desperately, but he was doomed right from the start. I couldn’t watch, and turned back just as the beast sunk its teeth into the man’s neck.
We rushed back into the hallway, heading for the hall where the meeting was being held.
“We have to warn them,” I said to Rosa as we rushed towards our destination. We had barely even reached the door before we also started to hear the sounds of screaming and fighting getting louder and louder. “Oh no. No, no, no.”
At one point, one of my shoes twisted underneath me, turning my ankle inward. A shock of pain shot through my leg, and I screamed, barely managing to catch myself before I crashed to the floor. Rosa, came up to me and tried to pull me to my feet, but I waved her off. “No, please go and see what’s happening. I’ll be fine,” I said, already taking off the shoes. I had worn them for too long regardless. The heel of the one that had twisted was broken, but that was the least of my struggles. I picked up the sharp, pointed heel and held it to me like a weapon.
Seeing that I had things handled, Rosa gave me a determined look that communicated a lot, before we continued on towards the door to the hall.
Before she reached it though, it burst open, flying off its hinges and into the opposite wall with a loud bang. If Rosa had been any closer to the door it would have hit her too. As she stumbled back, two people holding weapons came out of the hall, halting as soon as they caught sight of Rosa.
“No!” I shouted, observing their strange attire. They were dressed just like those we had seen from that opening in the wall. They were both masked, but one of them was clearly a female with her long hair and feminine stature.
The female lifted her arms, pointing a bowgun straight at Rosa. “For the Howl!” She shouted from under her mask, before letting the arrow loose.
Rosa dodged to the side, before running up to the woman and splashing her claws against the woman’s leg. With a cry, the woman fell to her good knee as blood spilled out of the wound. She tried to reload her bowgun, but Rosa was faster, and immediately punched her in the head. Before the woman’s limp body connected with the ground, the other person was already rushing towards Rosa, holding a gleaming silver machete in the air as he released a battle cry.
They had silver weapons. I couldn’t remember where I had heard it before but silver weapons were supposed to be incredibly difficult to come by, especially in werewolf territory. These people, whoever they were, didn’t come unprepared. They knew what and who we were, and were ready to fight us.
I pushed myself up to my feet, internally begging my foot to start healing. It was still painful, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been a minute ago. I watched as Rosa deftly dodged the man’s attacks, utilizing skills I had never seen her use. Just how much had changed about her in a few months?
In seconds, she had defeated the man. But as she picked up the man’s fallen weapon, she screamed and threw it away from her, holding her hand up to her face. “It burns!” She brought her hand to her face and sniffed. “Wolfsbane! They’re using silver and Wolfsbane!”
I limped over to Rosa, not oblivious to the clear sounds of battle ongoing. I had to find the triplets. I had to make sure they were okay. I thought about Tessa and my heart felt torn in different directions. I could only hope that she was safe wherever she was.
We waited by the wall beside the entrance to the hall, catching our breaths. “If we get attacked now, I’ll be a liability,” I said to Rosa. “I’ll follow behind you, don’t worry about me.”
“No. We’re doing this together.” She peeked into the hall for a split second before coming back to rest against the wall. It’s very bad, Lucy. They’re killing people there . . . Dammit! I should have told you about them earlier.”
“This isn’t the time, Rosa. What’s done is done, and it isn’t your fault in any way. You tried to help. Now, we just have to do what we can. Did you see any sign of Shaun inside?” I knew he was still safe because I hadn’t felt any changes in our bond, but still, my mind couldn’t be at ease until I set my eyes upon his form.
Rosa shook her head. “There are too many people in there. It’s possible he was at a corner I couldn’t see.”
Every second, someone either shouted, or there was a loud bang or crash from somewhere. Standing unable to do anything made me feel terrible, but what exactly could I even do in the first place? I couldn’t just rush in there without a solid plan.
“We need a plan,” I said to Rosa.
“There’s nothing we can come up with right now,” she said. “Nothing that can stop things as they are. So we can either go in to help those we can, or we try to get to the people in the homes,” she said slowly l, as though she was also trying to convince herself that these were the only options we had.
“Are we just going to surrender to them? That’s them, isn’t it? The Shadow Howl? They’ve gotten us at the worst possible time.”
Rosa shook her head. “No. This is the best time they could have struck. A time where all the leaders were gathered in one place. And they knew this was going to happen . . .” Her eyes went wide with realization.
“Because they gave out the information you were able to get deliberately. They planned all this from the very beginning.”
“I was a pawn,” she said, voice cracking. Her claws grew as the burn on her hand struggled to heal. Wolfsbane took a while to get out of our system, so it was likely that she was going to have that burn for a long while. She started to shake with a wild fury I hadn’t seen before.
“Rosa,” I called out to her, but she screamed and rushed into the hall. “You bastards!”
“No!” I ran in after her trying to not lose track of her by accidentally looking at something that I wasn’t supposed to see. I nearly tripped over a body, and when I looked down, I saw that it was the corpse of the man that had been asking Shaun a question when we were leaving. He had no eyes anymore.
I swallowed down the wave of nausea that washed over me.
Some people had shifted into their wolf forms, but they were getting cut down by the masked men, who worked with a dangerous precision. They all seemed to know our weaknesses, and they used it against us efficiently. Without a doubt, if the tides couldn’t be turned, we were going to lose woefully.
I didn’t want to look at the pools of blood on the ground but the tiles were pristine white, and the red was stark against them. They were taking out packs one by one by taking out their leaders.
Ahead, I caught a glimpse of Scott and Seth in a heated fight with four of the masked people. They were outnumbered, since their enemies were equipped with silver and Wolfsbane, but they didn’t relent. They fought with everything they had, even though they retained their human forms. Their speed and agility were incredible, but they didn’t have eyes everywhere, and when they took down two of the enemies, more took their place.
I noticed that inside the hall, there were no rogues. Only the people fighting us. They smelled like a blend of humans and wolves. Halflings.
“Lucy!” I turned to find Shaun making his way towards, hitting enemies that got close to him out of the way. He too, remained in his human form.
I walked as quickly as I could towards him, trying not to think about the blood and bodies that my bare feet stepped upon. If I could just reach him, everything was going to be okay-
Something cracked into my back, sending me crashing face down into the very things I was trying not to look at. Groaning in pain, I rolled over to see my attacker advancing. I could still hear Shaun screaming my name.
The woman before me was tall and muscular. From her temple, running diagonally across her face, was a jagged scar that took little away from her exotic features. She wore black from head to toe, just like those she worked with.
She smirked, lifting a long spear over her head, poised to strike me dead. “You are out of time.” And she brought the sharp edge of the spear down into my abdomen.