Two hundred years ago…
“We should do it soon, Alpha Vincentius.”
The hooded figure stepped back to make way for Vincentius to advance to the centre of the heptagon altar. Vincentius could see each of the hooded figures standing at each corner begin to stretch out their arms once he was right in the centre of the altar.
Vincentius began to hear the sound of speech from the seven figures surrounding him being spoken repeatedly. He did not understand the Latin spoken by them. He could only stand still to wait for what would happen next.
“The blood of Alpha Huxley of the Coldfur Pack. Alpha Clement’s blood from Les Chiens Fous. The blood of Alpha Karl of Ambersky-Klauen. Alpha Orazio’s blood comes from Crestaamara. Alpha Sato’s blood comes from Raitofa no Kage. Alpha Rowan’s blood is from the Crimsontooth Pack. Alpha Ethan’s blood from the Blue Moon Hounds Pack.”
One by one, the hooded figures lifted a small bottle of dark red liquid and poured it over Vincentius’ head until all seven of them had taken their turn.
The seven figures joined hands again and began to chant in Latin. It was exactly midnight when the full moon shone. The floor around them began to tremble. Vincentius felt that his feet were no longer on the floor but floating along with the light objects around him.
“AAUUU!”
Wolf howls boomed around them. Vincentius’ wolf instincts were triggered to sense the approaching danger. He became unfocused, and his mind became distracted. His body, which had been floating, fell back to the floor.
In the next second, the door to the hall opened, making a loud noise as it hit the wall. At first, only one wolf entered, but it became dozens with their pointed fangs, ready to attack.
Vincentius recognised one of them. The light brown-furred wolf had the biggest body of them all. He felt cheated. With his power as an Alpha wolf, Vincentius shifted himself into a dark grey wolf.
All four feet were perfectly planted on the ground. His hind legs were ready for repulsion as he jumped to attack.
[KILL ALL THOSE WITCHES!]
Vincentius heard the light brown wolf ordering the wolves to attack the seven witches. Vincentius didn’t care about the witches. He could postpone this forbidden ritual to another full moon. He also felt he would not win against dozens of wolves, even if he were their Alpha; at least he could escape when there was an opening.
A battle between the witches and the wolf ensued. Flashes of light, curses, and spells were cast by the witches to stop the wolves from attacking. A few wolves fell to the monkshood-soaked daggers, but the disproportionate numbers left the witches overwhelmed against the wolves, who savagely attacked them from all directions.
The bright brown wolf managed to ambush Vincentius, who was trying to escape. He grabbed Vincentius’ pelvis and bit his hind legs. His attack succeeded in paralysing Vincentius, but Vincentius was not going to give up so easily. He opened his jaws wide and bit down on the bright brown wolf’s nape.
[Beta Kellan…]
One of the wolves saw that Beta was in a bind. He ran with all his might and bit Vincentius’ neck to get him away from Kellan. The wolf saved Kellan from Vincentius’ bite.
[Damn gamma!]
Kellan saw the body of the wolf being dragged away from him. One of the witches managed to paralyse five wolves at once with a strange curse that made all five wolves flounder with convulsions. Within seconds, all five wolves were dead, with their limbs broken and sticking out through their skin.
[ATTACK THE BLONDE WITCH; SHE’S THE STRONGEST]
Kellan ordered the other wolves to attack the witch, who had performed the strange curse earlier. Before he could cast a curse on the remaining wolves that were fighting, his body had already been torn apart by two wolves that pounced on him from two different directions.
There was only one witch left standing with her arms stretched out in front of her body. Beside her, Vincentius just lay there silently, watching the bloody massacre in front of him. His every movement was locked down by Kellan, who had already broken one of his front legs.
[KILL WHAT’S LEFT]
The witch let out a flash of blue light from both hands. The light morphed into a sword held in her hand. The witch did not realise that there was another wolf sneaking up behind her. In one breath, the wolf behind her pounced on the nape of the witch’s neck and broke it.
[You see for yourself; there is no way for you to cheat nature. There will never be a werewolf-witch hybrid. As long as I live, I will not let that happen. You’re too greedy to be the strongest. I’m sorry, Alpha Vincentius. I had to kill you to bury that desire in your body,] Kellan said firmly.
[A partial spell has been cast. My descendants will avenge me today. The curse will accompany your karma, Kellan!]
Kellan tore Vincentius’ neck with his jaws. The next second, all movement in the room stopped. All the wolves watched as their Alpha was killed by the Beta. Kellan’s coup to thwart Vincentius from turning himself into a hybrid had been accomplished.
*
Present day
Kellan woke up in the middle of the night, panting. He took a glass of water from the glass on the nightstand. His past came back to haunt him through dreams in his sleep. Kellan wiped his face with both hands and felt his mind tormented by the sins of the past.
At his age, he should be able to live a peaceful life with minimal problems. He wondered why suddenly the shadow of his past returned as if it were a time bomb that would one day explode.
He had executed the Alpha and still paid his last respects by burying his body properly. Even the last sentence spoken by the Alpha from his past was incomprehensible to him. Curses and karma only applied to witches, not to werewolves or vampires.
Kellan laid down on the bed. He tried to close his eyes again and catch his breath so that the drowsiness would return and he could continue sleeping. He pulled the blanket up to make himself warmer in early November.
Kellan was able to sleep better and wake up refreshed in the morning. It turned out that he was just a little tired, so he had a nightmare. Kellan stepped his feet steadily to walk to the dining room to enjoy the breakfast that his mate had provided.
“Special smoked lamb chops for you, dear,”
“Thank you, Lola.”
Before Kellan could pull out his chair to sit down, someone had arrived with footsteps that had approached him. He passed a letter with the Supreme Alpha seal into Kellan’s hand and said goodbye as soon as Kellan received it.
Kellan opened the letter and read it carefully. He stared at Lola as he exhaled harshly. Kellan took the letter as his official summons for something related to his dream last night.
“What does the letter say?”
“Chris requested my presence. A rogue was caught and mentioned my name before he died.”