by D L Blade
“Stay here,” he barked, but I wasn’t having it.
“No way. I’m coming with you.”
He shook his head and cursed under his breath again.
We walked in and saw the others on their feet.
“We heard the coffin lid opening. Someone is here,” Lily said.
Caleb’s phone rang. He answered it but didn’t take his eyes off the entrance. I heard another male voice on the end of the line talking and Caleb nodding his head.
“Okay, got it. Thank you for the warning.” He hung up. “That was my father, Roland.”
“Your father?” I remembered him telling me his father had been turned centuries ago.
“A vampire was at the cemetery when we arrived here and went back and reported it to her clan. They’re going to strike soon.”
“So, your father doesn’t have allegiance with his clan?” I asked, but he didn’t answer. “Caleb is your father on our side or not?”
He looked back to me. “Yes and no. He’s faithful to his clan, but he was sworn to protect the Chosen Ones, and he will. Right now, he’s on our side, but if we come after his clan, he won’t be able to protect us.”
Joel ran up and interrupted us. “Someone is coming down the ladder. Get ready.”
The reality of this new life, that was now mine, had hit me. My chest tightened as I heard the sound of someone coming down the ladder. I stood in front of Shannon, ready to fight for her life. Ready to fight for all our lives. We stood on guard as we heard a knock at the door.
“Open the door, Mercy. It’s me.”
We all sighed with relief. It was Riley!
Riley entered, and we came in for a warm hug. He was safe. A girl I didn’t recognize stood behind him.
“You must be Amber,” I said, while releasing Riley’s hold.
She smiled and held out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Mercy.”
I looked at her hand but didn’t shake it. “Nice to meet you, too.” I knew I was being rude, but this was weird timing, her coming into our lives. Why would he bring her here?
I punched Riley on the arm and he barely flinched. “Really, Mercy? What the hell?”
“I’ve been worried, Riley. Where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you for hours.” I was now shouting. “And then I have to tell you we’re in trouble on your voicemail! Then you bring a stranger here. No offense, Amber, but there is a lot going on right now, and you’re a stranger to us,” I said plainly, waiting for her comeback, but she didn’t look upset.
A low growl came from Abigail, which halted Amber, who looked as if she were going to say something.
“Abigail, what is it?” I asked her. Abigail’s fangs instantly appeared.
“Abigail, stop that! Riley is my friend, and this is his friend, Amber. Put those away!” I commanded, as if I was chastising an untrained dog.
“That’s okay,” Amber said. “It’s her natural instinct to try to kill me.”
“No, Amber. She doesn’t kill humans,” I told her.
I looked back at Abigail who still was growling at Amber. “Abigail, seriously. Put your fangs away.”
Abigail looked at me fiercely. “You didn’t mention you were friends with werewolves.”
Wait, what?
I looked back to Amber. “You’re a werewolf?”
Amber took a step in my direction. “I was the one you almost hit with your car when you crashed that morning. The same one who saw Kylan outside your home that night you sleepwalked outside your front door. He had a witch with him that was using their powers to draw you out through your dreams. I tried to keep you inside your house, but you called the fisher cats on me.”
Another unsettling feeling hit me. There were witches that could control my dreams?
“Oh no, Amber. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what was happening,” I apologized.
She took another step toward me. “I wanted to transform into my human form and tell you. I didn’t think me talking to you with my mind would have helped you relax any better. It was safer that the vampire following you always saw me as a wolf.”
“Well he’s dead now. I killed him tonight,” I said, full of pride.
She smiled. “My pack showed up to the lake right as he turned to dust.”
“Your pack?”
She lowered her head, as if she were ashamed of something.
“About that …” She looked over at Riley who had been standing against the wall, watching us converse.
“I needed help, Mercy. My pack has been missing for months. I’ve been following these vampires since your mom tried to kill you, trying to protect you from Kylan and others like him. Kylan had been following you for months, sometimes right outside your backyard.”
We were right. It was him this whole time, following me in the shadows.
“We’re about to face some very dangerous vampires that will be coming after you,” she explained. “Werewolves have always been aware of the prophecy that the Chosen Ones would come to Earth and protect us. We want to win this fight just as much as you do. Without my pack, I’m nothing. I needed help.”
“Why do you keep saying that?” I looked over at Riley again. “Amber, what did you do?” Panic rose in my voice.
There was a moment of silence before Shannon walked toward Riley and looked into his eyes.
“Abigail,” Shannon called to Caleb’s aunt, her eyes stayed on Riley. “Why did you say wolves, and not wolf?
Abigail sighed deeply. “Your friend Riley is one of them.”
I was stunned silent for a moment, then looked deep into Riley’s eyes.
He can’t be. Not Riley.
“Mercy, it’s okay. I want this,” he tried to explain, but I backed up.
“No, no. You didn’t ask for this. She did this against your will.”
Amber shook her head like she couldn’t understand why I was so upset.
“I feel stronger than ever, Mercy. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world. Now I can help protect you.”
“Oh, Riley. It’s not your job to protect me.”
I grabbed Riley’s hands and Caleb, who I hadn’t noticed until now, was by my side. He stiffened up when Riley’s fingers touched mine. I looked over at Lily and Joel while still holding Riley’s hands. “What do we do now?”
Joel straightened up. “Well, now that we have werewolves on our side, this will be a much easier fight.”
I shook my head. “No. Absolutely not. Riley is not fighting.”
Joel sighed. “Mercy, we are going to need all the help we can get. He’s strong now. You need to trust him. That’s why Amber turned him in the first place. With werewolves on our side, we have a fighting chance.”
“He’s right, Mercy. I can handle this. Let me help.” Riley squeezed my hand gently. “This isn’t your decision. Besides, werewolves can heal just like a vampire can. It’s going to take a lot to kill me.”
“Like a silver bullet?”
“Yes, Mercy. Like a silver bullet. If the vampires aren’t expecting us to be there, they are highly unlikely to have any on hand, ready to shoot,” he explained, but it didn’t make me feel any better.
I had faced a vampire before and I had taken one down, but I’d had powers to do it. Riley may be able to quickly heal, but he could still die. I hated this. I knew we needed help from werewolves, but at what expense? Would I so willingly put my friends in danger in order for them to protect me? It wasn’t Caleb, Riley, or Lily, or even my human friends they wanted, it was me. I also knew I wouldn’t be able to stop Riley from helping me. He loved me and would take a bullet for me if he needed to. Even a silver one.
I sighed and squeezed his warm hand, feeling the need to pull away from his touch, as the heat pierced my skin. The fact that I could touch him again without anxiety pulling through my chest, made my heart full. “Okay,” I hesitantly agreed.
Amber and Riley’s attention snapped toward the front door and it startled us.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Someone is outside. They’re about a hundred yards from the tomb. I can hear them,” Amber said.
“And smell them.” Riley sniffed the air. “It’s not human.”
“Huh, it’s not a vampire, either.” Amber sniffed the air and looked at Riley. “I’ve never smelled anything like it.”
Great! What else is out there?
“We need to leave now,” Lily joined in. Joel and Caleb grabbed their weapons and headed toward the ladder that led out.
We ushered Shannon into a secured vault. We gave her the code to unlock the door and some food and water. There was a landline inside the vault and she was instructed to call us if anything or anyone breached the walls.
Shannon turned around toward me before she entered the vault. “I can’t believe this is happening. My friend is in a coma, caused by a vampire possession, and my other best friends are a witch and a werewolf. This is something that happens in movies, Mercy. Not real life.”
I gave her a warm hug and held her for a few seconds. “Nothing is going to happen to you. I swear it,” I said. “I’ll be back for you once we know it’s safe.”
But could I really promise that? Three weeks ago, I was a semi-normal human who was oblivious to the supernatural world. I didn’t know I was a reincarnated witch. I didn’t know vampires and werewolves roamed the streets and I most certainty didn’t know that I was the weapon that could bring it all to an end. Fear engulfed every part of my being and no promise to Shannon was going to make her feel better. How could it? Our plan was stupid. We had no idea where these vampires lived. They could smell me, not the other way around. How was I going to fish them out? We were just going to run and “play it by ear”.
Abigail stayed behind to stand guard until whatever was lurking outside lost interest and left.
“Let’s go,” I told Caleb, but he was already by my side, gripping my shirt and pulling me back toward him.
“Not that way,” he told Lily and Joel, who stopped moving toward the stairs. “There is another way out. There is a tunnel that leads to the other side of Park Ave. It will spill us over to Harrington’s Antique shop. The entry is at a secret passage way behind the library shelf in the study. Let’s go.”
Caleb told us we’d have to steal a car once we reached the exit of the tunnel. We wouldn’t last long on foot. Joel’s portals stayed open for ten to fifteen minutes after they were open. It would be too risky to let whatever was out there follow us through the portal and catch us off guard.
Once we reached the end of the tunnel, we spotted a gray SUV across from a bar on the other side of the antique shop. It was right after four in the morning, so someone must have had too much to drink and gotten another ride home.
Lily placed her hand on top of the car, closed her eyes, and chanted. The car unlocked and started up.
“I really didn’t think that would work. It’s been a while.” She smiled with pride. She’d definitely missed using her magic.
We pulled out onto the road and headed back to the marina. We needed to get whatever was following us away from the lair so Shannon would be safe.
“We don’t even have a plan,” I huffed, feeling completely incompetent to fight anything.
Caleb poked his head out of the window, searching for our new enemy. “The plan is to kill it, whatever it is,” he said.
“I’m ready,” Joel said as Lily sped up.
“Can you still smell it?” Amber asked Riley.
He sniffed the air. “I smell something different. Not what I smelled before at the house. It smells like a bird this time and it’s close.”
Lily sped up to about ninety miles per hour. I knew we had to get as far away as we could, because we really didn’t know what we were up against. Whatever was following us was foreign to this newly-formed wolf pack.
We drove for almost a half hour, heading west, unsure of where we were going. We just needed to keep driving till we lost whatever it was that was tailing us.
“Behind us, guys,” Lily said while looking in the rearview mirror. We heard a high-pitched whistle above us, as a large bird came crashing into the front window and Lily slammed on the brakes. Glass shattered all around us. She quickly pulled over on the side of the road and turned toward the back seat. “We can’t out-drive it. We need to fight.”
I looked through the shattered windshield and saw an abnormally large eagle flying upward. Seconds later, it circled around and started a nosedive toward us. This time, it crashed through the window on Riley’s side and began pecking at his arm. Riley didn’t flinch, but it sure pissed him off. Joel moved to the side as Riley and Amber jumped out.
Before they could react, the eagle grabbed hold of my hoodie through the broken window. I screamed for it to stop and hit it several times on the head. Caleb grabbed my right arm from the front seat while Riley grabbed the bird’s tail and pulled it off of me. The bird flew back up in the air as Riley released him.
A loud growl rumbled from behind the car. I turned around to see Amber in her wolf form and Riley taking off his shirt and pants. He bent down on all fours and his back protruded upward, showing his spine, pushing up against his skin. Hair follicles pushed through his skin and his face pulled forward, forming a long muzzle. The transition into his wolf form was a lot faster than I’d seen in movies. He didn’t seem to be in any pain, which gave me some relief.
Whoa.
There was so much going on; I didn’t even notice Caleb, Joel, and Lily were now outside of the car. Caleb threw a ball of flames at the large bird as it came back down and Lily used her powers to blast the flame faster in its path, but it dodged the flame and flew back at the car, gripping me tightly again, this time digging its claws into my shoulder.
“Son of a bitch!” I screamed. I lifted my hands up and blasted my energy force toward the bird, hoping it would injure it enough to back off. The green energy knocked the bird on the ground, with its feather’s scattering around the street. It was on its feet within minutes again. Joel shouted from behind the car. “I think I know what this thing is, guys.”
“Shapeshifter?” I heard Lily shout before I was pulled through the window, my legs being cut open by the shattered glass. The eagle pulled me higher and higher up into the air. I grabbed the bird’s legs and pulled its talons apart, causing it to screech and finally release me. I landed hard on the ground and Lily and Caleb were immediately by my side.
“So that wasn’t just a very angry bird?” I asked, panic rising in my voice.
“That creature will be back. We have to move, now!” Joel shouted.
“Joel, I think you should teleport us somewhere, if you have the strength. If he follows us, so be it. We at least know what to look for if it hitches a ride.” Lily panted from exhaustion.
I looked at Lily then at Caleb, who was looking up at the sky with his hands open, forming a new ball of fire on his palm, waiting for it to come back down.
This is never going to end.
I shook my head. “No, we can’t keep doing this. I can’t risk your lives. It’s after me, not you guys.” I knew there would never be an end to running until we knew what and who would come for me. If I allowed myself to be taken by them, my friends would be safe, and I could maybe talk to them. I could perhaps find out their plan, and work from the inside.
“Get in the car, Mercy,” Caleb snapped.
I shook my head again. “No, Caleb. You can’t save me this way. We’re just running. Where are we going to go?” I asked, throwing my hands up. “How many lives will be lost from you trying to protect me? I can’t lose the people I love.” I looked over at Joel and Lily’s direction, who were now walking toward me. Caleb’s hands were clenched into fists and Riley and Amber were circling the car in their wolf form.
I took a few steps back and held up my hands, creating a force that pushed Lily and Joel back.
“Mercy, stop! What are you doing?” Lily cried, not able to move her legs forward anymore.
“Dammit, Mercy.
Get back in the car!” Caleb was now shouting, his face bright red from anger. “Now!”
“Don’t do this, Mercy. Please,” Joel pleaded.
“I won’t let any of you get hurt because of me,” I cried.
I ran into the street and let the energy force drop. I could hear their feet pounding against the pavement as they chased after me. But I didn’t look back. I didn’t stop. The sound of heavy wings flapping echoed across the sky. Second later, I felt the eagle’s talons dig into my shoulder and it pulled me up into the air.
The truth was, I wasn’t really giving up. I would still fight, but the farther this creature was from my friends, the better chance they had at survival.
I tried to communicate with the bird verbally, but it wasn’t responding to me. I tried to speak to it telepathically, but nothing. It was neither animal nor a human, so I wasn’t sure if it took a different set of abilities for me to reach it. I lifted my hands to use my levitating power on its talons to pry them from my skin to ease the pain, but remembered I was now very high up, and that it would suck if I fell. I closed my eyes, trying not to think of the pain. I knew I would be able to heal myself, but this pain was almost unbearable. It only felt like a few minutes had passed before I looked down and could see the Salem Witch Museum. We descended to the ground and the eagle set me down gently.
The eagle lowered its head between its two front claws and its body suddenly grew larger and larger. The feathers seemed to fold into themselves while human skin formed around them. There now stood a man in human form in front of me.
He was very tall, maybe six foot seven, with an athletic body, dark brown hair that grew past his shoulders, and a long goatee. A large tattoo in black ink spread across his chest, over his shoulders and wrapped around his muscular arms. His eyes were a light shade of brown and his skin was dark tan. He was huge. I mean … huge. I had never been so close to someone so well-built and intimidating. His other tattoos were all of animals: an eagle, a bear, a wolf, and a lion, all on his chest alone.
He walked over to a nearby trashcan and lifted out a plastic bag. He pulled out an outfit from the bag and proceeded to get dressed. I thought about using my powers on him, but whoever sent him would send another and another. The only way to fight these evil forces was to start from the inside, from wherever he was taking me.
