by Jessic Ryan
“Oh my god,” Paige said, feeling the tears welling up in her eyes. “You poor woman.”
She crawled over to Angie and Janie, wrapping her arms around both.
“It’s ok,” she whispered as mother and daughter cried in her arms. “We’re all going to get out of here. You won’t be a prisoner anymore.”
Paige didn’t know how she was going to get them out; they were trapped in a rat hole, used as bait to lure the wolves. She joined Angie and Janie in weeping as her nieces wrapped their arms around her.
Chapter 6
“How did you find out?” Travis demanded, still standing in the doorway to Paige’s trailer.
“I was checking out the mansion when I saw Paige’s car out front,” Dario said.
“You were what?” Travis asked. “Why would you do something so reckless? I did not give you permission to go snooping around.”
“Forgive me, alpha,” Dario said, looking at the ground like a scolded child. “I was hoping I could find something out to help you.”
“We don’t know for sure they’re holding her,” Travis said, thinking about it. “Her nieces play over there all the time, maybe she was just picking them up.”
“Do you want to take that risk?” Dario asked.
“I do not,” Travis said. “Let’s go.”
Travis had just shifted, so he was unable to shift into wolf form this quickly. Luckily he had the body and stamina of an Olympic sprinter due to his superior wolf genetics. He followed Dario, both men running down the street on foot. The entire time they ran, Travis felt anger welling up inside of him. Paige wouldn’t be over at the Lockharts this late; they were definitely holding her hostage. He didn’t care about plans or being careful or anything of that sort now, he just wanted to wrap his hands around the throat of a rat and squeeze the life out of it. When that failed he would turn into a wolf and tear them limb for limb, he didn’t care if they could shift into lunar form, they had made a big mistake.
The run was long and brutal, taking much longer than Travis expected. Halfway through, when they had left the main road and entered a wooded area, Dario peeled off his shorts and shifted into wolf form, using all four legs to move quicker. Travis tried to pick up the pace, but the wolf was too fast.
Finally, after an eternity of running, they stopped outside the iron fence that surrounded the Lockhart’s estate.
Travis was completely spent, gasping for air, as he leaned against a stone pillar for support. Dario looked up at him with big wolf eyes, waiting for him to give direction.
After catching his breath Travis pointed towards the house. “They don’t have cameras or anything, do they?”
Dario shook his head.
“Did you enter the property earlier?”
Dario nodded his head.
“Then show me how you got in.”
Dario got low and stalked around the perimeter of the fence, heading west of the house. He brought Travis to an area where one of the stone columns had collapsed, leaving an opening for someone to hop through between the fence and column. Dario nimbly jumped through while Travis, much more awkward in his human form, slid through causing the iron fence to collapse even more. It made a horrible creaking sound that filled the nighttime air. Travis stood frozen for a minute, his eyes darting around. After several moments he felt satisfied nobody had heard them.
He squatted low and followed Dario to the house. There was a huge stone driveway out front where several old cars sat in addition to Paige’s cherry red Mustang. Travis’ nostrils flared and he bit back his anger as he saw her car sitting in the driveway, waiting for her to come back and take it away.
Travis pointed to the front door and Dario’s wolf nodded, wanting to check out the lay of the land. They began to sneak that way when the front door opened, bathing the front of the house in light. Both wolves ducked behind a beat up old Cadillac that was at the very edge of the driveway. Dario managed to crawl under the Cadillac, concealing himself completely, but Travis was too big to work his way in. Instead he just sat calmly, hoping nobody walked their way.
He could hear his heart beating as he heard two people talking in front of the house. He strained to listen, but they were speaking in hushed tones.
Just as he decided to peek his head around the fender of the car and get a look headlights bathed the front of the house. He slid to the rear of the car, looking at the driveway that led to the house. A large, black stretch limousine was pulling up to the house.
Who the fuck is that? Travis thought. He continued to watch as a short, fat, balding man ran to the limo, hopping anxiously from one foot to the other.
A large driver exited the vehicle, stoically walking down the edge of the vehicle, pushing the squat wererat back in the process. He opened the door of the limo allowing a tall, older gentleman to stand up out of the vehicle. The man wore a long peacoat over a dark suit. His eyes were glowed a ghostly red and his gray hair was slicked straight back. There was no doubt in Travis’ mind, this man was a vampire.
“Victor,” the wererat said loudly. “Welcome back.”
“Cut the crap William,” Victor responded. “What news do you have for me?”
“We caught the werewolves’ girlfriend,” William said excitedly.
“And?” Victor asked, sounding annoyed.
“We can capture the werewolf now,” William said. He was cowering at the power radiating from the vampire.
“Do you think I care about some damn werewolf?” Victor asked. “If I cared about the werewolf then I would have killed him the night I grabbed the staff. I saw him as I was leaving; he looked me in the eyes. If his life was consequential to anything then I would have ended it right there. But I didn’t. You know why?”
“N….” William started, but the vampire cut him off.
“Because he’s a worthless piece of garbage that can do nothing to stop me now. Who cares if one survives? This isn’t a TV show; he won’t be having his revenge. I have the staff, the land is mine. They will break ground tomorrow on the oilfield project and the land will grow my pocket book.”
“Yes sir,” the rat said. “Of course sir.”
“Is there anything else important?” he asked.
“Well we did capture his girlfriend and her nieces,” William said. “Perhaps you’re hungry?”
“William, you are making sense now my good boy,” Victor said. “I’m famished from the flight over. Let’s go.”
Travis watched as the two of them went back into the house, leaving the brutish driver and a smaller, skinnier rat behind.
You cocky bastard, Travis thought, thinking about the vampire’s words. He wasn’t scared of Travis at all, a big mistake. They’re going to destroy Bowshot tomorrow, I have to rescue Paige and get the staff back.
Dario crawled back from under the Cadillac, looking up at Travis. He pointed at the two men standing by the limo and made a slashing motion across his throat. The wolf nodded in agreement and prepared to strike.
Travis stayed low, walking in a squatting position towards the limo. As he passed the back of the car he saw a large rock on the ground. He smiled picking it up and continued towards the limo driver. Just as he got close he stood up and broke into a full run. The limo driver spun around, his eyes growing wide at the sight of an equally large man bearing down on him. He tried to get his hands up to shield himself but Travis was already swinging the rock with all his might. It crashed into the side of the man’s head, splitting his skull and creating a loud cracking noise. The driver’s eyes rolled back and he collapsed onto the front of the limo, blood spurting from the wound.
“What the!” the rat said, starting to shift. It was obvious he was shifting into lunar form, hair was sprouting all over his body but his size wasn’t changing.
He didn’t get a chance to finish his transformation, instead Dario leapt onto his back, burying his powerful jaws into the back of the rat’s neck. The wererat never had a chance as he was killed instantly by the wolf’s powerf
ul jaws as they snapped his neck.
Travis stood over his two dead adversaries, a feeling of satisfaction resonating through his body. There was no turning back now, they had to assault the mansion and rescue Paige or all was lost.
Chapter 7
“Did you know what they were?” Paige asked Angie, rubbing her back.
“I thought William Jr. was a good guy,” she said. “We met and fell in love and got married in Texas. It all seemed to be a fairytale, until I had Janie. That’s when he started getting crazy, possessive. A year ago, just after Angie turned 11, he told me we were moving to Oklahoma to live with his family. I didn’t want to come, I loved it in Dallas, but he insisted. He told me changes were going to happen to Janie in the next year or two and we needed his families support.”
“Changes?” Paige asked, feeling dread in her stomach.
“He wouldn’t tell me until we moved her,” she said. “I tried to get it out of him but he threatened me. At this point I was so scared I went along with whatever he said. When I got here, I found out what they were. My baby! My baby is going to be one of them!”
Paige moved her arm around Angie’s neck, half putting her in a headlock and pulling her in tight. “Don’t talk like that in front of Janie. She’s still your little girl, you have to love her.”
“I do love my baby” she sobbed. “I’d never give her up, but how could they do this?”
“It’s what they are,” Paige said. “You couldn’t have known. She won’t be like them though; they’re not all like that.”
“How do you know?” Angie asked, her face scrunched up and red from crying. Her beautiful red hair was a tangled mess and her green eyes were bloodshot.
“Because the wolves will save us,” Paige said.
Angie’s eyes got wide and she sat up and grabbed Paige by the shoulders. “The wolves can’t come here! They want to kill them, they’ll shift and kill the wolves.”
“A rat can’t kill a wolf!” Lyric declared, oblivious to the actual conversation. Lily looked completely distressed, picking up on the danger they were in.
“They will shift into that lunar form thing,” Angie said. “They usually carry weapons in that form; your wolves won’t have a chance.”
“How can they do it?” Paige asked. “It’s not a full moon.”
“Grandpa swallows this!” Janie said, holding up a small gray rock.
“What is that?” Paige asked, taking it from her.
“It’s a moon rock,” Angie said. “The vampire they’re working for has a lot of it. They grind it up and put it in their food or drink, it lets them shift into lunar from whenever they want as long as they keep taking it.”
“Who is this vampire?” Paige asked. She had wanted to disbelieve Travis when he mentioned the vampire, but now it was staring her right in the face.
“His name is Victor Dance,” she said. “He owns an oil company. He wanted the land the wolves lived on so he paid the family to help him take out the wolves that lived there. William is greedy and stupid, he’s the perfect puppet. He’ll do whatever you say without questions.”
“An expendable asset,” Paige muttered. It was like the rats were native being armed by a foreign government hoping to overthrow the current regime.
“They’re going to feed us all to Victor,” Angie said, beginning to get hysterical again. “He’s going to suck our blood dry.”
“Why would they kill you?” Paige asked. She looked back at her nieces whose faces had turned white with shock. They’d heard every word and comprehended it. “It’ll be fine girls, Travis will save us.”
“I want my daddy!” Lyric screamed, breaking into tears. Lily quickly grabbed her and pulled her in close, trying to be the strong one. Janie crawled over, hugging the other girls.
“That’s what they do,” Angie said, answering the question and ignoring the girls. “They find women to foster their children and then they kill them off when they reach adolescence.”
“I thought Silas had three kids and a wife,” Paige asked, trying to understand.
“Amy?” She’s a real piece of work,” Angie said, snorting. “All three of their boys are grown, but she’s just as evil as the rats. She’s part of the family, one of the only women ever allowed in.”
Paige shook her head and threw her hands up. “Forget it, none of this is important. We have to escape!”
“How?” Angie asked. “He locked the door, it’s wood on top of steel, we can’t break it down.”
“Jesus Christ,” Paige said, looking around the room. The room was completely bare, not a piece of furniture in it. There were two large windows on one side of the room set back in a window box. They had a metal frame with a metal crisscross pattern running through them. Paige ran to them, hoping to find a way through, unfortunately they were welded shut.
“Fuck,” she said, slapping the window.
She looked around the room, trying to find anything that would allow her to bust out. There was a wall cabinet next to the window, probably designed to be used as a linen cabinet. She looked it up and down, trying to find something to use to break the window. She opened the doors at the top of the cabinet, finding nothing inside. As she looked at the door and the screws that held it into the cabinet, an idea entered her mind.
“What are you doing?” Angie asked.
“Getting help,” Paige said, pulling and ripping on the cabinet door. She put her hands on top of it and jumped, trying to hang off of it. This was the first time in her life her weight had benefited her as the screws creaked and groaned before finally ripping out of the cabinet. She tumbled to the ground, holding the door in her hand.
“What are you going to do with that?” Angie asked.
Paige looked over at her, wishing she would just sit back and watch. The poor woman looked traumatized, her hair was a mess and she had rings under her eyes. All three little girls looked scared as they huddled together watching her.
Paige felt like screaming and crying and kicking the wall in frustration, but she had to be the strong one right now because nobody else would.
I’ve been the strong one my whole life, she thought. Mom and dad ran away because they couldn’t handle this lifestyle anymore. Billy’s a complete mess after his wife left him. I’m the only one that takes care of my shit and goes to work.I’m the alpha female of the Bowshot pack god dammit!
She puffed her chest out, taking a deep breath, feeling as strong as ever after her mental pep talk. With all her might she slammed the corner of the hard wood door into the glass pane of the window. She did it several times, chipping away at the door. Fortunately the glass was old and weak and it began to spider crack as she beat away at it. After several minutes of hard beating one of the windows shattered and glass fell harmlessly into the window box.
She climbed into the box, avoiding the glass and looked out the window. She could see the front of the house where she had parked. There was a stretch limousine parked directly in front of the house. Her eyes grew wide as she realized there was a dead man slumped across the hood. Beside him on the ground was another man: dead with blood running out onto the ground behind him.
She didn’t recognize either man, meaning they were probably killed by her wolves.
“Travis!” she called from the window. “Travis!”
She sat in silence for several moments, meaning he was probably gone. Just as she started to pull away from the window she heard a whistle from down below. She pressed her face into the crisscrossed bars and looked down at the ground. Travis was standing below with a ragged looking wolf beside him. She knew he didn’t want to talk, he was afraid to alert the Lockharts to his presence.
“We’re on the second floor,” she called. “I’m with the girls and another prisoner!”
Travis nodded and started to walk away. He stopped and looked back up at her, his eyes narrowing. He appeared to be mouthing words at her, but she could barely make them out in the darkness.
“I can’t tell what you
’re saying,” she called. “Say something.”
He looked back and forth, like he was trying to make sure nobody else was around. Finally he faintly called out, “How many are there?”
“Five of us,” she called back.
He shook his head no and pointed to the dead man on the ground. As Paige looked at him she realized he had brown fur sprouted up on his body, like he was transforming into a werecreature. Realization dawned on her and she understood now, he was a wererat.
“There are twelve rats,” she called. “Well eleven now.”
Travis nodded his understanding. Just as he started to walk away she heard voices just outside the door.
“Don’t kill my granddaughter,” William said. “She’s going to be a valuable member of this family.”
“I’m sure I’ll have no need for the girl,” a well-to-do voice said. “The two adult women should fill me up just fine.”
She spun back around and screamed. “Hurry up! They’re coming into the room! They’re coming to get us!”
Travis appeared, his face looking frantic. He shook his head, unsure of what to do. Paige racked her brain, trying to figure out what she should do. If he barged in, the rats would gang up on him, murdering him with no problems. She was about to become Victor Dance’s dinner if he didn’t do something though.
”It’s hopeless,” Angie cried. “They can’t save us.”
Paige looked around the room, not seeing anything that they could use to defend themselves from the vampire. She couldn’t break the door apart and make a cross, it would take too long. They were as good as drained by the monster.
She looked to the three little girls, all huddled together in fright. Lyric was crying softly while Lily was trying to put on a brave face; the tears streaming down her face betrayed her. Her eyes traveled to Janie who was holding something in her hand, stroking it for comfort.
