Coven of Wolves

by Peter Saenz

  Mika begins sobbing into her hands. I put my arms around her, hoping to console her. Her head falls onto my shoulder as she continues crying. Knowing what little time we have, I say, “We’ve got to focus. You two will get your revenge tomorrow when Malik comes after us. In the meantime, your family is working on getting Luke here to us. We can’t let their effort be in vain. We need to find out where my dad is so that we can give Luke a location to send us to once he gets here.” I notice that Tobias hasn’t stopped pacing. “Tobias! Focus!”

  Tobias stops and looks at me. “I’m sorry. I’m just so angry!”

  “I know.”, I say. “But just being angry isn’t going to help us. Channel your anger into something positive. What can we do to find my dad?”

  Mika slowly takes her head off of my shoulder and wipes away her tears. She then says, “We can astral project ourselves to search the compound. Someone has to stay behind to snap us back if anything happens, but if two of us look, it’ll take a lot less time.”

  Tobias says, “Mika and I’ll go. It’ll take our minds off things for a while.”

  “You sure?”, I ask.

  Tobias answers, “Positive. Now, we’re gonna need something to create a circle on the floor.”

  I reach into my pocket and pull out a white piece of chalk. “Here. Take this. I used it to form the circle in Mika’s apartment.”

  Tobias takes it from me and says, “Perfect.” He then draws a protective circle on the ground and lines it’s walls with protective runes and incantations. Mika then joins him in the circle where they hold each other for a few minutes. After their emotions subside, they sit within the circle, ready for the process to start. Tobias then offers me the chalk piece, which I get up and take from him. He then says, “If Luke or any of the wolves arrive before we’re finished searching, hide the circle visually and glamour us to be sleeping in one of the sets of beds.”

  “Will do.”, I say. “Just...be careful.”

  Both Tobias and Mika smile weakly at me then go straight into their breathing techniques. They then close their eyes and I know the ritual has silently begun. I use the time by myself to meditate and prepare myself magically for what lies ahead.

  30 to 40 minutes pass by before Tobias and Mika stir. When they open their eyes and look at me, I know they’ve found my father. They give their thanks to the protection circle and rush over to me.

  Mika says, “Your father is about ½ mile from here, set into the forest. They have an arena there where it looks like something big is gonna happen.”

  Tobias continues, “All of the Synoro Archons are there and it looks like the Basque Archons have assembled as well. Both packs have a team of phalanx soldiers waiting in their prospective places. Your father is in closed quarters with your brother, his mother, and Nicholas. They’re preparing for what looks like his trials. Devin, the soldiers...they look like they mean business. We heard the Archons speaking to them. Their orders are to kill Damon and show him no mercy.”

  “Damn it.”, I say. “I didn’t think the trials would be happening so soon.” I look into Tobias’ eyes and I know there’s something else he’s not telling me. “What is it? What else is happening?”

  Mika takes me by the shoulder and gently faces me toward her. “Devin, the wolves have your mom as well. She’s being held in a closed off cell in the basement. It looks like she’s been drugged. She...doesn’t look so good.”

  The sensation of ice begins to fill my veins. My mother? Here? How could they? Does my father know about it? A million different thoughts enter my head, but I try to push them away as best I can. Focus. What can we do to save her in the process?

  Suddenly, the lights in the room begin to flicker. A sensation of oncoming magic can be felt. Luke! Tobias turns to Mika and I and says, “He’s coming.”

  Sure enough, a small cloud of black smoke appears in the center of the room. It billows outward and becomes larger. Soon it becomes the size of a man, then quickly disperses into the air around it. Left behind is Luke. I’ve never seen him so pale and frightened. His brow is filled with sweat. He looks around the room. When he spots us, he shrieks in fright and motions his cane upward, obviously preparing to disappear again.

  “No! Wait!”, I yell out. “Don’t leave! I need you!”

  He stops his exit and cautiously looks at us with extreme suspicion. “How do I know you’re not working with them? How do I know you don’t want to kill me too?”

  I stay a safe enough distance away from him, letting him know I don’t mean to attack him directly. I then say, “If I wanted Malik and the others to have killed you, I would have let them do so back at the mansion.”

  Suddenly mystified, Luke asks, “That was you?”

  “Yes,” I say, “that was me.”

  Still on edge, Luke says, “What do you want? Why am I here?”

  “Like I said, I need your help.” I reply.

  Tobias steps forward and says, “We all do.”

  Luke nervously points to Mika and says, “Who’s that?”

  Tobias calmly says, “For all intents and purposes, this is my sister Mika. We’re being held by a pack of werewolves. We need your help to get to Devin’s parents.”

  Sarcastically Luke says, “I’m on the run from a group of psychotic witches. Why would I want to piss off a bunch of werewolves too? No way.”

  “You don’t understand.”, I plead. “If you can get us to my father, I might be able to square things out with the wolves.”

  “And why should I care about that?” Luke asks.

  Tobias responds, “Because if we can get the werewolves to fight with us, we might be able to stand a chance against Malik and his demons.”

  Now surprised, Luke relaxes his posture a bit and says, “You know about that?”

  “Yes”, I answer.

  Now almost confiding in us, Luke says, “He’s crazy. He actually wanted me to give my body over to a bunch of demons. Can you believe that? And the others, they were too scared to say no. Zack practically jumped at the chance though. Not me. Nuh-uh. I got the hell out of there as fast as I could. He said that the demons will only be in our bodies temporarily until they can jump into new bodies. I didn’t trust a word he said. Then I began to get omens, sort of messages from my devotional gods. They said that I was in danger. They’d send me images of places to hide. I don’t feel any place is safe though. Malik always found you when you’d leave and I knew I’d probably be the same. Then only a short while ago, I got a strong message to come here. I’m so tired of running. I just want all of this to be over. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Things were supposed to be different. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be at all.”

  Trying to end his rant, I calmly tell Luke, “Help us get out of here and we’ll help you against Malik. There is strength in numbers. We need each other. Help us and this can be behind us.”

  I can see the words starting to sink into Luke’s head. He begins to nod a bit. “Yeah, maybe we can beat him together. I can take us away. I can take us far away and we can hide somewhere until All Hollow’s Eve is over! I just might be safe until then with you three with me!”

  “No, we can’t leave.” I tell him. “Either which way, Malik is going to bring over those demons in a few hours. We can’t let them stay in our world. We have to destroy them on All Hollow’s Eve or else they could be here forever!”

  Luke’s eagerness completely changes. I see his guard has now gone up again. “What do I care if a few demons get through? As long as it’s not me, I don’t care who they possess. It’s Malik that we need to worry about. I teleport all of us out of here to hide, or I leave you to face them here alone. It’s your choice.”

  We’ve hit a brick wall and he knows it. Arguing with him won’t help us at all. I’ve got to try a different tactic.

  I sigh and say, “I thought you could help us but I don’t think it’s going to work out after all. We’ll stay here and try to make things work without you.” I can feel the confusion eman
ating from Tobias and Mika beside me, but I stay focused on my approach. “And just so you know, I forgive you for everything in the past. If we make it through this, I hope you get everything you’ve really wanted. I wish you luck Luke.”

  I then turn to Tobias and Mika and say, “Our only chance is to teleport ourselves onto the yard downstairs. Maybe the gods will be kind to us and we’ll be able to make it to my dad before the werewolves can get to us.”

  Now perplexed, Luke walks over to the window and looks out. “You’ve got to be kidding! There are 15 guards out there right now. You’ll be spotted the second you get down there!”

  I muster the most sincere look I can on my face and look at Luke, saying, “Luke, run. Don’t worry about us. If we don’t make it, then hopefully we’ll find peace in the afterlife. We know what may happen. We’re just gonna have to take that chance.”

  Luke’s brow tightens and I know he’s on the verge of spitting nails. “You can’t do it! If you die out there then Malik will come after me first after all!”

  Suddenly ‘getting it’, Tobias says, “You know our rules. Help us get to Devin’s parents and we’ll stand by your side when Malik attacks. It’s as simple as that.”

  Knowing we inadvertently have him over a lurch, Luke frustrated says, “Fine! I’ll take you to your god damn parents!”

  Relief overcomes me as I hold back any sense of joy that I can so as not to play my hand too quickly. “Thank you Luke. We really appreciate your help.”

  Very annoyed, Luke says, “Fine. Whatever. Now, where am I sending us off to?”

  Mika speaks up and says, “First we have to get to Devin’s mom. She’s being held in a room directly below us, probably three stories down.”

  Rolling his eyes, Luke says, “Alright. Give me a moment. I need to psychically sense for the room so that I know I’m not going to materialize us all into rock or anything like that.”

  As Luke closes his eyes to focus his magics, Mika gives me a very quick but strong hug. I smile out of embarrassment and see Tobias mouthing the words, “I love you” to me.

  “Alright.”, Luke says. I’ve got it. There is a small room directly below us. There’s one person in it but the good news is that she’s not moving around. It should be relatively easy to shunt us in beside her. I need all of you to hold hands. If you break the hold in mid-shift, I can’t guarantee you’ll end up whole on the other end.”

  Mika and Tobias look nervously at each other but they slowly move to hold hands. I lock hands with them also, as Luke places one hand on my shoulder. He then raises his staff into the air and then claps it down onto the ground. We’re immediately surrounded in freezing black smoke. It feels as if the ground beneath us suddenly disappears so I hold on tighter to Tobias and Mika’s hands. They do the same. Moments into it, the ground returns and we try to regain our balance. Just as we do, the blackness disappears and we find ourselves in a small cell.

  I frantically look around the room and find my mother sleeping on a small cot. She is barefoot and her dress is torn. I push back her disheveled hair from her face and affectionately rub my hands along her cheek.

  “Mom? Can you hear me? Mom, it’s me, Devin.”

  Slowly her eyes open. “Devin? Oh my god, Devin, is that you?” Once she looks into my face, her expression completely lightens. She immediately clings her arms around me and begins to sob. “It’s you! I thought I’d never see you again!”

  I hold her close, just as strongly. I then release my hold and look her directly in the face, saying, “Mom, we’ve got to get out of here. There’s no time to explain, but you’ve got to come with me now.”

  Frightened, she says, “But the werewolves...”

  I shake my head and say, “Don’t worry about that right now. I just have to know one thing. Does dad know you’re here?”

  She shakes her head and says, “I haven’t seen your father in years. I didn’t know what was going on. One minute I’m at home washing dishes and the next thing I know, several people come in behind me and put a funny smelling rag against my face. When I woke up, I was here. They kept asking me questions about you and if I was really some kind of Lykanian or something werewolf. I told them no. Every time I asked to see your father, they would say that he’s dead and that I would end up dead too if I didn’t answer their questions. Oh god Devin, what if he really is dead?”

  Tobias then says, “Your husband isn’t dead Mrs. Marshall, and we don’t think he even knows that you’re here.”

  My mother looks at me with a confused look on her face. I tell her, “Mom, these are friends of mine. They’re the ones who helped me get here. Come on, we have to go.”

  I guide her off of the cot and into the middle of the room. Confused, she says, “But there are guards out in the hallway...”

  I hold her tight to me and say, “Don’t worry about that. We got it covered.”

  Luke then says, “I need to know where we’re going next, otherwise you’re stuck here.”

  As Mika explains to Luke where to send us, I look at my mother and say, “A lot has happened since I left Scottsdale.” I can see a twinge of pain in my mother’s face. “I’ve changed a lot too. I’m sorry for everything I’ve put you through but I promise I’m going to try to make everything right. You just have to trust me. No matter what happens, just do what I say and you should be okay. Can you do that for me?”

  My mother nods her head in agreement just before Luke says, “I got it. Are you ready?”

  “Almost.”, I say. I then turn to my side. “Mika and Tobias, I’m going to need you to do something once we get there. I think I can talk sensibly to my father and...the other two...but I’m going to need for you to magically restrain Nicholas. Werewolves are practically immune to magics, so it’s going to take both of you to make sure he can’t attack us or call out for help.”

  Mika says, “Leave it to me. He’s not going to say a word.”

  I then turn to my mother and tell her, “I need for you to promise me one more thing: Don’t &emdash; scream.”

  I wrap my arms around my mother and hold her tight to me. Mika and Devin then wrap their arms around the both of us as Luke places his hand on Tobias’ shoulder this time. A second later we are wrapped up in cold black clouds and the ground falls out from under our feet. I can feel my mother holding back a yell, so I whisper into her ear that everything is alright. When the ground returns beneath us, I whisper to my mother to stay behind me, no matter what happens. She quickly nods her head as the black clouds disappear.

  Directly in front of us are Nicholas, my father, Damon and his mother. My father and Nicholas are wearing the usual battle garb I’ve seen the other wolves wearing, but Damon’s and Gabriella’s are slightly different. Damon’s uniform looks more formal, whereas Gabriella’s battle dress is a dark green in color. They stare at us, completely perplexed. As soon as Nicholas recognizes me he begins reaching for his swords stationed on his back. Before he can release them, Mika causes a nearby chair to strike him on the side of his head. The force of the blow knocks him against the wall. Nicholas then goes down to the floor unconscious.

  Seeing what has happened, both Damon and his mother Gabriella take out their swords, ready to attack. Once my father releases his swords, I immediately project a clear mystic wall between us and them. I then shout, “Wait! We’re not going to harm you. We just want to talk!”

  The three of them begin attacking my wall with vengeance. When they see that their swords aren’t having any effect on it, they cast them aside and begin to shift into a half human, half wolf appearance. My father’s fur is dark black, Gabriella’s is red, and Damon’s fur is a combination of the two. They then begin slashing and clawing at the wall with their bare hands. I can feel the wall weakening when Tobias steps in and helps enhance my spell’s strength. Soon Mika joins us, and I am surprised to see that Luke has as well. The wolves’ attempt at trying to break through the wall dramatically lessens, finally allowing me to continue with my pleas. Before I ca
n say anything though, I notice my mother walk over to the wall and ask, “Adam?”

  My father stops his barrage of attacks and looks at my mother. He then shifts back into his full human form and says, “Victoria?” Damon and Gabriella stop their attacks as well. Confused, my father looks at the lot of us and asks, “Who are you people? What are you doing here with her?”

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.” I say. “We’re here to talk. That’s all.”

  My father sniffs the air. “You’re witches. The stink of magic is all around you.” He takes another sniff. “And you’ve been scent marked.”

  I walk closer to the wall and look directly into my father’s eyes. “We were kidnapped by Nicholas and locked up like criminals. Your Archon father put through the order. The first thing I need to know is, did you know anything about it.”

  My father walks up to the wall and stares directly back at me and says, “I don’t know who you are punk, but I would never kidnap my own wife. If ANYONE harms her, they will have to answer to me. Is that a clear enough answer for you?” Keeping an eye on me, my father then turns to my mother and asks, “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

  My mother replies, “Nothing serious. They did drug me though. They wanted to know if me and Devin were really werewolves. Some sort of breed called a Lykanian?”

  Surprised, my father asks, “A Lykaion?”

  “Yes! That’s it!”, my mother answers.

  My father shakes his head and says, “That doesn’t make any sense. They know you and Devin are human. Why would they think you’re a Lykaion? Victoria, where’s Devin? Did they take him too?”

  My mother then walks over to me and puts an arm around my shoulders. She says, “He’s been in front of you this whole time. Don’t you recognize your own son?”

  My father stares back at me and takes in all of me. “Devin?”

  My emotions seem to take physical form at the pit of my stomach. They tie in a knot as I suddenly have no words to say. I look back at my father and can see he is just as emotionally dumbstruck as I am.