by WB McKay
Six wolves stepped out of the other vehicles into the shelter of the woods by the parking lot. Rachel joined them without a look my way. They stood in a circle as they stripped, tossing their clothes into the center without a word to each other. I hurriedly did the same, on my own. If I'd been of the mind to join them, I didn't expect I'd be noticed anymore than I was off on my own. Pack worried about pack. It wasn't personal, but it made me wonder why I was there. With Rachel, myself, the six other wolves, and the two at the bar, there were ten wolves against three vampires. It wasn't the full pack, but it was plenty. They didn't need me there with those numbers. Why was I there? Where was the alpha? And Nathaniel?
None of those questions were enough to distract my mind from the pain of the shift. To say I was used to it after so many years, so many shifts, would be true—but to be used to the pain is merely to say that I knew the process of it. When my elbow snapped, I was able to breathe and remind myself that the pain would end, no matter how infinite it felt. The lack of air while my lungs and throat changed wouldn't kill me, nor the shifting of my skull. Yes, I was shedding my skin, but fur would sprout and I would be fine. This is fine. I stretched out my newly elongated jaw and clacked my teeth together—it hurt, but my jaw felt better the sooner I got that over with.
I shook out the wolf's body, paced between trees to make sure everything felt right, and glanced over to find I was the first one done. It had been a long time since I'd shifted with others, but I remembered now that most found it difficult to change forms silently. The concentration needed to keep themselves from shouting out in pain slowed things down for many, worsening the agony.
I looked away from the others, because manners, but couldn't afford to give them space if I was to be ready when they were. The minutes it took for them to finish were enough to let my anxiety build, fueling my resentment for being asked to accompany them on the mission. Why am I here, why am I here, why am I here… I'd be having a talk with Gretchen when this was all over, or, well, I'd at least imagine shouting at her. A screaming match with the alpha wasn't likely to get me anywhere.
Once the others were ready, we fanned out. The approach was the most critical part of the plan. If the vampires sensed us too early, they'd get by us. Surrounded, they'd be forced to fight—and outnumbered, well, it was a little too easy, if you asked me.
Graham, beta of the Lassen Pack, was two wolves to my right and the eye of the pack, putting him closest to the front door. I had a view of the back alley, but was positioned between the two. I'd heard Rachel explain that once we'd taken our posts, one of the wolves at the scene would go into the bar and politely suggest to the two vampires that they take this fight outside. The wolf would speak quietly, but in case one of the patrons in the human bar overheard, it wouldn't sound too odd.
It had been suggested by many of the wolves that it wouldn't matter anyway. Though the existence of werewolves had been exposed to the humans, the Lassen Pack had not been taken public. From what I'd overheard, this was a point of contention in the pack. Many wanted to go public. And many enjoyed the idea of taking the rest of the fae public with them. A fight between werewolves and vampires in a podunk human bar would certainly accomplish that. Even so, it wasn't the plan. The plan was to go inside, invite the vampires out, and handle the situation in the alley outside. Not exactly private, but it would have to do.
Of course, none of the plans I'd heard exchanged mentioned Nathaniel as the wolf on the scene. He opened the front door looking grimmer than I'd ever seen him. Confident, like he owned the place—and it occurred to me that for all I knew about him now, he might have. It had been a lot of years. I didn't know Nathaniel anymore.
At the last second, with the door swinging shut, he glanced back and winked at me. I rolled my eyes, though he wasn't there to see it. Maybe I still knew a thing or two about him.
Two minutes passed. Nothing. With the noise of the television inside, and the vampires and Nathaniel whispering, I couldn't make out a thing. Why did they have to send him in alone? I told myself that if the vampires decided to fight inside, we would hear it over the television. Human screams seemed a safe bet in that scenario. But where was he?
Two more minutes. The other wolves I could see looked relaxed. Did they know something I didn't?
One more minute, and finally, the door opened. The magic rolling off the first vampire hit me in a wave. Freshly fed. There were piercings all over its face. Piercings that would have continued trying to heal every day. The second one was weaker, it had been a while since he'd fed. The third one wore glasses and matched the first for strength—they'd sandwiched in the weak one, which likely meant they were close, and willing to fight together. Bad sign. Many vampires hunted together, but weren't willing to protect one another in a fight. It made picking them off easier. It was the biggest advantage a pack of wolves had when they went into a fight.
I'd expected to see them nervous—looking around for a possible escape, at least counting the wolves around them—but the vampires ambled into the alley with Nathaniel at their backs, like they were out for a late evening stroll.
When Rachel leapt off the roof to tackle the first one, Piercings was across the alley and running back at her before she hit the pavement.
The fight was on.
The stronger ones knocked the weak one into the center of the alley. At first they were subtle about it, and I wondered if the pack noticed what was happening, but as the pack converged, the vampires tightened their circle and there was no missing what was happening.
I always hated a fight where the other side's biggest weakness was caring for their most vulnerable member. It was even worse that it was vampires. It was easier to fight when you saw no capacity for love in your opponent.
The pack didn't seem to have this problem. They used their biggest advantage the best way they could. It must have been easier when you were fighting for your family, I figured. I didn't even know what I was fighting for. Not that I was doing much of it.
Graham dove into the glasses-wearing vampire's side and came away with a mouth drenched in blood. A brown wolf I didn't know bit at its leg, while a third went for the weaker vampire in the middle. Nathaniel—who had no business involving himself in the fight in human form—threw a punch at Glasses, who was now pouring blood from its side.
I jumped to the right—and knocked the leg out from under a gray wolf. I backed up, reassessed, and jumped in again—this time I saw the wolf I almost hit, dodged, and fell against the alley wall where a wolf I didn't see fell into me. They shoved off me, pouncing the weak vampire without having to stop to assess.
Breathing heavily, I stayed where I was and watched the others. One pack member rolled off another, while two others set up a third for the best hit. They fought with a synchronicity I only got in the way of. I wasn't just unhelpful, I was an obstacle.
Don't be pathetic, I scolded myself. The majority of the pack had moved on to fighting Piercings on the opposite side of the alley from me. This was my chance to get Glasses, who was already bleeding and weakened some. I leapt with force, prepared to dive for its legs at the last second and get the vampire on the ground. Two wolves slammed into my sides mid-air. Apparently, some of that synchronicity had rubbed off on me, because they'd had the same thought as me. I strangled the yelp in my throat as the wolves landed on top of me. I wasn't going to be the one to draw human attention to our battle, but damn, it hurt. And then I realized it wasn't the wolves on top of me that hurt. Teeth were deep in my flank. Fingers ripped at my ear. The wolves rolled off me, providing the space to struggle, which did all the good of tearing more of my flesh on the vampire's teeth.
Hands grabbed me from above, yanking me free.
The two wolves who'd landed on top of me lunged for the spot where I'd been only a moment before, one with its teeth in the vampire's abdominal wound, the other on its neck.
Killing a vampire required the removal of the heart. Without the heart to pump the magic of life through i
ts veins, a vampire ceased to exist. Beheading was a popular method to slow the vampire's struggle until its heart could be properly disposed of. The wolves in front of me worked a tag team effort to employ both strategies at once. It was smart, efficient, and most of all, it was fast.
Piercings had four wolves rushing in at once, but every attack the wolves got in did little against the healing magic of the blood drinker. It took all the wolves had to keep the vamp busy enough defending itself and the weaker vampire that it didn't have time to launch an offensive attack.
The hands still holding me let go, and Nathaniel ran to Rachel's side. Her ear twitched on his side, and he clicked his tongue in response. The two of them split apart, going for the weaker vampire, who'd been swatting wolves away like it had never been in a fight in its life. To be fair, the motions would have held a bigger punch against a wolf if it had been freshly fed. As it was, the blood drinker was likely to snap its own wrist.
The wound on my flank was healing slowly. Blood pumped out my side with every breath I took. It wouldn't kill me, but it would slow me down. That is, it would have slowed me down, if I could see a way to get into the fight.
Rachel tore into a throat. With a jerk of her head, the weakened vampire hit the ground while Piercings looked on in horror. I'd expected Piercings, a strong vampire, to see the way the fight was going and decide to cut its losses and make a run for it. Instead, as though the two jaws clamped down on its own body were no issue at all, Piercings charged at Rachel. Busy gnawing at the neck of the weakened vampire, she never saw the new threat before it wrapped its arms around her middle, wrenching her free of the victim beneath her.
Nathaniel abandoned his own position against the weaker vampire to lunge for one of the arms trapping Rachel.
I danced on my feet. I wasn't used to feeling so unsure of my next move. Six wolves were fighting Piercings. Should I attack the weaker one? It was weaker, for a vampire, but it was still a vampire. And I was on my own.
"Run!" Piercings yelled to the weaker one.
And it did.
SUDDENLY USEFUL, SUDDENLY KNOWING what to do, I was back in my element, and the wound on my side occupied less thought than the pounding of my paws against the hard ground. Weak as the vampire was, it was expending every ounce of magic it had to run so fast. No magic left for healing, the wounds the vampire had sustained in the fight weren't healing. The blood left a fog of magic in its wake.
The vampire was moving fast, but he was smart. I'd lost sight of him at the end of the alley, but that didn't matter—not to me. His trail zigged and zagged around cars in the lot, staying low and out of sight, and then continued to dodge around trees once he hit the woods. I didn't need to do that. Focused on the magic, the world laid out in front of me as a clean, flat surface. Concentrations of magic twisted through space, but I drew a straight line through the mess, saving me time. The magic grew thicker as I closed the distance between us. Hair raised over my body in ripples. My lungs struggled against more than the exercise and the pain. Blood magic—especially vampire blood magic—was dark. Sticky. Suffocating.
I listened for backup, but the pack wasn't in pursuit. It made no sense, until I remembered they had no reason to believe I knew which way it had went any better than they did. That was for the best. I was alone. I ran faster.
Several miles out, the vampire began to slow, so I did too. My flank was still ragged. I'd spent a lot of energy in the chase. The vampire had, too, but I expected I'd recover more from catching my breath than it would.
Vampires weren't as aware as wolves, as evidenced by the way we'd surrounded the bar, but they were alert to blood. I had to assume I wasn't about to surprise the vamp.
I was wounded. I was alone. I knew what my strongest asset was in this fight, but should I risk it? My options were to let the vampire go, fight it when I might not win, or go back to rouse the pack and convince them to follow me. If I let it go, I'd be responsible for any humans it chained up after that. If I fought it and lost, I might actually wind up in that basement Tess warned me about. If I ran back to get the pack, I ran the risk of losing the trail if the vampire got far enough away.
I knew what my best option was.
Damn it.
I listened hard. I sniffed. I felt for magic. The vampire and I were alone, and it was resting now.
I gathered the fog of sticky magic around me and began the shift, pushing the magic I pulled in my paws through my body to accelerate the process. It was agony, it could have killed me if I did it wrong, but it turned a five minute shift into two. Now in Julia's body, I checked the wound on my side first thing. Still bleeding, but the shift had helped—it didn't look fresh, anyway. It was weeping, not pouring. I'll live, I thought, and smirked at my own joke.
There was no longer any need for running. I strode after the vampire, arms out, pulling in the trail of its magic. It sparked through my insides, bouncing against the magic I naturally held inside myself. A breeze blew my curls in my face. There's an idea.
The vampire leaned against a tree, hands covering its wounds. Magic flickered around it. It was trying to heal itself, but it could only pull on the remains of magic in its own blood. Like most other fae, it had no idea how to pull magic from outside of itself. It was unnatural, they said.
I gathered more of the magic it had released around it, and with focus and unnatural skill, modified the power to something I could use. The blast of wind hit it hard in the chest, slamming it into the tree. The second blast knocked it on its back.
If I'd thought for a second that might be it, that it might stay down and wait for death, it proved me wrong when it jumped up and ran at me, pushing through the next blast I sent its way. I dodged its tackle. The vampire roared as it went past me. Before it had a chance to recover, I slammed another bolt of wind into its back, shoving it to the ground again, and looked around myself for a rock or something else I could use as a weapon.
What else, what else, what else can I doooo?
Witchcraft was the art of using magic around yourself, and changing it. As a werewolf who changed forms regularly, it had come naturally to me. Most witches—human witches—found wind and/or fire to be the easiest and most effective offensive skills. I'd learned both, but the skill I'd best perfected was shifting. The significance of that was something I avoided letting myself consider. I wasn't sure how any of those skills were going to best the vampire though. I didn't have a lighter, and I couldn't create fire from nothing. The wind wasn't going to stop its heart. I couldn't… an idea popped into my head. A horrible, morbid… fascinating idea.
I can't do that, I told myself, the same moment the vampire sprung up and got a hand around my throat. Instead of fighting it, I placed both hands on its chest. It sneered at me. It thought it had me. It thought it was playing with its food.
Like I'd seen the magic sprawling across the land as I chased after the vampire, I sensed the magic pumping through its veins. Sluggish and depleted, but plenty for me. I combed the magic through the lines of its body, and with every spark I'd collected in the world around me, I swept through its veins over and over, pulling the magic from its center out to the edges, cramming its fingers full of it until the heart pounded through liquid clean of all magic.
My own wide eyes stared into the vampire's. It let go of my throat and backed away, but it was too late. I didn't need to touch it to hold the threads of magic. When the vampire fell to the ground, skin sagging, I almost couldn't believe it.
To kill a vampire, you didn't have to remove its heart. You had to remove the magic from its heart. Vampires lived on magic, their heart was the source of that magic, and when the two were separated, it worked as well as removing the heart from its body. I stared down at the blood drinker, wondering if I was the only being in the universe to have learned that truth.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I returned to the pack with fur drenched in vampire blood. I wasn't certain the vampire wouldn't revive if I left it there and the magic drifted bac
k near its heart. Curiosity begged me to stay and see, but my soul begged me not to experiment on living beings for the sake of curiosity, so I shifted back to wolf form, removed the heart, and trudged back the way I'd come. I found the pack in the parking lot where I'd left them, shifting back to human form. I wondered if they would have waited for me if I hadn't shown up in that moment. I wondered if anyone had even tried to follow me—they should have been able to track my scent. I wondered why it was I kept wondering about it. None of that matters, I reminded myself.
I considered riding back in Rachel's car as a wolf, but gave up the dream. I needed to tell them the vampire had been dealt with, if for no other reason than it might provide leverage the next time their alpha made demands—and I was sure, after the visits from Graham and then Rachel, that there would be a next time.
My shift finished a minute behind the last of the pack's. I loathed to pull my clean clothes over my bloodied body, but propriety. Damned propriety.
I buttoned the last button before Nathaniel got close. "Julia?" he asked. "I'm not lookin', so don't you start with me, but should you have so much vampire blood on you?"
"No," I told him. I didn't bother to let him know I was dressed. It would only earn me an appraising look and some comment I didn't want to hear. "I should be at home, starin' up at the stars and eating something good or maybe taking a nice, early night in bed. That's what I should be doing, and none of those activities include drenching one's self in vampire blood, I promise you of that."
"That answers all my questions." Nathaniel sighed.
"I killed the damn vampire," I said. "You're all welcome."
