by Greg Hair
Jamie gave Landon several swipes across the face, then reached down, into his father’s chest, and grabbed his heart, squeezing. The red werewolf’s heart burst. Landon Murphy died immediately.
Jamie Murphy stood and fell backward, shifting back to human form, exhausted. He lay there, on the soft grass, next to his father’s lifeless body. The fighting around him had stopped. In fact, he heard no noise at all. Rolling over, he looked around and saw that the entire battle had ceased.
Screams and wailing filled the air, as word quickly spread across the field of the falling of Landon. The great werewolf’s closest friends rushed to his body.
LillyAnna, from atop the hill, was next to Landon in seconds, kneeling beside him, hysterical. She shook his body, as if in an effort to wake him, and barely touched him at the same time, seemingly unable to accept the gravity of the situation.
Suddenly, Jamie felt a burning pain course through his entire body. He stood, clawing his fingernails at his flesh, his nude body spinning around.
“You’re ascending,” Nicholas said, approaching.
The teen, his back turned toward the castle, felt himself dragged by an invisible force in the direction of the fortress. His heels dragged in the soil as his upper body angled, and moved, toward Kilchurn. Everyone stood silently, watching.
Reaching the castle wall, Jamie stopped. He bent over, feeling the pain leave, his hands on his knees, and took a couple of heavy of breaths. Jamie stood back up.
“Is that it?” he called to Nicholas. “Is it over?”
Suddenly, the ground quaked, and the castle shook.
“I don’t think so,” Nicholas replied.
Immediately, Jamie was pinned against the wall, unable to move a muscle. He felt his feet slowly leave the ground, as he was pulled upward, dragged along the castle wall toward the top. He writhed with the burning that engulfed his bones.
Shifting and downshifting, human to wolf and back again, he screamed and howled, repeatedly cycling through multiple changes. Through his shifting vision of red and clear, he saw Serinda’s grave, bordering the woods. Nearby, was Bianca, atop the far hill, lying on her back on the ground, crying, her legs bent.
Jamie closed his eyes tight as his naked body was pushed into the wall, caving it in. Bits of gray stone crumbled and fell below. Further and further into the wall he went, finally disappearing within Kilchurn.
There, in the darkness, surrounded by cold stone, he felt and saw what only a few privileged others before had—the power, the force, the love, the mercy of God.
Jamie curled into a fetal position, then burst outward, still within the wall, as the entire front of the castle came tumbling down, burying him in the rubble.
“Kill them all!” screamed Nicholas, startling those around.
Immediately, the battle restarted, and the army from Venice, still vastly outnumbered, began to fall.
From far afield, Cate, the English vampire daughter of Kendrick, watched Nicholas shift and charge the first of Landon’s forces he came to, another young red-furred werewolf—Lennon, son of Finian.
Cate, with her great vampire speed, raced through the melee, running faster and faster, blurring the fighting around her. She watched, as she ran, Nicholas approach Lennon from behind, the latter distracted by his tussle with another werewolf.
She pushed herself even more, somehow going beyond her limit, feeling the friction between her feet and the ground. The earth beneath her suddenly caught fire.
Cate reached Lennon, a mere split second before Nicholas, grabbing and picking up the heavy werewolf. She felt several of his ribs break upon impact.
She finally stopped, collapsing at a great distance from the battle, a trail of flame behind her.
Lennon changed to human form. He bent over her, cradling her in his arms.
Cate, unable to lift her arms or move her legs, looked in his eyes, and smiled.
“I’ll be okay,” she said. “I just need a minute.”
“Thank you.” He stroked her dark hair as she turned her head to see Lennon’s father, Finian, smile and nod.
Chapter 33: Requiem
Landon awoke to find himself lying on the ground, a bed of fallen, dead leaves beneath him. Sitting up, he looked around and saw he was in a dimly lit clearing in a dark forest. There were no stars above, only the dark.
Then he noticed something else—a wolf, lying next to him. The large, red animal breathed heavy, slowly. It’s eyes open only intermittently.
Landon ran his hand over the wolf’s soft fur. The beast didn’t acknowledge the man’s touch.
“He’s dying.”
Landon turned around to see the silhouette of a young woman approach from beyond the trees, a bright light behind her.
“What?” he asked.
“The wolf—he’s dying.”
Finally, stepping into the dim light where he could make out her face, Landon recognized Celeste. He jumped up to hug her, then realized he was nude.
“What’s it doing here?”
“He is here, because you are here. He’s a part of you. There, on the ground Landon, lies your inner wolf.”
He then looked around again, and quickly put the pieces together.
“If I’m talking to you,” he said, “and if he’s here because I’m here, and he’s dying, then I’m dead.”
“Yes, and no. You’re in-between. See that tunnel of light behind me? All you have to do is enter it to complete your journey. You will then move from this spot, the Forest of the Dead, to a land where spring is eternal.”
Landon looked toward the tunnel, and took a step forward.
“But,” she continued, “there’s someone who would like a word with you, first.”
Coming toward him from within the light was another shadowy figure.
“Hello, son.”
“Dad?”
Allen stopped in front of Landon, and hugged him. Landon’s father looked as young as the junior Murphy remembered from his childhood. And there were no burns or scars anywhere that Landon could see.
“Are…are you okay?”
“I’m better than okay, son. I’m perfect. No pain, physical or otherwise. It’s not what everyone thinks it is—it’s better.”
“Well, I’m ready,” said Landon. “I’m ready to go.”
“And you can. If that’s what you choose.”
“What do you mean?”
“Son,” said Allen, throwing his arm over Landon’s shoulders, “you have a choice. You always have a choice. You can choose to go on, into the light, or you can choose to go back.”
Allen waved his hand and a dark corner of the forest lit up, showing Landon the present back on Earth. The battle continued to wage, though it was nearly over, and Nicholas was the assured victor.
“You’re not finished, Landon,” said Allen. “They all need you. You need to go back. But, like I said you have a choice. You have to choose to go back, to defeat Nicholas.”
“Wait a minute. I wouldn’t be in here in the first place if Graciela and her spirits hadn’t taken my immortality. I would have beaten him, already.”
“No, you wouldn’t have. Your immortality was taken because you had to die. You had to be here, in this place, at this moment, facing this choice. Only by dying, and choosing to go back, will you have the necessary means to destroy him.
“Now, like I said,” he continued, “the choice is yours whether you go back, but we are certainly not above cheating to try to sway you.”
“What do you mean?”
Allen moved out of the light, allowing Landon to see, coming pouring out, a multitude of children. A seemingly endless line of kids.
“Who are they?”
“Most of them, the ones clothed in ancient garb, are the Innocents that Nicholas slaughtered two-thousand years ago, the ones he killed that brought his curse. The others, dressed in more recent attire, are those few children you were unable to save in your life.”
Landon looked back at the present
scene of the battle, his troops falling in great numbers. His friends fighting a losing war.
Suddenly, the light from the scene began to fade. Landon turned back toward the tunnel to see two more figures approach.
“You have must choose,” said Paige, Liam and Mara’s mother.
“But,” said Jamie’s mother, Morgan, “you must hurry. And, Landon, don’t worry about Jamie. Someone else is taking care of him.”
Landon, surrounded by the children killed so long ago by Nicholas, understood what he needed to do.
“I’ll go,” he said. At that moment, everyone but Allen, turned to head back into the light.
“I want you to know, son, that I’m proud of you. Very proud of the man you’ve become. I love you so very much. Now, listen, there’s one more thing, and this is the most important. When you go back, for you to be able to defeat Nicholas, you must relinquish all will, all power, to the wolf. You have to give up all control, and let the wolf within consume you. Only then can a greater power work through you. You, Landon, are the vessel for Nicholas’ destruction.”
Allen hugged his son once more, and turned, going back toward the light.
“How do I get back?” asked Landon.
“Ask the wolf.”
Suddenly, Allen, and the light, was gone. Landon stood alone, again, in the dark Forest of the Dead. Alone, with the wolf.
Landon bent down next to the red wolf, stroking its fur.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go.”
Suddenly, without warning or hesitation, the wolf raised its head, turned back toward Landon’s arm, and bit him.
Chapter 34: Requiem
Standing near the fallen wall of Kilchurn, listening for signs of life to locate Jamie, Nicholas’ powerful ears suddenly spy a scream set apart from all others around him.
Looking across the field, he zeroed in on the top of the far hill, and saw Bianca in a birthing position. He immediately understood whose babies they were.
In a fit of rage, Nicholas took off for the hilltop, slaughtering any that got in his way, including his own troops.
Reaching the top, he stood before her, Bianca, the young girl that nearly ruined his plans by almost making Jamie fall in love with her.
“That is, until he saw your sister,” he said.
“What, asshole?” screamed Bianca, clearly in pain without ever setting foot on the battlefield.
“You. You almost ruined everything, until Jamie saw your sister…your more beautiful sister. And now, you come here with this, this thing inside you, hoping you can save him.”
“I didn’t come here to save him, I came to help beat him. And you.”
“Hmmm…beat. Now there’s a word I can appreciate.”
Nicholas, in human form, struck Bianca across the face, again and again. Blood spurting out, in increasing amounts, each time. Then he reached down to her bent legs, and forced them down to the ground, breaking them. Her scream filled the valley around Loch Awe.
Bianca’s eyes turned red as she prepared to shift, then, suddenly, the red was gone.
“Go ahead, shift,” said Nicholas. “Fight me.”
“No. My job is to protect my children from harm, even when that harm can come from me. I love them and I’m prepared to die to save them.”
“Children? Them?” Nicholas realized there was more than one. “Then you will die. And so will your bastard children. So you will have saved no one.”
Nicholas shifted into the great black werewolf, and towered over her.
Bianca placed her hands over her stomach. “I love you.”
Nicholas began his vicious assault, his powerful claws disfiguring her face, her throat, her chest, moving down toward her womb.
Bianca’s arms held firm, using all of her waning strength in an effort to protect her coming children.
Nicholas suddenly felt himself shoved to the side, several feet, and turned his massive black head to see another werewolf standing at Bianca’s feet. The brown wolf downshifted to human form.
“You won’t touch her anymore,” said LillyAnna.
Nicholas also reverted to his human condition.
“Ah, the beauty without her beast,” he said. “Poor, poor Landon. You see, some fairytales do not have happy endings. However will you survive without him?”
Tears welled in her eyes.
“This beauty is her own beast,” she said, and changed.
The smaller, brown werewolf attacked the much larger, black wolf relentlessly.
Her claws moved with lightning speed, fur and skin flying off Nicholas who tried as much as possible to block her attacks. She moved him further and further away from Bianca, back down the hill, toward the battle.
Nicholas, regaining his composure from her sudden assault, swung back with one swing. His left claw connected with her right forearm, the nails buried deep in her skin, and severed her appendage.
LillyAnna fell to her knees, holding her bleeding stub with her other arm. She looked around. Nearby, lay Landon, in his peaceful state.
Filled with anger, she arose, and attacked again, her one arm flailing toward Nicholas, as she pushed him further and further back.
Nicholas looked around to see if she had any cavalry coming. Ryker and Alessandro were both busy, paying no attention. Annelise was heading for the hill…and Bianca. No one was coming to help LillyAnna.
As she swiped wildly at him, her hits having no impact, he dropped to his knees and, with both claws, crippled her at the knees. She fell to the ground, howling.
Seeing that she was unable to stand, let alone fight, he walked behind her, grabbed the back of her neck with his claw, and squeezed. It snapped, and she fell over, dead.
Chapter 35: Requiem
Annelise, followed by Catalina, raced to the top of the hill in a matter of seconds to save Bianca, only to discover upon reaching their friend, that she had died of her wounds, refusing to shift, and sacrificing herself, to save her babies. She had found the unconditional love she was looking for.
“Look,” said Catalina, “look at her stomach.”
Annelise watched Bianca’s stomach, under her hands, move.
“Oh, God,” she said. “They’re alive. Her babies are alive. We need to get them out.” Annelise dropped to her knees beside Bianca’s body.
“Don’t you need some warm water, and towels, or something?”
“There’s no time. We have to get them out, now. They survived all this, they’ll survive out here.”
“Okay, what do you need me to do?”
Catalina knelt down beside Annelise.
“No, no,” said Annelise. “Get on the other side of her, opposite me.”
Catalina moved fast. She watched Annelise lay Bianca’s arms to the dead mother’s sides.
“Now what?” asked Catalina.
“This is where it gets tough. I’m going to have to slice her open, and pull the babies out. I need you to keep her spread open.”
“I don’t think I can do this,” Catalina said, moving to stand up.
“You have to.” Annelise pulled the werewolf back down. “I said it was going to be tough. I said that because of what we’re going to have to do to her body. But, she protected them the best she could, so we are going to bring them into this world.”
“Okay, okay.”
“Now, like I said, I’m going to open her up down here.” Annelise ran her hand over Bianca’s upper-pelvic area. “You’re going to hold her open. I’ll bring out the first baby, cut the umbilical cord, then the other. We’ll take them down to the lake and clean them up. Got it?”
“Yeah, I’ve got it. You done this before?”
“Never.”
Annelise placed her pointer finger on Bianca’s lower abdomen, and cut. Blood leaked out, then poured, as she spread the mother’s skin open farther to reach down to the womb.
“Okay,” she said. “Hold this open.”
Catalina put her hands on opposite sides of the opening, and kept the wound fro
m closing.
Annelise reached in, carefully feeling her inside and around the womb. Seconds later, she pulled out the first baby, a girl, and cut the cord. The newborn, painted red with placenta, cried and shook. Annelise laid the baby on her mother’s chest, and reached in for the second child.
Another moment passed, and Annelise brought other the girl’s twin sister. This one didn’t wait for the cord to be cut, crying immediately once exposed to her new surroundings’ sudden drop in temperature.
“Pick up that baby,” said Annelise, nodding toward Bianca’s chest. “We’ll run around the perimeter of the field, and down to the lake.”
Annelise and Catalina reached the lake in seconds, holding the babies on the way in a position so as not to shake them during the run. Each woman bent down, cupped their hand into the water, and washed the babies off.
Nearby, at Kilchurn’s fallen wall, Jamie slowly dug his way out from under the rubble. The heavy gray blocks rolled and slid down the mound.
Jamie stood atop the small hill, and surveyed the scene. All the bodies, hundreds, that littered the field in front of the castle. Those few that still lived, still fighting. Then he remembered what he had seen when held at the top of the wall by invisible hands.
He looked across the field, past the dead bodies and living combatants, at Bianca. He could see, even from this distance, she was dead. He lowered his head.
I’m sorry, Bianca, he thought. I’m so sorry.
The image of her lying on the hill flashed in his head again.
She was giving birth. My God, she was giving birth. Are the babies dead, too?
From his left, down by Loch Awe, he heard crying. Tiny crying. Like that of a baby.
He saw, kneeling on the shore, Annelise and Catalina, holding two babies.
Bianca’s babies. And mine. I don’t know how I know that, but they’re mine.
Suddenly, another flash in his head. A scene he couldn’t have witnessed, an event taking place as he lay buried—Nicholas attacking Bianca, trying to kill her and her children. Jamie’s children.
