The Curse of Oberon (The Inglewood Chronicles Book 3)

by Croston, Jeremy

  With vampire eyes and extended fangs, “I’ll be pleased to add another clan to my ever growing list of accomplishments.”

  I was weary of her battle first mentality, but based on Reg’s and Fergus’s intelligence, the O’Byrnes were dark to the core. That truly shocked me as Rosette, while a powerful witch, barely had any darkness in her. The two wolves were waiting for us as we exited from our car.

  With the moon high in the air, the ground below was illuminated. If anyone was watching from the house, they would know we were here. With that in mind, the four of us made a beeline straight to the front door. Bernard stepped up and pounded on the door. Loud thuds rang out across the countryside.

  “Do ye need to be so loud ye big bear?”

  “Lighten up Reg; they’d know we were here soon enough.”

  While the two wolves bickered, I noticed that nothing happened. There were no noises inside, any hushed whispers or incantations being muttered. This place was abandoned. “You two can knock it off now. No one is home.”

  In frustration, Kristie slid her dagger back into one of the many holders on her body. “Wolf,” her voice rising, “I thought you said this was their base?”

  “I said this be the last place they’d be seen. I never said they’d still be here.”

  Arguing was not going to get us anywhere. “Let us take a loo…” The ground rumbled. “What was that?”

  Bernard grabbed the nearest post to keep his balance. “Do you get earthquakes in Ireland?”

  “No, that ain’t natural feelin’.”

  Reg was right; there was something off about the tremor. A second, even larger one hit. All four of us fell to the ground this time. Then the front yard split apart, steam bellowing from the fissure that was not there just moments earlier.

  I may not have known what was happening, but Reg and Kristie did. The Irish wolf yelped, “It be the Banshee! Those bitches have summoned her damned soul back!”

  Above the steam a black shadow soared. For unnerving moments, it just floated in the sky, and then came the scream. It may have been the worst sound I had ever heard in the very long life I had lived. Our only defense was to cover our ears and hope the wailing stopped.

  Beside me, I heard the grunting and growling of two wolves transforming. Reg turned into a rather large one, but even he was dwarfed by the Beta from Full Moon. Bernard was a certified monster when he unleashed his inner animal. They answered the Banshee’s battle cry with their own.

  I felt my fangs slide down into position. Beside me, Kristie was ready for the fight to begin. She leapt from the porch, her dagger held high and lashed at the phantom creature. Her dagger passed through the large black cloak, but if it did any damage, we did not see it.

  The Banshee lowered itself to a few inches over the ground, just hovering there. With the creature in range, the wolves charged. Before they could make contact, it lowered its hood, revealing a shriveled up head with eyes sewn shut. It opened the decaying pit of a mouth and let out another cry. The sound stopped the wolves in their tracks and with its skeletal arms, sent both Reds into the night. Both came down hard, injured but not out of the fight.

  It was my turn and I reached the creature in two leaps. Being this close, I thrusted the tanto into its chest, hoping to make contact with something. It passed through as if there was nothing but air under the cloak. It swiped at me, but I was able to avoid the blow and rolled behind it. As I did that, Kristie launched her attack, digging her dagger into the creature’s head.

  A black, tar like substance oozed from the wound caused by the dagger. Kristie landed beside me, “Liz dear, the only vulnerable place on a Banshee is the head. Do try to keep up darling.” With dagger ready to strike again, she went back on the attack.

  Joining her was the larger wolf, Bernard. He must have seen the damage the dagger caused to the head, because he started snapping and swiping at the exposed weak point. Just as his jaws were closing in, the Banshee wailed again, causing all of us to fall in place.

  I felt a hand behind me. It was Reg, on the ground in human form. “It can’t bellow like that often! We mighta have two or three minutes before it unleashes that hellish sound again.”

  Above us, Kristie went for the kill with her dagger. A skeletal hand grabbed her by the throat and tossed her across the yard. It was now or never. “Reg, you and Bernard must distract it. This tanto is pure silver; it will finish the job.”

  “Aye lass, we’ll give ye an openin’.”

  He transformed again and ran over to Bernard. Wolves have a very good understanding and he was able to get Bernard to follow his lead. The Banshee just hovered there, waiting for its next challenge. Bernard went high and Reg low, yet the Banshee was agile enough to avoid all four front claws headed its way.

  It had not accounted for me however. With it twisting right into the perfect position, I sliced the head of the bitch from its body. The cloak fell out of the air and burned up upon hitting the ground. The head bounced a few times before it turned to dust.

  “Nice sword-play Lizzie.” Behind me, Kristie approached rubbing her head. “I underestimated that foul creature’s agility and speed.”

  “Don’t feel bad lass, I wasn’t prepared for such an attack.” Reg, who had taken quite a beating, looked to only have a broken ego. “I feel confident enough ta call that a trap.”

  Bernard dusted himself off from the transformation. “Do you think someone tipped the witches off to us?”

  “Connor, who else would it be Lizzie?”

  “Do not make accusations without cause Kristie. You of all people should understand that.”

  The fiery witch hunter backed off, but judging by her face, she was not about to let the idea die. “If not him, then who else knew about us?”

  “I am not saying this situation does not need more investigating, but at the moment, we need to find clues as to where the witches went.” While I was talking, Bernard started sniffing the air. “Is something wrong?”

  “You could say that. I don’t think we’ll need to find any clues.”

  I gave him a puzzled look. “Then how do we proceed?”

  He pointed to a lone oak tree not too far from us. “The girl hiding over there can probably point us in the right direction.”

  Chapter 13

  I was soaked, cold, but felt so exhilarated. Just beyond those trees was the darkened camp that Pan once called home. I wonder how he felt about using that place again. As the water ran down my face, I saw an outline running across the camp, from one building to another.

  Softly, “That was the female. Do you have a plan?”

  “Yeah, stay here. I’m going to go talk to her.”

  Her eyes damn near bugged out of her head. “Is your mind not working properly? I will not save you if this turns out poorly.”

  “It probably ain’t Sphinxy. Just stay here and watch out for either the male or Pan. I’ll be able to hear you no matter how low you whistle.” I gave her a thumbs up like, yeah I knew what I was doing.

  I didn’t give her time to tell me how stupid I was. I got up and rushed quickly into the camp. The rain was banging against the buildings pretty loud, so I doubted anyone heard the gentle splashing of my shoes against the mud. I slowed down when I got close and crept into the hut.

  I saw the female Silver sitting in the corner. Good lord, she was praying. In a light accent, “Father, forgive me as I continue to work for this monster.” Her voice was so quiet. “I pray my children are with you and that soon I’ll be joining them in…” Her head whipped around. Still hushed, “Who are you?”

  I put my hands up, hopefully showing I had no intentions of fighting. “I’m a friend. I heard your cry and thought I could help.”

  She was still on red alert, but she hadn’t called for Pan yet, which I took as a good sign. “No one else is supposed to be on this island, unless you count the lizard people we’ve been warned about.” There was a lot of skepticism in her voice.

  “Do yourself a fav
or and believe in those lizard men. They’re as real as you and me.”

  A small shift in weight told me she started to relax. “Who are you? How did you end up here?”

  A question popped up inside me; should I tell her the truth? “I’m Victor, but most people call me Vic.”

  Her hand flew up, pointing at my face. “You!” I couldn’t tell if she was scared or not. “You’re the one who stood up against Jonathan and Pan! You’re supposed to be dead.”

  “Falling out of a helicopter tends to lead to those rumors, but I’m alive and stuck on this island like you.” I reached out a hand, hoping she’d take it.

  After a slight hesitation, she did. “Do you have it?”

  I patted my chest where the orb rested. “I do. Is that what you’re after?”

  “Pan is yes. Skylar and I were brought here as bodyguards and locators for him. Our mission is to bring that back to the one called Jonathan. Both warned us of the horrors of this place.”

  “There are. But you have allies too, as I’m not alone.” I heard a low whistle. “That’s my mark to go, but you’ve got a choice.”

  She still looked rather confused about this clandestine meeting. “What choice is that?”

  “You can either tell Pan about me or keep it to yourself. Just know, me and my friend will be around to help.” With that, I ducked out just in the nick of time and darted into the forest behind the hut. Pan and the other Alpha emerged from across the way and walked over. The Alpha with him looked about as miserable as they come.

  Pan tossed open the door to the hut. “What’re you doing in here girl?”

  In a dangerous voice, “Her name is Caroline!”

  I heard a head connect to skin. “You wolves and your piss poor manners; sweet mercy I miss that idiot Kano.” Kano, my sick cousin that got the taste of human flesh. Of course this sicko liked him. “Why can’t you two just follow orders?”

  “You haven’t given us any?”

  Something was either kicked or pushed over. “Do I have to babysit the two of you? You’re supposed to be Alpha wolves damnit!” He sighed in annoyance. “Just get out there and find the gem! I mean honestly, it’s an orb that glows blue. Can you two not even handle that?”

  I saw Pan storm out of the hut, leaving the two wolves. The male, Skyler started talking. “Death would be preferable than continuing to work for these devils.”

  “I too thought that, but I believe help is out there. Pan and his master have already taken our family. We can’t allow them to take us.”

  “I wish I had your faith Caroline, but we’re doomed on this spit on land. As soon as we locate the gem, we’ll be killed.”

  I couldn’t bear to listen to anymore. Slowly and quietly I made my way back to the Sphinx. “Mission accomplished. Those wolves are here by force.”

  I could tell she didn’t like my freestyle ways, but we’d been playing by her rules for too long. “You offered this as a rescue mission, so how do we go about it?”

  With no real way off the island, my first thought was to separate the wolves from Pan and get them back to the cave. It seemed though Neverland had other plans. “Something’s coming… err strike that, a lot of somethings.”

  “The Orcs! They must know Pan has returned!” She grabbed me by my shirt and started pulling me away.

  I dig my feet into the ground. “Wait, what about the two Silvers! We can’t leave them.”

  “There is a saying that we must live to fight another day. It applies in this situation.” She tugged harder and I fell down, making it easier for her to drag me away.

  Through the trees, their footsteps grew louder. I stumbled up to my feet just in time to hear their weird cries. Then I caught my first glimpse of the Orcs. Green Lizard men were about as accurate a description as one could give ‘em. Most of the Orcs ran for the camp, but a few saw us with their beady yellow eyes. “Ugh Sphinxy, we got company!”

  She let go on my shirt. “Run, quickly!”

  I didn’t need to be told twice, I pushed my legs to move faster. Those ugly critters were on our tails like ugly on a monkey. I didn’t think we’d be able to out run ‘em for long.

  The Sphinx was proficient with ducking and dodging obstacles as they came up. For me, I was running the obstacle course from Hell with no room for error. Granted, I hit a few branches and stumbled over a root or two, but not enough to slow me down. I loved life and wasn’t in any hurry to test my luck with death again.

  I turned my head to see how my chasers were doing. They were starting to fall behind. This was great! That is until the Sphinx slammed into me. I hadn’t been expecting that. We tumbled through the forest a bit before stopping. The Orcs that’d been chasing us also stopped and formed a loose circle around us.

  “Sphinx, you okay?”

  She rubbed her head where a nasty welt was forming. “Yes, I am fine. Just ran into an old friend, that is all.”

  In front of us a large Orc walked into the loose circle. White hair cascaded off his lizard head and I noticed he was missing an arm. “Shit, that’s him ain’t it?”

  “Victor, allow me to introduce you to the Orc Chief.”

  His eyes went from her to me. An incredibly well spoken voice came from the creature. “The wolf does not interest me, only the Sphinx. Do what you will with him my followers.”

  As the large Orc advanced towards the Sphinx with his spear in his only hand, multiple lizard hands grabbed me and began pulling. I was in trouble, big time. I felt a claw go across my face and break the skin. Blood began to flow free and I even got a little into my mouth.

  What happened next would one day go down in Inglewood family lure. For some reason, the taste of my own blood began to calm me. A burning sensation erupted, like the fires of Hell were in my chest, trying to rip open the scar. I should’ve been freaking out just from the pain, but I wasn’t. I hunched over, the lizard dudes hands quickly releasing me as if they were being burned just by touching me.

  I rolled around the ground in agony, not really sure what was happening to me. Then, as quickly as it came, the burning stopped, replaced by a sense of knowing. It was like instincts taking over. I smiled at those close enough to me and howled at the sky, the clouds breaking apart and casting the light of a full moon upon me.

  For the first time in my life, I felt the call of my inner beast and embraced it.

  Chapter 14

  As soon as the transformation ended, I realized I wasn’t a wolf. In the back of my mind, a rough daemonic voice said ‘Warg.’ I never heard of a Warg before, but I knew what it was. A hellhound, like a wolf, but more doglike; with red embers for eyes, bushy black fur, and a set of claws that could filet a male bull. It didn’t matter, I was something.

  The lizard looked on in fear. I can’t even tell you how good that felt. I was the predator and they were my prey. Without hesitation, I bounded towards the closest one and sank my powerful jaws into its arm, crushing right through. It fell to its knees, screaming in pain before I silenced it with two well placed back paws to the neck, snapping it.

  The Sphinx joined in beside me. “Well, this was an expected change.”

  I grinned, flashing my newfound canines. I barked twice, expressing my enjoyment of this and found my next target. He swung a short axe at me, but it was a tentative attack, easily avoided. I pounced on his chest, knocking him to the ground. From there, it was easy to end the threat.

  The lizard people weren’t prepared for the two of us being able to transform and soon scattered. The Sphinx had been entangled with the Orc Chief while I was thinning the numbers. The Chief seeing his minions weren’t handling my torrid attacks well signaled for a retreat. Before he left, “This is far from over my old enemy. I will have your hide yet.”

  The still living Orcs followed their Chief back into the forest, leaving the two of us alone. I wasn’t sure how to return to my normal form, but it was almost as if just thinking about it brought the change on. Just like that, I was back to being on two legs and sta
nding. “Holy shit.”

  The Sphinx clapped at my reappearance. “Bravo Victor, bravo! You found a way to embrace the dark energy inside your scar.”

  “I have no idea what happened. One minute I’m being yanked in five different directions and the next I’m a Warg, whatever that is.”

  Her eyes widened. “Not a Warg, the Warg.” She was back in teacher mode, correcting me. “He is the spectral guard of Hell, keeping out those who should not enter and keeping those in.” She placed her hand on my scar. “How did he end up with you?” That last question was more to herself than me.

  I was going to say something fun like ‘that’s cool’ or ‘hot damn!’ but another weird sensation took over. A feeling of hunger and not just for food, but for blood. The creature inside me wanted blood, the Sphinx’s blood. I felt my canines begin to take form again; the Warg was ready to strike.

  If the Sphinx was worried, she didn’t show it. “Ah, the price of such magic has revealed itself. Go figure your dark curse is the work of a vampire.”

  “Run… get away…”

  Instead she grabbed the knife on my hip and sliced open her wrist. “Here, sate the Warg’s hunger.” I looked on in disgust. “Do not be a fool Victor, the longer you fight it, the worse it will get.”

  So I did something so vile, that after I wanted to throw up; I fed the Warg. It was like an outta body experience, I was more the helpless watcher than the one in control. When the Warg was satisfied, it retreated back into the recess of my soul.

  I fell to the ground. “There’s always a price ain’t there?”

  “Yes, even for a creature like me. I control the curse that shapes my transformation far more than you will ever and still I have to pay a price for the power.”