“Come on,” one of the cousins said, grabbing her and pulling her away from where she had landed after her tumble down the embankment, that bastard Winston shoving her over. She looked for him but he was nowhere to be found, the little bitch probably ran off – coward.
“Kara! No – No! Leave her out of this, Ratty! Leave her –”
Ratty layed into Merk hard, a strong right to the midsection, then another to his face that carried his jaw to the furthest side of his face. Merk tried to be strong but Kara saw it on his face: he was beaten, weak. Ratty would have his way with him now.
The cousins brought her over to them. Ratty and his two brothers were standing over Merk. RJ was on the ground next to him, he didn’t look well at all, he had a gash on his head, and horrible bruising, no doubt from his and Merk’s dealings. Still, he was close to Merk, like they had bonded; it was more familial than anything she had seen with Ratty and him. Ever.
“Figures,” Ratty sneered. “I told you I would deal with you later… I guess this is later for you, eh?”
“Fuck you, Ratty!” Kara spat.
One of the cousins shoved her hard in the back and she fell forward to the ground.
“Kara –!”
Merk’s cry for her was cut off by a foot thrust hard into his midsection. Merk immediately coughed up blood. It was painful to see. Kara lunged forward to do something – to protect him – but the cousins were back on her, grabbing her and pulling her back, away from Merk.
“No!” she screamed, fighting to get to Merk, she desperately wanted to get to him, to touch him, hold him.
Ratty eyed her. Furious. He looked like a rabid dog, his eyes dilated and his body convulsing as if he was ready to shift. In a violent lurch, Ratty reached down and grabbed Merk by the throat (the same way he had done to her, thought Kara), pulling him up from the ground and lifting him into the air. Merk’s body was limp and helpless compared to Ratty’s strength, the wolf nature obvious and coursing through him. Merk grappled with Ratty, swiping at his arms, hands, trying to get free, but Ratty was too strong and Merk was too weak at the moment. It was a horrifying scene – Merk dangling in midair in Ratty’s grip, him fighting to get free but unable to, his body bloody and mangled, his left leg almost severed having been torn into by teeth, gnawed and ripped.
“Merk…” was all Kara could get out.
“This ends today, Kara… You hear me? All these fuckin’ men that you try to replace me with…”
“Dad –” RJ started.
“Shut up, boy!” Ratty snapped.
“No, you don’t understand,” RJ continued. “Coach – Coach helped me… He – He saved me and everyone… What happened back there at school –”
Ratty tossed Merk’s body to the ground like it was nothing. Merk hit the ground hard, skidding to a stop near a tree.
“He’s the problem, son. Don’t you see that? He is the cause. He is the disease. He didn’t save you – he started all of this!” Ratty declared.
“Are you crazy!? You fuckin’ lunatic! You started this – you and your obsession with controlling everything! Your family. Your son. Me. This town. The problem is you, Ratty! You!”
And in a violent move, lightning quick, almost to the point of blurring, Ratty was on her, his hand around her neck again; she saw his hands – they were claws – and then with a brutal strike, he clawed down her face. Kara cried out in pain as she felt her skin rip on her face and the warmth of the newly drawn blood spread across her face. Ratty let her body crash to the ground and Merk’s bellows rung out against the night in response.
“Now let’s see who wants you, bitch. Scarred. Deformed,” Ratty said in a triumphant tone.
Everything went silent. Kara tried to reset herself, to get her bearings, gather herself and regain her wits. Everything was spinning out of control. His claws had missed her eyes somehow, miraculously. She was thankful for that. But she knew that she would never look the same again, she could feel the open wounds, how deep they were, white hot, a pain that seared. She turned to see Merk trying to crawl over to her. The realization suddenly hit her that after this everything was going to change.
Ratty had lost it, his mind, any part of him that once held him back, that still allowed for his humanity to factor. She peered up at Ratty through a bloody lens, her face was covered from the clawing. He was eyeing Merk as Merk tried to make his way over to her. His son, RJ was in the background watching it all – but Ratty didn’t care. His eyes were black, the white a jaundice yellow but glowing, his face was angular now more than before and his wolf features were transparent. His expression was murderous and she knew in that moment that Ratty was going to kill Merk and there was nothing that anyone could do to stop him.
“Kara…” Merk crooned, his voice weak, flat.
Ratty walked over to him and methodically placed his foot on Merk’s leg. He pushed down hard, Kara could hear the bones break as he mashed down on Merk’s maimed leg. Merk wailed in pain.
“Dad, no!” RJ yelled.
But Ratty was too far gone. He bent down on one knee, his foot still on Merk’s leg. Merk had gone silent, the agony and torment putting him in shock. Ratty grabbed the barely attached leg, wrapping it up in a hold that gripped it hard. He teased pulling at it.
No, thought Kara. He wouldn’t.
Ratty gave her a look. Evil. Pure evil.
“Ratty… No… Please…” Kara begged, tears streaming down her face, her eyes bouncing from Ratty to Merk, back to Ratty and finally to Merk again. “Pleeeeeeease….”
Ratty pulled, wrenching the leg, his weight on his bended knee against Merk’s back. Ratty reared back and that large paw that had just clawed her was ready to come crashing down into Merk’s back; a blow like that would surely paralyze Merk. Ratty sneered and then let out a roar; the full force of his wolf nature and strength coming forward as his claw rammed into Merk’s back. The sound of Merk’s vertebrae breaking, snapping, shot clearly across the night. Merk’s cry was silent, his expression a broken watery face of tears, spit, and blood. Ratty got to his feet, innards, pieces of flesh and Merk’s splintered and fractured vertebrae in a trophy in his hands.
***
Kara couldn’t believe what had just happened. It replayed in her mind over and over again. How Ratty had literally smashed Merk’s spine. She would never forget that image for as long as she lived. It was beyond anything that she thought Ratty was capable of doing. It literally surprised her. How could she have cared for a man that was capable of doing anything like that? Also, she didn’t want to admit this to herself, but she had to: she wondered how much of who she was had affected Ratty.
Had being with her and then losing her driven him mad, made him insane. Had her being a succubus caused this? Him now being able to let her go to the point of him losing all rationality? She shuddered at the thought but it was possible. And she would have to live with that. The same way that she had to live with what had happened with Will and Greg. Lives altered, changed, destroyed, all because of her.
It had been a long night. But it seemed to just be getting started. They were all walking now, headed back to town. Then they were in the back of a van. Ratty’s two cronies were in the cabin. One driving and the other constantly looking in the back of the van at them. RJ was in his father’s truck with his uncles following most likely. She could see headlights following the van from the then slit windows to the back. Merk was lying unconscious at her feet. Seeing him this way, all broken and mangled, bloody, pained her.
They were on their way back into town. She knew what Ratty was going to do: he was going to take Merk to the school, to the football field, she had heard him say as much as they were loading them into the van. He wanted to make a spectacle of Merk, he wanted to castrate him in a way that permanently villainized Merk as well as lauded himself as some kind of savior and hunter that had tracked down and rooted out the cancerous new member of the town, ending what he believed was the problem. Delusion. But perception ruled reality.
Chapter Twelve
The ride was shaky, bumpy, the van seemed to hit every lump and pothole on the way back to the school and football field; Kara felt like they were doing it on purpose. With each bump, Merk’s body moved, shook and he whined, moaned, even cried, loud manly sobs. When Kara couldn’t take it anymore, she fell to the floor of the van with him and tried her best to steady him.
He was lying on his stomach, face down, to the side really, agony engulfing him. Kara laid next to him, her hand on his broken back. Maybe… She thought about it: could she heal him? But there was something wrong, something inside her that wasn’t the same. There was an ache deep down inside of her and in that she felt doubt and guilt, sorrow and loss. She was broken. Kara moved her hand to her face, she could feel the open gashes on her face and how deep they were. Ratty had done that – he had beat both her and Merk – and in a deep and profound way, just like her wounds now.
The van came to a stop. She could hear movement, out of the corner of her eye, she could see someone moving from the van – they were getting out. Kara’s heart pounded. They were there. The van door swung open. There was no sense of care; the cousins grabbed them, hands clawing at both Merk’s and her body. The cousins threw Merk’s body out of the van like it was a sack of feed or a barrel of hay, anything but a human being, alive and animate. His body hit the field hard. He groaned. All of the fight was gone from him. Blood was steadily coming from his mouth, he was no doubt bleeding internally. After Merk, they pulled her out as well, tossing her to the ground; a couple of the Fairweather cousins came over to loom over her threateningly. She and Merk next to each other on the ground. Instinctively, she crawled to be under him, wrapping her arms around the man she loved, leaning her body almost over his to protect him if possible.
It seemed like the entire town was out. They had driven the van and truck right onto the football field. The bleachers were full of people – just like it was Friday Night and they were waiting for the game to start. Kara spun around to get a full view of them all – panoramic and telling. Onlookers, denizens of this small hub, stood on their feet, gawking at the horror in front of them on the football field. They all had to see what was in front of them and not one of them protested. Rather, they looked like they were ready to be entertained. It made Kara sick.
Ratty came around the truck to stand next to her. He leaned in: “How’s the face?”
Blood still streamed down Kara’s face, although it was drying now and getting sticky and hard. She didn’t respond. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. But the mentioning of her face made her aware again. It wasn’t as if she could or would ever forget what he had done to her, but Merk had been her focus since having his back broken. She still couldn’t believe that all of this was actually happening. She was still waiting to wake up from the dream. But this was no dream. Nightmare, yes. Still, as Kara stared out into the bleachers, accepting the reality that she was in, she realized that no one was going to stop this from happening and no one was going to save them, that everyone in this town was going to let the obvious happen.
Ratty stepped forward.
“My brothers and sisters… Our good town has been besieged in the last couple of months with someone that has meant nothing but bad for us and the people we love – Merk Castle!”
Kara laughed. It was laughable. Who in their right mind would believe this shit? But there had been no disagreement, no jeers, no roar or rumbling of confusion.
Ratty continued: “Since his arrival in town things have been… Weird. Wrong. But let’s start with the slightly below average start to our beloved football team’s season. Right?”
And then the unbelievable. The crowd jeered. They actually responded to him. Was that agreement? No. No, this can’t be, thought Kara. Who were these people? What kind of human beings allowed this? Bought into this…? Allowed this?
“My son’s grades went down… The team stopped listening to him – Merk turned the team against my son…”
Lies, thought Kara. Fuckin’ lies! They had to see that, know that.
“He seduced one of our own, Kara Daniels, a favorite teacher to so many of our kids –!”
“Lies –” she started to yell but Merk touched her hand, stopping her.
Ratty eyed her hard, then Merk, threatening. He focused back on the crowd.
“And finally he let lose some animal – wolf or something – to attack students. It is clear that we are dealing with a sociopath – psychopath! This is who – no what – we have let in our little town! But have no fear…”
Merk was trying his hardest to heal, to get enough strength to fight back. But he was hurt to badly, she could see that. His back was shattered, his leg nearly torn off. She loved the fight in him though, it made her proud to be his woman.
“I… We… The Fairweathers, staples of this community for close to a hundred years, have stamped out the problem – we caught him – and, my God, he put up a fight! But look… We got him… We got him… For you!”
And the crowd cheered. Kara couldn’t believe her ears. Her eyes. They all were standing. Clapping and cheering.
“I would like for the police to come forward and arrest this man for –”
“No!” a voiced yelled. “No! This – This is all wrong!”
RJ. Kara’s heart leapt. He was such a good fuckin’ kid. She watched as RJ stepped forward, slowly but surely, moving closer to face his father. Kara could see the worry in his face. And rightfully so he had seen first-hand what his father was capable of, and he was putting himself directly in the line of fire by stepping up for what was right and what was the truth.
“Son…” Ratty spoke, his voice warning him.
“No, dad… This – This isn’t right.”
“Son…”
RJ turned to the crowd and ran forward: “Merk saved me and he saved all of you from me and from this –!”
The cousins ran for him and so did the brothers, Ratty yelled in the background, but it was too late… RJ leaped forward, howling, and then his entire body peeled back and his bones and body frame shifted and popped and then… A wolf stood on all fours before them. The crowd gasped. But none of them ran. They were all mesmerized. Silence filled the bleachers and the field. Kara waited to see what was going to happen next. But no one moved or said anything for what seemed like an eternity. Her gaze shifted back to Merk. He had lost so much blood.. He needed to get to a hospital. Kara knew it was up to her.
“They’re all shifters! All of them! Shifters!” she yelled suddenly. “All of them! Wolf Shifters!”
In wolf form, RJ howled before them. Ratty’s rage sent him forward. He lunged at his son, tackling him in to the ground. Ratty hit him once, then again. Then again. And again. RJ whimpered and cowered as his dad beat him. Kara watched as Merk stirred trying to move to help RJ. The crowd continued to watch. Still not one of them, no policemen or anyone, no authorities came forward to help or do anything. But someone had to do something… Kara eyed Merk with desperation. Something had to be done and quickly. In the van, she had doubted that she could do what she had with Ferdinando but she no longer had that luxury. She had to take a chance, find it in herself to do what she had done before, anything to stop this from happening.
Everyone was distracted, RJ had provided that cover for them. Lying next to each other, Kara took Merk’s face in her hands and turned him to face her. His eyes were distant, the pain stoking a wild and glossy glare in his eyes as if he had already gone into shock. She pulled his face forward toward her. The more she looked at him the more desperate she became – she was losing him.
“Merk… You asked who was I?” Kara started. “This is who I am.”
Kara took a deep breath and then pulled Merk’s face to hers, his lips to her lips. She kissed him hard and passionately, making him kiss her back. At first, the kiss was one sided, but the more she pushed her will forward, the more she could feel him responding. But then he wrapped his arm around her and her entire b
ody warmed, she could feel him, his body’s energy coming off of him. She pushed hers into him, a light mist shot from her mouth and into his and then shot up from their interlocked mouths, spewing and covering them.
Suddenly, Kara started to feel tired, drained, but Merk gripped her harder and pulled her into him with a virulent force. It was working, Kara thought. She could feel his body expanding, becoming more animated, stronger, the weight of his hands were heavy and hard on her waist as he wrapped his arms around her. She felt him pull her into his body tighter, closer, and suddenly she was sitting on top of his, like she was riding him. She was glad that it was working and that Merk was getting stronger, but it was all happening at a speed that she couldn’t keep up with.
Her breath was short, as if she was losing oxygen, her heart beat pounded faster and harder than she had ever felt; Kara felt lost, her mind was swirling, her body was caving in, emptiness was there – a kind of hollowing out of everything inside of her, and then she began having a hard time remembering what it was that she was doing – who was touching her? Who was she kissing? Who was she? And then it all stopped. Even her breathing…
***
Kara had blacked out. She was on her back. The night’s sky was empty. No stars. She fought to recall what was going on, where she was at, who she was. There were loud gasps in the background; cheers and jeers, murmurings and rumblings. A sliver of familiarity ran through her mind: Merk! Her mind began to reboot and she lifted herself up, working against her dislocated shoulder. She couldn’t have been out for that long.
Merk had shifted and was in panther form, his panther body fully intact, his back healed, sized and strong. Kara marveled at his thin coat of fur, a brilliant dark sheen. Merk looked great, new, strong, resurrected. It had worked! She had done that even though she was paying the price for it now. Merk was taking on Ratty and his brothers: panther versus wolves. It was an unfair advantage in terms of numbers but the way Merk was moving, bandying around the alpha Ratty and his pack of wolves, he looked like he was a fitting foe and an equal match for them all.
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